Live Called | Live Well (Part Four)

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Hey, good morning everyone. Been so great to be able to be

with you and to worship with you this morning.

Man, I absolutely just love that story of how God washed over and

protected Katie, don't you? We have just been experiencing

just some powerful, powerful moves of God.

And it's always amazing, always amazing how God can take a

singular prayer and answer that singular prayer to, to, to in

different ways to different people.

So for for Katie, answering that prayer for, for protection and,

and, and recovery, for Melissa, answering that prayer with a

sense of peace and comfort that can only come from the Holy

Spirit. Just such a powerful God story.

If you've met Katie, you know what a light she really, really

is, and I just love that story, just about a continual passion

of prayer and being able to see the power of prayer up close and

personal. If you're new to Riverbend,

thank you so much for joining us this morning.

I hope that you're safe. I hope that you're warm.

I'm sorry that we weren't able to meet in person this morning,

gather together in the room, but we just wanted to take into

consideration your safety and not wanting you to chance

getting out on some icy roads and and an accident happened.

But we're just looking forward to to being able to continue to

worship with you. One of the things that I would

say, if you haven't done so already, is I would go to, you

can go to the App Store if you have an iPhone or Google Play

store, you have Android and download the Riverbend Church

app. That's going to be really

important so that you can take notes with us.

And it's going to be extra important this morning because

at the very end of our message, we're going to, we're going to

really do an exercise with the passage that we're going to walk

through. And it's going to become really,

really personal and, and hopefully really, really real in

your life. But you'll need that app And so

that you can pull up the notes, you take those notes on your

phone. They're saved on your phone so

they don't go away way that you're just able to kind of

journey along with us. With that said, we're in week

four of a series called live well.

And if you're new to this series, let me kind of just give

you the the overall gist or the OR the main truth or what's

really what we call the big idea.

What's serving as the big idea throughout this series.

And here it is, is to live well is is to live God's way, firm in

faith, steady in trials, anchored in hope.

Firm in faith, steady in trials, anchored in hope.

Let me ask you a a quick question.

When I say the word calling or when, when you think about like

living someone living in their calling, what immediately comes

to mind? What immediately comes to mind?

I think for a lot of people, they immediately start thinking

of a of a pastor or a missionary or or somebody that's overseeing

A nonprofit organization. And I would say that calling is

most definitely essential for those roles.

But I happen to believe that every single follower of Jesus

has a calling on his or her life.

I happen to believe that every single follower of Jesus has a

calling on his or her life. And tragically, I think that a

lot of Christians, a lot of followers of Jesus, they're not

living in their calling because they confuse passion and

purpose. They confuse passion and, and,

and purpose. Let me kind of give you a, a

quick example of how easy that is to, to confuse.

I, I could be very passionate about basketball, about the game

of basketball, college basketball, pro basketball.

I could be very passionate about basketball.

But I don't think any of you, whether you're at home or on the

road or or wherever you may be watching with us this morning, I

don't think any of you would ever think that basketball is

going to be my purpose, right? And as silly as an example as

that may seem, I think that it's really easy for us to take what

we're passionate about, what we know that we love.

And we, I automatically think that if I can't really pursue my

passion then and, and, and kind of make a living off of that

passion, then I'm not really going to be able to live in the

midst of a calling. And what I would tell you is

this is, that's not so much a passion problem.

I would say that that's more of a purpose problem.

In other words, we know what we love, but many of us, we're not

even sure why we're here. We know what we love our

passions, but we're not really sure why we're here.

And that that's really a purpose problem.

And, and I think a lot of times we kind of have things

backwards. We, we want God to, to give

purpose to our passions, but in reality and in actuality, more

times than not, God gives that God gives passion to our

purpose. So as followers of Jesus, it's

really important that you and I, that we're very clear and that

we start to understand what our purpose may be, what our purpose

is. If we're ever going to live in

Our Calling, live with a sense of calling, we have to

understand our purpose. We have to understand our

purpose. Let me give you a quick

definition and you can jot this down in the in the blanks on

your note on your notes app there.

But let me give you a quick working definition of calling

and it's really A2 parter here it is.

It's faithful where God has placed me.

