Plymouth Haven Baptist Church

Core Truth: As we noted in last Sunday’s message, we know that the world is filled with mind-numbing examples of profound suffering and evil that seem to multiply on an ever-increasing basis, and in recent times it has become especially so for Christians. In today’s message The God of All Grace (Part 2) we will look at the age-old questions of why there is so much suffering in the world to begin with, and especially why our God of faithfulness and love hasn’t at least exempted His own children from it.

Core Truth: Not unlike the believers of Peter’s time, today’s true followers of Christ are facing growing persecution, suffering, and adversities, both in the form of some of the greatest waves of torture and death now happening on a rapidly growing scale in many nations around the world which is at its worse since the earliest days of the church, but also in what’s been called a “soft persecution” now on the rise in nations such as our own, as those same deadly spiritual forces are manifesting growing hostility and social marginalization toward people of the genuine Christian community. As a result, the Apostle Peter tells us what to expect and how to handle these new realities.

Core Truth: “The blood stands out in solitary majesty, the only rock of our salvation. This blood is not simply the only thing that can save, but must save alone. Put anything with the blood of Christ, and you are lost; trust to anything else with this and you perish. Morality will keep you out of jail, but only the blood of Jesus will keep you out of hell. Beloved, it is a thought which ought to make our hearts leap within us, that through Jesus’s blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, not a wrinkle nor any such thing.” Charles Spurgeon

Core Truth: Sooner or later we all must come to some sort of conclusion about the fact that pain, troubles, and adversities are part of human life. As one writer put it: “If life is to be meaningful, we need desperately to find a place for suffering in it and to discover how to cope with it,” and nowhere are we given a better means of doing that than with what we learn from the Apostle Peter in our Scripture text for today’s message.

Core Truth: If ever there was a time when the spiritual acuity of every Christian should be operating at an increasingly sharp level it is now … as events on every front – globally, nationally, regionally and locally – are shouting at us that things cannot go on as they are … that something decisive and dramatic is about to occur and that God expects His people to be “dressed for service and our lamps burning brightly.” (Luke 12:35)

Core Truth: Because as God’s “Scattered Elect” we have been providentially sown into the cultural soil of an alien and hostile world, it is an absolute certainty that we will be “temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations.” In light of that we are called to do certain things which will help to make us strong in our faith, conform us more fully to the likeness of Christ, and prepare us to stand unashamed before the Lord whenever He may choose to call us home.

Core Truth: Over the course of biblical history, God has often used “scattering” as His method of choice for kingdom growth, and what may seem like a setback (going to Egypt, being exiled, persecution, or even a pandemic!) may be His catalysts for paradigm shifts and future kingdom growth that will have a lasting impact on the Church’s effectiveness, as well as the individual believer’s personal growth and ultimate triumph.

Core Truth: The troubles and adversities we may experience in this life – regardless of their source or nature – are always intended by a wise and loving God to not only be beneficial to us in this present life, but also profoundly consequential in the life to come – making them in the end – far more to be treasured than the greatest of earthly pleasures.

Core Truth: Our Lord said “I came so that they may have life and have it to the fullest, until it overflows.” If we really understood how much God wants us to be truly happy – both in this life and in the life to come – everything could be different, including the ways in which we experience and process some of the difficult and painful things that may happen in our lives.

Core Truth: Being a Christian is not just a title, it’s a position – a position of responsibility through stewardship, and our stewardship is to be directed not by what we prefer, but by the desires of the Owner Whose instructions are clearly spelled out in the Bible.

1. God infuses His sojourners with a living hope. 1 Peter 1:3-5 2. God infuses His sojourners with a preserving faith. 1 Peter 1:6-9 3. God reveals the Author of our hope and faith. 1 Peter 1:10-12

Core Truth: Because God has so much more planned for us than we could ever imagine, He wants to protect us from the danger of becoming too comfortable with the things of this present life and thereby losing sight of the glorious future which He already has prepared for us, and that requires that we “prepare our minds for action and to set our hope fully” on Christ’s return.

Core Truth: While the world seeks to find someone to “fix our problems” once and for all and may soon be will willing to accept anyone who promises to do that, Christ, the Living Stone will appear a second time, not to deal again with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for Him and to establish His kingdom forever.

Core Truth: God owns everything – our time, talents, treasure, relationships, jobs, families – everything, and we get to manage it for Him, and management of all these God-given responsibilities and resources is called stewardship.

Core Truth: God owns everything – our time, talents, treasure, relationships, jobs, families – everything, and we get to manage it for Him, and management of all these God-given responsibilities and resources is called stewardship.

Core Truth: God is bigger than all our worries and problems, we must realize this if we are to have victory in our lives. Each of us suffers with difficulties; however, the Lord is faithful to lift us out of our troubles.

Core Truth: The holiness of God is not merely a theological construct fit for the “ultra-religious” who may seem to have the interest and stamina to pursue it. Rather, God’s holiness and our relationship to it should be a matter of serious concern to every person who claims the name of Christ.

Core Truth: While it has been rightly called "the gift nobody wants," our wise heavenly Father allows and even places pain in our lives for reasons that are always in our ultimate best interest and ever to His highest glory.