First Peter, chapter five. I had trouble getting a title for this morning, but the title, if we had one, was what should we do in times of trouble? Let's look to the Lord. Our Father in heaven, as we come to you, we know we do not live in a perfect world. Ever since the beginning, this world has been affected by sin. And the more sin there is, the more chaos. goes on. And Lord, we come to you this morning as children looking for instruction, asking, Lord, what do we do? How do we handle the times that we live in? We know that history repeats itself. We know that trouble is going to persist. But Lord, we ask that you would comfort us and instruct us as to how to handle the things that are going on in our life. We pray for those, Lord, who are going through struggles at this time, that you would be a comfort to them. We pray for those who could not be here this morning, that you would, by your spirit, be with them, even in their infirmities. We ask, Lord, as we look into your word, that it would come alive to us, that it would speak to our hearts and encourage our souls. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 1st Peter chapter five, verse six. It says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him for we, he cares for you. There is rich doctrine and truth as we look into the letter from Peter. It's full of encouragement and instruction, and he also sheds light on suffering and trials that we'll go through. As Christians, as was mentioned this morning, do we understand we're the most blessed people in this world? If you're a Christian this morning, you're blessed beyond belief. You say, well, sometimes I don't feel that way. Well, trust me, if you read the scriptures, you are. You have won the lottery of lotteries to know that the blood of Christ has covered your sin. There's a judgment day coming for all of us, and our sins are going to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. If we turn back to the first book of Peter, the first chapter of Peter, Peter 1, verse 3, it affirms this. It said, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. How many of you have planned for retirement? How many of you have sought counsel for your retirement? Many people will go down to a restaurant and they'll meet and this man will tell you how to prepare for the future. how much money you have to put back, how inflation is gonna affect your lifestyle, what you're gonna have to do to plan so you'll have enough to cover your expenses. Here he's saying that we are blessed according to the abundant mercy of God to an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away. Does that sound like our stock market? Does that sound like our government? We're constantly affected by inflation. We're constantly affected by the affairs of this world and how it affects our, he said, we in Christ Jesus have an inheritance that's never going to fade away. There is nothing that's going to affect this. You are signed, sealed, and delivered under the blood of Christ. We can claim many promises of God, but Christians are not immune to sorrows and problems. In fact, did you know as a Christian, we should expect adversity? You say, well, I didn't sign up for that part of it. Trials and afflictions are part of our sanctification. How many of you growing up enjoyed all your chores? Enjoyed the rules and the regulations of your household? Enjoyed the rules of the coaches, the rules of the teachers, the rules of the school? You say, well, I look back and enjoy it. Well, this generation that's being raised now, we look and see all the problems it's causing when there are no rules. And it said trials and afflictions are necessary for our sanctification, for our holiness, for our godliness. Look in 1 Peter 1 verse 7. It says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes. Though it be tried with fire, might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Do you know the trying of our faith is necessary and it's more precious than silver and gold that perishes? Well, I didn't invest in the stock market, I bought gold. because gold's the only thing that's going to hold its value in our society. He said, no, gold is even going to perish. But your trials and afflictions are much more precious than that. We often forget that and don't understand why things happen to us. When things go on in our life, what's the first thing that we think? Why is this happening? I don't need this in my life. What did I do to deserve this? And as a Christian, what's the next thing we do? Is this the devil harassing me? Is this God correcting me? You know, we all have enough sin in us to ask these questions. But Peter addresses this. Turn to the second chapter of Peter, verse 20. He says, for what glory is it or what benefit is it to you when you be buffeted, when you're harassed or bothered for your own faults, that you take it patiently? But if, when you do the will of God and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. You know, sometimes our issues are self-inflicted, but other times they're unprovoked. Sometimes we're harassed or bothered for minding your own business, being honest and doing the right thing. We, after Adam's fallen nature, have trouble comprehending this, why bad things are happening to us when we're trying to serve God. We forget that God has a sovereign plan. I'm always amazed at the life of Christ. what he went through undeservingly. He never sinned, yet look at what he went through. The scripture will guide us and instruct us, and Peter actually comforts us and commends us during these times. He encourages us. Turn to fourth chapter of Peter. 