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Become healthier personally. Or learn how you can become healthier as a church. The Resound Blog is a place you can trust for wise Gospel-Centered content. RESOUND BLOG Featured Posts Do the Resurrection Accounts Contradict? How differences in the Gospel accounts strengthen rather than undermine the credibility of the resurrection Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give different accounts of Easter Sunday. It is beneficial to have multiple testimonies to an important event, but what if those testimonies contradict each other? Read More Jon Delger Mom Guilt and How to Fight It Read More Stephanie Delger Abortion, Freedom, and Life What the Bible, Science, and True Freedom Reveal About the Sanctity of Life Shouldn’t every woman have a right to choose what happens to her body? Are pro-life supporters actually just hypocrites who only care about unborn lives and not the lives of women or children after birth... Read More Jon Delger RECENT BLOGS Filter to find a blog that's relevant to you Blog Categories Categories Filter by Contributor Select Contributor What Does The Bible Say? Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? Jon Delger Read More Miracle, Myth, or Meteor? Identifying What the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Truly Was What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Ryan DB Kimmel Read More Exploring the Role, Qualifications, and Purpose of Deacons in the Church What Is a Deacon? Jon Delger Read More A biblical definition of those who are called to lead What Is An Elder? Jon Delger Read More Discovering God’s Purposes for Motherhood More Than Meets the Eye Stephanie Delger Read More A Closer Look at Scripture’s Reliability, Inerrancy, and Historical Trustworthiness Is The Bible Really Without Error? Jon Delger Read More Why Recognizing Our Sin is Essential to Embracing God’s Gift of Salvation What is the Gospel? Jon Delger Read More Understanding the Weight of Jesus’ Warning About the Unforgivable Sin When Forgiveness Is Out of Reach Jon Delger Read More Balancing Discipleship and Trusting God with Our Children’s Salvation Nurturing Faith Stephanie Delger Read More Navigating the traps of comparison in parenting with wisdom from Scripture. Beyond Bluey Stephanie Delger Read More Understanding the Biblical Foundations of Church Membership Why Church Membership Jon Delger Read More To the Grieving Mom on Mother’s Day When Mother’s Day Hurts Stephanie Delger Read More Embracing Weakness as a Testament of Faith in Motherhood Grace in the Gap Stephanie Delger Read More The Significance of Making a Profession of Faith Beyond the Heart Jon Delger Read More Exploring the Rich Theology and Covenantal Roots Behind Baptizing Babies Why Do We Baptize Babies? Jon Delger Read More Examining God's Response to Eve's Transgression and Its Modern-Day Relevance Divine Discipline or Unfair Treatment? Stephanie Delger Read More A Journey Through the Realities of Being Saved from Sin's Consequences, Death's Finality, and Sin's Bondage Saved From What? Stephanie Delger Read More How Resurrection Rolls Teach the True Meaning of the Holiday Baking Up Easter Joy Stephanie Delger Read More How To Conduct Staff Reviews Jon Delger Read More How To Create A Church Budget Jon Delger Read More A Guide for Leaders to Articulate the Core of Reformed Belief What is Covenant Theology? Jon Delger Read More 1 2 3 1 ... 1 2 3 ... 3

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Explore the depths of Ministry with our blog's featured content on ministry. Delve into thought-provoking insights from a diverse community. Ministry Blog Category: Featured Theology Insights from a Reformed Worship Leader on the History of Contemporary Music Josh Hoekstra From Organ to Electric Guitar Read More Ryan DB Kimmel 3 Tips For Your Easter Series Read More A Guide To Pick A Women’s Ministry Curriculum Cheyenne Werner Think Tattoo Not Nail-Polish Read More Filter by Ministry Tags Select Ministry Tags Jon Delger What Is a Deacon? Exploring the Role, Qualifications, and Purpose of Deacons in the Church Read More Jon Delger What Is An Elder? A biblical definition of those who are called to lead Read More Jon Delger Why Church Membership Understanding the Biblical Foundations of Church Membership Read More Shannon Popkin How to Influence the Control Girls in Your Church Surrender: The Antidote to Control Read More Shannon Popkin We Villainize the Villains: Mistake #3 in Teaching the Bible A Shift in Perspective on the Villains of the Bible Read More Shannon Popkin Failing to Feel: Mistake #2 in Teaching the Bible Delving into the Emotional Tapestry of Biblical Characters Read More Shannon Popkin Killing the Characters: Mistake #1 in Teaching the Bible Bringing Characters to Life in Teaching the Word Read More Logan Bailey Avoiding the Burnout Trap Game-Changing Strategies for Student Ministry Leaders Read More Josh Hoekstra From Organ to Electric Guitar Insights from a Reformed Worship Leader on the History of Contemporary Music Read More Vicky Damico Jesus Met Them There, Can We? Igniting Special Needs Ministry in Your Church Read More Ryan DB Kimmel 3 Tips For Your Christmas Series Read More Ryan DB Kimmel 3 Things Every Lead Pastor Wants from His Executive Pastor Read More

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Love & Warning Sermon Series: Final Words Jon Delger Multiplication Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: 1 John 2 Transcript Good morning, Peace Church. Good morning. My name is John. I get to serve as the Executive Pastor here at Peace. And you never know what Pastor Ryan is going to say before you come out to get to preach. But we'll be sure to drop some truth bombs here for us to have a chance to amen and praise God for it. So we're going to have some fun this morning. If you've got a Bible with you, would you grab it and open it with me to 1 John, Chapter 2? That's what we're reading from this morning. 1 John, Chapter 2, near the end of the Bible. We're in the second week of our series, final words, the last letters of the last apostle, the apostle John as an old man giving us some of his last words before he leaves the earth, when the last of Jesus's followers is still on the earth. All right, hey, we're gonna read starting in verse one of chapter two I'm gonna we've got a lot to cover in this chapter this morning. So I'm just gonna read each section as we come to it. So let me read the first six verses Well, we'll dig into it and then we'll read each section as we go. So let's read scripture Let's pray and then we'll get to work. Here we go My little children I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, I know Him, but does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word in Him truly, the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. This is God's word, amen? Amen, let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word this morning. God, I pray that you would open up our hearts to hear it, to be changed by it, to be convicted, challenged, and encouraged. Father, I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit as a broken instrument, come to bring your word to your people, and God, I pray that you'd be glorified by your church. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, hey, one of the roles that I get to play in life, and it's a great privilege, is as a pastor, as executive pastor at Peace, but I also have another role that I get to play in my life, and that's the role of a father, the role of a dad. Believe it or not, these beautiful children belong to me. I know you look at me and you think, I don't know, I don't understand how that works, but when you meet their mom, you'll understand, you get it. So Bailey Charity, Levi, and Micah, right on down to just turned three last week. Those are our kids. And an experience that I have whenever I get to go out in public with my kids and we're walking down the street or we're in a restaurant or something like that, one of the things that often happens is I have somebody come to me and often it's a little old lady and she'll come to me and she'll say sir you have such a beautiful family and I said well thank you that's very kind and then she says do they ever do anything wrong and the explosions start to go off in my mind and I think to myself do they ever do anything wrong? They sure do. Let me tell you about it. And I sort of have the same reaction actually when I come to the first verse of this passage that we read this morning. Here's the first verse. My little children, I am raising these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, John the Apostle, I don't know what things were like in the first century, but that if is no longer necessary, brother. If we sin, if I sin, oh man, that's kind of a given at this point, right? That we are people who have sin in our lives, that we live in sin. Now, on the one hand, let me say a couple of things about this. On the one hand, it's true that we are all sinners, right? It's basic biblical theology. Romans 3.10 tells us that there's no one righteous, not even one. Romans 3.23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So it's basic biblical theology that we are sinners, that we are people who fall short of God's perfect standard. So John isn't actually saying that, hey, you're supposed to be perfect. Jesus was the only one who was perfect. But the other thing I want to say about our reaction to this is why do we have such a strong reaction to the way that John words this verse? Why do we have such a strong reaction? Even though the Bible tells us that all of us are sinners, I think it is an unbiblical mentality that we think to ourselves because we are all sinners we cannot get any better, that we cannot grow, that we cannot do less sin and become more like Jesus. That's an unbiblical mentality. In fact, I would call that a defeatist mentality. My wife used to be a nurse, and when she would work in the surgery center, she'd have to ask intake questions to patients coming in for surgery. And some of the questions would be about lifestyle choices and diet and exercise. And as she'd ask patients these questions, one of the common responses she got is people would look at her and say, diet, exercise, I have cholesterol pills, that's what those are for, why would I change my lifestyle? Right? And they think this is a magic pill that fixes things so I don't have to change. Now unfortunately I think in the Christian life we can think that we have a magic pill that makes it so that we don't ever have to change. I think that magic pill comes in the next couple of verses if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Now this is the gospel. This is the core Christian message It's the good news that Jesus is fully God and fully man and he came to the earth and he lived the righteous, it says, the righteous and perfect life that you and I couldn't live. Then he went to the cross and he died the death for sin that you and I deserve to die. That's this fancy word, propitiation, 12 letter word, worth a lot of points. 12 letters, propitiation, means the sacrifice of atonement. Somebody who dies in the place of somebody else. And that's what Jesus does. He dies the death for sin that we deserve to die. And then he was raised to new life, so if we put our faith in Jesus, we can have new life forever. That's the good news of the gospel. Amen. Amen. And yet sometimes I think we're tempted to take this good news and say, because Jesus saves me from my sin, I don't have to grow at all. It's okay. I'm just going to go on sinning even though Jesus has taken away my sin, but actually, that's not the way the gospel works. Jesus calls us to more. Jesus in fact calls us in response to the gospel to a life of transformation. That's what the rest of this passage is going to go on to tell us. Look at the next couple of verses. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments as a liar and the truth is not in him. This is, I would say, the opposite of the defeatist mentality. This is a mentality of victory and of growth. That you and I can grow more and more in our likeness to Jesus. No, you can't become perfect. No, you can't earn your way into heaven. Jesus paid it all. But Jesus does call you to take his hand and come along with him and grow more and more in likeness to him over time. This last verse in this first section that we're looking at has a word that's repeated throughout the Gospel or the letter of 1 John. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walks. So Jesus calls us to walk in his way and throughout this letter he uses the word abide. And that's what we're gonna focus on this morning, is this word abide and three ways that we can see it in the text. That word abides like one definition would be to endure without yielding, to be secure, to be steadfast, to be immovable in Christ. When I think of this word, I actually think of the house that I live in. We bought this house about a year ago and we did a lot of renovations to it to move in and get our four kids into there and before we owned this house it belonged to my wife's grandpa. They're her grandparents and he built this house back in the 70s back when 2x10s were actually 2 inches by 10 inches none of this one-and-a-half by nine and a quarter stuff and it was built with nails and not screws and the nails were about as big around as my finger, and they were like eight inches long. And so as I'm trying to take down walls and adjust bedrooms and make room for these four kids, I'll tell you what, I about broke my shoulder a lot of times trying to remodel this house. When I think of unyielding, immovable, and abiding, I think of my house. No matter what comes at it, it is unshakable. And that's the kind of Christians that God calls us to be. And I think 1 John, the rest of this passage in chapter 2 is going to tell us three ways that we can have that kind of a Christian life. So let's get into it. Here we go. The first way and the first section of the text. We can abide by loving our brother, abide by loving our brother. Take a look at verses 7 through 11. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it's a new commandment that I'm writing to you, which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him, there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. All right, so John talks about this old and new commandments. So the reason he talks about that is because this idea of loving others is not new, right? The Old Testament told us to love God and to love our neighbor. Jesus reiterates that in the New Testament. He renews that commandment. I think of passages like John 13, that actually look a lot like this passage that we're reading right now. It starts with Jesus addressing us, like John does, little children. He says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have a love for one another. Right, so it's old in the sense that it's always been, this is what God's been telling us all along, and yet it's new in the sense that Jesus renews this commandment and tells his disciples, this is how you should live. And the passage that we look at, draws a connection between love and light and hate and darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light. In him, there is no cause for stumbling. Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in darkness. All right, so John paints a picture for us that if you are somebody who's got love in your heart if you are walking with Jesus in love for other people, then you are in the light. You can see. Your eyes are open to see the way that God sees other people and his love for human beings. If you're walking in hate, then your eyes are darkened. You're blinded. You're not seeing things the way that God has called us to see things. And I think in the Bible of a couple of different examples of this happening. In my own readings, and devotions, I've been reading 1st and 2nd Samuel, which is largely the story of David. I think of David and Saul. David is a man who loves the Lord and who also loves King Saul, who becomes his enemy. King Saul is the king of the land. He actually spends most of his career as a king trying to kill David, right? Even though David is his greatest military commander, even though David is a guy who plays some music for him when he's not feeling well, and even though David is his son's best friend, Saul throws a spear at him. Saul is clearly blinded to seeing who David really is and what it's really like to have a friendship with him. And instead, he's just filled with hate and fear that this man is going to take his power. And David responds not with more hatred, but instead with love. David has so much respect for the king that he goes to great lengths to not hurt him. There's even this funny scene in the story, if you know it, where Saul is out on the battlefield and he's trying to find David and he's searching for him to kill him. And David's hiding in a cave and Saul makes his way into the cave to use the restroom and so Saul is using the restroom here in the corner of a cave and David sneaks up and with his sword sort of cuts off a part of his robe which I imagine would be a pretty scary experience and David immediately repents. He says, you know what? I did the wrong thing. That was wrong. He has love and respect for the king, for Saul. His eyes are open to see things the way that God sees them, instead of being blinded by hatred. Jesus and the Pharisees, I see a similar example. The Pharisees are these guys who are all about the law and teaching people to not just follow God's laws but actually follow man-made versions, and fences around the law. And they're so committed to this that they spend all their time teaching this and oppressing the people with these burdens, but then at the end of Jesus's life, right before they crucify him, they have this sort of mock trial of him, and the Pharisees, even though they spend their lives preaching these laws, they break every single one of them in order to murder Jesus. They are so blinded by hatred that very thing that they spend their lives upholding, they're willing to throw it away, to break it in order to hurt Jesus. And by contrast, of course, Jesus is on the cross and says, forgive them for they know not what they do. So here's the question for us. I have three questions for us. Number one, brothers and sisters, where are we blinded by hate? Now I want to warn you too, don't get caught up in a technical definition of hate. If you're saying to yourself, well, I don't hate anybody. I don't hate him or I don't hate her. I just hope that they get allergic to the state of Michigan so they have to move and I never have to see them again. That's all. It's not hate. Who in your life do you have this kind of feelings towards? Where are you being blinded to the way that God sees this person? Where do you need to step into the light? Where do you need to open God's word and remind yourself that this person is a human being made in God's image? That God has plans for them, that God loves them, that God has actually put you in their life for their good? Finally, where do you need to have forgiveness? I think if you're in the spot of hatred and you want to get to the spot of love, the bridge between the two is forgiveness. Right, if you hate somebody, there's usually a reason. Because they've done something wrong, something against you, there's something that needs to be forgiven. And the bridge from hatred to love is forgiveness. Where does that need to happen in your life? Where do you need to imitate Jesus, who hangs on the cross, having been beaten, tortured, and murdered, says, forgive them for they know not what they do? Point number two in 1 John chapter two, we abide by not loving the world, by not loving the world. Look at verse 15 and let's read. Verse 15 and following. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride and possessions are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. So quick clarification here. God is not saying, the apostle John is not saying that we should hate the people of the world, right? We just talked about that a moment ago. He specifies in verses 15 and 16, he's talking about the desires of the flesh and it says, do not love the world or the things in the world. Right? John is talking about something very specific. God loves the people of the world. We are called to love the people of the world, and yet the temptations, the desires, and the things of the world are things that we're not supposed to fall in love with. So I think there are so many different things that I could talk about here. There are so many different desires of the flesh. There are so many different things in the world that we could talk about, but I want to just kind of focus on a few. You guys know that at Peace Church, one of the things that we care a lot about is challenging men. God has called men to a unique place in the world, and so we want to issue a biblical challenge to men to live according to God's calling. And so I read an article this past week of a guy making the case that said, pastors, pastors, if you want to speak to men, you got to talk about the three things that men think about during the week. And he said that those three things are money, sex, and