1 Peter: Blessed Assurance (A Living Example: Determined Loyalty)

Praise the Lord.

It is it is good to be in the house of the Lord.

Was that not already awesome?

Celebrating in baptism, just a wonderful time of the year.

If you love this time of the year, I am with you.

It is it is pumpkin spice latte season.

I have already messed up and said happy Thanksgiving to a couple people.

So uh praise the Lord for that.

And if you're a college football fan, praise the Lord.

Okay, yes, it is it is good to be in the house of the Lord.

If you have your Bibles, want to open up with me, we're gonna jump right into God's word as we are continuing our series in First Peter called Blessed Assurance.

And while you are doing that, if this is your first time joining us, welcome.

It is so good to have you with us.

And inside your worship guide, we'd love for you to fill out your connect card and you can drop that off at the Welcome Center on your way out.

We have a free gift for you, but we also have a free Bible for you so that the next time you are with us, you can open your Bibles with us to uh we may still be in First Peter.

We don't know.

We we tend to take our time around here sometimes.

If you know, you know.

But we are so thankful that you are here.

Now, if you have been with us over the past several weeks, you kind of know where we have been with this, but to kind of catch everybody up, we're we're going through 1 Peter and kind of to get our minds around the setting of what was happening, just to kind of get us into that space.

We've been working with this, you know, our imagination and saying, okay, imagine that, you know, it's hurricane season right now, and imagine you are watching the news as you do, and you happen to realize that a new hurricane has formed, and you're looking down at the Gulf Coast and you realize this is the biggest storm you've ever seen.

Like you've never seen a storm like this, and you are, you know, you're concerned, but then all of a sudden it occurs to you one of your best good friends lives right there in the center.

Their mailbox is right in the center of where that storm is.

Well, you go from concern to panic.

Like, oh my, what is going on?

Are they okay?

What are we gonna do?

As you see that storm that is that is just brewing right there, and then out of nowhere, while you're concerned about them, you get contacted from the middle of the storm.

Like you get an email from whoever that is.

You just imagine for a moment what would they say?

You know, would they would they talk about you know what all is going on there?

Would they talk about how, you know, if you can send help, please do?

Like, what would they say?

Knowing my friends, they would say must be nice.

You know, they just go ahead and start aggravating, is what they would do.

But imagine what would be happening.

Well, that's not that dissimilar from what 1 Peter is, because as we've been talking about, the early church was started in 33 A.D.

with the resurrection of Jesus.

And in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit fell and the early church began.

And for the next 30 years, the early church began to expand all over the place.

And eventually, you know, Peter made his way to Rome.

But then the storm of the century took place.

We're calling it the storm of the 60s, you know, not the 1860s, 17, like the first 60s.

And it was the greatest storm the early church had ever seen.

Beginning with all the way in 61, Paul is imprisoned in Rome.

And then in 64 AD, Rome burned.

Nero needed somebody to blame, and so he blamed us Christians.

We had nothing to do with it, but we got blamed for it.

And so it goes from just mild kind of, we don't really like the Christians, to now heavy persecution.

People are being rounded up and put into the Coliseums, set on fire, and what's called a Roman candle.

And it's just, it is getting bad, bad, bad.

And right in the middle of this storm of persecution, Peter writes a letter in the middle of it, right in Rome.

He writes a letter to all the surrounding churches.

And you think of what he could have said.

He could have sat and talked about how innocent they were.

He could have talked about anything else.

But the main message of all of 1 Peter is this, and that is that he tells them, guys, I've got great news.

We can stand strong because of our blessed assurance.

That right in the middle of the biggest storm, that to be honest with you, kind of spoiler alert, he doesn't get out of this storm alive.

That he ends up being martyred in this storm.

But right in the middle of it, he could have talked about all the bad stuff.

He could have talked about, like if it was a, you know, if it was a real storm, he could have talked about, you know, well, I see cows floating through the air, you know, I don't have my favorite tree anymore, it's gone, and I haven't seen my car in days.

He could have talked about all that.

But instead, he's like, man, it's still so good to know Jesus.

And that we can stand in any storm because of that blessed assurance.

And that's what chapter one was all about, is he's talking about how our hope is solidly founded, not in what everybody else does, but in what Christ has already done.

And he is that living hope.

And then what he starts to talk about is how that living hope is contagious, that we need to be sharing our living hope with everyone around us.

In chapter two and chapter three, he's all about this one idea, and that is being a living example, like showing what Christianity looks like with skin on it.

What does it look like to be a Christ follower?

What is it that sets Christians apart from non-Christians?

And it's because of our pursuit of God and our love for him.

And he said, you need to live that out loud, that the greatest thing you can do is be a living example.

And he talked about doing that in different areas of life.

It was so very practical.

Like he talked a couple weeks ago about being a living example in the context of our government.

How do we relate back and forth to our government?

The next week he talked about our work-life balance.

What does it look like to be in a place where not everybody follows Jesus?

How do we deal with that and be a living example?

Last week we had so much fun, you know, and we talked about our daily lives and what that looks like in that environment.

