Refiner's Fire | Week 4 | Clayton York · Rewind

Refiner's Fire | Week 4 | Clayton York · Rewind

Pastor Clayton York · Jun 27, 2021

Big Idea

Quoting the message: How you respond to affliction will show who has your heart, end quote..

You won't always get a reason for what you're going through, but you'll always have a choice in how you respond. Peter's life shows that even when you feel stuck in a storm, in prison, or in suffering, Jesus is reaching for you and inviting you to keep moving toward Him rather than staying stuck.

Key points

1
1Peter's letter is written to persecuted people who are stuck in hard circumstances they can't escape.
Pastor Clayton sets up First Peter 2:18-21, where Peter writes to Christian slaves and servants suffering unjust treatment, some possibly for life, some facing martyrdom. Peter tells them to keep doing good and stay focused on Christ rather than running from their affliction.
2
2When Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, he got stuck between comfort, chaos, and Christ.
Working through Matthew 14, Pastor Clayton shows how the other disciples screamed 'ghost' while Peter, recognizing Jesus from relationship, cried out 'Lord.' Peter stepped out onto the waves but froze when he saw the wind and began to sink, crying 'Save me, Lord.'
3
3Getting stuck is part of the human condition, traced all the way back to Adam and Eve.
Pastor Clayton pictures a heavenly conversation where God, Jesus, and the Spirit see Adam and Eve stuck after sin, hiding rather than moving toward God. He connects this to the moving-walkway illustration from the airport — God provides a way forward, but people often stand still or even walk backward instead of trusting the movement He's given.
4
4Jesus reached out and caught Peter the moment he cried out, showing who really had Peter's heart.
Returning to Matthew 14:31, Pastor Clayton notes Jesus immediately grabbed Peter rather than letting him turn back to the boat for help from the other disciples. Peter's instinct to cry out to Jesus, not the boat, revealed whose he truly was.
5
5After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter kept responding to affliction with obedience instead of retreat — healing, imprisonment, and even sleeping the night before his trial.
Pastor Clayton traces Acts 2-12: Peter is filled with the Spirit, heals a lame man, is jailed, released, keeps preaching, and is jailed again. The night before his trial he is found asleep in chains, which Pastor Clayton points to as proof Peter trusted his life was never fully his own.
6
6Peter can tell suffering Christians to endure because he has lived the same affliction and seen Jesus carry him through it.
Pastor Clayton returns to First Peter 2:22-24, where Peter describes Jesus not retaliating but entrusting Himself to God and bearing sin on the cross. Because Peter walked through his own storms and prisons, his call to endure affliction carries weight.
7
7A real-life story of forgiveness after unimaginable loss shows what choosing Christ in affliction actually looks like.
Pastor Clayton tells the story of his friend Hibachi, a former gang member who came to Christ in prison, whose three-year-old daughter was murdered while he was back in prison on an old conviction. At the murderer's trial, Hibachi said, 'I forgive you,' explaining that since God forgave him despite his own sin, he had a choice, and he chose forgiveness.

Application

Don't stay stuck when God wants you to move — respond to your affliction with Jesus instead of standing still.

Notice where you're standing still
Ask where God has given you a walkway to move forward but you're standing with arms crossed, or even walking backward, because the destination feels too hard.
Cry out to Jesus, not the boat
When you're sinking in a hard circumstance, call out to Christ first rather than looking for comfort or rescue from what feels safe and familiar.
Choose forgiveness like Hibachi did
Even in the deepest pain and loss, remember you've been forgiven despite your own sin, and let that shape your response toward those who've wronged you.
Respond to Jesus' call this morning
If you're stuck and need Jesus, pray to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that He is Lord, receiving forgiveness and new life.
Take the next step in baptism
If you've trusted Jesus, follow through in spontaneous baptism after the service as a public, unashamed declaration that you're no longer stuck.

