Like Your Life Depends On It

Hello Salt Church, how are you this morning? Yay! Thank the Lord we're together, amen. It is All Saints Day, yeah? A day where we remember those who have gone before us and set the road for us, and also those who have bled and died for the things that we stand on as a faith, amen?

And we can remember and go back. I love visiting Hebrews 11 and 12 and kind of reflecting on the people that have come before us, and that gives us hope, right? And that's kind of cool that it connects with this in some way in our scripture of 1 Peter. Now, before we get started today, I do want to share just a few things with you. The biggest thing is our turkey drop is coming November 15th.

I'm super excited and pumped. We're doing it a little bigger this year. Usually we just kind of set something outside, and everybody comes and brings turkeys. We're going to still do that. But we're also adding a fall fest to that.

So this is a great opportunity to bring some friends to church, amen? Bring some people. We've got some seats to fill up, and we can open up that back if we have to back there to keep social distancing and things like that. But it's a great opportunity to invite somebody to church. So we're going to have kids' events.

We're going to have outdoor games. Pray that the weather does well. But we're going to have some outdoor games, some barbecue. How many of you like barbecue? We're going to have barbecue here.

Hey, we're eating church, okay? We have food in most of our events, and we're proud of that. Salt Church Eats, okay? I think that should be one of our t-shirts, Salt Church Eats. We love to eat.

We love barbecue. We love things like that. We eat a lot together. So most of our events have some type of food involved in it. And a really, really cool thing that happens.

So we're contacting a lot of businesses, a lot of organizations. We're even trying to get a news crew out here, you know, just to kind of talk so we can share a little bit about the turkey drop. We're probably the only church right now in the area that's doing this, is providing turkeys for families in need. That's what we're doing. We're partnering with the JCOC so that they can put together Thanksgiving boxes for families that won't have anything for Thanksgiving.

And our goal this year is 100 turkeys. So I'm already seeing that we're going to blow past that, and I know we are. We're doing some Facebook challenges. If you're on social media, you'll probably see us pop in and challenge some of you here, even in the church. So we're doing some of that.

But as we were contacting businesses, we contacted one organization. Christina contacted one organization and says, hey, listen, we're here. We really love our community. We want to pour into it. If you guys want to donate turkeys or be involved in any way, we would love you to.

And within the hour, they responded and says, yes, we would love to help. We're going to give you guys $5,000 in cash to not only support our event, you know, that we want to do for the community, but also to get those turkeys, you know. So praise God for that. That's amazing. You know, God is so good.

He's got his hands on us. Amen. We believe that God's hand is on us. And it's just been a blessing even through this pandemic where a lot of people are still not going back to church. It's just amazing.

So awesome, awesome, awesome. We're so excited what God's going to do. Hey, if you're new with us today, I'm so glad you're here. My name is Pastor Leon. If you're watching us online right now, I'm so glad that you connected with us online.

Some of our regulars are online today and some of your guests. If you'll go right on the website and click connect and fill out that form there, I would love to connect with you. And if you're here with us today, you can do that as well at saltchurch.org slash card. And you can connect with us, give us some information about yourself.

I promise we won't harass you or anything. We just want to send something in the mail to you. Some of those of you who have been here before and are new, you can ask them. It's worth it to fill out the card. You get some kind of neat gifts and stuff like that.

And we want to send some information to you about the church. And we would love to connect with you at a newer level. So, and let you know who we are and what we're about. In fact, we've got another lunch coming up in a couple of weeks. And I would love for you to attend that if you haven't.

Even if you've been with us for a while and you want to attend and start getting involved, that's a great opportunity to connect with us. We had a packed house last time. And I'm believing that we're going to have that again. Some of you guests just wanted to get involved. We've never seen so many people so excited about what the church is doing and wanting to get more involved.

I mean, we have people that walk in the door and on day one, it's like, I've never felt this before and I just want to get connected. And it's just an amazing thing. I mean, God is just so cool. And He's really changing lives. And that's what it's all about.

We're here for the glory of God and Jesus Christ, right? We do all this. We gather together. We bring our gifts. We bring everything together so that we can minister to a lost world and to God be the glory.

He's got great things He has done and great things He is getting ready to do. Are you all ready for the ride? All right. All right. Well, let's go to 1 Peter and look at what a ride means, okay?

Hallelujah. So, we're in part seven of this series. We'll be finishing it up next week. We've been walking through 1 Peter, talking about the church that Peter is writing to here. And the title of my message this week is, I'm drawing a blank here, guys.

