I pray today in your mind and
in the depths of your heart, it is the best day of your life. Because it should be. You can't
see it that way. It's okay, K2. It's okay, K2. Let's turn to
1 Peter chapter 4. We're not done with Chapter 3,
so we're not done with Chapter 1 or 2. We're just gonna keep
piling on and getting things sort of understood clearer and
clearer. Think for a sec. Where's your
mind today? What's lubbering your brains? Wherever our thoughts are, that's
where we live. Whatever is constantly on our
mind are reality. There are people in life who
sometimes lose signs due to sickness, due to disease, due to abuse,
due to trauma, due to developmental issues, And when they find themselves
in that place, the hard part is for those around them. Because
sometimes, they're not aware. But it's hard to watch someone
who is living in a state of peck, or a state of chaos, or a state
of fantasy. And there's nothing we can do
about it. You can't just tell someone to
stop being ass. Just gotta stop being a shist.
Don't be worried about stuff. I mean, that's like saying stop
blinking. Stop breathing. Or for some,
stop yapping. It's just not gonna happen. You
just can't decide to stop. Or put your mind on things above.
Things good, and things happy, and things joyful. Okay, how
do I do that? Do I do that by ignoring the
reality around me? Do I do that by ignoring pain?
Do I do that by ignoring whatever? No, because then you're still
living a fantasy. How do we find true, true peace
in a place of unshakable peace and hope in the midst of extreme
pain and chaos? How do we stand in a place of
absolute clarity and purpose and vision when we feel like
there's nothing worth living for? Friends, I'll be honest with
you. There's very little, and I'm gonna say this, and then
I'll clarify what I mean by what I'm about to say, but I find
that there's very little in the Bible that will help you collectively
in that venture. You can understand theology.
You can understand the history. You can grasp the realities of
the English and the Greek, the Hebrew and the Syriac, and all
the different languages the Bible was written in. You can be told how to think
and what to do. You can understand what Paul
says. Have this mind among you, which hears in Christ Jesus,
that though he was equal with God, he did not make equality
with God something to be made much of, but made himself a nun,
a slave, obedient unto death, even death on an uncrossed before
God. You can know that. You can know the gospel in such
a way that you can recite it and people's hearts are opened. But it doesn't mean that it has
has power in your life. It doesn't. It's going to change
how you think. That is a spiritual experience.
It's an experience of resting. The sufficiency of who God is.
That is the discipline of knowing that I, I can't. So He will. It's honestly to the place that
I've understood is you have to become a child. As long as we're reliant on what
we can apprehend, on what we self-actuate, when it comes to
our biblical understanding of peace and hope, then we've not
yet arrived. And so if your mind today is
more on a destination, I'll make it simple for you.
You go to Hebrews 11, and we won't go there right now, but
you go to Hebrews 11 and 12, and you begin to see that at,
I guess verse 13, all these having died in faith, having not received
that which was promised. but having seen and greeted them
from afar. What a day. Having knowledge
that they were rangers and exiles on Earth. For people who speak thus get
clear that they are in a homeland. If they'd been seeing or thinking
of that from which they'd gone out, they would've had an opportunity
just to go back. But as it is, That is our country, that is
a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, nor I mean for he has prepared for them city. And then it talks
about Abraham offering Isaac up to death. God had promised
through Isaac that the nations of the world would be blessed.
So that Paul writes there in that letter in Hebrews chapter
11. Therefore Abraham was as sure as the day God was able
to raise Isaac from the dead. So he hesitated. They did not
put him to the sword. It's ridiculous. I want you to hear that for a second.
Every partition of my cognition knows that is ridiculous. Someone to say, ah, you know
I told you that your children are going to like, have many
children, who have many children, have many children, to kill all
your children. Okay, I guess, it's just gonna work out in the
end. That insanity. From a local, reasoning, working
mind. You can't get there, by thinking. You have to get there by the
spirit. Now, there's a lot of spirits,
right? The spirit in which someone speaks,
the spirit in which someone moves, the spirit in which someone teaches,
the spirit in which we do. Some of the coaching that I do
with men, we talk of covert, vert, collect. I did the dishes,
and I did the laundry, and I helped in the house. You help at your
house. It's your laundry. It's your dishes. She didn't
want to go on a date. Oh, poor Wu. You did all the
stuff so you could go on a date? How pathetic. You see? Covert
contract. Sometimes we do the same in our
spiritual lives. We try to think and act and posture
in such a way that Oh, I'll have joy if I do all these things.
