TITLE: I Pray This Benediction Upon You: Suffering
TEXT: I PETER 5:10, 11
INTRODUCTION
A. Why do we suffer? Even more, why do good people suffer?
B. Jesus (John 16:2-4)
C. Paul (Romans 8:18)
D. Peter (I Peter 2:21; 4:12, 13)
E. Dr. King, “Unearned suffering is redemptive.”
ACKNOWLEDGE GOD
A. God of all grace
B. Who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus
1. Called from the foundation of the world
2. God knows what I will suffer, AND, what He will do after it
APPEAL TO GOD
A. After we have suffered a while (He may permit us suffer a while)
B. Note:
1. Indicative Future Tense – converts the prayer into an assurance
2. Autos – Himself
C. Perfect
1. Perfect = Restore / To mend / To put in its appropriate position
2. Suffering Destroys – God Restores
D. Establish
1. Establish = Support (make stable, place firmly)
2. Suffering Disorients – God Stabilizes
E. Strengthen
1. Strengthen = To make strong
2. Suffering Weakens – God Strengthens
F. Settle
1. Settle = To lay the foundation of / To Ground Securely
2. Suffering Washes Away – God Securely Grounds
ASSIGN GLORY TO GOD
A. Be glory – doxa
B. Be dominion – force, strength, might, more especially “manifested
power” is derived from a root kra--, “to perfect, to complete”
AFFIRM THE GLORY’S DURATION
A. Forever
B. And ever
AMEN
A. “So be it”
B. To confirm the words spoken and to invoke the fulfillment of them
CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK: THAT I WILL BLESS OTHERS TO KNOW THAT SUFFERING CAN LEAD TO THE LIBERATION OF OTHERS
