How to Persevere Through Life's Trials and Troubles

When faith is tested by pressure, pain, and spiritual opposition, God has not left you alone. In this message from 1 Peter 4 and 5, Pastor Chris explains how trials become the very places where God deepens your faith, strengthens your character, and teaches you to trust him. This episode helps you stand firm when life pushes back and challenges your walk with Christ. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18199675

Key Points:

PREPARE for the Pressure of Trials
 1 Peter 4:12-13
 Trials are normal for followers of Jesus. God uses them to refine your trust in him and shape you to reflect the character of Christ.

PRAISE Christ in the Pain
 1 Peter 4:14-16
 When your faith leads to misunderstanding or opposition, Scripture calls you blessed. Choosing praise keeps your attention on Christ instead of the weight of your circumstances.

PLACE Your Life in God’s Hands
 1 Peter 4:17-19
 God’s refining work begins with his own people. Trust him enough to continue doing what is right, even when the path is difficult or unclear.

POUR Out Your Cares before Him
 1 Peter 5:6-7
 God invites you to bring every burden to him. Casting your cares on the Lord is a humble act of faith, acknowledging his care and authority in your life.

PROTECT Your Heart against the Enemy and Persevere in Grace
 1 Peter 5:8-11
 You face real spiritual opposition. Stand alert, resist the enemy’s lies, and rely on God’s strength. He promises to restore, support, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered for a little while.

Personal Stories
 Pastor Chris shares the true account of Alexander Selkirk, the sailor stranded alone for four years. His greatest battle was not the environment but the discouragement within him. What seemed like a breaking season became a shaping season, illustrating how God builds perseverance in times of pressure and spiritual struggle.

Quotes
 Sometimes it feels like you are getting buried when really you are getting planted.
 It glorifies the Lord when you worship and serve him when it is not convenient, not comfortable, and not easy.

Takeaways:

Reflect on where your faith feels tested and ask God to strengthen you in that place.
 Respond to one difficult situation this week with trust and praise rather than frustration.
 Take time to pour out specific cares before the Lord instead of carrying them alone.
 Encourage someone facing pressure or opposition so neither of you stand alone.

Scripture
 1 Peter 4 and 5, Romans 8, Philippians 3, Daniel 3, Psalm 119, 1 John 1 and 3.

Keywords:
 faith, trials, opposition, perseverance, spiritual battle, endurance, Christian life, trust, hope, suffering

Challenge:
 Ask the Lord to help you persevere in faith through trials and opposition and stand firm in his grace this week.

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The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:16

Persevering without losing heart. When we go through hard times, especially in our Christian life, it's really easy for us to just give up. It's really easy for us to say, God, what are you doing? Isn't my life supposed to be blessed now? Aren't I supposed to enjoy comfort? Isn't being saved and heading towards being sanctified and all of that just bring me to an easy way to live life, a life hopefully free of sin and everything else? But it's not that way. I thought this video was interesting. It's only a minute long, but it talks about maybe some of the reasons why God allows you to go through hard things. So let's just watch it for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Sometimes it feels like you're getting buried when really you're just getting planted. Like imagine from the perspective of the seed, you're just getting dirt thrown in your face. But from the perspective of the gardener, you're getting the soil you need to grow. So sometimes it feels like you're getting buried when actually you're getting planted by God for your calling.

