Let's pray as we get started.
Father, we are glad to be able to come today. Though the weather
is upsetting and we see people west of us who have lost their
lives and their property, Father, we praise you and are thankful
for who you are. We're thankful for your mercy,
even in loss and pain. We are thankful, Lord, that even
when we have no sight of what our hope is, we can see it. when
we know you, when we know you through your son Jesus, when
we see your heart and your love through the life of Jesus, when
we understand your justice and your mercy through the death
of Jesus, and we understand our place before you through the
resurrection of Jesus. So Lord, we stand here today,
a people unbroken, no matter what the world may say. Because
we are one with you and one in Christ and one with one another,
which is the whole picture of the good report of Jesus, your
love for us and him. May our lives model and embody
this oneness in the context of everything we do so that we may
rest. and that when our soul is weary
and our mind is troubled and our heart is downtrodden, Lord,
we can stand. And we can stand still, knowing
that you have fought our battles and that you are victorious.
And we thank you for the truth that we know, and we thank you
for the power that you promise. In Jesus' name, so be it. Amen. 1 Peter 3. Verse 22, it's in the middle
of a thought, if you will. It's in the middle of a sentence. So let's start reading in verse
18 and then we'll pick up there in the context of where I left
off last week. For Christ also suffered once
for sins. the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed
the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when
God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought
safely through water. Being submerged underwater, baptism,
which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of
dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven
and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and
powers having been subjected to him. Listen to this, since
therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with
the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of
the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the
will of God. For the time that is past suffices
for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality,
passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless
idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do
not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign
you, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge
the living and the dead, for this is why the gospel was preached
even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the
way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all these things is
at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake
of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly
since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to
one another without grumbling. as each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace.
Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves
as one who serves by the strength that God gives in order that
in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him
alone belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So there's a lot there, but it
behooves us to hear it together. And so when we think about what
we've learned over this last year, what we've learned out
of this letter, what these original believers had learned, we know
We know very clearly that their suffering was for their good.
Their suffering was for their joy. Their suffering was for
their growth. Their suffering was part of being
identified and baptized into Christ. And it had purpose. And they lost their worldly identity,
even in their faith, but they came to understand their spiritual
identity in their suffering. But yet it doesn't make it feel
better just to know that. It doesn't make it go away. It
doesn't give us resolve sometimes because we still fight. We fight
to overcome the suffering. We fight to get away from the
suffering. We fight to do something inside
of us that would help us to feel better or to think better or
to escape. And that's really not what the
gospel shows us. The gospel shows us is that while
we are in it, we find joy. I think last week
I put it this way is that peace and joy are different than comfort
and happiness. Sometimes we're seeking comfort,
but even in discomfort we can be at peace. Sometimes we're
seeking happiness, but even in sadness and what we would call
brokenness, we are still unbroken in our joy. So in verse 22, we see this describing
who Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the Holy Anointed One from God
and of God is. He who has gone into heaven and
is at the right hand of God and angels, authorities, and powers
having been subjected to him. Now, I don't want to confess
to unknown felonies, but I had my fair share in my early 20s
and late teens of just enjoying life. And one of the things that
I did was I don't know, pull my friends over with lights,
pretending to be a state patrol. And then when they'd pull over,
we'd speed away. You know, hee hee, how fun. We thought, well,
I could pull a bunch of people over doing this. So we did. And
you know, that's a crime. You can't impersonate a state
officer, even with your car. It was the car, not me. Like,
what is it, Kit or Christine? Cars can have personalities.
But either way, I always thought in the back of my mind, if I
got in trouble, it's okay. If one of the state patrol pulled
me over, they'd go, what are you doing, man? I'm like, oh, you're James. Hey, how's it going? You were riding with me last
week. Stop, don't do that. I was speeding one day, and I
was 20 years old, and I was coming right up this highway here, US
Highway 301, and I was going over 100 miles per hour. And I've topped the hill at that
spot where the Verizon tower works. And there is, I won't
say who, but a very good friend of mine who is also Georgia State
Patrol. And behind me is five other people, and they're in
my wind. And they're just, whoosh. So I see him. I brake. Everybody
brakes. He gets behind us all, pulls us all over in sequence,
and I'm the least guy, the first to pack. He gets the license
from every car, and he gets to me, and he sees me, and he throws
his clipboard down, and he kicks the dirt. He says, you just cost
me four tickets. I'm like, you can write me a
ticket. No, I can't. This would be a very bad ticket
for you, 50 plus miles an hour over the speed limit. So he goes back and gives everybody
a warning, and he comes to my car, he says, this Friday, you're
riding with me, we're gonna have to talk about this. Last time
I really sped, ever, on purpose. But the point I'm making is that
I wasn't worried about it because I knew the authorities. Now that
is wrong. It's a sin to speed. It's a violation of law. It misses
the mark of good citizenry, much less the mark of righteousness.
