The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Sanctification

Episode Date: November 8, 2020

His divine power has given you everything you need to accomplish all that He has called you to. What He has called you to is to make disciples that make disciples.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? About half, that's cool. Hey, if you got your Bible, go to Second Peter, that is where we're going to be. We are in November. How about that, right? I love this time of year.

There's a bunch of things that converge in November. This is when the deer start chasing. In case you don't know about that, you probably should. That makes that a lot more fun. This is when, you know, the hopes and dreams of college football fans rise and fall. We're not going to talk about that at all. This is the point in the year where Jack, fans are looking forward to the draft already, right? Praise God. Kind of hoping we lose them all so we can

win the Trevor Bowl. And also, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means, by the way, it's not yet time for Christmas decorations or music. So keep that to yourself, all right? Everybody loves Jesus. We don't need to sing about baby Jesus yet until post Thanksgiving. You're ruining it for all of us, all right? That's a rule. And then also, it is time for the McKinsey run. Every year we participate in the McKenzie Run, praise God. McKenzie Wilson was a 15-year-old girl that put her faith in Christ through the ministry of 1122, and then four weeks after that went to be with the Lord. And in her Bible, she wrote these words, I want to make my faith public.

And her parents took that prayer request and have made it a part of their life's ambition and goal and started the McKenzie Wilson Foundation. And since then, that was 10 years ago. Since then, the McKenzie Wilson Foundation has merged with the Boys and Girls Clubs here in Northeast Florida. and now they're the McKinsey Wilson Boys and Girls Clubs, and it is resourcing under-resourced children right here in our city all over the place, and the run helps raise resources for that. And so the run is happening this year on 1121,

and this year it is a virtual run, which is my favorite way to run, if we're going to be honest. I mean, virtually, I'm running right now. That's basically how that goes. But if you will go to mackenzie's run.org, you can sign up for the run, and it is a real run. Some of you that actually run, God bless your ministry, but you will run in like Facebook Live it or something and turning your times and all of that. And so the reason that we do this is not the run part.

And again, some of you like to run. Okay. We're moving for all people, even you weirdos, all right? But so there is an actual race and a run with prizes and all that. But ultimately what we're doing is the reason we sign up and do this is it is to raise money that goes right back into resourcing underreferencing. resource children right here in Jacksonville. And so make sure you do that. Go to mackenzie's run.org, sign up there, and you'll get all the information and you'll get all the shirt and all that. And even if you're not a runner, you should sign up for it and be a part of this and what God's doing in

our city. And then not only that, we're also coming up on December 3rd and 6th here at San Pablo. We're going to move over to our new worship space. Praise God. That'll be fun. and then on that day the third and six we're going to culminate or celebrate the culmination of the one initiative. Because the one initiative isn't over because hopefully God will be the one thing that drives everything for the rest of our days. But what we are going to do is celebrate on that day all that God has been doing in us and through us and to us. And so I would say on the one hand, Church of 1122, way to go.

We're going to be able to celebrate some incredible things, Longshelgum new campuses and church plants and salvation and all of that. but also take a look at your commitment, and if you need to finish strong, make sure you finish strong. Now, before we get there, before we get to Christmas season, we got one more series, and we're going to study the book of 2nd Peter. Second Peter, every word of the book of 2nd Peter we are going to study. And something that I find very interesting is this. I take what we teach and preach here very, very seriously.

And every year, in November, I don't go to any meetings, I just show up here and preach, And other than that, I just studied through the Word of God to ask God, Lord, what do your people need to hear from you from the Word? And a year ago, I felt impressed upon the Lord that we would study Second Peter. So that was a year ago where I made that decision. And I just want you to hear a little bit of the context of what was going on in Peter's life and in his culture

when he penned the last book that he would ever write, Second Peter. First of all, there was political upheaval. that there was a narcissistic and divisive leader that came to power in a way that most of the people that lived in Rome did not believe that he should rightfully be the emperor and he had a super shady family member that helped him get there and his name was Nero. Not only that, there was a global upheaval. It wasn't a pandemic, but there was economic strife because every city in Rome was on fire. Every time the Roman citizens turned it on CNN or Fox News, whichever way you sway, there was a city on fire.

But it wasn't set on fire by the people. It was set on fire by Nero himself. And when he got in trouble for it, he blamed the Christians. There was extreme Christian persecution and there was economic strife. They were in a major downturn because of the burning. And in light of that, sound familiar? In light of that, anybody want to talk about how the Bible is? was not relevant anymore. In light of that, Peter writes this letter, Second Peter. And ultimately,

if I could sum it all up in Jobi speak, here's what Second Peter is. It's going to get worse for it gets better. But God still got you. I hope you know that, right? I hope you realize, like, next November, it ain't going to be no better. I hope you know that. Next January, no better, all right? I don't know about you, but, you know, my theological position before we get from here to the trumpet blast is it's not going up and to the right. It is not. But one day, one day, when the trumpet blast and the heavens are ripped open and Jesus returns, then it gets all better. Amen? And until then, God's got you. Second Peter, chapter 1, verse 1 starts out this way. Simeon Peter. Now Simeon is just the Hebrew spelling of the name Simon, which, by the way, I find it very interesting that when Simon Peter

writes his name, he writes both Simon and Peter. Because Simon was his, like, pre-Jesus's name. And then Jesus changes his name to Peter. Remember Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus says, who do you say that I am? And Simon's always going to, Peter's always going to talk first. He's always going to talk most. And he goes, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And this is where Jesus is like, winter, winter, chicken dinner, man, you nailed it. This did not come from you. This was a revelation from the Heavenly Father. And I'm going to change your name to Petra, to Peter, to Rocky, and upon this rock, I will build my church. And yet somehow Peter is not ashamed of his past. He knows. He knows.

