Noah Day addresses the theme of trials and sufferings in his sermon, emphasizing that these experiences are uniquely intended for individuals. He outlines three key lessons: first, that trials and sufferings are specifically given to each person; second, that one should rejoice in being a partaker of Christ's sufferings; and third, that through these hardships, glory is brought to God. Day draws parallels between personal experiences, including his son’s health challenges, and the biblical narratives of suffering, urging listeners to find meaning and purpose in their struggles. By framing trials as opportunities for spiritual growth and divine glory, he encourages a perspective shift that sees suffering as integral to faith and a deeper connection with God. The theme of Noah Day's message revolves around the profound and often unsettling nature of trials and sufferings faced by individuals. He initiates the discussion by referencing 1 Peter 4:12, where the Apostle Peter encourages believers to view their trials not as peculiar occurrences but as purposeful experiences that forge their faith. Noah draws from his own life, particularly the health trials of his son Henry, to illustrate the emotional toll that such challenges can inflict. He emphasizes the idea that each trial is specifically curated by God for the individual, underscoring that no one is alone in their suffering. As the conversation progresses, Noah highlights the importance of rejoicing in the midst of suffering. He explains that through these experiences, believers partake in the sufferings of Christ, gaining a more profound understanding of His sacrifice. This perspective shift allows one to view trials as opportunities for spiritual growth rather than mere burdens. Noah’s anecdotes provide a relatable context, demonstrating how faith can be a refuge during turbulent times. Lastly, Noah articulates the critical point that trials ultimately bring glory to God. By remaining steadfast and trusting in God’s plan, individuals can witness how their struggles contribute to a greater narrative of divine purpose. The episode closes with an encouraging reminder that God’s grace is sufficient and that through trials, believers are not only shaped but also prepared to reflect God’s glory to the world. Noah urges listeners to lean into their faith, assuring them that God is present in their storms, ready to provide peace and strength.

Takeaways:

• Trials and sufferings are uniquely assigned to each individual, emphasizing personal growth and understanding.
• Rejoicing in trials reflects a deep connection to Christ's own suffering, signifying a shared journey of faith.
• Experiencing trials allows believers to better comprehend Christ's sacrifice, highlighting the importance of empathy.
• Through trials, believers can witness God's glory revealed in their lives, fostering hope and strength.
• Enduring hardships is a part of life that shapes individuals into instruments of God's will and purpose.
• Finding joy amidst suffering can lead to a profound spiritual transformation and a closer relationship with God.

Well, good evening. If you have your Bibles tonight, turn to first Peter chapter number four. First Peter, chapter number four.

Let me double check to make sure my mic's on here. Okay? One Peter chapter number four. If you would hold your place there, put your bookmark there, whatever you like to do.

And turn back to Matthew chapter 8 as well. Matthew chapter 8, we'll use as a springboard into our message tonight. First Peter, chapter 4, verse number 12, and then Matthew 8:23.

Matthew 8:23 is a very familiar passage. It is Jesus. Calm in the storm, right? And the winds and the wave. I'll begin reading verse number 23 real fast here.

And it says, and when he was entered into a ship, that's Jesus. His disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves.

But he was asleep and his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and. And there was a great calm.

But the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? I want you to put yourself in the disciples shoes for just a moment here. We easily like to pick on the disciples here in this passage of man.

You're in the boat with the God of the universe. You're in the boat with the living, breathing God in the flesh, and you're scared of the storm.

We like to pick on the disciples here, but if we really boil it down, this is exactly how we would react. Think about it for just a moment. The waves are so strong that they are engulfing the ship that they're in.

I don't know how Jesus was able to honestly stay asleep during this time, but I honestly think it was to teach the disciples something. How would you react if you were in that storm? Would you react in fear or would you react in faith?

You see, in our lives, oftentimes we find little hope while in the midst of a storm, or even in a trial or in a suffering, we unfortunately forget that God is ultimately in control and he is also in the boat with us. If you will now Turn back to First Peter, chapter number four, and we'll look at verse number 12. And it says right here, this is Peter.

This is one of the guys that was in the boat, by the way, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you or to test you. As though some strange thing happened unto you.

But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Tonight I would like to talk with you about partaking of the trials and sufferings. Partaking of trials and sufferings.

I'm ready for the football and baseball seasons. All right. I was ready for it, right?

And of course, that night, it was a pretty cool experience, you know, after he was born, I remember praying over him that night and asking the Lord to just make me the father I'm supposed to be and to just. And to be with Henry and to guide his life and help me to guide him in the way of the word, right? And all life was good.