Chris T 1:56

Christians who were dispersed across the Roman Empire, people who were lonely, people who were feeling like they just didn't understand what was going on. It would be so easy for them to just give up, but they didn't. And so I've been jumping around, 1 Peter, and I'll continue to jump around until after Thanksgiving. But in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12, the heading says, suffering for being a Christian. And so the message is entitled Persevering Without Losing Heart. And persevering is how to keep going when the going gets hard. To persevere according to the dictionary is to continue steadily and firmly in a course of action or purpose, especially in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement. And through the Holy Spirit, Peter knew that these dispersed Christians were suffering for being Christians. And this is what he writes, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you're going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad, for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people's affairs. But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name. For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God's household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God's good news? And also, if the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners? So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert, watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation, all power to him forever. Amen. And that's what Peter says to the suffering church. So I was reading stories about shipwrecks. I was reading stories about people marooned on islands and people that were able to get through how they survived. And so Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor in the early 1700s, was marooned on an island, and that's where the Robinson Crusoe books come from. After a dispute with his captain, he asked to be left on a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Chile. He expected another ship to pass within days. No one came. Days turned into months and months into years, and four long years he lived on that isolated island. He survived by hunting wild goats and tanning their hides to make clothing. He built two small huts with his own hands. He read scripture aloud and to steady his mind in his heart. He stayed out of sight when enemy ships approached because he feared being captured. Hunger, storms, danger, and loneliness were constant pressures. Yet Selkirk later said that the hardest enemy he fought was despair. Every day he had to choose hope over fear, purpose over discouragement, perseverance over surrender. When he was finally rescued, the captain who found him said that Selkirk was the strongest and healthiest man on the ship. Years of hardship had not broken him, they had shaped him. His story reminds us that perseverance is not just enduring pressure. It's trusting that God is still at work. It's trusting that God is still at work in your life. It's trusting that each day when you get up in the morning and you say, Okay, God, I still have the breath of life. What is my purpose? For today, you do what you know you need to do. And when I was reading through multiple stories of people who were trapped on islands or survival stories, the constant theme was they woke up in the morning and they realized they had a purpose and they tried to get something accomplished. Many of them prayed and constantly moved forward. They didn't give up hope of being rescued. They didn't give up expectation. And that's what we need to do as Christians is we should never give up hope. Whatever our circumstances, whatever it is that we're going through, it's just a season. Now, the season could be the rest of your life, but it is not the rest of your eternal life. And your eternal life, when you are in Jesus, when you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, is so much longer than the little spark of this life here on this earth. But what we do here matters, and the way we do it matters, and the way that we honor and worship and praise God by the things that we choose to do, even when situations aren't what we had hoped, even when people don't do what we want, when the job doesn't work out, when the family situation doesn't work out, when our health doesn't work out, that we keep moving forward. It's easy to get bitter. It's easy to ask God, why is this happening? Where are you, God? Did I do something wrong to deserve this? And then how do we keep going when we feel worn down? You know, we do reap what we sow, and often when we sin or make mistakes or whatever, it can lead us into seasons of difficulty. Maybe we didn't take our health seriously and now we're paying for it, or maybe we had bad investments, or we didn't learn the skills we needed to have a successful career, or there's so many things that can make a difference as to where you end up. But then there's also a lot of grace, and God sometimes can do wonderful things in your life, almost like the game of shoots and ladders. Do you ever feel like you're in the game of shoots and ladders? Everything's going good, and then all of a sudden, down the shoot, you get on the slide, you go, and then you're trying to work your way back up again, but then you get upgraded and things can change so quick. And we just need to roll with the good times and the bad times. The Apostle Paul said that, didn't he? He had learned to be content, whether he had plenty or he was in want. So we need to do that. We need to persevere, to prepare for the pressure of trials. So here's a guy on the screen, and he's on an island, and there's some other people on another island, but this guy's all by himself. It looks like the people on the island over there are having a good time together, but this guy's all by his lonesome. And sometimes living the Christian life feels like that, doesn't it? Doesn't it seem sometimes like you're the only Christian trying to live for Jesus in your neighborhood or your workplace or the club that you're part of or the team that you're on or the school that you're in that you feel like you are all alone. And the more serious you get about following Jesus, the lonelier it can feel sometimes. Now, I'm pretty sure that you're not the only Christ follower in your school, probably not your work or your neighborhood, but to know that sometimes when you're living for Jesus, that Jesus is a friend who sticks closer to the brother, that he will be with you when you