Chosen by God

As we continue our journey through 1 Peter, we explore one of the most humbling truths in Scripture: you are not an accident, and your faith is not the result of chance. Before you ever reached for God, He reached for you.

In a world that finds identity in performance and approval, Peter reminds believers that our security begins with God’s choice, God’s mercy, and God’s purpose.

If you’ve ever wrestled with your worth, questioned your place, or wondered if God sees you, this conversation is for you.

You may feel forgotten by people, but you have been chosen by God.

“According to the foreknowledge of God the Father…” — 1 Peter 1:2 NASB95

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's going on, street team? We're back for another incredible episode, walking through the word of God. Last episode, we got into some heat, Phil. Yeah, we got to see it. We got into First Peter was absolutely incredible. Verses one through two. Yeah. We're going to continue to walk down this text, man. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Continue to walk this text. And we said that the text is timely. Absolutely. Right? The text is timely. Um, we believe that this text we're walking through right now is is speaking to the times that we're in. Yep. Uh believe us under tension from and pressure from the external culture around us. And um, man, I really felt the spirit of God uh in our last episode. And trust that as you you you watched our last episode, uh, which was episode one of season two, that you were encouraged, you were edified, you were strengthened, you were blessed. Um yeah, man, this is just so much heat. It is in 1 Peter.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

And to give kind of a brief overview, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 through 2. Peter is walking us through uh what it means to be in exile, what it means to be in a world, but not of this world.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

And he breaks down three things as we continue to walk through the text. He reminds us that we are chosen by the Father. Yeah. He reminds us that we are sanctified by the Spirit, and he reminds us that we are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ, which is uh taking us back to Exodus chapter 24, yeah, where Moses commanded them to sprinkle blood over the doorpost.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

So let's let's let's talk about this for just a second. Um, chosen by the Father. Right, chosen by the Father. I think there are a lot of believers, and uh and I I'm gonna include myself here, um because of uh brokenness from the past, or maybe our childhood traumas, or maybe some of us have been abandoned by parents or wrestle with deep insecurities, uh, who struggle to identify with God as someone who has been chosen by him, um, struggle to see him as a father. And yet Peter says to the believers then, the Spirit of God says the same thing to the believers now, that we were chosen by the Father, that our selection and our drawing into the kingdom was not by accident, right? That God saw you um even while you was his enemy, um when you were just an object of his wrath and you were far away from him, when you were in rebellion and sin or even attending church and still not saved, you were still an object of God's wrath, and yet God chose you. It speaks of a form of adoption of sorts where he had his eye upon you and decided to, through the power of the Holy Spirit, woo you to himself through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and bring you into the kingdom of light. And I think there's it does something in the heart of the believer when they understand the power of the fact that you were chosen, you were selected. Yeah. Right. It's almost as if you know, going into the orphanage and saying, I want this one right here. And uh and it's a difficult thing for a lot of believers to wrap their minds around that they were they were chosen because sometimes our insecurities cause us to not want to accept that, or our past traumas will eclipse the truth of the fact that we have been chosen by God. That is, if you're in the kingdom, you're not in the kingdom by accident. Right. Um unpack that a little bit. When you hear the word chosen, what what comes up in your heart when you hear that? Intentional. Intentional, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

You know, we we both have been in situations whether it was growing up in school and uh you know the playground, it can be a very, you know, dangerous place to wow how it's you know, and depending on what you're playing. I remember playing pickup basketball. You didn't want to be chosen last. No, you did not. You know, to be chosen last, I mean, you was absolute trash.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So you you want to remember we used to shoot for captain. Absolutely captain for captain's bowls. He needed to be friends. I got him. I got him. Right. You'd be hanging around like, man, why don't nobody want to pick me up?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Why nobody wants to pick me up? You wanted to be chosen first. And so to be chosen by God, to be chosen with great intentionality, to be chosen for really such a time as this, in a time in a culture, in a society uh that needs representatives of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's humbling to know that God would choose me. Yeah. Because I know me. Yeah. And that certain days I wouldn't choose me. I wouldn't choose me on most days. And and God, He still chooses us. And as I I uh uh you know, we read this, if our identity comes from culture, then our conviction disappears under pressure. Yeah, it does. But when our conviction comes from the Father, yeah, because he has chosen us, yeah, no one else has the authority to label us something different than what the father has called us.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

