Pastor Cody Harlow 1 Peter 5:12-14

Really I love doing it I'm doing well thank you foreign [Music] foreign thank you hey we've got a whole bunch of things that are happening in the life and Ministry of our church before I forget you should be seeing these posters up this is for our annual trivia challenge for medical missions for Christ they are a 501c3 organization that we support as a Ministry of our church they don't get any like federal grants or anything so everything that they receive is you put straight towards this they don't they don't have Federal funding and so this is their biggest fundraiser of the Year Brandon Beck he's going to be their MC again this year that's on Saturday September 30th at 5 30 at Camdenton middle school and so that'll get you that'll get you in it's 15 in advance 20 at the door it's going to be a fantastic time there's food and drinks you put together a team of six right and you sign up and you go and you play a trivia night it's gonna be great wide variety of questions lots of fun lots of engaging time so if you love trivia and things like that will be a huge in you getting and supporting this really important Ministry and so and if you have medical needs like I saw someone posting like hey can we get a wheelchair go to Medical missions for Christ and go talk with them see what they can't do to get you squared away with some of those needs that you might have also we got family game night that's a Friday August 18th from 5 30 to 10 o'clock P.M also we've got our sign up for everyone to go to Esther so we're starting the Book of Esther in on August 20th and we're going to go see Esther on October 14th and so you can sign up on planning you just take your

Phone scan the QR code and get your self and your family all signed up that'll be an absolutely fun time I think tickets are I think it's 65 for adults and 30 for children and so it'll be a great time we got a whole bunch of things that are coming up down the pike be sure to check them out in your bulletin one of the big things and probably the biggest one is we've got Awana that's coming up and so we've got a wanna registration that's August 30th from 4 to 7 30. We want you to get plugged into that Ministry it's an important Ministry it's a vital Ministry we've got most of our leadership team together we are praying actively for a TNT boys leaders and so be praying about that or maybe you're out there you're like you know I could be the T and T boys person that's third through sixth grade yeah and we went it's a great ministry and every single me every single person that's a part of our church every single member should have a Ministry that they're involved in amen and so if you're not there and you're you're consuming and you're not giving of yourself to the Lord through a Ministry it's a great opportunity for you to do that all right now church I love you so much I've been praying for you this week Al Dory Swenson it is really good to see you guys these are some ministers that we support love you guys and we're so thankful for what God is doing in their life and their health and their Ministry and so we just appreciate you guys being here also today is communion Sunday it's the last Sunday of the month we do have open communion that means that you do not have to be a member of our church to partake in communion but you do have to be in Christ amen in other words if you die right now you know where you're going

And so during our meet and greet time which is coming up you can make your way back to the entrances and the exits and grab one of those hold on to it we'll take partaking the Lord's supper at the end of the sermon we'll also have a time for testimonies during our service today we're going to be talking about the goodness of God and so if you've got something that you want to say about the goodness of God we're going to have some open mics available for y'all which is terrifying to me and terrifying for some of you too I know and so I'll just be prepared for that and also at the end of service this is the last thing I promise it's our fifth Sunday benevolence offering and so we don't have too many benevolence requests for local needs and bills a lot of people will come in hey can you get some money for gas do you have money for you know an electric bill or something like that we don't get too many of those requests during the summer but we get a lot of those in the winter and so at the end of service we will have people with the offering plates at each one of the entrances if you want to give to that or give online you can okay well why don't you find a neighbor that you haven't seen in a while hug their next say welcome to First Baptist Church thank you well good morning church good morning it's good to see you all today as Pastor Cody mentioned we're going to have a little time later on in the service where I'm going to ask you to share with us as members of the family of God the body of Christ share with us how you have seen God's goodness in your life whether that's presently whether it's something that passed or something along those lines so I'm I'm giving you a fair warning now

