Why don't you open up to 1 Peter, where we're at. 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 13 to 17. The sermon is entitled, Suffering for Righteousness. I don't think the one in the bulletin is right, but that's the correct title. Suffering for Righteousness. And just follow along as I read. Here's what it says, starting with verse 13 of chapter 3. It says, Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for doing good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed, and do not fear their intimidations, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. And keep a good conscience, so that in the things in which you are splandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right, rather than for doing what is wrong. You know, I don't watch a lot of movies, and I recommend even fewer, but one that I do suggest that you rent is End of the Spear. filmed in the jungles of Panama is visually and technically a very good movie, but more impressive is its content, which is true. It recounts the story of five American missionaries, Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, Roger Udarian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCauley, who died at the hands of the Wadani Indians. Now the Wodani were infamous for being furious. They warred constantly among themselves and others and it was said in the movie that half of the people died by spear attacks. As a matter of fact, attacking neighbors, villages and retaliation was just part and parcel of the Wodani's life. They mention in the movie that grandfathers were very rare because almost no men lived to be the age of being grandparents because they would be killed before that. Now, the movie picks up shortly before the deaths of these five missionaries, and it follows afterwards in the widows deciding to move in among the Waodani to share Christ and to help them in the ways that they can. Until the point where the tribe was converted for the most part, and even those who murdered these five missionaries came to Christ. By the way, it's interesting to see, if you see the movie, to know that the one narrating it is Steve Saint, the actual son of Nate Saint, one of the men who died. And he has a small cameo appearance in the movie, and if you watch that, look for that, and see if you can figure out which one he is. Like I said, I think it's one of the best Christian movies I've seen, because it's professional and doesn't have that cheesy feel that so many Christian movies do, like Left Behind and that type. But it's also powerful in that it shows what God can accomplish through his people when they suffer well, for the sake of righteousness. But you know, I wonder when it comes to persecution and suffering for our faith, if Americans tend to think only in the extreme terms of death and beatings and imprisonment, I wonder do we recognize those lesser forms that come our way, ridicule from relatives, slander, snide remarks and comments, rolling of eyes and so on and so on. But you know, Whether it is the lesser persecutions and antagonisms or the greater, it really is all the same suffering for righteousness. And according to the Bible, this is part and parcel of our life as Christians. Paul said that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And Jesus said that if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world for this reason, the world hates you. He went on to say that the reason people hated him was because ultimately they hated his father, God as well. You see, suffering for righteousness is a given for the Christian life. But listen carefully, what is not a given is that you do it well. You will suffer, but your faith surviving and thriving in the midst of it is not a guarantee. As a matter of fact, Jesus warned in his parable of the soils that many would hear the message and they would receive it gladly. But later, when afflictions and persecutions arise because of the word, they would immediately fall away. But Jesus also went on to warn and to tell us that in the midst of persecution, it was the one who endured to the end who should be saved in the final analysis. In other words, maintaining our faith during suffering and persecution is required to be saved in the end. It's persevering faith that shows that we've truly been born again. But folks, that being the case, it's essential that you understand how to go through suffering for righteousness successfully. What do you need to know? What helps to remember? What kind of response does God expect us to make? James said about suffering, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Because suffering in this way is certainly going to come into your life if it hasn't already. And because we're living in an increasingly hostile American culture, the intensity is going to increase. It's essential that you understand and give attention to this portion of God's Word this morning. And we're going to ask for God's wisdom, some of that wisdom that James promises first, so that we can understand the text when we get into it. Why don't you join with me? Father, I do pray for wisdom. You told us if we asked, and asked with faith, that you would give it to us. You wouldn't stick it back in our face and reproach us for not asking sooner and not being wise enough. Instead, Lord, you would give us all the