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PODCAST That's a Good Question Discipling Our Children: A Conversation with Carl Laferton October 21, 2024 Jon Delger & Mitchell Leach Listen to this Episode Well, hey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and 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 can serve as a pastor as well as a host of this show. You can always submit questions to peacechurch.cc/questions . And today, I'm here with Pastor Mitch, as well as special guest, Carl Lafferton, who is an author and publisher. Some great resources, excited to get to talk with Carl today about some great resources, and especially how we can better disciple our kids, our grandkids, kids in our churches. So excited for this conversation today. Yeah, I'm gonna ask you a little bit more about you, but before that, I'd love to just do a little bit of an introduction. You're a publisher at the Good Book Company. You've got a best-selling book, The Garden, The Curtain, The Cross, God's Promises, and Bible Storybook. You've worked as an editor and a journalist and a teacher and as a pastor, and then you are from London, England, so it's not just a funny bit that you're doing. That's genuinely your accent, and you can correct us on our improper English because I know some British friends of mine always say it's English, it's not, you know, American. So I'll take any sort of feedback you've got for us. You've got a new book this fall, God's Big Promise Bible Story Prayers. So Carl, would you tell us a little bit more about yourself beyond just those details? Well, thank you for that introduction. It's great to be with you. I mean, you guys fought and won a war in order to be able to dictate how the English language ought to be spoken. So I'm not going to tell you how to speak it quite the reverse, I guess. Yeah, so I live in southwest London, have been working at the Good Book Company for 14 years or so and married to Lizzie. And we have two kids, a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old, one of whom is on her full break at the moment. And the other one, her school runs for a bit longer. So she gets a week's less vacation than her older brother. So there's some sadness about that in our house right now. Yeah. Oh, man. And Carl, tell us a little bit about your new book that just came out. Sure. So last fall, we released God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, which is a storybook for kind of two to six-year-olds aiming to tell the stories faithfully in a super engaging way, and also to show that the Bible is one big story of God making and keeping his promises, so that kind of kids understand where, you know, the story of Abraham fits in and where David comes. And most importantly of all, that the cross isn't some kind of weird accident. Actually, it was the plan all along. It's the place where God keeps his promises and so on. So we released that last fall, and we've kind of been building out the family of God's big promises resources since then. And the one that's come out this fall is a book that is aiming to help kids learn to pray in response to scripture or truth. So it has, it maps along with the stories that are in God's Big Promises Bible storybook and each one has a brief synopsis, a verse from the scriptures that encapsulate what's going on in that story and then a very simple prayer in response to the truths of that story. So the idea is that kids are seeing that they can pray wow prayers of adoration, they can pray thank you prayers, they can pray sorry prayers, and they can pray please prayers, but in response to what they're hearing in Scripture. So hopefully setting them up for a lifetime of listening to God speak to them in his words and then praying his word back to him. Awesome. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, so many of our listeners are parents, grandparents, Sunday school teachers, serve in different churches. So this is an awesome opportunity to talk about some great resources and how we can help our kids grow in their walk with Jesus. So Carl, can you just tell us a little bit, what makes you passionate about creating Bible resources for kids? Well, because it's a very simple thing to say, but children are the next generation and one of our great hopes and heart in the Christian life should be that we're raising a generation who are more in awe of the Lord God, more in love with Jesus, more on fire for serving him in this world than we are. And so I get the privilege of getting to write hopefully come alongside parents and churches in their aim of doing that. Kids are little sponges and if we're not discipling them, the world will be discipling them. And so I just think we need to be helping parents and churches to get the word into our kids at an age when they are beginning to form their view of the world and what matters and who they are and so on. So that's why I think it's the greatest privilege of all to get to help teach our kids who the Lord Jesus is. Yes, amen. Yeah, the next generation. And we mentioned already some of the books that Carl has published. If you're watching via video, you can see them laying here on our coffee table, so check those out. But if you're listening just via audio, The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross, my favorite of the books that we've got here, just an amazing book, just outlining. You know, one of the things that I've heard, actually one of our pastors here at the church has talked before about how when he was growing up and going to Sunday school, he didn't realize how pivotal the story of Jesus was. He just thought of Jesus as another character alongside Abraham and Moses and Noah. Just one more story. But realizing, I love that, the garden, the curtain, the cross, just understanding the whole storyline and how Jesus is the climax, the pivotal moment, he is the son of God, he is really the whole thing right there. So does a great job explaining that. Carl, so you've written lots of different resources for kids. Are there any Bible stories that you've left out of the kids' resources that maybe didn't make it in because they're PG-13 Bible stories, a little too old for the little kids? Yeah, I mean, about half of the Book of Judges would come under that category, I guess. It'd be a hard job for your illustrator. It would. And yeah, far too many, prompt far too many questions that parents don't really want to be dealing with a four-year-old. I guess the other one I've never taken on is Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, which kind of I feel like such a beautiful picture of what happened at the cross where there was a father who really did sacrifice his son and his son was the stand-in, there was no other provided. And so in a sense it's a shame, but I think, you know, like, I mean God's Big Promises Bible Storybook and The God and the Curse of the Cross, they're both, you know, I tend to be writing for sort of three to sixes and that's quite young to be getting your head around the idea that God would ask a father to sacrifice his son and that the father would be willing to do it. I have always felt shy of going to that one. Others have and they've done it super well. Maybe I just need to put my big boy pants on sometime, but there we are. Yeah, no, that's good. There's some of those stories. Yeah, good point. The judges One I thought of recently my wife spoke at a conference about Judah and Tamar There's a story that'd be pretty hard to explain to some kids Yeah, yeah, there's some stories in there We are messy broken sinful human beings that God has come to rescue. So and yeah, awesome. Well, hey Let's talk a little about how so as parents, one of the things that we've talked about numerous times on this podcast, and it's really important as we're thinking about these resources, these are resources not just for churches, not just for Sunday school, but for in the home. So, Carl, if you could just share a little bit about your perspective on why can parents not just leave it up to the church to disciple their kids. Obviously, the church is an important part of discipling our kids, but why can we as parents not just say, hey, I take my kids to church on Sundays and Wednesdays and that's good enough and I don't need to do anything at home. So I guess to answer that, one is sheer function of time. So if you're going on a Sunday and a Wednesday, I'm guessing you're spending maximum four, maybe five hours your kids are spending in a church setting. And likely they're spending it as a, you know, in a group. It depends on the size of your church, but five kids minimum, I would guess, up to dozens and dozens, right? And when you think about the amount of time that they are in the home with their parents, even if they're in the public schools, then that's still hours and hours and hours of, you know, one to however many time, depending on how many kids you've got. And so just by that function, always when we're spending our time with kids, whoever we are, whether a teacher or a kids pastor or a parent, we are teaching them something about what is valuable by what we do with them. And if we are never actively and if you like explicitly discipling them in the home, then what we're saying is that actually there are more important things in life than the Lord Jesus. And what we're teaching them is that actually Jesus is something that can be confined to a church setting for a few hours a week. That's where you do your Jesus thing and then the rest of life we get on with what really matters. And if it's not Jesus, it will be an idol. So functionally, therefore, we want to be using the time that we have with our children. And if we're a parent, that's a lot more time than it is if we're a kid's pastor in church. That's the first reason, it's just a sheer function of time and numbers. And then the second reason is scripturally, Ephesians 6, Deuteronomy 6, other places, it's clear that one of the great privileges that parents have is to show their children who the Lord Jesus is and how they live and what they say. And so the responsibility, and I would say the gift, of discipling children falls mainly on parents. And I think pastors, churches are there to support parents, equip parents, and to, if you give an extra boost to what parents are already doing in the home. If you want your church to disciple your kids, the best thing you can be doing is discipling them yourselves alongside what the church is doing. Yeah, and as cool as pastors are, I've never heard a kid say, my pastor can beat up your pastor. It's always my dad can beat up your dad, you know. I mean, there's a special place that parents have. Right. That's exactly it. And our children, and I say this with some fear and trembling because I am a father, but our children will see from us as parents what truly matters. And, you know, they learn from very young that pastors are effectively paid to say that Jesus matters. So, of course, pastors are going to say that that's their job. But parents are not paid to say that. And so they will catch from us what really matters in the home far more than they catch it from what their pastors say in church. Yeah. Amen. I remember I've told this story many times at church, but a pivotal moment in my life with my parents was when I went from elementary school to middle school, I had to get up much earlier to get on the bus. I think we started getting up at 530 or something like that. The bus came just after six. So, uh, so at that time I finally was at the point where I would get up early enough, but my dad was still in the house before he left for work. And I remember I would, I would wake up as a, as a young teenager and I'd come upstairs and at 535 45 in the morning, there's my dad at the table reading his Bible. And remember, that was just a huge moment for, you know, I'd never before gotten up early enough to ever see that. And so now seeing, oh, wow, you know, this is, this is for real. This guy gets up really early to read the Bible every morning before we go about our day. So just the impact of seeing that, not just in a pastor, not just in a Sunday school teacher, but in my dad, that had a huge impact on my life. So totally. So one of the things that I hear a lot as a pastor from parents is just, and I experience myself, we've got four kids, nine, eight, five, and four, and it can be a challenge to hold their attention. So, Carl, any tips from your experience about, you know, maybe a five-year-old, a six-year-old, how do you hold their attention while you try to do some kind of devotional work with them? Well, prayer is a good place to start, I guess. Yeah. No, but I mean, I think, well, no, seriously, prayer is a good place to start. I think we've got to know our kids. I think there's a danger that we're always comparing with other families. I don't know what your church is like, but most churches have that family who have five or six kids and they do a half-hour devotional every morning and the kids behave impeccably and the kids can, you know, they're reading Calvin's Institutes on their own just for fun, you know, and we compare ourselves to that family and then we crush ourselves. Whereas actually all kids are different and it's okay to say, you know, my kids are live wires, so five minutes of quality time is going to be a win for us and that's fine. Or to say either, you know, the mornings are the best time for us or, you know, just after dinner or whenever it is, you know, just know your kids. That is an important thing, I think. I think having said that, that setting expectations and setting the environment that gives you the best chance of having a Bible time or a devotional time in which they're actually engaged is important. And so we would say to our kids when they were younger, you know, this is what we do as a family. We never set it as a sort of thing that might be negotiated on, or if you act up, you might not have to do it or whatever. It was just this is what we do as a family. And it's worth setting the environment as well. So I think it's a killer if you're going to say, right, turn the television off now because we're going to do Bible time. And that is not how to help them to sort of actively engage. So again, maybe doing it straight after dinner, in the evenings, or shortly before bed, if your bedtime experience tends to be calming. It isn't in all households, I know that. Just find an environment, find a room that is away from distractions, all those kind of things. It's just worth thinking through. Give your kids the best chance possible to engage well. A couple more things, I think, sound excited about it. If you don't sound excited about doing family devotions, then don't expect your kids to feel excited about it. If you do sound excited, then likely they're going to think this is something that is a fun thing to do. You know, if you've got a three-year-old or a four-year-old, normally, sounding excited about something, they'll get excited. And then I think the last thing I would say is just keep going. If you're expecting a win every day, then you're setting yourself up for feeling like a failure. Do it, keep doing it, stay consistent in it, and you never know what the Holy Spirit is doing. So I think back to our family Bible times, some of the ones where I felt the kids have been least engaged, a couple of months later they've been able to recite something that they read in the scriptures that day. And I'm like, well, you really didn't look like you were listening. And other times, you know, they're there and it's on time and it runs really well and they're listening or seem to be listening and so on. And actually, it doesn't seem to have any impact. So I think, just remember, the Holy Spirit will be doing things that you can't see. But if you're sitting down and sharing God's Word with them, then the Holy Spirit will be at work. Whereas if you're not doing that, then you're not opening up that opportunity for the Spirit to be at work in their hearts. Yeah, amen. Yeah, I liked what you said at the beginning there, but even if it's only five minutes, don't aim for that half an hour. They're not going to listen to a half an hour sermon or a half an hour in-depth Bible study. We're just getting to the place now with our older two, and they're girls, and I found that our girls are much more inclined towards deeper study than our young boys, and they're older. So I'm getting to the place now with them where we can actually sit and have more of a longer discussion about the Bible story. But during that, so usually we'll read a Bible story, and then our younger two will kind of start to wander off while we have a longer discussion with the older two. And at first that would frustrate me a lot, but now I've kind of come to realize that's the place they are in life. That's just kind of how it is with their temperaments, and eventually the other ones will kind of grow and hopefully we'll be able to have more of those conversations. But yeah, those little wins, even if you can only get five minutes of focus time, important. Makes a difference. Yeah. Good. So, as we're trying to teach our kids to read the Bible on their own, to pray on their own. Your newest book is about prayer in specific. And so what are some tips, Carl, about how we can teach our kids to pray? Well, I think that, I mean, coming back to what you were saying about getting up early and realizing that your dad had been getting up early and reading the scriptures himself for years, I think modeling it is the best thing we can do. And I'm very grateful to my wife, who is a great external prayer-er. Prayer-er? Is that a word? Um, it is now. Because I'm British, and apparently I get to say what the words are. Yeah. Yeah, so she is great at giving thanks to God when, you know, when there's a space to park in in the parking lot or when the rain stops, just when we would like it to and all those kind of things. I think particularly when your kids are young, just hearing that informal prayer about our needs and then giving thanks and those kind of things is key. I think modelling it in a more formal way, if you like, so let them hear you pray at bedtime, as you reflect on your day. And that is, I think, kids probably, kids' prayer is probably caught more than it is taught. And again, that's where as parents at home, we have the privilege of modelling it to them. I think it's worth setting a time for family prayers. So for us, from when the kids were very little and even still now, it's bedtime when they're ready for bed and the lights are about to go off, we'll alternate rooms and just get together as a four or three if one of us is away and we will pray. And because we do that and have done that since the kids were little, we kind of, it's just an expectation. Like, nobody, it's a bit like brushing your teeth, like nobody needs to sort of think about it, it just happens. So, however, if somebody's listening and they're not doing that, I would say it's always going to be easier to start that routine now than it is in a year, however old your kids are. So get going with it would be my tip. And then the other thing we've done is we've used some sort of acronyms, so STOP, sorry thank you other people, PLEASE, PRAYERS. And a couple years ago my wife listened to a breakout session at a conference that we'd gone to and the guy who was doing the teaching about prayer in the home said his family had the liturgy that they wrote that they walked through, out that's based on the Psalms. So it calls us to praise God, then calls us to confession, then we remind ourselves of the gospel truths that as far as Jesus from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us from Psalm 103, and then it moves us into praying for our needs. And then we end with Psalm 4, in peace I will lie down and sleep, you alone Lord make me dwell in safety. And so the kids now know that they can take us through it if they're in charge as it were. And again, that's just setting a great rhythm of prayer. And the nice thing about that one is when they go away on the school trip or whatever, we encourage, I don't know whether they do it, but we encourage them, hey, you know, you know how to do bedtime prayers, so do it on your own, whisper it to yourself in the dorm room. And so again, just those little, again, it's something I was trying to do in a much simpler way in God's big promises, Bible story prayers, was just show kids, hey, these are the kind of categories that God loves you to speak to him in. You know, wow prayers of adoration, thank you for things he's given you, sorry prayers and please prayers. So, yeah, what I'm saying, I guess I'm saying, model it yourselves, get going with it and have a set time for it and maybe have some kind of either acronym or liturgy or something that you come up with that just anchors your prayers each night. I love that. Yeah, giving them a pattern that they know how to follow, that they can build off of for the rest of their lives. Yeah, love that. Is there any wisdom in saying, is there an age that's maybe too young to start this at? Or maybe, yeah, what would you say to someone who's saying, I don't want to start prayer yet, they're too young for that? Yeah, that's a great question. And again, I mean, I don't pretend to know everyone's children, so I don't know what will work well. But something that we didn't do, but looking back I think I would have done differently is to pray over them each night as you put them, I was going to say put them to sleep, I mean babies who knows when they're going to go to sleep, but you know put them in their crib. And just again get that habit set from the word go. And God's Big Promises Bible Story prayers is written for families with kids aged two to six and again you're just modelling prayer to them over them and they can then learn to copy that. So I'm not sure there's an age that's too young. The thing I would say is with young kids it's always worth giving them the opportunity to give thanks for whatever they want to. And so like my son gave thanks for cars every night from the age of two to four, roughly speaking, and then he diversified into other things, which was very exciting. But again, just showing them how we pray in response to God's Word, but also letting them in their own little lives to pray out of what they are particularly excited about, which might be different than a 40 year old adult. Sure. I do have to ask the follow up. Is that cars the movie or the vehicle car? No, it was the vehicles. He just, he was obsessed with cars for a couple of years there and that's when he wanted to say thank you for every night. And then, fair enough. That's great. Well, I got to ask then, what's his favorite car? Is it an American muscle car? Or is it a European car? He did like Chevrolets, I think, because they're fairly rare on our roads. And so spotting one of those was nearly as exciting as spotting a Mustang, which again, is pretty, pretty rare over here. So yeah, anytime I get a Mustang as my rental car when I'm over in the States, my credibility shoots up a little bit when my son gets one. Oh yeah, I bet. That's awesome. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Very cool. Well, hey, a big part of this show is we like to answer questions about theology and try to make it really clear and plain for people to understand. So actually, since we're talking about kids' resources, I was able to get a hold of a few questions that kids within Peace Church here have submitted for us to answer. So I've got a couple of those, if you don't mind. We'll try to tackle each of these in just kind of a short, concise way. So I've got three of them here. Let's start with this one. Should we be scared of God? Question coming from a kid. I can imagine a kid asking this question, especially after some of the, you might finish a Bible story seeing some of God's power come out, some of God's wrath or anger even towards sin. Should we be scared of God? I think we are called to be in awe of Him. We are called to be amazed by Him. But we don't need to be scared of Him because He is our loving Father. All the reasons, all the wrong things we do that would be reasons to be scared of Him, Jesus dealt with those on the cross. And when God looks at us now, He doesn't see any of those things. So if I was speaking to a child, I would say, no, you don't need to be scared of God, he's your loving father, he loves you to run towards him, that's what prayer is, but do be amazed by him. And so perhaps it's a case of imagining that the President of the United States is the best and kindest, most wonderful person who you've ever met. Now we may need to imagine that, that's fine, but imagine that he were and imagine that you were going to get to meet him. You wouldn't need to be scared of him because you know that he's kind and that he wants to see you and that you're going to have a great time with him. You wouldn't need to be scared of him, but you would be a little bit in awe of meeting him because he's a president and he's so powerful. And so maybe that's the way to think about God. He is our father, but he is also the ruler of the world. And so we're not scared, but we are in awe of Him. I like that. That's really good. Yeah. I'm sure our listeners have heard us talk about this many times, make this reference. I know it's often overused, but in the Chronicles of Narnia, there's that famous scene, right, with the beavers who, I think it's Lucy who asks, you know, when we meet Aslan, you know, is he dangerous or is he safe, she says. And then the beavers respond, well, no, he's not safe, but he is good. And that's the picture, right? God is like a lion. He is so powerful. He's so good towards us because he loves us. But he is powerful. He can be dangerous, especially when you're on the wrong side of him. So yeah, totally. No, it's such a great way to explain it to kids. That's great. All right, another one here. This one could take us in a long spiral, so we'll try to keep this answer concise for kids. But if a kid asks the question, why did God create Satan if he knew that Satan would go bad? What a deep, thoughtful question. Any thoughts, Carl? So I think I would be honest and say, I don't know, and that's okay. God doesn't tell us everything in the Bible that we might like to know. He tells us what he knows we need to know. And so, I mean, if he told me everything, then my brain would explode, because my brain is just a human brain. So I think I want to take the opportunity in a way we have sometimes I find that I find I feel sort of desperate to answer every single question the kid has so that they can keep seeing that hey Christianity like works and it fits together and it coheres and it's true and um but actually good to say to kids sometimes I don't really know and that's okay because faith is trusting God who does know everything, not knowing everything myself, then that wouldn't be faith. So sometimes the Bible isn't going to tell us things, and I'm not sure it tells us why God created Satan if he knew that Satan would go bad. I suppose we firstly, I would want to affirm that the kid has grasped the fact that God knows everything ahead of time, and that's a great thing to grasp. I suppose I want to say that sometimes God does let bad things happen to bring about things that are even more good than the bad thing and we can see that at the cross where that's the most bad, most sad thing that ever happened and yet it's also the place where the greatest good comes about. And so I suppose that because Satan exists, evil exists and therefore Jesus is able to rescue us from that evil and that makes us more excited about heaven where there won't be any evil and it causes us to praise Jesus more than we otherwise would have done because we're praising him as our saviour, our rescuer, rather than simply our ruler. So there are a few things we can say about, well, these are the good things we can see happening was allowed to exist and allowed to sort of prompt the fall. But ultimately, I think I have to come back and say, I don't know a full answer to that question, and that's okay, I trust God. I think that's a great answer. That's fantastic. Yeah, as they get a little bit older, so it's funny, I bet, you know, this question in our house has come back time and again, you know, when they're very young, I remember our kids asking that question and trying to, yeah, keep it fairly simple. We don't have a full answer to this question, but as I'm getting older, they keep asking that question and we've circled back to it. And we've talked about ideas, like you said, like the cross is such a great example of how God uses something horrible and uses it actually for good. I think of Genesis 50 and the way that the Joseph story is described, you know, you meant this for evil, God meant it for good, for sure. So that's great. Great answer. Last one. This is one that a kid submitted. What does God look like? How do we answer that question? Yeah, it was. It's a great question. And yeah, questions like that. I just want to say, how wonderful that you're thinking about these things, keep asking these things. This is what the Christian life is like, isn't it, facing the understanding. So what does God look like? I suppose in one sense, I've got to say we don't know, and the reason we don't know is because words or images couldn't come close to describing how amazing God is. So as soon as we started putting words around it we would be sort of limiting the amazingness of God. And so when God appears in the Bible, he either appears symbolized by something, like often it's fire because fire brings life, but it's also a bit dangerous, you have to treat it carefully, and that brings us back to, shall we be scared of God? Often described in the Bible is like what is around God, so there are amazing things around God, like an amazing throne or a rainbow or a crystal sea or, you know, read the whole of Ezekiel 1. So if that's what it's like around God, then that's like saying, well, how amazing must God be that we can only just describe what's around him. So in one sense, we don't know because he's too amazing. In another sense, we do know in the sense that he became a man and came as Jesus. And we don't know exactly how Jesus looked, but we do know that he looked just like a normal man. It's 52, 53, and we can say that that man is smiling at us. And I think that's probably quite helpful for kids to know that God came as a man and God smiled in love upon us, even despite all our flaws and failures and shortcomings, Jesus came to forgive and to smile. And then I suppose the last thing I'd say is one day you're going to know exactly what God looks like because if you keep trusting Jesus and following him, then one day, the Bible promises you're going to see him face to face. And you still won't have the words to describe it, but you will be experiencing it. And that'll be the most exciting day of your life. And the most amazing thing that you've ever seen will be when you seek on face to face. We could probably add that like Carl and I here, Jesus did have a beard. Oh my goodness. So we could say that. I don't know about Mitch over here, but we'll just get that one in there. Yeah, sorry, I missed that. I have the absolutely key facet of what it looks like to grow into the likeness of Christ. Is there anything on the horizon that you're working on that we should be looking out for? Oh, thank you. Yeah, so in the God's Big Promises family, the next two or three actually big things is one, we're working on an audio Bible. It's like an immersive audio experience. That's super exciting. I'll hopefully be out sometime next year. As well, we're working on some devotions for little kids. So like three to six year olds, just super simple, but again, helping them to engage with the scriptures in a devotional way. And then further down the track comes a Sunday school curriculum for churches. That will be about two, two and a half years from now. So we're slowly building out the ecosystem of God's Big Promises Bible Storybook. Carl, what a great conversation. Thank you so much. Everyone listening, you can find Carl's books at The Good Book Company, especially his newest book, God's Big Promises, Bible Story Prayers. Check it out, great resources to help you as you're trying to teach your kids the Bible as well as how to pray. Thanks so much, Carl, for the conversation. Oh, no, thank you for having me. It's been great fun. Awesome. Well, hey, you can always find resources at resoundmedia.cc. Click and follow, subscribe, and check us out there. Have an awesome week, everyone.

Baking Up Easter Joy Christian Life Stephanie Delger Podcast Host Mom Guilt Podcast Published On: March 28, 2024 Easter is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only does it mean spring is on it’s way, but we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior! Every year on Easter Sunday, we come home from church and celebrate by making Resurrection Rolls. This is a fun way to share the joy of Easter with my kids while allowing them to get their hands dirty and put a sweet treat in their bellies. I want to share this tradition with you, in hope that it blesses your family as well. The meaning of resurrection rolls I make resurrection rolls with my kids to remind them that Jesus is alive. We don’t worship a dead Savior, but a Risen Lord! Resurrection rolls allow us to celebrate that on Easter Sunday all those years ago, the tomb was empty! Resurrection rolls are a tasty and fun illustration meant to remind us that Jesus’ body, which was placed in the tomb on Friday, was no longer there on Sunday morning! Resurrection rolls are marshmallows, dipped in butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and wrapped in a crescent roll. When this treat is baked, the marshmallow melts, leaving an empty crescent roll “tomb” with no body (marshmallow) inside. Your kids will be delighted to see the “body” they wrapped in the tomb, disappear! Recipe Ingredients: 1 8 oz can of refrigerated crescent roll dough 8 large marshmallows 6 tablespoons butter, melted 3 tablespoons white sugar 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon Directions: Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl and set aside. Place the butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave in 15 second increments until the butter is completely melted. Allow the butter to cool slightly. Dip a marshmallow in the melted butter and roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the covered marshmallow in the center of a triangle of crescent roll dough. Carefully wrap the dough around the marshmallow. Make sure you thoroughly seal the crescent roll dough around the marshmallow. An unsealed roll will ooze out marshmallow as it melts, leaving a deflated crescent roll rather than a sphere shape. (If they aren’t sealed well, they will still taste delicious, you will just have a mess.) Place the wrapped marshmallows on the prepared baking sheet and bake for approximately 9-12 minutes. I set the timer for 9 minutes then continue to check every minute because there is a short window between golden brown and burnt. Allow to cool before eating, the melted marshmallow sugar is very hot! The Easter story told through resurrection rolls To make and assemble these treats with my children, I set all the ingredients in front of them on the counter. I have each of the kids grab a marshmallow and explain to them that the marshmallow is like Jesus’ body. I have each of the kids dip their marshmallow in the melted butter and roll it in cinnamon sugar. As they do this, I explain to them that after Jesus died on the cross, Jesus’ disciples and friends prepared his body for burial by wrapping his body in burial linens and spices. I then have each child grab a triangle of dough and as they are wrapping the marshmallow in dough, I tell them that after Jesus’ body was ready for burial, his friends placed his body in a tomb with a large stone rolled over the entrance. The people who killed Jesus wanted to make sure that no one took his body, so the stone was huge! I make sure to tell them the stone was really heavy, so they need to seal the tomb really well. I usually help them by checking to make sure everything is pinched and sealed well so the marshmallow doesn’t ooze all over the baking sheet in the oven. We repeat this process until all the dough and marshmallows are used and then I place the baking sheet in the oven. I explain to my kids that after they placed Jesus’ body in the tomb, his friends went home. I ask my kids how Jesus’ friends and followers would have felt after Jesus died. I usually turn on the oven light and let my kids “keep watch” to make sure no one steals the body from the tomb. As my children have gotten older, I also read to them Luke 19:40-42, which says, “ So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.” I like to read scripture to my kids while making these rolls because it shows them that I am not making things up. Reading from the Bible, or having one of my kids read the passage for us, helps them to know their Bible firsthand. They don’t have to rely on someone else to tell them what is in the Bible which equips them to start their own personal relationship with the Lord. When the timer goes off, I bring the baking sheet out of the oven and set it in front of my kids. I explain to them (while the treats are cooling) that some of Jesus’ friends came to Jesus’ tomb to continue getting his body ready for burial. I open my bible and read Luke 24:1-9 which says, “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.” By this time, the treats have cooled and my kids are able to take their roll and see that Jesus’ body is no longer in the tomb, He has risen! Jesus has risen indeed! Allowing children to use their hands to make these rolls is a fun experience for kids. Giving them the ability to see truths in the Bible, through illustrations like Resurrection rolls, is both delicious and memorable. Jesus has risen! I hope that you are able to use this resource in your home to share the joy of Easter and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. More Blogs You'll Like Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? What Does The Bible Say? Read More More Than Meets the Eye Discovering God’s Purposes for Motherhood Read More Mom Guilt and How to Fight It Read More

Andrew Zwart Andrew Zwart earned his B.A. in Education with an emphasis in Literature, English, and History from Calvin College in 1998. After graduating, he spent two years playing music in a local band that released two albums, one of which was nominated for a Jammie award. Newly married in 2000, he and his wife moved to Boston, and he began teaching for the Boston Public Schools system while his wife attended school. After four years, they moved back to Grand Rapids; his wife started a teaching job at Calvin, and Andrew began working for Kuyper’s Student Success Program. Missing the classroom, Andrew decided to return to Calvin to earn an M.A, in Education while also taking Linguistics at M.S.U. During this time, he began to focus his study on the intersection between rhetoric, communications, linguistics, history, and literature–all subjects he currently teaches. Most Recent Content from Andrew Zwart Words of Redemption With nothing but words, God creates the universe ex nihilo - out of nothing - and even as we are awed by this power, we are reminded that God’s good gift of language allows us to partake in his creativity. No, we can’t speak a... READ MORE

The Lie of "Christians Shouldn't Speak Into Politics" Sermon Series: Calling Out Cultural Lies Jon Delger Multiplication Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Jeremiah 29:1-9 Transcript Awesome. Well, great to see you all this morning. My name is John. I get to serve as one of the pastors here at Peace Church. Welcome. Whether you're in the worship center, over in the chapel, downstairs in the family venue, or joining us online, great to be together this morning. We're continuing our series called Calling Out Cultural Lies. We've been talking about popular and witty slogans, sayings, things you might hear out in the world. And as Christians identifying where's the truth, where's the lie, and how are we supposed to live as a result? And this morning, we get to address a very important topic, calling out the lie, Christians should not speak into politics. You may have heard this before. I think it's really no surprise that some of us have heard this before. What are the two things you're not supposed to talk about at family dinner, religion and politics. And here we are today, we're going to talk about both. Bonus. It also shouldn't surprise us when we consider some of the things that our own politicians have said about politics. In the words of Ronald Reagan, the most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. P.J. O'Rourke, journalist, said, giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. Some pretty negative things our leaders have had to say about their own profession. Finally, Mark Twain, of course, politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason. If you don't know what that reason is, maybe ask a young parent somewhere near you, they could explain that to you. But we at Peace Church are not people of popular and witty mantras and slogans. We are people of the Bible. Amen? And throughout this series, we've been going to God's Word and considering where is the truth, where is the lie in each of these mantras that we hear in the world? And today we're going to consider the world of politics and a Christian's role in it as we look at our passage, Jeremiah chapter 29. If you've got a Bible, would you please grab that open to it? If you don't have a Bible, we've got some on the shelves or a table somewhere near you. Jeremiah 29. I also want to say, as we launch into this, I am not a political professional or expert. I am simply a man with a Bible And that's what we're gonna get into this morning and talk about what God's Word has to say about this world That we live in a world of politics. So here we go. Jeremiah 29. I'm gonna read verses 1 through 9 then we'll pray Then we'll get to work Jeremiah 29 starting in verse 1 Jeremiah 29:1-9 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,[ a ] 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. This is God's word. Let's pray. We'll get to it. Father in heaven, I pray that you would please be with us. Open up our minds, our ears, our hearts to hear what you would have to say to us to be challenged, convicted, encouraged by it. God, I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit. I'm up here as a broken man to bring your perfect word to your people. God, I pray that you would take it and bring it to your people that we would all learn and grow as a result. Father, thank you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Awesome. Well, hey, our main idea this morning is this Christians should seek the welfare of whatever place God sends them. We're gonna look at that main idea in three points as we walk through our passage this morning. First point is this. Number one, you and I are part of this community. Christians, we are a part of this community. I want to unpack for you the first couple of verses, give you some context for what's going on in Jeremiah 29. There's a lot of Hebrew names in there. You might have gotten lost as we said some of those. So let me just give you a sense of what's going on in Jeremiah 29. All right, so in the Old Testament, the people of God are the nation of Israel. And at a certain point, the nation of Israel gets divided into two kingdoms the northern kingdom of Israel the southern kingdom of Judah The northern kingdom of Israel at this point has already been conquered The southern king of Judah has just recently been conquered by the most powerful nation in the world Babylon and now the nation of Babylon has taken people from Jerusalem the capital city of Judah and Exiled them brought them away to Babylon, you know when you were an ancient country and you conquered somebody else You had to kind of minimize their power, right? You didn't want them to rebel against you. So you carried some people into slavery, you relocated some people, you didn't want the hometown heroes to rise up and come back against you. And so a bunch of people, God's people have been taken from Jerusalem and moved over to Babylon and they are now living as what we would call exiles, that our home is in God's heavenly kingdom, and yet you and I are called to live on this earth in earthly kingdoms until we are either called home or until our king comes and rules the earth. And so we share something in common with Jeremiah 29, and so we're gonna hear what this word, what this letter from Jeremiah has to say to us exiles, as well as these people who are in exile. All right, here we go. Starting in verse four, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease. Recently, my wife and I had a good friend of ours, a good friend of mine from college, he's a pastor over in Vermont. Every couple of years, they come over and visit and stay with us. And they came to our house recently and they got there before I did, I was at work. And so I came home and they had been kind of touring our property a little bit already. And it's one of the first things that he said to me when he came up to me is he said, he said, John, I see that you got a garden, you got chickens, you got turkeys you got goats. You got a bunch of kids You must plan on staying here a while. I said you bet I do I plan on being here a while This is my home. I love it here. This is my Community, I think the exact same thing is being said here by Jeremiah build houses and live in them plant gardens Eat their produce have a whole bunch of kids and grandkids settle in Jeremiah selling these people you're in exile. You've been taken away from your home. You've been sent by God somewhere But this is now your home the place where God has sent you. This is your community You are a part of it and that is critically important. He uses a key word here, the word multiply in this verse. It should remind us of the passage going back to the very beginning of the Bible. I think of Genesis chapter one. God created a man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue and have dominion over it. God's original plan for human beings was that there would be a lot of us. That we would make a bunch of babies, that we would fill the whole earth, that we would cultivate it, that we would shape it after the image of the Garden of Eden, that we would make the whole world settled, a society according to God's good design. That was our purpose as human beings. Now, as believers, we also have the Great Commission, go therefore and make disciples. But as human beings, we also have a call from God to fill this earth and to shape it according to his good