1 Peter: Blessed Assurance (A Living Example: Government)

It is so good to see you.

Happy, happy beginning of October.

And just to make sure everybody feels real good, I've got a quick dad joke for you.

And that is this how do you fix a pumpkin?

With a pumpkin patch.

There you go.

Very good.

I know.

Welcome to real life church.

It's gonna get better from here on out.

Right.

Yeah.

As a matter of fact, if you have your Bibles, want to turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2, we are gonna be diving right into God's word.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

And I want to say to you really quickly, if this is your first time joining us, welcome.

Welcome.

Put up our hands together and celebrate our first-time guests and say thank you to them.

Thank you for being with us.

And if at some point in the service you wouldn't mind, we'd love for you to fill out the connect card that's inside your worship guide, and you can drop that off at the Welcome Center.

We have a free gift for you, but we also would love to give you a free Bible so that next time you are with us, you can turn in your Bibles with us to 1 Peter.

And we're gonna jump right in.

And I do want to also tell you if you didn't see it out front, today is merch drop day, and we are so excited about that.

And and there's a that we have these wonderful shirts that say real life church on the front of it, and on the back of it, it's a surprise.

Okay, it's a statement you may not have ever heard before, okay?

But just enjoy.

And I cannot wait to hear some of the some of the conversations that happen when you are a moving billboard saying, hey, everyone's got a private battle you don't know anything about, but God.

And I think that is just an awesome way to kind of edit that statement just a little bit.

Jesus knows, and he wants to help us find that freedom, right?

And so make sure you you take part in that.

And if you've been with us, what we've been talking about, as we've been talking about First Peter, is kind of this mental picture of have you ever been watching the news?

It's kind of hurricane season now, and watching the news, and you look down at you know the Florida basin or maybe Texas or the Carolinas, and all of a sudden you notice there's this massive storm that's happening.

And you look at that, and it's one thing, you see it and you you feel for those who are in it, but then all of a sudden you look and you go, wait a minute, I've got a good friend of mine, and he lives, like his mailbox is right in the dead center of the eye of the storm.

And so now you're invested, right?

Like you have a personal, you know, reason for caring about this storm.

And then right in the middle of just wondering what's going on and hoping that they're okay, you get contacted from inside the storm.

That would be the most amazing thing ever because you're already wondering, how is my friend doing?

And then you get an email from them.

Let me tell you exactly how I'm doing.

And that is exactly what 1 Peter is really all about.

And we've been talking about this idea that in the actual time that Peter is writing this letter, we've got what we've called, you know, the storm of the 60s in Rome.

And the church was started in 33 AD with the resurrection of Jesus.

Acts 2, you know, they begin to go all over the world and spread the gospel.

Peter eventually makes his way all the way to Rome because of course he's going to be in the epicenter of all the action.

But while he is there, all of a sudden, as the church is growing and experiencing persecution, all of a sudden, boom, the 60s hit.

And it's just crazy.

Like it starts with 61 A.D.

when Paul is in prison now in Rome.

He's writing, you know, Ephesus and Philippians and Colossians.

And then in 64, Rome burns.

And Nero blames it on the Christians, even though we had nothing to do with it.

And so what was already kind of disinvited to the party, you know, like that kind of persecution turns into outright persecution.

And it's right after that that Peter writes this letter, and it gets worse.

I mean, eventually he's martyred, Paul is martyred, and it's right in the middle of this storm that he is writing to the churches all over Asia Minor, and it's from the eye of the storm.

You think of all the things he could have said.

He could have talked all about how bad it was and how difficult it was and all this kind of stuff.

But I have this picture in my head.

You ever watch those poor those poor souls?

They're like the lowest one on the totem pole, and they're the ones actually in the storm reporting.

You know, it's like, what bet did you lose that you're actually right there on the beach as the storm of the century is coming by?

And they're like, hey, we're about to die, but it's good to be reporting.

You know, it's like that's what I think of when I think of Peter.

He's right in this and the wind is blowing everywhere.

And then right there, as he's kind of reporting from the eye of the storm, of all the things he could have said, the overall goal of this letter is that he is telling them that, man, we can stand strong because of our blessed assurance.

That right in the middle of the storm of the century for the Christian church, and all these things are going on, he isn't talking about how bad it is, he isn't talking about how unfair it is, that they're getting blamed for stuff they didn't do.

Right in the middle of this, he is saying, hey guys, the storm is heading your way, but I want to tell you right from the epicenter of it, man, we can stand strong because we have something that is worth standing on.

We have this blessed assurance.

And what he has been doing over the past couple of chapters, we've been, we've been reading through these.

Week one, we talked about how he's made in, he's kind of set the the the tone of the whole thing.

And he said in week one, chapter one, he said, you know what that blessed assurance is?

Is that we have a living hope.

And then in the next week, he talked about that that living hope actually gives us focus when everybody else is in chaos.

