Preparing For Suffering - pt. 12

Man you may be seated. I

Read this account the following is an ad from a newspaper that appeared four days in a row The last three days hopelessly trying to correct the first day's mistake This was in Monday's paper for sale RD Jones has one sewing machine for sale phone number and it gives the phone number after 7 p.m. And ask for mrs. Kelly who lives with him cheap So in Tuesday's paper It says notice we regret having air we regret having aired an RD Jones ad yesterday It should have read quote one sewing machine for sale cheap phone number and ask for mrs Kelly who lives with him after 7 p.m. So in Wednesday's paper Notice RD Jones has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the classified ad

Yesterday the ad stands correct as follows quote for sale RD Jones has one sewing machine for sale cheap phone number after 7 p.m. And ask for mrs. Kelly who loves with him a Thursday's paper notice I

RD Jones have no sewing machine for sale. I intentionally broke it to pieces Do not call this phone number as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with mrs. Kelly until yesterday she was my housekeeper, but she has now quit oh Oh At times how the things we say get twisted around and we can Not come across maybe as we intended to do but God's Word is faithful He says what he means and he means What he says and all he wants us to do is to take his word for it to trust him With what he says trust him with what he is trying to tell us The the we've talked about it over the last several weeks We've been in in first Peter in the section from chapter 3 verse 8 until now

This is our 12th week in looking at this whole section of preparing for suffering, and I'm sure you're getting Anxious to move on to something else But this has been an intense time of God through Peter seeking to prepare our hearts for suffering that's inevitable because We're followers of Jesus Christ if they hated him. He said they're going to hate us It's been granted unto us. It's been gifted to us Philippians 1 tells us to Not only reign with him, but to suffer with him. It's been gifted. It's a gift for us to suffer for Christ

It's how the glory comes out 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 press down, but not destroy The stomp blink of the glory being revealed through the clay vessel So it's inevitable for us. Don't try and avoid it It's when we surrender to it one of the one of the commentators that I quoted before Said it's when we surrender to that and realize that God's in the midst of it and trust him through it That it changes from being a threat to actually being part of our growth and part of our Testimony and part of a way that the Lord is glorifying Now Satan wants to sidetrack us, and we've talked about that the last several times. We've been together He wants us to keep away from an intimacy with the father

He wants to move us out from that opportunity to be close that our desire as Christians Shouldn't be to just rack up a bunch of books. Well. Yeah, we've studied You know we've been through the through the Bible study on Wednesday night, and we're in 1st Corinthians We started in Genesis, and we have all this Experience that we've experienced now all the different books of the Bible up to this point it shouldn't be to rack up studies It shouldn't be to gain knowledge It should be to come to a point where we're understanding the nature and the character of the father And we're surrendering more and more to him So that daily he is increasing in and through our lives, and we are Decreasing he is becoming more and more we are becoming less and less

His thoughts are becoming our thoughts his desires are becoming our Desires, and we are lost in him if that's not happening Then you need to check your walk if you're not having that desire if you're not seeing that happen Then check your walk because intimacy has been broken somewhere and Satan desires that he wants to sidetrack us and keep us away from loving God with all our heart Mind soul and strength and as a result of that from loving our neighbor as ourselves loving others and telling him about Jesus And we've seen and I'm Reemphasizing this for the last time He seeks to sidetrack us two ways one the first way is he attempts to draw us back into our old ways

And I mentioned before not only the old ways of satisfying the flesh. It's not only back into Into areas of sin in our flesh But seeking us as believers to try and merit God's favor. He tries to draw us back into that so You know we feel apologetic like oh, you know I've lost a star. You know the stars off my page I think it's a silver star this week for my Sunday school attendance or my church attendance or whatever instead of Realizing the loss of fellowship that we had with the believers and with the Lord from being here And it's easy then to think well. I have to get back. I need to get back

I need to get back to my church and I need to get back to my family and I need to get back to my I have to get back. I need to get back into personal devotions, and we need to do that We need that prompting, but it's not again Just so we can say I made it through every day this week having devotions well goodie for you Did it change your life this week did it change your attitudes towards your spouse did it change your attitude towards your job? Did you notice a difference in your your concern when you were when you went to wherever you were going this week to your job? Or to school or whatever did you have an others centered focus?

