Glorifying God as Followers, Leaders, & Peacemakers in Suffering

In my last post, Who Made This Mouth?, I mentioned two speaking opportunities the Lord graciously opened up to me of late.

The first of those came and went on Sunday evening, August 23, at Grace Fellowship, Sanford. I preached a message from 1 Peter 5:1-5 entitled, Following and Leading to the Glory of God in Suffering. You can listen to the audio here.

Here is my content summary from the manuscript:

Main Idea

God gets glory when His people—followers and leaders alike—relate redemptively to one another especially in their suffering.

Outline

Followers relate redemptively with glad-hearted submission (5a).
Leaders relate redemptively with shepherd-hearted oversight (1-4).
All relate redemptively with lowly-hearted humility (5b).

Conclusion

In Him you can follow redemptively as a sheep; you can lead redemptively as a shepherd, if so called; and we all can relate redemptively as a people clothed in his humility to the glory of God especially in the throes of great suffering.

The next of those ministry opportunities takes place, Lord willing, this weekend, September 5-6 in Kelowna, BC at Providence Baptist Church’s annual summer camp gathering.

Here is my content summary for my assigned theme, How to Fight for the Peace of Your Church:

Session One: When We Must Labor to Fight Well for Peace (Hebrews 12:1-14)

Session Two: What We Must Master to Fight Well for Peace (1 Samuel 25:1-44)

Session Three: How We Must Engage to Fight Well for Peace (Matthew 7:1-12)

Session Four: Why We Must Forgive to Fight Well for Peace (Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

From the talk on Hebrews 12:14:

When must we labor to fight for peace? Always! To the finish line, all the way home, to our dying breath, just as we must fight against remaining sin and make our calling and election more sure by ever increasing growth in every other aspect of holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Peacemaking is a cataclysmically huge subset of our sanctification.

I hope in due time to post recordings of these messages for the benefit of any who might profit by listening. In the meantime, I covet with thankfulness any and all prayers for the Lord’s help as I commend the blessedness of peacemaking (Matthew 5:9) to the brothers and sisters at PBC, Kelowna, Canada.