Last week, Pastor Chris did a great job talking about, and that we have that timeless church mentality that we're part of something that's so much bigger than just right here and now, but we're part of something that God has been doing over a long time.

And as Peter is right there in the middle of that storm, and he's saying, You have a living hope that gives you focus, it helps us keep our perspective.

He says, Now that we've got all of that, let's get down to business.

And that's what today is all about.

So God's word says in 1 Peter 2, verse 11, it says, Dear friends, I warn you, as temporary residents and foreigners, to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.

1 Peter 2:11

Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.

Then, if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

And for the Lord's sake, submit to all human authority, whether the king as head of state or officials that he has appointed, for the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

For they, for you are free, yet you are God's slaves.

So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

Respect everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, and respect the king.

No, yes, of course, of course.

And how can we possibly do that?

Well, he didn't just start with that.

Remember, if we were to sum up the first part of 1 Peter over the past three weeks, like the best way I could say to sum this up, he's saying, Because the storms around us do not change God's goodness within us, therefore, so he spent the first long while saying, Yes, there are storms everywhere.

I'm right in the middle of it.

But the storms on the outside don't have to have to change the calm that I'm feeling on the inside.

Therefore, what he's telling us today is that we can stand firm as a living example of hope.

That one of the greatest things that we've been called to do as the body of Christ is to be a living example of the hope that God has within us, that we have a living hope that gives us focus, that's part of something bigger than ourselves.

And so now we are a living example of hope.

It reminds me of I told you guys a few weeks ago that when I was a teenager, I lived down uh close to the coast where we would experience some hurricanes and stuff.

And uh my my dad was a pastor, and the the church building was the strongest building in the community.

It'd been there for a long time.

It had been through like really, really bad hurricanes, like Hurricane Andrew and all those different ones.

And so they they knew this this place is sturdy, right?

And so whenever there was a hurricane, everyone in the community would come to the church.

And that was awesome because the church was right across the yard from my house.

So we were, we were good to go.

And once they had everything ready and everything was getting started, my dad would always kind of break it down.

We'd like to huddle up as the Canon family, right?

And as we would huddle up, my dad would tell me, say, listen, we got food, we got water, we got we got all the things.

Canons, you got one job.

What's that, dad?

You mean you mean check the flashlights?

You know, you want me to kind of watch outside.

It's like, no, stay calm.

Like your number one job, and that was a big deal for me because I was certain, you know, every time this is the last one.

You know what I mean?

I was just, that was just the way I was.

And he would say, Listen, we're gonna be safe, we're gonna be okay.

Your job is to remind everybody else you're gonna be okay.

Okay, all right, I'm gonna go around and tell everybody we're gonna be okay.

Hey, I know, I know it looks like you're gonna die.

We're gonna be okay.

No, just walk around and be an example of calm.

Like when you see the trees going by, go, hey, look, there's a tree.

All right, now what are we doing?

Like, like be calm, like be a like be a living example of what it is that is going to be okay.

And that's what Peter is saying is he is saying, in the chaos of the world all around you, you are supposed to be a living example of what it looks like to have storms on the outside, but have calm on the inside, not because I don't care about the storms, but because my hope isn't in the storms.

My hope is in something that is solid, and it is in that hope in Jesus.

And remember, we've been making sure we're defining that phrase hope correctly, because the world, the world's idea of hope is like wishful thinking.

Like I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight, which never has worked for me, by the way.

But biblical hope is that dynamic living confidence that helps us focus on what God has promised.

And so when we say this idea of hope, we're not saying wishful thinking.

We're saying that we are going all the way into a confident expectation that helps me to focus because God has proven himself faithful.

And so it's not an empty hope.

And the reason why I can be a living example of hope is because hope is confidence.

And what we're about to see is this passage of scripture is the pivotal spot that for the rest of the entire book, he talks about okay, now that we have this living hope and we are 10 toes down on it, now this is how we live it out in front of the world.

And so this next verse is the pivot point for the rest of the entire Bible, or not the whole Bible, for the rest of 1 Peter.

And he says this he says, Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners, we say in Alabama, foreigners, to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very soul.

So basically, what he was just saying in this one verse is everything I've been saying for the past chapter and a half, do that.

And then as you were doing that, he's saying, and then be careful to live.

Look at somebody and say, be careful.

Be careful to live, to actually live properly among.

Look at somebody else and say, Among.

Among your unbelieving neighbors.

Then, even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

And so actually, what he was saying is, is he was saying one of the best ways to reach your friends and neighbors is to realize God did not save you to take you out of the world.

He saved us so we could be a light into the world.

Let me say it like this: that we have actually been called to be an example of how to live in the world, but not of the world.

That he is gonna share with us over the course of the next couple of chapters what it looks like to not just separate ourselves from the world.

Jesus actually, when he was praying in John 17, he prayed to his father, I pray that you not take them out of the world, but keep them as they go through the world.

And Peter is now echoing that and he's saying, Let me break it down for you on how you do this.

