Craig Smith • Physical Limp • May 29, 2022
Enjoy the “
” of life because **“
” **is coming…
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” – before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer stirred. (Eccl. 12:1-5a)
• The statistics are staggering: 1 out of every 1 persons is moving towards
– “Remember Him – before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Eccl. 12:6-7)
The body that is sown is perishable…it is sown in dishonor…it is sown in weakness…it is sown a natural body… (1 Cor. 15:42b-44)
Does God still heal? He wouldn’t
us to
for it if not – “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” (James 5:14-15a)
A few principles for supporting the limp…
• The more I
, the more I
– “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16)
• The
I am, the stronger I
– “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Cor. 12:9a)
• Physical
can sharpen spiritual
– “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9b-10)
• Your future is
and
health - “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.” (Phil. 3:20-21)*
Regardless of the limp, your hope is not in what is growing old but in what is being made new…
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5a)
