2 Corinthians 4:1 CSB – Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

2 Corinthians 4:16 CSB – Therefore we do not give up

2 Corinthians 4:8 CSB – We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

The Foundation for Resilience is a Commitment to a Great Cause

2 Corinthians 4:1 begins, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up

Ecclesiastes 12:13 CSB – Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

John 5:30 CSB – Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own…. I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

John 8:29b CSB – [The Father] has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”

What great causes are you living for?

Nehemiah 6:2-4 CSB – Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”

But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.

Resilient People Find Strength in their God-Given Identity

2 Corinthians 4:1b CSB – …we don’t give up. Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth

2 Corinthians 4:5,6 CSB – For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus knew His Identity

  • I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
  • I Am the Light of the World (John 8:12)
  • I Am the Gate of the Sheepfold (John 10:9)
  • I Am the Good Shepherd  (John 10:11-18)
  • I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
  • I Am the Way, Truth, and Life (John 14:6)
  • I Am the True Vine (John 15:5)

Galatians 3:27-29 CSB – For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

1 Peter 2:9-10 CSB – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Resilient People Know the Enemy They Face

2 Corinthians 4:4-5 CSB – In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.

Beelzebub = “lord of the flies”

Matthew 7:13-14 CSB – “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

2 Corinthians 4:4 CSB – the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 CSB – For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 4:2 CSB – we don’t distort the Word of God.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 CSB. – For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.