<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
		xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd"
	xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
>

<channel>
	<title>Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, Marin County &#187; suffering</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/tag/suffering/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org</link>
	<description>Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web.  This site provides information about the Christian ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church, OPC.  This site also broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA.  Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:54:18 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator>
	<copyright>Copyright &#38;copy; by W. Reid Hankins and Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2011 </copyright>
	<managingEditor>info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins)</managingEditor>
	<webMaster>info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins)</webMaster>
	<category>Religion &#38; Spirituality:Christianity</category>
	<ttl>1440</ttl>
	<image>
		<url>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/tpc-vertical144.jpg</url>
		<title>Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, Marin County</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org</link>
		<width>144</width>
		<height>144</height>
	</image>
	<itunes:new-feed-url>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?feed=podcast</itunes:new-feed-url>
	<itunes:subtitle>Sermons and Sunday Schools</itunes:subtitle>
	<itunes:summary>Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web.  This feed broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA.  Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives.</itunes:summary>
	<itunes:keywords>Church, Novato, Marin, Hankins, Sermon, Christian, OPC, San Rafael</itunes:keywords>
	<itunes:category text="Religion &#38; Spirituality">
		<itunes:category text="Christianity" />
	</itunes:category>
	<itunes:category text="Religion &#38; Spirituality" />
	<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
	<itunes:owner>
		<itunes:name>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:name>
		<itunes:email>info@trinityopcnovato.org</itunes:email>
	</itunes:owner>
	<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
	<itunes:image href="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/tpc-vertical300.jpg" />
		<item>
		<title>Do Not Think it Strange</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/08/21/strange/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/08/21/strange/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:19:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[persecution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on 1 Peter 4:12-19 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 8/21/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 4:12-19 8/21/11 &#8220;Do Not Think it Strange&#8221; If you invest your money in what everyone thought was a strong stable company and the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/08/21/strange/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110821-Morning.mp3" length="14145838" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:39:31</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 4:12-19 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 8/21/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 4:12-19
8/21/11
&#8220;Do Not Think it Strange&#8221;
If you[...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 4:12-19 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 8/21/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 4:12-19
8/21/11
&#8220;Do Not Think it Strange&#8221;
If you invest your money in what everyone thought was a strong stable company and the next day they announce bankruptcy, then you are surprised and startled.  If you pay someone a compliment and they reply with an angry response, then you are surprised to say the least.  If you entrust your closest most trustworthy friend with something and then they go and betray you, you&#8217;re surprised and shocked.  All of these are strange and unexpected things.  Life is full of the unexpected.  But it&#8217;s the things that are least expected that do seem so strange to us.  And yet in all of these examples I just gave, if you had a piece of additional information, then maybe things wouldn&#8217;t have caught you off guard.  At the failing company, someone knew about the financial problems of the company, even if they hid it from everyone else.  With the person who gets angry at the compliment, maybe you find that&#8217;s a compliment someone had abused them with before and they are taking their anger out at you.  With your trustworthy friend, you might find out that they were upset with you about something, and this was their revenge.  My point is that many unexpected things in life wouldn&#8217;t be unexpected if you had some more information.  Instead, the reason why they come unexpectedly is usually that you don&#8217;t have that added perspective of additional information.  With that additional information, you would no longer be surprised when the incident happens.  You may still find the situation difficult, but you won&#8217;t be taken by surprise.  Advance warning helps.
Well, in this letter, Peter has been giving us some additional information about our life.  He&#8217;s giving us some advanced warning.  He&#8217;s been telling us about Christian suffering.  You see, it could be surprising that Christians sometimes suffer.  It might seem strange to you.  This is something that could have been understandably startling.  That is, until you realize that the Bible has told us about it ahead of time.  We&#8217;ve been given advanced warning. Peter here has been forewarning us about it.  Peter&#8217;s been telling us how to think about it; its purpose, and the final end of it all.  Today he continues to develop this in more detail.  He&#8217;s telling us all of this so we won&#8217;t be taken by surprise in it.  So it won&#8217;t seem strange.  Instead, he wants us to know how to rightly handle the suffering when it comes.  And so our message today we&#8217;ll be to first consider what kind of suffering is in view here.  Second, we&#8217;ll think about the purpose of this suffering.  Third, we&#8217;ll think about the final end of suffering; we&#8217;ll connect it with glory, joy and the gospel.
