Abandoned to God

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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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 Well, good morning. Welcome to Recast Church.

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I'm Don Filsack I'm the lead pastor here and I just want to start off by saying welcome I'm glad that you have chosen to gather together on this really cold

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Sunday morning to gather together in God's name to to worship him this morning

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Be sure to check out the worship folder that you received when you walked in. It's got different activities and events that are going on Just to highlight one of those that that's in there is we are starting our first recast 101 class

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I'm going to be leading that this Wednesday at 7 o 'clock at the The new room right next to the new church offices over here

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So if you're interested in that you can come and see me at the end of the service And we'll get you signed up and connected with that It's a it's a class that gives you the opportunity to learn more about recast kind of our history where we've come from and then where we're going and what our vision and our

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Statement of faith and things like that are all about So check that out, but not everything that you need to know is found in this worship folder

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Really there there's a way to get more information here to get more connected and that's through filling out the connection card that you received

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If you take the time to fill that out and share your email address with us We do send out a weekly email called the ecast that has links to all the different things that are going on I mean that's where you're gonna get the most information and then remember that there's also a place on the back of that connection card

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To just check boxes to share with us prayer requests to leave us any feedback or ask questions that you have there

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So that's available and then last You received an offering envelope when you walked in That goes in the same place that you'd turn in these connection cards

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By the way, the connection cards go in the black box back there any offerings you would choose to give Also go in the black box back there

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And there's also a place to recycle these if you're not going to use the offering envelope We can just reuse that again next week

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And again, if it's your first time with us this morning And you fill out one of those connection cards and turn it in right behind them is a stack of coffee mugs

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We'd like you to take one of those just our way of saying thanks for joining with us this morning and being willing to Share your information with us

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So all of that is there And then also one other thing that I wanted to highlight before we dive into introducing the message is for those of you that maybe have children that you have never gone through a

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Children dedication or what? I like to kind of call it as a parent dedication because what's happening at a baby dedication is the parents are saying

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I will raise This child up in godliness to the best of my ability I'm seeking to honor

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God in the way that I raise my child, but that's going to be February 15th So again, if you're interested in that you can contact me you can email me about that.

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There's going to be a Kind of informational meeting coming up in the next couple of weeks and it'll just be immediately following one of the services

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But that way I know to contact you and let you know about that informational meeting If you're interested

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So be thinking about that talk about it with your spouse and then decide whether you would like to do that and that's not just for Babies, so I think

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I want to make it clear that that's maybe you've got an older child that you want to dedicate to the

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Lord And maybe you're you're new in the faith and you're saying I've never done something like this But I'd like to know more about that.

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And so come and contact me about that Alright, we're gonna be in first Peter chapter 4 verses 1 through 6 this morning and you can either you can turn over there now

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If you'd like, but I'm just gonna kind of introduce that text and as we dig back into first Peter I want to remind us that first Peter is a letter that was written by a

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Fisherman, okay, so it was written by a fisherman. I don't know if you think about that as we're going through this This was a guy who spent long nights out casting nets on the

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Sea of Galilee bringing in fish Selling them in the marketplace. He knew a lot more about fish than he knew about pen and paper

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Okay He knew a lot more about fishing and where to find fish than he knew about a lot of things and yet his life was

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Transformed by an encounter with Jesus Christ in which Jesus called him to be one of his followers

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And then he had he spent three years following around the Savior the Messiah Observing his life learning from him being a life disciple of Jesus Christ himself

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And some of the concepts he writes about can be difficult for us to understand as we saw last week

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But the difficulty isn't because he was highly educated But a lot of times when we find difficulty in understanding what's going on in Scripture It has more to do with the distance that we have from their culture of that time.

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There's a cultural divide There's also a chronological divide between us and the authors of Scripture and so we have to bridge that gap and that's part of what

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I try to do each week is try to bridge the gap between Where they lived and where we live and when they lived and when we live

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So Peter lived in the middle of a Christian community. That was regularly at that point in history enduring physical and emotional suffering

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Because they had adopted a new religion Christianity was new on the scene with Peter being the first generation right there is from the very beginning one of the first generations of Believers and so it was a new religion at the time and they went through a lot of persecution because part in part because they were

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Understanding and declaring fully that Jesus Christ is not just a way But Christ said

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I am the way the truth and the life No one comes to the father except through me and so because that became very narrow Worship of the

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Emperor went out the door worship of all of the Greek and Roman gods went out the window

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And so because of that Culture said you don't dance to our tune anymore Why don't you and how many of you know that culture wants you to dance to their tune?

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Have you identified that have you seen that in your life and the culture around you in your workplace in your school? wherever you're at the culture definitely wants us to Look like them and act like them and conformity particularly in America is almost a god

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Isn't it like everybody wants to kind of it's everybody wants to be cool and hip and in the in crowd and all of that And so there was this cultural divide

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That was forming among the Christians there And so it would be easy for us though To kind of look at our culture and say how does this apply then to skip over?

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first Peter altogether and just think it was written for Christians maybe in the Middle East where there's more

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Persecution going on or maybe we should really just send a copy of first Peter to Christians in China or North Korea here in America We don't need to talk about this stuff, right?