Well, then today he's gonna take it even further, and he's gonna talk about what does it look like to be a living example in another sphere of life.

And so if you're ready, we're gonna dive into what it looks like to be that living example because of our blessed assurance.

He says this he says, be careful to live properly.

Look at your neighbor and say, Be careful.

It's gonna be one of those days.

Okay, all right, all right, be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.

So he's been talking about government, everything else, and then he says, and finally, somebody say, Finally, finally, all of you should be of one mind.

Sympathize with each other, love each other as brothers and sisters, be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

Don't repay evil for evil, don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.

Instead, pay them back with a blessing.

This is what God has called you to do, and He will grant you His blessing.

For the Scriptures say, if you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Search for peace and work to maintain it.

Because the eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers.

But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.

So he's saying that in all the things that we do, and in all the places that we are, we have an opportunity when it comes to the body of Christ, to fellow Christians, to do one major thing.

If you're taking notice, and that is this, that we can be a living example to the world of our hope by our what I'm gonna call determined unity.

That we have an opportunity to show the world, because remember, in the context, they they couldn't prove that they had not burned down Rome.

And so they were getting in trouble for something they didn't even do.

And so what Peter is saying is he said, instead of you know attacking them back, be a living example, be a living example of what it looks like to have hope.

And he talked about doing that in so many different areas, and he said, one of the main areas is to be a living example of hope by our determined unity.

Now, the the reason why I got that is because of something that happened to me several years ago.

We used to have this family in our church, it was a wonderful family, and uh the husband's name was Ryan, the wife's name was Jennifer, and they uh used to, uh they since have moved away, but when they they were here, they had just moved from Joplin, Missouri.

And if you don't know anything else about Joplin, Missouri, you may know that one of the worst tornadoes in the past 50 years went through Joplin, Missouri not long before they moved here.

And it was just devastating, and it was devastating to them to have to move away because his job had transferred, and it was just it was just that's that's the main thing I knew about Joplin was just the devastation that had occurred.

And I was talking to him one day and we were having dinner, and and I'd always wondered something.

You notice when you wonder something, you should probably just keep your mouth shut.

But before you know it, you've said it out loud, you know, and there it is.

And so that was me.

So I asked him the question.

I said, So, Ryan, here's the thing.

I just gotta know, okay?

Like I noticed that places like Joplin and there's like these places in Oklahoma and stuff like this, that like every few years a tornado comes through and just flattens the place and it's devastating and it's terrible.

And I see people building right back in the same place after 10 times.

Why are you building?

Can you move over 50 yards?

You know, maybe.

Like, what's the deal?

And he and he looked at me and he said, you know, that's actually a really good question.

And I said, I gotta know, why do you keep building back every after every single storm?

And he kind of had this look on his face like he was just like, like he was thinking of the right phrase, just kind of looking off in the space.

And then he's like, he finally found it and he looked at me.

And I thought he was mad at me at first, you know.

But he was, he gave me a look that I can't really describe to you what that look was.

So I tried to find it, okay?

I tried to find this look, and it was it was a determined look.

I couldn't really find it.

I looked up online.

Apparently, there's nobody determined on the internet.

I couldn't find it.

That was I that's what came up, okay?

I mean, that's stubborn, but maybe not determined.

I don't know what it is.

And so I was trying to figure out the look that he gave was so determined.

And so it just so happened, somebody was in my house this past week, and I said, Sir, can you give me a determined look?

And he just immediately was like, No, no, I can't do that.

And I said, Come on, just act determined for me.

And he said, Okay, you want determined?

Okay, here's determined.

Boom, right there.

That's determined.

Okay, that's Mr.

Wade Lewis.

And if you want to know what determined looks like, he looks determined and angry all at the same time.

And that is basically the look that Ryan Harriman gave me when he looked at me.

He had this look and he said, Pastor, I'm gonna tell you exactly what we do.

We refuse to let any storm defeat us.

And so we build back because we're not gonna let a storm tell us where we can live and where we can't live.

And so I'm gonna build my house and I'm gonna build their house, and I defy any storm to tell me where I can and can't be.

Amen.

All right.

Can you pass the chips, please?

All right, you know, because it was like it was my fault for half a second there that that had happened.

But it was amazing to me that he said we're not determined, man, we're stubborn.

That we're not gonna let any storm cause us to give up, but instead bring the worst storm you got because I need a reason to rebuild my house anyway.

It was just that determination that I am not going to give up.

And can I tell you that right there is the type of determination that I think Peter is talking about when he says, as the body of Christ, I am not going to let any controversy, any difficulty, any storm of life come.

I'm gonna build back even stronger because of the hope that's inside of me.

And the only kind of hope that can work on that can work in that environment is what the Bible calls hope, which is a dynamic living confidence in the promises of God.

That's the kind of hope that Peter is talking about.

He said it is a stubborn type of unity that I'm not gonna give up on you.

And I don't want you to give up on me.

And no matter what storms may come, I defy it to defeat us.

But rather, the bigger the storm, the worse it is, the bigger we're gonna build, the better it's going to be.

