City Life Church San Diego

1 Peter 3: 8-22 Hope That Sustains When Life Hurts

• Dale Huntington

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Struggle has a way of exposing what we really believe. Today we open 1 Peter 3:8–22 and sit with the hard stuff—criticism inside the church, pressure from outside, and the gnawing sense that the internet disciples us more than Scripture. From that honest place, we map a path toward a credible witness: prepare your story of hope, answer with gentleness and reverence, and protect the unity that tells the world Jesus is enough.

I share why “being ready to give a defense” starts in the heart, not the comment section. Preparation looks like writing down what God has done, serving before speaking, and soaking in Scripture so we actually shine when the lights go out. We talk about meekness as power under control, the kind of calm that comes from resting our identity in Christ rather than in applause. When suffering hits—lost benefits, family health scares, or church tensions—we learn to say the paradox out loud: this hurts and God is good. That honesty becomes a living apologetic.

We also press on the idea that unity is not a slogan; it’s a practice. 1 Corinthians 13 is reclaimed as a church ethic: patience, kindness, and no running tally of wrongs. We confront our reflex to post before we pray, to judge a sermon by a clip, and to leave instead of reconcile. Along the way, we navigate the “spirits in prison” passage, tying Noah, judgment, baptism, and Christ’s victory to a bigger picture: Jesus is the true ark who carries us through the flood, and his Spirit seals us with gifts and fruit that make love possible when it’s hardest.

If you’re weary, you’re not alone. Let’s choose preparation over posturing, gentleness over outrage, and family over factions. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs courage today, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what story of hope are you getting ready to tell?

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SPEAKER_00:

So we're going to be in 1 Peter 3, 8 through 22. One of the things that I'm grateful for with our God is that He works in our weakness. And I just feel weak before you today, but I feel like I have a good God. And so I'm going to go straight to our text today. And if you don't know when he says finally, if you don't know what he's coming from, I urge you to go back. Listen to some of our text sermons in Spotify or anywhere else, and you can kind of get caught up with us. But I'm going to just pick up right there on 1 Peter 3 8. This is God's word. Will you join me? Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic. Love one another and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing. Since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, his lips from speaking deceit, and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil. Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated. But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give an offense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Let's pray. Father, we slowly ease into the darkest days of the years now, into the longest nights, and we know that we're gonna have struggles, that you promise us struggles. Our world is corrupted, and we recognize brokenness all around us. First, I'd like to pray for our friend Fern, who was in the hospital yesterday with blood cloths in his lungs. Um we know that they spread to his heart and he had a heart attack and was actually uh six minutes uh before he was revived. God, I pray that you would be with the Francis and De Los Santos family during this time. That you would bless Fern and his doctors, that you would watch over the entire family. God, I know that as Vanessa has to grieve not having her mom around, I I sure would like for her dad to be around. And Father, you know uh the many other struggles that are going on with those in our church and those in the world. I feel like the world is trying to pull us apart from each other. Would you keep us unified? Would you keep us focused on the big stuff? Would you keep us seeking truth and justice? Would you help us to focus on the big things and stay unified in you? Teach us this morning. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. So the letters from Peter, they're so applicable to this season of our world. They are they they make so much sense right now. There was so much going on back then that is going on now, and we we were reminded uh to constantly seek the welfare of everyone. We're reminded to not be divided, even though we know that we will suffer. And we're told to be strange people, to be humble people, to be powerful people, to be submissive people, to have an unshakable faith. And I have to tell you guys something. I feel shakeable sometimes. I don't know about you. We're called to have an unshakable faith, but I feel shakable sometimes. Like it's not easy out here on these streets, is it? Like in the last few months, I've been told uh that we don't do enough as a church. If for community, we don't do enough to train you in the faith. I've been told that we're doing too much, that we're burning out our volunteers. And and I've also heard that we're engaging the devil right now by uh welcoming children into the parking lot to get candy and dress up. And I just want to tell you, um, like even between services, I was told that this is a closed-handed issue. And um when I asked if it's a closed-handed issue, does that mean I'm going to hell? I was told by someone, I'm not sure. I'm so sad about that, you guys. We need to major on the