I'll understand if I have all these things in line. And God,
sort of like a sand can cow, comes along and kicks a wave
through it. And we'll go, now what? So there's a resolve there. There's
a testing. But what I've found is that the more they're focused
on the destination, the more that we're focused on where we're
going to be, rather than looking to who we are, where we're heading.
And realize that every moment of the day is part of that journey.
Isn't it the same with road trips? Hey, we're going to Florida.
Hey, we're going to California. Hey, we're going to Michigan.
Hey, we're going to where? It's going to be a fun time.
We're going to see a game. We're going to ride a ride. We're going to watch
a movie. We're going to go to the beach. We're going to find an
airplane. But there's always going to be pit stops, there's
always going to be nails in the road, there's always going to
be a storm, there's always going to be a wreck, there's always
going to be somebody getting diarrhea in the middle of nowhere
at 3 o'clock in the morning. There's nothing you can do about
it. Why does it ruin the destination? It's part of... It's part of
the journey. Journey is the point. Every single
breath and every single day is a point. The script is that Jesus looked
beyond the cross to the glory. The cross is just a tiny little
step to it. The pain is just a tiny little
step stool. The ashes that we saw in our
lives, the ashes of the ruins of failures and problems and
pains, that is what is under our feet. That is what builds
the ground to the next apex of the next cliff. And we're never
going to reach the peak. There is no such thing as the
peak. There is no such thing as the final destination. And so we're walking around this
world thinking every single day, why, why, why, why? How can I
escape? How can I overcome? How can I
become this and this? How can I do that? And we're seeking
that which is already ours. We're looking to become something
that we already are. And if we would very clearly
see that we just take off the ears. I talk about this almost
every week now. Because the book talks about
it. Put off the old self. To death, that which is in the
flesh. and be made alive in the spirit.
As long as we are making a table, a setting for what we can do
and what we can accomplish, we are forgetting who we are. Ask the question today, what
do you know? Put in the first, what do I need right now? What
do I need right now? Some just need to be left alone,
I just need to be by myself. No, you don't. That's what you
want, because that's the answer to your peace. Well, what I need
right now is for somebody else to change. Oh my, and you are
really one of the fools there, Aaron. I think somebody else's
change is going to make pee for you. Well, I need more money. Then
what? Temporary relief. Temporary desires. Desires you never knew you had
now come cause you can. And then, you're in the same
financial place you were a year ago with more in your pocket.
That shit you no longer have. Because you're not content. Well,
be in shape. Okay. Get it. Then be consumed by that journey.
Be consumed by that destination. I mean, I've never met a mole.
And I've never met a bodybuilder that was happy with their body. They live in a glass of mirrors. You never continue. If what you
need is always a step away. What you need is to see who you
are right now, and to content therein, and to decide, is this
just to me? And if it's the true you, then
live there and grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, and know
there is no end to the growth. There is no end to the glory,
there is no end. The glory of God is infinite.
You can't look and say, oh, I've seen it. Hallelujah. Next, God's
glory is not an exhibit to be admired. It's an endless gaze
that is never full. We are in Christ. We too share
that. So in an infinite, tiny, and
a finite way, I'm able to look at my life every day and go,
go, huh? There's more to learn. There's more experiences. There's
more to deliver. I had a Keystone. Year's Eve. Day. And it was one
of the best experiences I've had in a very long time. It was. I was giddy and in pain. laughing and hurting. But not
once did my mama lose track of where I was going. Beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful. I can't wait to start writing
about that journey. And I don't want another. But
so be it. What will? Have that at an infection,
or a month's frozen shoulder, or a broken foot that causes
me septic. What will? What will? What is
now in your life hope you don't experience? Why focusing there? Why is your heart? That's called
anxiety. That is a lack of hope. That is a lack of faith. And
it's okay. It's part two of the journey.
Also a part of the journey. You're never going to escape
it. You're never going to escape
it. But I want you to know The greatest
things that we can learn out of Peter's writing here is we
are armed with everything we need to face everything we're
going to. And that's what I see here. I
mean, it only takes about eight minutes, a standard pace, to
read this letter from beginning to end. If you're reading in
your mind, you could probably read it in three. Or if you read it slowly, you read
it in 10. Does it matter? The point is that here we are,
a five-minute letter is still a thousand plus years later taking
us a year to read and to unpack because the application in this
dissenter causes us to think and to consider and to contemplate
and to be arrested by its warner. There are poems that I have spent
years eating. And in pieces of literature and
movie plots and shit, I've spent decades going, going, wow, wow. A little piece here and there,
but only the Bible can you read a thousand tongue times and still
find new. Not new, something you've not
seen before, but new in the way that it is new today. It's new
in power, it's new in purpose. It's new in its presence. So I want you to listen in chapter
3, verse 10. Oh, I cannot stand it. I've got
it. I've got it. I've learned to just move. It starts, there was all for
Christ. But you know the context there.
