Nicholas Vega & Sofia Zhiryada
Sermon Transcription:
Hallelujah, Father God, we thank you. God, we thank you for the opportunity, Lord God, to praise your name. God, we give you glory, God, we adore who you are. God, we thank you, Father, that we get to call on a God who makes a way for us. God, you make a way, Lord God, you are the light in the darkness. Lord God, we thank you, Father God, for the cross. Lord, we thank you for Jesus. Lord, thank you for sending us a Savior. God, thank you, Lord God, for loving us when we were your enemies. Lord God, we pray that this service will be a joy to your heart, God. Lord God, may it be a blessing unto you. Lord God, we pray that you would reveal who you are today. Lord God, we thank you, God, in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.
Good evening, church. It's nice to see you all today. As always, I want to thank Pastor Stan and Pastor Inna for giving me the opportunity to preach today. I miss them and look forward to them being back with us. Hallelujah, thank you. So, church, today I’m going to be talking to you about casting our cares upon the Lord again. It’s not the same message as before, but today specifically, it’s about learning that God will be our Defender. Because of this, we get to cast our problems and issues to Him. Hallelujah! As we learned last time I spoke, we were talking about casting our cares—every single issue, daily struggle, and problem—onto the Lord. We need to learn to do this because it helps us in our walk with Christ and in everyday life. We receive peace as we learn to trust God with our issues and the daily challenges of life.
Today is going to be a little more specific. It's about how we’re supposed to respond when dealing with authority figures, hard bosses, and even authority figures in the church. As we all know, churches are not perfect places. They are filled with sinful people, and sometimes the authority in these places may cause hurt. You may know people who have been hurt by the church in different ways. But there is a response that God asks us to take on in these situations, a way of living through these hard times. Whenever we encounter hard bosses, difficult authority figures, or even aggressive people on the street, this doesn’t just apply to the church or work life—it can translate into many situations. Dealing with aggressive cops or authority figures in general also falls into this category.
Now, I want to be real. When I first got saved, I thought life would be a little easier than before. There was an expectation that life would be smoother. I was brand new to the faith, a baby in Christ, if you will. God made things a little easier. I felt protected and covered. However, soon after, life hits us, and that’s not always the case. Even after being saved, persecution, tribulations, and trials happen. Life may even get harder for us because now we are representing Christ. Let’s be real—the world hates Christ. As much as people want to put “coexist” bumper stickers, we all find out that’s not the reality. Now that we represent Christ, the enemy targets us. We have a target on our back. People at work may find out that we’re saved and start treating us unjustly, cutting our hours, or treating us wrongly. The enemy is always trying to quench the life of Christ in us, whether through distractions, persecution, hard times, or sickness.
The enemy will do whatever he can to keep us from talking about Jesus. Once we start sharing the good news of salvation and forgiveness, people can be set free, and that’s one less person in the enemy’s kingdom. The enemy hates that and will use every tactic to silence us. Whether through culture, which tells us to be “tolerant,” or through persecution, the enemy will try to keep us quiet. Tolerance in the world often means being silent about anything that might offend others’ beliefs or religions, which is unreasonable. There are many ways the enemy tries to keep us silent, and because of this, we face trials and tribulations. In some parts of the world, people are even killed for believing in Jesus. We are blessed to live in a society where this isn’t the case, but who’s to say that won’t happen in the future?
Thank God He has not left us without help. Our issues are not new. Before we were born, others went through these same issues. That’s why we have the letters Paul and other apostles wrote. One such letter is the first epistle of Peter. Peter wrote to the believers, both Jews and Gentiles, who had been dispersed throughout the world and were facing persecution for their faith. Acts tells the story of Paul, who was persecuted, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned for sharing the gospel. These issues are not new to us, and because of this, we can refer back to God’s word to see what He asks us to do. First Peter is one such book, written to believers who needed encouragement in their suffering.
Peter has encouraged us—he will encourage us—to remain faithful to the very end. It is in the end that you would receive the Crown of Glory if you remain faithful to the faith. If you remain faithful in these things, God will lift us up in these situations. So, 1 Peter 1 says this: "Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."Hallelujah!
So, it is our inheritance that we hold onto throughout this life. It is the things that God has promised that keep us during our time here on Earth. It is the eternal life we look forward to—life without sin, without suffering. It is an undefiled inheritance that we, who believe in Christ, have. It is the thing we are to look forward to and set our eyes upon as we walk through this life. It is reserved for us. The trials we face today test our faith, like heat that tests metal and gold. If we hold true to the faith in Christ, it will bring praise and glory to Him in the end when we receive salvation. Hallelujah!
Peter goes on to say: "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" Now, before I go on, I know that many of us have similar cultural backgrounds, and something like this can trip us up because of where we come from. We may hear it the wrong way. I just want to say that Peter is not saying "be perfect," because if you aren’t, you will be unforgiven, or that you must constantly earn God's favor again. It is because of who you now are that he is asking us to be like Christ, to be holy. He is not saying that if you sin, you need to receive forgiveness and earn God's favor all over again. He is saying that because you are an ambassador of Christ, because you are a child of God, you should live as a child of God. There are people who are watching. The moment you pray over your food in a restaurant, the moment you talk to someone about Jesus, people are watching. They are watching to see if you are a true believer or if you will mess up, giving them a reason to hate Christ even more. So, people are watching. Be holy as Christ is holy, as God is holy to be like him.
Peter is not telling us to be perfect, because we all know we can mess up. Everyone has a sin nature; we make mistakes from time to time. But we can learn to walk by the Spirit in our daily lives, and we can learn to look more like Christ over time. Peter exhorts us: "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." Peter tells us to live honorable lives as we are here on this Earth. He reminds us that people will say the good we are doing is evil. They will switch it up—you know the saying: they will call good evil and evil good. This is what's going to happen. The good that you do, they will call it evil. But when Jesus returns, Peter is saying, those who persecuted you will see that you were telling the truth all along. They will glorify God, seeing that your good works testified to the truth of Christ.
Hopefully, God willing, they will come to know the truth themselves and come to Jesus. But if not, they will have a rude awakening. Peter tells us to live honorably and be wise among those who are not saved. Live in a way that honors Jesus because you are a child of God. Hallelujah!
With this in mind, Peter exhorts us: "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to kings as supreme or to governors, or to those who are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
Again, he says: "Servants, be submissive to your masters." In our day, this means employees, be submissive to your employers. Yes, with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps."
Now, before I go on, let me say this: I am the first to tell you this is not easy. I am the first to tell you this is hard. Injustice is a tough thing to bear. My flesh would love to live in a world where we could repay evil for evil—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But this is not what Christ asks us to do. This is not how we are to live. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we are to be like Him. We are to love our enemies. If you haven’t heard my story before, I used to be very rebellious. I fought against authority all my life. I didn’t care about authority, and I let people know. Whether it was my parents, teachers, principals, police, or even God, I rejected every layer of authority. I had an offense in my heart, and after my first fight with a family member, I vowed to be my own defense, to be my own defender. Being your own defender is very tiring, if you know what I mean.
You know, because there's nobody else looking after you, you are fighting for yourself, literally. It's almost like walking in your own strength, if you will. You are going to be tired if you defend yourself all the time. I understand. I understand the reasons why we take it on. I understand injustice, and I hate injustice. Because of this, I took on my own shield. I held it up for a long time. God had to teach me, step by step, how to put that shield down and trust Him in all various situations. It took a while for me personally, but this is what God asks us to do. God wants to be our defender. He wants to be the one to fight our battles. So, in order for us to do that, we need to put down our shields. We need to put down our guard and let God be God in these circumstances. God had to bring me through a journey to trust His plan of hierarchy again. He taught me to trust that authority, even though my authority may fail me. I am still called to give them trust, to respect them, and to honor them as if they were Christ. That's a hard thing—I'm telling you now, this is not easy—but it's worth it.
God always reminded me of the story of Christ for this, and I remember when He first started to check me on this. He reminded me of the story when Jesus went before the Sanhedrin. He went before the religious leaders at the time when He was about to get crucified. Here is a man—here is God Almighty—He's the first and only innocent person in this world, and He is now going to be crucified for our sins. But He's innocent, and He has to go before the Sanhedrin. They start to mock Him, pull out His beard, and smack Him around. Here is God, allowing His creation to beat Him, to abuse Him, and He decides—though He has every right in the world to smite them with a bolt of lightning for their disrespect—He chooses to hold His peace. He chooses to take the abuse, to take the injustice.
In John 18:19–24, it says: "The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him, 'I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temples where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said.' And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, 'Do you answer the high priest like that?' Jesus answered him, 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?' Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest."
After meeting with Caiaphas, they sent Him to Pilate. As we know, they traded Jesus, who was sinless and innocent, for Barabbas, who was a robber. That's crazy. John 19:1–3 says: "Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they struck Him with their hands." Jesus was truly innocent. He was sinless, yet because of the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He endured the shame, the beating, and the reviling, all for us. Because of us, He was willing to be beaten and abused by His creation so that we could be set free, have salvation, and enjoy eternal life. Jesus saw the time when we could be in a relationship with Him again, and He was willing to go to the cross for that.
Going back to Peter, 1 Peter 2:20 says: "But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.'" Hallelujah! 1 Peter 4:14 says that if we are reproached for the name of Christ, we are blessed. Let us not be ashamed, but rejoice. If we humble ourselves under the hand of God, He will exalt us in due time. That is a promise.
In the midst of our trials, we need to learn how to cast our cares on Him. We need to commit ourselves to Him. We need to say, "God, I'm going to stay in Your hands here. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to allow You to be my defender in this situation." I pray, Lord, that You bless these people. I pray, Lord, that You guide them, reveal the truth to them, and forgive them. This is the way Jesus asks us to live. Do you remember the story of Stephen in Acts? He was talking to the people about Christ, and they stoned him to death. But before he died, he looked up to heaven and said, "God, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing." This is the disposition God asks us to have for the sake of people who are not saved, because they need to know the truth.
Again, I know this is hard. This sucks. But it might look like this: You're going through something right now—a terrible boss. You're getting upset, angry, and frustrated. You want to say something smart, but instead, you go to the bathroom or somewhere else to talk to Jesus about what's happening. You choose to forgive that person and surrender the situation into His hands. Then, you come back and are able to love that person despite how they treat you. People, it's real. Jesus was telling the truth: Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Bless those who revile you. Go the extra mile. So, as you guys know, I do security, as I say all the time. There are a lot of times when I’m dealing with people on the street. I’m giving them resources, giving them water on a hot day, even giving them cigarettes if they want, and they still choose to treat me wrongfully. They still choose to bite the hand that feeds them. It’s crazy.
There are many times I want to come at them sideways, the way they do to me. There are times when I think, “You know what, let me take that water bottle back. I think I’m going to drink it myself,”—stuff like that. But I can’t do that, because now I represent Christ. I can’t do that because I’m His ambassador. I can’t do that because God wants to be my defender. So, instead, I have to bless them. As badly as they treated me, I have to let God be God, pray for them, and ask the Lord to set them free. Because who knows? Maybe they do get set free, and maybe we become brothers or sisters in Christ, working in the same church. Who knows? So, for the sake of glorifying Christ, let’s glorify Him in the hard times. Let’s learn to commit ourselves into the hands of God and find out that He is our defender.
I know this is a place of trust. It may feel like you need to trust Him in a really big way. You need a lot of trust in God for this, but it always takes one step at a time. Now, I want to say this: I’m not advocating for being a pacifist in the midst of abuse or any kind of abuse. What I am saying is that in your heart and mind, you glorify Christ by not holding onto offense. You glorify Christ by letting go. If you need to get an authority figure, police, HR, or whatever the case may be, you do that. But before God, you want to be sinless in that situation. Let God be God. Let Him be your defender, and let Him fight for you.
Psalm 55:16 says this—and this is David speaking—and the situation before I read it is this: David’s son Absalom is trying to take over the kingdom, and David, in response, flees. Unfortunately, as a result, Absalom is winning the hearts of the people; they are all coming, greeting, and loving Absalom. One of those people was David’s counselor, his close friend. So, David writes Psalm 55 in response to everything that’s going on, and he’s talking to the Lord. He says it’s better for him to be somewhere else, better to go on vacation and let this blow over. Instead of fighting back or taking back his kingdom, David takes the low road. He says this:
“As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening, morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me." Hallelujah.
I want to read Psalm 62:1-8, which gives a clear picture of our response to things. Hallelujah, it says this: “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his high position; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. My soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Hallelujah.