major things and be united on the big things. And we're going to disagree on things, and that's okay. It's okay. But friends, um, I'm just telling you, I'm gonna tell you this right now. I'm okay with Christians being mad at me if someone comes to know Jesus, if someone who is so far from Jesus that they're going to hell, and because we did something for them, like hand out candy and give out 150 tracks telling them about Jesus, if they come to Jesus because of that and they are saved from the fires of hell, hate me for it. I'm sorry you're getting me me real fresh. If you want to, if you want to make me preach the next sermon with some more fire, then just tell me some things in between services. It's not the best time. But I will also tell you this we baptized 22 people this year. And we did it because we chase after people, and some of those people we chased after for nine years so that some might be saved. And so, friends, uh, a lot of today is gonna be about unity, but but I I'm just telling you, we have to be united by the big things, and we are being discipled by social media, we are being discipled by politics, we are being discipled by other churches and family members and so many other things. Back in the day, you just had your church, you just had your people, and that was it. And you weren't reading every single other blog that was out there, listening to every single podcast that were out there. We just had our church and we had this. We had this. Read this, read this every day. Every day, a ton. And if you want to tell me I'm going to hell, tell me. I don't care if you're mad at me if somebody comes to know Jesus. And you know what? There was a time when that was some of you. It's why I'm willing to preach twice on a Sunday. You you may not believe this, but it's not as easy. It's so some might be saved. It's why I'm willing to give up everything and plant this church ten years ago to move here, so some might be saved. Church, many of you are being discipled by other things. Do not let outside things disciple you. Let this be in front of you at all times. Spend time on this and keep it in front of you. Intentionally spend more time with other believers in this church, and I believe you will do well. But remember, nobody is your enemy. Even the person who told me that is not my enemy. I love them. Peter warns us our enemy is not flesh and blood. Peter says to be sober-minded, be alert, your adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. So I say to open your Bibles today, open your minds. I'm going to give you three points on how to defend our faith. First point is this Christians must defend our faith with preparation. Verse 15, it says, In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give it offense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you. Guys, we are to cherish Jesus as Lord of our lives, prepare ourselves to tell people why we have joy even in the midst of our suffering, why we find joy even when the world sometimes feels like it's falling apart. See, Christians reflect the light of God when we share how He saved us through His Son Jesus. Now, here Peter uses a word for defense, apologia, okay? Now it's a Greek word to give an answer back, maybe a little bit you would think like a clap back, but it's it's it's supposed to be done with kindness, so we think of it like a like a golf clap back, okay? So some of you know the term apologetics. This is not quite the same as apologetics, although it's similar, where we fight over truth in the Bible. No, no, that's important, but this is preparing to tell people why God gave you hope. Not what their sins are necessarily, but what your sins were and then what God did. Prepare. Prepare for that. Why God gave you hope. So let me ask you this can Christians share about our hope with non-believers if we're isolated from them? And will people listen to us if they don't feel loved? No. If they don't feel cared for? No. See, we prepare to share the gospel in many ways, friends. Some of you are here today because somebody showed you love. Some of you are here today because you went to an Easter egg hunt in our community. Build relational bridges that can withstand the weight of truth. You have to prepare, though. And so I ask you to consider what is your story? How has God pursued you? Write it down. Prepare yourself for that moment when someone is gonna ask you. But it's not just about how we saved you, you have recent stories. He saved you, yes, but like he's saving us in different ways. He's doing things for us, he's teaching us, he has has saved us from car accidents, from cancer, from all kinds of things. Write it down. Tell people, be prepared to tell people about it. Are you prepared when someone asks you why you give to the pantry? Someone's gonna say, Why did you give food today? Why are you giving food to people? You have to prepare and say, Because God has been gracious with me. When you pitch in at work for someone who is just like a slacker, and you're pitching them and helping them at work, whether they deserve it or not, they may ask you, Why are you helping me? And it's the moment that you have an opportunity to tell someone about the hope that you have in Jesus, and that's why you serve others, because he served you. Are you prepared with that answer? Colossians 4 says, Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know how you should answer each person. But how do you prepare? For one, being here is preparation, good job. It's not easy always to make it to things. It's not easy to say, this is a part of my schedule, no matter what. So you're already