
Finding Joy in Suffering
Pastor Tom Garasha
2-23-25
James 1:2 NIV “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds”
Romans 5:3-5 NIV “ … suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because, God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy spirit. Whom he has given us.”
1. Suffering for Doing the
Thing
Acts 16:16-18 NIV “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.”
I Peter 2:19-20 NIV “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”
2. Suffering For Doing the
Thing
3. Suffering Because of the
Acts 16:19-24 NIV “When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’ The crowd joined them in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
4. How to Find Joy in Suffering?
Acts 16:25 NIV “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them”
• Praying and
• Suffering Can Build a
5. Suffering
at Some Point
Acts 16:26 NIV “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”
6. God Will Ultimately Show You His
For Suffering
Acts 16:27-34 NIV ”The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.”
7. Surviving and Finding Joy in Suffering Can Increase Our
in Gods Power, Provision and Purpose
Acts 16:35-40 NIV “When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: ‘Release those men.’ The jailer told Paul, ‘The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.’ But Paul said to the officers: ‘They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.’ The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.”
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 NIV “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.”
8. We Can Find Joy In Suffering Because We Can Identify With Jesus
1 PETER 4:12 NIV “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
Philippians 3:10 NIV “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”