"DIFFERENT" - Pt.3

Hi, this is John O'Zanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Did anybody go home and practice this week?

Are you ready?

If you're here for the first time, you know it's okay.

Be at peace, relax, rest.

But the rest of us are gonna sing a little song together, aren't we?

We're gonna sing.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

I'm different, different, different.

Nobody is like me.

I'm different, different, different.

And that's okay with me.

Yeah, that's okay with me.

I felt like I was singing by myself there.

I taught it to you last week.

I like I took the time.

You know, I was expecting people to.

I even gave you the artist's name.

I was hoping you would go home and like have that on repeat in your home all week long to come prepared, but no, too much to ask.

It's all good.

It's all good.

Next, there's always next week, part four.

Next week's the last one, so I'm gonna give you one more chance to go home in YouTube different by butterfly boucher.

Anyways, uh, week one, we talked about what it means to have a different faith when we go through trials.

In this life, we will have trials.

Um, the world that we live in, we we get to watch people go through stuff that's difficult and hard.

If we're learning to trust and follow Jesus, how do we have a different kind of faith when we're going through something that's hard?

We talked about uninherited faith, we talked about a conditional faith, we talked about a shallow faith, and we compared that to what it means to have a genuine faith in trusting God when we go through trials.

Last week, we talked about having different values in an unholy culture, but today I want to talk to you about uh having a different calling in a broken world.

Everybody say calling.

Thank you, it's an important word.

How many of you would be thrilled and overwhelmed and incredibly excited with anticipation if I told you that God has a specific calling for your life?

Not the person next to you, but you, every person in this room.

Would you would you be filled with a sense of wonder and anticipation and and man, what what is that?

Well, that's what I want to talk to you about today.

You might be surprised to know that as we look at this letter of 1 Peter over this series, throughout that entire letter, Peter uses a series of words over and over and over and over again.

He's talking about our calling, a call that's on our life, how we've been called as followers of Jesus.

And some context, again, this this book of 1 Peter in the New Testament was a letter written by Peter, who was one of Jesus' followers, and he wrote it to first century Christians somewhere between 60, 65 AD, during a time when Nero was ruling and reigning, and followers of Jesus were being persecuted for a lot of different reasons.

And so the church is being encouraged and reminded by Peter through this letter of the hope that they have in Jesus, of how God is with them through these difficult things.

And also woven through is this sense of being called, a calling, a call on their life.

You know, when I was in grade nine, I was called to be a part of the student council in my high school in Chatham, Ontario.

Um has anybody ever been a part of a student's council before?

Out of curiosity, show hands.

Beautiful, beautiful.

You know, I was I was appointed, I was anointed uh to be on the student council.

I have a photo of me.

Um and I just for the record, I did not put a heart around my face or write the words, what a babe.

Um some girl in grade nine did that, and uh I don't even know who it was, to be quite honest.

But that's me, top row.

Um they spelled my name wrong, Jonathan Zanting.

Uh, but this is Student Council in when I was in grade nine at Chatham Collegiate Institute CCI in Chatham, Ontario, where I grew up.

And I was a part of the student council, and my job in grade nine, one of my jobs, but the like I would say the coolest part of my job as a part of student council in grade nine was that I got to read the morning announcements at school every day for the entire school year.

And like, if you've gotten to know me a little bit, you know that like I like to have fun, I I don't mind speaking in front of people, uh, I like to make music.

Um, there's lots of things about me that you've probably learned.

And that was all in me in grade nine, and so I would like sing the announcements and I would have fun with the announcements.

And you know, when I was walking through the hallways of my school, you know, when you've got the information, you've got the power, right?

When you're the announcement guy, you know everything about student life.

And I'd be walking through the hallway corridors in grade nine.

Hey Jonathan, because they didn't call me Jono back then.

Hey Jonathan, do you know when the pep rally is?

Yes, I do know when the pep rally is, let me tell you, right?

I'll be walking through, hey Jonathan, do you know when the football team is practicing?

Yes, I do know when the football team is practicing.

When you hold the information, you hold the power, right?

The uh the the captain of the football team's high-fiving me in the hallways, and I'm a big deal because I'm on student council and I'm the announcement guy.

And uh, you know, I was called, I was appointed, I was, I was um, what's the right word?

