Suffering Fruitfully

By Bob Gray, Sr

God’s people are going to suffer. That is a part of life! We either suffer fruitfully or fruitlessly. This book is written to provide some practical helps in Suffering Fruitfully.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Gray, Sr
• Release date: Jul 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452327471

Bob Gray, Sr

Dr. Bob Gray Sr. pastored for 33 years and has been an ordained Baptist preacher for 40 years. He pastored the Longview Baptist Temple for 29 years. He became their pastor in 1980. Since then the church’s attendance grew from a low of 159 to averaging 2,041 in 2008. Dr. Gray retired March 1, 2009 and LBT called his son Dr. Bob Gray II to be their pastor. The last year Dr. Gray pastored LBT they baptized 4,466 converts. In his 29 years of pastorate at LBT they had 1,116,887 people who trusted Christ for payment of their sins. 253,042 walked the aisles professing faith in Christ and 164,457 of those followed the Lord in baptism. LBT was the number two church in America in professions of faith and baptisms. $ 9, 328,835.69 was given to missions and $ 335, 584.81 to help the less fortunate in those 29 years. Dr. Gray had 506 trust Christ through his personal soul winning with 153 of those following the Lord in baptism in 2009. In his 29 years in Texas he has preached in every state in the union except for North Dakota plus 17 foreign countries. He has personally led 14, 957 to Christ and had 4,399 of those follow the Lord in Baptism in those 29 years. Under Dr. Gray’s leadership the ministries of LBT developed to include the following: TEXAS BAPTIST COLLEGE- a four-year Christian college LONGVIEW BAPTIST ACADEMY- A Christian school for bus kids INDEPENDENT BAPTIST WORLD MISSIONS- A local church mission board NATIONAL TEEN CONVENTION- A nation wide conference for teens NATIONAL SOUL WINNING CLINIC- 29 years of training pastors & workers THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE- 11 years of publishing During Dr. Gray’s ministry at LBT the bus ministry expanded by purchasing a 15,000 square foot building on Cotton street for maintenance of the buses. The church grew to owning 42 buses and operating 30 Sunday school bus routes. He led the church in four major building projects plus the purchasing of numerous properties. The church’s property value grew to over 17 million dollars. Dr. Gray attended the Galesburg-Augusta grade school and high school system of Galesburg, Michigan, and graduated in 1963. He was an All-Conference football player and second team All-State tackle. He attended Michigan State University 1963-67 and was employed in 1967 by Fisher Body Division of General Motors for seven years in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He attended Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1976. He was employed by Hyles-Anderson College while working on his Masters Degree. Dr. Gray has received doctorates from Hyles-Anderson College, Tri-State College, and Texas Baptist College. He has authored 10 books as of this writing. Dr. and Mrs. Lee Ann Gray have been married for 45 years and have four children with ten grandchildren. Both of their sons are in the ministry. Dr. Bob Gray II was installed as pastor of LBT on March 1, 2009. Dr. Scott Gray is a faculty member at Hyles-Anderson College. The two daughters, Kim and Karen, are active in the ministry and personal soul winners. Kim is married to Mark Simmons, a deacon and Sunday school teacher at LBT. Karen is married to Tim Forgy, a Texas Baptist College graduate, and is employed as Youth Pastor for LBT.

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SUFFERING FRUITFULLY

BY: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Solve Church Problems

P.O. Box 150484 ~ Longview, Texas 75615 ~

[phone]

©2010 Bob Gray, Sr.

Published by Bob Gray Sr. at Smashwords

This book is also available in print at www.solvechurchproblems.com

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All Scriptures are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

DEDICATION

19 years ago May, 7, 1991, Bob II and his dear wife Kelly Gray had a son whom they named R. G. Gray III. Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, was hosting the 11th NATIONAL SOUL WINNING CLINIC. Dr. Jack Hyles was the key speaker for the conference. The day that R. G. Gray III was born it was to be the beginning of an adventure for the good for Bob and Kelly. It was a tragic announcement and we were all devastated and shocked when the doctors told us that R. G. was not normal. It was not until years later that the doctors discovered what had happened. Little did we know that the years a head would provide some of the finest moments of life in a son who would never be normal but would be a miracle and a testimony of the grace of God. R. G. was supposed to be blind, deaf, never walk, and a brief life span but he sings in the teen choir and goes soul winning each week. He has a smile on his face and brings a smile to our faces as well!