Like your life depends on it. There you go. Like your life depends on it. Like your life depends on it. Have you ever heard that phrase before?

Have you ever used that phrase before? Let's go to scripture here in 1 Peter chapter 4 beginning with verse 7. It says this, the end of all things is near. Therefore, be alert and be sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should do whatever gift you have received to serve others. Should use whatever gift you have to receive to serve others. As faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides. So that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you.

I Jahre geht. ... Something strange were happening to you, but rejoiced in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. Amen. Let's pray together, because I need the Spirit today.

I was up late last night, and glory to God, I had an extra hour of sleep. God, we just thank You for this time. We thank You that You are here today, Lord. I pray that You would open the hearts of people, and even if this doesn't apply to them at this particular time, that some point in their Christian walk they would open up the words of the Scripture and say, Hey, this is what I needed for today. For Your Word is pure, it gives us encouragement, and as it leads us into this world, we can be blessed.

More importantly, that You are glorified in it all. In Your name. Amen. Like Your Life Depends On It. Like Your Life Depends On It.

Many of you have probably heard that phraseology. I remember getting my license for the first time, or actually my learner's permit when I was 15 years old. And my parents had it in their mind that they needed to train me to drive a stick shift, okay? A manual shift. How many of you can drive a manual shift in here?

Okay, we got a good amount of the house in here. And how many younger people can drive a stick shift if you are 16 or plus? Okay, yeah. Well, you're young. Yeah, some of you are young.

Somebody said, Am I young? Yes, you're young. Okay, yeah, that's okay. Yeah, yeah. And I remember us going out on the road, and she said, and my mother telling me that if you can learn this, you can drive anything, I want you to learn how to drive a stick shift.

A lot of people don't know how to drive a stick shift or a manual shift. And so we're out on the road, and as you can imagine, you know, you're riding around, and we're going through town, and there's a lot of cars coming back and forth. And I could just see my mother getting all worked up as I'm driving. And I hit a stoplight, and I'm trying to change, you know, to clutch and all that. You know, and it's all over the place.

And she's just like, I mean, she's just getting all stirred up. And I'm driving down the road, and I'm looking down at the shifter and not looking at the road. You know, it's like, okay, how do I do this? She says, Don't, don't. Look at the road.

Keep your eyes on the road and keep your hands on the wheel as if your life depends on it, okay? Because your life, in fact, does depend on it. There's a lot of traffic here. There's a lot of people around. Your life depends on it.

Keep your eyes on the road. Hold on to the wheel. And many of you have probably heard that phrase from time to time. Like, when you're in a team, play like your life depends on it. Get out there and play like your life depends on it.

When you're working hard, you know, or you're encouraging somebody, let's work like our life depends on it. Let's get this done, you know? And we use that phrase, like your life depends on it, over and over again. And that's what Peter wants to tell us in this text, that it's our lives. And there's something powerful about life.

And he's communicating in two different ways. There's two different types of life we're talking about here. Many of you are familiar with the scripture in John 10, 10, and it kind of connects to this, is when Jesus tells his disciples and the people that are following him, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that you may have, what, life and life abundantly or life to the full or an abundant life. Now, there's two ways we can look at this life here.

We think of a biological life, which this certainly can apply to that. If we make wrong decisions, if we participate in things that we're not supposed to, if we sin, if we fall out of the will of God, there are consequences to things that God has set up for us. And it's very, very practical. His commandments and his rules and his things that kind of protect us. So when we fall out of the will of God, certainly our lives can be shortened.

And the thief comes to steal that, right? He wants to affect your family. He wants to affect your life. He wants to take your time. He wants to take everything that you have and use it against you, because he does not want you to have a long life on this earth, right?

So there is some kind of thing. But the original word in this context, zoe, is a Greek word which means life spiritually. So not only is it a physical life, but a spiritual life, an abundant spiritual life, life on the inside to the full, a fullness of spiritual life, a fullness in Jesus, that if we can open up in this life, if we can be filled with this life, if we know how to tap into this thing that Jesus is telling us about, it can produce something in us that flourishes and is powerful, and we can experience a fullness no matter what, no matter what the circumstances. And that's what Peter's getting at here. And he wants to give us, as he's talking to the church in that time, he's going to give them four things in this scripture that they can take with them that will perhaps give them a fullness of life.

He's saying if you dip into these things, this is what I'm going to tell you, church, if you can do these four things, it will help you. It will make you flourish. You will blossom from the inside out. It will make you healthy. You will overflow with joy.

