Sharing in Christ’s Sufferings: Paul, the Prophets, and the Patriarchs | March 25th, 2026

Well, good evening. Welcome to Recharge.

We're going to get started in about one

minute. I see people coming in. Come get

your seat and we'll get started really

soon here.

Well, we're going to start tonight by

looking at a scripture from Isaiah. And

I want to invite you to stand up with

me. We want to fix our mind on God's

word. And I love the prophet Isaiah

because of his his dear [music]

affection from the Lord. It comes

through in so many passages. This is one

of them here in Isaiah 25:9. It says,

Isaiah 25:9

"It will be said on that day, behold,

this is our God. We [music] have waited

for him that he might save us. This is

the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us

be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

So, let's pray together and then we're

going to sing a song of [music] praise

that this is the day of the Lord's

salvation. We rejoice in it. We are

glad. Father in heaven, we praise you

for your great salvation. [music] We

praise you that as we gather together as

a church, we can rejoice in the one who

has [music] brought us near to you.

There's no longer sin separating those

of us who are in Christ. And so, [music]

we rejoice in your great salvation. We

lift up our voices in praise in Jesus'

name. Amen.

This is [music] the day

that the Lord has made.

We [music] will rejoice

as we lift his name.

This [music] is the day

that the Lord has [singing] made.

Come and rejoice, [music]

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Oh whe [music and singing] shine, whe

the skies will rain, I know that [music]

you are good and this is a day you made.

Whether in [music and singing] life or

death, whether in joy or pain, I know

[music] this truth [singing] remains

that this is a day you've made. This is

[music] a day

that the Lord has made.

We will [music] rejoice

as we lift his name.

This [music] is the day

that the Lord has made. [music]

Come and rejoice. And we will rejoice

and be glad [music] in it.

And now [music] I can walk in [singing]

faith. You will protect my way. Your

every [music] work is good. And this is

the day you made. I am a child of yours.

You are the one who [music] saves. I am

redeemed by love. And this is the day

you made. This is [music] the day

that the Lord has made.

We will rejoice

as we lift his name.

This is the day

that the Lord [music] has made.

Come and rejoice. We will rejoice in

[music] crying.

[music]

This is the day. Come and sing your

praise. For the Lord [music] now reigns

on the throne of grace. [music] Soon is

the day he will bring us [singing] home

and we have this hope for we are

[music and singing] his.

This is the day. Come and sing [music]

your praise. For the Lord now reigns on

the throne of grace.

Soon is the day [music]

he will bring us home and we have

[singing] his home. For we are his own.

[music] This is the day [singing]

that the Lord has made. [music]

We will rejoice

as we [music] lift his name.

This is the day

that the Lord [music] has made.

Come and rejoice. We will rejoice

[music]

and be glad.

Come and rejoicees. [music]

We will rejoice and be glad.

Come and rejoice. [music] Come and

rejoices. We will rejoice and be glad.

I once [music] was lost in darkest

[singing] night. Yet thought I knew

the way. The sin [music] that promised

joy and life had led me to

the grave. I [music] had no hope that

you would not a rebel to [music] your

will. And if you had [singing]

not love me first, I would refuse

your sin.

But as I ran by hell [music and singing]

boundaries indifferent to

the cross, you looked upon [music]

my helpless

and led me to

the [music] cross and I [singing] beheld

God's love displayed. You suffered

[music]

in my place. You bore the wrath reserved

for me. Now [music and singing] all I

know

is grace.

Hallelujah. [music]

All I [music and singing] have is

Christ.

Hallelujah.

Jesus is

my Lord.

>> [music]

>> Now Lord I would [music]

be yours alone and live so all [singing]

I see the strength to follow [music]

your

could never come [music] from me. Oh

father, [singing] use my ransom life in

any [music] way you choose. And let my

[music] song forever be my [singing]

only hope [music] is you.

Hallelujah. [music]

All I have

is [music] Christ.

Hallelujah. [singing]

Jesus is my light.

Hallelujah. [music]

All I [singing and music] have is

Christ.

Hallelujah.

[music]

Jesus is

my Lord. [music]

Amen. Can you say tonight, Jesus is my

life? Would you say that? Jesus is my

life. I hope that's true of you. You may

be seated. What a great thing for us to

just sing here at the end of a long

Wednesday. Um, praise team, thanks for

coming up here and practicing and doing

all that. I know you guys worked hard

today and here you are. It's great to

have each one of you here tonight. Uh

Sam Lawler's sister and brother-in-law

and their nieces are here. Um drove all

the way down from Ohio. So there you go.

[applause]

Glad you guys are here. Always glad to

see you when you're able to come. Some

of other folks may be new to us tonight.

If you're new in this place, you're in

the right place and we're glad for that.

Everybody look at this before we let all

all of our youth take off. Um Annie Jr.

is tomorrow night and Friday night. It

is a marvelous production. They've been

working on it. Many of you have come and

seen those that are even not associated

with the school. This is open to

everybody. You can come. It's $10 at the

door that supports our drama club. And

um it's a great evening. So, I want to

encourage you with that. There's a bunch

of kids that are starring in that. It's

a great thing. Good Friday is right

around the corner. So, not this coming

Friday, but the following Friday is our

Holy Week representation. And we're

going to be uh observing the Lord's

Supper here in this place on that

evening, that sacred evening. And uh

it's a reminder that on April 1st, and

this is not an April Fool's Day, April

1st, there's no Wednesday activities.

