Share in Suffering

The world is full of suffering. In fact, as Christians the Bible says that we have been called to suffering and our suffering is to be a sharing in suffering. But what does that mean? Why does evil exist? Is God in control of suffering? Is He the cause of it? How is God glorified in suffering? How are Christians to genuinely find joy in suffering? In a world full of disease, disaster, torture, war, abortion, sex trafficking, murder, rape, divorce, bankruptcy, starvation, infertility, homelessness, abandonment etc. how is the Christian to respond? How do we respond to God? How do we endure and rejoice? How do we reveal and magnify Christ to the world?


The stakes are too high, and suffering is too real for us to have an insufficient or incorrect view of suffering. I hope you will join us for the next 8 weeks as we discuss what it means to share in the suffering to which we have been called, biblically, and how to do it for the glory of God, and the joy of all peoples.

-Pastor Dave

  • God's Sovereignty in Suffering

    Suffering is the result of sin entering the world and corrupting God’s creation. In all suffering, man is sinful, satan is active, God is sovereign. Biblical Suffering, however, is not the same as consequences from personal sin. (1 Peter 2:20; 1 Peter 4:15-19)
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  • Suffering with an Eternal Mindset

    For the believer in Christ, suffering is never ultimately about what we lose, but rather about what we can never lose. This is to be the aim of our thinking, and one of the grand purposes in suffering – to heighten or awaken this reality.
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  • Resisting Sin

    In the New Testament, there are at least 4 words directly translated as suffer. Depending on the word and the context, when translated, suffer in the New Testament means: to pursue, to persecute, to experience pain, to be affected by something (good or bad), or to be afflicted.
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  • Endurance That Leads to Assurance

    Suffering, especially that of resisting sin, has the potential to bring about more discouragement than anything else in our life. When plagued with questions like: "Am I really saved?" or "Will I always struggle with this sin?", a biblical understanding of suffering and endurance is critical. God means to use suffering (mainly overcoming temptations to sin) in our lives as a means of assurance. The devil wants you to sulk in a pit of questions and doubt, but God means for you to come out victorious with confident assurance that you are indeed a child of God.
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  • Called to Suffer Together

    The Bible talks about sharing in Christ’s suffering, and sharing in the suffering of the saints. In the first 4 weeks we have discussed thoroughly what it means to share, in part, in Christ sufferings, and we have also discussed how we share in the same sufferings as the saints by fighting against the devil and sin. Now we transition to focus on a crucial part of suffering – that we must literally share our suffering.
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  • For the Joy of All People

    The last three weeks we have defined a specific kind of suffering that is the most common shared suffering among the saints – that of resisting sin and the devil. Today, however, we are going to talk about a different kind of suffering. It is the biblical theme of affliction and persecution that comes with being a Christian. This is the kind of suffering that puts you in prison for sharing your faith and preaching the gospel, the kind of suffering where the enemies of the cross kill you and your family, the kind of suffering that tortures and beats you because you bear the name of Christ. The two sufferings are indeed tied together in many respects.
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  • God’s Holiness in Suffering

    There are those who acknowledge God is sovereign over all evil and suffering but would oppose that God appoints suffering. Instead, they would say He allows it. Last week we discussed that specifically in the case of missions, we see that God appoints suffering for His servants. He uses it to open doors and display His worth to a watching world. He doesn’t simply allow it, He appoints it. Look at Joseph, Moses, Jacob, Job, Jesus, Paul, Peter etc. But the question is does God appoint all suffering? Does He simply allow some suffering?
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  • Count it All Joy

    Many people know they should count it all joy and even know why, but they don’t know how.This is typically where the breakdown happens. There is a measure of knowledge and understanding that comes with being able to count it all joy – but then there is an application, an obedience, and a working in order to maintain that joy.
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