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Because I mean we don't face a lot of persecution, but those people in other countries do But I would suggest to you that God knew that we

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Here in America here in Matawan, Michigan would need to hear this text He recorded it for us in the pages of Scripture for us because he knew we needed to hear this as well

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So as I've studied this book for the past couple of months, I've come to the deep conviction that much of my comfort much of my ease in the

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Christian life is directly related to my unwillingness to suffer my unwillingness to suffer

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In other words I'm not suggesting that you need to go out and seek suffering and I'm as we've been going through first Peter not that is if You need to go out and try to get people to persecute you

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But I would suggest that if I just do what God desires of me in the way that God desires it of me

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My life will indeed be more open to suffering than it has been

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Are you getting what I'm saying in that if I will honor God in the boldness that he?

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desires of me regarding the gospel if I will live a strange life to the world around me as we're going to talk about in this text because Peter's gonna just say you ought to look strange and People ought to look at you and say that's a little strange the way that you roll the way that the things that you do

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Not necessarily obnoxious Having a different set of values having a different way of rolling through life.

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And so because of that There would be more our lives would be more open to suffering if we lived more like that I'm calling this

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The title of this sermon is a life of abandon and that's the kind of life that I that I think Peter is talking about here a life abandoned to God that isn't just taking into account the pleasures of immediacy the things that would would grab a hold of our attention how many of you know that in reality

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Would you raise your hand and just identify that most of your sins that you can identify in your life have something to do with immediate pleasure

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Have something to do with just satisfying the moment and not the long -term perspective

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Isn't that what sin really is about you made me angry. So I'm gonna shout at you You're driving down the road.

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Somebody somebody is driving too fast on these roads Yeah, has anybody seen somebody that you felt was driving too fast this week?

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anybody Three of us five of us. Did you watch the news? Did you see that video?

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I think there's some people driving too fast for some conditions out on I -94 Yeah, so so then you see that and what is your thought?

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What do you what do you feel like? You know, what how do you communicate with them through the window of your car and things like that and temptations that grab ahold of?

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our lives in the routine of daily life and a lot of it has to do with the immediate and not looking at the long -term a

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Life of abandon is a life saying I am NOT all about this moment right here right now

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Jesus called it a life that seeks to lose its life in a sense. He says anyone who seeks to save his life

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Will lose it but anyone who loses his life for Christ's sake

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Will find it in other words the more we try to cling to this life the more we try to have the stuff and the the joy that we want to Have in the the immediate pleasures the more tightly we hold on to our stuff

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The more we become consumed with our own fame and our accomplishments the more we lose

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Real life It's a massive paradox

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But the more we cling to this life the less life comes to mean to us but a life of abandon a

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Life that doesn't live to cling to it and here and now But looks forward to a life that is yet to come

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That is a life that is precious and worthy a life with the long -term perspective in mind

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That is a life that can suffer With hope That is a life that looks strange to the world

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But that is a life rooted firmly in the hope of salvation so if you're not already at first Peter 4 verses 1 and 6 or you don't have a

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Bible raise your hand if you don't have A Bible with you and then there's some guys back here with Bibles that will bring you one

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So go ahead and raise your hand if you don't have a Bible on your lap And we want everybody have a copy of the

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Word of God so you can take take that copy It's a gift from us to you if you don't have one, but follow along I want everybody have a copy of the

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Word of God open in front of them that they can see the words of God to us this morning first Peter 1 chapter 4 verses 1 through 6

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Follow along as we read the very words of God to us this morning recast

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Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking

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For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions

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But for the will of God For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the

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Gentiles wants to do Living in sensuality passions drunkenness orgies drinking parties and lawless idolatry with respect to this they are surprised

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When you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you But they will give an account

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To him who is ready to judge the living and the dead For this is why the gospel is preached even to those who are dead

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That though judged in the flesh the way people are they might live in the spirit the way that God does

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Let's pray as the band comes to lead us this morning father.

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I rejoice and Another opportunity to gather together as your people here this Sunday an opportunity to just hear a word of Encouragement about the life that you desire for us a life that is available for your children and for those who have given their lives to you

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Father I pray that you would You'd speak clearly through your word this morning That you would engage our hearts and our minds and our spirits father that your spirit would bring the word alive to us we need to hear from you and The only hope that we have for change and for transformation is that you would do a work in our hearts

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So father I pray for that this morning and even as we have an opportunity to lift up our voices together I thank you for that word together.

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I thank you that we are a church together. I thank you that you have Unified us in a way that we can sing these truths and and look around and recognize

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Simultaneously that we are a people who? Want to honor Jesus Christ above all

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Father, I pray that that would become more and more reality in our lives in Jesus name Thanks a lot to Pete for leading out on this morning in Josh's absence.

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So just grateful for a Diversity of people who have God has gifted in a way that he hasn't gifted me

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So they're definitely able to do some musical stuff up there that I've got no clue. I just get to enjoy it.

