Amen. Thank you. Appreciate the good song tonight. Glad it reminds us that this is not all there is. And sometimes that's all we have to hold on to. You know, if you're saved, this is the worst you'll ever have it. If you're lost, it's the best you're ever going to have it. I'm glad. Praise the Lord. There's going to be a better day coming. First Peter chapter three tonight. If you'd turn there with me, we want to begin verse number 14. And, uh, as we mentioned earlier, uh, I want to preach on this thought, the experience of suffering. And when you think about all the people in our church right now, here's You know, the thing is, I believe, and I mentioned this, we had a staff meeting Sunday night after church. I told our staff, I said, I believe God's wanting to do some great things with our church. The problem with that is when God wants to do some great things with the church, then the devil's going to do all he can to hinder what God wants to do. And so for some reason we have the mindset that when we're saved and we're a child of God that that means that everything's going to go good. And if you look historically at those that would name the name of Christ it's not been an easy road. and so now we're in 2025 and I mean really for the most part if we were honest that we do go through some trials tribulations but we don't really suffer the persecution that other generations of believers now we we suffer with death and sickness and things of that nature but I want you to think historically what people have had to go through just to be a Christian and those that are burned at the stake and we were talking about this at the men's prayer breakfast. Think about those that were sawed in half. And if you look and read Fox's Book of Martyrs, things like that, you realize that there are people burned at the stake for their faith. There were people that were sawed asunder, sawed in half for their faith. And it seems like that we've not had to go through that. But also I do know this, I don't want to make light of tribulation because a lot of things we go through in life we look at and They're difficult. I mean, the reality of brother Shane, no, we haven't gone through that, but we do go through trials and tribulations. And so I find it interesting in verse number 13, we'll begin verse 14, but, uh, Peter asked this question. He said, who is he that will harm you? If ye be followers of that, which is good. So it's two parts. He's asking, first of all, who will harm you? Well, we know that in the grand scheme of things, the Bible tells us we're not to fear someone who can kill the body, but we're to fear those that could kill the body and the soul. And we know that's the Lord Jesus. And the fact is, if you're born again, you don't have to fear him in that manner. But it goes on to say, if ye be followers of that which is good. And so we looked last week. At, uh, the fact that, uh, in verse 11, let him askew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Now you come down to verse number 14, and he kind of goes into this description of how we're to act when we go through suffering. He said, but, and, if. But, and, if, right? Ye suffer for righteousness' sake. So it doesn't say just if we suffer, It says there, if we suffer for the right reason, right? So don't say, uh, if we, uh, suffer for righteousness sake, he said, happy are ye. and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that answereth you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Now, we probably all heard that verse number 15, at least a portion of it. always to give an answer to every man that asketh you for the reason of hope. But if we take it in context, what he's actually saying is that even in our suffering, we should be able to give people, because what are they going to say? How can you get through this? uh, with all that you're going through. Right. And he's saying that in those times, our testimony will be even greater. If we can go to them and say, the way I'm getting through this is because I believe the Lord has a purpose for everything. And so he says, everyone asks you to do a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Didn't say pride and arrogance, meekness and fear. Verse 16, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Verse 17 says, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. And again, automatically in our minds, I'd say we probably look at that verse and he said, it's better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing. We say, well, I'm a Christian, so really that's me. But it goes on to say then for evil doing. So automatically we're thinking in our mind what evil is, right? We're thinking of murder and some heinous crime or some heinous sin. But may I say this? When you and I sin, when we go against the precepts of the Word of God, that's evil. And so a lot of times, if we're honest, we suffer because of things that we bring upon ourselves. And so the Bible doesn't say that we're happy when we do that. It says you're happy when you suffer for righteousness sake. And so I want to start off by saying this, that unfortunately, suffering is part of life. You're not going to get out of this life and not suffer. And we cannot avoid all suffering. Now some we can brother Johnny. I mean, there's things, if we're honest, we, we, I was talking to a friend of mine today and he