July 25, 2021 - No Crown without a Cross! - Pastor Paul Vallee

1 Peter 4:12-19 There is no crown without a cross! Humility is the means to exaltation. It is a recognition that apart from God’s grace and a dependence upon Him, we will not run the race of life successfully. Yet, went we embrace God’s path there are significant obstacles that must be overcome. Great trials and challenges attend the path of the follower of Christ. John Bunyan’s, incredible allegory, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ reveals so many of the challenges on the way to heaven, which he calls, the ‘Celestial city’. We are shocked by some of the hardships that come our way as Christ followers. We may even question that if God is so good, why does He allow us, whom He loves so deeply, to undergo suffering? That’s a question that haunts so many people in the dark night of the soul, the hour of trial. If we study Scripture carefully, we will discover two words that seem incongruent and yet are always together: glory and suffering. Here in Peter’s letter, we find it repeated several times. Peter is writing to believers that are suffering injustice and persecution, writes to encourage, comfort, and explain that there is a purpose even in their sufferings. He begins by shattering the myth that we will never suffer. He is trying to prepare the reader that they should not be surprised, neither consider it strange, nor be ashamed, when we experience suffering.