In A.D. 64, when Rome was set on fire, the Roman Emperor Nero, seeking to divert attention from himself and looking for a scapegoat, blamed the Christians. They were an easy target, and Christians were persecuted and in fact hated throughout the then Roman Empire. We're not surprised because our Lord had taught in John 15, if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. That is, we who are followers of Jesus Christ, authentic followers of Jesus Christ, are on a collision course with the world. That being a follower of Jesus Christ does not render us immune from suffering and trials and difficulties. In fact, that suffering is often intensified the closer we are to our Savior.
Yes, all of us experience suffering. Job, the man who was blameless, the man who it is said feared God, suffered greatly. The great Apostle Paul himself was shipwrecked three times. He was stoned. He was imprisoned. He was lashed. He was persecuted.
He was slandered. He certainly suffered. And most of all, as Peter has presented in this first letter, our Lord Jesus Himself suffered. And so don't be surprised if you experience suffering. Don't panic if suffering blows into your life.
And all of life, if you've lived a full life, we all know the mountaintop's experiences and we know the valleys. We know the joys and we know the sorrows, and yet through it all, we who are followers of Jesus Christ must submit to our all-loving and all-powerful God, that God is the only God. He's the supreme God.
He's the great Creator, and He is sovereign over everything and everyone. And this great God that we worship through our Lord Jesus Christ has purposes that we often know nothing about. And rather than fighting against God, we are to surrender to Him.
We are to submit to Him, we who seek to be His followers. The reality is when things go well in our life, we tend to become complacent, perhaps even a bit arrogant, self-reliant, self-sufficient, and unsympathetic to those who are suffering. But in the middle of suffering, isn't it true?
Have you experienced this? That in the middle of suffering, we often understand very clearly what life is really about. And to help us understand these truths, we turn to the inspired Scripture. We're looking at the last verses of 1 Peter chapter 4.
So let me ask you to stand as we read these together. Here is Peter writing to suffering Christians, to persecuted Christians. Notice what he says, "'Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 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? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.'" Amen. Please be seated. I want this morning for us to think of six truths from this passage. You say six. You normally have three. Well, I didn't preach last week, and I'm not preaching next week. I'm not going back to the beach. I've got to go to a conference, so I thought six.
Six. Some of you are depressed, and I haven't even begun, right? Don't you want the Scriptures? Here's the first lesson for us from this passage, in fact from verse 12. Suffering for Christ develops our Christian character.
If you've got your Bible, open it to verse Peter chapter 4. We've read the Scripture, but here in verse 12, Peter says, "'Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.'" Suffering for Christ develops our Christian character. Suffering, Peter says, is a fiery trial.
It's a painful trial. Peter is using the imagery of a furnace of fire as symbolic of the trials that God designs. Yes, God designs for our testing and our purification and our spiritual growth. Gold is placed in a furnace, not to ruin it, but to refine it. So God from time to time places His people in a fiery ordeal for our purification, for our strengthening, for our spiritual growth. Being in the refiner's fire is not comfortable, but don't be surprised when God places you in that furnace. When we follow Jesus Christ, we do experience painful and difficult circumstances.
Some of you are in the furnace at the moment. Don't be discouraged. The suffering is not to disprove you, but to approve you. The suffering is not to punish you, but to mature you, to develop in you the very character and the very virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ. These fiery trials, these painful trials develop Christian character. Isn't this what Peter is saying?
Again, verse 12, he says, the suffering comes upon you to test you. The refiner's fire reveals the genuineness of our faith. When someone puts gold, thinks he's putting gold into the furnace, and it's not gold, the fire reveals the reality of the gold.
It is not gold at all. Spurgeon in his own way writes, suffering is meant not only to burn out the dross, but to burn in the promises. I like that. Have you been there? You see, suffering burns out the dross in our life. It burns out our pride, our self-reliance, our materialism, our worldliness.
What does suffering do? It burns in these great Christian virtues of humility, of trust, of godliness, of hope. Thomas Watson says, when God lays men upon their backs, then they look up to heaven.