So, if you come on that April 1st,

Wednesday, it's going to be the fool's

on you. So, don't come. Don't come.

nothing Wednesday night. Uh all of that

will resume on the 8th after Easter. So,

just want to remind you, um the Saturday

before Easter is the prayer and

preparation breakfast. We're getting

ready for this major event out on the

beach. And so, young people, come help

us with that. Um we're going to come get

together with our teams, make sure we're

ready for the next morning. Um, I don't

know, but it's still too early to tell,

but it's looking like the weather

patterns are really good. So, hopefully

we'll have nice calm weather and it'll

be a beautiful morning out on the beach.

April 4th is that uh that afternoon is

or late morning is a big evangelism

outreach at the beach going and talking

to people about the Lord on Holy Week um

there on the boardwalk. So, um Easter

Sunday will be a rich time. I want to

encourage you to come to both services

at the beach and here at 10:30. It's a

it's a great time to do that. We've been

talking to a lot of people about being

baptized. Um and uh that is uh still

open. If you would like to be baptized,

sign up for that. Always need more

volunteers. Anybody who can come and

volunteer with everything that we're

doing, that would be a big help. So, I'm

going to let all of our young people

take off. You guys can blast away.

Pastor Ruben, you doing all right? You

hanging in there? All good. Okay. He was

doing jiu-jitsu two nights ago and a guy

came in from vacation a little hot and

slammed him on the ground and um he said

they rung my bell really really hard. He

had a concussion he believes. And so he

had to go get an MRI done of his brain,

make sure he was didn't have a bl brain

bleed. They did verify he has a brain,

so that's good.

Um, and he's doing okay. So, we're we're

glad for that. Well, I'm interested to

know Sunday morning. Let's look and

let's remember the title. We're studying

First Peter. And Sunday morning, we

looked at sharing in Christ's

sufferings. And 1 Peter 4:es 12-1 17.

Don't look at your notes yet. That's not

going to help you yet. Um, let's go and

let's just read the passage, the first

part of the passage. I want us to remind

ourselves of what we studied Sunday

morning, the reality of Christ's

sufferings and the fact that we are

called to share in them. Uh, how many of

you remember the kind of the way I

started the sermon Sunday? Anybody

remember what I started talking about

kind of my opening thought, my opening

illustration?

Okay, stand up and say it real loud to

them. What was it? And your wife is

standing right behind you. There you go.

Let her in. There you go.

>> Apple candy

go, right?

>> Okay. So, candy coating God's word. What

did I mean by that? Anybody want to talk

about what what was I trying to

challenge us to do or not do?

>> Okay. Real loud, Danny. be surprised of

God's suffering.

>> I'm sorry. Say it one more time.

>> Do not be surprised.

>> Okay. Do not be surprised at God's

suffering. Is that a popular message in

a lot of churches?

>> No. What is part of the problem in

modern-day Christendom? How do a lot of

churches

um be, you know, what is their

relationship to the the idea of

suffering?

A lot of churches kind of what there's

some things they may do with that. What

what might they do? Fabio

>> suffering is like being in sin.

>> Okay, good point. So for some if you're

suffering, you're either in sin, which

may be true, right? But

>> not in this case.

>> But certainly not in this case, but it

may be in it may be in sin or it may be

a lack of

>> faith.

So if you're the idea is something's

wrong if you're in suffering. What any

other thoughts on that? Any other ideas

about that that that is common in modern

day? Do do a lot of churches have a

comfort in dealing with suffering?

No. There's a lot of Christians, you

guys, that are very confused by

suffering. There's a lot of Christians

that don't have a category for it. They

don't know how to look at it. They

think, uh, well, God must have been

asleep or God must be asleep. I mean,

how could God be God and how could he be

good

if we're going through this or if these

kinds of things happen? So, there's a

lot of churches that don't have what we

call a good theology of suffering. They

don't they've not studied it. The

theology is the study of God. Okay?

Biology is the study of what? Bio or

life. Um so whenever you have these

ologies that's talking about a study of

theo is god the idea of theophilos you

we have this lover of god that we have a

guy in our church theophilos he's the

lover of godo is god theology is the

study of god and if we're studying god

we need to understand how does deal with

suffering

and

a major mark um of immaturity

in the Christian life is when we have a

very weak theology of suffering.

We need to have a robust theology, a

deep theology of suffering. Because you

know what? Here's the deal. The Bible

deals with suffering all the way

through.

All the way through the Bible, there's

suffering. I mean, from the third

chapter of Genesis all the way to the

end, there is the reality of suffering.

And so, we would do well to know what it

says instead of ignoring what it says.

And a lot of churches will tend to

ignore it or they'll tend to whatever

because they they're just completely bib

biblically

illiterate or ignorant. And so as people

that believe in God's word, we're not

just here to sing nice songs and feel

good and have a social club. We're here

to know God.

And the way we come here to know God is

we read his word together. We study his

word and we go home and we study it and

um we go to home to apply it because it

is the the the words of life. So look

with me at 1 Peter 4 and verse 12-19.

Look what it says. Beloved, do not be

surprised at the fiery trial when it

comes upon you to test you as though

something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice in so far as you share

Christ's sufferings. That's amazing.

13 But rejoice in so far as you share

Christ's sufferings, that you may also

rejoice and be glad when what?

>> His glory is revealed. So you suffer now

with him, you're going to share with his

glory. Verse 14, if you are insulted for

the name of Christ, you are what?

blessed.

>> Blessed because the spirit of God,

excuse me, because the spirit of glory

and of God rest upon you. But let none

of you suffer as a murderer or a thief

or as an evildoer or as a medddler. Yet

if someone suffers as a Christian, let

him not be what?