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So Thankful for that Be sure to keep your Bibles open to 1st Peter chapter 4 verses 1 through 6

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I do want you to have your Bible open just because that's the outline I didn't hand out an outline because you've got a

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Bible on your lap. So that's that's the outline That's what we're gonna walk through and I would encourage you to get comfortable I recognize that those seats are not the most comfortable in the world

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So you might need to get up and stretch out in the back or get up and get more juice or more? Caffeine restrooms are out the door the end of the hallway men's upstairs women's downstairs

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We ask that you do not use the bathrooms down on this end Those are reserved for the children, but I'm down at this end are the other restrooms for adults

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So if you need to take advantage of that You're not gonna not not gonna distract me if you get up at any time during the message as we dive in There are as we dig through this text and as I sifted through it

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I decided to go ahead and do something that I don't do very often. I'm gonna give you three points with alliteration Okay, I'm gonna try it.

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So we're gonna see how it goes But there are three things that characterize a life of abandon according to verses 1 through 6 here

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And so it kind of worked out and you know It didn't take me too long to come up with this alliteration, you know, just a day or two

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Just kidding But the first that we see in verses 1 and 2 are And if you're taking notes,

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I'll just run gonna run through these and then I'm gonna explain them and tease them out so but the in verses 1 through 2 we see that a life of abandon is

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Ready to suffer ready to suffer The second thing that we see in verses 3 through 4 are that a life of abandon is a life resigned to strangeness resigned to strangeness and the third thing in verses 5 through 6 is that a life of abandon is a life reminded of Salvation so my three points this morning are ready to suffer resigned to strangeness reminded of Salvation.

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So remember as we dig in and I think this is very vital that I Feel like sometimes like a broken record reminding you that Peter is writing to Christians But it's extremely important that we recognize who his audience is as he digs in because it has a fundamental

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Shift in the way that we understand the text if we think he's writing to Christians versus non -christians Everything he says here in this text assumes that those that he is commanding and talking to about these things

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Have already recognized their need for a Savior and have asked Jesus Christ to save them from their sins

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This is important because the things he says here do not work if immediately applied to a

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Non -christian to just go out and tell a person to suffer like Jesus Or to avoid sin as verse verses 2 and 3 are gonna clearly direct us to do

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Without a relationship with Jesus Christ would be to confuse the gospel To just go to just command people to go and obey just go and do good things

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It would confuse the gospel The good news is that Jesus Christ has come to save us and to forgive us of our sins

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So that from that position of forgiveness, we can launch out into a life of obedience and love for him

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You see how that's convoluted if I tell you just go out and do good things That's different than the message of first Peter It just happens to be that he spent the entire first chapter

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Going over the good news that you have been saved and telling us what is ours in Jesus Christ so that that we have a firm foundation upon which to launch out into life with You know hope and with joy in an eternity out there

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That is waiting for us of glory and great joy So that we can suffer well in this life for the cause of the gospel

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So it's very important that we understand he's talking to Christians The gospel is not telling people to behave or to live in a certain way

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The gospel is telling people that they need a rebirth They need to be granted a new heart

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They need the forgiveness and new start that can only be given through the cross of Jesus Christ And it was on the cross that Jesus Christ suffered in the flesh first Peter 4 1 clearly states that in the flesh in his in his body

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Jesus Christ suffered and Here in verse 1 we find the first characteristic of a life of abandon the person abandoned to God is ready to suffer

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Notice I'm not saying that they must suffer But they must be ready and willing to suffer.

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It's not like suffering is a prereq to eternal life Okay, suffering is not a prerequisite

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But it is a willingness to suffer is vital to the Christian life a readiness to Peter tells all

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Christians. He uses the word arm themselves With the same thinking that characterized the life of Jesus who willingly suffered for us to arm yourself with a mindset like Christ Saying I'm willing to suffer for others.

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I'm willing to sacrifice. I'm willing to lay down my life for others Jesus Christ said greater love has no man than this that he laid down his life for another we need to have a life

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Set to love others even to the point of suffering. I find it

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More powerful in this text when Peter is talking about arming yourself when you think about Peter's history a little bit

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Consider that this is the disciple who armed himself with a sword on the night that Jesus was betrayed and Cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest when they came to arrest

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Jesus This is a man who uses the word arm yourself in a very different way than that literal arming himself that night

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Taking up a sword and using violence, right? Has there been some kind of a shift in Peter?

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Can you see that? Can you see some kind of a shift where he's saying arm yourself with a willingness to suffer?

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Versus arm yourself with a willingness to attack. Do you hear the difference? Significant transformation has happened in the heart attitude of this man

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Peter a huge turnaround He has gone from armed to attack to armed and ready prepared to suffer

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That Peter tells us to arm ourselves with an attitude of preparation to suffer Gives off a hint of a battle that's going to be waged when he talks about arming yourself.

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He's using military terms he's using there's going to be a battle and a war waged in your heart over this verse over this subject of suffering for Christ We can we you can already probably start to feel a little bit of the tug down Are you suggesting that we should be ready to actually physically suffer and all of a sudden your mind can start to?

