Suffering - Peter's Principles for Prevailing Over Problems

Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.

I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.

Embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.

Today, be encouraged with a word from my guest speaker.

Welcome to the Born for War podcast.

Well, my name is Marcus.

I'm one of the pastors on staff here at the road, and I'm excited to be here with you all this morning.

Alright, are you guys awake?

Cool.

Are you guys ready to dive into the word this morning?

Amen.

Alright, well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3, starting in verse 13.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

It says this Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason of hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

Now, this part of First Peter, all of chapter three, is dubbed the chapter of suffering.

I didn't label it that I didn't call it that.

Men who are much older and much wiser and much more qualified than I, years and years ago, have dubbed it the chapter of suffering.

You see, God's people all throughout Scripture have suffered.

If you've I mean you can find any book in this Bible and it talks about suffering.

If you find any historical book in this Bible, whether it's Genesis, Exodus, Acts, what have you, you'll hear the stories and you'll see God's people suffering.

The Hebrews in Egypt suffered under the hands of the Egyptians.

The Hebrews, as they were wandering the desert and they were looking for the promised land, were suffering.

The Israelites suffered under the hand of Babylon and later under the Persian Empire.

The Jews suffered under the control of Rome.

And then when you get to the book of Acts, you see that the Christians actually suffered under the hands of the Jewish people and suffered under the control of Rome.

You read all throughout history about the Christian suffering.

I mean, you even see it in Hollywood.

Have you guys ever heard of a film?

It's a small indie film.

Probably you've never heard of it, but it's called Gladiator.

Have you guys ever heard of that?

Okay, that's probably one of my top five of all time favorite movies.

Um, my wife gets annoyed because I watch it every Father's Day and on my birthday, and they're so close together, it's like a month apart.

But I watch it a lot.

Uh well, there's a deleted scene that was filmed, and what this scene is, is it's a family.

This family is thrown into the Coliseum, and you find out that this family is a Christian family.

They're called the Christians.

And they're thrown into the Colosseum, and Maximus, who is the main character of Gladiator, who's the hero, he's watching from behind the bars and he logged and he makes eye contact with this young boy of this family.

And Maximus looks away when the lion is released, and the last thing we see from that family is this lion is ready to attack, and the father of this family putting himself over his family to protect them.

And Maximus looks away.

The reason why Ridley Scott put that in there, he said, was to show the brutality Rome had for the need of entertainment.

I would even say you also see the brutality Rome had for the Christians, that they had against the Christians.

Even if you read throughout Rome's history, there's a thing that they used to do for the Christians called the Roman candle.

I'm not going to go into too much detail because it's kind of intense, but what the Roman candle was, would they take Christians and they would tie them to the stake in the ground, they would douse them in oil, and they would use these candles of people to light the garden at night.

Because of that it was funny, because of that it was entertaining, and they would like to walk the garden at night.

And so again, you see Christians suffering.

So suffering is a huge focus, but what if today, in today's day and age, in the modern church, we have a twisted view and a different understanding of what suffering actually is?

Well, what do I mean by that?

Well, I think we as Christians today label specific things as suffering.

We label specific things as persecution.

We label these things, but what if they're what if those things we're labeling as suffering and persecution are just consequences of bad behavior?

If you don't believe me, just turn on your TV or open your social media app.

How many people do you know who claim to be Christians and yet they're tearing people down because of a difference in political opinion?

How many people do you know who claim to be Christians or are belittling people because of a difference in opinion?

That they mask rudeness for bluntness.

And when people respond back to whatever is being posted or on TV, whatever interview's happening, these Christians feel some type of way and they use words like being silenced.

They use words like persecution.

They use words like, you know, they're they're they're they're they're they're trying to silence me and not get the truth out.

Or maybe we take stands on topics that we need to take stands on.

Please hear my heart.

We as Christians, we as the church, should take stands and we should let the world know where we stand.

And so we take stands on things we need to take stands on.