wisdom we need. I pray that you'd grant it to us now. Lord, there's people in our church who have gone through some of this. There's all of us who are going to face it probably in the near future. And we're going to need to know these things so that we don't crumble in the midst of it. I pray that you'd give us the grace that we need, even right now, for asking Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the question I'm asking is this, simply, what do you need to survive and thrive as you face suffering for righteousness? And here's the first thing, if you want to write it down. The first thing you're going to need is you have to see the value in it. You have to see the value in it. And this is going to be 13 to 14. It's not, listen carefully, it's not suffering that causes people to give up. It's when they see no point in their suffering. I recall hearing about a woman who was carrying a child and she was far along in the pregnancy and the baby actually died in her womb. And she had to carry it for a while longer, knowing that at some point she was going to give birth to a dead child. Now, giving birth is a horrendous experience involving much suffering and pain, but can you imagine how that must have been intensified and multiplied, knowing that there would be no result that was good in the end. I mean, Job's problem was not so much that he suffered intensely, though it was intensely, but rather that to him it seemed so pointless. The man, Dr. Paul Brand, who wrote a book entitled Pain, the Gift that Nobody Wants. You know, you could just as easily write a book entitled Suffering for Righteousness, the Experience that No One Would Rather Have. I mean, who wants to be hated? Who wants to be mocked? Or excluded by their family? I don't enjoy being despised or ridiculed or having people look away from me at the grocery store. I doubt there's anyone who would have slander high on their list for best summer activities. By the way, did you guys hear about Ken Lay, that he died? Do you know who Ken Lay is? He was one of the men on trial for the Enron scandal and he was found guilty. And he was soon to be sentenced in three months. But he cheated the investors again, he died of a heart attack this week. Now I got a question, was it fear of prison? Perhaps. Was it the stress of the trial? I'll bet that's laid into it. But I would guess that it had a lot to do with the shame and the hatred that he bore from people who were very angry with him. He was despised and shamed, but his was for doing what was wrong. The Christian is actually shamed and despised for doing what's right. Now when Peter comes to this issue, though, he, of suffering for righteousness, he's both an optimist and a pessimist, or an optimist and a realist. He's an optimist because he starts by asking this question. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for doing what's right? Now, you remember last week we defined righteousness in this context as treating others the way we should, both with justice and mercy. And what Peter is saying here is if you treat people fairly and kindly and really go out of your way to be good to them, who's going to hate you for that? Look, we can go a long way You can go a long way in getting along with unbelievers, even if they're suspicious of you, by being fair and kind and gracious and even good to them when they're bad to you. I mean, imagine that you have a neighbor who really doesn't like those Jesus freaks. But you go out of your way to help him. You plow his driveway in the winter. Your wife bakes cookies and brings them over and occasionally offers to watch their kids while they go out. You see him over there in the spring pounding a well, and you decide to go out and help him for half a day. He needs a pickup, and you've got an old one that you're selling, and you sell it to him for less than the value. He knows that, and you know that. Now, won't those things tend to soften him towards you in the message? By the way, this approach is commanded in the Old Testament. In Exodus 23 and 4 and 5, it says, if you meet your enemy's ox or donkey wandering away, you will surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you will surely help him release it. I mean, a modern version of that would be, you see the guy who can't stand your guts, you're driving down the road and he's on the side with his hood up and steam coming out, you stop to see if he needs help. Jesus said we're supposed to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But you know, Peter's also a realist, for he goes on to say, but even if you do suffer for the sake of righteousness, which implying you will at times, you're blessed. See, when those times come when you have to suffer for doing what's right, you're not supposed to get wigged out, we're not supposed to fall into self-pity, which is really common. Because we're not doing what's wrong, and it's not that we've displeased God, rather it shows that He's actually blessing us. What he's saying is this. He's saying rather than evidence that we're doing wrong, getting in trouble for your Christian faith may be evidence that you're doing right and God is actually working through you. I mean, think about it. The Bible says all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Wouldn't that likely be the case? Then the more