King of Hearts

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Don Filcek, Ready for the Storm; 1 Peter 3:13-22 King of Hearts

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Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan This is a message from Pastor Don Filsack from the series
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Ready for the Storm on 1st Peter. If you'd like more information on Recast Church, please visit us on the web at www .recastchurch
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.com Here's Pastor Don It is our first gathering here in 2015
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Hard to believe that But here it is and so hopefully you had a good time celebrating the new year some opportunities to reflect on this past year 2014 on the way out and looking forward to this next year and Hopefully you were able to identify some of the things that God has done for you in this past year and some of the things
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That you can give him thanks for and then equally as we recognize There are some probably difficult things that happened in your life this past year as well
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But looking forward to God's blessing moving forward into a new year I'm glad that you're here and be sure to check out the worship folder you received when you walked in It's got different activities and events and announcements that are in there
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And then you also received a connection card if it's your first time with us and you fill one of these out and turn it
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In in the black box that's under the clock back there We ask that you please also take a free coffee mug just our way of saying thanks
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But take advantage of this and if you are not currently getting the e -cast our weekly email the way that you
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Receive that is by sharing your email address on this It does have a lot more information than what is just found here in the worship folder.
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So take advantage of that There's also a place on this card to put down prayer requests and we do faithfully pray
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Keeping in confidence those prayer requests that are put on here just amongst the elders, but we pray for those every week So take advantage of that if you'd like There's also a special announcement in here about registration for a marriage enrichment weekend that's coming up I would encourage all of you.
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I mean, it would be awesome to see all of you attend We're bringing in a speaker John and two speakers John and Kendra Smiley are coming in and this is going to be held down in Ship Shawana, Indiana at the farmstead in down there
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It's $50 registration is going to be taking place on January 11th
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Yeah, January 11th, and then also The hotel room is up to you as well
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So it's a $50 registration fee for the conference and then your hotel room you need to make your own reservation for that But we're hoping just for it to be a really good time for couples to get together here at recast and connect
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It's one more opportunity just for you to get to know other people in the church If you're sitting here and you're going man, you look over at your wife
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You look over your husband and you're like our marriage is awesome We don't need this all the more reason for you to attend so that you can rub shoulders with those who need you
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Okay, and if you're sitting here and you're normal then you're going we need this and you're getting you know an elbow in the rib or something like that, so take advantage of that and That's there for you.
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And then offering envelope is provided for you Not to be presumptuous. You can just recycle this if you choose but simultaneously recognizing that Giving is an actual spiritual activity that we do out of the overflow of what
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God has given to us We in turn return to him And so if you take advantage of this envelope, then you can turn in any offerings in the black box back there
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But as we shift gears from the holidays kind of thinking going diving back into first Peter I want to ask you a question to focus our thoughts on the theme of the text from this morning
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Who is? the king of your heart Who is the king of your heart?
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In order to answer this question It might be a good idea to remind ourselves is what a king is like you don't really think in terms of King very
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Often in your life. Do you you got a president? You've got we've got a governor. We've got people that are in Congress at the state level and at the government at the federal level over us
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And so we have a very different form of government So the concept of a king could be something that could put potentially be far removed from our minds
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And so we need to remind ourselves that when we think about Jesus Christ as King or we think about a king a king is one who calls the shots definitively a
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King is the one who is served by his people a king Governs and sets forward what is and is not right behavior
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The people in a kingdom are deeply influenced by every single decision that is made by the king
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And so when I ask you who is king over your heart I'm asking you simply who calls the shots in your life
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Who's calling the shots? Who receives the honor in your life when things are going?
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Well, who who gets the credit for that? When push comes to shove and you are faced with difficult decisions in 2015 moving forward
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Who gets the final call on those decisions? In our text this morning
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Peter is going to issue to us a command to reach out and expand the kingdom of God by being always being prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within you and the position of our heart towards the king is
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The starting point of expanding his kingdom in this next year So let's turn in our Bibles to first Peter Can be in first Peter chapter 3
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Verses 13 to 22 if you don't have a Bible on your lap and you could just raise your hand We've got two guys back here ready to bring you a
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Bible So if anybody needs one you can raise your hand there But follow along as we read
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You got to get there first Peter first Peter 3
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Verses 13 to 22. This is God's word to us this morning recast Church Now who is there to harm you
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If you are zealous for what is good But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed
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Have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor Christ as the
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Lord as holy Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you
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Yet do it with gentleness and respect Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame
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For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than for doing evil
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For Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the death in the flesh
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But made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison Because they formerly did not obey when
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God's patience Waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water
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Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body But as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels authorities and powers
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Having been subjected to him Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship this morning
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Father I rejoice in the opportunity that we have to gather together this first gathering in 2015 It's a glorious thing to just be together as your people and to recognize your faithfulness in the past and then
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Contemplate and consider in this new year your ongoing faithfulness in whatever comes our way brothers we as we study and we read a passage that that deals with issues of Suffering in this life and suffering in community and suffering for the for your cause and ultimately with still maintaining in the midst of difficult
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Times a motivation for sharing hope and even having hope Father I rejoice just in and that we are a gathering of hope
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That here in this place we come each week to be reminded and remember the great and awesome sacrifice of Jesus Christ that gives us hope to that propels us to take what comes in our lives and to Say this is not ultimate.
