Growing Through Trials | October 5, 2025 AM

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Acts chapter #5 This morning as we continue to look at the issue

of growth in the Christian life. And we've asked you over the

last several weeks, and we ask you again this week, have you

grown in your Christian life? Have you grown over the last

week? Have you found places in your

life that you need to grow in the spiritual realm?

And have you grown in those areas?

And we know that sometimes it's not everything that we want it

to be or everything that it ought to be, but we do know that

we ought to grow. And the Lord will help us grow

with His Holy Spirit. And so we've looking at this

issue of growth from the very last words that Peter gave us in

second Peter chapter #3 and then followed how Peter grew in the

book of Acts. But this morning, I want us to

look at a very important issue when it comes to this issue of

growth, and that is this growing through trials.

Growing through trials. Now, if I was to play a word

association game this morning, if I was to ask you to give me

some. Words that would.

Be associated with the word trials.

I imagine you'd probably come up with a word like this.

Fear, dread, pain, discouragement, quitting.

I mean, are those kind of words that you would maybe associate

with some of the troubles and the trials that you have in your

life? Let me ask you, has anybody ever

had any troubles or trials in life?

Let me see. I just want to make sure

everyone's hands work. All right.

Good, because we all have to raise our hands, don't we?

Every single one of us have gone through difficulties and

troubles and trials. I'll be honest with you.

When I go through those times in my life, here's the words that

I'm not using. Joy, gladness, rejoicing,

pleasure, growth. These are not the words that we

would associate with the issue of trials.

But here's what I want us to look at this morning when it

comes to growing trials will be in the way.

You know you can have revival in your life, you can have this

time of personal revival in your life.

Where? Where the Lord?

Speaking to you through your Bible reading and everything's

good and everything's exciting and emotionally you just feel

like you're on fire for the Lord.

I hope you felt like that in your life before.

There've been times and seasons where where the Lord's presence

was was so real. It's not that he wasn't there

before, but you're just so in tune with what the Lord has in

your life. You've confessed your sin before

the Lord. You're keeping short accounts

with Him. You're listening and then things

are good and things are great and you're growing and you just

wished it would stay like that. But here's the problem.

There comes problems and trials, not even necessarily because of

what is happening in your life with what you're doing, that

you're doing something wrong and God's bringing judgement or

chastisement in your life. But it's just like Job, who is

minding his own business, and all of a sudden it seemed like

life crumbled around him. And if you're going to try to

live the growth type of life of which we're called to as

believers, trials are going to come, difficulties are going to

come. In fact, James 1 verses 2

James 1:2–4

through 4 says this. My brethren, count it all.

Joy, what was that the word association you thought you'd

use? It wasn't the one that first

came to my mind. My brethren, count it all.

Joy when you fall into divers temptations.

Knowing this at the trial of your faith, work as patience.

But let patients have a perfect work, that she may be perfect

and entire, wanting nothing. And James is saying this, If you

want to grow, problems aren't the problem.

But problems are actually the method that God often used to

help us grow, that problems aren't always the problem, but

problems are actually providentially placed in our

life because he wants us to grow.

And so this morning I kind of want us to change our thinking a

little bit today about this issue of trials that we have in

our life. And I'm not necessarily that

saying that when your bank account is empty, you ought to

be giddy and say I overdrew that that's kind of that's something

else. I don't know that that's

necessarily godly or not. But what I'm saying is this.

That we don't lose hope when things go wrong, That we don't

lose courage when the problems come.

That we don't think God's quit on us when the troubles happen,

but instead realize that not only has God not.

Quit on us. But He's intricately and

intimately working in our life because He wants you to grow,

not because he's against you. Would you stand, please, for the

reading of God's Worry Acts chapter 5?

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Beginning of verse #17 There's a lot going on in this chapter.

We'll try to cover it the best we can this morning.

Acts, chapter 5. Beginning of verse #17 It says

Acts 5 · chapter mention

this. Then the high priest rose up,

and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the

Sadducees, and were filled with indignation, and they laid their

hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

But the Angel the Lord by night opened the prison doors and

brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the

temple to the people all the words of this life.

And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in

the morning and taught. But the high priest came, and

they that were with him, and called the council together, and

all the Senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the

prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and

found them not in the prison, they returned and told saying

The prison truly found we shut with all safety, the keeper

standing without the doors, but when we'd open, we.