And I think that's even important when people are dealing with rejection. Rejection from family members, parents, uh people in their communities. There are people who battle with rejection, and we see the outgrowths of that feeling of rejection. And uh it's very important to know that regardless of who man rejects, if God has chosen you, you gotta hang on to that. Come on, right? You gotta hang on to the fact that you was chosen, you were born into the kingdom intentionally uh by God. And so that way, feelings of brokenness or misplaced emotions does not rob us of the theological truth that my calling and my election were sure, and it was not by accident, but God was very intentional when he came and found me. He was intentional when he found me in a bathroom. Uh at 24 years of age, he was very intentional about that. He was intentional when he found you. He was intentional when he allowed you to survive the streets, you know, and take a bullet to your side and live. Right? He was in he was intentional about when we both was in the streets. Yeah. You think all that time we even I was out in the streets walling out, um, we had Christian parents, godly parents, but the our our environments had a hole in us. And yet all that time God had his eye on you and I, he had his eye on you, our brother and sister. And so um I think it's so important to remember that if you're in the kingdom, that was not by accident, and that even when your insecurities um make that difficult for you to believe, um we gotta allow the word of God to be stronger than our emotions, right? And then he goes on to talk about the sprinkling of blood. Yeah. Come on, Old Testament, man. Come on, Old Testament. Yeah, yeah. Talk to us about that sprinkling of blood, Tim. It was a foreshadow something coming.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah, yeah. I I think that phrase um would immediately remind the Jewish listeners of what they knew. Yeah. And what their parents had told them. Because he's writing to a predominantly Jewish audience. He's writing to a predominantly Jewish audience that is being persecuted, who's being really abandoned by certain people groups because of their belief in Jesus. And he's telling them you no longer have to find your identity in Rome because you've been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. There's something powerful about blood. Uh, doctors can tell a lot about what's happening inside of our body by the blood that they that they get from us. They they can tell exactly where issues lie, they can tell exactly if our sugar's too high, cholesterol's too high, all of that can be determined by your blood by the blood. Yeah. And so if the blood of a human is that powerful, come on, man. How much more powerful is the blood of Jesus that covers us, that covers our sin, that covers our sicknesses, that covers our illness. And so to be sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ to the listener would have been both encouraging and convicting for them to hear and understand. No longer do I have to be affirmed by Babylon, no longer do I have to be affirmed by Rome. I have already been covered by Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

And then that will now translate to the times that we're living in for a lot of us who are trying to find affirmation uh in the culture.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

And trying to find affirmation in the world system, we're trying to find affirmation from social media, you know, is why we run to them comments so quickly, right? Because it's like dopamine, it's like a it's like a hit, right? We we are searching for affirmation from the opinions and the words of people. And you know, if you if we live by that, we will also die by that, we will die by their rejection. If you live by the approval of people, you die by the rejection. And so the same thing applies now. It this is modern day Babylon, Rome, in a sense. He was too he was writing to people who was under pressure in Rome. So then we convert that now to our culture, uh, to people who are trying to find affirmation, everything outside of the kingdom and outside of Christ. And when that happens, then the ground is always shifting, the goalposts it moves, right? If if culture shifts, your identity shifts. Yeah, if something shifts uh in society, your identity shifts, as opposed to having an identity that's anchored in the word of God, something that's immovable, um, that cannot be shaken. The scripture talks about we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken, right? And so we have been sprinkled by the blood, washed, um, bought, redeemed, um, put back in right relationship with the Father, um, and that when he sees you, even when you make your worst mistakes on your worst days, uh, the days when you're persecuting yourself because you fell short somewhere, the father sees you through the blood of the son. And when he sees you, he sees you in right standing with him because of the blood of the son. So sprinkle by the blood. Um prays a prayer over them. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Don't we need that right now? Yes. More grace? Absolutely. More grace. More peace. I think we need that right now. Some people need to give themselves grace. Absolutely. You know, we just need an increase in grace. You know, I I even right now, right now at the beginning of episode two of season two, we just pray for like an increase of grace and peace. So I feel like somebody needs that on the street team. Increase of grace. Grace, God's unmerited strength and help coming to you to do everything he has called you to do. There is grace to do it. Outside of his will, it's in our own strength. Inside of his will, may there be an increase of grace to everybody right now who feels weary, tired, frustrated. May there be an increase of grace to you. God's unmerited help and strength coming upon you to do what he's called you to do, and an increase of peace. Yeah. Um, an increase of peace. Uh peace in your mind and peace in your heart. A peace that does not shift with trials and tribulations, but a peace that is anchored in truth, that not even the trials and tribulations could rob you of that. And going back to grace again. Grace for yourself, for the one who's constantly condemning yourself and persecuting yourself. Here it is. Grace to let yourself go. Come on. Here it is, grace to forgive yourself, grace to move on from a season or mistake that has had you bound. May someone right now find grace for yourself to move on. And uh a type of peace. Here we go again, peace that says, I'm gonna make it through what I'm going through. Like hell is breaking out, but I have an assurance, right? So he prays this for them. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. And he's praying that to him to people being put to death for the faith. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. Grace and peace.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