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Push that thought aside. Well, that's not gonna happen to me That couldn't happen to me that wouldn't God wouldn't want that or whatever and all of a sudden your mind can start to play a battle

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Against this notion of being ready to suffer

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It's antithetical to the human mind To be willing to suffer. Is that a natural impulse you you head into suffering and you're just like yeah this week

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I hope there's some suffering in my life. Is that you don't sign up for that. It's not like that's not what you're That's not what you're you're hoping for And there's a battle that rages to adopt the mindset and the attitude of Jesus Christ Have you identified that in your own heart?

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It's there. It's there in mind But one of the fruits of suffering according to Peter here is the cessation of sin

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It's actually for our benefit. There's something good that can be produced out of suffering This may strike us as a strange statement because we all recognize and we

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I think you recognize that Suffering can be a great time for sin Have you identified that that sometimes temptation comes through suffering?

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You can be tempted to do all kinds of bad things I get some people in the midst of suffering turn their back on God, right?

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Some have cursed God during suffering some have sinned grievously against others

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Lashing out at others in their lives while they are suffering. You know what I'm talking about So what does it mean that that suffering those who have suffered in the flesh cease from sin?

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What is Peter getting at here? Remember that Peter is speaking of the suffering though that comes from the same line of thinking that Jesus Christ had

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He's talking about a specific brand of suffering. He's talking about intentionally willingly suffering for the cause of Christ.

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I believe that Peter is simply saying Those who physically have suffered for the cause of good because they have the same thinking as Jesus have rejected sin in other words it's hard to both choose suffering for Christ intentionally choosing a readiness and a willingness to suffer and sin simultaneously a

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Willing heart to say come what may I'm going to be God's man. I'm going to be

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God's woman thinking through that and in verse 2 a further benefit of suffering is the ongoing reminder that we do not live for our own passions or for our own

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The word passions there can easily be translated lust. It's a hunger and a desire for the immediate

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It's a word that actually spells out that nature of sin that I was talking about earlier in my introduction

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Where we recognize that often our sin is an immediate impulse to do something right now

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You know what I'm talking about And how many of you would say that there's been a time where you've been caught up in sin

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Where it was just like all of a sudden. I mean, what am I doing here? How did I get here and it's like the temptation just overwhelms and it's like there there

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I am in the middle of something I don't want to be doing the kind of thinking that leads to willing suffering is a long -term thinking

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That places the needs of others above the self that takes and places the long -term benefits of a life lived in holiness before God and others

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Above the immediate pleasures that this world has to offer How many of you want a life like that do you want a life like that No one

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Anybody awake anybody out there some of us that convinced you by asking you to raise your hand

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You're like he was not gonna move on until somebody raises their hand So I will I hope that's not the only reason you raise your hand

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But I know sometimes I ask for an answer like that and then you don't know whether I'm Does he really want me to raise my hand or not?

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Yes, I do a Life of holiness a life of abandon a life ready and willing of course maybe maybe some of you didn't raise your hand because you're recognizing the implications underlying this is

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Literally like a life of holiness that takes the long term above the short term is gonna sometimes be a life that suffers

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Do you see that in the text? It's a life that's gonna be willing to take that extra step of of Sharing the gospel with somebody that it's uncomfortable to share the gospel

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How many of you have somebody in your life that you recognize I I haven't because it's uncomfortable yet You haven't you haven't shared the gospel with him yet?

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Because it's just it's just hard to go there and I'm fearful that I might lose this relationship as a result of that Or maybe it's just awkward or it's just kind of stranger

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You've been a friend for a long time and now things have changed and you're like and things have changed for you, but it hasn't for them and it's hard to bring that up and Would they even believe you anyways and all of this kind of stuff that we can rationalize in our mind?

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But the one who has suffered in their flesh Has the benefit over those who of us who have never physically suffered for our faith

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There's an actual benefit to this not that you go out and you look for it Not that you're going out and try to drum up suffering so you can have some of these benefits

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But those who have suffered actually have a step up on those of us who haven't they know in Experiential terms the sin crushing benefits of having put the will of God over their own basic Desires for comfort and ease and even self -preservation in this sense

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Suffering is indeed in the life of a believer when suffered with God in mind a sanctifying work in the life of God's people

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It moves you closer to God when you suffer for the cause of Christ There is a constant battle in the life of every human being

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Between our own lusts the immediate Immediate gratification immediate desires and the will of God for our lives, which is often so much more long -term

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And we can act on our free will and go off on our own and do our own thing Or we can take what

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God desires of us and go his way And how do we know the will of God We know the will of God by his revealed word that he has graciously given to us

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We a lot of people want to know, you know, like what does God want for me in this stage of life? What does he want for me in my job?