It's wrong to speed in any context. It's a violation, even if it's
an emergency, you speed, you can still get a violation. It
doesn't give you the right to break the law. So I'm not making
light of the fact that I did that. And let me tell you what
really pushed it home one day, is I was teaching a youth camp
over a week, and I showed up on time when I had told the director
that I was going to be late. And he knew, he said, you either
lied to me about when you left, or you lied about how fast you
drove. I don't need you here if you're
gonna be that kind of man. so it started to have an impact,
you know? And it's just one of those things
that you realize that I didn't have fear, and that's what I
wanna show you. Not that you should not have fear of doing
wrong, but the reason I didn't have fear of doing wrong in that
context is because of the fact my father was in law enforcement,
because I had friends who were law enforcement. They all knew
me, and yes, it wasn't right. They showed favoritism. But no
matter where I was going in life during that specific season when
it came to speeding or pulling people over with my headlights
like I was a police officer, I wasn't really worried because
they'll just say don't do it and I won't do it. I'll see what
I can do. Because I knew the authorities. Now put that in
an absolute good way of knowing that when we're maligned for
doing good, because in another context, when we're blamed for
not participating in the world's ways, the world's ideas, and
we're gentle and respectful and calm and patient with a reason
that we have a hope, why don't we have to engage in these things?
Because we don't have to escape in them. We have a hope. And we're
suffering because we've been kicked out of our homeland, we've
lost everything, the government has taken our property because
they don't believe that we align with their values anymore. The
answer was rest in the sufficiency of Christ. That suffering, one
of the main ways that we can change our minds, of course it's
a compound way, is that we know who's in charge. So we see it
all the time in the courts. Nepotism and buddies and all
this other, well, you know, it might not be politically good
for this man to serve time for this, so let's just pop his hand
and send him on his way. Don't do it again now. Don't
get caught next time. That's injustice. But when it
comes to knowing the authorities that are above all the authorities,
we do. We know God, Christ, who has gone into heaven. What does
that even mean? Christ, in his human life, died
and then rose from the dead and then ascended into heaven visibly
with over 500 witnesses. And there he is. What's the big
deal? Because that is Christ's exaltation. That proved who he was. That
proved where he came from. Heaven, by definition, is the
abode of God in a spiritual sense. So now Christ is in heaven, not
just to join God the Father, but to go back where he was.
with God the Father before the foundations of the earth. The scripture teaches in Acts
chapter one verse nine that, and when he said these things
as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of
their sight and they were gazing into heaven as he went. Behold,
two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee,
why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken
up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw
him go into heaven. The psalmist wrote of this, you
ascended on high leading a host of captives to train in your
train and receive gifts among men even among the rebellious
that the Lord God may dwell there. Daniel spoke of this day, about
the ancient of days, about the son of man. And in Hebrews chapter nine,
I read it last week, verse 24, it talks very clearly, Christ
has entered, not into the holy places made with hands, which
are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God on our behalf. So we have an
advocate, not to get us off in the context of when we do bad,
so we can do bad, but has already paid the penalty of what we've
done in our mistakes, in our sin, in our bad. in our evil,
there are evil things. People do evil things. For those who are in Christ,
Christ has satisfied justice for that. So if Christ upon himself
took sin and in its place gave us his obedience and his perfection
and his righteousness, then why is it that we are suffering. Doesn't really matter, does it? Because we know the one who sits
in heaven. I mean, we know that redemption
is complete. The ascension concluded the redemptive work. Not in glorification,
not in the second resurrection or anything of that nature, but
it concluded the redemptive work. We also see that Christ advocates
for us there on our behalf, as Hebrews 9 talks about. So we
have someone in high places who is doing the work that we need
to do. I mean, that needs to be done
that we can't do. He is standing in our place. No matter what we experience
in this life, we know someone who is handling it. We also know that this place
where he is, as we see the angels telling those people in Acts
chapter one, oh, he's going to return. He's going to return. But he's just not in heaven,
hanging out, looking after us, saying, hey, hey God, you know,
these are my people here, I've got it, I've handled this. He
is at the right hand of God, and this is where I really want
to focus, and then I'm gonna give 50, 60, 70 applications. I don't know how many. I just
kept adding all week. In Psalm 110, one, the Lord says
to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your
footstool. Ephesians 1, 20, that he worked
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him
at his right hand in the heavenly places far above, listen to these
things, far above all rule, far above all authority, far above
all power, far above all dominion, and above every name that is
ever named, not only in this age, but also in all ages to
come. We see this culmination, Revelation chapter five, where
John's revealed things, the things that God showed him to write
down. We see this written, saying with a loud voice, and we hear
these words, worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb who was slain
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and
glory and blessing. And John says, and I heard every
creature in heaven and every creature on the earth and every
creature under the earth and in the sea and all that is in
them saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. So Christ hasn't just done a
work. Christ hasn't just become an example. Christ hasn't just
ascended into heaven. Christ hasn't just been exalted.