physical fitness. Now, I grew up in Middleville, so I thought those three things were hunting, fishing, and beer. But I guess I was wrong, so we'll just go with what the article said and talk about those things. The things of this world, the question is this, am I using these things for my own selfish desires or for God's calling in my life? Money. Let me ask you a question. Is there anything wrong with having money? No, there's not. It's kind of helpful. Does some good stuff for you sometimes. It's okay to have money. The question is, where is your heart in relation to it? Are you using it only for your selfish desires or are you using it for God's purpose? Same question with sex. Is sex a bad thing? No, it's not. It's a good thing within the context that God has designed it for. Are you using it for your own selfish desires or are you living according to God's design for it? Physical fitness. Is it a bad thing to be physically fit? No, it's not. It's okay. It's good. But are you using it for your own vanity or are you using it for God's desire design in your life? And these are not just true, you might have noticed, just for men, but these are also true for women. Actually, this past week I heard an interview of a female actress who is known specifically for being all about her youth and about making sure she doesn't have any wrinkles and stuff like that. And so the interviewer asked her the question, this female actress, and said, hey if a doctor came to you and said that if you were to eat human feces, it would make sure that you don't have any wrinkles the rest of your life, would you do it? And she said, yes. I know, right? That's how you might know that physical fitness has gotten to a place in your life where maybe a little too high, a little too high on the charts. Let me make one more argument about the things of this world and it comes from verse 17. "'The world is passing away along with its desires, "' but whoever does the will of God abides forever.'" I would call this the argument from time. That if you're weighing out in your mind the desires of the flesh, the things of this world versus the things of God and you're wrestling with your own desires, one maybe perspective to look at it is, is from time. Which one of these is going to be right in the long run? And we know that God's ways are always going to be right in the long run, right? I've got a daughter who just turned eight within the last couple of weeks here and I'm already, as she gets older, I think every birthday I have these thoughts. I think when she becomes a teenager or a preteen and I have to start talking to her more and more about what we wear and stuff like that, how am I gonna make the case? And I had this sort of vision this week of how I would make the case, and I thought I'd just say to her, hey, you know what, sweetheart? Short shorts and mini skirts won't be in heaven, so why wear them now? That stuff's going out of style. Stick with what lasts. You'll always be fashionable. The world is passing away in temporal. Obeying God's will, and going His way lasts forever. Last one. Abide by holding to the truth. Abide by holding to the truth. Look at verse 18. Jump down to verse 18 and follow with me. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. Yee-haw, here we go, right? Talking about the Antichrist and all that kind of stuff. We're gonna get into it. Let's take a look at what scripture has to say about this big, much-talked-about concept. Verse 18, it's the last hour, as you have heard, Antichrist is coming, and so now many Antichrists has come and In fact, he's sitting right now. I'm just kidding. That's not true. I think that's exactly what this verse warns against, right? I think it's tempting for Christians to look at the news look at the newspaper and try to pick out who is the Antichrist Are we in the last days that kind of thing? I think the scripture is clear children It is the last hour and the Apostle John wrote this, you know in the first century a long time ago. Ever since Jesus ascended to heaven, we've been in the last days. We've been in the endgame since Jesus ascended to heaven. We're waiting for his return. We've got a mission while he's there. His Holy Spirit is with us. We're in the last days. And it says that many antichrists have come. People who are opposed to Jesus, they're coming all the time. Now, there will be one final one that's gonna come but our job is not to figure out exactly who that is our job is to stay faithful in the meantime what is the Antichrist verse 22 tells us who is the liar but he denies that Jesus is the Christ this is the Antichrist he denies the Father and the Son that's what makes an Antichrist if you're asking what is this mystical word this phrase that I've heard maybe read books about that's what it is it's somebody who opposes the truth about Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. The rest of the text also tells us that he's somebody who was once a part of the church. Talks about him being among us and then going out from us. So this is somebody who knows the Bible, who's good at speaking half-truths, right, is gonna be very deceptive. That's their mission, that's their purpose. Verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. That's the mission of the Antichrist, to deceive us, to convince us of something that is not the truth, dissuade us from reality. So if the end is coming, if there are those who are trying to deceive us, what's the call? What are we supposed to do? I think the answer comes in verse 24. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And John's talking about the Bible, the gospel, God's word. What you've heard from the beginning, what you were taught by the apostles when they came and planted the church that he's writing letters to, when you heard God's word, abide in that, stick with that. And so I have two very simple questions for you. Are you in the Word and are you studying the Word with others? Sounds too simple, right? But are you? Are you daily reading God's word? Having the Lord speak to you, that's how he speaks, through his word, that's why we call it his word. Are you hearing the Lord speak day in and day out? Are you doing it with others where you can make sure that you're on the right track, make sure that you're reading scripture correctly, and that you can be challenged, encouraged, convicted, and held accountable? Here at Peace Church, one of the things that we say is true of a healthy member of Peace Church is that they're part of a discipleship community, a men's Bible study, a women's Bible study, or a community group. Men's Bible study, women's Bible study, and community groups. Are you part of one of those? Where you're sitting with other men, women, and couples, and talking about God's word, holding each other accountable, praying through it. I think the way to sniff out the antichrists, the deceivers, is not by studying all the subtle tactics of the deceiver, but by knowing really well the real thing. I've heard it said before that those who are trained to find counterfeit money, don't spend