Hey, this is Kyle Eidleman from Southeast Christian Church, and I'm going to thank you for listening to the message today.

As we open up the scriptures together, I pray that this message inspires you, challenges you, and is the right word at just the right time in your life.

Enjoy the message.

Well, we have been in a series walking through the short book of First Peter. It is a short letter that Peter wrote to Christians in a variety of churches.

The purpose was to encourage and to challenge them in the face of opposition and persecution,

to inform them that suffering should

come as no surprise to them, and also to remind them of the ultimate prize that awaits them

to be with Jesus in a forever home. And we eagerly await the there and then of heaven, but in the

meantime, we are living in the here and now. My dad used to say,

to live above with those we love, oh, that will be glory. But to dwell below with ones we know,

well, that's another story. And we will spend forever in heaven, but first we will be on earth for a little while.

We are temporary residence, and we've been reminded in each sermon that we have this suffering

that we know will be a part of our lives if we choose the name of Christ, choose the name of

being a Christ follower, a Christian. Last weekend,

Kyle reminded us of our final destination of heaven and how we are just temporary residence.

And he used the analogy of a pilot saying, you can expect some turbulence. We're going to arrive,

we're going to make it to our destination. You can enjoy the

journey because you know that we are going to get there. But there will be some challenges,

but we'll get there. So expect that rough air. And Peter is making it crystal clear to the

Christian that this is not a cakewalk. It's not always going to be smooth sailing every day.

And we come to this last section of 1st Peter in the fifth chapter there, and he begins

by talking specifically to the elders. Now this was written to various churches, so there would be

...