May 18
Almost nothing is guaranteed, except for two things:
Life is Hard. God is Good.
That’s it; those are the two guarantees we’re walking away with today. The first one, life is hard, no one ever really had to teach us. The second one is a whole different story.
God is good… all the time.
So what happens when that truth faces off against real life? What happens when we are confronted with the truth that the story of Jesus-followers is a story of hardship? How do we reconcile the mountain of victory we’re standing on with the hardship the story of our spiritual lineage holds?
We embrace it and we look at the life of Paul.
Scripture References
1.But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2.People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3.without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4.treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5.having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
6.They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7.always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8.Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9.But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
A Final Charge to Timothy
10.You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11.persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12.In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13.while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14.But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15.and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16.All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17.so that the servant of God3:17 Or that you, a man of God, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
6.For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7.I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8.Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
1.Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2.and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3.As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4.He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”5.“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6.“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
1.Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we5:1 Many manuscripts let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2.through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we5:2 Or let us boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3.Not only so, but we5:3 Or let us also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4.perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5.And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.6.You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7.Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8.But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9.Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10.For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
16.Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17.For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Louie Giglio
Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.