doing it. So excellent job, way to go, way to be here. We kind of say that you're lapping people who are on the couch right now. But you have to prepare to share. You cannot prepare alone. We have to come to the Lord daily and lay it all at his feet. We have to seek his presence in community and in scripture, right? You need encouragement, you need to grow. This is the first place to start every day. Now, sometimes you guys come to me and you feel guilty and you say, Pastor, man, I haven't I haven't read the Bible in a week. I'm so sorry. And I'm always like, Why are you sorry? Like, it's like somebody who comes to me is like, hey, man, uh, Pastor, I'm really, I'm really sorry I didn't eat any food this week. I'm like, why I'm not mad at you? Like, I just know that that's not necessarily good for you unless you're fasting. Pastor, I ate like only Cheetos this week. Okay, you know that's not real healthy for you, but I'm I'm more concerned about you. I'm not mad at you. Don't think that we're mad at you when you when you when you sin, when you mess up, when you when you don't seek God. But this is good for you. This is good for you. So so the reason why we encourage you, and when you need encouragement, to read this is because this is going to help you, not because we want to guilt you. I cannot be who God wants me to be without his word and without his church. So I encourage you, find more time to put down your phone, to close the book, to turn off the TV, and sit with him in your pain and in his word. Guys, you will find him willing to listen. And he's also willing to speak. Guys, you share about the hope you have in Jesus, though, not because you're the hardest worker, not because you're gritty, not even because you've trained, it's because you are broken and you were unworthy of his love just like me. And let's be honest, most of us aren't as gritty as we'd like to think. When we look to the church in Iran and people are being beheaded for their faith, man, I don't know anybody in here that say we're as gritty as the Iranian Christians. But yet, even if we lack that much resilience, we can trust he's still with us, encouraging us, he's praying for us. That is why we share hope. When you wanted to give up, he didn't give up on you. When you sinned against him and you sinned against others, you found him willing to forgive you at the first admission of guilt. See, Christians reflect the light of God when we share how he saved us through his son Jesus. Now let me ask you guys this. Does anyone remember going to Chuck E. Cheese's kids? Is there anyone here who went to Chuck E. Cheese? Now I'm gonna I'm gonna see if there's any OGs out here. Did anyone go to like Pistol Pete's or um what was the other one? Uh I wrote it down. Peter Piper Pizza. Yes, who went to those? Okay, yes. Okay, yeah, you you're you're you're a real one if you went to one of those. Um I used to go to those all the time with my friends, and you know what we did is first off, I want to tell you, uh, this may you may be surprised, but when we were not Christian kids, we did not act like Christians. And so what we would do is we realized that of all the prizes, the walkman was like 3,000 tickets. And so what we did is we did this little thing called cheating, and we would go up to the ski ball and we just have somebody dunking. And you know, I don't know if like I don't know if it's true anymore that I'm banned. Like, I feel like maybe there's a statute of limitations on that now, but we were banned. We were your banned exactly, right? Well, I don't need to go anymore. I could buy my own Walkman on eBay. But here's the thing if you weren't cheating and you got 40 tickets that you got from spending$20, uh, you could get just a couple things if we could just put them up here on the screen. Uh, I found a picture online uh of the things. Oh, there it is. Does that take anyone back? That picture? Okay. So you had a lot of things. You had those little like clapper things, right? You remember you go up and down and they clap their hands, and the things that I remembered before finding a picture. Oh, hey Tiffany, try to hold your voice down, okay? Thank you. I appreciate it. We like you being here. Okay, so the things that I liked, I remember getting those cheesy little spiders. Does anyone remember those? It was like the spiders, you put them on a ring, you do that. Or they had those those creepy little, like weird fingers with nails that looked like a witch's finger. We had those two, okay. And um, then we also had those things that glowed in the dark. Those are my favorite, okay? And so you would get the things that glow in the dark. Can we show those? Those you remember those? Like you had the alligator, you had all those things that glowed in the dark. So, what you would do is uh that is like twelve hundred dollars worth of tickets right there. You would you grab your handful and you'd go home and you would go into your bedroom and then you would turn the light off. And what would you see? Nothing. Yes, I hear it from you. You would see nothing, and and there's a reason for that, right? Like, so then you know, I'd ask my mom, like, hey, these are broken. She'd say, You have to go put them in the light. So I'd go outside, and you know, I had ADD and have, and I would take it outside in the sun for like two seconds, bring it back in, nothing. Still, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. There was no light, but they needed to soak up the light first for quite some time. So, in the same way, though, guys, we have to soak up the light of God if we want to bright bright, burn bright