When Life Gets Hard, Stand Firm
Practical reminders from 1 Peter for growing your faith, enduring difficult seasons, and trusting the God who will never fail you.

Tim Dye • Lead Pastor
August 7, 2026

3 Minute Read

I have to admit that some seasons in life are harder than others. At first when I first came to faith in Jesus, I developed a super hero mindset that viewed hardship as something I was going to be immune from. Funny this is, I thought that being a Christian meant that I was not ever going to actually have to stand firm in times of my life. Somehow in my little christian bubble, i hadn’t fully realized that the muscle of faith grows in hardship. 

For so many of us here at Freedom, this has been a season of difficulties. From accepting the fact that change is happening and going through health battles to trusting God for what you can’t see in the here and now. I see you, friends. Navigating through trials is never easy and now in my life I see just how important it is to find inspiration.  Listen, in the midst of struggle, we must find inspiration that develops our faith. 

So what do we do when life is hard and things don’t seem to be going like we think they should? I offer a simple yet practical guide for giving us motivation to stand firm. 

The Apostle Peter writes to the first century followers of Christ in an attempt to strengthen them from turning back, surrendering and giving in. Here is my reminder to you from 1 Peter:

He’s reminding the believers that God’s great mercy through Christ is proof that they are born again and have a priceless inheritance. This is kept in heaven for us and it’s beyond change and decay! 

Trials reveal a faith that is genuine. He says’ “So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor…  Friends, we must have faith in the God who saves!  “Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him with a glorious, inexpressible joy”

After we commit our lives to Christ, we sometimes feel a pull back to our old ways. Simply put, our focus and priorities must be His. Rely on God’s power to free you from giving up and giving in so you can truly live to show others that God can be trusted. 

Recently God gave me a reminder to allow Christ to receive the glory of my sufferings. This is exactly what Peter is saying…”God is pleased with you”,  when we do this. Christ Jesus is our example who “left his case in the hands of God”. That is powerful. Can we just leave our case in the hands of God like Jesus did? Yes, we can! 

Let’s break up with a theology that thinks the Christian life is rainbows and butterflies. Don’t get me wrong, this life in Christ is the best decision that you will ever make but hear the last words of Peter from 1 Peter 4:19. “So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you”.

Peace to all of you, God’s word stands forever. 

Pastor Tim Dye

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August 7, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
When Life Gets Hard, Stand Firm
I have to admit that some seasons in life are harder than others. At first when I first came to faith in Jesus, I developed a super hero mindset that viewed hardship as something I was going to be immune from. Funny this is, I thought that being a Christian meant that I was not ever going to actually have to stand firm in times of my life. Somehow in my little christian bubble, i hadn’t fully realized that the muscle of faith grows in hardship. For so many of us here at Freedom, this has been a season of difficulties. From accepting the fact that change is happening and going through health battles to trusting God for what you can’t see in the here and now. I see you, friends. Navigating through trials is never easy and now in my life I see just how important it is to find inspiration.  Listen, in the midst of struggle, we must find inspiration that develops our faith. So what do we do when life is hard and things don’t seem to be going like we think they should? I offer a simple yet practical guide for giving us motivation to stand firm. The Apostle Peter writes to the first century followers of Christ in an attempt to strengthen them from turning back, surrendering and giving in. Here is my reminder to you from 1 Peter: Live with great expectation. (1 Peter 1:3-4) He’s reminding the believers that God’s great mercy through Christ is proof that they are born again and have a priceless inheritance. This is kept in heaven for us and it’s beyond change and decay! Joy is ahead. (1 Peter 1:6-8) Trials reveal a faith that is genuine. He says’ “So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor…  Friends, we must have faith in the God who saves!  “Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him with a glorious, inexpressible joy” Don’t slip back into your old ways of living. (1 Peter 1:14-16) After we commit our lives to Christ, we sometimes feel a pull back to our old ways. Simply put, our focus and priorities must be His. Rely on God’s power to free you from giving up and giving in so you can truly live to show others that God can be trusted. Suffer for good and endure it patiently. (1 Peter 2:20-21) Recently God gave me a reminder to allow Christ to receive the glory of my sufferings. This is exactly what Peter is saying…”God is pleased with you”,  when we do this. Christ Jesus is our example who “left his case in the hands of God”. That is powerful. Can we just leave our case in the hands of God like Jesus did? Yes, we can! Let’s break up with a theology that thinks the Christian life is rainbows and butterflies. Don’t get me wrong, this life in Christ is the best decision that you will ever make but hear the last words of Peter from 1 Peter 4:19. “So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you”. Peace to all of you, God’s word stands forever. Pastor Tim Dye