There's suffering, and Peter is here as said to be gentle
in spirit, know who you are, know who you are in the gospel,
and the good report, the story of Jesus, and what he did, who
he is, what he accomplished. There's people, and that you'll
be slandered, but live a life that the slander is obviously
lies. Live a life in such a way that
when people say, how are you enduring here, you give a reason
for the hope that is in you, gentleness and respect, do it
always with gentleness and respect. For it is better to suffer for
doing good, if that be God's will, than for doing evil. Baptism being submerged under
which sponsor saves you as not cause it removes the dirt on
the body body but as a little God for a good conscience. Through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was submerged into death,
baptized into death, who was gone in heaven and is in his
right hand of God with angels, authorities, all powers having
been subjected to him. As we talked about last week,
since therefore verse 1 of chapter 4. Christ suffered in the flesh. Arm yourselves with the same
way of thinking. Whoever has suffered in the flesh
has ceased sin. To live for the rest of the time
in flesh is no longer human passions but for the will of God. For
the time that is suffices for doing what the Gentiles want
to do. Meaning insensuality, passion, drunkenness, orgy, drinking
parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to their surprise,
When you do not join them in the same debauchery, they malign
you. But they give account to him
who's ready to judge the living and the dead. This is why the
gospel did report that the good story was preached even to those
who were dead. That though judged in the flesh
the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God
does. So, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled
and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep
loving another earnestly, since its love covers a multitude of
ends. Show hospitality to one another without outgoing and
complaining. As each has a gift that they have received, use
it to serve each other, as good students of the very grace of
God. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks
oracles of God. Whoever serves, as one who serves
by the strength that God supplies. As in order in everything, God
may be glorified in Jesus Christ. Because to Him, long glory and
dominion ever and ever. Amen. Over the next four weeks,
I'm going to unpack this first eleven verses of of the four. But I want you to see today that
we are armed with the with the Christ. Chapter 4 verse 1-2 is
all we're gonna do today. Since therefore Christ suffered
in the flesh, arm yourself the same way I'm waking for whoever
has suffered in the flesh has ceased sin and so as to live
for the rest of the time in the flesh longer for human passion
for the will of God. What does this all mean? Well,
since therefore Christ has suffered in the flesh, are cells with
the same thinking. I'm not picking up the connection,
maybe you say, because maybe it's because you break it down
so slowly, and we go so slowly, you're not reading it together.
Suf Suf Saints. They were kicked out of their
own home and they lost everything. They lost their identity, they
lost their nation, they lost their government, they lost their houses,
they lost their family, they lost everything. And they were kicked into other
areas of the world where they had power, they had no clout,
and they were actually hate. Peter says you need to assimilate,
and you need to be quiet, and you need to drive yourself to
peace, and to hope, and to live, and to work with your hands.
See this in Saint Paul and to the other Gentiles in the same
situation. Just do what's right. Live at
peace with people. Give a reason for the hug you
have when they say, How are you enduring this when people hate you? How
is your mind so focused on peace? It's better to suffer for doing
good. For Christ suffered once for
sins. Righteousness for the righteous. So therefore, Croc suffered in
the flesh, in this way, and hated it, and even endured the wrath
of God, in this way. Arm yourself with the same way
of thinking. So my first question we started
today is what's on your mind? Now some people will tell you
to refrain. Now what does that mean? So you have an altar, and
you're looking at it like, that's boring. Take that picture out
of that frame, put it into this frame, that looks pretty good.
