we read from the book of 1st Peter. 1st Peter chapter 2, we're going to read the end of the chapter 20 through 25. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer Suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps. who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed, or we were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father, even as we continue on looking at this book, we ask, Lord, that you would enlighten us. Father, as we look at another subject that's difficult, one of suffering, And yet it is one that each one of us is familiar with in some way, shape, or form. And many of us are familiar with it in too much, we would say. We have experienced things that hurt. And Father, we just ask, even as we look at this tonight, Lord, that you would give us wisdom. And Father, that this wisdom would be an encouragement to us. Father, that you would help us when we do go through suffering. We ask this in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. As you remember, persecution is starting. Peter talks about how great of salvation we have, incredible in all of its aspects. Even the prophets and the angels wanted to look into it, it was so incredible. And because of this incredible salvation that God is doing on our behalf, we are to gird up the loins of our minds and be ready to work. And we are to live separated to God, wholly. And how does that look? Well, chapter 2 told us that we were to desire the pure milk of the Word, and we were to follow after Christ, following after Christ, or coming to Him as to a living stone. He becomes the ruler and the measure of everything that is done. And we are to fight with our fleshly lusts. He begs us to abstain from them. And then we are lived to an obedience to those that are in authority over us. And he gives two examples, and we're gonna have a third one coming up next week. But he gives two examples. We looked at government, that we're to live in submission and obedience to the government when it's at all possible. And then we're to live in obedience to those that are authority over us, masters and servants. And then he takes a, a side segue, just a, you know, kind of dropping over to the side. And the reason I think he does this is because if there is anything that we are tempted to do, it's this. We look at the clear command that we are to obey and we say, oh, but God didn't mean in this situation. I mean, do you know how evil this man is, or this person is, or what he's done to me? Do you know what he's caused me to go through? And that is our natural tendency in our own hearts, isn't it? We try to excuse ourselves. C.S. Lewis made a statement on pacifism. And it was at the beginning of World War II, and he said, you know, and I can't remember the statement, but it was something along the lines of, you know, when the beginning of a war comes and you all of a sudden discover you're a pacifist, you should examine yourself most strictly and most carefully to see if this is truly true. Because every temper of your heart you know, says, escape, run, flee from the conflict. Now, we can take that and we can look at it in the same light when we look at obeying the government and obeying masters. Whenever we have the tendency to say, I don't want to obey, we must examine it in the most strict and harsh lights, because we don't like to obey. I have yet to find a person who goes, oh, good. It's the first of the year. I can't wait to pay my taxes. Just doesn't happen. In fact, every year I do it, I gripe a little more, and I have to watch myself, right? Because you go, wow, what are they doing with all that money? And I don't like what they're doing with it. And I'd like to make a complaint. How can I file a complaint? You know, and we have this tendency to try to justify our sinful desires. I've given the example before of how in Kenya people would say, well, I'm not going to pay sales tax because I will not support this unjust tax of this unjust government and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And really, they got to save 10% of their money, and that was what was motivating them. And so we must be very careful to examine it. And so this, I think, is the reason Peter takes this segue out, and he says, all right, let's talk about this. Because he's talked about suffering unjustly, you know, particularly with the masters, and even with the government. And remember where they were going. This is written in the early 60s, and in 65, I believe it's Paul is going to die, and in 68, Peter is going to die. So, and they're both going to be executed by a government under a lawful order, at least it passed legality, Caesar had decreed it, because they would not worship Caesar as Lord. And so for this, they would suffer persecution to death. And yet we don't find them saying, we need to organize, we need to rebel, we need to do all these things. Instead they said what? Submit, as much as is possible within you, submit. I think of Paul's words in, I think it was Romans 12, as much as within you live peaceably with all men. You know, we're not here to stir up strife and to try to win by some feat of man's wisdom. We're here to conquer through love. We're here to conquer through love. I was reading, It was a chapter in a book, and it was on how do we know if a doctrine is of God? And the author said, basically, it came down to this, does it increase love for God or love for our neighbor, or does it increase love for self? And he held those two against each other. So any doctrine that is