Tim Dye

Lead Pastor

August 5, 2026 • 6 Minute Read
When Worship Becomes Routine
There is a question worth sitting with today, one that has the potential to cut straight through the noise of religious habit and land somewhere uncomfortably close to the truth. The question is not "Did I feel God today?" The better question is this: "God, did you recognize my worship today?" That distinction matters more than most of us would like to admit. The Human Default Every one of us is wired with a tendency to drift. It is not a flaw unique to a certain kind of person or a certain season of life. It is the human default. We begin with fire. We begin with a sense that nothing can stop us, that God is in everything, that the gates of hell themselves could not hold back what has been ignited in our hearts. And then time passes. Comfort creeps in. The fire weakens. The holy ambition that once defined us slowly gives way to something more manageable, more routine, more safe. The children of Israel knew this drift well. They had witnessed the impossible. They had walked through a divided sea on dry ground, watched their enemies swallowed by the very waters that had just delivered them, and followed a pillar of cloud and fire through the wilderness. God was not subtle with them. He was unmistakable. And yet, within a short span of time, they were murmuring about the food, longing for Egypt, and treating the miraculous provision of manna as something mundane and tiresome. The lesson embedded in their story is not a comfortable one. It is this: there will always be more moments in life trying to snuff out the flame than there were moments that lit it. The moment of genuine encounter with God, that real and transforming moment when life shifts from darkness to light, is the moment of all moments. But it will be outnumbered. Circumstances, disappointments, comfort, and routine will press in from every side, and the fire will dim if the heart is not intentionally kept alive. What God Actually Wants In Isaiah 29, the prophet delivers a word that is as relevant today as it was the day it was spoken. God's indictment against the people was not that they had stopped showing up. They were still coming. They were still going through the motions of worship. But their hearts were far from him, and their worship had become little more than a set of learned behaviors, rules repeated by rote, motions performed out of habit rather than love. Rote. It is a simple word with a sobering meaning. It describes the kind of worship where the body is present but the heart checked out long ago. It is showing up on Sunday, singing the songs, dropping something in the offering, saying hello to a few people, and heading home feeling like the spiritual box has been checked for another week. God was not impressed. He was not moved. And in the book of Amos, the language becomes even more striking. In Amos 5, God declares that he despises religious festivals when they are disconnected from genuine hearts. He refuses burnt offerings. He turns away from songs of praise. Not because worship itself is wrong, but because worship without the heart is not worship at all. It is performance. And God has never been interested in a performance. This is a thread woven consistently through both the Old and New Testaments. God's desire has not changed across the covenants. What he wanted from Israel in the wilderness is what he wants from his people today. He did not deliver them from Egypt so they could build bricks for a new master. He delivered them so they could worship him. The Hebrew word used in that passage carries the full weight of worship, not just service or labor, but genuine, heart-engaged devotion. Worship and Obedience Are Inseparable One of the most challenging truths in all of this is that God refuses to separate worship from obedience. They are not two different categories of the spiritual life. They are one. Worship that is genuine will always produce a life that reflects it. And a life that has drifted into disobedience, comfort, or compromise will always eventually produce worship that rings hollow. This is why authenticity in the kingdom is not ultimately about atmosphere, style, or personality. It is not about finding the right church culture or the most relatable pastor. Those things are not unimportant, but they are not the point. Authenticity before God is determined by whether the heart aligns with what God calls genuine. It is an inward reality before it is ever an outward expression. The story of Paul and Silas in prison illustrates this beautifully. Locked in chains, unable to go home, far from comfort, with nothing going right by any earthly measure, they chose to worship. Not because everything was fine. Not because the need had been met. But because their hearts were fixed on the one who sustains even when the circumstances say otherwise. That is worship that God recognizes. That is the kind of praise that shakes foundations. The Invitation to Go Deeper The call in all of this is not to perform better or try harder. It is something far more personal than that. It is an invitation to stop looking outward for authentic spiritual experience and to look inward. To ask the honest question. To sit with it. To stop assimilating into the assembly and start engaging with the God who is present in it. God is described in Hebrews 11 as the rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). That word diligently is not passive. It is not the posture of someone going through the motions. It is the posture of someone who has decided that encounter with God is worth pursuing with everything they have. The burning bush never burned out. That same God is still burning. The question is whether we are willing to take our shoes off, recognize the holy ground beneath our feet, and bring him something real.

Tim Dye

Lead Pastor