ENDURE

illustration

tug boat island running through the park like an obstacle course playing extreme hide and seek or tag.

looked like wipe out or american ninja warrior

elaborate on running around the park the swaying logs , climbing up slides breaking the walls to hide inside the castle.

hurting yourself severely.

life is like an obstacle course.

it throws different things at you.

in seasons you dont see coming which those are the ones that are hard to prepare for.

the ones that are like a left turn.

in childhood having to listen to those who are older than you, not understanding thinking things are unfair. wrestling with those emotions just learning about how the world works.

teenage years you struggle with the insecurities of trying to fit in and everything around you is changing mentally and physically then dealing with even more emotional struggles.

when you become a young adult you bring in the factor of responsibilities how am i going to make a living what am i going to do with my life.

maybe you start dating then you add in the struggles to find a godly spouse and stay pure.

you get a job or go to college and are surrounded by unbelievers those who love the world and you are bombarded by temptations left and right.

you are faced with a mountain of obstacles to get through in life

what we are going to look at tonight is how the apostle peter is going to call us to approach these obstacles in life. by looking at how he charged the the church who was about to face severe persecution and suffering.

hes going to give us 3 major obstacles.

first and foremost he tells us how to prepare ourselves before we ever confront any obstacles.

the first obstacle is ourselves. we are our worst enemy sometimes being consumed by anxieties.

the second our enemy the devil who will tempt us coming to steal, kill and destroy us.

thirdly the world its self due to the fall in gen 3 everything around us is broken and we have to suffer along with creation.

on first look of our text it may look like peters ideas are changing but he’s building on each one.

1 Peter 5:6–11 (CSB)

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 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.

Prepare for the obstacles

Illustration:

The Coach

who plays sports.

if you want to succeed to over come the obstacles you’ll face in sports your going to want to train under some one good right.

who would you rather a random high school coach or an NFL coach?

you’d want to submit yourself under the one who you know will bring you to victory over your obstacles.

you’ll want the guy who has the skills you want to have.

the knowledge and wisom you want to have

the resources you want to have.

the difference between you facing your obstacles and overcoming them with confidence or facing them with doubts is all in how you prepare for them.

the one who submits to the nfl coach who has received the training and has a team who has also recieved the training should have the courage that he will be victorious when its time for the big game.

This is what Peter is trying to display he’s saying you are going to face obstacles.

your going to face trials

so

1 Peter 5:6 (CSB)

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time,

submit yourself under God rely on

his strength

his knowledge

his wisdom

his provisions

his faithfulness

rely on his mighty hand put yourself under him and he will lift you up at the proper time he will bring you through your obstacles at the proper time.

But why why cant i just endure these things on my own?

Why do i need to submit under Gods hand?

what am i enduring?

What does God offer us in our submission?

what do i lose by enduring on my own?

What are we really enduring?

Ephesians 6:10–13(CSB)

10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

so why do we submit to God to endure because the things we are really enduring are not of this world.

they are of the spiritual world.

our fight is not against flesh and blood but against the evil forces of the spiritual realm.

so when it comes to the spiritual realm we dont really know much at all about it so we must submit to the one who knows it the best which is God.

so thats what we are enduring regardless of what the actaul obstacle is it will be rooted one way or another in the spiritual realm.

What does God offer us in our submission?

if we look at all the promises of God through out the scriptures thats what God is offering us!

not only to endure

but hes offering us

strength

wisdom

patience

love

peace

a straight path

eternal life

security

comfort

the list goes on and on

but the greatest thing he offers us is more intimacy with him those who suffer in christ grow closer in christ

those who submit to christ look more like christ

the more we submit to God the more of God we get to trully see!

God promises to get us through our trials and he is faithful

What do we lose in enduring on our own?

simply put we lose all that God offers us.

we miss out on getting through in his strength

in his peace

in his confidence

we loose the chance to grow closer to God.

while also running the risk of the obstacles we face consuming us leading to us failing.

the moral of the story regardless if you succeed or not if you dont rely on God to get through it you are ripping yourself off.

you gain a counterfit success.

charles spurgeon puts it this way

“He who can do all things with out Christ will end in doing nothing. Human ability without grace of God is only puffed-up inability. Those of you who, apart from supernatural help, feel quite sufficient for any kind of holy service are miserably deluded. self-sufficiency is inefficiency. the fullness of self is a double emptiness. he who has no sense of his weakness has a weakness in his sense.”

simply put we gain nothing in doing things in our own strength. if anything gain anything its more distance between us and God.

now that we see our need to rely on God to face our obstacles lets look at our first obstacle.

overcoming the battle against ourselves

1 Peter 5:7 (CSB)

7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

peter is going back to his time with Jesus speaking from experience.

he’s saying you can absolutley throw all your cares and anxieties at Jesus and he is faithful to take them becuase he cares and heres why.

theres this account in the gospels of the disicples crossing over the sea of galilee and a gaint storms rolls in, that terrrifies them thinking they would die.

jesus is asleep

they ask him do you even care ?

he calms the storm .

i care so much.

if you only knew how much i care.

the anxieties of this world are all around us some self afflicted some medically brought about.

now the struggle with this text if you struggle with anxiety is to roll your eyes and be whatever preacher.

but here me out i get it ive struggled myself.