And don't forget who you are.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

You know, I think one of the most profound revelations about being sprinkled by the blood of Jesus, you can identify somebody by the blood. Yeah, you can. You can identify who they are based upon their blood. Yeah. And as sons and daughters, we can identify who we are based upon the blood that covers us. Yeah. In a season and a time where we need it. We got war happening right now in Iran. Yeah. We got hanctavirus. We got Ebola uh you know breaking out and all these different things happening in this particular day and time. Yeah. And people are losing their minds. People are losing their identities. People are losing hope because they have not remembered who they are covered by. Yeah. When you remember whose blood covers you, when you remember whose whose shadow you un you operate under, there is a confidence and an understanding and a knowing that although things around you may be chaotic, although all hell may be breaking out around you, what God is developing on the inside of you cannot be shaken by the things of this world.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah. Yeah, I love I love that. Um identity. How blood gives us identity. Identity. In the veins of my children are my blood. Yes. Shout out, Malachi, Israel, Abigail, and Josiah. In their veins is my blood. And beyond my last name, right? Like they have my DNA. That's right, right. And it helps them to identify, they say, Dad is my father. Right. And I love how blood creates identity. Right. And I think it's so important when we talk about that, Tim, because if our identity is in the wrong things, especially things that are movable, um socioeconomic status, titles, positions, all the things. And if those things shift, I lose myself in the process, right? As opposed to if the identity is in the blood, then those things can shift. And I could still say I'm a son and daughter of the first high God. Um as an exile. Yep. And so I think I think identity is so important, and that we need to find identity in the things that God has said about us. And knowing that we're not searching for identity, it's not out here somewhere. Um, it's right here. That's right. Right? It's not out there somewhere we're searching for. No, it's out there. Even when Jesus said things like, You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Uh if you're in the kingdom, your identity was already chosen for you. Right? It's like if you're in the world, you can choose whatever identity you want. Yeah. You can identify as you want, and you can have whatever pronoun you want. You can do whatever you want. But inside the kingdom, our identity has been spoken for. That's right. Light. He says words like light, salt, peculiar, you know, uh sojourn. Like that those that identity has already been chosen for us. Son, daughter, um all of these different uh words in the scriptures that come to shape the identity of the believer. We have to start to believe in those. Um and so it's already been chosen for us. And we just have to know them, believe in them, let it drop from the mind to the heart, and then walk them out, right? And so uh the blood sprinkled, and we pray he prayed that grace and peace be multiplied to you. And when you're going through difficulty, we need an increase of grace. Like you gotta follow the text, right? Again, Peter is is praying for believers being persecuted under the one of the most vicious emperors in Roman history, next to Domitian, I mean Nero. And under that fierce persecution, he's praying for them for increase of grace, uh, increase of peace. It is a sign to the reader that in times of trouble we need this to increase. Yes. When trouble comes into our life, we need grace to increase, we need peace to increase, we need God's strength to increase in times of trouble. We want to feel the strength of God, we want to feel the peace of God in the midst of that. It almost anchors the soul, right? It's like a ship. Yeah. You know, it's like a ship. You've been on a cruise. Absolutely. Right? I've been on a cruise. You know, when it docks, or if it's out in the ocean and lets down anchor off the shore of an island, I mean, you might feel that boat rock a little bit, right? But it's not going to drift away. That's right. Right. And I think sometimes when we're going through hardships and trials, grace comes in like an anchor, and peace comes in like an anchor, and it it stabilizes the soul in the middle of trial and tribulation. I mean, if we're just going to stick to the text in context, he's praying for the increase of something that the believers need that you and I need in the midst of trouble. So I want to say to someone right now who's just going through, right? We're praying that this will increase right now in your life. Right now, as Tim and I are talking to you right now, for every person on our street team right now who's going through something that has weighed you down, Tim and I, right now, right now in this moment, we pray for a flood, a wave of God's grace to hit you right where you are. You'll feel supernatural strength saying, I will, I will get through this. And for peace to come to you, that says you hear the father whispering to you, my son, my daughter, um, you're gonna be okay. Yeah. You're gonna be okay. I know that this has bruised you, it has wounded you. I know that you have had a few sleepless nights. I know you the report that you got. May grace and peace increase in the middle of what you're going through. It is a prayer for what we need in the middle of trials and tribulations. It's almost like people don't think about it's like medicine for seasons when we feel sickness. Not I'm not talking about physical sickness, I'm talking about social sickness. Absolutely. Right? It's just a reminder to us when we're going through, um, when we're shedding tears, here are two things we should be praying for when we're going through. Because Peter's praying this. This is something we should be praying for when we're going through an increase in grace, increase in peace.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