And so he's gonna start with the most high level possible, and then he's gonna break it all the way down.

And today we're gonna grapple with the question of, okay, so the statement is don't let the storms on the outside change the hope on the inside.

Therefore, the question is, how do we show our hope when interacting with our government?

This was my week, okay.

I got I got this particular passage of scripture.

Okay, I should have given this one to Pastor Chris.

So, but but yeah, the idea of what do we do?

And so, what I love about this is he starts way up here and he's gonna work his way down.

And so that's what we're gonna do.

We're just gonna say what God's Word has to say about how we interact with our government, and then next week we're gonna talk about other types of environments and get all the way down because we have been called to be a living example.

Look at somebody and say, Watch me.

That was horrible.

That was terrible.

I know it's fall break.

I'm gonna say it's spring break, sprawl break.

Look at someone else and say, Watch me.

There you go, watch me.

That's what God is telling us to do.

The scripture says everybody needs to watch you.

Now, now I know there's a balance there.

We don't want to get like main character syndrome or anything like that, but to realize that the world is watching us.

So he's saying, make sure they're watching something good.

So let me break down for you how to interact with our government.

And here's the thing, we'll give a disclaimer before we dive into this.

I'm gonna stay off of all of my soapboxes, but I'm gonna step on every one of the landmines that I see, okay?

I'm gonna do my very best, okay?

But here's the disclaimer: too many exceptions reduce truth to fractured confusion.

Well, I mean by that is we can nuance something so to so whatever that it actually doesn't mean anything.

You ever been there, right?

Like, for instance, like let's take a phrase, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Okay, that's great.

Well, Pastor, what about this?

Okay, yes, then then it's that way.

Well, what about that?

Okay, when then it's then it's that way.

Well, what in this situation?

Well, what about that situation?

Well, it's a little different where I come from.

Well, what about this over here?

After a while, you're going, what were we even talking about?

Oh, right, right, right.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

And so what we're gonna do is, is we're gonna have like the thousand-foot view of what God's word says about how we are supposed to live as dual citizens of the kingdom of God, but we're not gonna be able to cover all the individual situations that's going on in our world or even within our own country.

That is why I love life groups so much.

Is if I would encourage you, if you're in a life group, to meet with your life group this week and ask, okay, well, how do we apply God's word to this 10-foot view that's going on in this particular situation and break that down?

So I'm gonna give you the high-level view and we're gonna break it down from there.

Sound good?

Say amen.

This is the high-level view of what he is saying, that we are to be a living example when it comes to interacting with our government.

Here's the first one he says, and he says that as a living example, we have the confidence to let's go on to number two, shall we?

Number two says, No, submit, this nasty saying that out loud, submit to leaders in a God-honoring way.

Submit to leaders in a God-horing way.

Somebody say, watch me.

That's what we're supposed to do is we're supposed to live our faith out loud in the world, but not of the world, to the point that other people can say, look, there goes a Christian.

And it's because of how we submit to leaders in a Christ-honoring way.

Look at what he said.

He said, for the Lord's sake, for goodness sake, for heaven's sake, submit to all human authority, whether the king as a head of state or officials he has appointed, for the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

Now, that seems hard for us now.

Imagine how it felt to Peter when it was the king, Emperor Nero, who was hunting them down.

Like, remember, Rome had burned and he had blamed it on all the Christians.

Like, imagine for a moment that Washington, D.C.

burned down, and there was an announcement that said the Christians did it.

What do you mean?

I was watching football yesterday.

I didn't burn nothing down.

No, no.

They did it.

You imagine be like, man, that's not fair.

We had nothing to do with this.

That's exactly what was going on.

Is they were getting blamed.

Someone's gonna have to get punished.

And they said it was the Christians, and it's to that that he is saying, submit to all human authority, including the ones who are absolutely lying about us.

Because the king has even sent those to punish those who do wrong.

So therefore, we have to have a good definition of submit because that gets a little weird all of a sudden.

Because in some of our environments, we think that to submit means to give up, it means to quit, it means that we're weak.

That's not biblical submission.

Here's a definition for biblical submission.

Biblical submission is a position of the heart, not a statement of value.

It declares that we trust God's ability to learn through others, to lead through others.

It's saying that I'm not saying that you are any better than me or I'm any better than you, that we are all equal in value to God.

Submission is when we declare that we trust God so much that we trust that He is able to lead me even through other flawed human beings.

Submission is actually a trust in God more than anything else.

And that's actually what was echoed by the Apostle Paul when he was also writing a letter to the church in Rome, and he actually said this: he said, everyone, somebody say everyone.

Everyone, submit to the governing authorities, for all authority comes from God.

And those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

That doesn't mean that they're serving God, it just means that God is able to get what he wants done through them.

And sometimes it's easy, sometimes God gets creative, but no matter how he does it, God is able to do what he needs to do through that.

So then that gets to the next question.