It will be a fullness of life that you will experience. So as we walk through this scripture, we see a few things here. Number one, we need to pray like our lives depend on it. Pray like your life depends on it. Pray, that's a scary word, pray like your life depends on it.

And it's not just these cookie-cutter prayers, you know, rubby-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. You know, we just make things up. Bless the meat, not the skin, pick up a fork, cram it in. You know? I mean, so I lay my head to sleep.

I pray. Now, that one is kind of scary anyway. I don't know why anyone would teach their kid, if I die before I wake, oh, am I going to die in my sleep? You know, it's like, I don't know where we get these rhymes, but we put them together. But he's talking about something much more, something fresh.

We need to keep it fresh. We need to keep it intentional. We need to pursue him as fervent prayer. We need to have fervent prayer lives. In fact, Peter says it like this in verse 7.

He says, be intentional, purposeful, and self-controlled so that you can be given to what? Prayer. You need to be purposeful with your prayer. Prayer in for you? Prayer in for you.

To be intentional with your prayer. And then there's one scripture that says don't pray like the pagans. That's what Paul says. Don't pray like the pagans where it's repetition and it's kind of an earmarked prayer that you pray over and over again because praying needs to be more than that. It's everything.

We need to pray as if prayer really does change things and it is everything. Paul says it like this, pray without ceasing. We need to be prayer people that pray without ceasing. Now that doesn't mean we're just constantly praying, Dear God, Thy Father, this and everywhere we go. That's not what that means.

It's not an ongoing occurring but a reoccurring. A reoccurring just like you're having a conversation with your spouse or a conversation with a good friend or a conversation with your children, right? So you don't just say, Okay, I'm done and then come back to them a week later and start talking to them again, right? There's an ongoing conversation that you're having with that person. And if you drop it off, you pick it up later on.

It's just an ongoing reoccurring conversation. And it's not just a monologue. It's a dialogue. It's a dialogue in which God is speaking to you. You're speaking to God and you're having a back and forth with God.

So we're constantly in relationship, in fellowship, listening to God, talking to God. And it's not a King James Version prayer, guys. I mean, I know some of you think, If I'm going to have a powerful prayer life, I need to pray the Thys and Thows, you know? Like, I can't pray like that. That's not what it's about.

Prayer without ceasing is, God, I'm just having a really hard day today. Or on the way to work, God, just, I'm praying for my kid today. I'm praying for my lost brother today. And I just, you know, I'm worried about him, God, because he's making decisions. Or my mother's, you know, in the hospital right now.

Or it could just be, God, I just thank you for this day. Man, I just feel so good this morning. And I know that you, you know, you just blessed me with a promotion and this and that. And it's just an ongoing. And then you stop later and just think of God again.

You know, God, I just want to say that again, man. I really do thank you. I thank you, God, that you've done this for me. It's just an ongoing conversation with God. And we've made it so, you know, weird.

In fact, we don't, it's not, you know, I'll pray with him once in a while. And maybe a couple of times a month. But because we feel like we can't pray. But he is open to prayer. And here's why prayer is important.

In Luke 18, 1, Jesus says that men ought always to pray and not be faint. In other words, if you're weak, it's probably because you don't pray enough. If you're not strong in your walk, in your faith, it's probably because you're not praying. There's strength in prayer. There's power in prayer.

There's something that happens in prayer. And I love how Louis Giglio put it, if we could see what happens in heaven when we do pray, we would hardly do anything but pray. If we really knew what was going on in real, I could go on a prayer call. I could put a prayer post on Facebook, which I may get 10 people at the most on a Wednesday night for 30 minutes at 9 o'clock. I'm just kind of plugging that out there.

If we really knew what prayer did, you guys would show up because you know what's going on in the heavenly realms, that God actually moves, the hand of God happens. But for some reason, it's very, very, very hard to get people to a prayer service. You know why? Because of unbelief. Because people do not believe that prayer works.

But I can tell you, it took 100 people in a small room, after Jesus had went away, that met and prayed. And the power of God came in that place and stirred that room. There's roughly 100 people in this room and in this church today. If the power of God fell, and we seek him with all of our heart, imagine what he can do through our church. He changed a world through 100 people that were sent out and were ordained, were blessed, were filled with the Spirit, and the church formed.

Thousands of people in that single day gave their lives to Christ. Could you imagine if we believed in prayer? We've got to believe that God can do things. He moves. He dispatches angels.

