1 Peter: How The Rock Was Made (1 Peter 1:1, Jeff Kliewer)

God, we pray blessing on them today. We thank you that they're growing toward maturity to know you more and more. And Lord, we have to confess that we are children. Lord, we crave that pure spiritual milk, which is your word.

And Lord, there's a lot of ways that we as adults are immature, Lord. And you are making us like Christ, you are growing us up. So I pray, Lord, that we would always be like children in terms of having a childlike faith, just a simple trust in who you are.

Not overanalyzing everything, but simply trusting you. Not being so haughty and prideful, Lord, but humbling ourselves as children. We thank you for the kids today, and we pray for ourselves that as we open this word, your word to us, that we would grow thereby, in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

The Three Reasons for Calling Peter “Solid as a Rock”

So today is the start of a new series. You guys know we are studying 1 Peter, and the series title is Solid as a Rock, Solid as a Rock. Now, why that title? I really intend a three-fold meaning by Solid as a Rock.

Number one, Peter establishes for us rock-solid foundations. Recall the teaching of Jesus Christ at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where he talked about two different kinds of people. Some build their house on the rock, others build on shifting sand.

And when the storms of life come, the houses that are built on shifting sand crumble. They have no strong foundation, but the house that's built on the rock will stand. The book of 1 Peter is for us a solidifying of our foundation.

By the words that are from God, our foundation is secured, and we remain strong in him, so that when persecution comes, when suffering comes, our house doesn't crumble. The book of 1 Peter will mention suffering in all five of its chapters.

Five chapters, and five chapters will talk about suffering. But we, as Christians, can have a rock-solid foundation that withstands the suffering that inevitably comes into each of our lives. So in what context was the book of 1 Peter written?

It was just prior to a major persecution of the church. It was probably written in 63 AD, okay? In 64 AD, a major persecution of Christians broke out under the Emperor Nero. So at that time, the Christians, many of them have already been driven from their homes by family, by society.

Having left Judaism in favor of following the way, Jesus Christ, many of them were ostracized and exiled and were living out in Central Turkey. I've been there, I had the chance to go to Central Turkey, and I saw what Cappadocia looks like.

It's really an interesting place. They have these rock formations that have eroded over time, so that you'll have very high, almost straight up rock formations. But often, Christians would hide in those.

And to this day, the Turkish people call those the fairy hills. They're very interesting. You should Google it sometime and look at Cappadocia. But in this region, Christians were hiding because of persecution in 63 AD.

And Peter writes a letter to them to prepare them for something even worse. Now, what is that worse thing? Nero's persecution. Nero was the emperor of Rome. And he looked at the Roman streets and the city that he lived in and that he presided over, and he saw that the streets were narrow and the buildings went up high, and everything was crowded, and everything was old.

And he thought, I wish we could just start over and rebuild a grand city according to my design. And so Nero arranged to burn the city of Rome. He set fire to these houses, and with those narrow streets, everything made of wood, built very high, the fire spread throughout the city and consumed, and whenever people would put it out, he restarted it until it burned.

In fact, historians talk about what Nero was like while this was happening. He was sitting in a tower watching it, and historians say that he was charmed by the flame. He was straight up insane. People were dying, the city was being burned to the ground.

But he had an opportunity now to rebuild this great city according to his design. Well, of course, people who lost family and friends were not too happy about the city being burned, so he needed a scapegoat.

And who better to blame than this rising movement that was already suspicious to the Roman people called the Way, Christianity. It was hard on them because many women were converting to Christianity, and the men were not pleased with their wives converting.

In that culture, women were held as second class citizens, and many of these women, despite the protests of their husbands, were turning to the Way. And so already, there were a lot of angry men in the city.

But more than that, rumors began to spread, and since the love feast, which is the time when the Christians would come together in fellowship, was a time of love and would include the holy kiss, which was an embrace.

There were rumors spread that all kinds of deviant sexual behavior was going on among the Christians. That was the rumor in Rome. Moreover, because what they were doing was celebrating communion at that love feast, they were taking this bread and this wine and saying, this represents what?