But wait a minute.

In the time where Peter was living, they were supposed to do this thing called emperor worship, where they were supposed to worship literally the emperor, and they weren't going to do that.

That was one of the reasons why they were in so much trouble.

So wait a minute.

If we're supposed to submit to all authorities, where's the line?

And let me show you where the line is.

It's like, imagine, imagine this box is the kingdom of God, right?

I know it's very awesome, right?

The kingdom of God, and that this is where in the kingdom of God, which is our primary citizenship, that we absolutely live in the kingdom of God and we do what is in written in God's word.

This is our rule book for how to conduct ourselves this side of heaven.

But then what happens is we also live in the kingdom or the governments of this world.

And so what happens is most of the time, most of the things that a healthy government does is it tells us to do things that fits within the kingdom of heaven.

So we do that.

Like, for instance, I already, because I'm obeying the kingdom of heaven, I'm gonna be a relatively good citizen.

Like, for instance, most healthy governments would say, don't murder people.

Well, I wasn't gonna do that anyway.

Most citizens, you know, we say, don't steal.

Good, I wasn't gonna do it anyway.

And then if our government tells us to not own a cat, I'm gonna know that God is speaking through our government to tell me something amazing, okay?

Don't be in rebellion now.

Submit to the governing authorities, right?

So, but the idea is that when they align, we're aligned.

However, wherever the local government does not line up with the kingdom of God, my primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God.

Does that make sense?

So, as dual citizens, as long as we are aligned, we are aligned.

The line becomes when it causes me.

So when they were telling people during Peter's day that what you've got to do is you have to worship the emperor, he said, nope, that falls outside the line of where the local, uh the the where the kingdom of God is, and so therefore I don't do that.

That's how you can tell the difference.

And I wonder if he remembers this all the way back when Jesus said this, and we're actually going to read about this, where Jesus actually gives a game plan for this dual citizenship.

And if you've been reading God's word with us, we're going through the gospel of Luke right now, and we we call him the investigative journalist because he wrote down all the stories of Jesus in a chronological way.

And if you'd like to read God's word with us, you can scan that QR code or text RLC Bible to 94,000.

And there's this moment where Jesus has been saying over and over again that we live in the kingdom of God.

And so his enemies thought we got him because he's been talking all about the kingdom of God, but there's also this kingdom of men that we live in.

That's where we're going to get him.

And so they go up to Jesus one day and they think that they've found something where they can say, okay, well, these seem opposed to one another, so how do we do this?

And this is what happened.

They came up to him and said, Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think.

You teach the way of God truthfully.

So, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Because they're saying if we're in the kingdom of God, then what allegiance do we have to the kingdom of this men of men?

And so Jesus saw their thoughts and their trickery, and he said, Show me a Roman coin, whose picture and title are stamped on it?

Well, Caesar's, they replied, Well then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.

They were amazed by this answer, and they were silent.

They showed up talking about it because they realized Jesus knew what he was talking about more than they did.

And so the idea is, is this nuance there?

Sure.

But the primary thing is that we submit not out of giving up, not out of weakness.

We submit because we trust God.

We trust that God is able to be in control and to do what he wants to do through other flawed human beings.

And so I don't know if this is something that you struggle with.

What exactly do I need to do?

So maybe this is your action step, and that is to show your hope in God by submitting to others within God-honoring boundaries.

Maybe that's something you need to pray, ask God to help you with.

God, how can I better trust you by letting other people lead?

And as long as they stay within the boundaries of your word, I don't have to, I don't have to worry about it.

That God, you're you're going to get what you want done, done.

And that takes an immense amount of hope.

It takes an immense amount of confidence in God to say, I do not trust you, but I trust him.

And I trust that he is able to use something flawed, something not perfect, to do exactly what he wants to do.

And you know what Peter said?

He said, when you are a living example, that even those who want to say the silliest things are going to look at you and go, but I can't deny how they live.

Are they perfect?

No, but they're striving for something that is better.

And I see how they live and I see this hope that they have.

That hope must be able to hold water.

It must be able to withstand the storms on the outside.

There's something on the inside that can withstand all the things on the outside.

I need to know what gives them that kind of hope.

And that's where we have the opportunity.

So what we have to do is just say, watch me.

Because when you watch me, I'm not going to be able to show you everything, but I can show you what Jesus looks like in a flawed human as I'm getting closer to Him every day.

So look at your neighbor and say, Watch me.

Look at somebody else and say, Watch me.

There we go.

We got this, we got this together.

Because that's what's happening is that people are watching us.

And they can watch us because we have a hope, a living, breathing hope.

And his name is Jesus.

And that when they see us, they see that we're able to submit because we trust the Lord in a God-honoring way.

Here's the second one, and that is this that because we have this living example, or we are, we have the confidence to outlast the waves of criticism.

The waves of criticism that will come over time.

If you've been a Christian very long, then you're sitting there going, oh yeah.

