The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Reliance - Perplexed But Not In Despair

Episode Date: April 28, 2024

God bless Steven Menking

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is

working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary,

but the things which are not seen are eternal. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your promises. Thank you for the hope that is in us. Thank you, Jesus, that you transform us from image to image and from glory to glory, that you are ever renewing us through your infinite and gracious strength. Thank you for providing everything we need, Lord. We look to you and we want to glorify your name, but we can only do so through your leading, through your word, through your strength, through communion with you. Jesus, all glory and worship is unto you. We love you and we bless you. Redeem this time. Help us to grow in our faith and to become more mature in our walk with you. Move us forward day by day, moment by moment, step by step. Hold us and be

with us now, Lord, as we seek your face and your will for this time. We bless you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. This powerful chapter from the book of 2 Corinthians, this is chapter 4, from the book of 2 Corinthians, this is chapter 4, is an exhortation and an encouragement that really strikes home to me because it speaks to the perseverance that is necessary. It speaks to the motivation that we have, and it speaks to this contrast of the things that we are laying down and the things that we are picking up. And in light of all these, it is critically important to understand that the impetus, the power, the origination, the cause of this transformation is dedicated and given exclusively to God here. It is because of Jesus that we have this life that can be manifested in our body. And there's, again, this constant contrast from Paul between the body of

death, the physical body, carnality, mortality, and the spiritual things, the life of Christ, this resurrection life symbolized by baptism that will come to fruition. The promise of the resurrection is stated again here clearly because of the fruits of the gospel. And in this way, it is incredibly important for us to be reminded of this, to think about the position that the disciples and the apostles were in as they went about their way in a world that was incredibly hostile to what they had to say, apart from the agency of the Holy Spirit and these powerful supernatural transformations,

this inward renewal. Paul writes that we are hard pressed on every side. We are perplexed. We are persecuted. We are struck down, but we are not crushed. We are not in despair, not forsaken, not destroyed. And that conflict, that eternal struggle is something that plays out in our lives, even if we are not in the same position as the Apostle Paul. It doesn't take much for us to feel like we are hard pressed. We as people in the flesh are in circumstances in our day-to-day lives where it doesn't take a whole lot, depending on our attitude, depending on our mindset, to ruin a day, to occupy our minds. things out of every 100 things or 999 things out of every 1000 things could be going perfectly or just fine. But we can always fixate on that one thing that just takes over our consciousness and just affects us so disproportionately. And that's because we're not disinterested. We are not in a situation where we can step back in all circumstances and say, okay, well, let me write down a list of all of the things that are going

on. Here's this thing. And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. We don't run those processes. But if we are to absorb the lessons that are taught in witticisms and pithy sayings, like don't sweat the small stuff, we have to have an understanding of why. But there is something strong built into us and part of our survival instinct and many other things where we will wait and carry more towards the negative emotion side. One negative thing will, even if the objective impact is comparable to a positive thing that's happening at the same time, it won't put us in a better position. We will always fixate on the negative more so than the positive in our own natural selves. And this is why if you think about just people's own self-reported happiness, let's say you compare one person who just walks down the sidewalk from point A to point B,

another who walks down the sidewalk and finds a $20 bill, but then a gust of wind blows it away and they don't have it anymore. The person in the second situation is worse off mentally and psychologically than the person in the first situation, even though objectively speaking, they're in the same situation. They were at the starting point. And so the negative emotional content of losing that money outweighs the gain of that kind of windfall. we are in a situation where we're in a high-paced world where tons of things are happening day to day. There are always going to be things that are disappointing, bad, just negative things that can happen, particularly if we're paying attention to what's going on in the world. And our own disposition is primed to fixate on negative emotion. And so we're not going to be able to outweigh those things without specific and directed effort.