And two weeks later, we took Henry to his first pediatrician appointment. If you're a parent, you know how it goes, right? They gotta get their vaccines and they got. And all that, right? And all checked up and ready to go.

And I will never forget the doctor listening to his chest. And she turns back toward me and my wife, she says, do you all know that he has a murmur? Me and my wife look at each other for a moment. We say, no.

And she said, well, he has a pretty clear one. And so she brought us over and we were able to listen.

If you don't know what a heart murmur is, when your heart beats, it sounds like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right? A murmur sounds like this. Of course, the storm had arrived in that moment.

Tonight, I'd like to discuss the three lessons of the trials and sufferings. The three lessons of trials and sufferings. Let's pray. Lord, I want to thank you again for the time that you've given me to preach tonight, Lord.

Lord, I don't want to take it for granted, God. Lord, I pray you'd hide me behind your cross, Lord. And I would say every word you'd have me to say, Lord.

Lord, I believe that this is the message that you laid on my heart, Lord. Lord, I pray it would be your message and not mine. We love you, Lord. Please bless this time. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Number one.

Trials and sufferings are given specifically to you. Look at verse number 12. Again, it says, beloved, think it not strange that Word strange. There is kind of an interesting word to use there.

What Peter was saying is, don't think of this as it happened by chance. Oh, it was just a hint of bad luck. No, it also means that you're not the first one to go through this, and you probably won't be the last.

He says it says, right. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you or test you. Right. That fiery trial there is basically the trial by fire.

That furnace fire. I think of, you know, a blacksmith, if he's forging something to metal, and he puts that metal through a furnace and heats that metal up.

Oh, it gets a nice orangey glow, gets all liquid like. And what does he do? He takes over the anvil and starts hammering on it and back in the fire, then back to the anvil.

You see, it's not like God is just throwing metal into a furnace and saying, well, I hope that something comes of it. No, no. When that blacksmith puts that. That metal in that furnace, he has a plan for it. He's going to reshape it into something of his will.

He's going to make something that was ordinary into something extraordinary. Did you know God chooses you at times to go through some trials? You're probably thinking of some in your mind right now.

The trials, the tests, loss of loved ones, times where the money has run out. Times when maybe you've lost the car, you've lost the house. The times of trials and sufferings.

Maybe even on the spiritual matter of things, maybe it's. You're being persecuted for standing for, right? Maybe someone has twisted something about you, harmed you in a certain way.

It's easy for us in that moment to sit there and say, well, this was just by chance. It just happened, and I just got unlucky. And it's easy for us to sit there and say, am I the only one that has to go through this?

How come no one else has to go through this? How come it's me? How come it's not them? It's easy for us to fall into that little pity party of ours.

You see, when we found out Henry had a murmur, we were recommended to a cardiologist. And it took us about two months to get into one. We finally got in. We took him in to the cardiologist, and they took him back.

They did an echo on his heart, and they started looking around things, and that's all it was. That's all that first point went.

They just looked at his heart and they said, okay, we got all the pictures we want, we'll let you know, let your pediatrician know what we find. Wait about a month. And then finally we got word back, and they said, well, he has a. It was kind of a funny situation.

Our pediatrician couldn't really tell us what was wrong, which is. That's a whole other story, right? And they said, but they didn't say he has a bicuspid aortic valve.

And a lot of times when your aortic valve, it's supposed to have three flaps, and basically Henry's had two. And they say now that now people can go their whole lives without knowing that that's an issue. That's a heart defect.

But they said, but that may be what's causing the murmur, right? And they said, we're going to have you come back in for some more tests and pictures. And so we said, okay. So we're hoping that it's not a problem.

We're hoping that it's still just going to resolve it. And we're praying hard, right, that God would just, you know, have some sort of impact in this, and he would. He would not.

There would be nothing wrong, right? So we go back in and we meet the cardiologist. This time, we get. We get the echoes done.

And she sits down with us and says, okay, he has a bicuspid aortic valve, but that's not the issue. She said, he actually has a hole between his two ventricles and his heart.

And she told us, she said, and she says, this is not a small hole, unfortunately. This is a moderate to large hole. That's what she says.

Typically with moderate to large holes, there's only about a 30% chance or less for it to close on its own. If it was a small hole, it jumps to, like, 70% chance it will close on its own kind of thing and usually doesn't cause a lot of problems.

And she said, so she said, what I want to do is that he looks healthy. And he was. He was healthy at the time.

And she said, since he looks so healthy, I want to give him some time, because typically babies with this condition, they look more sickly. And so we said, okay, how long. How much time should we give him? She said, well, let's start with three months.