The body and blood of Jesus. The rumor spread among Roman citizens that Christians were cannibals, often saying that they would eat Gentiles in their services. Of course, unfounded, but as this rumor spread, hatred against Christians broke out, and Nero led the way in persecuting the church.

In 64 AD, he would often roll Christians in tar and light them as torches to light his city. Throw Christians to the lions. Christians were impaled and racked, thrown on the horns of bulls. All kinds of terrible ways to suffer and die.

This broke out in 64 AD. So the book of 1 Peter, written just prior to it, is preparation for suffering. It's solidifying the foundation of the early church to say, persecution is coming. Suffering is coming, but let your house be built on this rock, Christ Jesus, so that when the hard times come, you will stand, your house will not crumble.

And even if you die, you will not deny the name of Jesus. Peter is shoring up the foundation, that's the first thing. But there's a second reason that we call the series Solid as a Rock. The second reason is that 1 Peter 2, verses 2 to 5, actually uses that term.

Turn there with me, if you will. So we're in the book of 1 Peter, and look in the second chapter. You can find that on YouVersion, or if you have a printed text, you can turn to that, 1 Peter 2, verse 2 and following.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. So Peter's aim here in the text is that we would grow by the text, that it would be spiritual milk to us.

And we would go from immaturity to maturity, that Christians would grow in their faith, not remaining where they are, but growing. Now look at the analogy in verse 3 and 4, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good, so speaking to Christians here, if you know who he is and you believe in him.

Now look, as you come to him, that's Jesus, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. Jesus Christ is here compared to what? A living stone, a rock. And he'll go on to say that Jesus the rock is an offense to a lot of people.

When you go forth preaching Christ, people will be offended. And many will trip over that rock. That rock will be a stone of stumbling. A stumbling stone. But to others who believe upon his name, that rock becomes the foundation stone on which all of life is built.

Do you see that? And now in verse 5, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And so Peter uses the analogy of a living stone to refer to us. We as Christians should be seen as solid as a rock. We should be stones. As Jesus was the cornerstone, the world should see that there's no shifting in us like sand.

There's no bending to the ways of the world. But we are solid. We are consistent. We have integrity. That word integrity means wholeness, being one, undivided, strong person. So this is what we're going for.

We're aiming for being as strong and solid as a rock. But there's a third reason that we call the series Solid as a Rock. And some of you could probably guess it. Because the author of this book was given the nickname The Rock.

I know when some of you hear The Rock, you're thinking of a WWE wrestler turned actor. Different guy. Different guy. Peter is The Rock. And all the apostles, especially the leader, were given as examples to us.

So the apostles, those 12 followers of Christ, were given to be our examples. So to become solid as the rock is to try to emulate the way Peter lived his life. To follow the author of this text, who himself was following Christ.

And that leads us to today's message. We are going to open and look at the first part of the first verse. We're not getting very far through the text today. But that's important for this reason. Because you can't just breeze over who the author of the book is.

If you want to understand what he's saying, you have to understand who he is. So look at that. First Peter, chapter 1, verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. You can't just skip over that. Now I think when we go to read the text, often you just read the first introductory material and just move on.

What's he gonna say? We breeze past that, right? That's not important right now. Are you guys familiar with the 1980 movie Airplane? Has an exclamation point on it. It's a very funny movie in my opinion.

Some people think it's not funny. But it's kind of a deadpan humor. But in the movie, one of the flight attendants comes to a character and says, there's trouble in the cockpit. And the guy answers, the cockpit, what is it?

And she says, it's that little room in the front of the plane where the pilot sits. But that's not important right now. So there's a bit of a misunderstanding. But that phrase, but it's not important right now, becomes a recurring phrase throughout the movie.

Often we glaze over scripture. And we say, that's not important right now. How could that apply to my life? We read Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and we just glaze over it and move on. That's not important right now.

What does he have to say? But no, every word of scripture is important right now. If we're really to understand this book, I think it's important that we dig in and learn who Peter really is. Look at the life of Peter.