>> Ashamed. Read it out loud. but let him

glorify God in that name. So in the name

of Jesus, we are called to enter in and

to suffer, not be ashamed, not run away,

not be afraid,

um but to run in that. So this this

evening, that was last Sunday. This

evening, I want us to look at Paul's and

you know, I I just How many of you got a

text from me this afternoon? Anybody get

a text? So some of you did. How many of

you did not get a text from me? lift

your hand if you didn't get a text. If

you would like to get a text somehow you

your text got turned off so you can go

back and uh maybe turn it back on where

you can get a text or you ought to go

and ask um Kim or ask Marcy or ask one

of the ladies. Why did I not get a text

from Pastor Andrew? What my text this

afternoon was just saying, don't miss

tonight

because when we look at last Sunday's

message, we look at tonight. Listen to

this. When we look at this coming

Sunday's message, all of this is teeing

up really nice. For those of you who are

golf, you know, you got the ball down

there on the tea. It's all teed up.

You're ready to you're ready to to um

drive it. All of this is teeing us up

for Good Friday and for Easter. I am

never

um more amazed at what God does. It it

it's just amazing how he does this. How

very often the sermons that we are

working our way through the Bible, he

blesses our church with current events

that we need to pay attention to. So

tonight, notice the title there. Tonight

we're looking at sharing in Christ's

suffering. And we're going to look at

three Ps. Tonight we're going to look at

the Apostle Paul. We're going to look at

the prophets. And we're going to look at

the patriarchs. So, um, sharing in

Christ's sufferings, the Apostle Paul,

prophets and the patriarchs. If you

don't have an outline, uh, there's some

guys here. Sorry that I didn't do that

earlier. Um, you can get one and we can

do it. So, part one is going to be

Paul's theology of suffering. Let's pray

before we dive into the word and let's

ask God to just bless our study this

tonight. Let's pray.

Lord, I do pray that as we turn to your

word right here in the middle of the

week that you would speak to us. Lord, I

pray that these passages would help us

to better understand

you, better understand what you have in

store, better understand,

Lord, the the beauty of your wisdom, the

beauty of your ways. And Lord, I pray

that we would not resist it. I pray that

we'd not just stand there and be

confused by it, but Lord, I pray that we

would allow these passages of scripture

to be applied to our minds and applied

to our lives, the experiences that we

live, so that we might be more like

Jesus and we might be more ready for the

day that we will see you face to face.

And so, Lord, I pray for that in the

name of Christ. I pray that you'd speak

to us tonight. Pray that you'd be with

the youth. Be with Pastor Ruben as he um

teaches tonight. I thank you, Lord, that

he's doing well. Pray that you'd be with

all those Aana workers that are teaching

our kids and going over Bible verses.

Lord, I pray that you would bless that

effort tonight. And um Lord, I pray that

you would bless us as we spend time

looking at the life of Paul, looking at

the life of the prophets, and looking at

the patriarchs. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen. So, sharing in Christ's

sufferings, Paul, the prophets, and the

patriarchs. Part number one, Paul's

theology. First of all, I want us to see

this. And there's no there's no

PowerPoint other than the that title.

So, don't wait on that. Just be ready to

write and you'll have to listen as we

go. Um, suffering

we see in Paul's life and we see in his

message, we see in what the Holy Spirit

led him to record through his

experiences and through his mind and his

heart. Suffering is a gift of grace, not

an interruption of grace. You see, small

god theology thinks, "Oh, grace must

have been interrupted if this happened.

Somehow God was not able. Somehow God

did not have a full heart toward us on

this." They would say, "Grace is

interrupted. Grace is limited."

And we would say that is absolutely not

true. Big God theology, the theology

that represents and recognizes God and

his greatness recognizes that even

suffering is a gift of grace. Look at

Philippians 1 and verse 29. For it has

been granted, circle that word, granted.

It has been granted to you not only to

believe in him but to also suffer for

his sake. Now, how many of you would say

that maybe you've ever read that before

and you've thought that's kind of weird?

I mean, that if I'm really honest, that

just seems weird that I mean, it's been

granted to you to not only believe in

him and, you know, and be saved, but to

also suffer for his sake. We don't think

of it that way. We think, oh, he's

saving us so and he's able and he's

good. And just like we often think about

the people around us, we want to save

them from suffering.

But here we see that God working in a

fallen world knows what is best. And

he's a big God with big intentions. And

he knows how to test our heart. He knows

how to grow our heart. He knows how to

grow our life. And so in his wisdom, the

scripture teaches us as we're learning

to trust him to trust him with even

this. So it's been granted to you. The

word granted kuritzi means it's a gra a

grace gift. It's a grace gift. That's

what that means. It's a gift of grace.

Faith and suffering come from the same

hand. So the gift of faith, the gift of

of faith in his work in our heart and

the issue of suffering come from the

same hand. How about this? We don't just

endure suffering. Look at this. fill it

in. We receive it

by faith from God's hand.

That's what we have to learn it. Now, I

want to say this. There's a lot of

Christians in America

who have never learned this lesson right

here. They've sat in churches all their

life. They're a little confused about

suffering. No one's ever challenged

them. and they think that I've just got

to make it through this. I've just got

to endure it.

But what we see in God's word is that we

receive it

by faith from his hand. And you know

what? Sometimes

that's really hard.

There's some things we go through and we

think, I don't know if I can do this.

This causes me to question the Lord.

This is causes me to question his

goodness toward me.

Where is he?

What has happened?

But the Lord is at work in our darkest

moments. The Lord is saying,

"Can you trust me?

Are you willing to walk with me through

this?

If you will, you'll see eventually

what I'm doing. And let me tell you,

there are sometimes when

we don't ever see

the good on this side.

We have to trust

the good on this side.