Did it affect your life because you had devotions? Not just I made it through five days or six days or all seven days With having a personal time with the Lord that's getting back into our old Ways and Satan seeks to sidetrack us from that intimacy that way and secondly He attempts to kill your relationship with fellow Believers he attempts to kill your relationship with the body of Christ and for the last several weeks. We've been looking at three ways three strategies that Peter suggests here and in this section of chapter 4 To deal with that to thwart that distraction. We've looked at verses 1 through 6 in

arming yourselves with Jesus attitude which first of all was an attitude towards the purpose of suffering that suffering indeed has a purpose and I may not understand it and I may not like the idea of suffering. I may not a Lot of times I suffer as a result of my own foolishness my own Stupid decision-making but that in itself has a purpose as well. God has a purpose in that So it's understanding that suffering has a purpose. We're arming ourselves with the attitude of Christ who surrenders to the Father We found in in 1 through 6 that our attitude towards the world changes we're done with the areas of desiring to sin to satisfy self and So if you're locked into some area, that's just self satisfying self

Gratifying and you don't want to give it up. It has become an idol to you And I don't know what it could be It could be anything from watching something on TV to taking in some kind of something maybe food Maybe I don't know what else maybe I don't know pornography or whatever anything that you're doing selfishly for self gratification or self satisfaction is you're doing it simply you're doing it in disobedience to the Lord and According to this if we're arming ourselves with the attitude of Christ, we're done with that We don't have to do that when we do we confess it forsake it set it aside. Don't keep going back to it and Then our attitude towards the Father

Changes we have an intimacy that develops in a desire to do his will that's arming ourselves with the attitude of Christ Verse 7 we saw that we have an urgent expectancy for his coming We're expecting the end of all things verse 7 the end of all things is near There's an urgency there the idea of the rapture of the church and then and the second coming of Christ coming immediately is not new It's not 18th century 19th century 20th century. It happened in the first century. It happened with the disciples the end of all things is Near and that leads us to a clear-minded prayer Therefore be of sound judgment and sober sober spirit for the purpose of prayer So if you've gotten away this week from

Realizing the urgency of the coming of Christ you need to get back into it and that may be plugging into the news and Seeing the things that are happening. They are happening at such an accelerated rate. We're talking we Several of us went to the men's conference up north and just got back yesterday afternoon talking to some of the brothers up there about how You know over the last 20 years We've watched things happening that are bringing us in line With actually the tribulation because nothing remains to be fulfilled for the rapture of the church to happen Things are just falling into place for the great tribulation and how we could kind of click them off and go in that cool

Oh that's moving over here. Oh, that's really neat. And now they're happening so fast. It's like you're on a slope of grease It's just you can't keep up with the amount of things that are happening as quickly as they're happening To set things up for what's coming next and so we know that the end is near it is at hand And so there's an urgent expectancy That the coming and the coming of the Lord leads us to prayer to be in prayer Consistent prayer for the safety of the church with the hate crime stuff that's coming up But if the thought crime it's about thoughts now the intents and thoughts so you can just read the passages on Homosexuality in Scripture and be in violation of the hate crimes Law

Because it's the intent it's the it's how the hearer perceived it and if the hearer perceives that reading with an intent to threaten then you're in violation of the hate of the hate crimes, which is multiple years of incarceration You know, and so these things are coming so we need to be in prayer about these things As they're happening and that verses 8 through 11 the third strategy Provokes a deep love for one another a deep love for one another and I mentioned last week that these are progressive you arm yourself with the attitude of Christ and it leads you to an urgent urgent Expectancy of his coming again, which leads you into a deep love for one another to hold one another up to keep each other encouraged

It's amazing how you get involved in fellowship and you're with one another and you're with each other in the word and you have that Expectancy and you just like like Jim was saying that that the young man mentioned you do. I just see the reality of Godliness among the people here. It's because you all are clicking into this you're all Understanding this and it's becoming a visible part of your lives We have a deep love for one another and last time we hit verse 9 be hospitable to one another without complaint And just they'd be hospitable to one another but without complaint we dealt with that last week We're gonna try and finish the rest of chapter 4 here this morning Verse 10 he says as each one has received a special gift

Employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold Grace of God now each one of us as believers each one of you have received a special gift. You are gifted by God Because you have the Holy Spirit resident within you we could go through a study on the gifts of the Spirit There are more than those listed in Romans and in 1st Corinthians and in

Peter and the other places that they're listed there are more so don't just count through that again And I mentioned it before is why I don't really like the gift survey analysis Because people will take that wonder you have a wonder of what your gift is and so you take the analysis survey and it says will you lean really strongly towards administration and helps and and maybe mercy and Then in your mind you focus in on that and you say that's what I do That's what I need to do is focus in on those at the sake of the others But the gifts are not separate from the Spirit In other words in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 where it says and he gives gifts Severally to as as he wills the Spirit gives gifts to each of us as he wills

It doesn't mean like here is the gift of tongues and he goes here Like a package and sets it down and says that's for you and then goes over here like Santa Claus like a spiritual Santa Claus handing out presents but that unfortunately is how the church has perceived it and so if I have a gift of Administration or a gift of helps or a gift of mercy That must be all that I have when the gifts are a part of the nature and the character of the Spirit They're who he is You may have brown hair and blue eyes and you're so tall and there's so much weight there and you have a tendency to Speak a certain way and and you may have a certain accent or not. That's part of you That's part of your character and part of your nature

You can't take your brown hair off and lay it somewhere else. Although sometimes it feels like you do, you know That's a part of who you are that's the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is resident within the heart of a believer and so he possesses all the gifts because it's who he is and all we are to do as believers is Allow him to live himself out through us And so there are times when we really need to have the gift of helps and and I may not be great at it like somebody Else who has that gift, but the Holy Spirit will live that out through me Mercy Administration teaching whatever it's the Holy Spirit living it out Now you have the gifts of the Spirit you have a particular area of giftedness that the Holy Spirit wants to live out through you

Well, how do I know what that is? Get involved with each other Get involved in the opportunities that Glenn goes through on a Sunday morning. There's so much stuff going on Well, I don't know if I can do that Come find out just get involved. We're not gonna laugh at you Nice try No, we won't do that. Just get involved. You'll have a drawing towards something when he mentioned vacation Bible school

There were a lot of hearts that all of a sudden perked up You know the work that's involved in but you perked up at it because you enjoy working with the kids, you know The sacrifice that's involved But you know that it's for a great cause and you've seen the lives of kids that have gone through just particularly this ministry that are now adults and Have been affected for the Lord and are walking with the Lord because they went through a vacation Bible school You know that it's perking your hearts Percolating and you okay. There's a draw to that respond to it You've been gifted each one as each one has received a special gift employ it how in Serving one another In ministering to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God

In your heart right now in your mind's eye right now picture grace

I can picture a locomotive I Can picture a camel As far as picturing grace seeing grace I you know blank the word grace I can remember the acronym God's riches at Christ expense What does grace look like? It looks like you When you're reaching out to others when you're ministering to others with the giftedness with the way you're concerned The grace of God is Blowing out that's why he calls it the manifold grace of God It's so broad and it's expressed in so many ways because it's expressed through the individuals in his body But that's why that's why God has gifted you he has graced you that don't hold it to yourselves That is like the the the minor that you have you have one minor or two minus or ten minus or whatever

He's given you that now invested invested in the lives of somebody else so that when you stand before the Lord He goes you you've been faithful in this one. I'm gonna put you over ten And you give your responsibility your investment here Determines what you're going to do there your responsibility in the kingdom and beyond the kingdom age a thousand years hard for us to even Conceive of but that's just a sliver of the beginning of the after this life just a sliver We're looking at a thousand years ruling and reigning with him with the Responsibilities that he gives us as a result of how we have served him here But after that thousand years, what's next a new heaven and a new earth a new whatever. I have no clue

He doesn't tell us because our puny brains would melt and fly out our nose we cannot handle Understanding what's coming next So just minister the gifts now that he's given to you and According to the manifold grace of God whoever speaks He talks about speaking and serving here in verse 11 Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever So if you if your gift is speaking and it's not just maybe teaching or maybe prophesying or sharing a word of knowledge or whatever

