Auto Generated Transcript
If you’ve got a Bible with you this morning, I want to encourage you to turn to the book of First Peter. And I want to sit down this morning. I’ve gone through first Peter quite a bit, and knowing that we’re going to study this together. And the reason I want to sit down and just kind of communicate with us today is because as I’ve looked throughout this book from here on out, Peter just spanked me. This book is a is a difficult book to swallow for us as believers because from here on out and the rest of the book, Peter really talks to us as Americans, I think more so than any other culture. And the reason is, is because Peter’s focus is not about self. Peter’s focus becomes all about sacrifice. And to me, that screams a lot in the face of us as Americans, because we are always about mine and what I can get. Um, our country, after all, was born out of rebellion from the get go. Just ask the British when we broke free, thinking about our independence and our individual rights. And we think, tend to think more about the individual and less about community in our American culture. And it’s significant for us to look at this book and accept it. And I’m not saying it’s us as a church family. Um, my my prayer and love for us is I think we’re we’re a great community that thinks outside of itself, but it’s a community that always needs to be encouraged to do that, because the inclination of our sin nature is to get selfish and to look after ourselves, and to not want to make sacrifice for the well-being of other people.
And so Peter continues to encourage us along those paths. You know, one of the great things I like when I consider that in just reading Scripture, both the old and the New Testament open up communicating to us sacrifice. In the Old Testament you read Adam and Eve sin. God goes to the garden. The first animal that sacrificed God kills that animal, and he clothes Adam and Eve with it. And he gives them a promise of a messiah who would come and pay for their sins. It’s about sacrifice. It’s about God. Even though he could bring justice on our lives, brought grace and love. And you open up the New Testament. And as soon as the New Testament starts, it starts on the back of sacrifice. And Jesus could have rejected people who who didn’t love him, didn’t embrace him. But he still went to the cross, even though he was despised and shamed. And he and he died for them. And he sacrificed, and his life changed the world forever. And this portion of the book has been particularly interesting to me and challenging to me as an individual. Um, because I came to Utah with that attitude. I want to sacrifice. I want to sacrifice because Jesus is that important.
One of the things I have to continue to remind myself of is the thing don’t get selfish. A lot of times when I’m doing ministry, there are places throughout ministry where people upset me. My feelings get hurt. It’s not always easy and I don’t want to sacrifice. I don’t want to give of myself. I want to just fight for what I think I deserve. But when I look at this field and the opportunity that we have in verses like Peter communicates to us today. It just reminds me of the beauty of who Jesus is and my need to continue to lay down self for what Jesus wants to accomplish in me and through me, and allow that example to not only be for me, but an encouragement to my church family as well. I, um, I hope you guys feel that way about me being here. I feel that way about you That we are a community coming together for what God wants to do in us and through us, because we love Jesus. And the first chapter, what Peter says to us as believers, is he knows throughout the rest of the book he’s going to ask us to sacrifice for the sake of Christ and for all people. And so he reminds us of the beauty of Christ. He says to us in verse three that you guys, you have a living hope in Christ. And in verse six he tells you that your faith is much more precious than gold.
And in verse 13 he goes on and says, excuse me. It says, therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit, fixing your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Looking just to the beauty of Jesus. Just get rid of all the garbage in life that just keeps you from thinking about the significance of Christ and laying yourself down for him and devoting your life to him. Because Jesus loves you so much. Get rid of all that stuff that stops that, and just sober your mind and fix your hope completely on Christ. And so he says in chapter two, and that’s where we’re going to pick up today in verse one. Put aside all this stuff, all that stuff within your heart that builds anger and resentment and discouragement and malice and hypocrisy and slanders, which is gossip. Just lay that stuff aside. Because what Jesus wants to do in you and through you, he can’t do when we carry those attitudes. I want to live the kind of life that God wants to bless. I don’t always do that, but in my mind, I know that I want to live that life. And in verse one, he’s saying that that malice and deceit and hypocrisy and slander and envy, those are the kind of lifestyles when it’s embedded in our heart, that Jesus doesn’t bless that kind of life.