said he was going and his father-in-law was in the nursing home. He said, I'm going up to see him. And I said, was he in the nursing home for, he said, he's got bad health. He said, but. Honestly, he brought it upon himself. He didn't eat well and didn't exercise and on and on. And he said a lot of what he's going through right now is because of choices he made. Now we could all say that, right? I mean, the fact is most of us, the suffering we go through are because of choices. Maybe it's a choice of lifestyle. Sometimes it's a choice of us. Sometimes it's saying things we shouldn't. Sometimes it's other things in life. But we can't avoid all suffering. Even if you do everything right, I promise you that you're going to suffer some because of sin. And we're all sinners. And so we know that to know Christ, we must share in His suffering. If you want to intimately know Christ, you're going to suffer. And I'm glad, Brother Sean, in the suffering, His grace becomes even more real. And so God uses suffering to test us but not only that he uses suffering to build us. And so if we understand this we can endure suffering. I'm not saying tonight that it's easy. I think again of those in our church even now I think of Brother Justin losing his mom, his granddad. and then Krista losing her mom and then even in the same week it looks like probably going to lose her sister. Those are not easy and I'm not here tonight to try to say that going through suffering is easy but I'm saying that we can endure it when we understand that God has a purpose and that these again, the suffering we face here as they just sang, there's a better day coming for the child of God. we're going to experience some suffering in this life. And so Peter gives us a few things here on how we can deal with suffering. In verse 14 he says this, But if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So first of all he tells us where to suffer boldly. In other words, where to stand up and be good examples and ambassadors for Christ And I want to say again, before you look and say, well, preacher, that's easy to say. I understand that and we can't do it in our own power. We can't do it in our flesh, right? But the more, the closer and the more intimate we are with Christ, the more we'll be able to be the example and endure during suffering. And so, he tells us to suffer boldly in verse 14. And in that, he tells us three things. First of all, for the right reason. In verse 14, he said, if you suffer for righteousness sake, so we must be righteous and stand for righteousness. If you stand for God, uh, we know that you're going to suffer, right? I mean, whether it be persecution, whether it be, uh, uh, in the cancel culture, whether it's an, you're an outcast or whether you physically suffer for the cause of Christ. If you stand for what's right, you're not going to be accepted. And that's hard for people. I mean, let's be honest. Even as adults, we want to be accepted. Now you say, well, I don't care. I don't care what anybody thinks of me. But there is. Because if we were, Brother Shane, if we were that bold in our testimony, then I wonder how our lives would change. In other words, let's be honest. A lot of times we won't hand out a track because we're afraid of what people say about us, right? We won't be a bold witness at work because of a fear that someone would think that we're some type of fanatic. We talk about our young people, about peer pressure, but may I say even as adults, we have peer pressure. And even among Christians, if someone does not have a strong biblical view of things, and you do, a lot of times we'll back off because we don't want them to think that we're some kind of out there right wing lunatic and so what I'm saying is we must be righteous and stand for right. We don't have to be arrogant about it but we ought to stand for what's right no matter the cost. So we often suffer for our own unwise decisions. If nobody likes you and your family and it's because you're rude to them I would say you're not suffering. You've created the problem, right? If nobody at work likes you because you are arrogant, right, and a know-it-all, I'd say that you're not suffering for righteousness' sake. You brought it on yourself. If you don't have money to pay the light bill because you buy everything else on Amazon, I'd say you're not suffering for righteousness' sakes. You need to take a financial literacy class. Amen? So we have to understand that all of the suffering that we go through is not God's chastisement or even his tutelage of us. Some of what we go through is because we... Listen, if you spout your mouth off and somebody punches you in the mouth, don't say you're suffering for Jesus. You might just got what you deserve. I'm not saying you should hit one another. I'm saying if a lost man does that to you, right? So the right reason to suffer is for righteousness. Standing up for what the Bible, not what you think is right, but what the Bible says is right. And our church should be that way. Again, I say it often, the church is supposed to be the ground and pillar of truth. It's not a, we often say, well, we, you know, to reach them, you've got to do this, that, and the other. No, to reach them, we ought to take the gospel to them. And then when they come to church, they ought to know that they're going to hear the truth of the word