It's faithful where God has placed me and obedient to

pointing people to Jesus. Two parts to that definition,

right? Here's the the truth about the

first one faithful where God has placed me.

Did you know every single one of us, every single one of us, we

are living in a certain season and setting and and and context.

You you may be a student who still lives at home.

You may be a parent with with young children at home.

You may be a full time you may be full time into the workforce

either as an employee or an employer.

You may be a retiree and, and here's The thing is all of

those, all of those settings and seasons and contexts, they,

they, they come with, they come with different opportunities,

right? And one of the things that we

know is those setting seasons and contexts of life, they'll

always change like different stages of life.

They'll they'll always change, but our purpose always remains

the same. And and the question is, am I

stepping fully and faithfully into what God has for me in the

current setting season in context that that's the first

part of calling. The second part of calling is

the obedient to pointing people to Jesus.

Every single follower of Jesus Christ has this as their

purpose, regardless of your setting, seasoning, context.

It is to point the people around you to Jesus.

Again, if you're a student living at home, are you obedient

to pointing your, your, your, your, your parents or your

classmates to Jesus By the by the way that by the way that you

conduct yourself and, and, and by the way that that, that, that

you're learning. And by the way that, that, that

you're falling in authority up underneath your parents

guidelines in, in in your home. If you're a if you're a parent

of a of a young child, you know that that's a certain setting

and season and context, but being obedient to pointing

people to Jesus is you have the opportunity to pour Jesus

intentionally pour Jesus into those children at their most

formative years. If you're an employee or

employer, you have an opportunity right now to to

point your Co workers to Jesus by by living and working with

integrity and and by exercising grace and mercy towards towards

others and and and and and really living, living and

following Jesus example to where people are above all other

things. If you're a retiree, you have an

opportunity to point your friends and your family to

Jesus. But by choosing to further

invest rather than just strictly rest you're you're you choose to

further invest in growing the Kingdom of God in this setting,

context and season of life. When we do that, we start to

live in Our Calling. We start to live in Our Calling.

But here's the thing, in order to consistently live in Our

Calling, in our God-given calling, we have to have a God

backing authority. So here's the question, on whose

authority do we live out this calling?

And this is really where we get to the heart of the matter this

morning. If you have a Bible with you, I

want to, I want to ask that you that you join me in the book of

first Peter, first Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

And we're going to be picking it or first Peter chapter 2 and

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

we're going to be picking it up in verse one this morning.

Check out what Peter says. He tells us so put away all

malice, and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all

slander like newborn infants. Long for the pure spiritual

milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.

If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Let me ask you a quick question. Have you tasted and seen that

the Lord is good? Have you experienced the

goodness of God in your life? Here's essentially what what

Peter, what Peter's saying right out of the gate in first Peter

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2. What he's telling us is, is,

hey, listen as you pursue holiness.

And last week we talked about how holiness is not a goal to

achieve. It's really a life to step into

as you pursue holiness and as you step into living a life of

holiness. Don't go back to your to your

pre Jesus, pre born again ways. You, you know that those ways

were were a dead end. You, you know that giving into

those old ways and those old sin struggles and temptations, those

were a dead end in, in, in, in, in contrast, begin to, to, to,

to hunger and to thirst for the ways of God and for the will of

God and for, for, for the word of God.

Because you know, because of Jesus and because you have been

born again, you know that it is by God's words that we are

nourished and that we're fed and that we that, that we that we

grow. So that's kind of a a tie in

from last week, but check out what Peter goes on to say in

verse 4. He says this as you come to him,

as you come to Jesus, a living stone rejected by men, but in

the sight of God, chosen and precious.

You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a

spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual

sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in Scripture. Behold, I'm laying in Zion, a

stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes

in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who

believe, but for those who do not believe, check this out.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the

cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

So in this passage, Peter's going to lay out for us the

basis of our authority as a follower of Jesus, as the people

of God, what is our authority? Where does our authority come

from? If you and I, if we're to

consistently live out Our Calling, it's faithful to where

we are, faithful wherever we are, and being obedient to

pointing people to Jesus, we need to make sure that we are

backed by the authority of God. Let's kind of unpack what that

means for us. If you're taking notes with us,

here's the first thing that I would get you to jot down Jesus.

