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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.

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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.

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, September 1, 2024 The Lord Is Mine Psalm 23 The Lord is Mine 2 Overview Main Idea: The Lord is your shepherd. That should affect your day. Sermon Outline: We will see, from Psalm 23, that the Lord is… my Shepherd who Leads me (vv.1-3) my Protector who is With me (v.4) my Savior who Loves me (vv.5-6) 3 Pre-Questions What does it mean to you personally to say, “The Lord is mine”? How do you experience this relationship in your daily life? Can you share a time when you felt especially close to God or aware of His presence? 4 Questions In what ways has your understanding of God’s character influenced how you relate to Him? How do you reconcile times when God feels distant with the belief that “The Lord is mine”? What Bible verses come to mind when you think of the phrase “The Lord is mine”? How do these verses encourage or challenge you? How does the truth that “The Lord is mine” align with the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels? How can we demonstrate to others that “The Lord is mine” through our actions and words? What practical steps can we take this week to deepen our relationship with God and live out the truth that He is ours? PDF Download

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Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, September 8, 2024 Calling Out Cultural Lies John 8:31-38 Live Your Truth 2 Overview Main Idea: Truth is not fabricated, truth is found Sermon Outline: Truth is found in the teachings of Jesus Christ Truth is found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ Truth is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ 3 Pre-Questions What context have you heard "live your truth?" What from this passage/sermon surprized you? 4 Questions How have you heard vs 32 used before? How has this passage/sermon changed your understanding? How does sin bring slavery? Rather than demonizing those who may have used this phrase, in what ways might we - subconsciously - believe this as well? How can we break free from bondage of sin? How does the message of "live your truth" and the desire to run from the TRUTH show our sin nature? PDF Download

Offering Teenagers Hope for Their Habits Ministry Logan Bailey Family Pastor Peace Church Published On: May 31, 2023 Do you watch TV? Like, a lot of TV? I know I am not the only one who frequently finds myself coming home, sitting on the couch, and turning on Netflix (or Hulu, or Disney+, or YouTube—you get the idea). Here is the scary part: I usually do it without even thinking. And I am willing to bet that you do this, too. Maybe you are not a big TV-watcher, but you probably do have a few compulsive habits just like me. Maybe it has to do with social media, or food, or video games, or even reading. Neurobiologists and cognitive psychologists say that more than 50 percent of our lives are made up of habitual behavior. We constantly do things without even thinking about it. Destructive or healthy, this is just how we live. Habits are inevitable—and they’re either destructive or life-giving. Like a train on its tracks, our habits drive us in one of two directions. The sad fact is, we all have a lot of pretty destructive habits. As youth ministers, we observe the power of habits in our students as well as ourselves. What can we possibly say to the high school sophomore who is addicted to pornography, and has been for 3 years? Or to the senior who constantly lies with no remorse? Or even to yourself, as a leader in the church—what are you supposed to do when your own habits lead you astray? The Bad News (it’s worse than you think) In Matthew 15:11 and 18, Jesus says, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth… What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person” (ESV). Essentially, being defiled means deserving separation from God. And since God is the very source of life, being separated from him is the greatest danger to all of humanity. The logic behind Christ’s words in Matthew 15 is also found elsewhere in Scripture, particularly in Proverbs 4:23: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (ESV). The NIV says, “everything you do flows from it.” In other words, the state of our hearts determines how we live. Actions are never the source of defilement, our hearts are. Spoiled actions always flow from a spoiled heart. Most people Jesus was speaking to (and most people today) assume separation from God comes from a lack of religious activities. Instead, Christ took the focus away from our religiosity and onto the state of our hearts—and no one’s heart is righteous (Jer. 17:19). This teaching is so inclusively damning that only Jesus himself can meet the standard required to avoid being labeled as defiled. This helps to explain why we struggle with so many bad habits (gossip, laziness, sexual sin, judgmental attitudes, and more); our hearts are separated from God to begin with! Even if we manage to do something positive or religiously significant, if our hearts are spoiled, we will only be scratching the surface of what God requires of us—like being satisfied with a glass of water when God intends for us to experience a flowing river. A defiled heart is categorically unable to be in relationship with God and therefore unable to live the flourishing life for which God designed us. No wonder the Pharisees were so upset with Christ’s teaching, and not just angry but actually offended (Matt. 15:12). Since we can’t help but have defiled hearts, we will all continue to be separated from God no matter what we do. The Good News (it’s better than you think) Jesus taught us that we don’t need superficial changes or behavioral modification; we need new hearts. To the unrepentant, Christ’s words are offensive and damning, but