If you would take your Bibles tonight and go with me to Genesis chapter 3, Genesis chapter 3, we're going to get there in just a few moments, but I'll rehearse a little bit of our coming schedule. Next Wednesday night we have our week, or next week we have our Vacation Bible School, and so the evangelistic team, Brother Merrill and their evangelistic team will have the service next Wednesday night. And then I'll have another Wednesday night with you. And then we will have, there's about five or six Wednesday nights that I need to cover between now and our time of revival. Revival will be here before you know it. It is in September. And I believe it's September the 7th through the 10th. And we're looking at having Brother Ron to guard with us. Brother Ron is a tremendous preacher. And I look forward to having both he and his wife and family on team with us for that revival services and conference and then after revival Lord willing we're gonna have a little ladies Bible study. Miss Jan had emailed me and so I'm verbally confirming here in front of everybody, yes, we're a go for that. And so over the course of September, the latter part of September into October we'll have a ladies Bible study and it's been a great blessing to have the ladies teach and participate in that. So we'll do that then through the better part of the fall. So we'll have a separate study. But for six weeks that I have between now and then broken up by a couple of different Wednesday nights, I want to take some time and I've been studying on the issue of suffering for some time now, and I was specifically honing in on a specific individual. If I gave his name, I think all of you have heard of Job. It's not Job. It is Job, and you're very familiar with his circumstance and what he faced, and so I've been studying on his life and looking at the course of the events in his life, and really it has developed out to a broader theme of success in suffering. How can I have success while in a position of suffering? If I were to go through the audience tonight, and I were to ask for you to share, if you would, the different types of suffering that you have been through, I'm sure that we would find a very common theme to what we find in the scriptures. Suffering is not unique to the 21st century It is not unique to a certain family all of us at some point in time will face some form of suffering It takes us all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 and we begin in Genesis chapter 3 in verse number 6 with the source of the suffering so tonight there may be some that are suffering within their own families and You have a direct matter between you and your parents, you and your siblings, that is causing a time of tribulation, a time of trial, a time of intensive prayer. I heard from one dear individual this morning of a time of intensive prayer because of family matters. And so you may be in the middle of that right now. It may be something that you've shared with others. It may be something that you've really kept to yourself and just been praying for. And it could be a family matter. It could be a financial matter. Perhaps there's some reason why you've been behind the eight ball for financial reasons and you've been struggling to get by and to make things work. You've been eating ramen noodles for months now. And everyone just thought you were on the ramen noodle diet. And it's just something that's come into your life. And you say, Pastor, if I were to verbalize everything that's going on, I'd just have to really explain that I'm in financial duress. I'm in a time of tribulation with that. It can also be health related. There are no doubt seasons of health related issues. Those seasons tend to grow closer together as we get older and instead of those seasons being way spread out You know between my time that I was 18 and the time I'm 28 now it happens just about every single year and it changes As you get older and you face different things and you say pastor I'm going through a time of tribulation or trial a time of suffering related to financial issues family issues maybe health issues maybe mental strains emotional strains all different kinds of things but we find a root cause and that root cause is given to us here in Genesis chapter 3 verse number 6 we pick up our reading with the story the Bible says the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also under her husband with her and he did eat And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid. Before this time and before this decision, Adam had no need of fear. God came and walked with Adam on a daily basis. God created man for the purpose of communication and enjoyed that wonderful communication. But now Adam has a fear, because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. A bad choice. Men, don't underline that verse. Don't ever use that excuse, will not hold. You put yourself in great danger if you try to use that as an excuse for anything bad that happens, all right? It didn't work for Adam and it won't work for you, all right? Verse number 13, the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? The woman said, the serpent beguiled me and I did eat. The Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. And upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, now here we get to the matter at hand and the challenge of suffering that now enters the world. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. Thy desire shall be to thy husband. He shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it, curse it as the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also in thistle shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." When did the matter of trial and suffering begin? Adam and Eve sinned against Almighty God And as a part of the fall, the Bible says that man was facing the curse of sin. And so we see both to the woman and to the man, the word sorrow. Sorrows expand, sorrows abound, and there's a multitude of reasons why they now face tribulation, trial, and suffering. From that, and by way of introduction tonight, before we jump into the specific individuals, I want you to go through the Word of God with me and to see a lot of the key ingredients. We're gonna look at these principles in the lives of individuals over the next number of weeks, but I want you to travel and see them with me as we're here in Scripture. Take your Bibles and go with me to Romans chapter number eight. Romans chapter number eight. And we want to just travel a little bit and see this word or wording that is used in scripture that will help me understand the nature of suffering. Suffering has affected the world since Genesis chapter number six. Adam disobeyed God, Eve was deceived by Satan, and as a part of that punishment, there is this matter of suffering. Well, Romans chapter 8 and verse number 18, the Bible says, the Apostle Paul writing to the believers in Rome, he says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The wording here in Romans chapter 8 gives us indication that though our suffering may seem to be great and it may be as though it will never cease, that there is something even greater than our physical suffering or the present suffering that we have and it's compared to glory. We often sing the song, it will be worth it all. And we're going to look at the themes of Romans chapter 8 and verse number 18 as we walk through this. Look with me, if you would, at Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and verse number 3. Romans chapter 5, verse number 3. Again, on this theme of suffering, the Bible says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 3, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. knowing that tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. So again the Apostle Paul writing and saying there are things that you're going to learn through the times of suffering that you would otherwise not learn. And so he says, when you go through this, this matter of tribulation is going to work another item in your life that's necessary. That item is going to work another lesson, and then another lesson, and another lesson. And we see the benefits that actually come from the times of tribulation. Now look with me, if you would, at Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Romans chapter 8 verse 28 again the theme that you know well from different events that have recently occurred and difficulties People things that people have been through the difficulties of the diagnosis the difficulties of the death of a loved one The Bible says we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the cold According to his purpose, so I'm in the middle of the tribulation I'm in the middle of the trial and And I'm looking for God to teach me those lessons that will bring about the next lessons. I often equate this to taking the training wheels off of your bike. Now, if you never took the training wheels off, you might be successful in saying, I've never fallen over on my bike. But by the time you reach 35 years old, and we have the bike hike here at the church, and every other adult shows up with their two-wheeled bicycle, and you have your two-wheeled bicycle with training wheels on each side, you might say, hey buddy, why do you have training wheels on each side? Oh, well, I've never taken them off. I don't want to fall. Well, okay, you might not fall, but you might look a little bit silly going down Braddock Road, or not Braddock Road anymore, going down 123, and other people are riding by you. And if you'll get my drift with training wheels, you know, as it goes from one side to the other, others might be saying, hey, come on, buddy, you learn how to ride a bike, right? Well, I take them off and I might have a few bumps along the way. I might have a few bruises along the way. But there's another lesson that I'm going to learn because I've taken the training wheels off. By the way, if I could just insert this, this is the exact way that Christ discipled his disciples. It's interesting to me that you see some of the things duplicated in the disciples' lives as the Lord Jesus Christ is training them, he teaches them a lesson this one time. And I'm not going to give you all the passages and stories and everything. I'm just going to be generic about it. But time and again in the Gospels, you'll see Christ use an issue, and then they learn from it or should learn from it. And then right on the heels, you almost see another example of it. And Christ is seeking to teach them, listen guys, I tried to get you to trust me there. Now I've put you back in the same or similar circumstances. I want you to remember what happened last time and I want you to remember all these events because I'm Seeking to grow you one time on top of another we take the training wheels off our children fall over the side They want to throw their bike away. They want to crash it. They want to sell it They want to put it out of the yard sale. They want to put it out of the dump And through the course of time, we convince our children to get back on it one more time. And they get back on it one more time, they might crash again, but eventually they're able to ride their bike. And they're able to go around and say, mom, dad, look at me now. We rejoice in that they say you know what I don't like falling over So I'm gonna keep everything upright, and I don't like the bumps and the bruises all right So Romans chapter 8 verse number 28 tells us that all of these things are working together for our good now I'm gonna come back to Romans chapter 8 in a little bit But let's go on to a couple of others take your Bibles and go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 2nd Corinthians chapter number 4 Again, on this theme of suffering and laying the foundation for what Christ wants us to learn through these Old Testament and New Testament saints. I don't know what suffering you may be going through right now. It may have been verbalized to friends. You may have even put it out on social media. But perhaps no one tonight knows exactly what you're going through but the Lord Himself. So how do I deal with that? 