We take stands on where we should stand and how to preserve life when it comes to abortion, what it what it comes to fight against that, you know, how we can battle against that.

We take stands on what God says marriage is, not what society says marriage is, and we take stands on you know uh you know how to vote.

We have great ministries in Colorado Springs that help with that.

We have Life Network that helps us, you know, give us, give us resources so we know how to combat this epidemic of abortion.

We have people like Life Network and family life services that help place you know uh single mothers who are struggling in homes.

We have things like church voter guides to keep us informed so we know how to vote based on our beliefs and our convictions.

But please hear me.

These are topics that we should take stands on and speak on.

And again, we have amazing ministries, but sometimes Christians take a stand and they make these the very hills they're going to die on.

They make these the very hills that they're gonna say, I'm gonna put my flag in here, and and and and this is what's gonna define my belief.

These are the very hills that they choose to battle against everyone on, and instead of instead of battling in love, these hills become toxic.

These hills become hateful, these hills become places where the world and even other Christians don't want to go because that's all this person talks about, and anyone who opposes them is belittled.

And then when another believer comes along and they don't speak on this issue, or they don't speak on it in their in the entirety, or they don't speak on it with the same passion that this person has, we label them wolves in sheep's clothing.

Or we start finding flaws in who they are as a person, we start nitpicking their character, we start belittling their family and how they run their family.

We start, we start slandering them and we start poking holes and destroying their lives.

When in reality, and we call it informing people.

When in reality we're just slandering them and gossiping about them.

And if anyone challenges us on this, we again call it persecution.

Do you see the difference in the examples I just gave and the exam and what Peter's talking about here?

Do you see the difference in the examples I gave and the examples you find in this book?

See, Peter's talking about Christians suffering and losing their lives for the gospel.

Peter's talking about Christians who are actually being imprisoned and beaten and tortured and killed for the gospel.

What I'm talking about is not persecution.

I'm talking about people acting like jerks and acting unloving and refusing to face the consequences of their actions.

I mean, my goodness, Jesus told his disciples in John 13, 35, this is how the world will know you are my disciples, based on how you love one another.

Are the actions we're saying, or the actions we're doing, are they loving to one another?

Peter talks about this in our main scripture this morning.

He talks about it in verse 15, starting in verse 15 through 16, he says this, but in your hearts honor Christ, the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Can you just imagine what the world would look like today if believers loved people?

Took stands, yes, but loved people, and took stands with gentleness and respect.

We are made to be fishers of men.

We are made to be winning souls from the kingdom.

We're made to be calling prodigals home.

We're made to be loving our neighbor as ourselves.

We're made to be uplifting the body, not collectors of one argument, weighing out our wins and our losses.

We're not made to be tearing down people who oppose our viewpoints and belittling those who cross our battle lines because all we do on that is we leave a trail of hurt and destruction behind us.

Now, please hear my heart.

I'm not saying that we as a church don't understand suffering and persecution.

I'm not saying we as modern Christians don't understand suffering and persecution.

Rather, I want to present to you the thought that perhaps the suffering and persecution we're facing as followers of Christ today is coming in a different way than we're actually expecting.

What if suffering and persecution today is more on a spiritual field and not so much a physical field?

What if it's more emotional?

What if it's more mental?

What if it's more spiritual and heartache?

What if it's something that we've been missing this whole time and because of it we mislabel it?

Because of it, we label it something else, and we and we don't even bat an eye to it.

I'm not talking about spiritual attacks or sicknesses or illnesses or anything physical.

What I'm talking about are spiritual and societal lies and condemning thoughts.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And as you're turning there, I just want to give a quick synopsis of what we're going to be reading and a quick understanding.

So, Matthew chapter 4 is a famous uh story in the New Testament.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

It's the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

Now, before we get to Jesus in the wilderness, the first thing that we need to know is right before that in chapter 3, Jesus had an amazing encounter, and the Trinity was shown to the world as one.

Jesus was baptized.