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This is not the end and whatever suffering may face us in 2015 we are a people of Amazing hope because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and so I pray that from that place of hope we would rejoice
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We would lift our voices up together. We would be Enthusiastic and excited in our worship this morning with the power of your spirit alive in us in Jesus name.
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Amen Are you guys grateful for the love of God? Are you thankful for that?
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I know that I am and It is amazing and glorious to just think that he loves us.
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That's that's awesome So thanks a lot to the band for leading us Encourage you to keep your Bibles open I'm on your laps to first Peter chapter 3 verses 13 through 22
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As we're gonna dive in and I want to tell you maybe even as I read this text some things came to your mind
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It can be pretty difficult to understand if you if you're just sitting down in your quiet time and you read this text
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There are some things that maybe are familiar to you verse 15 might be one of those But in your hearts honor
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Christ as the Lord is holy always being prepared to make a defense How many of you have heard that verse before and it just stands out to you?
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Maybe some of you have memorized it It's one that's often used for Pertaining to evangelism or sharing our faith with others or being ready to share the gospel with others and all that But by the time you get down to verses 19 through 22
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Things start to get a little squirrely and a little bit confusing you get it All of a sudden Noah appears in the text and there's this analogy of Noah and the floodwaters to baptism and Jesus is preaching to Spirits in prison and anybody get a little confused near the end of this text as I'm reading they kind of go
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Okay you know and it'd be very easy for us to lose sight of what we were talking about here at the beginning by the time that We get to the end and I want to clarify for you guys that You know,
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I don't have the superpower of of Bible interpretation Instantaneously, this stuff doesn't always come easy to me
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So I have to work at it and just like we all ought to be working at it sometimes a text just almost kind of like I open the
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Bible and you might think that like a three three points and an Illustration all just fall right out on my lap every every week and it's not necessarily like that So some of these take more work for me
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Some of them take more interpretation and more understanding and more research and more digging in and this was one of those
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But let me briefly set the table before we feast on God's Word And by the way, I want to clarify that this is
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God's Word that just because it gets more difficult Sometimes we have a tendency to skip over those things and say
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I'll get back to it and never get back to it But this is God's Word this is something that he desires for us to understand and so we dig into these things that can be hard for our minds to wrap around and Simultaneously, it is a feast every time we come to God's Word There's something there for us to take but let's remember that Peter is writing to Christians in the first century
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Around the time that a major persecution happened was coming from the Jews, but the
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Roman persecution hasn't happened yet So historically there were two major persecutions the initial one by the
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Jews that pushed the gospel out from Jerusalem The Book of Acts records that for us that all except for the
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Apostles fled Jerusalem as Christians and wherever they went they took the gospel with them and that's the persecution that we're talking about but we know that most of them fled to parts of the
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Roman Empire where the Romans are gonna start to oppress Christians and starting with the Emperor Nero and on down and it's gonna be a even harder persecution for the
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Christians with hardly anywhere to flee if you can think about how vast and wide the reach of the Roman Empire was
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It was a lot broader persecution than just the Jews So many Christians have been forced to flee and Peter has identified his audience early on He told us who he's talking to he referred to his audience as the elect exiles
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That is as I've said many times elect in regards to God chosen by God to be his children chosen in him and at the same time exiles there's a lot of theological and Cultural implication packed in those two terms that he uses.
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It's a really powerful title to think of yourselves as elect elect Exiles exiles pertaining to how the world views us the way that the world often views
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Christians as as a perspective of exile they are on the outs and have you ever been in a conversation where you suddenly felt exiled from the
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Conversation because they were talking about things that you know You can't really in good conscience talk about and it's like I guess
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I'm on the outs here and as Christians There's a variety of things but these guys were literally exiled from their homes
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Physically had to flee for their lives and most of them are in what is modern -day Turkey So that's reminding us where we're at in this book
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Peter took his first chapter to explain in clear terms the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ Reminding these persecuted
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Christians that Jesus Christ is their living. Hope so he's saying basically to them He's takes them in the early early parts of the book of first Peter Back to the gospel back to the roots and says this is where you should find encouragement regardless of what's going on around you in society regardless of what's going on in your life regardless of persecution the the anchor point for the
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Christian is The good news that Jesus Christ died for you and has offered you an inheritance and has basically sealed your inheritance
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With him that's a glorious thing. In other words knowing where your ultimate destiny lies
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Helps us to recognize that what we endure on this planet is truly as Paul said it light and momentary afflictions compared to the eternal weight of glory that is awaiting us in our inheritance and and Peter likes to When he talks about our inheritance this thing that we have to look forward to regardless of what happens in this next year
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Regardless of what happened in this past year He talks about an inheritance that is imperishable unfading
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Undefiled kept in heaven for you by God That's what we have to hold on to as we cling to what what is your hope for 2015?