godly you become, the more likely you'll face persecution? Pastors shouldn't be controversial. If a lot of people dislike you and speak ill of you, you're probably a bad pastor. Was Jesus controversial? What did they say of him? Crazy, demon-possessed, drunk. What did they think of Paul? Troublemaker, pest, trying to destroy Judaism. Peter says if you suffer for righteousness, you're blessed. Why? I'm going to give you three things under this first point. First of all, you're blessed because it proves that you're making a difference. It proves that you're making a difference. You know, in the battlefields in World War II, when you had armies meeting each other, especially the soldiers, some would be armed with rifles, some would be armed with machine guns. Those who manned the machine guns didn't usually last long. Because they were the greater threat when you're facing the enemy, and so you'd try to take them out as quickly as you can. I think it was Joe that was telling me somebody that he knew had an automatic rifle, and it can shoot either as a rifle or automatic, and he tried it once as an automatic, drew so much fire, he said he never did that again, did he, Joe? He said, from that point, just single shots, and I hope to make it through this war. Now, it doesn't make sense that Satan doesn't waste his energy on churches and pastors and Christians that aren't making a difference. But if you start to pray, if you start to teach and preach what the Bible actually says, you're going to find yourself in the crosshairs of the devil often. Do you remember the story of Acts? In the story of Acts and the seven sons of Sceva? That's a hard thing to say. These were guys that were going around and they were casting out demons. Evidently, they weren't believers, and so they'd go around and they'd say, we cast you out in the name of Jesus, who Paul preaches. Talk about second, third hand, huh? And they came to one demon and they said this, and the demon said, look, I know who Jesus is, and I recognize Paul, but who are you? And he beat the tar off the guys. I love that story. Oh, man. Luther, he was convinced that the devil was always dogging him. On one occasion, when he was writing, he got so angry, he threw an inkwell up against the wall and made a big stain. They used to show people, this was the inkwell stain. And people think, well, Luther just had an overactive imagination. No! Luther was the most important man in the Reformation at that time! Don't you think that Satan himself would have had his attention drawn to Luther? Wow. The second reason that it shows that you're blessed when you suffer for the sake of righteousness is because you're going to be rewarded in the end. The Bible says we will reign with Him if we suffer with Him. Paul said that he considered that the suffering of this present world was not worthy to be compared to the glory that was to follow. In fact, Jesus Himself said that rather than being resentful or sad, He said that, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted The prophets who were before you. You see, you're in line with the godly men of old, when people hate you for the sake of righteousness. A third reason we're blessed is because through this process, God is going to grow your faith and change your character. If you have your Bibles there with you, turn and hold it on to 1 Peter there, but turn over to Romans, chapter 5. Romans 5, 1 to 5 kind of sums up this process of how God uses testings and tribulations and sufferings to shape us to be the people that he wants us to be. Romans 5, starting with verse 1. It's talking about how we're justified, declared righteous in God's sight by our faith in Christ, through our faith in Christ. Here's what it says, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom also we obtain our introduction into the faith in which we now stand, and we hope in the glory of God." In other words, what we live for is the glory of God. That's our ultimate hope. But notice what else he says. Not only do we exult in the hope of the glory of God, not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. We thrill in our tribulations? What kind of person wants tribulations and difficulties and hardships? A masochist? Well, or maybe one who knows something about this process. We exult in our tribulation knowing that tribulation brings about what? Perseverance. That means just staying under it. See, the problem is so often in our Christian faith, when things get hard, we want to chuck it all, we want to say, I got to get out of this. I got to get out of this relationship. I can't put up with this non-Christian man. I got to get out of this job. I just got to run. I've had people tell me that in their experience, one of the things they always did when they got into trouble, they just run. My uncle did that. He used to just run. He would run away from home as an adult. Ran off with some girl, and it was the weirdest thing because all of a sudden he'd call my aunt. He'd be gone for eight, nine months, and he'd call my aunt from like Boulder, Colorado. Say, I'm out in Boulder, come out and live here. She'd go out there, they'd stay out there for a while, they'd come back, and he'd run off to Texas. Maybe five months later she'd hear it, and he'd say, please come to Texas. It reminds me of that song, you