Jesus, when he went into the water and when he came out, the word says that the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon him, and the audible voice of God was heard saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

So we see the Trinity together.

We see heavens opening up, we see this amazing thing, and then we pick up right away in verse 4, it says this.

But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

And Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

And he said to him, All these I will give to you if you but fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God alone, and him only shall you serve.

And then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Now, a lot of times the persecution or suffering we are experiencing is an attack that makes us doubt our mental or emotional well-being.

The tactic being used against Jesus here was if I can get him to believe in what I am saying, I can stop him from doing anything.

Notice the first thing the devil tries to do is to get Jesus to question his sonship.

First he tells him, if you are the son of God, if you are the son of God, he's trying to get him to doubt his sonship and to doubt where his standing is with God.

Then the second thing he does, when that doesn't work, is he tries to tempt Jesus with something that he doesn't even have.

I don't know about you, but when I read my Bible, I read that it was the Lord who hardened Pharaoh's heart in Egypt.

When I read my Bible, I see that it is the Lord who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

When I read my Bible, it is the Lord who has allowed Babylon and allowed Persia to come in and invade Israel.

When I read my Bible, when I read my Bible, it is the Lord who has control and he does what he wills with the kingdoms here on earth for his glory.

And so he's trying to offer Jesus something that Jesus already has.

Satan has no kingdom that he can say, This is what I'm gonna do, and this is what I can't do, that God can't intervene in.

So why is he trying to offer Jesus something that Jesus already has power over?

That's the very tactic we are hearing today.

The enemy and the world are both trying to get you to believe in something that can take you off your course.

They're trying to get you to believe in specific promises to stop you from doing what God has called you to do.

See, it's so much easier and a much more peaceful result to persuade someone than it is to threaten someone.

And the heartbreaking thing is that so many people have fallen for it.

I'm gonna give you a couple statistics.

Several years ago, Barna did a study, and then most more recently, the Christian Standard.com in 2022, 2022 did this exact same study, and here's what they found out.

Are you ready?

60 to 80 percent of students walk away from their faith after they graduate high school.

60 to 80 percent of teenagers walk away from their faith when they graduate high school.

And and here's what they found out that they're finding out the disconnect there, that they're finding out the reason why, and the main similarity is actually a twofold similarity.

They're finding out that either too many families put the responsibility of the well spiritual well-being of their children solely on the church, or they don't prioritize church at all.

60 to 80 percent of young people are walking away, and they're finding out the reason why.

The common denominator on this is either parents are putting the responsibility on the church and they're making church be it uh be the only thing, or they don't prioritize church at all.

And so families are suffering because parents are believing that taking your teenagers to church is shoving religion down their throat.

They also have the misconception that it is the church's responsibility to raise their children and the things of God.

See, here's the thing, our young people are being fed society's viewpoints six and a half hours a day, five days a week.

If you do the math on that, in a typical school year, that is just over a thousand hours a year.

They are sitting in a classroom and they're being told this is absolute truth.

They're being told, hey, the public school's view on what on what gender is and what sex is, this is absolute truth.

They're being told, hey, how creation came into existence, how the world got here and everything, it's evolution, this is absolute truth.

They're being told this over a thousand hours a year.

Now it's not every single hour.

I understand that there's math class, we need to have math.

I hate math, but we need to have math.

So I understand that.

We have history, I understand that, but still, they're spending over a thousand hours a year learning from people who may or may not be saved, and learning from a curriculum that doesn't want God in it.

And in turn, their biblical worldview is being twisted and it's being corrupt, and parents are being told don't pressure them, don't force them, don't make them do this, let them learn on their own, let them make their own decision.

I was a youth pastor for seven years.

Can I ask you something for parents of high school boys?

Um, does your high school boy make great decisions when it comes to hygiene?

No.

As a previous high school boy, I made terrible decisions when it came to hygiene.

High school boys, middle school boys, if you're in here, listen to me.

Axe body spray is not a shower.