It's just speaking you guys that work in in agape fruits back there and you go and you sit down and visit with others That's a gift You know, people are scared to death to do that They're afraid to meet somebody new you guys are scared That's why we try and free you to not just turn around and shake a hand of somebody right around you Get out of your rows and go meet somebody new and after you do that Several weeks in a row you're used to it and it's not you're not as afraid anymore. I've done that Yeah, I know you and I know you and but I know you and you go do that. That's like praying That's what we have you pray together corporately So many people have come here who have not prayed out loud at home with the spouse with their kids

They've been afraid they've not known how and you have Disciple them you have who have prayed in your groups. I haven't had to you've Discipled them. They've listened to you pray and They're following in your footsteps as to how to pray. That's what discipleship is all about you Example it you do it with them. They do it with you. They do it on their own They've been discipled raised up and they're doing that

And it's just a blessing it's a godsend so you're speaking gift is not necessarily teaching the Word of God But it can be speaking word of encouragement a word fitly spoken and at the right time just amazing how God blesses and Serving maybe your area is serving. I don't speak well, so I serve I can wait tables I can sweep and mop I can mow the lawn. I can move chairs around I can vacuum I can wipe stuff down Here you would be blown away At the people whose lives have been touched by those of you who serve in that way

Bring about whether to share Last week after the agape fruits one of the ladies here Just took some food across the street, that's all just took some of the extra food across the street and Said we had a dinner over here, and we have extra food Would you like to have it? Can we bless you with a meal and The people were blown away They were absolutely blown away As far as I know she didn't share the four spiritual laws She didn't tell him about the name of Jesus being the only way to salvation She just served with The strength which God supplies and God Indeed was glorified because they responded to that In a way that blessed the ministry for her Just Simply serving with the strength which God supplies Jesus Christ was indeed

Glorified and that's what he wants us to do in these last days as a pressure gets intense that Needs to be seen our nation whether you realize it or not is on the verge of anarchy We're on the verge of revolting again These tea parties which were downplayed in the press, but which were mighty in demonstration exhibit the hearts of of a vast amount of people in this nation who are upset with the way things are going governmentally and If things continue to slide in certain directions there will be Uprisings happen if a terrorist attack should happen on this soil with an EMP a pulse That shuts everything down Do you realize that There are those who predict that within the first year 95% of our country would die

The population would die because we've lost How to cultivate the ground we've lost How to provide food we've lost how to help one another and People would be breaking into homes and killing other people for eggs for food We're on the verge of that happening now whether that's going to happen Before the rapture or right after the rapture something like that could very well happen to bring our nation down to be an insignificant insignificant piece in the puzzle for during the tribulation period because we're not mentioned and as strong and as powerful and as Christian as our nation has been for it not to show up in scripture in the last days something Dramatic and drastic has to happen to it

So it's inevitable it's it's an urgent it's it's it's inevitable, but it's it's imperative That's what the I word it's imperative That we be setting our hearts to accomplish the ministry of the gospel to get the love of Christ out to those around us Well, we have the opportunity to do so Now Peter goes on in verse 12. He says beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you now I just want to mention again That's the umpteenth time in since verse 8 of chapter 3 that he's mentioned this Possibility of suffering so I think we should anticipate something happening that way and People will say well, yeah, it's persecuted for Christ's sake. Okay What does that look like? China Pakistan only or

Could the suffering for Christ's sake involve sickness and disease and job losses and whatever like that and Then you let Christ the glory of Christ shine through you Because that's the fiery trial that you are going through Beloved don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal the fiery trial among you again. Remember the purpose We've already talked about the purpose back In the first six verses is to glorify God. Well, he says it again for your testing Testing is what? Testing to see how you respond when the trial hits when this ordeal hits How do you respond on your knees before the Lord or griping and complaining and cursing God?