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What does he want? Well, I think that God has given a significant revelation to be concerned with here about what he desires for our character

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And it has a lot God's desire for you By the way has a lot more to do with the way you roll than the circumstances you roll in You get what

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I'm saying in that a lot more concerned about the way the type of employee you are More than where you're employed

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Not to say that God isn't concerned about all aspects of your life or that there's anything out of bounds for you to pray and ask

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God about to give you guidance and direction a lot of times when we think of the will of God We're thinking about big ticket items in our lives where to move to where to live where to do this when to do it all

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That kind of stuff I get that But a lot of times we seek the will of God in those things neglecting what appears to be lesser things that are really of Significance huge significance in our life honoring

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God and loving him and Living a life of abandon. How many of you know that looks pretty similar that looks pretty similar in,

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Indiana It looks pretty similar in on the west coast. It looks pretty similar in Calcutta, India It looks similar all around the world doesn't it to live a life of abandon?

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It might have some might have some differences nuances here or there right But a life of abandon is the character that God wants to develop in you you carry with you wherever you go

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You getting what I'm saying? so a life abandoned to God a

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Person who wants the best that God has for them. I hope that's all of us in this room You want the best that God has for you?

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If that's the truth, then you are going to grow in your readiness and willingness to suffer for him

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Just like Jesus I Sent in this a distinct absence by the way of prosperity talk

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I Sense a lack of talk about health and wealth and fame in this opening to our text

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As followers of Jesus we should be ready and willing to suffer like our

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Master suffered everybody cheered up Everybody happy.

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Okay, we're gonna move on because now we're gonna start getting strange Okay, the next part we get to be resigned the second aspect of a life abandoned to God is resigned to strangeness versus three and four

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Resigned to look strange to the world around us Peter takes for granted that our lives before we came to Christ Was a time period of living for ourselves living for those immediate lusts living for those passions.

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I Like some of us in the room have to take that on faith Because I'm a person that was saved at a fairly young age

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I've joked before that it wasn't like I was cooking meth in the easy -bake oven and you know before I was eight, you know

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It was it wasn't like I lived a significant life of sin before I was eight years old

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So I take on faith that if I had not encountered Jesus Christ at that time in that little church in Middleville, Michigan in the basement

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Praying with my awana leader that night I don't know where my life would be and I think many of us can relate to that like you don't know

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What would have become of your life, but probably nothing like what it is now without Jesus Christ Are you getting what

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I'm saying? But some of us many of us have to take on faith that that this is actually the case

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That we would have lived a life of Abandoned for ourselves not abandoned to God but abandoned to selfish desires abandoned to lust abandoned to just throw everything to the wind and do

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Whatever we feel like I didn't have a lot of drinking parties sensuality or lawless idolatry from age birth to eight

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But Peter is identifying with many of you in this room who know by experience what he's talking about Some of you lived a little bit of this

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Crazy life that he talks about in our pre -christian state. He says we lived like Gentiles our hearts were like Gentiles which is the almost a

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Jewish pejorative term for a life of paganness and idolatry

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We lived in sensualities passions drunkenness orgies drinking parties and lawless idolatry sound like a great list

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Terrible list Some of you are like that doesn't sound like me that doesn't even sound like me before I was a

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Christian and others of you are like sounds just like an exact description of my friends when I was in high school or college or like my

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Frat or my sorority or the posse that I rolled with that sounds kind of familiar Some of you

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I'm not gonna ask for you to raise your hand But some of you know what I'm talking about you you were engaged in that lifestyle

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And you know it and you're like that list doesn't sound that far off and then others are you're in the room kind of going I think this is kind of fictional.

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I'm not sure that people really live that way The reality of it is that our hearts are all to a person prone to live for self and it doesn't matter if it manifests itself in drinking parties and illicit sexuality or if it manifests itself in lashing out at a spouse with anger or Hurting and harming your kids with your words or whatever

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It might be all of us recognize a selfish tendency within ourselves. That is the heart of what

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Peter is getting at here We can get so caught up in the specific words And I think it's valuable for us to understand and define culturally what these words are

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I'm gonna do that in a minute, but I think we can get so caught up in the Extremity of these words that we go.

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Well, I never did that at least I'm okay. I wasn't like that And that's that's missing the point that Peter's getting at But let me let me define these words culturally and then explain what they might look like where we live

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Sensuality, it's funny because a couple of these get turned on their head Sensuality is a generic term for behavior.

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That is culturally defined as deviant So any behavior that would be classified as lacking moral restraint?

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Fits into this generic word vandalism for example would fall into this word where we think of sensuality is primarily like a more of a

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Sexual word the Greek word that's being translated here is more like deviance

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Any any kind of you know breaking the law and that kind of stuff would be in this word

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It's more of a generic word But now the word translated passions in our text is the more specifically sexually oriented word in the lot here

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If we talk about an excessive preoccupation with sex and sexuality

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Pornography those types of things and we're getting close to the definition of this Greek word

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The second word is the one that has more to do with our sexuality in that area where we know it's very easy for people to get off track

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Drunkenness orgies drinking parties are all Extremely close words some people would even say in Greek that they're synonyms for one another that they there's a lot of overlap in those

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They all pertain to specific types of parties that were that the people engaged in in regard to the worship of the pagan gods during that time and These would be like just think wild frat party

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Involved a lot of drinking overeating illicit sexuality all that goes with that in the last phrase lawless idolatry

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Ties it all together under the banner of worshiping false gods In other words most of these words used to describe pre -christian behavior are in the context of the

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Roman culture during Peter's time of worshiping Idols that were not

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God the sensuality the preoccupation with sexuality the drinking parties were all in the context of Worshiping Saturn worshiping

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Bacchus work worshiping all these though For example the worship of Bacchus because you know the Bacchus is one of the

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Roman gods It's not just a store. That's down on Oakland. Okay. It's there's more to it than that Bacchus the

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God the Roman God of wine and partying a Lot of people took that God as their own right they would worship that one for sure the

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God of wine and partying and it was the worship of you know the worship festivals of Bacchus were just what you might

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Imagine a big drunken celebration of hedonism It's like spring break, right?