that he has not perfectly sanctified yet, he has not glorified yet, he knows he's still got some Simon in there too. And so he says, Simon, Simeon, Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Notice which one he puts first. He puts servant first, and apostle gets second place. You see, these two are not in contradiction. That this word servant in Greek is duly. And he says, ultimately, and firstly, I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and in my serving of the Lord Jesus Christ, then he has given me, granted me, this apostleship or this level of leadership. You see, oftentimes we think these two things are in conflict with one another, but in God's economy, they are parallel tracks. In other words, if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you in the Church of Jesus. And then also, I just want to point out that Peter does not let his past and his mistakes define him.

That at this point in his life, this is probably like 64 AD, that Peter is in charge of the whole church. He is the dude. And yet, if you look at his resume, it would be real easy for him to think that he is disqualified based on the things that he had done in his past. I mean, do you remember the series we did just a few months ago called Loudmouth, lessons from a Loudmouth? We were looking at the Apostle Peter in all the ways he messed up, and the list is long. And you remember Peter is the one that when they're in the boat at night, and there's a storm coming, and then Jesus is walking on the water,

and Peter says to Jesus, if that's really you, then how about invite me to come out on the water with you? And Jesus says, come on, big boy, very loose translations, but that is his invitation. And Peter, by faith, what does he do? steps out of the boat. Now, in just a few steps, he's going to sink, and this is what we always focus on. But I don't know about you. Anybody else got some steps on the water? I don't. I don't know a person who has stepped on the water. And I'm just going to tell you, if I walked on water, everybody would know it. The moment Dowding Thomas started bringing up that part where I chopped off a guy's ear and denied Christ, I'd be like, all right, Dowding Thomas. How many steps you got?

Because I got one, two, three steps on the water like Rick Flair, okay? If you don't know who Rick Flair was, he was an evangelist back in the 90s. All right. So. And yet, though, when he gets out on the water, he takes his eyes off of Jesus, and he gets focused on the wind and the waves, and he's afraid, and then he begins to sink, and Jesus pulls him into the boat eventually and says, why did you doubt, oh, you of little faith? This is Peter.

He's a little faith guy at some points in his life. He's the guy that messed up the mountain of transfiguration. You remember this? Peter, James, and John are all invited by Jesus to go to the top of the mountain, and Jesus is transfigured. His divinity begins to shine through his humanity and his face lights up like the sun lights up like lightning. And he's having a conversation with the law and the prophets, with Moses and Elijah. And then Peter looks and it's like, okay, there's the son of God and the law and the prophets. I should say words. And he sticks his head in there and goes, it is good

that we are here. You ever make it about you and it shouldn't be about you and it's never about you? Peter too. In fact, God the Father shows up in a class. and essentially in Hebrew says, would you just shut up? He goes, behold, my son, and whom I am well, please listen to him, and the presence of God disappears. This is the guy that we're talking about that now is in charge. He is the guy that in the moment when Jesus is surrendering his will to the will of the Father in the Garden of Gassimony, not my will, but your will be done, and Judas shows up

and betrays Jesus with a kiss, and the thing that Jesus has said was going to have, happen is happening, the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy that Christ would be crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected. Then Peter jumps up and says, not on my watch, and pulls out a sword and chops off a dude's ear. Now, let me just point this out to you. I don't know what your swordsmanship is like, but there's no way he was going for the ear. He screws up to screw up. Do you not know this? Have you ever, you watch UFC? You should. Have you ever heard? Like, oh no, he's got him by the ear.

It's going to be over soon. No, nobody goes for the ear. Even when he's trying, he's not even a good shot, chops off the dude's ear, and then Jesus, in my mind, this is the way, there's a little extra commentary here, but Jesus picks up the ear and it's like, Peter, are you even being serious right now? And then, puts the dude's ear back on his head.

Something that's always bother me. And the guy still arrest Jesus, but anyway, he put your sword away, man. Have you not been paying attention? that's not how we're doing this. Later that night, after he promises, after he promises that he would never leave Jesus, never forsake Jesus, he would lay his life down for Jesus.

Three times that night, he denies that he even knows who he is. And then, maybe the worst one of all, right after Peter nails it in Cessori of Philippa and says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, then Jesus goes on to say, you're right, I'm changing your name to the rock, And upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then Jesus goes to lay on what the rock is.

