The Gospel In Our Scars

You can be cracked and still carry something priceless. We open 2 Corinthians 4 with Paul’s raw list of pressures and surprises, then we ask the question most people avoid: what if the pain you survived is part of your ministry, not proof you’re disqualified? Paul doesn’t defend himself with awards or status. He points to mercy, endurance, and a faith that stays standing when life tries to take him out. 

We dig into the phrase “treasure in earthen vessels” and why it flips our assumptions about strength. The treasure isn’t perfect circumstances, long life, or financial security. The treasure is the gospel, God’s grace, and the power of Christ living in ordinary people. That’s why Paul can say “afflicted but not crushed” and “therefore we do not lose heart” while still being honest about how hard it gets. 

Along the way, we unpack two stories that make the point stick: a coffee cup that spills when it gets bumped, and a basketball that looks fine on the outside but won’t bounce because something is missing on the inside. If you’re facing anxiety, conflict, grief, burnout, or a tough report, this is practical encouragement for spiritual resilience, daily renewal, and keeping your eyes on what’s eternal. 

Subscribe for more, share this with someone who needs strength today, and leave a review with the line that helped you refuse to lose heart.

Transcript

Worship And Opening Scripture

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May Maya Maya Combaye Comba Come by Come back Come by Come by Come by someone's praying someone's praying Come by Come by someone's praying Lord Come by someone is praying Lord Come by Combaya Kumbaya Kumbaya Malya Gumbaya Kumba Kumbaya Gumbaya Kumbaya Kumbaya Kumbaya Melo Kumbaya Amen One more, one more Lord you more precious and sing with me Lord you more costly more than more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you one more time singing Lord you are more precious than my Jesus Lord Lord you you are more costly more than gold Lord you are more beautiful than diamonds and I desire compares with you Second Corinthians chapter number four Second Corinthians chapter number four Verse number one Verse number seven to twelve and then verse number sixteen up to eighteen Second Corinthians chapter number four verse one verses seven to twelve and then verses sixteen through to eighteen.

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Scripture says in verse one, therefore since we have this ministry as we received mercy, we do not lose heart seven. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. Verse 16. Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. If you read that with me, say amen.

Paul’s Defense And The Ministry

Anderson George 7:12

The gospel in our scars, the gospel in our scars. The book of Second Corinthians is actually an interesting one. It's interesting because it's written by the apostle Paul, but it's a defense for who he is and what he does. Paul has been accused of being a fake apostle. He's been charged with preaching a false gospel. Paul is now enemy number one by the church in Corinth. And so he writes 2 Corinthians to explain the decisions that he has made, to explain why he does what he does, why he did what he did, and why he is who he is. And it's interesting, and as we get to chapter 4, and Paul continues his defense, he begins by saying in verse number one that we have a ministry. Paul says, in spite of everything that has happened to me, I recognize that I have a ministry. Let me put it to you this way: if you are here, if you are breathing, if you are able to see me right now, God is not done with you. I wish I had a church right there. I'm already preaching and you don't know it. You have a ministry. And what I mean by that is if you could breathe, if you were alive to see today, God has a plan for you, He has a purpose for you. God is not done with you. You have ministry. And I don't mean church. I don't mean that we come together and do the five acts. When Paul says here that we have a ministry, he understands that everything in his life led up to this moment. Everything in this life led him to Christ to be right where he is right now. Let me say the same thing to you. Everything in your life led you to here. I don't believe that you're here by accident on this morning. I don't believe that God woke you up by accident on this morning. I don't believe that where you are in life is an incident of happenstance. I believe that wherever you are, whatever you are experiencing, if you exist right now as a child of God in this time, in this space, you have a ministry that God is unfolding through your life. You have a ministry. What Paul does as he speaks of this ministry is speak of what happened to him negatively. Come here, church. He does not give you his accolades the way we would do accolades. You all miss this. Paul says, I have a ministry, and this ministry is going to be seen when things go bad, not just when things go good. Paul says, I want you to see what's in me, and the best way for you to see what's in me, for you to see God's purpose in my life, it's not just when I'm standing tall. You're going to see it when things aren't working well in my life as well. He says, I have this ministry, and he does not list his accolades. Paul does not go like he did in 2 Corinthians 12. He doesn't list the things that he did in Philippians chapter number 3. Paul does not say, I was born of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised on the eighth day. He doesn't say any of that. What he says is afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. This does not sound like something you should celebrate, but hopefully by the time I'm done, you should know why you should say amen when you read this.