to the repentant, his words bring radical hope: “You can’t get a new heart because you’re not capable. Only I can give you one. Only I can heal your relationship with God.” Thank God for Jesus—he is offering us new hearts! The gospel is not a band-aid for a surface wound; it is a total renovation of the heart. So, if you and your students are anything like me, you have some bad habits. And, if you are like every other human being, your bad habits are flowing from a defiled heart. There is no hope for any of us unless our hearts are made right—and the only hope for that ever happening is through Jesus. This is the hope we need to administer week in and week out in our youth ministries and churches—and equally to ourselves. The gospel is not just theoretical; it is immensely practical. The good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection changes us from the inside out. Three Hopeful Practices for Habits Here are some recommendations, both for ourselves and as we disciple the students in our care. First, take inventory. Slow down and consider the state of your heart next time you pull out your phone and mindlessly open up Twitter or Instagram. Which heart are you listening to? Your old, sinful, and defiled heart? Or the new heart, with its desires for righteousness and communion with God, that Jesus has given you? The first step is to simply be aware of the direction of your desires, asking God to help you want what he wants. Second, affirm your new identity. We all struggle with identity issues, and who we think we are directly affects the state of our hearts. But we need to see ourselves the way God sees us; his opinion matters most. Therefore, every morning we ought to remind our hearts who we truly are. We are God’s children! Our students are not bound by the identities their peers push onto them, and neither are we. We are adopted sons and daughters of the King. As we hold up our God-given identity above all other identities, we will start to see our habits reformed. Third, flex your spiritual muscles. Our hearts’ desires pretty much determine what we do. How do we change our sinful desires? Well, we can’t. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live into stronger desires! We can urge our students to actively listen and follow their God-given heart desires (to follow Christ and commune with him) even if it is hard to hear under the screeching of your old heart. As we encourage our students to put these practices to use, we need to lean into them ourselves as leaders, remembering the Good News of God’s grace: That those who have been made new by Jesus are invited back to him no matter how far our hearts may wander. Read the original post here: https://rootedministry.com/offering-teenagers-hope-for-their-habits/ More Blogs You'll Like What Is a Deacon? Exploring the Role, Qualifications, and Purpose of Deacons in the Church Read More What Is An Elder? A biblical definition of those who are called to lead Read More Why Church Membership Understanding the Biblical Foundations of Church Membership Read More

Psalm of Moses Sermon Series: Honest To Goodness Aaron Lewis Wayland Campus Pastor Peace Church Wayland Main Passage: Psalm 90 Transcript Well, hey, good morning, Peace Church. Hope you're all doing well. I'm excited to dive into God's Word here this morning with all of you. And we have some work to do this morning. For those of you who were here last week, as Pastor Ryan went through a lament, just to kind of, so we can all prepare emotionally, just let you know this is another lament that we'll be hitting. And so, hopefully, it'll end with great hope. You know, if I'm doing my job right, we'll end with some great hope and we'll leave encouraged. But if you will, go ahead and open your Bibles to Psalm 90. And I'm gonna kind of deal with this chunk by chunk as we go throughout the message But we're going to read the first couple verses here as we prepare our hearts. So this is from this is a psalm of Moses and this is the oldest psalm we have on Record and so again lament psalm of Moses, oldest Psalm. Let's see what Moses had to say here. Starting in verse one, Psalm 90. We're gonna go through verse two. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for your spirit to be present with us as we dive into your word. I pray Lord that as I preach Psalm 90 that your spirit would give me the words, the accurate words to say, and anything that's not accurate or you would not have communicated, Lord, I pray that you would keep me from speaking. Father, I pray for all those who are hearing your word. I pray that your spirit would take the word and place it upon the lives of those who need to be shaped and molded into the image of your son, and that as a result of coming into contact with Psalm 90 today, we would leave this place looking more and smelling more like Jesus than we did walking in. So Father, we thank you. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so let's get to work here this morning. I wanna start off by asking you guys if you know someone like this. Maybe picture him or her in your mind's eye, but I wonder if you've ever come across someone where their reaction or response to a particular set of circumstances or scenario is not in line with a common human response to those situations or those scenarios. Like chaos is all around them and yet they're calm. Their life seems to be falling apart and yet they're hopeful. And we look at them and I know if you're like me you're thinking one of two things. One, they may be a sociopath. Or two, they have an honest to goodness real faith that should be emulated by Christians, by people who believe that God is in control like the Bible says that he is. And so for us, as we're looking out and we're seeing all of the chaos and we're seeing these individual people just stick out as honest to goodness Christians that we should be emulating. Now, kind of keep that in your mind, we'll kind of return to that, but I want to set the