More Glory
Foundation Statement: 2 Corinthians 4:17-The spirit of faith will call the
trouble/pressure light and then make the trouble/the pressure work for it
I.
This affliction is
resulting in, accomplishing, and achieving more glory for him
A. Glory is reaching your
most exalted state and your most glorious condition
1.
Glory
is you becoming more excellent, more magnificent, more developed, reaching a
more exalted state and more glorious condition; Glory is you shining brighter,
it’s you increasing in dignity (elevation, honorable place or rank)
2.
In
that verse he’s saying this pressure, this distress, this trouble is resulting
in more glory in our lives
B. 1 Peter 1:11-Glory
follows suffering; Suffering and then glory
1.
He
is suffering and he says this suffering, this affliction leading to more glory
C. 1 Peter 4:1-2 (AMP)-The
suffering is, not giving into the flesh and doing what it wants, but rather
pleasing God; When you don’t do what your flesh wants to do you are suffering
1.
Hebrews
2:18-Jesus suffered, being tempted and not giving into what his flesh wanted
2.
Suffering is not just
going through something hard; if that was suffering everybody’s life would be
full of God’s glory, but it’s not
a. Suffering is going through something hard and staying in
faith (because that’s what your flesh doesn’t want to do and that’s what
pleases God)
1)
If
you go through something hard and freak out and flesh out and yield to fear and
unbelief you’re not suffering, you’re giving the flesh exactly what it wants; You’re
experiencing trouble, affliction and certainly it’s not comfortable but you’re
not suffering
2)
Most
people don’t suffer all that much because they fulfill the appetites of the
flesh rather than denying them
3.
To stay in faith with the
pressure is on is to suffer, but that suffering will lead to glory
a. When pressure shows up in
your life, the temptation is to give into the flesh and draw back in unbelief
and that doesn’t please God, but it does please your flesh (Your flesh loves
giving up, giving in)
b. When you suffer in faith
you then cause the pressure that showed up to destroy you to work for you and
bring about more glory
4.
We
are to arm ourselves with this same mind Jesus had towards suffering; The mind
that I’m not giving in, I’m not giving up, I’m not giving the flesh what it
wants; my flesh may not like it, but no matter what comes I’m going to stay in
faith and please God; it may get dark, but the darker it gets the brighter my
faith is going to shine-Hebrews 12:2
5.
Suffering
has to do with pleasing God and it’s impossible to please God without faith and
therefore it’s impossible to truly suffer if you are not in faith; the
suffering is staying in faith because that’s what your flesh doesn’t
want-Hebrews 11:6
a. If you’re not in faith
you’re not suffering and if you truly are suffering you do it with joy and
peace-Romans 15:13
D. 1 Peter 5:10-When you
stay in faith and properly handle the suffering, the glory comes
1.
After
you’ve suffered a while-That means your flesh wanted to do some stuff and you
stayed in faith
2.
This
perfecting, this strengthening, this establishing, this settling is you being
glorified, you coming up to a more exalted state and a more glorious condition
II.
This is how the spirit of
faith deals with pressure: He calls it light and then uses it to develop
A. *When you see pressure
you look at it and tell it two things: 1) You ain’t
nothing 2) You’re about to work for me
1.
When
David saw Goliath he said two things: 1) You ain’t
nothing 2) You’re about to work for me
B. Pressure shouldn’t be
working against you; you make pressure work for you
1.
A person with the spirit
of faith will make pressure work for him and use it to experience more of God’s
glory (You’re about to work for me)
2.
The spirit of faith will
use the pressure to develop, and will use pressure to climb up the kingdom
latter of (glory) magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
C. The pressure only worked
for them because of how they responded to and handled the pressure-2
Corinthians 4:8-18
1.
If
you don’t respond in faith to the pressure, then the pressure will be working
against you, you’ll be working for it and there’ll be no glory
D. *This pressure that came
to destroy him is actually now aiding in developing him, promoting him, and
bringing him up to a more exalted state and a more glorious condition; it’s
working for him
III.
The Spirit of faith will
use pressure to prove it’s worthy of promotion (Don’t misunderstand it promotion comes from the Lord, but he’s using
pressure to move that along-Psalm 75:6)
A. Handing pressure properly
positions you for promotion and proves you’re ready for it
1.
David
used lion and the bear (which was pressure) and the lion and the bear actually
worked for him and he developed and it got him promoted to Goliath and then
Goliath actually worked for him and he developed and it got him promoted to be
king-1 Samuel 17:34
B. *In times of pressure God
finds out who is worthy of promotion
1.
Anyone
of those men could have done what David did because they all had the same
covenant by which he did it
C. The spirit of faith looks
for opportunities to develop
1.
I’m
not saying the Lord didn’t tell David to do that, but nobody’s asking David to
go do this; it isn’t like David had a Moses experience with the burning bush
and thus says the Lord
2.
David
hunted pressure down and ran towards it
D. The pressure we are
experiencing is not at all to be compared to the glory that we’re getting
1.
What
we’re getting far outweighs what we’re having to do to get it
a. David kept saying, “I get
all this, just for doing this.” – What he has to do is not at all to be
compared with the glory that he’s going to get
2.
The glory were getting is
greater than the suffering we’re experiencing; it’s worth it
a. That’s why you can be
glad to do it and value the trying of your faith as precious because oh how
great the glory that comes
b. The trial of your faith
is precious because without it, there’s no glory, no development-1 Peter 1:7