going to hold up self, exalt self, is not of God. You know, God's gonna make you healthy, wealthy, and wise. Does that sound like a doctrine that's true or false just based on that test? Be false. but it might appeal to the natural man, but this is just based on God, that we are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. Just taking that commandment, we can make a test for every doctrine. Does it exalt God and love of God and love of our neighbor, or does it exalt love of self? Now, This whole idea of suffering is about how we are to win by loving, win by loving, by being willing to submit, by taking the position that nobody wants to take. So it's not an easy subject. And yet this is probably one of the longest passages on that subject as it refers us back to the example of Christ and how Christ was willing to suffer. And, you know, look at this. For all time in eternity, there's only been one king who's ever conquered with love. Jesus Christ. And he rules to today in the hearts of men. Every other kingdom has conquered through the force of arms and has also, you know, maintained its kingdom through fear of the government and through fear of arms. Only Christ has conquered through love. And with that came a willingness from others to lay down their life for him. So let's start. I started with verse 20. I don't know if your Bible has paragraphs marked out. Mine does not in this area, but it gives us, it brings us why he goes there. He's talking about servants obeying masters, and he says, what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable to God. Now we looked at this last week. We talked about how we overcome evil with good, and that the only way we can truly overcome evil is with good. We can conquer hatred with love if we are willing to suffer, if we're willing to step out. Doesn't mean it will always happen, but that is the weapon that we use to fight against it. How many of you tried, let me give you an example. How many of you have tried to talk politics with someone? How has your logic worked with them? Anyone find themselves talking to a neighbor and goes, wow, I didn't know that. I guess I'll have to change how I voted. Doesn't happen, does it? And the more anger and the more frustration you have building up, the harder it is to win. And even in our letters and our mailings and stuff that you see going out, it's all emotion and fear. This will not change people. It will harden you into the position you are, but you can't fight with it. You need love. So in this section, he says, you know, if you suffer, if you do good and suffer and you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. Now you're acting like a child of God. Easy? No. Nobody ever said this was easy. Easy to understand, hard to do. Then he continues on with our lesson for today. He says, for in this you were called. In this you were called. And I just want to stop there. I want you to think of that little phrase. For to this you were called. Now what does called mean? Well, this is usually talking about our salvation, isn't it? To those who are the called. Those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. You know, this is the ones God works all things out for our good. Romans 8, 28, to those who are the called according to his purpose. This is a term for salvation, but it's also a term that is very descriptive. God, we don't come to God on our own, we are called and drawn to God as he illuminates us through the word. He commands his light to shine out of darkness, and it shines into our heart the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a miracle of creation. In Ephesians 1.10, I think I had this one this morning, but it talks about our, created onto good works. And the interesting phrase there that I had not noticed is the word created. To this intent, let me, wrong chapter, here it is. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Now that's not a natural birth, that's our spiritual birth. It's an act of divine creation as we are given new life and we experience being born again. created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are his workmanship as a saved individual created in Christ Jesus for good works. We can't do good works on our own. God has to create a new heart and a new desire and fill us with a love for God so that we become a new creation. Now, This is all about what it means to be called. That's when you're saved. And when this verse says, for to this you were called, what is it saying? You were called to suffer unjustly. You were called to suffer unjustly. You think I'm wrong. Let's, I know I'm not, but I'm just checking here. Let's read some verses. Let me just read you a couple of verses. First of all, five different times in the Gospels, we have verses, and that's not including the ones in the same passage where it's said two or three times. Five separate passages give us this. He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. What does it mean to take up your cross? means to be crucified, right? Take on the death sentence, be beaten, take that cross, a sentence of death, carry it to the hill and die. And this is God's portrayal of our salvation is he says, if anyone wants to come after me, let him do what? Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. There's going to be an element of suffering and sacrifice in following God. We cannot continue on to live in our own way. Five times he says that. John 16.33, we have this one. These things I have spoken unto you that in me you may have peace. Sounds good so far, right? In the world you will have tribulation. Ooh, that changed in a hurry. We have peace with God, but in the world, we'll have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. You know, we are victors in Christ. We no longer have to worry about the outcome. It's assured. We do have to worry about how we respond to it. We fight against our own flesh. The flesh is weak. Paul would say that, in my flesh dwells no good thing. And so, this is what we see. Men want to escape from suffering. In Acts 9, 16, with Ananias coming to talk to Saul after he's been struck blind, God tells Ananias, I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. You know, there is a man who suffered for the Lord. And right from the beginning, God planned it out. It wasn't something that came accidentally. It was something that was within the plan of God. Paul and Barnabas, on their first missionary journey, at the conclusion, as they're returning, Acts 14, 21 through 22, when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystria. Iconia and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying that we're gonna have a good life and be very wealthy. Doesn't sound right, right? We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. We must, through many tribulations. It's not gonna be easy. Isn't this amazing? This is a new church. And as Paul and Barnabas go by, what do they tell him? Get ready to stand. This is gonna be hard. There's gonna be many tribulations. 1 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to them, chapter three, verses one through five. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, We thought it good to be left in Athens alone and sent Timothy our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to encourage you in the faith that no one should be shaken by these afflictions. Why were they having trouble enduring it? They were worried about the brethren that were going through afflictions in Thessalonica. He continues on, let me read that again, starting in verse three of chapter three. Then no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. Again, new church, and here's Paul doing his best to encourage them. Truly, the truth helps. And he tells them, we are appointed to go through tribulations. This is not a mark that God is against us. It's not. It's part of us living, part of us being from the kingdom of light, living as children of the light in a land that is dark. And in a land that hates the light. we will have tribulation. And I love the metaphors here. Don't let them escape you. What happens when you bring a light into the dark? Does the darkness overcome it or does the light overcome the darkness? The light overcomes the darkness. When we live according to God's way and in God's pattern, we are a light that overcomes the darkness. This is why they hate us. because the truth rings in their heart when they hear it. You talk about abortion and you call it the murder of an innocent human baby and people are upset because they know it is true. They have lied about it and tried to say it's just a clump of cells, doesn't look, I don't know if any of you looked at one of the latest Creation Answers in Genesis articles. But it was really awesome. I say that often about the creation articles, but it was just awesome. It was on their website, so I don't know if it was in the magazine or not, but they had a whole series of posts and pictures. And most of you have seen the series of pictures of a human baby from eight weeks, and you can see the fingers are there, and actually I think even the, what do you call it, fingerprint is there, something like that. 18 days, the heart is beating, walking you through all this. But this time they didn't do the human baby. They did dozens of different babies, an elephant, a shark, a giraffe, a cow. And you know, at the end of it, you're looking at an elephant at about one year, you have this perfect miniature little elephant about this big with the trunk fully developed. And I mean, it's just got to get size. It is right all the way there. And you're looking at this and you're going, how? This is incredible. And he points out that for each creation, we have that life being produced within the womb of the mother, and it's not an ambiguous clump of cells. It is the image of the kind that is being reproduced. And the world hates truth. It brings pain, it brings conviction. And so as we stand for truth and we stand for light, you know, it's not that we have to have all the answers. We have to just say, this is murder. Oh, it helps to have studied a little bit, but we have to say, this is murder. This is the taking of an innocent life. And that's just one example of it. In the world, No one should be shaken by these afflictions. Going back to 1 Thessalonians, you yourselves know we were appointed for this. For in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation. Part of the message of the gospel. Again, there are times that I look at our presentation of the gospel, and I think we are shallow in what we say so often. And part of what we don't tell them is that the battle, there's going to be a battle, and it will start after you've accepted God as your Savior. After you've come to Him, after He's given you this new heart, as you try to leave the world, your family and friends will not understand. Your coworkers will still expect the old you. You know, have you noticed that people are not happy that somebody lives a clean life and has clean language? It's amazing to me. And then he adds, he concludes with, just as it has happened, and you know, affliction will come, tribulation will come, tells the Thessalonians, just as it has happened. In Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, he tells his son in the faith, Timothy, in verse 10, you have carefully followed my doctrine, my manner of life, how I lived, my purpose, my faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, which persecutions I endured. and out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Now we've been blessed in America for 200 years. 