If you're a new Christian, you're like, no, this is easy, this is awesome.

If you've been a Christian for a little while, you go, well, there's this thing called spiritual warfare that happens.

And so many times it happens through personalities and attitudes more than anything else.

And that's ones that we have to grapple with ourselves, but also ones that come against us.

And our job is to outlast and to show what true faith really is.

This is what he said.

He said, Now we have a living hope and we're able to submit to authorities because of our hope in Jesus.

And then he says this it's God's will.

Finally, I can I tell you one of the number one questions I get as a pastor is how do I know God's will?

Well, the thing is that God's will is outlined all over the Bible.

It's just mainly he outlines it not as a destination, but as a journey we're supposed to take, as a daily decision.

And so this is the daily decision.

You want to know what God's will is?

It's God's will that our honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

For you are free, yet you are God's slaves.

In other words, you belong to Him.

So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

In other words, you're free to not do this, but actually look at it as though I'm free that I can do this.

I can be an example.

And the thing is, there's going to be times when there's going to be criticism that comes for being a Christian.

And is it really wrong if you just quote the Bible and say, let me tell you who you are?

You're an ignorant person making foolish accusations.

That's just like that's awesome.

You know, I mean, that's that's Peter's way of saying stupid people saying stupid stuff.

All right, that's what he's saying, but we can't say it like that.

You just you're just ignorant and foolish.

And that's God's word.

So what do you what are you gonna say, right?

But think about this for a moment.

Once again, Rome has burned, and they're blaming it on Christians.

You know something else they blamed early Christians?

They blamed early Christians as being atheists because Roman culture was polytheistic.

They worshiped all the gods, your your socks, just whatever.

They they worshiped everything.

But but they say, no, no, all those other ones that Jesus is the only way.

Well, you must be an atheist.

No, just like one, but that was one of the things that they got blamed for.

And so he's saying, these ignorant people making up all these lies about us, your honorable life is what will silence them.

Not by gotcha statements, not by trying to talk someone into the ground, not by any of that kind of stuff, but the way you live over time is what will silence ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

And I wonder if Peter learned this because of what happened in the early church.

The Bible tells us that there was a moment when he had to stand up against persecution, because in the book of Acts, it says that when Acts 2 happened, that they go and they tell everybody about what happened to Jesus, and it was like thousands of people got saved.

And then the next day they preached again and more people got saved, and all this is starting to happen.

And then finally there was a day when the local government, the Pharisees and Sadducees, got together and they got there with Peter and them, and the local government said, You cannot talk about this, Jesus.

Okay, well, then what are they gonna do?

Well, this is how they they stood up against that, fell outside of what God's Word said.

Look, this is what they said.

Peter and the apostles replied and said, We must obey God rather than any human authority.

We are witnesses of these things.

And so they just said, Listen, we're we're not here to be against you.

We're just for Jesus.

And we can't stop talking about Jesus.

And then they said that when they heard this, the council was furious and decided to kill them.

But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, which is really fun to say, and by the way, that was that was uh Paul, the apostle Paul, that was his mentor who stood who uh spoke up and did this.

So a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and said to his colleagues, Take care of what you are planning to do to these men.

Some time ago, that there was that fellow, Theodus, who pretended to be something great, and about 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all of his followers went their various ways.

The whole movement came to nothing.

So my advice is leave these men alone and let them go.

If they are planning to do these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You may even find yourself fighting against God.

So they called the apostles and had them flock, which is like 39 lashes.

So they beat them half to death, and then they ordered them to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again speak in the name of Jesus, and then they let them go, which is not quite what Gomaliel said, but they they did most of it.

But then look at this: the apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.

And every day in the temple and from house to house, they continue to teach and preach this message that Jesus is the Messiah.

And so what happened was is they said, Hey, wait a minute, we've seen fads and things move through here before.

So you know the number one way to tell if it's real is what happens when the new wears off?

What happens when it gets hard?

That's how we're gonna know if this Jesus really is true, not even by the message, but what his followers do over time.

And so, you know what Peter is now saying 30 years later, when he's in the middle of the storm, he's saying, I found what works.

Because 30 years later, we're still here.

30 years later, we've made it all the way to Rome and we're still preaching the gospel.

And so, therefore, the number one thing that you can do is just outlast all the criticisms.

Because the reality is, is sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness.

Sometimes the greatest act of faith is when there's a storm all around you and you're going, but I still trust in God.

The reality is, is what what will the world see once the wave passes?

What will they see?

Let's get really real for a moment.

Right now, there's this amazing thing going on in our country that the the horrible, terrible assassination of Charlie Kirk has started some wonderful conversations about where did his hope come from?

What are we supposed to do?

All these different things.

This is awesome.

What happens six months from now?

Are you still gonna be telling people about Jesus?

The answer is yes, of course we are.

And and when when the news cycle moves on and goes on to the next tragedy, we have the opportunity to say, I'm still thankful for Jesus.