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Yeah down on the Gulf Side or Nalia was a huge Roman festival held throughout the

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Roman Empire in honor of the God of agriculture Saturn This was a notorious festival for gluttony sexuality drunkenness even

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Temple mandated prostitution and things like that In other words all that I'm trying to say is that to live in that pagan culture?

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Was to engage in a lot of depravity to be connected with your neighbors and connected with your community and connected with the with the

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Concept of spirituality in among the Gentiles during this time was to engage in a lot of crud.

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Are you seeing that you get that? So bring this over into our culture

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The fact is one need not be drunk to be doing what these Christians are being told to avoid here

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Whatever you worshiped and the ways that you expressed that worship are

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Now to be abandoned by the Christian Some of us can take that list in first Peter 3 quite literally

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Alcohol illicit sexuality drugs and general indecency was once a part of your life and it is now abandoned to Christ And you've given up those things

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You do not roll like that any longer praise God but for some of us

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It looks more tame as a matter of fact some of us could look more proud as if Except during testimony time of course everybody likes to hear a good testimony right a good testimony is one that has a lot of drugs

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And you know illicit sexuality and stuff like that, and then it's like Oh radical salvation But but aside from testimony time many of us look at this

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And we we can look down our nose at somebody who struggled with those things or even currently struggles with those things because for us

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It was just little things like materialism Worshipping the God of wealth or worshipping the

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God of self or the God of entertainment Or the God of success or the God of war we were always ready for a battle but no longer and I love

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Don't you love the way that in common conversation somebody says well They said that the weather is gonna be good tomorrow and who in the world is they

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Peter pulls one of those on us He said they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery they

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The world is surprised You look strange to the world

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When they knew you before you were a Christian, and they see your life now, and they go what in the world come on We're going to the bar, and we we know who you are

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We've been there with you before I mean come on. We know that you haven't changed that much

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You know what I'm talking about The world trying to pull you back

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I Think you do Regardless of what your regardless of what your flavor was regardless of what your poison was you know what

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I'm talking about you have People in your life who would eagerly delight in your failure morally

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They would love for you to come back, and they're just there with open arms saying come on, buddy

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Just one more just just one weekend man. It's just Friday night here. We go. Let's do this

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And you look strange you look really strange when you say no a

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Man who once was the life of the party who could hold his liquor and everybody loved him, and he was always the funny man

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And then he encounters Jesus Christ And he's gonna begin to look strange to the world around him can he still be funny yeah, he's still be funny

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But some people might not find his change all so funny a Man who used to grow irate to the point of shouting down and cussing out his managers

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And now is quiet and kind and does his job with meekness How do you know that might be a surprise to others around him?

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Might change it. They look at that and they go what in the world has happened here. They might not say it to him It might even make him angry the convert to Christ will be in some degree a surprise to those who have known them best

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And they will find a pull by those around them to just come back and be yourself I Love the very picturesque word that Peter uses in this text

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For a Christian saved out of the context of sinful idol worship Even if it was the idol the idol was just consumerism for example

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We'll find a pull by society back towards what he calls a flood of debauchery a flood of sin

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That word is a great word picture for sin isn't it flood? Floods overwhelm

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They catch things in their flow as they move along a flood calls the shots

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How many of you know you don't go where you want to if you're swept away in a flood? You don't go against it and you go where it wants to take you a flood stops for nobody

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And takes out anything in its path in a lifestyle of sensuality

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Lustful passions drunkenness orgies lawless idolatry is like getting swept up into a flood that has a mind of its own

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I want to reflect for just a moment on a song that is now a few years old. It's so like so five years ago

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But I've heard it a few times and it honestly strikes me in its honest misery

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It's something that sounds just utterly miserable to me, and I wanted to tell you I don't sit around I don't own you

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I you could verify this on my um you can look at my I've got my phone right here You could check it out.

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I don't have any Katy Perry songs. I promise so I'm not a big Katy Perry fan I'm not like And I don't know much about her

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But there's one particular song that I heard on the radio and I was just kind of flipping channels And it's like this song came on I didn't even know who was by the time

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I had to look it up But listening to the words of this song was overwhelming to me It's sometimes you can listen to something and if you have a

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Christian worldview listening in It's like that's powerful in an eerie and strange kind of way the name of the song is um last

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Friday night Any of you ever heard that song? Nobody wants to admit it no Thank you.