He changes things. He's doing, he's moving, and he calls us to pray. Prayer without ceasing, another thing, prayer without ceasing is the key to our ability to set aside sin that we struggle with as well. If you're struggling with sin, you know prayer kind of helps that. Prayer changes that.

Prayer does things inside of us. We continue to struggle when we learn, when we leave prayers unprayed. When we're not praying, when we're not going to God with those prayers and those struggles, we continue to struggle. Going back to the beginning of the chapter in verse 3, it says, For we have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans chose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. So what he's saying here is you've spent enough time in that.

You've done enough of that. Now he's kind of connecting it back to this prayer thing, like we need to pray. We need to have clear minds. We need to be self-controlled so that we can pray. We've had enough of that.

We don't want any of that anymore. And say prayer without ceasing unlocks the power to clean living. The prayer life, and it makes us think about it this way. That thing that you're doing that you're not supposed to do or yet you're struggling with, when you're praying at the same time you're doing that thing, can you continue to do that thing? If you're struggling, you know, with some kind of sense, say you're watching that movie that you kind of are questioning whether you should watch and you're praying to God about it or at the same time, are you able to watch that movie?

When you're making that transaction that, you know, is kind of unethical and you're not sure if you're supposed to be doing that, if you're praying about it, do you actually feel right about that if you're praying the same time? For those of you who are single, when you're with that boy or with that girl and you're kind of going places, if you're praying to God during that time, are you feeling comfortable with that? That's the question. Yeah, it kind of aligns us. It brings us back.

It steers us back on the path of righteousness and holiness when we pray, when we have struggles, when we have sins in our life. It's about, and it's this also, it's about abiding. It's about remaining. Jesus talks about this thing, remaining. When we pray without ceasing, it's about remaining and not straining.

It's so hard, man. I got a strain. We seem sometimes just strain, strain to live the Christian life. So many of you come to me like, why is the Christian life so hard? The question is, are you remaining in Christ?

Christ says, I am the vine and you are the branches. We are merely branches. If you ever have an opportunity to go to a vineyard, you will see that, and it's beautiful going to vineyards. I've been able to walk through a few of them. I've never been to Napa or anything like that.

I'd love to go somewhere like that. That would be really cool, just to kind of look at the vineyards. And just imagine the culture in that day as Jesus was talking about vineyards and looking at that. And he talks about the church being this pure vineyard, you know. We are a vineyard.

There's a church denomination called the Vineyard Church because they plug into that, you know. This vineyard that we are. And he says, I am the vine. I am the energy source and you are the branches. Now when a branch is off the vine, it doesn't produce fruit, right?

There's no way it can produce fruit. But when it's connected to the vine, that's where the fruit flourishes. That's where the fruit comes from. And it's not so hard for it to produce fruit if it has a healthy vine. Well, guess what?

Jesus is the healthy vine. Jesus has the power to produce fruit in us. And when we remain in him through prayer, through walking with him, it makes hard things easy because we get to say, you know, keep calm and soldier on. Keep calm and remain with Jesus, right? And we can walk out that life with Jesus.

The second thing is, love each other as if your life depends on it. We need to love each other. So, Peter goes from praying to loving. He says this, above all, love each other deeply. Because love covers a multitude of sins.

So, he starts out by saying, above all. This is above all statement. This is, I've mentioned a lot of things in this letter. But above all, I need you guys to love each other. I need you guys to protect each other.

What he's talking about here is intentional steps to fostering community. Intentional steps to fostering community. Verse 9 says it like this, Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Now, in context, in that day, there weren't a lot of hotels around. There weren't a lot of inns around.

There were a few here and there. Obviously, Jesus was in an inn. Was born in an inn or outside an inn in a stable because there was no room in the inn, right? But there wasn't a lot of inns in that day. And a lot of people would travel.

And when they'd come through town, there were these Airbnbs, so to speak, in people's places. They would set up rooms. They would carve out a part of their house. They'd offer hospitality. That was the hospitality industry in that day.

So, the people knew what he was talking about when he says, offer hospitality. He says, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Meaning, you know, go out of your way for people. Offer your home. Offer your place.

Offer some, or just love them in a way that they may not be loved by others. There's something different about us when we love each other. We need to foster community because community is important. When we get close to each other, we start to see that each other are human. And this is why this is important.

I told you a story a few weeks ago. I was with a friend at a restaurant. And they wouldn't let us in for some reason. They treated us kind of like jerks. And I kind of lost it a little bit.