The gospel. He says, I am going to be tried, crucified, dead, buried, and on the third day resurrected. And then the Bible says that Peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him for the gospel. Not on my watch. And those of you that know the Bible a little bit, remember what Jesus calls him? He says, get behind me. Satan. Now, I know some of you bear some scars from the way you grew up, you know, maybe.

you dead, he didn't hug you, or you weren't breastfed, or whatever your issues are. But imagine the counseling you would need to go through with the Almighty Son of God called you the devil. This is who wrote this book. Now, why do I point all this out? Because what ends up happening post-resurrection and Peter being filled with the spirit is that God uses the very thing that gets Peter in trouble over and over and over, his big loud mouth. He uses that very thing to preach the very first sermon on the day of Pentecost. and the church is launched. In other words, Peter did not let his past define him,

and he used this guy. Let me put it this way. If you have a hard time keeping your promises to God, I got some really good news. You can make a great disciple. And just like God was not done with Peter, God's not done with you. God has a purpose for you.

God has a plan for you. He woke you up this morning because he's not finished with you. and you have no idea, trust me on this one, you have no idea what a life surrendered to Christ may be used for for the glory of God. Look, in 2003, I was this close to tapping out from ministry. Because I thought, I thought, I was at this church, man. They just didn't teach the gospel.

I was in trouble there all the time. It got to the point they wouldn't even let me do announcements anymore. And this was one of those churches. We only had four staff members because we had those four, on the stage. Anybody to be into that kind of church? So we couldn't hire anybody else because you didn't have anywhere for them to sit. So we all sat up front. And it got to the point where they wouldn't even let me do announcements anymore because I would always slide a little gospel in there. I'd be like, hey, come to the cookout this weekend and you don't want to get cooked if you don't

know Jesus, you know, that kind of stuff. So they were like, you know, you can't do that. And so I thought I'm out, okay, maybe I'm out. And if it wasn't for Gretchen Martin, I would have tapped out from ministry and done something else. And here's the thing. little did I know that God wasn't finished with me. So now, matter what you've done or who you've done it with or how many promises you have broken, God's not finished with you and he wasn't finished with Peter either. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ

to those who have obtained a faith. You've got to get your mind around this. In just a second, we're going to talk about sanctification. But in order to understand sanctification, you first must have to understand justification. He says to those who have obtained, to faith, not earned it, but to those of us who have received it. This is very important. That God has given us this gift of salvation. And if you have salvation, if you have faith,

it is a gift from God. It is not something that you earn. It's not something that we deserve. It's not something that we work for. But when Christ died on the cross, for anybody who would believe, who would trust, when he says it is finished, that counted for me, then that moment, that moment that you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, confess with your mouth, and believe that God raised him from the dead, then you have obtained a faith. But then from that moment on, you are adopted as a son or daughter of the king. And then we join with God through the spirit working in us and our own grace-driven effort to be more and more and more like him. And you cannot get the two things confused. Oftentimes, there's a lot of Christians that look at our salvation,

like you look at money, health, and common sense. Like once you get it, you've got to work hard to keep it. And that is not how this works. To those who have obtained faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. There's a lot here. First of all, Peter is calling Jesus, both God and Savior. And that our salvation is by his righteousness, not ours.

And that our salvation puts us on. an equal standing with Peter. Like, if you grew up Catholic, just raise your hand, I know you're not used to that, but just try it, there you go, real high, everybody did this. I didn't say Pledge of Allegiance, it's okay. Listen, Catholics, tell you Catholic grandma that because of Christ at the cross,

if you put your faith in him, then your standing and Peter, the first pope, is the same, not because of your righteousness, but because of his imputed righteousness to you. In other words, in Christ, there's no varsity in Jesus. There's no first class in coach.

The God doesn't look at Peter and think Pope and look at you and see Plummer and think there's somehow some kind of differentiation that when God looks at you, if you are in Christ, then he sees the righteousness of his son. Therefore, in Christ, there's neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female. Peter says that our salvation is of equal standing with His by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. All right, now we've made it through one verse. has got to go a lot faster.

Verse two. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now, he's saying the way that his grace and peace is going to be multiplied in us is in the knowledge of God. There's a big difference between knowledge about God and knowing God.

There's a big difference. There's a big difference in just knowing things and facts and Bible verses about God, but not knowing him. I mean, think about it. In the first century, when Jesus is walking around in Jerusalem and in Israel, the people that knew most about God knew God the least. I mean, think about this. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they had all of the Bible memorized, and they knew a lot about him, but they were walking around three feet away from the Son of God and they missed him. that they could smell the breath of the Son of God,

they just were not filled with the breath of life. In Church of 1122, please don't miss this in just a minute, as we're going to talk about how important it is to know the Word of God so that you can know him. There's a big difference between knowing about him and knowing him. And this church, this church, it's not a building, it's not a series of buildings, it's not a personality, it's not a series of events.

This church is a movement for all people to discover and deepen. and here's the most important part, a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything we do as a church is a means to that end, is that you continually discovering and deepening this knowledge of God, this relationship with Him. You see, Jesus says it this way in John chapter 15. Jesus says, basically, he says, come here, come here, come here, come here.

Abide in me, and I will abide in you. stay close to me and I will stay close to you. Ultimately, that is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian. It's to be close to him, to stay close to him, to abide in him. It's not just about doing the right things. It is being in right standing before God and then cultivating that kind of relationship. And to know a whole bunch of things about God but not know him is a travesty. There's a lot of church people that say, I want to live for Jesus.