However, we find ourselves with a resource. We find ourselves understanding what Paul is writing to say he's going through, not just him, but those who are preaching Christ, they're going through tremendous difficulty. They're hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, but they're not in despair, and they're not forsaken and not destroyed. I want to focus on the forsaken aspect here. If we know through the working out of our own walks with God that God is with us, and we know this not just propositionally from understanding the characteristics of God, but we know it personally because we see the activity of God in our lives. That comes along with the peace that passes understanding because when we understand who God is and the depth of the love that he has for us and his

power and his perfect love and his perfect knowledge, then we can walk through these things. We're not going to be able to do it otherwise. But when we see negative things happening, but we know that it will be for the glory of God, so this would exclude negative consequences happening from the bad things that we do, the things that we fail to do, the basics. But when we are earnestly striving for God and we see challenges come on, we know that all things are working together for God's glory. So if we place our intention on him, if we seek first the kingdom of God, then we will have the same kind of mentality and the same kind of attitude, not just of resilience or anti-fragility where we will get stronger

as we come under pressure, but peace amidst that. The kind of thing that these days is so desperately needed. And this is the life of Jesus and that Paul is saying may be manifested in our mortal flesh. We can live that life. Not that we can be sinlessly perfected like Jesus, because Jesus is a divine person and we are human persons. We are in a different state of affairs. So we are not God-like in that sense, although we are being perfected and made more into the image of Christ. And so when we find these sort of pockets in our lives where we go through seasons where we really do feel like that life is being present. We have to earnestly persevere to work to maintain that because there

is just something about the fabric of human existence that will draw us back down, that will draw us away from that, that will seek to distract or dissuade or discourage. And it's up to us to deliberately, every single day, to make that decision to say, I am completely dependent on God for everything that I need. I know he will not forsake me. I need to seek his face. I need to seek his will. I need to do what he wants me to do. And in so doing, the power of this risen life that Jesus possesses can be given to me in some measure. And so when we are of one mind about this, when we are unified in our service of Jesus and our desire to be obedient to Christ, there can be this kind of renewal and this kind of refreshing of fellowship where rivers of water are pouring out. And it's just something ineffable that everyone understands. So this is good, this is right, this is powerful.

And whenever there is really good fellowship, really solid fellowship, and then you return to your routine, you understand how much or how far away these two things can often be, the mundane against the sacred, and the day-to-day routines against special times of fellowship, whether they're at conferences or hopefully in your local church and everything else like that. And it impresses upon us, or at least it should, the question that, well, why isn't that an everyday routine? that, well, why isn't that an everyday routine? Why isn't that something that should be a better and larger part of our lives? And it's a good question. We don't have to live the ways that we do. We can be changed in this regard. We have to make some deliberate choices in order to do that, but it can start at home. Imagine a household where there is genuine Christ-centered,

uplifting, mutually encouraging, iron sharpens iron, worshipful fellowship that persists between a husband and a wife and their children, God willing. In that kind of environment, you have this Holy Spirit fellowship where two or three are gathered together and he is in the midst. And that is a purposeful part of day-to-day activities and is just an ongoing normal type of thing. And I think for families in today's day and age, that is harder and harder to get. There is so much desperation for genuine community, genuine friendships. And this is particularly true for people who have, you know, they were operating in the world before getting saved. They have friends and colleagues and different kind of work environments and families.

But it's often a mixed bag and people aren't like-minded and you know how refreshing it is just to talk to some person and know that you're on the same page and you get one another as opposed to having to go through all of these machinations and calculations in your mind about what if I say this or that or the other thing and how is this going to impact stuff. There's just a release of tension when you know that you're with someone who is like-minded, particularly in spiritual things, particularly in a view of this world. And so if that is the case in our homes, think about the contrast. think about the difference, think about the power and the capability that is at play here. If husband and wife are unified in their worship and their

fellowship and they're talking about God and the things of God while they're taking care of their day-to-day duties and not getting sucked into all of the different frustrations that can come up, then there is power in that. Then we understand that there are challenges, but we will not be in despair because we have ongoing fellowship with the Lord and it is continually enriching and empowering and self-reinforcing in a way that points us as a picture to eternity. You know, there are certain times in life where you have an experience in the Lord with

other believers, and there's just something that impresses upon you. This is a taste of what heaven is like. And maybe that's in a particularly potent worship service where the Holy Spirit is present in such a powerful form. Maybe that is in a time of study and reflection where there's a genuine revelation about who God is so we can see something that we didn't see before that is revealed to us an incredible truth about God that is consistent with the scriptures and it's just real. We get some insight, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom.

