2. Life is difficult.

3. Accidents

4. Aging

5. Heartache

6. Headaches

7. Poor Choices

8. Following Jesus
might at first seem
to make life easier.
Thanks, Jesus!

10. But if you keep following him
your life might become a lot
more difficult.

12. Jesus sends us to be and bring healing and
hope wherever it’s needed most.

13. EBCLA’s Japan Relief Team 2014

14. Even if it means coming back burdened
with other people’s pain and problems.

15. If life is already difficult, why
make it even harder?

16. The Conversion of Our
Imaginations

17. God said, “Let light shine out
of darkness.” He made his
light shine in our hearts. It
shows us the light of God’s
glory in the face of Christ.
(NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:6
God is love

18. Treasure is kept in clay jars. In the
same way, we have the treasure of
the good news in these earthly
bodies of ours. That shows that the
mighty power of the good news
comes from God. It doesn’t come
from us. (NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:7

19. We are pushed hard from all
sides. But we are not beaten
down. We are bewildered. But that
doesn’t make us lose hope. Others
make us suffer. But God does not
desert us. We are knocked down.
But we are not knocked out. (NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Apostle Paul in prison

20. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9
Life was difficult.
PersecutedShipwrecked
Imprisoned Slandered
Single & CelibateSelf-supporting
Abandoned Confronted
Martyred Beaten

21. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is
why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak,
then I am strong. 2 Cor 12:9b-10

22. We always carry around the death of
Jesus in our bodies. In that way, the life
of Jesus can be shown in our bodies.
We who are alive are always in danger
of death because we are serving Jesus.
So his life can be shown in our earthly
bodies. Death is at work in us. But life is
at work in you. (NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:10-12
Saint Jerome

23. It is written, “I believed, and so I have spoken.”
With that same spirit of faith we also believe.
And we also speak. We know that God raised
the Lord Jesus from the dead. And he will also
raise us up with Jesus. He will bring us with
you to God in heaven. All of that is for your
benefit. God’s grace is reaching more and
more people. So they will become more and
more thankful. They will give glory to God.(NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:13-15

24. We don’t give up. Our bodies are
becoming weaker and weaker. But our
spirits are being renewed day by day.
Our troubles are small. They last only
for a short time. But they are earning
for us a glory that will last forever. It is
greater than all our troubles. (NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:16-17

25. b i b l i c a l r e c o n c i l i a t i o n
afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted

26. So we don’t spend all our
time looking at what we
can see. Instead, we look
at what we can’t see. What
can be seen lasts only a
short time. But what can’t
be seen will last forever.
(NIVR)
2 Corinthians 4:18

27. Paul went from making life difficult for
Christians to making a new life in Christ
for himself that was decidedly difficult.
Why?

28. How changed are my ambitions! Now I long to know
Christ and the power shown by his resurrection:
now I long to share his sufferings, even to die as he
died, so that I may perhaps attain as he did, the
resurrection from the dead. Phil 3:10-11