But moreover, the reason I use that analogy is because Peter was prone to misunderstanding. Just like in the movie Airplane, Peter would hear something and totally miss what Jesus was saying. For example, in the 16th chapter of Matthew, Jesus begins to explain the most important thing about how he would go to the cross and die.

And Peter jumps in before he's even heard what Jesus is saying and says what? No, I will never let that happen. We'll die with you. We'll fight him off. And Jesus has to turn and say, Peter, get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling stone to me. Peter puts his foot in his mouth, totally misunderstanding and not listening. In Mark chapter 9, do you remember the story of the transfiguration? Where Jesus is revealing his glory with Moses and Elijah on the mountain.

And Peter speaks up and right away says, this is great. Let's build tents right here and live here forever. As if that was the point of the transfiguration. He puts his foot in his mouth again. Let's build tents here.

And finally, in John 21, Peter hears this amazing teaching from Jesus. And Jesus tells him, feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. And then he tells him by what death he was to glorify God. But rather than listening and hearing, the first thing that Peter does is what?

He turns and he looks at John. And he says, Jesus, what about him? How's he gonna die? And Jesus says, what is that to you? You do what I told you to do. So Peter was prone to put his foot in his mouth.

He's prone to misunderstand. We're the same way. How often do we open a text of scripture and read into it what we wanna see? How often do we bring our own presuppositions and read that into the text?

What we need to learn to do is to be still before the text. Be quiet before the text. To observe what's there. To interpret what the intended meaning of the author was. And to apply that to our lives.

We need to slow down and listen. And so 1 Peter 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. What does it mean to be Peter? Well, we learn that word in Greek is Petros, meaning rock. And when we hear from the word Cephas, sometimes Peter is called Cephas in the Bible, right?

That's the Aramaic version of rock. It's his nickname. But his born name was Simon. So Simon Peter, one person, the nickname rock, means something. It refers to being steadfast and strong in the faith.

An apostle. What does it mean to be an apostle? The Greek word for apostle, apostolos, means sent one. He was a sent one. But Jesus had called 12 men and commissioned them as his apostles, giving them a special calling.

The requirements to be an apostle were that someone had to have been with Jesus and spent time with Jesus and seen his resurrection from the dead. With the exception of Paul, who was abnormally born. He encountered Jesus later on the road to Damascus.

But because this is what an apostle was, one who had seen Jesus, been with Jesus, seen him resurrected from the dead, he is now sent by Jesus to witness to what he saw. Is that office repeatable? Can there be a successor to Peter when he dies, who will be the next apostle to carry forth the church?

The answer is no. By definition, the apostles were specially commissioned as witnesses, eyewitnesses who had touched his hands and ate with him and saw him resurrected from the dead. So there were 12 apostles.

Judas betrayed. He was replaced early in the book of Acts. And then Paul was abnormally born. Some of the other travelers with Paul were also called apostles, that first generation of witnesses. These had a special office and a special calling.

So today, when some people come along claiming to be apostles, they boast and claim too much for themselves. Because this is an office that Jesus specially designated to the apostle, Peter and the others, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

So today, we're talking about this author, Peter, and we're going to look at a few instances in his life. But let me just remind you of some of the interesting things that happened to Peter. We're going to look at three texts briefly, but I just remind you of some of the things that you might have heard over the years.

Remember that commercial that's on TV? I think it's still out, but it's called The Most Interesting Man in the World. Those are funny commercials, usually. But Peter, I think, might be more interesting than that guy.

Think about some of the things he did. He once walked on water. That's amazing. He once raised a dead girl back to life, whose name, if you remember lamentably, was Dorcas, and she came back to life. His shadow was reputed to heal people.

So profuse was his healing ministry that even if his shadow passed over, some would be healed, or at least that was the rumor. His vision of a sheet being lowered down from heaven changed the history of the world because it showed that Jew and Gentile were alike acceptable to God, and Jew and Gentile were brought together because of his vision of the sheet.