I I don't know, but but I was I was the man for the job.

I I was I was called.

That's the right word.

And and uh there's something about being called to do something that creates within us an anticipation, an excitement.

It emboldens us, it encourages us, it empowers us.

Um in my case, it may be probably a little bit arrogant and cocky in grade nine, but um, today I want to look at our lives.

In the room here today are people who are learning to trust and follow Jesus.

You've made that decision for yourself.

There are people in the room here who are sort of checking things out, you're you're not sure where you've landed or where you're gonna land, but that doesn't change the fact that each one of us has been called to be different.

We've been called to be different, and I want to you know share three ways that that calling exists.

Number one is an eternal call to Christ.

That's different.

We have an eternal call to following Jesus.

And Peter himself learned this firsthand as a follower of Jesus.

You know, he was doing what he did for work, he was fishing one day and having a difficult time with his uh fishing gig.

And this rabbi comes up to the shore and says, Excuse me, throw your nets onto the other side.

And Peter's like, you know what, dude, you do your rabbi thing.

I'm gonna do my fish thing.

Like, who are you to tell me?

Who are you to tell me what to do?

Right?

And so this rabbi says, throw your nets, and but he he does it, you know.

I don't know if he does it out of a sense of obligation for a spiritual leader, or just like to get this guy off his back and throws these nets, and then the nets are full to overflowing this like miraculous catch of fish, and and there's this encounter between Jesus and Peter on the shore where Jesus says, Peter, um, you're gonna come follow me.

I'm calling you to come follow me, and and you're not just gonna fish for fish anymore, you're gonna fish for human beings, you're gonna fish for men and women, you're gonna fish for people.

There's an there's a calling, an eternal purpose for your life.

Peter himself experienced that kind of call into an eternal calling with Jesus.

So that's number one.

Number two is a temporary call to an assignment.

You know, there's gonna be temporary calls to an assignment in your life.

You might be called to a season of education in post-secondary university or um to pursue a graduate degree.

You might be called to a career as a teacher.

Um, that's that'd be a temporary assignment.

You might be called to the mission field to go um serve another um country or nation or people group, and and you might be called to a sense of just resourcing other people with your life.

You might be called to um, you know, a specific career path, um, geo geographically, you know, to live in a city for a season.

There's there's a temporary assignment.

You're called to an eternal relationship with Jesus, but you're also called to a temporary assignment.

But the one I want to focus on today, the third one, which we don't talk about too too often, um, is a daily call, an everyday, in and out, daily call to a different standard.

Our God is calling us, every single one of us, to living in a different daily standard.

What different standard am I being called into daily as a follower of Jesus?

Well, I do know this, it's more about who you are every day than what you do.

But how many of you know that who you are affects what you do?

God calls us into a daily standard of who, who we are before what we do.

Who before do.

Because God's much more concerned with the inner stuff in our lives.

His daily calling to a different standard is much more about who you are than what you do.

However, when you know who you are, you will know what to do.

When you know who you are in this daily standard of following Jesus, you're gonna know what to do.

And if you're in a season of struggling in your daily life, I'm just not sure how to be effective, I'm not sure how to make a difference, I'm not sure what it means to walk through the daily pursuit of following Jesus.

I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.

Then let me help you understand who you are.

Because when you know who you are, you're gonna know what to do.

When I was uh a youth pastor, um, you know, have you ever had a moment where who you are, uh you were tempted to do something different than who you are?

Like you've got this thing on the inside of you, and you're tempted to do something different than outside of who you are.

And our doing should flow out of our who ing.

That sounds like a Dr.

Zeus book right there.

But um, you know, I was a youth pastor and we had this uh this troubled young man that was coming to youth group every Friday night, and we suspected that his motives for being amongst the student population in this church youth group were less than pure, and we actually suspected for a while that he was uh dealing drugs, okay?

And um, we caught him on a Friday night, and so we're standing in a vestibule, it's myself, this student, and two of my kind of security youth volunteers, you know, they're wearing vests, and and I'd always look for the biggest dads I could to help me, you know, the security and youth ministry.

And uh so these two men are there with me, and and this this young man, and he's so upset that he's been caught.

And I've called the police and they're on their way, and we're we're holding him, trying to diffuse the situation, make things less volatile.