And when I think of the the future of our church and what our family has in Christ as we proceed and everything that Jesus wants to do in us and through us, I want us to be in a place where Jesus can just bless us. And it all starts with your heart and really asking the question, What’s Jesus worth to you? Because ultimately, if Jesus really doesn’t have any worth to you, you’re not going to want to sacrifice. And a lot of your motivation in coming to church is really going to be about thinking for self. What can I get from Sunday and how is this going to bless my life and and hurry up out the door rather than thinking about God? Now here I am with your community and all of them go through experiences this week and all of them need encourage and their walk with Jesus. God, how can you use me to do that for what you’ve accomplished in this world? And Peter says, listen, if this stuff is hiding in your heart, man, get rid of it. And so he says in verse two, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word that you may grow. It’s saying, Come to God’s Word and allow, rather than that garbage that we surround ourselves with. Let God’s Word communicate to our heart to transform our lives. And so in verse four, let me pick up here, where do we go? See how Peter’s communicated to us the beauty of Jesus seeing how he’s called us to go to the Word of God to learn it, says in verse four, coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God.
Peter carries this idea for us as believers. When you come to Jesus, it’s just not a one time activity. It’s a perpetual motion of our lives. And so he says, coming to him in the Greek is a process of our lives. It’s always about surrender. It’s daily about giving ourselves. It’s always about reminding us of the worth of Jesus in our lives, because our inclination and our sinful nature is to think about self, me and mine. What I deserve you wrong me, I need justice. And Peter says, but the walk of a Christian who understands, really the value of Jesus is about a life that just continues to come to Jesus. And I love the reason he tells us why. He says, Because Jesus is a living stone, meaning Jesus’s work isn’t finished yet. The stories that you read in the Bible about Jesus conducting ministry in the past, well, Jesus is still doing that ministry in the today. And you and me as a living stone as we continue to come to him. Jesus is working in us and through us in our lives. If we see the value of Jesus and if we continue to come to him.
Surrender your lives. And Peter gives us a response to us. He tells us what Jesus is doing. And so he says in verse five, As Jesus is a living stone, he says, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is saying that you as well become living stones with him. I love the Bible’s illustrations of living stones because we don’t quite build with that great of material these days. But living stones are built to last the The mark that Jesus places upon your life as you witness for him in this world is intended to last. I was reading this week in the book of Joshua, and I like going to Joshua in my life every time I get to a difficult place. Like, I don’t know by looking into buying a church building in the future, that scares the living life out of me, because there’s a lot that comes on your shoulders and taking on that responsibility. To be quite frank, in some churches people aren’t that committed. And all it takes for me as a pastor, I was calculating, trying to build my fear up this week. It’s calculating. You know, I’ve probably shared, I don’t know, 3400 messages on Sundays since we started as a church, which is countless hours at one point. I’m betting one time. Somewhere along the way I’m going to say something stupid and I’m going to make people mad and people are going to leave.
And what if that happens when I’m about to buy this building, and then all of a sudden we can’t meet the needs and we go bankrupt as a church. That’s going to be horrible. You know, things like that go through your mind, right? Please be happy, everybody. You want to make people be happy. But ultimately I can’t live in fear of that. It’s about loving Jesus. As long as we continue to do that as a church, it works out to our benefit. So that’s not a godly thing I’m doing, but it’s fear that runs through your mind. And so I went to the book of Joshua and God reminds Joshua at the end of Moses’s life to the beginning of his life. He says, don’t fear, don’t be afraid, for I am with you. He continues to remind Joshua that he says so many times that when you’re reading the passage, you’re like, when does Joshua going to get that? But then when you actually live in that moment in your life, you’re like, man, God should have said it one more time to Joshua because because I’m still feeling like I need that encouragement for God as we take these steps together. And Jesus is saying to you guys that we’re living stones. And when you read the story of Joshua, when they crossed out of Egypt into the land of Israel for the first time, and God told Joshua not to be afraid, it was because Joshua had an enormous battle in front of him.