all their time studying the counterfeits and all the different strategies and tactics and what they look like. They actually spend most of their training figuring out exactly what the real dollar is like. What's its size? What's its weight? What are the letters? What are the things on it? Because if you know the real thing, then you're going to spot the counterfeit. For example, which one of these is Tom Cruise? Oh, you're all guessing, I hear it. I'm not going to tell you, that would be no fun. So you'll have to think about it and figure it out. It's bothering all of you, isn't it? I can see it in the room, it's bothering you. Do you want to know the real answer? You're gonna be really disappointed by this. Are you ready? Are you ready? None of them. Oh, that hurts. That hurts. They're actually all stunt doubles. Big, big disappointment, right? Everybody, big letdown, big letdown. But you know who would have known the answer to that Tom Cruise's mama, right? Tom Cruise's mama has known Tom Cruise since he was a little baby boy. She's known him his whole life. She knows the real thing. And so I think when she would look at those pictures, she'd say, oh no, that's not my Tom. That one's not my Tom. That one's not my Tom, right? She knew the real thing. And so she was able to spot the counterfeits. So brothers and sisters, we need to be in the word if we wanna hold to the truth long-term. Now, you might've noticed that everything in 1 John chapter two that we've talked about this morning had to do with either love or truth. Like these are the major themes in our passage this morning, love and truth. It's who Jesus was, it's who he calls Christians to be. It's what he calls the church to be. It's a strange thing, isn't it? To hold with strong conviction to the truth and yet to be loving and kind to other people. People who are like that are weird. They don't fit into the categories of the world. And I think, praise God, I think Peace Church is kind of like that. As I've spoken with some of you that have come to Peace Church in the last few years, some of you have shared with me stories of what you've experienced, that you've heard these stories about this church that is ruthlessly committed to the Bible, and you came in maybe thinking this is going to be a church that's stiff and stuffy and no fun, and you came and you found out, yep, they are ruthlessly committed to the Bible, but they're also fun and happy and they have the joy of the Lord. Some of you have come in thinking, you know, you've maybe looked online and you've seen they've got, you know, fancy lights on the stage and the pastor doesn't tuck in his shirt. So they're going to be loosey-goosey and not care about theology and stuff like that. And you came and you found out that's not true. We're a weird group of people. All right, there it is. We love the truth. We are convicted and committed to God's Word. But we also love people and want to be kind and want to win them over with our kindness to the truth. That's going to be weirder and weirder the more we go on through life until Jesus returns. This last weekend, I thought about this a lot. Just yesterday here in Middleville, our town, my hometown, I grew up here, went to high school here, I live here. In our hometown, we had something that we as Christians, we can't stand with, we can't be on that side. A pride festival, a drag show. That's a challenge for us. I know a lot of us because it came to our little old small town, I think it became personal at that point, I know that's how I felt about it. But you know who we're called to go out and be this week? People of truth and people of love. That's who we are called to be. As you go to work this week, as you go out and talk with friends this week who might totally disagree with you, you are called to be somebody who stands for the truth and you are called to be somebody who is loving and kind and wants to win people over to the truth. That's who God's called us to be. If you want to abide in Jesus Christ, if you want to be unyielding, if you want to be like a real 2x10 and none of this 1.5x9.25 stuff, if you want to be built that way, immovable, steadfast, and unyielding, we are called to be people of truth and love. Let me pray for us. Father God, we love you and we adore you, and we thank you for Jesus, who is our perfect example of truth and love, and who also died to save us from sin because of his great love for us. Thank you, God, for loving us. Thank you for making us yours. God, I pray that you would be glorified in Peace Church and in all of us as individuals this week as we go out. God, I pray that you would use us as tools and instruments to shine, to share the truth, and to do so in love. God, we love you. Pray this all in Jesus' powerful name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Proclaim the Goodness of God (Up) Sermon Series: Proclaim Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Colossians 1:1-2 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it, and everyone said with all their hearts. Amen. So I want to start off this morning with a little game. It's a very simple game. It's called good or bad I'm going to show you something you tell me if it's good or bad. Ready? Walnuts and brownies. Wow, okay. So first service over overwhelmingly loved this idea I can see why you guys don't mix. Interesting. I agree. That's gross. All right. If you think that about walnuts and brownies, good or bad, fruit and jello. You had to see it, didn't you? You had to see it. Just like remind you how nasty it is. Who's going to be the brave dissenter in here that says, you know what, let's make Jell-O healthy again. Put fruit in it. Anybody? A few of you? All right, okay. Let's continue and just see what happens here. Good or bad? Christmas music before Thanksgiving. My people. Awesome. All right, let's go for the most divisive thing that is out there in our world today. Pineapple on pizza, good or bad? That felt mixed. I got to know. I have to know. So let's just go. I need to raise, raise your hands. Pineapple on pizza is God's gift to us. Who says no, it's an abomination? Whoa, that's 50-50. Interesting. Well, you know what's funny is when we talk about things that are good or bad, it typically comes down to not objective truth, but personal opinion. And here's what I can tell you about our world today. Even objective truth can be debated in our world because there is no objective truth like personal opinion for our world. For our world, personal opinion is more important than objective truth. And so I'm going to postulate something before you right now that I believe is an objective truth. And once we fully understand this and grasp this truth. I believe it changes everything. It's a very simple truth and it's this, that God is good. God is good and when we truly understand that, I'm telling you, I think that helps us not just grow our faith but it gets us through so much crap in this world, if I could just say that. And not only is God good, but I'm here to tell you that God's goodness is evidence. We just have to have the eyes to see