All right, would you take God's Word, please, and open to 1 Peter 1, and tonight I want to talk about sorrowful yet rejoicing. 1 Peter 1, look at verse 6. These are some wonderful verses of Scripture. Verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perishes so it be tried with fire, might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now, in the Christian life, we're gonna go through times of sorrow and grief and heartache. Just because we're believers, we're not immune from those things. Christians will go through seasons of suffering. But there seems to be a lot of confusion among Christians about how we're supposed to deal with suffering when it comes. For example, there's the idea out there that some say that if we suffer, it's because we lack faith. And so there's this idea that we're supposed to simply claim healing by faith and deny all negative thoughts, and that's it. Claim healing, deny all negative thoughts, and so on, and just move on. It's almost like pretending like it's not really there. This is clearly unbiblical, and yet this persists. And then there's a second idea, this is really, the idea of denying the grief. There are others that say Christians must go through suffering, and they're supposed to do it with a smile on their face. And people who believe this will quote verses like, rejoice always, and everything give thanks. And they'll quote verses like, all things work together for good. And this view seems to be saying that we should deny grief and pain as if there's something unspiritual about grieving. We shouldn't grieve. We should deny that grief. That approach to suffering, I think, leads to hypocrisy and emotional problems, in my opinion. People put on a phony smile and they mouth cliches like, well, praise the Lord anyway. And inside, however, they're hurting and they're not praising the Lord. They're denying the grief and the pain that are readily there. Now, it's neither a biblical nor emotionally healthy approach to suffering to take that approach as well. Let me just say that when you go through a difficulty, when circumstances come at you and you're in a trial, or you lose a loved one, something bad happens, there's nothing wrong, there's nothing unspiritual about having a time to mourn and having a time to weep. In fact, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, there's a time to weep. there is a time for mourning. I know many of you here, you've lost loved ones, and all of us have seen some of our loved ones go on to glory. And when things like that happen, there's a deep, deep grief and sorrow in our heart. We don't deny that grief, it's very real. But again, there's nothing unspiritual about mourning and grieving and missing the presence of a loved one that was with you. And then there's another idea out there. This is kind of the opposite extreme and reacting against the approach I just said. Some say that we need to express how we feel. So there are some who say we need to deny that grief. And then the opposite extreme is we need to just express that grief and anger to God. Have you heard this view? We're supposed to work through all the stages of grief. We're told to vent all our anger and rage and bitterness. If we don't, we're in denial. people are even encouraged to rail at God. They're even encouraged to, you know, tell God how angry you are at Him, how that you are really just ticked off at Him, and just go ahead. In fact, here's a pillow, just hit that pillow. Just get out all of your rage against God. I've counseled people like this where they've gone to a counselor where the counselor basically encouraged them to do that. They have pillows in their counseling room for people to hit. And they say, vent all of your sorrow to the point of getting angry and railing on God. Don't worry about God. God can take it. So you just express that anger to the Lord. I would argue that none of these are biblical or emotionally healthy ways to deal with suffering. The biblical way is not to deny grief or sorrow that is there, but at the same time, while we admit that we do have grief and sorrow, we can also, at the same time, have joy. You say, how can that be? Well, Peter says this right here. And remember, Peter is writing to believers who are going through intense times of suffering. They're going through intense emotional pain. And he says that while you are sorrowing, while you're going through deep, deep suffering and sorrowing, you can still at the same time you can rejoice and you can have joy at the same time. You can have sorrow and heaviness and at the same time joy. Look at verse number six again, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation. The word greatly rejoice is a word from the Greek, agalea, which means to jump for joy, to gush, to leap, to spring up, to be exuberant, to be happy, to be overjoyed. This is an excessive joy. William Barclay writes about this word, he says, it is the joy which leaps for joy. As it has been put, it is the joy of the climber who has reached the summit and leaps for joy that the mountain path is conquered. And yet at the same time, in the same verse, Peter says, you know, you can rejoice, but notice again, ye are in heaviness. Look at the word heaviness there, lupeo, a deep grief. This is passive-particip, but we could say it like this, having been put to grief, In other words, there was something that happened that put you to great sorrow and grief in your life. So you have these two things