1 Peter 4, verse 12 says, beloved Christians, the church, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with the seeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and God rests upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified. I said it's a privilege for us to be partakers. It's a privilege for us to be included in the struggles and the trials that we're going through. How many of us look at it that way when we go through things? When trials and afflictions come, when things come that torment us, that we can't get our minds off, causes anxiety and stress, do we think, oh, what a privilege it is when these things come? What an opportunity it is to be an example of a Christian. Instead, we should be glad, even rejoicing. But this is not the first thing we usually do. What's the first thing we usually think is why? Why? How many of us feel like that? Keep your finger here, but turn to Acts chapter 5. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts chapter 5. Verse 40. And to him they agreed. And when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And look at verse 41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. They were happy. They were happy to suffer. Does that seem odd? They were counted worthy that they were suffering for the glory of Christ. Is that the goals we have in our life? You know, we feel fortunate at work when we're selected. when we're selected and be named employee of the month. We work hard at work so we can get that honor. We can get that parking spot. We can be singled out and praised for that thing. We like to receive awards of achievement. These men were happy that they were selected to suffer for Christ. You ever look at the life of Job? Do you remember the life of Job? What did Job's friends say to Job? He sought counsel with his friends. How many of us, when we go through problems, seek advice from our friends? How many share our burdens one with another? How many, in conversation, talk to somebody and say, oh, you have no idea what's going on in my life. You know what Job's friends said? You know what his comforter said? Well, Job, what are you doing wrong? This would only be happening to you if you were doing something wrong. They were called the miserable comforters. He looked to them for comfort, and he just brought more misery. Well, Job, you don't lose your family, and you don't lose your wealth, and you don't lose your belongings without being a problem yourself. You've done something that all this is happening to you. You know, a lot of times we associate good with God and bad with the devil. But as we look in the scriptures, it's not always the case. When we look at the life of Job, how encouraging has his life been to Christians over the ages? The things we go through, the heartaches that we suffer, the trials that we go, we look at the life of Job and say, Wow, that's nothing compared to what he went through. And yet God was faithful to him. In this life, Christians will suffer heartache and grief. In 1 Peter 1.6, if we turn back to 1 Peter, In the first chapter, in the sixth verse, it says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season. How about that song we sung this morning? It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ. Here's what it's saying in 1 Peter 6, 1 6. It said, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness. through manifold temptations. And then it follows with the verse, these trials are more precious than gold and silver to us. The scripture explains this. Turn to Hebrews chapter five. Hebrews chapter five, verse eight. How many of us, when we go through things, or things happen, say, boy, I didn't need that. That's the last thing I needed. But look at Hebrews 5, verse 8. This is speaking of Christ. It says, though he were a Son, capital S, he is the Son of God manifest in the flesh. yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Now try to get that through your head. God the Son from eternity came here, took on our flesh, and he learned. He learned obedience by the things he suffered. And verse nine says, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. What are you going through today that you don't like? What are you going through today that you don't think you need? It says, think it not strange. Don't let it disturb you. Don't let it unsettle you. Don't be surprised. Understand things are going to happen. They're going to happen to every one of us. If you're a child of God, we are warned by the scriptures. We are instructed by the scriptures that guess what? Life isn't going to be easy. Do you think life was easy for Christ? Life is not going to be easy. How can we deal with these things, these trials that are of great value to us, that