design. Let me point you at one more thing here before we move on from this point. Jeremiah 29, the second half of verse 7, we're going to talk about the first half of verse 7 in just a minute. Second half of verse 7, it says, For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. The community that you live in, you are a part of it. You are not or at least should not be in isolation. When good things happen to the community that you're a part of, that will be good for you. When bad things happen to the community that you're a part of, that will be bad for you because you are a part of it. You are not separate, you are a part of this community, of the human race, of this world. Christians over the years have come up with a phrase to talk about this interesting situation we find ourselves in. In the world, but not of the world. You and I live on a spectrum of sameness and separateness. On the one hand, we're not just like the rest of the world. Right, we follow Jesus, and so our behaviors, our thoughts, our actions, who we worship what we believe the truth we stand on is different You and I have an eternal perspective from God our creator and yet we're also Still a part of this community You and I are not supposed to look the same as the world. I could as your pastor I think we push you in different directions at different times Sometimes we're telling you you got to look more different from the rest of the world. You shouldn't live the way that they're living. But sometimes, and this morning is one of those times, I wanna remind us that we are a part of this world, that we're supposed to reject both of the extremes here, that we should be just like the world, and that we should be totally separate. Instead, you and I are called to be right in the middle, in but not of the world. Let me ask you a question If we as Christians in this world are the people Who have this book? the blueprint from the Creator For what human life is supposed to look like for what is good for what is true for what is just if you and I are those people that have this and we say Hands off not gonna participate not gonna be part of this y'all are on your own. What do you think will happen? What will happen to our world if the people who have the good book, if the people who know what is truly objectively, absolutely from the creator is good, if we step back and say, you're on your own, what will happen? I want to give you a reference that's pretty nerdy, I'm going to warn you ahead of time. It's from a great story called Lord of the Rings, books, movies. In that story, the whole earth, called Middle Earth, is at war. People fighting back and forth, good versus evil. And in the midst of it, a little hobbit goes to a great people, the tree people, have been around for years and years and years. They're very wise. They've seen things come and go. They're very strong. They've got a lot of power to them. There's a lot of them. They're great in number. And a wee little man, a wee little hobbit named Mary, asks them to be part of the war of this world. And at first they say no. But then Mary poses the question again. But you're a part of this world, aren't you? Christians, you and I have the wisdom of this book. You and I are filled with God's Holy Spirit. We've been given power to do something in this world. But I got to ask you a question. You're a part of this world, aren't you? If we won't stand for what is good and right and true and just, who will? The answer is no one. You and I are God's people sent to this earth to seek the welfare of other human beings. Let's take a look at that very verse in verse seven. Number two, point, says this, we must seek their welfare. Take a look at verse seven. It says, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Key word in our text this morning, the word welfare. What does that mean? Where does it come from? I want to talk about the root Hebrew word here. It's the word shalom. You've probably heard this word before. Some different synonyms for this word. Peace, welfare, completeness, safety, soundness, health, prosperity, contentment. The word shalom is a powerful, encapsulating word. It means total well-being, physical and spiritual. Now it's absolutely true, and we talk about it all the time here at Peace Church, that you and I are called to preach the gospel of Jesus. We care first and foremost about the souls, about the hearts of human beings. You might ask the question, what could we do to bring about the peace, to bring about the shalom, the welfare of our community? How do we do that? That's the first thing that we go for, isn't it? The Great Commission. You and I are called to make disciples of Jesus. If we want to change the world, we've got to change human hearts. And you know what changes human hearts? It's when people find Jesus, they realize that they have sinned and they put their faith in their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen? We want to change the world. We want to see people's hearts turn to our Savior through the gospel. You and I are also called to live as disciples of Jesus, to live as godly examples in our world. But I want to pose another question to you. Is there anything else that God also calls us to do? Is there any other way that you and I might be called to seek the good, the welfare, the peace of our community. This is where I want to bring in an important word and a question. What in the world is this thing that we call politics? What is it? Before we write it off, before we decide, hey, it's dirty, it's bad, it's evil, it's awful, we don't want any part of it, we've got to decide what in the world is this thing? I want to pose to you a couple of definitions If you were to look this word up today on the internet You'd find this politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area Especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power a little on a cynical side Right about the struggle for power you and I view it that way you and I have struggles with this word couple other definitions Very simple one from Merriam-Webster the art or science of government. Fair enough. Another definition, it's from the Greek poly, meaning many, and tics, meaning blood-sucking parasites. That's not a real definition, but it belongs in the conversation. Sometimes to get a good definition, you gotta go to the really old stuff. 1828 Webster's says, "'The science of government, that part of ethics "'which consists in the regulation and government "'of a nation or state for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity, comprehending the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources and the protection of its citizens in their rights with the preservation and improvement of their morals. Politics as a science or an art is a subject of vast extent and importance. Long, old, but helpful. I want to go a little bit older. Let's go to the root of this word politics. If we go to the ancient Greek, you got a couple of words that are at the root of this word politics. The polis. The polis was the city, the place where people lived. The polites were the citizens, the people who lived in the city. The politika was simply the affairs of the city. If you live amongst a group of people, if you're a citizen with them, and if you ever try to do anything together, then you've been a part of politics. Let me give you an example. Have you ever tried to order a pizza with a group of friends? First you have to decide how are we gonna make this decision, right? Right, you want pepperoni, I want sausage, who gets to decide? Well, I'm paying for the pizza, so maybe it's me who gets to decide. Who gets how much money? You know, if you're paying more money than I'm paying, then maybe you get more of both than I get. In my house, it's not so much about who pays for the pizza, it's about who's gonna whine the most about what was on the pizza. And so in my house, my four kids get to decide what goes on the pizza, even though I'm paying for it. Okay, I've seen amongst them some things that we might commonly see in politics, I've seen some lobbying, right? Some, hey, some negotiating. Hey, I want all pepperoni. If this time you vote for all pepperoni, the next time I'll vote with you for all sausage. Okay? They're making deals. Or they're trying to, they're doing like some under the table kind of things that don't actually have anything to do with the decision, but making some deals to try to swing things their way in the decision. Hey, if you vote with me on all cheese this time, then after dinner you can play with my Batman toy. Anytime you and I try to work with another group of people to decide something or do something, you and I are involved in something called politics. If you're a parent in the room, you might not realize how much you play politics, but if you've ever tried to get your toddler to eat vegetables, then you have played politics, right? If you want your toddler to eat their broccoli, you say, I will give you a dollar to eat your broccoli. And I will give you $5 if you don't tell your mom that I give you a dollar to eat your broccoli. All of us try to work with other people to get something done. We get involved in negotiating, lobbying, trying to decide something. How are we gonna make the decision, what kind of deals are we gonna make to get the decision done, all of us in some way, shape, or form are involved in what we would define as politics. Last point I got for us this morning. So politics is the affairs simply of a group of people. Last point I got for us this morning is this, number three, do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. I wanna take you to the last couple of verses of our passage, verses eight and nine. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name. I did not send them, declares the Lord. In Jeremiah's day, there was false teachers among the people. Jeremiah's still in Jerusalem. He's God's prophet. He writes a letter on God's behalf and sends it to them. But amongst the people there in Babylon, they've got other voices saying, you don't need to settle in. You don't need to love these people around you. You don't need to be a part of this community. These are people that God is against. You and I are going to go back to Jerusalem real quick. It's coming soon. If you read the rest of the chapter, you find out that's not true. It's gonna be years, it's gonna be generations until they get back to Jerusalem. There were people saying the opposite of what Jeremiah is saying and they were wrong. Brothers and sisters, we can't be deceived. As Christians, you and I absolutely believe that the time is short. Jesus could come this afternoon, Jesus could come tomorrow, Jesus could come a hundred years from now. You and I always have to have a fourth quarter mentality, right? the time is short the time is now it's time to make a difference and Scripture also tells us That we have to plan for generations of faithfulness for generations of impact on the world We have to train up kids. We have to care about civilization civilization and society. We have to love our neighbor. So you and I have to have a time is the time is now mentality and at the same time have a long-term mentality. Jesus gave us a mission to make disciples. But the question is, once you've made a disciple, what is that disciple supposed to do? What do you do in the world? I wanna just run a few passages by you that we as disciples of Jesus would encounter in scripture and just consider How might they impact our actions in a world of politics? Couple of passages Matthew chapter 22 famous passage. Jesus said to Jesus asked teacher Which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus says to them you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind This is the great and first commandment a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Jesus says you and I are supposed to love our neighbor. If we are called to love our neighbor, which means that we desire God's best for them and we pursue it, do you think that might mean that we might be called to lend our voice, to maybe lend a vote, to issues that matter. When something comes before us at the ballot, for example, in 2022, you and I, as Michiganders, had the chance to vote on Proposal 3, which was an amendment to the state of Michigan Constitution to enshrine abortion as a right. You think we as Christians, who are called to love our neighbors, who know that life begins at conception, that God cares deeply about the lives of unborn people, that our society will be healthier and better if those lives are protected, do you think that you and I are called to just sit back and say, no, you guys are on your own, I'm just going to stay out of it? Or do you think that we might have a role, have to speak to an issue like that? If we love our neighbor, might we have to get involved in a conversation like that? Let me point you to another passage, Micah 6a, Amos 524, a couple of just example passages from the prophets talking about our call to justice. He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God says that His people are supposed to be marked by justice, doing what's right, standing up for what's good, protecting the innocent. You and I stand right now, one day away from the one-year anniversary of Israel was attacked, people were murdered, raped, kidnapped, tortured? Do you think that when you and I have a chance to speak, to vote on rules, laws, representatives, do you think that we might need to care about the justice of an issue like that? And then we might bring that into the public square and it might affect how we vote or how we speak or how we participate. Are we just supposed to stand back and just say, no, I'm good, y'all figure it out. Or do we need to have a voice because we are the people that have God's truth, that we know what is good and right and just. One more passage I wanna look at this morning. It's a passage that you can't help but talk about when you talk about politics. Prominent passage in the Bible on how Christians relate to the government. Romans 13.1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. God is sovereign. He is the King of Kings. Nothing happens in this world apart from his involvement. Everybody who has power in this world, they have it because of God. And some have taken this passage and said, well, what this means then is that Christians, you're supposed to be subject. You shouldn't speak, you shouldn't do anything, you should just do what your leaders tell you. Now, I've got some questions. I think we've got to think about the words that we're talking about. Let me just take you to the Greek word for be subject. Let every person be subject. The Greek word is hupotasso. You want to speak some Greek this morning, you can say hupotasso with me on three. One, two, three, hupotasso. There you go. Y'all spoke Greek this morning. Beautiful. Well done. That word hupotasso is there in Romans 13.1, used for the word be subject. There's another place that it exists in scripture. We have to take into account multiple passages and think about what this word might mean. Another place that it's used in scripture is Ephesians chapter five. It says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Hupotasso. So if in Romans 13, 1 we're going to say Christians, the Bible says that you're supposed to be subject, Hupotasso, to the government, which means that you need to be quiet and to say nothing and to not have a voice and just do what you're told. Man, if you go home and talk about that with your wives over lunch, I don't think that's what scripture says. When we at Peace Church talk about Ephesians 5 or other passages that talk about God's call for leadership in the home, God has called men to that role in the home. And what do we believe about those who submit? We believe that wives are not called to have no voice or to not speak. We believe in fact that wives are called to take all of their talents, all of their wisdom, all of their voice, and come alongside of their husbands and help them as they lead their home. Christians, we must do the same when it comes to our government. You and I are called to take all of our talent, all of our wisdom, all of our voice to come alongside of our leaders and to help them lead according to God's good design. And if we won't, to God's good design. And if we won't, who will? I wanna address a couple of objections I think people might have in your minds as you're hearing some of this. Couple of things you might be thinking as a Christian considering what is our role in the world of politics. You might think politics are a distraction from the real mission. Jesus gave us the great commission, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Absolutely. That is our primary calling and mission. And you hear about it time and again here at Peace Church. And what is a disciple supposed to do when they live in the world? We make these disciples followers of Jesus. You and I are those disciples, followers of Jesus. How do we live in the world? When we have a chance to speak to an issue, as a disciple of Jesus, are we supposed to just say, no thanks, I don't want to be a part of that, or are we supposed to be involved and say something? Another objection, politics are divisive. They certainly can be. Unfortunately, I think in our country we've lost the ability to have a good discussion where we disagree and yet treat each other with respect. I think that's something that we as Christians could lead the way in regaining, that we can actually talk with people, disagree with people, and yet have respect for each other. I think that's something that we could lead the way in doing. You and I certainly shouldn't imitate the political commentators that we see on TV, the people yelling and screaming and red in the face. By the way, Christians, that's not how we go out there and talk about political issues. Don't take your cues from those people, take your cues from Jesus instead. But sometimes, over the truth, there might be division. There might be disagreement. I think you and I have seen time and again that we must stand for the truth, even when it is hard, even when it does lead to disagreement. Another objection you might hear from people is that politics is a dirty game, that it's full of corruption, that's full of underhanded, terrible things. That might be true. But is the answer for you and I to have no involvement, or is the answer for you and I to try to get in there and fix it? Last one, I've heard people sometimes say, I don't want to have any involvement in politics. We're not needed because God's in control anyway. I would just put this idea before you. When you go and get in your car after service this morning, get ready to go home, and you think, am I gonna put on my seat belt or not? And you think to yourself, maybe I don't need a seat belt because God's in control anyway. I would just encourage you to remember that there are ends and there are means, and God ordains both the ends and the means. If God wants you to survive your car trip home this morning, one of the means that he might use to do that is your seatbelt. Just because God's in control doesn't mean that your actions don't mean anything. They do mean something. You and I have choices and actions and they matter in this world. The disciples of Jesus live in a world that we can't help. It is a political world, a world where people are trying to work together to do some stuff, to get some stuff done, to shape society. How will disciples of Jesus engage in this world? Yes, you and I have a primary calling, and yes, you and I are disciples called to live as a part of this world. That's our main idea this morning, that Christians should seek the welfare of whatever place God sends them. Friends, you and I live in a unique time and place in history. We gotta realize that in Jeremiah 29, the Jews in Babylon, they didn't have a vote. They didn't have a voice. They didn't get to protest or say something or call a representative. They had no voice in the system. In the early New Testament, the Roman Empire, those guys didn't have a voice or a vote. But you and I live in a constitutional representative republic. We do have a voice and a vote. As followers of Jesus, who love our neighbor, who want what's good for society, how could we not use it? How can we not get involved? How could we watch our community decay and do nothing about it? I want to leave you real quickly with a couple of steps that you can practically take today, this week, in the near future. What do you do now as a follower of Jesus? Number one, you and I are called to pray. You and I are called to pray. I think of passages like 1 Timothy chapter 2. Paul says, First of all, then I urge supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings bemade for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet, godly and dignified in every way type of life. God calls us to pray for our leaders, all of them, whether we agree with them or not. Number two, you can get involved by voting. In the United States of America, you and I have been given the privilege, the right to speak. If we are the people who have this book, who know what is good and true and right and just, how can we not speak? How can we not use our vote? The data, the numbers, on the number of Christians that don't vote in every election year is staggering. Brothers and sisters, we're a part of this world and we have to use our voice. Another step you can take, maybe, consider running for office. Now, not all of us in this room should probably run for office, but I think there's some in this room who should definitely run for office. Peace Church is a place that's full of godly, faithful, Bible-believing Christians who are wise, who want what's good for the world. How much better and healthier could our community be if more of the people in this room were serving in public office? Another one, you can volunteer. Every election year, there's an opportunity to serve, to work the polls. You can contact your county clerk, you can contact your township office, get involved, be able to participate and help the process of our society run and operate well. A couple more. You and I can start earlier. One of the complaints that I've heard in 2024, one of the complaints that I've made myself is how can this be the best two candidates that we have in our country? I've heard many people say that time and again, but here's the deal. What if you and I started earlier so that we had more of a voice in who those two final candidates ended up being? This is something that I'm learning and growing in. I think there's something that all of us can learn and grow. If we complain about who the final two candidates are, maybe we need to get involved sooner to have more of a voice in who ends up as those final two choices in the race. Last but not least, you and I can learn more. You and I can keep growing. In the last couple of weeks, we taught a class here at Peace Shares called Christianity and Politics. You can find it at resoundmedia.cc . Five videos, there's a link right on the homepage of Resound Media. You can go there and I wanna encourage you to check that out. It's a great resource. We answered questions like, should Christians have anything to do at all with politics? What would a perfect government look like? Are we a Christian nation? Where do we go from here? We took some live Q&A. I would encourage you to check out that resource.

