Better Off Than We Thought

What if the name you carry changes everything about how you face fear, loss, and ordinary days? We explore the surprising claim that Christians don’t steal an identity; they receive one—an identity gift in Jesus that opens access to grace, strength, and a future that outlasts every headline. Drawing from 1 Peter, we walk through why scattered, marginalized believers are called profoundly privileged and how that perspective reshapes daily life.

First, we look back to the prophets who spent their lives hunting down the meaning of salvation with incomplete pieces. They saw the suffering and the glory but longed to know the person and the time. We now know the name Jesus, study his words and works, and feast at a table they set. That clarity isn’t a luxury to hoard; it’s a compass for hard seasons.

Next, we turn to preaching as a Spirit-charged work. The gospel is announced “by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,” reminding us that real fruit never comes from clever outlines or new angles. Whether you teach, share your faith at work, or lead your family, you mine the text faithfully and trust the Spirit to make it live. Culture’s breaking news fades; the living Word still breaks through.

Finally, we widen the lens to the angels, those radiant witnesses who marvel at redemption. They’ve seen creation, judgment, and rescue, yet they never sing as the forgiven. They watch your story with holy curiosity, celebrating every conversion and every steady act of faith. Your routine labor is not small; heaven leans in.

If prophets longed for your clarity, preachers rely on your Companion, and angels study your story, then you’re better off than you think. Wear Christ’s name with quiet courage, draw on his account with gratitude, and step into the week knowing you’re seen, supplied, and sent. If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find it.

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Stephen's latest book, Legacies of Light, Volume 2, is our gift for your special donation to our ministry. Follow this link for information or to donate:

https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/legacies

Chapters

• 0:00 Power Depends On The Holy Spirit
• 1:56 Identity Theft And The Gift Of Grace
• 4:36 Scattered Believers And Lasting Joy
• 5:46 Privilege One: Fixation Of Prophets
• 9:01 Missing Pieces And Completed Revelation
• 12:36 Knowing The Messiah By Name
• 15:51 Two Comings And Future Glory
• 18:41 Prophets Served Future Generations
• 21:31 Keep Planting: Hidden Ripple Effects
• 24:01 Privilege Two: Focal Point Of Preachers
• 26:31 Study Hard And Depend On Spirit
• 29:31 Scripture Outlasts Headlines
• 31:51 Privilege Three: Fascination Of Angels
• 35:41 Angels And The Drama Of Redemption
• 39:51 A Tour Of Angelic History