So let me ask you this. In the climate that we're in right now, everything going on, it's chaos.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Chaos.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

The the world is breaking at the scenes. When we look at what's happening here in America, there's political unrest, there's division, there is all these things happening that would infuse fear. The country is toxic right now. Yes, yeah. Very much so. Yeah. How do you steward grace and peace in times where it's hard to find it?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah, I think we have to remember first off that grace and peace is not a hard search. That if I'm a believer, I have access to an unmerited supply of grace and peace. I think the trouble is that in these troubled times we don't go back to the well that will never run dry. Right. And for me, let me just speak for me personally, I'm a practical handles. Um you and I are leading uh ministries, churches, families, drama, all of that. We deal with our own stuff. And uh I think for me, from a practical standpoint, I'm I'm gonna close the door and go into my secret place. Yeah, and I'm gonna meet with the Lord in my secret place. And I think there I will I will wring out my heart from sin, I will, I will shed my tears, and I will I will lay prostrate at the feet of of the Lord, and I'll cry out to him for what I know he's not limited in, he's not limited in grace, he's not limited in peace. He says to you, My peace I give to you, right? And so I go in there, Tim, and you know what's not in there? The noise of the world is not in there. Um the noise of CNN and Fox News is not in there, the noise of media is not in there, the noise of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and all the things. These those the noise of that stuff is not in there for me. What's in there for me is the presence of the Lord and the scriptures, my honesty and my tears. And I turn off the noise of the world. And in that moment, you tap into grace, you tap into peace, you feel it coming to you like a flood. And then I I get up from those moments and I walk out my prayer room. Like, yo, I got the grace to make it through what I'm going through right now. And although this area right here is not pretty, I got peace and I trust God. So for me, that's where it is for me. I'm gonna go tap into that well. Um, and that's how that's how, from a practical standpoint, you like what Tim was saying, his question to me. That's how, for me at least, that's how I find. Grace and peace uh and in my difficult seasons, I'm gonna run back to my secret place. What about for you? Man, sometimes I feel so undeserving of grace.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

You know, I I especially if you make a mistake, telling you or you just think about who you are or who what you used to be. I think I think about not just who I used to be, what I used to do. Yeah. Uh one of the things that we can't shake are the memories of the past. You know what I'm saying? So so in this season, I am no longer who I used to be, but my mind, bro, my mind relives moments, it relives seasons, and I'm like, dang it, man.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