250 maybe at this point, I don't remember exactly, but not quite, close. But it is, we've been blessed. that there has been a time of peace and a time when righteousness has been able to be exalted and rejoiced to some degree, not always. But this is not the norm for the world. The norm for the world is what the first century church went through. burnings, and persecutions, and beatings, and stonings, and the economic disadvantage because you claim to be a Christian. Last one, I'd be wrong if I skipped this one, Revelation 12, 11, they overcame him how? The lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. They love not their lives unto death. This is part of the Christian life, to take up our cross. That's the call of the gospel, and to follow. So, yes, why might we suffer? You say, well, if this is a good God, why does he allow this? I don't know that I have an exhaustive list, but I thought about this and I made a list. First of all, it's for God's glory. It's for God's glory. When we suffer righteously, having done well, and the world persecutes us, and we suffer, we show the world how much we love Christ. It's visible. We talk about the love of God all the time. I love God with all my heart. But until suffering comes, they can't see it. where they see a very small representation of it. It's only when we go through the difficulties and we say, oh, but our God is still a good God. You know, you go through cancer. Almi was mentioning about someone she knows, and she said, you know, through everything they've gone through, they've never asked why. I've never heard them asking why. What a testimony, isn't it? Loss of people they loved in their family, and then sickness, and they've not asked why. And that's a mark of a real Christian. You can ask why. I'm not saying that you're wrong in that. We don't want to be like Job, though, where we bring accusations against God of being unjust. It's not necessarily wrong to search and to try to understand a little bit. But understand this, that at the end of the day, he is God. And we are called to follow, and we know from the beginning that it's not gonna be easy. This is not, this world is not our home. I'm just passing through. So first of all, it's for God's glory. Secondly, it's a witness to the world and the enemies of Christ. Listen to Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, 16 through 18. Up until this point, we have heard nothing, I don't think, about these three men. Daniel 3, 16 through 18. We've heard nothing about these three men. We don't know them. And all of a sudden the report comes that when the king commanded everyone to bow down in front of this gold statue that he had made of himself, three Hebrews refused to bow. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter, for if that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from this burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known unto you, O king, we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up. Up until that point, they'd had no chance to talk about their God. Now, they're in the highest court of the land, standing before a wicked tyrant of a king who has just set up an idol to glorify himself, and instead, they remind him of the living Lord. There is a God who can deliver out of your hand. We are not careful in how we answer you. Let it be known we serve the living God, and we're willing to lay down our lives for his sake. End of story. So suffering, sometimes, is so that we can be a witness to the world and to the enemies of God. And those, that witness, those words, they ring on into eternity, do they not? I mean, think of just, not something in the Bible, but I can give you a quote. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Who said that? Jim Elliot. How did he die? Spirit to death, right? Spirit to death. Was he an old man? No, young man. So again, we have testimony from people because of what they were willing to suffer. Thirdly, it's for our own benefit. How many of you notice that when you suffer, you go to the Lord more? Amen, we grow. Also, how many of you notice that sometimes in the midst of suffering, you get rid of things in your life? They no longer become as important as they were. Sometimes you recognize them as stumbling blocks, weights that have held you back, and you just say, I'm done with it. I don't want it anymore. I want the Lord. Lastly, when we suffer, it helps us to see the evil of the world. Hopefully not the evil of people, but the evil of the world. It comes through people, that's the hard part. but we see the sinfulness of sin in them. You know, we see how it controls people and it enslaves them and they're filled with hate. I mean, doesn't that just, excuse me, doesn't that just hurt to watch people burning with hate? I mean, I can't watch a lot of the liberal politics with the hate. and the venom. I can't watch a lot of the conservative politics either. I find it's not helpful to me. So when