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:37

I often repeat as I walk forward the words of Charles Spurgeon, that pastor of the 1800s, he'd preach to 6,000 people at a time, and he'd mount the stairs to his little platform. And with each step, he would repeat under his breath, I believe in the Holy Spirit. When you take the truth of God's word and you evangelize, or maybe you teach a Bible study, it doesn't come back to how clever you were, how gifted you were, how eloquent you were, how together your outline was. It is the Holy Spirit. Without him, we can't do nothing. More than twelve million people are impacted by uh this uh fraudulent use of their private information uh every year. Credit card information, accounts, it's a little uh disturbing to read. Of one major banking institution is in the news now as its CEO has stepped down that bank employees were actually creating fraudulent accounts and charging uh interest to uh the customers of their banking uh system. Identity theft occurs when when someone steals your name and uh personal information and then uses your identity for their own benefit. It's your identity, you don't want anybody else to have it, and you want to protect it, and you certainly don't want anybody using it for their purposes. When you think about it, however, uh the Christian is by definition someone who has taken someone else's identity. They've taken the name of someone else and they call themselves by that name Christian. They call themselves by that name because they have taken the identity of Jesus Christ. And not only do you have an identity that you were not born with, you didn't earn the right to use it, did you? As a Christian, you've actually used his identity to get into his checking account, so to speak, as it were, to use all the benefits in his name. And in fact, you have uh tapped into his own inheritance as your own. In reality, though, it wasn't identity theft, it was an identity gift. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's yours. Enjoy it. Now, to the believers, to the believers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, they've lost their identity in the community. They've lost their status, they have lost their fortunes, they have lost their properties, their sense of significance along with it. If anybody would have been considered the most unfortunate and underprivileged person on the planet during these days, it would have been these believers. But Peter feels differently. He talks to them about this exceeding joy. He talks to them with a different perspective, entirely in mind, as he refers to their privileges that they have as believers. And so if you go back to his letter in chapter one, what he does and where we find ourselves at this point in our study is we find Peter effectively pausing as if to say, I mentioned your salvation, and I just want to pause and talk about the privileges that you have that you might be overlooking. And he does that by bringing several key issues to our thoughts that are easily overlooked. And I'll give you three of them. Let me give you the first one, and then we'll look at the text. It's this first, our privileges have been the fixation of prophets. The fixation of prophets. Look at verse 10. As to this salvation, he just mentioned that. Now, as to this salvation, let's just pause and talk about it. The prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating, as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you. Now that's a long way of saying that the New Testament Christians, even though they were dispersed and rejected, they were better off than the Old Testament prophets. Better off. Now, what Peter on this point is reviewing for these scattered believers is how much greater are their advantages than the Old Testament prophet. So let me kind of unpack that statement I just read and break it down into three observations. The first observation is this the prophets examined scriptures which were not completed. They examined scriptures which were not completed. Now, while these suffering believers in this New Testament dispensation of grace would have easily been tempted to think how great it would be if they could just hear God's voice. I mean, if God would just give them a vision. If he would send some, you know, uh emissary from the court of heaven, man, that would just be so much better than how we're living. Peter basically implies here that the prophets would love to trade places. Notice verse 10. All they can do is make careful searches and inquiries. To make careful searches is from a verb that means to mount an intensive investigation, to study diligently and with painstaking effort. Try to put the clues together and come up with some answers to some riddles. The second word, to make inquiries, is used in classical Greek for a lion on the scent of its prey. So to relate that back, the prophets, with all diligence, are spending their lives hunting down the implications of what they've received. From Moses to Malachi, the prophets were certainly given information about a coming age of grace. They knew that a large number of Gentiles would be saved. They had a concept of Calvary, Mount Calvary, we could call it. Certainly the prophecies related to final and full atonement. But they knew nothing of the symbolism, for instance, of uh of the annual Jewish feasts. That they were unable to connect the dots between the Passover and the Pentecost and the Savior and the church. The truth about the church, they knew nothing of the church. That was a mystery, Paul said, that would be revealed to you in this dispensation, Ephesians chapter 3. The Old Testament prophets certainly looked forward by faith to a sacrifice on Mount Calvary, that ridge of hills in Moriah, where Abraham had been promised that a lamb would come. They looked forward to that. Psalm 22 speaks of the crucifixion. Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering Messiah. And they could see right behind that mountain, Mount Zion, as it were, the coming rain and glory of God. But from their vantage point, as they're looking up, they can see one peak and then a little one, a little taller, and they had no idea. Their perspective didn't show them. There was a valley in between those two peaks that has now lasted 1900 years. So who's better off? The Old Testament prophet who waited on the voice and a vision from God, who had scant revelation written down about the future, who awaited a kingdom, but knew nothing of the church. It's as if Peter is reminding these believers and us that we have completed revelation. Now, for them, it's being delivered in these apostolic letters. We now hold in our hands what he refers to as that final privilege. By the time the New Testament is completed, the believer now knows, we have the other pieces to the puzzle about the rapture of the church. We know about the coming tribulation as God pours wrath upon the human race and prepares Israel for their future reception of their Messiah. We know now of a coming millennial kingdom that'll last a thousand years, and we now understand what it means to reign with Christ. We know there's a coming battle after that where Christ will be victorious. We even know that following that, Jesus is going to destroy the planet and the universe in a fiery bowl of destructive fire. We know there's going to then follow up a judgment for all the unbelieving of all time, and then we know there's eternal glory as Peter reveals to us that he's going to recreate earth and the universe, and we enter the heavens and this new earth forever. The prophets are without much of that. They're trying to piece together the puzzle of the human future, not just human history. They're missing some pieces. Have you ever put a puzzle together? And you're missing a couple of pieces. My wife's done puzzles, and one time I just put a couple pieces in my pocket. Just because I'm a terrible husband. I did give them back at the right moment and had a chuckle. I chuckled. What an advantage. We have this incredible privilege of having been given all the pieces to the puzzle. We have got sufficient and complete revelation. You can go all the way to the end of the book and find out what happens. Peter tells us first the prophets examined the scriptures which weren't completed. Secondly, the prophets pointed to a Savior whose name they didn't know. What an advantage we have. We can study his life, his words and his works. Look at verse 11 again. They're seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them predicted about his sufferings and his glories. In other words, they knew the Messiah was coming. They looked forward by faith to the coming of the Messiah, who would die, pay that full and final payment for their sin. And this belief gave them salvation, just like it gives us. Although we're looking back in faith at that coming or that Messiah who did, in fact, come. They're trying to put together the clues to find out when he would come and who he was and what the times were. They foresaw the Christ, Christos, that is the anointed Messiah, but they couldn't foresee Jesus, his name. No one did. Until the angel announced to Joseph, name him Jesus. Yeshua in the Old Testament, Joshua. Name him that because he is the deliverer. That's what the name means. He will save his people from their sins. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21. And the final pieces begin to fall into place. You notice how Peter ties these two issues together. The prophets wanted to know the times, they wanted to know the distinctives, they wanted to know who this person would be who would come as Savior, Judge, Prophet, Priest, and King. And they searched the scriptures to find out all they could. And they couldn't unravel the differences, by the way, between Christ's two comings, his coming to suffer, and his coming to reign. In fact, Jewish commentators often talk of two messiahs. They figure one's gonna suffer. It's clear Isaiah is talking about that, but another one's gonna come and reign. They didn't understand the two comings. The one that's happened and the one that will come. In fact, that coming's twofold: one for the church and one with the church to earth. So oftentimes in the Old Testament, the prophets will speak about him together, both comings together. They meld them together. We now know they've been separated some 1900 years. And we know what's going to happen when he comes for the church. His suffering occurred, and his glory is now. You see how he puts them together in verse 11? He connects the same Christ, the same Messiah, with both suffering and the glories. Not two Messiahs, one. And the glories. Refer to the resurrection, Matthew 28, his ascension, Acts chapter 1, his resumption to the throne of his Father's glory, John 17, of his return, still yet future for the church, 1 Thessalonians 4, of his recreation of the heavens and the earth, 2 Peter 4, of his final and eternal glorious reign as judge and king over all. Which is another way of saying, even though we live in this dispensation, and we've seen a lot, we haven't seen anything yet. I mean, it's just going to get better. And that's what Peter wants them to think about. You can look around. Oh man, it couldn't be worse. Peter's saying, you won't believe how good it's going to get. What a privilege we have to have received the information, the pieces of the puzzle. So the prophets examined the scriptures, which were not completed. They didn't have the advantage you do. The prophets pointed to a Savior whose name they didn't know. What an advantage we have. Thirdly, the prophets understood their service was for someone else. Look at verse 12. It was revealed to them, the Old Testament prophets, that they were not serving themselves, but you. In other words, the fulfillment of their prophecies were not for them to witness. That verb serving refers, it sort of paints a picture of someone who spreads the table but doesn't get to eat. They put out the tablecloth and they put out the plates and the bowls and the and the glasses and the forks and the knives and the spoons and all that. They get it all ready. But they don't sit down to eat when the meal comes. And the amazing thing here is don't miss this. These prophets knew it. Notice verse 12. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you. It was revealed to them that they wouldn't eat at the banquet personally. They wouldn't live long enough to see the table filled with the food, the rich banquet of the words and works of Jesus Christ. They wouldn't see the bread of heaven come down. That meal would come later. And so Peter's reminding these believers listen, what an advantage you have living in these days, no matter how difficult, no matter how troubled. You get to pull up a chair to a table that was spread by the prophets, but you're able to feast on the revelation of who he is. And you can clearly see what he has done. And by the way, before we race from this, I want to tip my hat to these prophets. They did it. They were willing to do that for you and for me. I mean, imagine, as I thought about an analogy, imagine you've never tasted fruit. You've heard about it, you've been given some descriptions of it. You've been told what it tastes like. It's crisp, it's flavorful, it's it's luscious, it's delicious, it's just bursting with flavor and juice. But you don't get to taste it. All you are asked to do is take these seeds and go plant orchard. Plant orchards. For a generation to come, they get to eat it, not you. Just go plant it. And they did it. What a testimony to us. You know, there's no telling how far the ripple effects of your life and influence will go. And it's easy to say, well, I'm not going to do anything more unless I see it. You know, I just don't see it. You're parenting, you're raising a little pagan, you see no evidence of fruit. You don't taste anything, it's just day in and day out. You go to that job and it's mundane. It's the same thing. Lord, what in the world? I'm not influencing anybody. I'm not doing anything. Stay at it. You have no idea. We have no idea of the ripple effects of the influence of our lives, both small and great. In fact, what you're doing is apparent. What you may be doing right now is just setting the table for a meal that will come to them. The things that they will benefit from. Keep setting it. William Barkley tells the story on the Texas in his commentary of watching one night at dusk a blind lamplighter lighting the gas lamp. Tapping his way from lamppost to lamppost, and bringing to others a light that he himself will never experience in his lifetime. Imagine he doesn't. We have, according to this text, a privilege to walk in the completed light of revelation, privileges that have been the fixation of prophets their entire lives. Another thing that Peter adds here is that our privileges are the focal point of preachers. Look at verse 12 again, the middle part of these things which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Now, what Peter does is he sort of brings our benefits into this dispensation of grace, or what we call the church age. He writes here that the Holy Spirit has come from heaven. We know from Acts 2 that his descent occurred on the day of Pentecost. It's happened. Praying for the Spirit to come, the Spirit to fall. He's here. He's here. We know that his coming was the fulfillment of Christ's promise. He said, When I'm ascending, I'm, after I've ascended, I'm going to send the Spirit who will descend and become your companion, will become part of the creation of this mystery called the church, this living organism that's growing and breathing and serving. He's the dynamic behind it. Now, let me just stop to mention that just as the prophet's message didn't originate from him, he makes it very clear that the preacher's message comes from and through the Holy Spirit's revelation who came from heaven. It's not the preacher's message either. Prophets nor preachers are original. If you hear preacher say, I got something really new for you, run. Okay? Turn the channel. The preacher has to be like the prophet in that he studies the scriptures, he ransacks the revelation for clues, truths. He's like a miner, he's mining the gems from the deep caverns of biblical truth, which takes time to study and to learn. Now, as we have hosted and have been involved in the seminary, I'm teaching men who are preparing to pastor, and I tell every semester's students in that class of mind that if God is calling you to be a pastor teacher, he is calling you to a life of obscurity. You're going to spend many more hours alone than you'll ever spend in public. Are you willing to do that? If you don't, you won't be much of worth to the body in public. And I think the clue here for the preacher is to put together the pieces that studying and learning isn't really enough either. It depends upon the Holy Spirit who enables and empowers the message so that it goes forth with transforming power so there is fruit in lives. That's entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit. When you take the truth of God's word and you evangelize, or maybe you teach a Bible study, it isn't, it isn't, it doesn't come back to how clever you were, how gifted you were, how eloquent you were, how together your outline was. It is the Holy Spirit. Without him, we can do nothing. I often repeat the same words as I sit back there on my favorite chair where you can't see me, but I'm surrounded by violins. It's just the best place on the planet. And I often repeat as I walk forward the words of Charles Spurgeon, that pastor over the 1800s, he'd preach to 6,000 people at a time, and he'd mount the stairs to his little platform and a little desk and a railing. And with each step, he would repeat under his breath, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Even though he was eloquent and capable and reasonable and skillful, he and every preacher, every teacher without the Holy Spirit is doing nothing more than blowing hot air on dusty ground. There's no life. Think of these scattered believers to whom Peter was originally writing. They were thinking, no doubt, that heaven had forgotten them. Heaven had not. Every sermon they heard, every prophecy they saw fulfilled in Christ was a message from heaven. Out of curiosity, by the way, I went online this week and uh it just struck me how relevant the scriptures always are. We don't make them relevant. They are relevant. And by the