Losing EverythingGC
Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 9:00am to 6:00pm PST
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1 Peter 4:12
1 Peter 4:12 NLT
Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
Hebrews 11:35-37
Hebrews 11:35-37 NLT
Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.
1 Peter 4:13
1 Peter 4:13 NLT
Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
Be very glad... Rejoice
Suffering is what connects us with Christ. Is it in our crisis that we discover that God is small enough for me. His pain makes him able to understand ours.
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1 Peter 4:14-19
1 Peter 4:14-19 NLT
So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people's affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's Good News? And also,"If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?" So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
Be ready to trust, Embrace, Confess
Embrace - It is a privilege to suffer. Confess - It is a consequence of my sin.
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1 Peter 5:6-10
1 Peter 5:6-10 NLT
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.