Christ isn't just sitting there as an advocate. Christ isn't
just ready to redeem us. Christ, in every way, has been
exalted to the highest place of honor. What does that look
like? That's cosmic sovereignty. And there is no Achilles' heel.
There is no loophole. There is no Hades gate. There
is nothing, there is nothing that can circumvent his preeminence,
nothing. Now I want you to think for a
minute about governors and leaders and presidents and figures and
kings. Congress, and Parliament, and
all these different areas of government, totalitarians, maniacal
dictators. And I want you to come out of
that stratosphere, and I want you to think about ideas, and
philosophies, and cultural distinctions. I want you to think about periods,
like the Renaissance, and things of that nature, which I believe
we're moving into a Renaissance-like era. And I want you to think about
the struggles of your own mind, struggles of your own life, the struggles
of your own body, the struggles of your own family, the struggles
of every little thing. The real fear and the real struggle
sits in the unknown and the uncertainty. Therefore, anxiety is birth and
anxiety grows and anxiety lives and anxiety is antithetical to
joy and anxiety is antithetical to peace and anxiety is antithetical
to truth. Because truth is not the fantasy
land of our brains. Well, this is the way it happened,
doesn't mean that it's going to happen that way today. And
that's not where we are, but we live in the past. Well, what
about tomorrow? Well, what about tomorrow? Well,
what if it doesn't? What if it doesn't? And one of the primal things
that helps us as people rest is knowing that there's someone
over us, caring for us, watching us, loving us, taking care of
business for us. Even when we're doing wrong,
you know? As a pastor of 27 years, my children
have always had run of the church buildings. You know, and even when other
people made the messes, they'd all say, Pastor, your kid's been
here. There's a bunch of flakes in
the floor. It was usually, like y'all know, it was usually shavings,
pencil shavings or crayon shavings or crayon paper. Who cares? It's evidence of their presence.
We need to get your children to clean it up. Okay. They're
my children. If you want me here, you have
to have them here. Because there was a time in my ministry, certain stints
in my ministry, where my children were frowned upon, where my family
was frowned upon. And it was disgusting. It was
disturbing. The hardest part about that is
the fact that I did not just put my foot down or up something
to stand against it. And when I finally did, it was
time to go. But if that's the truth of earthly
things, isn't it more true for heavenly things? It doesn't matter
what kind of mess we're making or what kind of mess we're living
in or what kind of mess we leave. Our father in heaven is going
to help us. He's going to guide us. He's never going to love
us less. We're not going to. We might have natural consequences.
We might have to get the broom and sweep it. And if it's a stain
or if it's a scar, you know what? The wound will heal, the scar
remains, but it's a moniker. It's a monument of our resilience. It's a monument of the love and
the trust and the resilience that we can put within with our
Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ has cosmic sovereignty.
He's not a figurehead. He operates. The scripture says
that by the word of His mouth, He upholds the universe, the
cosmos, the infinite, unmeasurable, eternal cosmos. Yet He contains
it. And he does so as a mediator
and an advocate for us. Hebrews 7, 25, consequently he
is able, I read this last week, he is able to save to the uttermost
those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to
make intercession for them. And look what's there, look what's
there. And we think about it. We think about the glory and
the honor and the praise and the wealth all of these things. He's there with angels, authorities,
and powers having been subjected to Him. So not only is He sovereignly,
cosmically sovereign, He's cosmically subjected everything in the cosmos
to Himself. Why? Because He owns it all.