And if you looked at the obstacle rather than Christ, the obstacle was going to keep him from doing what Jesus called him to do. And so when they got across the river, God told Joshua. Joshua, listen. Take stones. I want you to take one stone for every tribe of Israel, and I want you to make a monument or a pillar to me. And every time these kids of Israel pass by, I want you to tell them what I’ve done. Their living stones that testified to the nation of Israel. The goodness of God. But they were just stones. And what God is saying to us in this passage of Scripture is that it’s not just about the stones. It’s also about you. God in the Old Testament lived in the temple built by stones. But today he lives in you and you’ve become living stones for Jesus. Your monuments for Christ and God’s getting us to recognize the beauty of the testimony of Jesus working in us. How powerful your testimony in Christ is, and the opportunity that you have to share such a beautiful message in this world. You guys are living stones and tells us, as verse six goes on, the importance of seeing ourselves as living stones. It says, for this is contained in Scripture behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone.
And he who believes in him will not be disappointed. This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. You have a doom if you don’t believe in Jesus. That’s what it’s saying in the very end. It’s also recognized for us in the previous verses that you are living stones to testify to the world who Jesus is. And the reason is, is because the world finds Jesus offensive. After all, Jesus talks about hell. That’s what doom is in the last of this verse, coming before an all mighty God with sin on your hands. You don’t want to meet your maker on that day. That is a very dooms day. Jesus talks about hell in the world, finds it offensive. Jesus says, I am the only way and truth and life in the world finds it offensive. In fact, some people in those seeing Jesus as a loving person try to embrace a form of who Jesus is, but they deny him outright according to the way the Scripture communicates. They create in their mind an identity of who they want Christ to be. But it’s not the real Jesus. Jesus says, I am God and all other gods are false gods.
Jesus basically said I’m right and all their beliefs are wrong. To the world. This is offensive and to the world this is a stumbling block. What Jesus calls himself in this passage of Scripture is a cornerstone. The cornerstone was significant to the way in which the building was built, because the cornerstone helped establish the foundation for which the building was built upon. Whenever an individual would go and build a building out of stone, they would look for the one stone that would set the foundation level, a large enough stone in which they could place all other stones upon. And what is saying about us in connection to this cornerstone is that you have become living stones, but the only reason you’re able to be living stones is because the cornerstone that’s been established. And so all of our lives and building up the spiritual house is all about Jesus. Everything points to that cornerstone of who Christ is in this world. Paul wants us or excuse me, Peter wants us to recognize his significance as being our cornerstone. Jesus doesn’t just get Sunday. Jesus gets our life, our marriage, our friendships, our finances, our jobs, our our kids. In fact, Peter is about to lay all of that out for us. But Jesus is the cornerstone and he gets it all. And if we don’t build upon that, we build unhealthy and that stone, or that that house will begin to crumble and fall.
And I love the way Peter lays all this out for us. It’s beautiful the way he pieces together. It’s like. It’s like the Spirit of God inspired it. Look at the value of who Jesus is in your life. Remind yourself of that. Be sober on this place, your hope in this. Realize as a person this is why you were created for that relationship and everything in your heart that separates you from experiencing that with God. Just lay it all aside, forgive it, and move forward because you’re never going to be where God wants you to be unless you can do it. And as you forget it and and look to Jesus, you become a living stone, continuing to come to him. He is that cornerstone upon the foundation of which we build our life. Yes. Amen. It’s simple. It is so simple. But, you know, I find myself when I read scripture that I also have to be compelled to continue to remind myself to look at things like this, because I forget this message. I build in my heart garbage of resentment. And I think at certain points that I’m I deserve things that God needs the glory for. It’s about him. It’s not about me. I came here for sacrifice. I want to commit to this community. I want to see what Jesus can do in us and through us. That’s what I want. Do you want that? Okay. Good. Good. Yeah.