Let&#8217;s begin then with looking at the kind of suffering in view here.  We see the kind of suffering this is in verse 13.  We are partaking of Christ&#8217;s sufferings.  Well, we know Christ&#8217;s sufferings.  He died on the cross.  He was mocked, beaten, and betrayed.  His friends deserted him.  And his heavenly father forsook him on the cross as he poured out divine wrath.  Jesus did that in our place, to take on our punishment on the cross.  He atoned for our sins by his suffering.  Scripture is clear that his suffering was complete; it was sufficient for all that we need.  
And yet, though that&#8217;s true, Peter says that the kind of suffering that we may face in life is partaking in Christ&#8217;s suffering.  As it says in verse 14, we could be reproached for Christ&#8217;s name.  As verse 16 says, this is suffering as a Christian.  In other words, because we are Christian, the sort of slander, and ridicule, and persecution Christ received, we may receive.  History records this with [...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>For To This You Were Called</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/22/called/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/22/called/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 May 2011 23:55:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[example]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isaiah 53]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suffering Servant]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:21-25 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/22/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 2:21-25 05/22/11 “For To This You Were Called” To this you were called. To what? To suffer unjustly like Christ. To follow his [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/22/called/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110522-Morning.mp3" length="14388632" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:40:15</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:21-25  by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/22/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 2:21-25
05/22/11
“For To This You Were Called”
To this you [...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:21-25  by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/22/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 2:21-25
05/22/11
“For To This You Were Called”
To this you were called.  To what?  To suffer unjustly like Christ.  To follow his example in responding godly when people oppress you.  That’s our calling, according to this passage.  I’d imagine that’s probably not how most of us first heard about the gospel.  When we were first explained the Christian faith, I doubt this was what we were first told.  I don’t remember ever seeing a gospel tract start here.  I’ve never seen one that says, let me tell you about some good news, that if you would only believe in Jesus, that you can suffer like he did.  If you would but turn to Christ in faith, you too can have people unjustly persecute you.  No.  We probably instead heard statements about the new life we can have in Jesus.  How through Christ we can be born again.  That the Christian faith is one that calls us out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.  That the Christian faith is one that calls us into God’s eternal glory in Christ.  That positive language is what we are used to hearing when we think of the Christians’ calling.  And yet guess where I just pulled all that positive language about our Christians calling?  From this letter.  From 1 Peter.  Peter uses all that positive language to talk about our Christian calling, while at the same time using the language of verse 21.  That we have also been called to suffer unjustly, just like Christ’s example.  That we have been called to respond with righteousness and radical love, even to our enemies.  To this also, we have been called.  
And yet we need this balance.  This is the balance we get to consider today.  Christians have been called to new glorious life in Christ.  Christians have also been called here and now to live a live modeled after his life on earth.  A life that likely will involve suffering for his sake, even as he suffered for our sakes.  And so as we study this passage today, we’ll divide it up in three simple parts.  First, we’ll look at Christ as our example.  Second, we’ll look at Christ as our atonement.  Third, we’ll look at Christ as our shepherd.  Taken together, this passage gives us a wonderful view of the gospel, and how that also calls us to follow Christ in the way of the cross.  And Peter uses that wonderful passage in Isaiah 53 to make his point today.  This short passage is loaded with quotes and references from the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 53.  This passage makes it so clear that this Old Testament passage was really about Jesus.  We’ll consider that passage today too as we reflect on these verses in 1 Peter.
So let’s begin by considering Christ our example.  This is language of verse 21.  Christ’s life is an example for us to follow.  We have been called to follow Christ’s example.  One thing modernist Christianity has often done is reduced Jesus to just being our example.  Such false Christianity gets rid of Jesus actually saving us from our sins by his atoning work on the cross.  And yet we have to make sure that just because some have reduced Jesus to only being an example of moral living, that we don’t lose the fact that Jesus is still to be the example for how we are to live.  That Jesus is also the example for our living is in fact a biblical principle.  It’s the point of verse 21.
