Crossroads

Last night at our Crossroads meeting, Mark Mullery preached from Isaiah 41:10 about God’s sovereignty and our suffering and how these two things connect. Here is a brief summary:

1. Sovereignty prepares you for suffering
2. Sovereignty comforts you in suffering
3. Sovereignty enables you to profit from suffering
4. Sovereignty equips you to comfort those who suffer
5. Sovereignty and suffering collide at the cross

I trust the truth of God’s sovereignty brought you comfort in your suffering as it did for me. I was particularly encouraged by the last point, thinking about the suffering that Christ went through so that our suffering would one day end… In heaven, there will be no more suffering, no more sickness, and no more death! Imagine that!

Well, just because we heard a message on suffering and sovereignty, it’s not going to make a difference in suffering unless we apply the truth. So here are some application questions:

• How have you responded when you suffered? How does God’s sovereignty help you in your suffering?
• What is your ‘home base’ (go-to verse) when it comes to suffering?
• How can you care for your friends who are suffering? What’s one thing you can do to help them remember God’s sovereignty? 

Mark mentioned 3 books that will help us think about suffering and God’s sovereignty. Here they are:

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (John Piper & Justin Taylor)

How Long, O Lord (D.A. Carson)

Trusting God (Jerry Bridges)