remember that song, Ramblin' Man? Or that other song, Please Come to Boston? That was my uncle. He would run away. You can't run away as a Christian. Where are you going to run to? The word to persevere is hupomeno, which means to remain under. We know that perseverance brings about proven character. In other words, your character changes as you keep going. And proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that's given to us. Is it hard to go through this process? Yeah, it's hard. Is it pleasant? No. But like a woman having a baby, the process is messy and painful, but the results are worth it. And that's why Peter says here, he says, don't fear their intimidations and don't be troubled. The Bible says that the righteous are bold as lions. But folks, you're never going to have that boldness and you'll never accept and grow through the suffering of righteousness if you don't see a value in it. You've got to see a value in it. The second thing that is true is that you have to know how to respond to it. And this is in verses 15 to 16. You've got to know how to respond to it. Specifically, you've got to know how to respond to those who show hostility towards you. I mean, when you get this stuff, when they dish it out to you, should you dish it back? Should you throw it back in their faces like one angry New Yorker to another? Should you blow up your critics' embassies and put a knife in people who make mocking movies of your faith like the Muslims did to Theo van Gogh? They took a knife and stuck it right through the note and left it to his body. No, we're supposed to respond righteously in two areas according to this. First of all, in our speech, and secondly, in our actions. Our speech, look what it says. But set apart Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that's in you, and yet do it with gentleness and respect. Three things under this. First of all, you're supposed to set apart Christ as Lord in your heart. What does that mean? It means to make sure that Jesus is center in your life first. How can you present Christ as Lord to others when He's not your own Lord? How can you sell a product you haven't bought? As Carolyn Noll said, in your hearts enthrone him, there let him subdue all that is not holy, all that is not true. So you've got to be your savior first. I know people probably in our church, they'll argue five points of Calvinism with people who are saved who don't believe it. That's great irony. But doesn't it make sense first to make sure that Christ is in your own heart before you try to present him to someone else? Now the second thing we should do under the speech is we're always supposed to be ready to give a defense. The Greek word is apologia. That's where we get the word apologetics from. The defense of the faith. Specifically, we're supposed to explain why we have this hope in Christ. We're supposed to be following Him, you know, rather than the world, and why do we do that? Alexander Solzhenitsyn talked about when he was in the difficulty of the Russian camps, you know, and they're all in Siberia, just horrendous things, people dying and freezing and starvation and all that. He said everyone would turn against each other, they'd become vicious towards each other, he said, but these Baptist Christians always had smiles on their faces no matter what. People thought there must be something wrong with these people, either that or maybe they knew something that other people didn't know. The other thing he tells us here is that we're supposed to do this with gentleness and respect. Folks, it matters not only what you say, it does matter how you say it. Bobby Zachariah said when he was a kid, his mother used to always tell him this little saying, he said, you know, once you've cut off a person's nose, it doesn't make much sense to give them a rose to smell. You know, and if you cut people down and you're harsh with them, they're not going to have any ears for what you have to say. Peter also goes on to talk about our actions. He says, "...and keep a good conscience, so that in the things in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame." He's concerned about two things, good conscience and good behavior. Remember Paul when he was standing before the religious leaders, and he said, you know what, I have kept in good conscience this faith of Israel, and they slapped him across the face. But he had. What he was doing was in good conscience. What he means is, do the things that you do knowing that they're the right thing. Do the things that you do without being dishonest. Look, if you're at work and you're witnessing to people, don't let that distract from your job. They pay you to do a job. They don't pay you to witness. Chris, you and I worked at Perkins for a long time. We always did the same practice. Whenever we got an opportunity to witness to people late at night, it was always that poor 10 to 6 cook who couldn't get away, right? But what we would do is we'd work like 5 to 3, but then we would punch out and work for about 4 hours for free. So that if we were distracting this guy in the least, we would more than make up for it for the work that we do. That way our conscience is clear. And your good behavior. In other words, if you live the way you should, you'll be shown that the charges they make against you are really