Have you ever been on your back, literally, figuratively? Isn't it true then we look up to God? The reality is that most of us grow more through adversity rather than prosperity. And so from time to time, our God, often in purposes we know nothing about, puts us in a fiery trial to test us. You've been tested for your faith. Perhaps your difficulties at work because you've taken a stand as a Christian because of honesty. You refuse to lie.
You refuse to compromise. You take your stand for Christ and it's difficult. Perhaps you're in a family where you're the only follower of Jesus Christ and it's very difficult.
Your siblings, your parents, others around you ridicule you and mock you because of your stand for Christ. Perhaps you're a student. Your fellow students are giving you a hard time because you refuse to party like them. Perhaps your boyfriend has terminated a friendship with you because of your stand on sexual purity. Perhaps you're in business and you're trying to make that business deal, but because of your personal integrity that deal is going south.
Have you ever experienced that? What are we to do in these tests? We're to stand fast. We are to endure. James writes, "'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, produces endurance.'"
That's what Paul says in verses 3 and 4 of Romans 5. He says that suffering produces endurance. You know that even in life, apart from the spiritual way, you're trying to achieve something and it's difficult.
It's hard. If you continue, if you endure, you're going to succeed. It's very easy to give up when suffering comes, isn't it?
To feel self-fiddy. No, says Paul, suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character. What's going to produce character, having no difficulties in life, never knowing what it is to endure, never knowing a difficulty, never knowing a disappointment, never knowing some humiliation? No, says Paul, suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character. And what does character produce, says Paul? Hope, hope. One of the words of Peter, a letter of hope that we have hope because we are followers of Jesus Christ.
Here's the first lesson then. Suffering for Christ develops our Christian character. Secondly, suffering for Christ identifies us with Christ in His sufferings.
This may be difficult for us to grasp, but this is what Peter is saying in verse 13. Suffering for Christ identifies us with Christ in His suffering. Verse 13, but rejoice. Rejoice in trials? Rejoice in the fiery trial?
Yes, rejoice. Insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. We share the sufferings of Christ. Now that Christ suffered is a repeat repeated theme in 1 Peter, which we've seen. For example, verse 21 of chapter 2, Peter writes, Christ also suffered for you.
You were called to suffer. Don't be surprised because Christ also suffered for you. Chapter 3, verse 18, for Christ also suffered once for sins.
Chapter 4, verse 1, Christ suffered in the flesh. There it is, here in our text verse 13, we share in the very sufferings of Christ. Now we don't share in the redemptive sufferings of Christ. We don't atone for our own sins.
That's impossible. We can't discharge the debt of sin, which is accumulated against the Holy God, that is dealt with by our Lord Jesus Christ through His death, His birth and resurrection. But we share Christ's sufferings when we do that which is right, when we're faithful to the will of God in our life, when we experience these sufferings, we are in fact, Peter says, sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That takes suffering to a very high level, doesn't it?
Yes, we expect trials. We expect spiritual attacks. And yes, the closer we are to Christ often the more suffering there may be. But when we suffer for Christ, Peter is saying, we can rejoice in this because we are in fact sharing in the very sufferings of Christ. Here is Paul, Saul as the end was, on the road to Damascus. Some of us have stood on the Golan Heights and looked towards Damascus about 45 miles away and wondered what it was, as here's Saul persecuting the church, trying to kill Christians, put them in prison. And so he's on his way to Damascus, and the Lord Jesus reveals Himself to him.
Do you remember what Luke records in Acts chapter 7? Jesus speaks and says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. In what way was Paul persecuting Jesus? He was persecuting the people of God. He was persecuting the church of God. And in that way then, these Christians then, as is true now, they were experiencing the very sufferings of Christ. Richard Baxter says, Christ leads us through no darker rooms than He went through before. Suffering? Understand this, brother, sister, Christ knows. He sympathizes.