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What are you hoping happens? And and what and there's a how many of you have some good things that you'd like to see happen in 2015
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I mean It's wise for us to have some plans and to have some goals and to have some things that we're reaching out for that We're saying boy
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I hope I'm further along in my walk with Jesus at the end of this year than I am right now where I stand
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I hope that there's some things that are are going better but but our hope isn't in those goals our hope ought not to be in those plans because how many of you have ever seen
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Those things turn on a dime and not even leave you any change I'll leave you a lot of change, right?
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We've seen that life can just take some wicked twists and we know that and and and he's gonna talk about some of those
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That type of twist that sometimes that's that's the will of God in your life That's what he desires is for some hard things to come into our lives and that can be very difficult for us and at the same time our hope is not does not rest in the goodness the riches the
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The you know our goal of getting healthy this next year and working out every day and all of that stuff and whatever plans
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You're making and you're buying your exercise equipment now. It's all on discount. So great, you know get it so that you can
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I'm dry your clothes on it, you know six months from now. It'll be lined up with the clothes Lined up there and it'll be in the garage sale next year
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But with all of that Peter explained that the gospel is the centerpiece of our hope it is the place
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Where knowing where our ultimate destiny is helps us to recognize that these are light and momentary afflictions
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Peter then explained to a large degree the civil responsibility of Christians giving us hope in the midst of persecution and saying you have some
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Responsibility as well to be submissive to authority structures in your lives in the middle of persecution
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We might think rebellion is a good idea Scripture is straightforward saying no it's not submission to authority when you are the when you are the
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Underclass when you are the people that are being persecuted is not necessarily a great idea to push back
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But submissive submission to authority structures in their lives was the command to the Christians during this time
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Showing that we are to engage the world around us while striving to remain untainted unstained by sin and that's
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That's a big theme throughout the book of first Peter is Engagement in the culture while remaining holy to God focused on him and Remaining unstained by the world despite being in the world, but not being of it
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Our last time in first Peter the author began an explanation that our Calling is to bless others and to do good to others.
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That was a few weeks ago And he talked with us especially about showing brotherly kindness to others having a mind of humility showing sympathy and kindness
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Towards one another and now we pick up this theme of doing good towards our culture here in verse 13
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He says who who's gonna harm you if you have a passion for doing good That's kind of how he starts up now now who's there to harm you if you're zealous For what is good?
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Now right out of the gate. I need to explain that Peter is clearly speaking a proverb here
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This is proverbially speaking. He is giving a general statement like we often do in routine conversation
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How many of you you know, if you were to really analyze your speech, sometimes you generalize do you do that?
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I think that's a that's a nature of communication. We know that it is generally true
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That if you go through life with a hard attitude that is excited about doing good to others How many of you think people by and large are gonna like you by and large?
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Is that is that is that a truism? Is that a good proverb that if you are kind and doing goodness to your culture and doing goodness to those at your workplace?
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By and large people are gonna like you and that's what Peter is saying I mean who's gonna you know, he's saying let's let's let's face it if you are doing what you're supposed to do
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Then it's okay. I mean people some people are gonna like you and that's and that's okay But immediately our minds turn to the contrary because have you ever been persecuted for doing good?
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You ever anybody ever have anybody like maybe a co -worker who thought you were just trying to get on the boss's good side or something like that and they they start to put the barbs in because they recognize that you are
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Doing good and they don't like that or maybe someone who just thinks you're you're holier -than -thou
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Because you're a Christian or something like that And so they begin to persecute you or mock you or something to that effect
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Well Peter recognizes that he doesn't just leave the proverb hanging without recognizing that some of your minds are gonna go to the opposite side
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And say well, yeah, sometimes people do persecute those who are doing good. He says, yeah, of course they do So in verse 14, he says even if you should suffer because you have done good things
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You'll still be blessed You will still be blessed It's as if Peter wants us to know that there is an even deeper motivation for doing good out in the world around us specifically in the life of a believer
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We could live a good life so that People will like us
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We could be guilty of just doing good strictly so that things go well for us so that people won't harm us
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I'm sure there are people who would do some horrible things but they feel somewhat restrained by the violence or or Punishment that they would receive that might come back on them if they do bad
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And so they it's like I just don't steal the only reason I don't steal is because I might get caught Well, that's how many of you think that might be kind of a subpar
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Motivation in the life of a Christian right a little bit a little bit subpar That would be a verse 13 kind of Motivation who is there to harm you if you're zealous for what is good?
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So I don't want anybody to harm me So I'll just go do good
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But he ratchets it up. He ratchets this concept up in verse 14 Peter says do good and even if you suffer for it, you will still receive a blessing in Other words, there's a deeper motivation for doing good in our culture
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The surface is doing what we do for human recognition, but the deeper motivation is the pleasure and blessing of God Who is he talking about blessing you you might look at this and you might say well
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Is he talking about getting more money? Is he talking about having more people like us is he talking about well clearly not because you're being persecuted
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The person that he's speaking to is going through hard times. They are being wrung out right now
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Okay, they've done good and others have are persecuting them for the good that they're doing So you see the blessing that he's talking about here is not just good things coming to you in this life
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No, he's acknowledging that because of your righteousness because of your good behavior Sometimes you're gonna get wrung out for that and when you do take
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You know take comfort Because you have a blessing to look forward to what blessing is he talking about?