He once lost a foot race to John, remember that? He was the first one to preach the risen Savior, and on that first day of preaching the sermon, 3 ,000 believed and were baptized. Remember, he walked with John to the temple gate called Beautiful, and a crippled man was begging, and he said, silver and gold have we not, but what we have we give you in the name of Jesus.

Stand and walk, and a crippled man was raised in the name of Jesus. He rebuked a former wizard for trying to buy the power of God with money. In Acts chapter 8, he saw the transfiguration. Remember what he did there?

We just talked about it. He offered to build tents there for them to live forever on the mountain. He one time put his coat on on a boat in order to dive into the water, getting confused. He fell asleep over and over and over again when Jesus told him to stay up with him.

He actually chopped off somebody's ear. That's pretty interesting, right? He chopped off an ear. I think he was probably going for the head in that case. There's no indication he was trying to shoot for the ear, but of course then saw Jesus take that ear and re-establish it on the man's head.

Wow, what an interesting man. He convinced the apostles to go fishing when Jesus told them to go to a mountain after the resurrection. And one time Jesus told him to go fish for a particular fish that had a coin in its mouth to pay their taxes.

And he caught that fish and retrieved the coin to pay the taxes. Very interesting. It's a lesson for us men who went fishing and none of us caught anything all night long, which they also experienced.

But Jesus helped them catch something in the morning. The point is, Peter is a very interesting character. In fact, he's the second most mentioned character in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Of course, the first would be Jesus.

But after Jesus, Peter is the second most important character. So Peter teaches us to become as he was, solid as a rock. It's instructive for us to see how Peter grew into his name. How did he become the rock?

Because his growth to maturity is a pattern for us. So we're going to turn now. We're just going to look at three quick passages. It won't be long today. Matthew chapter 16 is an important one. Turn to the 13th verse.

Matthew 16 verse 13. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they say, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Stop there for a moment. Jesus just asked Peter the most important question anyone could ask, even to this day. There's many opinions about who Jesus is.

These opinions vary across the religions of the world and from person to person. But Jesus asked Peter, who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? In verse 15, Jesus asked that. Verse 16, Peter's reply, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

That answer is true. And that answer cannot be given apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person. The message comes through preaching. Even as right now I declare to you that Jesus is the Christ.

He's more than a prophet. He's more than a great man, more than a moral teacher. He does more than teach about love. He is the Messiah promised throughout the Old Testament. He is the very Son of God, which means God who took on flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus is the Son of God. To believe this preached word requires something. Keep reading. Verse 18, I'm sorry, verse 17. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Peter had heard who Jesus was. Jesus had spoken about his identity. Even from birth, his identity was revealed, right? And at his baptism, John the Baptist declared that he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He'd been called the Son of God often. So Peter had heard this, but something had to happen inside of Peter to believe and receive this message. God had to work something supernatural in Peter's heart.

He says, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, calls him by his name, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. This is not merely the work of a man convincing you that Jesus is someone. This is a supernatural exchange.

Something supernatural has to happen. And this is the first point that we need to gather. In order to become a Christian, in order to become a living stone, you must be born again. I believe it's at this moment that Peter was born again.

It's a little hard to tell because it's before the crucifixion of Jesus and before the resurrection. But it looks here that he has confessed Christ by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit has done this to him.

So keep looking. Verse 18, and I tell you, you are Peter. By giving Peter this name, giving Simon the name Peter, meaning rock, he gives him a new identity. A new identity. He once was lost, now he's found.

He once was dead, now he's alive. He's a new man. If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. All things have become new. There's this expression in Christianity called being born again.

You guys have all heard it, right? In fact, it's become a point of derision. Oh, he's one of those born again Christians. By which people who deride us would mean to demean us and act as if we're either Bible thumpers or judgmental or in some way lording our faith and holding ourselves up as greater than everybody else.

But nothing could be farther from the truth because what? Jesus in John chapter 3 said, you must be born again. This term is the word of Jesus himself talking to Nicodemus where he tells Nicodemus, flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.