we suffer, we see the evil of the world. It weans us from loving this world and for our own growth. Other, it's for the benefit of other believers. Others are encouraged to stand when they see us standing without compromise. Wow. You know, so-and-so finished well. So and so, look what he did with his life. I don't know if you've looked, but you look around and you see somebody and you go, I wanna model my life after that person. Look at how he handled that. And you start looking at that life and you go, you know, he does this and he does that and he does this and those things are great. And I might not be able to do this and that, but I can do the third one. Or I can do this. And we start to notice who's standing and how they're standing. And we're encouraged to take a stand on our own. We see this in Philippians, as Paul said, because of my imprisonment, some have become bold. Some badly, trying to add to my shame, and others are bold to preach the word of God. And he says, whatever way God's word is preached, I rejoice. So benefit of others, also for correction. Sometimes we can suffer for correction. God will allow us to, you think of David, who commanded the census of Israel. And God said, I'll give you three choices. You know, either flee in front of your enemies or have a plague or fall into the hand of the Lord. David said, oh, put me in the hand of the Lord. Much better to be in your hand, for you are a merciful God. And sure enough, the plague reached Jerusalem, or the angel of the Lord, the death angel that was passing through the land reached Jerusalem. And God said, enough, stop it. For correction. Sometimes it's to show our love for God. You know, When do you love the most? When everything is easy, or when everything is hard? When it's hard. That's when our love shows the greatest, and it's also when our love waxes the strongest. When we realize God wants me to do something, this is very hard, and I go ahead and I do it, our love for God will grow. And I don't know why that is. I think it's something in how we're made up, but it's like we put a value on it and say, God was worth this sacrifice. And so when you suffer and you say, God, it was worth standing for God. I value God more than this. Your love for God grows. You realize how valuable he is, how good he is. And some of that is, as you go through it, he does help you. You experience his grace and you experience his help. You look back and you say, oh Lord, thank you. What would I have done without you? Finally, for rewards in heaven. For rewards in heaven. You know, we don't work for an eternal or for an earthly reward. We work for a heavenly reward. And there are times people come against us and God is using that, using our love to change them. Maybe to open an opportunity for the gospel in their lives. I've given the story several times, but I'll say it one more time. There was a man that was working against us in Sekinani. He was organizing, politicking, and he almost got us kicked out. We were within two votes of losing the land after we'd been there for three years. Two votes, didn't even know it was happening. Got called down for the final vote, didn't know what was going on. Had people yelling at us, screaming at us. You're not doing enough, you're not giving enough, you've not done enough for us. And that's the bottom line, they wanted more money in their pockets from us and we weren't providing it. And this man was very vocal in organizing against us, he was the leader of it. And one day he needed a ride home from town and Shane said, I don't know why you would ask me for a ride. He says, we know who you are and what you did. We listened to your words that you hated us, and now you would come ask me, your enemy? He says, let me tell you, I don't wanna do this, but I'm commanded to love you. I'll give you a ride. And he got in and took him home. Now this is a four and a half hour trip. He got home and a couple of months later, he got into another difficulty. He was trying to open a camp and his generator broke down and they had four days or three days to get the camp running. And he couldn't hang the tents because the metal had broken. Couldn't even have a place for people to sleep. He desperately needed a generator. And he came up to me to ask. I said, you know, I don't give my generator to anyone. I said, I only have one. I said, so I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll come and I'll weld for you. I'll give you my time, no wages. And I went and I worked for a day or two with him and I got the welding done that he needed done and all of a sudden he could open his camp and his business went forward. And we sat there that night and he had the chef, he was one of, I don't remember what they called it, shareholders of the camp. and the owner offered me a meal as a thanks. And we were sitting there and he was sitting there, he says, so tell me, what's a missionary? And I got to share the gospel with him. I said, missionaries don't send money, they send people. They send people to tell you about how to be right with God and to show you the love of God. I said, when you ask for money, we can't help. But we come with people who have integrity and have wisdom and have love even for their enemies. And that was the last day, he was an enemy of us. And he was the one that when we left 18 years later, got us the land and got us the title deed to the land. Should never have happened. But this was the man that God used. So he uses it. to increase our rewards in heaven as it