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What could that be? Well, I believe it's the blessing of the inheritance that he's talked about all throughout this letter
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It's clearly that he has in mind that that it is our the forward look of the
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Christian to the eternal That helps us to endure. So how can a person do good to those who persecute them?
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How can a person not grow cynical and jaded when they've been beaten down by co -workers? Rejected by family and friends or even physically assaulted for the cause of the gospel
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And I would dare say that maybe maybe none in this room Have ever been physically assaulted for the cause of the gospel have been physically assaulted because you did good.
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I Hear your story if that has actually happened to you, but how does a person stay?
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You know not grow cynical not grow jaded in the midst of a culture Where there is indeed some hostility and by the way,
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I want to clarify that there are people There are brothers and sisters in Christ who even today will be assaulted for the cause of the gospel
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Because they are believers all around the world. This happens routinely We live in a very privileged place and we need to recognize how
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How we don't we want not to take that for granted that we are not persecuted significantly for our faith
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So, how can we proclaim the gospel without fear and without shame?
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To a world that will at times seek to shame us and seek to cause fear It is that we know that we will be blessed.
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Our hope is not in everybody liking us Despite the fact that if we were to look look significantly in our hearts
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I think we'd be uncomfortable with how much we are motivated by how much people like us There's a lot that we do for the cause and the sake of being liked by others
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That ought not to be our motivation and let's let's let's pray that that's not our motivation moving forward in this next year
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But then our motivation is the blessing and pleasure of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that it is for him that we live 2015 it is for his honor and for his glory and It is a recognition that he has granted to us an inheritance
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That is ours That none can take from us So that we can share boldly without fear of persecution and love even in the face of persecution
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Because we know that we will be blessed
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We don't earn this blessing by Suffering nobody gets into the kingdom and has an eternal inheritance because they've suffered rather in just a couple of verses
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It's clear that we receive this blessing because Jesus suffered for us It's not our suffering that earns our salvation.
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It's it is suffering. However, it's the suffering of Jesus Christ He suffered once for for sins the text says the righteous for the unrighteous
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The righteous for the unrighteous His suffering is what has brought us blessing
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But for the Christian we should not be driven by fear of what others can do to us We know that nobody can take away.
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What matters most that we have indeed received the favor of our God Not earned it received it
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And now we come to our central command of our text this morning Rather than live with fear of them
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We are commanded to honor Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts
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This is the main command if you're taking notes write that one down. That's the main point for this morning honor
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Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts in your heart in the core of your essence
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Not this four -chambered blood pump that's in your chest that hopefully keeps ticking for a while But in the seat of everything that rules you
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Your thoughts your emotions your will your passions your affections the things that you set your attention to your will all that drives you as a person is
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Is Encapsulated in this Greek concept of the heart the seat of you
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The place where you sit in there and what is Christ doing in there? Is he holy is he set apart does he have free reign in you?
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heart Your emotions your will your mind your thoughts It's there wasn't this huge distinction like we have in our culture in our society between the mind and the heart
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Your thoughts were encapsulated in this concept of heart in the Greek in Greek philosophy
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What's going on in your head and what's going on in your heart? And we talked about the longest distance being between here and here and we understand what we mean by that But when it really comes down to it
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Our heart is all that we are and he is saying let Christ be holy in all of it and all that you possess
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Who sits there in? that place Is Christ King in that place in your life
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Or is he an invited guest? Who you asked to leave after hours? Kind of have some posted times for him to show up Sunday morning.
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Yeah, you're welcome there You're welcome for just a little bit of time while I pray in the morning or just just a moment before every meal
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Just just want to let you in for just a second kind of maybe keep you on the doorstep for just a little bit
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Have a little conversation, but you know what? I need a little me time Jesus time to take a break if you could just step out for a second
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I've got some stuff. I want to do and By the way Christ when you stay here, sometimes you can stay overnight.
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I've got a guest room Just don't go nosing around kind of stay to the areas that I let you in, you know
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Don't poke around in the closets Basement is off off Off You're not allowed there fact the matter is making
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Letting Christ be holy in your hearts Jesus wants to reorder you
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He wants to reshape you he wants to remodel He wants to reorder your priorities.
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He wants to clean out your closet. He wants to clean out the basement He is in the business of remodeling hearts
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But he must be given honor as holy there first Is he holy?
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Set apart King is he Lord in your heart? And there's an interesting result that we might not expect
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When we honor Christ as holy in our hearts We might think well We'll be super awesome and we'll be all that in a bag of chips and everybody will want to be just like us and things
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Like that. Well, there's a little bit of that in here But not the the construction of this Greek sentence leads me to the conclusion
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That always being prepared is a byproduct of honoring Christ in a heart look at verse 15, but in your hearts honor
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Christ the Lord as holy and Then this subordinate phrase always being prepared.
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This is reflexive always being prepared It's passive you are being prepared.