Instead of walking and leaping and praising God and thanking him that he's with you in the midst of this ordeal and that he is Provided grace that's sufficient for you in your time of need and he'll walk with you through whatever you're going through all the way to the end Because his mercies are new every morning great is your faithfulness. Oh Lord. I Want to be able to say with Job with whatever I'm facing the Lord gives and the Lord takes away Blessed be the name of the Lord naked. I came into this world naked. I shall return

Blessed be the name of the Lord and mean it And not be all well was me. What am I gonna do? I should have I should have done this I should have done that no the Lord knows This isn't strange some strange thing Jesus has talked to us about it because he is our teacher. We are not greater than the teacher if they hate him They'll hate us. We're gonna go through these things Paul's talked about it. Peter's talking about it now

So don't think of it as a strange thing that's happening But to the degree verse 13 that you share the sufferings of Christ Now follow me with that one. I shared that up the men's retreat When These things happen Peter mentions Paul is mentioned in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, but Peter mentions it here. We are sharing In the sufferings of Christ when we go through this We will never ever ever fully comprehend the extent of suffering that Jesus went through on the cross Mel Gibson tried to portray the physical part of it in the passion of the Christ But that doesn't even begin to touch what Jesus suffered The hardest time for Christ was not the nine till noon and the scourgings and the beatings The most difficult time for Jesus was the noon to three

When the father turned his back on his son and poured his wrath out upon him that separation from the father That had never ever occurred in history ever ever ever

You guys who Have spouses And You love to be with your spouse and even to go to a retreat like going to the men's retreat I was away from my wife for two and a half days, and I hated that Separation, but I knew you know That I'd be back with her on Saturday Lord willing and We have gone through those times like that before in the past So I could face this couple of days of separation because I've gone through the other days of separation the father and the son for Eternity had never ever ever ever ever been separated from one another ever Because it was part of the nature of God The triunity of God and yet for that three-hour period on the cross the father separated himself from the son the son knew was coming but the intensity of that was

Awful we will never ever ever be able to understand or experience the fullness of that But he graces us with the opportunities to share in those sufferings So when we go through times of suffering It's not God spitefully putting his thumb on us and saying He's gifting us with the opportunity to share in some of those sufferings because What we glean with him when we go through those sufferings we can never experience any other way You could never experience apart from those kinds of sufferings But he knows that we are simply flesh and can't handle much and so he just gives us a little bit But Peter says to the degree that you share these sufferings of Christ keep on rejoicing

So that also the revelation of his glory at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exultation Glimpses of suffering opportunities to participate to partake of his suffering Participate to partake of his suffering So that when we stand before him and we and we don't we're not complaining. We're rejoicing You kind of when Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 5 and everything rejoice for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you we sing that as a little blip chorus But in everything to rejoice in everything rejoice in everything rejoice stillbirth a Divorce a death in the family a disease a loss of a job In all of those things to continue to rejoice in the Lord because God is giving us an opportunity

To trust him through that in his glory to shine forth through us Even though we're going through a time of despair in our hearts We don't understand the why yet Lord I rejoice in you because you have a purpose for that Peter's saying the same thing now keep on rejoicing It's assuming that you are rejoicing already in the Lord your intimacy with God is growing and so when these things seem to Come in and they're not to hinder just keep rejoicing because it's gonna Play out in the end. You'll see the glory of God revealed and you'll see ultimately the wise When you get to be with him face to face When you get to be with him face to face Verse 14 if you are reviled for the name of Christ you are

Blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you If you are reviled for the name of Christ now, that's taken right from the Sermon on the Mount Peter was there And he remembered it But he remembered it after he'd gone through the cross of Christ the denial of Christ the feeling of abandonment by Christ the restoration of the Lord after the Ascent after the resurrection and then the Ascension and then he'd gone through it as he'd gone to jail Imprisoned for saying the name for the declaration of the name. He understands that now He understands what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are you when men revile you and say all kinds of awful things for my name's sake and so Peter is now not just spitting out a sermon that he heard and

Listened to he's saying hey, I've experienced this if You're reviled for the name of Christ. You are blessed You're blessed So don't be afraid to take a stand and talk to people about Jesus Especially when God allows something to come into your life To disrupt it and you continue to show him the glory to give him the glory to rejoice And then you have an opportunity to share the reason for the hope that's in you You declare that it's Jesus and it's by his strength and I know that I'm trusting him through this Just continue to rejoice For your blessed if you're if you're knocked down as a result of that if you're reviled because you trusted in the Lord By people You're blessed and I mentions a twofold statement here that's kind of intriguing

Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you well as believers we know that the Spirit of God rests upon us We're in Christ and Christ is in us And we're in the Father and the Father's in us and the Spirit of God has been given to us as a down payment as an endowment for what's to come and So I know the Spirit of God is over me and rests in me, but the Spirit of glory whoo-hoo Wow You

When Moses said I want to see your glory he didn't know what that would entail When you and I pray

Just in the Lord's Prayer Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us and lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever

How's that glory revealed How's that glory revealed How's that glory revealed It's revealed as you're just continuing to trust the Lord and go through the midst of these difficult times the midst of these difficult struggles the glory the Spirit of glory rests upon you and believe me When people watch you go through that You shine and it's just It's beyond words the example Many of you know John Corson Pat I want to the Calvary pastors. I love to listen to awesome teacher awesome speaker While he was first pastoring several years into the ministry his wife was involved in an accident not far from their home on a roadway and happened to hit a place at the entrance lost control hit hit it the Abutments at the entrance to a cemetery no lesson was killed

He has since remarried and His kids were a couple of his kids were smaller at the time and so his kids were grown and a few years ago he got a call and he they have they had a time where they had the their church open every day and people come in and pray and take communion if they wanted to and His daughter had come in and and it just patted him on the shoulder she was going up to take communion she'd been sitting in there and they have worship in the time of prayer and she came up to take communion and Left and patted him on the shoulder she was headed off to school and he was still there later and one of the elders came and tapped him and brought him out and and his daughter had just hit that same place where her mother had hit years earlier and

She was killed instantly and

To see the DVD of the funeral with John and the kids getting up and sharing about his daughter their sister You just saw the glow of God the glory of God glowing on them Sure, they missed her sure it was hard, but they knew that was by God's design They knew that was it was something that God was working in the midst of all of this and that glory of God was Manifest in such a mighty way. It made your knees shake As God demonstrates his glory How will God demonstrate his glory to you or through you? Probably this way But when it happens The his presence when he when he talks about I will go with you psalm 23 He'll be with us to through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me and he does and it's amazing the comfort

That's there that he promises that's there

The glory of the glory the spirit of glory and of God rests on you verse 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler He's already mentioned that in a way earlier those that suffer for foolishness. You know, you shouldn't You shouldn't you shouldn't do that and don't think that it's any big deal there if you suffer for being stupid You know and being of the flesh But if anyone suffers as a Christian he is not to be ashamed But is to glorify God in this name in the name of Christ if you are a Christian you call yourself a follower of Christ and You suffer don't be ashamed for the suffering again. There's a segment of Christianity today that condemns

Christians who suffer or who are going through areas of slack times Don't have a lot and they they're actually condemned because they should be rich You should be receiving all the blessings of the things that are here. You know, he's spiritual abundant. You should be abundantly blessed well That doesn't mean that you have all your bills paid all the time and everything's fine and your jobs great and the family's fine And there's no problems with the family and all of that stuff And That you're totally healthy, but there's a whole segment of Christianity that preaches that and believes that and so if something happens to hit their family or

Themselves with a sickness or whatever. They're devastated because they feel like God has separated himself from them for some reason What did I do? What sin did I commit? how am I not living up to your glory somehow Lord and they condemn themselves and they beat themselves and and Satan has sidetracked them From that opportunity to be in intimacy with God If we suffer as a Christian not to be ashamed. It's to glorify

It's the glory. It's to glorify God and is as a believer in Jesus Christ For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God and if it begins with us first What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel? What made it the time? For judgment to begin with the household of God Well the fact that we call ourselves his followers and At this particular time when Peter's saying the end of all things is near he's tying this particular statement of that to this judgments beginning at the house of God now in the Old Testament judgment was beginning with the house of God when God's spirit left the moved out of the temple area and God brought the judgment of The Babylonians into the to the southern kingdom

He was judging the household of God and this we are the household of God judgment is is happening with us in the sense that God is Preparing us for what's to come he's he's shaken the things that are shakable causing the things Only the things that are left to stand to stand and somebody's going to say to me well Yeah, that's what the purpose of the tribulation is no that's not what the scripture says it's a time of Jacob's trouble It's a time for God's testing on the nation of Israel and for the outpouring of his wrath on a wicked and Disbelieving people of the earth. It's not a time for the bride. It's not a purifying time for the bride

