“This is the amazing story of God’s grace. God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ. Then, again by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace. -Jerry Bridges”
1. Learn to apply humility in your suffering
v 6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”
Humility then Exaltation
1 Pet 5:5 “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
proper time
Jesus said it: Matt 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
2. Learn to surrender your worry in your suffering
v.7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Anxiety: Worry. to be apprehensive, have anxiety, be anxious, be (unduly) concerned.
What am I to do with anxiety? “casting it”
Phil 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Matt 6:33-34 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
3. Learn to Stand Strong in your Suffering
v.8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
1 Pet 5:1 “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:”
Stand against what? The devil. (*See Footnote)
Be Sober-minded
Be watchful
Be Resisting (firm in your faith).
4. Learn to deepen your trust
v.10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Trust God for His perfect timing - “in a little while”.
Trust God for His personal Work: What will he do? He will... Restore, Confirm, Strengthen, Establish.
HE “will HIMSELF” DO THIS!
Matt 13:41-43 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
“God loves the church with a love too deep for human imagination: He loves her with all His infinite heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage...” ― Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening.
Job 42:10-17 “And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him....And Job died, an old man, and full of days.…”
Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.” Whatever begins with God’s grace leads to God’s glory --Jonathan Edwards
*Footnote:
Is the Devil at Work?:
In Season 1 of Drag-Net, 1967, as Joe Friday, discussed the problem of rising crime in Los Angeles, one of the city leaders said,
“What it boils down to, is the new morality. A whole new sense of values, kids see see it on television, in magazines, you even hear from the pulpit: ‘God is dead.’ [Now] drug addiction is mind expanding. Promiscuity is glamorous, even homosexuality is praiseworthy. How are you gonna fight that?” (Season 1 episode 16 the big kids, 1967. 2:58.00.)
According to the billboard in town, the sponsors of the Pride event are:
Phillips 66 - Board of directors, https://investor.phillips66.com/corporate-governance/default.aspx#section=board. BoardofDirectors@p66.com
Safari smiles children’s dentistry, Dr. Jon Lindblom info@safarismilesok.com
State Farm, Jim Moore. https://www.statefarm.com/agent/us/ok/bartlesville/jim-moore-9p3sg1ys000 , customersolutions@statefarm.com
Grand mental health. https://www.grandmh.com, https://www.grandmh.com/leadership/
Advanced Skin & Body Spa. https://advskinandbody.glossgenius.com/contact
Delaware Tribe Family and Children’s services. fcs@delawaretribe.org
Key Individuals: Stacy Lewallen, Jeffrey Gersh & Tracy Jenks, Sheena Hayes & Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, Price Connors & Martin Smith.
According to Bartlesville City Ordinance:
"Lewd" means licentious, lecherous, dissolute, debauched, impure, salacious or pornographic.
Every person who willfully either lewdly exposes his person, or private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby, or procures, counsels, or assists any person to lewdly expose himself, or to make any other exhibition of himself to public view, or to the view of any number of persons such as is offensive to decency, or is adapted to excite vicious or lewd thoughts or acts, shall be guilty of an offense against the City of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
(Ord. No. 2627, § 1, 21688)
Every person who conducts himself in a lewd manner, or in any manner suggestive of lewdness, shall be guilty of an offense against the City of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
(Ord. No. 2628, § 1, 2-16-88)
(5) Lewd act .— The term “lewd act” means— (A) any sexual contact with a child; (B) intentionally exposing one’s genitalia, anus, buttocks, or female areola or nipple to a child by any means, including via any communication technology, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, or degrade any person, or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person; (C) intentionally communicating indecent language to a child by any means, including via any communication technology, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, or degrade any person, or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person; or (D) any indecent conduct, intentionally done with or in the presence of a child, including via any communication technology, that amounts to a form of immorality relating to sexual impurity which is grossly vulgar, obscene, and repugnant to common propriety, and tends to excite sexual desire or deprave morals with respect to sexual relations.