are more precious than gold and silver? How can we stop the anxiety, the hurt, and the pain that it would cause? We go back to our original text in 1 Peter 5, verse 6. It tells us how we do this. It says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Be teachable. Think little of yourself. How many of you think we have a high opinion of ourself? What does it mean to humble ourself? Well, that isn't good for our self-esteem. Isn't that what we're taught today? You can't do things to hurt these kids' self-esteem. They need self-esteem. Yet the Bible says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Do we really realize how much we are trained in this society to look out for number one, when the Bible tells us we need to submit to God? Do you know one of the teachers that are, one of the preachers at our conference years ago, he had a son that went into psychology and his master's and he was writing a dissertation. And he said, the problem with psychology and Christianity is psychology is man-centered. It's all centered around me. Christianity is God-centered. He said, how you get those two to mix, I don't understand. We forget, as Christians, our life is to be centered around God. But all that other stuff sounds good to the flesh. I deserve. Do you know what Christ deserved? What do you think Christ deserved for the life he lived? He served man humbly. Patient what what would he you think he deserved employee of the month? Do you think he deserved man of the year? Do you think he deserved more than we gave him in honor and glory? We're all into what sounds good to our flesh, you know, what else sounded good to our flesh The forbidden fruit Turn back to Genesis chapter 3 A lot of things sound good to us that aren't good for us. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 5. You know what the serpent said to the woman? Oh, if you eat of that fruit, you're not going to die. In fact, in verse 5 he said, for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open and ye shall be as gods. I mean, who wouldn't want that? You'll be just like gods. You mean to tell me God's withholding something from me that would make me be like a god? How did that turn out? How did that turn out? Now I have a question for you. You don't have to answer it out loud. A lot of times when I'm coaching, I say, and I'll say, I'll ask a question that you don't need to answer. Just think about this yourself. If you had one wish today, if you had one wish, you said, if you could have, or do, or be something, what would your wish be? If you had one wish this morning, what would it be? Because in society, we glamorize the rich and famous. We put them on pedestals. We write books about them. We do documentaries about them. We glamorize those people because if you're rich and famous, you must be doing something right. You understand when Jesus came to this earth, he could have came the most triumphant gladiator that ever lived. He could have done that. He could have been the richest man that ever lived. He could have came and been a world-renowned philosopher. He could have been known like Solomon. He gave Solomon riches and wisdom more than any man that ever lived. He could have came that way if he chose to. He could have been one of the most powerful Rulers, you know what his goal was when he came here? He came to do the will of his father in heaven. And in doing the will of his father in heaven, he came the way he did, meek and mild. You know, today in this world, athletes will take steroids to be the best. They'll stop at nothing to get to the top, to get to the pinnacle of their achievements. Men will lie, cheat, and steal to get at the top of the financial business worlds. This is not what the Bible calls Christians to do and be. It says we are to submit to the hand of God. You know, we make ourselves miserable not submitting to the authority God has in place for us. It's all fun and game until the parents come home. Everybody's having a blast until the authorities show up. How many people are having a wild party and having a big time and then the sirens come and then it's not so fun anymore? Have you ever been humbled? Have you ever been embarrassed? Have you ever been humiliated? Have you ever been too big for your britches? Ever been knocked off your high horse? How does it feel? Our flesh does not like that. We don't like that. We don't like submitting to an authority. Animals don't like being submitted to a master. We don't like submitting to things. Why do we like a democracy? Oh, because we have the freedom to worship God. We also have the freedom to do a lot of other things. They say, oh, we live in the best nation in the world. You know, most biblical times were under kingdoms. An authoritative rule. But look at what we are submitting to. What's the Bible say? It says we are to submit to the mighty hand of God. Do you think that's a wise thing to do? Very wise thing. We are to submit to the God of all creation who knows better than you what's good for you. How many of you ever received advice and you just didn't listen to it at all? How many of you had parents who gave you advice that you said, oh, they don't know what they're