10/5/25 SERMON NOTES - FORGED IN THE FIRE WEEK6 | Tyler Kirby
Psalm 115:1 NLT “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name goes all the glory…”
1John 4:4 NLT “…the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world."
Joshua 1:9 NIV “Be strong and courageous … for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Title: Suffering’s End
The fires of suffering are not forever. God has promised a day when the suffering will end and we’ll be restored.
Romans 8:18 NLT “18Yet (or “I consider” - means “to reckon, calculate, weigh out.) what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later."
-Paul experienced suffering
2 Corinthians 11:23-28 NLT “23…I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.”
-Paul experienced God’s glory
(1) Road to Damascus…he encountered the resurrected Lord Jesus
(2) 2 Corinthians 12:2,4 NLT “2I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know - only God knows…4I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”
Paul compared his suffering to the glory he had experienced. His verdict: It’s nothing compared to the glory coming.
Romans 8:19-22 NLT "19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. 20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
1. We will suffer … but it’s temporary
The glory awaiting us will eclipse our present suffering.
2Corinthians 4:17 NLT “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!"
Revelation 21:1-5 NIV “1Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ 5He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (‘new’ - previously unknown, previously unheard of)
2. Suffering dies and God makes all things new.
Romans 8:23-25 NLT “23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for (because) we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. 24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”
3. We must be patiently hopeful, knowing restoration is coming.
Romans 12:12 NIV “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
2Corinthians 4:18 NLT "So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
Stephen is a great example of this… Acts 7:51-60
Suffering will happen. We must keep our eyes on Jesus…because it won’t last forever