I'm still thankful that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And so for you and for me, maybe our action step is just to stay faithful over time, to continue to trust the Lord that he knows what he is doing.

And he is able to take any tragedy and bring about something beautiful.

And so what we do is we say, then watch me.

I want to show you what it is to be in the world, but not of the world.

And I'm not going to be perfect, but I'm always going to be falling forward closer to Jesus.

And that we have the privilege of being able to be light and hope into a dark world that desperately is looking for Jesus.

They just don't know his name yet.

They know that what's happening isn't working.

They know that all this chaos has got to come to an end.

They know all of this stuff can't lead to anywhere good.

They know that there's got to be something better.

And the truth is that there is.

And his name is Jesus.

And so our job is to say, look, this is what it is to live in a storm, but not have the storm living inside of you.

I'm not perfect.

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

What is that?

It's called hope.

What is hope?

It's a confidence in the faithfulness of Jesus that helps me focus.

Well, what does that do?

It gives me the confidence to submit to the governing authorities.

As long as they stay with inside God's word, I'm going to stay within side of them, not because I trust them at all, but because I trust that God is able to lead through others.

And then I'm going to be faithful over time.

And when all the criticism comes, when all the things happen, I'm going to continue to be faithful because my hope was never in the world.

My hope was never in the waves.

My hope was always in Jesus.

So watch me as I keep my eyes on Jesus.

One more time, look at your neighbor and say, watch me.

Watch me as I keep my eyes on Jesus.

That I'm going to submit to governing authorities within God honoring parameters, that I'm going to stay faithful over time.

And then here's one more, and that is I'm going to live a life of honor.

I'm going to live a life not of not of rage culture, not of trying to get one up on somebody else, not trying to do all that kind of stuff that our culture is just so addicted to right now.

But instead, what if we did the exact opposite in order to show what it is to be in the world, but not of the world?

And so instead of trying to get one up on somebody, what if we say you go first?

And instead, I want to live a life of honor.

He said it like this.

He said, Therefore, respect everyone.

But where I come from, we don't have a use for a V.

And so we just say respect everyone.

Look at somebody and say, respect everyone.

I'm going to have all y'all speaking country before our time is done, right?

Respect everybody.

And do that by loving the family of believers, fearing God, and yes, respect the king.

And so what does that mean?

Well, first, let's make sure we understand what respect means.

Respect does not mean you agree.

Somebody say amen.

Respect does not mean that we agree with them.

Respect everyone means acknowledging that everyone has been made by God.

I respect you because I respect who made you.

It's almost like you ever, now this has never happened to me.

I don't think this ever happened to anybody in our church.

Have you ever had somebody that you love them?

Some of y'all know where I'm going with this.

But you really don't like their children.

Okay.

I've never been there.

You've never been there.

People down the street, these other people over here.

It's like, I love these people.

What happened?

You know, what happened?

Right?

But here's the thing.

Because I love them, I'm not going to be mean to their children.

Do I agree with them?

Uh-huh.

Do I like them?

Not most days, but I love mom and dad.

Therefore, that is going to transfer over to them.

And I am going to respect their kids because I love the ones who made them.

Because I love mom and dad.

That's exactly what that's like.

How in the world can we forgive the unforgivable?

Not because what they did was right, but because I know who made them.

And because my respect for God transfers over into respect for others.

You know, one of the ways I saw the most beautiful thing ever is at the memorial for Charlie Kirk when Erica Kirk forgave the person who assassinated her husband.

You know, the only way you can do that is with the grace of God.

The only way you can respect that person as a human is because you know who made that person.

It's a beautiful thing when we do that.

And so he so God's word says respect everyone by loving the family of believers, fearing God, and respecting the king.

And so he's saying, have a 360-degree honor.

Like honor everyone that you can by respecting them.

And understanding it's almost like it's a circle.

It's the idea of the top of the circle is to fear God.

That's the highest level of honor.

That is, that I honor God above everyone else.

And because I honor God, the outflow is I love my brothers and my sisters, and I respect the king, Nero, who calls himself a God, who calls me an atheist, who calls us cannibals because we say that we we receive the Lord's Supper because it's a remembrance of the body and blood.

And they go, Oh, you eat you eat bodies and blood?

No, no.

Well, that's what I'm hearing.

Well, then it's full of accusations.

You don't understand.

So that guy and the guy who said, I burned his house and I didn't burn his house.

That guy, I'm still gonna respect him because my fear of God reminds me that he's just a really, really broken creation of God and that God loves him as much as he loves me.

That's what 360-degree honor is.

And we can see this all throughout the Bible.

Let me give you one more story before we pray.

We can call it the 360-degree honor from Rakh Shak and Benny.

Because we've seen veggie tales, right?

And it's this idea that Rakshak and Benny were in Babylon.

And they want to be there.

But because Israel has been taken over, they are now in Babylon.

And they are told by the ruling authority, you've got to worship this idol.