I'm not just worried about me, I'm worried about the neighbor next to me, and we're going to do this together.

And it is possible, but it's not easy because Christian, authentic Christian community is possible when we have unity in the essentials, we have grace in the non-essentials, and we love in all things.

Like that's what Christian community looks like is that in the essentials that we have unity.

In the not essentials, we give grace with one another.

That that's not a hill that I'm willing to die on.

If it's not in this book, then I don't care.

And I'm really glad that you do.

And we're gonna have a wonderful conversation about it, but I'm not gonna divide from you, a divide with you over something that's not in God's word.

And then even if we get to the place where we disagree, I'm still gonna love you and you're still going to love me.

And that's what this passage is all about.

It's about having that determined, stubborn unity that says, I'm not gonna let any storm defeat us.

I'm not gonna let any storm divide us.

And we're gonna talk about what that looks like.

But let me give you a couple of disclaimers before we move into this.

Here's a couple of disclaimers.

Number one is Christian community is hard.

Look at somebody and say, Amen.

Isolation is also hard.

Look at somebody else and say, I know that's right.

I know I threw a curve at you.

You get used to it.

That was a fun one.

All right, but here's the thing: what we got to do is we got to choose our heart.

And today is for those who have chosen to do life together.

You can choose to do life in Christian community or we can choose to do life in isolation.

Both are not easy.

Today's message is for everybody who wants a little bit of hope to try just a little bit harder to not give up on us as a church community.

Here's another one, and that is this this does not mean that you have to be best friends with every Christian you meet.

Somebody say amen.

Listen, God doesn't make people weird.

If they're weird as a Christian, they were weird before Jesus found them, okay?

And they may still be weird.

We've all got our own flavor, right?

Here, that's that's okay.

You don't have to be best friends with everybody, but we do have an opportunity to lock arms together and have a determined, stubborn unity.

And so here's the question: what does it look like to be a living example of hope through our stubborn desire to not give up on each other?

What does it look like?

What is what does the world see when they look at a Christian community that says, man, they got 99 problems, but Jesus isn't one of them.

And they have chosen to do life together.

Why don't you look at your neighbor and say, I'm not gonna give up on you?

And so then look back at them and say, So don't give up on me.

We're in this together.

We're in this together to have a stubborn, determined unity.

And he said, There's three main ways we can do this.

Here's the first one, and that is as a living example.

We are determined to look like Wade Lewis with the determined look on our face and say, we are gonna harmonize with each other.

That we're gonna be determined to say, man, we may not get it all right.

But in the essentials of unity, man, we are gonna learn how to harmonize with each other.

I love how he says it.

He says it like this He says, Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors, neighbors, and finally, all.

Somebody say all.

That means all of us have the opportunity to do this.

All of you should be of one mind, sympathizing with each other, loving each other as brothers and sisters, tenderhearted, and keeping a humble attitude.

And I love that he has to remind them of this.

Doesn't that make you feel better that this doesn't just come pre-installed on Christians?

That it's okay that in the early church he's saying, by the way, don't be mean to each other.

That's okay that 2,000 years later, every once in a while, we need to remember don't be mean to each other.

Like we're still working on this.

But he says the first thing is to be of one mind.

Now, that word, the the Greek word for that, means to harmonize.

And that basically means not on this in the same lane, but heading in the same direction.

That we complement each other.

It's like for instance, this is not harmony.

This makes me nervous, okay?

No one's getting out of that anytime soon.

All right, that's not harmony.

Nobody's heading in the same direction.

That's harmony.

That it's okay that we're not all in the same lane, but we're all going in the same direction.

What that means is that there are some people in our church that they're they're uh retired.

They're in the senior age of life.

There's other people that they are toddlers, they're in the early stages of life.

Some of y'all seeing yourselves in this.

Yes, I see some of that going on, and I think there may be a fire right there.

That's okay.

But you there's all these different lanes, all these different seasons.

And here's the problem: we live in a culture that says, unless we're in the same lane at the same time, we can't do life together.

But rather, what the Word of God says is actually the fact that you may be in a different lane than me may be exactly what I need because you may know something I don't know.

Therefore, he said we harmonize by doing it like this.

But number one, how do we do this?

By walking with others.

That's how we harmonize is by walking with others.

And I love how he says this.

He says, so then sympathize with each other.

And we live in a culture that that focuses so much on empathy that we forget about sympathy.

Here's the difference.

Empathy is feeling what they feel.

Sympathy is caring about what they feel.

Like there's nothing wrong with empathizing.

That other words, that is saying, I am right there with you.

I'm feeling it with you in the moment.

And there's a place for that.

However, we live in a culture that says that unless you have been where I have been and done what I have done and you are currently there, you can't understand me, you can't speak into my life and go away.

Well, here's the problem: no one's ever going to fully understand.

Because no one's ever lived the life that you have lived.

Only Jesus understands that because he's been there for every second of it.

However, when we we have sympathy for one another, that means we're able to say, I don't understand everything you're going through, but I love you.

