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The Glory Is Forever Sermon Series: Contender Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Jude 24-25 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen. So I'm at the point in my life, I'm old enough, I should say, to where all of my grandparents are gone. Thankfully, praise be to God, all of my grandparents called upon the name of the Lord as their savior. And so I know I'll see them all again one day and I was blessed to have three sets of grandparents when I was growing up And every single one of my grandparents told me something taught me something Beautiful about love and life and what it means to be a great grandparent And I was also at the bedside for a few of them as they left this world for the next world. If you've ever been in that situation, you know those are very powerful moments. And I remember when my grandfather was nearing the end of his time. He only had a few days left, and I was sitting there with him and my mom, and my grandfather just kind of stared off into the distance for a moment. And my mom said to him, dad, what are you thinking about? And he said this, and this was both haunting and sobering to me. This is like a tattoo on my soul. I'll never forget, not just those words, but how he said those words in that moment. My mom said, what are you thinking about dad? And my grandfather said, it all went so fast. The Bible is really clear on how short the human lifespan actually is. Psalm 39 says, show me the measure of my days, Lord, show me how fleeting my life is. James chapter 4 says that your life is a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. I love how Psalm 103 says it. Psalm 103 says, men are like grass. We flourish like a flower and then the wind passes over us and we're gone. The Bible's really clear. Our life is very short. And for the watching world, for those who are just listening to this, that may sound really sad. That probably doesn't sound like good news. But if you are a Christian, if you know your destiny, if you know what Jesus has done for you, and you've called that upon your own life and faith, then you know eternity is not the black nothingness that we will eventually vanish into. Eternity is full of hope and glory. Eternity is heaven and heaven awaits us. That's what it means to be a Christian. That we don't fear the night, we long for the dawn. But I'm here to tell you, when that day comes, when you sit and you say, it all went so fast, I wonder what are you doing from now until then? Are you doing things that show that you approach that day with great anxiety, or are you living a life that shows that you're approaching that day with great anticipation? What are you doing from now until the day where you say, it all went so fast because I'm here to tell you that day is coming so much sooner than you could possibly imagine. You will blink and that day will be here. So what are you doing now so that on that day, you don't look back and wish you had done something else? Are you living in the ways that God has called us to live? Do you approach that day with anxiety or anticipation? Because I'm telling you, there's only one way you can approach that day with great anticipation, and that is through the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through him and his gospel promises that we can long for eternity, that we don't have to fear it. And so I'm here today to tell you about him, and his name is Jesus Christ. So would you please, in your Bibles, open to the book of Jude. It's the second to the last book of the Bible, quick reference there. This is our final message in our four-part series on this letter. And if you've been joining us for the last number of weeks, you know that we are arriving to the last verses of Jude. Jude, we call it a book, but it really was a letter. It was a letter that a brother of Jesus wrote to Christians. And it's a short letter. It's so short, there's no chapters. There's only verses. And we're going to look at verses 24 to 25 here today. And we're going to look at this one beautiful, profound idea. And it's this, that glory is eternal. See, when you read Jude, you find out that he has kind of one main idea he's trying to get across to Christians, and that's that we need to contend for the faith. That on this side of eternity, there's gonna be a struggle. There's gonna be opposition. And so we are to stand strong. We are to contend for the faith. And as we get to these final verses, Jude does something amazing. He shares a doxology with us, and we'll get to what that is in just a moment. But right now, let's just read the last two verses of Jude as we close up this series. And so I would ask, if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word? the letter of Jude verses 24 and verses 25 Not to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory and majesty Dominion and authority before all time and now and forever Amen now and forever. Amen. Before you have a seat, let's take a moment, let's just pray together. Father of glory, would you be with us here and now through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that we would know your truth more deeply today, that we might live more fully for the name of Jesus, our Lord, God, and Savior. And Lord God, we do say these things and we pray these things with those throughout the ages who have said to yours be the glory and the power and the majesty forever, forever and ever. Amen. And amen. Go ahead and have a seat. Church, I will say it plainly today. I hope that you are impacted by the notion that we're not just talking about eternal things. As we close up this letter from Jude, and I pray it's been a blessing, an enriching and challenging blessing for you as we've walked through this letter together. But for those who weren't here, let me just kind of recap real quick. We're on week four, the final week, but here's what we looked at for the last few weeks. Week one, we looked at this notion that the fight is now, that we are to contend for the faith right here, right now. Not tomorrow, not later, not after you graduate, not after you have kids, not after the kids leave the house. The fight is now. We are to contend right now. Then at week two, we looked at how the judgment is real. And that may sound scary, but what that actually tells us is that our life has meaning, our life has purpose, our actions really do matter. They matter so much that our actions will be held to account at the end of all things. You are not just an amoeba that found its way to existence in this universe. You are a person made in the image of God and that matters and that means something and your actions mean something. And so week two we had a very sober reminder that the judgment is real. But last week we looked at how we are to contend for the faith because the purpose is personal. That God doesn't just call a nation or a church, he calls individuals. And so we are to have a personal faith because we have a personal God and a personal Savior. The creator of the universe has revealed himself not just as Lord, God, and master, but as our Father. He calls us into a personal relationship and so we are to contend for the faith because the purpose is personal. And today, let it be known, as we wrap up this series, that we are to contend for the faith because the glory is forever. Hopefully you were reading along with me as we read this passage together. And if you did, you'd notice this is one sentence in two verses. Let's just go ahead and make it three points today, shall we? So let's look at this first one. The glory is forever, so contend, because God is your strength. So after Jude's epic call to contend for the faith, he begins to close this letter with what's known as a doxology. Maybe some of your Bibles have that as a heading right here. Doxology is a combination of two Greek words, the word for glory and the word for, well, words. A doxology is words of glory. So a doxology is a praise giving God the glory and Jude starts the end of his letter with a doxology which starts like this. The first part of verse 24. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. Let's just stop right there for a moment. The him, make no mistake, is God. And what is stumbling? Well, in short, it's sin. Through the salvation we have in Jesus Christ and through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within us, God is able to keep you from stumbling, to keep you from tripping and falling into sin. Through the salvation we have with Jesus, this is possible and attainable and given to us. But here's the reality, too many Christians do not know this because we rely on our own strength. This is one of the saddest things I see about Christians is we try to live this life based on our own strength and this is why we continue to fall into sin, this is why we continue to stumble. If you're trying to live life on your own strength let me just ask you how is that going? Probably not very well and I'll tell you this, the older I get, the more I realize one of the great faults of men is our inability or our unwillingness to ask for help. I would, for some reason, rather spend three hours in the garage trying to fix my truck myself when I could just call my dad or my father-in-law or my friend to come help me, who could turn what I would take into three hours, they could make it one hour. But no, I'm going to do it myself because apparently I like to waste my life in the garage. What is with us that we just won't ask for help? Men, you need to understand, pride truly does come before the fall. Let me just get very real for a moment. Too many men are trapped in the addiction of pornography when help is so abundantly available but we just can't bring ourselves to ask for that help. Whether shame, fear, or pride, Christian you need to understand the church is here to help you. We are called to carry each other's burdens. If you are a slave to pornography, call out to a brother in Christ. I guarantee if that brother loves the Lord, he will say, I will fight this battle with you, I will carry this burden with you. We have a whole group at church here willing to help men do that so they can find victory in the name of Jesus over this demonic thing called pornography that's a blight on our society. We are meant to carry each other's burdens. We're meant to be in fellowship. You are meant to be connected. The Christian who says they don't need the church is, well, I'll just tell you, I feel very sad that a person comes to that point. When we are meant to be together, God is our help and he uses his church so that Christians can have that help. But Christians don't rely on God for help. And we don't ask God for help. And I'm gonna say something right now that's gonna sting a little bit. So I'm gonna give you a moment. Breathe, prepare your heart for this. The reality is, many of us do not ask for help because we don't want help because you love your sin. You love your sin and you love the brokenness and you're too fearful to part with it because the truth is, is you love the sin more. If that's you, my friend, then you hear me. You're not contending for the faith. You've surrendered to sin. And Christian, Christian men, is this really what you want? Is this really the type of man that you wanna be, that you'll just roll over and let sin have its way with you? We are called to contend, men and women, we're called to contend for the faith with the power of the Holy Spirit within us through the gospel of Jesus. We are meant to fight. My friends, we need to remember that we contend for the faith because the glory is forever. We're in the business of eternity. So let me level with you for a moment. We're talking about eternity here, and I fully recognize that some of us right now, you can't think about eternity because you just want to get through this next season. You can't think about eternity because you just want to get through this next week. Maybe some of you, you just want to get through the day. If that's you, call upon the Lord. But remember, we must always keep the long view before us. Christians are the ones who recognize that we are part of eternity. I think most of us realize, unfortunately, either first hand or second hand, most of us realize that a momentary sin can lead to a lifetime of hurts I'm sorry to tell you this But I'm here to tell you it's even worse than that It's not just a lifetime of hurt, but a momentary sin is a an eternal offense against the Holy God I'm sorry your actions really do matter. And when we sin, we can, yes, we run the risk of ruining things for a lifetime, but we also have to understand that when we sin, that's an offense against an eternally holy God. We're dealing with eternity here. We're dealing with an eternal glory that God is calling us to, but many of us are forsaking it for this momentary pleasure we call life. This is why God has said that he knows he's the one that needs to step in, that we have the strength to do this on our own. We cannot save ourselves, that's why God sent his son to die on the cross in our place for our sin, to pay the penalty for our sin, and on the third day rise again so that we could have eternal life, and in that eternal life God is still our help. He's still our strength. He still steps in. Because God knows what we're dealing with. We're dealing with a forever glory. We are to contend for the faith because God is our strength. And this leads to the second thing, that the glory is forever. So contend because the joy is your hope. So let's go back to verse 24 and let's complete the thought here. I started off by saying, not to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, but let's focus on this next part. And to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. I want to share a few things that hopefully forever change how much you love that phrase. So I understand that not any one person can understand all things, but I want all of us here to understand this one thing. My friends, the presence of God is the most terrifying place in all existence of any reality. Only that which is blameless, sinless, faultless, and holy can be in the presence of God. And even the thought of entering the presence of God with even an ounce of sin should fill you with terror. Now imagine entering the presence of God with a life of sin. You cannot do it, you will be destroyed. This is why the prophet Isaiah, when he was given just a vision of God's throne room, his only response was, woe is me, I am undone. My friends, but we know the good news. That through Jesus Christ, the presence of God is not to be feared, it's to be longed for. Why? Because through Christ we are brought blameless into God's presence. So instead of terrifying fear, we long for the presence of God with overwhelming joy. And this is not because of anything we've done, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection. Church, Why do we contend for the face? Because we know the outcome. The war has been won. And yes, there's a little battle between now until eternity and until glory, but we know our destiny. It's one of joy. It's one of hope, not hope as in wishful thinking, but hope as an eager anticipation for our future is filled with joy. But you have to understand what Judah's saying here. And so let's read it again. To present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. You have to permit me to geek out for just a second here, okay? This is not just any old standard issue joy. Okay, in the New Testament, the common word for joy is kara. We find it about 60 times in the New Testament. It's a beautiful word. We love kara, joy. We want this joy. You learn it in Greek 101. But this word, this word that Jude uses here is a different word. It's a far more rare word. In fact, it's one word, it's one word in Greek, but it takes two English words to understand what is being said here. And this word, we only find a total of five times in the New Testament. Again, the common word for joy we find nearly six times. This word for joy we only see it five times in the entire New Testament. And it means exaltation, wild joy, ecstatic delight, here's my favorite definition, exhilaration. Do you remember that scene when Mary is pregnant with Jesus, and she goes to visit Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is also pregnant. Who's Elizabeth pregnant with, anybody remember? Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. So you got pregnant Mary with Jesus, comes to visit Elizabeth, who's pregnant with John the Baptist. And when Mary enters the room, you remember what John the Baptist does? He leaps for joy. This is one of those other times that we see this very rare word for joy. Exhilaration, thrill. What Jude is reminding us is that friends, we can anticipate heaven not just with hope as if that wasn't enough, but with thrill, with exhilaration. This is what the gospel does for us. When we should be utterly horrified at the notion of coming into the pure presence of God, yet through the cleansing blood of Jesus, we don't have to fear that moment, but it says that we are presented blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. I understand not wanting to die, but we do not fear what's on the other side. Rather, we enter into eternity and the presence of God blameless, faultless. Think about all the wretched things you've done and thought in your life. You carry none of that into the presence of God because of Jesus Christ. Listen, I've never been to the spiritual realm. I don't know what it's like, but we get glimpses of it from the Bible. Let me just share a few things because it's beautiful, unlike anything we could experience here. We're told that God's throne, if you read the Bible, the God's throne is composed of rainbow. How beautiful is that? And you know that we talk, we often talk about the pearly gates of heaven. Do you know that that's actually biblical? The gates of heaven actually are made of pearl, not composite pearl, not a bunch of little pearls put together, but the gates of heaven are made out of one giant pearl. Imagine how beautiful that is. And it says that heaven is filled with the glory of God. As if English words could ever explain this. What is the glory of God? It is the radiating holiness and goodness of God. Heaven is to be longed for. And the Bible tells us that through Jesus, this is what we can anticipate. Who here knows who the duck commander is? Duck commander has a very famous quote. I love this. And I'm sure you probably heard this at some point. He says, I keep life simple. I spend as much time in the woods as I can. And we love God and we love our neighbor. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people don't get on board with this. I'll tell you what, that's how I feel about what we are talking about today. I just don't understand how more people don't wanna get on board with this. Like literally, what in the world, what in this world do you think is better than what we are talking about that you would wanna give yourself to the things of the world rather than what the Bible is describing here. What in the world do you think is better than this? Like literally, what in the world do you think is better than what we're talking about here? For the life of me, I cannot understand why more people do not get on board with this. The only thing I can understand is that you just love the brokenness and you love the sin of the world this much. And that is just painfully sad. For the life of me, I cannot understand why more people don't get on board with this. The future of heaven is waiting for us after this fleeting life, which is our last point. The glory is forever, so contend because heaven is your future. My friends, in the grand scheme of things, you must understand understand that heaven is just around the corner. I want to stop for a moment. I want to pull you back in because too many of us are just listening to a preacher preach right now. You're not listening to what I'm saying. And I am desperate for you not just to be listening to a preacher preach. I want you to hear what I'm saying. In the grand scheme of things, you are going to blink and you yourself are going to say, it all went so fast. So what are you doing right now that you'll be thankful for in that moment? Because that day is coming, it is coming so fast. And you must remember that if you are in Christ, then heaven is your future. And the last verse of Jude says this, verse 25, says, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory and majesty and dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. And so, Jude, what he does here, Jude ends his letter with modeling something that's so important for us. And it's that God gets the glory. That all of this is about bringing God glory. Church, put God's glory into your vocabulary. Those two words, God's glory, talk about God's glory. Speak that to your family, speak that to your children and grandchildren, use, bring God's glory, those words into your vocabulary. Let's practice right now. Let's say God's glory together. Ready, one, two, three. God's glory. See, you didn't need me to say it, you got it. Bring it into your vocabulary. Bring it into the language of your family that our lives are meant to be lived unto God's glory because God's glory is the highest good. So when we live unto God's glory, we're living our lives unto the highest possible good. Why would you give your lives to anything less than that? And look at the word choice that Jude uses here. Glory, majesty, dominion, authority. Let's talk about those real quick. Glory. We already said this. It's God's powerful control over creation. And authority, meaning God's sovereign right to have control over creation. So what does dominion and authority mean? It means God has the power and the rights to be over all. And as Jude says, this is before all time, now, and forever. The past, the present, and the future. And our future is heaven with God. And I can't help but read this verse and not think about experiencing this day, the day that will come oh so quickly. I'll tell you one thing that I think men in particular, I'll tell you one thing that I think men gotta do more of these days. And that's sit on the tailgate of an old truck and talk about God's goodness with one another. A couple years ago I was doing just that with a friend of mine who was struggling with his faith and here's what he said to me. He said, you know, when it comes to the gospel, the thing I can't get around is how boring heaven sounds. I said, boring? What are you talking about boring? He said, I get that we can't be good enough to enter into heaven, that Jesus needs to die for our sins. He said, I fully understand that, but I cannot get excited about heaven. I said, why man, it's paradise. It's paradise. And this is what he said. He said, I'm sorry, I'm just not looking forward to sitting there, worshiping God forever and ever and ever and ever. He said to me, dude, I get bored after three worship songs at church. I said, brother, you are looking at this from such the wrong angle. You are missing the boat big time here. I said, first of all, if heaven is not a 24-7 worship service like what you think it is. Heaven is a place. Heaven is a city. And in this place we will have responsibility. Or to put it another way, we'll have a job to do. And if you think that that sounds like not a good thing, let me just tell you, no, no, no. This is the job that fills our hearts. This is the job that we're meant to do. This is the job that fills our heart with joy. And in heaven, our fellowship and friendship with other people will be perfect. There's no gossip and there's no backstabbing. There's no criticism. It is joy. It is how things are meant to be. And so let me tell you what this means because it'll blow your mind. When we say God is eternal, what this means is it does not matter how long you are in heaven, there will always be more to learn about him. That is the mind-boggling reality of the infinite. See, you have to understand who we're talking about when we're talking about God. Boring in His presence? Please. However long we travel down the road of heaven, the path ahead of us is always longer than the path behind. And that's a beautiful, powerful thing. And definitely it should humble us, but one thing it should not do is make us think this is boring. I said, you're thinking about heaven as a person still stained by sin, but in heaven, your heart is free to do that which it was meant to do, to worship God in the presence of God, where our hearts were never so full as they will be in that moment. My friends, if you're struggling with this, let me just posit this right clearly before you. You've got two options. Option A, things are just the way that they are. Neither good nor bad, and you can debate all the live long day with people on the other side of the aisle about how things should be, but either way, things just are the way they are. That's one option. Or the other option is that things are not how they're meant to be. That there truly is an objective standard from which creation has fallen. And I'm here to tell you, I think if you're honest with your own heart, you realize things are not the way they are meant to be. That there is something better, truly something better. There's a standard for which all the creation should be at, but we've fallen from that. You have two options before you, so I ask you to think carefully about which reality you wanna live in. Because I think in your heart, you know this to be true, there is a way things are meant to be and this is not it. But I'm telling you, in heaven it is. And the awesome thing about heaven is that at the end of all things, God will make heaven and earth one. Did you know that? God will recreate all things so that heaven and earth are one. And did you know in the new heavens and the new earth, that there will be no sun? Because we won't need a sun because God will be our light. This is the beauty of what we get to look forward to. Or if you think things are just the way they are, then you get to live in a universe that will eventually experience heat, death, and slowly expand forever into the infinite void. And if you think that's what your life is, if you think that's the end of your life, I'm here to tell you there is a better story being told and being written, and God is the author. Because the glory is forever. In heaven we realize what we know in our hearts to be true, that there is a way that things are meant to be, and we get to experience it for all time. I said to my friend, board, please. And then I quoted this line from Amazing Grace. When the song Amazing Grace says this, it says, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Boring? In some beautiful way, it only ever gets better. Listen to me, my friends. We get to live right now, your life, in light of eternity, the eternity that God is calling us into. And so contend for the faith because the glory is forever. Amen. Amen. Can we stand and let's prepare our hearts to worship.