Verse 21 tells us this in two different ways.  The first is when it says here Christ left us an example.  The word for example can be translated as a model or pattern.  But that’s not quite as strong as the original Greek is.  The word for example here in the Greek is actually about a pattern that was written on paper, that students would use to trace over.  So imagine some letters on paper, that you then traced over them to make the same letters.  Hopefully the tracing would be an exact match.  That’s the im[...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>This is Commendable</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/01/commendable/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/01/commendable/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 May 2011 21:34:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[masters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[servants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[submission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1332</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:18-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/06/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 2:18-20 05/01/11 &#8220;This is Commendable&#8221; Today we resume our series through the letter of 1 Peter. Let me remind you of where we [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/05/01/commendable/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110501-Morning.mp3" length="13810840" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:38:58</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:18-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/06/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 2:18-20
05/01/11
&#8220;This is Commendable&#8221;
Today we [...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 2:18-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 5/06/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 2:18-20
05/01/11
&#8220;This is Commendable&#8221;
Today we resume our series through the letter of 1 Peter.  Let me remind you of where we are at in 1 Peter.  From the very start of the letter we&#8217;ve seen how Peter has called us pilgrims.  Christians are in but not of this world.  Peter turned to offer some practical application of this in verse 11 of this chapter.  Particularly in the last few verses, he&#8217;s been dealing with how Christians interact with the authorities in this world.  The last passage dealt with how we interact with the civil government.  Today Peter addresses master-servant relationships.  He describes how Christians are to submit themselves to their earthly masters.  He describes how a Christian is to act commendably in their service to their earthly masters.  And so that will be our focus today.  First, we&#8217;ll consider this call to servants for submission, and apply that to our own circumstances today.  Second, we&#8217;ll reflect a little further on what this commendable service will look like.  That&#8217;s a key idea in this passage: commendable service, and so we&#8217;ll reflect on what is commendable service.  Third, we&#8217;ll consider the reason for this commendable submission.  This passage gives a uniquely Christian answer to why servants are to serve in this way, and it&#8217;s directly connected with the gospel.  That will be our final point for today.
So, let&#8217;s dig in.  Let&#8217;s begin by thinking about this call for servants to submit to their earthly masters.  That&#8217;s the command right in the first verse; verse 18.  &#8220;Servants, be submissive to your masters.&#8221;  Now, I think it would be helpful here to give a basic definition of a servant back then.  When we hear the word servant or slave in the Bible, a lot of us probably think back to our nation&#8217;s history, and the slavery of blacks.  Well, slavery at the time of 1 Peter was not great, but it does not appear to be quite the same situation as the black slavery in our country.  In the Roman world at that time, slavery was common place, but it was probably somewhere in between the slavery we had in this country, and the typical employer-employee relationship that we have today.  They were often very skilled, many of them having very important jobs for their masters.  They often lived in very good conditions as well.  Yes, they were treated essentially as property, but at the same time, they could theoretically become free.  They could purchase their freedom if they were able acquire the money needed; or sometimes the masters would set certain slaves free on their own.  So don&#8217;t get me wrong, it was not a great situation to be a slave back then.  But my point is that they had some amount of similarity to an employee today.  Because of this, it&#8217;s typical for us to apply these kinds of passages to us as employees who work for employers.  I think that is quite fitting and appropriate.  
And yet one of the main differences between us as employees, and them as servants back then, is that the servants were not usually able to gain their freedom.  Yes, it was theoretically possible, but practically speaking, unlikely.  In other words, a servant who found himself in a bad situation, didn&#8217;t have a lot of recourse.  A servant working for a bad master was probably stuck in that situation for the rest of his life.  Theoretically, we as employees have more freedom than that.  Technically, we could quit a bad job and move on to something else.  And yet, often today when I find someone complaining about their job, I ask them why they don&#8217;t just quit, or find something else.  Well, the answer is usually that they can&#8217;t.  They can&#8217;t afford to just quit.  And they haven&#8217;t been able to f[...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Then Why Do Saints Suffer?</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:01:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chastisement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discipline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1280</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on John 9:1-7 by Rev. Richard C. Miller during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 3/20/2011 in Novato, CA.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/03/20/saints-suffer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110320-Morning.mp3" length="12870357" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:36:29</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on John 9:1-7 by Rev. Richard C. Miller during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 3/20/2011 in Novato, CA.

</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on John 9:1-7 by Rev. Richard C. Miller during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 3/20/2011 in Novato, CA.