Dr. Hyles was unaware of the news that had been given by the doctor to our family concerning R. G.'s prognosis. Tuesday night Dr. Hyles mounted the pulpit at LBT to give the key note sermon for the NATIONAL SOUL WINNING CLINIC. He made an unusual statement! He said that he was not sure why he was being led of the Holy Spirit to preach the sermon he was about to preach. He said this sermon really does not underscore the theme because this was a SOUL WINNING CLINIC. He announced his sermon would be Where Be All The Miracles? He went on to state that he had never preached this sermon that in years to follow there was not some report of a miracle that occurred that very night. We believe that R. G. III was that miracle.

INTRODUCTION

John chapter 15 is a fruit-bearing chapter. It is very interesting that when we move toward Christ we are purged in order to produce more fruit. If we move away from Christ we are punished in order to cause our return to Him. The truth is that we are going to have suffering either way. If we move toward Christ He purges and if we move away from Christ he punishes! I would rather suffer fruitfully than to suffer fruitlessly! If I must suffer, and I do, then it only makes sense to have something good come from my suffering. Life is filled with suffering from the time of birth to the very end at death. The life that we have is given of God and must be given back to God if we are suffer fruitfully. God makes no mistakes! Romans 8:28-29 does not promise that God will change the things in our life. It is a promise that the things will change us! He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. If we are to suffer fruitfully then it has be that we allow God to do what God does best and that is working on us to be more like His Son.

One day all of us will look back at our lives and either say, Would God I had or Thank God I did! The choice is left up to us to allow God to do what is best for us as His children. We as frail human beings have no idea what is good and what is bad. We must trust by faith our God as He works in our lives so that we suffer fruitfully. Which will it be suffering fruitlessly or suffering fruitfully?

CONTENTS

WHERE IS GOD?

HOW GOD WORKS IN OUR LIVES

CHEER UP!

SORROW CAN BECOME JOY

THE BURDEN OF THE VALLEY OF VISION

THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY

GLORIFY THE LORD IN THE FIRES

THE HONOUR OF KINGS IS TO SERARCH OUT A MATTER

THOSE IN THE REAR

VAIN PAIN

SELECTIVE MEMORY

FACING THE BATTLE IS HARDER THAN THE BATTLE

THE VALUE OF THE VALLEY

MINGLED FIRE

POURED FROM VESSEL TO VESSEL

SURVIVAL

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE

GOD’S TRAINING CAMP

HIS WORKMANSHIP

MAKE A CROWN OUT OF YOUR THORNS

SUFFERING LEADS TO REIGNING

THE PRINCE WITH A LIMP

Where Is God?

II Chronicles 32:27-31, ²⁷And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; ²⁸Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks. ²⁹Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much. ³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

Hezekiah led in a great revival and he was given fifteen additional years to live. The Scripture then says, …God left him, to try him… Have you ever felt like God left you? …God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. This is difficult for me to understand! I know God is Omniscient and He knows everything, but it seems that God sometimes will allow Himself to be blinded in order that He might test us to find out something about us. Why did God leave Hezekiah? The Scripture says, …to try him… Why did God try Hezekiah? To find out all that was in his heart.

Job had lost everything! He had lost his wealth, his children to death, his health, the loyalty of his wife, and, in the 13th chapter and the 24th verse, he asks this question, Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? Job was asking the question in essence, Where are You hiding, God?

