Partaking of Trials and Sufferings

Well, good evening. If you have your Bibles tonight, turn to

first Peter chapter number four. First Peter, chapter number

four. Let me double check to make sure my mic's on here. Okay?

One Peter chapter number four. If you would hold your place there,

put your bookmark there, whatever you like to do. And turn

back to Matthew chapter 8 as well. Matthew chapter 8, we'll use

Matthew 8 · chapter mention Matthew 8 · chapter mention

as a springboard into our message tonight. First Peter, chapter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

4, verse number 12, and then Matthew 8:23. Matthew 8:23 is a very

Matthew 8:23 Matthew 8:23

familiar passage. It is Jesus. Calm in the storm, right? And the

winds and the wave. I'll begin reading verse number 23 real fast

here. And it says, and when he was entered into a ship, that's Jesus.

His disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest

in the sea insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves.

But he was asleep and his disciples came to him and awoke him,

saying, lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, why

are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked

the winds and the sea, and. And there was a great calm. But the

men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this that even the

winds and the sea obey him? I want you to put yourself in the disciples

shoes for just a moment here. We easily like to pick on the disciples

here in this passage of man. You're in the boat with the God of

the universe. You're in the boat with the living, breathing God

in the flesh, and you're scared of the storm. We like to pick

on the disciples here, but if we really boil it down, this is exactly

how we would react. Think about it for just a moment. The waves

are so strong that they are engulfing the ship that they're in.

I don't know how Jesus was able to honestly stay asleep during

this time, but I honestly think it was to teach the disciples

something. How would you react if you were in that storm? Would

you react in fear or would you react in faith? You see, in our lives,

oftentimes we find little hope while in the midst of a storm, or

even in a trial or in a suffering, we unfortunately forget

that God is ultimately in control and he is also in the boat

with us. If you will now Turn back to First Peter, chapter number

four, and we'll look at verse number 12. And it says right here,

this is Peter. This is one of the guys that was in the boat, by

the way, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial

which is to try you or to test you. As though some strange thing

happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's

sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be

glad also with exceeding joy. Tonight I would like to talk with

you about partaking of the trials and sufferings. Partaking

of trials and sufferings. In August of 2024, my son Henry was

born August 23rd. I was a proud dad. I really was. It was my

firstborn son. And the best part is it was a man child. It was

a man cub. Yeah, I was ready for it, right? I'm ready for the

football and baseball seasons. All right. I was ready for it, right?

And of course, that night, it was a pretty cool experience, you

know, after he was born, I remember praying over him that night

and asking the Lord to just make me the father I'm supposed to

be and to just. And to be with Henry and to guide his life and help

me to guide him in the way of the word, right? And all life was

good. And two weeks later, we took Henry to his first pediatrician

appointment. If you're a parent, you know how it goes, right?

They gotta get their vaccines and they got. And all that, right?

And all checked up and ready to go. And I will never forget the

doctor listening to his chest. And she turns back toward me and

my wife, she says, do you all know that he has a murmur? Me and

my wife look at each other for a moment. We say, no. And she said,

well, he has a pretty clear one. And so she brought us over and

we were able to listen. If you don't know what a heart murmur is,

when your heart beats, it sounds like boom, boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom, boom, boom, right? A murmur sounds like this. Of course,

the storm had arrived in that moment. Tonight, I'd like to discuss

the three lessons of the trials and sufferings. The three

lessons of trials and sufferings. Let's pray. Lord, I want

to thank you again for the time that you've given me to preach

tonight, Lord. Lord, I don't want to take it for granted, God.

Lord, I pray you'd hide me behind your cross, Lord. And I would

say every word you'd have me to say, Lord. Lord, I believe that

this is the message that you laid on my heart, Lord. Lord, I pray

it would be your message and not mine. We love you, Lord. Please

bless this time. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Number one. Trials

and sufferings are given specifically to you. Look at verse

number 12. Again, it says, beloved, think it not strange that

Word strange. There is kind of an interesting word to use there.

What Peter was saying is, don't think of this as it happened

by chance. Oh, it was just a hint of bad luck. No, it also means

that you're not the first one to go through this, and you probably

won't be the last. He says it says, right. Think it not strange

concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you or test you.