But he is, he's got a backpack on, and he he's you know, I'm a I'm a pretty tall guy, I'm 6'6, and and he's not.

Oh, that's important to know in this story, because he's right up in my face, and he's taking his backpack off, and he's holding it like this, like he could hit me with it.

And he's he's on his tippy toes as close to my nose, and he's yelling and screaming and spewing, and and he's encouraging me to hit him, he's encouraging me to fight, right?

Because he's like, let's solve this as men, that's what he said.

He's like a 15-year-old boy, and uh and uh you know, there were moments where the the volunteers that were with me were like actually laughing out loud because of the things he was saying, but he he was sincere, and and I have to be honest, I was really tempted to just like poop, one and done.

And I'm not a I'm a lover, not a fighter, but um, you know, I was pretty pretty confident that in that moment I could have dealt with it quickly.

But um, how do how many of you know that you know, as a as a human being, solving problems with violence is is probably not the best response as a follower of Jesus and as a youth pastor in this story?

Like that's probably not a really good way to deal with it.

And so I just I took what he was saying and and just kept asking him more questions to keep him talking until the police arrived.

So, how many of you have ever been tempted to forget who you are so that you could do something?

I want to forget who I am, I know who I am, I have a sense of who I am, but right now I really want to do this thing and it's outside of who I am, so I'm gonna do it anyways.

You've been tempted to do something outside of who you are.

Peter's writing in 1 Peter to persecuted Christians, Christians who are going through a really hard time.

These were Jesus followers who were probably tempted to forget who they were.

It's not hard for me to say if they had a family member who was killed by Nero because of their faith in Jesus, I wonder if they were tempted to be like, you know, just for a while until this settles down a little bit, I'm just gonna turn down the flame of this whole Jesus thing.

I'm just gonna be like, um, Jesus who, right?

I'm sure he won't mind.

I'm sure that they were tempted to do something in response to this difficult persecution that went against who they were.

And so today um I want to share with you that in this culture and society that this letter was written, this first century, there was a few things about Christians that people in the society believed to be true that were not true.

And part of the reason that Christians were so persecuted was because of these things that they believed.

As an example, um, and they're kind of comical to us, but in the first century it was believed that Jesus' followers were very superstitious.

It was also believed that they were incestuous, and it was also believed that they were cannibals.

Society at large believed these three things to be true about Jesus' followers, even though they weren't true.

And they believed that they were superstitious because of all the miracles surrounding Jesus.

They thought these people must be magicians.

They might, you know, that the the we hear about these miracles, we've seen these miracles, uh, these radical, crazy Jesus followers, they must be like into dark magic or something.

So they believed that Christians were really superstitious.

They believed they were incestuous, and you're gonna have to track with me on this one, because the early church would gather together and share meals on a regular basis in homes.

And they would call them like an agape feast or a love feast.

And they would invite their brothers and sisters in Christ to come to this love feast.

And so they're, I know it's on you just hear that, like, oh, their brothers and sisters are going to a love feast, right?

Sure.

So they actually, society believed that Jesus' followers were incestuous, that there was something going on at these love feasts.

Even though it wasn't true, they were persecuted because of that.

Is that crazy?

I think it is, anyways, and and they thought they were cannibals because of the person that they chose to follow, made radical statements like, eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.

Like Jesus talking.

So they're like, well, that's that proves it, right?

The leader was like, eat my body, they must be cannibals.

And the early church, aside from the fact that Nero was like hunting down Christians, blaming them for these fires in Rome, they were persecuted for some radical, crazy misbeliefs and misunderstandings.

And so Peter's writing in this context here's a society that hates Jesus followers, completely misunderstands them, and before Peter tells the church what they are called to do in response, Peter encourages them with a reminder of who they are.

And as Peter writes to these first century Christians, remember that Peter's words apply to us today.

1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10.

1 Peter 2:9

Here's what it says in the Passion Translation but you are God's chosen treasure, priests who are kings, a spiritual nation set apart as God's devoted ones.

He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own.

He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world.

For at one time you were not God's people, but now you are.

At one time you knew nothing of God's mercy because you hadn't received it yet, but now you are drenched with it.

Who are you, Peter says to the early church, in the middle of persecution and misunderstanding?

Who are you?

He says this, he says, You are chosen treasures, you are priestly kings, you are royalty, you're a spiritual nation.