of God. So we're to suffer for the right reason, but also the Bible said we're to have the right reaction. The Bible said, happy are ye. Well, that's interesting to me because it sounds to me, let's be honest, our human nature, brother Chad, is that we're always seeking happiness, right? I'm reading a book now, it's talking about the ministry of marriage and one of the things it says is God doesn't join two people together so they'll be happy. He joins them together so they'll be holy. If you talk to most people, they'll say, well, I want to marry this person because they make me happy. Well, what happens when they don't make you happy, right? I have this job because it makes me happy. I bought this because it makes me happy. I have this hobby because it makes me happy. Well, right here the Bible said that we're to be happy when we suffer for righteousness. A friend, you're not going to do that in the flesh. See, the happiness we desire has to do with satisfying the desires of the flesh, right? Well, they make me happy because they tell me how wonderful I am. They boost my self-confidence. They make me feel good about myself, whatever it is. See, all those things are selfish. But the Bible said that you're happy if you suffer for righteousness sake. Well I know this, again if it's contrary to the flesh I can't do it outside of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So we understand that if we're suffering for the right reason and we're filled with the Holy Spirit of God then that terror is replaced with rejoicing. I mean the early disciples said they were glad or they counted it an honor to suffer for the cause of Christ. You're not going to do that if you're seeking self-interest. And happiness oftentimes is wrapped up in seeking self-interest. And so we suffer boldly for the right reason but also we have the right reaction. Listen, it's natural when we suffer not to be happy about it. Correct? And honestly if you told people you go through a trial in your life and and you're complaining about it and you're sad and you're upset well that's natural and there is some grace there and I'd say we understand it but the closer we are to God and we suffer for righteousness then the Bible said we ought to be happy about it Now I've already seen your faces and I can't do that. Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't think I can do it in my flesh. I'm not seeking out Brother Kenneth to do it. But when suffering and trials come upon us then it should drive us closer to God and should drive us on our knees so that we're able to say in this trial so that I could honor and bring glory to God that you'd let me express myself in this way that others would see there's something different in me. See it's not about being what everybody thinks is natural. We're supposed to be supernatural. So the right reason, the right reaction, but then the Bible tells us in verse 14, we're to have the right resolve. It says, be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So again, understand what Peter's saying. He's talking to the early Christians and they were wanting to kill them and they're wanting to persecute them. And he's saying to them, he said, look, don't be afraid of them. Right? In other words, be not afraid, be courageous. And Peter calmly slept the night before his execution. Think about that. He knows he's going to be executed yet he sleeps. And that is a walk with God that I desire, and hopefully you do, that you can accomplish in your flesh. So the right resolve is the fact that whatever God allows in my life, He's allowing it for my growth, and He's allowing it to make me more like Christ. And if that's what it takes, and I'm not saying it's easy, again, I see some of you say, I just can't do that. I understand what you're saying, but I'm saying we ought to desire to be above what we are, and let God get glory out of our lives. So we're to suffer boldly. But secondly, we're to suffer believingly. Verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So how is it that in suffering and trials that we can suffer in a way that is bold, but also that we suffer in a way that we show that we believe what the Bible says. Because you can say, and I think Miss Peggy sang about it the other day, that it's easy to have faith when you're on the mountain. It's difficult to have faith when you're in the valley, but in the valley is when you really prove whether or not you have what you say you have. Right? And so if I believe, right, if I believe this book, if I believe in the power of God and I believe that I am who I say I am, then when I'm suffering, then it's an opportunity to prove what I believe. You can talk about having faith and trusting God all you want to, but see, people are watching you and me. And when we suffer and people see that and we honor God with it, then that brings glory to God because we're not doing something natural, we're doing something supernatural. And so how do we do that? Well, first of all, the Lord has to be enthroned. In other words, our fear of the Lord should drive out the fear of man. And again, understand what he's saying. He's telling them this in light of the fact that many of them are going to be persecuted, maybe even killed for their faith. And he's saying, if you really are who you say you are, you're going to fear God more than you're going to fear