Right. That fiery trial there is basically the trial by fire. That

furnace fire. I think of, you know, a blacksmith, if he's forging

something to metal, and he puts that metal through a furnace

and heats that metal up. Oh, it gets a nice orangey glow, gets

all liquid like. And what does he do? He takes over the anvil and

starts hammering on it and back in the fire, then back to the

anvil. You see, it's not like God is just throwing metal into a

furnace and saying, well, I hope that something comes of it.

No, no. When that blacksmith puts that. That metal in that furnace,

he has a plan for it. He's going to reshape it into something

of his will. He's going to make something that was ordinary

into something extraordinary. Did you know God chooses you at times

to go through some trials? You're probably thinking of some

in your mind right now. The trials, the tests, loss of loved

ones, times where the money has run out. Times when maybe you've

lost the car, you've lost the house. The times of trials and sufferings.

Maybe even on the spiritual matter of things, maybe it's. You're

being persecuted for standing for, right? Maybe someone has twisted

something about you, harmed you in a certain way. It's easy for

us in that moment to sit there and say, well, this was just by chance.

It just happened, and I just got unlucky. And it's easy for us

to sit there and say, am I the only one that has to go through this?

How come no one else has to go through this? How come it's me? How

come it's not them? It's easy for us to fall into that little pity

party of ours. You see, when we found out Henry had a murmur,

we were recommended to a cardiologist. And it took us about

two months to get into one. We finally got in. We took him in to

the cardiologist, and they took him back. They did an echo on

his heart, and they started looking around things, and that's

all it was. That's all that first point went. They just looked

at his heart and they said, okay, we got all the pictures we

want, we'll let you know, let your pediatrician know what we find.

Wait about a month. And then finally we got word back, and they

said, well, he has a. It was kind of a funny situation. Our pediatrician

couldn't really tell us what was wrong, which is. That's a whole

other story, right? And they said, but they didn't say he has

a bicuspid aortic valve. And a lot of times when your aortic valve,

it's supposed to have three flaps, and basically Henry's had

two. And they say now that now people can go their whole lives without

knowing that that's an issue. That's a heart defect. But they said,

but that may be what's causing the murmur, right? And they said,

we're going to have you come back in for some more tests and pictures.

And so we said, okay. So we're hoping that it's not a problem. We're

hoping that it's still just going to resolve it. And we're praying

hard, right, that God would just, you know, have some sort of

impact in this, and he would. He would not. There would be nothing

wrong, right? So we go back in and we meet the cardiologist. This

time, we get. We get the echoes done. And she sits down with

us and says, okay, he has a bicuspid aortic valve, but that's

not the issue. She said, he actually has a hole between his two

ventricles and his heart. And she told us, she said, and she says,

this is not a small hole, unfortunately. This is a moderate

to large hole. That's what she says. Typically with moderate to

large holes, there's only about a 30% chance or less for it

to close on its own. If it was a small hole, it jumps to, like,

70% chance it will close on its own kind of thing and usually

doesn't cause a lot of problems. And she said, so she said,

what I want to do is that he looks healthy. And he was. He was

healthy at the time. And she said, since he looks so healthy,

I want to give him some time, because typically babies with this

condition, they look more sickly. And so we said, okay, how

long. How much time should we give him? She said, well, let's start

with three months. Come back in three months, we'll look at him

again, and we'll kind of get a game plan from there. So, of course,

leaving that appointment somewhat devastated by the news of

potential surgery that's in our future and something that we

didn't want to have to Put our, you know, our under one year

old son through it, you know. And so we prayed hard. We prayed

that the Lord would just take it away. Lord, just let, let the.

When we come in three months, it'd be a good report that it would

be going the right direction and that wouldn't be getting worse.

And that's what we prayed for three months. And then it came back.

We came back after three months and the hole had actually

gotten smaller. It was good news. She said it actually has gotten

a little bit smaller. She said it's still considered moderate to

large, but it has gotten smaller. It. She said there's a little

bit of an issue with his ventricle. Actually it's enlarged

a little bit more. And so she said, she said, but it's not something

concerning now. Let's give him another three months. Let's give

him some more time because I think we're going in the right direction

here. She said, he's honestly out of the woods yet, but he's going

the right direction. So we were rejoicing, we were praising

the Lord for it and we had this little glimpse of hope. Right.

I say all that and we'll continue that story here in a moment.

But I say all that to say I wasn't prepared for how long this

was going to take. We were only about a quarter of the way through

the story. You may be in a trial right now, and I tell you this,

I don't know how long it's going to take, but me and my wife

made a decision. We talked about it, we had prayed about it.

