September 26, 2025, 6:00 PM
Greetings in Christ!
I pray the week has gone well for you.
I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers sent my way in relation to the death of my aunt Anna Lois Huckaby. Anna Lois was my mom's oldest sister and a very fine Christian woman. She will be greatly missed.
I've never met anyone who honestly said they enjoyed suffering or who eagerly looked forward to it. Instead, we tend to try our best to avoid it at all costs.
Jesus, however, never promised an easy life for those who chose to follow Him. Instead, Jesus said there would be suffering.
The New Testament makes it very clear that life as a Christian is a struggle.
The Apostle Paul talks about it a lot in his writings.
Paul knew all too well about the pain and suffering that come with following Jesus.
He was imprisoned, stoned, beaten, flogged, shipwrecked, starved, exhausted, and endangered throughout his life as a follower of Christ.
We sometimes believe (falsely) that this struggle is all in the human realm. It actually goes much deeper. In Ephesians 6, Paul says our battle is NOT against FLESH, but against demonic spiritual forces.
This sounds pretty intimidating. There is HOPE, however, for the believer in Christ.
Since we are "in Christ" and He's "in us," we have supernatural power to draw upon in our struggles.
No one likes the pain and struggles in this life. While the resistance of the evil in the world may cause pain, we can take comfort in knowing that it is building spiritual muscle in us.
Let us draw on that strength and not our own POWER!
Stay in the fight today, my dear friend! God, who began a good work in you, will see it through to completion!
Listen to Paul's words to the Philippians:
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him...(Philippians 1:29)."
We will be talking about how we can "CONTEND" and "STAND" for the faith this coming Sunday (09.28.25).
We'll close the month of September with our fourth and final message from our study in the book of Jude.
I hope and pray we will see you at FCC this Sunday!
God Bless,
Greg H.
