I Didn't Sign Up For This!

Thanks for listening! If you feel like the content is helpful, we would love it if you share it with your friends, subscribe, and provide a great review.

You can learn more about First Baptist Church of Mandeville, Louisiana here: www.fbcmandeville.org

You can hear Pastor Ronny's sermons here: https://www.youtube.com/@fbcmandeville/videos

You can listen to one-minute sermon clips here: https://www.youtube.com/@fbcmandeville/shorts

And you can contact us at info@fbcmandeville.org

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Passage

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in the Word. I'm Ronnie Cooksy. I didn't sign up for that. We're in 2 Timothy 2 these last two days, and in verse 1 we learned about being strong in the Lord, and in verse 2 we learned about God's purpose of multiplication in the world.

The Call To Soldier Like Endurance

SPEAKER_00 0:22

But then in verse 3, Paul says to Timothy and to us, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Well, Paul has credibility to make this claim. He's writing from jail to Timothy, and he's writing from jail because he has persevered in following Christ and preaching and teaching Christ, and so he's been jailed for it. So we have to listen to him because he's earned the right to be heard, and he's likely either looking at a Roman soldier or chained to a Roman soldier as he writes, and so he says to Timothy, Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ. And we say, I don't know about that.

Why Suffering For Christ Matters

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Well, it's a normal part of following Christ. It's one that we don't like, and it's okay that we don't want that, but I want to encourage you today as we take a moment to look at this. In Philippians chapter one, verse twenty-nine, the same Paul said, For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. So before you say no thanks, listen to this. You can refuse to suffer for the Lord, but it's not going to be worth it, because we will suffer one way or the other in this world, and so we want the sufferings that come from following Christ because they're accompanied by the deep and powerful grace and mercy of the Lord rather than suffering for the things that are our fault and for poor choices. In the Scripture and in the world around us, we see various kinds of suffering that Christians might endure imprisonment, torture, beatings, betrayal, sickness, slander, rejection, false accusation, difficult marriage or family relationships, discouragement, loss of job, spiritual warfare, extra pressures, and on and on.

The Many Forms Of Hardship

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Well, I'm sorry that's not very encouraging, but I want you to be encouraged that this is where the depths of the grace and the mercy of the Lord are to be found. So if you don't want to follow Christ, you will suffer. Actually, you'll suffer terribly. Even if you make enough money to throw at your life, it will still be a life of suffering, emptiness, and eventual sickness and death, as we all will end this life. But what do you take away from it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So you can suffer without any purpose or any gain or suffer for Christ. We don't go looking for suffering, we go looking to obey the Lord. But at times it will come to us. Sometimes we follow the Lord, and it seems like everything goes better. But then there are those days that surprise us when things seem to come crashing down, and we're reminded that we have to cling

Fix Your Eyes On Jesus

SPEAKER_00 3:14

ever so tightly to the Lord. In Hebrews twelve, two, it says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Can we really believe that? Was Jesus miserable? No. Do we want to be like him? Yes, but he bore a cross for us to get to the ultimate prize. Paul says in Romans eight eighteen, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Do you see it? He says, Don't suffer for sin. What good is that? Suffer for Christ. And then this beautiful line in Scripture if you reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Sometimes we miss getting the Spirit of glory and of God to rest on us because we refuse to follow God in a way that might bring discomfort.

Faith And Prayer When It Hits

SPEAKER_00 4:18

So the next time that you're happily following the Lord and you begin to realize you're suffering for doing good, know that you are in good company. All throughout the history of Scripture and throughout the history of Christianity, God's people have suffered, but it's always, always, always been worth it. Again, don't go looking to suffer, go looking to obey. And then when the suffering surprises you, raise up the shield of faith. Go to God in prayer, give it to Him, and declare that you will have faith in Him because you know He will see you through, and it will be worth it on the other end. God bless you. I'm praying for you right now, for those of you especially who may be today suffering because you're following after Christ. Let's rejoice and let's give it to God, and He will see you through, and it will

Closing Blessing And Encouragement

SPEAKER_00 5:10

be worth it. I'll see you back here tomorrow.