When I came home from overseas,

there was a beautiful

tapestry on this stage that was here

every Sunday. A big I think it was

purchased. Somebody help me and remember

it was purchased in Turkey. Is that

right? Big beautiful It was on a mission

trip. They went on a mission trip and

they had a big beautiful tapestry that

was there. Um, it eventually wore out

because we always have a lot of stuff

here. But the tapestry on the top side

was beautiful.

But the tapestry on the bottom side,

what did it look like? It wasn't so

beautiful. There's all this stuff

running everywhere and it and it's kind

of out of focus and it's it's kind of

messy looking. It's not very pretty.

Certainly not pretty. you you definitely

want the top side up. You you don't flip

it over just because you get tired of

looking at it. Everybody would go, "Oh,

that's ugly. Why would you do that?"

There's been many times, if you've never

heard this before, there's been many

times when Christians have and people of

God's word have said, "Well, the will of

God is like a tapestry."

And right now, we're underneath the

bottom of the tapestry. We can only see

the bottom of the tapestry. We only see

the messy side. But from God's

perspective, the tapestry is beautiful.

And one day when we get to the other

side, we will see, oh, [groaning]

that's what he was weaving.

That's what he was doing.

What looked out of focus to us, what

looked like a mess to us,

he

brings into focus for us. And this is

part of our issue of that that last

statement there. We don't just endure

suffering. We receive it and underline

this by faith

from the hand from the from God's hand.

This is this is where we will be tested.

Our faith will be tested. And as we come

to that, I I've said to you many, many

times,

Deuteronomy 32, the song of Moses, has

helped me with this. You just write down

there, Deuteronomy 32, Song of Moses.

It's there where it says, "Ascribe

greatness to our God, the rock, whose

work is perfect and all his ways are

just, a God of faithfulness and without

injustice.

Good and upright is he."

That has helped me many, many times

learn to trust him in the midst of

difficult things. Okay, we're going to

move a little faster. Number two,

suffering is participation in Christ,

not just limit or imitation of Christ.

So, it's not that we're that we're

trying to just imitate Christ and go

through his sufferings um in imitating

him, but it's participation with him.

And we use that word because that is the

words that we see not just in the

Apostle Paul but we see Jesus talking

about that not only being like him but

being with him.

And look at Philippians chapter 3 and

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

this is 8 through10. Look what it says.

Indeed, I count everything as lo of as

as loss because of the surpassing worth

of underline it knowing Christ Jesus my

Lord. That's what he wanted to do. He

wanted to know him for his sake. I have

suffered the loss of all things and

count them as rubbish. What had uh the

apostle Paul left behind? He would left

left behind a huge reputation in

Judaism. He was trained in the school of

Galio. He was brilliant. He had a

promising career as a Jewish priest, as

a Pharisee.

And then here we see him saying, "I've

lost all of those things." And I count

them as rubbish in order that I may

underline it, gain Christ. That's what

he wanted. He wanted to gain Christ.

Look what it says in verse 9. And be

found in him. When it's all said and

done, all I care about is just being in

Jesus.

Not having a righteousness of my own

that comes from the law, but that which

comes through faith in Christ. The

righteousness that depends upon what?

Faith.

You see, this is this is even right

here. This is just this is like a

machine gun C against

worksbased salvation that you're going

to be good enough for God. You're never

going to be good enough for God. You

have to trust that Jesus makes you good

enough for God. It's the only hope. And

so here he is. He's saying this that I I

want to know him because of this and

this this righteousness that that comes

to us that depends upon faith. Look at

verse 10. Let's read it out loud

together. Read verse 10. That I may know

him and the power of his resurrection

and may share his sufferings, becoming

like him in his death. That's so

beautiful. Look what it says in verse

11. That by any means possible I may

attain the resurrection from the dead.

And so the only way that we're going to

attain the resurrection then from the

dead is being identified with Christ and

sharing in his sufferings. So to share

the actual word is you know what it is

coinia. We use that word all the time in

our church. It's a fellowship. It's a

fellowship. It's a union. It's a

bonding. Fill that in. Fellowship. It's

not just copying Jesus but it's union

with Jesus.

It's living with Jesus.

You're not just suffering for Christ.

You are suffering fill it in with

Christ.

So that's the picture that it's a

participation in Christ, not just an

imitation of him. Look at number three.

Suffering produces

eternal weight of glory. And this is

this is an amazing statement that is

here. An eternal weight. This is so how

heavy is something that is eternal? It's

ultimately heavy because it never ends.

It never goes away. This is this is of

epic proportions.

So suffering produces an eternal weight

of glory. Look at 2 Corinthians 4 16-18.

So we do not lose heart. Though our

outer self is wasting away, our inner

self is being renewed day by day. Look

at this what it says in verse 17. for

this light momentary affliction is

preparing for us an eternal weight of

glory beyond all comparison.

Now verse 17, this light momentary

affliction, you know what that is? Your

whole life,

all the trouble in your whole life.

That's the light mo. You say, "Well,

wait a minute. You're talking about my

life. This is years. It's 70, 80, 90

years. Light momentary affliction. your

little 80 or 90 years compared to

>> eternity is nothing.

And compared to the glory that we're

going to have with with God being made

right with him and then living with him

in in glorious bliss of forgiveness and

grace and all that he's planned with no

sin. That glory makes our little

struggles

with our friends or struggles with our

family or struggles with our broken

heart or struggles with our cancer or

struggles with these things. Even if we

struggle with them unto death, these are

tiny little things.

>> Hallelujah.

>> Compared to that,

does that make sense?

>> This is amazing.