Even if you buy the expensive stuff and you buy George Ur money, it's not a shower.

Soap and water goes a long way, trust me.

Okay, parents, let me ask you this.

For high school and middle school girls, when it comes to choosing a right relationship, romantic or friendship, do they make the best decisions?

No.

My daughter is five years old.

And there's times when she comes home and she goes, I like that boy.

And I'm like, ooh, is he gonna be your husband?

And she goes, Ew, no.

I want her to stay that way forever.

Saying, I don't want to get married, I want my kid to be the first Pentecostal nun.

I don't know if she will, but I'm like, that's a good decision.

But again, being a high schooler for seven years, I can't tell you how many times I was sitting with students and they were like, hey, you know, like I don't I don't know if I believe in God.

And it's like, man, what's happening?

Well, like, like, like, tell me what's happening right now.

My wife's like, did you just start a new relationship?

And they're like, Yeah, but I think I can get him saved.

And my wife's like, but don't you see you're already questioning the existence of God because of this relationship.

The average amount of time the average student spends in church in youth group is, are you ready?

40 hours a year.

40 hours a year.

That's a whole work week.

For some of you who work crazy jobs, that's that's a full part-time job.

40 hours a year.

That's that's just in youth group.

That's not talking about Sunday services, but that's that's when they're around to be, uh, that's when they're allowed to be around people they're their own age and they're able to learn about how God is relevant for them now, not just when they're an adult.

And they're only getting that 40 hours a year.

Did you know that the average high schooler sleeps 3,285 hours a year?

Did you know the average high schooler spends 170 hours a year hanging out with friends?

Where are they the rest of the time?

They're with you, they're with their family.

What are the conversations they are hearing around the dinner table?

Are they hearing how you prioritize Jesus?

Are you are you taking your children through the understanding of who Christ is and what he's done for you?

Are they seeing you as parents prioritize you going to church, prioritize your time in the Bible, prioritizing prayer?

Are they seeing that or are they hearing everything else because we don't want to be offensive?

Because we want them to make their own decisions.

Parents, I'm sorry, last time I checked, you're the one paying the mortgage.

Now you might be like, you know, like wow, this is edgy, this is cool.

No, I was a high schooler who was like, Mom, you don't get me, Dad, you don't get me.

I made terrible decisions.

I made decisions that took me down an eight-year addiction because I wanted to do what I wanted to do.

What is the truth that is being taught in your home?

Are they hearing about the hope inside of you and the Jesus you love?

Don't you see that the disconnect?

Our young people are suffering spiritually, and because of that, families are suffering emotionally.

Scripture says in Proverbs 22, 6, raise up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he shall not depart from it.

Now, please note here, it did not say, youth pastor, raise up a child in the way they should go, and when they grow old, they will not depart from it.

It did not say, teachers, raise up a child in the way they should go, and when they are and then when they are old, they they shall not depart from it.

It did not say, it didn't even say this.

It didn't even say parents raise up a child in the way they should go.

And when even when they grow old, they will not depart from it.

See, it's the whole thing, it's a whole it's a whole community.

Parents, teachers, youth pastors, raise up children in the way they should go.

And even when they are old, they will not depart from it.

See, suffering is happening because society is taking parents out of the equation.

If you read through scripture, the the consistent theme you'll find is that I believe God has put three pillars on earth, here on earth, to hold back the kingdom of darkness.

The first one is government, the second one is families, the third one is the church.

Let's be honest, how many of those pillars are actually still standing strong today?

Society is trying to take parents out of the equation.

They're trying to take the responsibility of child of raising children out of the hands of parents, and they're trying to put them into the hands of society and with the illusion that the state can do better, that the state is more equipped, the state has better resources.

Where are the parents who labor in prayer for their children?

Where are the parents who are crying out to God for the salvation of their children?

Can I ask you, can I let you know this?

Your prayers matter.

You checking in on your high schooler matters.

You aren't being a burden, checking in on their well being.

