Caleb Walker

Resources: Manuscript, downloadable PowerPoint, and Devotional

PowerPoint Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8noi1t6auc74nvknmyjk8/CG-Lesson-Be-Prepared.pptx?rlkey=nnxou6nf0jf80r5n7ijzucavg&st=2e3s1lma&dl=0

For More Information on our available Connect Groups, please click this link: https://franklinheights.org/connect/groups/

Introduction: Hello, I’m Caleb. I serve as Pastor of Missions for each of our campuses and discipleship for the Rocky Mount Campus. Thank you for joining us today. I had hoped to be with my 30’s-40’2 Connect Group this Sunday, but I’m at our Union Hall Campus this morning while Pastor Mark is away for a much-deserved family getaway. I want to thank my group co-leader, Brent for facilitating our discussions and leading this morning.I look forward to being back leading next week in person.

Review: Last week we looked at how the mockery Jesus endured as He persevered in taking the sins of the world to the cross. He was killed and on the third day rose from the grace appearing to Mary and giving her and all of God’s followers/His disciples the commission to go tell others the Good News about Jesus. At Franklin Heights Church we are a SENT church, meaning we are SENT to know God and bring others into a saving and growing relational, experiential knowledge of Christ. We’re SENT to Find Community, doing life together and bringing others into the family and fellowship of genuine spiritual relationships that are uplifting and encouraging. We’re SENT to discover our purpose, through serving and stepping out of our comfort zone to reach others with the Good News. Each born-again believer, each of you have a spiritual gift to use for the flourishing of others and the glory of God. At Franklin Heights, we’re here to help you discover that gift and start using it. I ma including a link to a spiritual gift assessment you can take and we can debrief together to help find you a place in Franklin Heights where you can start using your gift to serve others regularly. The fourth area of our SENT Pathway is to leave a legacy. We’re not meant to live in isolation to ourselves, but to invest in others, to pass the baton onto others who will continue to invest in reaching the lost and building Christ’s church. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, isn’t it a blessing to know that your life and mine have purpose that is leaving a legacy, investing in something that when you and I are in the presence of the Lord—should He delay His return—this church will still be SENT. So join us on the SENT Pathway as we lock arm-in-arm.

Title: Be Prepared

Text: I Peter 4:12-19

Memory Verse: I Peter 4:16, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Theme: Believers can expect to face opposition for following Christ.

Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that trials, test, opposition, sufferings of this kind can be expected. Maybe you’re here watching this lesson and you’re one of our folks who was baptized this past Sunday. I rejoice with you. Know that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, it’s not going to be a bed of roses, but there will be those who oppose you and come against you for your resolve to follow Jesus. That’s why it’s so important that you not be isolated, trying to live the Christian life on your own. You need the family, the camaraderie, and the uplifting encouragement of Connect Group. We need each other.

Opening Discussion Question (s): For following Christ, opposition is often verbal. People will mistreat you with their words because you are now a committed follower of Christ.

Discussion: How do you usually respond when someone opposes your ideas?

Does your response change based on the severity and type of opposition? Pause and discuss this amongst yourselves.

Context:

Peter the apostle is writing to the early churches in the region of Asia Minor, and they were being persecuted. It was a rough time to be a committed follower of Jesus.  Emperor Nero is in power, and he heavily and increasingly persecuted believers, even later—according to tradition, having Peter and Paul martyred in Rome. What do we need to do when we face the same or similar trials?

Main Points:

1. Be Ready (I Peter 4:12-14)

“¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of gloryand of God rests upon you.”

• Peter intentionally addresses them as “Beloved,” meaning “dear friends.” He couches his next statements in this relationship of loving kindness.
• Peter encourages them not to be surprised by what he calls “a fiery ordeal.” Have you ever gone through a fiery ordeal in the path of obedience? Peter encourages us, don’t be surprised by it; expect it.
• Not only should we expect it, but Peter says we should “Rejoice” in it! Why? Why would I rejoice when I’m in a tough season? Because it affirms our position in Christ. How do you know you’re a Christian? Well, you’re enduring suffering. But this suffering makes us look forward to our eternal joy when we’re with Jesus someday!
• Verse 12 uses the word “insulted,” meaning “ridiculed.” Jess prepared them for this back at His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
• Peter comforts them when he says in verse 14, “¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of gloryand of God rests upon you.” This statement is linked to the glorious Spirit of God that rested on King David, the man after God’s own heart, way back in Isaiah 11:1-2. The Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity whose presence in believers at the moment they get saved forward is a down payment  or pledge that God will finish the work He started in us. Ephesians 1:13, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
• Application: “But, Caleb, you don’t know how I blew it recently and sinned!” God will finish the work he started in you! “But, Caleb, I have really messed up recently!” God will finish the work He started in you! “But, Caleb, I’m battling this struggling, bad habit, and I just can’t seem to shake it!” God will finish His work in you!
• II. Be Righteous (I Peter 4:15-16)

“¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

• The church of Jesus Christ back then, much like today, wasn’t perfect. We all have brokenness we are recovering from and pursuing God’s help to overcome together! We need, as did the churches in Asia Minor, Peter’s exhortation in verse 15: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.” Meaning if you’re going to suffer—and you will—make sure it’s not because of un-Christ-like behaviors, but because you’re living for God. He will help us to suffer well for His glory.
• III. Be Assured (I Peter 4:17-19)

^“17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ ¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

Key Doctrine: God the Father

“God as father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace” (p. 104, Leader Guide).

Deuteronomy 32:6, “Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?”

Jeremiah 10:10, “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.”

• When Peter talks about the final judgement, he’s referring to the final age, the church age we’re in now that Christ started after His resurrection and ascension to Heaven. Believers in this age are protected from the final judgement because of Jesus saving them! Yet when we’re tested, we’re given the opportunity to point the lost to Jesus so that they may escape the final judgement as we have.
• The suffering we endure, as this verse says, “at the household of God” is not a judgment for our sins; Christ took that for us on the cross. Instead, this is a purifying judgement, through which we are conformed into Christlikeness. Rocky never would have been ready for the prize fight if he didn’t go through some painful, tough workouts, pullups, chasing that chicken, running, and being strengthened for the greater test ahead. Suffering always purifies individuals and purifies whole churches. Those who aren’t genuine followers fall away. Those who are legit stick to it. There will be difficulty, but the difficulty is a part of the process.
• The judgment against those who reject Jesus in verse 18 will be judicial, not refining.
• Verse 19 assures us that because all suffering, external and internal, emotional and physical, all suffering passes through the sovereign hand of our living God who is in complete control and who we can lean on and depend on. He truly is our faithful Creator according to this verse.

Closing Discussion Questions: Brent will lead us in a time of discussion answering these questions from the lesson:

Discussion: Maybe you have been ridiculed for following Jesus, or are you currently being ridiculed for following Jesus. How can we be ready for the test of suffering?

Discussion: How can believers bring glory to God in a time of suffering?

Conclusion:

 To all of you other Connect group and small group leaders following this content each week,  thank you for teaching God’s Word faithfully and accurately and for being apart of this disciple-making community.

• The Teaching Manuscript
• Free Download of this PowerPoint

drcalebwalker.com

Devotional “How to Handle Suffering”

There are genuine ways to endure suffering as opposed to non-genuine. The Pharisees tried to mask their brokenness in a shroud of super-spirituality. If anything bad happened to them, they would have been embarrassed while at the same time sighting the suffering of their people. The Pharisees would judge those who did suffer, thinking they must be going through a bad experience because of some sin against God. God’s word does not say you will suffer as a result of sin, but that you are suffering because you are following Christ. Each of us have brokenness in our lives. If we will open up to trusted brothers and sisters in Christ who can pray for us, we can then lean on one another and endure, knowing we are being supported and prayed for (a concept foreign to the Pharisaical individuals). We need to remember that each of us are in a process of growing more and more gradually like Jesus and will suffer as we keep moving forward in this process, step-by-step.

Whne we suffer, in our hearts and minds we have an opportunity to glorify God pointing to Him, because he saved us and will someday ultimately save us from all suffering when we are in heaven.

We also need to guard our hearts from the temptations that come when we suffer. Rather than caving and using the suffering as an excuse for sin, we make godly moment-by-moment choices that honor God and point those around us to Him.

How to Pray:

Help me to glorify You in this suffering.

Help me to point others to You that they may be saved.

Help me to intentionally lean on my church family/my Connect Group who love and care for me.