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It's not saying go prepare yourself Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect
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If he has first place in your heart if you are setting aside Christ as holy in your heart
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He is welcome to have free reign in you and through you Then you are
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Being prepared to make a defense for the hope that you have
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This is not this this verse isn't some promotional statement about taking some classes in evangelism boy
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I'm just not prepared. I need some classes. I need more work any more theological education now
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None of those would be bad things. It wouldn't be bad to take a class in evangelism It wouldn't be bad for you to get more theological training
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But if you want to be most prepared to share your faith in a powerful way with those around you
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Let Jesus have the throne of your heart Let him reign supreme in you. Let him clean house
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Notice The text tells us that we are to be always being strange construction
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But we are to be always being prepared. It's an ongoing process in our lives.
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I have not arrived Billy Graham did not arrive Josh McDowell has not arrived
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Matt Chandler has not arrived Robbie Zacharias You can name all of these Guys who you might think or some ladies that you think have arrived
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But all are being more and more prepared more and more equipped to spread the glory of the king
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The second thing that I notice is that Peter takes for granted that you and I are hopeful people.
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What are we to defend? But in your hearts honor Christ The Lord is holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the what?
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The hope that is in you others Should see hope in you
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Others should see hope in you when you talk with them about the future when you talk with them about what's going on I I fear that we can become quite cynical
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We can become quite disgruntled at this world around us and in that process we lose our joy and in the process of there's
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I think there's there's Almost nothing more obnoxious than a Christian who has lost their joy I've been there.
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I know and I've been obnoxious in it. And so when you lose your joy I mean any of you relate to me on that you recognize what that feels like to be a joyless
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Christian is an oxy It ought to be an oxymoron. Those two words don't go together a joyless
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Christian Have you have you thought about what Christ has done for you?
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Just to reflect on that for a moment should snap us out of our malaise into joy and exaltation and glory
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He died for me That He has bought me an inheritance
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How can I lack joy and they should see hope we should be the life of the party
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We should be the ones who are the most vibrant and people are like attracted to you because they see your hope
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They're like and they're asking Why? What what is it about you?
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What is it that makes you so hopeful in the midst of this dark economy in this dark time with Isis and all of this stuff going on.
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How can you how can you have so much joy? Why are you always whistling a tune when I see you?
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Why is it like there's always something about you? There's an expectation
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That we are a hopeful people and as society gets darker the contrast of the brightness of the
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Christians Joy should be growing stronger and stronger and stronger as we're offset by a darkening world and Peter's time when the church was suffering they did so with kindness and hopeful expectation of the blessing yet to come and the church expanded exponentially and As a society around us gets darker.
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Will we be seen as a people with mercy in our eyes? shining out glory
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The glory of Christ and the hope of eternity will we be seen as a people of joyful hope and expectation
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Expectations that are not placed on gadgets 401ks nice houses new cars
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Caribbean vacations You see it's only when all of these things are stripped away that our culture can truly see the difference
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Christ makes in our hearts When the things of this world are stripped away and and like the story of Corrie ten boom who?
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Observed a German soldier kill her sister in a concentration camp and then was moved to forgive that soldier years later
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When Elizabeth Elliot goes back to the tribe of Ecuador that killed her husband to proclaim the gospel to them the world stops at that kind of hope and They stare and as they try to pick their jaw up off the floor
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Christ is shown to be Glorious and they see it
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Through our lives, but it's when that stuff is stripped away.
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I Don't look forward to it. I mean, I'm gonna be honest I mean how many of you are like signing up for a 2015 where all the good things in your life are stripped away
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You're looking for is that is that what you're hoping for 2015? Boom. Let's let's own this year God take it all but I tell you what if God needs to take it all to bring glory to himself and to shine out
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The the hope of eternity for his glory then then so be it But the world is sometimes moved in the face of a
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Christian who has had everything taken away and still has hope They say why so much hope? But I painted a pretty rosy picture of this in one sense
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Like the world is just gonna see the glory shining on us and they ask this question Why so much hope always from pure motives?
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You know, it's a kind of a touchy -feely side of it, but there's a more sinister way that the world can ask this question
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I'm sure you've heard it It's not always asked why so much hope with jaw dropped awe at our good deeds
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But sometimes it's accompanied by the brutal snare of cynicism. Why does
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God let planes drop out of the sky? Christian where is your hope now? What about Isis?
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What about oppression in North Korea what about when the bottom drops out of the market The word
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Peter uses for defense here is a legal one It's a it's a strong Very specific
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Greek word that has to do with the court of law as if you are and I are on trial for the hope
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That we have how dare you have so much hope It's as if the prosecuting attorney is coming to you saying
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Give evidence for why you have so much hope Because everybody in the world knows that it's foolish to have hope in light of what we see in our culture in our society
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And in the world and in world events, how dare you have hope the Greek word by the way is apologia
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We get from it the the study of the the area of study called apologetics.
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Are any of you familiar with that term? apologetics It's the study of the defense of I guess in a more broad sense the study of the defense of your faith here in Our text it's not talking strictly about the defense of your faith as much as strictly the defense of your hope
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I've got a couple of shelves if you're interested in the idea or you've got questions about your faith or things like that I've got a couple shelves on apologetic
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Books on apologetics and in my office that I'd love to loan out if anybody's interested in that But I want to point out that Peter is not telling us here in this text to defend
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God It's telling us to defend our hope When bad stuff happens the world looks to us to see what are they going to do now?