I know when we got married everything was gold, gold plated. Plates
were gold plated, frames were gold gold plated, the bowls were
gold. There's always gold, or bronze, or brass, something goldish
on every decor. Now that's like gone. Everything's
muted, blues, greys, browns. When I was a kid, everything
was harvest gold and green. Flowers, or stripes. And somewhere, thank God I missed
it, Zebra and Lepant came into play. Never really been to that. But you know what I'm talking
about. Things change. You go into the house that's
cluttered in the 1980s, like all this big furniture with this
bad fab looks like it's covered in wool, weighs 750,000 tons,
you gotta get a backhoe in there to move the sofa. And you go
in there now and you're like, wow. As if you're thinking, man,
Grandma's house is old. But then 50 years later, you're
like, that's expensive furniture. I like that stuff. Where's that
at? It's a reframe. We're looking
at it through a different lens. We're looking at it through a
different piece of glass. So you need to think about how you
frame the world around you. Some people just say, well, just
change the way you see it. Just change the way you think. That
doesn't work. You're living in a fantasy you just reframed for
the sake of reframing. Well, I broke my arm. No, you
didn't. Just think of it a different way. You became more flexible.
That's just ridiculous. A real frame is an opportunity
to reflect on positive or other point of view, but you can't
pretend that that point of view is real when it's not real. So
a frame must align in reality. Otherwise, you're living a fantasy.
So Abraham sacrificed Isaac because he could see that the frame that
he looked in the flesh was like, I'm about to kill the very, very
son that I longed for before it promised me. But he'd say he'd be the
father of many nations. So if he dies, God's gonna bring
him back. Okay, let's do this. And then
God stopped him. So in a real sense, he did rise back from
the dead because he was as good as his dad. Just like Abraham
back from the dead because he was as good as his dad when it
came to bearing children. Or to get to, you know, he and
I have to have children. So the frame had reality. Don't live false reality. Don't
live in fantasy. That's what anxiety is all about.
That's what anxiety or avoidance is all about. We worry about
it or we're gonna think about it at all. We're gonna live in
a false place. Both of which are prisons. So when you think
about it, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself
with the same way of thinking. The suffering Christ was not
a demise for him. The suffering of Christ was not
something he worried about. Yes. Did he fear it? Absolutely. Did he want it past us? Yes,
we saw that. Did he live his entire life in
fear of it? No. The moment of his arrest, before
that, he prayed. Then he got up and resolved.
Because my IQs are low. It's probably what he said. Let's
go. Let's do this. My IQs are cunts. Let's go. Facing fear. Understanding the
reality of what that experience is supposed to be. It's fuel.
Fuel to what? Journey. To the ultimate destination,
which is a continual journey of learning and discovering and
understanding. A continual journey of resolve. So we should arm
ourselves with the same way of thinking. So Christ suffered
in the flood. Peter here is connecting. This
passage is death. I've already read there, in verse
18, He suffers for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.
That He might bring us to God. So the suffering of Christ's
purpose, therefore, our suffering has purpose. What does it do? James tells us that it rinds
us, it grows us, it helps us be steadfast. Peter's going to
tell us in chapter 4, well, do not be surprised at the fire
trial that comes upon you to test you as though something
strange were happening. But rejoice insofar as you share
Christ's suffering that you may also rejoice and be glad when
the glory is revealed. If you're salted for the name of Christ,
you're blessed. Let no one suffer as a murder thief, or a murderer,
or a meddler. But if anyone suffers a follower of Jesus, let him
not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Same thing
over there. Those suffer for a while if necessary,
and this suffering, what does it do? What does it do? Test the genuineness of your
faith, more precious than gold that perishes through it. By
far, it may be the result of the praise and the glory and
the honor of the revelation of Christ Jesus. Not seeing me loving him,
do you not now see you love him? Rejoice with the joy that is
often inexpressible. and filled with glory, and the
outcome of your salvation, the outcome of your soul, the outcome
of your hope, your rest, faith, which is the work of Christ,
and his work knew that his suffering was a part of glory, of that
revelation, of that reality, of that core identity, of that
core purpose, of that value. Christ's suffering was purposeful,
it was not arbitrary, but it was designed to accomplish something. Arm yourself with that same mindset. What does a kidney stone prepare
you for? A lot of essays. And a lot of
jokes. What if I weren't even a believer?
Look at the material that I have. Look at it. But why not? It super-empowers my empathy
for pregnancy and labor. It super-superpowers empathy
for people who've said, I've had a kidney stone. Superpowers
my aunt for people who are not in a right state of mind when
they suffer. Reminds me of where I used to be when I'd had an
injury or it gets cannot be wet for years. Because it causes
emotional fallout. It helps me see well. Wow! What
is this in comparison to suffering in the reign of Christ? Nothing.
Not nothing. It's part of life. Woe is me.