This is your official heads up to be thinking about about that so now is the time in our service where we just take a minute to prepare our hearts and Minds for worship so I invite you to Bow your heads close your eyes spend some time with God right now to ask him to prepare you for worship this morning me Lord we come before you now to worship together God you have called us to Worship in everything that we do to bring glory to your name but Lord you have called us to this place at this time to worship together to worship corporately so Lord I pray that you would help us that you'd help us to put aside the distractions and to focus on you Lord to lay down our anxieties at your feet so that we might instead focus on your glory on who you are and what you've done God I pray that you would help us to worship through through the grief that we may be experiencing through the trials and The Temptations Lord help us to keep our eyes fixed on you it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd invite you now to stand as we sing together what a friend we have in Jesus [Music] what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to Bear what a privilege [Music] we bear [Music] or cause we do not carry everything to God and prayer I have your trials or Temptations is there trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged take it to the Lord in prayer can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share Jesus knows our every weakness take it to the Lord and prayer [Music] are we weakened heavy ladies and comfort with a load of care precious Savior still our refuge taste prayer do thy friends despise forsake thee take it to the Lord in prayer in his until taken Shield me thou will find us all this there [Music] blessed Savior thou has promised thou Wilt all our burdens [Music] prayer soon in glory bride and clouded there there will be no need for prayer rise to praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there [Music] you may be seated as our ushers come forward and prepare to take the offering Father in heaven we thank you Lord for your goodness and your grace we thank you for the opportunity that we have to gather together and as we continue to worship you this morning as this portion of our worship of giving of our the finances Lord that you have provided for us we pray God that these these these monies would be used to further your kingdom here on Earth as you want the different Ministries father that we're involved in that you would have us be involved in that you would be through your people providing for these Ministries that we may do the things that you have for us as a church body father we lift these things to you in Jesus name amen [Music] as we continue to worship this morning you're more than welcome to stand or to sit or to kneel in prayer we just ask that you be engaged in worship as part of the body of Christ today [Music] thank you [Music] Man of Sorrows what a name

For the Son of God who came through in sin ators [Music] bearing shame and scuffing rude in my place condemned Easter my pardon with his blood Hallelujah What A Savior men of Sorrows Man of Sorrows Son of God they're just Freedom by his blood lamb who takes the blame for sin Hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] Lord guilty violent have bless we spotless lamb [Music] a sea full atomant can it be hallelujah what a say men of Sorrow Son of God purchase Freedom by his love who takes the blame for sin Hallelujah What A Savior [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Laughter] Hallelujah [Music] Son of God takes the blame for sin Hallelujah [Music] Behavior [Music] he's coming again

When he comes our glorious King all his ransomed home to bring then I knew this song we'll see Hallelujah What A Savior man [Music] of Sorrow Son of God purchased Freedom by his blood lamb who takes the blame for sin hallelujah what I say Behavior of your Hallelujah what I save your [Music] but you all can be seated once again that passage or that idea of Man of Sorrows it's taken from the book of Isaiah talking about the coming Christ who would be called The Man of Sorrows of course they didn't understand exactly what that meant at the time but we would come to know that Man of Sorrows in Jesus the Christ who though he lived a perfect life would die a criminal's death he would be the sacrificial lamb to take the to take our sins so that God might look on us in righteousness if we only believe that's what we're talking about in that song famously the Theologian Jonathan Edwards he wrote a sermon that I recommend you read but it's a tough one called sinners in the hands of an Angry God and one of the points he makes in that sermon is how amazing is it that God has given us such Grace in Christ but how amazing is it the grace that he's given upon that we should be comfortable that he should give us clothing and food that he should care for our needs that he should allow us to bring our petitions before him

That's amazing that he should look on us who decided from birth that we weren't going to follow him and give us Grace upon Grace upon Grace every day even in our waking in every breath we take it's a Grace from God it's goodness that he's poured out on us though we don't deserve it so today I'm going to ask for you all to come up here I think Pastor Cody has the microphone thank you to come up and share with us how you have seen God's goodness and your life whether that's now or 50 years ago let's Rejoice together in the goodness of God I'll come to you as well oh miss Norman praise the Lord my name is jarma Houston I've been a member of this church since 1950. I think it's loving life and my work in this church was with children I still have younger people who come up to me because I was their teacher the Lord allowed me to have five children and to work with children here in this church and also he allowed me and with the help of this church I was able to go on missions to work with people who work with children I went to Belarus seven times Taiwan Taiwan once Lithuania wants to teach those people it's such a pleasure and the reason I don't go upstairs to teach anymore is by hearing isn't good I can't hear their little voices thank you [Applause] thank you Spencer [Music] well my name is Spencer in case you don't know and I don't know I can't ever top what Miss Norma did she is truly a blessing to this church you know for the first time we came here she sat there with a smile on her face and she continues to come here with a smile and I love you so anyway you know Janice and I have