And I care that you're hurting.

It's the difference between sitting with someone in the rain and holding an umbrella for them.

And I love how God's word says there's going to be times when I'm not going to understand.

I don't know what it is to lose a child, but I know what pain looks like.

So you sit there and cry, and I'll keep watch for you so you can.

I don't know what it is to go through a divorce.

But you sit there and you figure it out, and I'll fight the demons away while you have a moment to take a break, because there's going to be a moment when I'm going to go through something, and I don't care if you feel it for me.

I just need you to keep watch.

Just give me some space.

And that's what God's word is saying that when we walk together and say, listen, I don't understand what you're going through, but I love you, and so I'm going to stand here with you until it's all better.

That's what the kingdom of God looks like.

And that's what determined unity looks like.

How do we do this?

By showing love as a spiritual family.

He said, be of one mind, love each other as brothers and sisters.

When I was growing up, we used to call each other Brother Brandon and Sister Autumn.

Can I tell you?

I hated it.

Because I don't know you, you know, but but they but they did it.

And but as I got older, I began to realize the reason why we did that was to remind us that our connection transcends this building.

That we have a spiritual connection and a heavenly father that connects us so that no matter where we go in the world, if you know Jesus and I know Jesus, we got something in common.

And therefore, we're gonna have determined unity and we're gonna stick together.

And I love that he says, love each other as brothers and sisters, because nobody can fight with each other like family.

Amen.

And also nobody can fight for each other like family.

I don't know what it was like in your life and with your like childhood, but my two girls were an amazing example of this to me.

Now, I don't know what kind of, if you have kids, I don't know what kind of girls you had where they would just kind of slap each other, you know, they wouldn't do that.

My girls would square up and get ready to box each other.

I mean, they would they're pretty good.

I mean, they I mean, one of my daughters had a pretty good right hook if you give her half a second, all right?

And she learned on her sister, all right?

It was amazing.

And I would watch them fight to where I was wondering what I was doing wrong.

Like they aren't communicating at all, they're hurting one another, you know.

But then watch what would happen if somebody from the outside would say something.

They'd go from fighting each other to fighting against whoever it was.

I mean, they all they would do is pivot, all right, and go, listen, bring it on because you I can talk about my sister, you can't talk about my sister.

What would it look like in the body of Christ if we said, hey man, listen, we're gonna fuss, we're gonna get on each other's nerves, we're gonna we're gonna wonder how we're gonna make this, but don't come against my brother and sister, because I I will stand up for them twice as much as I will have a conversation with them because I'm determined in my unity.

He said that you, first of all, it's in what you do, it's in how you love.

I love this when he said, Those who truly care for each other.

Just be of one mind and be tenderhearted.

In other words, sensitive, showing kindness toward others.

I ask you this question: what is your compassion worth?

How much does it cost you?

Are you able to be compassionate for others?

Or have you been so calloused by the difficult things of this world that when you see one of your brothers and sisters in Christ going through something, all you think is, I'm glad it's not me.

Glad it's not me.

That's okay, but then it's but how can I help you?

Because you're my brother and you're my sister.

And he's saying, when you do that, when you have that determined, determined unity, it shows the world there's something to this Jesus thing.

And he had one more, and that is this, that then we also can celebrate others.

He says, Be of one mind and keep a humble attitude.

Remember the definition of humility.

It's not thinking less of yourself, but it's thinking of yourself less often.

It's the opportunity to not make everything about you and not make everything about me, but we're able to look out and bless and celebrate with others.

Heard someone say one time, do you want to see the condition of someone's heart?

Let someone else around them get blessed.

Can they celebrate or do they immediately minimize it?

I saw this happen when uh several years ago, my wife and I we'd been saving money for a while, and our car was just dying.

And so we had to get another car, and we found this great deal on a truck, had to travel all the way to Alabama to get it.

I was so excited.

And I drove up at church on Sunday morning.

This was years ago, and man, it was wonderful.

I came in and so many people celebrated.

Pastor, thank goodness.

Part of that made me wonder if they hated my other vehicle that bad.

They were great, they were so thankful for me to get rid of it and all this kind of stuff.

But there was one guy who came up to me where everybody else was celebrating, and he was like, Well, my goodness, we must have gave you a raise.

How much are we paying you around here?

Must be nice.

I probably need to change my uh my occupation and start being a pastor.

Both of his vehicles were nicer than what I just got.

But it was uh it was difficult.

He couldn't celebrate somebody else.

And it was times when I've done that on the inside because I wonder when it's my turn.

But you know what?

What really shows is when we can watch somebody else get blessed and go, man, I'm so thankful.

I'm so thankful that God has blessed you.

You know what happens when that happens?

People start looking and going, what's different about that person?

It's only Jesus.

I'm not better than anybody else.

I'm just better than I would be without Jesus.

I love how in another place God's word says it like this it says, Don't just pretend to love others.

Really love them.

Hate what is wrong, hold tightly to what is good.

Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.

Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

How in the world do we do that?

By rejoicing in our confident hope, by being patient in trouble, and oh man, keep on praying.