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Thanks Awesome sorry to call you on that um the song is also called

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TGIF I don't know you it comes by a couple different titles, but I'm written written and performed by Katy Perry By the way,

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I don't preach about Contemporary songs very often, but the song explains something that just sounds utterly and crazy just kind of miserable just just Just horrible, and if you heard those song

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It's all about these horrible things about waking up not knowing who that is laying next to you right straight

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You strike one. Okay. I'm going no That doesn't sound good Hoping that the pics don't get posted

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The pics you know yeah, you know the pics of the party, and you're just hoping that they don't get posted

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Not sure one of the lines actually says I'm not sure if this is a hickey or a bruise

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It's a line in the song Yeah Sounds like a great life sounds like fun and what strikes me about this whole flood of debauchery the flood the the flow of it is that the end of the song is

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Crazy because it's her intoning over and over again next

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Friday night. We'll do it all again Next Friday night can't wait for Friday So I can wake up next to somebody

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I don't know not knowing what I did with them and hoping that the pictures don't get posted and there's a warrant out for my arrest

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The yes, you step out for just a second. I'm not trying to be judgmental I'm just saying that that's a there's a reality that you can identify this flood that flows through the song

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This flood that would indeed sweep us up and take us away, and and the fact of the matter is that was us

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That was us we don't have the freedom to look down our noses at those who are caught up in but with with passion with compassion with love with with With kindness to challenge that is that really is that really fun?

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Is that really what you are breathing oxygen for? and The fact of the matter is a lot of people are trapped in that they're not having fun

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They're not enjoying it And we have a message to bring to them That can provide freedom from that flood a handout as they're being swept away saying here grab this lifeline

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Come to Christ the

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Christian stops entering that flood of debauchery and the world is surprised and They do what the world knows to do

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They malign us for it. Oh, you bunch of goody -two -shoes. You're so much better than everybody else and Yeah one of the toughest things to face as a new

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Christian is often the rejection of those who once were our closest and dearest friends

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But a life lived for God is open to being maligned by former friends because they are resigned to strangeness in the eyes of the world and lastly my last point a life of abandon to God is a life reminded of Salvation, where do we get this long -term view?

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Where do we get this? Ability to suffer and to look strange in a world where how many of you know if this life is all you've got then you ought to just make as many friends and have as much fun as you want if this is if this is all that there

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Is then that just that's logical Just be just live for yourself and do what you can but obviously, you know

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If you only ever do what you want for yourself, then that's not gonna go well And you're not gonna have many friends and it's gonna be antisocial

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So at least have some friends and be kind to some people but in the end do what you want

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It's only in the long -term perspective that this world is not all that there is that we have the power and the strength

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To say no to the immediate impulses of our flesh and say yes to the Spirit of God Those who malign the

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Christian for refusing to enter the flood of debauchery the text tells us Will eventually give account to the judge of all verse 4 those who are currently alive and Those who have already passed on will all face the same judge

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And this reminds me of Hebrews 9 27 says it is appointed to man to die once And Then comes judgment appointed to man to die once and then comes judgment and The Christian lives in light of the knowledge of an

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Almighty God Who is the rightful judge who sees and observes and is aware of all that transpires on this earth?

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But a recognition that God will judge us is not a fearful thing

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Because we know that when we stand before the judge and he is our rightful and just and powerful and Almighty judge

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He will look at us and say your sins have been paid by my son

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Jesus Christ in verse 6

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Peter in a fairly convoluted way explains that even those who have died in Christ Had the gospel preached to them while alive so that despite their earthly judgment, which is death

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What does it mean to be judged in the flesh as all men are to die? But they have been made alive in the

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Spirit like God. He's trying to provide hope if that was confusing Let me let me paraphrase what he's saying here and see if it helps

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Peter is saying in verse 6 Even those who died as believers Might appear to have been judged.

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They're not with you anymore So think about people that have gone on before you that have passed on as Christians and it's like well

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Where are they and they're they're gone from us? Appears as though they've been judged But they are now alive in the

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Spirit because of their trust in Jesus Christ and in this final phrase

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Peter is seeking to give encouragement to those who suffer for the cause of Christ as recipients of the gospel as Those who have been saved by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

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We have ultimate hope That we will be made alive in the Spirit Even if we go to death

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So if you're looking to be sold out for Christ if you're looking to be abandoned to God in 2015

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You must first be ready to suffer It may not be to the same degree or type of suffering that Peter's original audience faced

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But it may be the loss of some friendships along the way It may mean risking relationship in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ But in a very practical way the person who wants to be abandoned to God Will need to take an assessment of life and weigh what is helpful and what is not in your journey

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We live in a day and an age where many of us have been burned by a culture of legalism Many were raised with very well -defined list of do's and don'ts and so the church has swung the pendulum so far off of Legalism into freedom in Christ that we are at risk of losing our voice in the realm of holy living

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We are called to be a strange people by the world's standards not to be strictly hip or relevant or connected or Cool Or to be strange people and some of you guys are like, yes

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Finally something I'm good at that the scriptures telling me to do and I'm like I can do strange. I got that nailed.