conquers those that hate us. Now, Paul continues on. Let's finish this real quick, because I'm not making much progress. In verse 21, for this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his footsteps. This is nothing new. This is exactly what Christ went through, and he said, follow me. John 15, 18, and 19, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. When we are hated, take comfort in the fact that the world hated Christ first, and it always will. I read a quote about how it hated him so much that the man who showed the most love of any man ever born laying down his life, you know, God eternal, being willing to be confined to the womb of a woman, being willing to have to learn everything from bowel control, to how to dress himself, to how to walk, to how to speak, that God eternal would limit himself to this, walk this earth in obedience to his parents, human parents that he created for 30 years, then teach for three and a half while he is hated and rejected by men, while healing every disease, every problem that came to him. And for that, what he did, they killed him. because he told them the truth along with it. The most loving man that ever existed. And they killed him because he also spoke the truth and they couldn't bear the truth. So Christ is our example. It continues on. Let me read that again. This is from John 15, 18 and 19. The world hates me, hates you. You know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Like I said, we are light in a dark place. We will never blend. We shouldn't. We should be overcoming the darkness. We were hated because we no longer fit with them. John 15, 24 through 25, if I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have had no sin. But now they have seen. They know their sin. He's called it out. And he's given evidence that he speaks on God's behalf. Because of the works that he did, and the result is, and also, they hated both me and my father. The Pharisees, in rejecting Christ, rejected the father too. But this happened, that the words might be fulfilled which was written in their law, they hated me without a cause. He then proceeds to list out that we should follow in his steps. What are his steps? Verse 22, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. So the first part of this is, you know, we're living a separated life for God. And even in the words of our mouth, we don't speak flippantly or with an open tongue. But we, you know, our mouths are speaking truth. They're speaking truth. Who when he was reviled did not revile in turn. How hard is that? Falsely accused. Unjustly accused. Targeted. Doesn't go back and revile again. When he suffered, he did not threaten. No threats, watch out, we'll get you in the end. But he committed himself to him who judges righteously. God, you have this. You've called me here, it's your job. Then it ends with verses 24 and 25. Who himself bore our sins on his own body, on the tree. that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. You know, it shows us his steps. How far was he willing to go? Take up your cross? Check. Literally did that. Die on that cross? Check. Did that. For someone else's sin? Check. He did that. That's his pattern. So how should we live? We should live in righteously, that we might live in righteousness. And it says this, by his stripes you were healed. Now, that again is either physical or spiritual, but if you look at the context, this is talking about spiritual healing. This is about, he died on the cross for our sins, and then right after that, it continues and it says, we like sheep have gone astray, but have now returned to the overseer and shepherd of our souls. This is clearly a reference to a spiritual healing. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were so far away from God, there was no life even left in us. But when he died on that tree, He offered healing, new life to those that were dead. And he brought us back and he became the shepherd of our souls, guarding us, leading us to green pastures, beside the still waters. And he's the good shepherd. He gave his life for the sheep. We can trust him. So even when he talks about being willing to suffer, Know this, he went before you, he led the way, and he showed us the path, being willing to lay down his life so that others would come to know the Father. And so he calls us to be willing to lay down our life, whether it's with the government or whether it's with an unjust master. to serve from the heart as much as we are able that others would see this love of God in us. Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you, even for the hard lessons. Lord, none of us wanna talk about suffering, but Lord, your word is clear that all who desire to live godly will suffer persecution. And Lord, we know it's coming. We see it rising up. And Lord, we ask, one, Father, don't let us be afraid. Lord, may we go forward with our eyes fixed on you, making use of the day and of the times. And two, Lord, if this day comes when we suffer, or when it comes, Lord, give us the strength we need, and encourage us, keep our eyes on you and on your great salvation, that we as well would be encouraged when we come to it. And at the end, Lord, that we would have glorified you in how we went through it. Father, we thank you for the times you train us, even here on this earth, with the little things that go wrong. And Lord, we ask that you would help us to put our lives in conformity to your will, Lord, that we would follow. We ask this in Jesus' name we pray, amen.