You know what's so powerful about the word of God though, Tim? When you just said like there's things that you you remember. What's so powerful about the word is that the more of the word we have in us, the more the Holy Spirit could bring things to our attention when we're having those feelings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even as you said that, you know, the first thing the Holy Spirit brought back to my memory when when Paul said to the church at Philippi, this one thing I do. And in Greek, it's a continual present tense. So it's like I keep doing. That's right. This one thing I keep doing. And he says, uh, forgetting, right? Forgetting what is behind. Yeah. And and pressing on to what is ahead. And, you know, so I used to read past that for years and think it was just like a nice platitude until, you know, now I I studied the text with such depth. I'm like a I want to call myself like a ghetto theologian. Like Hood theological Hood seminary degree. No, but I I'm a pictorial person. Yeah. I'm a pictorial. So when I when I'm read when I'm studying for messages and sermons, I can see myself in the text. I can envision the times in Rome. I can envision, you know, like when I was walking my church through Acts 1 and 2, I can envision, I can see the disciples in the room, and it's just candlelit. I can hear them praying, I can see the cloven tongues of fire light up the room. So I'm a pictorial person, so when I'm reading, I can see that, right? So when Paul says this one thing I do, I forget what is behind, right? I would I would read past that and not think about well, what does he have to forget? Right? And I think to my mind, right? Um, I've been in the street, but I've never taken a life. But I know people who have taken lives, right? I know shooters who have taken lives. And I know the weight of guilt that has sat on them because of that. Like it just be. Now you got some people to take a life, and you know, the heart is so numb to humanity they don't feel it. But I've known people who have taken lives and they wrestle with guilt. It's like they almost be like traumatized. And then we think about the Apostle Paul, man, who was holding the garments of those who stoned the first martyr. Acts chapter seven. And I've seen on YouTube people being stoned is a brutal thing to watch a person being stolen. Almost your heart breaks to watch a brick hit a person in the head in their face. You watch an eye come out, a jaw get rearrated. Like seeing people being stolen, I don't even know why they record this on YouTube, but uh I stumbled on a YouTube video watching a man get stolen. They had buried him neck deep. Yeah, they buried him neck deep, and um they buried him neck deep, and they just start pummeling with stones and just seeing his face just getting battered, and it was so I I wept, I had to turn off of it. And I think we read this, and that's how Peter, I'm sorry, Stephen died. Yeah. But who's standing there? Right. Saul, who will become Paul. So he sees this and he's consenting. And then we know that he would also go on to persecute the church unto death. I mean, he's responsible for the loss of life of followers of Jesus. Right? So now when he's converted, and now he is he is now a preacher of the way, he's a preacher of the very thing he persecuted. When you think he lays down in bed at night, right, he's laid down in bed at night, you don't think he he remembers Stephen's face? Absolutely. Right? You don't think he remembers the face of families he destroyed, people he dragged off to prison, lives he ruined. And you don't think there was times when that tormented him in his mind? But he had to forget there. And I I think there's times when the memory is a blessing, and the time when the memory um is a pummeling. And those times when the memory is a pummeling, like you were talking about man, when you like, dang, I don't deserve grace because I'll be f like Lord yeah, I don't deserve grace, but then you have to forget. Yeah, right? And it's do me a favor, Tim. There's somebody watching right now. I feel this in my spirit that you need to like encourage them who is like handcuffed to the past. Yeah. There's somebody watching right now, they like they feel unworthy of grace, like like nah, like nah, I can't I can't receive grace. Well, what would you say to that person?

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Man, I I would say I understand. Number one, yeah. Number two, as Phil was talking about Acts chapter seven and the life of the first martyr, Stefan, he's martyred, Saul is watching him, and he's suffering. Saul murders other believers, but there's a revelation in that someone is watching how we suffer in this season, and it is shaping their salvation, right? Saul watched the suffering of other believers and it shaped his salvation, it shaped him as a follower of Jesus Christ. And so if you are like me in seasons of your life where you battle with this grace that Jesus so generously gives us because you know who you are, you know what's in your heart, you know the thoughts that you think. I want to remind you of this. This is something I have to remind myself on a daily basis. Who am I to combat what Jesus has given me? Are we stronger and more powerful than Jesus? Absolutely not. Are we more knowledgeable than Jesus? Absolutely not. So there's clearly something that he knows about you that you don't know about yourself. And so I want to encourage you to rest in the grace that only Jesus can give. Scripture teaches us, his grace is sufficient for you. So no matter what it is that you think you're unworthy to receive grace in, I want to remind you his grace is sufficient for you. No matter how dark, how bleak, how dire your past is, his grace is sufficient for you. And as long as you have breath in your lungs, grace will find you.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Come on. And and Tim, there's another person watching right now who feels like they're wrestling with anxiety. Uh anxiety. I'm just saying what I feel in my spirit. Somebody's watching, they're wrestling with anxiety. Um, they're in a season that's making them worried about what's gonna happen next. Yeah. They're dealing with traumas and trying to figure out, okay, God, where are you? He also prayed about peace. Speak to the person right now who's wrestling with anxiety, worry, worry, anxiety, fear, um, and just they haven't been sleeping well. Let me take that back. They've slept, but they have not rested, right? And they need peace. Or would you say to the person right now who just needs peace too?