That is why I tell you, you must be born again. And I will proclaim this right now. Please have ears to hear that unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. No earthly man in flesh can walk into the presence of God apart from the new birth.

If you are only born once, that is born of your mother, born of water, you will die twice. You will have a physical death and then a spiritual death after a separation from God for eternity. But if you are born twice, you will only die once.

If you are born from your mother and then born again of the spirit where the Holy Spirit gives you new life, your physical body will die, but your spirit lives on forever. Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.

This is the message of the new birth. You must be born again. Nicodemus was so confused. Can I crawl back inside of my mother and be born a second time? Jesus said, no, you must be born from above, a spiritual birth.

Only the Holy Spirit can do this work in you. As the Father is drawing you, you believe in the Son, you come alive. That's the first step. Now we talked about what happens next in this text. Peter is born again by believing in Jesus, but right away he displays his immaturity because Jesus says, now let me tell you about what's coming.

And he talks about his own suffering, how he's going to go to the cross and die a sinner's death, yet he's innocent. And before Jesus can even finish explaining it, Peter is saying what? No, no, this will never be.

To be born again is not the same thing as becoming mature. Think about it in terms of earthly life. When a baby is born, a child is utterly dependent on the parents. There's no maturity that just comes from being born.

That takes time to grow. And so let's see what Peter's maturity is like going forward these few years from being born again. Turn with me to the second place, which is Mark 14, verse 66 to 72. Mark 14.

Some of you know this story, and this will be a quick reminder. We're just going to breeze through it quickly. This is the picture of a Christian who is not yet standing like a rock. To be born gives life, but maturity takes time.

You are not born a mature Christian. Mark 14, 66 to 72. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also are with the Nazarene Jesus.

But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them.

But again, he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. All of the apostles were Galileans with the exception of Judas Iscariot.

But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

And he broke down and wept. Peter believed in the Christ. He had the new birth. But his maturity wasn't there. He was more like shifting sand, so quick to deny the name of Jesus in the face of potential suffering.

So what's the remedy? One final passage, John 21 verses 9 to 19. This is crucial for understanding what Peter writes in this epistle that we're going to study. After having denied Jesus three times, John 21 verses 9 through 19.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in the place with fish laid on it and bread. Peter has jumped into the water with his coat on and swam to Jesus because he's appearing after he's risen from the dead.

Verse 10, Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. And so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. Now pause for a moment and catch what's happening here.

Peter has just brought in this haul of fish because he's been out at sea fishing when Jesus told him to go to the mountain and wait for him there. So Peter is feeling tempted to go back to his old ways, go back to his old lifestyle, being a fisherman.

Remember, Peter is a fisherman. But Jesus now says, do you love me more than these? Jesus had told him when he first called him, I will make you a fisher of men. You'll no longer fish for fish, though you caught 153 of them with Jesus' help.

Now I will make you a fisher of men. You have a whole different mission in life now. You fish for men. And he reminds him, do you love me? And Peter says, yes, I love you. And Jesus says, feed my lambs.

Now how many times did Peter deny the Lord Jesus? Three times. So keep reading. Verse 16, he said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, tend my sheep. Verse 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. And here is the instruction and the most important point that I want to drive home. Peter was told how to grow. By feeding the sheep. What is that food?

Go back to what he writes in 1 Peter 2, verse 2. He says, grow up into maturity by the pure milk. Feed the sheep. At the end of the second book, he writes, 2 Peter 3, verse 18, he says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave Peter instructions for how to minister and what to do. He says, feed my sheep. What's he to feed them? The word of God. This is where they will grow. This is what they need. They need the word.

And the same is true of each one of us. We need the word of God to grow. And so where does all this end? In conclusion, our maturity as Christians is not simply by the new birth. We are born again into a living hope.

We are given new life as a gift, and that's a work of the Spirit. But if you want to grow as a Christian, you need to take and eat of his word. I need to take and eat of his word. And so I ask you, do you open this book every day?

You eat a meal every day, right? You eat breakfast, you eat lunch, you eat dinner. Do you open this book three times a day and see what's in here? This is the meat. This is the milk. This is the food for the sheep.