Been here for six years pretty close to six years my beautiful wife right there in case you don't know her she doesn't talk quite as much as I do anyway for six years and I know for some of you it's probably feels like 20 years that I had to you had to endure me and it is kind of dangerous to give me a microphone but I'll try to be brief you know when we move down here one of the things we were looking for is for a church this church isn't perfect or if it was I wouldn't be here right but this is what we looked for and this is from acts and it says and they continued steadfastly in the apostles Doctrine and fellowship and breaking their bread and in prayers this church does that and we appreciate this church we're not perfect but we're going to be perfect one day aren't we foreign we attended here for a number of years we helped with the Iguana program I was Deacon my wife worked in the church as well and it's so good to be back home to see the church here and the family of God you've stood with us you've prayed for us you've supported us and we're thank you for that we get the privilege of helping people prepare to go overseas and have Ministry and across cultural cross-language situation and we're not just giving them information we're praying that God will transform their lives as well as transform Our Lives as we're together with them preparing them to go overseas and my daughter was married here we just have a lot of connections and we love it here and we're so glad to be here God's goodness I just went through radiation 28 sessions of radiation at ten thousand dollars a piece and that was 280 000 but God provided in that the place that we went to cancer treatment center said we'll take whatever Insurance gives us and you're free of the rest so that was all paid off we never got a bill praise God

[Applause] man I don't know if I can top any of these testimonies for those of you that don't know me my name is Nathan Gustafson my wife Catherine and our son Wayne moved down here about two and a half years ago it can be really daunting you know picking up and moving even if it's just across town much less 500 miles away and one thing I never expected that God has provided for us is just such a good Community not just here at church but even where he brought us to live there's so many Believers and young families on our road and just people that he surrounded us with that is only attributed to the goodness of God [Applause] anyone else oh there you go Miss Park most of you know me not Barbara Miller and I have had a very high blood pressure problem for about the last four or five years I've had Strokes and this week I went this past two weeks I've went through a lot of tests to see what my blood pressure problem is and it's always in a was always in a very high dangerous side the doctor that I've had have invited guided by God's grace to give me the right treatment one they increased one of my blood pressure medicine it has brought it down by 20 points and the other blood pressure the other lower part of the blood pressure is still high but it's not as high as it was and it's only through prayer God's grace and I am where I am and thank you all for praying God performs miracle Miracle

[Applause] all right we might have time for one more maybe so anyone else there you go Miss Joyce my name is Joyce Harrison and I haven't been here too awful long but my husband passed away in February and now I'm all alone except for God and His grace and his mercy and he has been with me he's just anything that I wanted ask him and he provides I just thank this church for your presence and your peace with me and just thank the Lord for the peace that he gives and just thank you [Applause] well I know for us as Believers it's always good especially maybe you don't see the hand of God quite as vividly in your life maybe you're in a dry season spiritually maybe you're struggling with something it's one of the reasons why we wanted to do this was to show God is at work and you know it might just be that next step of endurance that next step of faith that next step of obedience whatever it might be it's just hold on to stand firm wait upon the Lord continue to give yourself over to prayer and asking him we've heard a lot of people talking about thank you Church you know I'm blessed to be a pastor at this church I'm blessed to be a minister here it's where I find my friends very thankful for that we're going to close out this the song section of our service here by singing about God's faithfulness and his goodness to us [Music] amidst the wind and waves except the one who made them to obey who could sing in the midst of suffering

But those he has redeemed and called by name if I stand and see it through if I stay the course and make it home if my heart is overwhelmed with peace in the storm it's all it's all because of Christ thank you [Music] only you would reach down to such an end to leave the wild influence [Music] will endure me through it all though the though the things of Earth May Fail you will remain if I stand and see it through if I stay the course and make it home if my heart is overwhelmed with peace in the storm it's all it's all because of Christ so if I stand and see it through if I stay the course and make it home if my heart is overwhelmed with peace through the storm it's all it's all because of Christ yes it's all it's all because of Christ [Music] foreign because of Christ I'm not alone because of Christ I have confidence and hope it's all it's all because of Christ please because of Christ I'm not forsaken because of Christ I'm not alone [Music] because of Christ I have a confidence in hope it's all it's all because of Christ so I will stand and see it through [Music] I will stay the course and make it home oh my heart is overwhelmed with peace in the storm it's all it's all because of Christ so I will stand and see it through I will stay the course and make it home oh my heart is on the world with peace in the storm it's all it's all because of Christ