Come back in three months, we'll look at him again, and we'll kind of get a game plan from there.

So, of course, leaving that appointment somewhat devastated by the news of potential surgery that's in our future and something that we didn't want to have to Put our, you know, our under one year old son through it, you know. And so we prayed hard. We prayed that the Lord would just take it away. Lord, just let, let the.

When we come in three months, it'd be a good report that it would be going the right direction and that wouldn't be getting worse. And that's what we prayed for three months. And then it came back. We came back after three months and the hole had actually gotten smaller.

It was good news. She said it actually has gotten a little bit smaller. She said it's still considered moderate to large, but it has gotten smaller. It.

She said there's a little bit of an issue with his ventricle. Actually it's enlarged a little bit more. And so she said, she said, but it's not something concerning now. Let's give him another three months.

Let's give him some more time because I think we're going in the right direction here. She said, he's honestly out of the woods yet, but he's going the right direction.

So we were rejoicing, we were praising the Lord for it and we had this little glimpse of hope. Right. I say all that and we'll continue that story here in a moment. But I say all that to say I wasn't prepared for how long this was going to take.

We were only about a quarter of the way through the story. You may be in a trial right now, and I tell you this, I don't know how long it's going to take, but me and my wife made a decision.

We talked about it, we had prayed about it. We said, we're not going to let this run our lives. We're not going to let this turn our back on God.

We are hoping that this brings honor and glory to God. And I'm not saying that to point me this was God's grace in my life that he was providing me.

You see, trials and sufferings are given specifically to you. And during that time I found myself constantly wondering, why did it have to be my kid?

And selfishly I said, well, there were so many other babies born at the same time. How come none of them had it? You see, Henry's heart issue is actually a 1% chance per baby. So out of 100 kids, Henry was the one.

And that right there spoke to me and said, this wasn't by chance, this wasn't bad luck. It's because God chose me for that moment. God chose Henry. Trials and sufferings are given to you specifically.

And number two, trials and sufferings give insight of Christ's suffering for you. Look now in verse number 13, it says here, but rejoice Sounds a little backwards, but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.

That line kind of scares me a little bit. Y' all realize what Jesus Christ did for you? Do you really understand it?

The God of this universe, who has to humble himself just to look at us, decided, you know what? I'll become one of my creation. I'll become the thing I made. So I will pay the price for their sin. Not my own, but their sin.

And Christ bled and died on a cross for us. He suffered.

Doesn't the Bible say, I beseech ye, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your service. No, your reasonable service. So I'm here to tell you tonight, rejoice in the sufferings. Be glad you're in the midst of a trial right now.

Be glad you're in the middle of a suffering right now, because that means God is not done with you yet. He has a plan for your life, your life individually, right now. He has a plan for it, and he is working that out right now. And this trial is.

Is right here, is to mold you into his will right now, is to mold you into that, into something ordinary, into something extraordinary right now. He has that plan for your life right now. Rejoice in the suffering. It seems backwards. Why should we rejoice? Why should we be glad about suffering?

Why should we be okay with it? Because Jesus Christ was willing and glad to give his life for you. Because he loved you.

And you should be glad to go through sufferings and trials just as he did, as well. We're partakers of Christ's sufferings. If you have your Bibles real fast, turn to Acts, chapter nine, just for a moment. Acts, chapter nine.

I just want you to see this. Acts, chapter nine.

What's happened here is that the Apostle Paul, which is actually Saul at this point in the story, Saul has just seen Jesus on the road to Damascus. And he goes into the city, right? And God speaks to Barnabas. Look at verse number 16 here. Sorry. Look at verse number 15.

It says, but the Lord said unto him, go thy way. For he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and. And children of Israel.

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Think about that for a second. The Apostle Paul, the guy that Wrote half the Testament. He didn't live a luxurious life. He didn't live a life that was.

That was full of money. He didn't live a life that was full of fame. He lived a life that was in a constant state of suffering. Think about it.

Shipwrecked, bitten by venomous snakes. Stoned, spat on, beaten. The list goes on. Eventually martyred, imprisoned. And we like to look at our situation and say, oh, God, it's so bad on me.

But when I look back at this, I'm actually kind of glad God didn't choose me. And that was. I was the Apostle Paul in that moment.

And that's what was written about me in the books, the Book of acts, in chapter nine, verse number 16, that I was chosen to suffer for God's name's sake. I think back to Job and, man, I don't even know how Job did it. Job never was even given a reason why it happened. But Job said.

He said, the Lord giveth and. And he taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We forget that maybe our situation isn't as bad as we like to think it is.