anywhere. If we want to share our hope, we have to soak and marinate in God's word, in his church, in prayer if we want to go and shine anywhere. And whose light is that? It's not ours. We're not shining our light, we're shining his. But we have to soak it up. This is not about grit, this is not about trying harder, it's about being with him, being with each other, being in his word, being in prayer, because he gives us hope for the world, for all people. You want to shine brightly, you got to sit in the sun, and you know, if I was a different type of pastor, I'd say sit in the SON sun, you know what I mean? Like that's what I would say. Now, friends, some of you are on furlough right now from the federal government. Some of you have lost your snap benefits for November. And I just want to say this to you, and I want to say it very clearly. This sucks, this is awful, and it's painful. And anyone who would want to tell you, like, just get over it, Jesus is good. Well, you know, I don't think that's very honest. I think that we sit and we grieve sometimes. Now, what I would also say is this has been a beautiful, beautiful season because I've been called by many, many churches who have said we want to make sure everybody has food. We want to make sure people have shoes and jackets and everything. Guys, you don't know how many Christians and churches have called me this week in the midst of something terrible that have said we want to help make sure nobody in your community goes without. So that's good. I met you on the streets. I remember because the first time I met you, you said you like my pants. And then I went home and I changed and I gave you my pants. You're sitting on the bus stop. You probably don't remember that, but but there are many people here who love you. Alright, guys. So here's the thing it's very hard right now for many of you. You're struggling. And I want you to say, I want to say something to you, and I need a little bit of your grace because I'm gonna say something hard to you. This is the best opportunity that you may have to share the good news of Jesus in your life. Because you're suffering now. And when you're suffering and you tell people Jesus is good, not the fake mass, don't I'm not talking about that fake mass where you pretend it's all good. I'm saying it sucks and God is good. This is the kind of thing that you have a special opportunity. So even though you're struggling, you can speak to the way the church is loving you. I don't want you out there saying City Life Church is the greatest. I want you saying God's church has surrounded us in our need. I want you like even the things in this pantry when people say, Oh, your church is great, I'm like, dude, none of these things are like almost nothing is from the church here. There's from so many other churches supporting us. So we get an opportunity to point people to Jesus in our suffering. That is good news. We can let them know how the church helps support, but also we can let them know how Jesus is enough. Guys, prepare yourself now though, because when you get the question, you don't you you don't want to be thinking. Write it down. People uh may want to know how you are doing, and you get an opportunity to say, bad and good in Jesus. Let them know that Jesus is with you in this time. Kenyan pastor uh Cicely Mubarra Muruthy, he says this when given the opportunity, Christians should be able to give a coherent and polite explanation of their assurance of present liberation and a hope of future vindication. The dignified respectfulness of their speech should stand in clear contrast to the malicious slander of those who attack them. And guys, when we attack each other, we tell the world that God's not enough. But the dark world casts a critical eye on the family of God. But we reflect the light of God when we share how he saved us through his son Jesus. And so we speak up when asked, but how we speak up matters. In verse 16, uh sorry, the next point is gentleness and reverence, but how we speak up matters. Verse 16, yet we do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. See, when you speak up for the hurting, when you speak up for truth and justice, when you give your reason for hope, people will come at you. Did you know that? They will fight you. When you try to do the right thing, people will fight you. Honestly, anytime you try to do something that's good, that's difficult, people will attack you. But we desire to respond gently, and there are times that I don't, and I apologize. And I have to apologize a lot. But Proverbs 15:1 says, a gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath. And guys, you can be gentle when you spend time with a gentle God. That's where it comes from. When you surround yourself with people who want you to thrive. We have to have our foundation in Jesus alone because we're going to stand on him. That's where the gentleness comes from. Now, Pastor Juan Sanchez says, once we understand this unshakable foundation, we will be armed to face Christian suffering in this world and stand firm in the true grace of God. See, a dark world crap casts a critical eye on the family of God, but we can respond by reflecting the light of God when we kindly share how he saved us through his son, Jesus, and I put emphasis on kindly. People out here want to fight you. Did you know that? I bet you do. If you are a Christian, they really want to fight you and they want to fling mud on you. They want nothing more than to get you mad. Why? Because when you fight someone for Jesus and you get mad and angry and sin, they win even if you win the argument. They