Maybe it's a time in prayer where we see perseverance and even if we don't see everything about the answer just yet, we know that there is victory. We know that there is transformation. And we come out of that prayer changed in our attitude and in our mental approach to these things. And maybe it's in some other context. Maybe it's in the context of a conference of like-minded people talking about the same thing. But you get this taste of what blessing comes from unity, what blessing comes from people seeking the Lord and seeking the kingdom of God together. And it doesn't mean that everything is always going to be smooth sailing. That's certainly not guaranteed in this life. But what is guaranteed is that there's a blessing of God that is there and that it will be active and powerful and transformative.

And we can choose to place our effort into maintaining those kinds of experiences. You don't have to go chasing them elsewhere. You can find them in your own home. And by all means means avail yourself of them whenever they are available. But it's important for us to deliberately seek these things out. If we do not, then we're in a position to be missing out on one of these key counterbalancing forces, these key counterbalancing setups that can outweigh the sort of just deep gravity, the psychological gravity of the world that we live in and the situations we find ourselves in that can, you know, we're

guaranteed to be perplexed, but we're not necessarily guaranteed to be in despair. We have a refuge, we have a resource, we have a promise, we have a hope. We're not going to avoid being hard-pressed at every side in certain situations, but we have a protection. We have a fortress. We have a guardian so that we will not be crushed. There will be persecution. People, even people we love, people we care about, are not going to agree with us, approve of what we say, think, believe, or do. And there are people who would stand in opposition in dramatic ways in many cases. But we have a resource. We have a high priest.

We are not forsaken. We can even be struck down. Victories can be won against us in the natural. But we're not destroyed because ultimately our lives are in God's hands. And the Lord Jesus is alive. And he, God, who raised up the Lord Jesus, will also raise us up with Jesus. He will raise us up with Jesus. He will raise us up. We will not die, but live and live eternally. So Paul says, do not lose heart because you understand these things.

Challenges will come. Trials will come. We have a resource of infinite power, love, and gratitude We have a resource of infinite power, love, and gratitude in the grace of God. And when we are in a state of unity where we are actively pursuing him, having other people to push you along this route is so incredibly helpful, so incredibly valuable to maintain your trajectory. Do not lose heart. As Paul says, there's plenty to lose heart about, but we have to understand the situation. Paul says our outward man is perishing. There is no doubt about that. We are getting older slowly but surely, but it is a good thing that our outward and carnal impulses and everything

else that's associated with it perishes. These things don't lead us in the right direction. But the inward man is being renewed day by day, says Paul. Well, that is the countervailing situation. That is the countervailing force. There is no way to avoid the outward man perishing. But whether or not our inward man is being renewed day to day, I would encourage us to check. Is your inward man being renewed day by day? Is your spirit being refreshed day by day? Are you moving forward in the Lord day by day? Are you increasingly confident in his provision? Do you feel his peace more day by day? And if you zoom out from a day by day perspective, because there are times and seasons where we feel like we're doing better or worse, year by year, decade by decade,

whatever timescale by whatever timescale, do you know and can you point to scenarios and situations and tendencies and trends and just a general inclination that you are being renewed day by day? working towards it and fighting for it, then this perishing of the outward man will continue. It will continue unabated and our capacities will be eroded. And so this perspective of the temporary versus the eternal is absolutely critical. It allows Paul to describe what he is going through, which includes imprisonment and shipwreck and being physically beaten and ultimately being executed and martyred for the faith, to call it a light affliction. Well, in the light of a billion years, a few decades of pain is not much. And if you ask people, if you really understood the rewards, what price would you be willing to pay in order to arrive at those rewards? And again, we can't have the full picture,

but we can trust the word of God. We can know what Jesus has said. His promises are true. And it is perfectly appropriate for us to look on what we have to face as light affliction. But it will not seem like light affliction if our inward man is not being renewed day by day. It will seem like more than we can bear. And that is the state of affairs for many people in the world. I often look around and we see the statistics about mental health and depression and anxiety and all of this, and it's no surprise. We have people walking around without the resource of Jesus, without the grace of God, without the capacity for their inward man to be renewed day by day. And the world is so increasingly toxic in the human sense in terms of the propagation of negative information and