You might be like, well, I feel like I'm annoying.

Well, what high schooler do you know thinks their parents aren't lame?

And if you can think of one, chances are they're homeschooled.

And that's okay.

We love homeschoolers.

I was homeschooled.

And if you think your parents are cool and not lame, can I just let you know when you're 30, you're going to realize that you're actually right?

Your parents love you.

Your parents are willing to do anything they can to give you the life that they didn't have.

But parents, can I be honest?

We don't want that to be where we stop.

We want to make sure we're doing everything we can to give them the life that Jesus promised.

Many of us would not be here today if it wasn't for a mother and a father who didn't do everything they could to cry out to God and say, Lord, teach me how to guide my children.

Teach me how to be a godly father.

Teach me how to be a godly mother.

And you might be like, Well, Marcus, I never had my mother or my father do that.

And okay, first of all, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry you didn't have that.

I really am.

That's something I feel every parent or every child needs.

But you can't say you never had that.

Why?

Because you have spiritual mothers and fathers who cried out to God on your behalf.

People you didn't even know who were interceding on your behalf, who was maybe you met them at church one day.

Maybe you met them on the street one day, and they were crying out and they were like, God, I'm asking right now, would you bless Jacob right now, God?

Wherever he's at, God, I cry out for his soul.

Would you get a hold of him?

Even at night when you're sleeping, these people were praying for you.

Those are spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers, and we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them crying out.

Parents, teach.

Teach your children, teach them gently.

Respect the process.

Have patience because it is a process.

And respect your children as people, not projects.

But parents, love them fiercely.

Love them fiercely.

Teach them gently, but love them fiercely.

Suffering isn't just on a familial basis, though.

Suffering can be very personal as well.

Sometimes the enemy loves to remind us of our brokenness.

Sometimes to the point where we start believing that this is who we are.

And we start making that our identity.

He reminds us of our brokenness and we make this our entire identity.

And next thing you know, our name, we change our names and we start saying, hello, my name is depression.

Hello, my name is addiction.

Hello, my name is sinner.

Hello, my name is unlovable.

Hello, my name is unstable.

What are we going to do when the enemy tries to attack us or persecute us or make us suffer mentally?

Well, I don't know about you.

But man, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lay down without a fight.

I'm gonna fight.

Well, Marcus, how do you how do you fight this?

I'm gonna fight it like Jesus did.

Notice in Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Notice how Jesus refuted every single word the enemy said to him.

How did he refute it?

Did he say, I think, I feel?

No, he refuted it with his scripture.

For the Lord says, for it is written.

If you notice when Jesus, like repeated scripture back to the enemy, there was one time when the enemy presented half scriptures to Jesus.

Out of context, scriptures to Jesus.

But every word that Jesus spoke to the enemy was from the book of Deuteronomy.

I don't know if you've read Deuteronomy, but in my opinion, other than numbers, that's one of the most boring books in the Bible.

And Jesus took the book of Deuteronomy and he turned it into a weapon against the enemy.

There is power in this word.

If we build our life upon this word, we'll be able to be able to fight the enemy.

We'll be able to refute the lies.

We can stand on the word and know that every word in this book is true.

We can know that every word in this book is perfect.

We can know that every word has the power to help take us through the suffering.

And not even that, but to take us out to the other side, completely whole.

I just want to be open and vulnerable with you guys for a moment.

Can I do that?

For years I battled depression.

Honestly, I'm not even sure where it started.

I dealt with it as a child.

And throughout my teen years, and even as a young adult and youth pastor.

And this wasn't something that I was simply able to choose to be or not to be.

You see, walking in depression became my life.

It became my reality, this heaviness.

I didn't see an alternative.

I didn't know that there could be an alternative.

Even when I was saved, I chalked it up to this must be my cross to bear.

And I would hear, I would hear Christians tell me, Well, Marcus, don't you know that the Lord gives a joy that the world can't take away?

I would hear Christians tell me, Marcus, there is a hope beyond all understanding.