Because this is not pre-installed.

When you give your life to Christ and I give my life to Christ, we don't automatically become mature Christ followers.

It takes work and it's difficult.

And sometimes we have these higher expectations of Christians because we're Christians, only to realize that we are saved, but we all have growing to do.

But what happens is when we decide I'm not gonna give up on you, you don't give up on me, and I dare any storm to come.

We'll build back, we'll build stronger, we'll build it better than ever before.

We're gonna have the Wade Lewis look of determination on our face.

And so here's the question, and that is this which one of these is the most difficult for you to give?

Not receive, give.

Is it hard for you to celebrate others?

Is it hard for you to make room for others?

What would the Holy Spirit ask you to take a step of faith in over the rest of the year?

We're coming into the Thanksgiving season.

Who do you need to be thankful for?

How do you need to stand with so they can cry and you keep watch and you sympathize with their pain?

When we do that, you know what the Bible says?

That it's in those moments that the world looks on and they say, Who is this Jesus?

Not by how loud we preach, but how much love we give to one another.

Look at your neighbor and say, Don't give up on me.

Don't give up on me.

I'm not gonna give up on you because we're gonna harmonize with each other.

Here's the second one he says, and that is we are gonna choose to be a blessing.

We're gonna choose to be a blessing.

We defy any storm of life to destroy us.

Destroy it.

You didn't get us, you just got the stuff.

We're gonna build it back stronger than ever before.

We're determined in our unity.

He said it like this He says, Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.

And this is just so life-giving.

Look at this.

Don't repay evil for evil, don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.

Yay.

Instead, pay them back with a blessing.

This is what God has called you to do, and He will grant you His blessing.

Praise the Lord.

I love that when I'm the one guilty of the insults, right?

When I'm the one who needs to receive the blessing, but what do you do when you're in the middle of the storm and somebody else is insulting you?

What do you do when somebody else is doing something that's wrong and you just want to retaliate?

You know what he says to do?

He says, pay them back with a blessing because God likes it when you do.

And he's watching.

And he is the one that's going to bless you.

That sounds great.

We love using the phrase hurting people, hurt people.

Like, isn't that just precious?

Until they start hurting us, and then we start saying, Vengeance is mine, saith me.

That's the altered translation.

It's fine, it's fine.

All right, and it says, I will repay.

Actually, it says quite the opposite.

Here's the truth, and that is that in the storms, it's in the storms that we need to be at our best, but that's often when we're at our worst.

And the reality is, is that we have to understand and to realize that it's in the storm where we were supposed to shine the brightest.

Jesus just hurts all of our feelings when he says this in Luke.

He says, To you who are willing to listen, I love that.

Jesus knows some of us are like, now skip that chapter to go on to the next one.

Those of you who are willing, I'm gonna say to you, love your enemies.

Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you, do to others as you would like them to do to you, as you wish they would do to you.

For if you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that?

Even sinners love those who love them.

I added the emojis, okay?

Because that's hurtful.

All right, yes, but it's so true.

It's undeserved kindness that shows Christ to others, is what he's saying.

Is he saying that if we bless people who love us already, that's great and all.

But nobody who doesn't know Jesus looks at us and goes, wow, look at how different they live.

Look at how, look how much love that they have.

Where does that love come from?

They go, Well, yeah, of course they would.

But it's when we do good for others.

Especially, remember God's word that says, especially when they're doing bad things to you.

That's when people look and go, well, that's just weird.

Why, why would you, why, why aren't you supposed to fight fire with fire?

No, I fight fire with water.

I I'm gonna I'm gonna put it out, I'm gonna turn that temperature down.

Why?

Because I'm after something bigger and greater than just getting someone back.

I'm after hoping that their life will change the way God has changed my life.

And that's not easy, but that's what God has called us to do.

And it reminds me of a scripture we're gonna call David, chose to do this.

This is one of the funniest stories in the entire Bible, and I don't have time to tell it all to you, but it's in 1 Samuel 24, and it's this amazing moment when David shows us what it looks like to pay someone back with the blessing.

Now, if you don't know the story, David eventually becomes king over all Israel.

But at first, there was another king called Saul, and he was an evil king, and so God anointed David that one day when Saul died, David would become king.

But there was a problem, both of them still living.

And David was not out to do anything.

And let us pray.

I'm waiting for it, it's gonna happen.

In Jesus' name.

Right, yes, yes, very good.

Because this is it, the story's that good.

This is why you got to hear this, all right?

So, so the problem was this David and Saul were still alive.

And David or Saul heard that David was gonna be the next king, and so he said, Well, he can't be a king if he's dead.

And so Saul starts trying to chase David.

And as he is chasing him down, he and all of his men, all of Saul's men, are trying to chase and kill David and all of his men.

And so all David can do is run away.

And so they are running for their life.

Almost like in modern times, they are running down Interstate 65.

They are trying to get on their way, and they can't, you know, you know, Saul is right behind them.

They don't know where to go.

And finally they're like, look, let's just get off of an exit somewhere.

Maybe they'll just pass us by.