You are different, but you're not different alone.

You're different together, you're different in community, you're different in context of family and togetherness.

You're set apart as God's chosen ones.

This is who you are.

And Peter's words ring true for every person in this room here and every person listening to this podcast.

You are God's chosen people.

You are his treasured creation, you are his priests and kings, you are his set apart ones.

Who before do, when you know who you are, then you're gonna have an easier time figuring out what to do.

You are God's chosen treasure, priests who are kings, a spiritual nation, set apart as God's devoted ones.

And then it says He called you out of darkness.

Why?

When you make the decision to follow Jesus, you're not who you once were.

This is important.

Big churchy spiritual words like redeemed, right?

Reconciled.

When you make the decision to follow Jesus, you're not who you used to be.

You are a new creation who is made right with God the Father, set free.

This revelation of what Jesus made you, who you are, has to impact all that you do.

He called you out of darkness into light, he claimed you as his own, he set things right, he mediated the relationship between you and the Father.

Why?

So that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world.

When you know who you are as a follower of Jesus, you will know and recognize what to do.

Nowadays, most people in our Western culture don't believe that we as followers of Jesus are superstitious, incestuous cannibals.

Those are not labels I've heard thrown around in media about Christians.

It was very real in the first century, but that's not what we hear today.

Have you ever been referred to as a superstitious, incestuous cannibal before?

No.

However, society today has very different labels for the church.

It's a pretty rare thing to encounter those kinds of misunderstandings, but we have our own misunderstandings to deal with as followers of Jesus.

There's a skeptical world today that refers to Jesus' followers as self-righteous, judgmental, intolerant, bigots.

This is not hard to see in the media, in the world that we live in.

Christianity might not have the same bad rap that it had in the first century, but it still has a bad rap today.

This is our world that we wrestle in.

Some humans in our world who sadly wear the label Christians have facilitated these kinds of labels.

We can't undo what's been done over the centuries in the name of Jesus.

But we can choose to respond how we're going to respond today.

Peter was writing to suffering and despised Christians in the first century, encouraging them and who they are so that they would know what to do.

Christ is calling you still today in this world, in this society, with the labels that our faith in following Jesus have been attached to, these wrong perceptions, these misunderstandings of what it means to follow Jesus.

Christ is calling you to a different standard today.

The same way that Peter, through Christ, encouraged the church in the first century.

A different calling in a broken world.

1 Peter chapter 2, 11 and 12, here's what it says, friends, this world is not your home.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

We studied that in the first message in the series.

This we're we're aliens, we're foreigners, this world is not your home.

He says it again.

So don't make yourselves cozy in this world.

Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.

I love this.

Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices.

Live an exemplary life among your neighbors who don't know Jesus, so that your actions, not your words, your actions will refute their prejudices.

Then they'll be one over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.

We're called to be different, we're called to live beautiful lives in the Middle of a world that doesn't believe.

We're called to live set apart beautiful lives in the middle of a world that is prejudiced against because they don't understand and they've perceived wrong what it means to follow Jesus.

We're called to live exemplary lives among our neighbors.

Peter's saying here to the church, we're not going to try to convince them to believe like we believe.

For too long, the church has tried to argue its way into people's lives.

Believe what I believe, and if the people don't, they're like, well, shake the dust off your boots.

You're going to hell.

Come on! We're not called to convince people to believe what we believe.

We're called to show them what we believe, who we are, by how we behave.

It doesn't always start with you just declaring your undying faith verbally to somebody with, you know.

It begins with us treating people with love and grace and respect and dignity before we earn the right to be heard.

How we serve them.

Because this builds the bridge to the skeptical people.

And there are skeptical people.

There are skeptical people in this room.

And I love that.

I'm not going to tell you about my faith first.

I'm going to live my faith.

I love Peter's confidence, encouraging the church in who they are.

Because there's this like bold undertone to what he's writing here.

Live confidently, live boldly.

In other words, you don't have to be defensive of your faith.

Did you ever play sports in high school?

Finish this sentence.

The best defense is a good offense.

The best defense is a good offense.

We try and backpedal and defend.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I know that those things happen, but no, no, no, no, no, no.

Cut it out.

Stop it.

Do you think Jesus' church has ever been criticized?

Do you think on planet Earth Jesus' church has ever been criticized?