baseless. Hurricane Katrina. People are down on their work and everybody goes down to work. But you know, I listened to one lady who was a secularist. She said her respect for Christians just skyrocketed. She said she was down there and she noticed a lot of people were down there basically playing, doing nothing. Her experience, even as a secularist, was that it was the Christians who were actually doing the work. And she wrote a positive article in one of the major newspapers about it. I listened to a guy who was from Sri Lanka. He said after the You know, the tsunami that came through there. Everything was devastated, including the Christians. And he said, yes, the Christians were the ones helping everybody else. He said you saw a marked difference in the hostility towards the Christians after that event. And much more openness that came because the Christians were willing to suffer. and to lay down their own lives. And I remember the statement by one of the Roman emperors, or Roman historians, and he was criticizing the Christians. They were so stupid, and they believed in only one God, and they didn't do the things that Romans were supposed to do. He went on and on, but at the end he ended with these words, he said, but oh, how they love one another. See, he couldn't deny that. By the way, I had a chance to put some of this into practice yesterday at the dairy. Where's Andy? Hey, was that fun, Andy? We got a guy working there, his name's Scott. And Scott, for those of you who know anything about Saturday Night Live, they got that guitar player on there, the blond haired guy, you ever seen that guy? The guy looks just like him. Well, if you're not watching Saturday Night Live, all the better for you. I just remember seeing this on the tape. Looks like this guy. So he told me when he was talking, he said, you know, everyone always comes up to me and says, you play guitar? So I don't know why they say that. I'm thinking, well, hello. You look like you should be on Rolling Stones or something. But we were talking, and he, a couple weeks ago when he started, he goes, oh, so you're like a priest or something? And I would say, well, something. Something like that, yeah. And he'd say, well, I've got a lot of questions to ask you. I said, oh, here's trouble for me in the future, but I don't care. I get fired for the right thing. So he comes up to me and he starts talking, and I asked him, well, what do you think about all this stuff? And he goes, well, you know, I think, like, you know, you know, a lot of religions, you know, kind of my belief system with my wife and my kids, you know. We pray to God, but we also teach him a lot of other things as well, you know, because we want to be open to a lot of things. He's a classic American. But he said, you know, the one reason I just can't accept Christianity is because it says everybody else is condemned. The only way is through Jesus. And I just can't believe that a Buddhist that God would do that to a Buddhist, a really good person. I just can't believe that. He said, you know the Bible, it's been changed so much, and so we started to take it little by little, and Andy's over there shredding, and I'm talking him through this, and I'm like, Andy, listen, this is how we go from here. Now he's going to say this, and we're going to do this, and here's what we're going to do. But he can shred and listen at the same time, right? And so he was asking some questions and he was talking about different things and he said, you know, it's just unfair. And I said, well, you know, I understand that. I mean, he goes, I said, but you know, I've got a question for you. I mean, justice matters, right? He goes, look, we don't have justice in our system. And I asked this question. This was a good question I asked. I said, do you think that people who are guilty should be punished? Well, you know, he could smell where that one was going. He's like, well, maybe like people who hurt children or old people or women. So evidently, if you beat a guy to death, that's fine. But otherwise, he didn't think, no. And then he was talking about the Bush administration, all the things that they were doing that were wrong, and you go to court, and he said, those are unjust. I said, hold on, I'm listening to you. What I hear you say is that there's a lot of injustice in the world, right? Yeah. I said, and that bothers you, especially with the courts. Yeah. I said, so what you're saying is that's unjust, and there's a justice system above that, and you think people should get justice, right? Yeah. I said, oh. I said, so people should get justice. I said, you know, I'm asking a question. If we're to stand before God, you know, what do we deserve? And he said, well, you know, I believe in reincarnation. I think, you know, if you do bad things, you come back and you make it right and you're on this, like, circle until you get better and better and you're finally, you know. I said, I've got a question for you. Let's think through this. Think, think, think, think. He said, you know, I noticed something. You don't answer any questions. You just ask them. I said, now think, if that's true that people are getting better and better, some would be like 20% baked, some 40, some 60. Do you know anyone who's like about 95% who's just about ready to get off? You ever met