The Judgement Is Real Sermon Series: Contender Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Jude 5-16 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all your hearts, Amen. So today we are going to look at what is one of the most loaded passages of the Bible. Loaded that is with references and quotes that spark a lot of confusion, debate and speculation. And not only that, but it's loaded because it addresses a very, very unpopular topic, God's judgment. Welcome to week two of our sermon series on the book of Jude. Now, Jude wrote this letter, it's a letter in the Bible, and we call it a book, but it's actually a letter that he wrote to some Christians, and the main thrust of this letter is a call for Christians to contend, to fight, to stand firm for the faith, to have conviction, and to show in every area of our lives. Jude is a brother of Jesus Christ. Now, Jude once was noted to not believe that his brother was the Messiah. But we now see that Jude not only believes, but Jude is a primary advocate for the faith in the early church, even going so far as to write, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a letter that we get to read and be challenged and encouraged by 2000 years later. Today, we're going to see that we're called to contend. Now last week, last week, we looked at how the fight is now. It's not later. The fight is now. It's not a passive call. It's what we are to do with our lives every moment to always be pressing forward. We are to contend. And today, we're going to look at this one notion here. That we are going to contend because the judgment is real. Last week we looked at how the fight is now. Today, the judgment is real. So please, this is going to be a sermon where you're really going to want to have your Bibles open. Turn to the book of Jude. Quick reference, it's the second to the very last book of the Bible. If you want to use the Bibles we provided, that's on page 1308. Happy for you to do that. Otherwise, if you need to, quickly download the Bible app. This is a passage. We're really going to want it in front of you today. Now, I already told you it's going to be the longest section we're going to tackle in this sermon series. We're going to look at verses 5 to 16 today. Now, let me just say one thing real quick before we read our passage. We typically stand for the reading of God's word, but it is a longer section. So if you're not able to do that, then just stand with us in spirits, but I would say to the rest of us, if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word? Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels, who did not stay within their own positions of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulge in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires, served as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner, these people also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, for they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perish in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs that your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by the winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with his ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of their deeds of ungodliness that have been committed in such an ungodly way. In all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him, these are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. This is God's word. Let's pray, if you would remain standing, let's pray and we will continue. Father in heaven above, we come before you on this day, glorifying and praising your name, because you are our holy God. Please continue to send the spirit that we might know your word and your will. Father, please guard me from saying things that are untrue and unhelpful. For we pray these things in the name of our only savior, Jesus Christ. And everyone said it with all your hearts, amen, amen. Go ahead, have a seat. Let's just say it now. The truth is, far too many churches are afraid to announce what we're going to talk about here today. Here's the other truth. Far too many Christians will leave a church if it announces the things we're going to preach here today. And it's primarily this, that we must contend for the faith because the judgment is real. It's an odd thing. It's an odd thing that on one hand We want justice. We long for justice. You know what justice is? Justice is when everything is made right when everything is made as it should be we long and we want for justice. But there's no justice without judgment. So on the one hand we want justice, but on the other hand, we don't want God's judgment. Listen to me. Just like how you cannot have God's will without God's timing, you cannot have God's justice without God's judgments. My friends, and the judgment is real. If you believe there's a real standard, if you have a hope that one day things will be as they should be, if you believe in a hope of justice, then you must understand that it will come via judgment. That there is a God in heaven who keeps the standard and he will restore all things. And we long for that. But we have to understand the path towards that is through God's judgment. But make no mistake about who the judge is, my friends. The judge himself is Jesus Christ. Jesus says this, he says in John 5, 22, that the Father, God the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, to Jesus. Jude even reminds us of this in this letter. But here is the loving call out specifically to Peace Church. As one of your pastors, in love, I wanna pass to you for just a moment and give you a loving call out. I know that in this passage, there are people in here who are more interested about what I have to say about Enoch than you are concerned about God's judgment. And that needs to get called out and recognized. You are missing the point of this passage if this is your most interested part about what we're gonna say today. Make no mistake, we will address Enoch. But we'll put Enoch in his rightful place, that writing of Enoch in his rightful place. It's under the banner of the overarching notion that God had Jude write this letter for, and that's to announce that judgment is coming, but within that there is a great hope. And so, we're going to examine a few things about judgment, and then, Christians, then we'll talk about Enoch. But first and foremost, there's three things I want to talk about. And the first one is this, that the judgment is real upon all creation. Judgment is real upon all creation. Bibles open, if you can, please. I've only got 30 minutes and we're burning daylights. Let's get through this. In our opening section, three verses, verses five to seven, we see important things that we need to take note of because Jude is painting a pretty grim picture here, but understand it's also a very powerful picture. This is incredible. So the first thing we noticed is that Jude ascribes the actions of the God of the Old Testament to Jesus Thereby helping us to know and to remember and to see that Jesus is the God of both the Old and the New Testament The actions of the God of the Old Testament are the actions of Christ, namely salvation and judgment. So in verse 5, we see that how God's people were destroyed after they were saved out of Egypt. That God saves the people out of Egypt, but the unbelieving Hebrews were destroyed. This verse 5 is referencing Numbers chapter 14. That's verse 5. Verse 6, we see that God's angels are judged because of their pride. These are members of the angelic host who were cast from heaven. That's verse 6. Now verse 7, we see that God punishes the world because of its sin. We see this in the infamous story of Sodom and Gomorrah, when people went against God's decrees for holy sexuality. So verse 5, God judges his own people. Verse 6, God judges the angels. Verse 7, God judges the world. All face judgment because God's judgment is real upon all creation. And the unifying peace among all three of those is simply this, they rejected God and his plan. And with that, they pursued their own personal desires which always leads to sin in God because he is a good and righteous and just God, he will judge sin. And that makes him a good God. He judges sin, whether it's his people, whether it's his angels, or upon the world, he judges and brings judgment because he's just. It's a good and righteous God who holds sin to account. Now, let's take a breather. I know that was a lot. Let's take a breather and just have a heart to heart. Listen, I know that we are just in week three of this awesome new space that God has provided for us. And this is probably not the message that many of us want to hear. But I'm here to tell you, the greatest news to be found can be found and is found in this very passage. If we are willing to wade through some of the hard to hear truths, you'll hear the greatest possible news. So let's be patient and let's sift through what God has revealed, because we're going to see not just hard truth, but good news. So the first thing we realize is that God judges upon, His judgment is upon all creation, which leads to the second part, that God's judgment is real, so be on guard. If you missed last week, let me catch up to speed. If you were here, let me remind you. This whole letter of Jude is written in response to a group of people who had become part of the church, but who were now using God's love and grace as a license to continue in their sin. They were part of the church, and some of them probably were even teachers. And Jude said that judgment is coming for them. And Jude shows us that God's judgment has already come because he's already showed throughout the pages of scripture that it's come upon God's people, God's angels, and God's world. And so Jude's presenting this argument and now it's going to come upon them. He says this in verse 8, Yet in a like manner these people, the ones he's talking about in this letter, these false Christians. These people also relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. It almost seems like he's speaking to us here and now. He's saying, what he's basically saying is that these people are spiritual people, but they're not godly people. And I don't know if you are aware of this, but spiritualism and the occult is massively on the rise. Thanks to the internet and social media and things feeling like they're safe, people are exploring spiritualism, but it's not godliness. And let me just tell you, spiritualism apart from Christ is incredibly dangerous. It's wicked and it's evil and you're playing with demons. And we're gonna see how this argument has continued to be made. So he's saying they're spiritual, but they're not godly. They seek out dreams rather than God's word. They engage in sinful behavior thereby rejecting God's authority and probably locally they're rejecting the authority of their own elders. And then Jude says this quote, let's hang on this one for a second. He says this quote, they blaspheme the glorious ones. Now what's that? What are the glorious ones? Now one might think that Judah speaking about angels and he might be, but Peter uses this very same language in second Peter to clearly speak of demons, meaning these people are playing spiritual, but they're playing with demons, which by the way, spirituality apart from Christ is always demonic, but these people were blaspheming. What is more powerful than them without the covering of Christ. And Jude says, this is wrong and dangerous and he does so and he presents his argument by addressing a section that many of us have been waiting for me to comment on so to announce how dangerous it is what these people are doing this is what Jude says verse 9 says but when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Okay, so where's that story in the Bible? Didn't cover that Sunday school, because that story is not in the Bible. That Jude, what Jude is doing here, he's quoting from a text that the Jews would have been very familiar with during this time. It was a writing called the Testament of Moses, or also called the Assumption of Moses. And what it was, it was like a story-like writing about the life of Moses. And the Jews would have been very familiar with it at that time. But listen to me, they did not see it as scripture, nor did they see it as God's word. Now, that does not mean it was not helpful or formative. We will often use narratives that are inspired by faith to help us understand God's word and his will. We do this when I geek out and quote things like the Lord of the Rings. I can pull, or the Princess Bride, yeah. I can pull stories with godly themes to help us better understand and better relate to what's being taught in Scripture. So what's Jude doing here? Here's kind of how I understand it. It's like Judah saying, guys, we do not come to demons on our own. We can only engage them under God's authority. Remember that story from the Testament of Moses? Even the archangel Michael didn't even blaspheme the devil, but simply relied upon the Lord. That's kind of how I understand what's happening here. Now, for sake of time, I'd love to spend more time on verse 10, but let me just kind of summarize verse 10 for you so we can continue. Here what Judah is doing in verse 10 is Judah is talking about how we can recognize false Christians because they are carnal people who follow the cravings of their flesh rather than the will of God's spirit. And it's going to bring their destruction because God will judge them for their sinful acts. Because what they're doing is they're following their own desires rather than God's decrees. And Jude says this in verse 11, Woe to them. Tell you what, if there's three words in the Bible you do not want directed at you, it is woe to them. Woe to them. But then in verses 12 and 13, Jude goes on to list actual other proper Bible stories of people going against God's commandment and receiving God's judgment. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. He cites Cain from Genesis 4. He cites Balaam from Numbers 22. And he cites Korah from Numbers 16. There's your Bible study for later if you want to hear more about God judging people's sin. But Jude warns his audience, and by extension, the Holy Spirit is warning us to be aware of these people because they are not just headed for destruction themselves, but what's happening is that they are corrupting the good things that are happening within the church. Listen to what he calls them, and just imagine you being called out like this. This is what he says about these people. He says, they are hidden reefs, shepherds who only feed themselves, waterless clouds, fruitless trees. Ouch. Do you understand what he's basically saying? He's saying they're dangerous, selfish, and useless. Whoa, whoa, whoa. This does not certainly sound like the everybody's welcome vibe we get from modern day churches, now does it? He's basically saying they're dangerous, selfish, and useless. But listen to me. If you think that's harsh, you have to understand a couple things. First thing is this. As we said last week, these are people who are calling themselves Christians, maybe even teachers, who are not truly following Christ. What they're doing is harming the church, and that cannot be tolerated. But not only that, but secondly, as you'll see in the coming weeks, Jude actually says some incredibly patient and compassionate things towards unbelievers and how Christians are to engage in unbelieving world. You have to come back next week to hear more about that. But the warning is this judgment is coming for people who will use God's love and God's grace as a license to sin. And this, first and foremost, above anything else, this is a call out for you to look in the mirror to make sure you're not doing that first. If you are so discerning to be able to root that out in yourself, then you can help be part of the conversation to make sure that's not happening amongst God's church and Jesus' bride. This is a call to be discerning and a call to be on guard first and foremost for your own heart, but then also zealous and be passionate for Jesus' bride, which is the church. And so, be on guard, but also the third thing we see is this, the judgment is real because so is justice. And finally, we'll get to the book of Enoch. So in speaking about these false or fake Christians, Jude says this, verse 14. He says, it was about these, these fake Christians, that Enoch, the seven from Adam prophesied saying, behold, the Lord comes with his 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. How many times can you say ungodly in one sentence? Goodness. So what's going on here? So here's what's happening. Jude is quoting from the book of Enoch, particularly 1 Enoch chapter one. In case you didn't know, there's actually three books of Enoch in ancient literature. But the point he's making is simple. He's saying the fact that these people are in the church should come at no surprise. It's long been foretold that false believers will arise. And likewise, it should be of no surprise that these people are headed for condemnation based on God's abundant history of bringing judgment upon the sinful, which we've already looked at. So we get the point, Jude. Judgment is coming. Jude, you've clearly made this point. But that still leaves many of us with the question, what about the book of Enoch? Well, first off, here's what you need to know. Both the Old Testament Jews and the New Testament Christians neither believe this book or any of the books called Enoch to be canon worthy and included in the Bible. Just like the testimony of Moses, you need to understand these books were not hidden away, they were not kept secret, they were universally seen and known and believed to be helpful in faith, but they were not authoritatively inspired by God. In fact, the book Enoch does a lot of quoting of the Old Testament, thus proving Enoch did not write it. But here's a fair question. Does the fact that the Bible quotes Enoch and the assumption of Moses, does that mean therefore they should be in the Bible? The answer is no. The Bible at times quotes writings outside of itself, but it does not mean that those writings themselves were inspired in their original writing. Rather, it means that God chose to use those words as he inspired the writers of the Bible to compose the scriptures. No one is hiding these books. Go buy them on Amazon if you're so interested. There's no conspiracy theory. They're available if you want to go use them, if you want to go look at them. But you might say Jude seems very specific here. Jude says Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied. Pastor, that seems very specific. Yes, because he's quoting from the book. It's like if I were to quote Aslan, the son of the emperor beyond the sea, I'm not thereby bestowing personhood upon Aslan, I'm simply quoting the Chronicles of Narnia to help us understand God's truth all the more. There's no conspiracy, so let's recap. No, Enoch should not be in the Bible. No, Enoch is not God's word. Yes, Enoch is a helpful book that the early Jews used. No, you don't have to use it. No, there's no conspiracy to keep it out of the Bible. Yes, God can use the writings of Enoch to reveal true things. No, I haven't read it. Yes, you can buy on Amazon. No, I won't buy it for you. And finally, yes, we currently are woefully off topic right now. The topic, my friends, is God's judgments. And we need to focus on the message of Enoch. Jude is warning us that God will set things right, that yes, his justice is coming, the restoration of all things is before us. The universe will not fizzle out into oblivion. God will come and restore things to how they should be. There is a glorious end that we long for. Justice is coming, my friends, but it's coming through judgment, judging the wicked. And if you think I'm not that wicked, I don't play with demons, I'm fairly safe. I would just ask you to listen how Jude goes on to describe these people in the very last verse that we'll look at right now. In verse 16, Jude says this, listen to this list. "'These are grumblers, malcontents, "'following their own sinful desires. They're loud mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. Let's flesh this out real quick. Grumblers, aka gossips and complainers. Social media. They're malcontents. You know what the word is we use nowadays? Curmudgeons. These are the curmudgeons. If something's going good, they always think it's happening for the wrong reason. They're never happy. There's always something wrong. They're always looking for something to be wrong. They're malcontent. They're not happy. Also says that they're following their own sinful desires, aka modern Americans. The fourth thing he says, they're loud mouth boasters. They're prideful people. They celebrate themselves. Then he says that they show favoritism to gain advantage. Now the old term would be apple polishers, and if you understood that reference, you got gray hair. Jude is painting a picture with these descriptions, and it's this, that these people are self-serving rather than selfless. And that should be a distinguishing mark between Christians and the rest of the world. The rest of the world should be the self-serving, selfish ones. We should be the selfless ones, knowing that all we have, God has given to us so that we might use it for his glory in this world. He's saying they're the opinionated ones, we should be the grateful ones. They're the spiritual and prideful people. We should be the humble and godly people. Jude is saying God's judgment is coming because God's justice is real. Justice will reign, but it will come on the heels of judgments. So if you think that you can look at your life and you're not guilty of any of the things that we're talking about here, I'm telling you, you are blind to your own sin. But I think most people will be honest enough to look at these passages and see remnants of themselves, if not actually feeling like they're looking at a mirror. And what that means is, God's judgment is rightly coming for you. And that means that you should be rightly terrified about this. This is the hard truth. But you must remember in Jesus Christ we have not just hard truth, but we have good news. And that's what we're here to celebrate. And the good news was found in the very first verse we read today. Verse five. Verse five declares that Jesus saves. He is the Savior of the Old Testament. He is the Savior of the New Testament. Jesus is the God in the flesh who lived without sin, making him the perfect sacrifice for sin, that was able to pay our debts, to take our penalty with his death on the cross. And his death led to his resurrection, which is proof that Jesus is who he said he is. And it's proof that through him we cannot just have eternal life as good as that is, but we can have eternal life in the presence of God. That through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are welcomed to God's own table. That there is a seat prepared for us there by the blood of Jesus. It's only through the gospel that you can be saved. In fact, at the end of your life, you need to know that you bring nothing before God except your sin and your shame, and you will stand there naked unless and here's the good news unless you've called upon the name Jesus Christ at which point you're not standing there naked in your sin and shame you're standing there clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and God when he looks upon you he does not see the sin of the world he sees the righteousness of his own son and this is the good news that we can be that can be found in the pages of scripture that Jesus saves. So hear me, if you are a person who's only plain Christian, then leave that life behind right now. Find new and eternal life that can only be found through the love of God in Christ Jesus. If you are a Christian who's contending for the faith, then let me ask you, have you gotten comfortable? If you have, wake up, oh sleeper. The fight is now. Judgment is coming. We need all of the church on the front lines. And one of the ways that we do that is standing shoulder to shoulder. Even in rows, we stand spiritually shoulder to shoulder as we sing praises to God. Because when we lift up our praises to God, we are declaring before the Lord and before the world who is king. And his name is Jesus Christ. You bring nothing before God except all the reasons you should be condemned. So that's why we say, and that's why we're about to sing, that all you have is Christ. You will bring nothing with you from this world. All that you can bring is your faith in Jesus Christ. Christ is all that you have. The thanks be to God, He's all that you need. And that's what we get to worship here, that's what we get to declare to each other and to the world. This is how we contend for the faith, by lifting up the name of Jesus. Amen? So let's stand is how we contend for the faith, by lifting up the name of Jesus. Amen? So let's stand and do that now.