way, we don't make this come to life. This is alive. But I just thought, you know, out of curiosity, um it'd be interesting to find out what headlines were making news in years gone by. Life-shattering, life-altering, significant, mesmerizing, no doubt. But eighty to a hundred years later, well, in 1914, the Washington Times had in bold front page news the headline student assassinates Archduke and Duchess. That was the captivating news for days. Other headlines from that same front page included Captain Hopkins charges that letters were stolen as part of a conspiracy. Now some things never change. Just insert emails for letters, and you got the same conspiracy, right? Bomb hurled into carriage fails to explode. All on the same front page. Fifteen years later, 1929, headlines around the world read, Wall Street in panic as stocks crash. Of course, the depression that followed captivated the American mind. A year after that, by the way, in 1930, the Dust Bowl was making headlines around the world. Some of the headlines read, Dust victims pray for Oklahoma rain. Two airplanes force landing as Blizzard, Dust Blizzard. They called it the Black Blizzard, Hydes Airport. Dust storms rage from Kansas west as far as California. Farmers, businessmen, women, and children crowd churches to pray for relief. Hey, let me ask you. What were the headlines last year? Last month. Last week. The message from heaven has the right to captivate our minds because it is worthy and relevant for any day and any age. Not only today, but tomorrow. Your privileges were the fixation of the prophets. Your privileges are the focal point of preaching. Finally, your privileges are the fascination of angels. And that's just the first point. I'm going to get to the second one in a minute. But notice the end of verse 12. Things into which angels long to look. The things go back to salvation, to the privileged position of the believer. They, the angels, long to look into that. They love it. It is their fascination. See, an angel never experienced salvation. Christ did not die for the angels. The angels who did not participate in Satan's rebellion, they had that one moment of choice which confirmed them, either in their holy estate or their unholy estate for those who followed Satan, James 2 and Matthew 25. Their future was set at that moment. Hebrews 2.16 tells us that Christ did not die for angels, but for mankind. In other words, only mankind was designed to experience salvation through grace and faith in Christ alone. So angels then, if I could just break that down even further, angels don't know what it means to experience the relief, the joy, the liberation, the wonder of being a saved sinner. But it is their fascination, Peter writes. By the way, the expression he uses for them longing to look is this inner yearning to comprehend. Now, by the way, don't misunderstand, that doesn't mean they can't understand the plan of redemption. That doesn't mean they can't comprehend it. It only refers to their holy curiosity. One Greek scholar wrote, a curiosity to watch and delight in the glories of Christ's plan in and through the Christians throughout the history of the church. In watching the glory of God unfolding throughout human history. Again, if I bring it back to these original readers and then apply it to our own lives, it is possible as a scattered, marginalized, suffering believer to be tempted to think, man, I wish I had it as good as those godly Old Testament prophets. I mean, a vision from God. To hear the voice of God, that'd just settle it. Oh? No, you have an advantage because they had pieces missing in their puzzle. You've got it. Well, to be, you know, a preacher like Paul or or Timothy or Titus or or Silas, you know, they have an advantage. They have it better than us. No, they don't. They're just clay pots. They have to depend on the Holy Spirit just as much as you do. Well, then I know. Hey, look, if I were an angel, you know, man, I'd have it so much better than my life now. No? Not really. You are the recipient of grace that the angels never cease to want to learn more about. And they watch you with holy curiosity. I think the hymn writer put it pretty well when he wrote that gospel song of the late 1800s. Maybe you've heard it. The refrain goes like this holy, holy is what the angels sing. And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring. But when I sing redemption's story, they will fold their wings, for angels never felt the joy that our salvation brings. That's pretty good. You have the identity of Christ. You will one day reign with Christ. They are watching with this growing realization and thrill. They're fascinated by it. That we happen to be participating in the final chapter of redemptive history in this church age. And they are in wonder and awe of you who've received the identity of Christ. And they know the glory that awaits you. They're there. They're going back and forth. They know all that awaits. It's as if they stand by and they love to cheer us on. We know that they're celebrating when any sinner becomes a believer. Think of it, the angels have always been used by God. This is really another sermon, but I'm going to try to squeeze it in here as quick as I can. But let me just catalog some things for you. When God the Son spoke the worlds into existence, we're told in Job chapter 37 that the angels had already been created and they sang as they watched him created. Angels saw the fall of mighty Lucifer. And they had that signature moment of deciding God had given them the ability to make that choice, and they chose forever settling their destiny. And how both have played into redemptive history and God's perfect purposes is a marvel, Isaiah 14. Some of them were assigned to guard the gates of Eden so Adam and Eve couldn't get back in there after they'd sinned and lived forever in their sin by eating from that tree of life. Angels visited Abraham and announced the coming of a baby boy to he and Sarah, and they were well beyond child birthing years. An angel was sent to bind the lion's mouths and protect Daniel in the lion's den, Daniel 6. Zechariah saw the angels involved in end-time