Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
066 - Thanksgiving for Grace in Suffering
63 Plays2 years ago
Trials are hard to endure, and no one enjoys suffering. But the Grace of God in the midst of that suffering brings us through, and when we express gratefulness for that Grace, then God get's great glory.
God get's glory from thanksgiving for grace, but it requires suffering for that grace to be known. Listen to this encouraging message from 2 Cor. 4:15.
Check out Jarod at PreacherDad.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Mission
00:00:13
Speaker
PreacherDad.com
00:00:36
Speaker
You can find out more about me and what we do here at Preacher Dad.
00:00:39
Speaker
We're trying to equip and inspire Christians to engage in the culture war.
00:00:46
Speaker
And that is something that's very important to us here.
00:00:49
Speaker
And I hope that's important to you too.
00:00:51
Speaker
Well, folks, it's the day before Thanksgiving's Thanksgiving season, and it's a very important time for me.
00:00:58
Speaker
Hope it's an important time for you.
Thanksgiving and Humor
00:01:00
Speaker
And you know, at important seasons like this,
00:01:03
Speaker
I think it's important to share something funny.
00:01:05
Speaker
We need to laugh.
00:01:06
Speaker
We need to enjoy things together.
00:01:09
Speaker
So I got a dad joke for you today.
00:01:11
Speaker
A couple of them.
00:01:14
Speaker
First of all, you know, I'm afraid for the calendar because its days are numbered.
00:01:22
Speaker
Its days are numbered.
00:01:23
Speaker
I know.
00:01:24
Speaker
That's hilarious, right?
00:01:26
Speaker
Very funny.
00:01:28
Speaker
My wife said I should do lunges to stay in shape.
00:01:32
Speaker
I think that would be a big step forward.
00:01:36
Speaker
What do you think?
00:01:37
Speaker
Big step forward?
00:01:38
Speaker
Maybe?
00:01:39
Speaker
Maybe?
00:01:43
Speaker
You know, singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth.
00:01:47
Speaker
Then it's a soap opera.
00:01:49
Speaker
Ha ha!
00:01:51
Speaker
Ha ha!
00:01:51
Speaker
Right?
00:01:52
Speaker
Thank you.
00:01:55
Speaker
I like that one too.
00:01:57
Speaker
Uh huh.
00:01:58
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:02:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:00
Speaker
All right.
00:02:01
Speaker
Take it easy, bud.
00:02:02
Speaker
Take it easy.
00:02:02
Speaker
Take it easy.
00:02:03
Speaker
This is not that funny.
00:02:05
Speaker
What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common?
00:02:09
Speaker
A tick and the Eiffel Tower.
00:02:12
Speaker
Well, they're both parasites.
00:02:16
Speaker
Right?
00:02:17
Speaker
Let's hear that baby
Sponsor Message: Cornerstone Fellowship
00:02:18
Speaker
laugh again.
00:02:18
Speaker
Thank you, Mr. Producer.
00:02:21
Speaker
Thank you, bud.
00:02:23
Speaker
Oh, I love that laugh.
00:02:24
Speaker
Beautiful, wonderful to hear children laugh.
00:02:26
Speaker
Well, I hope that's made you smile a little bit today, folks.
00:02:29
Speaker
I'm sure grateful for all of you listeners that are out there.
00:02:33
Speaker
And I want to talk to you a little bit
00:02:35
Speaker
about Thanksgiving and its impact upon us, a passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians 4, I want to point out to you.
00:02:44
Speaker
But first, I want to let you know that this episode of the Preacher Dad podcast is brought to you by Cornerstone Fellowship.
00:02:51
Speaker
Cornerstone Fellowship is a small little country church located just a few miles north of Tombsboro, Georgia, and
00:02:59
Speaker
on Highway 112.
00:03:00
Speaker
You can come and find us there, and you will find biblical teaching and welcoming people.
00:03:07
Speaker
And we are just a place where we would love for you to be able to join us.
00:03:13
Speaker
You can catch us online on Facebook.
00:03:15
Speaker
You can look us up at Cornerstone Fellowship on Facebook, or you can also go directly to our website.
00:03:21
Speaker
That's cornerstonefellowship-ga.org.
00:03:27
Speaker
And we are very grateful to Cornerstone for their sponsorship of the Preacher Dad podcast.
Spiritual Significance of Thanksgiving
00:03:33
Speaker
Well, folks, I want to take you to 2 Corinthians 4.
00:03:40
Speaker
And it's a really encouraging passage there of Scripture.
00:03:45
Speaker
In 2 Corinthians 4, we see, well, the Apostle Paul says,
00:03:55
Speaker
is talking about in verses 8 and 9, he says, We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.
00:04:10
Speaker
Verse 10 says, Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
00:04:21
Speaker
A little further down, it says in verse 15, for it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
00:04:34
Speaker
Thanksgiving increases the glory of God.
00:04:36
Speaker
Now, I mean, certainly the holiday itself of Thanksgiving increases glory to God.
00:04:41
Speaker
That's why people like to ignore it and jump right to Christmas and get to Santa Claus and reindeer and snowflakes and snowmen and presents and just leave Jesus out, please.
00:04:52
Speaker
But they love to jump right over Thanksgiving because it's hard to talk about saying thank you
00:05:01
Speaker
without talking about who you are saying thank you to.
