We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
7 sermons cite this verse
… on. The second example we have is the determination of Paul. And Paul was determined to keep going in spite of pain. We find that in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 and 9. It's there on your outline. Paul says there in the New Living Translation, we are hard pressed on every side by troubles. Does that sound familiar? Maybe you feel right now, you're hard pressed on every side by troubles. In other words, it's coming at you from any different directions. Paul says we're hard pressed on many sides, every side by troubles, but we're not crushed and broken. And then he says, we're perplexed. In other words, sometimes we're confused. We don't know which way to go, don't give up and quit. That's the termination. We don't give up and quit. And then he says, we're hunted down, but God never abandons us. And he says, yes, we get knocked down, but we get up again and we keep going. Both Jesus and Paul use this phrase, how to keep going. …
… 2 Corinthians 4, 7. belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thank you. You may be seated. I read an amazing little spy story recently, just after the end of World War II, as the Cold War was really starting to heat up. The British ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., needed to get an urgent piece of communication back to London, but he didn't want to use the phone lines because he suspected that the Soviets might have already bugged the phone lines. There was this little diplomatic box that traveled back and forth across the pond every day between London and Washington, D.C., but the information that this ambassador had was so sensitive and so critical that he did not want to risk it being in a place that the Soviets might target it for some kind of heist or theft. …
… and that what allows us to respond to life so boldly is because you have a subconscious boldness. The text, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8 and 9, For we are troubled on every side, but we're not distressed. That was last week's sermon for those of you who were in church. And then you're perplexed, but you're not in despair. And you're persecuted, but you haven't been forsaken by God. And you've been thrown to the ground, but you haven't shattered. because at the same time, while you're troubled on every side, God will put a cushion on your consciousness. God will buffer you for the battle. God will massage you through the midnight, and God at the same time won't allow trouble to do but so much, and that's really what I want to continue talking about today because in that game of life, you cannot give up just because you hit a bad spot in the game. Pastor Pope put it like this. You're one spin away from a breakthrough. …
… And I want to read verses 7 through 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 7 through 10. and it says this, 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. Ooh, I love all those verses right there. Ooh, I could run around this building on just all of that. Always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Isn't that profound? It's amazing. If you don't have the right perspective in life, you'll make horrible decisions. You'll enter into depression. you'll lose confidence in God if your perspective of the circumstances in your life are not right. And if I could just drop this one little section of Scripture and get you to look at your life from a different vantage point life can be so much better. …
… And by his stripes we are healed. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but we are not in despair. The remix, why are you trying to figure it out? The Lord is already working it out. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty under God. For the pulling down a stronghold, I dare you to just pull it down. You just pull down every attack that's been assigned to your name, pull it down. Whatever's been trying to stop your raise, trying to stop your promotion, pull it down. Whatever's trying to stop your business, trying to stop your finances, pull it down. When you've been picked on, harassed, and bullied for so long, you begin to feel helpless. James Weldon Johnson said God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, the one who's brought us this far along the way. 300 years of degradation. 300 years of being marginalized and ostracized. 300 years of being castrated and lynched. …
… The righteous go through, number four, because we're becoming more powerful. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 through 12 is on the screen read it with me if you only look at us you might well miss the brightness this is Paul talking we carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives that's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. keep going keep going we've been surrounded and battered by troubles but we're not demoralized we're not sure what to do but we know that God knows what to do we've been spiritually terrorized but God hasn't we've been thrown down Thank you. but we haven't broken what they did to jesus they do to us trial and torture mockery and murder what jesus did among them he does in us what does he do So everything that you've gone through is to really connect you to Jesus. …
And then Paul describes the difficulty that he got in. He said, we're troubled on every side, but not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. What he's saying is, I've been knocked down, but I haven't been knocked out. I keep getting up, always bearing about in the body, that is my body, this clay pot, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our bodies. Now what Paul is saying is, listen, it's not me thereafter, it's Jesus. I simply have Jesus on the inside of this clay pot. And the reason they keep striking the pot, the reason that they keep after this earthen vessel is because there is a treasure in this earthen vessel, and rather than treasuring the treasure, they detest the treasure, and so they're after me. But he says, when I endure these blows, I only endure the blows for Jesus who took the blows for me. …