I mean, I didn't curse or get mad or anything. But I'm just like, this is ridiculous. And I'm kind of going over and peeking in the door trying to figure out what's going on. Because I want to know. You know, I've got a right to come in here, right?

And the guy looks over at me and says, this is crazy because you're a pastor. And I get to see you, like, be human. And I'm like, that's the point. When we get close to each other, we realize how human we are. And we know how to help each other.

We know how to encourage each other. And it makes us feel like, okay, they're not up here and I'm down here. We're kind of at the same level. You know, we are really in different places in our spiritual life. But we're working through it together.

We're open. We're being, we're revealing ourselves to each other. And that's not a bad thing. There was a study, and I think this is very interesting, a New York Times article about loneliness. And it was done by, on a university, Yale University.

It was a Yale University study. And they found out that 60% of students feel isolated. And this was a couple years ago before the pandemic. So, that's very interesting to me because we live in this age of social media. And we're actually encouraged to connect with people.

We can connect with people in different ways. We push, they push you to connect with people. Yet, still, this thing, isolation, has set in people's hearts, you know, even in the midst of that. And another thing that's interesting, I think, right now is that we are forced to be in isolation because of a pandemic. So, you're probably going to see more of this, this isolation issue.

And it said this in the article that they did a study, and those that are isolated, studies have shown, and this is conclusive. These conclusive studies have shown that living a life of isolation has the same effects as the body, the human body does, as well as when they smoke 15 cigarettes a day, or they're obese, or abuse alcohol. I find that very interesting that we can actually have physical things happen to us when we're isolated. That equates to smoking like a freight train, eating way too much, and being unhealthy, or consuming alcoholic beverages way too much, you know. So, you've got that connection, that correlation there.

So, being isolated is not healthy, and that's what Peter's getting to. We can't live in isolation, and more importantly, as believers, we need to connect, and we need to grow together, and we need to protect each other. Because when we cover each other in love, then when the things that are revealed, the sin that's revealed is covered in love, and we're able to walk those things together, we're able to move through those things. That's why being connected to a church or having a relationship is so extremely important. In fact, you know, think about this.

When was the last time somebody asked you, how's your soul? How are you doing? How is your heart? Where's your heart at right now? How are you working through your life right now, especially with things going on?

When was the last time that happened to you? Because that's what we do as Christians. We check in on each other. We need to look in on each other. We need to give each other a phone call.

It's definitely silent in here, like some people are like, are y'all okay this morning? Okay, okay. I'm just making sure. Maybe you're in deep thought. I don't know.

Maybe this is really hitting you. really hard, but I just feel like I'm hitting a brick wall back here, okay? I just want to make sure I'm okay. I'm getting to the right place here. Okay, I get a lot more celebration other Sunday mornings when I hit something.

I like feedback a little bit. It helps me. It helps me. It does. It does.

Okay, thank you. I'll preach it a little bit more. So, you know, we need that. We need those connections. We need those things.

In fact, 1 Peter says it like this in the message. I love how this translation says it. Love each other as if your life...what? Life depended on it.

Love each other as your life depends on it. So significantly important, which leads me to the next part. Do your part like your life depends on it. Do your part like your life depends on it. It's interesting that in any type of organization or any type of situation, that if you're missing a small piece of the puzzle, you're missing a small piece of the puzzle, even if it's insignificant in our eyes and our view as a piece of the puzzle, that it just doesn't work.

I think about a Broadway production and how every part has the work in the show. You have the main actors. You have the character roles. You have the lead actress. You have...

but you don't even all have...you don't even have just that. You have the lighting system. Somebody's got to work the lighting system. Somebody's got to work the cues, right?

And then you have these people that they're not even character roles. They're like playing other parts. Like a children's show where one girl, my little girl, was an animal one year. And she was proud to be an animal. She was like a...

I can't remember exactly what she was. It was a few years ago in her little production. I think she was a little horse or something like that. She was proud of being her horse role, you know? It was insignificant.

She wasn't Mary or she wasn't Joseph and she wasn't like the main role or the wise man walking in. But she played that little role or that dude that's back there with that little tree, you know? He's just got that tree in his hand and he's just smiling and the tree needs to be there and the tree needs to be waving back and forth and singing along, you know? And every little role is important. Every little piece is a tin in God's eyes.

And that's how the body of Christ works. We all have different gifts and different abilities. And there's four scriptures in the New Testament that speak of the spiritual gifts that we all have. Romans 12, 6 and 8. 1 Corinthians 12, 7, 10 and 28 and 30.