That's a very good thing. But you can't live for Jesus if you don't live with Jesus. It would be like, it's like Facebook stalking your wife. What a waste of time. If you just learn all the things about her and you know her location and what she's into and where she's been, but you don't know her. And I mean in the biblical sense, no. Like the Bible says in Adam knew Eve and she bore a child.

There's knowing and then there's knowing. You understand what I'm saying here. There is this deep, intimate walk with Jesus that he has invited us into. And Peter says, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in that relationship, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now, what Peter's going to do for the next bunch of verses is he is going to instruct us as believers on how to continuously deepen that relationship with Christ. And I think the most important verse in understanding all of 2nd Peter is this, verse 3,

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. That his divine power has given us everything we need in life and godliness. The way I would translate it as is, that God has given you every, everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to accomplish, that his divine power has given, has granted to you. This is for the believer. For anyone who's trusted Christ as their Savior, then he put this deposit in you. He's called the Holy Spirit. He's put his divine power in you, and he's given you everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to accomplish, and then he even talks about it in two definite categories. In life and in

Godliness. Like in your life, God has given you everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to accomplish. In Ephesians chapter two, we find out that we are not saved by works, but we are God's workmanship. That word workmanship in Ephesians two, it means like masterpiece or work of art. In other words, God put you together exactly the way he intended to. With your brain and your height and your parents and your education, he gave you everything that he had in mind when he thought about you so that in your school and in your job and in your family and in your neighborhood that you could be all that he had in mind when he came up with the idea of you. I mean, what an incredible gift. And not only did he do that for your life,

like in your job and at your school, but also in godliness that God put in us, his Holy Spirit and that our progressive sanctification is not all up. to us, but it is a partnership with God, where the spirit in us, with the authority of the word of God, like a hammer and a chisel, constantly chisel away everything in us that does not look like Jesus Christ. That's what progressive sanctification is. Progressive, you know what this word means? It doesn't mean perfected.

It doesn't mean we're there yet, but it means I'm not where I used to be. that over time, not overnight, that God, working with us in us, begins to hammer and chisel everything in our lives out that don't look like Jesus. And that's what sanctification is. That that constant thing is happening, that His divine power has given us, granted to us, all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us. You see, again, there's knowing about, and then there's knowing. The way that God is going to progressively sanctify us

is through the knowledge of Him who called us. The Puritans used to call this vivification. Say vivification. All right. Now, if I was grading your sanctification based on your participation, currently you have an F in church today, all right? Say vivification. See, I do this for your own benefit,

so when you get done with church, people are like, what are you talking about in church today? You can be like, vivification, okay? Vivalification is simply doing the things that stir your affections for the Lord. Doing, and there's not really a prescription. It's up, just like you're God's workmanship, we're all wired differently, but we should do the things that consistently and constantly increase our knowledge of Him who called us. And again, not just knowing about, but knowing him.

It's basically going to come down to three things. God's word, God's people, and God's presence. That's it. Everybody that I know that has a deep and abiding walk with Christ, whether it's an old dead guy that I read about or somebody that I know here in church, every single person has an intimate knowledge of the Word of God. They are surrounded by God's people. We call that a disciple group.

It doesn't have to be one of our disciple groups, but hopefully there are people in your life that are spurring you on towards life and godliness, and that you consistently find yourself in God's presence. That's basically prayer and worship. So congratulations. You're doing that. it right now. You are doing, you're putting yourself in the kind of environment and hopefully vivifies or stirs your affections towards the Lord. And then he keeps going to his own glory and

excellence. So he says, his divine power has given or granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. I want to say something that should be very freeing to you, but it's going to jostle you a little bit as an American. Okay? God is for you. Okay? He is for you. Anybody that dies for you is for you. In Romans chapter 8, Paul is going to say, if God is for us, then who can be against us? That's very good news. God is for us. He demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. God is for us. But he's not about it. But he's not about it. us. It's not all about you. Now, I know, and the younger you are, the more true this is, because

you were raised in this environment where you were, you know, you were a skittal and you're a snowflake and puppy's breath or whatever your kindergarten told you, but she's a liar, okay? Because it's not about you. And that is a heavy weight to bear if you think the whole world is about you. Everything has to line up perfectly for you to be fully and finally satisfied if you think it's all about you. You got to catch every green light. Your roommate has to quit acting crazy. How about this? Your wife has to wake up happy every day. I heard a wife laughing, okay? She understands. She's spinning the wheel too. Come on happy, please, for my own sake. Just give it to me. Nope. All right, we'll try again. So, like, what this does, what this frees you up to is to realize that you are not the main

character in the cosmos, but you are a role player in the epic adventure of the global. You are a role player in the epic adventure of God. And then you can breathe a little bit. When you're on I-95 North in the left lane and the person in front of you is doing 52 in a 70, then you can begin to realize, man, that's not about you. I mean, he's an idiot, and you may pray the wrath of God upon his life, which you should, for his own glory, but you don't have to lose it because you think this guy has somehow that the universe has conspired against you because it ain't about you. that His divine power has given us everything that we need that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.

And there's freedom there. And we say, well, how do we know this? Here's how we know this, verse 4, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises. That we are reminded by his precious and great promises of this truth that His divine power has given. you everything you need to accomplish everything that he has called you to accomplish. And that we can be reminded of this by the very great and precious promises that he is given. Now, Pastor Adam preached here, I don't know, a month ago or something. And he walked us through some of the promises of God.