And so they get off on exit 22, you know, and they kind of get off of there and they see a 7-Eleven, also known as a cave, all right?

And they said, Let's go hide in the cave.

They won't ever find us there.

Well, Saul doesn't know where they are, they're traveling down 65 2.

Like, listen, I don't know where they are, but listen, guys, and this is true, it's in the Bible.

Check it out.

He said, I gotta pee.

Okay.

You ever been on one of those road trips and somebody's gotta go to the bathroom, right?

Can you hold it?

Well, he's the king.

You don't ask him if he can hold it, okay?

And so listen, just pull off anywhere.

Well, it's just so happens they pull off on exit 22, just like David and them did.

And so he's like, Listen, I gotta go to the Bathroom.

And so while they are looking, they go, Look, there's a 7-Eleven, also known as a cave.

And so David and them hide in the very back of the cave, and Saul Moses on in and proceeds to do his business.

That's called awkward.

Okay.

David and all of his men are hiding in the back of the cave, and Saul is using the bathroom.

And it's in that moment when David's men say, Look, what a wonderful opportunity.

The Lord must have put him into your hands, David.

Go kill him right now.

Can I tell you something?

Never kill anybody while they are just trying to do their business.

And that is exactly that's the lesson of the day, by the way.

That is exactly what David said.

He said this: He says, The Lord forbid that I should do that to my king.

I shouldn't attack the Lord's anointed one, for the Lord Himself has chosen him.

So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul.

And so he finished what he was doing.

He goes outside, David comes up, walks around, whatever just happened, goes in out there, and he's like, Dave, king.

I could have, but I didn't.

I'm just trying to prove to you I'm not your enemy.

And the amazing thing is, is that that day Saul went because it wasn't David's vengeance, but his mercy that made the biggest difference.

Can I tell you it's not easy?

But the action step is who do you need to choose to bless when it would be so much easier to curse?

Have you ever heard someone say, Why don't you do a little evil for a greater good?

That's not Jesus.

Jesus says, bless those who curse you.

Do good to those who spitefully use you.

Because when you do, they get to see me.

They get to see what it looks like to truly have been forgiven.

And then they start to go, they must really believe what they say.

And when they see that, then you say, Man, it's not me.

It's Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Let me tell you what God has done in my life.

And so they don't notice when we fuss and fight like everybody else.

They notice when we strive to forgive and stay determined in our unity with one another.

And so what we've got to do is have that same determination, like those people I was telling you about, and say, listen, I don't care how many storms come through, I'm not going to give up on you.

So don't you give up on me.

And let's keep doing this thing called life together.

One more time.

Look at your neighbor and say, Don't give up on me.

Don't give up on me.

I know I make it easy sometimes to want to give up on me, but don't give up on me because I want Christ to be seen through our lives.

And so when we do that, when we have authentic Christian community by agreeing on the essentials, having grace in the non-essentials, showing love.

When we do that, we're able to harmonize with each other.

We're able to then choose to bless.

And then here's one more, and that is then we're able to decide to respond to life.

We're able to make a decision.

And the decision is to respond to all that life brings at us.

You imagine when you've already predetermined that a storm is not going to destroy you, it changes how you go through that storm.

It changes how you prepare for that storm.

When you've already decided that I'm not going to let this storm divide me and you.

I'm going to make through it.

We're going to make through it together.

He says it like this.

He says, For the scriptures say, if somebody say, if you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Search for peace and work to maintain it.

And so what he's saying is that if you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, we've got to respond, not react.

Reaction is letting pressure lead.

Responding is letting principles lead.

That when the difficult things come, when the storm comes, I'm not leaning back hoping for the best, but I'm leaning in, deciding in advance what I'm going to do.

And God's promise is not saying that every moment's going to be enjoyable.

He's saying many happy days, which means there's going to be many sad days, many difficult days.

And joy is not an emotion, it is a state of life where we say, I choose to find the good in the things around me.

And he said, if you want to enjoy life, you have to respond to life in advance.

And he said to do these three things, and we're going to pray after this.

He says, number one is that we choose to speak life together.

We choose to speak life together.

He says, if you want to enjoy life, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies.

So he's saying you have a choice.

When something bad happens, you can choose to gossip.

You can choose to put it on social media.

You can choose to say things that you regret the moment you say it, but then you've said it.

You can do that.

Or you can respond and say, But you know the Lord is good.

I don't like that, but the Lord is good.

Praise the Lord in the good days and in the bad days.

I'm sure they meant well.

I'm sure that the intention wasn't there.

I'm not going to judge them just by their actions.

I'm going to judge them by their intentions because I hope people judge me the same way.

And so I'm not going to speak death over them.

I'm going to speak life over them.

The second thing he tells us is that we choose the good.

If you want to enjoy life, turn away from evil and do good.

God's word says that to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, with prayer, with asking, and with thanksgiving, make your request known to God.

And the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And then he said, in one more thing, fix your thoughts on what is good.

If anything excellent or praiseworthy, focus on those things.