Absolutely not. Yes, it's me. It's for me. What if it's a deeper? What if
it's a loss of a loved one? What if it's regret? What if
it's something I can't undo? You can't undo any of it. You can be who you are in the
midst of you and everything you suffer is for you to grow stronger
and to give glory to God. Give glory to God for it. The suffering of Christ is what
accomplished our redemption. He did it willfully. He laid
down his life so that he might take it back again. So this sets
the foundation, this sets the bedrock for us to sit upon as
believers that our suffering has meaning and rooted theologically
according to the Bible in the participation with Christ's victory
over death. Hebrews 12.2. We talked about
Hebrews for a little bit a minute ago. Hebrews 12.2. Look to Jesus,
the founder and the perfecter of our faith. I mentioned this
already. Who for the joy of crawl, of
joy, that was set before him endured the cross. Despise and shame. And is at
the right hand of God. Takes the cross to be seated
at the right hand of God. Excruciating comes from the compound
of from the cross. Excruciate out of us. It's the only word that exists
to describe pain that came from the actual place that that pain
was felt, which is crucifixion. Days. Christ's joy in his suffering
came from the ultimate glory that it would bring the life
of his people in the exaltation of his prominence and preeminence.
Christ's suffering in the flesh also highlights his humanity in John's gospel. I haven't even
jumped back in there in a couple weeks. What's wrong with me? We see He. The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory as the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ. Our Father in the footsteps of
their Savior. And we have the mind of Christ.
In His humility, He came to Earth to set us free. So our suffering
sets us free from something. So now we are armed in the same
way of thinking. The thing of being armed. I know
a lot about that. I know a lot about being armed,
being prepared, being vigilant. I know a lot about defending
myself, protecting my family. I know what a home agent feels
like. I know what an attack feels like. I know what it feels like
for people to try to jack you. I know what it's like for people
to mug you, for people to try to steal your bicycle. I've come
up on many opportunities where people have mugged and robbed
and chased down the perpetrators. I know what it's like to be fronted,
to be accosted, to be threatened, to have a gun pulled on you. And it's a little weird, sorta
liked it. In my mind, I was armed and ready
for those occasions. Just weapons, not just personal
defense. But in my mindset, I wasn't worried
about the outcome. Because I had the control. Now,
that's a little naive. And by the mercies of God, I
served well through the years. But there's one thing for sure.
is that if I have to get out of the night and I have to go
somewhere downtown in a town that's not pleasant and I know
I'm going to be in a place that has probably no homicides an
hour I'm not going to get out of the truck haphazardly I'm
going to be prepared, I'm going to be vigilant, I'm going to
be aware and I'm going to make sure that I do what I have to
do to have all the tools that are necessary for my survival
and even then it doesn't mean that I'm going to survive But
I'm not going to walk into something unprepared. So we see here, arm
yourselves with the same way of thinking. I want you to get
that preparedness mindset, almost like physical military-type preparedness. Because the imagery here, that
word for arm, should strike up in its original language like
a soldier going to battle. Soldier's gonna have his ammunition,
he's gonna have his artillery, he's gonna have his fellow soldiers
with him, he's going to have a plan, he's going to have an
officer, he's gonna know where he's supposed to be. There's
gonna be strategy, there's going to be everything. Everything that is needed for
preparation. In our thinking, we have to have
everything needed in that preparation. So believers, the weapon that
we take up and make sure that we have is the mind of Christ. Everybody was going to Ephesians
6. Oh yeah, here we go, baby. Give me these weapons. The weapons
of righteousness in the right and the left hand. The Word of
God. The weapons of preparation is
the mind of Christ, which is this being too. Christ, being
odd, didn't doubt that at all, and didn't use position, but
made himself a slave and died instead. It's not a very superhero. It's
not a very good script. It's not a very good gelanti.
It's not very good. It's super anything. It's a super
stupid guy. Are you ready? I'm armed and
ready. What's your weapon, sir? I'm going in with the mind of
Jesus. Which is? Tump up over the tables?