Look what it says there. Verse 17. For

this light momentary affliction is

preparing for us an eternal weight of

glory beyond all comparison. Jesus, you

can't even compare it. Verse 18, as we

look not at the things that are seen, so

that's the temporal things that are

temporary that are going to pass away,

but to the things that are unseen,

for the things that are seen are

transient. That means they come and go.

But the things that are unseen

are eternal. And that's why he's worth

it. And that's why he's worth it beyond

everything else.

You know, just so you know, this passage

right here would be really good for you

to memorize.

I mean, this would be worth your month

if you took a month and decided, I'm

going to get that thing down in my

brain. I if I'm I'm going to memorize

that and I'm going to read it so many

times in the course of a month that I

know every phrase of it and I can just

say it. This is this is a great way to

reprogram your heart toward joy right

here. This is a Listen to this. This is

a great deathbed passage.

[laughter]

When you're about to go, Jimmy,

if you have any presence of mind and you

got anything that you can pull together

and quote in your brain, this is a great

passage to settle your mind and your

heart on when it's time for you to go.

Laura, Laura Carrera, her grandmother

died three nights ago. She was they're

Laura and Victor are moving to Colombia

for one year. And part of the reason

they were going was to be with her

grandmother. Well, her grandmother died

three days ago. Um, but it was really

strange. I went over late the other

night and uh was with her after the day

that she died, Victor and Laura and she

was in Colombia and she they said she's

really not breathing well and her heart

she was 95 years old and she was super

clear, her mind was super clear. Um

somebody came in with espresso and she

goes, "I want some." And so she she had

her espresso, she had that. She enjoyed

that. I can't remember how she said it,

but it was kind of funny. And so she

enjoyed her espresso. And then they

said, "Well, I I think we need to go to

the hospital cuz your oxygen is going

down." She goes, "I'm not going to the

hospital."

She said, "I believe I'm going to die

today."

And everybody was kind of like, "Eh."

And so few hours go by and they say, "We

really need to go to the hospital." She

said, "I'm staying in this bed because

today I am going to die." She said, "I

am going to God."

And do you know that over the next

couple of hours

her her vital signs started dropping and

the whole family was together on signal

and in present and she in a course of 30

minutes she tapered off and her oxygen

went down and her heart rate went down

and she died.

Now, we don't always have the privilege

of saying, "I'm going to die today." And

um just kind of know that.

But this is the kind of passage that can

help you

at that time that when we think about

the promises of God and to be found in

him as the other passages talk about

being found in him and then this one

knowing that our body is wasting away.

Our inner self is being renewed ba day

by day through Christ. This light

momentary affliction is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory beyond all

comparison. What a glorious thing. So,

if we haven't filled it in already,

suffering is not meaningless. It is

producing something. Your suffering has

a purpose. It's producing something. And

the glory, fill it in, outweighs

suffering

infinitely.

The glory outweighs the suffering

infinitely.

Look at 1 Peter 4:13. This is what we

1 Peter 4:13

just studied Sunday. but rejoice in so

far as you share Christ's sufferings

that you may also rejoice and be glad

when his glory is revealed. And so that

we're talking about eternity in this.

This is why it's worth it. Flip the

page. Let's keep going. I keep saying

we're going to speed up. You guys are

listening too good. It makes me want to

preach more about these beautiful

things. So look at number four.

Suffering authenticates

true ministry.

Suffering authenticates true ministry to

2 Corinthians 11:23-28

2 Corinthians 11:23–28

say this. Are they servants of Christ?

I'm a better one. So the Apostle Paul is

defending his ministry against people

that were criticizing him. And listen to

this, false teachers that were attacking

him. And he's having to work with the

the Corinthian people. And he's having

to to say to them, "No, guys, listen.

You've been following and you've been

listening to some voices that are not

true." And he's saying, "Look at my

life." And he's saying, [laughter]

look what he says. Are they servants of

Christ? I'm a better one. And then he

says, I'm talking like a madman. Like, I

can't believe I just said that. with far

greater laborers, far more

imprisonments, with countless beatings,

and often near death. Sounds like a real

successful guy, right?

Verse 24. Five times I received at the

hands of the Jews 40 lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once

I was stoned. Three times I was

shipwrecked. A night and a day I was a

drift in the sea. Verse 26. on frequent

journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers

from robbers, dangers from my own

people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers

in the cities, danger in the wilderness,

danger at sea, danger from false

brothers, in toil and hardship, through

many a sleepless night, in hunger and

thirst, often without food, in cold and

exposure. And apart from other things,

there is the daily pressure on me of my

anxiety for all the churches.

Look at this. Beatings, imprisonments,

shipwrecks, danger

everywhere.

Paul's resume highlighted suffering more

than it highlighted success.

Paul's resume highlighted suffering more

than it highlighted success. In the New

Testament, suffering is not a sign of

failure, but it is often the mark of

true faithfulness.

Now,

I'm just going to tell you that in this

present day and time, there's a lot of

people that they'll look at a church and

they'll see all these huge numbers and

they'll see huge buildings and they'll

immediately say, "Well, they must be

doing something right."

Actually, in this day and time,

sometimes it may mean that they're doing

something wrong.

I there's a lot of smaller churches that

could look at Sheridan Hills and go,

"Yeah, you guys are right with them."

I don't know. You can be a large church

and be faithful. You can be a small

church and be faithful. Or you can be a

large church and be unfaithful. And you

can be a small church and be unfaithful.

It all depends on what you're what

you're doing with the gospel.

And so

here we see that sometimes failure is an

indicator of true faithfulness

or suffering is an indicator of true

faithfulness. So number five, suffering

displays the life of Jesus through us.