Marriages That Can Stand A Video of That's a Good Question Video Blog Kevin Harney Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Church Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 2 Creating Meaningful Traditions Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Q+A Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Bible Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 1 Jon Delger Withstand: How The Culture War Is A Spiritual Battle Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Where Do We Go From Here? Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Q & A Kelly Needham | Women's Christmas Party People Pleasing Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Are We a Christian Nation?

PODCAST That's a Good Question Unveiling the Unseen: Exploring Spiritual Warfare March 18, 2024 Jon Delger & Nate Harney 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 serve as a pastor at Peace Church, and I am here with Pastor Nate. Nate Hey, happy to be here. Jon And I'm also here with, as always, Mitchell, producer. Mitchell Hey. Jon And today we get to answer some exciting questions about spiritual warfare. So at Peace Church, we've been doing a series over the last several weeks, I think it was five weeks, called "Withstand," talking about spiritual warfare, talking about the armor of God. And so we've had a stream of questions come in about spiritual warfare, and so we've saved them up, and now we get to talk about it. Mitchell Yeah, here we go. Here's our first question. I've been in dark places sometimes helping my adult children. On occasion, I see the enemy in another human mocking me. What is the best response to this, and am I not alone in this type of experience? Jon It's a scary situation to be in. So let's break it down a little bit. What do you guys think about what they're describing? Have you ever had that experience or talked with somebody who's had that experience where you feel like you see an evil spiritual force in another person? That's what I hear them saying in the question, right? Nate Yeah, I can't say I've had that exact experience. But I've been in places and environments where I felt not even, you know, it's kind of a unique mix of something that feels mildly physical but mostly just like a darkness. I'll be honest, I've been in some cities, even in some areas of cities, where you just go, "Oh," and then you find out later, "Oh yeah, that area is heavily involved in the occult." Even I think of a time, certain areas I've been around New Orleans, there's a city, Santa Cruz in California, where I spent a lot of time, where I found out later, it's considered a capital for Satanism in America. So like I've definitely, I think you can have those feelings, and I don't know exactly about them seeing it in another person, you know, a demon possession. I haven't had tons of experience with that. But I will say, you know, one of the things we've been talking about as a church is that the spiritual realm is real. This stuff is not to be kind of fluffed off as something that isn't real or isn't something that we deal with in Western society. But right away, the first thing, I always think of two things. The power of the word, that's Jesus' main weapon against the enemy when he's face-to-face with Satan himself. I always go back to the temptation in the desert and Jesus going back over and over again to his word, so relying on his word. I've had people who, when you have those times, it's so scary and you feel so paralyzed, you don't even know. I'm trying to remember Bible verses. I can't even – nothing's coming. I always encourage people, just the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus, so if you can't say anything else, just cry out to Jesus. And I've had the one or two times where I felt really scared because there's just darkness, and in a unique environment where I just found myself going, "Jesus, Jesus," like just relying on not as some magic charm or spell, but that's the name of our Lord and Savior, and I think there's power there even when you can't think of anything else. Jon Yeah, and in the gospel accounts, we see the demons run from Jesus. I mean, Jesus's name and presence have special power, obviously against them. It's the enemy. So like you, I haven't directly experienced something like what the person is describing. I don't feel like I've seen physically a demon, especially like in another person, like it be manifested, but I've had some interesting experiences. I've had times, for a long period of time, when I was preaching, I would have a really strong sense of just like a demonic presence. I used to have, at the church where I was at the time, a very high ceiling, and I used to sort of have this sense of like I'm preaching, and there's almost like this big, dark, black cloud out in front of me, kind of in the back of the room, in the ceiling, kind of manifested there. I always had this sense of like I'm preaching, and this dark cloud is just swallowing up what I'm saying, and nobody can actually hear it, which I feel like was just kind of a visualization of what the enemy does, right? He tries to snatch up the word so it can't go deep and bear fruit in people's hearts. So that's kind of one experience. I've had experiences where I've woken up in the middle of the night, and I can think of one specific where I woke up in the middle of the night and just went bolt upright and just started shouting because I was convinced that there was a man at the end of the bed. I think it was just kind of a dark, shadowy figure of some kind, and it woke up my wife and everything; it was just kind of a crazy ordeal. So that's the closest I've come. I do have a relative who has experienced something kind of similar to what's being described here and has talked to me about interacting with another person who they felt like was either possessed or under serious attack by demonic forces at the time, and just their eyes and the words that they were saying did not seem like that person, and it was just evil, bad, unhealthy stuff coming out of them. Nate Yeah, if that's you asking, or if you've had similar experiences, I know one practical thing: seeking out a pastor or a small group leader or an elder in your church. I've had so many times where I've had different people come up to me and share an experience. And just sharing with somebody you trust and who knows God's Word well and who cares about you, having them pray with you, pray over you, I don't think you can go wrong with prayer in that circumstance either. And then if it continues and it's really intense, that will – you'll have already had the conversation open to saying, like, what are some next steps here if you feel like it's becoming repetitive and a pattern, I'd say. Jon Yeah, one of the things we've emphasized in the sermon series is what the text says in Ephesians 6, that our war is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual forces. So even if you feel like the enemy is manifesting himself through another person, you have to remember that person is not the enemy. The enemy might be working through that person in some way or might be attacking or oppressing them in some way, and they're actually a victim, and you've been given a glimpse into that and are seeing that happen in some kind of way, which I can only imagine would be terrifying. But yeah, like you said, Pastor Nate, praying, calling out in the name of Jesus, "in the name of Jesus, be gone," those are the things in those moments. Mitchell I think also making sure that you are truly following Christ. There's a story in Acts where there are people trying to cast out an evil spirit, and the evil spirit says, "I know of Jesus, but I've never heard of you." Jon I've heard of Jesus, I've heard of Paul, but I have not heard of you. And they get their butts kicked. So, making sure that we're people that would be a threat to the dark forces of the spiritual world. Jon That's actually really, I wasn't even thinking in that direction, but you make a really good point. That if you're asking these questions, hopefully, you're a Christian. If you're not, we'd love to talk to you about the gospel. But yeah, if you're not a Christian and you're engaging with demonic forces, that's a whole different category of things, and you're in trouble, and you need Jesus. Mitchell Yeah. Well, let's jump into this next question. I've heard from a pastor, not from Peace, so you guys are off the hook, say before, "If Satan is on your back, that means that he's not on mine, because he's not everywhere like God is." Are we still vulnerable at all times to Satan's schemes, regardless if someone else is feeling the heat, so to speak? Nate That's getting into an interesting thing. I mean, we do believe based on God's word that Satan – some people think of, I think in popular culture, God and Satan as equals, that one's good, one's bad, and that's not the case at all. We see, as it's clearly laid out in the Bible, God is all-powerful, Satan is not. You see time and time again – think of the story of Job, where Satan has to come to God and ask for permission for something, and that opens up a whole other discussion we're not getting into today. And you even see times where Satan, the enemy, the evil one, is isolated in time and space. So, I think what that pastor is maybe trying to teach is a theological point about how Satan's not as powerful as we sometimes give him credit for. But I would say we believe in not just Satan, but in his demonic powers. Like you referenced in Ephesians 6, it talks about all the powers and authorities. So I would say the real question isn't "can Satan be around," But like his plans and his workers are doing their work all over all the time. I think the bigger question is, like, kind of the last one we asked, what do I do to combat that? I don't think you need to worry too much about is this Satan, is this a sub-demon. It could also just be your own flesh, your own sin, and so your own desire to do something that's ungodly. So I think it's an interesting thing to think and talk about, but I don't know if it's the most profitable thing to try to figure out. Jon: Well, I laughed a little bit as you read the question, because I assumed it was a joke that, ha ha, you know, if Satan's against you, if Satan's getting you, at least he can't get me. I hope that was a joke. Yeah, like you said, Pastor Nate. So yeah, we do believe Satan is restricted to one place at one time. He's not God, he's not omnipresent, but he has a large army. Mitchell: Yeah, and I think we have to also acknowledge the reality of the forces that are demonic that are associated with him. Not everything is Satan. So if we're feeling spiritual warfare, an attack, that doesn't mean it's Satan. So if, you know, they say if someone else is feeling the heat, you might still be feeling some sort of spiritual attack. And it might not. It's probably not Satan. It could be. Jon: But it could be his army. Yeah. Yeah. His forces are many. Nate: Yeah. And I think it does. I mean, this isn't what the person's asking necessarily, but I think we, John, I'm sure you have too, we've encountered times where somebody's doing something that's clearly not Satan or demonic forces, but just either their own decisions or some brokenness in the world where they're saying, you know, you know what, I was doing this sinful thing, and let's say I was drinking and driving and I crashed my car. Man, Satan's really working overtime against me right now. Nate: You go, you know, I don't think you need to attribute that to spiritual warfare. I think we know pretty clearly what's going on. You did something sinful, broke laws, made unwise decisions, and now there are consequences. So yeah, I think it's important. Yeah, there's Satan, there's all of his demonic forces, but there's also other things in the equation when you're talking about hard stuff happening in your life. Jon: Yeah, if you find yourself saying, "The devil made me do it," you may be on the wrong track. Mitchell: Yeah. I've always said a glass cannot spill what it doesn't contain. It has to. No one can make you do something that wasn't already inside you. So the devil can't make you do something you didn't want to do anyways. I don't know if I used the devil negatively. Jon: Now you're making me think of many other questions. I just like that. Nate: Isn't that a "Me Without You" lyric? Mitchell: It is a "Me Without You" lyric. Nate: Okay, so why do you say "I've always said give credit," Mitch? Mitchell: Well, I've also – sorry, I was just going through my lyrical encyclopedia. Nate: I didn't have that in my head. Jon: Yeah, the glass can only spill what it contains. Nate: Yeah, that's a good one. Jon: I said it with a double negative. All right. Mitchell: Our last question. Do you think Satan has the ability to cause sickness to prevent someone from going to church? Example: only on weekends. Wait, are you asking me if he can only cause sickness on the weekends? No, I think the example is that they would get sick only on the weekends. So they can't go to church, right? Jon: Well, I think we've got evidence in Scripture that he can cause sickness under God's supervision. In the book of Job, Satan comes and asks God permission to attack Job's body, and he does, and that happens. So, yeah, I would say that's totally possible. I've thought of that myself sometimes. I feel like in my own life, when it just seems too clear that my sickness schedule seems to line up with the schedule of other important things that are happening in the church. We'll be right back after this break. Elizabeth: 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. Nate: Yeah, it makes me think of a bigger question that I always have when it comes to this topic. I think you generally fall into one of two camps when it comes to spiritual warfare. You either have a tendency to err on the side of underestimating what Satan and all of his forces can do, or maybe you err on the side of over-dramatizing, maybe, and always seeing everything as spiritual warfare and everything. So I would say, you know, let's say you see a pattern of, "I feel like I get sick every Sunday morning." Don't fall prey to just going, "Hey, I'm sure that's just a coincidence, that's just my biological clock." There might be something spiritual there, and I'd say, pray against that. Say, "God, I ask you to help me deliver me from this weekend sickness I'm getting. Lord, if there's any sort of demonic involvement, I pray that you would free me and that you would heal me," and make that prayer. But then also, don't get so in your own head that, let's say, the next weekend comes and you feel a little bug and you go, "Oh, we're at it again," and you get so involved in that that you don't just get your clothes on and go to church. You know, I think there's a fine line between that, and it's tough because, I mean, I think what's also helpful is to know kind of your own tendency. I have the tendency to underestimate the spiritual forces of the world. When I get sick, my first thought isn't, "Oh, is this spiritual warfare?" My first thought is, "Oh, was I too close to that sick kid at church?" That's probably me. Was I recently with John Belger? No, but I actually think it's a good challenge for me to think more through that lens of spiritual warfare. I think for some people, if that's the first thing you think of every time something hard happens, it might be more something to go, "Hey, you might be giving too much credence to this," and maybe there's a little something to just resting in the peace of Christ to know that Jesus wins in the end. He has ultimate power and authority and nothing's happening outside of his watch and even outside of his rule and his sovereignty. But, I don't know, Jon, you've dealt more with, I think, some of the sickness stuff. I mean, has that been – with your health stuff, has that been something that you've thought about and you've kind of wrestled through? Jon: Yeah, I feel like I've just kind of always viewed it as it's probably some combination of all of the above. I've always just kind of thought, "All right, I've got some just physical health issues that I have," and so there's physical factors at work. I've got – you know, there's stress factors that come into play, and then there are spiritual forces at work. I guess I just always kind of imagine, yeah, it's probably roll the dice, it's likely there's a combination of one or two or three of those factors all at play at the same time. And I just pray accordingly that the Lord would heal me from physical sickness, that he'd not let stress impact my ability to function, that he'd cast away any spiritual attack. So I think that's kind of how I approach it, just sharing a vision. Nate: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. Just listening to you talk about that, it reminded me of the time where this has come up a couple times with me directly. I haven't had as much physical health issues, but this is an especially prevalent topic when it comes to mental health challenges, because you can read the New Testament and see that a lot of those things that look to manifest as mental health issues definitely have spiritual roots. And I've had people ask me, "Do you think this is more of a spiritual thing, more than a mental or psychological thing?" And I'm a little bit more in the not A, B, but probably C, all of the above camp, is that those things can't be fully separated from each other anyway. And so my practice, along with some very tangible things I do to try to get out myself, prayer and asking God to deliver me and asking God to help me, is always a part of that equation no matter what. Jon: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. That's exactly, I think, the Christian worldview. We know all these things are at play. We don't know how much of which one at any given time, but we know they all are at play, and we know that the real answer is always God's help. And so that's what we cry out for. Mitchell: Yeah. If you're getting sick every week, it might be good to get a new toothbrush. Nate: That's very practical. I mean, the bright bright of oral health is important. Well, it's like you're sick and you use the same toothbrush. Mitchell: You can get sick over and over. Jon: It's good. Nate: That's true. Mitchell: Yeah. Get a new toothbrush. Jon: You know, I don't know. I've heard that's helpful. Yeah. Well, along those lines, I've heard guys say they've had young people around them coming to them and being like, "Oh man, I'm dealing with this and it's spiritual warfare." And then they just sort of ask, "How much sleep have you gotten this week? How many meals did you eat in the last couple of days? When was the last time you exercised?" So we're physical, mental, and spiritual beings all at the same time, all the time. So all those things can come into play. I have a curious question for you all that I think is related. Do you think a Christian can be possessed by a demon? Mitchell: No. No, I don't think so. Jon: Why not? Mitchell: Because I think in order for Satan to do anything he has to ask for God's permission. I think God sealing his elect with the Holy Spirit forbids that. Nate: Yeah, there's only room for one spirit to live in you, and if the Holy Spirit's in there, no vacancy for demons. Jon: Nice, I like that. The Westminster says he's infinite, eternal. That's pretty big. He takes up all the space. Nate: What do you think? Jon: Yeah, that's what I think too. Mitchell: I think Christians can come under demonic oppression, where they're being oppressed by demons but not possessed. Jon: Right. If the Holy Spirit's in you, he's in you. No vacancy – I like that. That's a good way to say it. Alright, I've got a couple more that either I've thought of or just from talking to a few people, other questions that came in on this topic. We can go for days, but we'll just take a couple of these. Here's one: If Satan knows God is going to win in the end, why does he even bother to fight? Nate: I've thought about that question a lot, and I think in one sense it seems like if you know you're going to lose, why would you even do anything towards it? And whoever asked that question, which it sounds like it was maybe you, John. But when I asked that question of myself, I asked, "Hey, if sin leads to bad consequences, why do I ever sin?" You know, if I know talking to my wife this way will lead to a fight, why do I even do it in the first place? I think that's giving a lot of credit to the