00:05:05
Speaker
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday because on Thanksgiving, we thank the God of heaven.
00:05:12
Speaker
for bringing our nation into existence, and that brings Him glory.
Suffering and Grace
00:05:16
Speaker
We thank the God of heaven for the amazing blessings that we have been given here in the United States of America, and it started with the pilgrims who recognized the providential blessing that they had in coming to this country, and it has carried on down the years to all of us here, and now here we are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow.
00:05:38
Speaker
And you know, you might be listening to this on Thanksgiving Day, maybe the very day of Thanksgiving.
00:05:45
Speaker
And so Thanksgiving increases the glory of God, but it does it through the grace that is given to us.
00:05:55
Speaker
And you know, grace means more if we receive it in hardships and trials.
00:06:03
Speaker
That's why the Apostle Paul said we bear in our bodies the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifested also in our bodies.
00:06:14
Speaker
But in order for us to manifest the life of Jesus, we have to die.
00:06:19
Speaker
In order for us to display the grace of God and therefore say thank you to God for His grace,
Grace in Trials
00:06:27
Speaker
we have to endure suffering.
00:06:30
Speaker
And honestly, I
00:06:31
Speaker
It is through suffering that grace is manifested more obviously.
00:06:38
Speaker
More obviously, it's through the suffering of Jesus Christ upon the cross that we have grace in the first place and bestowed upon us through His suffering.
00:06:48
Speaker
But then the grace of God that brings to us the life of Jesus is manifested through more often, I won't say in every situation,
00:06:59
Speaker
But more often, the grace of God that brings upon us the life of Jesus manifested in our bodies comes through suffering.
00:07:09
Speaker
That's why Paul said, I am perplexed.
00:07:12
Speaker
Let me look it up.
00:07:15
Speaker
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.
00:07:18
Speaker
Perplexed, but not driven to despair.
00:07:20
Speaker
Persecuted, but not forsaken.
00:07:23
Speaker
Struck down, but not destroyed.
00:07:26
Speaker
He said, we are enduring all of this suffering.
00:07:29
Speaker
but it has not taken us under because the grace of God is manifested in us.
00:07:35
Speaker
We die, we are subjected to suffering so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us, but suffering is necessary.
00:07:47
Speaker
So have you stopped to thank God for the grace He's given you in your suffering?
00:07:53
Speaker
You might be enduring a lot of suffering today.
00:07:56
Speaker
I don't know.
00:07:57
Speaker
I just know that in my life, I have seen God's grace to be sufficient through the suffering I have endured.
00:08:04
Speaker
And I won't go into a life testimony here, but suffice to say, I have seen a decent amount.
00:08:12
Speaker
And this year has been a pretty rough year.
00:08:15
Speaker
But I will say that God's grace has been made manifest in my life.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I give God gratefulness and thanksgiving for
00:08:25
Speaker
because of his grace, not because things are bad.
00:08:28
Speaker
The Bible doesn't say, for all things, give thanks.
00:08:32
Speaker
It does say that in one verse, but it's not really, that's the King James, and it's not meant to communicate that.
00:08:39
Speaker
Anyway, I'm getting off on a rabbit trail.
00:08:43
Speaker
The Bible does say, in all things, give thanks.
00:08:48
Speaker
And I think it's 1 Thessalonians.
00:08:51
Speaker
In all things, give thanks.
00:08:54
Speaker
That means I thank God for the grace I have in the suffering.
00:08:58
Speaker
And when I do that, God gets more glory.
Future Podcasts and Gratitude
00:09:01
Speaker
The glory of God increases when I say thank you for the grace.
00:09:07
Speaker
Once again, that verse, 2 Corinthians 4.15, For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
00:09:19
Speaker
But grace is extended to us because grace
00:09:23
Speaker
suffering because we need it, because we're having hard times.
00:09:27
Speaker
So don't think it strange, my brethren, to quote the Apostle Peter, think it not strange, my brethren, when you endure various trials, for that trial is working in us an exceedingly great reward.
00:09:43
Speaker
And so that's what I want to bring to you today.
00:09:46
Speaker
I want to encourage you to say thank you in the midst of your trials, to increase thanksgiving,
00:09:54
Speaker
so that God might get the glory in our lives.
00:09:56
Speaker
And that's really why we're here at all.
00:09:58
Speaker
We are here.
00:09:59
Speaker
We are engaged in this culture war.
00:10:01
Speaker
We are trying to advance the truth, proclaim the gospel, proclaim Jesus Christ in our society and in our world, proclaim the lordship of Christ over every area of life in order to bring Him glory.
00:10:16
Speaker
So if you want to bring Him glory on this Thanksgiving, then thank Him for the grace He affords us through trials.
00:10:24
Speaker
All right, friends, that's all I have to share with you today.
00:10:26
Speaker
Kind of a short episode today, but I hope that God will bless you and give you grace, draw you close to him.
00:10:32
Speaker
I hope that you will look around the table this Thanksgiving and thank God for all of the many blessings.
00:10:39
Speaker
We have so many things to thank God for, and that's something that we all need to do more of.
00:10:46
Speaker
So I hope that you will do it, and I hope that this has helped, and I hope that I'll see you again here next time on the Preacher Dad Podcast.
00:10:53
Speaker
Thank you.
00:10:54
Speaker
Bye-bye.