Afflicted But Still Standing

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Paul says, I've been afflicted, I've been perplexed, I've been persecuted, I've been struck down. But if you were here last week, you know the shout is, I'm still standing. Stuff has happened. Stuff that could take someone else out, stuff that may have killed me if it hadn't been for God, stuff that could have done more damage. I had a past, I had history. People try to get me, but in spite of everything that happened, I am still here. I'm still here and I'm still standing. Let me just give you that from last week again. If if you're here, it doesn't matter if the doctor said it was cancer, it doesn't matter what your medical report is, it doesn't matter what's going on in your family. If you're still here, God is still using you. God is still blessing you. You are still here in spite of what's happening in and around you. That's cause to celebrate, but not just cause to celebrate. Paul, Paul looks at these things. And if we had time to look at his life, we would realize that they tried to take him out. They've tried, let me use a modern-day political word, they've tried to assassinate Paul more than once. They stoned him and left him to die at one time. They ran him out of cities. He's been scourged and whipped. Paul has been through stuff. And he's been through this stuff, but he still has a positive outlook. He still has a positive attitude. And I had to ask my question, Paul, why is it that you are being pursued out of every city? Why do people want to kill you and you are still saying God is good? How is it that you can have all these unfortunate circumstances happen regularly in your life and you say at the end of this chapter, therefore I don't lose heart? That's verse 16. Therefore, I don't lose heart. Even though the outer man is perishing, the inner man is being renewed. How could you say, Paul, that this is just a momentary like affliction? What is causing you to see life this way?

Treasure In Earthen Vessels

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And the answer is in verse number seven he says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Let me make this plain and then we could go home. He says we have treasure. But before I tell you what the treasure is, he says where it's located, it's in earthen vessels. Now I don't know about you, but I had to look up what Paul meant when he said earthen vessels. And in Paul's day and time, the earthen vessel he's talking about is a vessel that was made mostly of clay that was molded and shaped and hardened. And so he's saying that he placed treasure in clay. Paul said there's treasure in clay. Anderson, you said the same thing twice. We didn't get it the first time. What makes you think we're going to get it the second time? I'm glad you asked. Come here. You don't put treasure in clay. I am sure if you have treasure now, it's not in something perishable. If you have treasure now, if you have a little bit of money, it's not under your mattress, it's in the bank. And you're praying the bank doesn't get robbed or experiences a recession or depression so that your money is safe. If you have physical valuables, you may have somewhere safe that you put it because it's a treasure. Paul wants you to see the absurdity of God placing treasure in clay. And just in case you miss this, the clay is us. We are the earthen vessels. And he's saying that inside of us is treasure. There is treasure in us, but it's a weird place to put it because you don't normally put your valuables in something that's easily broken or that could easily perish. Paul says there's treasure inside of these earthen vessels. There's treasure inside of us. But what is the treasure? The treasure is not long life, good money, good health. The treasure is the gospel that saved you. The treasure is that God's grace has been with you time and time again. The treasure is that in spite of what happened in your yesterday, in your yesteryear, you are still here, and you are here only by the grace of God. It is nothing else. It's not because you took the right medicine, it's not because you exercise, it's not because you ate well, it's not because you are man by yourself or you are woman by yourself, it's not because you are strong enough or capable enough, it's not because the alarm went off at the time that you set it, it's not because you were able to do what you did when you did, how you did it. The only reason you're here is because God had enough grace and he sent some your way. It's the only reason. So Paul looks at his life and he says, in spite of the opposition, in spite of the devil coming at me, in spite of friends, enemies, and frenemies, in spite of everything, in spite of being persecuted, afflicted, crushed, and perplexed, in spite of all these things, I could still see grace. Because the truth is, if it had not been for God, I would not be here. Let me say that again. If you would pause right now and think about what you have been through in the last year, in the last five years, in the last ten years, in the last twenty years, there are some things that may have been designed to take you out, but you are still here. And it's not because the things that were designed to take you out didn't work, is that they tried their best, but God. But God, I wish I could have a church that understands that you're like Noah that could say there was a flood and everyone else didn't make it but God. Somebody should be able to say, I was lost, but God. And because of God's intervention, because he intercepted what was meant to kill me, worked out for good. If you're looking for another Bible passage, there's a guy called Joseph. Joseph in Genesis chapter 50 and verse number 20, he talks to his brothers and he tells them, You meant evil against me, you meant to take me out, you meant to kill me, you meant to destroy me, but God meant it for good. God took what you did, and that's why I'm still standing here. You're still standing because of his grace. Well, what does that mean? What do I do