logic of our minds when evil doesn't often operate in logical ways. Jon: That's a very good point. I also think Satan is just fundamentally opposed to God. It's like having a big brother who you know you're going to get walloped if you fight him, but sometimes you're so angry you don't care. I think maybe that's the mindset of Satan: he just hates what God is doing and has to fight against him. Nate: And he's evil and perverse enough that even if he knows how it will end, there's a part of him that will enjoy the process even if he knows how it ends. I think I go back to Taco Bell sometimes even though I know this isn't gonna be great for me later in life, but the experience is great for the moment. For a little while it seems worth it, and it never is. Jon: I'm told often by my wife that this is pretty much how I play board games, the way she imagines Satan plays the game of life. Nate: Your wife says, "You know you're going to lose? Why do you even play?" Jon: Stephanie with some top-tier trash talk. No, it's just that I have a kind of reputation: if I start to lose, I just want to cause as much damage to everybody else as I possibly can. Scorched earth. You're going down with me. We like to play Settlers of Catan. It's kind of a long game. And so if I, in the early stage of the game, start realizing there's like no way I can win, then I'm just out to hurt everybody. Mitchell: And sometimes it's not just everybody, but one specific person. Jon: If we've got time for one more, how should Christians, or should Christians, try to interact with angels? I think "should" is such a hard word right there at the beginning of that question. But I personally think my – what I see in the biblical examples – if angels want to talk to you, they'll start things off. Nate: They'll start off with a little "do not fear" and then they'll give you a message. But it seems like those unique situations in church history and biblical history are not the norm, but are exceptions to the norm. And yeah, every time I see the angel initiating, unless I'm not thinking of something. Can you think of a time where? Jon: No, you're right. Someone else initiated the scenario. I was thinking about a lot. Daniel 10, right? Is it Daniel 10 when Daniel's praying? So he's – he doesn't really – he's not praying to an angel or anything, but he's praying to God. And then the Lord sends him an answer through an angel. And we've got that crazy scene where the angel is trying to get to Daniel, but he gets stopped by a demon and another angel has to come and help him in the fight, and then he can go to Daniel and sort of give that quick story before he gives Daniel the answer. It's a wild thing to realize all that's going on in another realm that we can't see. So that was the only other example that I was thinking about, but Daniel isn't asking an angel to come to him. He's praying to God, and God decides to use an angel to bring the answer to him. Mitchell: I think that's exactly it. We shouldn't try to seek out angels. They'll find us. Jon: Right. It's a realm in which we know is there, and stuff is happening, and God is at work, and yet we don't have an instruction about that we're supposed to engage with it in any specific sort of way. Mitchell: Yeah. Jon: I think there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. I think one day we'll be able to look back and see God sending messengers or God sending his angels to bless or be over something that we will never have seen. And there's been some books. I don't know if you guys have read – I'm trying to think of some of the names of these books – but I've read a couple of older books of guys trying to fictionally... Or "This Present Darkness" by Frank. That's what I was thinking of, yeah. Nate: Thank you. I read that when I was young, and this question made me think of that too, because again, this is a little bit about over-dramatizing. It's a work of fiction, but I remember thinking, "Oh, I wonder if there are angels right now fighting around." Yeah, and who knows? It's a spiritual realm, so we're not gonna see it right now with our eyes and experience it with our senses. But I do think that – I know for a lot of people, there's comfort in knowing if Satan has his demons, God has his armies too, and they outnumber and outpower anything – all the armies of evil – so we can rest assured to know that our God wins. Jon: Yeah, I think the comfort is God's given us what we need to know in his word, and everything else that he doesn't reveal to us, we're not supposed to know. Mitchell: That's okay. Jon: Jesus is on the throne. Well, thanks for the conversation, guys. Great stuff. Thanks, everybody, for the questions. Great questions. You can always submit more questions to peacechurch.cc/questions . Jon: Have an awesome week! You can find That's a Good Question at resoundmedia.cc or wherever you listen to podcasts.

How the Gospel Changes You Sermon Series: How the Gospel Changes You Aaron Lewis Wayland Campus Pastor Peace Church Wayland Main Passage: 1 Peter 1:10-16 Transcript So to everyone in the chapel or down in the venue, hello to you as well. And then a special shout out to the Whaling Campus peeps. Super glad you're here. Love being a part of that. And so this morning as well this weekend as we think about Memorial Day weekend and we celebrate the lives of those men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I just want to take a minute as a veteran who did serve in Iraq, and I just want to remind everyone that this is not Veterans Day. This is Memorial Day. And so we want the complete focus and honor on those who did pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. And so when we think about that, and we think about what it means to lay down your lives for the freedom of another, we ultimately think about Jesus Christ. Galatians 5, says that it is for freedom, Christ has set us free. And how did he do that? He gave his life for you and for me. And so we want to make sure that that is what we remember this weekend as we celebrate Memorial Day. And so just to start I want you to know I did not grow up in church. I did not grow up attending church and when the Lord saved me he saved me from deep sin and when he saved me something miraculous kind of happened within me, is that my desires kind of got pulled and ripped away from my desires. Does that make sense? Like, I have these two competing sets of desires that one was ripped from, and one is an immediate desire that I have for the here and now, and another is an ultimate desire that I have for later down the road and oftentimes these two desires compete with one another. And so all those years back when the Lord saved me, I began my road to holiness, becoming more and more like the person of Jesus Christ. And so as I began the road to holiness, I would just like to share with everyone now that I have officially arrived. Have you guys been talking to my wife? No, we know that's absurd, right? We know that's not true. It's true that I'm not who I was, but it's also true that I'm not who I should be. And I think the same is true of you. I think there is still more work for the Holy Spirit to do in you and in me. I think one of the scariest statements that I had ever heard in my life came from my daughter, McKenna. So every once in a while, I'll sit my daughters down, sometimes together, sometimes individually, and I'll just ask them, hey, how am I doing as a dad? Tell me what I can't see. Is there something that I'm doing that's causing frustration? Is there something that I'm doing? Just tell me how I'm doing as a dad. And we have gone through this a couple of different times and it's gone well and I've learned some stuff and kind of, you know, figured some stuff out and it was great. But one time, I think she was about 10, maybe 11, so a few years ago, I sat her down and said, hey, hey, Kenna, how am I doing as your dad? And she had that moment, she'd look me dead in the eyes, and she asked me this, she said, how honest do you want me to be? Ha, ha, ha. Well, hold on. I'm not exactly sure how honest I want you to be, now that I think about it. But I'm wondering if we can be honest here this morning. How honest can we be in this space? How honest can we be about the fact that our sanctification process, that is the process of looking more and more like Jesus throughout time, how honest can we be that we are still in process? That the Holy Spirit is not done with you or with me. And we're gonna look to first Peter. So if you have your Bible go ahead and turn to First Peter It's on page 1293 in the Bible if you grabbed one off the table But we're going to look in First Peter 1 verses 10 through 16 to See what Peter has to say About what living a holy life looks like this process of looking more and more like Jesus. So first Peter 1 starts in verse 10 So, 1 Peter 1, starting in verse 10. serving not themselves but you in the things that I have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look therefore preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance But as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct Since it is written you shall be holy for I am holy Let us pray Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word I pray that the Holy Spirit would be here, would be present with me as I speak, and would be present with everyone as they hear. And would we be shaped and molded into the image of your son as a result? It's in Christ's name that we pray, amen. So recently, Pastor Darrell and I had the opportunity to go and visit India. Peace Church partners with a mission organization in India, and we had the opportunity to go and kind of see how it all works, how it functions, and see the good ministry that's being done through this ministry organization. And one of the things that stood out to me was the hostile government. In India, the national religion is Hinduism and they have a huge push to kind of bring people back to Hinduism. And so they throw these big celebrations and give away lots of stuff to kind of renounce their Christian faith and come back to, um, being Hindu. And one of the things that was interesting is that they actually have a law called the freedom of religion act, freedom of religion act. And what this law does is it actually outlaws what they call forced conversions. Forced conversions. And so what a forced conversion is, it's not what you would picture of like, you know, by some sort of violent means or force that we would cause someone to proclaim, you know, faith in Christ. What a forced conversion is, more along the lines of like a quid pro quo kind of argument. There was a family that was hungry, was in need, and the church, the local church, actually showed up and ministered to this family, fed them, met their needs, prayed for them, and then over time, they became believers in Jesus Christ. And so what happened was the Indian government actually came in and said, it was a tit for tat, quid pro quo kind of situation. The only reason they're Christians is because you met these needs and so that is against the law in India. And so the pastor of this local church and some of the the elders and leaders of this local church actually ended up in prison as a result of this interaction. And so what this is is in India there's billboards all over the place that talk about and remind people of these anti-conversion laws. And what this particular billboard says is that, and this is a picture of the president and vice president, and what the billboard says is it's claiming that there have been zero conversions to Christianity in this, what is kind of like their state. So they have the country, and then it's broken down into smaller territories. So what is the equivalent of their state? And so they're boasting about zero conversions to Christianity. Now what Pastor Darrell and I know, because we were there and we were talking to Christians and seeing this firsthand, is that this is absolutely false. Absolutely false. And this is pure propaganda. And the Indian government does not care. And so they're kind of engaged in this hostile relationship with Christianity. And so I began having a conversation with this man here. So this is Pastor Daryl and he had the opportunity to speak at one of the churches in India. And so this guy's name is Manuel. And so Manuel and I, we are on a bus and we're going from point A to point B and having a conversation about the persecution of the church and what they face and all the things their pastors and leaders and Christians go through in India. And I just began kind of contrasting their experience to my own. And so I'm sitting there and I tell them, I was like, you know, I am someone I love to be liked. Like I wanna be liked about everything else. I wanna be liked. Not only that, I wanna be liked, but I am also at my very nature, I'm a pleasure seeker. I seek out pleasure. I do not seek out suffering. Suffering is difficult for me. I know it's difficult for all of us, but I'm a pleasure seeker. And so I'm just kind of comparing and contrasting their experience with my own experience. And we're having this conversation and I tell him this, I say, I can't tell you how inspired I am by your faithfulness. And he responded, he said this, We know that all who live a godly life will be persecuted. And man is that real to them. And he continues, it's not just us. It's not just Indians. You know, 2 Timothy 3:12, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. Not just Indians, but all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. See, what they understand because it's their lived experience is that persecution and suffering produce holiness. And that's what the Apostle Peter knows too. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter, the letter we're looking at this morning, says something like 20 times, something like this, like endure suffering, hang in there, you can do this. Don't give up. See, he's speaking to Christians at a time when the Roman Empire was beginning to persecute believers. And not only that, but most of those Christians, including Peter himself, would end up giving their lives for their faith. And this is the context in which Peter is writing this letter. And so Peter is helping them not only understand or endure their suffering and persecution, but he's saying there is actually joy found in the midst of this suffering and persecution. See, and we know this is possible, as absurd as it sounds in our minds, we know it's possible because Christ, before going to the cross, Hebrews tells us that it was for the joy set before him, he went to the cross. For the joy set before him. So we know it sounds nuts and yet it's very possible. It's very possible. And so, you know, we don't have to binge-watch to cope with our lives. We don't have to go all in in a specific activity so that we can ignore what's going on. We don't have to pump ourselves full of caffeine. There are all the things that we do in order to cope with suffering, cope with persecution, figure out our lives, to be able to cope with what's going on. And so I think what we need to remember is that suffering, and persecution, are not punishments for the Christians. It's not punitive. It's redemptive. God is not punishing us. He is refining us. And this is exactly what we learned in our last series, right? This is what Pastor Ryan was talking about when he said we'd be able to see God more clearly as a result of going through the trials and the tests that God allows us to experience. Refinement. Refinement. And so if you're going through hardship now, I just want to remind you and encourage you, God is attempting to refine you so you to become more like Jesus Christ as a result of what you're experiencing right now. Refinement. And that's what holiness is. Becoming more and more like God. That is to be set apart. To be distinct. To be set apart for a particular use. And that is the Christian pursuit. Is holiness. And this brings us to our main point for today is that Christians are to be holy. We are to be holy, but how do we do this? What does this look like in real life? Monday morning, well I guess Monday morning is Memorial Day, so Tuesday morning when our lives go back to normal and we're just in the routine of what it is that we do, what does it look like for the Christian to be holy? What does it mean for us to live lives that are marked by distinction? Well, I think it means three things that we get from our text, is that Christians live a distinct life by embracing the word, by embracing the word. And Christians live a distinct life by embracing gospel-centeredness, embracing gospel-centeredness. And then Christians live a distinct life by embracing our transformation, embracing our transformation. Embracing our transformation. So first, Christians live a distinct life by embracing the word. So let's look at our scripture back in verse 10. So it says concerning this salvation. Okay, we got a pause right here. Make sure that we know what we're talking about in context. So we need to see who Peter's talking to and what he's talking about. So in verse one of First Peter, Peter addresses who he's talking to. And he says those who are elect exiles. So Peter is talking to Christians, the elect. And then in verse three, he says what he's talking about. He says he is God who caused us to be Christians, to the elect, about salvation to a living hope through Christ. So back to verse 10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when they predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Okay, so I do want to admit that at first glance this can be a confusing passage for us but what I want you to know is that the writers of the Old Testament are every bit as inspired and authoritative as the writers of the New Testament Peter is Saying that this book is not simply a compilation of wisdom or a self-help manual. This book is the very Word of God. And if we are going to be distinct, if we're going to experience a joy that produces holiness, we have got to know this book. We have to. Peter says that it was the Spirit of Christ in them, meaning that Jesus Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit, took up residence within the writers of the Old Testament, enabling them to write about the salvation that would be fulfilled in the future. And what does that mean? That means that this entire book is about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that salvation is found through him this entire book is about that and points to Jesus and so this is Peter's attempt at bridging the Old Testament in the New Testament that the Old Testament prophets are those who wrote the Old Testament as the Spirit of Christ and dwelt within them and the New Testament apostles are those who wrote the New Testament by the power of the Holy Spirit more and like we understand it today. And he's saying that the writers of the Old Testament are authoritative. They are from God. And we are to search the Scriptures to discern what is true and false. We are to search the Scriptures to, to, or we are to use the Scriptures as the metric, to determine what is good, what is true, what is of God. And Peter fleshes this out in 2 Peter 1. It says no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So, back to 1 Peter. Christians live a distinct life by embracing the Word. This is verse 12. It says, It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." So it's saying they, the prophets, were serving not themselves, but you. You. In other words, the New Testament or the Old Testament prophets understood the importance of doing what God says and understanding who God is, not because God needs us to obey Him, or because the prophets wanted to be forever famous. They didn't want to be known as Isaiah, Jonah, Daniel, and Habakkuk. That was not the purpose they wrote down what it is they wrote down. But they understood that it would be to our benefit to understand these things about who God is and what he's up to in our world. It was not for them they were writing, it was for us, it was for you. And what was the main point? The main point was about the grace that was to be yours. The grace that was to be yours was what the prophets were prophesying about. So Peter is saying the main message throughout all the scriptures is the gospel. But what does it look like as Christians we're called to be distinct and we're called to embrace the word. Practically, what does this mean? I think it means that we embrace God's word, but I also think it means that we embrace, the