Found no man with him. Now when the high priest and the

captain of the temple, the chief priest, heard these things, they

doubted of them. Where unto this should grow.

They came. One told them, saying, Behold,

the men whom he put in prison are standing in the temple and

teaching the people that you got to stop for just a moment.

You got to find the Bible humorous all right, in the sense

that you realize what's happening here.

The idea is they were locked up. The Angel of the Lord frees the

disciples. They go out and preach because

they were told to go back out to preach The the the Sadducees

sent them and say, all right, let's put these guys on trial.

They're not there. The doors are locked.

Where are they? And someone just runs in and

says, are you all looking for the disciples?

Yeah, where are they? They're back out there

preaching. Wouldn't we arrest them for

that? Well, we did.

But they're back out there preaching again.

You define the the irony in that.

I well, OK, I do. All right.

So anyway in verse #26 Then went the captain with the officers,

and brought them without violence, for they feared the

people, lest they should have been stoned.

And when they brought them, they set them before the council.

And the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not straightly

command you that you should not teach in this name?

And behold, you fell Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend

to bring this man's blood upon us.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,

This, We ought to obey God rather than them.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom he slew and hanged

on a tree. Him at God, exalted with his

right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to

Israel, forgiveness of sins. And we're as witnesses of these

things. And so it is that also the Holy

Ghost, whom God hath given to them, that obey Him.

Now drop down to verse #40 where it says.

And to him they agreed. And when they had called the

apostles, they'd beaten them, and they commanded them that

they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

I'd call that a trial, wouldn't you?

And they departed from the presence of the council.

What's that next word? Rejoicing.

Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his

name. And daily in the temple and in

every house, they cease not to teach and preach.

Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, I pray that

you'll be with us here this morning.

Help us to be able to look at your word to understand who we

need to be. What?

I imagine there's going to be some people here this morning

who are going through trials, but this isn't just something

that we're talking about in a way that's conjecture, but

they're living it right now. Would help them to know that not

only can they go through grow through the trials, but I

believe that you have brought these trials into the life for

the very fact that they would grow to be able to be who they

are called to be. And that those trials that you

have brought their way are not there because of your hatred for

them, but rather because of your intense love for them would help

that to be evident through your word.

As I preach and I ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you may be seated. When trials come, it's easy to

stop reading your Bible. When trials come, it's easy to

stop praying. Why is it when trials come

people stop going to church? It would seem to be the best

place to be when the trials come.

But yet the very first temptation is to leave the very

place that God has designed for you to not just grow through the

Word of God, but through the fellowship of other believers as

well. Trials can get us into the place

where we relapse over habitual sin.

Maybe God's given us victory in the past, but yet we go right

back like the prodigal to the hog pen and go right back to

that which God had saved us from.

Why do we take this posture when trials come?

You see that Peter gave us an example and really all of the

apostles give us the example here at the end of Acts chapter

#5 when we saw that they were rejoicing.

And, and they teach us here this morning that trials are less

about groaning and more about growing.

Trials are less about groaning and more about growing.

You see, life may have its ups and downs, but growth doesn't

have to. I'll say that one more time.

Life may have its ups and downs, but your Christian growth

doesn't have to meaning this. Just because life goes up and

down doesn't mean your Christian walk has to go up and down.

Just because life goes up and down doesn't mean you have to

lay your Bible aside. You know, you ought to cling

tighter to it. Just because you're going

through the trials doesn't mean that prayer should go out the

window. No, no, we should wear out our

knees being on the on the ground, just asking the Lord and

begging Him to help us to get through those trials.

We need to recognize these trials for what they are.

And I'll tell you, Acts chapter 5 is just a, a seesaw of

Acts 5 · chapter mention

activity. If you were to take it all the

way from verse #1 to see what took place, you start at the

very beginning in in verse number.

Verse number. 1. And then down to verse #10 you

find that there were two who were in the church, Ananias and

Sapphira. Now, the trajectory of the

church up to this point had just been up, hadn't it?

We saw how the church was established by Jesus Christ,

empowered on the day of Pentecost.

There was a day where 3000 people got saved.

There was a day where 5000 people got saved.

The church exploded in a major way.

There really been no problems in the church.

But there's one thing I can guarantee you about church.