events, Zechariah 1. An angel, you go into the New Testament, began to announce both the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus, Luke chapter 1. An angel was assigned by the Lord to tell Joseph to go ahead with his wedding plans. Don't set them aside. Go ahead and marry her, Matthew chapter 1. Angels ministered to Jesus after his temptation. I'd love to know a little bit about what that was like, Matthew 4. They ministered to him after he prayed in the garden. Luke chapter 22. Jesus announced in that garden that 12 legions of angels are standing ready, and all I have to do is say, sickem. I can just see if we can just pull back the veil. They're ready. Twelve legions. That's about 75,000 angels surrounding that company. They can't see him, and they're ready. Angels are active at Christ's resurrection. Luke 24. An angel rescues Peter miraculously from prison without a word, without moving his hand, as he leads Peter out all the doors open, like you're going into the department store and the doors just slide open. Acts chapter 12. If you fast forward the tape, nearly every chapter in the book of Revelation has an angel involved. I mean, Revelation is a convention of angels. They're just all over the place. They hold back the wind, chapter 7. They seal the Jewish evangelists against death, chapter 7. They blow the trumpets of judgment, chapter 8. They preach the gospel around the globe, chapter 14. They announce the fall of Babylon, chapter 14. They warn the human race not to follow Antichrist, chapter 14. They pour out the vials of God's wrath, chapter 15. One of them gets, and I'm sure they were vying for this one, but one of them gets to imprison Satan in the abyss. Just took one angel, by the way. Just one angel. And the power of God's assignment to bind Satan for a thousand years, chapter 20. One angel shows John the apostle, the celestial city, gives him a tour, chapters 21 and 22. In fact, he adamantly refuses John's misplaced worship because when John sees him, he is so glorious. The angel is so is so splendid, so awesome in his glorious appearance that John falls down thinking he's got to be God. And the angel says, get up. Just an angel. Angels are amazing creatures, and they have seen so much. But Peter informs us, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that the angel's greatest captivation and their deepest joyful fascination and curiosity about what God is doing has to do with what God is doing with you and with me. Peter is saying to them, the world considers you unworthy, the world considers you insignificant, the world considers you worthy of pity. But you are the honored participants in the greatest drama unfolding in the history of the universe. You have been given the identity of Christ. No creature will ever experience that privilege. But the redeemed. As I flew to Denver and made my way to the Capitol building, it was held in the old Supreme Court chambers, this amazingly beautiful chamber, ornately designed and decorated. The ceremony arranged by the country of France would award at that particular occasion six men, six Americans who fought on the shores of France. Among them was a POW, a fighter pilot, and Dr. Peterson, who had also been wounded in battle in France in one of the signature landings that had helped free that country from Hitler. I'll never forget sitting in that packed chamber, flashbulbs popping, six very humble men seated at the front. And I watched the presiding officer who represented the French ambassador. He got up to speak, and he would speak in English with a wonderful accent. And then each man's bio was read. And when it came to Dr. Peterson's turn, I listened as they read his bio as it related to his service, in the armed forces. And then that officer went over to him and he pinned on his lapel that significant medal of honor. Such an august occasion. Then I watched as that man said a few things in French just before pinning on the award, and we didn't understand what he was saying, but it sounded really cool. And uh you could hear just different pieces and bits and words. It was something about the country of France and gratitude. And then he turned and he pinned the medal on Dr. Peterson, took him by the shoulders, and kissed him on both cheeks. In French custom. And then I saw his mouth moving, talking to Dr. Peterson. We applauded, and Dr. Peterson, along with these other men, wiped tears from their eyes at this incredible award and what it meant. What it meant. Afterward, I was on the elevator. I had to go down to the car and come back up. But when I got on the elevator, that that officer representing the French ambassador stepped onto the elevator with me, and I had him all to myself for about 30 seconds. And I said, Hey, I gotta ask you, what were you saying to Dr. Peterson after you pinned the award on his chest? He said, Oh, I it wasn't memorized, but I was just speaking to him in English, thanking him for fighting for my country. And within a month, Eugene Peterson. And then two weeks after his death, both of them would be in the presence of God. You know, I couldn't help but believe, and just sort of picture in my mind that I was witnessing just a little foretaste of that coming day when the believer receives from Christ a battle-scarred Christ. Rewards for fighting the fight, running the race. And I just can't help but picture angels crowding around and watching with amazement at such privileged recipients we are of grace. So while you're about what you're doing, as you go after it today or tomorrow, no matter how simple or mundane or repetitive or significant, it's not a bad idea to remember. You are incredibly privileged. You're so much better off than you think. And you're being watched. You're being watched. Not in a bad way, but with holy curiosity and interest, and with a measure of amazement and wonder at those of us who have received this identity gift. And they're watching us receive one day rewards from their creator, their creator, their God. We stand there and we claim Him as our personal friend and Redeemer. And Savior. So let's go about our days and just think about all the privileges that are ours.