PODCAST That's a Good Question Sanctity of Life: Looking at Abortion Through A Biblical Lens January 15, 2024 Jon Delger & Rachel Bailey Listen to this Episode Jon Oh Hey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc . That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm Jon, I get to serve as a pastor here at Peace Church. I also get to serve as the weekly host of this show. You can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc/questions . Now we had planned to do a second episode in our marriage series this week, an episode on men's, because last week we talked about women and their role in marriage in our series going through Ephesians chapter five. You can find the sermons that go along with that series at resoundmedia.cc or at peacechurch.cc . But due to the snow and all that kind of weather going on this past weekend, we actually postponed that. So it's going to be one week back. So next week, tune in to That's a Good Question. We're going to be answering questions talking specifically about the role of men in marriage. But instead, this week, we're going to be talking about sanctity of life. This Sunday is actually Sanctity of Life Sunday. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. But I'm here today with Rachel Bailey, the executive director of the Alpha Women's and Family Center. Rachel, welcome. Rachel Thank you. It's good to be here. Jon Great to have you. Excited to talk about Sanctity of Life. The Alpha Women's and Family Center is an organization that has a lot to do with protecting life and caring for people. We'll get into that in just a minute. But yeah, this Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday, and it's a Sunday that churches especially take to get to celebrate and reflect on the value of life and especially the value of unborn human lives. So we're going to take a few questions on that topic. Ready to rock? Rachel I'm ready. Jon Cool. Let's do it. Producer Mitchell, you want to hit us with some questions? Mitchell Yep, here we go. Why do churches talk about abortion? Isn't this a political issue? Question #1: Why do churches talk about abortion? Isn't this a political issue? Jon Shouldn't the church not interfere in politics? Yeah, good question. So let's talk about that. Why do churches talk about abortion? Is it political or is it biblical? My quick answer to that is that this is actually not a political issue, this is a biblical issue, this is a Bible issue. The Bible speaks to it pretty clearly in several places. To think of one, in the Psalms, Psalm 139 talks about being knit together in the womb, that human beings are knit together by God in the womb. Other parts of scripture talk about, I think of David, even speaking about his son in the womb as a person, a human being who is alive. Rachel, any scripture you want to add to that list? Rachel Yeah, I mean I think of, yeah, just the idea of us being image bearers in general, going back to Genesis. You know, we don't start to become an image bearer of God once we are born. That is from the very beginning, from our very conception. So because of that, yeah, it's not a political issue. Sometimes it becomes a political issue, and in some ways, maybe that's okay, because it becomes really, it goes out to more people. It's shown in the world more often. But the church should really care about it as well. The church should care about life because the Bible cares about life and our Lord cares about life. Jon Yeah, amen. Yeah. Yeah, so it's a biblical issue, something that God speaks to. It's a moral issue. And like you were saying, it's not a bad thing that it becomes a political issue because I've said many times, you know, politics is not a bad thing. Politics literally means like the affairs of the city, you know, the palace is the city. So politics are just the affairs of the city. It's the things going on in our world. So in fact, it's a really good thing that a biblical value like life and unborn human life goes out into the world and becomes an actual issue that we talk about. So it's not bad that it's a political issue, but, you know, this is not, when we talk about abortion in the church, it's not an instance of the church becoming too political, getting engaged in things that are beyond its jurisdiction. This is the church talking about what God's Word says and how it applies to everyday life. Rachel Yeah, correct. Jon So, one other one would be like John the Baptist jumps in Elizabeth's womb, his mother's womb. You know, there's a story of him already celebrating the coming of the Messiah when Elizabeth and Mary come together. Or you could think of even Romans 9, scripture talks about God thinking about Jacob and Esau even before they're born. So I think all over the place it's clear that scripture sees human beings as made in God's image of inherently valuable. They're not the same as animals, they have special and unique value, and that their life begins before they are birthed in the womb. So I think that's clear in scripture, but also we could say it's even clearer outside of Scripture. I think we could make arguments from science that it's true that human life is going on before the baby comes out of the womb. Rachel Right, yeah. I mean, you think about viability has changed, and 21 weeks and 5 days right now, scientifically, a baby can be viable outside of the womb. And so, they're fully formed enough to be able to take their first breaths outside of the womb, with help of course. And again, I do hesitate to share that number because it has changed even in the last few years. It has changed to be even lower. And so I definitely could see it, seeing a baby be viable outside of the womb even earlier than that in the coming years. But yeah, and a heartbeat is detectable at six weeks. I remember going in for my ultrasound around eight weeks and hearing my baby's heartbeat for the first time and just the joy and excitement over that and realizing, yes, this is a human life that is valuable even at this early moment. Jon And one of the other interesting scientific things I've heard about is the spark of life that scientists have observed when the egg and the sperm meet each other, there is actually some kind of change that immediately happens, a spark that can be seen, visible, that life comes to be when the egg and the sperm meet each other. So in the Bible and in science we can see evidence that there is life going on in the womb. So let me just kind of even zoom out a little bit and talk about kind of how we're coming at this topic. So if you're listening to this, and we just wanna be abundantly clear about the biblical worldview and perspective about where life begins and about the value of human life. And we are saying that then resulting that abortion is the ending of a human life. And so that becomes a moral problem. But I also wanna right away jump in and say, if you're listening to this and you are somebody who has had an abortion, I just want to speak in your mind that that is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus died to take away all sin. When we put our faith in Him as our Lord and our Savior and our treasure, our sin is taken away, including the sin of abortion. So I want to be abundantly clear about what the Bible says, but I don't want that clarity to also result in condemnation. Think of passages like Romans 8, 1 that says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you're listening and coming from that place, you've been involved in some capacity as a mom or as a dad or as a friend or as a grandma and grandpa, some way related to an abortion or as a health care worker, that's the gospel news from Jesus that all sin can be free. There's no sin that's too big for the cross. So whatever situation we're coming from at this topic, we want to just be really clear about a biblical worldview and what Scripture does say about this important topic. Mitchell I think that's a great place to jump into our next question. Should there be exceptions to abortion in certain situations. Question #2: Should there be exceptions to abortion in certain situations? Rachel Yeah, so that is kind of the sticking point for a lot of people. Many people even consider themselves pro-life, but might say that there's quite a few exceptions to that rule where, you know, sometimes abortion is okay. I think we have to go back to the definition of abortion. It's, it's the killing of a baby and more specifically it's the violent killing of a child. There's a difference between abortion and an early labor as well. So again those exceptions might be something like rape or incest or something like the the mother, I just read about it this morning, a mother might be going through cancer treatment soon and and that baby can't survive with those cancer treatments, and so they need to deliver that baby early. That process of delivery is much different than the process of violently killing that child in the womb. And so I think that's where we really have to land is if we are truly pro-life, there isn't really any exceptions for abortion. There might be times when early labor is required to save either the baby or the mom, but that's very different. Jon Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean those situations that you bring up are horrible situations. You know, take the instance of rape, for example. What an awful situation, can't imagine. And And yet what we're saying is that this additional wrong, this additional horrible thing of killing a child violently isn't the solution. Mom and child have now been put into an incredibly difficult situation as a result of that terrible act. But the solution isn't abortion. There are other solutions. Let's try to have that human life receive the best care and love as possible, as well as that mother. Rachel Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and rape and incest specifically, there's no real reason to punish the child or punish the mother for the sins of the father that brought those about. And yeah, that's just really important to remember. And specifically, abortion isn't just something that ends the life violently of a baby. It also leaves the mother with a lot of trauma. There's a lot of research about that. And so do we really want to put a mother through even more trauma than she's already experienced? Jon Sure. Mitchell Yeah. Are pro-life people actually just pro-birth and do not care about women, mothers, and children after they're born? Question #3: Are pro-life people actually just pro-birth and do not care about women, mothers, and children after they're born? Jon Yeah, good question. So that's an accusation that's come against pro-life people quite a lot in the last couple of years. So the accusation or the argument is essentially to say, hey, you guys only advocate for unborn babies but you don't actually care about people after they're born or about mothers who have just had a child, who haven't had an abortion. And so you say you're pro-life, but you're not actually pro-life, you're just pro that unborn baby, and that's all you care about. You're taking an idealistic stance on that one issue and not actually caring for life in general. Now, I would argue that that's not true. And actually, the Alpha Women's and Family Center is one example of how that's not true. Rachel, do you mind sharing a little bit about how that is? Rachel Yeah, I think since starting my job at Alpha Women's and Family Center, I have just realized that that accusation is truly untrue. That a lot of the services that we provide are for after the mother has given birth to that baby or a family, a mom and a dad, that just want a little extra support. support, whether it's physical support like diapers and wipes and formula, we provide that or mentoring and parenting classes, we provide that as well. So there's just a lot of different opportunities for the church to step in and be the hands and feet after a baby is born. And I think part of the issue is that you hear a lot in the media and just around the world about abortion specifically. You don't hear as much about the solutions and resources after the fact, after a baby is born, or post-abortive care as well. But specifically after a baby is born, that's just not as glamorous, I would say, to talk about some of those really hard things where a mom and a dad just need a little bit extra help. And we're here for that. And we care about those families in our community that are struggling. Jon Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's been that's been true for us at Peace Church. And in our relationship with ministries like the Alpha Women's and Family Center, as well as the Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids, each of those ministries supports, especially the mothers of children. And so I yeah, like you said, I think that accusation is untrue. But also, I kind of want to address even just the logic of the argument to say, OK, it's really not, you know, you're not actually answering our argument about abortion and the killing of a child. So, you know, get back to the issue instead of subverting. So, you know, let's say if it was true and if it was true that we were only pro unborn baby and not pro the other things. Now, you know, we should address that, but the answer is not to pull back and get weaker on advocating for the life of the unborn child. You know, that's not actually an argument about the topic. It's kind of a subversion, a step aside to sort of talk about a different issue instead of actually addressing the main issue of we want to advocate for those who absolutely can't advocate for themselves. If there was ever somebody who couldn't advocate for themselves as the unborn child, they have no way to do that. Mitchell For people or for people in churches who may hear that criticism and may feel convicted right now that maybe they aren't stepping as much into that after-birth care for women and children and families, where have you seen that? Like how would you respond to someone who's saying, yeah, you know what, I really care about unborn children, but maybe I need to grow a little bit. Rachel Yeah, I think if someone came to that realization, that's awesome. You know, of course we do care about that unborn child and that is so good that this person cares about this and is advocating for the voice of the unborn. But yes, there are lots of opportunities for individuals and churches to get involved with women and families once that child is in the world, and there's lots of needs. I can think of a few very specific ways that churches can get involved that here at PEACE we've gotten involved is supporting foster care families. We have quite a large group of foster care families here at Peace and adoptive families as well. And they are all very connected with each other. Peace has really helped facilitate that as well, helped facilitate that connection. So that's something you can do as a church is even just hosting a dinner for foster care families and adoptive families to just come together and share about the struggles and share about the joys and the beauty of being in that type of ministry. Another one is Care Portal, which is something that is somewhat new to Michigan, but it's something that we've been involved in here at Peace. And it connects churches to centers like Alpha Women's Center in Grand Rapids and Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids. And those centers will give out, will say a need that they have. So hey, we have this mom that came in that needs a crib. And these churches get to respond directly to that need. That is a really, you know, feet on the ground way to support families in our community. Again, being both pro-life at the beginning of life and once that baby is in the world and beyond. Mitchell Yeah, I like that. Can you say that website again? Yeah, Care Portal. Okay, we'll make sure to put that in the show notes for everyone. Jon Okay, perfect. Yeah. Rachel That's awesome. Jon Sounds good. Yeah, I love that. So, thinking back to New Testament times, Christians were known for being those that, you know, when a family would have a baby that they didn't want, that baby would literally end up on the trash heap, you know, at the city dump. It's an awful, tragic thing. But Christians were known for being those who went there and found those babies and took them home with them, to care for them. And so now, I mean, that's how we want to be known. We want to be known as the church, the Christians who are involved, who care, who not only advocate, but also reach in and try to help young moms and families and children. So whether that's through foster care, like you mentioned, or through partnering with Pregnancy Resource Center or Alpha Women's Center, supporting women. But yeah, we want to be known as those who show Jesus' love in that way by trying to reach in and support and help those. Awesome. Rachel, anything else you want to share about the Alpha Women's and Family Center, other ministry that you guys do? Rachel Sure, yeah. So Alpha Women's and Family Center is a small but mighty, I would say, ministry in Hastings. And so we serve all of Berry County. We do mentoring for moms and young families. They can come in. I'll even watch your kids while you come in and do mentoring. It's been quite fun to watch kiddos. And we offer parenting classes and all of those types of things. We also offer more material resources like I mentioned before, diapers, wipes, shampoo, some of the things that aren't covered on WIC as well. And we also pretty recently just started a clothing exchange that is open to the entire community. So anyone can come in and exchange their baby's clothes that are, you know, gently used for the next size up or if they're having a new baby for their new baby's clothes or whatever. So I really encourage you to check that out. We are located right next to the Wendy's so you can grab some lunch and then kind of come on over and visit us during the week. So yeah, those are some of the big things that are happening there right now. There's lots more things that are coming in this year, and that includes, we are in pretty extensive training right now to offer ultrasounds, limited ultrasounds at our facility. So that's really gonna change a lot of the dynamics of our center, but we're excited for it, we're ready for it. Really looking forward to hopefully bringing in more moms that just don't realize the value of that beautiful baby inside of them and maybe they get to see see and hear the heartbeat of that baby for the first time. That would be such a joy. So that's some of the awesome things we do. Yeah. Yeah. Jon Amen. That's awesome. Well, Rachel Thanks so much for your ministry and thank you so much for being here to get to talk with us. Just to remind everybody that this Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday, so great opportunity to get to remember, reflect on, pray for the value of unborn human life. Mitchell Can I ask one more thing? Jon Oh yeah. Mitchell Yeah. So if people wanted to connect with you, ask you more questions about this, or if they had questions or just wanted to see more about what you do. Where could they find you? Rachel Find Alpha? Yeah. So we have a website of alphawomenscenterbc.org and we also are on Facebook. My goal is to get us on Instagram as well. It's where all the trendy hip people are, you know. So you can look at any of those. My email is also on our website so you can go right on there and I will receive those emails directly and would love to connect with you. Jon Awesome. Yeah. You can find That's a Good Question at resoundmedia.cc or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A Psalm of Asaph Sermon Series: Honest to Goodness Bob Hudberg Care Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Psalm 75 Transcript Well, good morning Peace Church. So glad to have you with us here this morning. I am PB. I'm the pastor of care here and welcome to you in the chapel and in the chapel and the venue and online and obviously here in the main sanctuary. So I think we're just going to get started. Can we do that today? Is that right? Ladies. All right. All right. Let's to celebrate this man and I was in eighth grade. I was a really small guy about five foot three. I was liked by everyone in our school except one person. His name was Marty. Marty was the bully at our school at least to me. He was. I became a prime target for Marty on a regular basis. I was pushed into lockers and the typical things you see bullies do. They did. He did that to me. I tried to avoid him as much as I could. And I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was walking home had my trumpet case in my one hand and my books and the other hand and suddenly Marty and two of his friends were there, right before me. Marty pushed me to the ground. His friends took my stuff and Marty started hitting me. There was nothing that I could do. I had tried before. I was tired of this bullying, just beating me up all the time. The things that I had done did not stop him. I wanted someone to take care of this bully for me Unexpectedly there was this big arm that reached down and picked up Marty off of me And no it wasn't God. I Couldn't see who it was at first Because my hands were covering my face. This person said to Marty, I don't ever want to see you here again and I don't ever want to see or hear that you are bullying Bobby. It was my neighbor, Mr. Miller. He was my savior. He saw what was going on, what was wrong. Hello, I was getting beat up and he was able to take care of it for me. But Mr. Miller was also the judge and he found Marty guilty and he let him go with a warning. The nation of Judah was in the same situation around 701 B.C. The Assyrian army was attacking Judah and after the city of Jerusalem, the capital, where Hezekiah was the king. Now you have to understand that Hezekiah was a godly man and he wanted God to intervene. And if you were to read 2 Kings 19, 14-19, you would hear his prayer. You will see the intensity of his heart for his people. And in verse 19 it says, So now, O Lord, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone. Assyria was the bully. Jerusalem was the victim. Destruction, distress, disaster was prevalent all over the land. Questions were asked like, God, why are you allowing this to continue? When are you going to do something about it. Why does this have to go on much longer. God come and bring judgment on this nation. This person and the situation. Can you hear. Can you hear those questions being asked. And I think at some point all of us Today we look at Psalm 75 as we read Asaph's song. So I invite you to turn your Bibles, your cell phones, your tablets, if you're using the Bible that we provide, it's on page 618. The words are going to be on the screen and Asaph is writing this in a time of despair and difficulty. So follow along as I read. To the Choir Master, according to Do Not Destroy, a psalm of Asaph, a song. We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity. When all the earth totters and all of its inhabitants, it is I who keeps steady its pillars. I say to the boastful, do not boast. And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with a haughty neck, for not from the east or from the west or from the wilderness comes lifting up. But God is he who executes judgment for the hand of the Lord. There is a cup with foaming wine well mixed and he pours out from it and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. But I will declare it forever. I was saying praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. Would you pray with me today. And father this morning as we look into Your Word, as we look at Psalm 75, may our eyes be open to what we see, our ears be open to what we hear, and our heart be ready to be changed. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight today. In Jesus' name, Amen. I am sure that some of you have seen some of these TV shows about judges. My question today is, are you willing to admit it? How many have seen at least one judge show? Raise your hand. OK, I've never seen any of them. But what I have realized that in order to be a judge, you have to be someone like Steve Harvey. I want to sit in his court right. Steve Harvey the judge. That would be a blast. But the other judges all have had some kind of criminal background. They've been lawyers defense lawyers or justices at some point. And for whatever reason they decided to leave that world and join TV which I'm thinking is about money. Psalm 75 will help us to take an honest to goodness approach to our faith and our relationship with God, seeing who God is as a judge. So here's the main idea. If you're taking notes, God is a fair and a just judge. He's a fair and a just judge. We break this book down and I'm just going to go verse by verse today. It's only 10 verses. So we have the introduction in verse 1, verses 2 and 3. God controls the final judgment. Verses 4 and 5, God as a rebuker. 6 through 8, God is a sovereign judge. And then we come to the conclusion in verses 9 and 10. So are you ready to dive in. All right. Let's do it. First one. We had the introduction. Some kind of commentator suppose that the chief musician was either the Lord himself or somebody else who had that position to a leader of choirs. But either one could work. It really doesn't matter in this song because we're not using point of reference. But many of the Psalms were written to a melody entitled Do Not Destroy. In fact David used this melody or this poetic version in Psalm 57 and 58 and 59. Maybe you can understand it a little bit Oh, here we go. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. Was blind but now I see. What's the melody? Gilligan's Isle. Gilligan's Isle. All right, all right. Let's try one more. Let's see. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. Don't say it yet. How many think you know what it is the melody. Oh yeah. Look at everybody over 50. Well not quite not quite. What's the melody. House of the Rising Sun. See now ASEF didn't do that but he just said you know what. Here's the words I'm going to use this melody and in some way he did the same same thing. So but we begin to look at this we try to understand because I think it's important that we understand all the background why he wrote what he did. We talked about the history. So let's get right into this. The first thing I see in verse one is this. The righteous anticipate judgment with praise. The righteous anticipate judgment with praise. Look what it said. We give thanks to the O God. And it says it two times. Give thanks today because judgment is near. Your name is near. But then we see to recount your wondrous works. So my question this morning is this, how many times do we need to remember what God has done in the past as we're living in the present. How many times has God intervened in your life in some capacity and you didn't necessarily see it then, but when you look back, you can see that he did it. And how many times it got work in such an incredible way that affected your lives. The psalmist says to keep track. Keep a journal of where you saw God work in your life. Why? Don't miss this. Because this is what will keep our faith authentic and this is what will keep God real. Keep track. Recount the ways that he's worked. So then he goes on to say this in verse 2, God controls the final judgment. It says in verse 2 that there is an appointed time. God controls the timing. God knows the day and the time. He knows the scope of history where it's going to fall. He knows what's best for the world and when it would be best for the world for him to come as judge. He knows all of that. He knows what's best for us. Jesus came as Savior. Nice cuddly baby. And then he will return as a judge. In Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 it says I saw heaven open and behold the white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness he wages he judges and wages war Jesus Christ Savior went to heaven coming back as judge reminds me of the story of a young man who is drinking heavily and decided to go to take a swim in a California beach well fortunately there was an older gentleman who was there watching young man and when he entered the water the young man he didn't come back up for air. The older man ran to the slugging young man and saved his life. A few years later, that same young man was standing in court facing a sentence of drug charges. Suddenly, the young man realized the judge was the very same man that saved his life when he was drowning years earlier. He looked at the judge and he said, Sir, do you not recognize me? You saved my life. Don't you remember? The judge nodded his head and looked at the young man and said, Young man, then I was your savior. Now I am The thing we need to understand in the verse that verse that follows is that it is the fact of. God would judge with equity. God will be fair. He will be righteous. He will have uprightness. The judges on the TV show. They only hear that person's story. So they're going to make a decision based upon that. God knows all about us. He knows everything about us. Everything that happens in each one of our lives. There is nothing that happens without Him being aware of it. There's nothing that transpires without His hand in it. There is nothing that catches Him off guard. There is nothing that surprises Him. Nothing. Why? Because He's a God who judges with equity because He knows all about us. But then it goes on in verse 3 that He keeps the pillars steady, or He steadies the pillars. A while back, Pastor Ryan showed a picture of a barn that he had seen over the years the disintegration that was happening on that barn. And we realize that disintegration happens in our world on a regular basis. Our plants die. How many of you, your grass kind of died when we didn't have any rain there for a while? Like, okay, it's brown. What in the world? I'm not mowing brown grass, but every plant in our system is dissolving. What prevents the universe from completely dissolving. God. No force short of God. Families are dissolving. Societies are dissolving. Churches, some churches are dissolving. Nations are dissolving. Kingdoms are constantly breaking into pieces. Look around the world. In fact, don't even look around the world. Just look here in the United States to see that our world is falling apart. So let me ask, when your world is falling apart and things seem to be crumbling all around you, and it seems that the only effort that you do is like a Band-Aid, what do you do? What do you do? But when God decides to intervene No, let me change that when we decide to let God intervene He will be disability in our lives He is the only one that will keep us together When your marriage seems to be falling apart Can I encourage you to let God put it back together when your health is taking a wrong turn, let God work with those who are around you who love you and who want to help you to hold it together. When your finances have dwindled and you've gotten unnoticed, you've lost your job. When your emotions are frayed in a situation that's too much to bear, let God hold it together. But understand that it may take time. And it may not go the way you want it to go and you probably still will have hardship. But God has promised to walk through this hardship. He is near. He's a God of hope. He brings all things together. In fact, it's interesting in first Corinthians or in Colossians chapter one verse fifteen is talking about Jesus. And here's what it says. He is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible where the thrones or dominions or rules or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Who's this talking about? Jesus. In fact, if you get the opportunity, I want you to Google on YouTube or just go to YouTube and say, Lou Giglio and Laminin. Lou Giglio and Laminin. And tell me what you think of the video when he shares that. Next week I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. I'm not going to tell you what it is because then it will spoil the surprise. was for all the price. So, he goes on to say this in verses 4 and 5. God is a rebuker. He's very specific when he's talking about this right now and he's saying there are certain things that he will rebuke. He addresses three areas of wickedness are synonymous. Our sin separates us from God. But he was very specific. He said there are three things that God is going to judge on number one boasting is defined as giving praise that draws attention to yourself. Hey, hey, hey, hey, look at me. Look what I have done. Don't you see my new car? Don't you see my new shirt? Don't I look nice? Forget the shoes. It's all about drawing attention to yourself and boasting about what you have accomplished. Jeremiah says this, if you want to boast about something. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth for these things I delight declares the Lord. If you want to boast this way right. Amen. All right. So then he says here's it here is the next area. He says exalting oneself for one's own pride in their strength. When he refers to the horn is talking about the physical strength of a person or a nation. Usually when you look throughout Scripture you will see that described. So I've realized at the young age that I am that I'm not as strong as I used to be. OK. I used to work for Spartan Warehouse years ago and I would take 80 pound bags of salt, pick them up, put them on my cart, not an issue. Like this is a piece of cake. Don't hand me a salt shaker now that's a little bit full. Not that bad but it seems that bad sometimes. And even more as the older I get that we try to rely on our strength as a young person I can do anything. I can move pianos, I can do this, I can do that. But as I get older it's like someone else can do that. I'll be happy to let you do that except two weeks ago we were coming home my bride and I and we have these travel mugs right so I have my travel mug mine pops up fill it up I'm all set she has a screw top no big deal she said I can't get it open will you try go oh sure no problem she says you can't hold the bottom and the top too, it's not going to move. Yes, dear. I can't get it. I am so embarrassed. I said, you got to take this to someone else because I cannot get this open at all. She said, okay. I go to the car. She comes back and I said, did you get it open? Yeah, I took it up to the guy in the counter and said, would you open this for me? And he goes, no, I can't, but I'll give it to this girl. And this girl opened it up. But we rely on our strength, our physical strength, don't we? We're young and we're strong. And he's saying, Don't rely on your strength because it will soon fail. It will soon be gone. And then he says, I want you to look at this insolent pride, he says, Speak not with a stiff neck. We don't even use that phrase anymore. But it's a bold, shameless, absent disregard to the claims of God. Basically sticking our nose up in the air and saying to God, I know better than you do. It is like thrusting your face forward and your shoulders back and said, I got this. I don't need you. That's what he's saying. Again, that's what he's coming against. It's a rude and arrogant lack of respect, respect for others and especially a respect for God. So in our authentic relationship with God and our authentic faith in God, we can have it even all kinds of sin. Nothing is hidden from Him. Which then leads us to God as a sovereign judge. We understand today that our powers don't come from the east or from the west or from the deserts or the wilderness. They don't come from anybody. They only come from Because we see in verse 7 that God says He is a judge. He is in on the rise and the fall, not only of empires, but of individual men. God is the one who gives us what we have. All things belong to Him and He allows us to have what we have, not because of who we are, but because of what He desires to give. And because of that, we see God in His sovereign position putting down one and exalting another. He allows us to go through incredible physical and emotional pain for one person and then to another not. And we don't understand that. He's the one who judges our thoughts and intents of our heart. He knows what's best for us. He knows what we can handle and what we can't. And then we see that it said that drink from the cup of God's wrath, the wicked are destined to drink from it. What is the cup? It's a mixed cup. It's well mixed together, it's said, alluding to the mingled portion of drugs given to criminals to drink previously to their execution. It's that kind of bitter herbs that they will taste. In fact, Spurgeon quoted this man and said, shall be force, whether they will or not, to drink the cup of judgment. It is not a sip or two shall serve their tines, they must drink all, dregs and all. They shall drink it to the bottom, and yet they shall never come to the bottom. They have loved long draughts, and now they shall have one long enough, there is eternity to the bottom." It's a picture of taking the wine skin and rolling it up and rolling it up until the very last bit is out of it. Most bitter part of the wine is coming out and they're drinking it. It's kind of like we what we do is a toothpaste tube, right? For guys, we roll that thing up. We roll it up. We get it tight. We get tight. We're rolling up a little more. And finally, your bride says, OK, can we start a new tube? Really, you've gotten everything you can. Now, there's a little bit more. That's how it was for them. You're going to taste the bitterness, not that your toothpaste is bitter, but you're going to taste the bitterness. In fact, in Revelation, Chapter 14, verses 9 and 10, it says in another angel, a third following them said with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or his hand, he so he will also drink of the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he'll be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. God does not mess around with those who are wicked. They will stand in judgment. God will be fair. He will be just, but he will be thorough and he'll be accurate. And I know we're all sitting here like I go to church. I'm a Christian. I will not be judged according to Scripture. Second Corinthians, Chapter five, verse 10. It says that we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And at the end of the book of Revelation, it says there's a great white throne judgment. Revelation 2011. It says, I saw a great white throne and him who was seated from on it from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and the books were open. Then another book was open which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. There will be a judgment for all of us. And then we come to the conclusion of this chapter. Verses 9 and 10. I love this part because it seems like it doesn't even fit as we're talking about God as a judge. But here again, he's saying, I will declare it forever. I was saying the praises of God, the God of Jacob. Asaph was saying, even though we were told all that God was going to do, I'm going to take a moment to praise God for who he is. I'm going to declare it forever from this point forward. I want people to know that I'm going to praise the God of Jacob How many times in the midst of our difficulties do we just need to take a break and say this? God, I don't understand God I don't like this at all. I Don't like what I'm going through. But Father, will you help me through this storm? Will you allow me to sense your presence? Will you give me strength to deal with all that's going on? In fact, Casting Crowns wrote a song entitled, Praise You in the Storm, and the chorus says this, And I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands, for you are no matter where I am and every tear I've cried you hold me in your hand you never left my side and though my heart is torn I will praise you in the storm that's what a set was writing about I will declare it forever I was saying the praises to God can Can I encourage you at some point to go to the book of Psalms and look for the little phrase I will. Occurs over 150 times in the book of Psalms and some of them referred to God says that I will but the majority of them are the authors who are saying I will. You see I will is my choice. No one can force us to make a choice to praise God. I will choose. In fact, in Psalm 146, too, it says, I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I was saying praises to my God. Well, I have my being. I will choose to declare. I will praise you today. And then he ends this song with a particular reminder of what he said before that the wicked will be taken care of and the righteous will be exalted. God is infinite wisdom and knowledge is the justifier the provider and the judge of all mankind. He is aware of all that is happening. He knows the works we have done and the works we have not done. He looks carefully and cautiously each one of them independent of each other and yet dependent upon each other and judges us fairly. God will take down the strength and the power of the story. We find it in 2 Kings 19, verses 35-37. It says, And the night after Hezekiah prayed, and that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early in the morning, behold, there were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria, departed and went home and lived in Nineveh. Verse 37 says that he was killed by two of his sons and his third son took over reign for him. The rest of my story? Well, never had any problem with Marty again. than today is this so what? So what? What difference does it make in our lives to know that God is a judge of the wicked and the righteous? What difference does it make for us right now to know that He will exalt us in His time? What difference does it make in your faith today? Let me offer this suggestion. God demonstrates grace to us at various times in our lives. Grace is not getting what we deserve. Sorry, Grace is getting what we don't deserve. He offers us grace for salvation. He offers us grace that sustains us. He offers us grace that is sufficient for us in time of need. And he offers us sanctifying grace. But that grace came at a cost, and that cost was His Son Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross. So my question today then is, what have you done with Jesus? Just a reminder today, I can trust God to judge me based on His character and not mine. Let's pray. Father this morning we are so grateful that you are the judge and I'm not. We're so grateful Lord that you are the one who is in control of all things in our lives and we thank you this morning Father that because you are a judge, because you are a judge with equity, that you're fair, that you're righteous, Lord that we can trust you in the midst. And Father for those here today that may be going through difficult times and don't understand, Lord, why the things are happening, may they cry out to You and say, I will give praise today. Thank You for Your grace and how amazing it is. In Jesus' name, Amen. Transcribed with Cockatoo

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, July 21, 2024 It Had To Be Said Luke 5:27-32 Who Needs a Doctor? 2 Overview Main Idea: Jesus calls sinners because the sick need a doctor Sermon Outline: If you are a sinner, go to Jesus! We are all sinners, worse than sick Expect to see sick people around the doctor Jesus alone is the true physician that saves. Jesus is the doctor, not me or you Jesus is the God-man who saves sinners by dying in their place 3 Pre-Questions What are some common reasons people visit a doctor? How do these reasons relate to seeking help for spiritual issues? Before diving into the passage, consider: How do you usually respond when you realize you need help, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual? 4 Questions What is the main point Jesus is making in Luke 5:27-32? Why does Jesus compare sinners to the sick needing a doctor? In what ways do you relate to the idea of being spiritually sick? How have you experienced Jesus as your spiritual physician? How can our group better support each other in recognizing our need for Jesus? What practical steps can we take to welcome and support those who are seeking spiritual healing? How can we extend the message of Jesus being the ultimate physician to our broader community? What challenges might we face in reaching out to those who don't see their need for Jesus? PDF Download

Be Ready Sermon Series: Hate Speech Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Ephesians 4:17-32 Transcript Well, church, gathered here online and in one of our other venues, let me start with these words. Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all their heart, Amen. So I want to start here and I'm going to need some, I'm going to need some engagement from you this morning. I'm going to give you a couple of phrases. I want you to complete the phrase for me, both here and in one of the other menus. All right, so complete this phrase. Ready, aim. Fire. Ready or not, here I. Come. Ready, set. Go. Here's the question. Are you ready? Are you ready for what's to come? Are you ready for the world that is emerging around us, this new world that's emerging around us, this world where truth, even truth couched in immense love, is increasingly becoming no longer tolerated. It's increasingly labeled as hate speech. Are you ready for this world? Because today as we close up this series, we've been looking at this hate speech. When truth and love is no longer tolerated? How are Christians meant to shine the light in a world where truth, love and grace is rejected and hated? Now let me just say, you've probably heard this already through this series, but let me just say this, this is not anything new. It may feel new to us, but this is the way it's always been across the globe. The Christian message has always been hated. Do you think they crucified Jesus Christ because they liked what he had to say? Christians for the last two thousand years we've lived in a world where it's been hostile to our message. We've just enjoyed a few generations where we haven't really felt an intense persecution for that because we've swam in waters where the moral compass was just lined up enough to where we could blend in. But that's no longer the case. Dear church, the world is increasingly becoming intolerant of truth, even truth in love. And how are we to live? How are we to respond? What are our lives supposed to be like in a world like this? Well, let's just go back to those first Christians and see what they were told to do. See how the Bible instructs them to live as counter-cultural exiles in their world. And here's what I'd ask you, Church, do you see yourself as that? Do you see yourself as a counter-cultural exile in this world? Because that is very close to who we should be in this world. And so here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would you please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 in your Bibles. Now we've been walking through Ephesians chapter 4 throughout this sermon series. We're gonna close it up today looking at the last section. And if you've been with us, you've heard this. But if you're just joining us, welcome to the last of this series. In this section, we are reminded again that Paul is writing from prison. The apostle Paul is writing from prison to a church. It's a church in a town called Ephesus. And the people who live there are called Ephesians. So Paul is writing to this to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesus and he's telling them how to live faithful lives in an unfaithful world. And I'm sure, very quickly, you're going to see as we read this passage how relevant this is, not for people 2,000 years ago, but for us even today. And my prayer is that you are, yes, deeply encouraged today. And I also pray that you feel the right amount of challenge today. And so with that, would you hear the Word of God.Hear God's word. Paul writes and he says, Ephesians 4:17-32 7 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[ f ] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. This is God's Word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father God, as we close up this series Father we pray that it's not only glorifying to you Not only is it truthful to your word, but we pray by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that would help us prepare To be ready to live faithful lives in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated And it's in Jesus name that we pray these things And we all said Amen, So, we're closing up this message series today, and let me remind you, in this series, we've been looking at how do we live in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. The first week, we looked at how, when this is the case, that we are to live holy lives. We are called to be holy, we're meant to live holy lives. The second week, we looked at how the church must absolutely be unified. With so much attack upon Christians and the church, the church must stand unified. Then last week, we looked at how we all must be equipped, how we must be equipped and ready for the battle that's before us. And today, well, we're going to summarize it all with this. Here's our main point for today. When truth and love is no longer tolerated, we must be ready. Are you ready? Are you actively getting ready? Or are you just meandering through life, hoping that it'll all work out for you as a Christian. As we examine this passage, I wanna look at two main points today as we walk through this text together, and it's this. We'll know that we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives, and then we're second gonna look at, we'll know that we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. So Christians in the house, I'm pleading with you. What the world does not need is more people calling themselves Christians who are not going to live like Christians. The world does not need more of that. We have a high calling that we are to live into and we are meant to live into that, zealously, passionately, kindly, but we are meant to live into this. It's been very easy, church, for the last couple of generations to say you're a Christian and just to blend into our culture, but that's coming to a close if it was even ever really the case. And the thing we need to know is that we better be ready. And so we'll know we're ready, ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated when we have a clear contrast to our lives. Please have your Bibles open in front of you. 1. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives. Look at verse 17. Yes, this is God's holy word, but don't forget, this is also a man writing a letter to a church. Don't forget the human element here. Listen to the strain in Paul's voice as he's trying to make this first point. Verse 17 says, "'Now I say and testify in the Lord "'that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. To clarify, who are the Gentiles? Well Gentiles, that word just meant the nations, it meant everyone else, it meant the culture around you, it meant society at large. So don't walk like them, don't live like them, you're not them, stop being like them. Paul is saying there must be a notable distinction, a clear contrast between you and the culture around you. You are not meant to blend in. Because the reality is, is if you blend into society, then the truth is, is you're not living according to the Christian life as God has outlined. And if your excuse, if your excuse is, well everyone does it, let me just say to you, Christians don't say that. Christians don't say, well everyone else does it, so don't judge me. That's what the world says. That's what the world is saying. That's the world's excuse to continue into their folly and sin. Christians don't ever say, well, everyone else does it. That's not what God calls us. That's not what Christians are to do. We're not meant to blend in and be like everyone else. Now listen to me. I'm not saying that this means we should have an Amish dress code. But having a teenage daughter, I just got to say, like. I'm open to the idea. Truth is, we're meant to have a clear contrast to our lives, this is not the Bible is not primarily concerned about the external. It's concerned about the internal. The Bible warns us against being whitewashed tombs. This is an internal transformation that starts with our hearts and our minds. Look at verse 18. It says, They, meaning the world around us, the culture around us, the society at large, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart. Let's look at this for a moment. The first thing Paul says here is that they are darkened in their understanding, meaning their minds are clouded. They don't adhere to the wisdom of God. They follow the folly of the world. They go wherever the changing tides of culture bring them. They're darkened in their understanding understanding and they say things like well if everyone else does it then don't judge me when I do it and This mentality look what it look what it happens. It says that they are alienated from the life of God Meaning and this is where it gets so sad Meaning they will only experience a shadow of the life that we can have And you know why the world is so desperate for color and rainbows and flashy colors. Whether or not they realize it, it's because there's a darkness they're trying to cover up. And we know that the kingdom of God is full of color and light and it's beautiful. But in our world, in our darkened sin, we try to mask it with rainbow stickers. And this just shows that it's because we have minds clouded by ignorance, cut off from God, hardened by sin. This talks about a people who have given themselves up to the backwards thinking of the world rather than the eternal things of God. So, I said I'm going to need some engagement this morning, so answer these simple equations for me, okay? Let's hear. 2 plus 2 equals? 3 times 3 equals? These are simple equations. These are simple equations and what we see here is a simple equation, people. When our minds and our hearts are darkened by sin, this makes us distant from God and here's the results. Here's the answer to these simple equations. Verse 19 says, They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Whoa, is Paul talking about the first century Roman world or is he talking about 21st century American culture? Both. But it just seems like, man, for 2,000 years of human enlightenment, you think we'd kind of grow beyond this. Absolutely not. This is what the world does in sin. Now listen here, the world here, the word The word here for sensuality in the original language, it meant conduct shocking to public decency. It means men with barely any clothes on wearing just strips of leather walking down a pride parade in front of children. Now, church, this isn't just about the vulgarness that you see at some of the pride parades. Christians, we do this. We do this when we give ourselves to sex before marriage. When we have our boyfriend or our girlfriend spend the night. When we find ourselves in solitude and we so casually give ourselves to pornography. Are we any different? It says, the passage says that they are greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This is a culture with no moral compass, no foundation. That's our culture. We say we're progressive, but we have no path. We have no idea where this leads. We just go with whatever the next popular thing is. It says people are greedy for this. They're greedy for this, meaning it's become the center of their identity and their desires. I know that we look at, listen, I know, I know that we look at the insanity of the world and we think to ourselves, how has it come to this? Church, it's always been like this. What do you mean, how has it come to this? It's always been like this. The world that Paul is describing, I know it sounds like our culture, but it's his culture. From 2,000 years ago, before English was a language and it was half a world away, nothing changes without Jesus. Christians, we were always meant to stick out. That doesn't mean we'll be glorified and welcomed for it. We're always meant to stick out, to have contrast with the world that only gives itself to sin. Here's a challenge for us. Are you distinct? Let me put it like this. Let's just take a step back here a minute. Who here likes themselves some cake? Put your hands up, you bunch of liars. We all do. Come on. Clearly I do. Now, I like myself some sheet cake. I'm not going to be all high and mighty about it, but I will say this. Cake is meant to have layers. Can I get an amen? I mean, in our divided world, no matter where you stand, can we at least all agree cake is meant to have layers? Come on. Yeah, absolutely. Cakes and what? And custard? Now that's debatable, my friend. Cake is meant to have layers. Now look at these next verses, because Paul adds some layers that we have to digest. Look at verses 20 to 24. Says but this the way he's talking about this this world at large. He says that's not the way you learned Christ Assuming that you have heard about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus Oh stop right there friends underline that if you do that in your Bibles because there it is right there There's the distinguishing marker. The big question for our culture is what is truth? The answer is Jesus you say that you will be laughed at. Welcome to being a Christian. Welcome to being a Christian. If you're not getting laughed at for your faith, are you even sharing it? We say that the truth is Jesus. What is truth in this world? It's the one who said he was, who walked out of the grave. It's Jesus Christ, that's the truth, clinging on to Him above all else. He is our rock when everything falls apart. He's our rock when everything changes. The truth is in Jesus. Look here, verse 22, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. See, I love these layers that Paul begins to add to this contrast of our life. Check it out. Firstly, he talks about this contrast that we're meant to have with the world around us. That's the first contrast. We're not like the world around us. Now, the second layer is this contrast we're meant to have is with our former way of life. Now he's starting to add layers. First contrast, we're not like the world. Second contrast, we're not like our former way of life either. We've been transformed. Meaning the life we live as we follow Jesus is different from both how the world operates and how we lived before following Jesus. And like a delicious multi-layered cake without custard, the question I ask is, do you have these multiple layers in your lives? And can people see it? Do you have those multiple layers in your lives and can people see it? It's like what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter two. He says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God. Check this out. Peter says they speak of us as evil doers. If you know how that plays out in today's world, they accuse us of hate speech. But, but when they accuse us of hate speech, they should at least see the good lives we live and how that points to God. But this can only happen when we have a clear contrast to our lives. So yes, Christians, you need to be asking yourself, do you have those multiple layers of contrast? Let me ask you a few other questions that would expose this. Do you use your money differently? Do you treat others better than they treat you? Do you follow God in a godless world? Do you speak truth in love to a world that has rejected truth and redefined love? I know, believe me, I've got layers and levels of cultural conditioning too. I know how this sounds. I know this sounds judgmental, but you need to stop using the excuse, you can't judge me, as an excuse to keep yourself from true self-examination. Fine, judge yourself. Look in the mirror. Look at your own two eyes in the mirror and can you honestly say there's a contrast between you and the world and you and your former way of life? Does your life show a true and clear contrast? Or are you using the excuse, everyone does it so that you can keep on sinning? We are to have contrast from the world and contrast to our lives before Christ. This will help us to show if we are ready or not for the world that's emerging, which leads us to look at this next thing, 2. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast with our former life before Jesus. That we'll know we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. Let me just cut to the point. That happens through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit calling you to live in conformity with the Word of God as you reflect the Son of God in this world. So here's the reality. It's more than just about being different. It's about being something new. Are you new? Are you showing the world something new? Church, we cannot just be the opposite of what is wrong. We have to be living demonstrations of what is right. We have to show true transformation. Scripture shows this in one of the most famous Bible verses there is and if you've ever been to youth group Then I guarantee your youth pastor at some point read to you Romans chapter 12 verse 2. Let me read it for you. Romans 12:2 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Okay, did you catch this part of the proof of our transformation is that you will know what the will of God is, that you will test what's happening and you will know what God's will is. Meaning, if you do things against God's will, you're gonna have a hard time showing that you are a truly transformed person, that you've been transformed by the renewal of your mind. So let me translate and go back. This comes from the work of the Holy Spirit's Calling us into his righteousness once we placed our faith in Jesus Not talking about perfect people we're not talking about people who trip up that's gonna happen We're talking about people who willfully continually find excuses to continue in their sin. So pop quiz if I call myself an Olympic athlete who has won a gold medal Does that mean I'm an Olympic athlete who's won a gold medal? No, I'd need to prove it to you by well, maybe by showing you the gold medal so if I call myself a Transformed Christian does that mean I'm going to have to show you the proof. Just like I needed to show you the gold medal to prove to you I'm an Olympic athlete who won a gold medal, I would need to show you my transformed life in order to prove to you that I'm a transformed Christian. So what is the proof? What's the proof that we're looking for? Well, let me tell you, it's not just being a nice and generous person. There are plenty of non-Christians who are kind and generous people. That's just called being a decent person. Thankfully, we don't have to decide or figure out on our own what the proof is. The Bible clearly tells us for this, tells us this. So we're gonna do this in a little bit of a rapid fire, but that's why you need to have your Bibles open. Go to verse 25. It says, here it is, here's what a transformed life looks like, Church. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. First marker, we don't live in lies. 1. We speak the truth, we live in truth, we give ourselves to truth as we speak truthfully with one another, because we are all connected. Verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. So second thing we see is that it's okay to be angry. 2. It's not okay to let your anger lead you to sin. It's not okay to let your anger linger. If you find yourself angry, first thing, don't sin. Second thing, find a way to take care of it. But being angry in and of itself is not sinful. Verse 27, and give no opportunity to the devil. So devil in Jesus' name be gone. We need to recognize he's a real player. He's a real force. We need to recognize he's real. But we recognize that in Jesus' name we don't mess around with him. We don't venture into his territory, deal with his folly. 3. We give no opportunity to the devil. So let me just ask you, what are you watching online in your house? Don't just mean your phone, I mean your TV too. What opportunity are you giving the devil to find his way into your family? Give no opportunity to the devil. Verse 28, I love this verse. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, let's look at this for a second. We all agree that the thief should no longer steal, right? But why does the Bible say that the thief should no longer steal? So that he can do his own work, get his own stuff, but that's not the end of the story. So that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, follow me on this, church. This is an indication of what should be true for all of us, that 4. We are selfless, and we take care of one another, that we don't live in plenty when others live in need. And I'm not talking about the distribution of wealth. I'm against that. I'm talking about Christians with a transformed heart, caring for one another, taking care of one another. I'm talking about the people of the church having compassionate and generous hearts for those around us. That we make sure that they have what they need. Which is shown, yes, in how we act, but also in how we talk and how we talk to them. Look at verse 29. And as I read verse 29, here's what I want you to do. Goes in for the other venues too. As I read this verse, I want you to listen. What is the most important word that sticks out to you in this verse? Okay, I'm going to have you shout it out in a second, so I want you to listen. Verse 29. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Alright, what was the word that you heard that sounded most important to you? Say it out, yell it out, come on. Grace. That's pretty uniform. All right. I would say the same thing, actually. I don't know if there is one most important verse or most important word in that verse, but I will tell you the thing that stuck out to me, and it sounds like many of you too, was grace. I think we need more grace. I think we need to hear more grace. In a bitter world Internet trolls, sarcasm, division. I think we all need to hear more words of grace spoken to one another. 5. Understanding, patience, words of grace in what we speak and what we hear. This doesn't mean that people don't need to be called out for their sin or that you don't need to be called out for your sin. But you need to hear that instead of living in sin, that there's an option. The world needs to know that instead of being called sinners, they have an option of something better, that we can live in God's grace. And this happens when we turn to Jesus and we live in that grace, which is the power of the Holy Spirit, which leads to this next verse. Our passage continues, verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 6. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit All right, Christians, for the church, this is the person of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. He both leads us personally, but he's also present with us as a church. He is the comforter. He's the advocate. And when we sin, it grieves him. And how do we grieve him exactly? What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? It's exactly what Paul clarifies in verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice. Simply put, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives based on the whims of our emotions. When we live lives based on the desires of our flesh. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives that reflect the sin and bitterness of this world. And so church, as we read this last verse, please take note of the utter simplicity of this. Do not overcomplicate this. This is one way that Christians can make the world a better place. Verse 32, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. If you think that sounds weak, I dare you to try it. You see how hard it is to actually do that. 7. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Church, if we're not ready to be like this, if we're not ready to live like this, then we're not ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. This is how we are to live. This is how we are to shine the light. This is how we are meant to be out there. But did you notice something here? Did you notice the gospel here? Because as with all things in the Christian faith, the gospel is our central motivating factor. Did you hear the gospel in this? I'll read it again. Tell me if you can pick up where the gospel is. Christians and I, you better get this one. Verse 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. As God in Christ forgave you. I'm going to tell you something that is going to be among the most hard things I think you will ever hear and I guarantee I'm going to get some flack for this. Here's the thing that every Christian has to reconcile with. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. And I'm not here to demean the terrible, hurtful things that have happened to you in your life, but the reality is we cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. We are mortal beings sinning against an eternally holy and good God. Our sin against God is infinitely greater than our sins against one another. And again, I am not trying to demean or undermine or say that there are absolutely atrocious things that happen amongst people. But if we don't have the right calibration to understand who God is and our sin and what an affront it is to God, I don't think we'll fully ever understand the power of the gospel. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. When we sin against an eternally holy God, the good and righteous response is eternal damnation. That's just logic. That's just how it works. That's called justice. When we sin against God and his eternal nature, that's worthy of eternal damnation. But yet through the power of the gospel, God has forgiven us when he did not have to. And there are Christians who have forgotten what that means. We only need to look at your lives to see it. You've forgotten the power of the forgiveness that God has forgiven us when He did not have to. When the right and worthy response for us is our eternal damnation. God in love sent his son to die in our place, to take our punishments. We should be punished for what we do to God, but Jesus took that punishment for us so that we could get a pass. Jesus did it for us so that we could have life, life eternal, life with God. We could be welcomed as sons and daughters into his kingdom. Like this is the power of the gospel and you don't reflect that in your lives, probably because you haven't fully grasped the power of the gospel in your lives. Church, I'm here to tell you, the power of the gospel is the thing that unleashes our goodness and our kindness in the world. The gospel is the truth that Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, died on the cross in our place, thereby taking our punishment for the sins that we deserve. And what we do is we place our faith in Jesus and then God places our sin on him and then looks at us and says we're forgiven. If this doesn't move you, I don't know what will. If this doesn't cause you to sing, I don't know what will. This is the power of the gospel. And if God has forgiven us, how can we not forgive one another? I'm not saying it doesn't take time, I'm not saying it doesn't take prayer, but I'm saying when we truly understand what we've done to God, the sin against God and the fact that He's forgiven us, how can we not live in response to that? Our salvation is not about what we've done, it's about what Jesus has done for us, and that's called grace. And this is the gospel that we get to celebrate and get to be reminded of right now with having communion together. So let me remind you that the gospel is how we get ready. Receiving the gospel is how we get ready, and we're going to do that here and now physically. And so when the truth and love is no longer tolerated, remember, we must be ready. So let's get ready right now by remembering the gospel. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come before you now, we take a moment to prepare our hearts to be reminded again of the beauty and the power of the gospel, that Jesus died in our place. But Lord, what is amazing to be reminded of is that our Savior did not stay dead, that That we don't worship bones and dust in some grave. We worship the living King who sits on the throne here and now. So Father, I pray God that as we are nourished again by the gospel through communion, that it would give us the grace to do the things that your passage is calling us to do. That we live lives of clear distinction and contrast. So that we could show the world something better. So Father, I pray that by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, remind us of the power of the Gospel as we take communion together. We love you and thank you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, August 11, 2024 It Had To Be Said John 2:13-22 Jesus: Lion, Lamb and Temple 2 Overview Main Idea: Sermon Outline: 1) Lion 2) Lamb 3) Temple 3 Pre-Questions Reflection on Identity: Before diving into our discussion, take a moment to consider the different ways Jesus is portrayed in Scripture. What images or characteristics of Jesus come to your mind most readily, and why do you think those stand out to you? Personal Connection: Think about a time when a specific aspect of Jesus’ nature—His strength, gentleness, or presence—made a significant impact on you. How did that experience shape your view of Him? 4 Questions Lion: In what ways do you see Jesus displaying authority and power in your life? How does this aspect of His nature challenge or comfort you? Lamb: How does Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb impact your understanding of grace and forgiveness? Share a time when you’ve experienced His mercy. Temple: What does it mean for Jesus to be the Temple? How does this change your perspective on worship and God’s presence? Personal Reflection: How do these three aspects of Jesus' identity—Lion, Lamb, and Temple—shape your relationship with Him? Which aspect do you feel most connected to, and why? PDF Download

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Avoiding Confusion: Practice Putting It in Writing Leadership Nate Harney Executive Pastor Peace Church Published On: February 21, 2024 Put It in Writing We expect all staff to put things in writing when they are working with other staff members, board members, and volunteers in their ministry areas. We believe that simply telling people things verbally and not following up with a clear and written summary of what was said or decided can lead to confusion and uncertainty. However, when we communicate in writing, we offer maximum clarity and direction for ministry. This honors those we serve with, helps us clarify where we are going, and it honors Jesus because we lead with excellence and transparency. If we rely on only verbal communication and hope people will remember it, we risk missing crucial details and have no way of knowing what was really said. So, we commit to, “Put it in writing!” If we ever wonder, “Is this something I should put in writing?” and are on the fence about it… we will default to putting it in writing just to be sure. Values: Why is this so important and helpful? When things are in writing… We can remember what was communicated. Others have a clear record of what was said or agreed on. We stop unnecessary confusion and potential conflict. There are clear and recorded lines of responsibility. All parties get clarity and if one person has the wrong idea about what was communicated, this clears things up or invites the parties to talk and make sure they are tracking together. Once there is clarity, we put that in writing too. Costs: What can happen if we don’t do this? When things are not in writing… We think our communication was clear, but the other person (or the group) might have heard something entirely different. We simply forget what we said. The other person forgets what was said. Important details get forgotten (and every detail in a church context can impact a person who is loved by Jesus). Implementation: What can I do to get started? Be as brief as possible while communicating with precision and clarity. So don’t write a long message when you can simply send: “I look forward to meeting in my office next Tuesday at 1 pm.” Use the form of communication that is most common and comfortable for that person or group (Text message, e-mail, social media post…) Ask for a response. Suppose you chat with a committed ministry volunteer in the hallway after church, and they say they want to help with Kids Ministry at the 9:00 service next Sunday. You might follow up with a text: Thanks for your willingness to serve in the 3rd grade class this next Sunday at 9:00. I love your heart for kids. I’ll follow up with the details soon. Please send me a thumbs up if you are all good for Sunday. When someone you serve with (staff, board members, church volunteers, anyone) sends you a communication clarifying a meeting time, the commitment you made, or any ministry detail, always respond quickly and clearly. (Even a thumbs-up icon, a “Got it!” or “Thanks,” will work). Putting things in writing can seem unnecessary to some. Others might think that it is a waste of time. The truth is, that you will spend a lot more time and energy cleaning up the messes that come from unclear communication or assumptions made after a verbal conversation. Let’s all commit to using the simple tools of text messages, email, and other ways to put things in writing so we can serve Jesus and His Church in the most effective ways. More Blogs You'll Like How To Conduct Staff Reviews Read More How To Create A Church Budget Read More Four Steps to Manageable Sermon-Writing Read More