We said, we're not going to let this run our lives. We're not

going to let this turn our back on God. We are hoping that this

brings honor and glory to God. And I'm not saying that to point

me this was God's grace in my life that he was providing me. You

see, trials and sufferings are given specifically to you. And during

that time I found myself constantly wondering, why did it

have to be my kid? And selfishly I said, well, there were

so many other babies born at the same time. How come none of them

had it? You see, Henry's heart issue is actually a 1% chance per

baby. So out of 100 kids, Henry was the one. And that right

there spoke to me and said, this wasn't by chance, this wasn't

bad luck. It's because God chose me for that moment. God chose

Henry. Trials and sufferings are given to you specifically. And

number two, trials and sufferings give insight of Christ's

suffering for you. Look now in verse number 13, it says here, but

rejoice Sounds a little backwards, but rejoice in as much

as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. That line kind

of scares me a little bit. Y' all realize what Jesus Christ did

for you? Do you really understand it? The God of this universe,

who has to humble himself just to look at us, decided, you know

what? I'll become one of my creation. I'll become the thing I

made. So I will pay the price for their sin. Not my own, but their

sin. And Christ bled and died on a cross for us. He suffered. Doesn't

the Bible say, I beseech ye, therefore, brethren, by the mercies

of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and

acceptable unto God, which is your service. No, your reasonable

service. So I'm here to tell you tonight, rejoice in the sufferings.

Be glad you're in the midst of a trial right now. Be glad you're

in the middle of a suffering right now, because that means God

is not done with you yet. He has a plan for your life, your life

individually, right now. He has a plan for it, and he is working

that out right now. And this trial is. Is right here, is to mold

you into his will right now, is to mold you into that, into something

ordinary, into something extraordinary right now. He has that

plan for your life right now. Rejoice in the suffering. It seems

backwards. Why should we rejoice? Why should we be glad about

suffering? Why should we be okay with it? Because Jesus Christ

was willing and glad to give his life for you. Because he loved

you. And you should be glad to go through sufferings and trials

just as he did, as well. We're partakers of Christ's sufferings.

If you have your Bibles real fast, turn to Acts, chapter nine,

just for a moment. Acts, chapter nine. I just want you to

see this. Acts, chapter nine. What's happened here is that the

Apostle Paul, which is actually Saul at this point in the

story, Saul has just seen Jesus on the road to Damascus. And

he goes into the city, right? And God speaks to Barnabas. Look

at verse number 16 here. Sorry. Look at verse number 15. It

says, but the Lord said unto him, go thy way. For he is a chosen

vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and.

And children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he

must suffer for my name's sake. Think about that for a second.

The Apostle Paul, the guy that Wrote half the Testament. He didn't

live a luxurious life. He didn't live a life that was. That

was full of money. He didn't live a life that was full of fame.

He lived a life that was in a constant state of suffering. Think

about it. Shipwrecked, bitten by venomous snakes. Stoned, spat

on, beaten. The list goes on. Eventually martyred, imprisoned.

And we like to look at our situation and say, oh, God, it's

so bad on me. But when I look back at this, I'm actually kind of

glad God didn't choose me. And that was. I was the Apostle Paul

in that moment. And that's what was written about me in the

books, the Book of acts, in chapter nine, verse number 16, that

I was chosen to suffer for God's name's sake. I think back to

Job and, man, I don't even know how Job did it. Job never was

even given a reason why it happened. But Job said. He said,

the Lord giveth and. And he taketh away. Blessed be the name

of the Lord. We forget that maybe our situation isn't as bad

as we like to think it is. You see, we gain a level of understanding

a little bit with our trials. We get a glimpse into what Jesus

Christ did for us, that suffering. Think about it. What did

Christ do for you? He came to this earth, and he died the most

gruesome death you can imagine at the time. He's buried, and he

rose again in three days for you, and he did that all for you.

And then here's the flip side of it. And a little bit with my side

of things, I got to see a little bit of God. The Father's perspective,

too, of my own son suffering. I cannot imagine what God the father

felt while his innocent son bled and hung on a cross. And that's

a perspective that you don't understand until you have your own

kids. The night Henry was born, that was actually the first

or the day that Henry was born, that was the first thing that

came to my mind. I said, God gave his son for me. Three months

later, after the good news, we went back into the doctor, and we're

hopeful at this point. We're actually. We're in good spirits.