But I I felt when I was, that was being said to me, I was like, man, then God must have passed me by with it.

God must have passed me by and said, No, Marcus, you don't get this.

You have everything else, you have salvation.

You should be grateful that you have that, but you don't get this.

And I was like, God, what did I do wrong?

Like, how bad must I have been that I wasn't gonna get joy?

I was walking around in a fog, and I and I know it sounds stereotypical, but it was like this black cloud was following me around everywhere.

No matter how fast I ran, no matter how well I hid, it always caught up to me and it always found me.

Even during happy occasions, this looming fear of hopelessness and defeat was so present.

In my family, I'm known as the funny guy, not like funny how, but like I was just the funny guy.

And I was always there for comedic relief.

But no matter how many jokes I cracked and how well I could get others to laugh, depression had such a deep and cynical hold on me that I alone could not break free from it.

But it wasn't until a little over two years ago when I was going through Matthew 4 that I learned how I can actually respond to these thoughts.

And so if Jesus could get the enemy to leave using scripture, why couldn't I?

And so I spent hours pouring over this word.

I spent hours looking for scripture that would speak to that would speak to depression, that would teach me how to battle depression.

And so when the days came and I found those scriptures, I would repeat them over and over.

And when depression came and those thoughts came, and I was like, man, why am I depressed?

I would respond back.

You know what?

I may be depressed, but Psalm 42, 5 says, Why are you downcast?

Oh my soul, put your hope in God, put your trust in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and in my God.

And if that didn't work, fine, cool.

Maybe that's not working.

Let's say it louder.

Why are you downcast, oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Put your hope in God, put your trust in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Cool, that didn't work fine.

Guess what?

Depression, Deuteronomy 31.8 says, it is the Lord who goes before you.

He will be with you, he will not leave you, he will not forsake you.

Do not fear or be dismayed.

And do you know what that did?

Thank you.

Do you know what that did?

Repeating it over and over again?

Did it go away right away?

No, it didn't.

But I can I tell you, I've been walking two years with no depression because I repeated this scripture over and over.

I have repeated it time and time again.

It is the Lord who goes before me.

And now I'm walking in hope, and now I'm walking in joy.

Because this word is enough to battle any lie the enemy or society brings against you.

It takes a process.

But trust the process.

Okay, I see how you can use scripture to battle depression, Marcus.

But I have a secret sin, maybe, that you don't know about, Marcus.

How can I battle with that?

Like, how is this gonna help me with that?

All it's gonna tell me is don't do that.

Marcus, what if the enemy comes with accusations of sin that we can't seem to break free of?

And we hear things like, You really think you can be free?

You really think you can be free of this?

Why do you even try?

You fail time and time and time again.

Why are you crying out to God?

God doesn't want to listen to you because you keep failing him.

You make promises that you fail.

Why do you even why do you even try to get better?

You can't, you can't be holy.

You can't make yourself holy.

Well, that may be true, sin.

That may be true, enemy, but Ezekiel 36, 26 says, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put in you, and I will take out your heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Do you want to know how to overcome this sin?

How am I gonna overcome it?

By the power of God.

I don't know how he's gonna do it.

I don't know when he's gonna do it.

All I do know is he said he was gonna do it.

He said he was gonna do it.

Everything else I put my trust in, everything else I've put my hope in, everything else I've relied on has failed me.

But you know who hasn't failed me?

Jesus Christ.

His promises are yes and amen.

But Marcus, I have no hope.

I've struggled with this for so long.

Guess what, Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

You have to get into your word.

We have to get into our word.

We have to become grounded in our word.

We need to develop a habit of prayer.

We need to understand what it means to seek the face of God and worship.

And we need to know him who saved us.

Not to check some religious box, not because it's the Christian thing to do, but because it is Him and through Him and by Him and His power, we will get through to the other side.

Now you may be sitting here thinking today, yes, one day, one day I'll get there.