He's the creator of it all. Colossians 2.15 says he disarmed
the rulers. He disarmed the authorities and
he put them to open shame. How? By triumphing over them
in him. Because you think about the life
of Christ. He lived a life of obscurity,
running for his life as a toddler, even as a toddler playing at
his mother's feet when the wise men from the east came to give
gifts. The prophecy that they'd heard, they came to give gifts
to this king child. And so they go to Herod and they
say, Herod, we've been following this star for years and years,
and we've been following the stars for years and years, and
we've been measuring, and it's brought us here to Bethlehem.
How do we find this child? And Herod's like, I don't know,
but man, I wanna worship him too. Herod's the king. So when
you find him, tell me where he is so I can go give some gifts.
And the gift would have been the sword, right? So what happens
there? They get a vision from the one
true God after they find the child and they bring frankincense,
is that right? Myrrh, gold, and other precious gifts. The true God of glory showed
them in a vision, don't go to Herod because he wants to kill
the child, but go another route. So they left a different route. And then Herod, in his fury,
just has everybody killed from three or under, all the firstborn
sons. Sound familiar? And so what happens? Jesus goes to Africa. Jesus escapes
to Egypt. Jesus escapes and goes into obscurity
and we don't see him again until he comes into the scene at his
11, 12 year old self and then what do we see? We see this boy
teaching rabbis And then he willfully and submits to his mother and
comes back home, you know. But he does say, don't you know,
I'm supposed to be about my father's business. He wasn't being a smart
aleck. And then at the age of 30, Jesus
is teaching and doing. But before that, the forerunner
of Christ is John the Baptist, right, who says, behold, the
Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And then at
the baptism of Jesus, we hear God, all the persons of God together
at once, the Spirit of God descending on Jesus visibly. Jesus, the
Son, God the Son in the water, and God the Father's voice that
says, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And so when we think about the
context of where Christ is, the whole cosmos bows to him, either
knowingly or unknowingly. So with angels and authorities
and powers are subjected to him, hmm. These authorities there,
just like Herod in his day, escaped it. Just like how many times
did Jesus walk through the crowd supernaturally because they wanted
to throw him off the cliff of Jerusalem and stone him. They
wanted to kill him. And then finally when they got
him, they got him through the work of Judas Iscariot, whose
greed was greater than glory of God. And even in remorse,
he saw what he did. But they took Christ, and he
willingly gave himself. Behold, my accuser comes. He
gave himself, and he even told Pilate, the only reason that
you have me is because my father's delivered you to me, and I could
deliver myself, but this is that the father's will be done, and
so he dies. And they thought they had won,
and then he comes back from the dead. And he's like, now what?
Let's persecute this forever. Let's persecute these people
forever. 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about
what that forever looks like and how it culminates. For then
comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father
after destroying every rule and every authority and every power.
He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
In Revelation 17, 14, John writes, they will make war with the Lamb.
And the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King
of kings, and those who are called and chosen, and those with Him
are called and chosen and faithful. And He's already done that. He's
already conquered everything. Because you don't get to rule
over everything that you haven't conquered. It's done. One of my favorite things to
say when I'm starting a project, it's done. My life is done. My hope is done. That doesn't
mean it's over and gone. That means it is absolutely certain.
That's what Jesus says. It's done. It's finished. Evil has no power over us and
there is no authority, whether even angelic or demonic authority,
that has any power over us because all of it is subjected to Jesus.
So Christ's preeminence and supremacy. Last week I read verse 15 through
20 of Colossians chapter one where it says he is the visible
image of the invisible God. What does that mean for us? That
means we can be grateful, we can worship him. We can worship
him fully. We can recognize his honor, his
supremacy. We can recognize his worth, his
supreme authority. We can worship Him when we put
on our socks because we're about to give our day and our steps
to His lead. We can worship Him when we embody
His compassion and love for others and we're patient and we listen.
We don't try to, we tune out the old, we shut off the voice
inside that's trying to respond and we listen to others and we
learn. We can live with confidence.
We can trust that all things are under Christ's sovereign
control, especially and even the times of uncertainty. We
can pursue unity in the church, outside of the church, with the
loved ones we have and with our enemies that we have. We can
pursue unity. How and why? Because of Christ.
Christ is the king. So one thing that was really
good about my childhood, there are a lot of good things about
my childhood, there's a lot of bad things about my childhood, don't
we all have that list? But one of the good things about my childhood
is that I was always told, and if it was emphatic and it needed
to get a point, it was like, boy, don't you know, you're a
child of the king, so live like it. And if it was more endearing,
son, now listen, don't you forget who's you are. Don't you ever
forget who's you are. You're a child of the king of
kings. That's pretty impressive, right?