Good. So Jesus reminds us of this. He says in verse, verse ten, I’m going to skip verse nine for just a minute. And this says to us, don’t forget who you were when you didn’t have Christ, for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. God’s picture of us isn’t just about this world. I know sometimes we read that verse and we say, wait a minute, I’m Sherman Whitman at 157 Sydney Lane or whatever that says on that fish movie. Yeah. Nemo, right? I mean, I’m a place. I’m a I’m a person, I exist somewhere, I have a job. What is he talking about? I’m nobody. But when God views us as people, he views us more than just the speck of time of life which we exist on this world. He. He sees us outside of time in the realm of eternity. And when it comes to our relationship with God, apart from Jesus, we are nobody. There is no hope. It said in verse eight that we are condemned. There is a doomsday waiting for us. But thanks to Jesus, with his mercy, he’s given us the name. He’s called us his own, and he’s brought life into our world. And when you think about things like that, it brings significant worth to Christ and your relationship with him. Jesus becomes everything. It tells us as people that our identity isn’t based on performance.
It’s based on Jesus. The fact that we become people has nothing to do with what you have done, but everything about what Jesus did. If you seek to earn your identity through your performance, that lifestyle either leads to pride or despair. You think that you’re something great and you’ll never recognize your need for salvation for Jesus. Or you think that you’re worthless and Jesus could never accept you. Both are untrue. Jesus came to this world and he died for you. And in your sin. Jesus still said, even if you sin, I love you. I don’t want you to sin. But if you do sin, I love you. I died for you. I want you to place your faith in me and nothing else and nothing that you do. I want your faith and trust to look to me. These people were nobody, but they became everything in Christ. And so in verse nine, he defines for us what we became. Because of that he says, you are a chosen race. Meaning we weren’t a people, but now we are a people. You are a royal priesthood. We all become priests in Christ. What does a priest responsibility? One of the Old Testament. The priest took on the responsibility of representing the people of Israel to God and being a royal priesthood. What it’s saying to us in Scripture is that God has now given you responsibility and your identity to him to represent this world to God.
God has called you for something magnificent and and reaching people for Christ. And he goes on and says that we’re also a holy nation. Holiness. We looked at last week, but it means to be separate, set apart for God that we see the system of the world. We see God’s desire for this world. And rather than live for the system of the world, we separate ourselves to God’s intentions. And holiness has the tendency to be defined under some terms that are incorrect scripturally. Oftentimes, we’ll find people defining holiness under legalism or liberalism. Legalism to give an idea, if we see it functioning in a church, typically wants to take us back to the 1950s. Legalism keeps a running list of rules in which you have to obey, unless you abide by those rules and God isn’t going to please, but you won’t find him anywhere in Scripture. They keep a checklist on things like how you dress, your attendance at church and what you do, and whether or not you sing to an organ on Sundays and carry a hymn book along with you. Legalism gives the appearance that you’re never good enough as an individual. It puts people in bondage. It’s concerned about how people treat God, but it gives little concern with how God looks to other people. It attempts to be the Holy Spirit for people, and tries to guilt them, rather than allow the Spirit of God to move in their heart and convict them.
Legalism has the tendency to highlight God’s view of sin over and above God’s grace. Forgiving sinners. Legalism is more concerned with behavior modification than heart transformation. Legalism fears the world so much that its tendency is to isolate itself from the world rather than live in the world. Reverse of that, the other extreme is liberalism. Liberalism. Try to keep others happy, neglecting what God would call joyous to him. Liberalism has the tendency to say that the Bible is just an old book, and we need to let go and embrace the times of today. Can I tell you every culture has done that throughout Scripture. We’ll read the Bible and say, yeah, it’s cultural. It doesn’t fit. Let’s throw it away. Everyone’s always done that. There’s always some culture. Every culture somewhere has one area of the Bible they just don’t agree with, and they want to buck against it. Liberalism takes advantage of man’s freedom in Christ without caring concern about how Jesus looks to others. Liberalism has the tendency to place grace over and above God’s hatred for sin and the need for man’s salvation. People who are often liberal use the phrase like keeping it real or just being myself, rather than having a concern for what Jesus would want. Liberalism loves the world so much it carries a low fear of God. Both views end up winding excuse me? Compromising God’s word, God’s integrity, God’s truth. And it buries the beauty of who Jesus is.