And what we do is we choose as a community to focus on what God is doing, not on what the devil is doing.

That doesn't mean we deny it's there.

We just deny that that's all that's there.

That is there bad things happening in the world.

Of course there is.

But that's not all that's happening in the world.

And then one more, he said, then, and then we fight for peace.

We fight for peace.

He says, if you want to enjoy life, search for peace and work to maintain it.

In other words, he's reminding us that peace is not free.

That we have to have determination, stubbornness, and our unity.

Because it's one thing to win peace, it's another thing to keep it.

And it's there's always this current.

I don't know if you ever feel this in life, but especially in our current culture, there is this current of isolation.

It's always there.

It's always there.

And every time there's a disappointment, we just want to hide away from the things that hurt us.

And every time something doesn't go right, and and we have very justified in our reasoning, we just continue.

There's always a current.

And it takes a lot of intentionality to continually re-engage when everything starts to go wrong.

It takes intentionality to fight to stay together, to fight to have peace.

Just coming to church doesn't ensure our church stays in unity.

We have to fight for it every day.

We have to fight not to divide from one another.

There's always going to be another controversy that culture wants us to line up on one side or on the other, and we must choose.

Can we choose Jesus?

Can we choose to say, listen, we're going to unite in the essentials, we're going to give grace in the non-essentials, and in all things we're going to choose love because transcending all of that is that I love Jesus and I love you.

And I just want us to get to heaven together.

And so if you and I don't always agree, can we agree on Jesus?

And then can we spend the rest of our life working out the rest of the details?

And you know why we do that?

Because God's word says that the eye of the Lord watches over those who do this, and his ear is open to their prayer.

Other words, you want God's attention?

You want God to listen?

You go first.

I go first.

And that determined, stubborn unity that says, Man, I'm going to choose to bless when I don't have to.

And I am going to choose to go first.

And I am going to go first in putting myself out there and I'm going to respond to life and not just react to it.

And when we do that, the Bible says that all the world looks on and they go, Wow, that's what hope must look like.

And that's what's so powerful that we have the opportunity to do.

And one of the places that we're going to see this so much is we're going to see this this week as we read God's Word.

And thank you so much.

You've been reading with the Bible with us for about three years now.

We've been doing this, but you give me the opportunity to say every week, by the way, if you're not currently reading the Bible with us, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000 or scan that QR code.

And we are reading through the book of John.

And this coming week is one of my favorites.

We're getting toward the end of the Gospel of John.

And I love how Jesus, most of the next chapters, is talking about the last night that Jesus was with his disciples.

And it's this amazing moment where he's teaching them and he's preparing them for what's going to come next.

And there's this amazing moment where Jesus shows us how and why we can choose to bless in difficult circumstances, and how we can also decide to respond to life.

It says it like this the Bible says, he says, Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything that he had, and he had come from God, and he would return to God.

So he got up from the table and took off his outer robe and he wrapped a towel around his waist and he poured water into a basin.

Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that he had around him.

The Bible says that Jesus knew full well exactly who he was.

He knew that he was God.

He knew that he had come from the Father and He was going to be going back to the Father again.

He knew he had existed from eternity past.

He was God in the flesh, the King not just of Israel, not just of the world, the King of the universe over space and time and everything.

That king, because he was firmly rooted in who he was, he did not consider it a disrespect to take off his outer coat and to put on the towel of a servant.

What's amazing about this is during the time, especially during this time, the time of the Passover, it was considered very gross to walk through town.

You would get dust on you, you get, you know, the leftovers of horses and donkeys all over you.

I mean, it was just, it was, it was horrible to walk around the streets of Jerusalem, especially this time of the year.

And so when they would walk in, just pretty much from their knees down, would just be dusty and disgusting.

And so what would happen is, is the the newest servant in the house, the lowest man on the totem pole, he was supposed to be there at the door with a pail of water and a towel, and he was supposed to wash your feet, dry, dry off, and it was just considered an act of service.

It was the lowest position in the entire house.

And the king, strong and mighty, king of the world, had no problem saying, I will serve.

Not so that I can become something, but because I already am, I can serve.

And you imagine who he's serving in the moment.

He's serving somebody who is gonna tell him, if everybody else turns from you, Jesus, I got you.

Nobody, they can they can kill me right alongside you.

I'm not going to, he's like, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times.

No, Jesus, I got this.

He's washing the feet of a guy who's gonna turn his back on him.

He's washing the feet of someone who's already betrayed him, just hasn't found the opportunity yet.

And I wonder if it's while he's washing his feet, if Judas realizes tonight's the night.

Didn't stop Jesus.

All the rest of them, when the soldiers come, they all deserted.

Jesus knows, and he's still washing their feet.

Why?

How could you do that?

King, don't you dare get on your knees.

You should be standing, we should be on our knees before you, and he says, Because I'm the king, I can serve.

And then he says this later, and he says, Now I am giving you a new commandment.

Love each other, just as I have loved you, so you should love each other, and it is your love for one another that will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

The last evening, Jesus says, I'm doing this for a reason that you could you could be so settled in who you are in Christ that in him you are loved, seen, known, significant, that you've never been more loved than you are right now.