</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:keywords>John</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:author>Rev. Richard C. Miller</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Who Prophesied of the Grace That Would Come to You</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/prophesied-grace/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/prophesied-grace/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:36:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[biblical theology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christocentric]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[emmaus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[redemptive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1251</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:10-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/20/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:10-12 2/20/11 &#8220;Who Prophesied of the Grace That Would Come to You&#8221; When you read a book it generally tells a story. It [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/20/prophesied-grace/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110220-Morning.mp3" length="13557772" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:38:04</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:10-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/20/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 1:10-12
2/20/11
&#8220;Who Prophesied of the Grace That Woul[...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:10-12 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/20/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 1:10-12
2/20/11
&#8220;Who Prophesied of the Grace That Would Come to You&#8221;
When you read a book it generally tells a story.  It has some main story or plot that it is developing throughout the book.  This story will usually come to some climax and resolution in the book.  Of course, this is not the case with every book.  Some books are an anthology.  Instead of one story, they might be a collection of stories.  Sometimes they are even a collection of whole books. I have some of those in my theological library; a book that collects all the books and writings of a scholar into a single big book.  When you have those anthologies, the individual stories and books inside may or may not be very related.  But they usually aren&#8217;t telling one main story or plot.
Well sometimes when we approach the bible, we can think of like it&#8217;s an anthology.  It is a book that contains within it sixty-six books written by about forty some human authors, written over thousands of years.  We can think they are just loosely connected books.  And yet as we&#8217;ll see today, they are more than that.  This Bible tells a story.  Though each book within it can stand on its own, the reason they are collected together for us is because they are also telling a larger story.  It&#8217;s the story of Christ.  It&#8217;s the story of salvation.  It&#8217;s the story of how God redeems a people from their sin through the appearing of Jesus Christ.  Of course, that shouldn&#8217;t surprise us when we realize who the author is.  Yes, forty some human authors wrote the books in the Bible.  Yes, they were written at different times.  But this passage tells us that there was a single divine author behind all of these books.  It&#8217;s the Holy Spirit.  And here in verse 11, we see Peter call the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.  The Spirit of Christ, has spoken through the prophets and apostles to tell us about Christ.  
That makes sense.  And that&#8217;s what we&#8217;ll get to consider today.  The focal point of this passage is about Christ revealed in Scripture.  The focal point of this passage is that Christ is the focal point of Scripture.  This should color our perspective on how we approach and understand God&#8217;s Word.  It fundamentally is a unified story.  At its core, it&#8217;s developing a main plot about the Messiah.  About how the Christ would bring salvation to God&#8217;s elect.  And so here&#8217;s how we&#8217;ll tackle this passage today.  We&#8217;ll consider first the Christ-centered perspective of the prophets.  Related to that, we&#8217;ll think about the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glories.  Then we&#8217;ll survey the Scriptures a bit to demonstrate this perspective in them.  Lastly, we&#8217;ll relate this to the gospel preaching that we do today, and think about the application that has for us.
Let&#8217;s dig into then this Christ-centered perspective of the prophets.  Let&#8217;s begin in verse 10.  Peter draws us back to consider the prophets.  These are the prophets of the Old Testament, though you could certainly include John the Baptist as the last of these prophets.  Prophets, of course, are people who have been given revelation from God.  We see that here in this passage.  Well, Peter tells us in verse 10 the subject matter of these prophets.  He tells us in verse 10 that they were told to prophesy about salvation and grace.  
Verse 10 says &#8220;concerning this salvation.&#8221;  That&#8217;s looking back to the previous verses, especially verse 9.  This is the salvation that has saved us from our sins.  It&#8217;s the salvation that is now awaiting Christ&#8217;s return when we will be brought to glory.  This salvation is put here in terms of grace in verse 10 as well.  The salvation that&#8217;s mention[...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>In This You Rejoice</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:14:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[living hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pilgrim life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tribulation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/13/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. 1 Peter 1:3-9 2/13/11 &#8220;In This You Rejoice&#8221; Last&#8217;s week&#8217;s message from 1 Peter reminded us that we live as pilgrims and sojourners right now [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/02/13/rejoice/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110213-Morning.mp3" length="13008233" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:36:30</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/13/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 1:3-9
2/13/11
&#8220;In This You Rejoice&#8221;
Last&#8217;s w[...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 2/13/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
1 Peter 1:3-9
2/13/11
&#8220;In This You Rejoice&#8221;
Last&#8217;s week&#8217;s message from 1 Peter reminded us that we live as pilgrims and sojourners right now on earth.  Last week&#8217;s focus was on the sojourning.  This week&#8217;s passage takes up that topic again.  It describes the trials and the tests of faith that we may go through in this short pilgrimage of life.  But it also draws us into the hope beyond this life.  A real and certain hope of a heavenly inheritance.  That hope will require faith.  The trials in this life will challenge that faith.  But it will also refine that faith.  All of this will be a reason to find joy in the midst of the grief brought by the trials of life.  This sojourning, our lives on earth, will have difficult times.  But this passage reminds us that we are growing in faith, hope, and joy in the midst of all of these.  That&#8217;s basically our message for today.  But let&#8217;s dig into this passage and see how Peter brings this out.