stage for us diving into Psalm 90 by just bringing to light the fact that we here in America, America so much of our lives are inundated or Influenced by our surroundings our setting and our culture and I think whether we are aware of it or not Again, we here in America and please hear me on this. I am from Wayland, Michigan. I'm a patriot I served in our military. I love this country and yet I am a dual citizen and my primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God. And so as I kind of as we look at America and we kind of dissect our culture a little bit I just I want to lay upon us this idea that in America we have a very real culture of the immediate. Instant gratification. Right now. That I want it, and I want it now. And I can't tell you because when I think about this, I'm typically thinking of those out there. Not me. I mean, I'm patient. My daughters will tell you otherwise, but I'm patient. And yet, when I pull out my smartphone and I click a link and it takes longer than.02 seconds for the webpage to pull up, I'm out of there. I'm not waiting.02 seconds to read what you want me to read. Get out of here. And so this instant gratification, this I want it, I want it now, this culture of the immediate has infiltrated my life. And you know, I'm not even talking about just like clicking on web pages. I'm talking about like, I won't buy anything from Amazon unless it's a minimum two day shipping. Anything in the world. I'm not buying it unless it's at my door in less than two days. Crazy. You know, I don't, I don't meal plan because I don't know what I'm going to want when I want it in the moment that I want it. That may or may not be a contentious topic in our house. I could go on and on about all of these things. I think our culture has done an incredible job focusing our, our culture has done an incredible job focusing us on the immediate. I think fast food drive-thrus were only the first step, only the beginning. Even now, same day delivery is happening, Amazon busting out the drones. And I can't imagine the day when I won't order anything unless it's at my house in less than an hour. It's coming. There are companies right now that you go to work and you get paid by the day because waiting seven days is too long. And so that's happening right now. And we look at this and we think the mediate, the mediate, the mediate. And so I don't want to sound un-American here, but I do want to put on center stage the ways of Jesus, because we are as Jesus people, as followers of Jesus, as Christians, we are to be holy. The Scriptures tell us that we are to be set apart and distinct from the world and the best that I can tell is that we here in the church are just as concerned with today as the world is outside these walls. We too are driven by the immediate and we've lost our eternal perspective and we're focused on the immediate, this anxiety kind of builds within us because we're focusing on what's right in front of us and it can move and change and switch any minute. And when we're focused on it, this anxiety kind of comes from within with this low-grade sense of sadness that's just always there. And so we're looking at this I focus on the immediate this anxiety and the hope of nothing change, but it is gonna change I just don't know when it's gonna change and we're sad and it's just always there all the time present focused on the immediate And we go to God with this stuff we cry out to God with this Like Lord, why is there not more joy or happiness in my life? We cry out to Him with this stuff. Some of us, you're in a place where you're like, I just, I want to feel something. You came here hoping that God just breaks through to allow you to feel something, anything, then other than what you're feeling. And then there's others, you're on this other side where you're like, God, please just take these feelings away. These feelings are crushing me. And we're focused on the immediate, that which is right in front of us. And Pastor Ryan, last week, he kind of walked us through what a lament is. And that's what these crying out to God is. When we cry out our honest, our real emotions, and we cry out to God and we're honest with what we're feeling and what we're thinking and what we're believing, it's called a lament. And so here we're looking at Moses' lament, Psalm 90. And the context here is that Moses, and Moses is the guy in the Bible who went back to challenge Pharaoh to release the Israel people from Egyptian captivity. So Moses went back and he did all the things with Pharaoh and then they come out and this is a group of people. They experience slavery, they experience liberation. Then they're running for their lives and they come up to the Red Sea and the Red Sea is parted and They walk through and they start Wandering the wilderness right and then so they're wandering the wilderness and man has fallen from the sky and there's all these signs and wonders And God does all these miraculous things and yet because of their faithlessness They can't enter the promised land with the exception of two people. Two people, Caleb and Joshua, enter the promised land. But right here, in this moment, most theologians believe that the Israel people are on the verge of the promised land. Like, and I kind of picture this. Like Moses, he's kind of up high and he sees the Jordan River and on the other side of the Jordan River is the Promised Land. So not only can those who experience liberation from Egypt not enter the Promised Land, but Moses, because of his disobedience and his rebellion, cannot enter the Promised Land. And so in this moment he's standing there, he sees the Promised Land, the Jordan River's there, he's looking at the Promised Land and he sees the place he will not enter. And he's standing here. And a commentary mentions that while it's not specifically stated that there's good evidence that the people that Moses loved most began dying. And so we have Moses almost like at the end of his life, writing, looking