Suffering That Reveals Jesus

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with that? Paul then says, in verse number 10, we're always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. That's a mouthful. If I am to simplify it, what Paul is saying is stuff happened, but by God's grace you're still here. He's at work in your life. But more stuff is coming. We cannot determine, dictate, or control what happens to us. The only control we have is how we respond to it. Paul says, every day I feel like I'm carrying in my life, in my body, the dying of Jesus. Here's what he means by that. Every day I'm tested, every day I'm tried. Every day someone pushes my buttons. Every day I'm being squeezed. I'm being twisted. And what is happening is in these experiences, I should be living the life and the death of Jesus. That's what he says. Even though they're testing, even though they're pushing, even though life is what it is, it's an opportunity for me to show Jesus', he begins with his death first. The reason why he mentions it, he mentions Jesus' death, that every he's carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus is because he's looking at the suffering, the affliction, the wrong that happened to Jesus. And then he says, the wrong happens to you just like it happened to Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in your body. Here's why. Sometimes God allows difficulty. Here's why sometimes God didn't remove the thorn and allows the suffering so that Jesus could show up. I wish you all could come come here, church. But sometimes he allows it. And Paul says, I understand now that when he allows it, it's because he's making room for Jesus to show up in me and in this situation. Let me say it differently. Being a Christian is more than just coming to church and doing the five acts of worship. Being a Christian is being able to manifest your faith in Christ regardless of the situation you're going through. And so every now and then your faith is tested. Something that comes at you is really coming at you to test the metal and the strength of your faith. Let me put this to you because you're looking at me funny. The devil is out to get you, but he's out to get you by taking your faith. Because if he removes your faith, he won. Oh, come here, Hebrews writer, Hebrews writer, Hebrews 11, chapter number six. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. The devil only wants to remove. I know you know scripture, and scripture says that he comes to kill, to devour, and to steal, but what he's trying to kill is your faith. What he's trying to devour is your faith. What he's trying to steal is your faith, because if he could get your faith, he has you. So every situation that you are faced with is an opportunity for your faith to be manifested. Paul says that's how I should see it, as opposed to it being a struggle. Now I'm not telling you you don't have a struggle. We all have struggles. I'm struggling right now because you're looking at me funny. But when stuff goes left and not right in your life, it's an opportunity for Jesus to show up. It's an opportunity for my faith to be revealed, my faith to be manifested. When that doctor's report comes, when my family acts up, when there's some schism or division, when anytime difficulty arises, I need to remember I have treasure. I have treasure that was already deposited in me that is able to finance the circumstances of my life. I have treasure deposited in me that is able to withstand the depression of this season, the recession of this year, and I'm not talking about money. I have this treasure within me that's a fail safe against all the obstacles of life. And so when life happens, it's now an opportunity for Jesus to be manifested in me.

