Grace Baptist Church - Truth with Grace Unknown

Peter has made it pretty clear that suffering is part of the Christian life. Our ultimate joy and prosperity will come in glory, not here on the earth - though there will be plenty of good things God will bless us with in this life, including hope, peace, and endurance to get us through thick and thin and glorify our Savior.--But we now begin a mini-series on the disciplines that should accompany suffering. There are 4 virtues we must cultivate and master to make the most of suffering. We'll begin with the discipline of Prayer and get a start on Love, as we listen to the first part of today's message

Peter continues his teaching on suffering by revealing the hidden opportunities we have in those tough times in life we typically like to avoid. There are good reasons to avoid suffering - the hurt, the stress, the struggles we face - we're built to protect ourselves from that kind of thing, to preserve our life.--But in the hands of a good God, suffering can bring unique and fruitful opportunities for growth, and reveal both the goodness and faithfulness of God like prosperity and peace never can. Plus we have the faithful witness of those that have gone before us and the hope of heaven to help get us through, as we'll learn in today's message

It's one thing to suffer for our mistakes, our bad choices, or even our crimes. Those circumstances make sense to us. But what happens, when after doing the right things, and following God's laws and instructions, we find ourselves enduring suffering-- That's hard to comprehend. Our sense of justice cries out---In this passage, Peter unveils the paragon of suffering and takes us on a journey from the crucifixion to the throne room of heaven. On the way, we'll encounter one of the most difficult passages of Scripture, so there's drama from start to finish, as we learn more about suffering, in today's message

Peter has turned his attention to the topic of suffering. No one likes to suffer, though we often understand that is part of life and we willingly suffer for people and ideas we hold dear. But it's helpful for Believers to know what God asks of us when we suffer.--In this passage, we learn about the ABCs of suffering. We started last week with A - Active your Courage. It's where we begin and that makes sense because suffering often requires courage - the kind of courage that can only come from God. But let's continue now with the rest of the ABCs, as we'll listen to the rest of today's message

Peter has spent much of his letter to this point, talking about submission. We've covered that thoroughly and learned we have a long way to go to reach God's standard of righteous submission. Now Peter turns to the topic of suffering.--Suffering is something we all grapple with, and it's true- suffering is a part of life. But in reality, our suffering is nothing like what the early Church was about to encounter. Yet the principles are the same. God has a plan and a purpose for suffering, and He's also given us a strategy for suffering, as we'll learn in today's message

What should we, as Christians, pursue-- Self-improvement is a popular goal, and there are worthy outcomes in that, to be sure. But much of what we're after is what the Bible calls -striving after the wind,- according to Ecclesiastes 2-11.--Beginning in verse 8, Peter lists a series of traits worth treasuring. When Christians embrace these traits, with God's help, they mesmerize their society and point the way to Christ. Now, in verses 9-12, we learn about a kind of character that's worth cultivating. It's what makes it possible for joy and suffering to coexist in the life of the Believer, as we'll learn in today's message