church notes- literally typing (swyping on phone) notes during church

Favorite and not favorite things

DMV, taxes, jury duty, disciplining kids (dislikes from the crowd)

SUFFERING
No one likes to suffer.
WHY do we dislike/hate suffering?
We're creatures of comfort/pleasure
AVOID DISCOMFORT
UNLESS there is value/payoff/benefit to the suffering/discomfort/pain/difficulty
Suffering a rite of passage for Christians (hard time in faith is a typical Christian journey)
Matthew 5 (blessed are those who suffer and are persecuted) verse 12: rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven
Christian or not, people will go through trials because we live in a fallen, sinful world.
Suffering: sin filled choices and mistakes. We sometimes choose the wrong path due to our sinful nature.
Sometimes it isn't due to our wrongdoings or bad choices.
Hebrews 12:
Suffering at the hands of others.
God marked or our race, we must fix our eyes on Jesus who endured the cross and sits at the right hand of the father. Ephesians 4: we, through the lens of the blood of Jesus Christ, are seen by God as holy and blameless
Persecuted due to their faith because they walked away from Judaism. Banned, abolished, suffering because they believed in Jesus.
Jesus= free grace! (Woohoo)
Keep on!
Struggle against sin different from struggle WITH sin. Keep persevering!
"The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son"
We want our kids to learn to work hard and learn discipline; we don't (and God doesn't) want us to SUFFER, we want them to grow up with values and grow into maturity BECAUSE WE LOVE THEM. The concept is the same with God and us. He is saying, "you belong to me." This involves difficulty at times!
In order to shelter us from pain, He would have to protect us from ourselves and everyone else. He gave us free will instead. We have the choice to accept or deny him. As we suffer, we have good to look to and good to find our hope in! We should seek discipline in order to grow (in Him). We respect our parents for disciplining us; God is our heavenly father. Discipline produces a harvest of goodness. There are benefits of discipline and suffering!
Suffering= benefit of faith. New lens and perspective.
James 1:2-4: "consider it pure joy whenever you face trials... We will become mature and complete from it"

     
Through the text I used the words us and we. The above photo is a reminder that he loves us ALL and wants us all to love him back (No matter how bad we think we are)

Ironically, this was my daily bible verse for today on my bible app:

1 Peter 5:10

10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.