man. Well, that's easy for us to say today, but what if there's a time when you've got to stand up for what you believe and it's going to cost you something? I mean, how many, how many, what happens brother Matt is we get so caught up in this world that when, when it honestly, when it comes to choosing the Lord or choosing our, our way of life, our standard of living, our healthcare, oftentimes we're going to choose that instead of the Lord. And so when the Lord's enthroned in your heart, you're going to fear God. Listen, Jesus said this. He said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. That's what he said. Well, it's easy not to be ashamed of the Lord, Brother Johnny, in here. We're all on the same page, but out there they're not. And so the word sanctify means to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in our life. I mean I wouldn't think much of an ambassador of the United States of America if they went to a different country and they're burning flags and bad-mouthing the country and he started burning flags with them, would you? I'd say I'd be thrown in jail. But see the same thing happens with us. And we're supposed to be ambassadors for Christ and they blaspheme the name of God and tell dirty jokes and really just walk all over the Lordship of Christ and we sit back and go, well, you know, the Lord forgives them and so do I. Disenthralment carries us through the hardship of life. Let me say this, and again, this is going to be hard. God died for you. People say, well, I'd die for the Lord. If you won't live for Him, you won't die for Him. It's easy to say, you'd die for the Lord, I'd die for my faith. Well, that's easy when there's not a chance of you really doing that. But see, you have the opportunity to live your faith and yet we hide it under a bushel, don't we? So it really has to do with this. Does the Lord really have the throne room of your heart? Can I really trust him to do what he says he'll do? Well, I can say that now. And may I say this, if you don't have it settled now in your life when things are good, when things are bad, you'll never match up to the test. So can you trust him? That's what it comes down to. Can I trust this book? Not only that, the Lord is enthroned, but also the Word is enthroned. In other words, the Bible is telling us. Here's what's amazing to me. The Bible over and over tells us that those who live godly are going to suffer persecution. Yet, Brother Jeff, when it happens, we're taken by surprise. I mean, it'd be like somebody saying, now listen, on this date, this is going to happen to you, right? And then when it happens, you go, I had no clue it was going to happen. Right? I mean, doc says, you go to the doctor and says, look, your blood pressure's high, your cholesterol's high, whatever, whatever. If you keep eating like this, you're going to have a heart attack. And then when you have a heart attack, you say, I didn't know I was going to have one of those. Right? And so the Lord's already telling us you're going to suffer. And when it happens, we go, I can't believe I'm a Christian. I can't believe I'm suffering like this. Well, it's coming. So, so we should be prepared for it, but also we should be practical about it. He says be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. So the early Christians were martyred for Christ. We're not being martyred for Christ but we're still going through some persecution and some trials and tribulations and they're coming. And there may be health problems, right? They may be, as we've talked, folks have lost loved ones in their life. That's not easy, and I'm not making light of that. And it's difficult. We don't understand sometimes why God allows those things. But it gives us a great opportunity to be a testimony for the Lord when these things happen. And so we don't have to understand it, and we don't really even have to have to feel it we just have to trust the Word of God and when the Word is enthroned in us when the Word has that place in our life and we're saying I can't get through this it's amazing when folks go through trials and they get through it and you ask them this I don't know it was the Lord And so the early Christians they knew that they could be martyred for Christ yet they chose to rejoice. And so the resolve to follow Christ turned the world upside down. Look at the early church that they were persecuted. And every time it's interesting when you look at church history go all the way back to the Old Testament. Remember the Israelites when they were in Egypt and Pharaoh said look these guys are getting way too big. Getting too many of them. And he started persecuting them and they grew. Look at the early church. They persecuted the early church. And what did it do? It grew. And all through history when the church has been persecuted, God has added to the church. So, what was the secret and what they're going through is Jesus Christ. See, He was real in their life. And if He's not real in your life, you'll not get through this. So we're to suffer believingly because the Lord is enthroned and the Word is enthroned. Well, how do I do that? Well, you've got to spend time with the Lord and you've got to spend time in the Word, right? See, we so operate by feeling, right? That if we don't feel like we can trust the Word of God, right? It's like well that's all well and good and