Take it into your week

Sign in to ask Rewind about this sermon

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“we come to first Peter starting in first Peter two, starting in verse 18. If you got your Bibles, turn to first Peter. If you don't have your Bibles, we'll have it on the screen”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“First Peter two verse 18 says this, you who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you, not only if they are kind and reasonable”
From the transcript
“Matthew fourteen fourteen. Matthew fourteen twenty two. Here we go. It says, immediately after this. After what? This is after Jesus finishes feeding the 5,000 people”
From the transcript
“One of my favorite verses in scripture is Jeremiah ten twenty three and twenty four, and it says, I know, oh Lord, that a man's life is not his own. It's not for man to direct his steps”
From the transcript
“Take Genesis three for instance. Adam and Eve, they had one job. Right? They had one job, yet they reached over and hit the easy button”
From the transcript
“Watch what happens in Matthew fourteen thirty one. This is awesome. I love it when scripture comes to life. I hope this paints a picture. Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him”
From the transcript
“Which brings us to Acts two. Here's what happens. They're all in this room. In Acts two verse two says, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm”
From the transcript
“Peter, now full of the spirit from Acts chapter two, walks across a couple pages into Acts chapter three, where the first recorded miracle after the birth of the New Testament church takes place”
From the transcript
“it says this in Acts 12 verse five. While Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was, say it with me. Asleep”
From the transcript
“First Peter two twenty two, talking about Jesus. He says, he never sinned nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threatened revenge when he suffered”
From the transcript
“Romans one sixteen says, I'm unashamed of the gospel. And guess what? If you just made that first time decision to accept the Lord, or maybe you've been a Christian for a long time”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Pastor Clayton opened the sermon by naming something most of us would rather avoid: you are not always going to get a reason for your pain. That's a hard truth to sit with. The servants Peter writes to weren't suffering because they had done something wrong — they were suffering unjustly, and Peter doesn't pretend otherwise. He calls it what it is, and then he turns the question from 'Why is this happening?' to 'What will you do with it?' That shift is everything. It doesn't minimize the real weight of divorce, loss, abuse, or grief you didn't choose. It just refuses to let the pain write the final sentence. Peter points to Jesus as the model — not because Jesus makes the pain disappear, but because He shows us it's possible to endure without letting affliction hollow you out. You have a choice in how you respond. That choice doesn't mean gritting your teeth and pretending everything is fine. It means deciding, even in the middle of the hard thing, who you are going to trust. That's not a one-time decision — it's made again and again, sometimes hour by hour. The invitation today is simply to notice where you are standing and ask honestly: am I trusting my own comfort, or am I trusting Christ?

For reflection

When you think about a current pain or struggle, what feels harder — not having an explanation, or not knowing what to do next?

Pray

Pray for the honesty to name your pain to God without needing to justify or explain it first.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Peter was no stranger to storms, chains, or failure — and yet his letters crackle with a kind of fearless hope. This message asks why, and what that might mean for the places in our own lives where we feel frozen.

Discussion questions

1
In 1 Peter 2:18-21, Peter writes to people enduring unjust suffering and tells them they have been called to it — not as a punishment, but as a path. What do you think Peter is trying to do for his readers by framing suffering that way?
2
In Matthew 14:22-29, Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus in the middle of a storm. Pastor Clayton noted that relationship with Jesus generates recognition of Him — even through the toughest circumstances. What do you think that recognition looks like in practice, and what gets in the way of it?
3
Acts 12:5-6 shows Peter asleep in chains the night before his trial. What does that image suggest about what it means to actually trust that someone else has your case in His hands?
4
Pastor Clayton described affliction — divorce, loss, addiction, abuse, suffering people didn't choose — as something that can leave a person frozen in place. What do you think makes it so hard to take even one step forward when pain is that real?
5
In 1 Peter 2:22-24, Peter points to Jesus as the model for responding to affliction — someone who left His case in God's hands rather than retaliating. How does that example shape what 'choosing to move forward' might actually look like for people in devastating circumstances?
6
Pastor Clayton closed with a direct challenge: stop standing still on the walkway God has already given you, and place one foot in front of the other. What would it look like, in the week ahead, for someone to take that one next step — whatever it is for them?

Pray together

Ask God for the courage to move forward in the places where affliction has us frozen — trusting that Jesus, who was stuck on a cross for us, has not left us stuck

Sign in to save this message.

Topics

Forgiveness and Moving Forward Perseverance Through Affliction Peter's Example Suffering and Faith Trusting Christ in Crisis

Powered by Rewind · make your church's Rewind →