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Take this Christians when a natural disaster like Katrina hits. Where's your hope now and Can we say honestly in the face of that type of cynicism?
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Our hope was never in houses It was never in cars. Our hope was never in technology.
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It was never in the progress of humanity It was never in our own holiness or righteousness it was certainly never placed in the goodness and kindness of mankind and Never in the blessings of Mother Nature and we yet we are to give these answers
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With gentleness and respect that's not always easy You experienced that in your life.
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Have you ever had your faith attacked? Is it easy to respond with gentleness and respect when somebody attacks
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Christ or somebody attacks your faith or somebody? Makes you to look silly The last thing
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I want to say before I leave well, no, no, I just back up a second
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I haven't always done that. By the way, the gentleness and respecting another word on that I've at times in my personal history
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Particularly when working with Muslims. I've been guilty of returning quip for quip argument for argument and even anger with anger
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But our method for defending our hope is spelled out clearly for us in this text We are to explain our hope with gentleness and with respect
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By the way, I don't know if you've ever won an argument and at the same time rejected a heart
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If you're married you have if you're if you're any good at arguing that is some people are like I never win so so no, that's not me, but uh
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You know what? I mean, you can raise your voice You can get angry. You can get right in the face
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You can you can just get your ire up and you can yell and shout because you know You're right, and maybe you really are but in the end you haven't won anything.
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You've actually lost right and We know what that looks like and It's ugly
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Especially ugly when you see it in someone else really hard to tell when you're doing that till after the fact if you notice that Very very difficult to know when you're being an idiot
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Everybody else can tell you It's very hard for us to assess ourselves in those situations
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But gentleness and respect is to be the mo of the Christian and the last thing
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When does we leave first 15 to tackle the rest of this difficult chapter? is
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That if you have hope in Jesus Christ Then you can defend it if Christ is indeed honored in your heart
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Then you are in the process of being prepared to defend your hope It's as simple as declaring why you have hope
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And our answer should have something to do it I'm just gonna give you a little cheat sheet here You can write these three things down if you need help, but your answer should have something to do with Jesus Across and an empty tomb.
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Okay, that's your starting point If your answer for the hope that is in you should have something to do with Jesus across and an empty tomb
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And if you've got that and you've got something to share with the world about hope If we live a life honoring
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God honoring Christ in our hearts and defending our hope with gentleness and respect and we can benefit from according the text a good conscience towards the world around us and When we are recipients of slander the person doing the slandering will look pretty silly to the world around them
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Which is seems like a pretty high calling you think about it Ask yourself this question to realize how high this calling is
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If your life is lived in such a way that if others is your life lived in such a way that if others slandered you as a swindler
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Shady in business Called you a gossip They would be ashamed for even making that accusation.
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That's uh It's a pretty high calling and through Christ that's possible
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The text in verse 17 tells us there are two types of suffering suffering as punishment for wrongdoing is not so good
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You don't really get any benefit from that other than just the correction like okay, this is bad But better is suffering for doing good if that should be
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God's will the text says if God would will that that bad comes into your life if we're doing good
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Then that is that results in blessing and it's apparent that that is sometimes the case where God wills and desires for our good behavior to result in suffering or persecution
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Many in our world today, by the way have wrapped up a lie that God would never ever want you to suffer
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But as we see in verse 18 The very core of our faith is wrapped up in God's will for suffering and it was his son willing to take that on Jesus serves as the ultimate model of the will of God for suffering for doing good
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He suffered for sins that is as a sacrifice for us. He was righteous standing in the place of Unrighteous me and unrighteous you
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He was a sinless substitute for those who were drenched in their own sin He stood in our place that he might reconcile us to God the perfect Lamb of God sinless
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Dying for sinful people like you and me And he was put to death physically, but he was made alive in the spirit
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I believe that that should be a capitalized s made alive in the Holy Spirit Jesus was brought back to life by the power of the
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Holy Spirit and Peter starts a new thought in verse 19 for the purpose of illustrating this call.
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He has placed on us to defend our hope. I Believe that verses 19 and 20 need to be taken together to understand what is going on here in the text
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It's not two separate accounts of two different things. It's it's bringing those two together verses 19 and 20
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The confusing thing about verse 19 if I read it in which he speaking of Jesus in which being the
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Spirit He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Okay, awesome The confusing thing about verse 19 is we know that Jesus proclaimed something to someone but we are not sure what he proclaims
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Who he proclaimed it to and when he proclaimed it So what
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I have to say about this is interpretive You could maybe your Bible study notes at the bottom of your page
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If you've got a study Bible might say something that's different than what I say here And I'm not gonna this is not a hill to die on but I'm just gonna share with you briefly
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What I believe this text is about we're not gonna spend a lot of time on it because again, it's it's my interpretation
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It's my understanding in it. There's others that disagree But I believe that Jesus and the
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Holy Spirit was present through the words of Noah That's what he's talking about proclaiming to the wicked culture of Noah that they should repent
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He was there and in speaking through Noah To accomplish the proclamation of the kingdom of God through Noah the word for proclaim here is most often used for heralding the good news of the kingdom of God and The spirits that Jesus proclaimed the good news to in Noah's day are now currently in prison
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So he didn't go to prison and and share with them something but rather he they are now currently in prison but when he shared them they were they were people just like you or me and They were disobedient they're in prison now because they were disobedient to the the preaching of the kingdom of God that came to them and from that generation he says
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Ties in with the same thing that I'm saying from that generation. Only eight people were saved Only a few the text says that is eight were saved through this powerful
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Proclamation of the kingdom of God even in Noah's era and Noah's day So why does a story occur right here in the text?