things that we can latch onto that ruin our day, that ruin our week, that ruin our hope, that steal all of these things from us, good things that God wants us to have, the peace that passes understanding, a contentedness in our spirit, restful sleep at night, health in our bodies. All these things can be stolen from us. And if we do not have the promise of glory, if we do not have a genuine true hope, if we do not have Jesus, if someone is in that position, how could they be being renewed? It must feel like such a Sisyphean task to imagine that you can just overcome anything that is coming against you. You will lose. The outward man is perishing. It doesn't matter how many mindfulness exercises you do. It doesn't matter what kind of workout and health routine

you have. It doesn't matter what kind of workshops you attend, self-improvement. It doesn't matter any of those things. There has to be real, ontologically secure, genuine hope and a complete understanding and an active walking with Jesus Christ, an active presence of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order for us to be renewed day by day. And only then, only then when we are regularly and persistently seeking this renewal, then we can say that the affliction that we are under is light and is but for a moment and is part of what is working for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And so it's one of those things where we read in the Bible and we say,

yes and amen, but it's easier said than done. We do not look at the things which are seen, which are temporary, but we look at the things which are seen, which are temporary, but we look at the things which are not seen, which were eternal. And on its face, you'd say, well, how do you look at something that is unseen? Well, how do you? We can see the impact of the promise of eternity, of the hand of God, of the Holy Spirit all around us. We can't see the physical substance of the third person of the Trinity himself as the Holy Spirit, but we know that he is at work. When we look, we don't just perceive with our eyes.

When the Bible says, look, in this context, we are taking in, we are perceiving, we are understanding. It is not just physical sight. In fact, everything around us, even the beauty that is embedded so magnificently in the creation of God will be rolled away and burnt up. creation of God will be rolled away and burnt up. There will be a new heavens and a new earth. There will be a new creation. We are promised that, and Jesus is faithful in his promises. The word of God is faithful in what it teaches. And so when we look at the temporal things around us, whatever is causing frustration or pain or hurt or damage or discouragement or any of these things. It is one thing to just say, okay, I know and I believe that I should be, quote unquote,

shrugging these things off. It's another to then say, okay, well, how am I going to do this? How am I successfully going to focus on the things that are eternal in such a way that it allows me to wake up every single day to face what I need to face and to take it on knowing that these are light afflictions because in many cases, they are extremely challenging circumstances, life impacting, life or death,

even circumstances that people find themselves in. But how can I face all of that and still say that my inward man is being renewed day by day, my spiritual life is strengthening, and I am moving forward and that these things will ultimately help bring glory to the kingdom of God and that they will do good in my life and in the lives of others. Well, there is no five-step process. There is no simple recipe. There is no easy solution. There is no shortcut, but there is a resource, a holy, a loving, a perfect, an omnipotent God who has infinite arrays of grace and strength and faith and every single spiritual resource that we need. And he earnestly wants to bestow these things upon us so that they can be used as a testimony to his glory and to his love so that others, many others would see with their

eyes and would come to believe in the gospel that the Lord and the Holy Spirit would lead and equip people in the faith in mighty and miraculous and powerful ways to serve and stand as a testimony to the power of God and the earth, which is what this generation is missing so desperately. So if we have takeaways here, take away this, that this is not something that can be established in isolation. Our propensity towards assigning heavier weights to the negative emotion that we encounter and the negative events as opposed to the positive means that we are always going to be getting dragged down unless we make a deliberate effort to find a way to counterbalance and to overcome that. And we have to realize that the way to overcome that is not something that we can successfully do across a long term, a long

span of time through our own effort and our own strength. It has to be through spiritual renewal and through walking with the Lord. And as we pursue those times of fellowship and quickening and strengthening that are so refreshing and powerful and unique and provide these tastes of heaven, our aspiration should be for that to be a constant state of affairs in our own homes. And in that situation, we will be much more readily able to say that whatever

affliction is facing us, whatever thing that we are going through is a light affliction. Even up to and including extremely disastrous circumstances and intense challenges and obstacles, we can say it is a light affliction. The only way that we can say that with a sincere and honest and transparent heart is if we know the Lord and we know his protection and his faithfulness and his promises and his word and what he has in store for us. And we have seen his love in our lives. We have seen answers to prayer. We have received from God the spiritual