Jesus’s prayer for us wasn’t that we would be legalistic or liberal, it’s that we would learn to live in this world for Christ said in John 1715, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, which would be legalism, but to keep them from the evil one, which is a prayer for liberalism. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth, as you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. If you live a legalistic life, the question you typically ask is how can I avoid from committing sin? If you live in a liberal life, the question that you often ask is how in the world can I fit in? If you live a Jesus focused life, you always and often ask the question, what would Jesus do? The glory all belongs to him. We don’t live defensively in a bubble. We carry God’s truth into this world. First Peter 121 says this, for you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. It’s saying to people like Joshua in the Old Testament and the Daniel today, don’t be afraid of who Jesus has called you to be in this world. And the reason we’re able to do that is because we see the worth of Jesus in our lives.
We recognize in verse ten that apart from Christ, we really didn’t have an identity, But because of Jesus, look at what we’ve become. We become a chosen race. We become a priesthood, a royal priesthood royal indicating our dominion in his kingdom. We’ve become a holy nation for Christ. And it goes on and says, A people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of whom has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so Peter makes a request to us in the last two verses that we’re going to look at here. It says, beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, to abstain from the fleshly lust which wage wages, war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may be may because of your good deeds, and they observe them glorifying God in the day of visitation. Like the believers in First Peter are being attacked because of their faith in Christ. I like the Bible verses that say when someone attacks you, you punch them in the face. I have not found it, but I like it. I could get violent, but I have an angry streak in me, an anger streak. And it gets provoked when I get wronged and I scream justice with an attitude of hatred. And Peter is saying in this passage of Scripture that he knows these believers are being persecuted for their faith in Christ, but he tells them to abstain from those things in your life which incur within you that desire to provoke anger towards other people and keep, he says, your behavior excellent before the Gentiles.
Meaning that rather than seek your own retribution in those moments, trust God and what he wants to accomplish. I love it like this. It’s glorious. If if someone does wrong to me that I just love them for Jesus. Because the good thing is that Jesus comes in their life and seeing that example, their hearts change and they can love Jesus with me too. And rather than have an enemy, I have a friend. That’s great. And if they reject Jesus, Jesus is going to take care of him one day better than I can anyway, right? Who am I to play God? God’s called me to love this world. God’s called me to be a priest into this world. God’s called me to be his holy example, separate from this world system, living for him. The question is, so how do we get to this place? Before you get to a place where you look at a verse like that and you say, Jesus, I’m okay with that. I think you’ve got to see the worth of Christ. I am different because I love Jesus. I accept that, and I love it because Jesus loves me. And I think of the struggles in living here sometimes. I love living here, man.
There’s no better place on earth to lay everything down for Christ to be a light for Jesus, I love it. But you also count the cost sometimes to to move into a new building. It’s a struggle to get to Utah. My salary was cut in half, but the income level to live here doubled. There’s a lot of sacrifice that comes with that. But as you see, the love that Jesus has for you, it compels your heart to share that love with others. And until you see the beauty of a relationship with Christ in your life, you’re not going to give a hill of beans if someone else knows them. That’s a West Virginia term. Let me put it to you this way. We’ll never see the value in serving others for Christ without first seeing the value of Christ. Meaning this only by embracing the worth of Christ will you believe that it is worth serving Christ. That’s why Peter started with our eternal hope. If you go home this week and read the rest of this book, you’re going to see for yourselves what I’m talking about. When Peter says, okay, church, you’ve seen what Jesus has done for you now. Sacrifice. You know what I think will happen to us as a church family when we begin to see the beauty of our relationship with Christ and how much Jesus loves you and and the worth of Christ, we’re going to have to beg each other to stop serving.
