Witness" Pt.7 Redemptive Suffering Pastor Jono Zantingh

May 24, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Buried in Water, Raised in Grace

The disciples gathered at the Jordan River as John plunged Jesus beneath the surface. Water dripped from His face as heaven’s voice declared His identity. When you stepped into baptismal waters, you enacted this same story—your old self buried, your new life rising. Like Kimberly and Stefan, you proclaimed death to what once bound you. Baptism isn’t ritual; it’s resurrection. [15:05]

“When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind. When we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!”
(Romans 6:2-4, NLT)

Reflection: What old patterns still cling to you like wet grave clothes? How might embracing your baptismal identity free you to walk in today’s “new land” of grace?

Day 2: Spirit-Led into Wilderness

Jesus emerged from Jordan’s waters only to be driven into desert dust by the Spirit. For forty days, hunger carved His ribs while Satan hissed lies. The Holy Spirit didn’t shield Him from struggle—He led Him straight into it. Your wilderness isn’t abandonment; it’s the proving ground where breadcrumbs of Scripture become feasts. [47:07]

“Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.”
(Luke 4:1-2, NLT)

Reflection: What desert place have you resisted as punishment rather than recognizing it as Spirit-guided training? How might clinging to God’s Word transform this trial?

Day 3: Shoulders Bent Under Shared Weight

Simon of Cyrene’s calloused hands gripped splintered wood as Jesus staggered. The cross wasn’t his burden—until it was. When we stoop to carry another’s grief, we fulfill Christ’s law. Your bent shoulders mirror the One who bore your sins. Suffering isolates; compassion builds altars in the dirt. [56:01]

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”
(Galatians 6:2, NLT)

Reflection: Whose load have you avoided because your own arms feel full? What small act of co-suffering could Christ be inviting you into today?

Day 4: Groans Too Deep for Words

Paul’s pen scratched parchment as he described creation’s collective ache—the Spirit translating wordless cries into holy petitions. Your stuttered prayers, your midnight tears, your clenched-jaw silence—these too become liturgy. The Comforter kneels in the dust with you, shaping groans into glory. [01:02:12]

“We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory. We long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.”
(Romans 8:23, NLT)

Reflection: Where have you mistaken your anguished silence for God’s absence? How might the Spirit’s unceasing intercession reshape your view of unanswered prayers?

Day 5: Scars That Sing Redemption

Thomas’ calloused finger probed the nail mark in Jesus’ risen flesh—a wound transformed into proof. Your scars—the divorce, the addiction, the betrayal—aren’t erased but redeemed. Like the resurrected Christ, your healed wounds become testimony: death couldn’t keep Him, and suffering won’t silence you. [01:08:15]

“Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”
(1 Peter 4:13, NLT)

Reflection: Which scar still feels like defeat rather than a battle mark? How might offering that wounded place to Christ transform it into a song of victory?

Sermon Summary

Acts 1:8 sets the tone as the Spirit’s empowering presence turns ordinary people into witnesses, not by escaping pain but by moving through it. Creation’s goodness, sin’s intrusion, and the ache of the already and not yet frame the story: redemption has broken in through Jesus, yet suffering still stalks life on earth. Baptism names this turning: Romans 6 pictures burial and resurrection as the old self dies and a new life rises in grace. Acts 22 adds urgency: “What are you waiting for? Get up, get yourself baptized,” because union with Jesus pulls a person into the current of God’s restoring work.

Discipleship grows in six stages, and the hinge at midstream is the journey inward. Recognition, discipleship basics, and a productive life can stall unless suffering presses a person beneath activity into transformation. Solitude, Sabbath, confession, and repentance invite the Spirit to heal old wounds, confront lies, and re-form desire. Most drift or deconstruct here, not because Jesus fails, but because a robust theology of redemptive suffering is missing. The Spirit invites courage to stay, not quit.

Suffering shows up in three ways: consequences of sin’s choices, the fallout of a broken world, and persecution for loyalty to King Jesus. People do not get to pick which arrives, but they do get to choose what suffering does in them and how they respond. Jesus models the path: the Spirit leads him into wilderness for forty days, then bookends his mission at the cross. In both places he reaches for Scripture as weapon and prayer, invites friends into weakness in Gethsemane, receives help under the weight of the cross, and, from the cross, gives Mary and John to each other. Real love shows up in exposed weakness and shared burdens.