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 17 and 18. How do I have success suffering look what the Bible says in verse number 17 for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory now I want you to just if you are in the habit of underlining this underline those first four words for our light affliction Take those four words and go through the life of the Apostle Paul from the time he was converted until the time he died. And the Apostle Paul says that his life was a light affliction. I haven't faced anything like the Apostle Paul faced. I haven't faced shipwreck. I haven't been beaten with the cat of nine tails. I haven't been put to death by my enemies. I haven't faced anything compared to the Apostle Paul. And he called it a light affliction. It worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. While we, here's what he says, look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Success in suffering. How would I have success in suffering? It's temporal and not eternal. It's temporal and not eternal. Take your Bibles and go with me, if you would, to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, and look at verses 3 and 4. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. The Bible says here, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. So it is you learning to ride the bike while the training wheels are on there. You take the training wheels off and you learn further and you become an expert. You've mastered the bicycle. And now someone else comes along and they're riding the bike with the training wheels. And that's exactly what the Bible's talking about here. We have been able to comfort them, which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. So how am I utilizing the suffering that I've been through? So often we become so inwardly focused through our suffering that we fail to see the ways that God is going to use that. in a future event and in a future opportunity to encourage somebody else. But that's exactly why God has allowed things to come into our lives that we might be a better servant in helping other people as well. Take your Bibles and go with me if you would to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Again, doing a good bit of traveling tonight and just laying the groundwork for the things that we'll see about each of these Bible characters. James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. This is the matter of trials. This is the matter of difficulties. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. You've heard this before from other preachers, but you don't want to pray for patience. Because the vehicle to patience is trial and tribulation. Lord, I don't need any more patience. I do not need patience. I'm good to go. I've got patience, you know. But boy, I tell you what, when we get on our knees and we say, Lord, give me patience through this difficulty, patience is often brought about with the vehicle of trials and tribulations. The Bible says, but let patience have her perfect work. that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Knowing this, the trying of your faith worketh patience." So what are you going through right now? What is God seeking to teach you in the middle of that suffering? How can I have success going through this time of suffering? And when I come out the other side, how can I be a benefit? to somebody else. Pastor, we're in the middle of a time with family trials, okay? What is God going to take and use that family trial to be a help to somebody else? What is God going to do through that financial time to be a help to somebody else? What is He going to teach you through that physical time to be a help to somebody else? Go over one more book, 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5, in verse number 10. First Peter chapter 5 and verse number 10. The Bible says, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, established, strengthened, settle you. This is maturing the believer. It is the passage of 2 Timothy chapter 3 and the Bible having its work in our lives that we might be fully matured because of the impact the Word of God is having. We see a lot of immature Christianity in the world today. Just frankly, there's a lot of immature believers. They find themselves trusting God when everything is on the mountaintop, And the moment that he goes into the valley, they have the similar phrase to what Job's wife said, just curse God and die. If this is the way God is going to treat me, then I don't want anything to do with him. I'm dropping out of church. I'm not going to read my Bible. I don't even know if there is a God anymore. And it's just very shallow in its Christian view. And God is saying, listen, I want to teach you lessons through this. That is the success in suffering that we're going to see in the lives of individuals They're made perfect. That is not sinless perfection. That is full and complete maturity Look back to first Peter chapter 3 if you would look at chapter 3 in verse number 14 First Peter chapter 3 in verse 14 the Bible says but and if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Look at the next phrase that's there in the next verse. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. We see God is at work, God has a plan, and He is working it out for my good and His glory. Just a couple more verses to share with you, and I'll just read these. John chapter 16, verse number 33. When the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to the disciples before his time with the cross and his death and his resurrection, John 16, 33, there in the garden, speaking to the disciples, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And so God was preparing them for those days ahead after his death and his burial and leading up to, of course, his resurrection on that Sunday morning, and then the time of his 40 days here on the earth where he interacted with the apostles, and then the time after. And they went through great tribulation and great persecution as they sought to win the world of Jesus Christ. Psalm 119, verse 71, listen to the psalmist. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. That just does not, that does not correspond to our normal thinking. It is good that I have been afflicted. What am I going to learn through this time of suffering? Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 11, a verse that tragically we learned often in times of disagreement with our parents. Now no chastening, for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So I am exercised when I am chastened by Almighty God. you might say you're on the treadmill of God's corrective influence. And He is directing you and your steps to be righteous or to be again righteous with Him. Now go back with me to one more passage, Romans chapter 8, and we'll finish here tonight. And I purposely ended with this, because through these times of suffering and through these times of tribulations, We might face discouragement. You'll hear someone say that they were depressed, that they were discouraged, that they were disheartened. A lot of terms that can be used there, but what does God tell you and me as a believer in the midst of suffering, in the midst of difficulties, in the midst of trials? Pastor, I just praise God I've been saved for 10 years and I haven't had one day of suffering. Okay, all right that maybe that's possible. Maybe that's possible, but I tell you what it's going to come You're going to face a time of difficulty a time of trial. You're going to face some kind of issue So whether we're in the middle of it now or coming out of it Or we're seeking to help somebody else. Here's our closing thought Romans chapter 8 verse 35, so I'm in the midst of tribulation. I'm in the midst of trial and Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The Bible says in verse number 37, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It's a two-fold stamp. in your life if you know Jesus Christ and you're going through these difficult times. Pastor, I'm going through a difficult time. Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Then let me convince you tonight or start the path of convincing you that even though these things seem daunting, it's your light affliction. Even though these things seem daunting, they are in the master plan of Almighty God. Even though these things seem daunting they cannot separate you from the love of God and Boy, I love that closing part which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Again that twofold confirmation the love of God which we have in Christ Jesus our Lord so you're looking down to the passage of Tell me from the passage, what can separate you from the love of God? The answer is what? Nothing. Nothing. Are there times of suffering? I would not be honest with anyone tonight if I got up in the pulpit and I preached the heresy that comes out of Houston, Texas. And Pastor Smiley, Because he is trying to convince the world that any suffering is just bad and you as a believer will live your life and you'll just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy and life is just wonderful and it's all a bed of roses. No, I'm going to take you through the scripture over the next number of weeks and we're going to see some of the most godly individuals that went through some of the most difficult times. But as we make our travels through the scriptures, and we see the themes and principles from these verses that I've shared for you tonight, in the end we understand that there are lessons. In the end, there are lessons that we can teach to others. And in the end, nothing can separate me from the love of my Savior. Nothing. Oh, but it looks really bleak, Pastor. It looks really bad. I don't know what the solution is. I've even thought of, and you fill in the blank with the myriad of ways that the world wants to solve their problems. And Christ Jesus says to us, or the Apostle Paul, the book of Romans, under the inspiration of Almighty God, nothing shall separate you from the love of God. I want to challenge all of us that if we're in the midst of suffering right now, okay, what is the success that God wants us to have out of that? Because I believe with all of my heart as we travel through the scriptures, that even though the devil meant for that suffering and that hardship that came to the world in Genesis chapter 3, he meant it for the destruction of creation. God has now used suffering to make us much stronger in our faith, in our focus, and in our future. And so I pray that God will use this study over the course of the next number of weeks. suffering. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time in this brief introductory time tonight to just walk through these verses and to lay down these principles related to suffering and to see how you would desire to use that suffering and difficulty to make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ. I did not read the verses tonight, but they are certainly there in the Word of God. that give to us the instruction that the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ is an example to us. And that if we follow in His example, there will be times of suffering. In fact, the Bible says, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And so, Lord, I pray that we would understand the light affliction that we've been faced with. And I pray, Lord, that we would grow and that we would come out successful on the other side in dealing with the suffering. Thank you for these dear folks and their investment tonight. We pray again for those away from us. We pray that you bless and direct in their lives as well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.