And he challenged us to write down some of the promises of God. And I know a bunch of you didn't do it. And shame on you. You should. Remember, Pastor Adam carries around, and he's so spiritual, he carries around in his wallet, this folded up piece of paper with like 10 or 12 promises of God. First of all, you can tell he's getting old too. Anybody that stuff stuff like that in their wallet, that's a dad wallet.

You know what I'm saying? He's going to have a bad back. And he challenged us to do it, and I hope you did it. Peter's giving us the same challenge. He's saying the reason that we can trust that His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness is by the precious and very great promises. And so I would encourage you to do a little homework this week and to write down some promises of God

that when this world is going crazy that you can cling to and you have 7,487 to choose from. So you ought to be able to find three or four. And if you don't know where to start, you have two very incredible gifts from God. One is supernatural. His name is the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you, believer.

He will lead you to the parts of the word that you need to be led to. And one is very natural. It's called the Google machine. and you can just type in promises from the Bible about fill in the blank. Whatever the thing is, and I'm telling you, it's amazing. They'll be there. Here's a couple that I cling to.

Matthew 1128. The Bible says this. This is Jesus' invitation to the believer. Come to me. All you who are weary and heavy burden. So let me just, anybody ever get there? Anybody ever feel like you toting some stuff and it's about to wear you out? one of the greatest honors of my life is getting to pastor this church but oftentimes what i tend to do

is i tend to carry a burden and carry a weight that's not mine to carry i mean in matthew chapter 16 jesus says this was his church and that he would build the church but oftentimes in meetings and we've got to make big decisions and if y'all would quit sinning so much i wouldn't have so much to worry about and i feel this like weight this burden of what's happening in the church and jesus says come here come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden, and here's his promise, and I will give you rest for your soul. See, that's a promise of God,

that God would give you rest for your soul because he's carried everything, and we don't have to carry it anymore. I was talking to a pastor friend of mine, you know him, he's been here before. Matt Chandler, I talked to him on the phone a couple years ago, and we were planting another campus, and he said, man, what are you freaking out about?

And I was like, I don't know, man, I just, you know, I got these fears, got these anxieties, and he goes, what are you afraid of? And I said this. I said, I just don't want to be the limiting factor. I don't want to let God down. To what he said to me, hey, bro, you're not holding him up. So I hung up on him, and I hit him my friend anymore, okay?

I don't like that guy. But it was just reminding me of this promise of Jesus, come here, come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden, and I will give you rest for your soul. Another one. Sometimes when my circumstances around me seem to get bigger and bigger and bigger and I begin to have some anxiety. You know, anxiety is when you got worried and you don't know exactly where to put it. When that happens, I think about what Paul tells the church at Philippaians chapter 4.

He says this, be anxious for nothing. By the way, anybody who struggled with anxiety? Raise your hand, okay? Made you sweat just in a minute, doesn't it? Feel weird. So here's what Paul would say. Are you anxious? I am. Stop. Whoa, you're a worst counselor than Pastor Jobie. What do you mean? How do you just stop? I can't stop. It makes it worse. What are you talking about? And here's what he says, be anxious for nothing. But by prayer and supplication, make your request known to God. And the peace of God that transcends

all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. That's a point. That's a promise. And then what can begin to happen is what the enemy intended for evil, anxiety in your life, can actually be a trigger for you to do something for God's glory and based on that promise, run to him instead of from him and say, even though my circumstances are all over the place, I know that the sovereign king of the universe reigns supreme on my heart. And so, God, I need for you to give me a peace that transcends understanding. That means that you would give me a peace that doesn't even make sense in light of my current circumstances. And God, you promise that you would guard my heart and you would guard my mind in Christ Jesus. Sometimes when things aren't going my way, I think of this

promise from John chapter 16, and you might think this isn't weird, but I don't care. Jesus promises in this world you will face troubles of many kinds. That's a promise. In a weird way, that comforts me. Because when I run into trouble, I don't look at it and think, oh, these troubles are unique to me, but Jesus promised that there were some troubles that I was going to face of many kind. And then he says this, and here's the promise that he gives, though, but take heart for I have overcome the world. But take heart. So I don't put my trust in my circumstances. I put my trust in the overcoming sovereign king of the universe. Another promise I have to go to all the time. I've told you this before. I deal with the whispers, like I hear voices,

not the kind where I like need to go see somebody. And if you hear voices, you should go see somebody. just mean like I have these ideas that pop into my head that I know we're not from the father. You ever get those? And I always know they're of the enemy because at the root of them is condemnation. Condemoration means you are unfit for use, particularly on Thursdays and Sundays. I just start hearing them. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are that you're going to stand up in front of all these people and with online now hundreds of thousands of people and pretend that you know how to walk out this thing called being a Jesus follower. You know the things you struggle with.