Christians who live a distinct life by embracing gospel centeredness, embracing gospel centeredness. So verse 13 says, therefore, and again, we need to stop. Because every time we come across the word, therefore in scripture, we need to stop and ask what therefore is. Yeah, we got it. What's it there for? So therefore, since you trust the Old Testament prophets in their declaration of the grace that was to be yours, and the New Testament apostles and pastors who preach the good news to you by the power of the Spirit, therefore, prepare your minds for action and be sober-minded Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ What is he talking about here? He's talking about the return of Christ the fulfillment of all things the new heaven the new earth when things are restored. See, we live in a time that the Apostle Paul referred to as the already not yet time in history. We're already saved and yet we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We're citizens of heaven and yet we're sojourners on a foreign land here on earth. What Peter is helping us to understand is that we place our hope in the full grace that we will experience when Christ returns. When we're in the here and now and there's already not yet tension, this is where we struggle. And we wrestle with this tension of already not yet. See, and we know this to be true, don't we? Life is hard, but it's so good. Life hurts, and yet we have beautiful moments of pleasure. There's pain, but there's happiness. There's suffering, and there's joy. And I think most people, we tend to vacillate between extreme highs and extreme lows. We vacillate between one and the other. And so what Peter is saying here is that as you endure, as you experience hardship, as you experience life, these extreme highs, extreme lows, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you. See, extreme highs, oh, the Lord's so good to me. Extreme lows, the Lord's gonna make this right one day. Do you see how this stabilizes our lives and we're not going high and low and high and low? But we get to set our hope firmly on the grace that is to come. I think the apostle Paul models this perfectly with us, or for us, when we look at his life and as people came and they were going to kill him and he said oh you're gonna kill me okay to die is gain oh okay then we're gonna let you live then oh delay I have work to do to live as Christ you couldn't touch the guy he was untouchable and yet it's not because Paul was so awesome it's because God is so awesome and Paul knew and understood this, that his hope was fully on the grace that was to come. I think a recent example of this is Tim Keller. So if you know Tim Keller, follow him. He just died recently and I read these words on Facebook. His son was talking about his final moments and so his whole family gathered and in his final moments, this is what he said. He said, there is no downside to me leaving, not in the slightest. But how can he say something like that? Because his hope was now fully in the grace that would be brought to him. And you and I have that same hope. We have that same hope. That's the hope we are to ground our lives in as we prepare for action, as we ensure our minds are sober-minded. So Peter is encouraging us, encouraging Christians, that as we go through life, through the hardships, through the persecution, we are to embrace the Scriptures and submit to the Scriptures and embrace a Gospel-first approach to life, we do two things. One is from that hope, we prepare for action. See, we as Christians are not complacent people. The picture here is of a man in a long garment who pulls up the feet of his robe and tucks it into his belt so that he's ready for action, whatever may come, right? He doesn't get tripped up. That is how we are to be prepared for action in the world because our hope is set fully on the grace that is to come at the fulfillment of all things. So now we're ready. Let's go. This is what the Great Commission is about. We're all to be engaged in the Great Commission. We're all to be ready. We're all to have our robes tucked in, ready to yield to the Holy Spirit when he says go. So I ask you, how are you called to tuck in your garment? What does that look like for you? I think secondly, that from our hope, we are to think clearly. Think clearly. The Greek word here is nepho. And this means to abstain from wine, to be sober or to watch, to be on guard. This is a type of spiritual sober-mindedness that includes the idea of being steadfast, and self-controlled, to have clarity of mind. The sober Christian is correctly in charge of his priorities and not intoxicated with the allurements of the world. And I think we often correctly think of the big things here, right? Sex, money, power. But what about the lesser things that we don't often think about? What about comforts, the ease of life? What about that person that you really deeply care what they think? See, I think we are master manipulators, and the primary person we tend to fool is ourselves. We fool ourselves by thinking we need a boyfriend to be complete, to be okay. We fool ourselves into thinking we need to be better, to be worthy, to be accepted. We fool ourselves into thinking we need to achieve a certain voice in our opinion or be heard. I think as master manipulators the person we tend to fool is ourselves. And you guys remember Space Jam? Not the LeBron James Space Jam but the legit Michael Jordan Space Jam? Yes, brother. There's this moment where they're getting whooped by the Monstars, right? And so Bugs Bunny goes in and finds, you know, Michael's secret stuff. Michael's secret stuff. And they end up drinking this and then all of a sudden they can play basketball. And I think that as Christians, this is what we tend to do we go throughout our lives attempting to find the secret stuff that works for us attempting to find how in our attempt to find the secret stuff for us that will work but Peter tells us what the secret stuff is Peter says place your hope fully on the grace that is to come and out of that you can be prepared for action and you can think sober-mindedly. And lastly, as Christians, we live a distinct life by embracing life transformation. Embracing life transformation. Several years ago, I saw a movie titled Three Seasons. And so in this movie, there's this taxi driver waiting outside this hotel and picking up this beautiful girl that walks out of the hotel and brings her home. And so he does this several times and through conversation finds out she actually works at the hotel and she's a prostitute. And so he would wait and bring her home and they form this relationship. And so he ended up through conversation finding out that her greatest desire was just to be able to afford to spend one night in that hotel just on her own doing what she wants to do and sleeping until she wants to sleep. So one day the taxi driver goes to her and asks, can I spend a night with you? And she just said, yeah, this is kind of what she does. And they find out, they end up in the same hotel. And so they're in the room and the taxi driver had gone through the trouble, bought her this beautiful dress to put on. So she puts on the dress and then the taxi driver orders this awesome meal that they come in and just through a good meal and beautiful clothing, they sit and they talk and they eat and they enjoy this meal. And then they end up getting a movie. And so the taxi driver bought this luxurious robe for her to wear. And so he puts this robe on her and they end up, they start watching this movie. And during this movie, she ends up falling asleep. And so as she falls asleep, the taxi driver kind of sneaks out and leaves. And so she wakes up the next morning and she's looking around. She's like, what, what, what happened? Where do you, where'd he go? And so she ends up leaving and, and he goes back to his, his regular life, normal life, back into the rhythm of what he did. He waited outside the hotel. She wasn't there, said, I'm gonna go check on her. Ends up driving to her house and she actually sees him from inside, sees him out the window and she goes and meets him in the yard and as he's walking out, she comes running out with these accusations of what did you do to me? What did you do to me? And he's confused, he's like, what do you mean? What did I do to you? She's like, what did you do to me? It's like, I don't understand. She's like, ever since that night, I can no longer do my job. See, what she didn't know or understand, she didn't know what it felt like to be loved, to be cherished, to be valued. She had never experienced that before. And once she experienced it, she could not go back to treating her body in the way that she treated it before because of her former ignorance. She didn't know what it meant to be loved by a God who loves her. She didn't know what it meant to be cherished by a God who sent his only son to die for her. She didn't know what it meant to be provided a good meal and to be able to worship God's goodness. She didn't understand. She was ignorant of what it meant to be valued. And what this night did is it showed her what it meant to be cherished. And she couldn't go back. And so that's what Peter is talking about here. Peter is not saying you are dirty, disgusting, and reviled. He's saying that you didn't understand what it was like to live your life in such a way to where you're worthy of God's love. And he addresses them. He says, as obedient children. He says that's who you are. And as obedient children, you already are obedient children. to the patterns of your former life. I think that you and I in our former life and in our ignorance, haven't understood our value. And we have prostituted ourselves. And the Lord looks down, says, that's not who you are. You are my obedient child. That's how I see you. We didn't know. It was the passions of our former ignorance. I love the way C.S. Lewis says this. He says we are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slums, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased. Listen, friends, God is good, God is giving, God loves you, and it is for your freedom Christ has set you free. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word, I thank you for your son. I pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit right now would testify to the truth that you love us, that you sent your son to die for us, to be reconciled to you. Father, we're grateful that this is the reality that you sent your son to die for us, to be reconciled to you. Father, we're grateful that this is the reality we get to live in and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.

The Blessing of Friendship Sermon Series: Philemon Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Philemon 1-7 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen. All right. So I'm really curious here. I'm gonna start with a question. I know this only applies to some people in here, but let me ask that anyway, who here is thankful they did not grow up with social media. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Keep your hands up here for a second. Chime in online if you're with me. Look around. Look around. Now listen, you put your hands down. Now listen, I get it. It's here. It ain't going anywhere. But I think I know something that you also know that we've lost something. There's something here that we have to make the best of because it's here, because as much as we lament it, you all let your kids on it. Some of you, some of you don't. But here's what we know. 300 million Facebook users are in the US alone. Americans spend an average of 40 minutes a day on Facebook. Just going to pick on Facebook here for a minute. 70% of adults and over 80% of teens are on some form of social media. Social media is designed to be addictive. This is why we scroll and scroll and have to like come out of it. Like, I, no, you have to break away from it. Social media has been around long enough. We've been able to study some of the longer term effects of it. We know this. There are some good things it's brought. I'm not saying it's 100% evil. I'm not saying that at all. But we know some of the negative aspects it brings to us. It can lead to anxiety, depression, addiction, as well as loneliness. We become dissatisfied with our lives because what we do is we compare others' highlight reels, other people's highlight reels to our real life. And we think, we look at them, we think how perfect are their lives. Look at how many friends and followers they have. Look how many likes that their posts gets. And what it does is it messes with our own sense of self-worth. Because what we do is we compare. And as they say, comparison is the thief of joy. Based on most recent data, the average American has 350 Facebook friends. But psychologists tell us that we can really only have three to maybe five deep friendships. Now our circle of friends, like our wider circle of friends, can be around 25 people who we have some meaningful friendship with. But really, you can't get larger than 150 people that you have any sort of connection with. You can have 3 to 5 deep friends, a circle of around 35, but once you get past 150, there's not really any more meaningful connection. And so, if we can really only handle 150 relationships, but the average American has 350 connections on Facebook alone, I wonder if that does not lead to some serious conflict in our psyche. As we look at Jesus Christ, yes, he had many followers and he cared for them all, but Jesus called 12. And even among that 12, it's very apparent that there was three that kind of had an inner circle of which Jesus made no apologies for. And of those inner three, when you read the scriptures, you can really only pick up a meaningful, deep friendship with one person and that's Jesus friendship with Peter many people would say that Peter was Jesus best friend in 2018 the UK Prime Minister introduced to that country the new role of the minister of loneliness and upon commenting on this new governmental role Prime Minister May loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. Excuse me, Prime Minister, I'll have you know I have 350 Facebook friends. And yet, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I'm gonna attempt something radical in this series. I wanna define and raise the value of friendship and deepen the friendships that you do have. In doing so, realize really who is a friend versus someone who's just a great connection. I don't want you to think about losing friends. I want you to value and guard what the word friend is. We can have many great acquaintances in our life who do kind and good things to us, but let's reserve the word friend for what it actually is meant to mean. And to look at this and to understand this, we are going to take a journey over the next three weeks looking at the New Testament, very short book of Philemon. So would you go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Philemon. It's in the New Testament, one of the shortest pieces of writing we have in all of the Bible. There's an incredibly important context for what's going on here, and we'll talk about it. But go ahead and turn there now. Now Philemon is a, we call it a book, but it's a letter. It's a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote from prison. That's important. We'll come back to that. He wrote it from prison to his friend, whose name is Phi Lehman. Now this list letter is so short. There's no chapters. There's only verses. And we're only got verses one to seven today. Now it's an interesting piece of writing and we need to understand the context here. And if you, if you are familiar with your Bible, I know you're probably thinking, I know what Philemon's about, and I don't think Philemon's about friendship. And here's what I say to you, on the surface, yeah, not really. But when you dig deeper to the fabric that produced this piece of writing, I think you'll see what we're talking about. So here's the context. Some of you love history, some of you are yawning right now. Either way, this is important, so follow me real quick as we understand the backdrop of the book of Philemon. So again, the Apostle Paul wrote this to Philemon. Now Philemon came to faith in Jesus through Paul. Paul led Philemon to the Christian faith. And after this, what happens is that Philemon, he actually starts a church in his own house. Now, or at least he hosts it. Now right there we see a key indication about Philemon. Philemon was probably a man of means. If he had a house big enough to have a church gather in there, it was big enough for a group of people. But why? What was the occasion? Why was this letter written? Well, this letter centers on the controversy around this one person named Onesimus. Now, what happened was Onesimus was Philemon's slave, or what we might call bond servant. And Onesimus had run away and had gone to Paul. Now we have to talk about this for a second. Now, the reason that we are more apt to use the term bond servant versus slave is because when Americans hear the word slave, we automatically think of what happened in the South. When people, because of the color of their skin, were bought and sold as property. This is known as chattel slavery. The word chattel simply means property. It was gruesome. It was dehumanizing. It was barbaric. It was horrendous. It was evil. And it took the deadliest war in American history to overcome it. But that's not exactly the slavery that we're talking about when we compare it to ancient Roman times. So what we're going to do is that we're not going to minimize the horror of the American past by directly equating the two. We're going to respect what happened by announcing and clarifying some differences here. Now ancient Rome had an estimated population of around 1 million people and it was estimated that 35 to 40 percent of that population were slaves. Now these slaves were not enslaved because of the color of their skin. Many of them still went on and had jobs. And unlike the American slavery system, some of these slaves did not live their entire lives in slavery. They could work their way out of it. But with 35 to 40 percent of the population of the society being slaves, again, or maybe the better term, bond servant, it is very hard for us here in modern day America to understand just how ingrained it was as part of their culture. It would have been impossible for a person during that time to truly envision a society without it. Sort of like how money is for us now. There is no way any of us here with any sort of reality can begin to grasp a society without money. So what we do is we just, we understand that we just have to make the best of it. This gives us an idea of why the New Testament writers are more apt to talk about how to live faithfully in that society, rather than outright condemn slavery with every stroke of the pen. Although, First Timothy chapter one does list enslavers as people who participate in that which is ungodly and unholy. And so it's important for us to understand what we're talking about when we use the word slave here, which is why we're more apt to use the term bond servant. The Greek word is the word doulos. But in Philemon, we see something amazing. We see something culturally unexpected happen here. What appears, what happens, it appears that Onesimus had gone to Paul, had ran away seeking freedom. And what's fascinating is that Paul, Paul writes this letter and he sends Onesimus back to Philemon. And the letter is an appeal for Philemon to receive Onesimus back, not as a bond servant, but as a brother, a brother in Christ. And what's even more striking, and we'll get into this really deep next week, what's even more striking is that Paul clarifies to Philemon, he says, I could make you do this. I could command you to do this, but I'm not going to. I'm going to challenge you as a brother in Christ through Christian love for you to do this of your own accord to welcome Onesimus back and to grant his freedom. And the reason that Paul can bring such a challenging request was because of their friendship, a friendship they had that was founded on the gospel. And when friendships are founded on the gospel, that provides a framework for a relationship that gave Paul the grounds to bring such a challenge to Philemon. Challenge that would have affected him personally and a challenge that would have would have completely struck at their culture. And so yes in this series we're gonna look at that big request of Paul as we dig deep into the friendship that they had that was forged through faith in Christ. The friendship that brings not just freedom to Onesimus, but freedom to us all as it highlights the gospel. And so we're going to look at just the first seven opening verses today. And so would you hear God's word, Philemon, verses one to seven. Would you hear God's word? Philemon 1-7 1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. This is God's Word. Let's pray and we'll dig in. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the freedom that we have in Christ. Freedom from the sin that so easily entangles us. And I pray, Father, that by this series that, yes, we can raise the value of friendship and deepen the friendships that we do have. May this happen for your glory and for our good, and may it lead to a gospel light for all to see. And it's in Jesus' precious name that we pray these things and everyone said amen. All right churches we kick off this series. Let me give you one real simple main point here as we look at the blessing of friendship And it's this: Faithful friends are a rare blessing, so be one. Rather than using today as a filter to see how all your friends have failed you. What I'm gonna ask you to do is step back and first think, do I fulfill, am I the type of friend that I want others to be to me? Because faithful friends are a rare blessing, so be one. And as we walk through this passage today, we're gonna see how this actually is a blessing. We're gonna see how faithful friends bless our lives because they stand where others don't, they see what others don't, and they speak when others don't. Faithful friends bless our lives because… 1. They stand where others don’t. 2. They see what others don’t. 3. The speak when others don’t. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 24 says this, it says, a man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Meaning, just because a person is popular, that doesn't mean they have someone who will have their back. Just because a person hangs in a large group does not mean they have any true friends. And I'll tell you, after giving a decade of my life, serving in the throes of youth ministry, ministering to high schoolers and their families, I can tell you this, there are parents who want nothing more than for their kids to be popular. They want their kids to be well-liked, admired, and have a large group. And these parents will sacrifice their children's spiritual development in pursuit of this. I saw it time and time again. And so not only do kids not grow spiritually, but what ends up happening is that they value popularity more than spirituality. And because that's their path, they don't know how to have true and godly friendships. They don't know how to be a true and godly friend because they don't know who Jesus is. They don't know how to have friendships founded on the beauty and the power of the gospel or godly principles. What ends up happening is that they have acquaintances based on affinity groups, such as sports and other activities, but not things like faith, which will transcend stages of life. My hope is in this series, as I said it before, I'll say it again, that we raise the value of friendship, we deepen the friendships we have, and we realize who is a real friend versus someone who's just a great, kind, good connection in your life. I'm not saying cut out good people, but I am saying guard the word friend. But real friendships, as we see in the series, they are a blessing. Next week we'll look at the burden of friendship, and then finally we'll see the beauty that friendships bring to us and to the world around us. 1. Faithful friends bless our lives because they stand where others don’t So let's get into it. Firstly, faithful friends bless our lives because they stand where others don't. Let's go verses 1, 2, and 3 together. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. In the ancient world, the author signed his name first. We sign it at the end. In the ancient world, they signed their names first. So Paul wrote the letter. He's got Timothy by his side. And he writes it to who? It continues. To Philemon, listen to this, our beloved fellow worker, Apathia, our sister, and Archibus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus. So the first thing we see is that this is not a private letter between Paul and Philemon. Paul is making this a public notice. It's to Philemon as well as to Apathia and to Archibus. Archibus is also mentioned in Colossians. Now we don't know if those two are just family or if they're leaders in the church. We don't know exactly who they are, but we know they're part of the group that gathers as a church in Philemon's home. But even more, even more than applying public pressure, Paul is reminding Philemon about their relationship together that they stand together in this common faith. And what's really awesome, and I hope you are keen enough and patient enough and you have the eyes open when you read the pages of scripture, you're actually reading the words that are there because it's actually pretty important. We see some of the connections in the descriptors. It's beautiful here. Do you see how every person gets their own descriptor? Prisoner, brother, worker, sister, soldier. Each person mentioned gets a different title that shows the connection that they have to one another in their common faith, a faith centered on the gospel. Because when you have a faith, when you have a friendship forged in faith, you are family. When you have a friendship forged in the gospel, you're co-labors for God's kingdom. When you have a faith where Jesus is you're king, then you are fellow warriors standing together in the faith. Every notion every notion that Paul mentioned here denotes this reality that they are to stand by each other. They are friends in the faith. They are family, co-workers, and warriors, and they stand together. Why? Because that's what friends do. Even if they're a thousand miles apart, they stand together. And take notice. We'll get into Onesimus next week, but even Onesimus isn't specifically mentioned, but Paul gives a nod to him when Paul mentions the fact that he himself is a prisoner, someone that is held against his will. This is a clear nod to, yes, Onesimus, but also to where this letter is going, because Paul is going to request Onesimus' freedom from Philemon. And this happens because friends stand together. We're there for each other. We stand next to each other when others don't. And so my question for you is, do you have a friend like that? And even before you answer that question, you should be asking yourself, am I a friend like that? Am I the type of friend that I want my other friends to be to me? Because friends stand where others don't. 2. Faithful friends bless our lives because they see what others don’t. The second thing we see is that Friends see what others don't look at verses 4 and 5. Paul goes that Paul goes on to say I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of Your love and of the faith that you have towards the Lord Jesus and the Saints Don't move past the words on the page Paul prays for his friend When was the last time you prayed for a friend and mentioned their name in your prayer? When was the last time you prayed for your friend? Paul prays for his friend because that's what friends do. And notice this, that in his prayer, Paul is taking notice of what Philemon is doing for Jesus and for other Christians. Paul sees what Philemon does, even from afar. And I can tell you, Christian love and charity work, when done right, charity isn't something many people see you do, but your friends see it, even if the world doesn't. Why? Because your friends stand next to you, and they get a window into your life that others don't. But look at this next verse, verse six. This is the infamous Philemon verse six. It's easily the most famous of all the verses in Philemon, and also at the same time, notoriously difficult to understand what Paul is saying here. I'm going to throw it up on the screen. Let's all look at it together here. Philemon 6. Paul writes and he says this, he says, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. So let's have some Bible study time real quick here. There's a lot going on here and it centers on what exactly does Paul mean when he talks about the sharing of your faith. Now, as much as we would like it to be, Paul is more likely than not, not, Paul's more likely not referring to evangelism. Evangelism is the sharing of your faith with someone who doesn't know the gospel. You're telling them about Jesus for the first time. That's probably not what Paul's talking about here. The word he uses for sharing is the Greek word koinonia, and it means fellowship. It means partnership. It means communion. It means having participation in. Paul is saying that as you partake in the fellowship with other Christians, may that help you to see an even clearer picture of what we have because of Jesus. More than a call to share our faith with non-Christians or with strangers, to share our faith means that we gather with other Christians to share our faith like we share a meal. Now, what I'm about to say probably feels a little bit like I'm maybe preaching to the choir because you're all actually here, but too many of us, we don't have better Christian connections in our life because our church attendance is so weak. And add to that, our church involvement is nearly non-existent. If you show up to church only to walk out as quick as you can without actually engaging in any conversation, without actually signing up to serve, then listen here, don't blame the church for your lack of connection. You're adults, I'm an adult, take some initiative. Talk with someone, shake their hand, get involved, join a community group, join women's Bible study, join men's Bible study. Why? Because my prayer for you is exactly the same prayer that Paul had for Philemon. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. I've been at Peace Church for over 10 years now. When I came to Peace Church we were one church with one service and around 300 people. Fast forward 10 years we're around 2,300 people at two locations through multiple services. We're large. I get it. I get it. It can be very easy to walk into what seems to be a mass and feel unseen. But let me just tell you right now, I know the heart of the people of this church. No one wants anyone to feel unseen. Amen, peace? Amen. Like, we get it. I get it. You walk in and it feels like this is a crowd. I'm telling you, we're a congregation. We're a family. Every family has their crazies, okay? You know it, I know it, it's just fine. I love us all, I'm just saying. But when you come in, we want you to be embraced. But listen, we're not a cult. We're not gonna make you slash your finger and sign and bled and we're not gonna not let you leave. We want you to be here because you also want to be here. And do we need to get better at certain things? 100%. But I just wanna share with you our heart. We want you to be involved, we want you to be connected, we want to give you a chance to say hi, so connect with someone, talk with someone. I get in a larger setting, it's very easy to feel unseen. We want you to know we want to see you. But if you want to remain unseen, it is easier to do that in a larger setting. But talk with someone, get connected. Chelsea at our welcome booth is there to help answer questions and help get you on a path to get connected or just talk to someone. And let me just say this real quick. I'm going to go over my time right now, but I'm going to say it anyway. You got to get over, especially Peace Church, if you've been here for a while, we all just need to get over this hump of like, I'm scared to ask someone how long they've been at peace because they might say, I've been here five years and you didn't notice. Get over it. I say that with all due respect and in love, get over it. It's very easy in our setting for someone to be here for a while and you not realize it. But guess what? You'll never realize it and if you don't make the connection. So let's just get over that and just, you know what, have a chuckle about it. You've been here seven years, I've been eight years. Be thankful that God brought you the connection. So let's get connected because we want you to be seen. Because friends see you when others don't. And there's friends to be had here. 3. Faithful friends bless our lives because they speak when others don't. Third thing, faithful friends bless our lives because they speak when others don't. Listen to the encouragement that Paul gives Philemon here. I know verse six gets all the fame in this passage, but I like verse seven. Look at verse seven here. "'For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, "'my brother, because the hearts of the saints "'have been refreshed through you.'" Now, do you hear the utter encouragement in that verse? Do you hear the way that Paul is lifting up Philemon and building him up? I tell you right now, I feel so encouraged by the people of this church. I can't imagine another pastor feeling more loved and encouraged than I do by this congregation. But there are many times that people come to me and they want to give me a compliment, but they'll say something like this, and I've heard this many, many times. They'll say something like this. They say, Pastor, you always do a good job, but if I told you that every time, you'd get a big head. Well, listen here, listen here, I can I can totally respect the desire to keep me humble. I honestly can. Like, I want you to try to keep me humble. I can totally honor and respect that humility should be a defining marker of every pastor, especially those who are more bold. But I'm going to tell you this, encouragement is water on a dry soil. And in our discouraging and unfriendly world as Christians, we need to constantly hear me constantly be encouraging one another. It was the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who famously said, in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Friends, don't be silent to one another. Speak, speak when others don't. Speak life-giving words to one another, to your pastors, to your ministry workers, to our army of amazing volunteers. I'm telling you, we can never hear it enough. Why? Because every time you hold back an encouraging word, I'll just go ahead and say, especially to a pastor, remember the world does not hold back discouraging words. Every time you hold back, you think the world's going to hold back their discouraging words. I am telling you, you can't outdo, you can't say more encouraging words than the discouraging words that we get from the world at large. You think the world likes the message I bring every single Sunday? They're not going to stop telling me how much they hate it. The world's keeping me humble. You can keep me humble. And I'm not saying it just to me, because I already feel immensely encouraged and supported and loved by this congregation. But I'm telling you, there's a team of pastors, there's a staff, there's an army of volunteers, and we just walk by them. Don't. Speak life-giving, encouraging words. Friends, here's what I say. I'm gonna say, especially in West Michigan, we live in a culture that thinks snarkiness and sarcasm are signs of love. Be the type of friend that speaks true words of life to one another. Because I know what's really happening when you try to give a backhanded comment, but you shroud it in snarkiness and sarcasm. I know it because I do the same thing. You're being a coward. You want to say something nice, but you're afraid to enter into a vulnerable space. And so you try to keep more of a commanding, domineering persona, so you're going to have a backhanded comment, but shroud it in snarkiness and sarcasm. Because you're too scared just to step out and say a nice thing for the sake of just blessing someone else. I'm only calling out myself right now, but I guarantee I know the men of West Michigan and some of you are shrinking in your seats right now and you should be Because you're holding back life giving words to your friends to your kids to your spouse to your pastors Because you're too afraid to enter into a place of vulnerability to share your heart that you truly love and appreciate what you do So don't don't Share life giving words when I read verse 7. I don't hear a hint of snarkiness or sarcasm. Paul went on to be one of the most famous Christians of all time. No one can even pronounce Philemon's name. And yet, Paul is just lavishing Philemon with encouragement. So, as we close up this first message, let me give you a friendship challenge. We're going to give a friendship challenge in each one of these sermons in this three-part series. And I want to help you give a framework to how friendships should be. And here's what it is. Here's our friendship challenge for today. In an unfriendly world, remember Jesus is the most faithful friend. If you understood this, you wouldn't feel lonely. It was Jesus Christ himself who said in John 15, he said, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life, say it with me, for his friends. And our Lord and Savior didn't just teach this, he lived this. Jesus fulfills and exemplifies his own teaching when he laid down his life for us. He gave his life for us on the cross. Jesus is the most faithful friend we have. Even death could not stop Jesus being our friend and being faithful to us. For on the third day he rose again conquering death and with his resurrected life he gives us that life both now and forever more. Listen, our friends will fail us, you will fail your friends. Why? Because we're humans and we fail. But when our friends fail us, remember, Jesus does not. He goes the distance. Which is all the more reason to have friends who share a common faith in Jesus. And I'm not saying you shouldn't be friends with people who are not Christians. I'm not saying that at all. Don't take this to the polar extremes every single time. I'm saying when you have friends who share a common vision of friendship that's embodied by Jesus, there's something there that you're not going to find anywhere else. And in our unfriendly world, remember, Jesus is the most faithful friend. In John 15, 15, a few verses later, Jesus says this to his disciples. He says, No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends." In our unfriendly world, remember, Jesus is the most faithful friend that we have, and here's why. Jesus is our most faithful friend because He stands where others don't. He doesn't just stand next to us, He stands in our place. He takes our place on the cross. He takes our condemnation. The punishment that should have been ours, Jesus stands in our place and takes it for us. And he did this out of love. Jesus sees what others don't. Jesus sees into the depths of our heart. He sees all the sin that's there, sin that we don't even realize is there. He sees that sin and yet he still loves us. He sees it all and yet he still gave his life for us. And Jesus speaks when others don't. He brings the challenge and the encouragement that we need to hear, and he brings the truth that the world needs to know. In an unfriendly world, remember, Jesus is the most faithful friend. Not only does Jesus prove this, to be the greatest friend, he's also the example of what friends should be. And so be the type of friend that Jesus is. Strive to be that, because remember, faithful friends are a rare blessing. So be one And know that forevermore you have one in Jesus And so when we sing in a few moments of Jesus being our friend. I pray that that old hymn brings a new meaning to you here this morning Jesus is our most faithful friend and a faithful friend is a rare blessing. So be one. Amen. Amen. Would you please stand? Let's pray. Father, we come before you thankful for the friend that we have in Jesus. And Lord, I pray that social media hasn't so destroyed that word that it's lost all meaning. Father, I pray that when we say that Jesus is our friend, that that means something down to our core, down to our soul. And Father, from that place, realizing what Jesus has done for us, being our greatest friend. I pray, Lord, that as we sing this song now, we do so, singing this unto our King, unto our Savior, unto our God, and unto song now, we do so, singing this unto our King, unto our Savior, unto our God, and unto our greatest friend. We pray these things in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen.

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