say never wrestle with a pig. You know why, right? You both get dirty and the pig likes it. Man, you set me up. Perfect. I love you. Uh see, but if you're aggressive and mean, you'll win the fight and lose. What's our word? It's meekness, friends. What is meekness? But power under control. It's the Dodge Viper going 65 on the freeway. Everyone knows it can go faster than that. But it doesn't. It's going the speed limit because it doesn't need to show anything. It's a Dodge Viper. V10, awesome truck engine. Friends, I can't tell you though how often someone will hurt me. And as pastors, it happens a lot. Now, a lot of times we can't complain because it's gossip. People come to church, they use us, they get what they want, we don't meet their demands, they leave. But it's common and I should be used to it. And guess what? I'm not. I got this spongy, spongy heart. And and the problem is really, though, it's not just that I have a soft heart, it's that I build my foundation sometimes on what people think of me. Guess what? That's a problem. And I can tell that happens. Why? Because if someone doesn't like me, suddenly I find myself driving like a jerk. Like, wait, isn't my hope in Jesus alone, not in what people think of me? But suddenly I'm I'm like tailgating somebody? Suddenly I lack grace when I'm talking to my kids. Why am I snapping at my kids? But there are also times in my life where you can cut me off in the freeway and all I will do is laugh. Why? Because I'm in good with Jesus at the moment. You can insult me, you're good. Don't worry, a crying church ain't a dying church. You can insult me, you can mistreat me, and I can more easily brush it off because I'm with God in those moments. In those rare moments when I feel God's so close to me. Actually, it often happens when I'm most hurt. Like I get hurt, and then I have to go to God because I'm struggling because I realize that nothing works in your approval. I go to God, I find him, and then someone can come at me and I'm like, okay, cool. All right. God is good. I'm not always there. I'm not there this morning. I apologize. But friends, it often takes pain to turn you to God, and that's when you notice that other ground is sinking sand. When I put my feet upon the rock, I find God has enough patience and love for the both of us. He has enough compassion for me and my enemy. And so with his Holy Spirit fully at work in me, I can speak to the person who hurt me with honesty and kindness and grace. I can respond with gentleness and reverence. See, it's it's like a really well-watered tree. I don't know if you guys have ever tried to do a fire pit in your backyard or somewhere else, and you cut down some limbs from a tree to make a fire, but the but the tree is so well-watered that what happens when you try to light it? It won't light. I got those guyava trees in my backyard. Man, you gotta let that stuff sit for like years before you can light it up because it soaks up water so well and stores it so well. You know what the Bible calls us when we're reading the word a well-watered tree. And so, friends, when we are well-watered and somebody tries to set a fire on you, guess what happens? Psst! Nothing. Because you are close to God, you have God as your foundation. You can respond with gentleness and reverence. No one can start a fire against your permission. Friends, you cannot manufacture, though, a gentle answer. You cannot pretend forever in your own strength. This is not a grit thing. Eventually, you're gonna blow up if this is just you trying to be a good person. Okay? And sometimes I blow up, I go to God and I blow up at him. I'm gonna be honest. And when I blow up at him and it's super unfair to him, he's present. And he's kind. And I can picture him while I'm yelling at him, and for some reason I feel like he has his hand on my head, maybe tussles my hair a little bit, uh, or maybe he has his hand on my chin. And this is what I see him saying. I'm sorry. I know you don't mean that. I know you're trying. I forgive you. I'm ready to help you through this when you're ready. Maybe I need you guys to close your eyes right now, and I need you to see God looking at you. You have confessed your sin to him, and this is what he says. I'm sorry, I know you don't mean that. I know you're trying. I forgive you. I'm ready to help you through this when you're ready. Guys, what an understanding God we worship. If I was God, I would have slapped the taste out of so many people's mouths by now. But I'm not, praise the Lord, I'm not, and no one like me is like God. We have an understanding God. Have you seen the campaign that says He gets us? Man, He gets us. Jesus really gets us because He was gossiped about just like you. He was mistreated just like you. He has been ill just like you. He has been betrayed and lied to just like you. He has been betrayed by his best friends just like you. But when Jesus was beaten and abused and spat upon and teased, he endured. And he dragged himself up a hill called Golgotha, which means the skull, so he could die on the cross for the people who would murder him. He did this so he could present us spotless to the Father. He did this to save us and always be present with us through his spirit so that we can find that gentle answer. And now, when we are in his presence, he helps us to have an answer as to why we have hope. He helps us to answer with gentleness, but he also helps us to love his imperfect bride, the sweet lady he calls the church. And that's our third point because it matters how we treat each other. The third apologetic, the third way to defend our faith is from