side by side. You have, on one hand, you have happiness, and at the same time, you have heaviness. You have gladness, and at the same time, you have sadness. Now Peter is saying that, look, both of these can be true. You know, the Christian life is a life filled with emotions. And we wrestle with all these things. And yet Peter is saying, look, you can have heaviness, you can have suffering and sorrow, but you can also at the same time have a joy, in fact, a great joy that comes from the Lord. Now, this seems to be a paradox to us. You're probably asking the question, how can I sorrow and yet at the same time have this joy? You remember, Paul spoke of this when he was going through a trial. He wrote to the Corinthians and he said, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. And the apostle Paul modeled this many times. You remember in Acts chapter 16, when he was at the city of Philippi and he was arrested, him and Silas were thrown in jail. And you remember what the Bible says? They were weeping and mourning all night long. Is that what it says? No, what were they doing? They were singing praises to God in that jail. They had just been lashed, whipped. They were no doubt in pain. And yet here they were in this jail, in this dungeon, and they are singing praises to God. And you remember in response, what happened? There was an earthquake that opened up that prison. Someone said that was the first jailhouse rock ever right there. their earthquake came. But Paul is modeling that you can be sorrowful, yet at the same time, you can rejoice and be filled with joy. Spurgeon asked this question, can a Christian greatly rejoice while he's in heaviness? And then he says this, yes, most assuredly he can. And then he continues, mariners tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current upon the surface going one way, but that down in the depths there is a strong current running the other way. Two seas do not meet and interfere with one another. But one stream of water on the surface is running in one direction and another below in the opposite direction. And friend, that's what the Christian life is like. You know, on the surface, there may be a stream of heaviness that is rolling over us like when sorrows like sea billows roll. And yet, down deep, Underneath, there's another stream, a strong current, where that we are greatly rejoicing. The joy is still flowing way down deep in while we sorrow. Now, in these verses, what I want you to see, Peter, again, is telling the believers there who are going through great suffering and sorrow, look, you can be sorrowful, yet you can rejoice. And then what he gives us here in this passage are five reasons why we can rejoice even while we are in the midst of sorrow. Let me give them to you. Number one is our protected inheritance. And we touched on this a little bit last week if you were with us, our protected inheritance. Look again in verse six, wherein ye greatly rejoice. And the word wherein there points back to what Peter said in the previous verses. And what did he talk about? He was talking about the blessings that our salvation brings, specifically that inheritance that God gives to all of us now that we are children of God. God has an inheritance in heaven. He's guarding. He's watching over. He's preparing for us and he's preparing us for it. And that wonderful inheritance is one of the reasons why we can rejoice. We saw this in the sermon last week that as a believer, you are rich. You're not going to be rich. You are rich. because of this inheritance that you have. Look again, back in verse number four, where it says, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Peter tells us this is part of our salvation, that we have this inheritance right now. It is there. in heaven waiting for us. And I want to tell you, dear friend, it's more secure than the stocks that you have right now. It's more secure than that money you have in that savings account right now, because something can happen and that money can be taken away. But your inheritance in heaven, nothing is going to get at that. that it is secure. It is already there. We're going to get to heaven. We're going to see it. You are richer than you can ever imagine. So, again, don't think that all we have in this life is right here and now. You have an inheritance waiting for you. Now, again, Peter doesn't tell us specifically what this inheritance is. He just gives us some hints about it. In verse four, it's imperishable. That is, it's incorruptible. That means it's something that will never perish. Everything in this world, in this fallen creation, is stained with sin and corruption, and it will perish. It's been touched with sin, and it will go away. But you know, there are things that we have there in heaven that's eternal. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this, the stars shine over the mountains, the stars shine over the sea, the stars look up to the mighty God, the stars look down on me. The stars shall last a million years, a million years and a day, but God and I will live and love when the stars have passed away. And that's so true, and that's part of our inheritance, that wonderful fellowship and closeness that we have with our Heavenly Father. When all the other things in this life pass away, that's part of our inheritance. It is imperishable, it is undefiled. Again, it is unstained, it has no flaws. Again, it says in verse four, it will not pass away. So that's why the Apostle Paul told the Colossians, set your affections on things above. Focus on that. Don't forget about that. When he said, set your affections, that's a present tense imperative. We are to continually keep on putting our affection on those things that are above, that inheritance that we have there. You heard of the expression, he's so heavily minded that he's no earthly good? Well, the truth of the matter is, if you're gonna be any earthly good in God's plan or kingdom, you have to be heavily minded. You have to think about that inheritance. Now again, this is a paradox to us. Does this mean that we should despise all the earthly things around us and just focus on the eternal things? Some people say yes. Matthew Henry says that's what it means. I would respectfully disagree. Commentators John Eady and Alexander McLaren say we should not despise earthly things, but we should consider them means to God's ends. and so of subordinate importance, they say. Edy says, quote, the pilgrim is not to despise the comforts he may meet with by the way, but he is not to tarry among them or leave them with regret. And I think that's so true. We don't despise the gifts and the wonderful comforts and blessings that God gives us here in this life now. Those are all expressions of love from our heavenly Father. In fact, there's a sense in which we can enjoy God by enjoying the gifts that He gives us. But we do this in a sanctified way, but we're not obsessed with these things. We're pilgrims on a journey. And when we have to leave these things, we don't do it with grief. We don't do it with regret, as John Eady says here. And so, why? Because our affections are more on the eternal things than they are on these earthly things. And you say, again, that's hard for me to live like that. Well, let me put it another way that is a little more simple. You're outwardly, your outside lives here, but your inside lives up there. All right? Our bodies are here, but our heart, our affection, our soul is already there. And you know what? Sometimes God has to do some things in our heart and life to change our affections, because sometimes our affections are too much on the earthly things. And God has to say, you know what? I need to give you a better perspective. And so God will do some things in our life that will change our perspective, that will change our affection so that we now have more of an affection for eternal things and internal inheritance, you see. And so we are to set our affections on things above. And by the way, that's why Jesus, remember when Peter came to Jesus and Jesus had just witnessed to the rich young ruler who was unwilling to walk away from all of his earthly riches to follow Christ. And then Peter comes right on the heels of that and said, Lord, we've forsaken all to follow you. What are we going to get? What's in it for us? I mean, he told that guy to forsake all of that. He was unwilling, but we've all done that. We've turned away from all of those things, all these earthly things, to follow you. And then Jesus said to him, listen, verily I say unto you, Isn't that a wonderful promise? We'll get back a hundredfold. You ever have an investment that paid you back a hundredfold? I mean, and we're talking about eternal things. Jesus was basically saying, anything that you... you walk away from down here in order to follow me or to serve me in the kingdom, that's not going to be a loss. That's an investment that's going to reap a hundredfold reward one day. And right now, it might look like people that are following the Lord, that are holding loosely to earthly things and they may not have a lot of these earthly possessions it may look like to many that they're in last place but the last shall be first and the first shall be last a lot of people that are living looks like first place uh That's time when they lose all these things. It'll be last place And so there's going to be a huge reversal. That's what Jesus is saying here one day and so as Believers then there we can rejoice because of our protected inheritance, but here's the second one number two write down our proven faith our proven faith Look at verse 7. It says that the trial is of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perishes though it might be tried with fire." Now, Peter, again, tells us another reason that even in times of sorrow and trial, we can again rejoice. because it is during these times that our faith is proven to be genuine, and it's proven to be authentic. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to believers who are wrestling with the issue of assurance of salvation, and they want to know that their faith is genuine. They want to know their faith is authentic. You know one of the great assurances of genuine faith? It's when a person goes through a fiery trial, and they don't quit on God. In fact, they may struggle a little bit, but ultimately in the end, it's like Job said, when he's tried me, I shall come forth as what? Gold. The gold of their faith begins to shine through when they're going through a fiery trial. And Peter tells us this in verse 7, that the trial, the word for trial there is talking about a fiery trial. Again, that's what these believers were going through, a fiery trial. The trying of your faith, being much more precious than of gold. You know, your faith is so much more valuable to God than gold, much more precious, and God purifies it. And Peter tells us some things about these trials. First