Suffering & Trials

Find a sermon associated with this topic below.

This sermon, using the life of Abraham from Hebrews 11, teaches that steadfast faith is not about mastering circumstances but about responding to them with resilience and a focus on God's truth. The message emphasizes that our ability to live with courage and generosity on earth is rooted in the assurance of a future heavenly citizenship and the unwavering faithfulness of God, who fulfills His promises despite our failures.

This sermon, drawing from the story of Joseph, explains that God uses our experiences of hardship and suffering to work His ultimate plan of redemption and save others. The message highlights that while humanity intends evil, God always intends it for good, and this truth, perfectly exemplified in Jesus's sacrifice and forgiveness, empowers believers to be radical forgivers and agents of salvation.

This sermon challenges a transactional view of God by proposing that greater need reveals God's greater sufficiency, a truth demonstrated by Moses's encounter with the holy and compassionate God at the burning bush. The message highlights that the ultimate proof of God's grace is found in Jesus's suffering on the cross, where He was abandoned so that believers would never be, making our own suffering a pathway to a deeper experience of Him.

This sermon addresses the universal human experience of suffering, which can feel like an arid wilderness that hardens our hearts, by highlighting that Christ is the ultimate source of encouragement. The message emphasizes that Jesus provides both truth and tenderness because as our King, He satisfies God's justice on our behalf, and as our Priest, He sympathizes with our weaknesses, promising to redeem all things, even our deepest pains.