Under the Spirit’s counsel, suffering wants to produce five graces. Love learns to invite others into the ache and to extend care even when spent. Compassion becomes co-suffering that refuses isolation and moves toward another’s pain. Gratitude lifts the eyes to trace God’s already-given mercies in the middle of loss. Groaning becomes prayer when words fail, because the Spirit intercedes with wordless sighs and keeps the conversation with the Father alive. Redemption matures like a field, not a fix; God is a farmer, not a mechanic. Scars become testimonies, tilled soil receives seed, water makes mud before fruit appears. So the call lands here: do not quit at stage four. Press into Scripture. Stay close to the Spirit. Choose what suffering will form in you, and watch the Father’s glory break through.

Key Takeaways

1. Suffering lives in the tension Suffering inhabits the already and the not yet, where Christ’s victory is real and creation still groans. This tension is not a flaw in the story but the field where faith matures. Hope learns patience here, naming both miracle and mystery without flinching. The truth keeps a person steady when answers are thin. [37:42]
2. The Spirit leads and comforts The Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness also stays as Comforter, Advocate, and Counselor in every hard place. Guidance in trials is not primarily a roadmap but a presence that steadies, convicts, and strengthens. Abandoning faith in pain cuts a person off from the very help that heals. Staying yields surprising clarity and courage. [46:49]
3. Choose what suffering produces People cannot curate pain, but they can choose its formation in them. Under Scripture’s grip, suffering can yield love, compassion, gratitude, honest groaning, and redemption. The alternative is isolation and cynicism, which shrink the soul. The Spirit makes a believer’s pain useful, even glorious, as it conforms them to Jesus. [46:16]
4. The journey inward is necessary Activity cannot carry a soul through the dark night; only surrender can. Solitude, Sabbath, confession, and repentance move transformation from the surface into the heart. Many quit here or call the Father’s goodness into question; wisdom names this stage as mid-course, not the end. Staying under the Spirit’s hand brings deep healing. [40:38]
5. God grows redemption slowly Redemption works like farming, not mechanic’s shop. Scars become stories, tilled soil receives seed, and fruit takes time. Impatience begs for quick fixes, but love asks to be formed, not just rescued. Yielding to the Farmer turns losses into harvests that look like Christ. [66:54]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[09:53] - Generosity and vision offering
[14:29] - Baptize Canada: candidates invited
[15:05] - Romans 6: baptism picture
[34:29] - Witness series: Acts 1:8
[36:15] - Creation, fall, and suffering
[37:42] - The already and the not yet
[38:23] - Six stages of discipleship
[43:52] - Three kinds of suffering
[46:49] - Spirit leads Jesus into wilderness
[48:19] - Scripture as weapon in trials
[50:36] - What suffering produces: love to redemption
[62:12] - The Spirit intercedes with groans
[66:54] - God the farmer, not mechanic
[72:11] - Call to baptism and salvation

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Acts 1:8 (NLT)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Romans 6:2-4 (NLT)
“Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

Romans 8:18-25 (NLT)
“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are…”

Observation Questions

According to Acts 1:8, what two things does the Holy Spirit provide to empower believers?
In Romans 6:2-4, baptism is described as a picture of death and resurrection. What specific actions symbolize burial and new life?
The sermon identifies three types of suffering (consequences, broken world, persecution). Which type is hardest to accept, and why? [43:52]
Romans 8:18-25 compares creation’s groaning to childbirth. What does this imagery reveal about the purpose of suffering?

Interpretation Questions

Why might the “journey inward” (solitude, confession, Sabbath) feel like a crisis, and how does it differ from earlier stages of discipleship? [40:38]
How does Jesus’ response to suffering in the wilderness and on the cross model a way to use Scripture and community? [48:19]
The sermon says, “God is a farmer, not a mechanic.” What does this metaphor reveal about His approach to redemption? [01:06:54]
Why does suffering expose our weakness, and how might this exposure actually lead to deeper love? [50:36]

