Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain
Presbyterian Church, and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today. Special welcome. If you're
new or visiting with us, we're glad that you're here. And we're glad that you're here not because
we're filling seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community. And as we follow
Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good that they don't need God's
grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it, which means that God has something to say to
everyone in his Word, which is why we come back to it week after week. We've been studying the book of
1 Peter, and as I've been telling you, the book of 1 Peter is a letter. It's a letter written by a man
named Peter, and he writes it to churches in the first century AD in the 60s who are living in part
of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, what would now be known as modern-day Turkey, and he writes this
letter because these Christians are struggling. They're struggling because they are feeling out
of place in the world as they follow Jesus, and they're facing opposition from the world as they
follow Jesus. So Peter writes to both encourage them and instruct them. He writes to encourage them
that Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth living and loving for. He's worth suffering and dying for.
And he also writes to instruct them how to live as Christians in the world and how to respond when
they face opposition in the world as Christians. Now, last week we were in a section about the church,
and before that we were in several sections about suffering. We're returning to suffering this week.
By the way, we're getting very near to the end of 1 Peter, so we're going to close out chapter 4 today,
and then we have three more sermons to get us through chapter 5. Next week is going to be the
church again. We'll have one more sermon that touches on suffering, and then we'll have a
conclusion to take us to the very end. You'll remember that there are three different types
of suffering, at least three different types in the Bible. First would be suffering for your own
personal foolishness or sin, and I'm going to give you examples today related to jobs. So if you are lazy
and you spend most of your time at your job on Facebook and you get fired, that's a type of
suffering. It's suffering for your personal sin and foolishness. Suffering type 2, suffering for the
general presence of sin in the world, or we could even add other people's sins. So let's say you were
born in 1985 or 1986, and you graduated from college in 2008. Well, in 2008 it came out that borrowers were
lying to lenders, lenders were lying to banks, and banks were lying to regulators. So guess what?
There were no jobs for you. That's a type of suffering, not because of your sin, but because of the sin of
other people. Then type 3, there's suffering for righteousness sake, or suffering for the name of
Jesus Christ, or as we're going to be told in this passage today, suffering as a Christian. This would be
you have a job, your employer finds out that you're a Christian, and they decide they don't want that type
of person working for them, and so they fire you. So these are our three categories, and we're going
to head in to this passage. We're starting at verse 12, and we're going to see, Peter's going to review
a lot of things that he said before, but we're also going to take a special focus on what he refers to
as a fiery trial or a testing. So we're going to ask, in what sense is suffering a trial or a test for
Christians? How does God use suffering in our lives to test us? We're going to continue our now,
what will be a four-week streak as well, of having a hard passage to figure out, a hard verse, and here
we're going to have to figure out, talk about what does it mean for judgment, this is verse 17, to begin
at the household of God. If God's grace is extended to believers, if they have been taken, have the
penalty of sins been removed, in what sense do Christians still face God's judgment? How can Peter say
that judgment begins with the household of God? And so it's with that focus that we are in 1 Peter
chapter 4, starting at verse 12. So I invite you to open your Bible, you'll find it at the end of your
worship guide, or on your phone. And as we come to this passage, remember that this is God's word.
And God tells us that while the grass withers, and the flowers fade, his word stands forever.
So that's why we read it now, starting at verse 12.
Verse 15.
Verse 18.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you that you are a faithful creator,
and we can trust our souls to you. And one of the reasons that we can trust our souls to you is that you
speak to us, rather than leaving us alone. And so we simply ask that you would do that this morning.
That you would send your spirit to help us, that we would be able to hear from you.
That we would be encouraged and challenged, and that we would respond in love and faith in Jesus Christ.
And so we ask these things in his name. Amen.
Amen.
There's a man whose name is Jeff Henderson.
And for a long period of time, Jeff worked at a very high level in marketing for Chick-fil-A.
And while he was working in marketing for Chick-fil-A, there was a time when he was interacting with the Chick-fil-A stores in the Atlanta area.
And they came to him and they said, hey, we've been doing this Eat More Chicken cow campaign for about 10 years now.
Don't you think it's time we tried something else?
I mean, people have probably got the message at this point, right?
They've seen the signs of the cows on the road.
By the way, this had made its way into the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Isn't it time we picked something new?
People know this by now.
They know that the cows want them to eat more chicken.