PODCAST That's a Good Question Chains of Time: Defining Biblical Slavery May 14, 2024 Jon Delger & Ryan DB Kimmel Listen to this Episode So Hey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc . That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm John, I serve as a pastor as well as part of this show. You can always submit questions to peacechurch.cc /questions. Today, I'm here with Lead Pastor of Peace Church, Pastor Ryan Kimmel. Hello, everyone. I'm also here with Pastor Mitch, our producer. Hey. And today, we're going to address the controversial topic of what does the Bible say about slavery? Yep. All right, here's our listener question. During your Philemon series, you said that the Bible does not support slavery. How can you reconcile that with other passages that instruct people how to treat their slaves or even be slaves like Ephesians 6, 5-9, Colossians 3, 22, Titus 2, verse 9, 1 Peter 2, 18. It seems like the Bible is promoting and teaching slavery. So isn't this an example of not being inspired and not the true holy word of God? I'm eager to hear how you respond to this because this seems like a clear example of the Bible being outdated. So, not just what does the Bible say about slavery but does this mean that the Bible itself is outdated, can't speak to today. Yeah. Isn't from God. Mm hmm. Lots on the line. So, I'm gonna respond firstly by saying that I think we're gonna talk about this question but I want whoever asked that question to know that as you respond, I'm not necessarily responding specifically to that person or I'm not gonna make assumptions or judgments about their faith, doesn't say if they're a Christian or not, they clearly were familiar with our church to the extent that they knew that we preached through the Book of Philemon and that I addressed slavery to that extent. So if you did submit that question, thank you for submitting that question, but please know that we're not, we're gonna answer just biblically with no preconceived notions or judgments upon where the motivation behind that question. I like the Gospel Coalition did an article on this and I like how they framed it. They said something to the effect of biblical instruction doesn't necessarily mean approval. That there's things that the Bible will instruct but doesn't necessarily approve or even to an extent like encourage. I think divorce is an example of that. I think the overarching thrust of the New Testament is that married people should stay married through thick and thin, if you got married in the name of Christ. And although it does provide some instruction for divorce, at times, it gives instruction for it. Instructions on kind of parameters around it without giving a mandated approval of it. And I think when it comes to slavery, there's a lot of parallels to that. Now, one thing that you absolutely must underscore whenever we talk about slavery in the biblical sense is we have to make very clear distinctions between the slavery that the Bible talks about in both the Old and New Testament and what we here in America experience in the 18th, the 17th and 1800s, because it's different. And it's important to make those distinctions. And I know people don't want to make those distinctions. They just want to say slavery is slavery. And I'd say that's a dishonor to those who suffered through the American version of slavery, which I think was uniquely horrendous and demonic. So why is it important to make that distinction? Because it's two different sets of bondage, you could say. Yeah. And that's why even the New Testament, you'll see a lot of the translators will go at great lengths to talk about the agony of translating the biblical words into slavery, knowing the cultural weight that that word carries for Americans and how it taints our understanding of what the Bible instructs and teaches and describes. Yeah, to that point, here's a, I want to just read a quick section. This is actually, so the ESV Bible, the English Standard Version of the Bible, that's the one that we use at Peace Church. Plenty of good translations, but that's the one that we use. And in their preface, they actually address this particular issue, just with, they're talking about their translation in general, but they give the example of talking about slavery and how that's just kind of a hard topic. So they say, a particular difficulty is presented when words in Biblical Hebrew and Greek refer to ancient practices and institutions that do not correspond directly to those in the modern world. Such is the case in the translation of ebed in Hebrew and doulos in Greek, terms which are often rendered slave. These terms, however, actually cover a range of relationships that require a range of renderings, either slave, bond servant, or servant, depending on the context. And then they go on to explain what you're saying, which is that there is a difference between when the Bible uses that word, doulos or ebbed, Old Testament and New Testament, versus, yeah, what we saw in the United States of America in the 1700s and 1800s. Yeah. The other thing that's important to note is not just the slavery, the form of slavery, but the cultural and societal context in which that institution played out. The American, you know, the American landscape of the 1700s and 1800s and how that society was functioning and with that new government, drastically different than what we see under the Romans or under the theocracy of the Old Testament. And how life played out in those contexts were radically different, which is important for when we understand why the Bible teaches what it does in regards to slavery. And so one thing I did appreciate about the question that was asked is that they stuck with New Testament. If you noticed, the question that they asked, they referenced a bunch of verses, but they simply stuck to New Testament. They didn't go to the Exodus 21s and those sort of instructions that we see from the Old Testament. I was going to say, actually, yeah, if you go to Exodus 21, the first 11 verses, I think to modern ears, that's going to be even, that's going to be far more shocking than the stuff you're going to read in the New Testament. Yeah, so it's surprising to me that they didn't go there because I think, I think this person who asked that, they're thinking and they understand, they understand the notion of progressive revelation. And so they stuck with some of the New Testament passages. And so to say, how do we, well, I can't remember exactly how it was phrased. The Bible supports it? I think it was said, how can we say the Bible supports it? And doesn't that prove that the Bible or show that the Bible is outdated? Yeah, it says, how can you reconcile that with other passages that instruct people how to treat their slaves? Yeah. Yeah, it seems like the Bible is promoting and teaching slavery. Yeah, so I would say it's not promoting it. I'm saying it's giving parameters for how Christians are supposed to operate in a society where that is part of the air they breathe. And one thing I said in the Philemon series is for the ancient world, a society that didn't include slavery was almost impossible for them to conceive. And probably something they didn't even attempt to conceive. I put it, I said it's similar to the Ark Society. We can't imagine a society that doesn't have money or a society that doesn't operate or an economy that doesn't operate based on the dollar. So we just have to learn to live with it and we try to make the best of it, even though some of the dangers that come with it. Same goes with slavery. They, that was the society that they were in. And so how do Christians live as good stewards and is the light in those in those environments and if you notice so those are they quoted everything that Paul wrote except for one of the Peter, the one that Peter wrote and I believe Mitch, you can probably check this later. I believe the Peter passage doesn't that's not the do loss isn't the word. Yeah. It's simply servant, which can I think it can mean anything. I think it can be a lot of different things. But when you look at the letters that Paul wrote, when he wrote it to the church, Ephesians and Colossians, that was to a church and those sections on bond servants or slaves is connected to the household instructions. So these were people seen as part of the household. And so as you had due losses, as you had slaves or bond servants in your home, how did you treat them? The instruction is given alongside how husbands and wives are supposed to treat each other and how kids are supposed to operate. So there are, right, there's a notion there that this is part of the family, this is part of the household, and so we're gonna treat them with honor and respect. And then the other ones are Titus and Timothy, was it? Yeah. So Paul's writing to pastors in that one, or church planters. And so he's helping these young, younger pastors, church planters to know how to teach about this part of life. And so again, I think when you see instructions on bond servants or slaves, the American mind, which is very understandably so, but very skewed because of the slavery of our own cultural and history in our country. It's very easy to understand why people come with such a visceral reaction, and the only thing they want to hear is that it's condemned, and that it's bad, and that it's evil. The notion that the Bible would try to describe how to operate in the midst of slavery in that society, we can't get our heads around that because of the scars of our nation's history. And so, yeah, go ahead. If you don't mind, so real quick, just to tie off kind of that loop. So let's talk about the ways that it was different. The ways that slavery in the Bible times was different. Here's one way. These people were stolen and sold into slavery. That's what I was gonna start with. So here's Exodus 21, 16. So the Bible says, whoever steals a man and sells him and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. So the Bible is talking about a world where slavery exists, and even in that world, it says that to steal somebody and put them into slavery, that that was punishable by death. So, let's talk about the ways that people did get into slavery in Bible times. Yeah. You wanna just highlight a couple of those ways? Yeah, I think a typical way was that, if you look at the population of people during the first century, a vast majority of these people are are either poor or, you know, are slaves. Right. And so they the huge contingent of the population. Yeah. Right. So the only options for them were to be day wage laborers, which they were people who ended up getting paid nothing. They couldn't really function. You went into the army if you were a man, or you could become a slave. So you could live in someone's house, you could work for them and work off the debt of living under their house. People voluntarily give themselves to slavery? This was a safe alternative to some of the more horrific avenues that you could go down. It was a form of that in the ancient world. Because they didn't have a government that where you paid taxes and they were gonna give it back to you when you retire to take care of you. There was no social welfare programs like that. This was, and the same goes back for the Old Testament. The same thing, I mean, they didn't have an overarching government that would care for its people. The community had to learn to care for one another. And so people would give themselves in forms of slavery or servitude, servanthood. Yeah, I almost think about like people who have like live-in nannies or like, yeah, yeah, like, you know, obviously it's not as nice and neat and simple as an analogy, but you think about these people who say, OK, you know, I want to have a safe place to live. I want to work. And you end up living in with a family. You know, it's not as like, it probably wasn't as nice as we're making it sound. I mean, there are definitely drawbacks of living in this kind of way. But- Well, even John was, you know, reciting about you can't steal a person and sell them into slavery. That's Old Testament, that's New Testament. The entire enterprise of the American slavery was diametrically opposed to biblical teaching. Yeah. Right, I read one article today that said that, you know, what's been called the transatlantic slave trade, yeah, it was the 1700s, 1800s, that that was unique even in the history of slavery in general in the world, that typically, and the person writing the article had done some research into the history of slavery, that for most of the history of slavery, people were enslaving other people nearby to them, people of the same people group as them. And like you guys outlined, it happened in different ways through, people had to pay off a debt in some way, or had to, one of the examples actually that I read about was parents, they weren't able to afford to take care of their children. So they actually sold their children into slavery, which sounds absolutely horrible. And I'm sure it wasn't great. But I talked about actually that that was a way that they tried to give them a better life. Put them in the hands of somebody else. We see still forms of that through open adoption. When a mother is carrying a child and doesn't believe that she can provide for that child, so she offers that child up for adoption. That's how that forms, that's how it plays out today. And exactly, it was a form of making sure that your child was going to be able to be cared for. It sounds atrocious to us modern, western, enlightened minds, but when you think about the cultural context of society that they grew up in, they had no other, they had no better options. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It was also not uncommon for a slave to own another slave. Like we're looking at fundamentally different types of slavery. And that's why it's hard to translate due laws into slave. Dave carries such cultural weight and scars for the American mind. And so that's why it's important to go back to the context and look at this. But here's just the reality, and John, I know you're probably going to agree with this. If you want to hate the Bible, you can find reasons to hate the Bible. And us coming and trying, and not just trying to, but rightly explaining this, we're not even defending, we're just explaining what the Bible is saying in some of the cultural context, I understand a large contingent of our culture has no tolerance for that. All they want to hear is slavery is bad all the time and if the Bible doesn't say that then the Bible is outdated. You know, if you want to take that shallow of a view, then you're kind of doing the opposite, not the opposite, you're kind of doing a parallel thing that the transatlantic slave traders did. They took a very shallow reading of scripture and used it to support a misapplication of biblical teaching, because I'm sure many from the transatlantic slave trade era would say, hey, the Bible outlines how to treat slaves, so hey, the Bible condones it. What you're seeing today is kind of like the inverse of that, or the opposite of that, parallel to that. If you want to take a very shallow reading of scripture and not try to understand the context from which it was spoken and the eternal truths that it dwells from, then you're always going to hate the Bible anyway. And so that's why it's important for a topic like this, because of the cultural scars we carry, to understand what the Bible is actually saying, because the message is good. We can't impose our worldview onto the text. That always ends up poorly. We have to allow the text to change and rejuvenate our worldview and, you know, work it through that way. And also, I think it helps us to remind us that when we read the thrust of the Bible, and we see it clearly more articulated, I think, as revelations progressively revealed, the goal and focus of our lives is to glorify God wherever we are and to seek to make disciples. That's the number one prerogative for all Christians. Glorify God wherever you are, whatever stage of life you are, and go and seek and make disciples. And whether that means you have a terribly crappy job and your boss treats you like crap, love him, serve well. And then I think that then also what you see then is from the New Testament times in the context of bond servant hood or slavery as we call it, or as it's often translated. Your goal isn't necessarily to go and improve your life, to go and make millions of dollars and now own other slaves. It's whatever context you were in, serve the Lord with all your heart, honor and love those around you, and lift up the name of Jesus. So how would you talk about the way that the New Testament looks at slavery in terms of like the identity of a slave versus how maybe chattel slavery would view and describe the identity of a slave. We'll be right back after this break. Hi, I'm Elizabeth, one of the co-hosts of Mom Guilt, a podcast with new episodes every Monday. Mom Guilt is a podcast about the daily struggles of motherhood. Stephanie and I share real experiences of Mom Guilt and how we have found freedom from that guilt through the gospel. Listen to us on Resoundmedia.cc or wherever you find podcasts. Yeah, chattel slavery treats human beings as property. Yeah. I think that's one of the, one of the just the clear defining factors of what chattel slavery is, is it treats human beings as property. Whereas I think in scripture, We're also just clarified that you're, you, like the slave is owed nothing by the master. Yeah, sure. Versus New Testament and Old Testament. And there's a lot of prerogatives that the master has upon the slave to care for and provide and take care. You don't see that. You don't see that obligation in child slavery. Right? Yeah, the Bible treats the slave as a person, as still a human being made in God's image. They're in a tough situation, but they're a human being made in God's image. They have rights, they have value. In the New Testament, they can be, actually in Philemon's story, for example, they can be seen as a Christian brother or sister. Not as a piece of property. And I think you kind of alluded to this, Ryan, but even in, so in the Old Testament, actually, there's stipulations on the length of servitude for somebody, so here's, I'm just, I've got a long list of references here. I'm just pulling these out as we go. So this is Deuteronomy 15. It says, if your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you for six years. And in the seventh year, you shall let him go free. And, here, let me keep reading. And when you let him go free, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. So it says, if you're gonna have slaves, you can only have them for six years, and when you let them go free, you've got to give them some of your stuff. And it even provides parameters if the slave wants to stay. And I'm not going to do a great exposition on Exodus 21, but the notion here, it just further amplifies the difference between the slavery in the context of biblical times versus our slavery in our history. I know we talked about this before the podcast started, I don't know if we said it within the podcast, but the slavery for the New Testament and Old Testament was not race-based. Yeah. Correct. Did we say that in this podcast? I don't think we said that. Just to also clarify, that's another reason I think that it was especially grievous, is that the American slavery, was it just enslave people simply on the basis of the color of their skin. Yeah. Totally contrary to God's design and God's view of human beings. They're made in God's image regardless of... But also, again, I just want to underscore that the notion that if people want to hate the Bible, if people want to use this as a reason to discredit the Bible, they're going to do it. But for those who actually have an open heart and mind to understand what the Bible's true message is, why this book consistently is the greatest bestseller every single year and will be for all time, is because the message is actually good. And if we're going to be patient enough with an open heart and mind to actually understand what the Bible is trying to say, it's the most beautiful piece of literature, the most beautiful words that were ever written. And yeah, this is hard. This is hard stuff. And I'm not going to say that it's not. But if we take some time and patience to understand the message, the message is ultimately good and it's better than what you can imagine. And again, like I have to constantly stress whenever I do come across this conversation with people, when I say slave, I'm making a clear distinction, in my mind at least, for what the Bible's talking about and what our American experience has been. Yeah, right. And that's what some translations use the phrase bond servant. Yeah, and I get how people are like, oh, you're just trying to change the words of the Bible. It's like, well, no, we're trying to choose words that are accurate in meaning and that you understand. Yeah, represent. Yeah, I think going back to what you said, I think we are asking the wrong question sometimes saying, is this what the Bible says? And therefore the Bible isn't true. I think sometimes, yeah, I think that's the wrong question. I think the question we need to ask is, is Jesus Lord, right? Because if we believe that Jesus is who he says he is, that he died to pay for the sins that we could never pay for, he lived the perfect life that we could never live, if that's the truth, then it doesn't really matter what stipulations the Bible puts on us, right? If the Bible then says you have to hop around the rest of your life on one foot, right? That's not just, but it's, you know, it's Jesus is Lord. There was a Francis Chan analogy once, wasn't it? Didn't he say, if the Bible said that all—he's an Asian man— he said, if the Bible said that all Asian men must walk around on their hands for all their lives, then that's what I want to do. Yeah, he's just making the point that, obviously, the Bible doesn't say that and isn't going to say something crazy because God is a God of logic and, you know, His rules make sense. But the point is that, yeah, Jesus is Lord, God is in control. So if we start with the assumption that, hey, God is the creator, he's the king, he's the one in charge, his word is simply what we're gonna do. Yeah. I once heard someone say something to the effect of that, the Christian message is acid upon the institution of slavery, that it will eventually slowly degrade it, erode it, into kill it. Slavery actually can't exist permanently in the Christian context, because there won't be that in heaven. And so that's why you see, as Christianity continues to take hold over the world, you see that, it should, you see the slavery decrease, which is why all the abolitionists, the champions of that movement were Christians. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah, it is it can be confusing because the Bible isn't super clear right but and even at times Jesus talks about our our state with him being like slaves to him being owned by him, which isn't isn't a again a champion of of chattel slavery, but it is a identity marker of like well, who do you belong to? That would have been a really easy thing for people to understand. Well, it's like this, do you own your children? You know, like that sort of like notion, like I don't think we're comfortable using that language, but they have to do what I say, I take care of them. They don't provide me an income, you know, like they're wholly dependent on me. I'm wholly responsible to provide for them. There's that similar to like, are we meant to be slaves of righteousness? Yes, are we God's children? Yes, those things are the same I think it's the idea of you know who are you a slave to your sin or to God right and right the idea of like? Who do you want to be owned by like? You're gonna have a master right? You can't serve two of them, correct? And you know the back to Philemon Paul wrote Philemon. Yeah about about Onesimus, who was a runaway slave who was owned by Philemon. Onesimus runs away from Philemon, comes to Christ under Paul's ministry. Paul sends him back to the master he ran away from with this letter, saying, welcome this guy back as a brother, not as a slave. Yeah, so it's an important topic, I think, for Christians to be aware of in today's world. These kind of conversations are coming up, I think, more and more as we talk about some of the issues in the United States of America about race and even reparations and all those kind of conversations. So I think it's important for Christians to understand what the Bible does say about slavery and how Christians should think about it. And I think, hopefully, you've gathered some important principles. Number one being that there is a huge difference between the ancient Middle Eastern, the biblical history context of slavery versus what we saw in the 1700s and 1800s on slavery. Yeah, it's kind of like polygamy, right? The Bible doesn't necessarily come down against polygamy. It's not part of the created order. Correct, but you read the Bible and you understand that what the Bible's message is saying is saying you can't be doing this right same with slavery. You can't we can't be doing this All descriptions and stories of polygamy in the Bible are just atrocious right it never paints it in a positive light. Yeah Again, I just again like I just want to recap and just say like if you want to use this as a reason to hate the Bible and You can do that as long as you don't think deeply or investigate truly The message of the Bible in the context from which it was written. But for those who want to have an open heart and mind, I think you'll come to see that what the Bible says about this is actually pretty amazing. Hard, definitely hard, especially for us Western enlightened Americans. It's a hard teaching, but if we look at the truth of the scripture and the beauty of the Christian message, it's one we should all embrace. Amen. Awesome. Well, thanks guys for the great conversation. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for sending in the question. You can always send in more questions at peacechurch.cc /questions. You can listen to That's a Good Question wherever you find podcasts.