And Ephesians 4, 11. And none of them are the same and none of them are necessarily exhaustive either. They're very simple, small pieces to the puzzle that all of us possess. But if all of us aren't pulling those pieces together and working them out together, then the body suffers. If you don't mind me, Keisha, you've got a little neck thing going on this morning.

She came in and she couldn't even hardly move this morning. That's probably why she's not amening a lot this morning. Because she amens. It's just like, oh, ouch, you know? Because she's one of my main ameners.

So, amen. She did it. She did it. Praise God. Let's ask for healing over that.

All right. But she's usually healthy and fine and she's a go-getter. And every part of your body works. When every part of your body works, you don't notice anything. But when one part of your body works, it's like everything focuses on that part.

It's hard to move. It's hard to turn. It's hard to catch. She's struggling. She had to stop this morning and just stop for a second before she could even talk.

And that's how it is in the body of Christ. If you have a hurt arm or damaged arm or a leg, you know, you're limping. All your focus is on that. Oh, this pain's here. This is hurting.

But when you have a healthy body, when every body's working together, the joints are working together, the arms are working together, and Jesus Christ, who is turning the head, you know, is working together. And we're able to see and we're able to hear and we're able to work fully healthy. Then everyone in the body flourishes. Absolutely everyone. If one part is missing, the whole body is hurting.

That's what Peter is getting at here, that we should do our part, even if it's a small part. Show me an unhealthy church, and I'll show you a church that everybody's not walking in their gifts. Show me a church that's flourishing and growing and doing amazing things, no matter what size of the church. I'll show you a church where everybody, every piece of the puzzle is working. Everybody is involved.

They're all doing their part. There's people, I don't care what that part is. I don't care. You're not up here speaking, maybe. You're not doing it, but you've got something.

God has given you something, even if it's coming here and helping us put up curtains. I don't care. That part is a 10 in God's eyes because we're all working together. It's because somebody has to do that, right? Somebody has to set up the kids' ministry, right, on Sunday.

Somebody has to take care of the kids on Sunday morning, you know, because that creates an atmosphere where we can produce good fruit because we're all branches connected to that vine, right? And Peter, in this scripture, brings it basically down to two gifts, speaking and serving. He says, if anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very word of God. Ooh, that's kind of powerful. And if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

So there's three things going on here. Speak as if the very words of God were coming out of your mouth. Yeah, that does apply to me. When I come up here, I have to pray, guys. I have to get on my knees.

Last night, I was on my knees. I was praying in the spirit, asking God to really give me the words to say because it's something that's important. I can't just get up here and just blab on about whatever. This is the very words of God. This is God speaking through me, and I need God to speak through me.

But that also applies to you as you speak to people, as you carry on with people. When God gives you words to say to people, that you carry those words well as if you are speaking the very words of God. And then he goes on and says, if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength of God, that serving in God gives us strength. We always see it backwards. I don't have the strength, therefore I can't serve God.

But if you're in God and you're remaining in God and you're connected to the vine, serving gives you strength, and God gives you strength. And that's what Peter's saying here. This is not the book of Leon, this is the book of Peter, talking through the power of the Holy Spirit, sharing with the church that we are to have that strength. And ultimately, what does that do? It brings about worship and praise.

When we speak. When we serve, it brings about worship. All of this goal is worship, is glorifying God, is giving God the glory. And then I love how the second part of verse 11 does it, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. And then Peter gets carried away.

He's like, oh, to God be the glory and the power forever and ever. I could just see Peter as he's writing this down. He's like, to God be the glory and power forever. Oh my goodness, God is so good because at least this thing called worship. And I just can't, and Peter's like, I can't, I just get excited and I get worked up about it.

And I want to worship Him. When you and I use our gifts, the result is glorifying God. So don't hold back on what you have. Don't hold it back. Don't hold it back.

Well, I don't know, Pastor, you know, I've got a lot going on. That's why you got a lot going on. That's why your life's messed up. That's why you're not usually breaking through in some areas in your life because you haven't taken what you have and said, God, this is, this is my, I have this. You've given me this.

This was not from me. I didn't, I didn't get that college education. I didn't get these brains. You gave me these brains. You gave me the ability to do the things that I do.

You've given me the ability to build things. You've given me the ability to talk to people, to counsel people. You've given me the ability to develop friendships. You've given me the ability to talk to people. And I want to use them for you, God.

