Carney says hard times are ahead!
What This Teaching Is About
Brad Fedler reflects on Prime Minister Carney’s warning of hard economic times and uses it as a call for Canadian believers to grow endurance. Drawing from Romans, James, Matthew, Job, and Jesus’ words, he urges viewers to seek God’s kingdom first, resist offence, and remember that suffering is not the end of the story.
Transcript
Hi everybody. Happy Saturday. I hope if uh if you have families with kids, I hope you're transition into the new school year. I hope that's off to a good start. Uh today, I just want to follow up on something Chris talked about last weekend. He talked about suffering and how suffering produces endurance which produces character which produces hope. And yeah, I just wanted to follow up on that. I know there's a lot of talk about hardship. Our prime minister uh made the comment that hard times are ahead or something to that effect uh in the midst of you know the trade dispute and and all the things that are going on there. Um but uh yeah, the Bible talks a lot.
Uh the New Testament talks a lot to us about suffering. We know Jesus told us in the world you will have tribulation. We know we know that that will be part of it for us. And economic difficulty from a trade dispute is not the suffering that he's speaking of. I think and uh um you know I think it's it's more to do with suffering with him for the sake of his name that that's really getting talked about. But these days are you can look at it as practice for us I guess. Uh back in in July at the national day of prayer I had an opportunity to chat with a representative from Voice of the Martyrs Canada and uh yeah we're just talking about how the western church does not
have much of a theology for suffering. This is foreign to us. We don't know much uh about it. We don't know what to do with it when it comes. uh you know, we kind of we tend to think that once we come to Jesus, things should get better and better and better. And uh you know, the Bible's pretty clear that suffering will come. That's kind of what Chris was speaking from last week from Romans 5. And I just want to add to that from Romans 8. Romans 8 is a glorious chapter. It's for a lot of people, it's probably their favorite chapter in the Bible. And uh there's actually mention of suffering in the middle of that. Starting in verse 16, Paul says, "The Holy Spirit himself bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then we're hes of God and fellows with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." It's wild. We love to We love to read about how we're children of God. We're joint hes of God. joint hes with Christ will be glorified with him. But all that couched in the middle of all that is Paul says provided we suffer with him. And uh that's the part we don't we don't like so much, right? But I just want to want to remind us and encourage us that there is a purpose and a use for for suffering. Uh Jesus himself entered into our suffering when he became a man. entered into a world that was beset by
sin that you know he he felt pain and so on. I think even just uh Lazarus's death though he raised Lazarus from the dead that pain and and grief of loss touched him deeply and he wept and so you know those are just a few things but we know ultimately going to the cross suffering suffering all that he endured in going to the cross all of it on the basis of an unjust death um Jesus knew suffering and he and he entered into suffering so he could identify with us in that and the invitation is to suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. And uh James 5:11, James says, "We consider those blessed who remain steadfast." He talked about heroes from
the from the Bible, from the Old Testament, and he said, "You have heard of the steadfastness of Job." You want to talk about suffering, Job Job lived it. You've heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord. How the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James is saying the Lord's purpose in Job's suffering was to display his compassion and mercy on the other side of it. And so I just want to encourage us with this thing that uh let's just finish from Romans 8 first. We know verse 17. He said the spirit bears witness we're children of God. And if we're children of God, then hes joint hes of God with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may
also be glorified with him. And then verse 18 says, Paul says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. these sufferings and he's talked about sufferings that he had endured in in taking the gospel to to new cities and new places, you know, the shipwrecks, the being beaten and stoned and all those different things. He said, which are far worse than we're tasting right now. And he said, I consider that those sufferings aren't even worth comparing to the glory that'll be revealed to us. and uh he's saying the reward is so worth it in the end. So, I just want to what I want to encourage you with today
is this. Uh, with all that's going on today, you know, in our nation and politics, all these sorts of things. I want to say first of all, don't get so swept up in what's going on today that you lose sight of the kingdom. You know, Jesus in Matthew 6, he's talking about worrying about food and clothing, you know, the basic necessities of life that a lot of people are worrying about, wondering about. And Jesus says this phrase at the end of it. He says, "Remember to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." It's like he's he's saying this thing of don't get so swept in swept up in worrying about the things of today that you lose sight
of his kingdom and his righteousness. And he says for those who seek first the kingdom, he said there's a promise. I'll take care of you. So don't get so swept up in what's going on today that you lose sight of the kingdom and kingdom first. And the second thing I would say is don't be offended. You know, when we when we focus and fixate on on difficulties, why aren't things better or easier or more comfortable than they are, we can get offended, right? So, don't don't be offended, but grow some endurance, I guess, is the is the way I could say it. You know, Romans 5, suffering produces endurance. Grow some endurance. Remain steadfast. James said, "The ones who remain
steadfast to the end, we consider them today blessed." And uh they're the heroes. They're the ones we look to for encouragement and so on. The ones we look to as as uh examples of what we want to be. So in the same way, let's endure. Let's be steadfast. Let's not give into being disgruntled, discouraged, upset, offended. Remember that God has a purpose in suffering. And you know days are coming I believe when we will suffer more consistently for for the Lord for identifying with him for being faithful to his name and to his word. And so in these days grow some endurance and uh remember the reward is a weight of glory that that these sufferings don't even
hold a candle to. Paul said they're not even worthy to be compared. And so be encouraged. You know we will have tribulation but be of good cheer. He's overcome the world. Don't get discouraged. The the purpose of the Lord through suffering is to show himself. He will show himself compassionate and merciful. So have some endurance. Be steadfast. Don't give into offense. And keep looking to fill your mind with the reward. Fill your mind with what he has promised you would give to those who endure with him. So I'm Brad Fedler with the National House of Prayer. See you next time.
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