resources on an ongoing basis that are necessary to take on what God has called us to. God made you for this time. God made you for this place. And God knows that there are challenges that are in your way, things that are coming against you. He has what you need in order to move forward. He wants you to have the resources to raise up day by day and to say, despite all of this that's going on, I have something that is going to outweigh it. There is, on one hand, the force of our own positive emotion and all of the things that we can muster up in ourselves. There is, on the other hand, the negative things that impact us, which will inexorably

outweigh the positive emotions and components that we can cultivate out of ourselves. But then there is the ultimate counterbalance to these challenges that come against us, and that is the power of God, the Spirit of God, the promises that are afforded to us, the eternal things of glory, the glory and the grace and the love of our wonderful God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through him that we can outweigh this perishing of our outer man, the challenges that come against us. And that will pale in comparison. It is so overwhelmed by the glory of God that it is not worthy of even being

compared. And this is the attitude. This is the proclamation. This is the preaching that you see from the apostle Paul who went through these challenges personally. He went through this who went through these challenges personally. He went through this disastrous impact and people coming against him on every side and betrayal and physical beatings and shipwrecks and imprisonments. He was in trouble constantly. He was in peril and in distress,

but he said, I have something greater. And it's not because he was able to cultivate something out of his own strength, but he received discipline and ability and giftings and encouragement and steadfastness directly from the Holy Spirit. It is only by the work of God as we seek him and seek first his kingdom and ask for these things. Jesus says, you have not because you ask not. So ask for a better view of these eternal things. Ask for the strength that we need as we declare our dependence on God and we establish that resolute humility that comes from an understanding of who he is and who we are

and where we are in this world, we will receive from the Lord. We will see his hand at work. We will be given strength for another day. Jesus said, sufficient to each day are the evils thereof. And I say yes and amen to that. We need this resource every single day. We need God's help every single day to counterbalance what is coming against us. And brothers and sisters, God doesn't take a day off from this. He doesn't tire of it.

It gives him glory. He loves to do it. He loves us and he loves to give these types of spiritual gifts to people who are earnestly seeking them who say, God, I need you in this situation. I don't need an answer, God, but I need you first and foremost. You are the answer. It doesn't matter how we get out of it. It doesn't matter how we get through it. As long as I have you, as long as I know I'm not forsaken, not destroyed, I will not be in despair. I will not be crushed. I can be hard pressed as much as possible. But if I have you, Lord, if I have this gospel, if I have this promise, if I have this hope, then nothing will be able to bring me into the depths of despair and destruction.

And brothers and sisters, have this hope within you. Jesus lived the perfect life. He went to the cross. He paid the price for our sins. He rose in glory as a testament to the victory that he won over sin, death, hell, and the grave. And he will raise us up on the last day with him, and we will be forever with the Lord. God, thank you that you have an answer for everything that ails us.

Thank you that you will not leave us in despair or forsaken or destroyed. Thank you that you will equip us. Thank you for renewing our inward man. Thank you for moving us forward in your kingdom. Glory to your name, Jesus. We declare you are worthy of all worship and glory and power forever and ever. You are holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. You will never not be. You will always be. And you are unchanging. You are the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

You are full of love for us. You are full of glory in yourself. And you are full of grace in all forms and fashions. Show us your grace, Lord. Holy Spirit, walk with us. Equip us for what we need. Help us to have the right perspective on these things. Speak into the lives of people now. Strengthen families and particularly husbands and wives as they seek to have their homes be places of productive fellowship in you. Please, Lord, transform these situations. Move us and place us where we need to be. God, let your will be done in our lives. That is what we want, Lord. We need you. We don't need any other program or any other approach or any other tactic. We need

you, God, and we need you desperately for our families, for our friends, for our children, for our society, for our world, and for the souls of those who are yet outside of you, Jesus. Bring your gospel to them, Holy Spirit, by whatever means necessary. Get a hold of their hearts. We love you, Lord, and pray that you would show forth your power, your goodness, and your glory in our lives. For your name's sake, Jesus, in your name, amen.