And we were like, man, God, he's gonna close that hole. It's

gonna be gone when we go in. I just know it. We went in and she

said, unfortunately, the hole has not had any change. And she said,

and his heart is now severely enlarged. And she said, I really

highly recommend that we go in and we take care of it. And I said,

and of course, me and Hannah, I don't know how we did it. I don't

even know how I spoke in that moment, honestly. But I said, hey,

I believe that there's a God in this universe that is in control

of all things, and I believe that he can close the hole still.

Can we give him a little bit more time? And so the doctor agreed.

She says, okay, yes, we'll give him three more months. She said,

here are the two conditions. I want to put him on Lasix medication

to help with the fluid that's in his heart that's causing it to

enlarge. And she said that the other thing is too, is I want us

to go ahead and schedule surgery because if we go in, she

said, I'd rather cancel it than have to get you in and rush

you in. And so we said, okay. And we gave God three months. We

prayed that really hard for three months. We did every night,

rocking him to bed. I prayed, said, lord, please take it from him.

Don't put him through this, Lord. He's only a one year old boy.

Please don't put me through it. Please don't put my wife through

it. It's too heavy. God, take it from me. I don't want it. But

God just kept repeating to himself, it's okay, I've got you.

The three months came, and they looked at his heart again. They

said, unfortunately, it's even more enlarged now. We need to go

in. We'll see you in three weeks. That three weeks turned into.

Unfortunately, it turned into six weeks because he had ended up

getting pneumonia right before his surgery date and up to the final

days of his. Of his heart surgery. His eyes grew more dim,

his appetite dropped. You could tell it was affecting him.

We walked into the hospital that day. Now, I don't know if you

had the feeling. I don't know. It's like I was just going through

the motions. I wasn't fully there, to be totally honest with

you. Thankfully, he was in good spirits. He was laughing, he

was in a good mood. They're about to wheel him back to the or.

I hugged him. I didn't know if that was gonna be last time I hugged

him. The surgeon had told us when we met for the surgery. He said,

it is a 1% chance of a child with this condition that when they

have a surgery, it's 1% chance that's fatal. They said it's very

rare. We do hundreds of these a day. It's very rare. And he said,

there's also another 1% chance that, like, if we made a mistake

where we nicked something in the heart and we had to do another

extra repair, and then he'd have a lasting issue with it, that

was another 1% risk. So he said, you have a 98% sex or 98% chance

of success with no lasting complications. And he added this

on there. He said, I do want to tell you, though, he said he's

kind of already living in the 1% zone. He said, don't read in this

too much. But he did say, because he wanted just to tell us,

he said he's a little bit of a more special case than most kids.

Most kids with the vsd, that's the Holden's heart, they said, most

of them, if they have any other complication, it's very rare.

And for him to have a bicuspid aortic valve and a VASD, only 1%

of kids that have AVSD also have a bicuspid aortic valve. And

he said that it may mean absolutely nothing, but he said,

I will warn you, he is kind of living in the 1%. I don't know if

that may. I hope that made us really feel better. But I appreciate

his honesty. I hugged him, I kissed him, I watched them wheel

him back. I'll continue that story here in a moment. You see,

I wonder what God the Father felt when he sent his son to this

earth. It's not like he didn't know what was going to happen. It's

not like he was like, well, I hope everything goes well. No, he

knew exactly why he was sending him. He sent his son to die

on the cross for our sins. That sin that no one else knows about.

That sin that you're even ashamed to think of. He died for

it. I cannot imagine sending my own son to pay for the mistakes

of another person. I could not do it. There's no way. No way. But

because of God's love for you and for Jesus. Love for you. He did

it for you. Number three. Trials and sufferings bring glory

to God. Look at the second part of verse number 13 in 1st Peter

in chapter 4. It says here, I'll read the whole verse, but rejoice

as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his

glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

You may have not experienced it yet, but if you keep your eyes

on God, I promise you, you'll see his glory. You'll see how it's

shaping you. You'll see how it's affecting the lives of others

around you. And you'll say, God, I'm sorry for saying that you

didn't love me. God, I'm sorry for saying that you were hateful

to me, for putting me through this. And you'll say, God, I just

hope that you get all the honor and glory for it, that it will

win others, that will point other people to you because of the

impact that you have on my life. Look for God's glory in the

trial. Look for it. You're in the middle of the suffering. Look

for God's glory. Ask the Lord to reveal it to you. He will. He'll

show it right too. Plain and clear. And here's the best part.