They'll be problems as long as there's people say, Pastor,

that's not very encouraging. I'm just saying we're human

beings this morning. Is there everyone awake this

morning? Did you drink decaf like me this

morning, Pastor? You say if you're drinking

decaf, what are you like on caffeine?

I know that's what I'm saying. I know it's dangerous, but, but

listen, the church had just gone through this, this upward ascent

and but there were people involved.

And two of those people were Ananias and Sapphira.

And they sold a piece of land and, and they decided to give

that money to the church. And there was a problem, though.

They decided that they were only to give a part of the portion of

the sale of the land to the church.

Now that wasn't the problem. The problem was this, that they

lied about it in front of the church and they told the church

that they gave a whole lot more than they actually gave.

What I just mentioned a few moments ago, that when it comes

to the issue of us giving, the right hand ought not to know

what the left hand is doing. We don't give.

So the people know how much we give.

We don't give because we're trying to receive anything in

return. Honestly.

We just give because, well, God commanded it.

And I'll tell you that every time that I've given, God has

given so much more to me than the little bit that I give to

Him. You say you only give a little

bit, Pastor, you don't give 10%. You know, I tithe and give

offerings and we tithe as a family and give offerings.

What I'm saying is this is how little is that compared to what

God's given us? And here's Ananias and Sapphira.

And they want to make much of themselves.

They go in the church and they want everyone to know how much

they've given. And so Peter talks to Ananias

first and, and makes mention of this.

And Ananias lies in front of the people.

And just like that, he's dead. And a few young men come and

take him out of the church body. Couple hours later Sapphira

comes. Looking for a husband.

Anyone. Seen my husband, Peter says,

hey, I'll answer your question if you answer one of mine.

That money you gave, was it so much?

The Bible says. And she says, Oh yeah, that's

what I gave, confirming the lie that Ananias had said a few

moments ago. And Peter looks at her and says

this. The sounds that you hear are the

feet of the men who took your, your husband's body away will be

taking your body away as well. And she dies.

I'd say that's a pretty bad day for the church.

I'd say that's a trial, wouldn't you?

I'd say that's things going poorly.

But what happened in verse #11 it says.

And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard

these things in my Bible. Right next to that I say this, I

wrote this. I bet you imagine great fear

fell upon the church and two people just died because they

lied about the offering they gave.

I bet fear came upon the church. But listen, this wasn't the type

of fear where people were cowering before the Lord.

I would put it this way, This was a revival type fear where

people said this, we got to get right with the Lord.

We need to be serving the Lord. We need to make sure our hearts

are right before the Lord. Any kind of pride, any kind of

arrogance within us, it got to be removed.

There's no room for pride or arrogance in the church house.

These people said, and by the way, it's too 2025 and I would

say in this year there's still no room for pride or arrogance

within the church house. That counts for the one who's

standing behind the pulpit, and that counts for those who are

sitting in the chairs, and that counts for anyone who comes in

contact with the church. There's only one who's high

lifted up, and that's Jesus Christ.

We lift him up and we pray that all men are drawn unto him.

John the Baptist said he must increase and we must decrease.

It says by the hands of the apostles were many signs and

wonders wrought among the people and they were with 1 accord and

Solomon's Porsche's revival breaking out verse 13 and of the

rest Durst no man join himself to them, but the people magnify

them. It said this even the people

that didn't necessarily agree with them said there's something

going on here. You know what I hope the

testimony of Liberty Baptist churches and the community.

Even the people that don't agree with salvation and Jesus Christ.

They say this. I don't know what's going on in

Liberty Baptist Church. I don't know that I can agree

with it. I can't deny that something's

going on there and that's what's happening here in Jerusalem and.

Believers were more added to the Lord multitudes, both men and

women, in so much they brought forth.

Look at this, They brought forth the sick into the streets, lay

them on beds and couches. At least the shadow of Peter

passing by might overtake some of them.

There were people that were so amazed by what was going on that

that would lay their sick loved ones out on the ground and

hoping that Peter wouldn't even stop, that just his shadow

passing by would heal them. There came a multitude out of

the sick of the cities around about Jerusalem, bringing sick

folks and them which were vexed of unclean spirits, and they

were healed. Everyone, the seesaw has gone

the other way. Ananias and Sapphira.

It's low. Revival.

It's high. But then we get back to our

text. The disciples are preaching,

they're teaching, and they're arrested.