No, thank you.

No, no, you will worship the idol.

I'm gonna throw you into a blazing furnace.

If there's ever a reason to compromise, that might have been the day, right?

Well, I mean, it's a blazing furnace.

So I mean, okay, I'm done.

No, no, no.

They said, I can't do that.

Well, if you don't bow down and worship, if you don't submit to your governing authority, we're gonna kill you.

Well, now that falls outside the parameters of the God-honoring authority.

And so they said this Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.

He will rescue us from your power, your majesty.

But even if he doesn't, we want it to make, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue that you have set up.

You know what's amazing about that is in that you can see 360-degree honor.

First of all, they're honoring God above all others, and they're saying, I can't, because that would dishonor my God, and I can't do that.

Also, I am not gonna throw Shadrach under the bus.

But I'm gonna be with him.

We're gonna do this together.

And I'm gonna honor you, your majesty.

I don't want anything to do with you, and I don't think that you're doing the right thing, but I'm still gonna honor you because God is able to work through you.

So I'm gonna submit to you because I trust God more than I trust you.

And if it means it cost me my life, I can't deny God.

And the rest of the story is Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego were thrown into that fire together, and they looked in the fire and they said, Wait a minute, didn't we throw three guys in there?

Yeah, well, why is there four?

One of them looks like he must be the son of God.

And he called to them and said, Get back out of there.

When they got back out of there, the ropes around them had been burned off, but they didn't even smell like smoke.

But you know what's amazing is God didn't save them from the fire.

He saved them through the midst of the fire.

That's what real hope is.

Real hope is saying God can keep me out of it, but even if he puts me into it, he's still gonna keep me.

And so you really can't do anything to me.

Now, I don't want this, but I trust God that much.

That's what it looks like to be in a living example.

And when that storms can be all around us, but they don't have to be in us because we have a blessed assurance that gives us a living hope, that gives us focus, to realize we're part of something so much bigger than us.

And so we're able to say, watch me as I keep my eyes on Jesus.

And then we're able to focus on the idea that we're going to be faithful over time, that we're going to submit because I trust the Lord.

And then I am going to then focus on this idea of 360-degree leadership.

And so for some of us, maybe our action stuff for this one is to make a decision that we're going to honor by praying for all of our leaders because we trust in the Lord.

And just for what it's worth, if you didn't know who your leaders were, you got President Trump, you got J.D.

Vance as vice president, you got Governor Bashir and Mayor Alcott.

Alcott, Ocott.

I never can't get his name right.

So if you are if you are a Republican, praise the Lord.

Donald Trump.

Governor Bashir, have you prayed for him lately?

If you're a Democrat, Donald Trump.

Yay, Governor Bashir, have you prayed for him lately?

Not my president, well he is.

So make sure you pray for him.

Not my governor, well, he is.

Do you trust God enough to be able to move through these gaps?

Of course.

I have no idea how, but of course he is.

And here's the promise from God's word, and that is that we who are strong in this must be considerate to those who are not.

That we don't need to just live to please ourselves.

We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.

For even Christ didn't live to please himself.

By that, for some of us, this is easy.

I got this.

Not everybody's on that page.

And so instead of calling them lesser Christians, we hold them up and say, okay, I'm gonna be weak as something else, but I'm strong on this one.

Let me come and let me help you.

Because such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures give us hope and encourage us as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.

So the reason, according to this, why God had the apostle Peter write to the other churches from the middle of the storm was to encourage them, but so that over time he could also encourage us.

Because the reality is, is that I don't know what world you're living in.

I don't ever want to assume anything, but it's possible that everybody in this room is in one of three places in life.

You're either just coming out of a storm, you're right in the middle of a storm, or you're veering on into one.

It's just the way life is.

You ever been around somebody who's just happy by nature?

She wanna slap them upside the head.

I'm just playing.

Um, but the reality of it is, is peace is not the same thing as happiness.

And I was telling you the way the um the end of the story is I I had to go through one hurricane uh to kind of date myself.

It was called Hurricane Aaron.

And while we were there in this hurricane, yo remember my job was just to walk around looking like I was having the best day of my life.

But I wasn't, I was nervous and I was afraid.

But I walked around, I saw my dad, and he really did look like he was doing just fine.

And I realized that I I didn't I couldn't do this, so I quit trying to act like I was having a good day based on what I thought, but instead I just watched my dad.

I'd see him walking around, hey, it's a great day.

Imagine a 12-year-old going around, hey, it's a great day.

It didn't fit, but that's all I had.

And the reality was that many times we walk through this life, it's not just people that don't know Jesus who are watching us, but people who are not as strong as we are, people who are new Christians, people are coming back to their relationship with God.

They need stronger Christians to say, watch me, watch me.

And the reality is that they're watching you either way.

What do they see?

Do they see somebody falling apart?

Or do they see somebody who with tears in their eyes go, I have no idea what's gonna happen.