So he said, that's a great question.
Why don't we do some market research?
And we are going to look and see how people in the Atlanta area are responding to this.
Are they aware of this?
They did this research and after 10 years of the campaign, it was just starting to catch on.
People were just starting to realize that it was time to eat more chicken.
And so they decided we need to continue with this.
We need to continue this same message over and over again.
It's been 10 years.
Maybe we need another 10 years.
I mention that because we are coming to another passage on suffering.
By my count, I've given you the three categories of suffering at least six times now in this sermon series.
And you might be thinking, we've heard this before.
Why do we need to hear it again?
You might be thinking the same thing for Peter.
Peter said this over and over again at this point.
Why does he need to keep telling these people about suffering?
Of course, this raises a larger issue of how we read the Bible.
I hope that as you come here and as we are together week after week and I'm teaching you,
I hope that you learn things that are true about the Bible.
But I also hope that you learn how to read the Bible.
I don't want you to just walk away with truths.
I want you to be able to dig into God's word for yourself.
And so one, it's important when we come to God's word to understand these categories of suffering.
It can be very confusing when folks come to passages and they think it's about one type and it's not about another.
But the other point is that God uses repetition.
He repeats things over and over to highlight and underscore how important they are.
Peter knows that we've heard about suffering before.
And yet when we read the Bible and we see something repeated over and over,
we're able to say, ah, that must be very important.
That must be something that Peter desperately wants us to take away.
So if there's anything else that Peter wants us to know, it's pretty clear he wants us to know this.
You're going to suffer as a Christian.
And when you suffer, he's repeating here everything that's come before in chapters 1 through 3.
So let's look.
We have verse 12.
Don't be surprised at suffering.
Okay, we probably already knew that at this point, right?
He's been talking about suffering a lot.
It's a fiery trial.
Does that sound familiar at all?
Well, chapter 1, we were told that we had the tested genuineness of our faith would come out.
So he's telling us in chapter 4 what we saw in chapter 1.
We talked about that, by the way, in September.
We talked about the idea of not being here for the snacks.
We're not here just for what we can get.
Trials prove that we're here for Jesus Christ.
We're seeing it in chapter 4.
We saw it in chapter 1.
Then we see what we've seen before in verses 13 and 14.
13, rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
In other words, this is what we saw in chapter 1.
There's going to be praise and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1, verse 7.
I told you when we looked at chapter 1, verses 6 through 9, that suffering is the DNA test that proves that we belong to God.
So we suffer and we rejoice because we know we belong to God.
Chapter 1, verses 10 through 12.
I told you sufferings, part of the story, sufferings, the path to glory.
It's the same thing Peter's saying here.
If you suffer, remember Jesus suffered, you're associated with him.
Jesus' sufferings led to glory, your sufferings will lead to glory.
Jesus was vindicated by God.
You will be vindicated by God.
None of this is new.
Chapter 2, when we talked about slaves and masters, Jesus' path is our path.
Chapter 3, Christ's sufferings led to victory.
That's why we had the whole discussion about him proclaiming to the spirits in prison,
and it's also why we had the whole discussion about Noah.
Noah suffered, he was rescued.
You suffer, you will be rescued.
Jesus suffered, he was vindicated.
Jesus suffered, he was victorious.
You suffer, you'll be victorious.
Peter is telling us these things over and over again,
and so our response is to realize this is really important.
There's a saying that we don't rise to the occasion, we fall to the level of our training.
The level of the training that Peter wants for us in suffering is to respond instinctually.
When we suffer, we should remember immediately.
If someone wakes us up in the middle of the night and asks us about suffering,
we need to be able to say,
Jesus suffered and he was glorified.
When I suffer, I will be glorified.
And so Peter tells us that over and over again,
that it would sink into our hearts.
That's why he's reviewing this for us.
That's why when we read the Bible,
things are repeated over and over and over again
to tell us what is so important.
Same is true in other parts of the Bible.
You read one of the Gospels.
Jesus doesn't just heal someone once.
He heals them over and over and over.
To make the point,
Jesus is a healer and a restorer.
You read the Gospel of Luke,
you're going to hear over and over again
about the appropriate use of money.
Luke could have told us once, right?
But he wants us to know how important it is.
Peter could have told us once,
he wants us to know how important this is.
There's nothing else you take from this letter.
This is the letter about suffering
for the name of Jesus Christ.