He's gone there. No one suffered like our Savior. He suffered for us. And as we suffer, we're identifying with the suffering of Christ, and we who follow Him realize that as we follow Jesus Christ, we don't always follow Him on the mountaintop.
There is the valley. There are difficulties. There are, as Richard Baxter is saying, there are dark rooms, times when we feel isolated, times when it's difficult. But we rejoice in this, that we're never in a situation where Christ has not first gone. Our mission statement says that we, that Calvary Church exists to be and make authentic followers of Christ. Do you think that means that life is always going to be rosy, you're always going to be successful at everything you do, and that you're going to live on the mountaintop?
No. There are dark rooms. There are disappointments. There are ridicule sometimes that come into our life, but we rejoice in this, that we're identifying with the sufferings of Christ and that He is leading us. And as Peter says here in verse 13, that suffering leads to glory. How is it that we can rejoice and be glad in the middle of suffering? One reason is we share in the sufferings of Christ because we know that the sufferings of Christ led to glory. And our sufferings not only serve as an instrument of our sanctification, but they serve as an instrument of our glorification, as it were, which makes it all the more sweeter because we know that the coming glory is going to be revealed. Peter has said this in chapter one that we suffer, yes, but there is coming glory at the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the principle throughout Scripture is this, as we see supremely illustrated in our Lord Jesus Christ, first the suffering, then the glory. You want all the glory now, don't you?
You want all the sunshine now. No, first the darkness, then the sunshine. First the suffering, then the glory. And meantime, this suffering purifies us and prepares us for that coming glory which will be revealed when Christ returns. Second principle then, suffering for Christ identifies us with Christ and His suffering. Third, as we see in verses 14 and 15, suffering for Christ is a blessing. When you're suffering, God is blessing you. Verse 14, if you're insulted for the name of Christ, you're to go into a little corner and cry and feel very sorry for yourself.
No. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. God is blessing you because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. When we're suffering for the name of Christ, we're blessed. You're insulted for the name of Christ, God is blessing you in a special way. People are cursing you, God is blessing you.
You're taking a stand for Christ and it's difficult. The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God is upon you. You are being blessed. The Shekinah of glory in the Old Testament was a visible sign of the presence of God. And so when we suffer, the blessing of God is on us.
Remember when Stephen Rather was being martyred? He saw the glory of the Lord as the Lord Jesus stood to receive him. And Peter is saying that in a very special way, you experience the presence and blessing of God when we suffer.
Isn't that the teaching of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount? Rejoice when people revile you. Be glad when you're persecuted. Your reward is going to be great in heaven. Don't panic.
Don't be surprised. Don't retreat. Rather know that in the providence of God, God is using you for His glory, and He is blessing you when you make that stand for Christ and you understand something of what it means to be identified with Christ in His suffering. Now says Peter, in case there's any ambiguity about this in verse 14, you have to evaluate the suffering.
It's possible to suffer for the wrong reason. Don't suffer as a murderer or a thief. You say, well, no murderers or thieves here. Well, remember what the Lord said.
If you've got hatred against your brother, it's murder. No thieves, they'll pay your taxes. Do you fill in your tax form honestly? You steal your employer's time? Suffer as a murderer or a thief or as an evildoer or a meddler. What's a meddler?
A busybody. Sometimes they're well-intentioned, but they cause a lot of problems, don't they? You're a meddler at work. You've got a meddler in the home, a meddler in the church. No, we're not to be meddlers. We're not to be busybodies. We're not to be rebels.
Scripture tells us that we're to be model citizens, that we're to live peaceful and quiet lives, Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 2. And just because we may do something in the name of Christ doesn't mean that we are necessarily suffering for the cause of Christ. Sometimes Christians attack criticism and insults because of their foolish statements, because of their harshness, because of their lack of compassion. And although they feel they're taking a stand for Christ, they're a discredit to the gospel.