Application Questions

What current struggle (relational, physical, or spiritual) could you invite others into, as Jesus did in Gethsemane? How would sharing this burden change your perspective? [52:15]
Identify one area where you tend to isolate in suffering. What practical step could you take this week to practice “co-suffering” with someone else? [56:01]
The sermon encourages gratitude as a response to suffering. List three specific mercies God has already given you in the middle of a hard season. How can you “trace His goodness” daily? [57:54]
Reflect on a past trial that left a “scar.” How could that story become a testimony of redemption for someone else? [01:03:20]
Which spiritual practice (solitude, Sabbath, confession) feels most challenging to adopt? Commit to trying it once this month and journal what you learn. [41:08]
When faced with a trial this week, what Scripture or prayer could you use as a “weapon” to resist isolation or despair? [48:19]
The sermon warns against quitting at stage four. What practical habit (prayer, community, Scripture study) will you prioritize to stay rooted during inward journeys? [40:38]

Sermon Clips

28s

#SpiritLedStart

“``And both of these matter. So how did Jesus begin his earthly ministry? Think about it. Right after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River with John the Baptist, came up out of the water, Holy Spirit met on Pentecost Sunday. This is a good picture. Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. Father, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. And then Jesus began his public ministry. How? The Holy Spirit led him into forty days of suffering.”

40s

#RedemptiveSuffering

“I am filled personally with the Holy Spirit to make my suffering redemptive, even glorious. Do you often and quickly think about suffering as glorious? Let's be honest. When you've gone through a dark night of the soul or a season of deep anguish or pain or grief or loss, are you quick to go, this is glorious? Probably not. But could that be how we choose to respond? Good news. Everything everything that happens to us is of use to the father in how we're being formed as his children.”

32s

#ComfortInSuffering

“The Holy Spirit is with us in our suffering. That's why all through scripture, Holy Spirit's called comforter, advocate, counselor, our source of living empowered men. It's in suffering that I need a counselor. It's in suffering that I need a comforter. It's in suffering that I need clear direction for where to turn to next. And so if I abandon my faith in the middle of suffering, I I remove myself from the Holy Spirit's power, which shows up like counsel and comfort and wisdom.”

47s

#EndureAndRepurpose

“In step four of our maturing as Christians, please don't quit. Press in to the Holy Spirit's power. Lean in to the authority of scripture. This journey inward, this dark night of the soul, this season of grief and loss and pain, it is one of redemption. So don't jump ship or deconstruct in your pain and your suffering. The Holy Spirit empowers us not to escape suffering, but to endure it and even repurpose it with a key ingredient in the recipe of redemption. The spirit of the living God within you and me makes suffering sufferable.”

39s

#GodTheFarmer

“Our physical bodies carry the stories that our lives live in, and so go our lives, which is why it's important to remember that God is a farmer, not a mechanic. When I was younger, I was way more mechanical with my suffering. Lord, overturn and fix my suffering. Just take it away from me. But as I've gotten older, I've learned to pray, Lord, would you redeem my suffering? And in so doing, would you also redeem me? Fashion me, form me, make me bit by bit more and more into the image of your own dear son.”

31s

#ChooseYourResponse

“Now some suffering we can avoid. If you decided today to live perfect, to not be selfish, to not be sinful, just, you know, like, I'm gonna be perfect. Then you wouldn't necessarily have to experience the painful suffering that is consequence. But also, good luck being perfect. It's probably not gonna happen. Right? So we don't get to choose our suffering, but you know what we do get to choose? We get to choose what suffering does to us, and we get to choose how we respond to suffering.”

33s

#NotAloneInSuffering

“God with skin on, in a moment of deep anguish, invited others to walk into that with him, to experience the love of a close friend. Man, that's powerful. What do we do when we go through something hard? Well, we isolate. We shore ourselves off. We hide in our homes. We don't want anybody to know about it because heaven forbid, what if they think poorly of me? What about carrying the cross? Jesus under the burden and anguish of carrying the cross. Someone else lovingly carried that burden with him. Isn't that a powerful picture?”

39s

#SufferingProducesLove

“That we get to choose not the suffering that happens to us, but we get to we get to choose what suffering does to us and how we respond to it. And so here's what suffering wants to do through the redeeming power of Jesus. It wants to produce in us love, real love. Now what does suffering expose most? My weakness. When I go through something that's painful and hard, I feel vulnerable. I feel exposed because, like, what if people see that I'm weak? What if people see that I'm not as strong as I want them to think that I am?”

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