You see, we gain a level of understanding a little bit with our trials. We get a glimpse into what Jesus Christ did for us, that suffering. Think about it. What did Christ do for you?

He came to this earth, and he died the most gruesome death you can imagine at the time. He's buried, and he rose again in three days for you, and he did that all for you. And then here's the flip side of it.

And a little bit with my side of things, I got to see a little bit of God. The Father's perspective, too, of my own son suffering. I cannot imagine what God the father felt while his innocent son bled and hung on a cross.

And that's a perspective that you don't understand until you have your own kids. The night Henry was born, that was actually the first or the day that Henry was born, that was the first thing that came to my mind.

I said, God gave his son for me. Three months later, after the good news, we went back into the doctor, and we're hopeful at this point. We're actually. We're in good spirits.

And we were like, man, God, he's gonna close that hole. It's gonna be gone when we go in. I just know it. We went in and she said, unfortunately, the hole has not had any change.

And she said, and his heart is now severely enlarged. And she said, I really highly recommend that we go in and we take care of it. And I said, and of course, me and Hannah, I don't know how we did it.

I don't even know how I spoke in that moment, honestly. But I said, hey, I believe that there's a God in this universe that is in control of all things, and I believe that he can close the hole still.

Can we give him a little bit more time? And so the doctor agreed. She says, okay, yes, we'll give him three more months. She said, here are the two conditions.

I want to put him on Lasix medication to help with the fluid that's in his heart that's causing it to enlarge.

And she said that the other thing is too, is I want us to go ahead and schedule surgery because if we go in, she said, I'd rather cancel it than have to get you in and rush you in. And so we said, okay. And we gave God three months. We prayed that really hard for three months. We did every night, rocking him to bed.

I prayed, said, lord, please take it from him. Don't put him through this, Lord. He's only a one year old boy. Please don't put me through it. Please don't put my wife through it. It's too heavy.

God, take it from me. I don't want it. But God just kept repeating to himself, it's okay, I've got you. The three months came, and they looked at his heart again.

They said, unfortunately, it's even more enlarged now. We need to go in. We'll see you in three weeks. That three weeks turned into.

Unfortunately, it turned into six weeks because he had ended up getting pneumonia right before his surgery date and up to the final days of his. Of his heart surgery. His eyes grew more dim, his appetite dropped. You could tell it was affecting him. We walked into the hospital that day.

Now, I don't know if you had the feeling. I don't know. It's like I was just going through the motions. I wasn't fully there, to be totally honest with you. Thankfully, he was in good spirits.

He was laughing, he was in a good mood. They're about to wheel him back to the or. I hugged him. I didn't know if that was gonna be last time I hugged him.

The surgeon had told us when we met for the surgery. He said, it is a 1% chance of a child with this condition that when they have a surgery, it's 1% chance that's fatal. They said it's very rare.

We do hundreds of these a day. It's very rare.

And he said, there's also another 1% chance that, like, if we made a mistake where we nicked something in the heart and we had to do another extra repair, and then he'd have a lasting issue with it, that was another 1% risk. So he said, you have a 98% sex or 98% chance of success with no lasting complications. And he added this on there.

He said, I do want to tell you, though, he said he's kind of already living in the 1% zone. He said, don't read in this too much.

But he did say, because he wanted just to tell us, he said he's a little bit of a more special case than most kids. Most kids with the vsd, that's the Holden's heart, they said, most of them, if they have any other complication, it's very rare.

And for him to have a bicuspid aortic valve and a VASD, only 1% of kids that have AVSD also have a bicuspid aortic valve. And he said that it may mean absolutely nothing, but he said, I will warn you, he is kind of living in the 1%. I don't know if that may.

I hope that made us really feel better. But I appreciate his honesty. I hugged him, I kissed him, I watched them wheel him back. I'll continue that story here in a moment.

You see, I wonder what God the Father felt when he sent his son to this earth. It's not like he didn't know what was going to happen. It's not like he was like, well, I hope everything goes well.

No, he knew exactly why he was sending him. He sent his son to die on the cross for our sins. That sin that no one else knows about. That sin that you're even ashamed to think of. He died for it.

I cannot imagine sending my own son to pay for the mistakes of another person. I could not do it. There's no way. No way. But because of God's love for you and for Jesus. Love for you. He did it for you. Number three.

Trials and sufferings bring glory to God. Look at the second part of verse number 13 in 1st Peter in chapter 4.

It says here, I'll read the whole verse, but rejoice as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. You may have not experienced it yet, but if you keep your eyes on God, I promise you, you'll see his glory. You'll see how it's shaping you.