Yes it's all it's all because of Christ amen let's pray together dear Lord help us to remember that every good gift comes from you Lord help us to remember that you are the Creator and the sustainer of all things help us to remember that you stooped down to your creation to redeem us sinners Lord help us not just to remember but help us to respond Lord help us to worship you because you are worthy Lord you're worthy by your nature but you have proven yourself over and over and over again Lord let us turn it back to praise every time it's in Jesus name we pray amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do turn with me for the last time to First Peter we are finishing up this wonderful wonderful book you know we've been through since 2019 we've been through first Peter or first Timothy we went through Ephesians and Exodus and now well oh Daniel Daniel was there in there yeah Daniel was there and now we're wrapping up first Peter and I know it feels like a long time when you're in the midst of it but I mean just think about how much of Scripture we've been able to cover systematically just taking a book going right through it don't forget that we will be starting up Esther on August 20th and if you go out here if you use these main doors right here just to the left as you're leaving there's these little black postcards with Esther's logo and you know just some it's an invitation for you to give to someone maybe you got a neighbor or a co-worker or family member that you're just like you know why don't you come to church with me on this Sunday take that it's a resource for you to invite people to

Church and inviting people to church is not the same as evangelism and so but it's a good step to having good spiritual conversations I'm really excited to dig into Esther it's a very difficult book where we will see the hit in the hand of God today is a bit different as we're wrapping up First Peter chapter 5 verses 12-14 the reason is because we're going to do it a little bit like a character study in a way so it's going to maybe feel a little bit different than what we've done in the past and Peter he is finishing up his letter he's already done that but now he's kind of giving his greetings there at the end and I'll be honest when I was planning this Series last year and I was just kind of thinking of you know kind of wrapping it up last week and just reading that right and in my in my devotional time my personal quiet time I was reminded in second Timothy chapter three that all Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work and so I had to repent last year as I Was preparing for the sermon looking at this going you know what I need to handle this passage the same way that I handled every other Passage and I'm so glad that I did and I want to encourage you as well as you go through your personal quiet times take time to meditate upon God's word to pray through God's word to take time to actually study it even the really familiar passages or the really familiar verses take time to pause and not just gloss over or if they're just at the end and you might think well he just added it in there that's not the case it's Scripture and it's God's word today we were talking about the importance of a Faith Family the importance of a faith family in 2016

My wife and I with our three kids at the time we moved to Lake of the Ozarks and we have not looked back this is we burned the boats per se you know what I'm saying we you know got family in Virginia and Texas all that kind of stuff but Camden Tennessee home it's where we found our friends it's where we found our Brothers and Sisters in Christ and in Christ and my wife's closest friends and sisters are in the Lord and I wanted to share with you a text that I got this morning this is not from not from my wife but it's actually from Christy wogament who we just commissioned and one things that happened was Jack lost his phone at the airport and that kid he's an MK he really struggled his first year over in Africa where they are and that was his lifeline for connecting with his friends for being able to text to call to game with and all that kind of stuff and so he was devastated anyways they went back to the airport on the off chance that someone turned it in and didn't just pocket it right well someone turned it in Praise the Lord and so for him that's been a huge Lifeline because the importance of having those relationships even for an MK is vital to have good solid Biblical friendships and so they were just sharing that with me and what a praise that is that's a miracle now today we are going to be talking about Peter's life because in the midst of ministry and suffering he didn't do it alone not once he did it with a fellowship of brothers and sisters in the Lord and we're going to look at three important points for a for a faith family and so if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read First Peter chapter 5 verses 12

Through 14. God's word says this by sylvanus a faithful brother as I regard him I have written briefly to you exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God stand firm in it she who is at Babylon who is likewise chosen send you greetings so does Mark my son greet one another with a kiss of love peace to all of you who are in Christ let's pray thank you Lord just for your word we thank you that you can teach us and teach our hearts and teach our minds and train our thoughts and rebuke us and correct us Lord I pray that today that if there's areas in our lives even as we wrestle with this passage of Scripture Lord I pray that you would just adjust our lives to conform with what you would happen to be no longer should we say this is my wants my needs my desires but let us concern ourselves with what your wants and your desires are for our lives God help us today to be attentive to your Holy Spirit God Jesus precious name amen all right well a couple of people are listed in this passage they ought to be they ought to be familiar they ought to be important to you and I because the fact is that it's individuals that make up the bride of Christ it's it's those of us who are in this faith not just this Faith but in the capital c church around the world every man every woman every child who is trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ may not be listed in the Bible like Mark or sylvanus but your name is written down somewhere that counts much more which is the Lamb's Book of Life and I want you guys to notice the first