I don't like any of this that's going on, but my hope was never in any of this.

I'm so disappointed, but I'm not discouraged because my hope was never in this.

My hope was in Jesus, and so I see everything else falling apart, but this the only thing I know is Jesus.

And you know how we change the world is one conversation at a time, is when you go into your workplace this week, when you're at your home this week.

Do you know that why did God put you at the job you're at?

Why did He put you in the family so that you could be that light at a dark place?

What I think about in my mind is who was in the friend circle for that person who took that terrible shot that ended Charlie Kirk's life?

Who was in their friend circle?

Did they speak up for Jesus?

Or not?

What about that person who stabbed that young lady half to death?

Was there someone in their circle that was making sure everybody knew about Jesus?

What about some other situations?

What about the school shootings that are happening?

Was there somebody in their circle who said, I'm not gonna give up on Jesus?

No one's ever gonna know their name, but was there one person?

We get to be that person this week.

Say, man, I don't have it all figured out.

I just know Jesus.

And best I can tell, he's the answer for all of this.

So I'm not out to change the world, I'm just out to win a brother and a sister.

And if all of us did that, what a world we could live in inside one year.

If we quit trying to change the world and instead we we reached out into those around us.

And so my question for you is this what do people see when they're watching your life?

Are they seeing Jesus?

Are they seeing fear?

In just a moment, we're gonna have an opportunity to pray.

The band's gonna lead us in a song of worship, and maybe you just need to bring that question to the Lord.

Lord, I don't know.

I don't I don't know what other people see, but I want them to see you.

If there's anything in my life that's keeping me from being close to you, anything that's robbing my peace in you, I pray you'll reveal it to me so I can repent and move forward.

That doesn't mean that you're bad, it just means that the world has gotten too fast, and it's time to take a moment and slow down and refocus your attention on Jesus.

I tell you, God's not mad at you.

Maybe the whole reason why you're here today is so you can slow down and remember Jesus is still in control.

And so, just a moment, maybe we take that to prayer and take it to the Lord.

Maybe you're in here and you don't have the hope of Jesus in your life.

Can I tell you, I don't even know how you get out of bed in the morning right now without Jesus.

To know that He is that source of hope.

That when nothing else makes sense, you go, but I know Jesus is in control, my sins have been washed away, I'm part of a bigger kingdom than this, and so these kingdoms will come and they will go.

The kingdom of God stands strong.

Do you have that kind of hope?

If not, in just a moment when the band begins to play, there's a connect card inside your worship guide, and on the back of that is the plan of salvation.

It's a reminder of what Jesus came to do for all of us.

And if you're ready to give everything you have over to Jesus, in just a moment, when I pray and we stand, we begin to worship, your best act of worship is to step out of your seat, walk back to our prayer table, take this card with you, and say, I want to know Jesus.

And watch what happens.

When you give everything you have over to him, he wants it all.

He wants your good days, he wants your bad days, he wants everything in between.

And when you confess Jesus, ask him to wash away your sin.

I'm gonna tell you, it's one thing to know about the love of God, and it's another to experience the love of God for yourself.

Jesus Himself said, the only way I can describe it to you is like being born again.

Old things pass away, behold, all things become new.

Is today your day?

Today could be your spiritual birthday if you're willing to go all in for Jesus.

Let's pray together right now.

God, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, God, for your goodness and your mercy.

Thank you, God, for how you see us and how you know us.

I'm so thankful, God, that in this moment you see every person in this room.

You see those, God, who are on a mountaintop right now and they're experiencing your goodness.

And in just a moment, their time of worship will be a time of just thanksgiving.

God, you see those of us who we love you, but we've been so brokenhearted about the things of the world that we found it starting to create storms inside of us.

I pray that as we worship you in just a moment, give us the courage to bring that truth to you so you can quiet the storms on the inside and remind us that you're still in control, you're still moving, you're still doing more than we even consider right now.

You're doing.

So, our job, Lord, this week is to take that hope that we have and give it away to somebody this week.

And God, I pray for maybe somebody else in here that they don't know you, but today's the day.

I pray you'll silence the voice of the enemy that wants to tell them that they'll just do it later, they'll just consider it another time.

But I pray, Holy Spirit, your voice will be so loud in their heart that says, I love you.

I'm for you, I can forgive you, I do still want you.

I've never given up on you.

Now is the time, today is the day.

I pray you will speak clearly into their heart right now, and that God, as we worship you as a community, Lord, you will have your way in our lives in this moment.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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

As the band leads us in one final song of worship, I want to ask you this question: what next step do you need to take?

Maybe you just need to lift your hands where you are and just kind of give it all back over to the Lord and say, God, I ask you to quiet the storms inside of me.

Maybe you want to find a quiet place up here and just symbolically lay something down before him.

Maybe today is a day of salvation.

It would be our honor to welcome you into the kingdom of God today.

Whatever you need to do.

Let's take some next steps with Jesus in this moment.