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Praise the Lord. Well, let's get ready to receive the Word of God. And we know that the Word of God is authoritative, it is inerrant, it's infallible, written by 40 authors over about 1,500 years. And as you read through the Bible, we know that every story whispers Jesus Christ's name. Isn't it true? Now we've been studying the Word of God for some of you for many, many years. And the beauty about it is that it is written by the Holy Spirit, is the author. When you meet the author, you really have a wonderful experience based on the Word of God as He reveals the Word of Truth to you. Isn't it true? It's not just intellectual information, but it's transformational and it changes us from the inside out. But we have to be willing to give him our heart. That's all he wants. He doesn't want anything else from you but your entire whole life. Okay? That's it. And when you give him your entire whole life, he reveals who he is to you in such wonderful, wonderful ways. The amazing, awesome riches of knowing Jesus Christ. And it'll take all eternity to really experience the wonder and amazement of who God is. And we are thrilled to know him today. Amen? And to love him and to have a personal, intimate relationship with him. And I want to encourage you that if you don't know Jesus, it's about time for Pete's sakes. Okay? You've been living this life long enough. Get to know Jesus because he is awesome. All right, we're going to continue our look at 1 Peter, and we really hope and pray that you've been enjoying this. 1 Peter chapter 4. And we'll look at verses 12 to 16 today. I read a story of a young man that looked forward to joining the U.S. Marine Corps. And his family was behind him. He talked it up at school. He uh was really excited. He felt passionate about his future. But after three weeks in boot camp, he wanted out. He had enough. He threw in the towel. And after he got an administrative discharge, he said to his family and to his friends, I didn't know it would be that hard. And like that recruit, many Christians are surprised and even shocked, stunned by the adversity, the hostility, the harassment, the persecution that is felt and experienced when you give your heart to Jesus Christ. Just as this young man should have known what he was getting into, we too have been warned that the life of a follower of Christ is not full of fun and games, is it? It's not all blessing, 24-7. It's hard, hard work following Christ, and we need to count the cost, and we need to look at the price. Luke 14, 12 to 8 says, Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it. Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. We all know folks that might have given their heart to the Lord, but because of the cares of the world, because of the attacks of the enemy, because of persecution and harassment and ostracism from our culture, they have left the faith and they no longer serve Jesus Christ. I went to uh Bible college with an individual that roomed with me, and he went through some hardships. A couple of family members died, and as he was in the Assemblies of God seminary, graduated with a degree in biblical literature, he did not step foot in the church after that. He was bitter. He didn't get better, he got bitter and resentful because of all the adversity and all the harm and all the trial and the tribulation that hit him. Friends, we're gonna read 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12 to 16, and it's gonna be a beautiful illustration that trouble will come your way, trial will come your way, temptation will come your way, tribulation will come your way. But in all of it, we thank God that God is with us and he will never, never leave us, and he will lead us and direct us toward himself and give us the grace and the comfort and the wisdom and the insight to see us through. Isn't that something? Many of us have experienced tragedy, have experienced horrific things that have happened in our lives. And you sit here and you're in that time, you probably wondered, how in the world am I gonna get through this? And during it, many, many questions, many, many doubts, many fists raised to God, but in the end you fell on your knees and said, Who else am I gonna turn to? Who is gonna see me through but the God that loves us and the God that knows us and the God that sees us? Amen. Let's read 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12. Beloved, I love that word. We don't normally use that word in our conversation in these days. Beloved, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. What else do you need in this world but the Spirit of God and the Spirit of glory resting on you? Amen? But let none of you suffer as an idiot, or as a doofus, or as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or a meddler. As you well know, I paraphrase that with those two words. Okay, we'll get back to Scripture. Let's read verse 15. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Lord, we thank you that when we read your word, it is alive and it is living and it is active in our hearts today to mold us and shape us into the image of Jesus Christ. Lord, every day we wake up, we make a new claim of you as our Lord and our Savior. And we know that the world has its ways of bringing pain and hurt into our lives, arguments and speculations. There's powers and dominions and authorities that are working against us, knowing you, working against us to live in this kingdom that you have given us, working against us to deny you and to turn away from you because of the overwhelming trial and struggle that we face. But God, we determine today that we will serve you in all situations, in everything that we're dealing with today, in our circumstance, we give you praise and adoration as the one true God, and we praise you that you are worthy of all of our praise, all of our affection, everything that we are. We give you glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial. This word, beloved, is a great, great word. This word speaks of the fact that when you give your heart to Jesus Christ, you are his. Amen. He has sealed you by the Holy Spirit. You are accepted, you belong to him. He is the one that died for you, that paid the price, the ransom price for your life, and now you are his. The Bible says that our life is hidden with Christ in God. Now, is that a beautiful sense? Amen. There's nothing that can come against you that would deter you. There's nothing that would come against you to defeat you. There's nothing that would come against you in this life that would cause you to turn away, because Romans tells us that the love of Christ is awesome, right? And the love of Christ will never leave you nor forsake you. He loves you today. We are beloved. And that word has this sense that you are valued, that God sees your worth, that you're precious, that you are wonderful in his eyes. And sometimes when we look in the mirror, that doesn't come all the way, right? We sometimes have a low self-esteem, a low self-image of ourselves. But our self-image doesn't come from what we've done or what people have told us or who we think we are. Our self-image comes from the fact that we have a God image in us, amen? The Holy Spirit. And the way we look at ourselves today is we identify with who God says we are. We are his child. Amen. We are sons and daughters of God. We are redeemed. We are forgiven. We are pardoned. We are healed. We are delivered. And this is an awesome, awesome fact for us today, friends, that we are his. We are his beloved. He loves you. And we see his love as we look to the cross. Jesus. Daryl talked about him. Jesus. On the throne, filled with majesty and glory, the second person of the Godhead, who is God, stepped off his throne, became man, so that we would know him. And the Bible tells us as we look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when we see Jesus, we see God. Amen. And we thank God for everything that he has done for us. And we give him praise and we give him adoration today. He is the one that has won our salvation. And it is wonderful. So the Bible says, don't think it's strange. Now, probably everybody in this house of the Lord today, when trials come, we have said, What in the world is going on? Why am I going through this? Wow. And then we got to like regulate ourselves and recalibrate ourselves to the fact that God knows everything that's going to happen to us. God understands what we're going through. And we're going to see that God uses every trial and tribulation to form the life of Christ in us. The greatest thing for you as a believer is that you'll get to know Jesus more and more in a greater way. Amen? Come to this wonderful revelation of who Jesus is. Our prayer is that he opens the eyes of our heart. Amen? Yeah, our heart. I better take it easy. Our heart, amen? The eyes of our heart is opened to the great revelation of who Jesus Christ is, the unsearchable riches of who Jesus is. He is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of who God is. When we get to know Jesus, we get to know God. Amen? And he brings us into fellowship with himself. Don't think it's strange. So if you're if you're pondering your life situation and things aren't going well for you, you're in a test. How many in school were great at tests? We got one person. Okay. I am glad that I'm hanging out with you guys, that's for sure. Yes. A test really proves what you know, right? A test really gives you an idea of where you stand with the information and instruction that you have. A test that we go through when it concerns trials and tribulations reveals the genuineness of our faith. Amen. The genuineness of our faith. If you flip over to John, no, John. Peter, if you flip over to 1 Peter, verse 3, it says this Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy. Aren't you glad for the mercy of God? Amen. We haven't received judgment. We haven't received wrath. We haven't received chastisement. That was put on Christ for us. Now, because of his great mercy, we stand. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. Ephesians chapter 2 says we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God has quickened us, God has resurrected us. God has caused us to be born again. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Amen. What a great, great experience we have of going through trials and tribulations and living our lives for the glory of God, for the honor of God. And when we see Him face to face, we can say, He can say to us, Well done, a faithful and true servant. Amen. Oh, what a great God we serve. And here it is, friends. That the tested genuineness of your faith. How do you know your faith is genuine? How do you know your faith is authentic? It's how you respond to suffering. Every one of us can be up on the mountain with tambourines shouting, glory, hallelujah. Woo-hoo! Praise God! Yay! I've been in several services on a Sunday night, praising the Lord, hooping and hollering. Grew up in a crazy church where women would fall over under the Spirit of God, and there'd be a guy with a curtain to go over because our legs would fly up in the air, we go down like this. And there was craziness. But you know what? We love to seek God. And with the craziness was definitely teaching on how to do things decently and in order, no doubt. But we praised God. We loved God. We praised Him with all of our might and we allowed Him to move upon our hearts. And this is the this is the key. Be guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you have been grieved by various trials. And then let's flip over. Let's flip over to uh James. James chapter one. Now, if you've never read this verse, you're gonna go, what? You're gonna go, what? Okay? Alright? James chapter 1, verse 2. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect or mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, for he is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. We go through trials and tribulations, and here's the beauty of it we can ask God for wisdom and insight on what in the world he is doing with us and to us and for us as we go through this trial and go through this tribulation. Amen? The worldly response is that we run. The worldly response is that we dumb our emotions and our pain. The worldly response is that we numb ourselves, maybe with illicit relationships or with alcohol or with drugs or with other things that feed into our uh situation for a moment. But for the believer in Jesus Christ, we go to God and we say, God, I know I'm going through this. It's overwhelming for me right now, but I'm counting it all joy because I know that you're gonna fulfill your will and your way for my life. And through this, I will go from grace to grace, faith to faith. You'll build me, you'll strengthen me, and I'll have a greater determination to live for you with all of my might and everything that is within me. Amen. Everything. The fiery trial. This is an interesting, interesting thing. A fiery trial. Let's read it again. First Peter chapter 4, verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. See, what was happening in this day and age is that there was persecution, there was harassment, there was ostracism. Many believers were displaced, many believers were uh beaten, many believers were martyred because of their faith in Jesus Christ. And for those that have accepted Christ, they thought, okay, my life is going to be a bowl of cherries now and perfect because God is with me. That's not what the Bible tells us, is it? In fact, if you live righteously and claim God is your Savior, guess what? There'll be an attack on your life like you've never, never experienced before. Talk to many, many people that have given their lives to Jesus Christ, and their lives, in their opinion, have been worse off because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Yeah, that's gonna happen because guess what? You're in a fight. And whenever I was in a fight in high school, somebody punched me, I said, Woohoo! I'm in a fight. It's on. Amen? It's on. And for the believer, we have this sensation that we love fighting against evil. We love the fight because we know that we have the power and the victory and the dominion and the authority, amen? And the ability to overcome every struggle, every situation, every attack of the enemy against us, because Jesus has won the victory. And now we walk in triumphant procession behind him. Amen? And we we follow hard after God with everything, with everything that we are. Fiery, fiery trial. Now, if you take a blacksmith, they take uh all the ore from the earth and they burn it, they put it in the furnace and burn it with high, high, high degrees of fire, degrees of heat. And what happens is the dross comes to the surface and they wipe that away, and eventually, eventually, pure gold comes forth. Pure silver. And when the blacksmith looks into this boiling cauldron, and when he sees his face, he realizes that it is pure. Amen. This is the wonder of Christ's work in us. Yeah. He brings trials and tribulations. You'll suffer trials and tribulations, but what he wants is to take away all the dross of our old life, all the remnant of our filthiness of our past. Amen. He wants to wipe that away. He wants to take our flesh and uh subdue it. He wants to wipe all the things of the past away, and so pure gold comes up. And