God doesn't only work through the good things...

Main message: God often works through hardship, not just through blessings; the difficult seasons of life display God's work and produce spiritual growth. The prosperity-gospel idea that God only works by giving good things is false.

Key points:

• Hardship, not ease, is frequently the means God uses to grow people and reveal his work.
• The prosperity gospel wrongly limits God's activity to only good circumstances.
• Struggle detaches us from worldly comforts and prepares us for something extraordinary.
• Personal-discipline metaphors (exercise, running vs. eating chips) illustrate that growth requires painful effort.
• The speaker cites a blind man’s suffering as an example God can use through difficulty.

Scriptures mentioned: none