1st Peter 5:7-11 " The Life of a Believer "

1 Peter 5:7–11 CSB

7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. 10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 11 To him be dominion forever. Amen.

Quote: Those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.

R. C. Sproul

And because of so much

Unbiblical teaching

Going on in our society

And a lack of interest

In healthy doctrine

So many people

Have the wrong perspective

Of biblical suffering

Big Mamma said

“ God will never put more on you than you can bear “

2 Corinthians 1:8–9 (CSB) 8 We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

Big Mamma said

“ If you do good, good will come to you “

John 16:33 (KJV 1900) 33 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.

The greek word for tribulation ( thlipsis )

Peter is writing

To some believers

That’s suffering

And trying to make sense

Out of their suffering

Peter is writing

To some believers

That’s catching HELL

And Peter is encouraging them

That even though

They are suffering

And It’s going to last a while

Stay faithful in their suffering

Note: Peter knows like most of us we are struggling just to keep it together

Peter uses two words

To remind these believers

That their trouble

Is not going to aways last in chapter one

1 Peter 1:6 (KJV 1900) 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

1 Peter 5:10 (KJV 1900) 10 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, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

In Chapter One

1st. Your suffering is Seasonal

2nd. Your suffering is Strengthening

3rd. Your suffering is Survivable

1 Peter 1:6 (KJV 1900)

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

Define Rejoice—Rejoice in the Greek gives us an English definition of a person showing enthusiasm by jumping & leaping .

A.) Your suffering will Be Difficult—“ye are in heaviness”

B.) Your suffering will Be Diversity—“manifold Temptations”

C.) Your suffering will be Directed by God

But it’s just a season

When I was growing up

they used to tell me

that if you talk to yourself

you’re crazy

but I found out

that if you don’t talk to yourself

you will go crazy

Every now and then you have to remind YOURSELF by TALKING to yourself it’s just a season

1 Peter 1:7 (KJV 1900)

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

When Peter talks about their lives being tried by fire

He’s liken their lives to what a potter does to the clay

There’s a process that the potter has to use to move the clay from the shop to the show room

The potter is not investing all of his time, talent & treasure & resources to allow the pottery to stay in the shop

But the potter is trying to move the clay from the shop to the show room

But in order for the clay to make that process

There’s several things that the potter has to do to the clay

1st. The potter has to FIND the clay

2nd. He has FORM the clay

3rd. He has to FRAME the clay

4th. He has to FORTIFY the clay

5th. Then he FINISHES the clay

1st. FIND the clay — clay has to be found, look for outside in the dirt

2nd. FORM the clay — He has to have an image in his mind how he wants the clay to

look like. ( vase — ashtray — Bowl )

3rd. FRAME the clay — He puts his hand on the clay & start framing

4th. FORTIFY the clay — the clay is frail so the clay has to be strengthen to be able to be used

Now after the potter has FOUND — FORM — FRAME — FORTIFY the clay.

Now the potter has to use something & the only thing at his disposal that can make the clay fortified is a furnace.

And now the potter turns on his furnace to 660 degrees - 1500 degrees

Because the only way the clay is going to get fortified is by some fire

The good news is before the potter puts the clay into the furnace

He put a glaze all over the clay.

Because the potter don't want the clay to look like what it's going INTO

The same thing that the potter does to the clay is the same thing God does to you and I .i

God ( Found us — Formed us — Framed us — We was Fragile Fortified us ) —

Put us in the Furnace — God put something on us GRACE )

Note: The only reason we don’t look like what we’ve been through is because God got a glaze on us. ( GRACE )

Note: you don’t look like —-> Divorce — Cancer — Layoff — buried mother — buried child — bankruptcy — foreclosure — bad relationship — transplant — depression — etc.

1 Peter 1:7 (KJV 1900)That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

In Chapter Five

Suffering, the real life of the Believer

1st. Anxiety

1 Peter 5:7 (KJV 1900) 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Define: Care — mean Anxiety

Define: Care -- it is a concern or a care

“ Casting “ — means to throw

A. Throw it AWAY

Suffering, the real life of the Believer

1st. Anxiety

2nd. Attacks

1 Peter 5:8 (KJV 1900) 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Devil: to engagement in slander, slanderous

Roaring: to cry with a full loud continued sound

Note: That roaring in the greek is to make things bigger in the mind & to the eyes than what they actually are.

Note: Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Peter warns us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or being persecuted. If you are feeling alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, or if you are so focused on your troubles that you forget to watch for danger, those are the times when you are especially vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. During times of suffering, seek other Christians for support. Keep your eyes on Christ, and resist the devil. Then, says James, “he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

A. Throw it AWAY

B. Be ALERT

Suffering, the real life of the Believer

1st. Anxiety

2nd. Attacks

3rd. Affliction

1 Peter 5:9 (KJV 1900) 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

A. Throw it AWAY

B. Be ALERT

C. Look AROUND

Suffering, the real life of the Believer

1st. Anxiety

2nd. Attacks

3rd. Affliction

4th. Assurance

1 Peter 5:10 (KJV 1900) 10 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, stablish, strengthen, settle you

1 Peter 5:10 (LABN): 5:10

When we are suffering,

we often feel as though

our pain will never end

Peter gave

these faithful Christians

a broader perspective

In comparison with eternity

their suffering

would last only

“a little while.”

Some of Peter’s readers

would be strengthened

and delivered

in their own lifetimes

Others

would be released

from their suffering

through death

All of God’s faithful followers

are assured

of an eternal life

with Christ

where there will be no more suffering (Revelation 21:4)

John Wesley of United Methodist Church describes God’s Grace 3 ways

Prevenient grace

Justifying grace

Sanctifying grace

Sufficient Grace

Amazing Grace

1 Peter 5:10 (KJV 1900) 10 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, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Perfect — means to Repair you

Stablish — means to Reset you

Strengthen — means to Reconstruct you

Settle — means to Rest you

A. Throw it AWAY

B. Be ALERT

C. Look AROUND

D. Rest in the AUTHORITY of God