Sometimes I feel like life is so much easier for non-Christians. Sometimes it seems like life is really, really hard. There are times when the difficult stuff we are journeying through is never, ever going to end. Much like we do with the recent weather pattern, we wonder if it will ever end. This Sunday I am preaching on one of my favorite passages – Romans 5:1-5. In this passage, the apostle Paul outlines a process. That process includes suffering, and Paul says we should be thankful for this. The reason we should be thankful is simple: every time we are going through something challenging, God has a chance to work in our lives in significant ways.

Think of it this way: Which have you learned more from, your successes or your failures? Success comes with the temptation to trust our own abilities, and when things are going well, we have a tendency to cruise along and enjoy the moment. Failure and struggle catch our attention, and in that, God has a chance to teach us more than during the times when life is easy! I hope you’re able to join us this Sunday, and we will learn more about this
amazing process that teaches us about God’s grace.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.

Romans 5:1-5