In all these ways we see that suffering is not harmful to believers but beneficial. Thus we should train ourselves to look less at the evil of suffering and more at the good, to look less at the dark side of the cloud and more at the light. The worst that God ever does to his children is to drive them toward heaven, toward himself.

It is a conviction meant to quiet our minds and encourage our hearts: In some way God has a hand in our suffering. Whatever circumstances we experience can no more arise without the hand of God than a saw can cut without the hand of the carpenter. Job in his suffering did not say, “The Lord gave and the devil took away,” but, “The Lord gave and the Lord took away.” Suffering never comes our way apart from the purpose and providence of God and for that reason, suffering is always significant, never meaningless. Here are some ways that God brings good from our suffering.
Suffering is our preacher and teacher. It was Luther who said that he could never properly understand some of the Psalms until he endured suffering. A sick bed often teaches more than a sermon, and suffering first teaches us about our sin and sinfulness. Suffering also teaches us about ourselves, for in times of health and prosperity all seems to be well and we are both humble and grateful, but in suffering we come to see the ingratitude and rebellion of our hearts. We can best see the ugly face of sin and the reality of spiritual childishness in the mirror of suffering.
Suffering is the means of making our hearts more upright. In times of prosperity our hearts are often divided, half pursuing God and half obsessed with the world. Our hearts can be like a compass needle that swings wildly between two poles. But in suffering God takes away the world so the heart will hold to him in full sincerity. Just as we heat a crooked rod to straighten it, God holds us over the fire of suffering to make us more upright. It is good that when sin has bent our souls away from God, he will use suffering to straighten them.
Suffering conforms us to Christ. There is meant to be symmetry and proportion between the model and the canvas, between Christ and his people. Suffering is like an artist’s pencil that draws Christ’s image upon us. If we want to be parts of Christ’s body, we must want to be like him, and his life was a series of sufferings, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). If Christ’s head was crowned with thorns, why do we think ours should only ever be crowned with roses? It is good to be like Christ, and conformity often comes through suffering.
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During the course of the Assembly, the OPC GA’s Committee on Arrangements continued its interactions with EU staff in investigating the incidents reported. On Tuesday morning [06/14/22], the final day of GA, the Moderator of the OPC GA, David Nakhla, reported with thanksgiving that new information had come to light.

As reported previously, on Thursday, June 10, Eastern University (EU) provided the GA with reports of four incidents of racially disparaging interactions on its campus by those associated with the OPC GA [Orthodox Presbyterian Church General Assembly] and stated that one more incident would mean expulsion of the OPC GA from the campus, in light of EU’s zero-tolerance policy on racism.
The OPC GA was visibly shocked and appalled by the reports and believed it could best serve Christ and his church by communicating immediately to the school staff and students (and beyond) that there is no place for racial disparagement in the OPC or anywhere in Christ’s church.
The Scriptures teach us that every human being is created in God’s image and as such is to be treated with that basic respect and dignity befitting such image-bearers.  Accordingly, the OPC GA adopted and communicated the Statement of Regret and Sorrow the following day. EU received the statement with thanks and communicated with the OPC GA that, as far as they were concerned, the matter was closed.
While the OPC GA was thankful for the warm response of EU, the commissioners continued to be eager for resolution to the four reported incidents and to be reconciled with those offended.
During the course of the Assembly, the OPC GA’s Committee on Arrangements continued its interactions with EU staff in investigating the incidents reported. On Tuesday morning [06/14/22], the final day of GA, the Moderator of the OPC GA, David Nakhla, reported with thanksgiving that new information had come to light.
The first two incidents were confirmed to be a clumsy and misguided attempt at friendly humor by one commissioner, who has since acknowledged his poor choice of words and desires to pursue reconciliation with the offended parties. The third and most egregious was determined not to have come from an OPC GA commissioner, since, according to EU, the one reported to have used such offensive language had not been seen on campus since the incident.  The Committee on Arrangements continues to look into the matter. Finally, the fourth was understood to be a confusing interaction that was misunderstood by those present.
We give thanks that, in God’s good providence and timing, the matter as a whole had been resolved by the close of the Assembly.
From the OPC Twitter Page
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On Claiming Sin Identities: “To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term “Christian” is inconsistent with Biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that we are new creations in Christ… we name our sins but are not named by them.” (2 Cor. 5:17). (AIC HS #9).

“Article 7 says it is a Sin to Adopt a Homosexual Self-Conception.”– PCA Pastor Greg Johnson
This statement very clearly explains the PCA’s position with regard to Homosexuality. In this quote PCA Pastor Greg Johnson explains what the Nashville Statement Article 7 means.  The Nashville Statement is the most concise PCA position on homosexuality. It is not the intent of this article to reconcile anything that Greg Johnson has said or written with this statement.
The purpose of this article is for my people. These are answers to questions that I am being asked by the people in the congregation where I serve due to the public nature of things in the news regarding the PCA. This is not to imply that this is the worst sin, or even worse than other sexual sin, nor is it the totality of PCA teaching or positions on Human Sexuality, a Biblical Sexual Ethic, Marriage and Family. It is needed, as the PCA AIC Report says because “this is the very place where the world is attacking the Church in our culture.” THE PCA AIC report is the most in-depth explanation of our beliefs on these topics. The Nashville Statement is the most concise.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. –Romans 6:11
It is important to say up front that nobody in the PCA is attempting to say that Gay Marriage or Homosexual sex is anything but Sin. Nobody in the PCA is trying to ordain “practicing gay pastors.”  It is also important to say that there is hope in the Gospel for people with every sin struggle.  This is not somehow the one sin that God hates worse than any other. Christ says to everyone of us “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
The PCA position on Human Sexuality, Marriage, Gender, and the family derives from Scripture. The teachings are consolidated and explained in our Constitution and other approved documents where Scripture is referenced extensively.
The PCA Constitution  

Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF)
Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms (WLC, WSC)
Book of Church Order (BCO)

Documents Declared Biblically Faithful by the PCA.

PCA AIC Human Sexuality Report (AIC) (Approved 2021)
Nashville Statement (NS) (Approved 2019)

5 Summary Statements of the PCA’s Teachings on Homosexuality

Homosexual Sex, Lust, Desires, and Inclination is Sin (WCF 6, WLC 18, 25, 139, NS 2, AIC #4-6– entire report)
Marriage is only between 1 man & 1 woman. (WCF 24, BCO 59-3, NS 1, AIC #1)
Sex is only allowed within the bounds of Biblical Marriage (WCF 24, NS 2, AIC #1)
There are only 2 Genders (NS 3-7, AIC #2)
No language should be used to claim a Homosexual Self-Conception.   (NS 7, AIC #9-10 & AIC Biblical Perspectives Section)

12  Clarifying & Supporting Statements from Our Documents
 1) On Being
“We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption.” (NS #7)
PCA Pastor Greg Johnson explains that “Article 7 says it is a Sin to Adopt a Homosexual Self-Conception.”
2) The Seriousness of THIS Sin
“As the natural family is a fundamental unit of human society and is the normal means of care and nurture, all sins which threaten, undermine, or marginalize it are both spiritually dangerous and detrimental to human flourishing.” (AIC, p 4)
3) On the experience of Same-Sex Attraction
“the experience of same-sex attraction is not morally neutral; the attraction is an expression of original or indwelling sin that must be repented of and put to death (Rom. 8:13). (AIC HS #4 – Desire)
4) On Orientation Language
“However, insofar as the term orientation carries with it a set of assumptions about the nature of that experience that is unbiblical (e.g., overemphasized rigidity, its normativity, etc.), then the terminology may require qualification or even rejection in some circumstances.” (AIC HS, p. 31)
Read The Joy Robbing False Hope of Side B Gay Christianity
5) On Being Predisposed to Any Sin
“This corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.” (WCF, Ch 6)
 6) On Unwanted Desires
“…impure thoughts and desires arising in us prior to and apart from a conscious act of the will are still sin.” (AIC HS #5 – Concupiscence)
7) On Claiming Sin Identities
“To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term “Christian” is inconsistent with Biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that we are new creations in Christ… we name our sins but are not named by them.” (2 Cor. 5:17). (AIC HS #9 – Identity)
 8) On Sinful Identity Markers
“it is still inappropriate to juxtapose this sinful desire, or any other sinful desire, as an identity marker alongside our identity as new creations in Christ.” (AIC HS #10 – Language)
9) On Clinging to Old Adam Identities
“We are best served in our sanctification by looking forward to our new creation selves, which will be fully purified from sinful desire, rather than by looking backwards to our Adamic, fallen selves.” (AIC HS, p28)
10) On Sanctification
“The goal is not just consistent fleeing from, and regular resistance to, temptation, but the diminishment and even the end of the occurrences of sinful desires through the reordering of the loves of one’s heart toward Christ.” (AIC HS #7 – Sanctification)
11) On Our Union & Identity in Christ
“Christians ought to understand themselves, define themselves, and describe themselves in light of their union with Christ and their identity as regenerate, justified, holy children of God (Rom. 6:5-11; 1 Cor. 6:15-20; Eph. 2:1-10).” (AIC HS #9 – Identity)
12) On Repentance, Hope, Rejoicing
“We affirm that the entire life of the believer is one of repentance… Nevertheless, as we call ourselves to the evangelical grace of repentance (WCF 15.1), we see many reasons for rejoicing (Phil 4:1)… Most importantly, we give thanks for the gospel that can save and transform the worst of sinners – older brothers and younger brothers, tax collectors and Pharisees, insiders and outsiders. We rejoice in ten thousand spiritual blessings that are ours when we turn from sin by the power of the Spirit, trust in the promises of God, and rest upon Christ along for justification, sanctification, and eternal life.” (AIC HS #12 – Hope and Repentance)
Again, for a full understanding of these issues, please read the PCA AIC Report and the Nashville Statement.  THE PCA AIC report is the most in depth explanation of our beliefs on these topics. The Nashville Statement is the most concise. Links above.
And finally, a concluding warning and a beautiful thought:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. -1 Corinthians 6:9-11
What About the Overtures?  Check out these resources

Here is the summary video from the Class we did at Meadowview on the PCA’s AIC Report on Human Sexuality.
George is Senior Pastor of Meadowview Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Lexington, NC. This article is used with permission.