Stop Blaming And Faith Up

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I need to pause here before I continue because what happens is inevitably we have the wrong perception when trouble happens. More often than not, we go through a cycle. When difficulty arises in your life, one that pushes you, not any small thing, difficulty that pushes you, yes, even you, the first thing you see is how big it is. The first thing you see is how much affliction, how much oppression it puts on you. So the first thing you notice, let's make this real. When when when you have some discord, the first thing you you notice is how they make you feel, how it makes you feel. So the first thing you normally express, I really wish I had a church, because you're like, not me, I am a Christian. That does not happen to me. You are a Christian, but life happens to you. And every now and then the cracks show because you are an earthen vessel. And the cracks show, and you say stuff like, Why should I be the one to always take the high road? You say stuff like, No more Mr. Nice Guy. You say stuff like you're tired of always being strong and always having to hold it together. You say stuff like, I'm tired of having to be the one that says sorry, fist. I'm tired of always initiating, I'm tired of doing this. You focus on you and how you feel in the moment. Here's Paul's message. That may be true, but you have a treasure. God did not do what he did with you so that you could squander it. Squandering it here is where what you do is instead of manning up. Let me say man up first because what I really want to say is faith up. But we understand man up instead of faithing up, what you do is you put the responsibility on everybody else but you if they change, if this works out this way, if this happens, then it will be fine. You don't tell yourself, in spite of the circumstance, I'll be who God calls me to be. I understand what the report is, I understand that they are what they are, but I'll be who God says I am, I'll always be a child of God, I'll always try to stand tall. You could come at me, but the only thing that's going to come out of me is Jesus. I'm in a class, I'm in a class. I really want you to get this, and I'm done. Once you get this, I'm done, I'm done. So you can help me get done quicker.

The Coffee Cup Test

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I'm in a class, and a professor walks in with a cup of coffee, and he deliberately, we didn't know at the time, walks into a student and some of his coffee spills. And he asks the question, why did my coffee spill? Several persons had answers. One person said it's because you bumped into Billy. He said that's possible. Another person said it's because you were not looking where you were going. He says, That's possible. A third person said, Well, it's because there was too much coffee in the cup, and so you had a shake and it just spilled. And this went on for about three minutes. There were several answers, and he said to all of them, they sound good, but they're all wrong. He said, The reason why I spilt coffee is because there was coffee in the cup. He said, if it was orange juice, then what would spill would be orange juice. If it was water, then what would spill would be water. What came out of the cup is because of what was in the cup. And then he paused and he said, Every one of us is a cup, and there's something inside of us. And every now and then life is going to happen to you, and you're going to get bumped into. And when you get bumped into what comes out of you could only be what was inside of you. This is why when people cuss and tell me it was a slip of the tongue, I no longer believe them. Come here, church. See, it had to be in for it to come out. It's also why when people say stuff to me and say they didn't mean it, I'm like, I know better than that. It had to go in at some point for it to come out at some point. It's just that you lost your filter or your lid. And losing your filter or your lid is what made it spill. Or you're looking at me like I'm not trying to be real on this morning. Yeah, that's what happens. In the same way, I need you to understand, Paul is saying there's treasure in you. God has placed his spirit in you, he has deposited his word inside of you. And he's saying that in the context of difficulty, he's saying that in the context of life not going well, he's saying that in the context where it's not the way I want it to be, but he's saying that because when life bumps at you, when you are persecuted, when you are struck down, when you are crushed, when you are afflicted, when your marriage isn't going the way you want it to go, when your children are going wayward, when the job doesn't work out, when finances aren't working out, when problems happen in the church or in the community. When that happens, now is the time for you to faith up. Now is the time for you to show that God is inside of you and greater is the God inside of you than what's happening around you. Now is the time for you to say, My faith is in God, in Christ's solid rock. I stand all on the ground and sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand. I don't care what you bring at me, what's going to come out of me is God. See now I wish I had a church. Because I just wanted you to say amen there, and then with acknowledge that's hard. That was too late. That was too late. But but but thank you, thank you, thank you. That was extra late, Bob. But but but but but let's be honest. That's not always easy to do. That's not always easy. There are times where you feel so wrung out, you feel so exhausted, you're at your limit that you don't believe that you have the capacity to hold on, to be what God calls you to be, to show faith in this situation. But

Grace That Holds You Up

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then he shows us chapter 12. We don't have time. I just looked at the clock. Where does the time go? I just got here three minutes ago. Just three minutes. In chapter 12, we don't have time. But when you feel like it's not in you, God says yes. Because if it was in you, you won't need him. So when you're at your limit, when you've done all that you could, and you don't feel like you could stand anymore, God says, My grace is sufficient. He placed his spirit, his word, and his power inside earthen vessels, but he knows every now and then we'll crack. He knows every now and then that our frailty will show up. But when it does, he expects you to lean more on him. He expects you to reach out more for him. In difficulty, you should cry out for Jesus more. In trouble, you should cry out for Jesus more. We should have this immediate, immediate instinctive response, like Peter. You all remember he was walking in water and he sank. If you read that text and you know that text well, it says that as soon as I like how it's it's read in the original language. The original language says, while he was still sinking, while going down, he began to repeatedly cry out, Lord save me. He didn't wait until he was already covered by the water. He didn't wait immediately while he was going down, his instinctive response was, Lord save me. We should always have that response as we go through life. And then he says, he ends it by saying, Therefore, do not lose