You'll be okay. You'll be glad. I love how the Bible says here,

you may be glad also. With exceeding joy. When they wheeled

Henry back, Hannah and I held each other and walked back to the

waiting room, sat down in the chair, and it's hard to explain it,

but peace just sat over us. Like all of it was gone. The suffering,

the feeling of the anxiety, the worry, the pressure, everything

just gone. And the reason for that is because God gave us his almighty

grace and laid it on mine and my wife's life. Let me tell you tonight,

God's grace does not run short. It does not run empty. He

has enough for you. He has enough for your family. He has enough

for your kids. He has enough for your parents. God's grace is

abundantly plenteous. And when you ask God for that grace, he will

give it to you. That's how we get saved, after all. Does the Bible

say, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not

of yourselves? It's a gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should

boast, doesn't the Bible say that? Do you think God has enough

grace for you tonight? I think so. They gave us the call and they

kind of were doing this. They kind of prepped him and put him under,

right? And they gave us the call and said, hey, everything's

good. We're about to go in. They went in. And you think that

in that moment that would be the worst part of it? No, it was

the best part because we knew he was completely in God's hands.

If you would show the photo, if you have that. I took this photo.

This is post surgery right here. That's my wife holding him

in the chair right there. When he got out of surgery, he was coming

to. He was in pain, he was hurting, he was crying. Didn't understand

what was going on. And my wife Hannah, asked, can I hold him? He

said, of course. Grabbed all those wires and tubes that he's hooked

up to and picked him up off the bed and just laid him in his

arms and he just went to sleep. I'm here at the night that

God wants to do that with you. Through every trial that you have

in your life, he may say, you're going through the hurting,

you're going through the trial, you're going through the suffering

for my name's sake. But just lean on me. I've got you. That image

is forever ingrained in my brain. Anytime I feel like the Lord

is not right here next to me, I feel alone. I say, God, hold me.

What did the disciples say when they were in the middle of that

ship in the middle of the storm? They went over to Jesus, who

was sleeping, and said, lord, save us. We pray, perish. And Jesus

says, okay, I've got it taken care of. Why are you so fearful?

I've already got it. And right now in your life, I don't know what

you're going through in your life. I don't. I'm more preaching

out myself than I really am. The Lord kept repeating this one

verse in my mind. It's in 2nd Corinthians 12, 9. I preached the

sermon. This is not tobacco. You can turn there if you'd like.

But this was Paul who has this thorn in his flesh, and he's asked

the Lord to remove it from him three times. And the Lord kept saying

no. And the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee.

Are you partaking in the trials and suffering of Jesus? Are

you going through something in your life that you think is too big

for God? Because it's not. Just remember, God's still in control.

He's still on the throne. Be thankful for the trials and sufferings.

Look for the glory of God. Give it all to him. And just remember

these three things. God chose you for this trial, and it was to

draw you closer to him and to bring more understanding of him and

relationship with him. And you'll find God's glory. You'll find

it. I'm not here to point to you tonight of. Look at me. Look

at what I went through. That's not what I want tonight. This was

something that God taught me over the whole year of 2025. I learned

this lesson that trials and sufferings are a part of life. And

it's probably not my last one, but I pray and hope the next one.

I Go through. I follow these three things. God chose it for me.

God did it to grow my relationship with him. And he's going

to get glory through it. Is your trial, bringing God glory tonight.

I'll leave you with this. We read it just a Moment ago. Matthew

Matthew 8:26

8:26. Jesus said to him, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?

With Jesus there's nothing to fear. If God is for us, who can be

against us? With every head bowed and every eyes closed as the

musicians get ready for the invitation tonight. Again, I don't

know what you're going through in your life tonight. Could be small,

could be big, doesn't matter. God's here for you. And there's an

altar right here down front that God may be calling you to and

saying, hey, just come give it to me. I'll carry you. I know you're

hurting. I know you're suffering, but bring it to me and

I'll carry you. Maybe your child tonight hasn't been bringing

God glory. Maybe you've made it about yourself. I'm going to ask

you right now if God's speaking to you, that you come down

to this altar and you would just give it all to him and he'll

carry you through it. Lord, I thank you so much for this time tonight.

Thank you for the message that you gave me, Lord. Lord, I know that

this was the message you laid in my heart, Lord. Lord, I pray that

I spoke every word you'd have me to say. Lord, I pray that I shared

the message that you wanted me to share. Speak to hearts now, Lord.

Pray. Amen.