Let&#8217;s begin first this morning by considering what this passage describes as our living hope in verse 3.  In the midst of living lives as pilgrims, sojourning on this earth, we have a living hope in front of us.  Verse 3 says that according to God&#8217;s abundant mercy he has caused us to be begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus.  Our hope is called a living hope.  In other words it&#8217;s not a dead hope.  It&#8217;s a hope that&#8217;s alive.  A hope that grows.  A hope that is sure.  It a hope that we can count on as true and genuine.
What is this living hope?  Verse 4 spells it out.  It&#8217;s the hope of a heavenly inheritance.  An inheritance safeguarded in heaven; kept by God for you.  And what is this heavenly inheritance like?  Verse 4 says it&#8217;s imperishable, it&#8217;s undefiled, it&#8217;s unfading.  Hearing those adjectives probably makes you think of Jesus&#8217; words about heavenly treasure.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us not to set our hearts on earthly treasure.  He said that earthly treasure is something that can be lost.  Thieves can break in and steal it.  Moth and rust can destroy it.  Instead Jesus said to pursue heavenly treasure.  Well, this passage talks about this living hope in similar terms.  This heavenly inheritance can&#8217;t perish, can&#8217;t be defiled, won&#8217;t fade away.  This heavenly inheritance is what Jesus was talking about.  It&#8217;s the Christians&#8217; hope that in Christ they receive such heavenly treasure.
And yet to be precise, Peter doesn&#8217;t use the word treasure here.  He doesn&#8217;t speak in terms of heavenly treasure.  He speaks of heavenly inheritance.  I do think both descriptions essentially get at the same thing.  Yet, Peter&#8217;s use of the word inheritance is something we don&#8217;t want to miss.  Peter is a Jew, and even as a Christian Jew, the idea of an inheritance from God, has a rich history.  For a Christian Jew to talk about an inheritance from God, something specific is going to come to mind.  You&#8217;re going to think about the Promised Land.  As a church we just finished a study going through Deuteronomy.  Repeatedly, we saw that God described the Promised Land as an inheritance he was giving to Israel.  Deuteronomy 4:21, as just one example of many.  The Promised Land was the inheritance for God&#8217;s people in the Old Testament.
That&#8217;s the language Peter chooses to use here to describe our living hope.  But he&#8217;s obviously not talking about the Promised Land.  Describing our living hope as an inheritance, makes us think back to the Promised Land.  But describing this inheritance as something reserved in heaven for us, makes us look beyond the earthly Promised Land.  Peter draws a subtle comparison between our living[...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Abba, Father!</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/30/abba-father/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/30/abba-father/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 06:32:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Romans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adoption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prayer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1204</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on Romans 8:12-30 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/30/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Romans 8:12-30 2/30/11 &#8220;Abba, Father!&#8221; Next week we will begin a new sermon series through 1 Peter. Before we began that, I wanted to take another [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/30/abba-father/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110130-Morning.mp3" length="13039332" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:36:57</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Sermon preached on Romans 8:12-30 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/30/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Romans 8:12-30
2/30/11
&#8220;Abba, Father!&#8221;
Next week we will [...]</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Sermon preached on Romans 8:12-30 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/30/2011 in Novato, CA.

Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Romans 8:12-30
2/30/11
&#8220;Abba, Father!&#8221;
Next week we will begin a new sermon series through 1 Peter.  Before we began that, I wanted to take another week off and deal with the topic of prayer.  A few weeks back as we started out the new year, I called us to really think about discipleship this year.  To really take serious this year your discipleship.  Often when we think about discipleship, we probably think about what we are learning.  About learning the teachings of Christ.  Well, certainly Jesus taught about prayer.  But he taught about it, so that we would do it.  Prayer is one those most fundamental spiritual disciplines that disciples do.  Following Christ includes praying like he taught, and even praying like he himself did.  I think for most of us, this is something we need to ever continue to grow in.  We need to ever grow in our prayer life.