anyone you thought was like 95% perfect? He said, well, no. I said, well then either you've got an endless circle or your idea isn't right. I said, hey, I've got a question for you. How many bad things do you think the average person does a day? Oh boy, this guy threw me a softball back. He said, 45. I did this, didn't I? I walked in the other room, I came back to the calculator. Okay, let's figure this one out. We have a lady who works there, her name's Jenny. Never says one word. No one's ever heard her speak except for me, and that was just once outside. Dina went to school with this girl. You know who Jenny Carlson is. So what's she going to do, tell on me? But she's listening to the whole thing, you know, and you can see her eyes getting bigger and smaller, couldn't you, Andy? And so we're going through there, and I said, well, let's get that calculated. 45 times 365, well, that gets me out to this, times whatever. I said, we're talking about this many sins. Well, he read it wrong. He said, 126 million? I said, no, no, no, no. I said 1.26 million over 77 years. I said, now follow the logic, I'm not playing a game here. I said, you told me that a righteous judge would punish people who did wrong. Now you told me that you and I are guilty of 1.2 million crimes. I said, what does that mean? Guilty people should be punished, that's Hirst's proposition. You and I are guilty. Therefore... He didn't really want to go there, did he? Then he asked me something else. He said, well, if this Christianity is true and you're just forgiven by God or whatever, why not just keep on sinning? I thought, well, questions never change, do they? And I said, hey, I'll tell you one quick story, and I'll tell you this before we go on to the next point. I said, you know, that really is a good question. I said, the Bible actually brings that one up, but I'll give you a quick story that I always think about with this one. There was a lady who made an attempt on Queen Victoria's life, this is a true story, in the 1800s, whenever she lived. And she was hiding in the cloak closet where she had her dresses. And when the Queen went in there to change her dress, she came lunging at her with a knife. I said she missed her and they called for the guards and they grabbed her. And of course this is the 1800s. None of this, oh she probably had too many Pepsis and it was her fault. It was not that baloney. They would lop off her head and make her a public spectacle for other people. You don't do that kind of stuff to the Queen. And she throws herself down and begs for mercy of the Queen. And she says, and the Queen says, I've got a question for you. If I let you go, what promises do you make to amend yourself if I pardon you? And the woman said, Your Majesty, a pardon that's given with conditions is no pardon. And the Queen looked down at her with compassion and mercy and said, You're right, I pardon you. About this time I was getting kind of choked up and I said, you know, Scott, I said, the amazing thing is that woman was the most dedicated woman to the Queen for the rest of her life and the entire kingdom. I said, you know, I don't know what motivates you to do what you do, but I said, I know what motivates me. I said, I sit here sometimes and I get emotional even thinking about Jesus. I said, they all think I'm out in la-la land because I'm always thinking about God. I said, I love Jesus more than I love my wife. And I said, everything that motivates me about him. I said, there's an issue of fear. I said, that's not what motivates me. I love him because of what he's done for me and what he's going to do to me. And about this time, he's really softening, you know, a little bit. And he said, well, you know, I said, but here's the good news I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you how to be rid of the guilt, Scott. The time had gone by, I pat him on the back. I said, oh, listen, we've only talked for an hour and a half. We're going to have a lot of fun, aren't we? You understand? I told them about my hope. I told them about my Savior. We've got to be ready for them. That's the way you're supposed to respond, with love, because I'm looking at this guy and I think, you know, he may have some goofy ideas, but he's like a sheep without a shepherd. I'll tell you one more quick story before we finish up here. He said, well, you know I kind of got into spirituality in the first place. I said, no. He said, well, you know, I was driving down the road down in Roseville and there's this guy walking from car to car and he walks up to me and I'm like, do you need a ride? He says, yeah, I need a ride. So he gets in the car and he said, you know, it's the weirdest thing because I was heading, I had this friend who had this dune buggy and it was supposed to be painted. The guy worked out an agreement to paint it. and a payment schedule, and after he was done painting he said, you can't take it out of here until it's fully paid for. And my friend didn't have the money. So I found two other friends who were going to go down there and beat the tar out of this guy. And he said, as I'm driving along in the car this other guy, he looks like a missionary or something like that, it was really weird, and he looks over at me just out of nowhere and he says, you know, revenge is wrong. I said, you freaked, didn't