And Peter wants written on your heart
that Jesus' sufferings led to glory.
Your sufferings will lead to glory as well.
By the way,
why do you think this is so important to Peter?
We haven't talked about Peter as a person.
I haven't talked about him as a person much
since chapter one.
Peter had a really poor theology of suffering.
Mark chapter eight,
Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about suffering.
And Jesus says,
get behind me, Satan.
Then,
when Peter sees Jesus' suffering
and has the opportunity to suffer on Jesus' behalf,
suffer for the name of Jesus Christ,
for being called a Christian,
Peter decides that's the time
he's gonna deny Christ.
Peter has learned the hard way
the truth about suffering.
And so,
like a parent who warns their child
over and over again
not to repeat their mistakes,
Peter is speaking on a very personal level
to these people
that they would know the truth
about suffering as a Christian.
And so,
that's everything we're seeing
at the beginning of this section.
We are seeing a review.
Suffering's a trial.
Suffering means you're associated with Jesus.
Suffering means you belong to Jesus.
We have some new ideas relatively here.
So,
verse 14,
he's gonna build,
right?
A good teacher's gonna review
and then add something more.
Verse 14,
if you were insulted for the name of Christ,
you are blessed
because the spirit of glory
and of God rests upon you.
Now,
we've seen this idea of blessing before.
The spirit resting on you,
I believe,
is new in the book of Peter.
And we could take this several ways.
One,
some people take it to mean
there's a,
God gives his presence to you
in a special way
if you're suffering.
That could be true.
That's not clear.
What we do know
is that if you're suffering,
God's spirit is with you.
We could put it another way.
If God's spirit wasn't with you,
you wouldn't be able to suffer
for righteousness' sake.
And so,
God,
your suffering
for the name of Jesus Christ
reminds you
that God is with you.
Otherwise,
you wouldn't have made it this far.
So,
again,
he's reminding us
of God's presence with us,
his presence
with people who suffer.
Verse 15,
just summarizing
what we've been saying
for many weeks now,
don't fall into suffering type one.
Don't suffer
for your own sin
or foolishness' sake.
And then,
verse 16,
he continues
to encourage them here.
If you're a Christian,
the world is going to
try to make you feel ashamed.
Instead,
let glorify God.
The world may be ashamed of you.
Jesus Christ is not.
Amen.
And when you suffer,
you bring him glory.
Because you are saying,
I believe Jesus is worth it.
He is worth suffering for.
And so,
when we suffer
for the name of Jesus Christ,
we automatically
are bringing
praise and honor
and glory
to him.
Peter's continuing
continuing to encourage.
Look,
this is everything
we've covered.
I'm coming near the end
of my letter to you.
Remember this.
When you suffer,
you belong to Jesus.
You bring him honor.
He is with you.
And so,
you are blessed.
this is a good teacher
reviewing
what's come before.
There's going to be
a new emphasis
in this section,
though,
and it's going to be
an emphasis
on the fiery trial
or the test.
Verse 12.
Don't be surprised
at the fiery trial
when it comes.
Don't be surprised
by suffering
as a Christian.
That's part of following
after Jesus.
He suffered,
you'll suffer.
And suffering
is a type
of test.
And test here,
he's talking about
the idea
of something
that reveals
what's true.
If you're a student
and you take a test,
that test doesn't
create knowledge,
right?
Primarily.
Now,
if it's an essay test,
you could argue
that it helps you
synthesize.
But primarily,
it reveals
what you already know.
It reveals
what's true.
The same is true
of these trials.
They reveal
the faith
that was already there.
God uses
suffering
as a Christian
to reveal
the faith
that you have.
You could think
about it another way.
Some of you
are married.
When you took
marriage vows,
you said,
for richer
or for poorer,
for better
or for worse,
in sickness
and in health.
So let's imagine
that you're married,
there's a married couple,
and the husband
loses his job
for a long time.
And his wife
sticks with him.
That is a test
that reveals
what's true.
When she said
for richer
or for poorer,
she really meant it.
Let's say
you have
a wife
who comes down
with a terrible illness
and she ends
the rest,
she's gonna spend
the rest of her life
in a wheelchair
and her husband
sticks with her.
That's a suffering
that's a test.
It reveals
that when that man
said in sickness
and in health,
he really meant it.
