The Fellowship of His Sufferings
I heard a very powerful message from Francis Chan this afternoon. He was speaking at the Verge Conference in Austin, Texas. I was able to watch over the Internet. Jeff, Lori, John, and Gao Foua were there in person, and they alerted me to the fact that I could watch it on the Internet through their Facebook posts. I am glad they did and that I was able to catch part of the conference. We should utilize the Internet for Christian resources more often.
Francis Chan's message today was on the fact that Christ calls on us, as believers, to suffer with Him and for His sake. He went through all of the references in the New Testament that mention our suffering as believers. He read a long list from almost every book in the New Testament. Sometimes we forget how many times the Bible mentions suffering. Then, he made his point by telling a story about how we are drawn closer to Jesus when we suffer for him, and he graphically portrayed what it would have been like to die on the cross next to our Lord Jesus. These experiences of suffering bring us closer to Jesus than anything else can. That is why Jesus allows us to suffer, and even calls us to suffer. We will never know the fellowship we can have with Him, until we have to cry out to Him in the midst of our pain, and we fell His strong hand lift us and His smile warm our hearts.
The problem with most believers in the USA is that they have never suffered for Christ or for their faith. All they know is comfortable Christianity. That does not produce close fellowship with Jesus. That leads to weakness instead of strength. In fact, we will not know the power of His resurrection, until we know the fellowship of His suffering. Think about it. Jesus had to suffer and die before He was raised by the power of the Father. We will never need to know that power from God unless we so follow Him that we find ourselves in that place of suffering. However, once we get to that place like Stephen did in his defense of Christ in Acts, we can see the face of Jesus and experience His mighty presence. I pray that I will not run from pain and suffering for Him, because I do long to know the fellowship of His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)
Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 7-9.
Francis Chan's message today was on the fact that Christ calls on us, as believers, to suffer with Him and for His sake. He went through all of the references in the New Testament that mention our suffering as believers. He read a long list from almost every book in the New Testament. Sometimes we forget how many times the Bible mentions suffering. Then, he made his point by telling a story about how we are drawn closer to Jesus when we suffer for him, and he graphically portrayed what it would have been like to die on the cross next to our Lord Jesus. These experiences of suffering bring us closer to Jesus than anything else can. That is why Jesus allows us to suffer, and even calls us to suffer. We will never know the fellowship we can have with Him, until we have to cry out to Him in the midst of our pain, and we fell His strong hand lift us and His smile warm our hearts.
The problem with most believers in the USA is that they have never suffered for Christ or for their faith. All they know is comfortable Christianity. That does not produce close fellowship with Jesus. That leads to weakness instead of strength. In fact, we will not know the power of His resurrection, until we know the fellowship of His suffering. Think about it. Jesus had to suffer and die before He was raised by the power of the Father. We will never need to know that power from God unless we so follow Him that we find ourselves in that place of suffering. However, once we get to that place like Stephen did in his defense of Christ in Acts, we can see the face of Jesus and experience His mighty presence. I pray that I will not run from pain and suffering for Him, because I do long to know the fellowship of His sufferings. (Philippians 3:10)
Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 7-9.