of all, they're temporary. Look in verse 6, for a season, he says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be. So, seasons don't last forever. Seasons, by their very nature, are what? They're temporary, right? Seasons of suffering are not long. They will pass like other seasons. A lot of times when we're going through a painful trial, we have a tendency to think that this is the way it's going to be the rest of my life here on this earth. And God says, no, it's just a season. It will pass like other seasons, but also they serve a purpose. Again, in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season... Notice the next expression, if need be. When God brings upon us a season of trial and suffering, it is not arbitrary. You can rest assured of that. It wasn't by accident. It didn't catch God off guard. You can't play that game, what if, if I only had, and so on, because God, your heavenly Father, is sovereign over all of your life. And He uses these seasons. They're purposeful. They are appointed by God. Why? Well, God has a purpose. And sometimes we can't always know specifically what that purpose is until maybe later. We might be able to look back and understand and say, okay, I understand now. why I had to go through that, but it might be that God might want to humble us. Sometimes we have a tendency to walk in our own strength and pride, and friend, we can't live this Christian life on our own strength. We have to be totally dependent on God, and God will use a trial so that we will cast ourselves upon Him. and he might wanna redirect, again, our focus to eternal things. If we're so focused on these earthly things, God says, okay, I'm gonna take you through a trial, and so that our focus is now redirected. We begin to hold more loosely to these things, and we focus more on eternal things. God might wanna do a deeper work in the heart of someone, a more sanctifying, deeper work. He might want to build our character, Spurgeon argues in a sermon that he preached called The Christian's Heaviness and Rejoicing, he said, it's needful that sometimes a Christian spirit even be cast down. Let me ask you a question. You ever go through a time where you're just down and you're depressed? And, you know, sometimes I've heard some people boast, well, I'm never depressed. Really? Forgive me, but I don't believe you. I think everybody, every believer is gonna go through a season of being cast down. The psalmist said, why aren't thou cast down, O my soul? Paul talked about being depressed and being cast down. If the apostle Paul can get cast down, it can certainly happen to me, it can certainly happen to you. And Spurgeon argues that this is necessary, that it's sometimes a Christian spirit must be cast down. Christ experienced distress in the Garden of Gethsemane. He goes on to say, if a Christian doesn't go through those times when he is depressed, he argues he will grow proud, he won't be able to relate to others who suffer, and he will miss lessons that we learn no other way. And I agree with that. So God has to allow us to go through times of sorrow and our spirit cast down. Luther said affliction is the best book in my library. Affliction is the best book in my library. Now, I've got that book in my library. I just don't want to read it. And I think all of us do. But God has a purpose for the trials. As the great hymn says, how Firma Foundation puts it, the flames will not hurt thee. I only design thy dross to consume, thy gold to refine. That's God's purpose. They serve a purpose. 1 Peter 5.10, write that verse down, but God of all grace, who's called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. But here's another thing about trials that Peter tells us, they come in various forms. Look again in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. The word manifold, poikalos, and it's a word that means multicolored. It's the idea that they're diverse. Not all trials are the same. God will, in his sovereign wisdom, pick out a trial just for us in the time that we go through it in that season, and he will use that trial to accomplish the very purpose that he has for us in that trial. But also, again, another thing about trials, they prove whether or not faith is authentic. Again, the word trial, docimus, That's a word that means tested and found to be genuine. The Apostle Paul, I'd mentioned this this morning at the 945 service, Paul said, I buffet my body every day. Actually, I said, I buffet my body every day. But that's not the proper interpretation of that verse. So don't go out and go to a smorgasbord, say, I'm just obeying the Bible. Paul said, when he said buffet, he's talking about bringing his body into subjection. I buffet my body every day. Why, Paul? So when I preach to others, I would not be a what? A castaway. If I lose control, if I live an undisciplined life, then God can cast me aside. I can become a, ah, DocuMis. DocuMis is tested and found to be genuine or qualified. You put the A alpha negative in front of it, it changes it. No longer qualified. no longer able to serve. A believer can disqualify themselves. And Paul said, I don't want to be a document. And here's the word that Peter uses for trial, that it will test your genuineness. This was a word that was used back in the ancient days to talk about genuine money. There was a lot of counterfeit money floating around. They didn't have the kind of monetary system that we have today that was pretty much solid, but they had