East Baptist Church

This is an index of Paul's difficulties and hardships that he experienced during his ministry. But there is another way of looking at hardships and difficulties in ministry, or in life: they are adventures. They are tests of your faith. They refine us and mature us. Be a Christian who has adventures, who takes risks, and who suffers with Christ.

Jesus calls us, and when He calls us, He says "Die to yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." I don't know about you, but for me the constant struggle is "Jesus, how can I follow you without dying? How can I still hold on to the things that make me comfortable? How can I still hold on to the things that make me feel safe? How can I love you and love what I have?" But I can't. That is a divided loyalty, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. Your eye must be singularly focused on Christ, not casting longing glances at the world along the way.

God says that He is making everything new. Jesus inaugurates a new covenant. You have gone through a new birth, and have new desires. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

Paul has a sense of duty that motivates him: it's the love of Christ. Christ died for all; I'll say it again, Christ died for all! All mankind, all nations, all cultures, all ages, all classes, everyone with a "weird" accent, He died for them as well. Christ died for all, Hallelujah!

We will have a body dominated by the Spirit. We are called now to please God in our bodies, and then we will be called to please God in our bodies as well. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit! Therefore, glorify God with your body.