Jesus tests us
in our suffering
in the sense
that he's asking us,
when you said
that you would
take up your cross
and follow me,
did you really mean it?
It's a test
that reveals
what is true.
When we suffer
for the name
of Jesus Christ,
we reveal
that we belong
to him
and that our faith
is real
and he is with us.
Suffering
tests us.
Will we stick
with our commitments
when they cause us pain?
Will we stick
with our commitment
to Jesus Christ
when it causes us pain?
In that sense,
it is a test.
And so God
uses suffering,
we're gonna get to this
in the next section,
he uses suffering
to reveal the faith
of his people.
It's something
that brings him
honor and glory.
In the same way,
Job suffered,
not for righteousness' sake,
but just Job
suffered in general.
In a sense,
he suffered
for righteousness' sake
because Satan
wanted to test
his faith.
Job brought honor
and glory to God
in that.
And the Spirit
of God
was with him.
That's just
the first discussion
or hint here
to test
in verse 12.
And that's gonna
take us
to verse 17,
which is
in our list
here of hard
to understand passages.
So,
verse 17,
for it is time
for judgment
to begin
at the household
of God.
And if it begins
with us,
what will be
the outcome
for those
who do not
obey the gospel
of God?
If you're familiar
with the basics
of the gospel,
the basics are this,
that we deserve
God's punishment
and that punishment
is death,
that's the penalty
for sin.
But God
has removed
the punishment
for those
who have faith
in Jesus Christ
because Jesus Christ
took God's punishment
on our behalf,
which means
there's no judgment
for Christians,
right?
And yet,
Peter says,
it's time
for judgment
to begin
at the household
of God.
What does he mean?
We have to understand
that judgment
has several stages
to it.
And when we talk
about judgment,
often we mean
God's punishment,
but judgment
is actually
a little bit
more comprehensive
than that.
So,
I've been
doing some judgments
at my house
recently.
I'm a purger,
so at least
every year or so
I go through
and I figure out
what I don't want
anymore
and what needs
to leave my house.
So,
recently I've been
taking some trips
to the Goodwill
and when I go
and I stand
at my closet,
there is a stage
of judgment there.
I'm assessing
all the items
in my closet.
Have I worn
that recently?
If I haven't
worn it since
the last time
I purged,
it might be time
to go.
Does that fit
anymore?
Do I like
that?
In that sense,
every item
in my closet
experiences judgment.
There is a sorting
element to judgment.
There's also
a penalty
or a punishment
element to judgment.
So,
there are some
items that will
not stand
in the judgment.
Those items
go into
the Trader Joe's bag.
The items
that are in
the Trader Joe's bag
are banished
from my presence
forever
and I take them
to the Goodwill.
all of my
clothing
experience judgment
in the first stage.
Not all of them
experience the
punishment of judgment.
Everyone
experienced the
sorting element
of judgment,
not all the
penalty element
of judgment.
So,
there's a sense
in which then
when we're talking
about this judgment,
we have to have
that category
in mind.
everyone in this
world will
experience God's
judgment
in the first
sense.
Everyone will
be sorted.
Think Matthew
chapter 25,
the separation
of the sheep
from the goats.
Everyone's going
to be there
for that portion
of the judgment.
When I'm going
through my closet,
sheep,
goat,
sheep,
goat.
Goats go to
Goodwill.
All of my
clothing
experienced
judgment
in that
sense.
Not all of
them experienced
judgment in
the sense
that I
separated
them from
myself
forever.
When we
suffer as
Christians,
that is part
of God's
sorting.
It is his
way of saying
that person
belongs to
me.
I have
proof that
that person
is a
sheep and
not a
goat.
Because if
they were a
goat, they
would not
stand.
They would
not suffer
for righteousness
sake.
And so
there's a
sense in
which the
sorting portion
of God's
judgment is
going on
even now.
Every time
we suffer
for the
name of
Jesus
Christ,
that is
part of
God's
sorting out
of those
who will
stand in
the judgment
and those
who will
not.
He is
showing.
We're not
earning
something from
him.
In my
earlier
example,
when the
husband or
the wife
keeps their
vows,
they don't
suddenly become
married at
that point.
They were
married the
whole time.
But now
that they
were serious
that they
really meant
it is
finally revealed.
They meant
it all the
way back at
the beginning.
They meant
it on the
wedding day.