talking about. And then you had your own kids that said, you know, maybe they didn't know what they're talking about. The scripture says, submit yourself to the mighty hand of God. Do you think God knows what he's talking about? He's maintained this world for thousands of years. And why are we supposed to do this? That he may exalt you in due time. You know, there was a day years ago when some of the wealthy men used to take their children that they wanted to take over their companies. And they would start them in the mailroom. They would start them at the janitor level. And then they would promote them step by step by step until they understood how things operated. And then they said, here, here's the keys to the business so you now understand how this place functions. Now I can trust you. The things that we go through on a regular basis is a process of our sanctification, is a process of our growth. And guess what? God will exalt you in due time. Your promotion will come. In the meantime, will there be long days? Yep. In the meantime, will there be struggles? Yep. What will we do? What will we do? First Peter 5.7 says, casting your cares upon him for he cares for you. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. You know, there's a lot of biblical terms that we're not familiar with. We don't use cast a lot in our society today. But I know one thing we do use cast for. Has anybody here ever went fishing? What do you do with your line? You throw it. No, you cast your line. You put a little weight on there and you hold that little plastic thing for you beginner fishermen. And you chuck that thing. And what's a good cast? The one that wraps around and comes right back at your feet? No, that's not a good cast. The good cast is the one that that line goes way out there and lands way over there. The further that thing is away from you, the further that bait is away from you, now that's a good cast. Do you know what it says to cast your cares upon Him? It means throw that thing way over there and let Him deal with it. Let Him deal with it. You got that stress in your life, you got that anxiety in your life, just throw it over there to Him and let God take care of it for you. Sometimes that seems easier said than done. You know, a lot of us, how many of you are proud? How many of you admit you're proud? You know, there are people who are too proud to ask for help. But there are times that I just need a little help. I'll say, boys, help me lift this. Or help me do this. Help me here. Hold on to this while I turn this. That isn't what this scripture says. It doesn't say help, it says cast. It says give it to him to handle. And guess what? He doesn't really need your help to handle the situations going on in your life. Give it to him. Have you ever been unloading something and somebody comes up and says, here, let me take that for you. Is that nice when someone says help, says, here, let me take that for you. Well, that was a huge help. That's what God's saying. Cast your cares on him. He'll take it for you. He'll handle it for you. Do we trust him with it? And what does it say? It says, casting all your care upon him. And with modern technology, I have the, The scripture right there I have the Greek and Hebrew text right there and all wasn't added all is right in the verse You know what some of the definitions and references are for all It says all kinds of things all respects of things Everything always Anyone anything? That's how it's used in some of the other scriptures. I You know, it's amazing to me, and I've told you this story, and I know I'm not the only person who's went through this. Has anybody had anything in your crawl? You got something in your crawl there? Yeah, I do. I got someone who's really agitated me. Has anybody ever been agitated by someone? I had somebody that was really agitating me, and it was really bothersome, and I lost some sleep over it. You know, and I didn't know how to deal with the situation. It was just, it was just plain irritating. And it got to the point that I prayed about it. Hmm, good idea. Instead of handling everything yourself, you decided to pray about it. A few days this person came up to me and said, you know, I haven't been feeling good. I said, really? I got this chest pain. I'm going down to the hospital to have some tests run. I said, hmm, isn't that something? So in other words, you're not my biggest problem because God could eliminate you with your chest pain just like that. And I wouldn't even have to deal with you. God could eliminate your problem in an accident. God could eliminate your situation just like that if he wanted to. And I thought, hmm, I guess the problem is me and my heart and learn to deal with things. Lesson learned. Cast your cares upon him. You know, nothing's too big for him. There's nothing that's, he handled Nebuchadnezzar just like that. Right in the middle of the parties, he wrote on a wall and said, meaning, meaning Tico your part, you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting your kingdoms are over tonight. How about the stock market crash? Can he change the economic outlook of your government? How about COVID? He can shake