you? He said, yeah, I freaked. I said, yeah! And then he's talking some more, and next thing you know he's talking about how I've got to get rid of all my Wiccan books. That's witchcraft. He told me some stories about things that are going on. I was a little uneasy, but I asked him, where do you need to go? He said, down to the cathedral. Well, that was weird. I take him down to the cathedral, I let him off at the front, I'm going to, and he says, no, I've got to go on the side door. He said, we go to the side door, I let him off, he walks into the cathedral, I look up and I notice the door he went through, above it it says, Angel. I said, then you really freaked, didn't you? I don't know whether that's an angel or not, but I know this. It's not by chance that he's talking to me that day. My hope is God's going to call this man too. Here's the third thing you have to know, that you have to have in your arsenal if you're going to go through suffering. Well, you have to believe that God's hand is behind it. You've got to believe that. Several years ago, Chris and I were at Bethlehem Baptist Church for a conference where Joseph Zahn spoke. I don't know, Randy, if you were there or not. He was from Romania. He told how he had suffered under the Communists. He talked about being arrested and beaten at police headquarters. He said, right before they started hitting on him, he said, there's just one thing I want to say. Can you imagine him getting beaten? One thing, just one thing. He said, I just want you to know that there's nothing that's going to happen to me today that has not been ordained by my God. You are just puppets in His hands. And he said, oh, they beat me for that one. But you know what He said is true, isn't it? For all my days have been ordained for me before any of them have come to pass. There's never been a sorrow that has come in your life. There's never been a suffering that's been yours that the Lord God Almighty did not write into the script for your good and for His glory. Not one. He does not waste pain ever. There's not one ounce more of pain in this world than is necessary to maximize His glory and to maximize your joy in the end. And then speaking of the sovereignty of God, He said, make this the first pillar of your faith. It was for Peter, for he says, it's better if God wills so, that you suffer for doing what's right rather than doing what's wrong. And it won't happen unless God wills it. This is why I have such a problem with open theism, the idea that God doesn't know the future. That way we get him off the hook for any bad things. We say, well, God didn't know, He couldn't control. I can't worship a God like that! I can't worship a God who can't keep one woman from getting cancer! He's the one who needs help then, not me. But wasn't that Job's problem? He couldn't see what God was doing. But what was God's answer? He said, you may not see it, but don't you think I know what I'm doing? Is it possible, Job, that I'm smarter and wiser and better equipped to make decisions about what's best for you and for my glory? You can't figure out the simplest things about nature. How could you possibly comprehend the ways of my providence? Job, I'm God, you're not. You just have got to trust me. Doesn't God say in the Bible, my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts? But just as the heavens are as high above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways above your ways. Think about the way God went about saving people. Who but God would have thought to have the Creator become the creature? Who but God would have thought of sending the Lord of Glory to be born of a poor woman in a stable? What king was ever so humble who rode in majesty on a little donkey? Two disciples asked if, when he entered into his glory, they could sit on his right and his left. Yet when he did enter his glory, those on his right and his left were two criminals hanging on crosses next to him. For the author of life was poured out to death, the righteous for the unrighteous. And oh, how the angels must have rubbed their eyes when they saw their creator hanging on a cross for sinful men. They must have said, amazing grace. You see, suffering is the way to glory, not only for Christ, but it's the way for us. But He's not left us in the dark, for His Word tells us how He uses suffering for righteousness to change us and to conform us to the image of His Son. Have you suffered for righteousness? I mean specifically for your faith. Perhaps it's a husband or wife, and you had problems before, but now that you're saved and you've gotten serious about your faith, there's more antagonism, not less. Don't give up. Don't let them shame you into shutting down. Be kind. Trust God, but don't give in to fear. God is on your side. He knows what you're going through. He's placed you in this situation. Do what's right and hold on to Him. Is it other family members? Brother or sister? A parent who's disowned you? Perhaps they talked to you, but you can always feel that rift that's between you. Don't try to avoid them because the situation's painful. How are they going to be saved apart from the witness of some Christian? And isn't it likely that God intends you to fulfill that role? What about coworkers, or at your job, or at school? It's tough to be a Christian.