They're back low again. Another trials popped up, this

one perhaps the gravest of all the trials that have taken place

yet. The deepest valley that they've

come across yet since they have been the church together without

Jesus Christ, this trial that now all of the.

Apostles are in prison. They're all imprisoned together.

What are they going to do? Certainly they believe their

lives are on the line. But here's the Angel of the

Lord. What does the Angel of the Lord

do? Well, the Angel of the Lord has

the key. Freeze them, Go, stand, preach.

What do they do? Exactly what the Lord tells them

to do. They go, they stand, and they

speak the word of God. And just as I mentioned a few

moments ago, the authorities come looking for them.

They can't find them, but they're not hiding.

They're out there front and center.

And what are they doing? They're preaching the word of

God. The the authorities come to them

and say, what are you doing? Peter?

You need to stop. Apostles, you need to stop.

And he preaches a message that's straight and true.

He says we ought to obey God rather than them, the God of our

fathers raised up, raised up. Jesus, listen to this.

Whom ye slew and hang on a tree. You think Peter's dancing around

the subject here? He's like John the Baptist.

And we'll look at this tonight in the issue of prophet

preaching when instead of John the Baptist that he laid the

axe. To the root of the tree, meaning

this he got right to the heart of the matter.

Peter looks at them and he says this.

You slew Jesus Christ. But do you know what Israel

needs? Repentance.

He says, do you know what Israel needs?

The forgiveness of sins. And he preaches to him, Jesus,

even in this low point. Now, I skipped over a section

where there's a man named Gamaliel who stood up.

Gamaliel, we'll find out later on, is a teacher of soul who

will become Paul. And Gamaliel stands up in front

of the people because the Sadducees and the religious

authorities, they don't know what to do.

They're at a There are crossroads here.

Gamaliel basically says this guys, if God's not in this, then

it'll. Crumble and fall.

But if God's in this, you can't stop it.

Leave him alone. And what happened?

Well, we saw in verse #40 and to him Gamaliel, they agreed.

And when they called the apostles and beaten them, now

that's not what Gamaliel said. He said leave him alone.

But what do they do for spite? To send a message, to teach him

a lesson? They beat him and they sent him

away. We're back low again.

They're bearing the marks for the first time of their faith.

Did you get that? For the first time they are

physically bearing the marks for their faith.

They've watched Jesus with the nails, with the side pierced,

with the crown upon his head. But for the first time, they

themselves and their body bear the marks of being a believer.

I don't know about you. I've had people be mean to me

here and there. I've had people make fun of me

for being a Christian. I've never had anyone physically

assault me for being a Christian.

I've never been imprisoned for being a Christian.

I've never had anyone lay a finger on me because of being a

Christian. I can't imagine how I would

respond. But how did they respond?

The word that just jumps off the page at me is the word

rejoicing, that in the midst of this deep, dark hour, they

rejoiced. But they didn't just rejoice.

They kept doing what they were called to do because they

rejoiced. And they went out and even

though they were threatened, don't preach again.

What did they do? They kept on preaching.

They kept on doing that, which was right.

Despite the fact that they were in a deep trial, despite the

fact that they've been up and down, up and down in the events

of the days, their growth continued unabated. 2.

People die in the middle of church because they lied.

That's bad. Great revival breaks out and

multitudes get saved. And in fact I don't even know

how many people got saved here because think about it.

Pentecost 3000, a few days later 5000.

In this text it just says a multitude.

So in my mind I'm wondering is that more than 5000?

Because before it was mentioned 3000 and 5000.

I think anyway you slice it, there's more than 10,000 people

who have gotten saved I would imagine in a very short period

of time. That's good.

They're arrested, they're beaten, they're made mockery of.

That's bad. But then they rejoice at what

God did through them, and that's good.

Now remember, trials are less about groaning and more about

growing. And we see Peter and all the

apostles grow through the difficulties that they went

through in this chapter. They'd never encountered

anything like this before. It was just all good.

Everything was good Once you got to Pentecost, up to Chapter 5,

everything's good. Everything's good, everything's

good. And wouldn't you love it in life

if everything was good all the time?

You know, if I didn't think much about it, I would think.

Life would be. Good if it was just always good.

But think about some of the greatest lessons you've learned

in your life. Some of you think about how you

came to Christ. Was it because life was just

always good? Or did God get a hold of you

when you were in a pretty dark place?