Peter reminds us Jesus is the resurrected and living

foundation for the people of God.

Jesus, the living and the resurrected foundation for the

people of God. Do you notice how Peter used

some, some, some imagery here that would be very, very

familiar to, to a stone worker or to, to a Mason?

He refers to Jesus as the as the cornerstone.

Now to to a stone worker, a cornerstone would would be the

prototype by which all other stones would be would be cut in

the exact dimensions as that prototype.

And by by by having a prototype and by cutting all stones based

off of that prototype, the stone worker would ensure that the

stones would fit together perfectly to to a Mason.

When Peter talked about Jesus being the cornerstone, a Mason,

that would automatically like light up in the mind of a Mason

because a Mason knew that a cornerstone, it is that first

stone. It is that it is that first

stone that is laid at the very beginning of the very foundation

of a building that determines the the overall direction that

determines that that determines the the direction, the overall

trajectory. It determines everything about

where the rest of the building is going to go up around it.

And here's what I would tell you as the people of God, a life

that chooses and intentionally chooses, a life that

intentionally chooses to, to to model itself after the life of

Jesus and to place Jesus first in all things is a life that

will most definitely be lived well.

So the first basis of our authority that Peter reminds us

of is Jesus is the resurrected and the living foundation for

the people of God. Second thing that he reminds us

of is he is that perfect standard for how the people of

God are called to live. You know, one of the reasons

that that we're given the life of Jesus, the recorded life of

Jesus in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is for us

to really look at how did Jesus interact with people?

How did Jesus handle complex issues?

What did Jesus have to say about things like politics and, and,

and, and, and the poor? What did Jesus have to say about

religion? What did Jesus have to say about

hypocrisy? What did Jesus have to say

really about the heart? You see, as the people of God,

Jesus is the standard by which we are called to live.

So that's why it's so important that we spend time in the Word

of God so that that we understand and we get a better

picture of how Jesus lives, so that we look at how Jesus lived

and we can model our behavior and our lives after how Jesus

lived. But then there's a third reality

that Peter reminds us of. This authority is Jesus is the

ultimate dividing line between the people of God and an

unbelieving world. Jesus is the ultimate dividing

line. You know, I, I, I know a lot of

people. I would even say that that that

most people, they have no problem at all with the with the

leave the 99 to go after the one Jesus.

They have no problem at all with the changing water into wine,

giving sight to the blind, telling the paralyzed man to

take up his mat and walk the raising Lazarus from the dead

Jesus. As a matter of fact, I think

that most people would even say that Jesus was a great man, if

not the best man. And, and, and most people would

say that Jesus was a great teacher, if not the best teacher

to have ever lived. But here's the issue.

Jesus wasn't just a good man and he wasn't just a a good teacher.

He wasn't just the best man and the and the best teacher.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

The same people that don't have a problem with with that type of

Jesus to leave the 99 to go after the one Jesus, they, they

start to bristle up. They start to bristle up at the

at the unless you hate your father and mother, you cannot

follow me or take up your cross daily and follow me or unless

you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink of his blood,

you can have no part in me. The I am the way and the truth

and the life. No man comes to the Father

except through me. They have a problem with with

that Jesus. They have a problem with the

true Jesus, with the full Jesus. And, and here's the thing,

People aren't offended by Jesus because Jesus is rude.

People are offended by Jesus because Jesus is telling the

truth about sin and salvation and ourselves.

And a lot of people, they, they, they don't want to hear that at

all. They don't, they, they don't

want to hear the, the truthful reality about how, how, how, how

they're sinners in need of a savior.

And, and the, the, the saving can't happen from willpower.

It has to happen from, from God power and the, and the saving,

the salvation can't happen from, from trying harder or earning

salvation. It actually happens through

surrendering your life to Jesus. You know, if you've been a part

of Riverbend for any space or any measure of time, you know,

we've talked a lot about how relationship and love always

requires choice. You can never force or coer

someone to love you or, or or or to be in true relationship with

you. And that means that, you know,

when we understand that God desires to have a relationship

with every single person, that means that there is a choice

that every single person has to make.