go through these difficult times. But you should also pray that God brings you a Christian friend, that God brings you some Christ followers to share life with. And be kind to everyone along the way. Be kind and be approachable. Sometimes people say they don't have any friends in church. No one connects with me, but I notice these people that say they don't feel connected with are the last ones into church and the first one out the door. No one's ever had a chance to connect with them and introduce themselves and try to connect with them because they just they're in and out so fast. And so don't be like that. And don't be unapproachable in your neighborhood. Do what you can to try to strike up a conversation, meet the people, do what you can. Some people will be a lot more open to it than others, but do what you can. So again, verse 12, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you're going through as if something strange were happening. So Peter is trying to prepare them, trying to prepare them and say, hey, you know what? If you're gonna live for Christ, if you're gonna be serious about following Jesus, you're entering into a spiritual war zone. And not everybody is gonna love what you stand for, love what you do, love who you are, and that's just the way it is. That's the way it was for Jesus. And if you want to be Jesus' follower, if you want to be like Jesus, you can expect some of these things are going to happen to you too. You know, it is really good when you know what to expect. So when they say, we need to do surgery, and when we do surgery, we're gonna cut this and pull this apart and break that, and it's gonna hurt a lot. We can give you some pain medication and stuff, but you're gonna have a long recovery. It's gonna you're gonna have to do physical therapy, it's gonna be very painful for you to go through this, but we hope that when it's all said and done, this is gonna fix your problem and you're going to enjoy many years of whatever it is, your new limb or joint or whatever it is. So they prepare you for that. Or when the dentist says, this is probably gonna hurt a little bit, this is gonna sting, those types of things. Or when your finance person, if you have one, says, it's gonna be a rocky roller coaster of an investment, but I think that it's gonna turn out good if you just stay with the plan. So don't be surprised. Don't be surprised if you want to live for Christ, that you will go through difficulties, you will go through trials, you will go through hard times. And here it says, fiery trials, difficult trials. And what that points to is like a refining of gold. So these trials aren't just to trip you up. God doesn't allow you to go through these things because he doesn't care. He knows that when you go through some of these hard times, when you go through some of these difficulties, when you say no to temptation and find victory over it, when you choose to do the right thing the right way and find victory in the trials, it makes you a stronger person, it makes you a better person. Just like the story about the guy that was on the island four years later, when he gets on the ship, the captain is like, he is the fittest guy on the ship. You know why? Because it made him stronger. It makes you stronger when you go through hard times. And that's why Peter continues and says, Instead, be very glad, for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. You will be part of Jesus' team. When people see Jesus, his Christ followers will be with him. When you live for Christ in a way that is right, in a way that overcomes the difficulties, in a way that endures the trials, it glorifies Jesus, and you will be identified with Jesus. Hopefully, you are identified with Jesus now. But to be a partner with Christ is to walk the same path he walked. Romans 8.17 teaches that suffering with Christ leads to glory with Christ, and Philippians 3.10 shows that knowing Christ deeply includes sharing in his sufferings. One of the coolest stories in the Old Testament is that when Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednegil were forced into the flaming furnace, that there was a fourth one in the furnace, a man that looked like the Son of God. None of them burned, and it looked like Jesus was in the fire with them. And so maybe in your life you can testify to a hard time you went through, and you just know that Christ was in it. Christ was there, Christ was in it to help you through that moment, through that season in that time, those answered prayers. But to be willing to walk with Christ, not apart from him, to be willing to endure suffering and difficulty if that brings glory to God, and if that if God allows that in your life. Number two, praise Christ in the pain. So Peter told them to expect difficulty, to expect pressure, and now Peter's trying to tell them how to deal with it. What are they to do with to praise Christ in the pain? But glorifies the Lord when you worship him, when you serve him, when you live for him, when it's not convenient, when it's not comfortable, when it's difficult, when it's hard, it glorifies the Lord. He's calling you to praise him. And when you do, it gets the focus off of you and onto him, and that helps you to endure, helps you to move forward, helps you to keep going. Verse 14 if you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. Insulted, some face ridicule, some face rejection from family, some lose friendships, some feel the sting of isolation at work or school, some are pressured to compromise their convictions, some are excluded socially, some are misresented or misrepresented or falsely accused, some carry spiritual heaviness because of the culture around them is hostile to Christ. And so we go through difficult things. And when we're going through the difficult thing, as we kindly endure it, we can know that God's favor is upon us. That if we bear the name of Christ, we will be blessed. You know, again, I've mentioned it week after week, but to please the audience of one, to put Christ first. And sometimes you're surprised because you feel like you're the only one standing up for Jesus wherever you're at, and then you find out that no, you are not the only Christ follower, and you actually have inspired other people to stand up for Jesus, to live for Jesus. And what a great way to live. I mentioned, I think it was last week, that we need to stand up for our Christian values, and we need to stand up for what's right. We can't let our culture or society