out at what could have been, feeling the weight of all of this. With the people that He loves most beginning to pass away. And I tell you, for those of you who have experienced death too soon in your life, you understand that there is nothing that will take our eyes off the immediate, like somebody we love passing away too soon. And we begin to take a step back and we're like, what does it mean to have an eternal perspective? What does it mean to have an eternal perspective? And so the question is this, how can we have a correct perspective? How can we experience peace and joy in the midst of chaos? How can we be one of those honest to goodness Christians that stands out like the man or woman that you know whose reaction doesn't match their circumstances. And that brings us to our main point for today. Our main point is that an honest to goodness faith is a faith that experiences today while focused on eternity. Experiences today while focusing on eternity three ways I believe from Psalm 90 one by having a correct view of God to by having a correct view of man and then three by having a correct response to the gospel a correct response to the gospel. 1. Experiences today while focusing on eternity by having a correct view of God Verse 1-2 So let's dive in here. Well, verses 1 and 2, but also point 1, we experience today while focusing on eternity by having a correct view of God. Verse 1 and 2, it says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Moses said, or ever you had form the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting. You are God. See Moses begins this lament in the same way that the lament Pastor Ryan had last week with an understanding of exactly who God is. And so Moses is stating who God is in relation to him, in relation to the people of Israel. See, God was Israel's sanctuary for protection, for sustenance, for stability. And Moses says, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. See, God's nature is without beginning and is without end. It's entirely free from all succession of time. In fact, he is the very cause of time itself. "'Before the mountains were brought forth,' Moses said, "'before you have formed the earth, "'you have always existed, God. "'You've always just been God.'" And there's a sense of power here, a sense of awe, a sense of immovability. See, God is not moved towards action by the immediate. He is not persuaded by the unforeseen events of today. For a thousand years are but as of yesterday, verse 4 tells us. Many, I think many in our culture, they don't like the God of the Bible so they attempt to remake God into something else. Something that affirms their culturally approved actions? Or maybe they remake him into something that agrees with them and what they feel in their version of the world? See, and rather than man being created out of the image of God, we create God out of the image of man. But to remake God in our own image is an incredibly difficult and exhausting endeavor. Not only do we, if we make God out of our image, not only do we need to be consistently evaluating our current cultural context to make foundational changes to our entire belief system, but our entire theological framework also consists of the changing whims of the culture. But, but, we become, when we remake God out of our own image, we become responsible for the things that God is responsible for. Things like our protection, things like our sustenance, things like our stability. Those are God's responsibility. And when we don't see God clearly, when we remake him in our own image, we become responsible for the things that only God can provide us. See, Moses begins with a reminder. You have been our dwelling place in all generations, he says. And contrary to popular belief, sometimes, sometimes we just need God to be God. We just need Him to be who He is. See, and parents, like, we get this, do we not? My daughters love it when I give in and give them what they want. They love it. But me, as their dad, I get to look out over the landscape of their lives. I get to see possible dangers that lie ahead. I get to see destructive behaviors and patterns that lie out ahead. And if I, if I am altered, or if I alter what I give them based upon what, based upon their tantrum that they throw, if I throw in the How awful of a dad would I be? When I willingly give them something that I know would lead to destruction, how awful of a father would I be? See, we have a heavenly Father who is and always was, from everlasting to everlasting. You are not powerful enough to sway his love for you. Can't do it. The fit that you throw does nothing to deter his pursuit of you. He will not pull his protection. He will not leave you when you need him most. And he will always be there when you fall because he is a good dad. He looks out over the landscape of your life and we can trust him with that. Doesn't mean we're always gonna like it, no. My wife can tell you some of the the fits that I've thrown. And thank God, he's a strong enough dad to not be persuaded by my tantrums. See, this interaction here, it reminds me of Moses's interaction with God at the burning bush. See, Moses lived in the desert after he left Egypt. And God came to him and told him, you need to go tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And so here we have Moses, there's this bush that's on fire, that's not being consumed. And Moses is like, there's something weird going on here as this burning bush is speaking to me. And so Moses is like, all right, I'll go tell Pharaoh to let your people go. And maybe when Pharaoh maybe wants to know like who is sending me, what is the name that I give him? And so, and I love this because what God says is, he says, tell him this, tell him, I am that I am. What? I am that I am. And I was thinking about this, preparing for this message. And it just kind of came into my mind. I was thinking about often when my daughters, when they're asking for something or they want something