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well Let me draw some parallels that I believe Peter wants us to consider as we think about this call to be prepared to To give an answer for the hope that's in us
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The first thing is that Noah was persecuted by a wicked generation and Peter's audience was persecuted by a wicked generation the second thing
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Noah was called to faithfully proclaim the good news of the kingdom and Peter has just called his audience to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and he's calling us
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Third thing salvation and blessing came to Noah the preacher of righteousness and We have hope that salvation and blessing also come to Peter's audience and you and me through Jesus Christ And so he's providing hope even in the midst of sharing
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To a wicked generation that may in turn just smite us Mock us make fun of us and maybe even eventually kill us
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So what is the main point of this illustration I believe it is a call of to those who are fearful to faithful proclamation in the midst of harsh circumstances
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Knowing that salvation is ours Even if it's only ours But we keep sharing we keep giving the reason for the hope that is in us
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In verse 21 Peter's making an explicit connection between baptism and the flood talking about the salvation that is theirs and the hope that they have and as I Often communicate during baptisms.
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We come to observe a death of sorts when we come to a baptism Somebody is demonstrating that they've died to themselves
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Been buried with Christ and raised again to new life. And that's that's why we practice
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Baptism by immersion it's I think the best illustration the best example the best visual picture of what is actually transpiring in the event and Those eight in the ark.
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This is his connection. He connects Noah to baptism, which again is just kind of a hard stretch I had to do a lot of study and research to figure out why is he using
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Noah? Why is he using the flood is this illustration? but the aid in the ark passed through the waters of death and Then when the ark finally came to rest on dry ground and the doors were open and those eight
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Walked out was as if they had been granted new life as having passed through the waters of death
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Certainly the statement that baptism saves you is only to be taken in the context of Noah and the ark
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He says baptism is like that trip in the ark it could be argued that the ark didn't save those eight but God's plan to rescue
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Noah's family saved them and I think that this is the same way that baptism saves in this text
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It is indeed a very important step and I have to say that the New Testament authors would have no framework of understanding the phrase unbaptized believer
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They would not be able to put those two words together. That would just be like what that's not is that that's not possible
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Because if you if you believe then you would be baptized you would choose that you would select that To honor
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Christ to as a first initial step of faith They would put those two closely together
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Not that baptism saves you but is to be the first expression of that faith that you have placed in Christ But certainly baptism saves nobody without connection with God Just like it wasn't a boat in general just some generic boat like like Noah was like hey
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I think there's a flood coming. I think I'll build a boat. I'll build a raft whatever But it was a God ordained boat and the faith of Noah was placed in God.
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Not just some boat You're getting what I'm saying. And so where is the faith placed when you see somebody being baptized?
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Where's the faith is the faith in the baptism is the faith in the water? Oh, I hope that the priest anointed the water so that it's pure and holy because and then
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I mean you get even to some Traditions where it's believed that if you accidentally touch the water You're saved
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Is that pretty crazy? It's amazing No, it's not the water faith not placed in the water faith not placed in the process of baptism but but faith placed in God who saves and A and the baptism as a as a demonstration of that Peter clarifies that the washing of baptism is certainly not about cleaning the body as some probably thought in this area or era
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But it is primarily about appealing to God with a clean conscience In other words baptism is a sign and a seal of that which has already transpired in the person's life in Baptism the person enters the waters of baptism appealing to God for a good conscience
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And how was that good conscience given? through baptism No, the text tells us clearly that the big thing that has given us a clean conscience and clear
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Hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead It is baptism that clearly signifies the salvation of a soul
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God has given us one sign to visibly demonstrate that you are one of the eight that have passed through the water
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They say eight in reference to Noah Baptism is that sign and if we could talk with one of the
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Apostles if you were sitting down with one of these guys in The early church or one of these Apostles and and they wanted to know if you were a believer
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More often than not they would probably just ask you when were you baptized? I'll be the question they would ask
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Because that would be seen as the act of initiation the act of initial faith that you have expressed in God being willing to go through the demonstration of your faith
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They wouldn't ask you when you prayed a prayer. They wouldn't ask you when you raised your hand in church They wouldn't ask you when you walked in aisle.