Or did God get a hold of you because he put your back against

the wall? Not because, again, he despises

you, but because He loves you? Amen.

Because he wanted you to. Grow, whether it's grow in

salvation. And I'll remind you here this

morning that the message of Peter is the message I echo here

today. There is no name under heaven.

Remember Acts 412 given among men where why we must be saved.

That every single person must come to the understanding that

only Jesus Christ can save them. That you can't really grow in

your faith until you're in the faith.

And so if you don't know Jesus Christ your Savior, understand

that you're a Sinner and that only Christ can save you through

His precious blood, and that you need to call upon Him to save

you today. Listen, that's the first thing

you got to do. But then after that, you got to

keep growing. And growth doesn't come just

because life is good. Growth isn't about just being on

the mountaintop every day spiritually, but where are the

most fertile places for anything to grow.

It's not on a mountaintop. You've ever seen a farm on a

mountaintop? Not a good place to grow things,

but I'll tell you, down in the valley where the soil is

fertile, where the rains collect, things can grow.

And you know, even in our valleys, God can bring some of

the greatest growth in our life. If you understand, it's not

about groaning, but it's rather about growing.

What do I see about that from our text?

I see three things that I want to show you from our text that I

want you to remember when it comes this issue of our trials.

First of all, reject using trials as a reason to quit.

The first thing you need to understand is to reject trials

using trials as a reason to quit.

A pastor once said a true mark of a disciple is what it takes

to stop. Them.

A true mark of a disciple is what it takes to stop them.

Why is that true? Because a disciple is a

follower. Particularly, a disciple is a

follower of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is leading you

into the valley, if the Jesus Christ is leading you into the

trial, if Jesus Christ is leading you into the difficulty,

A disciple will follow him Wherever that road may lead.

It may not be what you want, it may not be what you desire, but

that's what is done nonetheless. Verse #29 Peter said this.

We ought to obey God rather than man meaning this when they were

given the option to quit. Listen guys, you're free.

Listen guys, you busted out. We don't know how, we don't know

what happened, but we do know this.

All we're asking of you is you just.

Stop preaching. They might as well just ask them

to stop breathing because that was who they were.

That was their DNA. By the way, if you're a

believer, it's your life too, and my life too.

They could have used the opportunity to quit.

And by the way, I don't know that anyone would have blamed

them in the flesh for quitting in that moment.

Listen, guys, you had a good run, guys.

Things were good here for a few weeks, weren't they?

You saw a few 1000 people get converted.

But listen, you had your run and it's over.

The authorities are all over you.

If you keep going, you're going to die.

Just call it quits. No one's going to blame you.

But Peter said this. There's only one I'm going to

obey, and that's God. There's only one I want to

please, and that's God. And they did not use trials as a

reason. To quit.

They did not use trials as a reason to stop preaching.

It's true for them and it's true for us.

A disciple. Disciple rather, is a follower

of Christ. And if he leads you into and

through a trial, you must follow him there as well.

There's a hymn we sing sometimes called Am IA, soldier of the

Cross, and it goes Am IA soldier of the cross, a follower of the

Lamb. And the next verse says this,

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while

others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas,

basically saying this, Did you believe that the Christian life

was just always going to be a cakewalk?

Did you just believe that the cakewalk was that the Christian

life was just always going to be?

A bed of. Roses, but no if our Savior was

a suffering Savior. Then yes, we must go through

those trials as well, because to reject the trials would be to

reject the very character and nature of the Savior who saved

us. Because of His suffering, we

were able to be saved. Could you imagine if he said,

well, the cross is too much, The nails upon my head, the mockery,

I don't want it. And by the way, he could have

said that he was being. Crucified by his own creation.

Mocked by his own creation. He could have called. 10,000

angels to to rescue him there, but he died alone for you and

me. And his example is our way of

living today as well. Listen, are you going through a

difficult time right now? Don't raise your hand, but are

you going through a trial right now?

I want to encourage you. Listen, don't stop coming to

church. I'm glad you're here today.

I would even say this. My prescription.

I can't write a prescription. I'm not a doctor.

I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

OK, I can't, I can't help you with that.

But if I was to give you a prescription, it would be this.

If you come to 1 service a week, come to two.

If you come to two service a week, come to three.

Say what you think the oh, you think the answer is in church.

Well, I'll tell you where the answer isn't.