Throw him out of the thing? Kick the stone off the grave
and say, I'm back! No. I'm nothing. And I trust myself
to the Father. Judge is right. And if I suffer
all the way, it's okay. I get it all. I've won it all. It's all mine. I am the king. I'm the child of a king. They can't kill me. That's crazy. Isn't that powerful? It's ridiculous. Go back to the ridiculous part,
right? But it's the mind of Christ. I don't know why, but you know,
growing up as an 80s kid, You can't touch this. I just hear
his hammer all the time in this. You can't touch the joy. You
can't touch it. You can't take it. You touch
the resolve. Or how hard we ought to establish
this core core identity and this absolute value of suffering does. Just like with Job. Okay, go
ahead, touch him. Take it all. And take his life,
take everything else. God told Luther. And Job never
stopped thanking God. He had his moments, yes! But
his resolve was... was unshakable. And my biggest frustration in
life today is the lack of service with my mobile provider. I'm
having a bit of it. My feral mind just wants to get
upset about Pamperston that I don't get. It's nothing. It's nothing. Soldiers train for battle. Law for enforcement aim for the
streets. Believers train their minds through
sure. Romans 12, and I preached on
this some time this year. To be renewed, to be transformed
by the renewal of your mind. I have an extremely large set
of works that I've written in the last two years. And I've
broken them down over the last month or so, or a few months
actually. Now I'm putting them together
for a course. To be taught in a simple way. But it all starts with discovery.
Everything in life starts learning, growing, and that process never
stops. And the more we grow, the more
we understand, the more we find our identity, the more we discover
our values, the more we discover who we really are, who we really
want to be, then we can answer the question, what do I need?
And then we can seek after that and align our lives into the
areas of discovery. But it's not going to be easy
as we try to get things on track. We're going to have to refine
ourselves. We're going to have to refine the path. We're going
to have to refine the journey so that we can live according
to our true selves. Well, Jesus humbled himself by
becoming obedient unto death. Thus, we are armed with that
mind. Whoever has, listen to this next
phrase, whoever has suffered, the flesh has ceased
from sin. Now I could probably spend the
rest of the time here, but I don't want to. I want to get through
a few applications here in a minute. But why is this here? What does
that mean? You could say I still do things
that aren't right according to the book. Or I still feel things.
Or I still do things that aren't perfect. That's absolutely okay.
The word sin means it's the mark. Everyone misses the mark but
Jesus. And Jesus' perfection is applied
to our account. One day we will be like him.
So we are the righteous as God. We have ceased from sin. How
would Peter throw that there? That's where we put our brains.
We put our brains, instead of learning and discovering and
living and letting the journey be the point, we put our brains
on the destination of what we're trying to become. Well, I gotta
perfect this, and I gotta get this outta here, and I gotta,
and then we end up actually moving into a space of ZZZZ. More like an investigative police
officer that's trying to get a K because he can't get a quota,
so he's just gonna investigate everybody. We look ourselves
in such a way that we try to figure out ways of getting rid
of everything that doesn't make Mark. It is not what the Bible
tells us to do. Well, the reason this happens
is because I did this, this, that, and the other. Okay, responsibility.
We're right along. Grow up. Let's go. Let's go,
let's get beyond this, and then learn and discover. Every failure
we've had, had part of the journey that God has established for
our good. Abraham, liar, deceiver, distrusting
person, yet he's in the Hall of Faith. David, same thing. Noah, same thing. Joseph the son. We don't emphasize
that as the heir. We emphasize the son of Christ,
the eminence of Christ, who is at the right hand of God. We
emphasize the mind of Christ, the dream. It is the point. So whoever has suffered the flesh
has ceased sin, and Peter reflects This is a decisive break from
the power of sin. It doesn't mean perfection, but
a shift in allegiance. See, my focus is not to overcome
sin. My focus is not to give in to
sin. My focus is not to live for sin. My focus is that I am the righteous
God. God wows who I am. Awesome, this
is my new identity. Let me walk that way. And my
suffering allows me to, with the mind of Christ, which is
just my armor and my weapons, what do I do here? Do I go into
sin that I may feel a little tiny temporary reprieve, feel
good about things? No, I do not feel about things,
but this is taking me someplace else. I have a tire on the way
to Florida, do I blow up a car and throw myself off a cliff?
No, I put a new tire on and we have a really time when we get
there. Our old self-sacrifice was crucified
with him. Who was died has been set free
from sin. Romans 6, 6, 6. Suffering for us in Christ refines
us. So that we may live and amplify
the life of Christ in our lives, even in our suffering. It's not
potting, it's not pretending, it's not colloquialisms, not
cliches. It's literal, authentic, pure,
and real responses from pure heart. At overflow of the heart,
the mouth speaks. It is the best day of my life.