Thing from this passage that we can learn about is loving people okay not like you know they're loving us but a Faith Fellowship should be full of people that are loving towards one another amen you know Peter he was around this man his name is sylvanus sylvanus is the same person as Silas in the book of Acts now in the early church there was this messy problem that was going on because you had this responsibility question especially his Gentile Believers started coming into these traditionally Jewish congregations and so the question came what is the Gentiles responsibility to the Old Testament laws should they be circumcised do they need to observe the feast days do they have to follow the dietary restrictions and the cultural laws of Israel and so the apostles and the elders they got together in Jerusalem and they discussed the issue they debated the issue and they decided that Gentile Believers should be under no compulsion with the exception of this is found in Acts chapter 15 in Jerusalem in What's called the Jerusalem Council that you should abstain you talking about the Gentile Believers you should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality if you keep yourselves from these you will do well now that message had to get from that Jerusalem Council to the Gentile Believers around the Mediterranean there in the near Middle East and one of those men that went was this man Silas Sylvanas he was sent by Peter he was sent by the rest of the Apostles the elders that were there in Jerusalem to deliver this message along with Paul and Barnabas and we also know that Silas he was a prophet who encouraged the brothers and II

Corinthians chapter 1 verse 19 we learned that Sylvanas he proclaimed Christ with Paul and with Timothy in first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse one we learned that Peter's letter was written by sylvanus and Timothy together the words we occur 54 times in the book of First Thessalonians and it's not a very long book it in second Thessalonians Silas is also included and there the term we command is used four times and so Silas he is a faithful brother in the Lord in his life in his ministry how he worked and how could we at First Baptist Church of Camdenton use more men like Silas amen men that are willing to engage willing to serve willing willing to serve instead of critique men that are willing to lead instead of consume a feast on Sundays and not do much else the rest of the week Silas he was also a jail mate of Paul's in the city of Philippi listen to this testimony in Acts chapter 16. About midnight Paul and Silas they were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's Bonds were on fastened when the Jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open he drew a sword and was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped but Paul cried with a loud voice do not harm yourself for we are all here and the Jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas then he brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved and they said believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household and they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house and he took them the same nut same hour of the night

And washed their wounds and he was baptized at once he and all his family amen you know you might get caught in that satanic trap to think well I'm not a pastor I'm not a deacon I don't know enough you know what we're called to know is Christ and him crucified that's what we're called to know what if I what if I told you that your qualifications ultimately don't matter it's God who qualifies you the question is do you know the Lord if we had 10 men sold out for the kingdom of God we could change this city we could change this world give me give me prayer warriors who are willing to be imprisoned like Paul and Silas and men that are willing to proclaim the Gospel message and I will show you the leaders that God will use but yet there's also another guy that's mentioned here in the passage there's this man Mark and Mark he has some history in the early church too you know when Mark is also known as this guy John Mark and the first time that we learn about him he's at a prayer meeting which is a great start Amen to be at a prayer meeting and John Marquis the same guy that wrote the Book of Mark he probably used Peter as a primary source as he was writing The Book of Mark excuse me for a second but the first time we meet about that we learn about Mark he's at a prayer meeting and they're praying for Peter they're praying for him to get out of prison and then he soon leaves after that Marquee goes with Paul and Barnabas and then Mark he leaves them high and dry he decides hey Mrs is home he misses his family and later on Barnabas and Paul

They're discussing on bringing Mark on another missionary journey and those of you who are familiar with the story you might recall that Barnabas he wanted to take Mark and Paul said absolutely not no way he abandoned us back in the day you remember that and I don't want to go through that again the thing about Mark is apparently he has pretty thick skin and you do need to have thick skin especially among Believers and the reason for that is that if there's a shark rebuke that maybe a Christian gives you what happens is some Christians perceive that as Church hurt it's it's not Church hurt a sharper Buick or a correction or something like that is a brother or sister lovingly coming and pointing out something in your life there are a lot of Christians that they don't want to be corrected they don't want to be rebuked they don't want to be instructed in a better way but that's the epitome of Pride I've been I've been corrected I've been instructed I've been rebuked praise the Lord for it amen we all need that in our lives but do it kindly do it kindly Mark he got he did get a second chance at Mission work with Barnabas and much later in Paul's life he called in Paul's life he called for John Mark because he was beneficial for him and you see that's the grace of the Lord Jesus that is enough for brothers and sisters to look past previous hurts to forgive offenses and to keep no record of wrongdoing because we know according to First Corinthians chapter 13 that is a Mark of love and now Peter he refers to both of these men in close family terms look what are you what he calls sylvanus he calls him a faithful brother and then he calls John Mark a son and