SPEAKER_02 29:52

I would say both faith and fear require you to believe in something that you cannot see. Yeah. And you have to choose faith. And when you choose faith, you receive a peace that surpasses all of your natural understanding, which means in order for you to steward the peace that Jesus can give, you have to give up the right to understand. There's some things that Jesus has given me and graced me with, and and some things he's infused peace into my life with that I don't naturally understand. I just have to receive them. And I can't logic my way into receiving something spiritual. Yeah. And this peace that Jesus gives, it is a gift. Yeah. And we would be fools to deny a gift from the person that has saved us or desires to save us. And so I would just encourage you to receive the gift. Don't try to process it separate from him, process it in prayer, thank him for it, because the spirit of God flows towards honor. And we all need peace, especially in today's day and age. We need an abundance of peace that clothes our mind, that refreshes our soul, that revives our spirit, man. If we can receive that, I'm telling you, you may not understand how things are going to work out, you may not know when things are going to work out, but you have peace along the way on this journey of walking it out with Jesus. And so don't stop here. Come on. Keep going. Scripture teaches us in Psalms. Uh, I look to the heels. From whence cometh my help. Because my help comes from the Lord. Yeah. When you know where your help comes from, you don't have to look to the left and to the right. You can keep your eyes fixed on him and receive the peace that only he can give. Men and women can't give you the peace that surpasses understanding. Your job won't give you peace that surpasses your understanding. Your family won't give you peace that surpasses your understanding. The answers won't be found in them. The answers will be found in him. So rely on him, depend on him, and he will continue to direct your path and order your steps.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