Instead of defending society's claims that we're self-righteous or irrelevant or judgy or hateful, what are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do different?

Who we are shapes what we do.

So here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna lead the way with irrational generosity in this world.

We're gonna lead the way and demonstrate that we're not spiritual consumers.

We're the church.

We're spiritual contributors.

We exist for the world, not in the world.

Jesus' church is meant to sacrifice through love and lay down itself for the world that we live in.

We're gonna rise up and be patient in modeling this consistent, quiet strength that loves all and walks with integrity.

It's time that Jesus' church was known for what we are for and not for what we are perceived to be against.

It's time.

And when you know who you are, you'll know what to do.

Again, Peter says in 1 Peter 2 11, 12, live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices.

Your actions refute prejudice, and then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration.

He goes on to write in verse 15 it is God's will that by doing good you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society.

Take a minute, soak that in.

You know, people that follow Jesus, they're called dangerous to society because of what we're perceived to be for.

Actually, what we're perceived to be against.

When we begin to redefine, this is actually what we're for.

It's God's will that by doing good out of a sense of who you are, that you cure the ignorance of the fools who think that we're dangerous to society.

How we live for God actually silences the talk of those who don't yet know any better.

Love irrationally, give extravagantly, serve faithfully.

We might not reach everyone, but with consistency and integrity over time, we're gonna reach some for Jesus.

We're gonna live our lives in a way that is a credit to the message of Christ Jesus.

What if we just stopped defending and started living?

I want to chase a tangent for a second to simply say this.

I want to remind you that it's not what we do that puts us in right standing with God.

It's not our actions that generate some kind of favor between us and God.

Through Jesus, that favor's been given in full.

Okay?

This is not a salvation issue.

It is by grace that we are saved, not by work, so that none of us can boast.

It's through the finished work of Jesus that we have this sense of who.

So the doing isn't to like, am I good, God?

Am I good, God?

Am I good, God?

Am I good, God?

Check, check, are we still okay, God?

You were okay 14 years ago when you chose to follow Jesus for the first time.

This isn't a salvation thing, okay?

This is a how do we love and impact the world around us thing.

We don't get to ride the pendulum swing so far into Graceland that we forget that because of who Christ made us to be, there's a daily call in our life to be different.

We can't just stay, I call it Graceland.

You know, it's by great, the by grace I've I'm saved, so I can just do whatever I want, whenever I want, and interact with people however I want.

No, we can't ride to that ride that pendulum swing.

We have to remember that who we are shapes what we do, and we're called to be different.

That different will be the difference to cure the ignorance of what some wrongly perceived to be true about us as Jesus followers.

1 Peter 2, 15, it's God's will that by doing good you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society.

I'm working on a sweat here today.

It's good.

Later on in the same chapter, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21, here's what Peter writes in continuation.

1 Peter 2:21

This is the kind of life that you've been invited into.

Most translations here, I'm reading from the message, but most translations uh use the word called here again.

This is the kind of life that you have been called into, the kind of life Christ lived.

He suffered everything that came his way so that you would know that it can be done.

Pause for a second.

There's gonna be times that when you do good living boldly for Jesus, that you're gonna suffer for it.

It's gonna happen.

It could impact something at work, it could impact something with a family member, a friendship, a relationship, a neighbor.

Um, people might make fun of you because of your choice to follow Jesus.

They're not gonna understand you, they're gonna alienate you.

You're gonna go through something that feels like suffering in this world.

But here's the good news Jesus is gonna model for us, he's gonna show us how to work our way through that.

He suffered everything that came his way so that you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it step by step.

1 Peter 2 21.

Jesus suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it step by step.

We look at the life of Jesus, he was always loving, always gentle, always kind, full of grace.

He was never arrogant, he was never condescending, he was never rude, he was never proud, he was never defensive, he was never hateful.

Who was Jesus?

He was the sinless Son of God.

He was the mediation that put out there for the rest of us as sons and daughters to know what it means who we are so that we know how to respond and how we live and what we do.

1 Peter 2, 22, 24, he goes on to say, Jesus never did one thing wrong.

Not once did Jesus say anything amiss.

They called him every name in the book, he said nothing back.

He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right.

Jesus used his servant body to carry our sin to the cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way.

That's how Jesus handled the suffering.