This is not about me. This is about you. And that's where we got to get to that point. A healthy, flourishing church, a life-giving, abundant life that you want to experience, it happens when you completely, 100%, fully surrender your life to God. Everything, every area of your life.

And then finally, number four, give God your pain like your life depends on it. Because ultimately, Peter's getting back to this pain scenario. That's what he's been dealing with with Scripture because he had a church that was going through tremendous difficulties, right? That the pain was there. I love how J.

Vernon McGee says it. If you haven't listened to J. Vernon McGee, he's got some old recordings. He was an older pastor in the day. I used to love to hear him.

He had this really strong southern accent, and he would say things like, and I'm going to say it in his southern accent because I just love it. He says, the Christian life is a banquet, but it is no picnic. All right? I do that well because I'm from the south, so I can do that, right? So, the Christian life is a feast.

When we come into the kingdom of God, it's life-giving. It's a feast. We can partake of the table. It's a celebration. It's a dance.

It's something to overjoy about. It's something that we can celebrate together. You can experience fullness of life, the abundance of life, but walking with Jesus is also hard. It's very hard. It's difficult.

There's betrayal. There's things that happen that keep us, that hurt us. There's events in life. Walking the Christian life doesn't make things perfect, although there is a joy that we can tap into. And let me just say this.

Walking with or without Jesus is hard. You're not exempt whether you walk with or without Jesus. You're not exempt, but it's better with Jesus. That's the fact. That's a fact because, look, it says it rains on the just and the unjust, right?

It rains on the just and the unjust, meaning bad things happen to the just and the unjust. And we can flip that around, and I was talking to this in my small group this past week. We can flip that around and say that blessings come on the just and the unjust, but curses come on the just and the unjust, and there's no explanation, right? So it is better with Jesus. We know that it is better with Jesus.

You are not exempt from paying whether you're walking with Jesus or not. So why not give it to Jesus? Because Jesus has the power to pull us through it. And this is why he says this. He says, dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you as though something strange is happening to you.

What is going on with me? How many of you ever had that conversation? Why is this happening? What Peter's saying is, you shouldn't be surprised. I don't want you to be surprised because it happens to everybody.

But then he gets to this next part. He says, but rejoice. But rejoice. He's saying, do the opposite of what you want to do. Why don't you just rejoice instead?

For two reasons. First of all, it's a part of God's plan anyway. If we understand that everything is ordered according to God, which he got, which he was talking about there. But also, many people have faced the same thing that you're facing and have triumphed. They have experienced victory doing the very same, going through the same.

Go back to Hebrews 11, 12. It's, it's, it's all saints day. You can look at that. They even have scriptures about people being sold in half, but they kept their eyes. They kept their focus.

And then it points ultimately to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who stood even when he faced the trials that we faced. Yet he's at the right hand of God right now with us, praying for us, ruling. He is ruling over all things. Amen. His plan is greater.

And we all go through these things. Don't think that something strange is happening. Lots of people go through it and experience it. This too will pass, guys. It will pass.

You won't always hurt like you hurt today. You won't always feel the darkness like you feel it today. It is going to pass. It's going to happen. I remember my dad, you know, he's a professional counselor and he always like, when I was a kid, I'd ask questions about, so I'm not mad about this or I'm not feeling, I'm grumpy about this.

And, you know, he always had to get in his psychology head. You know, he had to pull that out and start talking to me. So why? You know, why are you feeling, you know, it's like just, and then at one time he just, I'll never forget it. He says, you know, it's just a season, Leon.

Everybody goes through seasons and you're going to get through it. You might be depressed right now. You might be hurting right now, but you'll get through it. And I did. And I've had seasons of real darkness, even in the last five years or so.

But I got through them. And you know what? There's going to be seasons that come. I'm not doubting that that will happen, but we'll get through it. Because don't doubt the storm or don't doubt in the storm what he told you on the shore.

Don't doubt in the storm. Don't doubt when you're going through the hard, the difficulties. Don't doubt. Don't doubt it. Because he's already told you something.

He's already given you something. He's already got something planned for you. The thing that he spoke to you many years ago that you haven't quite hit yet. You think you feel like a failure. You feel like you're not getting there.

You feel like you're you're deep in sin. Let me tell you, he still has that plan. available for you. Do not sit back. Hold on.

Grab on. Dawn is coming. There is life and life abundantly waiting for you. Tap into it. That's what Peter is getting at here.

This is what I say here, guys. There's something greater for you. I told you the other week, he works in our pain in three ways to verify, to clarify, and to purify. He verifies who we are through our pain. He clarifies where he's taking us.

He clarifies who he is. And he purifies us. He puts us through, you know, the press. He gets the junk out of us, right, through our hurt and our pain. He refines gold.

He talks about refining gold, like getting that gold perfect and purifying it, taking that stuff off the top, taking more of it off the top as we go through that fire, through that fiery ordeal that Peter is talking about here. But it also weaponizes us. That's the fourth thing that I left off the other week. It weaponizes us. It weaponizes us.

It makes us more like Jesus. It makes the enemy scared. Amen? It makes the enemy afraid of us because we're being weaponized for His glory. You can fight the battles that are ahead of you because you have been purified.

You have been made like Him. And that's the goal. I love how this version of it says, friends, when you or when life gets really difficult, don't jump to conclusions that God isn't doing or isn't on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced, right? This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner.

Glory is just around the corner, guys. It's right there. It's almost there. It's right there. You're getting ready to grab it.

You're right there. Don't give up on six. Go the whole seven miles. Many of you are stopping at six. Oh, I just can't make it there.

But seven is where it's at. Glory. And He goes back. Going back to verse seven, He's attaching it to that verse seven moment when He says, the end of all things is near. The end of all things is near.

What is He talking about? What is He talking about there? He's talking about the second coming of Jesus. He's talking about when He returns. And your pain and your trials and your sickness, that's all going to be taken away.

Dawn is coming. And He's even talking maybe even now. He's speaking in two senses. He's speaking of, you're going to get through this. You're going to be okay.

You're going to get through this season, right? You're going to get away. It's going to get better. But He's also talking about this thing. When Jesus left this earth, He said, I will return, and I will return in the same way I came, and I'm going to set things right.

I'm going to put everything in order. I'm going to redeem this world. This is the world I love. This is the world I created, and I'm coming back to make it whole again. Can y'all give God a praising for that very fact that we're not afraid, because God has it all a part of His plan.

He loves us, and He loves the world. So be clear-minded and self-controlled. That's what He says. Be clear-minded. Please understand.

Don't get fogged up in this world. Don't let it lead you. Don't let it be out of control. Don't let it be out of control. That's what the Holy Spirit does when He's a part of our lives.

And as believers, we need to invite the Holy Spirit in and that abiding grace over us as we walk this world and live this world. And let the power of Jesus Christ inside us work from the inside out. Loving and seeking. All four of those things, because our life depends on it, because our life really does. As I close, perhaps there's people here today.

Maybe you're that person. You're not quite sure about this Jesus thing. You're still kicking the wheels. Maybe you came here because you saw something online, or you saw the online message, or online recording, streaming. Maybe you're in your living room right now watching.

I know many of you are. You're probably watching this later, and maybe this struck you. Maybe God's doing something inside of you. He says, I want to be self-controlled and clear-minded so that I can grab a hold of this spiritual life that you're talking about. That can be yours today.

He wants you to have that, no matter what you're going through in your life, no matter how far you are from God. I'm just going to say this. How is it going the way you've been doing it? How's it been going for this many years up until this point? Can I tell you, it's better with Jesus.

Why not give Jesus a chance? Give Jesus the opportunity to come into your life and make you. All He cares is to have a relationship with you. No other religion tells you that. Every religion says, you've got to do this and this and this.

You've got to do good works. You've got to get there this way. You've got to be good enough. You've got to go out to a mountain somewhere and really seek your inner self, but your inner self doesn't get you anywhere. Only Jesus can get you to where you need to be and fill you full of hope.

That's Jesus Christ. He says, I'm dying for you. I'm laying my hands up on a cross, allowing you to nail me into this so that you can have life and life abundantly. I gave my life as, because my life depended on you. So give your hearts and lives to Christ.

Just with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if you'll just pray this with me. Just listen. He's pulling at you right now, right? Heart's drawing towards Him. Just say this.

Just say this in your heart. Whether you see it out loud or quietly, it doesn't really matter. Father, I believe that you loved me before I was even birthed in this world, that you had a plan for me. I believe that today. And I know you gave your son Jesus so that I could be saved from my sin and from my shame and from my corruption, whatever it is.

So today, I give my life to you, Jesus. I realize that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin. And today, I receive you into my heart and into my life. Come, make me new, Lord. Change my life.

Change my life. Change me forever. I'm Yours from this day forth. No longer a slave. I'm no longer a slave.

I'm living for You, God. And I'm not turning back. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise for those who gave?