They're overzealous, as it were, in their behavior. Now be wise. Don't cause problems because you're overzealous or because you're a fanatic. Remember that you're to display Christ at all times. Third, here it is then, suffering is a blessing. Number four, verse 16, suffering for Christ glorifies God. Now, our overarching mission at Calvary is to glorify God.
Do you pay attention to the words you were saying? It's for His glory, not our glory, not for the glory of Calvary Church. And when you suffer for Christ, you're glorifying God. Verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Suffering for Christ glorifies God. When we suffer as a Christian, God has been glorified. Here are these first century Christians scattered and persecuted because they're Christians, and they're given this name Christian, originally probably a nickname as we read in Acts chapter 11, but a wonderful name. Someone asks you, what do you believe?
Who are you? To me, the best answer is I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ. It's not that of a denomination, not some theological tag that people put on us. No, we are, first and foremost, we are Christians. Our allegiance is to Christ. Our lives are surrendered to Christ. We are Christ-centered in our lives. We're Christ-centered in the church. We are Christians.
Isn't that a wonderful term? We see that when people are baptized, they're stating their allegiance to Christ that they have received. Christ is their Savior, that He's our only hope. He's the only way of salvation. We are Christians.
And so, although it may have been given as a nickname, it became and right to today is a well-loved name for followers of Christ. Are you suffering as a Christian? Don't be ashamed.
It's easy, isn't it? In company with unbelievers, to be a bit ashamed, to be a bit hesitant, to take a stand for Christ. But He says, if you suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. You've taken a stand for Christ. Don't be ashamed of that.
Be ashamed if you don't. Never be ashamed of taking the name of Christian. Never be ashamed of the gospel, as Paul says, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. This is the greatest message in the universe. We're followers of Christ. We're entrusted with a glorious message of the gospel.
Why would you be ashamed of that? And if you suffer because of that, you're glorifying God. Isn't that wonderful?
Did you ever experience that? We often feel inadequate, don't we, as we witness for Christ, but we can glorify God that we're truly followers of Christ. We're sharing in His sufferings.
And you'll recall as Luke recounts the journeys of Paul and as they're persecuted, that the apostles, what did they do when they were persecuted? They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer in the name of Christ. We sometimes suffer because of our own foolishness, because we sometimes break the law, because we're poor employees, because we betray our friends, because we disobey our parents. We often suffer for these reasons. How wonderful to suffer for being a Christian. Don't be ashamed of being a Christian. When you suffer for that, you're glorifying God.
Persecution, ridicule, isolation, aren't these things increasing in our world? After all, who in the United States is the biggest enemy of the secularists and the humanists? We who believe the Scriptures. We who believe that this is absolute truth. We who believe that this is the inspired Word of God and there can be no compromise on this and that the way we live and the way that we deal things doesn't depend on Congress, doesn't depend on a decision from the Supreme Court, doesn't depend on an edict from a president or anyone else.
Our stand and our only stand is on the Word of God, and that's why we are finding ourselves more and more on collision course with the world. Some of you may have heard, just to give one example, of this mother in Oregon. She opened her heart, she wanted to open her home for a child in need, and the state of Oregon refused unless she was willing to promote the state's harmful gender ideology. How sad that we who believe, as we do, clearly taught by Scripture, that God made us male and female, a fact which has been undisputed really in the history of the world, but now we're told no.
There's this blurring of gender, and here's a dear woman who wants to open her home to a child at need and because she doesn't accept and because she's not willing to promote a certain unbiblical ideology regarding gender, the state says no. Suffering for Christ. Let's not give way. Suffering for Christ glorifies God.
Here's the fifth one. Suffering for the Christian is temporal, suffering for the ungodly is eternal. Suffering for the Christian is temporal, it's ephemeral, just for a short time, suffering for the ungodly is eternal.
It will never, ever end. 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? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Do we suffer now?