But now
the judgment,
as they stand
and remain
faithful in
suffering,
it becomes
clear that
they meant
it.
And so
that's a
sorting that
happens.
By the way,
this is a
helpful category
for coming to
other portions
of Scripture.
If we have
this holistic
idea of
judgment,
it's helpful
in reading
Matthew 25.
It's helpful
in reading
Romans 2.
It's helpful
in reading
the end
of John 5.
It makes
sense of
how judgment
works.
This is the
way Psalm 1
speaks, by the
way.
It says,
the wicked
will not
stand in
the judgment.
So there's a
judgment.
Some people
will stand in
it.
Some people
will not.
In that
sense,
judgment
begins at
the household
of God.
In other
words, the
sorting element
of judgment
has begun
for Christians
even now.
And he
asked this
question,
if it begins
with us,
what will be
the outcome
for those
who do not
obey the
gospel of
God?
In other
words, if
this is how
God treats
the faithful,
unfaithful,
if God
allows Christians
to have a
little bit of
suffering in
this world,
imagine how
much suffering
those who are
not Christians
will experience.
If this is what
judgment looks like
now for you
here, imagine
how much worse
it will be.
It is something
that's painful,
right, that
reveals help.
When I was
little and I'd
go to the
doctor for
checkups, he
would have
this little
rubber mallet,
and this may
have happened
to you, it
hadn't happened
to me recently,
for some reason
they've gotten
smart and they
don't do this
to adults,
but they hit
you with the
mallet on the
knee, right,
and you're
supposed to swing
your knee out
to prove that
your reflexes
are working,
and if your
reflexes are
working, of
course you have
no choice,
right, but to
kick the
doctor.
And so it's
something that's
painful,
that reveals
health.
That's the
same sense in
which judgment
begins at the
household of
God.
It's something
painful,
suffering for
the name of
Jesus, that
reveals health.
If this is
what, you
might imagine
the doctor
saying, if
this is what
I do to
the healthy,
imagine what
happens to
the sick.
If this is
what you are
experiencing,
what will be
the outcome
for those
who do
not obey
the gospel
of God?
How much
more suffering
will they
experience one
day?
That continues
to be the
point he's
making in
verse 18.
If the
righteous is
scarcely
saved, what
will become
of the
ungodly
and the
sinner?
Scarcely
saved here is
not talking
about God's
power,
sinning
and
sinning
and
sorting
now.
The
righteous
is
scarcely
saved
in the
sense
that the
righteous
suffer
because
they
belong
to
Jesus.
There's a
difficulty
to remaining
a Christian.
It's not
easy.
If it's
not easy
to be a
Christian,
what will
become of
the ungodly
and the
sinner?
Imagine
how much
worse it
is for
those who
are not
Christians.
put it
another way,
if the
righteous
suffer in
this life,
imagine how
much the
wicked will
suffer in
the next.
In other
words,
choose your
suffering.
You can
suffer now
or you can
suffer later,
but you
cannot put
it off
forever.
Speaking to
Christians who
might be
tempted to
think,
is it
worth it?
Is it
worth
suffering
for the
name of
Jesus?
Peter
reminds them
the suffering
that will
come if
you're not
with Jesus
is much,
much worse.
And so
remain
faithful
to the
end.
You can
skip
suffering
now,
but you
can't
skip it
forever.
You can
have a
little bit
of suffering
now for
the sake
of Jesus
Christ,
or you
can have
a lot
of suffering
later because
you rejected
Jesus Christ.
this is
what the
righteous
suffer.
Imagine
what the
unrighteous
will suffer
one day.
That's the
point of
Psalm 73,
by the way,
which we
looked at
last summer.
The
psalmist is
crying out to
God,
hey,
it looks
like the
ungodly
have all
the benefits.
What do
I get?
And then
he realizes
you stretch
things out
over a long
enough period
of time
and the
end is
not good
for the
ungodly.
And so
there's a
reminder and
a challenge
here is there
often is that
there are
only two
ways to
live.
We can
live with
faith in
Jesus Christ
without faith
in Jesus
Christ.
If we have
faith in
Jesus Christ,
we will
suffer a
little now
for his
name and
experience
glory later
with him.
If we do
not have
faith in
Jesus Christ,
we may be
able to avoid
some suffering.
We may be
able to have
comfort now,
but God's
judgment is
coming.