it. And so today we are beginning a new sermon series. We are about preaching and proclaiming God's word. That's what we're always going to do. And we're also in a campaign. And as we look at starting a spiritual journey, and I'm just going to say to you right now, the spiritual journey part of this actually starts next Sunday. Today's like the pregame next Sunday. We're going to hand out a devotional packet for everyone so that we can all go through the same study together as a church. And I'm telling you, we need to do that. Today's the pregame. Today's the preliminary. As we look at starting the spiritual journey next week. But today we're going to start with what is two seemingly flyover verses. Verses people usually don't spend time on, they usually just get through these verses to get to something else. So, would you please turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one. We're gonna look at verses just one and two today. Introductory verses. That's on page 1251 if you wanna use the Bibles we provided. Now, while you're turning there, just some context. This was written right about the same time that our book that we looked at last month, Ephesians, was written right about the same time. The Apostle Paul wrote this book. It's called Colossians because he wrote it to a church in a town called Colossae. The people in Colossae were called Colossians. Paul wrote this letter from prison. He was in prison for preaching the gospel. So he lets a letter from prison to this church and this is only about 30 years after Jesus Christ rose from the dead. That's hardly any time. 30 years is nothing. 30 years is like the time between now and when I was in high school. What that means is that people were alive during this time and they saw and they knew Jesus. You couldn't create myths about Jesus. People were there and they saw it. You couldn't just make up things about Jesus during this time. And so Paul writes this letter to this church to help them with things like doctrine and how to live out the Christian life. Now, it's a short but powerful letter, and we're going to spend the next month walking through this first chapter, verse by verse. But today we're just going to look at the opening. And so with that, would you hear God's word, Colossians chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. Colossians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. This is God's word. Let's pray and we'll dig in. Let's pray. Father God, we are on the verge of a sermon series, a capital campaign, and a spiritual journey that I believe you will use to not just unite this church, but to set a trajectory for this church for the next generation and I dare say, Lord, for the rest of the life of this church. Help us with the time that you've given to us here and now to follow your call rightly. Lead us by the power and presence of your Holy Spirit, by the truth of your word because, Father, we come before you and we pray these things in the power of the spirits for your glory and for the proclamation of the name of Jesus. And everyone said, Amen. So this next month is all about proclaiming, proclaiming God's truth. And the truth that we need to share with the world is found in today's main idea. And it's this. We proclaim God's goodness because it is clearly shown. Paul, Paul was on mission and his mission was to share the gospel and his mission is our mission. It's our time. And this word gospel, you know this, it simply means good news, but the gospel is not good news. And so we proclaim God's goodness because it's clearly shown. And as we look at these two short verses, we're gonna pull out three important things this morning, and it's this. 1. The goodness of God is shown in His Will. Now, Paul writes to the Colossians, but here's what you need to know. He's actually never been to this city before. He's only heard about this church through a man named Epaphras. Epaphras was from that city who planted that church. We'll get more acquainted with this guy when we get to verse seven, but Paul was visited by Epaphras when he was in jail. So he writes this letter to this church that he's never been to, that he didn't start. And because of that, we see why Paul uses such a strong introduction about who he is. You don't see this strong of an introduction in any of other Paul's letters. Listen to what he says here in this first part. Please keep your Bibles open. Colossians 1, he says this, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Now, apostle, this word apostle just means a sent one, someone who was sent. He's a missionary with a message to share and he's an apostle, but he's just not any old sent person. Look at here, he's an apostle of Christ Jesus himself. And not just that, listen here, Paul goes for the trifecta. He's an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. I'll tell you that's quite the introduction for yourself there, Paul. God's will is the ultimate trump card. But not only that, here's what I wanna tell you. God's will is essentially what gives us comfort in this broken world. Jesus Christ, the night before he was to be arrested, tortured, and crucified and killed, when he knew this was about to happen, Jesus was in the garden praying and listened to part of his prayer. Luke 22, he says this, he says, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me." Now this cup from me, but listen to this next line from our Lord said "Nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done." Luke 22:42 Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. In his darkest and most terrifying moment when he was hours away from Torture and death Jesus Christ trusted himself to the will of God why? Because God's will is good and it's right, even when we go through bad times. So I'm wondering, do you trust God's will? Because here's what I'm willing to bet. I'm willing to bet you trust God's will, but you don't like God's timing. Christians, we need both. You can't have God's will without God's timing. You can't have God's timing without God's will. We know this wonderful verse Romans chapter 8 verse 28 says that we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. See I think those who follow Christ we know that God's will is good but did you know that God's timing is also good? For God's will and God's timing go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. I believe the time that is upon us is God's timing. We are meant to go through proclaim now, not a year ago, not a year from now. God's timing is perfect. This is the time. And so Christians, hear me on this. I'm going to give you a loaded statement, but I believe this with all my heart. A lifetime of pursuing God as you patiently wait for God's will to play out according to God's timing that's a life well-lived. I'm gonna say it again because I know that was thick. Christians, a lifetime of pursuing God as you patiently wait for God's will to play out according to God's timing - that's a life well-lived. We proclaim God's goodness because it's seen in His will. We can trust His timing, we can trust His will, and we can also trust His grace. 