You know the things you do. And they get louder and louder and louder. And I have to cling to this very precious and great promise of God. Romans chapter 8 verse 1 says, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You cling to those promises. And the way that we know these to be true is 2 Corinthians 120 says, for all the promises of God find there yes in Him.

for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. In other words, the reason that we can trust these promises about us is because Jesus kept his promise. He said, he promised, I'm going to be handed over, crucified, dead and buried, but they're going to bury me in a borrowed tomb. Do you know why he had borrowed the tomb? He only needed it three days. Then he gave it back, and he was resurrected from the grave,

even if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. And so if he can pull that off, of course he can take care of you and me. His divine power has given us, granted to us, all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that, so all of that was intro to tell us what he's doing in our life, so that through them you may become a,

partaker of the divine nature. I don't know if you're in a Bible study. I am. When I read this, it ought to blow your hair back if you got any left. That you and I, I mean traitors against the most high king, through the blood of Jesus Christ, have not only been justified by his blood, adopted by his grace, but we also are sanctified to the point where when Jesus puts the deposit of the Holy Spirit in us that we become a partakers of the divine nature, that the son of God became a man so that men and women could become sons and daughters of God and that we would be made like Him. This is a really big deal.

Paul says it in Romans chapter 8, everybody loves to quote 828, but then everybody stops because they get scared. Romans 828 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. We love that verse. I love that verse. We quote it all the time, and then everybody stops. Here's what he is working in your life. Here's the good that he is working. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Don't freak out.

The word predestine, and the Bible just means to predestine. That's just what it means. I don't care if you believe it or not. It just says it, and it means what it says. I don't have time. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Here's what, see, when everybody talks about the word predestine, everybody's just talking about going to heaven or not.

Here's what he's talking about. When he talks about the word predestine, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be firstborn among many brothers. That what we have been, if you're a believer in Christ, what you have been predestined for is not just that you wouldn't go to hell when you die. But if you've put your faith in Jesus, listen, he did not save you just so you could come to church, what, maybe once a month and listen to some podcasts and sing a few Christian songs and be in a divo and sit in a disciple group and a lot of everybody. and not be honest and say, I haven't unspoken. That is not what he has called you to. He has called us to be conformed

into the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Paul's going to say it this way in Philippians chapter 2. He's going to say, have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus, that we, as partakers in the divine nature, are going to take off the old mind,

not be transformed, or not be conformed, to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, and over time, not overnight, through progressive sanctification, that our minds are going to be the same as that of Christ Jesus. That is what we have been called into. This is a really, really big deal. Sean Wilson's excited. That's all, y'all catch up. He's advanced. So how do we do this? having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. So earlier on, he says that it's through the knowledge of him who called us. So earlier on, he says, there's got to be vivification.

You've got to do the things that stir your affections for the Lord. God's word, God's people, God's presence. And there's got to be some mortification, mortification, that we have escaped from the corruption that is in the world. because of sinful desire. That in order to be sanctified to partake in the divine nature, after you've been saved, to grow in your walk with Jesus,

the way we've said around here is to discover and deepen and continuously discover and continuously deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ, you do the things that serve your affections for the Lord and you kill the sin

that is trying to kill you. You don't tame it, you don't pet it, you don't play with it, you don't flirt with it. You kill it. You pull it. You pull it. to death the things that are trying to kill your walk with Jesus.

And if you ever notice believers, man, but today we don't even talk about sin. We're like, I struggle. I just struggle. No, you don't struggle with the truth. You are a liar. That's what you are. That is called sin. You don't struggle with lust.

You're committing adultery. That is what that's called. And there is sin in our world. We have an enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And he does that by tempting us with these sinful desires. But in Christ Jesus, you don't have to do the things you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. That's the difference. There's a difference between moralism and living a moral life.

Moralism thinks, if I do right, then I will be right before God. That will kill you and crush you because we're all sinners. Being moral is what we have been called to. We should do what's right because we serve a righteous king. These are two very different ways to look at it. And what he's saying is, again, you don't flirt with it. You ever see that when animals attack shows? By the way, you know they're all from Florida.

You should look that up. People in Florida got no sense. They got chimpanzees and snakes and bears. And if you have one of those things, I mean, sure enough, right? You've seen the TV show. There's some ladies selling shampoo with a bear named Fluffy. And she's like, this is Fluffy. What's going to happen?

You know what's going to happen. Fluffy's going to eat her head off. And then they always interview the trainer. What happened? I don't know. To which one I'm watching, I go, I know. He's an apex predator. That's just what bears do. They don't stop forest fires. They don't make honey. They eat things heads off. That's what they do. When we try to tame an apex predator like sin, eventually, eventually it takes you out. But what you have to remember is that we have escape from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We don't have to do those things anymore because that's not who we are. There's a story about St. Augustine, and he was quite the womanizer before he came to Christ. He goes to a town that he hadn't been to in decades, and he sees a woman that he used to have affairs with. And she comes up to him and says, she's trying to have a little rendezvous.

And she says, it is I, it is I, it is I. And then he just keeps ignoring her and walking away. And so finally she confronts him and says, sir, it is I. And he says, I know that, but it is no longer I. That means that the core of who he is has changed. And now everything about him changes. He keeps going. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith.

So again, faith is a gift from God that we receive by grace. There's nothing we could do to earn it. There's nothing we could do to deserve it. It is a gift. But then, again, there's a lot of church people, man, and you never make it past that step that you've heard, hell is hot and forever's a long time, so who wants that?