Well, one day, Marcus, I'm hoping I can start fighting back.

Marcus, what you're saying, I like because one day I want to do that.

We need to change our mindset from one day I'll pray more, one day I'll get into the word more, one day I'll be able to step aside and build a prayer life.

One day I will enjoy worship.

One day I will push back against this depression.

One day I will walk in freedom of this sin.

One day I will be the godly father or the godly mother I'm supposed to be.

One day I will equip my kids.

We need to shift our mentality from one day to day one.

Start today.

What are you waiting for?

My goodness, your children are depending on you to start day one.

Let today be your first day.

You have friends and coworkers who are depending on you.

Don't wait for one day.

Start today as day one.

Are you prepared?

Are you ready?

Peter says this in verse 15 of 1 Peter.

He says, But in your hearts honor Christ, the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

See, the good news of the gospel is this it's not up to you.

The pressure is not on you.

It was finished on Calvary.

That's what the whole gospel is.

We as sinful people cannot live a perfect life on our own.

No matter how hard we tried, we still fall short.

And the modern church today puts this pressure on people saying, get it together, try harder, be more holy.

We can't make ourselves more holy.

I don't know if you've ever driven on powers or I-25.

We can't make ourselves more holy.

I don't know if you've ever been on Facebook.

We can't make ourselves more holy.

Believers are suffering because they're being told that they have to carry a weight that they can't even carry on their own on their best days.

They are suffering because they are being made to feel that no matter what they do, they are not enough.

But the wonderful news of the gospel is this, and hear me.

Jesus is enough.

Jesus is the one who puts our lives together.

So when the church says, put your life together, like get your life together, say, I can't, but Jesus can.

Jesus' life and his death covered a multitude of sins, so we don't need to try harder.

Why?

Because Jesus already did.

Jesus already did it.

When he said it is finished on the cross, he meant it.

When the church says, be more holy, can I just let you know?

Can I just let you know?

And please, no, I mean this in love.

When people say you need to be more holy, tell them in love to shut up.

Because you are just as holy today with all your brokenness and all the sin that you're struggling with struggling with from the day you were first saved.

Why?

Because it is Jesus Christ who makes you holy.

It is not you and your efforts that make you holy.

It is not you and your tryhard that makes you holy.

It is Jesus and Jesus alone that makes you holy.

So you are just as saved today.

I don't care if you cuss someone out this morning, you are just as holy today as you were the day you first got saved.

The suffering in life is a is not a journey we have to walk alone.

The King of Heaven, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the creator of the universe and all that is in it.

The lover of my soul, my Jesus, has chosen to walk this journey of suffering with me.

And not only that, but also to provide a window of release and at times a window of escape.

But what is up to us is deciding to walk in that victory.

What is up to us is deciding to believe this word and what he said in it.

What is up to us is to believe, again, God, I don't know how you're gonna do it.

I don't know when you're gonna do it.

All I know is you said you're gonna do it, and I believe that.

Today, right now, will you do as Peter has instructed?

Will you prepare for the suffering?

Let today be the day where your preparation starts.

If you're here this morning, or even if you're listening online and you don't know and you don't know who Jesus is, I want to encourage you to not wait another moment.

He's waiting for you with open arms.

You don't have to have it all together first.

He's saying, right here, right now, mess it all, come as you are, because I want to love you.

If you're here this morning and you're sick of the suffering, you're tired of these lies that the enemy or the world keeps telling you, or maybe you're here and you're just needing to know that the victory is coming in the season of suffering.

If that's you today, then I want to invite you to get out of your seat when we start worship, to come to the front and worship with us.

You might be like, Well, Marcus, I don't get out of my seat for worship.

That's fine.

I'm not saying you have to, but what I'm saying is let this be a time to show the enemy, to show the lies, to show the depression, to show the hurt feelings, to show them that the Lord said he was going to do it, and I'm going to believe it.

So I'm standing here.

Thank you for listening to the Born for War podcast.

We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.

To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.

God bless.