You and I live in a fallen creation. Sin and death have entered the world. Everyone is born with a rebellious sin nature. No one can see God face-to-face as Adam and Eve did and live. Sometimes the storms of life seem overwhelming. We ask ‘where is Jesus’?  Does He really know and care about our hurts? In this study we will examine what the Bible says Jesus is doing, even when life hurts.

Next in this series we will examine how Jesus Christ is working all things for His glory. All things includes your growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and your circumstances.  

Glory = very great honor, praise, distinction, admiration, resplendent magnificence

Ephesians 1

⁸ Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

⁹ Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

¹⁰ That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

¹¹ In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

¹² That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ

Hebrews 3:

¹ Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

² Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.

³ For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

⁴ For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

⁵ And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

⁶ But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

⁷ Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice,

⁸ Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

⁹ When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

¹⁰ Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

¹¹ So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.

¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

¹⁵ While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

¹⁶ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

¹⁷ But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸ And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Do you see the requirement for faith as Jesus Christ builds you?

Builder = one who constructs, one who increases effectiveness

Ponder for some time the depth of Jesus Christ’s knowledge of you and His purpose for your life

What are some of all the things Jesus Christ has built?

Creation                               Laws of nature                         Your salvation

Your biological relatives     Your physical appearance     Your conforming to the image of Christ

Your strengths                     Your limitations                       Your experiences

Your circumstances             Your special relationships        Your church family

Paul tells us in this chapter the requirement for confidence to prevent unbelief

Confidence =full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person

⁶But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope

¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

Remember the confidence you had in Jesus when you first received Him as your Lord and Savior? Confidence that He is real, confidence that He is able, confidence that He loves you, confidence that He is faithful – the confidence of a child.

Do you have that child-like confidence in Him?

Are you looking at circumstances? If so, why?

Are you looking at other people? If so, why?

Are you looking at Jesus only?

Jesus Christ is worthy of glory

Isaiah 42:

⁸ I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

John 1:

¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 11:

³ Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

⁴ When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby

John 17:

⁴ I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

⁵ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

2 Peter 1:

¹⁶For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

¹⁸ And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

Jude

²⁴ Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

²⁵ To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Revelation 4:

⁸ And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

⁹ And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

¹⁰ The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹ Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

To God be the Glory, Fanny Crosby, 1875

To God be the glory, great things He has done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,

And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

Questions for reflection

• How intimate must Jesus Christ be with you in order to work in you?

• On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your faith today? Why?

• On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your confidence in Jesus Christ today? Why?

Hebrews 12:

¹ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Dearly Beloved,

Run with your eyes on Jesus alone!

Run in faith that Jesus loves you, has uniquely designed and created only one you, has a good plan for your life, runs with you and will accomplish His purposes for you and through you!

Run in His strength alone!

Run with your eyes on the prize!

Run with your focus on His mission: to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ!

Run with the desire to finish strong!

Run with the desire to finish with your lamp burning!

Run with the expectation of being in His physical presence when you cross your finish line!

Run to His glory alone!

Run and keep on running!

Coach Patti