No matter where you go, no matter how you look, no matter what
people think you are, you know who you are. Wow. Think about that for a minute. Think about what it means. Think about what that can do
for you. We can rest. You don't understand the problems
I have. No, I probably don't. But I can understand the pain.
I can understand the fear. But even if I can't, does it
matter? Because the one of whom I speak does. They know who we are. God our father, Christ
his son, know what we're going through. The scripture says in
Hebrews that he, Hebrews chapter four, that he has experienced
every pain and every suffering and every temptation, yet he
did not sin. Well, I'm not sending every temptation, friends. The
very fact that we fall into despair misses the mark of perfection.
And it's OK. We can't do anything about that.
The very fact that we fear to the point of giving up hope misses
the mark of perfection. That's why Christ has to be our
righteousness, so that now, because it has been imputed to our account,
we are the righteousness of God. We can rest in his advocacy.
You can't depend on me. I can't depend on you to be my
advocate all the time. It's just not possible. So think
about that. Think about the things that that
does for us. What does it do? What does it
do? I thought about this, and I've
written a lot of stuff down, and I'll just go through a few of these. There
are probably 60 or 70. I don't know, but I'll just go
through a few. What does the supremacy and the sovereignty
of Christ do? Instead of just sharing what
I think and how I live it and how I want you to see it, let's
just go to the word of God a lot. Worship and devotion. We can
worship fully. Worthy is the Lamb to receive
honor and glory and blessing. What is worship? A celebration
and an exaltation and an exaltation of worth and power. But not out of fear, not out
of subjugation like we have to because it's who we see. We know
him and we see him for who he is. It also allows us to pray
confidently. It doesn't matter how you pray.
It doesn't matter if you get the prescription right. If you
pray, you pray confidently. He's able to save us from the
uttermost We can see that He intercedes for us because the
Bible tells us that He does, so we can pray confidently. We
can meditate and think about God's sovereignty in the midst
of chaos and uncertainty. There's nothing greater to renew
our minds on that. Be still and know that I am God.
If you ever thought about it, I was talking with a brother
yesterday about this, is that sometimes we feel like God wants
us to do stuff, and so we are so inclined, especially people
like me, are so inclined just to get it all together, and to
put all the steps in, and to start the process, and to go,
go, go, go, go, and to think, you know what, by the end of
the week, let me be realistic, by the end of the month, I'll have it
done. I'm lying. By the end of the day, I'll have
it done. That's how I feel about most things. But if you look at the narrative
of scripture, Abraham wandered around for a while, tried it
on his own several times, lied to try to save his own butt,
but God was faithful. David, you're gonna be the king,
but before you're the king, you're gonna be a servant to the man
who hates you, because he doesn't want you to take his place. And then
you're gonna be at war with him. And you got Paul. who after his
Damascus Road experience, going into the city, getting his eyesight
back and hearing from the prophets, and then learning some from the
apostles, he went into obscurity for a season. And then he learned
and he grew and he came back. Where sometimes we think, oh,
we're called by God, I gotta go now. We throw everything in the trash,
we just start marching. That's not how God works. God
doesn't work quickly. Because there is no time in his
economy. Time is a tool. Time is a tool
that God has made to show the futility of not resting. So where did the time go? We
spent it. That's why the Bible tells us
to redeem it. We can meditate on God's sovereignty. The Bible
says to rest. The Bible says to be still. The Bible says to
wait upon the Lord. The Bible says to sit. The Bible
says to stand. The Bible says to lie down. The
Bible says that God will lead me by the still waters, not the
raging rapids. We can also celebrate Christ's
return. He's coming back and he will deal with everything
that has caused us pain by either redeeming those or bringing recompense on justice. We can rest. We can rest in the
work of Christ. Jesus says, Matthew 11, come
unto me all you who are, what? Who labor and who are heavy laden,
I will give you rest. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest
for your souls. My yoke is easy, that's what
I was trying to get to, and my burden is light. We can foster
a spirit of gratitude because of that. Thank you. Paul tells the Thessalonians,
give thanks in all things, in all circumstance, for this is
the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. We can always rejoice. Paul tells us, actually a few
verses before that, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks
in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in
Christ Jesus. And so not only can we worship
and have devotion to God because of his, to Jesus because of his
sovereignty, because of his cosmic authority, We can be a witness
and we can teach others in the same way so we can boldly teach
about who this authority is. We can boldly say that this man
who is God rose from the dead. There is nothing that can stop
him. I tell people often that I'm unshakable and unmovable.