This is how we grow. We're going to study through 1 Peter, and I'm telling you, next week's message is going to be deep. It's going to be meat. It's going to feed us in an important way, because Peter, even though he was a humble fisherman, and he talks about how what Paul writes is Scripture, and it's complicated, and it's hard to understand.

Paul, the theologian trained under Gamaliel, has nothing on Peter in terms of knowledge. How did that come about? Peter continued to study. Peter continued to grow. And by the time he writes this letter in 63 AD, he is a theologian by constant refining in the Word of God.

And what he writes is deep and meaningful. We have to come with that hunger for God's Word and grow by it in the grace and knowledge of God. So Peter denied three times. Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, a volume, records how Peter died.

Some of you are familiar with the story. Peter ended up in Rome in the 60s, probably near the time of Nero's persecution. It would have been under that persecution before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Peter was preaching Christ at a time when Christians were persecuted. And Paul mentions that the apostles had a right to bring along a believing wife. Peter had a believing wife that he brought with him.

Eusebius tells us that when the Roman Empire took them captive and put them to death, he made sure that Peter stood to watch the death of his wife first. Peter had to stand strong and his words to his wife were recorded by Eusebius, Remember the Lord.

He spoke that encouragement, Remember the Lord, as she died. And finally, they brought him this rock who trembled at the voice of a little girl three times so many years before. Now, 30 some years later, facing death.

First of all, the death of his wife. Now, his own demise, his own torture on a cross to humiliate him because he's a Christian. He says, Don't crucify me like my Lord. Crucify me upside down because I'm not even worthy to die the way my Lord did.

Yeah, when Peter died, he was a rock. When Peter died, he was strong. He was unmovable. He looked death in the face without fear. He remembered the Lord. He had grown through those years. Early on in his ministry, Paul had to rebuke Peter because he was still immature in a certain way in Galatians chapter two.

But now he died as a man. First Corinthians says, Quit ye like men, be strong in the King James. Be strong, we're told. How do we get strong? How do we grow? How can we be living stones like the Peter, like the rock?

It's only by feeding on the word of God. That's what Peter will teach us and his teachings will be deep. We're going to go into that next week. I'm going to call on the worship team to come and get ready.

Sending the Brown Family as Missionary “Sent Ones”

But before we close in prayer, we're also going to call up on the Brown family who's here with us. The word apostle means what? Sent one. We are going to call on the Browns. If you guys will come up now.

Antoine has been offered work in the church down in Virginia. And whoever wants to come on up, we want to send them off in the power of the Holy Spirit and even pray if it's the Lord's will that in time, they could be sent back to us.

But our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would fill them and carry them on their way. Can I ask the elders? Come on up, whoever's here. Thanks, guys. What's that? Oh, OK. We're going to bring them in? OK.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are they coming now? OK, good, good. OK, so guys, we love the Brown family and we just want to pray and say goodbye. But more importantly, we want to send them off. Commissioned, sent, not as apostles in the big A sense of the word, but as a little a apostle, a sent one, like a missionary.

So we're going to do that. I see him coming. We love you guys and we're thankful for you being part of this church. And we are excited that the Lord has opened a door of opportunity. That's what we pray for.

Remember the book of Colossians? Pray for open doors for the gospel. And the Lord has clearly opened this door for you. And so we're sending you off to walk through the place that the Lord has sent you to go in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So can I just ask one of the elders to pray and then I'll close? That'd be good. And then we'll do our last song.

Thanks. Lord, we are so thankful this morning, being able to be a church that can send Janet and Antoine and the family out of state here. And we just pray so much that your Holy Spirit would rest on them, that you would just refine them, that their condo would sell, that the things that need to happen, the details would just go away, that you would just give Antoine just great strength and courage, and just the ability for their family to minister as they have ministered to us here.

So thankful what they've done this summer, as far as their faith, and just moving on again, that it just affects all of us here what they're doing. And we pray that you would just bless their family as they go and give them safety, give them peace, pray that their kids would find friends.