Both of these terms are true in the Lord Jesus Christ that you and I if we are in Christ we are brothers and sisters in the Lord that's why we call it so and so hey brother brother Jim brother Steve that's that's why we refer to each other in those close familial terms because it is true in Christ now there's this phrase that's in there and it's actually at the very beginning of our passage it says by Sylvanas that Peter has written this letter briefly and so it's very likely that Silas is a scribe that he's the secretary that he's writing down what Peter wanted to say and he's declaring what the true grace of God is and then he goes on to talk about exhortation and declaring these things exhortation means to plead did you know that exhortation means to plead with earnestness and to declare means to testify Peter's whole purpose in writing this letter has been deplete for believers to behold the Risen Christ first and foremost in their lives to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ to trust him by faith no matter what happens no matter the suffering that they may endure they are called to do that and Peter is pleading with them to endure to be faithful to the end and that we can rest in God alone and so I want to encourage you to plead with you to stop playing Church to put away the things that distract you from your mission of glorifying God and stop putting God on the back burner how many times do we do we go through life and we don't even give God a second thought he go come to church on Sundays and that's wonderful praise the Lord you're doing better than a lot of people but that's not the end this is not the culmination of your weak this is the very start of the week to get you ready to go and live on mission for Christ out in the world

That's the whole purpose of our gathering this Gathering is not for people simply to hear the Gospel this is not our Evangelistic Outreach this is our huddle before we run the play throughout the week this is our time to receive instruction and the Lord he has promised so much he has promised that he will save you that he will protect you that he will sanctify you that he will exalt you that he will bless you in so much more and yet we kind of treat his promises like they're well wishes we just kind of flip the coin in and kind of that was fun they're nice to hear but maybe I'll give it my attention later maybe I'll I'll start reading God's word later maybe I'll devote myself to prayer later maybe I'll share the Gospel with that friend later but later doesn't exist later Never Comes later is just a fantasy isn't that what Satan wants you to do doesn't Satan you want you to put everything off until later in God's word it says in Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12-14 take care Brothers lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the Living God but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin for we have come to sharing Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end as it is said today if you hear his voice do not Harden your hearts as in the Rebellion today brother or sister today do not put this off this is the true grace of God that he will save you that he will uphold you that he will strengthen you that he will help you that he will walk with you through that Valley of the shadow of death

This is the true grace of God the second important point that Peter makes here is about the local church it's about the local church look at verse 13 with me she who is at Babylon who is likewise chosen sends you greetings now Peter he is referring to the local church Peter is writing from Rome at this point in time as we talked about somewhere around that you know 57 60 A.D somewhere around in there and he is writing from Rome Peter he is writing to local churches pontes Glacier Cappadocia bithynia and so every Church is referred to in a feminine way which is it's there to remind us of the truth that the church is the bride of Christ and so John in his letter in second John chapter one he refers to the church as the elect lady some have tried to say well that's just some sort of influential female leader but that theory just kind of rests solely upon referring to the church as a woman as opposed to you know how everyone has understood it since the beginning so the question is how would the how would the church churches in pontus galatia Cappadocia Asia bethenia how would they have understood this they wouldn't have understood this as a woman in Babylon because Babylon was ruins at this point in time they wouldn't have thought of this as an individual they would have known that this was in reference to the local church there in Rome and we also know that Rome was referred to as Babylon in John's writings too it points to a wicked City it points to those who oppose God persecutes his people treats his bride like it doesn't belong you see the local church is God's creation and it is good and it is the Lord's chosen method of gathering together his people on his day that he has reserved to worship Him

And so we gathered together and we worship not just by singing right because that's that's not simply worship when you think of worship what are some of the things that popped into your head good praise giving praise the Lord serving prayer preaching what else Fellowship praise the Lord for anyone been encouraged this morning I've been encouraged this morning anyone enjoyed fellowship and Community groups you see that's one of the things that we get to do we get to worship together we get to pray together we get to a minister together we get to encourage one another we get to listen to God's word together and Peter he was a part of a local church he's an apostle he's a fellow Elder and church is not optional we need to stop treating it like it is it is where his people are expected to gather and be on Sundays one things that we do here is we do church membership we do formal roles we know that the early church had roles they had lists of widows and all sorts of things like that we know that the church removed people from their Fellowship I am so sorry church I just have this tickle in my throat but we do Church in church membership in a formal way because it provides accountability it provides accountability for the leaders it provides accountability for the local members to remain faithful in its Covenant that's made toward one another but the local church is supposed to encourage Ministry and prayer for other churches too that's why we've got PJ and Heather and Diana and the battleottos they're out in Idaho right now and you know what they're