Don’t Lose Heart Perspective Shift

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heart. That's with 16. So I'm bringing this to a close. Watch this. He says, Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. Here's what that means. As much as you are where you are, you're experiencing what you're experiencing, don't give up. Don't give up, regardless of how it looks, regardless of what they say, regardless of the report, do not lose heart. And and he puts it in perspective. He says, Our outer man is decaying. Let me give it to you in a way that you may know it. You may lose the battle, but don't lose the war. What Paul is looking at is he looks at the physical and he says, There's some stuff that has happened to me that I can't heal from. And he doesn't complain. Sometimes what we do is we fail to realize that everything that happens in our life brought us to this point. And there are some things that happen we don't like and we want to undo it. If you undo it, you would also undo the positive effects it had on your life to bring you here. Sometimes we think restoring ourselves, being healthy again is going back to a past version of ourselves. No, restoring, being healthy is even though this happened, I'm going to continue. I'm not going to lose heart. I'm going to keep my faith. Jesus is going to be shown in me. Yes, it happened, but I'm here now. Don't lose heart. And he says why? Because all of this at the end of the day pales into comp in comparison for what you're working towards. If you are striving to be in the presence of God, it would suck. That's not the word I want to use, but it's the only word I could use. It would totally suck if you went through all the stuff you went through to this point only to allow it to crush you now and you miss out on being with God. I've come too far to turn back now. I've come too far to just come so far. I've come too far to stop now. And if that means that I need to go through some more difficulty, then bring it. Bring it. And as you bring it, be sure that I'm going to let you see what's in me and who's in me. Because you will not have the last say in my life. He will. I am more than a conqueror. This is not the end of me. This may have been a bump. It may have been a ditch. It may have had me down for a while. But I was down, but I'm not out. I was bruised, but I'm still breathing. This happened, and I'm still here, and you just wait for my bounce back. Okay, I'll try that one more time. But I'll tell you a story. I'll tell

The Basketball That Wouldn’t Bounce

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you a story. When I was in high school, on the basketball court, we had the rack of basketballs. You could easily just go pick one up and you could shoot hoops. And I remember one afternoon after school, I was going to shoot some hoops, and I saw a lad there. He was probably eight, nine years old. He was just five paces in front of me. He goes to the rack, he picks up a ball, and he bounces it. But the ball does not bounce back. I was surprised at first because the ball looked whole on the outside. Nothing looked wrong with it from the outside. It looked new, didn't look like it had any imperfections or but it didn't bounce. And I guess because his young brain fully didn't understand what happened yet, he picked back up the ball and he tried to bounce it again. And the ball refused to bounce. And he begins doing this because he's trying to solve what's happening. And while he does that, I pick my ball up and I bounce. My bounces, mine bounces. Then I threw it, missed the bucket, went for it, bounced the ball again, and he stopped. He's looking at me now because my ball looks like his, but it's working differently. He comes up to me and he says, Why is my ball not bouncing? But yours is. And I told him it's because of what's in it. And he missed it. See, my ball is bouncing because it has something in it that yours doesn't have. I know on the outside they both look the same, but on the inside, mine has something that causes it to hit the floor but come back up. Your ball is lacking that thing, so every time it compacts and smacks the floor, that hit is too much for it, it can't bounce back. And then he asked what was in my ball that wasn't in his.

Just As I Am Prayer Invitation

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That's the song for the moment right now, just as I am without a plea. Because sometimes you feel just as you are, you don't have enough. But I promise you, you and what God has put in you is enough. So if you don't feel like enough, you don't feel like you can make it. And I'm not just talking about having faith to come to church. You could be struggling right now with just being enough to survive Sunday, just being enough to deal with this medical situation, just be enough to deal with the changes in my life. If you don't feel like you have it in you, I want to tell you just as you are, God could work stuff out. But let's start it with prayer. If you don't believe that or you need strength, just praying for it, meet me in the front row as we sing.