It is
real and
he will
bring it
fully and
finally to
this world
one day.
His
judgment is
coming for
everyone.
He will
sort every
person in
this world.
He will
sort them to
those who
belong to
him and
those who
do not.
And those
who do not
belong to
him will
not just
experience the
sorting element
of judgment,
they will
experience the
punishment element
of judgment.
And so
there's a
call to
repentance and
faith in
Jesus Christ.
There's a
call to
you if you
do not
have faith
in Christ.
Things might
seem good
now, right?
We looked at
the days of
Noah a couple
weeks ago.
Everything was
great in the
days of
Noah until
the flood
came.
Everything
might be
going great
until Jesus
returns.
And when he
returns, it
will be too
late.
God
and so
the time
to repent
is now.
God
offers his
forgiveness
to anyone
and everyone
who asks
for it,
who repents
of their
sin and
follows after
Jesus Christ
in faith.
If that's
something that
you're wrestling
with or you
want to talk
about more,
I'm happy to
talk about it
with you.
After any of
our elders,
many of the
people around
you in this
congregation
would be
happy to
talk to
you about
it.
But when
God brings
his judgment,
there will
only be two
camps,
those who
belong to him
and those
who do
not.
There will
be a
sorting.
And those
who do
not belong
to him
face only
God's
judgment.
If the
righteous is
scarcely
saved,
what will
become of
the ungodly
and the
sinner?
If it
begins with
us, what
will be the
outcome for
those who
do not
obey the
gospel of
God?
In other
words,
hold fast.
This
suffering is
for a
little time
before Jesus
returns for
his people.
And so
that's why we
end with this
final admonition.
Therefore,
verse 19,
let those who
suffer according
to God's
will entrust
their souls to
a faithful
creator while
doing good.
God is
bringing justice
to the world.
Trust him.
He's the
creator of the
world.
Trust him.
Trust him in
suffering.
Don't let
suffering stop
you from doing
good.
Because that
would be to
fail the
test of the
sorting.
Instead,
continue doing
good knowing
that it's a
judgment, it's a
sorting, it's a
way that God
proves that his
people belong to
him.
By the way,
Peter failed.
Peter was
tested by God.
Remember when
Jesus was going
to his death,
people asked
Peter if they
knew Jesus,
and Peter,
being afraid
that he would
suffer for the
name of Jesus
Christ, said
no.
And yet he
repented and
returned and
was faithful.
And so God's
grace is even
for those who
are imperfect and
faltering, calling
everyone back to
obedience in him.
Peter feels so
strongly about this
in part because he
was the one who
failed the test,
but has now chosen
that suffering is
worth it.
he betrayed
Jesus, and then
later he died
upside down on a
cross, according
to church history,
for the name of
Jesus.
And so God's
grace is enough.
We don't pass the
sorting, we don't
stand in the
judgment, ultimately
based on our works,
what we do, but we
stand, verse 14,
because the spirit of
glory and of God
rests upon you.
In other words, if
you belong to
Christ, he is a
faithful creator,
verse 19, and his
spirit is with you to
help you stand and
stay firm.
And so ultimately, we
rest on his strength
and his ability, just
like Peter did, turning
away from sin and
towards righteousness,
remaining faithful,
knowing that God is
using it to reveal
our faith.
faith, that it's
only for a time, and
he is bringing his
redemption.
The reminder in this
is the same reminder
at the beginning, what
happened to Jesus will
happen to us.
Jesus suffered, we
will suffer.
If we stick with him
in suffering, we will
be glorified as he is
glorified.
And so verse 19, we
suffer, we trust God,
and we do good.
In what sense is
suffering a task?
It's a task in the
sense that it reveals
our faith.
God uses it to show
that our faith is real,
and we can rejoice in
it because it proves
that we belong to him
and that he is with us.
And so because of that,
we can suffer according
to God's will, entrusting
our souls to a faithful
creator and continuing
to do good.
Please pray with me.
Our Father in heaven, we
thank you for your
encouragement, and we
thank you that you are a
faithful and trustworthy
creator.
We ask that you would send
us your spirit to help us
do what you've called us
to do because we know that
we cannot do it without
your help.
That you would strengthen
us, that you'd help us to
reign faithful in
suffering so that we could
glorify God in that name.
We ask all these things,
not in our own strength,
but in the mighty name of
Jesus.
Amen.