They can choose to accept his love and accept his grace and

accept his mercy if they surrender their lives to him.

Or they can choose to reject the teachings and the, and the way

of Jesus and the only way of salvation and, and, and try to

live life on their own and, and continue to be further blinded

and deceived by a lost and dying world and world and culture.

You see, Jesus is the ultimate dividing line for people.

That's why that's why Peter references in Scripture that,

that this cornerstone, that Jesus is the rock that that many

people stumble over. They, they, they trip over

Jesus. Because here's the thing, Jesus

very, very clear when he says I am the way, the truth and the

life. No man comes to the Father

except through me. Salvation is not possible.

Forgiveness of sin is not possible.

Eternal, eternal security in heaven, knowing that when you

die that you will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

That is not possible without coming through Jesus.

And that is the ultimate dividing line for so many

people. So Peter gives us the basis of

our authority by reminding us that Jesus is our foundation and

he's our standard and, and, and he's the ultimate dividing line

among people. But then on the basis of that

authority, then there's this almost like hinge right here in

chapter 2 to where he's going to start talking about purpose.

He's going to start talking about purpose.

Do you know that purpose is really, it's really about

identity. It's really about identity.

I wrote this in your notes. Check this out.

I want to get you to write this down really quick.

True calling flows out of identity and not the other way

around. Kind of coming back to the

conversation about what it means to live in Our Calling to live

called. We need to understand that true

calling flows out of identity, not the other way around to kind

of give you give you some handles to wrap your mind around

that. How many times when we meet

somebody for the first time and, and, and you know, we may

exchange names. What what's usually the follow

up question? Hey, what do you do?

What line of work are you in? What we do many times begins to

take on it begins to morph into our identity.

That's so easy for us to do, but in in God's way, according to

God's word, true calling is going to flow out of identity.

This is so important to know who we are, who we truly are,

because if you don't know who you are according to God, then

you'll never be able to fully step into all that God has for

you. This is why This is why

insecurity, insecurity is so sinister in our lives because

insecurity diminishes, diminishes us and it also

devalues us. It diminishes what God says

about us and it devalues what God says about us.

And, and someone who is living with a diminished or devalued

identity will never be able to fully step into their calling.

Listen, I want to, I want to just kind of, I'll give you a

quick side note for a moment. I don't know who you are or

where you've been, but did you know that God has something

special to say about you? Identity.

This whole issue of identity, it's not really based off of

what you've done or, or what you do or what you can do.

It's not based off of how you feel.

True identity is not even based off of how other people may may

view you and what other people may have said about you.

True identity is really what God says about you.

It's really what God says about you.

And I want you to remember something.

This isn't your nose, but I want you to hang on to this.

Maybe, maybe it's for you today or maybe it's for you later on

down the tracks, but what God says about you here, it is.

What God says about you is what is most true about you, not what

you say about you, not, not what, not what your feelings say

about you, not what other people say about you.

What God says about you is what is most true about you.

So it's really important for us to understand what exactly does

God say about us? Go back to first Peter with me.

I want you to check something out first Peter again, first

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 2 in verse 9, it's the beginning of verse 9.

He says, but you based off of the authority of Jesus, you are

now a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a

people for his own possession. So if you're taking notes with

us, I want to I want to make this as personal as possible in

your in your notes here. Here's the first thing I want

you to jot down. I am a chosen race.

I am a chosen race. I am a chosen race.

God almighty, the author and the creator and the sustainer of the

universe looks at you and says, I choose you.

He he, he doesn't do it because, but because he, he, he pities

you. He, he, he doesn't, he doesn't

choose you because he has no other choice.

And he certainly doesn't choose you or he certainly doesn't

choose me because we've impressed him in some type of

way. He chooses us because he chooses

to choose us. You see the God that that

created you, He loves you and he has good plans for you.

Here's what I want you to remember.

Just because you may not have chosen you, and just because

maybe some people around you may not choose you or have chosen

you in the past, that doesn't mean that God hasn't chosen you.

You are chosen. Second thing that God tells us

about our identity and who he says that we are.