So it puts on display the life of Jesus

through us. Look at 2 Corinthians 4. I

told you we're going to look at the

Apostle Paul. He these are all these are

from him. Look at verse 8. Paul writes

and he says, "We are afflicted in every

way but not crushed. Perplexed but not

in despair." Do you ever feel perplexed?

You ever kind of wonder what is this?

What's going on? Why is this like this?

I mean, there's sometimes us as pastors,

we'll look at people's lives. We'll look

at things that are going on. We'll we'll

see certain things in church life and

we'll go ah why is that way? We don't

know but that doesn't mean that we have

to be in despair.

So um perplexed but not driven despair.

Nine persecuted but not forsaken struck

down but not destroyed. Always look at

this underline this always carrying in

the body the death of Jesus. This is

just like Jesus said, "You must, if

you're gonna, if anybody's going to

follow me, you must die daily.

You die to yourself and you live for me.

You die to your desires and you live for

my desires." So always carrying in the

body the death of Jesus so that the life

of Jesus may also may be underline that

word manifested in our bodies. This

means that that God is going to show his

glory off through us. Verse 11, for we

who live are always being given over to

death for Jesus's sake, so that the life

of Jesus also may be manifested or put

on display in our mortal flesh, our

flesh that's going to die, our mortal

flesh, this this body is going to die.

And the point is is that even though I'm

in a body that's going to die, it can

show off Christ. Look at verse 12. So

death is at work in us, but life in you.

So he is serving them. He is seeking to

pro produce the gospel for them. And

this is part of what he's saying is he

said we are giving our life so that you

can have the gospel.

This is a beautiful thing. See, fill it

in. Your suffering becomes a stage

for Christ's own life to be played out.

So sometimes when you're suffering, God

is putting you on a stage stage like

this or a drama stage so that the story

can be told.

Weakness

is a platform for divine power to be

displayed.

Weakness is a platform for divine power

to be displayed. That's why the Apostle

Paul would say, "I would rather boast

about my weaknesses. For when I am weak,

depending on Jesus, then I am strong."

It's really cool. Look at verse six or

number six. [snorts]

Suffering is the normal path to the

kingdom of God.

Suffering is the normal path to the

kingdom of God. Acts 14:22. Again, the

Acts 14:22

Apostle Paul is here in this section of

Acts. And look what it says. When they

had preached the gospel to that city

[snorts] and had made many disciples,

they returned to Lystra and to Iconium

and to Antioch. Verse 22, strengthening

the souls of the disciples, encouraging

them to continue in the faith and saying

that through many tribulations,

underline it, we must enter the kingdom

of God.

This is very interesting. Through many

tribulations,

this is like our lives are on a path of

tribulations. And it's it's through that

life that we eventually make it to

heaven.

Now, not because of those tribulations

do we make it to heaven, but we do go

through them. This is the normal path on

the journey to the kingdom of God. Have

you read Pilgrim's Progress lately? I

want to encourage you. You ought to read

Pilgrim's Progress.

Um, Pilgrim

is this is one of the most important

works of literature written other than

the Bible. We have it in our bookstore.

um modern copies of it. It was written

in the 1600s

by a man who was in prison in England

um

John Bunan.

And John Bunan wrote this allegory of

the Christian life. It's fascinating.

It's wonderful.

And the guy's name is Pilgrim. He's he's

he's the one that's on the journey.

And it follows him through all of his

ups and his downs. It follows him

through the beauty of the beautiful hill

hill and veil and glade. And it follows

him as he goes down into the swamp.

And it follows him in all of the deep

struggles, the crossing of the rivers,

the the treacherous times. It follows

him as he goes and the things that God

does to encourage him and bring him and

guide him along the way.

We need to we need to recognize that

this suffering is the normal path of

life. And part of the reason Pilgrim's

Progress is such an important work is

because it can help us

see what is normative

for God's plan in our lives.

Suffering, fill it in, is not optional.

It's not optional.

Suffering is not rare. It's not rare.

It's actually quite common. And let me

tell you that in America, we kind of

live in this little bit of a dream

to be honest with you. I mean, Marcy and

I have lived on four continents.

We've lived and worked among very, very

different people. And from Asia

to North Africa to Europe. Um I can just

tell you that um most Christians in the

world really suffer a lot more than we

do.

I mean we have a lot of friends in India

and there are certain areas of India

where there's more Baptist concentration

than there are in Georgia. Um there's

there's some sections of India that are

very Christian but the vast majority of

India is not Christian and Christians

there really do suffer.

Um do we even need to talk about the

million Christians that are in Iran

and especially even right now? I mean

they suffer. They they go through great

hardship. My my friends in Egypt

go through great difficulty.

um our experience is rather abnormal.

But this is part of the reason that we

have to put this on here in America and

help us to see this that um we kind of

think that we can we live in such

freedom and protection that we can think

that suffering is optional.

But the third one there, suffering

in the true Christian life, suffering is

not abnormal.

It's not abnormal.

Um what is abnormal is not suffering.

That that's that's very abnormal.

Look at the next page there. As we come

to our last page, I want you to see this

number seven.

Suffering sometimes proves that we

belong to Christ.

Um Romans 8 16 and 17 say this. The

spirit himself bears witness with our

spirit that we are children of God.

Verse 17. And if children, then heirs.

Heirs of God and fellowairs with Christ.

Huh? Circle the word provided.

Operative word here. Provided we suffer

with him in order that we may also be

glorified with him.

So if you're a true Christian, you are

going to suffer

death in this life. And part of that is

some of that may be as simple as this. I

am suffering with denying self saying

I'm not going to live like that. I'm not

going to go that way. I'm not going to

do that. And it's going to be a struggle

for me. And I'm going to fight it out

until with God's help there's victory

here because I am not just going to live

the flesh the fleshly life. I'm going to

live a life that's honoring to Christ.