But that's not normal in our world.

That's not normal, but we're not called to be normal, we're called to be different.

What's normal in the world?

When someone curses you, curse them back.

That's normal.

When someone hates you, hate them.

That's normal in our world.

When someone wrongs you, well, get revenge, wrong them back.

When someone criticizes you, snuff it off.

It's their issue.

Be critical back towards them.

So what does it mean to be different in the world that we live in?

Because we don't just have an eternal call to follow Jesus, get to heaven one day.

We don't just have a daily assignment in terms of what we've been called to spend our time doing.

We have we have this daily call to live a different standard.

So here's how Peter answers this question, 1 Peter 3, he says, summing up, be agreeable.

Well, that's a good start.

Be sympathetic.

I like that.

Be loving, okay?

Be compassionate.

This is good.

Be humble.

That goes for all of you.

No exceptions, no retaliation, no sharp-tongued sarcasm.

Instead, bless.

That's your job is following Jesus.

That's your response.

That's how to be different.

That's how to have a different standard in the world we live.

Just bless.

That's your job.

You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

But be a blessing.

Bless.

The New Living Translation of that same verse says, Don't repay evil for evil.

Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.

Instead, pay them back with a blessing.

That is what God has called you to do.

Because of who we are, we're gonna know what to do.

As Jesus followers, we pay back with blessing.

When someone curses us, we pray for them.

When someone hates us, we love them.

When someone wrongs us, we forgive them.

When someone criticizes us, we encourage them.

When we know who we are, we're gonna know what to do.

You have been called.

There is a calling on your life.

There is a call on your life.

When I was dating Nicole, I worked for a year as a medical courier.

I was a part of a dedicated fleet of 12 cars, and all we did in Winnipeg was deliver parcels for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

We went hospital to hospital, care home to hospital, office building to care home.

We had uh three-hour calls, in other words, deliver it within three hours, two-hour calls, one hour calls, and we had stat calls.

I'll never forget my first stat call.

Stat meant get it there as fast as you can.

Don't get caught.

And I had to go to the OR of one hospital and wait.

This was my stat call.

Somebody walked out, handed me a styrofoam box, and then I had to get this to a different hospital, to another OR in a different hospital as quickly as possible.

That was my stat call.

I remember being tempted to shake that box, like, what's inside?

Like it was sealed up, and I'm like, would they notice if I peeked?

Um and within that job, um, every week one of us had to take a turn being on call after hours.

And that meant, you know, outside of our regular shift, we had to carry a pager, because pagers were a thing back then, and uh that's gonna date me pretty quick.

Some of you were like, What's a pager?

Yeah, uh, I had to carry a pager and I had to have it on my night table.

And anytime after hours, from the time you know uh six o'clock the shift ended till the following morning, we were on call for an entire week every night.

And that meant if that pager went off and and the medical um Winnipeg Regional Health Authority needed something delivered urgently in the middle of the night, that I was on call.

I was on call to respond quickly to that need.

Did you know that you are on call as a follower of Jesus?

Chosen by God, a chosen treasure, priests who are kings, a spiritual nation, set apart as God's devoted one.

There is a call on your life.

I was chatting with a couple of young ladies right before service, and they were telling me about every Sunday afternoon.

They dye their hair.

And they said, It's a calling.

I was like, that's a great calling.

But I'm gonna tell you, young ladies, because you know who you are.

There's a greater calling on your life than just dyeing your hair.

I love that you dye your hair.

Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic.

You know who you are.

But there's a greater calling on your life than just dyeing your hair.

You are God's chosen one, set apart.

As a student council member in grade nine, there were perks that came along with being on student council and being the announcement guy.

One of them was I was late for class every morning.

I had this like hall pass that gave me permission to be late for class every day because I had to be in the office to read the announcements.

Don't you know I took my time getting back to class, right?

I'd be strolling through the hallway, see my buddy in math, and be like, hall pass.

Okay, look through the window, just take my time to get to homeroom.

And a teacher might come and see, Zanting, what are you doing in the hallway and be like, whoosh, I'm covered, I'm good, I got this hall pass, right?

Being a being called the student council, I had this extra bit of authority.

Did I take advantage of it?

You bet.

Absolutely, 100%.

Do you know that as a part of your calling in following Jesus, you have a hall pass?