Of course one of the things that Jesus particularly taught us about our prayer life was to approach God as our Father.  That&#8217;s how the Lord&#8217;s Prayer starts out, &#8220;Our Father.&#8221;  This is an emphasis we see quite a bit in the New Testament.  It stands out, because it was not an emphasis in the Old Testament.  Certainly we can see how God was a Father to his people in the Old Testament, and yet that&#8217;s just not a focus in Old Testament prayer and worship.  Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament, very much bring this out.  In the era where the grace of God is so clearly revealed, his adoption of his people as his children is a part of that revealed grace.
And that&#8217;s what we find in our passage today.  This passage teaches about adoption, and relates that to our prayer life.  And related to this, it also discusses Christian suffering.  We&#8217;ll consider these interrelated topics today, with the overall focus to understand how our adoption as sons and daughters of God encourages our prayer life.  That&#8217;s what I want us to leave today with: to be encouraged in how being a child of God affects our prayer.  I think most Christians recognize, in some sense, the value of prayer.  And yet I think many of us also find our prayer life lacking in what we know it could be.  It&#8217;s my hope to encourage us today; to think about not only God&#8217;s call for us to pray, but about how his Spirit is at work in us, to grow us in our prayer life, as his children.
Let&#8217;s begin first this morning by thinking about our adoption.  Theologically, we affirm that when we become a Christian, that God adopts us into his family.  We see that teaching in this passage.  Verse 14 calls us sons of God and verse 16 calls us children of God.  But the verse in between tells us in what sense we are his sons and his children.  Verse 15, &#8220;For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, &#8220;Abba, Father.&#8221;  Verse 15 is talking about a change that took place right at the beginning of our Christian life.  Before we became a Christian, we were not in this sense sons of God.  We were not his children.  But at that initial point of faith in Christ, we underwent a status change.  We usually talk about that change in terms of justification: that when we first turned in faith to Christ, we found forgiveness of sins, and the imputation of Christ&#8217;s righteousness.  At that point of initial faith, in a legal sense before God, we had a change of standing.  We suddenly went from being seen as a condemned sinner, to being seen as a righteous believer.  That&#8217;s our justification.  But verse 15 reminds us of another change of status that happened at the same time.  We were adopted.  God adopted us as his children.
In the Greek, this word for adoption that we see in verse 15 is a legal term.  It c[...]</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:keywords>Romans</itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bible Survey Class &#8211; Petrine Epistles</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/bible-survey-class-petrine-epistles/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/bible-survey-class-petrine-epistles/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:44:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bible Survey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1 Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[living hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Petrine Epistles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1165</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 01/16/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we discussed the Petrine Epistles.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/bible-survey-class-petrine-epistles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20110116-SundaySchool.mp3" length="13445264" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:38:23</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 01/16/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we discussed the Petrine Epistles.

</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 01/16/2011 in Novato, CA. This week we discussed the Petrine Epistles.

</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>I Thirst</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:07:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Good Friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thirst]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=679</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sermon preached on John 19:17-20 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/02/2010 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: I Thirst Audio recording not available.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/04/02/i-thirst/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bible Survey Class – Job</title>
		<link>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/02/14/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-job/</link>
		<comments>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/02/14/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-job/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:55:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pastor Reid Hankins</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bible Survey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Job]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suffering]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=630</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/14/2010 in Novato, CA.  This week we continued our Bible Survey class, looking at the book of Job.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2010/02/14/bible-survey-class-%e2%80%93-job/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
			<enclosure url="http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/uploads/podcast/20100214-SundaySchool.mp3" length="15178423" type="audio/mpeg" />
		<itunes:duration>0:43:43</itunes:duration>
		<itunes:subtitle>Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/14/2010 in Novato, CA.  This week we continued our Bible Survey class, looking at the book of Job.

</itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Adult Sunday School class led by Rev. W. Reid Hankins at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/14/2010 in Novato, CA.  This week we continued our Bible Survey class, looking at the book of Job.

</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author>Rev. W. Reid Hankins</itunes:author>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:block>no</itunes:block>
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
<!-- This Quick Cache file was built for (  www.novatoopcsermons.org/tag/suffering/feed/ ) in 1.55655 seconds, on Feb 10th, 2012 at 9:03 am UTC. -->
<!-- This Quick Cache file will automatically expire ( and be re-built automatically ) on Feb 10th, 2012 at 10:03 am UTC -->