Not only am I chosen race, I am a royal priesthood.

I am a royal priesthood. You you notice that royal

priesthood kind of two two thoughts in those two words,

right Royal. You see, if you've surrendered

your life to Jesus and and the Holy Spirit of God now lives in

you and you've been born again. Did you know that you are now a

son or a daughter of the king. You're you're a son or a

daughter of God. You are now royalty.

You're now royalty with all access, with all rights and with

all privileges. You are now divine royalty.

You're a son or a daughter of God priesthood.

If you, if you grew up in church or you just started reading

maybe the, the Old Testament, when we get around to the book

of book of Exodus, we're, we're introduced to this whole, this

whole notion of, of priesthood where there were, there were

chosen group of, of men that, that you had to be born of a

certain lineage in a certain, in a certain family.

But you could then become a priest.

And the priest was the one that that that could, that could kind

of interact with God and offer sacrifices to God.

Only the priest could do that. The other people couldn't, only

the priest could. So check out what Peter reminds

us when he tells us that you and I, those of us who surrendered

our lives to Jesus, we're a royal priesthood.

That means that we have completely unfettered,

unhindered, completely accessible access to God at all

points in time. You don't need a middleman.

You don't need to. You don't need somebody to go to

God on your behalf. You have a Direct Line to God.

And check this out, that Direct Line to God, he loves it.

He absolutely cherishes it when his sons and his daughters want

to spend time with him and talk with him through prayer.

But you are a royal priesthood. Third thing that Peter reminds

us of. I am a holy nation.

I'm a holy nation. You may say, well, Ben, you just

lost me right there because that first word, holy, I'm, I'm not

holy. I'm not holy.

I'm, I'm trying. You talked last week about

stepping into a life of holiness and pursuing holiness.

And, and, and I'm really trying. I'm, I'm starting to step into

that and I'm starting to say to, to, to recognize that my old, my

old ways, my pre Jesus, pre born again ways are no longer

compatible with the new me that God has created me to be.

I'm, I'm starting to realize that, but I wouldn't say that

I'm holy right now. Can I, can I tell you something?

When you surrendered your life to Jesus, do you know, do you

know how God now views you? God now views you when he looks

at you. When he looks at me, he sees the

blood of Jesus and, and, and when we surrender our lives to

Jesus, something called the the the many theologians and

scholars have referred to as the great exchange takes place that

I exchange my unholiness for Jesus holiness and my

unrighteousness for Jesus righteousness.

So if you've surrendered your life to Jesus, God now looks at

you as holy. But one of the most mind blowing

things is notice that Peter didn't say you are now a holy

individual. He says you are now a holy

nation. What does what does that denote?

What does that tell us? It tells us that with Jesus we

now have belonging. We now have belonging.

I think that we from from one point in time or another, maybe

you're in a season like this right now to where we know the

excruciating pain of loneliness. We we know the excruciating pain

of a feeling left out. Can I tell you this, that Peter

reminds us that as a son or a daughter of God, you now have

belonging because you're a holy nation.

The fourth thing that God tells us through Peter is I am a

people for God's own possession. I'm a people for God's own

possession. Now check this out.

This people for God's own possession.

That is not control language. That is covenant language.

It's not control language, it's covenant language.

And what I mean by that is, is when I remind myself that God

tells me that I am a people. I'm a part of a people for his

own possession. It means that there's a lot of

things in this world that will change, but God never will.

There there. There's a lot of things in this

world that will let me down, but God never will there there.

There's a lot of mistakes that I've made and, and and will

make, but God will never leave me that that His covenant to

love me is not based off of what I do or what I don't do is based

off of His love for me. And come what may, there's

nothing that will ever be able to separate me from the love of

God. Come what may, there's nothing

that can ever touch my eternal security.

Being able to live with a sense of hope, knowing that what come,

let, come what may, I will always know that when I die, I

will spend eternity with God in heaven.

When Peter reminds us that we are a people for God's own

possession, again, that's not control language, that's

covenant language. He looks at you and he looks at

me and it's kind of like the the, the notion of of God

looking at us and choosing us. But when he looks at us, he's

just says, he smiles and says he's mine.