I always get to the summertime, and I start getting heartburn and staying up late at night, because we do so much activity throughout the summer that we get to a point where some of it I feel like I have to man by myself. There have been times where I’ve just been sitting there by myself doing ministry at church, and so the encouragement this year is keep your pastor from getting heartburn. It’s a but we’re going to have so many places to do ministry this summer, and we’re not going to want to do it as a church unless we see the value of Jesus in our life. So this is a good place for us to stop and say, What is Jesus really worth to me? And when we see that worth, we’re going to beg each other, listen, you’re doing so much for Christ. I mean, you must love Jesus that you want to just get out there and share that with the love of the, uh, his love for the world. And so let’s stop in our hearts and examine ourselves. How much do I love Jesus? Do I love Jesus at this point? Do I even want to serve Jesus at this point? The reason I don’t want to serve Jesus is because probably my heart isn’t connected to him and loving him the way that I understand his love to be for me. How do we love Jesus that way? By seeing Jesus’s love for us.
I was reading this week. Somebody shut that door. Thank you. I was reading this past week. There was this 90 year old lady. She had a stroke and she went to the hospital and a Christian went and visited her. And they commented on this experience that they had with this lady because she was full of Jesus. I said this I learned that Luella had been taken to the hospital suffering from a stroke. Luella is 90 years old. When I visited her today, God’s glory was all over her. In reference to her stroke, she said to me, I was so happy I wanted to shout. I thought I was going to go and get to be home with Jesus, but now I feel disappointed because I know I’m getting better, so I expect the Lord isn’t ready yet. I was so looking forward to being with what? Which is her husband who went to went to be with the Lord several years ago. As long as Jesus wants me here, I’ll stay. But when he’s ready, I want to go. People ask me, Lou, aren’t you lonely? And I say, why no. It’s Jesus and me. And it’s been Jesus and me for so long. He doesn’t let me get lonely. He is with me when I go to heaven. Don’t let anyone cry. I’ll be too happy for that. Tell them it’s Jesus and old Aunt Lou. And then this person remarked, I praise God that I have the opportunity to share these moments with saints like Luella.
Reminds me in scripture, in the Psalms where it says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Any time we get to an opportunity as a church, we’re kind of changing phases where our Bible studies slow down because we’re about to do summer outreach. It is a beautiful time for us to stop and just say, Jesus, encourage me and strengthen me and love me in my relationship with you. God, help me to understand what you’re worth. And I think in that place, in our hearts and our lives, we get to a position where we just want to sacrifice and give. We want this world to know the same Jesus that we met and the same Jesus that we keep coming to. As it says in verse seven, in fact, Paul is going to go on and give you a teaser here in the passage of Scripture, but he addresses every area of our lives. We can say, you know, I give God Sunday. But Peter says, what about Monday? He tells us to submit. Literally. It comes to a place of service. You want to know how a church moves forward. It’s with an attitude of desiring to serve and sacrifice, really. He says in verse 13, submit yourself to every human institution talking about government. Pray for those leaders and submit to authority. Verse 18. Servants submit to your masters.
We we don’t have masters today. Some jobs may feel like that, but it’s talking about the area that you work. You’re a light there. He gets to the husbands and wives and says, wives, be submissive to your husbands. Husbands, show your wife honor. Lift her up. Serve her. It’s about getting beneath each other. And just as we saw Jesus serving this world, carrying that attitude in which Christ had to other people. I love it the way that Paul says it. He phrased the same thing that Peter phrases just in a different portion of Scripture. Think about the significance of Jesus to this world and reaching people for Christ. He says this for though I am free from all men, I made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew so that I might win the Jews. That means the Jews had all these legalistic laws and chose to live under that, to reach them to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law. Can I take that attitude that says, I’m just going to be myself? And it says, and forget that Jesus would rather you do what it takes to reach the people who are around you, knowing that you’re free from all men still serve. And so he goes on and says to those who are without the laws, without the law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without the law.