And the answer is really not in in church, the institution.

The answer is in this book that we teach and we preach and we

agree upon and not man's opinions, but on the word of

God. Listen, don't, don't make

excuses to stop coming to church.

Make excuses to come to church. Well, Sir, I can't be there

tonight. I got to be at church.

What are you? What are you, some kind of holy

roller and say, well, when was the last time you saw me roll

anywhere? I'm not a holy roller.

No, I just know what God's done for my life.

And you can even tell them God will do the same for you.

Well, don't talk to me about that.

Well, maybe they're not the kind of friend you thought they were.

Listen, don't quit. Don't quit praying.

Don't don't quit on living a holy life.

Don't don't quit reading your Bible every day.

Don't quit asking for forgiveness.

It's amazing how often we just take the Bible and put it off to

the side door. We're discouraged.

Listen, if you're sick, what do you need?

You need some medication. You need something that will

help you down deep and sometimes they got to give you a

supercharged dose at first to be able to help you.

You know what you would do? Well, just to sit down and read

the word of God, to turn off your phone, to turn off the

television, to turn off the Internet and turn on your

relationship with Him so that you can actually be helped.

You know it's not going to help you doom scrolling for three

hours. Well, that's right.

You know it's not going to help you binge watching a show.

You know what? Will help you absorbing the word

of God God say pastor you just you just think the.

Bible has all the answers. And.

Guilty. Has all the answers for life.

Now do we go through our life every moment of every day

reading the word of God? No, but the Bible says that we

can pray without ceasing that we can meditate upon him.

And I will tell you this, this is stolen a lot of our

meditations upon the Lord, because we scroll and scroll and

listen and listen. We don't even.

Use this for calls and when was the last time you called

somebody? We call these phones that's like

the, that's like one of the last functions we use it for.

But it takes away so much of our thoughts.

Listen, don't quit on Lord. Don't quit during the trial.

What do you do? No, dig deep.

I can't do that myself, Pastor. You're right.

We'll go back to Acts chapter 2. Remind ourselves it's the Holy

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Spirit who helps us because when you are weak he is strong.

Don't quit going through the trials.

Galatians 6 verse 9. Let us not be weary in well

Galatians 6:9

doing, for in due. Season we will reap if we faint

not. The farmer goes out and he

plows. The farmer goes out and he

plants. The farmer goes out and he

waters. The farmer goes out and he weeds

and he does it time and time and day and day and month and month

in back, breaking work for nothing.

Until one day there's an ear of corn, and then there's a bushel

of corn. There's an acre of corn, then

there's a field of corn. Why don't give up, Farmer?

Go out again. Well, I'm not.

I don't see anything today. I don't even see anything in the

ground. Just trust the process, Farmer.

Well, what am I going to get out of this field?

There's a stalk that's not even up to my knee.

Hey, keep going, farmer. It'll come.

How how much longer is this going to take?

Yeah, I I see it coming up to about my shoulder, but but

there's no yield. Keep going, farmer.

You're close. Don't give up.

Don't be weary and well doing, because if you're weary you'll

miss the harvest. There's a harvest of growth God

has for your life, but if you quit, you won't see it.

There's a harvest of growth, what God wants for your life,

but if you quit because of the trials, you won't see it.

You'll blame the Lord of the harvest who was trying to bring

out the best in you, but that you were blaming were the

troubles of your life, but he brought them into your life

because he brought, he was trying to bring something better

out of you and not a spite, but out of love project using trials

as a reason to quit #2 rejoice that you're counted worthy of

the trial. Rejoice that you're kind of

worthy of the trial. I know we already mentioned

this. Look at verse 41.

They departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that

they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Now listen to this. Listen very, very closely.

This is where we can get our thinking a little bit off.

I've overdrawn my account, OK? This isn't a personal testimony,

just to be clear, All right? This is a sermon illustration,

All right? I've overdrawn my account.

I look online and I see those red numbers, and I know that

those red numbers are not good, but then the bank's going to

probably tack on another $35 every time the numbers are read

because they're interested in keeping me poor, right?

And so that's the way it's going to work, right?

And so it's going to keep going. They're going to make more money

off of this. It's going to be a spiral.

I don't look at that and say rejoice.

Rejoice, it's a trial. Diane says OK, when you're done

rejoicing, can you tell me how we're buying groceries?