1. The goodness of God is shown in His Grace. Now I'm about to make a very bold declaration right now, and it's this. Grace is the most important word in the Christian faith that Christians don't fully understand. Let me explain. I asked a number of self-proclaimed Christians outside Peace Church, there's no one in Peace Church, but I asked a number of self-proclaimed Christians, what is God's grace? And here's what they said. They said things like this. They said, grace is like God being kind to you. Another person said, grace is God being patient with you when you trip up. Now listen, those are nice facets of what we call God's common grace, but that's not what we're talking about. So let me set this record straight here. Grace is how we are saved. We are saved by grace. Grace is the essence of our salvation. The Bible tells us this. Look at what Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 2 verses 8 and 9. He says, Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Our salvation is a gift. You did not earn it. You could not earn it. You do not deserve it. God gives it to us. And that's called grace. Here's how us reformers like to talk about what grace is. We'll use the term grace is unmerited favor, meaning grace is something that we did that we get but yet we did not earn and do not deserve. God does not have to apply the sacrifice of Christ to us, but by grace, in grace, he does, out of His goodness. Our salvation is a gift from God and grace is given to us once we place our faith in Jesus. And now that you are reminded of that powerful word, let that inform you as you read this opening statement again. "To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you". So Paul's writing to a church, to a group of believers, and he calls them saints and faithful brothers. Don't get offended here by faithful brothers in the original language that word meant brothers and sisters kind of like what we'd say as siblings but what does he mean by calling them Saints. Well, two quick things. Number one we're not talking about the Catholic understanding here. For Scripture anyone who follows Jesus is called a saint. not that you are some perfect little angel I know you're not but Saint means simply a holy one. One who is holy. Because in Christ we are made holy. We are set apart. We are called saints. So anyone in here who follows Jesus Christ, when you sign your name, you can go ahead and put an St. at the beginning of your name because you are a saint in Christ. To the saints, the holy ones, and the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae, grace to you. I am telling you at the end of the day, what you want from God is grace. I'm telling you, church, you do not want what you deserve. We want grace. And I'm telling you now, grace is what makes the Christian message. Grace is what makes the gospel so good. It's what makes it so so potent. Now we're in October and October's finally starting to act like October, starting to feel like fall. Anybody a little happy about that in here? So yeah, I'm telling you one thing I love about fall, you know what fall is? Fall is soup and chili time. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to tell you right now, I love me some white chicken chili. Love me some white chicken chili. Well, a couple years ago, my mother-in-law got this new recipe for white chicken chili. And she made it, and I stopped over for dinner, and she gave me a cup of this white chicken chili, and she said, Try my new recipe. It's only 150 calories. And I was like, okay, I'm a good son-in-law, so I tried it and it was delicious. It was phenomenally delicious. And I'm thinking to myself, only 150 calories? Yo, I'm going to eat the whole crock pot. So I'm literally going into my fourth bowl and she says, uh-oh. I said, what do you mean, uh-oh? She said, I just realized I messed up. How'd you mess up? She's, I put three times the amount of sour cream in this. At that moment, I realized this was not 150 calories a bowl. But you know what? It was still so good. It was still to this day, the best white chicken chili I've ever had in my life. Why? Because it was overflowing with the good stuff. And God forgive me for comparing Christianity to white chicken chili, but I'm telling you, the reason Christianity is so good is because it's overflowing with the good stuff. I love what John says in John 1:16. He says, "From the fullness of Christ we have all received, listen to this, not just grace". Listen to what John says. From the fullness of Christ we have all received grace upon grace. We don't just get grace. We get grace upon grace. The message of Christianity is that Jesus saves us, not because of what we do, but because of what He's done for us. And when we place our faith in Him, God gives us grace, unmerited favor, salvation we did not earn, and it's through faith in Jesus.And grace is one of the ways that we see God's goodness and God's goodness to us. 3. The goodness of God is shown in His Peace. And if this wasn't enough, we also have peace, our church's namesake. "To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father". There it is, grace and peace. We're saved by grace and what we get is salvation, but hear me on this Christians in the house. Hear me on this - Salvation is more than just getting to go to heaven when you die as Wonderful and beautiful as that is as much as I long for that. It's more than that. Christians, do you hear me? Salvation is a restored relationship with God. Salvation is that we get to be with God again. This sin that has broken our relationship and kept us distant from God, Christ has removed that. And we are reunited with God forever. And our eternal life does not start the moment we die. It starts the moment we place our faith in Jesus. This happens because of God's grace and we get peace with God. I'm telling you, our relationship with God, it is marked by love and that's a wonderful thing, but it's not just marked by love, it's marked by peace, that our hearts are settled in God. I'm here to tell you right now, I know many unmarried people who love each other but do not have peace in their home. But in Christ, we have the love of God and we have peace with God. And there's a family in our church with a story where they got to see God's goodness. And through it, they got a peace with God. And they got to understand God's peace. And I want to share with you their story right now. And it's the Barrett Gritter story. And if you're prone to tears, get your Kleenex out right now. Please watch this story. "There were many days during the pregnancy that we would wonder why God didn't make our baby healthy. We would sit and we would cry together and just wonder why us. I'm Nathan Gritter. And I'm Bethany Gritter. And we got married in September of 2020. And about a year later, we found out Bethany was pregnant. And we were so excited to start a family. The day we had our 20-week ultrasound, the ultrasound tech came in and told us the doctor was going to talk to us because they found some abnormalities with our son. The doctor came in and told us that