What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Theology Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Published On: December 20, 2024 It’s routine every year at Christmastime – you set out the Nativity set and check to see if anything is missing: Mary - check. Joseph - check. Multi-Ethnic Wisemen - check. Shepherd(s) - check. Sheep, camel - check. Angel - check. Baby Jesus - check. Little Drummer Boy - ummm, not part of the biblical story, but sure - check. If your nativity set is anything like mine, you likely have all those familiar pieces (well, except for the little drummer boy). The infamous Nativity Scene, though common in Christian households during Christmastime, is not actually Biblical — at least not in the sense that all those well-known characters were present at the same time, surrounding and adoring Baby Jesus. While all the characters represent true Biblical accounts of the birth and early childhood of Christ, the Nativity Scene as it is typically displayed never actually happened. It's a conglomeration of various stories brought together into a festive decoration. What's Missing? What is often missing from many nativity scenes, however, is something truly powerful, yet perplexing: the star. The infamous Star of Bethlehem, mentioned only in Matthew chapter 2, which guided the wisemen to the newborn king. Too many nativity scenes fail to display this remarkable element of the birth narrative. Does yours have one? But what actually was the so-called "Star of Bethlehem"? There are really three possibilities: It was supernatural. Meaning, this event was something miraculous and spiritual, and therefore unknowable and unrepeatable, something to be appreciated as a true once-in-the-moment miracle that helped to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. It was superstition. Meaning, it wasn't something out of astronomy, but rather astrology; that the wisemen followed a normal astrological occurrence in the night sky that they interpreted as symbolic due to their spiritualism or pagan faith. This understanding of the Star of Bethlehem means there was no unique event in the cosmos, but it also means that it doesn't assert something about the star that contradicts cosmological history. It was scientific. Meaning, it was a true (even if isolated or rare) event or object in the universe which was observable to the human eye. While a miracle is a wondrous explanation, I have to admit, the pursuit of a scientific explanation intrigues me...and there may be some validity to it. But before we begin to discover what the star was, let's first remind ourselves of the story of the star. Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11 ESV (1) Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, (2) saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” (9) After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. (10) When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. (11) And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. For such a famous part of the Christmas story, there is surprisingly little about the star in the biblical account, but that is not to say there isn’t great insight to be mined from this passage. Miracle, Myth, Meteor? Identifying What "The Star" Truly Was The first thing we must consider is if this event was a tried-and-true miracle. As noted, if this was a supernatural event, then we are content to leave it as just that: A powerful miracle of God, unknowable and unrepeatable; undocumented with any other credibility outside the Bible and something to be celebrated and revered as a momentary act of God, leading men from outside Judea to come and worship the newborn King, that they may be the first global missionaries to take the news of Christ’s birth outside of Judea. If this is the true explanation, I am joyful to celebrate it at Christmas as just that, by enjoying the wonder of such a beautiful miracle. But – what if it wasn’t that? What if it was something more… natural? Clues In The Context When it comes to identifying this " star " as something in the universe observable in the ancient middle east night sky, we must take note of the clues given in the text: Clue 1: It rose in the east. When the wisemen say they saw " his star when it rose " (verse 2), how it is stated in the original text is " we saw his star in the east ." This denotes a morning star, an important note if we want to trace and find the origins of this occurrence in the records of history. Clue 2: It appears over numerous nights. Verse 9 continues, “After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them…” The star that they had seen and had led them to Judea, appears again after their court with King Herod. Meaning, the star was seen over multiple nights. Clue 3: It appears to move unlike other celestial bodies. Another clue is that there also appears to be motion associated with the star. As verse 9 states in the biblical narrative record, the star " went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was .” Clue 4: The timeframe of the star must be near the birth or very early childhood of Christ. It’s important to narrow down the timeframe of Christ’s birth if we are to look to astronomical records to determine the identity of the star. The accepted timeframe of the birth of Christ is dated using three important markers from the Bible and history: The death of King Herod is said to have happened in 4 B.C. The Roman census (ordered by Caesar Augustus in relation to the time of Quirinius serving as Governor of Syria, Luke 2:1-2) is believed to have taken place in roughly 6 B.C. Dating the life of Christ based on the start of his ministry, and his death during Passover. Luke 3 records that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” ( Luke 3:23 ) when he started his ministry - and earlier Luke records this start is near or shortly after the time of the start of John the Baptist’s ministry which was in the “fifteenth year of Caesar Tiberius” ( Luke 3:1 ) which is dated to be 29 A.D. Using these markers, the accepted timeframe for the Birth of Christ is between 6 B.C. and 2 B.C. The reason Jesus’ birth doesn’t line up perfectly with the B.C. and A.D. distinction is based on the miscalculation of the year of his birth by monk Dionysius Exiguus who lived between the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., and who came up with the B.C./A.D. separation of the calendar we now use the world over. Clue 5: The wiseman themselves! Knowing the wisemen were from the East, and were given the biblical term of magi ( μάγος , wise men, magician; related to the Old Persian " magush ," referring to a member of a priestly caste), this leads us to believe with little doubt the wisemen were Zoroastrians from Persia; a people who were obsessed with studying the stars of the sky, both in terms of the myth of astrology, and its deep connection with the scientific study of astronomy. Given these clues, is it possible to posit and even determine in actuality what the star was? Again, if it was truly a miracle, then it should be left and celebrated as that for there is nothing else to be known, but given that we have some important clues in our text that could lead us to believe it was something else, let's investigate the two remaining alternatives: Astrology or Astronomy. Astrology: Pagan, But Perhaps Right This Time? While this is the least likely option, it is plausible. This theory is that the Star of Bethlehem was a routine star (or planet) in the night sky and that astrology (the myths and superstitions) of the wisemen led them to believe during that time that it was symbolic of something special happening in Jerusalem. There is no way to validate this, but to take this approach means that God allowed their astrology to be “right” in the sense that their interpretation of the sky led them to the true birth of the King. Again, if this is the true interpretation, it makes it nearly impossible to know what “star” they were referring to. If the answer is that God, in His providence, did allow the pagan belief of astrology to lead the wisemen to the newborn King using the guidance of a routine occurrence in the night sky, then again, we give praise and thanks to God for adding this detail in the Scripture. But again, details given in the text seemingly point to something more than that. Admitting this, we turn to the science of astronomy to see if an answer lies there. Astronomy: Searching The Historical Night Sky By the astronomical records of the ancients and by retracing the paths of stars and planets using modern science, we can know a lot about the events of the observable universe in the distant past. Because of this, there are things we can rule out and things we can seriously consider. For instance, we know Halley's Comet was visible on Earth in 12 B.C. , but there are a number of reasons to rule this out as "the Star of Bethlehem": 12 B.C. is outside the accepted timeframe of Christ's birth. The path of Halley's Comet in the sky does not line up with the details listed in the biblical account. The same can be said for other occurrences such as meteors (shooting stars). Comets were seen as bad omens in the world of antiquity, ruling out all comets. We can also rule out novas and supernovas, not only because during this time there are no historical records giving confirmation of this, but primarily because the "path" the wisemen would have taken does not line up with the movement of how the glow of a supernova would have behaved in the sky. (Side note: Chinese astronomers do record a nova-event in 185 B.C. ) The Stars Align With ruling out comets, meteors, and supernovas, there is another option: The aligning of stars, or more technically: the conjunction of planets and stars . What does astronomy say about this option? Quite a lot, actually! It's important to note that the wisemen did not visit Jesus on the very night of his birth, but rather they visited him sometime after, maybe even months or years; the Scriptures say, “ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother ( Matthew 2:11 ). Note, the word used was “child” ( παιδίον; child, little one ), rather than “baby” ( βρέφος; infant, child in arms ). So, as we consider the timeframe of Christ’s birth and/or His very early life, there were three key planetary alignments that would have been a unique sight in the night sky, which all happened within this timeframe: On June 17, 2 B.C. there was a conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and Regulus (a star in the constellation Leo). On August 12, 3 B.C. there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus visible in the early dawn sky. On April 17, 6 B.C. there was a conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, the vernal equinox, the sun, and the moon within the constellation Aries. The favored of these three is the last one (an event so rare that it won't happen again until 16,213 A.D., minus the vernal equinox). This event is also purported to be commemorated on a Roman coin minted in Antioch ! The further significance of these events is found in the retrograde motion of their path in the night sky, which line up nicely with the Biblical narrative because this retrograde motion is not normally the path taken by planets visible in the sky. The rising in the east and following it until it came to rest over where the child was is a critical detail for determining if this was an astronomical event. Faith In The Story In truth, we may not know with exact specificity which of these events it was, if any of them, but what we see from the Biblical narrative, historical records, and astronomical archives is the undeniable plausibility of the Star of Bethlehem being a true historical and astronomical event! For me, this is as exciting as if it was a miracle of heaven. For the Star of Bethlehem to have been a true event in the cosmos, we must realize that this would have required God to orchestrate the stars, planets and constellations to follow a very specific and timed path since the creation of the universe, so that they would align in accordance with the birth and early life of Jesus Christ! How truly amazing it is to consider the scope of this! Putting The Star Back In The Nativity Whatever the star was, it was something truly amazing that God ordained to have happened – and so may that deepen your belief in the goodness, power, and sovereignty of God! May this short analysis and investigation of the Star of Bethlehem inspire you not only to include the star in your nativity set, but may it also deepen your faith in Him who is the focus of your nativity scene: Jesus Christ, the newborn King and the Son of God, whose birth was heralded by angels, worshiped by wise men, and adorned by the celestial. References and Resources: www.britannica.com Magus | Zoroastrianism, Priests, Rituals | Britannica Magus, member of an ancient Persian clan specializing in cultic activities. The name is the Latinized form of magoi (e.g., in Herodotus 1:101), the ancient Greek transliteration of the Iranian original. From it the word magic is derived. It is disputed whether the magi were from the beginning www.space.com What was the Star of Bethlehem? The Star of Bethlehem probably wasn't a star. www.nd.edu Royal Beauty Bright Grant Mathews, director of the Center for Astrophysics at Notre Dame, uses his expertise to identify the star of Bethlehem that the Bible says announced the birth of Jesus www.britannica.com List of comets | Comets, Astronomy, Space | Britannica Comets are a class of small celestial objects orbiting the Sun and developing diffuse gaseous envelopes and often long luminous tails when near the Sun. The comet makes a transient appearance in the sky and is often said to have a “hairy” tail. The word comes from the Greek komētēs, meaning “hairy www.britannica.com Herod | Biography, Facts, Reign, Temple, & Jesus | Britannica Herod, Roman-appointed king of Judea (37-4 BCE), who built many fortresses, aqueducts, theaters, and other public buildings but who was the center of political and family intrigues in his later years. The New Testament portrays him as a tyrant, into whose kingdom Jesus of Nazareth was born. www.nasa.gov Oldest Recorded Supernova - NASA This image combines data from four space telescopes to create a multi-wavelength view of all that remains of RCW 86, the oldest documented example of a supernova. www.history.com A Brief History of Halley’s Comet | HISTORY The famous comet named for astronomer Edmond Halley only passes by the Earth roughly once every 76 years, but it’s appearances have often played a surprising role in historical events. tyndalehouse.com Was Luke wrong about the census of Quirinius? David Armitage explores the widely debated issue of how we reconcile Luke's account of Jesus' birth with other historical writing that seems to contradict it. www.patternsofevidence.com Warnings in the Sky: Anniversary of the Star | Patterns of Evidence On this day in 2 BC, a rare planetary conjunction took place which may relate to Matthew's account of the Magi coming to Jesus in Bethlehem. www.smithsonianmag.com What Was the Star of Bethlehem? Who better to ask than the Vatican? www.coinworld.com 12 Days of Christmas: Ancient coin shows Star of Bethlehem www.biblicalarchaeology.org When Was Jesus Born—B.C. or A.D.? New Testament scholars place Jesus’ birth in 4 B.C. or before. This begs the question: How could Jesus have been born in B.C.—“before Christ”? www.biblestudytools.com Why Was There a Roman Census at Jesus' Birth in the Bible? Luke 2:1 is the traditional starting point for the Christmas story of Jesus' birth: “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” So how did a Roman census lead to the fulfillment of prophecy and one of the most beloved stories of all time? That’s what we’re here to explore. More Blogs You'll Like Do the Resurrection Accounts Contradict? How differences in the Gospel accounts strengthen rather than undermine the credibility of the resurrection Read More What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Miracle, Myth, or Meteor? Identifying What the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Truly Was Read More Is The Bible Really Without Error? A Closer Look at Scripture’s Reliability, Inerrancy, and Historical Trustworthiness Read More

The Fight Is Now Sermon Series: Contender Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Jude 1-4 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all of our hearts, amen and amen. So we're here, we're gathering as a church. And I know not everyone is, but many of us are Christians. And that means we're part of what God is doing in this world, or at least we're meant to. And I'll tell you this, Christianity is trying to do something remarkable in this world. Not only are we trying to convince the world that there's a God in heaven, but that he also loves us and wants to save us from our sins. And we're trying to do this for a world that loves darkness over light, a world that loves their pride more than righteousness, a world that in their hearts have already rejected a God that they don't even know. Or to put it another way, what we're trying to do is we're trying to unify the world around the kingship of Jesus Christ who was risen from the dead after he died for our sins on the cross. That's why we gather, that's why we come together to worship and be built up so that we can go out and do this. Now, as you can imagine, the problems facing the task for the church are actually quite immense. On the one hand, we have our very own flesh that works against us, that works against God's plan in us. We have the ways of the world, just the rhythm of the world that's opposed to the things of God. Add to this, we also have a very real enemy in the demonic forces. Because I don't know if you know this, but the world is not just stuff. There is more than what you can just see with your eyes. There is a good thing happening in this world, and there is a spiritual evil happening in this world. And we have all three of those things working against the mission of the church. But yet we are still called to contend for the faith, even as opposition arises. Amen? Amen. But I'll tell you this, of all the problems that Christianity and the church face in our global mission, some of the worst problems come from within. And I think Jesus knew this was going to happen. That's why in his final prayer, right before he went to the cross, do you know what the main thesis of his final prayer was, was for unity among his believers. It was for unity among the church that we'd be one in both his love and his truth. But ever since the earliest days of Christianity, people have been twisting the faith into something that was not meant to be, something they wanted to be, rather than what Christ intended it to be. And the book of Jude confronts this head on. So would you go ahead and turn to the book of Jude, I'll give you a clue. It's the second to the last book of the Bible. Go ahead and turn to Jude. If you want to use the Bibles we provided, that's on page 1308, because as we are called to contend, what Jude is going to remind us of today is this, that the fight is now. It's not later, it's not after you graduate high school, it's not when you're older, it's not when your kids are out of the house, the fight is now. 1308 is the page if you want to use the Bibles we provided. As we are going to see today, Jude's call to contend for the faith. Now we'll talk about the man Jude in just a moment, but this is a letter that he wrote. We don't know the exact context, but it seems to be an open letter to all Christians, maybe a little special emphasis on Hebrew Christians, Jewish people who had come to faith in Jesus, but either way, Jude writes to give us some important principles about what it means to fight, or the word he uses, contend, to contend for the faith, even as opposition arises, and even as we face some of that from within our own ranks. Now, if you're there, you probably noticed that Jude is a short letter. There's no chapters, there's only verses. And today we're going to look at verses one to four. So hopefully you are there now. With that, I would ask that if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word? Would you hear the word of the Lord, the letter of Jude, verses one to four. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. This is God's Word. Remain standing. Let's pray. We'll continue. Let's pray. Father of glory, we ask on this day that you would help us to know your word more fully, that we might fight the right fight, the one that's right before us, that we'd contend for the faith. So please, would you send the Holy Spirit to continue to lead and guide us here and now, for it's in Jesus' name that we pray these things. And everyone said, amen, amen. Go ahead and have a seat. All right, I have to ask, when we talk about Jude, who immediately thought of the Beatles song, Hey Jude? Let me see. I just wanted to see who's old in the house. Some of the Gen Zers are like, what are the Beatles? So as we kick off this series, let me give you one main thought to get us through this passage here today, and it's this. That we are to contend for the faith because the fight is now. The fight is now. I'm no longer a youth pastor, but in my days when I was a youth pastor, you'd be surprised, or maybe you wouldn't be surprised, how many teenagers said they loved Jesus, but they also said they'd get serious about their faith later. I'm here to tell you then then with all due respect you don't love Jesus. You love the idea of Jesus but if Jesus is somebody that you say you know and you also get at the same time put off till later then you don't know Jesus. We are called to contend because the fight is now. Let me say it again for those in the back. We contend for the faith now now This letter starts out like most ancient letters It begins with the author and his title the passage starts off like this by saying verse 1 Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. That's not who was written to that's who it was written by So I know that probably many of us don't immediately see it But Jude Jude or actually probably his Hebrew Aramaic name was probably more like Judah but Jude was a brother of Jesus Christ a blood brother of Jesus the gospel tells us that Jesus had four brothers and Jude's here says that he is the brother of James who's James there's no qualifiers given because this is the one and only James who is the current leader of the church based out of Jerusalem who was also the brother of Jesus, making Jude as well. But did you notice that Jude is so humble? He doesn't call himself the brother of Jesus. He calls him his servant. This shows us a lot, not just about Jude's character, but about the tone of the letter that we're about to read. It's genuine, it's humble. He is not saying, hey, listen to me because I'm Jesus' brother, y'all. He's like, I'm like you. I serve Jesus. So let's talk about how we can live out our faith more fully. Because I have to say this to you, it's amazing how well a conversation can go with people when you level with them, rather than immediately trying to exert your authority. Jude comes out and he does have authority. He's the brother of the Savior of the world. But he says, I'm his servant. Now listen, Jude has some strong words for Christians, but he starts by acknowledging that he is a servant of Christ, but also by offering up words of blessing. Verse 2, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. What a beautiful blessing. Remember that, because we'll be using that during this series. So now that the introductions are set and the tone is now set, we'll see how these opening verses of Jude calls us to contend for the faith and to do so with a sense of urgency that is lost among many American Christians. Jude says there's something real going on and we need to attend to it right now by contending for the faith. He tells us to be unified, to be aware, and to be holy. Unified, aware, and holy. Let's look at the first one. The fight is now, so we are to be unified. It is very simple. It is very, very simple. The church is to be unified. Jesus himself said a house divided cannot stand. As a pastor, I will tell you now that my strongest words are not for lost sinners. My strongest words are for Christians who sow discord in the church. Jude, following his brother's call, Jesus' call, he wants unity. In verse 3, listen to how Jude appeals to their shared faith and their unified beliefs for the grounds of his letter. He addresses them as beloved, reminding them that they are objects of God's love. Christians, this is a just an aside. When we come here and we worship and we declare that we love God, did you know that if you are a believer and God loves you, that when we stand here and worship and we declare our great love for God, do you know that God has also declared his great love for you? You are an object of God's love. So he addresses them as beloved. Verse three, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. So Jude is first like, hey, I first wanted to write and just talk about how awesome Jesus is and how much we love him together. That's what I wanted to write, but there's something going on right now that I need to address, so listen to what I have to say. But before he does that, he starts with the unity that Christians are supposed to have. In verse three, if you notice, he talks about our common salvation and our faith once delivered. Our common salvation, referring to our common Savior, Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead. And then Jude says that we are content for the faith, if you have your Bibles make sure you see this here, content for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Saints just simply meaning fellow Christians. Uh-oh, modern day Christians. The faith that was once for all delivered to the faith. We are to have the same faith that Jude had. The faith does not change. It does not change based on culture. It does not change based on new societal norms or scientific discovery. We have the one faith, the true faith, that was handed down from Jesus himself to the apostles to the early church, which has now been in succession up until now. We don't get to change the faith because we think we're so enlightened. It is the one faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. We are to have the same ethics, same theology, and same as Jesus. And our fight for the faith will fail if we are not unified in this. So, let me say something here that may be a little scandalous for some people. This is why I think creeds and confessions are a good thing for the church. Not because they replace Scripture, hear me, they do not. Not because they're perfect, they most certainly are not. But what they do is they help ensure that the proper way to understand scripture is passed down through the ages. Because the Bible and the scripture is a lot like numbers. You can make numbers say anything you want them to say, whether or not it's the actual real answer. And with the Bible, you can pull things out of context and you can certainly misapply his teachings, especially around love. That is one of the biggest ways that our current culture, especially modern day Christians, are twisting the gospel is that we are misrepresenting what God's love truly is and how we are to love others. You can make numbers say whatever you want to do if you ignore the equations, and you can make the Bible say whatever you want if you ignore the context. But creeds and confessions, what they do is they help to ensure that the true and pure message of scripture doesn't get warped by heretical teachers, by changing times, or new generational trends. At Peace Church, we hold, this is the set of creeds that we hold too, it's called the Three Forms of Unity. Hatterberg Catechism, Belgic Confessions, and Canons of Door. Again, not because they're perfect and not because they replace scripture. They are subservient to scripture. They're not perfect, the scriptures are, but they are helpful tools to guide the teachings of the Bible through the church into the generations that are to come when pastors and elders change hands to the next generations. We need to be unified in what we believe about our common salvation so that we can contend for the unchanging faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints. But before we move on, I need to ask an obvious question. What does it actually mean to contend for the faith? Well, I think the answer lies in the word contend. Surprise, surprise. So, Bible study time. Despite the English word contend being used twice in Jude, the original Greek word that Jude uses here is a word that we only find once throughout the original manuscripts of the Bible. Here's the definition. The Greek word, the Greek verb that Jude uses for contend describes, listen to these words, it describes vigorous and determined effort, a struggle or contest, it conveys the idea of striving with intent, focus and dedications. Okay Christians in the house, let me challenge you for a moment. Don't let me challenge you, challenge yourself. Do any of those words describe your faith? Vigorous, determined, striving with intent focus. I think it is both safe and sad to say that many Christians are not contending for the faith. They're comfortable in the faith. Or worse, they're complacent. And this is why Jude, before anything else, he's calling us to stand unified, and then he's gonna call us to mission and call us to address the problem, which he does here now. He goes on to identify the immediate problem. This is the second thing. The fight is now, so we need to be aware. Yes, be unified, it's mission critical. We will not succeed if we are not unified, but we need to be awake to what's happening. And here's where the Bible begins to say things that I think are increasingly offensive to our modern ears. So my friends, here's your trigger warning. Let's look at the first part of verse four. If you're unfamiliar with the Bible, when we say 4a or 4b, we're talking about the first part of the scriptures. So verse 4a is the first part of verse 4. It says this, for certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of God. And so we are now getting to the crux of the matter for why Jude has written his letter. We must wake up and contend for the faith. Did I read this right? Because ungodly people have crept in. Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. Jude, I thought the church was supposed to be a hospital for the broken, not a museum for the saints. Shouldn't we welcome ungodly people were coming to church. We want that to happen. Amen. We want lost sinners. We want people who don't know God to come into the church to hear the gospel message and to believe in the name of Jesus. We want that to happen. That's not what Jude is referring to here. There's a deeper problem. When Jude says people who have crept in, he's not talking about people who just come and attend church. Everyone's welcome to do that. He's talking about people who call themselves Christians and who are part of the church, maybe even leaders or teachers. The problem is that these people have begun to pervert the grace of God. That is as Jude will describe. They're using grace as an excuse to satisfy and sanction sin. And Jude is like, if you lose grace, you've lost it all. Even if the people who are doing it call themselves Christians. He's saying we need to contend for the faith, the faith that was delivered all. Because there's people who are within our ranks who are twisting the faith. So we need to be aware. But let me just say one thing real quick. He's not saying, therefore go on a witch hunt and find out who the heretics are. I think the first call is to look in the mirror and make sure that you're not one of those. Because the notion here, as we'll get into this letter, the notion here is that what was increasingly being shown is that there was a massive disconnect between what people people said they believed and how they lived. Meaning, meaning Sunday morning there were one type of person and then on the job site there were another type of person. Meaning they were one type of person at church, another type of person online. This is not a call to go on a witch hunt. This is the first to call to reflect in the mirror and then ensure that the faith is being made pure among all. But take note of Jude's word choice here. Ungodly people who pervert the grace of God. Now pervert is a strong word here, and it does lean into the nuance of what Jude says is happening, but the word simply means to change the position of something, to reinterpret. What had happened is there were people in the church who were taking grace and they were misapplying it, they were reinterpreting, they were changing its position of what it means. So what is grace? Great question. Very simply, I'd say it like this. Grace is how you are saved. You are saved by grace. Grace is getting what we do not deserve salvation but God gives it to us he graces it to us through our faith in Jesus Christ this is the gospel my friends that when we call upon the name of Jesus and believe that he rose from the dead we are saved not because God owes us or because we found some magic formula but because Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place paying for our sin and when we believe God chooses, graces us to apply Christ's sacrifice to our debt of sin. This is grace. It's God's gift to us. It calls us out of our sin and into a living relationship with the living God where Christ has now become the Lord of our life, leading us into the life that God has designed for us, how we are to live both before him and in our relationship with him. But what these people were doing was taking grace, taking God's love and forgiveness, and using it as an excuse to remain in their sin, as a license to do whatever they wanted. They were perverting grace into an excuse to sanction whatever they desired, what God called sin. It's almost like they were saying, we're saved by grace, therefore we can do whatever we want because God loves us. It's almost like they were saying, Jesus loves us just where we are at and exactly how we are, or how we might say it today, Jesus loves me for me, and there's nothing about me that needs to change. You're not gonna find that in the Bible anywhere. This is what worldly and ungodly people say. We think because God loves and forgives, that means we can do whatever we want, and therein lies the problem. So again, rather than going on a witch hunt, let's first look in the mirror. Let's first be aware of our own life and actions to make sure that our life and our doctrine line up. Because people who call themselves Christians need to be pursuing holiness, and that's the last thing we'll look at. The fight is now, so we need to be holy. The verse finishes, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know we have kids in the room and I'm thankful for it, so I'll try to keep this PG. Here's the definition of what the Bible means by sensuality, edited for audience purposes. The word refers to unrestrained, shameless behavior, often associated with sexual excess or moral depravity. In the New Testament, it's people who give themselves to their own personal desires rather than giving themselves to God's Holy Spirit. And Jude is saying there are people like that within the church. And it shows because their lives do not align with a true faith that was handed down once for all. So here's the rub and here's the truth bomb and here's something that I'll probably get some emails about. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is a Christian. Pastor Ryan, you can't say that. That's way too judgmental of you. Okay, then you tell me what else we can derive from this passage. Because it's not just that they've twisted grace, but by doing so, they've even as the passage continues, they've denied our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. How can a person say they're a Christian and also deny Jesus as Lord? There's two ways actually. The first is when they call themselves a Christian, but they don't live for Christ. If you are a Christian, that means Jesus is your master and Lord. You live for him. That's what it means to be a Christian. Christian just means a little Christ, that he is our Lord and Master. But also, the other way, maybe a shock to people here, particularly in Peace Church, because we're so innocent here. But there's a fair amount of people who openly say they are a Christian and openly say they do not believe Jesus is the Lord. In 2022, so pretty recently, in 2022, Ligonier Ministries found that 43% of professing evangelicals, 43% agreed with this statement, Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. That's almost half. If that's a shock to you, hate to break it to you, but you live in a bubble. That is the state of Christianity in this world. That's why we take so seriously what we're doing here at Peace Church. Half, nearly half of professing Christians are like, sure, Jesus was a great moral teacher, but he's not Lord or God. You see, my friends, this is what happens when a generation stops going to church. This is the fruit of that. When parents chose other things, when families didn't make church a priority, this is what happens. And we should not be surprised at all. When we stop going to church to hear the word preached, when we stop seeking the Spirit, when we stop training our kids in the way of righteousness and holiness, when we abandon the faith once delivered all to the saints. This is what happens when we stop contending for the faith, that vigorous determination. The question before us is painfully obvious. Parents and grandparents, are you teaching your kids to contend for the faith? Dads, do you understand that your house is a training ground for faith? Do we teach our kids to contend for the faith or do we teach them to cherry pick the faith? You know what cherry pickers are, right? They'll pick and choose what commandments and teachings of Jesus they want to honor and obey. They'll talk about his love. Oh, we love to talk about his love, but we will not even come close to engaging his call to repent. They'll love Jesus' words against religious people, but completely ignore the fact that Jesus also calls out the crowds. We don't get to cherry pick which teachings of Jesus we are to follow. Jesus calls us to pick up our cross and follow him. We are called to contend. I don't know about you, but I will trust my life with the one who saved my soul. So my friends, where are you? Comfortable, complacent, or contending. I don't know if you've ever been in a fight, but it's kind of an all-or-nothing thing. When you are in a fight, there's not a part of you that's not engaged in what's going on. When we are called to contend for the faith, it is a all-or-nothing endeavor. There's no cherry-picking, there's no half-heartedness. To contend for the faith takes our entire body, our entire spirits. So do you contend for the faith? Do your words and actions contend for or against the faith once delivered for all? See, we live in a world... I wonder if I should include this part, but I'm just going to. We live in a world where people post their lives online for all to see. Where we go on vacation, when our kids go to prom, what we had for lunch, what we believe about immigration. I'm simply asking you, what are you showing the world? By all means, by all means, share good memories. My son turns 10 today. You better believe I'll be posting pictures of him online. By all means, share good memories. But I'm telling you, there is too much going on in this world for Christians to do anything other than contend for the faith here and now. To show how faith informs every aspect of our lives, that we are contending for the faith, not just living comfortable lives. I'm thankful for the comforts that we have in this world. But some of us, that's become the very trap that keeps us from contending for our faith. This is the time to stand and to hold fast to what matters most. So may you contend for the faith because the fight is right now. It's happening here now in your homes, in the world, outside your doors. It's time to contend, to be all in. Contend for the faith because the fight is now. And before we close up, let me just recognize one thing. I know many of you, I know many of you would say, I don't have the strength to fight right now. And let me just say something to you with pastor, pastorly love. You never have the strength to do this. Whether your life is terrible or terrific, you don't have the strength to do this. This is why we have to call on the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the name of Jesus Christ. That's where we get our strength to contend. That's where we get our focus. You think he's gonna call you to do this and then leave you alone in the battle. He is right there. He is your strength. Many of us, we just, we fall to our sin without even putting up a fight, without even calling on the name of Jesus. Trust in the promises of God. Trust in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and trust in the power of the name of Jesus. Amen? Because we need to contend because the fight is right now. Amen. power of the name of Jesus. Amen? Because we need to contend because the fight is right now. Amen. Amen.