Yes, we do. Life is sometimes hard. Psalm 73, the Psalmist wonders why the wicked are prospering. We wonder that, don't we? How is it that unscrupulous people, how is it that people who defy God seem to be getting on so well in life, and that unscrupulous person at your work, that person gets promoted, they're the top salesperson, the student who's ungodly seems to be the most popular, what's gone wrong in their world? Well, remember this, we suffer now for a short time. The ungodly will suffer for eternity. God begins, this is serious for us, you're Christians, God begins His judgment with His own people and moves forward. If you read the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 3, you see that God is concerned, God expects a certain standard from His people, those who are blessed, those who God has blessed over and over again, God expects us to behave ourselves in a certain way in the household of God.
That is true. It's true that we suffer now, but think of the judgment coming on those, Peter says, who do not obey the gospel of God. If we who follow Christ with difficulty survive on earth now, how will it be for the ungodly when they stand before God and experience the judgment of God on their ungodliness and unholiness? If God's children suffer now, is the argument, how much more severe will God's judgment be on those who are not His children?
What do you think? Suffering now. Far better to endure the present suffering for Christ now than to experience the eternal judgment of God. You say, John, I don't like this talk about judgment.
No, neither do I. But our source of truth is not in Calvary Church, is not what I think or what you feel or what you think is appropriate. It's in the Word of God, and we're reading it. The judgment is coming. How important it is that all of us then are saved by the grace of God, that we are sheltered in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, judgment is coming. But Paul writes, there is now therefore no condemnation, no judgment for those who are in Christ Jesus. Earlier on in our study of 1 Peter, we saw how Peter uses the analogy of the ark, a place of safety. They're told to get into the ark, and those who were in the ark, a picture of a Lord Jesus Christ, are safe.
Those who are outside of the ark experience the judgment of God. So it is now, if we are in Christ, if we're in Christ Jesus, if you have received Christ as your Savior, if your sins have been forgiven, you are secure. If you're not, if your trust is in yourself, your trust is in your church, your trust is in your Christian heritage and your good deeds or whatever it is, if your trust is in anyone or anything other than Christ alone and His grace alone, you will experience the judgment of God. That's why Peter says the judgment is coming on those who do not obey the gospel. You say, well, what's the gospel? The gospel is good news. When Jesus began His public ministry in Mark chapter one, as He preached the gospel He said, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. We are sinful people, we've broken the law of God, we're under His condemnation, we're under His judgment.
What are we to do? We are to repent, we're to acknowledge our sin, and we're to look to Christ and to Christ alone who has, who as Peter has magnificently said, that He suffered for sins once, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. There's the only way to God, it's through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's come and He suffered. Yes, He suffered, the only innocent one, the righteous one, the Holy One of God. He suffered for we who are unrighteous, we who are sinful.
For what purpose? That He might bring us to God. And so, if you're sheltered in Christ, you're saved, eternally saved. I'm speaking to someone today and you have not yet obeyed the gospel. You're here. Perhaps you've been dragged here.
Perhaps you're coming out of a favor to a friend. Perhaps you come here out of routine because you like the people here, you like the singing, you like the atmosphere, but you're not yet trusting in Christ. Can I urge you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved? Here's the sixth one, suffering for Christ drives the Christian to God.
I love this. What does suffering do? Suffering for Christ drives the Christian to God. Verse 19, therefore, let those who suffer, it's the first time He uses this word in the verses we're reading, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. Suffering for Christ drives the Christian to God. What are you to do when you're suffering?
Trust God. Doing God's will does not mean that you will escape suffering. Peter says this expressly, those who suffer according to God's will.
Yes, it's the will of God. He tests us. He puts us in these difficult circumstances. Often we don't understand how are we to complain. I'll tell you how we often complain, how often we deal with that, how we respond to suffering, we complain. We're sometimes bitter, bitter against God.
We're sometimes consumed with self-pity. Yeah, there's much that we don't understand about sufferings and trials and evil, but this we do know as Peter is reminding us that we have a faithful Creator who can be trusted. Peter uses an interesting expression here.
He says those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator. This word of trust, it's like a banking term. You entrust, you commit your deposits, your resources, your money for safekeeping. You hand over what you have to someone else. You're entrusting them with your savings. You're entrusting someone with your medical health. You're entrusting your attorney in a difficult situation.
That's the picture, isn't it? Here we are. We've got these difficulties, these trials, the suffering.
What am I to do? I'm to hand them over to, notice Peter's description of God, He's a faithful Creator. He's the one who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. I'm to commit it to Him. He's faithful.
He's the Creator. I'm to take all of my disappointments, all of my suffering, all of the things I don't understand, and rather than being bitter about them and rather than fighting God because of them, I'm to entrust them, I'm to hand them over to God. He is faithful. He's promised, we were singing about it, that He will safely bring us through all of your suffering, all of your trials. Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you're with me in the worst suffering of all as we go through the valley of the shadow of death.
It is a valley. We're going to go through the valley and dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore. Therefore, I'm to trust God in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the suffering, in the middle of the persecution, in the middle of that disappointment, and to keep trusting God. Fear focuses on the circumstances. Fear is always looking down.
Fear is so pessimistic. Faith looks up to this great God who is faithful. Think of the way He has been faithful to you over the years, and He is the Creator, not only our Creator but our Redeemer. Trust Him. Trust God. Trust Him one day at a time. Trust Him now.
Trust Him for all of your future. Entrust your very soul to Him. And says Peter, while doing good, you know, I found that when God's people go through sufferings and disaboundments and trials, there's a tendency for us to retreat, isn't there? Someone says, well, I can no longer serve God because of this difficulty.
I've known people because of difficulties. They've been spiritually paralyzed. They leave the church. They stop reading their Bible. When you speak to them, they say, well, this is so difficult. This is so painful.
I just can't go on. Peter is saying no. He's writing to first century Christians who knew persecution in a way that none of us sitting here in comfort know. He's saying to us, no, I want you to entrust your soul to the faithful Creator, and I want you to continue to do good, not to sit at home, not to give up, not to allow the enemy to paralyze us.
No. God has placed us here for a purpose, to live for His glory, and in the middle of the trials, in the fiery trial, I'm to entrust my very soul to Him, and at the same time, I'm to continue to do good. Will you do that? Don't opt out the Christian life. Don't sit at home.
Don't retreat into a black hole. Yes, your suffering is very real, but you have a faithful Creator who is working His purposes in your life. Be strong, endure. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces what? Hope, hope. Of all the people on the face of the earth, we are people of hope. There is always hope for the Christian. Whatever your difficulty, whatever you are facing, we are people of hope. We have this living hope, Peter has said, which comes through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, don't be surprised when suffering comes.
Opportunity for spiritual growth, an opportunity for joy, yes, an opportunity in a special way to receive the blessing of God. And in times of suffering, remember that God is good, even when life is hard, and that God is wise because His ways are perfect, and that God is love. The cross declares that, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We are people who have everlasting life. We are people who are eternally loved by our great God.
We go forward strong, and we believe that God is faithful. He's at work in your life, and He's conforming you in a supernatural way to be more and more like Jesus. Therefore, trust Him with all of your heart. Therefore, commit your soul to Him.
What's Peter saying in the middle of suffering? Rejoice and trust in your faithful God who will hold you fast until that great day, that magnificent day, that day which will never end when the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. Stand strong.
Commit your very soul to the Creator. Before you do that, we're going to sing a song which reminds us of the faithfulness of God, and that in the midst of trials, in the midst of darkness, He holds us fast, our Father and our God. We confess that often we have not responded well to suffering. Forgive us and I pray for those here who are suffering. May we be strong. May we be strong as a church and may we never compromise Your Word. May we never be ashamed of the gospel. And for each person bowed now in Your presence, I pray. Some of them have not yet obeyed the gospel.
May they do that right now. I look to the Savior and receive everlasting life. Help us to rejoice in the midst of difficulties knowing that You're a God who always, always holds us fast. We thank You in His name. Amen.