She's mine. Here's why this is so important

is I think that every single one of us, we've experienced this.

We're no stranger to the voices and inside our head or, or, or

the voices of our past or, or the voices of other people

trying to trying to convince us that we are lesser than or, or

or lesser loved. And, and here's one of the

things that I want you to take away from this passage in First

Peter that I want you to take away from our time together this

morning is when those voices, when you start to hear those

voices, whether they're in your mind, in your head, or from your

past or or outside of you other, other people, you have a choice

to make. Do you internalize what they say

about you or you do you internalize?

Do you choose to internalize what God says about you?

Because what God says about you is you are a chosen race.

You are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood.

You are a holy nation. You are a people for God's own

possession. Man, that is so, so incredibly

powerful. As as we start to kind of head

down the home stretch this morning, I want to bring your

attention back to the back end of the passage that we're going

to walk through in in first Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

I want to read it in its entirety, starting back in in

verse 9. And I, I want to, I want to do

an exercise with you that I hope is going to be really powerful

and really useful in your life this week.

Check out what Peter says. Let's read through the passage

again. First Peter chapter 2 verse 9.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation

of people for his own possession that you may proclaim that were

that right there. That's kind of like the hinge

point, right? That's kind of like the we're

we're about to we're going to go from identity and show how

identity is going to flow into into purpose that you may

proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness

into his marvelous light. Remember the definition, the

two-part definition that we gave about calling, pointing people

to Jesus. This is what Peter's talking

about here, that proclaiming the excellencies of him who called

you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Once you are not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

He goes on in verse 11, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and

exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage

war against your soul. Verse 11, we don't have time to

dive into this, but basically verse 11 tells us as sojourners

and exiles, this world, this culture, this is not our home.

Our eternal home is with Jesus in heaven.

So we are because we have been made different.

We are to be different. We approach life differently.

In verse 12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so

that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your

good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Listen, there's so much that we could unpack in that passage,

but I want to invite you to do a quick exercise with me in your

notes. There is that passage, but then

there's also blanks. There's also blanks in that

passage. And I want to, I want you to, I

want you to fill in those blanks as we come to them.

I want you to fill in those blanks with with some different

words. If you're ready.

Here we go. That the first blank I that I

may proclaim the excellencies of him who called me out of

darkness into His marvelous light.

That second blank once, verse 10, once called me out of

darkness into His wonderful marvelous light.

Third blank, verse 10. Once I was not a people, but now

I am God's people. Once I had not received mercy,

but now I have received mercy. Verse 11.

Verse 11 is going to be a little bit different.

I want you to approach verse 11 as if Peter is writing this, as

if the Holy Spirit of God is saying this directly to you.

This is this is God's love letter, an encouragement letter

to you. Check this out.

Verse 11. I want you to just to write your

name so. So for me it would be that I may

proclaim the excellencies of him who called me out of darkness

into his marvelous light. Once I was not a people, but now

I am God's people. Once I had not received mercy,

but now I have received mercy. Then I urge you as sojourners

and exiles, as a sojourner, and as an exile, exile to abstain

from. Here's that next blank.

Here's that next blank I want you to write down just between

you and God, what is your greatest temptation or your

greatest sin struggle? Like maybe maybe in this current

season or setting or context, there is a, there is a

temptation and there is a sin struggle that that has almost

like beset you. It's almost like just

overwhelmed you and it comes seems to overpower you in terms

of like the overall quality or quantity in which it comes in to

where you just feel everywhere you look.

Then there's that temptation, there's that sin struggle.

It could be pride, it could be lust, it could be materialism,

it could be gossip, it could be any number of things.

But what is your greatest sin struggle?

This is so important because I want to put it kind of in

context as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from what

your greatest temptation or sin struggle is.

Why? Because it wages war against

your soul. A lot of times when we face

temptations and and sin struggles, we we kind of

downplay them, don't we? We minimize them.

But Peter comes back and he reminds us, no, no, no, these

are really big deals. Why?

Because they wage war against our souls.

He's going to go on in verse 12. Keep your conduct among and

here's what I wanted to get you to do.