Those are two different things in this world we will have tribulation, but we're not going through the Great Tribulation but he's shaking things and some of that's going to be painful, but it causes us to draw close to him and he is Doing this first if he's doing with that with us first what's going to be the outcome for those who don't obey the gospel of God the Great Tribulation and

Absolute almost absolute assurance of having to die a horrendous death during that particular time And he reiterates it again, and if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved What will become of the godless man and the sinner? Now the verb tense is and if it is with difficulty that the righteous is being saved What will become of the godless man and the sinner and the idea is not that you know? I thought I thought we were saved when we accepted Christ. We are but it's it's a threefold salvation We've talked about this lots and lots you have been saved the minute you asked Jesus into your heart You were saved he saved you you belong to him. He bought you and paid for you at the price

But you still have your flesh that you're toting around and so he calls us to what to do And so he calls us to what what I termed theologically as a progressive holiness I keep setting myself more and more aside to the Lord not only in my heart, but in my flesh now I refuse to allow myself to do these things because they're not God honoring. They're not honoring who he is They're not honoring the name that I wear as a Christian So I am moving through progressive sanctification. I'm setting myself aside under the Lord I am in the process of being saved. I can't ever redeem my own flesh but I'm in the process of setting it aside under the Lord until finally I will be saved when I'm caught into his presence as

Mortal puts on immortality this flesh and sinner finally put off so if it's with Difficulty that the righteous is being saved as we're going through this time of trust in the Lord and it is hard You watch the people around you who are falling away as it were I used to think there was a whole lot more Christians in this Society and there are a lot of people who claim the name But who don't walk according to the word

If it's hard for us Who are being saved were following in that setting aside of ourselves to the Lord? What's going to become of the godless man in the center? Therefore those also who suffer according to the will of God Shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right Those who are Also suffer according to the will of God that means not as murderers or as evildoers or as a thief or as a troublesome meddler But according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right

Paul told Timothy I I know Timothy in whom I have believed and I know that he is able to keep what I've entrusted to him until that day Paul entrusted his soul to the Lord Jesus committed his spirit to the Lord Whatever is necessary Lord. I've entrusted my soul to you, and I know that you're able to keep it until that date So whatever happens to me here is immaterial

Whatever I have to go through here for you is immaterial We had Yesterday we had a speaker who was he was a pastor of a Calvary Chapel in California. His name's Westmoreland He's been for the last 19 years. He's been involved with missions, and he's currently with far-reaching ministry in the last 14 years He's been ministering in Sudan in Sudan He's been training. They've trained over the last 11 years. They've trained over 300 chaplains that go along with the army

The People's Liberation Army of Sudan is Christian The People's Liberation Army of Sudan is Christian it's a Christian army the government of Sudan is Islamic and They are butchering the society in the Sudan Darfur the Darfur massacre was the Islamic Governmental troops coming through and butchering just butchering the people that the Christians and all The People's Liberation Army are Christians They're believers in Christ and to see the footage of what all they're doing and how they are protecting They are trained. He said they are trained each one is not trained as to how to defend himself Only but he's trained to stand and fight until every civilians been evacuated from a particular area under fire Even if it cost him his own life

he is not to leave his post until the civilians have been safely evacuated and to see these brothers claiming Jesus Christ as their Savior in the midst of these things and this brother who gave up what He had a good prosperous job and all to go overseas to the Sudan and eat bugs Whatever God whatever will glorify your name whatever through me will glorify your name I Entrust myself to the faithful Creator in doing what is right so Lord We don't know what lies ahead in the days to come We don't even know if we're guaranteed the rest of the day or tomorrow even so we entrust ourselves to you this morning Maybe for the first time maybe again But fresh and new we entrust ourselves to you

Through your word you have prepared our hearts for the inevitable suffering that is to come upon us the longer that we're here through various ways But father may when those times come may we draw closer to you Than we even are now and may your glory Just shine forth through us May your manifold grace be demonstrated through us as we minister to one another during these particular times May people see you May they be drawn to you May they surrender their hearts and their lives to you as a result of what you're doing in us and through us I know in whom I have believed And am persuaded that he is able to keep to guard what I've entrusted to him until that day. I Will trust you oh Lord I will trust you oh Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand