Kingdom Harbor

Paul is my hero.

Explain his lengthy portfolio of sufferings away, you who dare propagate the demonic prosperity gospel leading so many astray today! One clear promise of the Bible, straight from the lips of Jesus, is that “in this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  For I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Likewise, the Apostle Peter couldn’t have been any clearer on the lot of those who choose to “take up their cross, deny themselves daily, and follow” Jesus: “Don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Below is the resume of the one Chuck Swindoll calls “a man of grit and grace.”

2 Corinthians 11:21-33

Paul said: “What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more.

• I have worked much harder
• been in prison more frequently
• been flogged more severely
• been exposed to death again and again
• Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one
• Three times I was beaten with rods
• once I was stoned
• three times I was shipwrecked
• I spent a night and a day in the open sea
• I have been constantly on the move
• I have been in danger from rivers
• in danger from bandits
• in danger from my own countrymen
• in danger from Gentiles
• in danger in the city
• in danger in the country
• in danger at sea
• in danger from false brothers
• I have labored and toiled
• have often gone without sleep
• I have known hunger
• I have known thirst
• I have often gone without food
• I have been cold
• I have been naked
• I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches

Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

It is this same man, friends, who was bold enough to say to other believers: “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).

It was of the likes of Paul that the author of Hebrews concluded, “the world was not worthy of them” (Heb. 11:38).

What have you sacrificed for the cause of Christ?