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I Mean me I'm talking about me It's like I'm a pro. It's strange But if we're honest

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One of the biggest things we're tempted to worship Is our own reputation? the way that people around us view us

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If we're all honest, I don't even have to have you raise your hand to say that I believe this is true of you

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You want to fit in? You want people to like you? we don't want to be seen as strange or peculiar and Yet as relevant and hip as we try to make

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Christianity. It should never Be seen as cool in a world where sin is held up as hip and cool

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You hear what I'm saying if sin is Cool, then we ought not to be cool

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Are you willing to be peculiar and strange for the cause of Christ?

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It may mean that you cannot converse knowledgeably about certain sitcoms or movies Because your own relationship with God has kept you from watching those sitcoms and movies

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Notice, I'm not gonna list them out for you. It's up to you But I know what it's like to sit where you're sitting and feel that that little twinge of conviction kind of like and run with that Run with that.

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Let God have his way in your heart. Not your own Insatiable hunger for entertainment to run your life

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Talk with God I'd encourage you to maybe even this afternoon take a little bit of time with God and say is there anything in my life right?

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Now that is hindering me from being a good testimony of you to others It may mean speaking about Christ in a context where he's only used as a curse word this year

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It may mean still hanging out with your friends, but no longer drinking to drunkenness. Maybe you get to be the designated driver in 2015

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It doesn't mean by the way that you have to go out and can all of your old friends Should you hear me carefully on that?

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I think that's one of the one of the Easiest ways when a person gives their life to Christ, they're like, okay all new whole new set of friends but what about staying in that and staying somewhat connected as much as you can with your with your integrity intact and just saying

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I'm Here and I still want to be your friend, but I'm not gonna do those same things, but I'm here and Use it as an opportunity to testify of Christ if you have this the strength and the power to be able to maintain that But I would suggest to you that you don't need to can them.

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They'll probably eventually take care of that for you You know what? I'm talking about. But keep keep a voice in their life as long as you're able

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Built into this text is a reality That our hope must be placed squarely in the gospel of Jesus Christ hope for us and Hope for our friends as well

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At one point we had the sentence of judgment of God hanging over our heads. Just like the text says now they're gonna be judged

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But when we asked Jesus Christ to save us He applied his sacrifice to our account and we have hope that we will even though we die be made alive in the

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Spirit and It's that same hope that you can hold out for those you used to run with Their hope is that they would also respond to the gospel

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We celebrate this hope in the gospel each week as we take communion. This is not just some routine we go through I know that doing it each week runs the risk of it becoming routine for us and that's a that's a risk that I'm willing to take for the cause of bringing us back in our hearts and in our minds to The centerpiece of our faith the the primary thing of remembering what has made us whole

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When we step up to these tables and we take communion We take that bread that reminds us of the body that cracker that reminds us of the body of Jesus broken for us

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We are remembering together That we were not all that in a bag of chips It took an amazing crazy lavish sacrifice to win you over and Then we take that cup and we remember his blood that was shed for us and we remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that our punishment our judgment what we

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Deserved was taken on his shoulders and he died for us.

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How many of you know that Jesus didn't have to die He did not have to die Chose to and he willingly suffered why

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Because he loves you that much and then he wraps that whole thing up in a present in a package

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And holds it out and says all you have to do is take it. It's here for you if you're here and you haven't received that gift that God has is holding out to you a forgiveness through Jesus Christ a fresh start a new heart a

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Launching pad for the rest of your life to be lived in holiness and abandoned to God And by the way, do you hear what

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I'm asking you to sign up for? I want to be abundantly clear those of you that are in the air in the faith you you you've got some semblance of understanding of this already

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Come and be ready to suffer Sounds like a great sales pitch doesn't

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So suffering for this temporary versus a life of eternity with God it doesn't

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Sound really good in the short term But Wow Wow in the love of God if you've asked

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Jesus to save you Hunger for a life lived with him hunger for a life of abandonment.

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Please come and take communion during this next song If you've not yet given your life to Jesus Christ you can sit back take in this song and Consider if today might be the day that you come out from underneath the judgment of God and receive a fresh start from him

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Let's pray Father I thank you so much For the work that you're doing here in our lives for the call that you have placed on us

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Father I confess that I don't want to suffer. I don't look forward to that And simultaneously it's a call here to arm myself with the thinking of Jesus Christ who willingly and readily suffered on my behalf

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So father, I pray that you'd be preparing us in this next year that you would help us to arm ourselves with that thinking

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Father that you would help us to grow in our willingness to look strange to the world around us to be willing to Share your truth with the person at the coffee shop or with waiters and waitresses and co -workers and neighbors and father

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To boldly proclaim the truth even in the face of what could result in persecution

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And father we recognize that the only reason we would want to do something like this is because of our

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Remembrance of salvation father that in the end it is not about this 70 80 maybe if you're gracious 90 years of life on this planet, but father

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When it really comes down to it It really is about the life yet to come pray that you would help us to store up treasures there where there is no rust

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Where the moths don't come in and consume it where thieves never can break in and steal But that you would live for this inheritance that we have stored up in heaven by you.