take that away just because we're too nice. Christians should be nice, but we shouldn't be so nice that we just let everybody take away what we value. We should do what we can to even pass laws or elect people or to even protest in a good way, things that we stand against, things that are sinful, things that are bad for society, things that will only lead to the decay or destruction of the people we care about all around us. But then again, the warning Peter gives it says, if you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people's affairs. So you're trying to live a life that's blameless. You're trying to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that is Jesus Christ first. So obviously, murder, stealing, those types of things that leads to trouble, shan't do that, making trouble. Prying into other people's affairs. What does that exactly mean? So there are some things that we should make it our business, because like I said, it affects us all. And there's other things that people are choosing to sin, people are choosing to do wrong, and that's between them and God. And that's just the way it is. God gives us all a free choice, a free choice to either live in sin or to live in Christ and to reap what we sow when it comes to that. And then he says again, verse 16, it's no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name. From what I understand, when it was first used, the term Christian was a derogatory term. It wasn't a kind thing that they called you. You're just a Christian. And now we bear that name with great joy and Christian pride. We can suffer pain from anger or unkind words or unwise decisions or conflict that we created, or gossip, criticism, or interfering that we did, being prideful. A believer who argues constantly cannot claim persecution when others avoid them. A Christian who is irresponsible at work cannot call it suffering for Christ when there are consequences. There is a time when you are at work to pray for your coworkers and try to lead your friends, neighbors, coworkers, the people around you to Christ. But that time, I don't think, is on the boss's dime. Or the dime, what's a dime? Our grandkids are gonna go, what's a penny? Because they don't make those anymore. But when you're being paid, do the work, do the best work you can, do everything you can to glorify Christ in the way that you work. And then if you're not allowed to share Christ on the company property, then take someone out to lunch or invite them over to your house for a barbecue, or like I say, get them in the boat where they're a captive audience or the fish house or something. But look for those opportunities and do what's right so that nobody has anything to accuse you of, to make sure that nobody can accuse you of not being a good worker, of not doing what you were paid to do, not being ethical, not being kind. This time of year, actually a couple months ago, I guess, I noticed where I used to work that we had these cabinets that had like office supplies, they had pens and notebooks and all sorts of stuff. And I noticed they got emptied out right before the school year started as people would grab some stuff for their kids. Now, I don't remember anybody saying that was okay. So that was stealing. And so maybe they didn't think it was stealing, but don't be that kind of person. Be the kind of person that you can't be accused of doing anything. People don't look down on the name of Christ because you're doing everything that you can to be kind, compassionate, caring, and living for Christ. Number three, persevere. Place your life in God's hands. To place your life in God's hands. We in our Sunday school class today, we were in Psalm 119, and we were seeing how David repeatedly refers to himself as a servant. He wants to be a servant to be used by God. His heart is broken for the people. His heart wants to live, wants to know and live out God's word, God's statutes, God's laws, and he wants to share that with the people so that they too can enjoy the benefit and the blessing. He wants to be a servant placed in God's hands. And you and I need to be servants placed in God's hands. What would you be willing to go through to be that? Now, if you joined a sports team, maybe when you were in junior high or high school or whatever, you kind of knew what you were signing up for. You knew that you would endure a coach that might make you run hard, difficult practices, make you run until you couldn't run anymore. Say it was football, you'd had those two a day practices and the hot summer sun, and you signed up for that, and you knew that's what it was. Going to be. You placed your energy, your self-esteem in the coach's hands. And hopefully a good coach saw something in you and pushed you even harder so that you would be better. And it didn't just benefit you, it benefited the team. And through that was a good thing, a good place to be. And when we place our life in God's hands, it's more than just for salvation. It's more than just because we need to follow Christ instead of the devil. It is because we want to be the best that we can be with the days that we have to live for Christ and to serve Christ, to place our life in God's hands. 1 Peter 4.17, the time has come for judgment and it must begin with God's household. So this isn't a judgment that is like the judgment for sin or the judgment for eternity. This isn't condemnation for believers. The context of the entire passage shows it's talking about a purifying judgment, not a punishing judgment. This is God's refining work in the lives of his people. So God wants to purify us. God wants to make us even more holy. There's this tension between we're forgiven of all of our sins, the sins of the past, the sins of today, the sins of tomorrow. It's forgiven. It's covered by Jesus. And then there's this other side of our practical living from day to day and the way that we live our life and the usefulness of it and everything, where we choose whether or not we're going to live rightly or we're going to give in to sin. When we choose to allow things in our life that make us less effective as Christ followers, when we choose to do things that dishonor Christ or are just lingering sin. And God wants, the Holy Spirit wants to clean us up, wants to help us to get beyond that so that we can live lives that are more joyful, lives that are more effective, lives that God can bless, lives that God can use. And it glorifies him, it praises him in the way that we choose to live our lives. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits for those who have never obeyed God's word? This is a purifying judgment. And he continues on. Jesus' work on the cross was effective. And when Christ gets a hold of us, then we can know for sure that we are saved. When titling this message with the word persevere, I didn't want it to be confused with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which I do believe in. I do believe that if you're truly saved, you will continue to be saved and you will not lose your salvation. So I don't think that if you're truly saved, that you can be, when you are truly saved, you're adopted as a child of God. You are born again. You receive the Holy Spirit. And I don't think that there's some sin that you can fall into that will undo all of that if you are truly converted, if you are truly regenerated. So I do think that God disciplines those whom he loves, and that you will face God's discipline and difficulties that go with that if you're a Christ follower living in Christ. Actually, in 1 John, it makes it really clear that if you're truly a believer in Christ, you can't continue in sin because that's not possible. So if you are truly a Christ follower, you will be unhappy with that sin, you will repent of that sin, you might struggle with that sin. You might keep falling into that sin, and maybe you need counseling, maybe you need help, maybe someone can help you, another Christ follower, or even a counselor can help you get beyond that besetting sin. But if you are just going to continue in sin and it doesn't bother you at all, and it's just a blatant sin, and you could care less because you're like, oh, grace covers it, I would wonder if you were truly a Christ follower. But a purifying judgment so that God can use us for his glory. And those can be difficult, but it also can be a good thing. First Peter 4 19. If you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. So you might be going through a series or a season of suffering, of difficulty, and God knows, God sees it's acceptable to God. He's okay with you going through it because he knows that it will make you better, that it's good for his plan for your life, and you just trust him and you keep moving forward. Sometimes there are people that come into your life that can help you, like maybe a fitness coach, maybe a life coach. And so they ask you a bunch of questions, and sometimes they give you like directions on how you're supposed to live your life and what you're supposed to do, and you can choose to do them or not. You can choose if it's going to make a difference in your life. And sometimes, when you're committed to whatever it is, you will do whatever it takes to get it done. I was reading about a guy who was really overweight and he needed to lose the weight and he needed to, he didn't want to die, and he didn't want to get stuck in a chair. So he was told he needed to go out and walk. So he would go walk, and going around the block was terrible at first, and it was so hard. But then when he got home and he had reached his goal of going around the block, he walked just a little more. And then each time as he walked a little further, he'd come home again and he'd be okay, I did it. And then he'd walk around the block again, and pretty soon he found victory as he continued to endure that suffering. And I think the same is true in our Christian life. The more God allows us to go through, the more difficulties we go through, the more he can mold and shape us into people with character, people with resolve, people with perseverance. Number four, pour out your cares before him. This is a great verse. I won't spend a lot of time on it. But whatever it is that you need, whatever it is that you're anxious about, whatever it is that keeps you up at night, whatever it is that causes trouble, Peter says, humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God. He cares about you. So pray about it. Pray about how you feel, pray about the difficulty, even tell him you don't like it. And trust that he will encourage you, trust that he will get you through. Endure that season, and maybe you'll be able to look back and say, I went through that hard time, and it made me more prepared for God's ministry for me today. And number five, protect your heart against the enemy and persevere with grace. I read this already when we started, but there is a spiritual battle going on, and Satan wants to do everything he can to discourage you, to trip you up, to get you to just give up and quit. But Peter says to these people, stay alert, watch out. Your great enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, just waiting for that perfect opportunity, waiting for that time when you're so discouraged, or you're so lonely, or you're just so tired that you give in to whatever the temptation is. And Peter writes, stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are, which is saying that you think that you're the only one going through it, but there are Christ followers all around the world in different people groups and different languages, and they are going through the same kinds of things you are. And there is hope for them. The Holy Spirit can give you endurance. There's a book called The Fox's Book of Martyrs, and if you read through it, it's like a list of all these people that were persecuted for their faith, and a consistent theme is that the Holy Spirit gave them hope and endurance to get through it with courage. And some died, some were burned, some went through hard times. We can get through it too. Verse 10, in his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. There is hope. Don't give up. Keep pressing on, keep doing what you know is right. Keep calling out to God, keep asking him to answer those prayers, to help you with those needs. Keep praying for those other people. Know that you're in a battle and it has eternal significance, but also eternal reward. And then Peter ends with the praise all power to him forever. Amen. Amen. So be it. Amen. Let it be. So, amen. So I believe it. Let me pray. Jesus, I thank you so much for these people. I thank you for this time. If there's anybody that doesn't know you as our Lord and Savior and wants to talk about that, let them connect with me after this service or call me. Lord, I pray that you would help every Christ follower in this room to persevere and do great things, even when it's difficult, for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.