or they do something and they're like, why can't I, as I explain it and they don't understand. And I'm like, well, that doesn't make sense. Why this, why that, why that? And then I get to this point and I'm like, because I'm the dad. That's why, because I'm the dad, I am who I am. And I'm an authority over you. And that's all you need to know. And that's what God is saying here to the authority over Pharaoh that's the kind of power in the kind of all of our Heavenly Father I am that I am and thank God that he is who he is and he is undeterred by our tantrums so in honest and honest to goodness faith a faith that experiences today while focused on eternity has a correct view of God. A God that no matter the circumstances, God is a God no matter the circumstances, no matter the pressures, no matter the opposition. Our God is a dwelling place for His people all throughout generations, both before you arrived on the scene and long after you've gone to glory. God is God. 2. We experience today while focusing on eternity by having a correct view of man Number two, we experience today while focusing on eternity by having a correct view of man, having a correct view of man. You return dust to dust. You return man to dust and say, return, oh, children of man, for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening it fades and it withers. For we have brought to an end, we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath, we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but of toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? See, remember, this is a song of lament and there is some creative license present here but we see Moses visit this claim. Humanity lives under a sovereign decree of death because of sin and we cannot escape it. You return man to dust. You return man to dust. This is the judgment on humanity for sin found in Genesis 3 19 Genesis 3 19 says this by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taking for you are dust and to dust. I think this is what the Apostle Paul was talking about in Romans eight when he talks about how the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. This is not simply a dust and then return to dust, but there's a whole process of returning to dust that Moses is talking about here. And we see this, you return man to dust, and Moses wrote Genesis and he also wrote Psalm 90 that we're talking about. And so the same person wrote these two verses, and yet the word that we translate to dust, Moses uses two different words to describe dust and so in Psalm 90 the the Hebrew word that we translate to dust here is sometimes used or translated as destruction and You'll see why here in a second so. The Hebrew word for dust Genesis 3 9 is all far all far and this is a noun This is clay earth mud powder and this is a noun. This is clay, earth, mud, powder. This is the sustenance that makes up the world. The sustenance that all creative order is created from. But the Hebrew word for dust in Psalm 90, as Deacol, this is an adjective. And this means to be crushed into powder. To be crushed into powder. So it has this picture, whereas dust in Genesis three is just the dust that exists. The dust in Psalm 90 is the process, it's the descriptor of the dust. This means that the dust isn't just simply dust, but it's dust that has been shaved off because of the sin in our lives. I'm remaking our barn in the back, and it's not like a legit country barn, it's in the city of Wayland barn. And I'm putting up drywall It's a country barn, it's in the city of Wayland Barn. And I'm putting up drywall and I'm making it a hangout space for my daughters. And so I've never used drywall before. I am not what you would call a handyman. I am just somebody who watches YouTube videos and then tries it. And so that's what I'm doing. And so I get these drywall pieces and I start cutting the drywall. And at first, I didn't know that you just take a box cutter and like slide it down and that mug just splits right in half. I was actually using a saw at first. And the amount of dust everywhere was overwhelming from sawing these drywall pieces in half. And that's the kind of dust that Psalm 90 is referring to. From the areas of our lives or from our experiences or circumstances that tend to see us in half because of the sin that has infiltrated the world. That dust, not the dust from which the ground we were created. It's more painful dust, more painful dust. And we all, we understand what this means, do we not? This is the human experience. Who in here doesn't have dust lying around them from being betrayed by somebody you trusted? Who in here doesn't have dust lying down from a set of circumstances that almost crushed you? Who in here doesn't have dust that surrounds them because of your own choices and betrayal of yourself. All of us do. And this is an incredible, incredibly painful accumulation of dust. See, in all this, it points to the frailty of man. We have very little control. Here today, gone tomorrow, Moses says. And if that's not depressing enough, now we have Moses actually, he turns up the lamenting here Turns it up for we are brought to an end by your anger by your wrath. We are dismayed You have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your presence For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. So not only are we incredibly fragile, but we are far more sinful than we actually acknowledge. See, Moses makes a powerful claim here for we are brought to an end by your anger. And he's talking about sin because God hates sin. He never thinks it's okay. And Moses continues. He says, you have set our iniquities before you. These are our open, our active, sinful actions that nobody would say is not sinful. Those things that are just clearly sinful, the lying, the stealing, the adultery, the gossip. Moses says that you set my sin before you and then when we think it couldn't get any worse, he actually says, and our secret sins are set before you. How awful