So you get a little fire insurance in Jesus. But that is nowhere in the scripture does that describe what it means to be a follower of Jesus. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith. That faith is the foundation, But our grace-driven effort is to be added on the top of that foundation. I love that he calls it a supplement. And he's going to give us a list, I think it's eight things, to supplement your faith with.

And this is the thing, these are the things that we are to do, the steps that we are to take as Jesus' followers. It is a supplement. It's like creatine monohydrate. If you eat creotin alone, you will die because the supplement will not be enough to keep you alive. but if you eat your regular meal and you work out and you add some cretina monohydrate it will make you swaller write that down swaller it will in and of itself it will not bring life but in addition to the foundation of your regular meals it will add to this is what he's saying for this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue that just means to do what's right but you're not doing

what's right so that you will be accepted by god but because you're you're not you're not doing what's right so that you will be accepted by God, but because you have been accepted by God at the cross of Jesus Christ, it should compel us to do what's right. We should do what's right because we serve a righteous king. And virtue with knowledge that not only do we need to know him, but we need to know his word, because the more that we can see things the way God see things, the easier it is to do the things that he has called us to do. With virtue and with virtue knowledge and knowledge with self-control. With self-control. In other words, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that we would be ruled by our relationship with Jesus

as opposed to being ruled by your emotions or cultural pressure of the applause of man and self-control with steadfastness. The Greek word here is, Hupo Monet. Any of you all having a baby, that'd be a good name. Hupo Monet. You're gonna need some self-control and some steadfastness when you have one. It's two words jammed together that means to bear up under.

I mean, nowhere in the world, nowhere in the scripture does Jesus ever promise trust in me and everything is easy does he no we're going to need some steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness godliness just means to please god in every area of your life that we would be people of integrity integrity integrity comes for the root word integer which means one like in the shumah and you shall love the lord your god with all all what all your heart soul mind and strength that every area of your life was bringing God glory. It's not like you had a church life and an online life and a work life.

And here's how you know if you're not living a life of integrity. If your church friends bump into your work friends and you feel awkward, there's a problem. See how it got real weird? Oh, that happens to you all too? Yeah. But what he's saying is that we should pursue godliness that all of our life would bring glory to him. And godliness with brotherly affection. In other words, that the love of God poured out on us should be a conduit to the way that we love one

another and brotherly affection with love, not that we would just be polite to one another, but that our joy and the Lord would be expressed towards others at great expense to ourselves. Verse 8, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just ask you, are these qualities increasing in your life? because there's a lot of people in a lot of churches, and there's a lot of people in our church. And I think your walk with Jesus

could be described as ineffective and unfruitful. And it's because after God justified you at the cross, you thought that you just stopped there. But we, by definition, are called followers of Jesus. And what it means to follow is continuously taking steps of obedience in the direction of Christ. and if we stop taking steps, by definition, we stop following.

And now, everything in your life may not be up into the right. And for a long time, I kind of bought into that idea. I thought there was something wrong with my sanctification because I was a part of some really great ministries like FCA when I was in high school. But the only people they ever put on stage to do what I'm doing, their testimony was crazy. Their testimonies were like, hey, I was in a gang in Tijuana, and we were in a gang fight one day, and a guy stabbed.

me in the eye with a butcher knife and then a Bible fell out of his pocket and the reflection of the Bible I saw Jesus in the knife and gave my life to Christ and now I just planted a church and I'm like, that does not sound like my testimony at all. I went to camp, asked Jesus in my heart and I still have a hard time not saying bad words. So I don't feel like we're on the same trajectory. Okay. It's not always up to the right. It's more like the Bible uses farming an But there's always a season of tilling or sowing or watering or reaping, but God is growing a thing in you because he who began a work in you will bring it to completion that that's happening. And so a key question to the believer is what's your next step? What's your next step?

What is he calling you to do that's going to stir your affections for the Lord vivification? And what is he calling you to do to put to death the things in your life? that are trying to kill you. One of the things that I have found in my 20-something years of ministry, in my 30 years or whatever of following Jesus, is this. One of the best ways for you to deepen your relationship with Jesus is to get on board with helping other people discover theirs.

If you do a quick study, I dare you to do homework this week, study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you look at the places where the disciples turned inward, and they made it about then. like Matthew chapter 20, two of the disciples send their mom to get a promotion. That doesn't go good for them. Remember the Mountain of Transfiguration? Peter James and John.

Peter's like, let's just stay here. Let's just make it about us. I'll give you a tent and you a tent. He was like Oprah with tents and you get a tent, right? And he gets rebuked. Anytime they made it all about them, they got rebuked by God. But when they turned out of their holy huddle and were used by God for somebody else, they got high-fives from Jesus.

Remember the feeding of the 5,000? They come to Jesus, and they're like, boss, there's so many people here. If we worked for six months, we couldn't afford to feed all these people. They're hungry. And Jesus says, you give them something to eat. And they're like, oh, I ain't got nothing. I'm in ministry. I got no money.

I got nothing. And what happens? They take this little lunchable from this kid. I don't know if that sounded kind of shady, but they take this little lunchable from this kid. They bring the little that they have to Jesus. And they're like, this is all we got. He blesses it, gives it to them. and then they feed the people.