PODCAST That's a Good Question Paradise Explored: Biblical Insights on Heaven April 21, 2024 Jon Delger & Cheyenne Werner Listen to this Episode So Hey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc . That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm Jon, I serve as a pastor as well as part of this show. You can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc/questions . Today I'm here with Cheyenne. Hey Cheyenne. Hey, good to be here. Cheyenne is our Women's Ministry Director at Peace Church, and we get to talk together about heaven. We're in the midst of a sermon series at Peace Church called The Church Never Preaches On. This is one of the topics in that series. Over the next several weeks, we're going to get to grab some of the questions that we don't get to cover in the sermons and still cover those because people send in just some awesome questions. So, we'll be doing a little bit of that, talking about heaven. Cheyenne, you ever talk to your kids about the afterlife? It seems like we talk about it often. I've gotten questions. One that I remember my daughter asking when she was four was, how does the box get to heaven? The box? The box, yes. And at first I was trying to think, is there a box in Revelation? I'm trying to think through, and what she meant by the box was the casket. Her understanding was that God just takes the whole box up to heaven. And so, yeah, no, it's good to have these conversations. I feel like we have these conversations quite often with the kids, but I will tell you one more story that made me realize that we need to continue having more conversations because they might not be getting all of it. So good that we're having this conversation today as well. Recently and my kids are eight and 10, so this was kind of like, oh man, shocking to me. Recently I realized that my kids thought that Satan was the king of hell. Oh, yeah. And it was a common misconception. Yeah, I guess I didn't realize how common it was and that we hadn't clarified like, no, no, no, Satan does not want to go to hell. Like this is his eternal punishment. And so we had to clarify a few things there. Yeah, yeah, he's being punished there as well. But in the cartoons and stuff, he's the guy with the pitchfork and presides over the whole ordeal. Yeah. So it's good to have these conversations and not that this conversation is in particular about hell, but good to clarify our understanding of heaven as well. Yeah, totally. Yeah, we're going to talk about the good place instead of the bad place today. Other episodes that we talk about the bad place, but yeah, so talk about heaven. A handful of questions. We're gonna kind of move through these rather quickly because there are several, but excited to get to tackle these. So first question, here it is. After a billion years in heaven, won't we get bored? You know, this is one that my son, who is very energetic and is always asking, this is the kind of question that he asks me all the time. And he probably gets frustrated with my answer, but I tell him never, never. We will never get bored. I tell him, think of the most exciting thing here on earth. And that's just a taste of what heaven will be like. Because it will be constant roller coasters, constant fishing, eating, swimming pools. Because we will be with God. And so all of these good things are just a taste, a shadow of how good and great and fun our God is. And I think that's hard probably for our kids to conceptualize, but that's why we have these conversations over and over, not just for our kids, but for ourselves too. Yeah, totally. Yeah. No, it's a really important, I can see how naturally thinking about it, somebody might wonder after, yeah, a billion years, wouldn't you get tired of what you're doing? But yeah, that's a core Christian conviction is that the reason, you know, even just thinking about our salvation, our salvation is not fire insurance, it's not just trying to escape from the bad place. We want to be with God forever. That's the point, is not to get to a better place that has nice things, it's to get to be with God. I pulled out a couple of passages just in thinking about this. This one's John 14 3. Jesus says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that you may be where I am also." So that's the whole point, to be with Jesus. A couple of the passages in the Psalms, I think, highlight how important it is that – or just the idea that our hearts were made to be with God and have joy in God. Psalm 37, verse 4 says, "...Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." So what's he going to give you? Well, if you delight yourself in the Lord, he's going to give you more of the Lord. And that's the point. It's not, I'm not going to give you, if you, you know, I'm not going to give you lots of money or, or cars or a swimming pool because that will make you happy. I'm going to give you more of myself because that's what, yeah, delight yourself in the Lord. Yeah. And you get more of the Lord. Last one, Psalm 16, the very first verse says, I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, and I have no good apart from you. So the Psalmist just kind of gets it, right? All these good things in this life that we can enjoy are just, like you said, a taste, just a taste of what it's like to be with God. Love it. So we won't get bored. We get to be with God. Another, you know, as a kid, I had kind of that misconception that heaven would just be like, you know, part of a church service all the time, that we would just, we'd sort of stand in rows and have hymnals or something like that, we just sing songs. I think that's kind of how you picture it. I picture some of it being like that, yeah. But we will also get to work and to fellowship in heaven. So it's all types of worship, not just worship or worship service, but worship how it was meant to be in the garden, right? Right. So yeah, I'm excited because I don't garden, but maybe in heaven I can actually figure out how to garden and I won't have the black thumb that I currently have. Nice. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna be going back towards what things were like in the Garden of Eden, getting to do the human life the way human life was supposed to be done. It's one of the ways I think of it is, you know, you go to work each day in today's life and we face frustration, just like Genesis 3 tells us, our toils, our work is full of frustration. We're going to get to do work without frustration, which I can't even imagine what that would be like. That's mostly because I work with you, Cheyenne. Oh, that's on record. Wow. Just kidding. Totally kidding. Totally kidding. Yeah, so we get to not just sing in rows with hymnals. Because I imagine that, you know, the 12,001st verse of Amazing Grace would probably get boring. But that's not what it's going to be like. Alright, next question. Did Judas go to heaven? And the person asks, if not, and then they're going to ask about a very specific verse, what about in Revelation 21, 14, where it talks about the 12 foundations being the 12 apostles. So we'll get to that in a second. But what about that first question? What do you think? Did Judas go to heaven? So my understanding is he did not, but I would like your answer because I didn't have time to look up. I knew you were going to have to get my back for that comment. I deserve that. So Pastor Jon, can you share with us? I would be happy to share some thoughts about that. I think some people have tried to make the argument that Judas repented because we do see remorse. He feels bad, or at least he realizes what he did was horribly wrong, but that's not the same thing as faith and repentance. We don't have any evidence that he actually trusted Jesus as a Savior, that he said, Lord, I have sinned greatly. Please forgive me. I trust Jesus. His sacrifice is the only way I can be saved. We don't have any evidence of him doing that. Instead, we do have some very specific verses that I think speak to Judas receiving God's wrath in hell as the punishment of his sin. So Matthew 26, 24 says, the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man. It would be better for him if he had not been born. So the scripture wouldn't say that if he spent eternity in heaven with God. One more, John 17, 12 says, While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so the scripture would be fulfilled. So I think that's a pretty clear answer to that question, that Judas did not go to heaven. And those were before he had even betrayed Jesus, right? So he would have been hearing these words even and. Sure. Yeah. Terribly tragic. Terribly sad, but I think we do have that clear answer. So, to answer the other part of the question, yeah, this is one I hadn't really thought of until the person asked the question. So, in Revelation 21, here's the passage they are referencing. 21 14, it says, and the wall of the city had 12 foundations. Okay, so this is John's vision of heaven. And on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So they're asking the question, all right, if Jesus didn't go to heaven, then how are there 12 foundations, 12 apostles? So I think the answer comes in Acts chapter 1, when we move from the Gospels to the story of the early church. If you remember in Acts chapter 1, the apostles get together and Judas is gone, and they recognize somebody's got to take Judas' place, and Matthias is the guy that they, you know, they set up some criteria. They say it's got to be somebody who's been with us from the beginning, who saw all of Jesus' ministry, who was around for his life, death, and can be a witness to his resurrection, and they choose Matthias. So I think that's the answer. No, that's where my mind went to. Yeah. So there are still 12 apostles. It wasn't Judas. It was the other one. Some people like to make the case that it's Paul. I think Paul is actually like Apostle number 13. Right, yeah. Cool. All right, next question. Are there levels in heaven, like when the Apostle Paul said he knew somebody that went to the third heaven? Okay, so my initial answer is no, but I don't have anything to back that up other than what I do know of heaven that I feel like we can misinterpret that easily or take it too literally. But I would like to hear, again, I'd love to hear your answer, Jon. Well, I think the answer is that because you endure the frustration of working with me, you're going to be a higher level of heaven than I am. Now I feel like I'm trying to make up for my joke. Yeah, you're trying to make up for it now. I'm trying. I forgive you. Thank you. That's very kind of you. No, I've read some different speculation on what that means. So in 2 Corinthians 12 is the passage Paul references that he knows somebody who was caught up to the third heaven, he says. So I don't think there's any for sure answer as to what Paul is exactly talking about. Paul had some visions and some experiences that the rest of us have not had. So I think the short answer is actually we don't know exactly what that's going to look like. But there's been some speculation of just like that the third is maybe like the final or the fullest or the completion. And, you know, the word heaven is we use it different ways. And they did too back in ancient times, talking about, you know, the heavens meaning like the skies or the heavens meaning like where the stars are, outer space. Or you know, in the Psalms, it actually talks about God being enthroned above the heavens. So maybe third heaven simply means it's just the place where God is, the highest place, the highest heaven. That's my best guess. So he met a man who had been caught up in the third heaven? Yeah, that's what it says. So whether it be by vision or however. Oh yeah, yeah. That makes sense. I mean, I think we have to weigh it against what we know for sure that's very clear, right, about heaven. And it can mean something that goes against what we know. Yeah. Jesus makes clear. So. And one of those things that we do know is that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works. Right. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 10 make that really clear among other passages in the Bible. So I don't know for sure answers, but I would I would lean towards saying I don't think it's like that. Like I sort of joked about about the idea of that just doesn't make sense. That's contrary to God's system of salvation. I think it's more maybe like others have said of just saying it's the highest place, it's the place where God is. All right. A more serious one. So the person asked, what about somebody who commits suicide? And so I think they're asking the question, what happens to somebody who commits suicide? Do they end up in heaven? Do they end up in hell? Obviously for us, one of the first things we want to talk about is, you know, if they're a Christian or not, because that's what the difference is between somebody who goes to heaven and goes to hell. Somebody who has the way to get to heaven is not by hard work. It's not by doing religious things. It's by having your faith in Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior. And it's only by grace through faith that we can get to heaven. So let's kind of narrow our conversation to what happens if somebody who is a Christian or has said that they're a Christian commits suicide. We'll be right back after this break. Hi, I'm Elizabeth, one of the co-hosts of MomGuilt, a podcast with new episodes every Monday. MomGuilt is a podcast about the daily struggles of motherhood. Stephanie and I share real experiences of MomGuilt and how we have found freedom from that guilt through the gospel. Listen to us on resoundmedia.cc or wherever you find podcasts. That's a hard and heavy thing, and so we have to lean on what we do know about them, and I think it's a comfort to remember that it is by faith and not by works, like you said, but I'm sure that is, while it's somewhat comforting, I think that there's also probably some questions left in people's hearts and minds, and so I don't know, I would just want people to feel encouraged in knowing that God knows their heart and the genuineness of their faith, and to hold on to that. Well, so we were talking a little bit earlier. I think you and I have both heard some probably wrong answers to this question. You talk about like one of the wrong answers you've maybe heard of this question, because one of the ones I've heard is just the simple, well, they ended their life. It was a sin to do so, you know, murder. And they weren't able to they weren't still alive to ask for forgiveness. And so they went to hell. That was that was an explanation I got kind of early on in life. I don't even know where I heard that, but it was, I remember as a young, as a young man, that was sort of how I thought about it, and somebody must have told me that. Yeah, I think I have kind of the same thing where I can't really trace exactly where I first heard kind of an answer to this question, but I think I, on the other side, on kind of the other side of the spectrum, heard more of like that if they ended their life, then that act meant that they did not trust Christ as their Savior. And so it's been helpful for me to learn just more about what it means to have faith in Christ and to know that one sin does not define the genuineness of your faith. Yeah, totally. I think we know in our day even more than we have in past days. We talk more about mental health today than we used to. We know that people can get into a very dark place and can do things that they might not otherwise have done. You know, I think anybody who is at that place is in a place that's not a healthy state of mind. And so it's a terrible place to be. So in trying to give a shorter answer to the question, can somebody who committed suicide go to heaven? My answer would be yes. Yeah. Salvation is not by works, it's by grace through faith, I think, like I said earlier, I think it is clear that somebody who commits suicide is not in a right and healthy state of mind. And that's terrible, that's tragic, that's sad. We hope that that person gets help if somebody's listening. We hope that you get help if you're asking that question. Hopefully it's not because you're thinking about that in your own life. Man, we'd love to pray for you, talk to you. Please reach out for help to us or somebody else. If a Christian is also asking the question, I can imagine some Christians maybe thinking, well, if I'm a Christian and I'm going to heaven, why wouldn't I commit suicide then? I could see why somebody might think that way. And I think the short answer is, well, to be a Christian is to love the Lord and the Lord wants you to obey his commandments. And one of his commandments is not to murder. Taking your own life is still murder. You're ending the life of a person created in God's image that God has a plan and a design for, good works designed for them to do Ephesians 2 10. Even if your life feels like it's more of a burden to someone else that is not what's true about your life. If you are living then God has a reason for you to be living. Yeah, that's a heavy one. It is a heavy one. Yeah, but again good for us to talk about these otherwise you do go along your life you know believing things that you don't know where you got them from. You don't know what is true about them and what's not true and not knowing how to correct it. So, a good question. I'm glad that that was submitted. Yeah. We got a couple more, a little bit lighter questions. Let me see. Two more. Here we go. Will we get married in heaven and will we have more kids in heaven. My understanding, again please correct if I'm wrong, but my understanding is we will be married to, we will be the bride of Christ in heaven. So in some ways, yes, we will be married in heaven, but we will not be married to our spouse. There will be no marriages in heaven. And therefore, I guess I would extrapolate and say we won't be having kids. And I feel pretty confident on that. But again, throwing it back to you, John. Totally. I think that's fair. I'm actually trying to pull it up here. I didn't have it right in front of me. I'm trying to pull it back. In Matthew 22, Jesus gets into an interesting conversation with the Sadducees about the resurrection and how that works. And where is it? Here it is. Here's his answer. This is Matthew 22, verse 30. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." Now, I don't know exactly what that means about the angels in heaven because we don't know a ton about the marital life of angels in heaven. I assume that means that they don't get married. Yeah. Right. Yeah, but Jesus seems to pretty clearly say they're not married or do they get married? Which, like you said, God designed that the context of having kids happens within marriage. So, we would sort of assume that's the case also. I think that also makes sense with the overall story of Scripture that God told Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply. In the New Testament, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus, which is essentially the same mission, just accomplished in a different way. Originally, if Adam and Eve would have just had kids, taught them to follow the Lord, they would have filled the entire earth with disciples of Jesus. We have the same mission, but it's because of the fall into sin. It's not just have kids. It's go and make disciples of people who are already alive that they would turn and follow Jesus. But the end goal is the same, that we would fill the earth with followers of Jesus. So when Jesus comes back, that mission's over. So we've already filled the earth with followers of Jesus. Mission completed. Yeah. Mission complete. So I think no more childbearing. But again, just tying back to the beginning, that can feel like such a bummer. But again, if that's a bummer for you because you have such a strong marriage, for one thing, that's amazing. That is the marriage to be. Praise God that you want to spend eternity with your spouse. You're doing great. That's good. But also, going back to the first question about will we be bored in heaven? No, because if you have had a wonderful marriage, your marriage as the bride of Christ, your marriage to Christ, your time in heaven will be infinitely greater than that. So it's only just meant, even the best things on earth are only meant to be a taste or a shadow of how great heaven will be and how good our bridegroom is. Totally. One, Ephesians 5 kind of tells us that the whole point of marriage is to be a foreshadow of the relationship between God and his bride, God and his people. So once we get to heaven, the need for a foreshadow is over. So I think that makes sense also. One of the things, it doesn't say that you won't have any kind of relationship with your spouse on this earth. So even though you're not married and won't be the same thing, I don't know what it'll be like, but I would assume that you would still, you know, have some kind of connection to that person in eternity. I think we'll definitely have connection with people, those people in eternity. Yeah. All right, last one. Does the promise to the meek that they will inherit the earth mean anything when we are in heaven? I think that's a very interesting question. That is an interesting question. Okay, so I want to make sure I understand the question. Can you repeat it one more time? Maybe our listeners need that too. Yeah, so, you know, in Scripture there's this promise, the meek will inherit the earth. Right. So what is that? So if we're all going to heaven, who cares? About being meek because we're already going to be... Yeah, yeah, like, I'm just trying to put myself in the mind of the question asker, I think. Yeah, what does it mean, how can the meek inherit the earth if we're all going to heaven? Okay, so I think maybe it's helpful to think about the context of that passage. So it comes from the Beatitudes, right, which are mostly, if not pretty much all, talking about enduring suffering with patience. And we'll one of the, so we can extrapolate then from that, that we are not going to have to endure suffering with patience in heaven. And so there's something to be inherited. Yes, in heaven, like heaven is our inheritance. There's something that we can inherit here on earth too. And that is the presence of the Holy Spirit with us as we're enduring and as we are suffering in meekness and patience while we're waiting for the real inheritance in heaven. But I'd love to hear from you. I think that's great. I actually, yeah, I had a different answer, but I think that's really important to remember that it's, so I was going to use kind of a future-oriented thought, but you're right. There is a present-oriented fulfillment of that. The meek do inherit the earth in that way. Our inheritance is not just in the future in heaven, our inheritance is also partly now. So the other aspect of that that I was going to say is, I think this is one of those other common Christian misconceptions is that where we're going to spend eternity is this faraway place that we're going to get sort of sucked out of this world and never to return, and that earth was just a temporary thing. But that's actually not how it's going to work. Heaven and earth are going to be one for eternity. So yeah, Christians go to heaven after this life, but then when Jesus returns, heaven and earth become one. They come back together. So that was the first thought that had come to my mind was that the meek will inherit the earth. Sure. When the new heavens and the new earth come together, they'll have the whole earth. So we're both right. We're both right. It's that whole already, not yet. That's right. Awesome. Well, hey, thanks everybody for your questions about heaven. That's all we got time for today Some great questions look forward to catching the next week. Thank you. Cheyenne. Of course. So happy to be here everybody You can always ask questions at peace church dot CC slash questions. Follow us on Facebook Instagram resoundmedia.cc . Thanks everybody. Have a great week. You can find That's a Good Question at resoundmedia.cc or wherever you listen to podcasts.