THE PRIVILEGE OF SUFFERING

Read 1 Peter 4:12–16 Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:13 It is an honor and a privilege to suffer with Christ and be treated by the world the way it treated Him. “The...

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MUCH UPHEAVAL; MUCH COMFORT

Read Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Isaiah 40:1 “Isaiah is great for two reasons,” wrote William Sanford LaSor in his fascinating book Great Personalities of the Old Testament: “He lived in momentous days, in critical days of international upheaval, and he wrote what many consider to...

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HAND IN HAND

Read Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. Hebrews 8:13 It is one thing to say, “We will!” and quite another to do it. However, the new covenant does not depend on people’s faithfulness...

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RESPONSE OPTIONS

Read 1 Peter 3:8–12 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:9 As Christians, we can live on one of three levels. We can return evil for good, which...

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NO CONDEMNATION

Read Romans 8:18–39 We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 As believers we never need faint in times of suffering because we know that God is at work in the world,...

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THREE FRIENDS

Read Job 2—3 THREE FRIENDS When Job’s three friends … heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Job 2:11 All three of Job’s friends were old (Job...

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WHEN IN ROME …

Read Romans 1:8–15 WHEN IN ROME … I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the Foolish. Romans 1:14 Rome was a proud city, and the gospel came from Jerusalem, the capital city of a little nation Rome had conquered. The Christians in that day...

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SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Read Hebrews 8:7–12 I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Hebrews 8:12 What does it mean that God remembers our sins no more? Does it mean that our all-knowing God can actually forget what we have done? The phrase “remember [our] sins no more” means...

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LOST PATIENCE

Read 1 Peter 4:4–6 [The pagans] think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 1 Peter 4:4 Unsaved people do not understand the radical change that their friends experience when they trust Christ and become children...

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WHEN PLEASURE IS TREASURED

Read Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 When I surveyed all that my hands had done … everything was meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:11 Today’s world is pleasure mad. Millions of people will pay almost any amount of money to buy experiences to temporarily escape the burdens of life. While there is nothing wrong with innocent...

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