So, church, again, this may be difficult. It may be difficult to trust Jesus in these times where it’s unjust. But God asks us to trust Him. He asks us to look to Him to be our defense and our salvation. God asks us to entrust our situation to Him and place it in His hands so that He may be God to us, that He may be God in the circumstance, that He may glorify Himself if He needs to, that He may set someone free, that He may bring someone into salvation. He asks us to entrust these things to Him and love our enemy in that moment. Again, this is hard. I understand. It’s not right when people treat us wrongly. It’s not okay. It’s even harder when it’s someone in the church or an authority in the church. But even in those moments, God asks us to love Him, to let Him be God, and to love our enemy so that He can be glorified. He can heap burning coals upon their heads—not in the sense of smiting them, but so that God can show them His love through our actions of love, that He may persuade them, that He loves them, and that they may be set free and saved from the enemy’s kingdom. With that, I just want to say I love y’all, and I thank y’all for listening to this. I know it’s hard. Now, I want to pass it over to our sister Sofie.
Thank you, Nick. If you were with us a few weeks ago when we did part one, we learned that every single person experiences burdens or cares. A burden is simply a misfortune that causes anxiety, hardship, or grief. But if you walk with Jesus, there’s good news for you today. Whatever your tribulation or burden is, whether it’s an authority figure or something else, there’s hope for you today—a living hope, like Nick talked about—because Jesus did not stay in the grave. The hope that you have will never be dead for your situation. Amen? You and I have not been left alone to fend for ourselves and figure out how to deal with authority figures or other things that cause us hardship. We haven’t been left alone to figure out how to live life on earth with difficult people or difficult things. As believers of Jesus Christ, we were promised—we were actually guaranteed—burdens and suffering for the sake of Christ, as it also talks about in Acts 9. It’s no different: believer or non-believer, we will all have trials and tribulations. But there are a few differences if you are walking with Christ and dealing with troubles, burdens, anxiety, or grief.
The difference is that we have promises and hope in Jesus Christ. As real as your burdens may be, the Word of God is just as real. I want to take us through three of the many promises in His Word that we have today in Jesus Christ as we deal with our burdens and learn to cast them into His hands. Number one, as we talked about in part one, is that we will have rest in the midst of our misfortune when we cast our burdens onto Christ. There’s always an exchange that happens when you give those burdens to Christ, because they were never meant to be ours. He gives you peace in place of your worries. That is a promise we can stand on as believers of Christ going through trials and tribulations. Number two, as believers, we have access to the Holy Spirit, and He lives inside of us. John 14:26 says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things I have said to you." Like I mentioned before, we're not out here fending for ourselves. We have a Helper who literally walks beside us every day and brings to our mind the remembrance of the truth of the Gospel and the hope we have in Jesus. So, we are not alone. We have a Helper as we learn to navigate this life, burdens and all.
The third thing is that we have a Defender. You don’t have to defend yourself in the sight of your burden, like Nick talked about earlier. Instead, imitate Christ in all things you do, as 1 Corinthians 11 talks about. Christ never defended Himself, as we saw in the Word earlier, but He will always defend you. Exodus 14:14 says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." You don’t have to defend yourself. I know you might not see justice right away, and you might not even see justice on this side of eternity, but He is working, even when you don’t see it. He is fighting for you, He is defending you, and sometimes you’ll only see it in the afterlife. You’ll only see it in the rewards that He will have ready for you when we meet Him again. Church, whatever comes your way, we know that we will never be left alone again and that He cares for us. He cares about every detail of our life, every wrongful thing happening in our life, every burden. And He gives us what we don’t deserve. You and I are sinners—we don’t deserve His protection, we don’t deserve His provision, we don’t deserve His peace—but He is so willing to give it to us if we just believe Him for His Word, if we just believe what He says about us in His Word.
Today, if you don’t have a guarantee of hope, if you don’t see the promises of Christ in your life, I urge you to call on Jesus. He is waiting to hear from you. He’s waiting to make an exchange for your burden. He’s waiting to give you peace, hope, and an eternal life filled with much more than I’ve shown you. Guys, today is the Lord’s day. Today is the day He has made, and today is the day of salvation. The Lord wants to hear from you, and if you don’t know Him, He is waiting for you. He’s waiting to hear from you. If you would all stand with me, I want to repeat together a simple prayer of repentance. You may have been walking with Christ all your life. You may want to rededicate your life to Him today, or you may be ready today to finally step into walking with Jesus and let Him be Lord over your life. Whatever area you’re in today, would you repeat this prayer with me and support anyone who is ready to accept Jesus Christ today? Amen. Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I also know that You came for my forgiveness. Today, I choose to accept You into my life. I ask that You help me to walk with You all the days of my life. Amen
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