The Hope Cycle | Holly Furtick

Today I'm jumping right into the middle of the passage where Paul is encouraging the Church of Corinth not to give up during their times of trouble. And here's what he says. He says, but this precious treasure, this light and power that now shine within us is held in perishable containers that is in our weak bodies, so everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and not our own. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and we keep going. Wow. Paul is preaching with his pen. I just love these words. They bring me so much hope and so much courage. I love that phrase that says that we are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. Another version of the Bible says at times we don't know what to do, but quitting is not an option. Have you ever felt hard pressed in on every side? Like maybe one of your kids is acting up? And also money is tight and people are talking about you at church. And not just people, but the very people that you are giving your life to, minister to. And then just when you think you cannot handle another thing, your car breaks down. Of course it does. Well, if you've ever felt this way, congratulations. You are officially a grownup. But how do we deal with this? How do we deal with this pain that we feel when we're pressed in on every side? How do we keep going when we don't understand why all of these things are happening? How do we persevere when we are being pressed? If we can figure out how to answer these questions, we can find that abundant life in the midst of pain. Because, you see, pain and suffering are just a common denominator of life. No one is exempt from pressing seasons. I don't know if you're like me, though, but somewhere along the line, I got mixed up with the idea that if I was a good girl, if I gave my life to the work of God, that somehow I might be exempt from. From some of the pain and suffering of this world. Maybe not all of it, but some. But the truth is that as believers in Christ and as women in leadership, we are not exempt from suffering. A couple of months ago, I was in the middle of one of these pressed on every side seasons. I'm smiling now, but I was not smiling then. I was struggling through an immense personal. It was like an ongoing thing that I just couldn't seem to get over. And I was dealing with an issue with one of my kids. And then I had another child who had missed several days of school because of breathing issues. And all the while I was preparing to preach that upcoming weekend at our church for Mother's Day. And just when I thought I could not deal with one more thing, my middle child got sick and. And threw up all over the bathroom floor and into the floor vent. That is a true story. But it was during that time that the Lord revealed something to me in scripture that's become really special to me. And I wanna share it with you today. So I wanna hop over to Romans 5 and show this to you. Romans 5:1 says this. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character. And character. Hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts and through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see, while we're not exempt from the pain and suffering of this world, we do, as believers in Christ, have a special hope. It's a hope in the glory of God. It's that Romans 8, 28, hope that knows that even though I may never even get to see on this side of heaven the good in my situation, I believe deep down in my core that God is working this for me, for good. And the beautiful thing about this hope is that the longer that I know Christ, the more my hope builds. I like to call this the hope cycle. And I wanna take a second to draw it out for you on the board, because you just have to see this. So Paul tells us that we have this hope. Now. This is a special hope. It's a hope in the glory of God. It's not a hope like, oh, I hope this goes well. But it's a hope that is backed by Jesus Christ and our belief in him and my calling by him. But Paul also tells us that we all will experience times of suffering. Now, like I said, no one is exempt from suffering. Suffering is a part of life. You're not suffering because you're a pastor's wife. You're suffering because you're a person. And as I said, just because you gave your life to Christ, just because you've Given your life to his church doesn't mean that you're exempt from pain and suffering. Your pain as a woman in leadership may look different from your neighbors, it may look different from mine, but we all see suffer. But Paul tells us that this suffering produces perseverance. Now, perseverance is that strength deep down inside of you that allows you to push through the pressing and then look back on the other side and realize that you, in fact, can do hard things. That even in your pain, you clung to your source. You pushed through, you kept showing up, you kept going to church. You're not perfect, but you kept caring for your family. You didn't crawl into bed and tell everyone where they could go. You persevered. And the beautiful thing is that perseverance, Paul shows us, builds character. Now, character is that when I'm on the other side of this suffering, I've experienced this suffering, I've persevered. But as I get on the other side of it, I realize that I'm stronger than I was before. I'm wiser than I was before. I've learned a few things. My faith is. Is deeper than it was when I went into that time of suffering. And character leads us back to hope. But it's not the same hope that it was before. It's a little stronger and it's a little deeper. And the next time that I head into another period of suffering, because we always are going, we're either coming out or going into a time of suffering, but the next time that I go into it, I go into it different than I was before. This is called growth. Now, it would be really convenient if we only had to go through one cycle at a time, right? But Paul's talking to these guys in Corinth, and he says that he was pressed on every side. So that means that while this may be the major thing going on in your life, maybe an ongoing issue that you're facing, you also have all these little side jobs going on, too. Like maybe you're trying to get through a class, or maybe one of your kids is taking a class and they're struggling and you're trying to help them with their fourth grade math. I don't know, just an example. Or maybe you've got an issue that's going on in your marriage, or maybe there's a person in your life that's just, you know, kind of a difficult person to deal with it. Maybe a family member. It may be Ms. Bertha at church. So we'll put that there. And there are all these Small things going on. We're pressed on every side. Remember, we have small things going on while we're dealing with this bigger issue. But you know what? You also have. You have cycles that you've already been through in the past. You have things that you have overcome. So maybe you overcame an illness or maybe you actually got out of debt. You paid that debt off. I'm going to write debt free. Or maybe you actually raised kids. You made it through the baby stage and the school age stage and you raised teenagers. God help all of us who are raising teenagers. But your kids are out of the house and they love God. I'm just going to put teens there. You made it through that situation. You suffered, you, but you persevered and you got character out of each of these situations. All of these situations are building our hope through the current issue that we're going through today. They're sustaining us through our present suffering. And meanwhile, our character is being built. You know, sometimes when I'm going through a tough time, I'll just pray, Lord, I want to get everything out of this situation that you have for me. I want to get something from this pain. I want to know you better. I want to be a stronger woman. I want to be kinder and more sympathetic. I want to have a deeper faith. God, whatever it is that you have for me, I want it because I want to get something for my trouble. No one can build your character for you. Now. I believe in the power of having the right people to support us on our journey. I think that having the right people is essential to your survival. But people can only offer you support and encouragement. They cannot persevere for you. No one can persevere for you. No one can build your strength. You can have a workout partner, but if you don't lift the weights, you won't gain the muscle. If you stay here stuck in your suffering, if you don't persevere, then you'll never get to the other side of this character that God is building in you. Our hope is built on Jesus. And yes, we are pressed on every side and we don't understand the sufferings of this present world. But we do not lose heart. We do not give up because we have a hope that will anchor our souls in time. He was there for me before and he will be there again. My prayer for us today is two things. One, that you would be encouraged to know that your suffering will not be in vain. It won't on the other side of this trial. And yes, you will get to the other side. On the other side of this suffering, there is wisdom and. And there is strength and there is character that you are going to gain from it. But I also pray today that you would remember that you would think back to all of the times when God has come through for you. If you have a second, when I'm done, grab a pen and just reflect on the things that God has seen you through. Let your past fuel your present. So I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you were with us yesterday and you are with us today and you will be with us tomorrow with whatever we're facing. And we thank you, God, that we know that you will receive all the glory that is our hope and it's in you and you alone, Jesus. Amen. Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that that encouraged you today. 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