unity. It's unity. Going back to verse A, finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic. Love one another, be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary, giving a blessing since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. Guys, this was written to the church. If this was written to the church, this is written to Christians. If this is written to Christians, he's saying we're gonna hurt each other. And he's saying we should be unified. So, yes, uh, someone punches you, you don't punch back. But it's not just inaction, right? It's it's action. So if someone hurts you, you bless them. Some of you guys in the room have been to Christian or like Christian-ish weddings, and they basically use the same text from the Bible every time. It is First Corinthians 13. We call it the love verse. People use it for weddings all the time, but it's not about a husband and a wife, is it? It's not about marriage. We can apply it to marriage though, can't we? Yeah. It's about the church, friends. It's about the church. We got this handled so you can stay with me, just stay with me. It's all right. And what we do in here and what we do in homes and how we talk about each other and how we talk to each other, it matters. Now I want to read 1 Corinthians 13 to you, and I want to remind you that this is about the church. This is not about marriage. You hear me? Here we go. If I speak human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I'm a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable. Oh, I'm sorry, Lord, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends, but as for prophecies, they will come to an end. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will come to an end. That is what God calls us to, and it's impossible without his help. But are we good with the idea of love, but not brotherly love? Like, how do we do with a brother part? Like, do we believe that part? Like, like we're we're family, like, here's the thing. I don't think that we're very good online talking about other churches. Um, I don't think we treat them like family. We we talk about something that we're different, uh different from them on, that's small, that's not the big issues. Um, and that we're not treating them like brothers and sisters in Christ. We're we're we're downgrading the church. And how are people gonna know us? By our unity. So if you think something is wrong, if it's not severely demonic, please don't post about other churches. That's God's bride, okay? And if you see a 30 second quote of a pastor that you don't like, I encourage you not to share it, being bad. But then also, if you're Gonna share it anyway. You better watch the whole sermon, all 45 minutes. Because you could just take anyone out of context and have them say anything you want. People thrive on disunity. The devil thrives on disunity. There are fake churches, but there are plenty more churches that get things wrong. And that's us. But they're your family. They're your family. The Bible says kinship is important. So what does the term brothers and sisters mean to you? Is that a general term? No, no, no. Do we believe that the gospel truly makes us family? How are we going to treat each other? Like, actually, what does it mean when we commit to each other? I would say that we all lack resilience in relationship. We are unwilling to do the hard work of reconciliation. Now, here's what happens we have a hard conversation. That's that's a bummer. And then we get confronted in our sin. You know what we tend to do? We tend to bounce. Or even worse, we stay, but we build a wall around our heart. We stop trying. We ghost each other. We stop sharing. We go, we show up, but we don't share. We stop talking to each other, but that's not biblical. That's not the true church of Jesus. That's the fake American church of convenience. Church relationships should be difficult. Like family. If y'all does anyone in here have a family that's just like perfect? Yeah, yeah. All right, good. So if you don't have problems with each other in the church, then you're probably not doing church right. You're not sharing enough or learning enough about each other. You need to know my sins, I need to know yours, and we need to work toward reconciliation or love despite those things. Let's have honest problems, okay? And address them in love because the world is watching us. Now, New Testament professor Karen H. Jobs, she says this. She says, modern Western concepts of individualism tend to trump commitment to community. Where commitment is found, it is often evaluated in terms of individual needs. An individual whose needs are no longer met by community terminates the commitment and seeks a new and more obliging group. Like-mindedness implies a willingness to conform one's goals, needs, and expectations to the purpose of the larger community. Guys, we're selfish, but the more and more we become a family, we just say, hey man, like I'm I'm showing up for Thanksgiving no matter what. I'm gonna show up for this person no matter what. I'm gonna bail this person out anyway because they're my family. Do we treat each other that way? And guys, if you get this wrong, go to Jesus and ask for help. And when someone in the church hurts you, go to Jesus and stay in the fight. And I'm not saying fight them, I'm saying fight for them and fight for unity. Go to Jesus and then go to them and apologize in the spirit. We are going to get this wrong a lot, and so it's good that we have a kind and loving, forgiving God. Finally, I'm gonna take you through the most confusing part of this text. In verse 18, it says, For