all kind of people counterfeiting money, and they had ways to test whether the money was real or not. And this is the word that they would use when they found gold coins to be genuine. They were called documents. And this is the word that Peter used here. God will test our faith to show that our faith is genuine. Now, God doesn't test it so that He can know, because He already knows. You know what He does? He tests it so that you can know. One of the greatest assurances of salvation is going through a trial and going through it and not growing bitter, but better, not growing resentful and angry at God and punching a pillow, but rather praising God, knowing that God has a purpose in it and trusting him in that trial. And so there's the, proven faith. But here's the third thing. Our protected inheritance, our proven faith, here's another reason we can rejoice even in sorrow, our promised reward. Look again at verse number 7, that the trial of your faith be much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. What's the result of going through a trial and demonstrating faith in God? When a person goes through a trial, clings to the Lord Jesus, manifests to all how true faith responds to a trial, God rewards that person. How? Well, with praise, with glory, with honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is to say, when Jesus returns, when he comes back, what will he do? He will heap upon those believers that have gone through these trials praise and honor and glory. Now, a lot of people, when they read that, they think it's the praise and honor and glory of Jesus. No, Jesus is giving you praise, and he's giving you honor, and he's giving you glory. because of the way you have behaved in going through this fiery trial. And so, this is something to think about. I mentioned this this morning, I'll say it again, that there's something deep inside the heart of man that wants praise, that wants glory, that wants to be recognized, that wants honor. And that's why athletes compete. Again, that's why Olympic athletes go through rigid training for all those years, that they might compete and win a gold medal because they'll have glory heaped upon them and praise. You know, because since man's been fallen and we don't have that relationship with God and there's a sense in which, you know, we've been robbed of glory because of sin. Man has had that longing in his heart to receive glory and honor and praise again. But I want to tell you, there's no glory and honor praise like the one that will be heaped upon a believer who's been faithful to Jesus Christ when Jesus returns. when you persevere through a trial and you're faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back. But then here's a fourth thing. Our protected inheritance, our proven faith, our promised reward, but then number four, our personal fellowship. Look at verse number eight. Whom having not seen, ye love. And whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Now, Peter is commending the believers he's writing to because despite the fact that they have not seen Jesus, they've never laid eyes on Jesus, Peter did, Peter knew the Lord Jesus, but he's writing to believers who have never set their eyes on the Savior. And yet, having not seen him, they love him. Yet, having not seen him, Peter says, you believe, and you rejoice with joy unspeakable. Despite the fact that they have been suffering, they've endured a fiery trial, still have not turned away from someone they've never seen or have known in that way, and yet they know him because they have the spiritual intimacy and closeness and fellowship, a fellowship that is so rich. Peter says, you haven't seen him, but you love him. And you have a joy in the midst of all of what you're going through. Where does that come from? That's all part of fellowship, intimacy with Christ. Have you ever experienced that as a Christian? Where you're going through a time of sorrow, and it's, I can't explain it, but whenever, at my lowest points, when I've gone through trials, I don't know where it comes from. Well, actually, I do know where it comes from. But even in those lowest trials, I still have this joy, and I have a sense of the presence of the Lord that is with me, holding me up, giving me strength, a strength that is not of me. And I know it's of Him. And there's a closeness, there is a intimacy, there's a fellowship that you have with the Lord Jesus Christ that makes you say in the midst of the trial, it's worth it. It's worth it. If this is what I get in the midst of this sorrow and grief and suffering, to have this kind of closeness with Jesus, then it makes the trial worth it. And I think this is what Peter's talking about here. When you're going through this trial, whom you have not seen ye love, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable. There's still that joy that, and where does that come from? Again, it's the fellowship, it's the closeness of Jesus who is with you in that trial. He goes through that furnace with you. Remember the three Hebrew children? Nebuchadnezzar threw them in, in a rage. He wanted them to suffer. He turned the furnace up hot, seven times hotter, which shows you how irrational he was. If he wanted them to suffer, he would have turned it down. You know, you turn it up, they're going to die quick. But anyway, he threw them into the fiery furnace. And he looked in, and he's like, I thought, didn't we throw three in? There's actually four of them in