Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

Thank you all once again for your patience with a lack of a podcast yesterday. For most of you who follow my family on social media, you are aware that our three year old daughter Ava had surgery yesterday morning to have her tonsils and adenoids taken out. By the way, my phone doesn’t like the word adenoids and keeps trying to change it to androids. So for those that I have texted saying that they took androids out of her throat, no need to worry, it was just a typo. My daughter isn’t a cyborg. At any rate, I had hoped to put out a podcast yesterday, but our daughter was having a pretty rough day after her surgery and my undivided attention was needed at home all day and night to help. We certainly want to thank everyone who prayed for our daughter, and specifically want to thank the Cooper family for all of their help yesterday. We couldn’t have done it without you! Well, I wanted to share something particularly that had happened during Ava’s surgery yesterday that originally sent our hearts plummeting to our stomach. They were getting prepped for the procedure and Kylie and I were spending a few more minutes with Ava before they took her back all by herself. Dr. Fletcher and the anesthesiologist came in and explained how it would go down, and kind of prepped us about timing etc. They said that the first few minutes would be getting Ava all hooked up and then knocked out for the procedure. After she was stable and intubated, they would go in and take out her tonsils and adenoids if needed (and turns out it was). They said once everything was all done and she was starting to wake up, they would send someone out to get us, but not to expect anyone for about 40-45 minutes. Our brave little girl was amazing. She took the nurses hand and walked through those double doors back to surgery without a tear and without ever looking back. Tearfully as anxious but proud parents, we watched her walk back and then headed out to the waiting room until someone came to get us when everything was over with. We sat down towards the back of the waiting room and got comfortable. Kylie was distracting her mind by scrolling through Instagram and I was reading up on some articles related to recent changes in the world of college sports. About 10 minutes went by when a woman came out from the surgery center and said, “I’m looking for the parents of Ava Sipe.” I grabbed Kylie’s hand, and the first words out of her mouth were, “No, it’s too soon.” We both thought the same thing: something went wrong. I called out to the woman who started making her way over to us. That was probably the longest 15 seconds of my life, if I’m being honest with you. My heart had dropped into the pit of my stomach. What went wrong? Did she respond poorly to the anesthesia? Did something go wrong as they intubated her? My anxiety was fueling my imagination with all kinds of horrible scenarios, and tears had already filled up both of our eyes as we took a deep breath awaiting some kind of news so quickly into the procedure. She sat down and as she opened her mouth, I gripped Kylie’s hand tight anticipating what I knew could only be bad news. And then she spoke. “Dr. Fletcher just wanted to put your minds at ease since this is her first surgery and he knows you were nervous. Ava did wonderful going back, didn’t cry once, she is perfectly sedated and they are about to start the procedure. We’ll be back out in about 30 minutes to come get you, okay?” As she got up to return back to her station, we both burst into tears. There was so much adrenaline running through my body I could have run through a brick wall. When they called our name so quickly, we were certain that what we were about to hear was bad news. For her to merely be coming out to put our minds at ease and share good news was the very last thing we were expecting. We cried lots of tears of relief over the next few minutes, and even more when we got to go back and hold our little girl in our arms. 

Kylie took Ava home and I went off to go pick up her prescriptions and some more soft foods for her to be able to eat. As I drove around, I couldn’t shake that emotional roller coaster that we experienced just a few hours before when this all happened. As I thought about this, my mind couldn’t help but to go back to another group of people who had certainly anticipated bad news. This was the crowd that was gathered at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. We cannot read the entire account, but let’s begin by reading from vv. 32-41, “God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.” Peter started his address with some of the worst news possible: these people were guilty of killing the very son of God. The Messiah they had been searching for they had rejected and shouted, “crucify him” just weeks before. His blood was on their hands. But not only had they put him to death, but God had raised him from the dead & he was now seated at the right hand of God as the King of kings & Lord of lords. I want you to imagine what would be going through your mind if you were in this crowd. The text says that they were cut to the heart, and asking, “What should we do?” They realized they were guilty of spilling the blood of the Christ. Not only this, but now he is seated in a position of power having been raised from the dead. This question, “What should we do,” I am convinced was asked not in a spirit of hope, but in a spirit of despair and desperation. As Peter opened up his mouth, the only thing they were anticipating to hear back was bad news. That judgment was going to be brought upon them by Jesus after the way they denied him & turned him over to be crucified. With their hearts in their stomach, I can picture them each grasping hold of the person’s hand next to them as they anxiously awaited to hear the bad news. But then Peter opened up his mouth, and his next words were nothing that they would expect. His words were not judgment and condemnation, but his words were grace and salvation. For the first time, the good news, the gospel of Jesus, was preached. My friends, this same message is the message that we preach today. The reality is that each of us, on account of our sin, are guilty of the blood of Jesus. The only thing we should anticipate from God is judgment. However, despite that we have made ourselves enemies of God, this is the message we hear as recorded in Romans 5:6-11: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” God has spoken, and perhaps his message is not what you had anticipated. It is not bad news, but good news. Not a message of judgment, but a message of hope & salvation. Let not your hearts be troubled, Jesus saves! The question that remains to be answered is this: will you also accept the good news today? 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.