that's good for you but you don't know me and you don't know how I'm feeling about this. Yeah but see what I'm saying is when the word you believe it like you say you believe it then you'll say even when I don't feel like I can do this I can trust God's word because he can't lie to me. So we're to suffer. I didn't say it's easy. But I have to believe him in the bad times like I believe him in the good times, right? And then thirdly, we're to suffer blamelessly. Now, here's the problem. The problem is that we make too many concessions for people. Now, I'm not talking about being judgmental because when I say people, I'm talking about me, right? We'll look at these teenagers and if they're not living for God, we'll say, well, they're just teenagers. Yeah, but the problem is they're saved teenagers. They're saved teenagers. They're supposed to have the same spirit of God in them that you and I have in us, right? So they should be different than regular teenagers. Well, we give them a hard time. But see, you get to be an adult and the same spirit we say lives in the teenagers lives in you yet we condone the fact that adults can live like unsaved people and go through things in their life like unsaved people and we'll kind of let them off the hook by the chance. Well, well, you can't, it's just natural. Well, it is natural. But we're not natural. We're not supposed to be natural. I'm not saying we don't have heartaches and pain, but we handle them different than lost people do. We're supposed to, right? Because the Bible said this, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better if the will of God, uh, be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing again. Understand, I'll say it again, because I want you to understand that what Peter's talking about where these early Christians were suffering for standing for Jesus. So he's saying, listen, it's better that you stand for righteousness and suffer for that. Then that you suffer because here's the thing, lost people suffer too, right? I mean an alcoholic that has cirrhosis of the liver, has been drinking his whole life, you can't really look at that and say, well, he's suffering for Jesus and so therefore he's suffering in a good way. No, he's suffering because of sin, right? And when we suffer because of sin, it's not the same as suffering because we're righteous. So how do we suffer blamelessly that when we go through trials and tribulations in our life that people would look at us and say, you know what, they're different, right? Not sinless, they're different. Well, our conscience must be right. See, you've got to have a constant walk with God to be able to walk with God when trials come. You can't wait. How many times do people wait to pray until times are tough and then they go to the Lord in prayer and say well I don't know why he's not helping me. Well why don't you pray all the time instead of just because here's what happens. Either people go through trials and they don't pray. And they only pray when things are good, which is probably a minority of people. Or they pray when things are bad and they don't pray when things are good. Or they pray it neither and wait till things are an emergency 9-1-1 situation and then they decide they're going to pray because there's no other option. And then they don't understand why God is not answering their prayer the way that they think he ought to. And so a good conscience is essential for good testimony. I mean you can't live like the devil and then start to suffer for the cause of Christ as you say and then have a good testimony with other people. So you can't be convinced with a guilty conscience. See, the way you walk all the time is going to be evident when you walk in your trials. People are going to see that you're the same when things are good and the same when things are bad. And if you're different when things are good than you are with bad, it means that there's a problem in here. I got to be right with God, right? I got to be right with God all the time. How do I do that? Does that mean I don't sin? No, it means I confess my sin. I have a short account of sin, right? So we're to suffer blamelessly. Our conscience must be right and then our conduct must be right. I will say this and this is probably going to rub somebody wrong. You have no excuse to live ungodly because you're going through trials. You just don't. We don't understand what I'm going through. How many times people go through trials and they commit sin to forget about the trial and then people say, well, it's natural, right? You just got to understand it's a lot on them, right? They can't help it, right? If you were going through what they're going through, you'd probably do the same thing. No, folks. God gets glory out of our lives when we're consistent in the good times and bad times. People are watching us to see how we react when we suffer. And if we drop the ball when we suffer, you know who gets hurt? The cause of Christ. So Peter's trying to encourage these folks. He's saying, listen, I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying that serving the Lord is without trials, without persecution, but he's encouraging them saying, listen, this same testimony you've got when things are good, you need to have it when things are not good because you're drawing people to the, people are looking for