David had lost his son, the son born from his unholy union with Bathsheba after his arranging the murder of Uriah. David goes to the grave of his baby boy who has died, and in Psalm 10:11 David said, …God hath forgotten: he hideth his face… Just prior to this, David was running from Saul. He was hiding, fleeing, and escaping, as a fugitive from justice, with Saul, the king, chasing him in an attempt to kill him. David said, in Psalm 13:1, How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

The Israelites are facing some 70 years of captivity and we find, in Psalm 44:24, they ask God, Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

Heman was one of the men whose advice was rejected by Rehoboam when Rehoboam followed the counsel of the young men instead of that of the older men. The older men told Rehoboam to not raise the taxes but give the men less burdens. The younger men told him to raise the taxes and make the burden greater. Rehoboam, the young king, listened to the advice of the younger men and rejected the advice of the older men. Heman, one of the older men, whose advice was rejected, said in Psalm 88:14, Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

Every person reading this chapter has faced times of challenge when you felt that God had left you and had forsaken you. There are times when God is so close to you that you feel you can almost reach out and touch Him. There are other times when God is so far away you wonder if He is even with you at all! What is that burden you are carrying that you bring to God but you feel God is nowhere to be found? What is it that makes you look up to Heaven and ask, Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me? If 100 folks are reading this chapter, 75 to 80 have confronted a time in your life where you felt like God was so far away He had forsaken you.

If it could happen to David, a man after God’s own heart, it could happen to you and to me. If it could happen to Job, a man with more patience than any man that ever lived, then it can happen to you and to me. If it could happen to Heman and the Psalmist, it can happen to you and to me. All of us have come to times in our lives where it looked like God was not working on our behalf. All of us have faced times where it looked like truth was still on the cross, error was on the throne, it looked like God had withdrawn from us, and that God was not working for us. Most adults have dealt with this at some point in their lives.

What is yours today? Is it an illness and it seems you can’t get over it, and you wonder if God is really with you when you pray? Then you find yourself saying to yourself, Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me? What is your burden today? Is it a marriage problem, a child rearing problem, a financial problem, or a health problem? You find yourself looking up to Heaven and crying out, God, I can’t see You! God, where are You? Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?

Could it be a teenage daughter who has broken your heart? She has become everything you have preached against and taught against! You find yourself weeping at the midnight hour and you find yourself saying to God, Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?

Could it be the death of a loved one, like David and his boy, or Job and his children? Have you gone to the silent city of the dead and laid to rest a little body that you loved like your own soul, come home to an empty crib, a bronze shoe, a hurting heart, and you looked up to Heaven to ask, Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face from me?

Could it be an enemy that stalks you like Saul was stalking David? Is yours a rejection, like when Rehoboam rejected Heman? Is yours a wayward child like David’s? Is your heart broken because of a child? Allow me to help you!

God Really Never Leaves You

God cannot leave you! He is Omniscient and He cannot help it that He is God! It may seem that God has left you but, in reality, He cannot leave you and be absent from your presence. There is a difference in what seems to be and that which is reality! Sometimes God is with us, but obscures our vision and ability to see Him and to realize His presence. God tells His children, 366 times in the Scriptures, that He is always with us and will never leave us. That is one for every day of the year plus one for leap year! AMEN! God says 366 times, I will not leave thee.

I have some good news for you! God really isn’t gone! You may not feel His presence, you may not see Him, and you may look up to Heaven saying, Wherefore hidest Thy face from me? but, the truth is, His face is there, you simply cannot see it! He is shrouded, concealed, veiled, but there is a purpose! There are times when God seems to withdraw, and you cannot see Him, and you may ask, Why have You hidden Your face from me? However, His face is never withdrawn from you because He promised to never leave you nor forsake you. He will never depart from you. If you are saved, born again, and in Christ, it is impossible for Him to ever leave you!

God’s Seeming Hiding Is Not Permanent

God, I can’t see You! Did you say that to Him? Can you imagine God looking down and crooning in your ear, This is just for a little while?

When God found out what was in Hezekiah’s heart, God once again revealed Himself to Hezekiah. God has a purpose in His silence, just as our earthly parents, at times, used the tool of silence to speak loudly to us as their children.

God knows exactly how to get our attention. He sometimes gives us the silent treatment. You married men know exactly what I am talking about! Ha! Her silence certainly does not mean she is not there. She will be back!

God Has Hidden Himself So Hezekiah Might Know What Is In His Heart

It was only when God discovered what was in Hezekiah’s heart that He revealed Himself. Could it be that Hezekiah needed to see what was in his own heart? The Scripture identifies our hearts as wicked and deceitful. Many times we are deceived by