up the whole world with a little virus. You know, the crazy thing about that is there is not a thing too big for God to handle. And guess what? There's nothing too small either. I'm not a... I know what an anthill is. I'm not sure what a molehill is, but I can make a mountain out of one of them. How many of you can do that? Can you make a mountain out of molehill? You know, my dad taught me how to paint. And that older generation, they taught you how to do things right. And they told you how to apply things right, how to do things right. You know, you have to have good lighting. You know, I can paint a wall. And I painted a wall in my bedroom one time. And I didn't have good lighting. And that roller overlapped, and it left a mark on that wall. You know how bad that bothered me? You know how big the wall is? Every time I walked in the room, my eyes went right to that spot. I could have looked at all the rest of the wall, but my eyes went right to that mistake I made, and it bugged me to no end. Isn't that how some of our problems are? You have a gazillion nice people you deal with, but that one turkey can just gnaw at you. You have so much to be thankful for. You have money in the bank, but that bill you got from that is wrong, and that irritates me that they overbilled me $10, and I got to get that straight. Is that how we are? There's nothing too big for God to handle. You know the mess we have in this society today? God can handle it just like that. Anybody believe me? Everybody believe me? And he can handle that little thing, that little family problem. We got Thanksgiving coming home, and we don't know where to go and what to do. And we don't know if we go there, what we should take. We don't want to offend this one. We don't want to do this. And oh boy, is so-and-so going to be there? And I hope we don't get talking about that. Does anybody do that? Nothing's too simple or complicated. God can handle it. Now, here's the next point of this. It says, casting all your cares upon him. What's the next part? Here's why. Because it's his job. It's his responsibility to do that. That's not what it says. It doesn't say it's his job, his responsibility. It doesn't say because someone has to. How many of you have ever done a job because nobody else is going to? Well, I better do it because it's not going to get done if I don't do it. That's not what this scripture says. God has got to do it because nobody else is going to help you. He's going to do it because he's stuck with us. No, that's not what it says. It doesn't say he's stuck with us. It says he's going to do this because he cares for us. Wow. Do you understand God cares for us? Another word is he's concerned about us. And that's great. That's great. He's concerned and he cares for us. But does he understand us? How can an eternal almighty God understand us? Because he knows. You know, they say you're not supposed to judge someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. You don't know what they're going through. You don't know what they've been through. You don't understand them. How many kids go to school and they're having a hard time and they won't talk to anybody? And you say, what's going on? Nothing. No, something's wrong. What's wrong with you? Nothing. Now, I know you better than that. There's something going on with you. Would you just tell me? You wouldn't understand. Oh, I wouldn't understand? You don't think I was 12 once? You don't think I was 16 once? You don't think I was six once? I understand that. Well, there's just this kid at school. Hey, there was a lot of kids when I was in school. Well, no, this one kid, I didn't get invited to his party. A bunch of kids are going, well, guess what? I didn't get invited to a couple of parties too. Well, there was this person there, they're bullying me. You don't think we got bullied when we were in school? Got bullied all the time. Well, what do you think you're going through? Well, you know, it's just that all the other kids have this and I don't have that. Well, guess what? I didn't get everything I wanted either. Do you think these kids are going through something that their parents don't understand? Well, guess what? Christ walked a mile in our shoes. Turn to Psalms 53. Esther Jobe Psalms, 53. Or excuse me, sorry, Isaiah, 53. Four or five books past that. Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, Psalms, Solomon, Isaiah, 53. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He, Christ, shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, and he'll have no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we would desire him. Well, why didn't he make himself handsome? You know, I like this girl, but she likes somebody else because he's more handsome than me Jesus didn't come here For that he didn't come here for those things and look what verse 3 says he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and We hid as it was our face from him. He was despised and And we esteemed him not. You understand Christ came and he was despised and rejected of men. The creator of man was rejected of men. Now try to get that in your head. He was despised and rejected. We know what that is. Do you remember back in school? Do you remember the kids who were despised and rejected? Do you know the ones who nobody invited them to the party? And no one really talked to them? That's what despised and rejected is. That's who Christ was. You know, John 1, 11 says, he came to his own and his own received him not. I thought you had a big family. No one invited you for Thanksgiving? Nope, nobody invited me. Aren't they your kin? Aren't they your relatives? Yeah, they don't get along with me. Who are you going to the dance with? Nobody wanted to go to the dance with me. Who are you running around with? Who are your friends at school? Don't really have a lot of them. What do you do after school? I'm kind of a loner for the most part. I'm despised and rejected. People aren't overly friendly towards me. That's who Jesus was. When he came, he didn't make himself of tall stature. He didn't make himself overly attractive because that wasn't what was important to him like the world looks at. He was a man of sorrows. You say, you know, the old song says nobody knows the sorrows Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrows. The end of that is nobody knows but Jesus. He was a man of sorrows. What does that mean? He was a man of pain, both mental and physical pain. He was acquainted with grief. He knew trouble. He knew distress. And you know what it says? a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and we, society, hid as it was our faces from him. Do you know what that's like? Have you ever been in a grocery store? Now, I've seen people do this. I'm not going to admit I did it myself. But have you ever turned down an aisle at a grocery store and saw someone in that aisle you didn't want to see and you just went to the next aisle? I've seen that happen. That's hiding your face. Don't want to run into that person. So Jesus was a man of sorrow acquainted with grief. And guess what we did? We helped him because he was such a good. No, we hit as it was our face with him. He went to that cross alone. He was despised. He was despised and we esteemed him not. He didn't get any praise from anybody. Today, all it is is praise. You gotta praise these kids. You gotta give them awards. I remember going over to school, my oldest daughter was in school, and there was all these, they did these little paws of achievements. And my wife said to my daughter, Why does that kid have so many things? Is he a good kid now? She said, no, he's bad. We don't get to go out in the playground for this and that. But every time they see him doing something decent, they give him a pause. They give him something positive. We're all about esteem. We're all about self-esteem. And guess what? We esteemed him not. How many of you feel underappreciated. Both hands and a foot. How many of you feel unappreciated? How many of you feel disrespected? How many of you as parents have ever been disrespected by your children? How does that feel? How many of you feel unappreciated? You know, this is a big day coming up. Thanksgiving's coming up. And I said to my wife, I think she probably forgot, but I said, you know, years ago I said to her, that's crazy. I said, you get up early and put that turkey in the oven and get all that stuffing going and you make a little breakfast and everybody comes over and all the guys sit at the table and we have this big feast. And then we go in and watch the football games and you guys stand out here and clean up everything while you're talking to each other. Do you think she could feel unappreciated that day? How many of you feel unappreciated? Those kids, I've done all this for them and they don't do nothing. They don't show any appreciation whatsoever. I helped them get a car and I paid them for some of their school and I do all this stuff for them. We esteemed him not. What do you think Christ, if Christ started lifting the things he's done for us, do you think we'd be in shame by it? Now, not only does he care for us, he understands us. Do you understand Christ understands? It says right here in the scripture, he understands it. He knows what it is when he's struggling and everybody hides their faces. You ever have a problem, call people and say, hey, oh, Got their answering machine. Hey, I can call this one. Nobody's home. Nobody's here to help me. I'm here to help everybody else, but nobody's here to help me. Do you know? He knows what that is. And he cares for us. Casting our cares, casting all our cares on him for he careth for us. What are you struggling with this morning? We have a God who cares. You know, there's a song, and I don't even know the lyrics, but I've heard the song say, our God is an awesome God. Would you agree? Our Father in heaven, as we come to you this morning, we are thankful that we can come to you We can cast our cares and burdens on you, for you do care for us. Lord, help us to be able to humble ourselves and realize that you are in control, that you know what's right, and all things are according to your will this morning. Help us as we leave, Lord, that we would be thankful to be able to call you our God and to be children of yours. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.