Message by Pastor Doug Bunnell, recorded live September 14, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham. Scripture read by Jake Truemper.

Contain Multitudes

We do not lose heart because we can hold contradictory truths at the same time.

• What does Paul mean when he says “we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (v. 5)?
• What motivates Paul to continue preaching, despite suffering (v. 13–14)?
• What do “jars of clay” represent? What is the “treasure” within them (v. 7)?
• How do the contrasts in verses 8–9 (e.g., “hard pressed but not crushed”) reflect the paradox of Christian life?
• In what way does verse 15 summarize Paul’s entire view of suffering and ministry? In what ways do you experience pressure, discouragement, or weakness in your walk with Christ? How does this passage encourage you?
• How can you be more transparent about your weakness, so that God's power is more clearly seen in your life?

2 Corinthians 4:1, 7-12

1 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, 9 persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11 For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us but life in you.