I want you to think, and maybe you don't have to think very

long or hard on this. What is, who is a specific

person in your life or maybe a group of people in your life

that they just, they just have that way of just constantly

getting under your skin. They, they, they, they just push

your buttons. They, they get to this is the

person or this is the, the, the group that you struggle to love

the most. This person or this group,

you're pretty sure, you're pretty sure they need Jesus.

They need Jesus in their life. Here's what I want to get you to

do in that blank. I just want you to write that

person's name or maybe, maybe just something to denote that

group. Here's how that would look.

Keep your conduct among that person or that group.

Keep your conduct among them honorable so that when they

speak, speak against you as the evil doers, they may see your

good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

You see, what we just did here is we just took this passage and

we made it very personal. We personalized it.

Here's one of the things that I would encourage you to do.

You, you, you have this in your, in your notes app.

I would encourage you later on today or or or or tonight or

certainly by tomorrow morning, I would encourage you.

To, to take this passage as you filled in those blanks, I would

encourage you to take it and I would encourage you to maybe

write it down, copy it down on a note card or a piece of paper or

somewhere that you know that you're going to come across it.

Put it in your wallet, put it, you know, kind of in your dash,

maybe put it on your mirror just as a reminder of what God has

for you. You know, one of the things that

I've been praying for over really over the past easily nine

months, close to a year is that 2026 would be, would be seen

and, and God would do a work here at Riverbend and in your

life, in my life and in the lives of our family members and

create an enhanced culture. Connectivity, connection to one

another and connection to, to, to God, but also that that we

would have that God would bring an enhanced sense of you knowing

that you are living right now in your calling, that you're being

faithful and obedient where God has placed you to live out that

calling. Here's what I want to do.

I want to turn it like really, really personal, just kind of

prom the pomp a little bit to to get you to think later on today

about everything that we've just walked through and discussed

together. I want to kind of walk through

some some questions for you to think about.

These aren't in your notes, but if you'll just kind of listen in

and kind of take it in right now.

What setting season or context are you in?

What setting, season or context are you in right now?

And here's the question, once you have that identified, are

you faithfully stewarding the opportunities that God has

placed directly in front of you? I, I, I know a lot of people

that they want a lot of men and women and students that, that

love Jesus and they want to know that they're living in their

calling. But a lot of times they're

tempted just kind of sit back and wait for that calling to, I

guess just magically appear. And here's what I would ask you

as you pursue your calling. If you're not sure if you're

living in your calling right now as you're pursuing that, here's

the question. Are you being faithful to the

opportunities that God has placed directly in front of you

right now? How are you stewarding your

current setting season in context?

Second question, who who are you intentionally pointing to Jesus?

Who are you intentionally actively, not just passively,

not just like, hey, I hope to be a good guy or a good girl.

And, and they take note. And, and the my Co workers or my

classmates, they take note and they just kind of chalk it up to

to, to Jesus. I'm talking about like who are

you intentionally who are you intentionally pointing to?

Jesus #3 don't immediately answer this as, as, as a yes,

no. I want you to kind of wrestle

with this. I want you to be really honest

with yourself. Like search, get the Holy Spirit

of God, ask God, pray to God and ask him, invite the Holy Spirit

to search the deep places of you so that you can honestly answer

this next question. Here's the third question.

Is Jesus your true authority? Is Jesus your true authority?

Is he truly your foundation? Is he truly your standard?

And then here's the here's the 4th.

How does what God said, how does what God says about you differ

from what you say about you? How does what God says about you

differ from what God from what you say about you?

You know, one of the things that I hope that you know by now is

just because we're talking on a Sunday morning, kind of snowed

in or iced in, we're talking here and now about calling.

This is not all that we will ever talk about this sense of

calling. Maybe this is the beginning of

that conversation with you. Maybe this is the beginning of

of of our journey together as as Riverbend churches, you, you and

your family get more plugged into Riverbend Church.

But just know that my heart as your pastor for you is that you

know Jesus, that you love Jesus and you're growing in Jesus, and

that you have a sense to where you know that you're living in

your calling. Thank you for listening to

Riverbend Church's podcast. To find out more about this

message or Riverbend Church, connect with us online at

Riverbend Church dot live.