That is a struggle. That is a suffering.

Um, true Christians

suffer through that in their submission

to Christ.

And it's through that that it proves

that we belong to Christ. If there is no

struggle in your life, if you don't war

with flesh, if you don't if you don't

seek to eradicate and bring to death

your sin cycles, it would indicate that

you're not a Christian.

But if you struggle with sin and you are

you are seeking to honor Christ by dying

to self and dying to the world and

seeking to take new ground on the what

Uncle Tom Ellif calls it the upward path

of sanctification,

becoming more like Christ as the days go

by, as the weeks, the months, the years

go by. If you are on that path, well

then you're probably a Christian.

But if you're content to just kind of

meander along and nothing changes, you

may just kind of look and smell like a

Christian, but you may not be a

Christian

because Jesus has called us to keep

going with him, get closer to him,

become more like him.

So this can be quite convicting in this.

You see, suffering is never evidence

against salvation. It's never evidence

against salvation. It it doesn't mean

because you suffer, oh, you must not be

saved. No, just the opposite of that,

suffering is often evidence of

salvation.

That when you either suffer on the

inside or you suffer from the outside,

you are often displaying evidence of

knowing Jesus.

So that's just a a little piece

of the theology of suffering from the

Apostle Paul. All of those passages come

from Paul.

What about the prophets? And I'm just

going to end with this very quickly. Um

the prophets suffered with Christ, too.

So there's nothing new. By the time we

get to the New Testament, it's really

nothing new when it comes to the issue

of suffering.

What do we mean by that? And we're kind

of going in reverse order. I mean, I I

could have started off with the

patriarchs because they're first and

then moved to the prophets and then

moved to Paul. But tonight, we're doing

it backwards. So, we started with Paul.

Now, we're going to back up to the Old

Testament prophets. And then we'll back

up even earlier than that. But look at

this. The major prophets. Isaiah was

likely martyed. How do we see that? The

Hall of Faith. Hebrews 11:37.

Hebrews 11:37

Jeremiah was beaten.

He was imprisoned and he was thrown in a

sistern. Do you know what a sistern is?

Anybody know what a sistern is? What's a

sistern?

>> It's a hole in the ground. It's a tank.

It's an underwater tank. And in the

Middle East, they have big tanks. So

what they do is in order to save the

water from one time of the year um you

because you it only rains one time

during the not one time but one period

of the year has rain. The rest of the

year there's no rain like

[clears throat] none. And so they would

capture the rain in the wintertime and

then after that they have they have

water

um for the rest of the year in certain

areas of the wilderness. So the sistern

would be this big hole in the ground um

that is a tank and Jeremiah was thrown

in a sistern. Ezekiel, another faithful

prophet

had severe prophetic burdens. I mean

prophetic burdens that were that were

wiping out his energy and his life,

overwhelming him in so many ways. and he

experienced great personal loss.

Daniel, think about his life. He was

falsely accused and he was framed by his

enemies and thrown in the lion's den.

Daniel suffered as a faithful prophet of

God.

Elijah was hunted down.

Elisha was threatened and rejected.

Micaia Micaiah was struck and

imprisoned,

beaten and imprisoned.

The later minor prophets Amos was

expelled and opposed

and Zachchariah

was stoned to death in the temple.

Not because he was unfaithful, but

because he was faithful.

And that means he was stoned by God's

supposedly God's own people.

And so the prophets experienced

a great deal of suffering in standing

with God.

How about the patriarchs? So the

patriarchs are those who go before us as

fathers early on. And this this is

widely using that term here with some of

these. But um notice [clears throat]

suffering is consistent is a consistent

pattern across all of redemptive

history, all of God's work in redeeming

the world.

The very first person born on the planet

of the two that were born,

Abel was killed by his brother Cain.

And why was he killed by his brother

Cain? Do you know why?

He offered a righteous sacrifice.

So it was because of righteousness

that Abel was killed by Cain.

You guys, we live in a twisted world and

it's been twisted since the beginning.

Noah, think about it. Noah started

building a an ark and it had never

rained yet on the earth

that there was a misting process that

the scripture says that that there was a

heavy mist that would come and water

everything, but it had never rained.

There was no rain. We could talk about

why that was at one point. If you're

really wondering about that, go up to um

where's that the ark the ark encounter

in the creation museum. go up there and

see the big ark and talk to they're not

crazy people. They're they're very the

media would make you think they're

crazy. It's totally legit. It's really

good. You'll learn a lot. Go up there

and you they'll you'll understand that a

little bit more. But prior to the prior

to the flood, it had never it had never

rained and the people saw no need for a

boat out there in the middle of the

land.

And when Noah started doing that because

Noah was a righteous man, he was mocked.

And he wasn't only mocked because he was

building a boat. He was mocked because

he represented God.

He was mocked in righteousness

before God.

Abraham was displaced from his homeland.

Think about how important homeland is,

your home.

And Abraham went out and he didn't know

where God was going to lead him. And he

did it. And he did it for decades. And

he did it living his life following the

Lord in suffering.

In many ways,

Joseph bet was betrayed by his brothers.

He was falsely accused and he was

imprisoned.

H how about good old Job?

Job was afflicted under the very eye of

God.

Satan was out roaming around

and the Lord asked Satan, "Have you

considered my servant Job?"

You say, "Lord, why would you do that to

poor Job?" And you just when you start

to read the whole story, you start to

see the whole thing, you can see that

God is at work.

He is at work proving himself, proving

his faith, proving Job's faith.

And so that we can benefit from it too.