That's not what I'm saying. I found I had a tumor in my jaw

and the surgery was going to be severe. 12 hour surgery, 10 days

to 14 days in the hospital, two months at being out of the

pulpit. I didn't go.

This is good. This is what I was waiting.

For I've been looking for an opportunity like.

This you say, Pastor, what's? Who would do that?

Nobody would do that, he said. What's it says?

Rejoice. It didn't say to rejoice in the

beating. That's not what it said.

Go back and look at it again. They rejoiced that they were

what counted worthy could be had their names associated with

Jesus Christ. That's where the rejoicing was.

Now listen, if you misspent your money because you're not

handling your money right and you've been participating in

sinful activities, that's on you.

But I would tell you, there have been times that I've lost money

and we've been in situations where we're just trying to be

faithful and all of a sudden the money was gone.

Or all of a sudden you had $300 in the account and a $400.00

bill came in and you didn't know what to do.

I'm not saying you need to rejoice about that.

But remember, our Savior was a smitten, suffering Savior, and

He willfully. Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, verse one for the joy that was set before him.

Verse #2 rather, I'm sorry, The joy that was set before him.

He endured the cross and suffered the shame for us, and

that He would count me worthy to have a difficulty that I don't

know what I'm going to do with. I rejoice that Lord, you counted

me worthy of that. Lord, You thought I could handle

this with your help, so I rejoice.

I don't know what I'm going to do about this health situation,

but you counted me worthy to walk through it with you.

I rejoice, Lord, I don't know where the next groceries are

going to come from, but you counted be worthy to walk

through this with you. I rejoice my friends and family

don't want to talk to me anymore because I named the name of

Jesus Christ. They make fun of me that they

don't really want to be around me anymore.

The people at work, they kind of make a Halo around me, like they

don't want to, like they don't want to be around.

They'll stay about 10 feet away. That's as close as they'll get

because they don't want to get too close to me because they're

tired of hearing me talk about the Bible.

But you know what, Lord, you went through a lot worse than I

did, and I count myself to rejoice that I could have just

that little bit of what you had and that you would count me

worthy of that. That's where the rejoicing is.

Not that. Not that we're getting getting.

Punched in the face, metaphorically speaking.

This is great. Keep it coming.

Lord, what's going on here? I don't understand it, but I

know you do. And now you're going to help me.

And I know I'm really stronger on the way out than I was on the

way in. So I rejoice because of what you

have done. I don't rejoice in the trial,

but I rejoice that I was counted worthy that you counted me

worthy. You know, they, they, I believe

we're saying they rejoice. They were counted worthy that,

that the Sanhedrin and that the Pharisees, the Sadducees would

associate them with Jesus Christ.

But who brought that trial into their life?

God. None of that took them by

surprise. But none of that took God by

surprise. God didn't say I was going to

protect them. In the Sanhedrin, they did.

How did this happen? No, the Sanhedrin thought they

were in control. God was in control.

They grew quickly. We're almost done.

Reject using trials as reason to quit.

Rejoice that you're counted worthy of the trial #3 resume

doing what you did when the trial started.

Resume doing. There are times you go through.

Trials and you can't do the things that you normally do.

You know, there are times you go through a surgery, you go

through a sickness, you go something like that.

You can't go to church. Do you know what you do?

As soon as you can go back to church, There are times that

you've got a migraine that's so bad you couldn't even read the

Bible if you tried. You try to put headphones in and

try to even listen to it being spoken to you.

You couldn't even concentrate on it.

But as soon as you're better, get back into the word of God.

There are times people with grief may struggle to be able to

pray, but may I remind you that Romans tells us that the Holy

Spirit can help us even when we don't even know what to pray and

we just appeal to Him. Listen, resume doing what you

did when the trial started. What does it say in verse #42

and daily in the temple and in every house?

They cease not, they didn't cease doing what they were doing

from the beginning. Well, there was a while they

couldn't keep preaching Jesus because they were in prison.

There's probably a good 24 hour period where they were not able

to preach Jesus, although I'm sure they were preaching them to

the jailers and everyone else in the jail too.

If we know Paul and we know Barnabas, or rather Silas, we

know that would be the case. But they couldn't.

But as soon as they could, they got back right.

They got right back to it. Listen, no matter what trial,

what difficulty, whatever you've been doing, listen.