It should be the best day of your life. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord should be your strength. There is no informing me that
shall prosper. There is no weapon formed against
you that should prosper. But look, I'm hurt. That doesn't
mean it's proper. People who are in medals as heroes
usually come with wounds. Despite popular opinion by pompous
idiots, the ones who once were cats are the greatest heroes. They endured much suffering. Prisoners of Civil War. So, this refinement clarifies
our priorities and it loosens the grip of the world and everything.
It loosens the grip of, wait, we gotta fix this person in my
life, we gotta fix this relationship in my life, we gotta fix this
issue with my health, we gotta fix this issue with my focus,
we gotta fix this, I gotta find myself, I gotta do this, if I
just have sex, I'd be happy. What? Noolash, you're gonna be
more miserable with more responsibility when you get it. if it's required
for happiness. Suffering is transformative.
It deepens our dependence on God, strengthens our resolve
against sin. I like to quote that out of James
1, verses 2, 3, and 4. Now, here's the kicker. I work with a lot of people.
And I teach these things and frameworks without the Bible. A lot of people are seeing this
become reality for them without even the Word of God. But they've been selling stuff in
their own identity, understanding themselves and the value that
they have. Shouldn't it be even more so powerful in the lives
of believers? Cause I can kick-kick the can
James tips-tip all the way back to the end of the road and when
I kick off the clip-clip, there's the glory of God. True for you, for you, beloved. Whoever suffered in the fruit
of the flesh, ceased from sin. So as to live-live for the time
of the flesh, no longer for human impassion, but for the will of-will
of God. See, it's the culmination of this entire argument here.
There has come-come to this illusion. that we are no longer enslaved
to the passions of the flesh, but we are now free to pursue
the will of God, which is what? Love one another earnestly, because
love covers a multitude of sins, and hospitality to one another
without grumbling or complaining. If you have a gift in your life,
if you are a gift of life, use it to serve one another, but
that isn't yours, you are a steward of it, the grace of God. So if
you speak, then speak as one who speaks because of God. If
you serve, serve as one who serves the strength that God has given
you, so that in everything, God would be seen as who he is through
Jesus Christ, the word glorified, because to him belong all the
glory, amen, forever and ever, so it is. Amen. That's the point,
right? What am I gonna be strong for?
Because you are a gift to the world. And if you are in Christ's
face, you are a powerful gift to the world. Not that you can
trash out this theological stuff and get everybody to agree with
you. That's garbage, and honestly, I'm gonna say something that's
very shi-shaking. I think that most people who
fight in so deeply are demonically troll. I'm going to say that clearly.
Most people who fight over theological things are demonically controlled. Soapbox moved. Because they don't
love anyone more than themselves. They have no love world. And
they know the love of God. Did I just say theology wasn't
important? No, I did not. Because I teach it every week. But that's not the purpose of
us living Christ in this world is to right the wrongs. The letters
of the New Testament are the wrongs in the church. We are to love one another and
show hospitality with one another without ever complaining. You see that? That's a strong
statement. Well, I say what is true about
my life and no one tell me that I'm wrong. So let that sit for a second.
Yes, when I was in bed and those those things and fall and pray
to those things, that was out of the spirit of God. So. Changed my mind. I was a slave to the powers of
darkness. In those areas. Can I fight it? Can I argue it? Can I hate it? You believe it. Is that what my calling is? Nowhere
to be found in the New Testament. My calling is to live joyfully
as a lot of people because Christ loves me. To proclaim the excellencies
of his good story. To live the rest of our lives
in the flesh no longer for human passions. No longer for the flesh,
for the will of God. For the rest of time. So, as to live for the rest of the
time in flesh. I've been back in this area for
13 years. And it has gone so fast. And
when I do this twice more, I'll be 77. Have time. Play. Where am I going? I need to be
there now! You do, you do too! The reason time goes by so fast
is cause you're busy looking to a place that doesn't exist
yet. Hoping to get there. Hoping to find that one day,
next year, New Year's Resolution. Alright, this'll be the year.