when he sees in our lives the image of himself, he is pleased and he is victorious. Amen. When I was growing up, I did a lot of mischievous things for my mother, with my mother, against my mother. He used to beat me with the with the wooden spoon. And I remember coming home one day because I hid the wooden spoon under my father's recliner. And when he came home one day, he sat in his chair and I heard the snap. I heard the crack. And I stood up and I said, Yes, the wooden spoon has been defeated. Right? And then uh this really happened. My mother went into the kitchen. And it seemed to me like she brought out a bigger wooden spoon. She was ready. She was ready. Amen. She was ready. But friends, God is gonna work on us. And he's gonna get all these uh selfish intentions, self-reliance out of our heart. Selfishness is sin because it sets us up as Lord and as Master. And we all know that if we set ourselves up as Lord and Master, our intentions and the devices that we choose, the choices that we make lead us down a road that is hurtful, harmful. And we all can give give give credence to the fact that we've walked down roads that brought harm and hurt in our lives because of our selfishness. Amen. But thank God when God turns his fire on us, he wipes away the dross. And the greatest, greatest thing for a believer today is that God looks at us and sees himself. Amen? Conform to the image of Jesus Christ. When we feel his favor, when we feel his blessing, when we feel his acceptance, and we know that we're pleasing him, it gives him great honor and great glory. If you're doing something that you know is wrong and against the word of God, immediately stop it. Stop it. And begin to live your lives for the glory of God. His fiery trial is burning and it is wonderful. Christ sits before the fire of our trials just as a refiner oversees that furnace, he intensifies the heat. God allows believers to face tough circumstances so that Christ can ultimately see his own likeness in us. And here's the thing God sees the clock, and he has his hand on the thermostat. Amen? And he knows what he's doing with your life. And in your pain and in your sorrow, you can say, God, maybe in my emotions, I'm not really there in fully trusting you. But the declaration and the proclamation of my faith says, I trust you. Amen. I trust you in all things. I don't lean on my own understanding. I acknowledge you in all my ways, and you will direct my path. You will lead me, and you will guide me. Ah, fiery trials. Are you glad for the fiery trial that you're going through? The Bible says, rejoice. This word is not, yeah, it's okay. I'll get through it. I'm suffering. But I know God is God. You know? It's not that kind of rejoicing, because that's not rejoicing. Amen. The word rejoice here speaks of cheerful leaping for joy. Now, isn't that crazy? It's crazy. Let's flip over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 16. There are some crazy verses in the Bible. When you read them in your natural self, you say, like I said before, what? But when the Holy Spirit moves on your heart, gives you the faith to believe, gives you the faith to walk in them, it is awesome. Here it is, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 16. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit. Hold fast to what is good. Do not despise prophecies. Abstain from every form of evil. Rejoice always and pray without ceasing. We need to get in the habit of choosing joy. Amen? Instead of the habit of choosing desperation. In the natural, our mindset is geared towards complaining and grumbling. And we talked about that last week. And I want to see how you did this week with your grumbling and complaining. Remember, we said not to grumble and complain all week. How many didn't complain once? How many complained? I did. I think probably started complaining on Monday. And the Lord said, What did you just preach about, dude? You said it last Sunday, right? It's just natural, man. It's natural. We've talked about it before. The brain can take in about a thousand words a minute. 75, 80% of those are negative. So we have to have the mind of Christ, the mindset to choose thanksgiving, to choose praise, to choose our words that declare the faithfulness of God and the character of God. We rejoice always. Now, I don't think we should rejoice for things that are hurtful or painful. We rejoice in it. Amen? But we rejoice this way, knowing that God is going to lead us, God is going to direct us, God is going to see us through. Sometimes we go through life like we're in a tunnel. And we're just praying, Lord, can there be a light at the end of the tunnel? So I see you. Amen? Listen, the greater the darkness of your trial and tribulation will be the greater evidence and impact and influence of the light of Christ, the gospel, when he sees you through. Amen? And brings you into the light of his will and his way for your life. And it is it is awesome. Refining process. That's beautiful. Amen. Let me see if we can get her on the audio. Yeah, all right. Woo! Out of the mouth of babes. Ordain praise. Amen? All right. Praise God. Yes. Let's