could this get? So the secret sins, it has two ideas here. One is those sins in our lives that we know are clearly sin that we will never tell anyone about in our lives. And the sin in our lives that's so insidious, we don't even see it as sin in our lives. So the point here, the point here is that there is no getting around the fact that we are incredibly sinful, incredibly sinful. And so in light to God's power and control and authority, seeing ourselves clearly in the light of that perfection is one way that I think the Apostle Paul understood exactly who he was. He said this in first Timothy, because of God's greatness in our sinfulness, Paul understood exactly who he was saying. And I love that he even said like, this is a trustworthy saying and deserving of full acceptance. It's almost like if pastor Ryan got up here and was telling us how sinful he was. And we're like, no, no, no, no, you're not that bad, dude. No, like pastor Ryan comes up here. It's like, no, this is real. This is true. And so that's that's the Apostle Paul. He says that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. See the Apostle Paul understood exactly who he was and who he was was so painful to look at, so sinful to see, so dirty to clean up, that it actually drove his eyes off of himself, off of the immediate, up into the heavens on eternity because he couldn't bear to see what it looked like out here. That's what the Apostle Paul understood and he experienced today in the midst of his life while keeping his eyes focused on Eternity and it was his own sinfulness as the chief among all sinners that the appalled that drove Apostle Paul's eyes off of himself. See Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 Says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us set aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, eyes off of ourselves, looking to Jesus, the author or founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. An honest to goodness faith, a faith that experiences today while focusing on eternity does so because of a correct view of man, a view that accurately and rightly places oneself as the chief of all sinners in their personal view. 3. Experience today while focusing on eternity by having a correct response to the gospel Point number three. Says we experience today while focusing on eternity by having a correct response to the gospel. By having a correct response to the gospel. Verse 13 So verse 12, verse 13 says this, so teach us to number our days, Moses said. So in light of God's greatness and perfection and awesomeness and our sinfulness and dirtiness, teach us to number our days. And then he says return Oh Lord How long have pity on us and come back? Life is hard come back and what Moses is doing here is he's giving us a practical picture of patience of waiting Moses said considering the greatness in our sinful condition In the fact that our simple condition is far worse than we know while we wait with eager expectation, return, return. While we wait, we will live in the present as we plead. Return, oh Lord, return. Return, oh Lord, return. And for Christians today, the apostle Paul does a great job of fleshing this out, this period of patience out, this period of waiting, because Paul understood something that Moses didn't have access to. We have the New Testament, right? And so what the apostle Paul says is like, in this tension that we feel in our lives to where we lament, much like Moses, we see the grandeur of God and how majestic he is, and yet we're like, return, return, and we live in this kind of this tension-filled space that will never get resolved, he has what we call an already not yet theological construct. And so the Apostle Paul, he says we are already saved but not yet saved. We are already adopted, not yet adopted. We are already redeemed, not yet redeemed. We are already sanctified, not yet sanctified. We are already raised with Christ, but not yet raised with Christ. And we feel this, don't we? We feel this tension. And so for us, in honest to goodness faith, a correct response to the gospel is understanding that while we are already saved, it's not yet to its fullness and completeness until Christ's return on the cross, or his death on the cross and his return to restore all things new. So an honest to goodness faith, a faith that experiences today while focusing on eternity, does so because we trust that God will, in time, in his time, save, adopt, redeem, sanctify and raise us as the scriptures say he will. And then real quick, I just wanna give you, and you guys can check this out, verses 12 through 17. These are prayers. So what do we do in the meantime, while we're waiting in this tension-filled space? Well, I think Moses gives us five prayers to pray. And so we look at, from verse 12, teach us to number our days so that we may gain wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad. Make us glad for the days that you've given us. Help us to see your work and your power on display. Give us favor and establish the work of our hands. See an honest to goodness faith is a faith that experiences today while focused on eternity. Will you stand and join me in praying for these things? Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you, Lord, for the example of Moses, crying out in lament with honest and real emotion. And, Father, I thank you for how he taught us and what things to pray for as we wait, as we live in today and focused on eternity. Lord, I pray that you would teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. I pray that you would satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. I pray, Lord, that you would make us glad for the days that you've given us here on earth and that we would see your work and your power on display. And Lord, we ask for favor. We ask that you would establish the And Lord, we ask for favor. We ask that you would establish the work of our hands. And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.