answers. That's why everybody's listening to podcasts. That's why people are getting psychiatric help. That's why people are going to counseling. They're all looking for answers. And so they have trials in their life and they won't know how they can get through it. They want to know how things can get better. And so if you and I go through those same trials and we can't give a good testimony of what God's done in our life, what we're telling them is you can't trust God. And then when things get better in our life, we're trying to get them to come to church and I tell you what, you ought to get saved and trust God. Then they look back on those trials and they say, but he wasn't good enough in the trials for you. So why would I need him? I don't need him now, things are good. Most people don't turn to Christ when things are good. You know why the Bible said this? The Bible says it's easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle. Again, it's not talking about a sewing needle. I'm at the hole in the gate of the city. They'd close the gates and there'd be this hole they called the eye of the needle and that camel Kind of difficult for him to get down and go through it. That's what he's talking about. Didn't say it's impossible. But why was that statement? Because let's be honest, Jesus said he came to seek and to save that which was lost. He said that he came for those that need a physician. Well, you don't go to the doctor most of the time unless you need a physician. Something's wrong, right? Now, y'all know, you say, well, I'll go for my yearly checkup. Well, good for you. I don't even want to do that. Right? So somebody's got plenty of money in the bank, doesn't have health problems. You're saying, boy, you really need to get saved. Need to get right to God. Why do I need that? Everything's going good. Bills are being paid. Got money in the bank. No health problems. Why do I need this Jesus you talk about? Then all of a sudden you go through trials in your life and you neglect what you say you believe. And they'll say, you know what? I know what you're going through. It's natural. They'll give you a pass, right? But then when they need Jesus, you say, oh, you got to turn to the Lord. It's going to pop back up in their mind. Yeah, but when you're going through that, he wasn't good enough for that trial you're going through. And here's the interesting thing. When you look at your life, I want you to think about how God met your need in the small trials. And he was proving to you that he could meet your need in the bigger trials. Those disciples were on that boat. Storms came. Jesus walking out on the water tells Peter to come out. Peter walks on his storm. At that time, that was the biggest thing. They thought they were going to die, didn't they? It wasn't too many years later. Peter was, I believe he was crucified upside down, wasn't he? He didn't recant. Maybe if Peter wouldn't have gone through the storm, then maybe he wouldn't have had the faith when he's going through that. So you'll go through some smaller storms where God's preparing you for the bigger storms. Now that scares some of you, because you've gone through some pretty big storms in your life. You're going, man, I don't know if I can take any bigger ones. Well, just think back when he got you through the other ones. Now He's getting you through this one. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if He's got you through the smaller ones and getting you through this one, when the bigger ones come, you can trust Him in that one too. See, if you're not going through any storms right now, then you need to draw closer to Him now and not wait till you go through the storms. The natural reaction is not to draw close to him now. Wait till we need him, right? We kind of use him as a spare tire. You don't put a spare tire on the car until the tire goes flat. Here's the problem. What happens if you don't ever check that spare tire? All of a sudden, when you need it, it's flat. You better keep your relationship up with God and your fellowship with Him when times are good. Because when you need Him, you want to be sure when you pray, that fellowship's right. Amen. You're going to experience some suffering, folks. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. Guess what, Brother Jimmy? Preachers experience suffering too. Sometimes, and I'm not asking for pity, But sometimes we suffer more because not only do we have to bear our burdens, but when you're going through burdens, if a pastor is who he says he is, he's burdened with you. Man, it breaks my heart. So we wouldn't do much good. I went through some tribulations. Man, I was strung out on drugs, and you said, well, you know, that's natural. You'd say that. Well, he's a low-down sorry scoundrel. He's up there preaching about having faith, and he did this. What about all the people you work with and your family members when you're going through it? Watch this. You're the best Christian they know. God help us. So how do we go through this suffering? We gotta draw close to God. That's the only way. You can't do it in your flesh, and I can't do it in my flesh. And so it's important now that we draw close to Him so when the trials come, we can trust Him in the trials. Let's gather around the altar and pray tonight. Appreciate you being here, appreciate your attention. As I mentioned,