Doing is they're serving at a local church that we support at a church plan praise the Lord for that man this tickle it's killing me guys I'm telling you it's one of the reasons why in your bulletin we have churches that we pray for every single week that are local to our community because our church needs healthy local churches amen and so we pray for him the last Point here is living in Exile remember that we are just passing through on our journey to the holy city in the meantime we are called to do a few things that Peter outlines for us first thing is to stand firm in the grace of God at various times and points in your walk you will be tempted to be drawn away from the Lord it won't come all at once it won't be some defining moment of apostasy we like to over dramaticize things in our mind but it always happens when Satan comes along to subtly entice your desires and it's a compromise here it's a delay in obedience there and slowly but surely what Satan does is he tempts you over and over and over again so that you may fall away from your Lord so stand firm in IT stand firm in the Lord be vicious about it you will never read the biographies of famous Christians who were just going with the flow of society who were just palatable and friendly to the world I saw a video this week at John McArthur John MacArthur is one of my heroes some people hate those guts oh well yeah say it say what you want about the man that guy is a stalwart Bastion of Truth and he said that someone came to him after he had preached one Sunday and

They said you know I brought my religious friend to church on Sunday and you offended them and they will not be back and neither will I and he said you know I just saying that to a pastor hamstrings them you know because you know he's got 3 000 people we've got 200 here this morning or so someone's going to be offended by the Gospel amen I mean the Gospel is designed to be offensive it's supposed to offend like if your Gospel that you share is not offensive it's not the Gospel no one likes to look at their sinfulness in the mirror no one no one enjoys being told you know you need to come to Christ alone you cannot rely on anything else to save you must come to Christ no one likes to hear that they want to think that they're a good person that they're a moral person that they can they can be saved by praying a prayer that they can be saved by joining a church that they can be saved by doing x y z they want that but that is not the Gospel of God the Gospel is that you are a sinner every single one of us we have all transgressed God's law we have all disobeyed his Commandments and guess what as a result of that we deserve a terrible terrible punishment called hell but God was not satisfied to leave us in our fallen state but rather he sent his only begotten son to perfectly obey all that we couldn't obey to perfectly do what we couldn't do and he became that atoning sacrifice on the cross so that anyone no matter how far you've gone no matter what you've done you can have fellowship with God one on one through Jesus Christ that is the Gospel and it offends people and there's a reason why people abandon

Jesus's teachings there's a reason he was crucified because they hated him there's a reason why the apostles were hated there's a reason why the early church fathers were persecuted it's because the Gospel is offensive not for the sake of offending but to show people their lostness and their need for Jesus so Church stand firm stand firm in the true grace of God that no matter what the cost may be and the cost is high we've been told that the cost of following Christ is very high but the gains are Eternal in the Lord Peter also tells us to greet one another and I want you to miss that because there's some people that have issues with you or with me in the church and we aren't allowed to have those did you know that we don't get to scoff at people we don't get to vilify people rather we are called to be reconciled to people we are called to love them we are called even to greet them with a holy kiss please don't kiss me I'm hacking and coughing there's some of you that are hacking and coughing we don't need that but one of the reasons why we do partaking communion every month is it helps us to keep a short list right man I know that brother or sister has an issue with me I need to get that reconciled before I take communion I can't I can't go to God's you know table and pretend like everything's okay I need to get this settled that's one of the reasons why we do communion every month tenaciously yet we do it with reverence and sincerity and also Peter here refers to the peace which is ours in Jesus Christ that world that word peace is really and truly what Humanity wants and needs but not simply peace toward one another we need peace with God that's ultimately what the greatest

Issue is in our lives we have peace but it's only available in Christ and peace isn't the lack of conflict I remember reading a quote one time which says that peace is the Glorious quiet moment where everyone stands around reloading thank you that's not peace the peace that is ours in Christ is what we have is a is the good it's the right it's the holy relationship that we have with our father in Heaven but it was made through the most violent reprehensible act in all of human history so you see we've talked a lot about the faith family today we talked about the importance of it but the only reason that we exist and are here is because of the brutality of Christ's sacrificial atonement you see when he went to that cross he accomplished full Redemption for Sinners that would come to him by faith he made payment for sin and he purchased freedom for every single person that would trust in him and it is through Christ's death that we are saved and it is through his resurrection that we have confidence and we are reconciled to God and we can be reconciled to one another and so what does this mean for you today it means that believer you have the only answer for peace it's not by being uniformly conformed to a doctrinal statement or anything like that it's that every person would know the Lord that's the goal and how different it would be if every single person in our church were to know the Lord and try to make him known to treat one another with Grace and humility man you're talking about an absolutely seismic event that would shape the very foundations of this church and the community around us