Keep pressing forward. Life may have its ups and downs,

but growth doesn't have to. Growth can consistently go up

with God's help. I have to wonder, someday

there'll be people that will. Maybe it's just, it's a

fictional account, just a way that I would think of this

myself, that there would be people who spent their life

grumbling about trials. They spent their whole life

grumbling about this problem and that problem and this issue and

that issue. And again, I'm not talking about

the the trials we go through of our own making because of sin.

That's a whole different thing to talk about.

I'm talking about the things that God brings into our life

just as we're trying to be faithful, just as we're trying

to grow. And some of those people that

just complain, well, why? Why did my life work out the way

I wanted it to? Why didn't I have other things I

thought I would? And why did it seem like things

were difficult and why? Could you imagine getting to

heaven and maybe that person seeing the Lord?

And again, this is just a fictional way of looking at it,

but just as a way of illustration, seeing the Lord,

this person saying, God, why did you make my life so hard?

Ever felt like maybe God felt that way about you?

God, why did you make my life so hard?

I don't want to put words in the mouth of the Lord, but if I

could take what the word of God says and maybe imagine what he

would say. In love, I believe you would say

something like this, child. It was you that made it hard.

You made it hard through your groaning and you're complaining

because I was there with you. I was there with you every step

of the way. I wanted to help you grow.

In fact, I brought these things into your life because I wanted

you to grow. Listen, sailors aren't made on

calm seas. Students aren't made in easy

classes. Soldiers aren't made without

training and very intense training.

We go right down the line of all the things in life that take a

struggle to be able to get somewhere, and God says this.

Not only that, bring those trials in your life.

I brought them because I loved you, and life would have been

much easier if you had just grown through the trials instead

of groaned through the trials. You know why Peter and John

needed these trials? Peter would have more

difficulties in his life. You know, someday he's going to

be crucified upside down. By the way, that was at his own

request. History tells us I can't be

crucified in the same manner as my Lord.

What man says that? No, no, listen.

What man says something like that?

A man who had grown through a lot of trials.

There's John on the Isle of Patmos, an elderly man, the

only. Apostle, that's left.

He's been marooned there, if you will, in exile by the Roman

Empire, and there he is on that island and they thought he was

all alone. The Lord was there.

How we have the Book of Revelation.

How was John able to endure? You know why?

Because he grew in Acts chapter 5 and he grew a lot of places

Acts 5 · chapter mention

later. Listen, do you want to be able

to handle the difficulties of life?

Do you want to be able to handle some of the things that are

coming down the road in your life?

Eventually it starts here. Grow in the trials that God

gives you now. And sometimes you get through

life and you realize, you know, my trials seem like they're

getting smaller. And it's not that they're

getting smaller, it's that you're growing in your faith.

It's not that they're smaller. They could be bigger, but you're

growing. I know this, that coming to New

England, starting a church, not knowing about salary and those

kind of things. We had support, but we lost a

lot of it right away. There was a lot of fear.

There's a lot of fear. It's easy for me to say that 12

years into it now. I wouldn't have admitted at the

time, but I now know there was. Boy, I was.

But you know, one thing that I was always sure about that God

brought us through some really difficult times in the first

seven years of ministry, in times when they didn't even pay

us and they promised us they would pay us.

And that I realized that if God could get me through that, he

could help us through this. And if God could help us through

this, then God could help us through some of the family

trials and turmoils that we've had.

And through it all, He's been faithful.

I'll repeat that. Through it all, he's been

faithful. But you don't come to that

conclusion unless you decide I'm going to grow.

Not just when I'm on the mountaintop, but I'm going to

grow no matter what the situation is.

Here's Peter and John, they did incredible things.

None of those incredible things would happen if they quit.

Next chapter 5. God would have done his own

things, his own way, because God's in control.

I'm not saying Christianity would have collapsed.

What I'm saying is this Peter wouldn't have been used and John

would have been used in the way that God intended them to.

What is God trying to do with you today?

Maybe you thought he he's angry at you.

Maybe you thought about quitting the trials too hard.

Can I encourage you this morning?

Could it be? Could it just be that God's not

angry with you and that's why this trials come in your life

while you're being faithful? Could it be he loves you so much

he wants you to grow so that you continue to can continue to be

what he's called you to be? Time to change our thinking.

Change our thinking. It should be less about groaning

when it comes to trials and a whole lot more about growing.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.