You'll see how it's affecting the lives of others around you. And you'll say, God, I'm sorry for saying that you didn't love me. God, I'm sorry for saying that you were hateful to me, for putting me through this.

And you'll say, God, I just hope that you get all the honor and glory for it, that it will win others, that will point other people to you because of the impact that you have on my life. Look for God's glory in the trial. Look for it. You're in the middle of the suffering. Look for God's glory. Ask the Lord to reveal it to you. He will.

He'll show it right too. Plain and clear. And here's the best part. You'll be okay. You'll be glad. I love how the Bible says here, you may be glad also. With exceeding joy.

When they wheeled Henry back, Hannah and I held each other and walked back to the waiting room, sat down in the chair, and it's hard to explain it, but peace just sat over us. Like all of it was gone. The suffering, the feeling of the anxiety, the worry, the pressure, everything just gone.

And the reason for that is because God gave us his almighty grace and laid it on mine and my wife's life. Let me tell you tonight, God's grace does not run short. It does not run empty. He has enough for you. He has enough for your family.

He has enough for your kids. He has enough for your parents. God's grace is abundantly plenteous. And when you ask God for that grace, he will give it to you.

That's how we get saved, after all. Does the Bible say, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It's a gift of God, not of works.

Lest any man should boast, doesn't the Bible say that? Do you think God has enough grace for you tonight? I think so. They gave us the call and they kind of were doing this.

They kind of prepped him and put him under, right? And they gave us the call and said, hey, everything's good. We're about to go in. They went in.

And you think that in that moment that would be the worst part of it? No, it was the best part because we knew he was completely in God's hands. If you would show the photo, if you have that. I took this photo.

This is post surgery right here. That's my wife holding him in the chair right there. When he got out of surgery, he was coming to. He was in pain, he was hurting, he was crying.

Didn't understand what was going on. And my wife Hannah, asked, can I hold him? He said, of course.

Grabbed all those wires and tubes that he's hooked up to and picked him up off the bed and just laid him in his arms and he just went to sleep. I'm here at the night that God wants to do that with you.

Through every trial that you have in your life, he may say, you're going through the hurting, you're going through the trial, you're going through the suffering for my name's sake. But just lean on me. I've got you. That image is forever ingrained in my brain. Anytime I feel like the Lord is not right here next to me, I feel alone.

I say, God, hold me. What did the disciples say when they were in the middle of that ship in the middle of the storm?

They went over to Jesus, who was sleeping, and said, lord, save us. We pray, perish. And Jesus says, okay, I've got it taken care of. Why are you so fearful? I've already got it.

And right now in your life, I don't know what you're going through in your life. I don't. I'm more preaching out myself than I really am. The Lord kept repeating this one verse in my mind. It's in 2nd Corinthians 12, 9.

I preached the sermon. This is not tobacco. You can turn there if you'd like.

But this was Paul who has this thorn in his flesh, and he's asked the Lord to remove it from him three times. And the Lord kept saying no. And the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee. Are you partaking in the trials and suffering of Jesus?

Are you going through something in your life that you think is too big for God? Because it's not. Just remember, God's still in control. He's still on the throne. Be thankful for the trials and sufferings. Look for the glory of God.

Give it all to him. And just remember these three things.

God chose you for this trial, and it was to draw you closer to him and to bring more understanding of him and relationship with him. And you'll find God's glory. You'll find it. I'm not here to point to you tonight of. Look at me. Look at what I went through.

And it's probably not my last one, but I pray and hope the next one. I Go through. I follow these three things. God chose it for me. God did it to grow my relationship with him. And he's going to get glory through it.

Is your trial, bringing God glory tonight. I'll leave you with this. We read it just a Moment ago. Matthew 8:26. Jesus said to him, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?

With Jesus there's nothing to fear. If God is for us, who can be against us? With every head bowed and every eyes closed as the musicians get ready for the invitation tonight.

Again, I don't know what you're going through in your life tonight. Could be small, could be big, doesn't matter. God's here for you.

And there's an altar right here down front that God may be calling you to and saying, hey, just come give it to me. I'll carry you. I know you're hurting. I know you're suffering, but bring it to me and I'll carry you.

Maybe your child tonight hasn't been bringing God glory. Maybe you've made it about yourself.

I'm going to ask you right now if God's speaking to you, that you come down to this altar and you would just give it all to him and he'll carry you through it. Lord, I thank you so much for this time tonight. Thank you for the message that you gave me, Lord.

Lord, I know that this was the message you laid in my heart, Lord. Lord, I pray that I spoke every word you'd have me to say. Lord, I pray that I shared the message that you wanted me to share.

Speak to hearts now, Lord. Pray. Amen.