It's called God's word.

It's your hall pass, it's your identity, it's your authority, it's your sense of grounding, it's your reminder of who you are so that you know what to do.

God's word is your hall pass, it's what gives you authority for your life that is on call to respond to the needs of the world around you.

I am on call to love, I am on call to serve, I'm on call to give, I'm on call to be a blessing.

You are called, chosen by God, chosen treasure.

You have been called to a different daily standard.

And that different daily standard comes out of who you are.

Because when you know who you are, you're gonna know what to do.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want to close with one last story, if that's okay.

We're gonna run a couple minutes late today, but I'm almost done.

And uh wherever you're at in your season, whatever's going on in your world, yesterday I was at home, and I wasn't sure, um, but we have some neighbors who are who are friends.

They're not just neighbors, but uh uh becoming friends and more and more.

And um I was sitting at my island in my robe, and my neighbor called me, and uh um he's like, Hey John, you know that Rottweiler?

So backstory, we've had this dog, this animal on the loose in our cul-de-sac for the last like months.

This Rottweiler is always out and about.

Um, he's been in my garage tearing apart my garbage, doing his business on everybody's grass except his own.

And this Rottweiler, we've all called 311, we've you know put in reports, and he's like, John, the dog, it's in your garage right now.

I'm like, what?

And and Ashley just side just pooped on your brand new sod.

We just put we just put grass down.

I'm like, what?

And uh and I had this like carnal moment yesterday where I know who I am, but I I know what I wanted to do.

And so my first response, I opened up the man door to my garage, and sure enough, this dog's in the middle of my garage tearing out a garbage bag.

And so I closed the overhead garage door because I want to catch this thing, and Lord knows do what to it.

That was my first response.

And um the dog got scared and ran out, and then I spent an hour coaxing it back into my garage with hot dogs so that I could call 311 and tell them to come pick up this animal.

And they did.

They came and got the animal.

It took them a long time to leash this thing, and as they were trying to get it into their truck, my neighbor that owns the dog came home, and she was like, That's my dog! And then they gave it back to her.

I was like, What?

I was I was angry.

And um, but I remember texting Brian, like, uh, this love your neighbor thing is hard, lol, right?

And that's just like a it's a trait, simple thing that happened in my world yesterday.

But it reminded me of our potential to want to do things outside of who we know we're supposed to be.

Because we all have it.

We all have these moments where something flares up, and I didn't kill the dog.

Uh you know, I spoke words of kindness and support to the neighbor when she came to collect the animal.

And I walked in grace with these peace officers.

I understand you had to give the dog back.

Right?

So I gotta practice what I preach.

I gotta practice what I preach.

But I just want to remind you today that you're called to a different standard in the world that we live in.

You're called to know who you are as a follower of Jesus, to remember that you're you're a set apart, you're you're a royal priesthood, you're kings and priests, you're God's chosen people.

And through Jesus we can remember how to love, how to walk in grace, how to serve people, how to speak words that lift rather than tear down.

Because God's at work through his church, and God wants to continue to raise up the standard of Jesus followers in the world against what society believes to be true or perceives to be true about us.

Take your time and prove them wrong with how you live.

Because we're called to a different standard.

In Jesus' name, let's pray.

God, thank you so much for what we can learn together from Peter.

A man who was forgiven much, a man who was trusted with so much, and a man who used his faith um to encourage and inspire the church in the first century, but it's encouraging and inspiring us today.

And so we desire um to walk out of here with a renewed sense of who we are.

If we've been serving you diligently, passionately for generations, if we're brand new to faith, if we're undecided still, we can still, all of us, leave here today with a renewed sense of who Jesus has called us to be.

And when we say, God, I'm I want to learn what it means to trust and follow you, and then the heart of God says, Well, you're my you're my set apart one.

You're my chosen daughter, my chosen son, you're kings, you're priests, you're a holy nation.

You're different.

But you don't have to be different alone.

You get to be different in a sense of togetherness as a part of Capital C Church, Jesus' kingdom, be different.

Because God, in our in our own individual lives, in our daily pursuit of this daily standard, what we want is for your love and your grace to radiate through us so that we can actually be different and make a difference in the world that we live in.

Help us, coach us, encourage us, by your spirit, by your word, what we ask.

In Jesus' name.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.