To the weak I became weak, that I might win. The weak I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things. I love that maybe we should underline that I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Attitude carries this. God, it’s not what I want. What do you want? Jesus, I’ve seen your worth. I’m trusting in that. And I want to partake in it. And God, what do you want? It’s about looking at the hearts of the people around you and becoming what they need to be encouraged in Christ. And when someone offends you, forgive it. When someone upsets you, don’t fight over it. It’s not worth it. The beauty of who Jesus is is what changes the lives of other people. And you can win every battle in the world with someone who comes against you, but you will lose the war for Christ. There are some places in our lives where, when it comes to our hearts and we want justice in the end, you’ve got to look at it and say, but is it ultimately going to matter for the sake of Christ? Am I going to do more damage to the body of Christ by fighting this battle, and by just surrendering and showing Jesus? The reason I share this today is if you look in your bulletins and you open up and you see on the second page at the bottom, we’ve got a rough outline of our summer activities as a church.
Four booths, three kids zones, which are VBS, VBS type things in the park. Our summer is loaded with activities and we need people to help us out. Right now we have a sign up sheet out in the entry room that’s got Saratoga, the first booth that we’re doing, Saratoga Booth. Sign up. It’s got two names on it. I think we need more than that. I’m going to be there all day, but I don’t want to be there all day. At some points, I’ve been at booths. I think when we first started, I was at a booth so long by myself tying balloons for kids that my fingers were bleeding. By the end of the day, I was handing kids bloody balloons. Don’t worry, I don’t have anything. I don’t want that this summer. I want to stand with a church family. And I’m not saying it’s going to be like that this summer. I want to stand with a church family who wants to stand for Jesus. It’s a good time for us to take a step back and remind ourselves of the significance of Jesus and your place and your community to promote his name for this world.
And as we think about that all summer long, I’m going to tell you I’m going to start, like, spaz twitching for no reason this summer because we’re working on this right here. And. I know you guys don’t see all the day to day stuff that involves to get into a building. Right now, it’s like three months of paperwork. Um, and I’ve never built a building, as you believe, that or not. And so I’m learning as I go. People use terminology that I’ve never heard before, and I got to learn some of this stuff and figure it out. But so now you’ve got pastoral responsibilities and a building project. So I’ll like if I’m in a fetal position when you come on Sunday, just ignore it. Come pat me on the back, let me know you love me. Okay, so this whole summer, not only are we doing the ministry that we typically do, which is a lot of ministry for us as a church family, we do more in a summer than any church I’ve ever seen, heard, or been a part of. We do a lot, which is why we cut our Bible studies down. We also got a building project too, which says to me, as a church family, I need to communicate to you more how important you are in your relationship with Christ and communicating that to other people. How big of a deal it is when we pack our booth and people see a church that’s just loaded with people that are vibrant and full of life, and they love each other and they care and they can come be a part.
And if they just tell us where we live, we’ll actually go and capture them and drag them here. That’s how much we love them, right? But it’s significant for us. So here’s the challenge that I need to close. This really doesn’t have this is an open ended sermon today. There’s really not an ending to it other than this. Do you love Jesus? Do you love Jesus to the point that you’ll sacrifice for Jesus. Do you love Jesus to lay down even when people wrong you at points in your life for the sake of the gospel, and communicating that truth and displaying it to other people? And the second part is, will you prove it? We approve it this summer. We approve it in your life wherever you go. However, you’re living for Christ by just sharing the beauty of who Jesus is with other people. Let me close in a word of prayer I’m going to say, as we close for us as a church family, um, Pat, Pat and Larry couldn’t be with us today because Larry’s brother is in the hospital. He’s in I think he’s in intensive care down in Payson. And so his name is Ronald, and we’re going to pray for Ronald this morning as well. Let’s close in a word of prayer.