How about, what is today? What are you doing today? Makes
a difference for a channel. You ever had a lazy day and it's
like, wow, wow, just felt like the longest day ever? Why can't
every day feel this way? Because you weren't thinking
about anything else that you hoped to do, get to. You were
just present. I've been in the ministry 27
years. 24 years longer than Jesus. What have I left? Doesn't matter. I know where I am today. Rest of time I'm underscores
the urgency of our tiny little brief life. Reminding us our
days are finite. And that they need to be lived
within an eternal purpose. Paul would say very clearly in
Galatians 20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And though I now live,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself
for me. So let me recap. We need to have
the set of Christ in our suffering. To understand that the power
of sin has been broken. so that we can live for the will
of God and give Him glory. How do we do that? I've said
all these things, but I'll lay them out there very clearly for
you. We prepare our mind every single day, being armed with
the mind of Christ. What does that mean? Prayer,
meditation, mindfulness, embodiment. Meditate on the passes that the
Bible teaches about who we are. about the promises of God. Meditate
on passages that remind us of the humility and the obedience
of Christ that we may be driven to the same thing. Not out of
guilt or fear, but out of gratitude and love. And we need to ask God every
day to give us the strength and the heart to be thankful for
trials. Lord, help me be faithful, even when I don't feel like it.
Not, oh God, I gotta be faithful or I'll feel like I'm dead. Come
on, difference. Second thing is we need to embrace
suffering as a tool, as a powerful tool. It's one of the greatest
tools that's ever been given to us. To refine us, align us,
to discover that we may amplify our lives for the sake of. Suffering
strips away all the layers of distractions. Exposing what truly
matters. Consider months of suffering
in our life. The question, do they draw me closer to God or
deepen our trust in His provision? And if they don't, we need to
keep digging. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, he talks about all these terrible
things and he goes, for we do not lose heart. Though our outer
self is wasting away, our inner self is being glorified day by
day. As we look not to the things that are temporal, but to the
things that are eternal. The things that are temporal
are just passing away. Journaling helps. Authentic journaling
helps. Write it raw, baby. Write it raw, honest. It's not
for publication anyway. You need to speak to God truly. And you can evaluate your priorities
as you unfold these things. You're living for human passions.
You're living for human hobbies. You're living for theological
things that are human hobbies and passions. You're living for
ministry things that are human hobbies and passions. You're
looking to try to see that you are right, or you are good, or
you are worthy. You are worthy! Because God says
you are. So live in that. With all these passions, they
masquerade as harmless, harmless purses. These interesting endeavors
are as these real deep, deep trumissions. What they do, they
pull us away from the heart of God. Do not love the world or the
things of the world, for if anyone loved the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. So we gotta look at our calendar,
we gotta look at our finances, we gotta look at our time, we gotta
look at our arts. And not in a way of fear, just like the
first thing I said, not in a way of going, oh, look at all this
money. No, listen, we find what we find when we find it. But if what we're doing in life
and what we're pursuing is not pushing us to our hope and our
identity in Christ as a journey every single day, and we're really
trying to get away from it to get someplace else, let's align
ourselves. Months ago I said that submission
is really aligning ourself with the heart of another. Submit yourselves to the Lord. Everywhere we're submitted to,
is it? Is that voice loud in our lives? Is it leading us to
where we want to be? And then focus on an eternal
purpose. Life's short. But life's not urgent. Do not live with urgency. I will
not live with urgency. Because if I live with urgency,
I don't live with wisdom. And if I live with urgency, I
have to decide in my own wisdom, is that urgent? Well, if it's
not fire, or pooping, it's probably not urgent. Made that up last
week. Now, take my joke for what it
is. But every moment matters. Look
carefully at how you walk. Walk as unwise but as wise, Paul
says at the Church Ephesus. Making the best use of time because
the days are evil. So let's make sure that our goals,
the hopes, the focus, allows us to live intentionally with
the people around us. Intentionally with the purpose
that God's called us to be lovers. Serving, mentoring, teaching,
leading, sharing, So let me ask you some questions in closing.
How are you arming yourself with the mind of Christ? What areas of our life do we
see our past competing with the one of God? How many moments of suffering
have shaped you to break free? How is your eternal perspective
of helping you make the most of your time every day? Nowhere to stop. Thinking about
what Jesus said. This is my body. Which is broken
for you. And this is my blood which you
shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Remember this. That's why we do the table every
week. Always puts the emphasis on what Christ is. And what he
did to save his people. So that we're never ever just
a few hours away from that mindset being reminded about. And then we spend every day not
guilt laden, not frustrated, not fearful, but every day as
if it were the only day that we're not on fire. We're present in this moment
for the sake of God, Lord. Father, give us peace. Give us peace. And give us hope
and give us joy and give us focus. To discover who we are in you. And to understand everything
that we go through aligns us with your will and purpose and
refines us in our mission and our journey that we may make.
Just expose ourselves to the world as your people. That they
see us and hear us and walk with us to freedom. We thank you for the truth of
this. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.