Job is afflicted under the eye of God.

Moses was opposed from his birth to his

death.

Even in his birth,

he was under threat. And time and time

again, Moses had trouble after trouble

after trouble

and suffered because of that. And even

to his death,

in part because of his own sin and the

judgment of God upon his sin, he died

not in the promised land, but he died

looking over to the promised land.

Um, Moses suffered.

David was hunted by enemies, the

Philistines. He was hunted by his

friends. He was hunted by Saul.

And he was hunted by his own family.

He had a son, Abselum, hunt him down.

And David,

a man after God's own heart, king of

God's nation.

And David suffered.

You see, righteousness before God has

always produced suffering. And then here

we are in a fallen or you can put below

that sinful world.

righteousness before God has always

produced suffering in a fallen world.

And this is where if someone is new here

tonight, I can understand you saying,

"Okay, after Sunday morning, I thought

y'all were crazy. Now I know y'all are

crazy. Why am I going to hang around

this place if you guys just talk about

suffering?" It's like, "It's okay." Or

it's like like even comes from God and

you're going to sit here and accept

that.

I mean, if I go live down on Bickl

Avenue and live my life and do the best

I can and everything, at least I can

enjoy it for a little bit.

I mean, that's the way the world thinks.

>> But when we we look at the eternal words

of God, we see that God has a grand plan

here that's worth our time.

Listen, it's worth our faith because the

rewards are out of this world.

Truly out of this world.

Notice the last statement that is here.

And this is what really helps us get

ready for Easter.

There was a perfect one who would come

and be called

the suffering servant.

There was one who would come, the

perfect one would come and be called the

suffering servant. And the perfect one,

that's a big deal because

if there was anybody who didn't deserve

to suffer, it was him.

He'd never sinned.

Any suffering that we endure,

that's a bit of a just cause.

But brothers and sisters,

God has not called us to live in any way

um that he [snorts] himself does not

know and has not sanctioned and is not

going to be with us. We are called to

learn to trust him and to embrace him

and to embrace his work in our lives.

I want to pray for us tonight that we

would that we would come to terms with

this deeper theology.

Um because it's truly to me when I

finally started to see that God is at

work even in the process of sin and

judgment. God is at work in this. He's

not caught by surprise with it.

It it just caused me to grow in

confidence in him

that he's in charge. He knows what he's

doing and it's bigger than what I see

and what I understand. His ways are much

higher than my ways. His thoughts are

much higher than my thoughts. And

listen, his reward is far beyond

the things that anything can reward you

in this life. And folks, I'm I want to

live for that.

And so tonight, I'm just going to pray

that we would that we would grow in

that, that you would grow in that, that

I would grow in that. We all have

burdens. And you know, the older we get,

sometimes those burdens become greater.

Some of y'all think it just gets easier

as you go.

Any of you older folks want to go, uh,

that's not necessarily true.

One French philosopher said, "The

greatest thing you can do is to commit

suicide right now because it's just

going to get worse." That was his

mentality.

It's terrible.

But if you're if you only think the way

the world thinks, okay, I I understand

why they might say that.

Listen friends,

what eye has not seen, what ear has not

heard, nor has what has entered into the

heart of man, does God have

in store? He has something so far beyond

that's going to make every bit of this

worth it. Our greatest hurts, I have

them and you have them. We trust him

with them. Amen. Let's stand together

and let's pray. I want to pray for us.

Lord, I I just pray tonight

that we would see, Lord, your suffering

for us.

Lord, you came and you suffered that we

might come to faith, that we might grow

in faith. Even when our hearts are

breaking,

even when we feel the opposition

of the world, we feel the opposition of

our own flesh.

We feel it all. But Lord, you came that

we might go through all of that and not

just survive,

but by your grace, you came so that we

might thrive.

And only a righteous and good God can do

that.

Lord, I thank you that tonight that you

have a purpose in everything we

experience.

And even though sometimes we can't see

it, and there's even things that are

going to happen in our lives that we're

not going to see until we get to the

other side, just what all you had

there, I pray that we would trust you

with it. I pray that for myself and

Marcy.

And Lord, I pray that for the precious

people in this room,

the young ones in this room that haven't

yet experienced a lot of those hard

things yet.

Some have, but many haven't. I pray that

you would prepare them to trust you,

Lord, when the going gets tough.

And Lord, for those who are experiencing

it now

or have made their way through many of

those things, Lord, I I pray that we

would

grow in our trust in you. That we would

be like Moses that can say, "Ascribe

greatness to our God, the rock." With

everything Moses went through, all the

tribulation that he went through, he

could say, "Ascribe greatness to our

God, the rock, whose work is perfect and

all his ways are just, a God of

faithfulness and without injustice,

good and upright. See, Lord, you are

never the problem.

Our sinful, broken world is the problem.

Thank you that you're saving us out of

it.

Thank you that you're promising us

something far greater. I pray that you

would empower our faith, give us

courage, give us strength, grow us,

Lord, that we would trust you in all of

these things that we would suffer all

things with Christ willingly,

joyfully, and Lord, that we would be so

faithfully. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Well, Sunday morning, we're going to see

this again, but in a different way, a

beautiful way, and it's going to really

help us get ready for Good Friday. And I

want to encourage you with that. Um, so

invite people to come and be with us.

Again, tomorrow night is Annie tomorrow

night and Friday night. You can come to

either one of those. And then all the

events of um of Passion Week, I want to

encourage you for Good Friday and all of

those things. Okay, there are a few new

folks here tonight. I want you to go

meet somebody new right now. Turn around

and say hello. What's your name? Where

are you from? Greet one another right

now if you would. [snorts]