GOD MAKES ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD AND FULFILLS HIS PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES
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OUTLINE
1. PURPOSE
2. PROCESS
3. PITY
4. POWER
5. PERCEPTION
6. PARTNERSHIP
7. PROLIFERATION
THE MESSAGE
GOD MAKES ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD AND FULFILLS HIS PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES
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1. PURPOSE
The Lord is working in our lives and makes everything work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The Lord even turns the evil intended to harm us into good. Sometimes we may not understand or enjoy the process He takes us through to fulfill his work in our lives. But later we will look back with gratitude and amazement at the process which God took us through to fulfill His plan for our lives. Joseph in the Old Testament went through a very difficult and painful process in his life. His brothers hated him and sold him as a slave to Egypt. He was greatly distressed at that moment and pleaded with his brothers to spare his life. But later in his life after the Lord had established him as a ruler over Egypt , Joseph realised the hand of God in his journey of life. He comforted his brothers and told them not to be distressed over selling him as a slave because it was the plan of God for his life. God wanted to preserve the descendants of Abraham through Joseph in order to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. The experience of Joseph has continued to bless the people of God throughout the centuries . Thus God had a great purpose for the life of Joseph to make him a blessing not only during his lifetime but also throughout human history to inspire His people.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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ROMANS 8:28
" And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
GENESIS 50:20
" You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. "
GENESIS 42:21
" They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us."
GENESIS 45:4-8
" Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!
And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping.
But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. "
2. PROCESS
The Lord heals our broken hearts and wants us to minister to others who are going through the same experience in their lives. Whenever we go through an experience of brokenness in our lives , we are in an unique position to be used by the Lord to minister healing and restoration to the broken hearted . The wounds of Jesus ministers healing to our lives . In the same way , we can allow the Lord to use the wounds in our lives to minister healing to others . We must allow the Lord to heal our wounds and then we can use that healing experience to reach out to others and enable them to experience the same healing in their lives. Instead of mourning over our heart breaking experiences , we must see the possibility of using them to become a channel of healing to others. When we want to be used by God , we must be willing to go through the process He chooses to prepare us. We must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The trials we go through qualify us to minister to a hurting humanity.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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JOHN 12:24
" I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. "
2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-4
" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
I PETER 2:24
" He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. "
2 TIMOTHY 2:3
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
3. PITY
The Lord is seated on the throne of Grace with a heart of compassion towards us because He can sympathize with all our weaknesses. During His life on earth , the Lord has gone through all the trials and tribulations and temptations that we go through in our lives and He understands our pain and sorrow and humiliation and temptations . Therefore we can approach Him confidently in our times of brokeness because He understands us and sympathizes with our weaknessess and He is ready to shower His grace and mercy upon us. When we go through painful trials , we would be able to understand the pain and agony of people and have a heart of compassion towards them.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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ISAIAH 53:3-5
" He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,and by his wounds we are healed. "
HEBREWS 4:15-16
" For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. "
4. POWER
The Lord reveals His power in our times of weakness and brokeness. Sometimes we may face trials and challenges which are not removed from our lives. The Apostle Paul experienced a thorn in the flesh which was not removed despite his repeated prayers . But the Lord revealed to him , that at such times the grace of God will be sufficient for him. The thorn in his flesh , the messenger of satan who was tormenting him kept him from becoming proud about his spiritual experiences. The Apostle Paul did not become sad or ashamed of his weakness. Instead he was glad and proud of his trials. He took pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. He knew that when he was weak in his own strength , he was filled with the strength of God. The Lord reveals His power in our weakness . We will always rely on the grace of God and rest on the strength of the Lord. We will remain humble about everything that we accomplish in our time of weakness , because we realise that it is only the power of God that helped us to achieve it. We are humbled by such experiences because we know it is purely the grace of God .
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
" But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 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. "
5.PERCEPTION
The Lord is working in our lives all the time. Sometimes we may not understand what the Lord is doing in our lives. At such times we must simply trust the Lord and believe that He has a purpose in what He is doing . The Lord Jesus told Peter, while washing his feet ,that although Peter did not realise the significance of what Jesus was doing at that time, he would be able to understand it later. Sometimes we may also go through such experiences. Sometimes it may appear as though the Lord is not doing anything in our lives. At such times we must realise that God is always working in our lives , even though sometimes we may not be able to see it . Sometimes God works secretly and behind the scenes and He will reveal His work to us when the time is right. Job tried to see the work of God during his time of trial and he could not see it. Then he understood that even if he did not understand what has happening in his life, the Lord knew the path through which he was going and after his trial he would come forth as gold.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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JOHN 13:7
" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
JOHN 5:17
" Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
JOB 23:8-10
"But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. "
6. PARTNERSHIP
The Lord went through a path of suffering and pain to fulfill His mission on the cross. If we want to know the Lord intimately in our lives , we should be willing to be a partaker in His sufferings . The Apostle Paul realised that if he wanted to Know Christ in an intimate way , he should have the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings . If we do not want to share in the sufferings of Christ , we cannot really know Christ in an intimate way. Therefore whenever we go through a path of suffering and brokeness , it is an opportunity for us to know Christ intimately because we are sharing in His sufferrings and through that we can understand His ways and experience His heart.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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PHILIPPIANS 3:10-11
" 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,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. "
I PETER 4:12-13
" Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."
PHILIPPIANS 1:29
" For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, "
7. PROLIFERATION
The Lord can take our life experiences and use it to bless multiitudes . If we allow the Lord to heal our broken hearts and use us to heal the broken hearted , then all our life experiences of pain and sorrow and brokenness will not go in vain. Instead they can be an instrument in the hand of the Lord to heal and bless multitiudes. Even our failures and sins can serve as a warning to others . Others can learn from our mistakes and avoid needless suffering . The sins of the Israelites serve as a warning to us . The Lord who took a little lad’s food of five loaves and two fishes and fed more than five thousand , can do the same when we give all our life experiences in His hand. Just as He blessed and broke the bread and multiplied it , the Lord can take our lives in all its brokeness and multiply our usefulness to others.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
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MATTHEW 14: 15-21
" As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said.
And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. "
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-12
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
They all ate the same spiritual food
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
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