You know Peter he prays for the believer's peace he says peace to all of you who are in Christ he is just echoing what Christ has already said in John Chapter 14 verse 27 it says peace I leave with you my peace I give to you do not let your hearts be troubled do not be afraid you see peace is ours in Christ and it's because we have been born again to a living hope that we have this inheritance that is imperishable that's undefiled that's unpaiding that is kept in heaven for you who believe and as a result of that we are called to be holy Peter he calls us to that over and over and over again through this book because we have been ransomed by Christ and now we become obedient to the truth of God's word and we grow in it by drinking of it like it's milk the Bible says that we are a chosen race that we are a royal priesthood that we are people for his own possession and as a result of that we are called to submit to Authority God he has created all authority government bosses husbands elders even in the midst of suffering we do this with a tender heart and a humble mind so that we might Point people to Christ and what Christ did and so we don't live for this world we live for Christ and for the benefit of other believers that we might be able to show Christ to those that don't know him but you know what we'll still suffer that's what Elders are there to oversee to Shepherd the flock with a humble attitude and that is the true grace of God by the way that's just a brief summary of First Peter if you're just wondering what all that was it's just a summary of what we've learned over the last year or six months so stand firm in that true grace of God head heart hand head I want you to know that everyone needs Godly partners and Ministry around them

Ministry is not designed to be done alone it's not designed to be done on an island it takes Believers supporting you praying for you coming alongside of you Ministry does not happen in a vacuum you need to have Believers that are around you that are pushing you to Ministry heart I want you to believe that you need local church to support your ministry that's God's design it's literally how we have Ministry Ministries around our community it's the local church that supports them and equips people I saw a slide up there that they're looking for people to partner with lamb house some people have said why don't we do a food pantry here at the church that's because we support the local food pantry we send people over there they got the resources and stuff let's do it let's rock and roll in hand I want you to build a new friendship with someone here at our church you see all these things that we talk about with relationships like they're they're important and it starts with just connecting with other believers it's hard especially if maybe you're retreated like Mark and being told oh you don't we don't want you we do you know the church church is designed to receive Believers that's how we're designed to function so seek to have a Silas seek to have a Mark in your life at this time we are going to take a moment and prepare our hearts and our minds for communion and so if you would just bow your heads and close your eyes and just take a moment and reflect on the sermon and where you're at with the Lord thank you

Opinion is a is a symbolic reminder of what Christ has done with us in our hearts and in our minds and it reminds us of Christ's crucifixion the bread it symbolizes his body crushed for our sins the juice that we partake of represents his blood that was poured out as a sin offering I want you to take a moment and thank the Lord for his death for you thank you God we are so thankful just for this day that you've given to us we thank you for the New Covenant that you've established by your blood and we thank you for this Memorial supper that we have where we partake in these elements of the bread the wine we just pray that you would help us God to Proclaim your death every day but especially through communion the Scripture says for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me take the bread and eat with me Church Lord thank you for that bread that reminds us of your crushed body that you were bruised that you were pierced that you were beaten and mocked and scorned you were spat upon people vilify to you yet you were like a lamb to the slaughter Lord thank you he could all could have called the host of Heaven to defend you and yet you didn't we thank you for that thank you for drinking the full cup of

The father's wrath that was due Upon Our Heads that we could have confidence that we are children of God thank you in Jesus name the Scripture goes on to say in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me take the cup and drink with me Church for as often as you eat this bread drink this cup if you proclaimed the Lord's death until he comes let's pray father thank you for the service thank you for the testimonies thank you for your word thank you for us being able to worship you through music and encouragement Fellowship I just pray that as we leave out of here with our hearts full knowing what you've called us to do Lord that you would equip us and Empower us to do it we ask for your peace to be honest that you would guide us this week to be ambassadors for your kingdom we love you and we thank you in Jesus name amen love you Church don't forget that we've got our benevolence offering as you exit and I hope that you all have a great week thank you