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They would say when were you baptized? Your baptism should be a very significant point in your life
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Baptism is an act of demonstrated conversion But it is only efficacious it only works when it is undergirded by an expression of our faith
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Nobody is saved because they've been dunked in water But equally anybody who says they are good with God should be baptized
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We're working to get an off -site winter baptism on the calendar. We're not we're hoping to not have to break through any ice
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So we're looking for an indoor venue at this point and be be attentive to that That's gonna be it's gonna end up being on the overhead here and just maybe a couple of weeks getting that date on the
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Schedule and then if you're here and this is maybe maybe God is speaking to your heart. You're saying hey He's just said that you know unbaptized
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Christian don't go together I'd like to talk to talk if you'd like to talk to me or Zach or Rob further about that We would love to walk through that with you and talk about what that looks like and you know
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Some people are afraid of water. I get that some people are afraid of being up in front of people We will work with you and we'll walk through that together
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But it's something that is a very significant step in your life even Paul in in Romans 6 talks about looking back at that time and looking back to your baptism as a time of rooting where where You've identified
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I am with Christ buried dead to my old way of life and raised again and that that can be a powerful thing
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In your life. So if you're here and you haven't been baptized come and talk with me about that and then be attentive We're gonna be getting that on schedule come out and support those who are baptized
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I think we're probably gonna we're looking to either KVCC's pool or maybe one of the wise And just just looking to rent out a pool and then probably do a little open swim afterwards or something like that to celebrate
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But um, that's where we're at right now So all this talk of baptism serves to give encouragement to Peters listeners
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He is at every turn reminding them of their salvation and he lands this section squarely on the shoulders of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven where he sits in the seat of power at the right hand of God and all authority
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Having all angels authorities and powers subjected under him
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So let me let me recap. I told you it was gonna get a little squirrely at the end So you might have forgot what we were talking about But let me let me recap in case we lost our way that the main thing to take away this morning is to honor
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Jesus Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts If you've got anything out of this
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That's the number one thing that I want you to get from this is to look into your heart and say are there any No -fly zones for Jesus in here.
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Are there any areas that I'm holding back? Is it my entertainment? Is it something on the side that I'm kind of you know?
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I've got a pet sin or a pet habit that I'm kind of Engaged in that I need to get rid of and it's in it's in here and I'm like not letting
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Jesus There's like a closet the smell is coming out of it. But Jesus is saying let me in there Let me in there.
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I'll clean it for you. But you're like no This is this I got this one or maybe you're just trying it on your own. You're like no
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No, I'll clean it before Jesus gets in here, you know and Honor Christ Jesus as holy in your hearts
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And if we do this, then we will be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have within us
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We will have hope if Christ is if Christ is Saturating your heart if he is if he is everything to you you will be walking in hope regardless of whether people love you for the good that you do or Revile you for the good that you do by the way
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Peter says I'm not gonna get up here and preach that you're supposed to be hated Peter doesn't say that Peter says, you know, if you do good, you're gonna have people who like you
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It's gonna be people who come along but there also ought to be moved to ask you why you have so much hope But regardless of which one you are whether you're being reviled right now for the good that you're doing or you're being accepted for the good
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That you're doing honor Christ in your hearts Be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you follow the example of Jesus who went even as far as death and Is suffering for us?
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But even in his death was blessed with resurrection and is now the vindicated risen Lord over all authority
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And as you honor Christ in your hearts, let me encourage you in this next year to feed your heart with love and passion
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Feed your love and passion for him through prayer Through trade taking in the glorious revelation that is provided for you
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Whether that's reading through the Bible in a year or just taking off a chunk of scripture and studying it more in depth Or but have a plan moving into this year
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You're not gonna just accidentally wake up next year at this time and be stronger without making some decisions to To take in God's Word without taking some time and spending it in prayer with him whether that's your commute and just saying you know
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What I'm gonna shut the radio off I'm gonna stop listening to this for a while and I'm just gonna talk to God on my way to work
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I'm gonna do you know, there's just little subtle changes subtle things that you can do. Maybe it's setting the alarm Setting the alarm just a tick earlier to get up and talk to God in the morning
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So all different kinds of things that we can do in a practical sense to be growing closer to him
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But feeding our hearts with more and more room for Jesus in there
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We celebrate the hope that we have each week by taking the cracker that reminds us that the righteous was
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Sacrificed the righteous was sacrificed for the unrighteous He died once for sins and his blood was spilled out for us
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If you've asked Jesus Christ to be king of your life and you are seeking to set him aside as holy in your hearts as the king of your heart and You've asked him to save you
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Then feel free to come to one of the tables and take communion this morning Let's celebrate together in this taking of communion our reason for hope moving forward in 2015
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Let's pray Father I rejoice so much in hope
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I am grateful Father that the hope does not rest in gadgets and stuff that rusts and gets stolen and ends up in a landfill
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Father our hope does not rest in our own ability to hold on to you tightly But our hope rests firmly on the cross of Jesus Christ But I rejoice in this inheritance that is offered to us
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Father I pray that you would be Taking over more and more of my heart this next year.
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I pray that for all of these people That you have seen fit to give me to shepherd Father I pray that you would continue to move in us as recast
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Church To be setting you apart as holy in our lives to be giving you access to those places that are
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Uncomfortable for us or those places where we're being beat up by sin and crushed Father what a beautiful reminder as we start off this new year
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With our first communion together and reflecting and remembering the awesome sacrifice that demonstrates
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How much? How deep how wide how strong your love truly is?
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That you would even go to the point of sacrifice the righteous for the unrighteous