Bear had an omphalocele and some heart abnormalities. His omphalocele was his liver developing on the outside of his stomach lining. We were very confused. We were crying. Our heart kind of sank and we were flooded with a lot of emotions. Didn't know what would happen next, how we would move forward with things. Was it going to be okay? As we were leaving, the ultrasound tech came up to us and she asked if she could pray for our family. So that was kind of where the power of prayer started. We were just overwhelmed with the fact that she asked us for that and it's grown from there. We didn't know how to move forward with the gender reveal being the following day. After some thoughts and more prayers, we decided that being surrounded by friends and family is what we needed most. We gathered in our barn with family and friends and we prayed for our baby boy to be okay. So on February 28, 2022, Bethany had her first routine non-stress test at only 32 weeks. Less than two hours later, John Robert Grader was born. He was immediately rushed to the Children's Hospital. Bethany didn't even get to see him until hours later. We had to wait a few days to hold him for the first time. We got to hold him about four days old the night before his first open heart surgery. We were so scared and prayed that our little baby boy would just come back to us. We've had a lot of people say things like, God gives you hard things because he teaches you how to trust in him and walk beside him and that's been so true for us because it's strengthened our faith so much. The amount of people and number of prayers blew us away and it only got more powerful from there. On April 26, Barrett was scheduled for his second open heart surgery. This one was going to be bigger than the first. We had a group together that prayed with us at Peace Church and that was just so overwhelming for us. The next day the amount of peace we had is unexplainable. There were people from the medical team wondering why we were upset. There was actually a nurse that said she knows why. She knows why they're not upset. They know Jesus and they know he's got a plan. I just feel like we had faith before but without Barrett's story, we haven't had the strong faith that we have. And we haven't trusted God in every situation we've gone through like we do now. Barrett went on to have his third open heart surgery about a month later. And all three were successful. He spent his first 205 days of his life in the hospital and was finally able to come home to us on September 21, 2022. He is the strongest, happiest, most cheerful little boy there ever is. He's happy in all the good and bad times. Barrett will have one more open-heart surgery, at least as he gets older, and we'll continue to pray that everything will work out in God's plan like it has so far. Barrett's life has changed ours and so many others, and he's really shown us what the power of prayer can do and brought us a lot closer together as well. It's amazing what when you put your faith in God what he can accomplish." Amen. Church, God is good and I don't want any other family to have to go through what the Gritters have. But if they do, I want them to know that there's a God in heaven who will walk with them every step of the way. I want them to know, just like the Gritters do, that they have a church at Peace Church who will walk with them every step of the way. Many of you have been praying for Barrett's because you've been part of our prayer chain. If you're not part of our prayer chain, get on it. Go to our website and get on it so you can join the church in praying for stories like Barrett's. But church, I want to remind you, and I hope to tell you, and I hope you understand this, this is why we're going through Proclaim, because there's more that God is calling this church to do. We're not gonna stop, we're not gonna slow down. There are stories like Barrett's that need to be told, there's God's goodness that needs to be announced, and over this next month in this campaign, we do have a number of goals. One of them is, yes, to expand our facility so that we can have more times of ministry, more times of fellowship, but we also have a goal of spiritually preparing for what this means for our church and what more space would allow. Proclaim is ultimately about following God's call here at peace. He's been great to us. It's time for a great response. We want our church to be strong so we can continue to share more stories and testimonies like the Gritters, so that our community can be filled even more so with the light of Christ. But it's going to take all of us, all of us who call Peace Church home. So if you believe God is good, let me leave you with not just a financial challenge, but a spiritual challenge. Because a lot of times they go hand in hand. Let me leave you with this. Do you use your money in a way that shows that you trust God's goodness? Without a doubt, part of what we're doing in Proclaim is going through a spiritual journey together as we follow God's call. But yes, this is also about raising the funds to see us follow God's call. So here's a challenge I'd have for you. If someone looked at the inner workings of your finances, would they think to themselves, wow, this is a family that trusts God? Or would they say, wow, this is a family that's really worried about the economy? Wow, this is a family that really loves to lavish themselves. Would they see a family that invests in what God is doing, supporting the work of ministry, so that among many things, God's goodness, like in the greater story, can be told? You know, when I ask people of the church, what's your favorite hymn? Inevitably, How Great Thou Art is quickly mentioned. This hymn reminds us of God's goodness. It tells us the gospel story and how God's goodness is clearly shown and it shows us how God's greatness is clearly shown. And I remind you again that proclaim is our great response to God's greatness at this moment. So church, today we proclaim God's goodness because it is clearly shown. We're going to sing How Great Thou Art. And here's what I'm going to say to you. Do not sing it if you don't believe it, but if you do believe it, then sing it. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we come before you and we ask God that you'd continue to fill this space, this building, these people with the power and presence of your Holy Spirit so that we can respond in worship, respond to what you have done, respond to what you are doing. Father, give us clarity of vision as we move forward through this campaign. Father, as more of this continues to be unveiled and we see more clearly where you're calling us, Father, I pray, Lord, you grow in us a passionate excitement and a desire to be a part of where you are going. But Father, it starts with you. Proclaim is not what we are going to do, it's what you are going to do through us. And so Father, we come before you as one, singing this truth, how great you truly are. We pray these things in Jesus' powerful name. And everyone said, Amen.

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