OUR MISSION: To guide those far from God into the new start found in Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3-12 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 1Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

vs.6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Firstly How not to face the question of suffering “The only way to know if a human law is unjust… is if there is a divine law from God.” “Letter from Birmingham Jail” – Martin Luther King Jr.

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Firstly How not to face the question of suffering "If God does not exist, everything is permitted. If God does not exist we have neither behind us, nor before us... nor any means of justification of any behaviour whatsoever." “The Brothers Karamazov” – Fyodorov Dostoyevsky 1. We have to look back at something 2. We have to look ahead to something 3. We have to look into something

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 1. We have to look back at something Daniel 3:24-25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counsellors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (NKJV)

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 1. We have to look back at something Isaiah 43:1-2 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 1. We have to look back at something vs “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you… predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 1. We have to look back at something “The sorrow and distress which his soul then suffered, arose from that full, and immediate view which he had of that cup of wrath; which was vastly more terrible than Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace. He had then a near view of that furnace of wrath, into which he was to be cast; he was brought to the mouth of the furnace that he might look into it, and stand and view its raging flames, and see the glowings of its heat, that he might know where he was going and what he was about to suffer for us.” “Christ's Agony” - A Sermon by Jonathan Edwards ( )

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 2. We have to look ahead to something vs.3-5 “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 2. We have to look ahead to something 1Corinthians 15:52-57 “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 2. We have to look ahead to something “I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage… that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.” “The Brothers Karamazov” – Fyodorov Dostoyevsky

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 3. We have to look into something vs.12 “…when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. “long” Greek = ἐπιθυμέω [epithumeō] - lust / covet / desire Hebrews 12:2 “…for the joy set before him he endured the cross…”

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 3. We have to look into something Isaiah 53:11 “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” (ESV)

SUFFERING AND EVIL 1 Peter 1:3-12 Secondly How to face the question of suffering 3. We have to look into something vs.8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”

OUR MISSION: To guide those far from God into the new start found in Jesus Christ.