You can't knock me down. And I know that I can be shaken. But in my resolve, I can't be
shaken. So even if I'm knocked down,
even if I'm shaken, even if I'm attacked, I'm still not moving
because I'm in the hand of God. So I can teach people and witness
that boldly because it's true. And in that same way, I can proclaim
hope. You can proclaim hope. We can proclaim hope in our hearts,
honor Christ as the Lord. Holy being prepared to give a
defense for the reason for the hope that you have yet with gentleness
and respect That's a proclamation of hope and that teaches other
people go and make disciples teach Everyone everything I have
taught you and lo I will be with you always We often don't believe
that because we've stopped meditating on it. We've stopped worshiping,
we've stopped being grateful. And if we're not grateful, every
relationship in our lives falls apart at the seams. I wanna say
that again. When we are not grateful, every
relationship in our lives falls apart at the seams, especially
the relationship that we have with the Lord and that we have
with ourselves. And when we teach other people
and when we live in this way, we are faithful to do so. Paul
tells Timothy and me as an elder to entrust, how does he say that? Just what I've told you, Timothy,
I entrust that you'll teach it to others and do it faithfully. Don't ever stop. Don't ever stop. I've tried to stop. Y'all can
be honest, being very honest. I've tried to stop time after
time after time after time, but I can't. I'm driven to teach. And we need to be faithful in
that. All of us are called to teach. Why? So that we can equip
the saints to do the work of the ministry, so that we can
equip people to look for their hope. We can also, because of all this,
we can literally live in a place of being set apart with integrity.
We can be authentically who we are, the good, bad, the ugly. Chapter one, verse two, keep
your conduct among the Gentiles, where is that? It is verse 12,
212. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles
honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they
can see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
You've heard me say this a thousand times over, is that one of the
main reasons that there is no Christ in Christianity today
in America is because we're not known by and large as people
of compassion that keep our mouths shut and guide and lead others
to the truth. We enforce some dogmatic theological
truths on people thinking that that's salvation, and it's not.
And then we enforce some whatever cultural distinctions on labels
and image and family and all this other stuff on people thinking
that that's right. We engorge people with political ideologies
or economic ideologies. You know, there are people who
have told me that slavery is absolutely Christ-like. And I want to say this on record.
I think those people have lost their ever-loving minds. And
I would rather listen to a piece of bread talk than that nonsense. We can live a life set apart. We can pursue what we call holiness,
but we know that we're holy because we're set apart by God. But we
can pursue the behaviors and the mindset and the compassion,
the Christ-likeness that is 90% of the New Testament teaching
is how we ought to live and how we ought to think. Because of who we are. It doesn't
earn us that place. It doesn't get us in greater
graces. It doesn't make us more righteous. But I can tell you
right now, my mouth can be righteous and my mouth can be unrighteous.
Which do I prefer? Depends on who I'm talking to
and the mood I'm in. What should I strive for? That
it always builds up and it doesn't get its own way. We should pursue
a mind that's set apart. Philippians 4, 8. Finally, my
brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is commendable, whatever, if there's anything that is excellent,
think on these things. Think on the things that are
worthy of praise. But where do we put our mind?
Everywhere else. We're able to be honest about
our shortcomings. We're able to be honest about
our sins. Why? Because God doesn't condemn us. We're not making light of them.
We don't have to fall down and tear our hair out, set ourselves
on fire and put cloth and ashes all over us, sackcloth and ashes.
We don't have to make restitution for everything that we find that
is not becoming of a believer in our lives. We just stand bold
before the throne of grace. Now, if we've sinned against
someone else, there's reconciliation to do. If we've stolen from somebody,
there's restitution to give. But it's not to God. Shame is good when it's deserved
for a season in Christ and it's lifted off because we put our
mind back on the work that he's done. Shame is bad when we're
carrying it and it doesn't belong there. And then it motivates
us to feel in a way that God doesn't say that we are, it's
not okay. We're able to guard our hearts
because of God's sovereignty. Keep your heart with all diligence,
the Proverbs writes. For from it come the spring of
life. I mean, think about that for
a second. Is guarding our hearts with all vigilance? Does that
mean being bitter? No, because a bitter heart is
a dead heart. Does it mean being stoic? No,
because a stoic heart is a lonely heart. What does it mean? I think it
just rests in the context of understanding that my feelings
and my emotions are mine to scream because I can put every piece
of trust that I have in God's preeminence, in the sovereign
rule of Christ, in the cosmic sovereignty of the Lord Jesus.
