March 15, 2000

Panhandle pastors and laymen
urged to take solace in suffering
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___PLAINVIEW--Christian suffering serves a divine purpose, two Texas pastors and a professor proclaimed at the Panhandle Pastors' & Laymen's Conference in Plainview.
___"Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever" was the theme for the 79th annual conference, which attracted ministers and laypeople from across the Panhandle and

NEW OFFICERS of the Panhandle Pastors' & Laymen's Conference are President Charles Price, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon; Secretary-treasurer Charles Bassett, special assistant to the president of Wayland Baptist University; and President-elect Phillip Hilton, pastor of Sunray Baptist Church in Sunray.

the South Plains to the Wayland Baptist University campus.
___The very different lives of two butterflies illustrate the beneficial nature of suffering, insisted Scott Willingham, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dumas.
___A boy brought two cocoons home, and the family observed them closely every day, Willingham reported. They all gathered around as the cocoons gently began to twitch and the butterflies inside them started to emerge.
___The first butterfly seemed to agonize as it squeezed laboriously through the tiny hole at the top of the cocoon. Eventually, however, he perched on the top of the cocoon, stretched its elegant wings and flew away.
___The boy's father tried to save the second butterfly from such an apparently painful ordeal, so he took his pocketknife and slit the side of its cocoon, Willingham noted. The butterfly emerged quickly and effortlessly. But when it tried to stretch its wings, they fell limply to its side. The butterfly soon died.
___The father sought out a biologist and learned the painful-looking ordeal of a butterfly's emergence is necessary for its survival, Willingham explained. When the butterfly squeezes through the tiny aperture of its cocoon, the pressure forces fluid out into its wings so they will harden and enable the butterfly to fly.
___And so it is with the pressure and suffering of life, Willingham said. Often, those experiences strengthen Christians' lives and enable them to serve God with strength and beauty.
___In the midst of suffering, Christians can take comfort in the constant, eternal presence of Jesus, who endured ultimate suffering on the cross in order to save them from the consequences of their sins, he said.
___"When you're suffering, you may not realize God is pressing you down and out. But you might say, 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,'" he observed, repeating the conference's theme.
___As a matter of fact, Jesus suffered doubly in order to "bring you to God," Willingham said, citing 1 Peter 3.
___"Jesus' heart stopped beating to bring you to God," he said, noting Jesus died on the cross but defeated death and arose from the grave three days later. "On Sunday morning, thump-thump, it started beating again. Hear the heart of Jesus beating for you."
___Jesus also descended into hell to bring people to God, he exclaimed. "He went to the very bowels of hell and said, 'I won!' He announced victory from the depths of hell. He harrowed hell--terrorizing the terrifiers and spooking the spooks."
___Consequently, "there's no private hell, for he intrudes into our private hells for us," he stressed. "Now, let's go enter into others' private hells. Let's intrude for them and tell them about Jesus."
___Michael Dean, pastor of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth and the conference's keynote speaker, echoed that idea. "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer," he said, repeating Jesus' words in Revelation 2.
___"Fear of suffering is debilitating," Dean conceded, but he affirmed, "We don't have to be afraid."
___He cited six reasons why Jesus would tell the church not to be afraid of suffering. God uses suffering to:
___ Exalt the Lord. "Jesus died and rose again. He overcame the ultimate suffering, death on the cross. Every suffering has the potential of exalting the Lord. Suffering increases our knowledge of the Lord."
___ Exhibit God's concern. Because of his own suffering, "Jesus knows everything we're going through," Dean said. "We need to know our Lord is not far away."
___ Examine Christians' lives. Times of trial and testing provide the lens for examining lives and discovering their validity, he observed, adding, "God uses suffering to show us what is in our hearts."
___ Expand Christians' ministry to others. The original affirmation of suffering was written to a struggling church in Smyrna, in Asia Minor, he reported, noting the testimony of that church's faithfulness through suffering "has been a blessing to countless other churches" through the centuries.
___ Exercise Christians' faith. "Faith is our spiritual muscle, and a muscle that is not exercised atrophies; it wastes away," Dean said.
___Suffering provides that kind of faith exercise, he continued, claiming suffering "will make you a more faithful person--trustworthy for the big things as well as the little things."
___ Extend Christians' glory. "We will get a crown of life, the fullest expression in heaven," he promised. "Christians are overcomers. All will experience the death of the body, if Jesus tarries. But our salvation is for eternity. We don't have to worry about experiencing the 'second death.'"
___Jesus is present with Christians during even the darkest moments of suffering, assured Paul Sadler, associate professor of religion at Wayland.
___The days following Jesus' crucifixion were agonizing for his followers, Sadler noted. Yet Jesus returned from the grave to offer comfort, he added, recounting the story of Jesus' resurrection from John 20.
___"We see a Jesus who will come to each person in the point of their deepest need," Sadler said, affirming the same Jesus who appeared to the disciples is present for Christians today. "He is there in every circumstance--feeling with us, rejoicing with us, grieving with us. ...
___"No dark night of despair, no deep valley of grief, no depression can overtake us but that his love, his grace, his care can reach us."
___Kenneth Flowers, pastor of First Baptist Church of Brownfield, presided over this year's conference as president. Vice president was Bob Moody, a lay member of First Baptist Church in Lubbock.
___

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