Christ also suffered for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. So when Jesus died, his spirit continued to live, which is now where it gets more complicated. Here we go. Verse 19, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in the past were disobedient when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. So some of you know the story of Noah, where the world had gotten so wicked, the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth, and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil, and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and was deeply grieved. Okay, you're with me? And so a flood happened, right? Water came from the ground, water came from the sky, but God had prepared Noah for this ark who brought along his family. And it says Jesus went and preached to them. That's confusing. Does that confuse you, church? Uh let me there's several prevailing theories on this, and I'm gonna give you one. And if you disagree with me, cool, okay? I'm just giving you one theory. You could probably write a doctoral thesis on this particular passage, but I'm gonna give you the one that makes the most sense. It's okay if you want to take time researching this. If you disagree with me, I'm good. I'm gonna focus on the big stuff. But let me say this: God does not exist in time like the way we do, okay? God exists outside and inside time. So uh if I hold up my Bible like this, God can look at time like that. Like, oh, there's the beginning. Oh, there's the 1900s, oh there's there's where the Padres win the World Series, 3008. That's when I return. So, like, God can look at time that way. Okay? It's insane, right? Um, but but here's the thing do we believe that God existed in the past? Yes. Do we believe that God exists in the future? Do we believe that God exists now? Guess what that means? God exists always. Yesterday, today, and forever. And so let me just say this. I I believe that Jesus could step outside of time and go to the time of Noah and tell people about the coming wrath of God and the coming salvation of God, including Noah and his family. The pre-incarnate, post-crucified Jesus. That don't make no sense, but it does. God is fully present now, he's present in the future, he's present in the past. He exists outside of time. So some people think this meant he went to hell or the grave. I'll just tell you quickly why I don't think that's true, because normally it it would say below. Um, and it when it says prison, it does not use the term below, it does not use the term sheol, it does not use the term Hades or Tartarus. So those are terms that would have been used for hell. And then it goes on to say, as if it weren't confusing enough, baptism, verse 21, which corresponds to this, now saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. So baptism, it's saying right here, okay? Noah spoke truth to people. Rain is coming, but people didn't listen. Only seven family members listened, okay? And they were saved. All right? We now have the chance to warn the world about the coming wrath of God. But we also offer them a chance to be saved. Because we were just like them. We were enemies of God, just like them. Dr. Tony Evans says Jesus spiritually spoke through Noah, offering salvation to humanity as he built the ark. The ark provided salvation and deliverance from judgment. Similarly, the believers to whom Peter was writing would be brought safely through God's judgment by being united to Christ, the New Testament ark of safety. Mmm. See, when the flood waters washed over the land, it removed the filth of the land. Washed away those who were killing each other, killing babies, who were pressing the poor, who who uh didn't exact jud uh justice. But water baptism doesn't wash away any sinfulness. Baptism is described for us, not the washing of our bodies, but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. Okay? Are you with me? Uh so when you are baptized and you rise out of the water, you are telling the world that you were buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. And when we're baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are signed and sealed by Him. No one can take that away from us. You cannot have a demon come into you because he won't mix with demons. God's Spirit is in you and you are signed and sealed and safe in him. He gives us strength to love, he gives us strength for many other things. He gives us the ability to prophesy, to heal, to speak wisdom. Some speak in tongues, but even better, he gives us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. It's amazing what happens when you have the Holy Spirit of God in you. It means that you can love people. It means you can be unified with people who are your crazy family like me. It's amazing what happens when we have the Holy Spirit in us, isn't it? The power to be unified in disagreement on things that don't matter. He gives us the power to share about our hope. He gives us the strength to answer harsh words with gentleness. And so I say this to you, City Life Church, and guests. The dark world casts a critical eye on the family of God. It doesn't help that we're gonna make mistakes and even hurt each other along the way. We are going to hurt each other if we're doing family right. But we can respond by shining bright in our loving community, and we can reflect the light of God. We can kindly share how he saved us through his son, Jesus. And if you do not belong to Jesus, please find me today, and I will pray over you and we will pray for you to accept Jesus. Let us go to him now. Father, we thank you for this moment.