And I want to encourage somebody on the heels of what Tim said. Um trust also too increases peace. It is hard to have peace when you don't trust. And I think the more you learn to trust God, um, peace follows trust. And uh it it may be a situation where you just don't know. Maybe you're dealing with the the unknowns of the circumstance that you're in or believing for something that you haven't seen yet. But I want to encourage you to trust God, and that trust should not be ped predicated upon our circumstance, but that trust should be predicated upon his character and upon his word. His character does not change, and circumstances does not change his character. Um it is it is publicly known that you know I was battling with a medical condition for months. I had uh posted about it when I was jammed up in a medical bed, and and I want to thank all those, you know, across the country and around the world, and my brother Tim and others who prayed for me. Um, and for a moment my mind was, you know, when when the doctors were telling me what this could be, you know, um in your humanity, uh you it can trigger worry and fear, and you start thinking about it's my home in order, and God forbid it is the worst thing the doctor said. Like, and and then why am I going there? Yeah, you know, why am I why am I going there? No, no, I'm gonna trust God. And even in the middle of that that that window of struggle, I I still did alt calls at 2019 for healing while I was dealing with a medical issue in my own body because my medical condition did not change God's character. Come on, he is a healer, right? And so when we when we remember his character and when we remember his word, trust grows in our heart in him because he cannot lie, right? And because this is forever settled in heaven, it cannot change. And so as trust increases, you know what follows that peace. Um, peace is found in the heart of the brother or sister, the man or woman who trust in God. And this is what Peter prayed over a church that was dealing with immense trials, tribulations, hardships, difficulties, sorrows, loss, and death is what he was dealing with. So I want to take a moment right now, uh, as we're landing the plane on this episode to do exactly what Peter did for the people in the first century. Uh, Tim and I want to come together and do that right now. I want to do that right now. For somebody who's watching, we want to pray an increase of grace and peace. So, eternal God and ever wise Father. Um, God, we just acknowledge that in our humanity and in our frailty um and in this fallen world that we're in, we are dealing with a myriad of disappointments and hardships and trials and loss and confusion and battles in the home, in the mind, in the heart, in the job, in the culture, on social media. And God, you know, all your children right now who are just wrestling with anxiety and worry and fear and doctors' reports and joblessness and all the things that life has thrown at them and the enemy has thrown at them, but yet right now, in the middle of life, while life is life, uh, Tim and I want to agree right now for all of our brothers and sisters that there would be a a surge increase, God, of grace. Yes, God. Uh, I pray there would be a supernatural grace and strength right now to the brother and the sister who needs to feel the wind of your strength blowing into their sails right now. Yes. We we pray, Spirit of the living God, you would you would breathe into their circumstance right now. This this this supernatural grace that that gives them strength to just believe in the middle of their circumstance, they are not abandoned. Yes, but they will have what they need in their hands and and in their hands that is weak, a strength, God, to continue to fight, to continue to press forward, to continue to just believe. Uh, against all things, they would believe what your word has said because it has not changed, and they will believe in your character. So we pray right now, Tim and I, for increase of grace for the one who is weak, and grace for the one who is self-condemned, that they would have grace to forgive themselves, or grace to forgive someone that they're holding and unforgiveness. We pray for a release of grace right now, for strength and grace, God, to let themselves go and grace to let somebody else go. We pray grace, a flood of grace would would would come into their lives like a torrent right now in the name of Jesus. Right now, across this camera, they just feel the supernatural supply of grace coming across this camera right now, directly to where they are, and hearing our voice right now. If they can't see our faces across the audio, grace coming to them right now, and Father, we pray for an increase of peace. Yes, God, in the middle of their circumstances, peace that destroys anxiety, that quiets fear, peace, God, that drives out worry, peace that confuses the devil who has thrown his best shot and will not rob us of praise and joy and rest in the middle of a circumstance. Peace that that that passeth all understanding, a peace that makes other people confused. I pray right now for a flood of peace. I say to someone right now, peace, yes, God, be still and know that He is God. Uh we we pray a flood of peace over them right now, Lord. Um, as Peter prayed for those who are suffering and those who are worried, and those who are anxiety, and those who are battling, and those who are dealing with life as it was life in on levels we have never seen in America, at least not yet. We pray an increase of grace and peace over our brothers and our sisters, and we ask this right now in the mighty and the majestic, in the merchant's name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Before we land the plane, Phil, I don't think it's any better way to close it out by telling them a book just went on pre-order. Come on, man. I wasn't even going to go there. I know you wasn't, but that's what your brother's here for. Come on, man. Listen, I need y'all to go pre-order 37 copies of my brother's up and coming book. Phil, just give us a little snapshot of the premise of the book and why it's important.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Yeah, um, I think in the life of the Christian, there are moments that mark us. And uh in my life, um I was I was marked. Um, I know I was marked in Jerusalem, but I was also marked in the nation of Turkey. And uh, as I was marked there, a message be was born in my heart um that I began to preach in America um from June, which I feel like is a is a neglected letter, but a timely message for the hour that we're in. And so as I began to preach that message in America, I felt um the Holy Spirit uh led me down a path of saying, uh put this in a literary form. And um, and so my my up-and-coming book uh is called Contend. Come on. Um it is it is a book that was written from a message I've preached through Jude. Um it is uh a message about contending for the faith in the culture and uh contending for the faith on the inside of you. Um I'm not a self-promoter. I I struggle at this, but um uh it it would be a huge blessing to me if you would you would pray uh that God would bless this project and that uh if you would be so inclined. Um uh it's available right now for pre-order uh wherever books are available online, Amazon, and all the things. Uh the name of the book is called Contend right under my name, Philip Anthony Mitchell. Um, the book would be released everywhere. Books are sold on October 13th. And um, if you would, you know, pray and be so inclined, it would mean a lot to me to support my first book project. Yeah, I've waited 22 years. Yeah, I've waited 22 years uh for this moment. And uh man, thank you, bro. No, man, y'all go I wasn't gonna say anything.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

No, no. Y'all go pre-order the book. I'm telling you right now, it is going to be a bestseller. And you want to have this resource to go back to, to encourage your spirit, man, to edify you in seasons like this, but we need that message to contend. And uh I I'm so grateful that you pinned this book because I know it's going to be a great encouragement, not just to the body of Christ, but to people that pick it up that don't know Christ yet, and people that are looking for hope, and people that are looking for wisdom, and and people that are searching. You know, we we live in a world where people are searching for answers, and oftentimes they find them in the wrong resource. I'm thankful that you provided an accurate depiction of the grace of Jesus Christ through three. And so I need the street team to go out and get as many as you can on pre-order. Come on, man. Because launch day, you won't be able to find these books. I'm telling you. So go pre-order it, support my brother. It's gonna be a life-changing, world-altering uh message that I know is gonna help shape your uh relationship with Jesus Christ in a significant and a supernatural way. Thank you, bro.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

So, man, if you've enjoyed this episode of the Street Preachers Podcast, uh do Tim and I a favor. Um, pray for us. Like, comment, subscribe, share. Uh, send this to somebody who uh you think it can be a blessing to them. Uh, Street Team, we love you. We appreciate you. Thank you for being on this journey with Tim and I. We'll see you in the next episode of the Street Preachers Podcast. Go in peace.