We can cling to the truth. And I could go on and on and
on. We can trust in God's plans. We can grow in grace. We can
seek wisdom. We can overcome fear. We can
hope in the faithfulness of God. We can rest in everything while
we serve faithfully as a steward of this life, as a steward of
our resources, as a steward of our money. We could also then
be generous and live in a way that we serve humbly as we love
one another. And in doing so, we cultivate
peace in our lives and the lives of others by bearing each other's
burdens, by forgiving one another, and by encouraging others not
to sit around and be stagnant. But what does Paul say in Hebrews
10? let us consider how to stir one another up in love and good
works, not neglecting to be together and meet together as is the habit
of some, but encourage one another and do it more and more and more
and more and more as every day goes along, as we get closer
to the day of Christ. So we can also know because of
God's sovereignty, because of the sovereign and cosmic sovereignty
of Jesus Christ, we know our mission, we know our purpose.
We can prioritize kingdom values. What does Jesus say? Matthew
6, seek, I only say this in the King James, seek ye first the
kingdom of heaven and all of its righteousness and all these
things will be added unto you. We can seek it first. And it's
not American Christianity. It's not American politics. It's
not Christian nationalism. It's not cultural distinctions.
It's not Christian companies and chicken and hobbies and lobbies
and all these other things. It's not bumper stickers and
breast pumps. It's just being a people. It's just being a people that
are salt and light in the earth. You are the salt, you are the
light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hidden, nor do people put a lamp under a basket, but on a stand
it gives light to the house. In the same way, let your light
so shine before others so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. And of course, we
can confess Christ publicly, but in a way that adheres to
what we see in scripture, with gentleness and respect, teaching
people. When I say it's the best day
of my life, what happened to you? I have a plethora of answers
behind that. One girl at a drive-thru, one
night this week, stopped in and got me a Diet Coke at a Burger
King. How you doing, sir? Best day
of my life. Wow, you must have gotten some good news. I says,
I live in the good news every single day. Really? You know, where do you go with
that conversation? Anywhere you want. Anywhere you want. You can confess Christ publicly.
I don't have to teach her theology. I don't have to give her anything.
I could hand her a napkin with whatever I want, John chapter
four on it. Go read John chapter four. I
could just say Jesus Christ is God. And that's good news. Or I can say I'm free. You know
what's the crazy thing about America? There's very few people
who have not heard the gospel or some iteration or some sense
of it. Now I just heard all the big
thick textbooks of theological regeneration hit the floor. But
the bottom line is that God the Spirit brings life. and just
in a conversation yesterday with people, not even mentioning the
Bible, not even mentioning the gospel, not even mentioning Christ,
but teaching Christ and the things he teaches in the context of
a conversation without ever them knowing the next thing out of
two of the three people that were standing there listening
to me, one of them said, you know, I had a conversation with
him just yesterday, et cetera, about how I need to live for
the Lord Jesus better. It's in the conscience. You get
there. Because what is a, here's Jesus,
poof, and you punt it over there in the eye like a ninja star.
Tracks don't work. Chick tracks never worked. That's
not the gospel, it's fear. Sending somebody a card that's
got a prayer on it doesn't work. Being saved is not a witch's
brew or a witch's cantation. Being saved is the work of Christ.
He is salvation. And then no matter what, when
we confess Christ publicly, we better be living Christ publicly. We better have compassion. When
we find that we don't, we just change it. We just change it. If Christ has sovereign and cosmic
sovereignty, how strong can we be in that? How much endurance?
How much could we get away with? And the answer is everything,
but we wanna do that which aligns with the will of our Father. So we can stand firm in trials.
James 1, count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you
face any type of trial. Because you know the testing
of your faith is gonna bring a place of standing, steadfastness for
you. And let it have its full effect. Stand rooted, know yourself
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We'll be able
to endure persecution. I never could endure persecution. What's it look like? Y'all know what it looks like. But the promise is this, 2 Timothy
3, 12. Indeed, Paul says, all who desire to live a godly life
will be persecuted. So we stand in it. And then in
that, we can run with endurance. We can continue the path. And
we can persevere with hope as we sit patiently. Be patient,
therefore, my brothers and sisters. Please, be patient until the
coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for
the precious fruit? See how the, that's what James
says. Be patient about it. The earth just like, psh, there
is no shortcut. There's no shortcut to the resolution. And sometimes the path to hope
looks like death. And sometimes the path to freedom
is bondage. Sometimes the path to life is
dying. Be patient. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the
coming of the Lord is at hand. And we can live with great courage
and be humble and lead others. We also can live our faith out
publicly by acting. Faith by itself is not. But it
does not if it does not have works is dead. But I want to leave with this
last thing. Paul Galatians 516, but I say
walk by the spirit. And you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh. Friends, there are desires of
the flesh that some of us will never let go. But there are desires
of the flesh that we don't recognize is standing in the way of who
we really are. We got to peel that stuff off. We got to peel
off despair. We got to peel off hopelessness.