And so we don't do anything we do in this life in order to get the favor of God.

We live because we've already got it, and because we are more loved than we've ever been, I can forgive, I can serve.

I don't have to demand anything, but I can put on that towel of service and I can serve other people even when they hurt us, even when they say I'm with you, and you know in your heart they're really not, because Jesus showed us how.

And he said, When you decide to love one another, it's that love that's gonna show the world who I really am.

And I want to ask you this question today.

In just a minute, the band's gonna come up, gonna offer us an opportunity of worship.

Can I ask you a question?

Have you grown weary in forgiving others?

Have you grown weary in harmonizing with others?

Have you listened to the lie of the world that says that unless we're on the same page and on the same note and everything's exactly the same, I can't love you, you're my enemy.

That's not what God's word says when it comes to so many things.

He says we're supposed to be in harmony, we're both going in the same direction, but we can be in separate lanes.

Have you gotten have you been listening to the world?

Jesus says, because of who you are, serve.

I'm not gonna give up on you.

Don't you give up on me?

And I wonder if it's 30 years later, Peter is there in the middle of the storm and he's seeing all of this stuff happen, and he remembers that night.

And I wonder if he remembers what Jesus did and he said, Man, you want to know how we make it through storms?

We serve each other, we love each other.

What makes you think that, Peter?

Because I've watched the king do it, and if he can do it, I can too.

You can too.

Have you gotten weary?

The Bible says that in his presence is fullness of joy.

Can I tell you, I've gotten weary.

I'm tired of making statements.

I'm tired of people wanting to know what I agree with and what I don't agree with.

And I tell them I believe I agree with Jesus, that's not quite enough.

I also got to agree with everything else everybody else says.

And we've we're so careful to want to divide from one another.

What if we got so determined and said, I'm not gonna divide from you anymore?

I'm gonna find something we can agree on and stand on that together.

Let it be Jesus.

That's you.

Maybe it's time to just take a moment, in just a moment, while we're worshiping the Lord and say, Jesus, help me to come back to the simplicity of loving you and loving my neighbor.

And maybe you're in here, maybe you don't have a relationship with Jesus.

Can I tell you, for every Christian who has hurt you, for every Christian who is who has not acted like Christ, I'm so sorry.

Please forgive us for being human.

That's not Jesus.

Jesus loves you more than you can imagine.

You've never been more loved than you are right now.

The Bible says Jesus didn't go through all that trouble coming and doing this.

The Father sending into the earth, he didn't do that to point an accusing finger.

He came to help and to put the world right again.

He came to help.

And he wants to wash away all of your sins.

And maybe in a in a service, soon from now, we can baptize you as you've come into the family of God.

And if that's you, on the back of your connect card is the plan of salvation.

Can I tell you the enemy is gonna give you every excuse not to give your life to Jesus today?

But the voice of the Holy Spirit is the one that's gonna say, I love you.

I've not given up on you.

Today's the day.

Today's the day.

If that's you, when the band starts to lead us in a song of worship in just a moment, and we're all gonna be standing and worshiping.

Your next step of worship is to take this connect heart, the one that was in your worship, God, and I want you to meet us back at the prayer table and say, I want to know Jesus.

And today could be the day that you experience the love of God like never before.

Can we pray together right now?

God, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, God, that you see us and that you know us and that you are with us in every way.

I'm so thankful, God, that in this place, Lord, you are speaking to every heart and moving in every life.

Lord, there are those of us that we love you, but Lord, because of things that's happened in our life, we struggle to love one another.

Lord, we have earned those wounds.

We've earned those difficulties.

But I pray you will put down inside of us that stubborn determination that says, I will not give up on my brother, my sister in Christ.

And you will begin to help us, Lord, to find what we can unite on and to move forward in that way because there's a world that needs to see your light.

You have sent us into the world to be that light.

I pray you will brighten it in our hearts today as we worship you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that you'll continue to speak to our hearts.

And if there's someone in this place that needs to know you, Jesus, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you will reach out to them, that you will move in their life, and you will be the one that you'll silence the voice of the enemy, and that you will be the one to say, I still love you.

I've not given up on you, I'm still here for you.

And that today will be the day of their salvation.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Would you stand with me all over the house this morning?

The band is gonna lead us to one final song of worship.

And I don't know what your next step needs to be.

Can I tell you that in this life, Jesus said we will have trouble?

And maybe you're just weary, maybe you're just struggling with just being in unity with one another.

It's so easy to isolate and kind of walk back and just kind of my island.

But maybe you just need to pray for a moment and say, Holy Spirit, help me to not do that, not give in to the pressure of the enemy.

But rather, I pray that you'll just fill me up with your love and fill me up with your touch.

Maybe you're in here and you just like to find a quiet place up here for prayer.

Just lay something down before the Lord.

Or maybe today's the day of salvation for you.

It would be our honor to meet with you at the prayer table.

But whatever it is you need to do, let's take the next few moments and just connect with God and give him a heart today.