turn over to Matthew 5 and we'll begin to close. Peter is specifically talking here about harassment, insult, ostracism, persecution for your stance for Christ. We live in a day right now where there's a withholding of the persecution and harassment of believers that live for Christ. But there'll come a day when there's persecution, when there's suffering, when there's harassment. We see it, we see it coming. But even though we see in our natural eyes the kingdom of darkness working, we see through the eyes of our heart that the kingdom of God is always victorious, always moving forward. Amen. The Bible says that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. We don't run away from gates, we attack the gates. Amen? And here's the thing the Old Testament, all the leaders of the city, of the villages used to meet at the gate, strategize, make plans and purposes for that city. The enemy of our soul strategizes and has tactics to defeat you, to tear you down, to bring death and destruction to your life. But the wonder of the work of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has come to destroy the works of the enemy. Amen? To destroy the works of the devil against your life and uh and your family and your walk with Christ. Alright, where did I say I was going? That was a test, and you passed. Amen. Alright. Matthew chapter 5. There are some verses in the Bible that we kind of read over really, really quick because we don't really want to dive into the depth of what Christ is speaking. Christ said some wild, wild stuff. And as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we need to take in all of the words of Christ so that we might live for Christ. Here it is in verse 10, Matthew chapter 5, verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Here it is again. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Amen? Ah, we live for the glory of God, don't we? We live for the honor of Christ. There was a church in Russia during the Soviet Union, and there were armed men that barged in with guns. And they asked everybody in the congregation to deny Christ or die. And half of the folks that were in there denied Christ, and half said, no, we will die. And they took their masks off, and it was the elders and some leaders of the church that wanted to make a point that the Bible says that if you deny me before men, I'm gonna deny you before my father. Scary, scary words. Amen. Let's practice. Let's practice the presence of God. Let's practice talking to people about Jesus. Let's practice. So if men come in here with masks and guns, we will say, I will never recant and deny my Savior before men. I am his and he is mine. Amen? Man, what a great, great God we serve. We can claim that I will die for Christ. I'm gonna die for Christ. I'm gonna die for Christ. But yet we can't even come out to a weekly meeting of church folk that are gathering together. Amen. I'm gonna die for Christ. But you know what? I'm too busy. I'm too busy to fellowship with the church, the church people, but I'll die for him. Hey, I will die for him. But you know what? I can't give any money to the church because my bills are kind of, you know, I can't do that. Um, I'm gonna die. I'll die for Christ. But I don't have time to read the word of God, or I don't have time to talk to him, my savior and the lover of my soul, but I'll die for Christ, you know. Here's the thing it doesn't matter if you die for Christ. What he wants is that you live for Christ. Amen. And here's the thing, friends. Let's live for Christ. When we live for Christ, there'll be no shadow of doubt. And like the early martyrs that were put in the in the arena with tigers, lions, and bears, they grasped their hands and they ran because they knew that they would see Jesus face to face, their Lord and their Savior. Amen? Friends, if you're living for Jesus today, there'll be no doubt that you can die for him. But let's live for him. Amen. And as we live for him, there will be persecution, there'll be harassment, there'll be ostracism. Bring it on, it's gonna be great, because we will experience the very glory of the Lord and experience the Spirit of God like we've never ever experienced before. Amen. Worship team, come on up and let's pray. Lord, we love you today. We thank you. You never leave us nor forsake us. You said in your word that you will, he who began a good work, will continue it until we see you face to face. Lord, we know that trials and tribulations can be hurtful, can weigh down on us, can bring anxiety and depression into our hearts and lives. But God, it's an opportunity to know your power and your authority and your grace. And we thank you, Lord, today for the trials that we're facing right now, whether they be financial, whether they be with health issues, whether they be with broken relationships, whether they be trials at work. We know, oh God, that you're forming us and you're molding us and you're shaping us, and that's what we need, that's what we want, because we want a greater revelation of you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior, our great God. And we give you praise in Jesus' name.