Here's what happened. This is very significant. They moved from seeing miracles to participating in miracles. I want you to move from seeing miracles, because we see miracles here all the time. Last week in our services about Malachi, 32 people came to Christ.

That's a miracle. That's a miracle. But I want you to go from just witnessing them to being a part of them by taking a next step. Very practically. here's a way that you could do it. Some of you, your next step in following Jesus

is to sign up to be a part of our serve staff, to sign up to be a part of our serve staff. Because ultimately what we're trying to do around here is cultivate the kind of environments where people can get on this journey with Jesus to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And it is my job as one of the pastors to equip the saints, that's you, by the way,

even you Catholics, to equip the saints for the work of ministry. and so we have opportunities for you to serve. Also, we're launching two new campuses next year, so we'll have a lot of opportunity to serve. And so there's a couple of ways you can do this, okay? You can grab your phone, and if you haven't downloaded the app yet, first, make a fist, punch yourself in the face

because I've told you to do this so many times you get on my nurse, okay? Go to the app, and there's a serve tile, push it, and there's about six or seven opportunities that you can serve. Kids, students, production, online, there's a whole bunch of places you can do that. or you could text the word serve to 44, 1122, or if you're super old school,

you can go online to C-O-E-22.com slash serve. And you could, instead of just watching miracles, you could start participating in the miracles. And I know you may be saying, yeah, but who am I? I don't know, you're probably just like Peter. You've got a resume of places where you've messed up, but God's not done with you yet,

and he can do infinitely more than you ever hoped or imagined through you. So he goes on. For whoever lacks these qualities is so near-sighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sin. You see, if you get so focused on the temporary

that you forget about the eternal, things like the Great Commission, it's because you're near-sighted and blind and you just forgot about the gospel. My job here is to remind you. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling in election. For if you practice these qualities,

not pray about them, not have good intentions, but if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established

in the truth that you have. That's my job, by the way. I am the CRO, the chief reminding officer. I'm just supposed to remind you of the gospel and remind you to keep taking steps. And then he says, I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder

since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me and I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. Church, this is the aim of my life. I think it should be the aim of my life. of your life to, that we would be used by God.

Jesus, I just want to take whatever the next step of obedience that you have called me to is. It could be working in Nehemiah, it could be working in the parking lot, it could be working in our student ministry, in our kids ministry. And oftentimes when churches do this, they say, we need you. Here's what I'm going to tell you. You need to take a next step. You need to take a next step of obedience, and you have no idea what God might do in you. you and to you. When you say, hey, listen, his divine power has given me everything I need to

accomplish, everything that he has called me to accomplish, by a knowledge of him, rooted in his promises, and all about him and his glory and excellency. Here's the point. His divine power has given you everything you need to accomplish all that he has called you to, and what he has called you to is to make disciples, that make disciples that make disciples. And so I'm going to pray for us and as I pray, I'm going to allow you to pray with your eyes open and your finger on your phone, going to the app, going to the serve button, pushing that button, and just taking the next step of obedience that Christ has for you. And in so doing, God is preparing for us a great entrance into his kingdom. There's a bunch of commentary about what that might mean. Can I just tell you what

I think it means. Do you know the only thing you can take to heaven with you is people? That's it. What else can you take? We're going to take your boat? You can't, okay? You'll take your car. They don't even have them there. They got gold streets. You'll mess it up, okay? All you can take is people. So what if a part of what he's talking about here is as we take a step in serving one another, and you might think it's no big deal, man, you might think, hey, I'm just parking cars, I'm just greeting people at the door, I'm just changing diapers, whatever the thing is, and little, do you know that there could be a day that one day when we are in heaven and there's generations and generations of believers from every tribe and every tongue and every nation and what if when the

Bible says now we can see in part then we will see fully what if somehow he lets us know the part we got to play in the fulfillment of his great commission for his glory you see you need to sign up to serve would you please stand keep your eyes open sign up and let me pray for you Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you first loved us. And Jesus, we thank you that not only did you come and set for us an example, you watched the disciples' feet, and you told us that we would be blessed if we do so. But you did more than just set an example. You gave us a helper, the spirit, that we could partake in your divine nature.

And you said that you came not to be served, but to serve and give your life as a ransom for many. So, God, I thank you in advance for the miracles that are going to happen through the ordinary men and women and students right here at 1122. God, I thank you for the discipleship that's going to happen in the serve staff huddles. And that as we help other people discover their relationship with Jesus, that Holy Spirit, you will help us deepen our relationship with you. God, you're a good dad. you're a good dad and we thank you that you have called us to be co-laborers with you to the most important job in all of the universe to make disciples that make disciples that make disciples for the glory of your name we pray this in jesus name amen so church if you hadn't signed up yet please do so and we respond to the gospel we respond by praying maybe if you know that you want to take a step and you don't know which direction that is maybe you would come and just lay that before the lord and then i encourage you to pray and guess and go put these things into practice. And that we would bring, we would bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best,

not to pay God off, but as an act of worship and gratitude, we would say thank you for sending your first and best in Christ Jesus. And that we would sing, we're going to join our voices together and proclaim that death was arrested and that God has a purpose and a plan for us for his glory. So let us pray, let us sing, let us bring. Let's respond.