We got to peel off ruminating. We gotta peel off the little
narrative in our brain. We gotta peel off the anxiety. We gotta
peel off the self-righteousness. We gotta peel off this humble
brag. We gotta peel off this lowly,
disturbing self-deprecation. We got to peel off the guilt.
We got to peel off the shame. We've got to peel it off and
get to the purity of who we've been made to be in Jesus Christ.
And that is done by living in the spirit, by trusting in the
spirit, by knowing that it is the spirit who guides us so that
no matter what we do, when we recognize that James needs to
take this off because this isn't who he is. I don't feel shame for having
worn it. I don't feel shame for having doubted. I don't feel
shame for having exploded. Maybe for a second, then I realize,
no, this is not me. Now, go and be who you are. Live as your authentic self in
Christ. And that will grow and that will
be honed and that will become more evident every single day.
And the more and the more you grow, the more and the more you
realize you have so much farther to grow, and we never stop growing,
we never stop rising, we never stop hoping, we never stop living
because we never arrive until we stand face to face with Jesus
Christ. So the only way that you do not
get better and better and better and better in this resolve is
to die. But you do it with ultimate joy
and with ultimate peace. And when that stuff is rocked,
when the splashes of chaos and the splashes of disturbances
come along, just remember who's asleep in the bottom of the boat.
That's one thing Trey said to me today. Jesus is asleep in
the boat, bro. Go to church. I'm not worried about the weather.
I'm worried about you all worried about the weather. What weather? It's gone now. It's okay. We just be wise. So that being said, what do we
do? Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it, everything, all
of it, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul of the Colossians,
and what does he say after that? Giving thanks to God the Father
through him. See, it all goes back to gratitude.
So you think, what's my first step? Be thankful. Have gratitude. Get up every day and think to
yourself, I am thankful that I woke up. And when your mind
goes, oh, this day, I don't want to get out. No, stop. Stop. I am thankful that I woke
up, and I'm thankful that I'm about to feel the floor with
my feet. You think that's funny? It's
absolutely powerful. Thank you, God, that I can feel
the floor with my feet. Thank you, God, that I can feel
the stiffness of my body. Thank you, God. that my glasses
are next to me. And eventually, you'll graduate
into deeper gratitude. Because your mind won't be on
the mire, it'll be on the majesty. And then you can thank him for
the garbage. And then you can live in a way
that leads you to a place of peace because that's where Christ
is and he's drawing you there. And then when you go there, people
will follow you there. You don't have to worry about
where people are in life. You have no control over that. I
have no control over that. It doesn't happen. We go and
they will follow. That's where the sovereignty
of God has to be really understood. You can't coax, you can't guilt,
you can't make, you can't entice. You have to wait. You have to wait. And yes, we
could put things in their right places, but it's not genuine. We can make things happen that
look right. We can change people's language
so that we think that they get it, but it doesn't mean that
they're right. Let's rest. Why? Because Jesus Christ rested in
the grave, and now He's resting in the right hand of the Father. So we can rest in Him. Let's
pray. Father, what a What a day, what
a week. What a beautiful joy to be able
to say deeply, today is the day that you have made. And it's
the best day of our lives. Lord, don't even let me impose
my poetry into the prayer that I give to you. Let the unspoken things that
the Spirit prays for us right now be the truth of your will. That authentically, we are able
to rest. I don't have to have the words.
None of us do, none of us have to know even what we need. And
many times we don't even know who we are, but we are able to
rest. So Father, above it all, give
us rest. That when we do desire to look and stand and to be active
in our faith, Lord, let us be able to see the horizons of where
you've carried this great ship and to be present there and to
be patient there. Father, give us the authentic
boldness to be able to speak life and the people around us
to our children and to one another and to ourselves, to our neighbor,
to our community, to our world. Lord, wherever our influence
is, let us be at peace and content with where you have us, that
until we are living in the way that shows the world that we're
okay, nobody's gonna ask why. So we thank you for that. And when people start to inquire,
help us to be mindful to know that you're working. Lord, give us a heart to be thankful
for everything, for all of it. For it is through the fire that
we are refined and made strong. It is out of the ashes we rise
to stand bold. It is through death that we come
to a place of life. And we thank you for that. Be
with us in Christ's name.