-dont be anxious

-dont worry about tommorow

i dont want to be.....

but what do we do

what does it look like for you to cast all your cares on christ.

if im honest i dont know.

but i know what worked for me what it looked like for me.

focusing on the goodness of God

on his truths on his promises.

holding firm to what peter says casting off our cares

throwing it off

aggressive

martin luther says “ i cant not worry, but i can turn my worries into prayers. i can pray and let God worry.”

so heres what it might look like it looks like getting to the root of our worry.

maybe its not beliving God will get us through.

maybe its we wont fit in or be accepted by others.

maybe its we wont be successful in life.

what ever it is its like imagining taking off a coat and putting it on a coat rack.

saying God this is yours now not mine you worry about it,

but also replacing it with the countering truth in Gods word to replace those anxieties with.

so taking off the coat of worry and replacing it with the truths and faithfulness of God.

now maybe thats not what works for you but you have to do something so why not try that. you cant look at this text and just overlook it. we have to do something to help us cast all our cares on christ.

becuase he cares for us. this text goes out of its way to display that care.

IN Temptation Resist The Devil

1 Peter 5:8–9 (CSB)

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.

Be alert, stay on guard. we have a real enemy out there in the world which scripture says they want to steal from us, kill us, and destroy us.

their main goal to separate us from God.

how does the text describe the devil?

jesus is the lion of Judah.

the devil is just dressing up like a lion for halloween. (mascarades like an angel of light)

trying to scare us into thinking hes bugger and badder than he actually is.

hes out there roaring searching for someone all alone separated from the pack to devour.

ive heard it said when we sin we are inviting the devil in. ( giving him a foot hold)

which could look like us praying God protect us, but we choose sin and are saying devil come on in and pillage my life.

when we choose sin we then are isolating ourselves setting ourselves up for the devil or his demons to devour us.

their whole tactic is to get you to sin they lie and wait for their calculated time to tempt you with just the right thing.

trying to get us to feed

our pride

our egos

give in to our lustful desires

enjoy gossiping on others

sitting comfortable in legalism and self-righteousness,

when we give in we feed our flesh and them allowing them to get stronger.

which could lead to habitual sin ringing their dinner bell .

its like a stray cat- everyone who has a cat i think.

the person who puts food out to feed it the cat makes that its home

But how do we fight against the devil and his followers?

what does the text say?

it says resist him!

Stand firm in the faith!

we see exactly how to do this by Jesus when he was in the desert for 40 days.

he uses his top 3 verses from Deuteronomy to combat the devil.

he resisted the temptations of satan by hitting him with the truth of God.

the only offensive weapon mentioned in Ephesians 6 the sword which is the word of God.

we as followers of Jesus are called to imitate him in this to stand firm putting on the truths of God not only as our armor and greatest defense but also as our greatest weapon against our enemy.

fortinite jumping in to a game just grabbing whatever you seen not knowing what it does and expecting to win.

your chances are very slim if you grab a plunger gun not knowing what it does and expect to win a fight versus grabbing a golden minigun knowing what it does and how to use it.

i say that is we cant just jump into the fight going blind we have to know Gods word and how to use it in our lives.

we have to know it and apply it so much that if someone cuts us we bleed bible and Gods grace.

resist him and he will flee. becuase

1 john 4:4

1 John 4:4 (CSB)

4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

dont forget also that you are not alone in this fight

peter says know, remeber

our brothers and sisters in christ are experiencing the same sufferings.

so let us stand together strengthening one another.

praying for each other. providing for each others needs.

focusing on whats to come!

In our suffering focus on our future Hope

1 Peter 5:10–11 (CSB)

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.

peter who experienced Gods faithfulness.

from Jesus’s resurrection and forgiving him of his betrayal

to breaking him out of prison.

peter has seen Gods faithfulness and is telling us.

be patient

have hope

God is faithful

he will deliver in the proper time.

point your focus on Gods promises!

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (CSB)

16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

us christians we belong to another kingdom.

we do not belong to this world

sounds weird i know but hear me out.

our hope is not in this world and what it offers.

you are literally aires to the kingdom of God

you are royalty

you are all princes and princesses to God our king.

God promises us we will inherit his kingdom and be with him one day.

that we will walk on streets of Gold.

never having to worry about sin or death ever again.

we will be infinitly fulfilled in his glory its so amazing it cant be put in words.

but christian listen

God has called you.

called you into his eternal glory in christ.

and God himself in this world, when you suffer, when you go through trials

he will restore you build you back up

he will establish you making your way firm

he will strengthen you

and he will support you giving you everything you could possibly need

becuase he loves you.

hold firm to that truth

hold onto it so tight your fingers bleed it is all we have

it is all we need

whats the take away

for the believer

we will face trails we will suffer in this world

so we must submit ourselves under God being strengthened by him

we have to give him our problems our worries our struggles.

we have to resist the temptaions and attacks of the devil knowing Gods truths and applying them to our lives

lastly if we are going to endure we must focus on the promises of God focusing on whats to come our hope in christ Jesus.

for the nonbeliever

just like the christian you will face trials and have suffering but who are you going to turn to?

not only do you have no security in eternity for your soul but you have no security for the here and now neither.

the take away for you is to call out to God to humble yourself under him. recognizing your need for him.

if your in that boat reach out to leaders

lets pray.