there. And the fourth is the form of the Son of God, because the Son of God was with them in that fiery furnace. And what a beautiful story that is. And that speaks to us because any furnace that you go through, I can assure you that Jesus is right there with you in that trial. There's a personal fellowship. So, we can rejoice even in the midst of our sorrows because of our protected inheritance, our proven faith, our promised reward, our personal fellowship. But here's the last thing, our present glory, our present glory. Now, we know we're going to have a future glory. We know that. And we know that if we compare the groans of this present life, there's not word to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. Paul said that, right? So there's no comparison. The featherweight of our suffering can't in any way compare to that wonderful future glory that God's going to give every believer. But what Peter is talking about here is not that future glory, but the present glory. There's a sense in which we can get a little bit of that right now, here and now, that future glory. We can experience some of that. Notice in verse number nine, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." The word received, which means to obtain, entelios, the completion of something. And here, it's talking about the goal of salvation. What is it? It's glorification. That's the end. That's the completion of our salvation. Remember, it's in three stages, justification, sanctification, glorification. We have been justified. We are now being sanctified. And one day, we will be glorified. That's the end of our salvation. And so he says here, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Peter says, look, that future glorification, you want a little bit of it right now to kind of get a foretaste of glory? You can experience a little bit of heaven on earth, Peter was saying. You can experience some of that future glory. Someone said a little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. And so it's not enough that we long for heaven during times of suffering. Anybody can do that. What Peter urges his readers to do was to exercise love, faith, and rejoicing so that they might experience some of the glory of heaven in the midst of suffering right now. We can get it right now. A little taste of that future glory is what he's talking about. this present time to have that. So as believers, we can have joy even in times of sorrow because of our protected inheritance, our proven faith, our promised reward, our personal fellowship, our present glory. And I'll close with this. D.L. Moody, that great preacher, told of a wealthy couple whose only child died as a baby. They were brokenhearted, as any couple would be, and they were trying to fill the void that this left in their lives. And so they took a trip to the Holy Land. And there they saw a shepherd trying to coax some sheep across the stream, but the fast-running water frightened the sheep and they held back. And so the shepherd stooped down and took a little lamb in his arms, and then he crossed the river with that lamb in his arms. And the bleeding ewe mother, she watched her young lamb being taken away, and suddenly she lost all fear of the stream. She was looking where her treasure had gone, and she followed willingly right after that. And soon, the whole flock began to follow, one after the other on the other side. And here were these bereaved parents, and they were watching that whole thing. And suddenly, they realized what God was doing in their lives. He was making heaven more real. He was making heaven more significant to them. It had dawned on them that they had never entertained thoughts about heaven, about what it would be like in heaven. And so that spoke to their heart. And they returned home determined more than ever to spend their lives focusing on heavenly things, not on earthly things, not on the things around them. God may bring you through a season of sorrow because he wants your focus to be on your eternal inheritance and have an eternal look. So, you can rejoice even though you'll go through times of sorrow. You can still rejoice. You can still have that joy. Let's bow for prayer together tonight. Father, thank you for these precious promises. Thank you for the strength that you give us in times of trials. And Lord, we know that those seasons are not by accident. We know you're in control. Everything that happens in our life, Lord, you bring it because you have a purpose. You allow it. Because, Lord, you are doing something in us, a deepening work. And, Lord, the truth of the matter is, it's hard sometimes when we're living in this world. We get so distracted. with the things around us that we lose our eternal focus. So, Father, help us to remember the words of Peter, to remember, Lord, that the inheritance that we have, to remember the trying of our faith and the value of that. to know that we can have an intimacy, a closeness, a fellowship with you right now, we can get a little foretaste of glory right now because of you. Lord, let these words speak to every heart here tonight. If there's someone here going through a trial right now, Lord, may it strengthen them, may it help them. If there's someone that is sorry, sorrowing, Lord, help them to realize that deep down there's another stream going the other way. a stream of joy that they can tap into as children of God. And we pray all this in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen.