SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.
SPEAKER_01: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_01: Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: So, today we're coming to the end of First Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We're in chapter four of First Peter, and he's concluding this encyclical letter that went out across the Asia Minor area to churches with a challenge to the culture of a church.
SPEAKER_01: How to have a healthy culture.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this as being a pastor now for 30 years and a missionary and pastor for 40 years, culture matters.
SPEAKER_01: Culture's important.
SPEAKER_01: And the problem with culture is you don't know your culture until you're out of your culture.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a fish telling a fish that he's in water.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And I've been around the world, and the American culture is unique, the European culture is unique, Asian culture is unique, and then you can break it down into subcultures.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, if you're in Japan, the Japanese culture is entirely different in many ways than the Korean culture.
SPEAKER_01: The Korean culture is extremely different than the Filipino culture.
SPEAKER_01: Filipino culture is very different than a Malay or Malaysian culture.
SPEAKER_01: So culture matters.
SPEAKER_01: Well, churches have culture.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you, if not all of you, here, come to the road because of culture.
SPEAKER_01: You don't really know how to explain it exactly.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's the teaching, maybe it's the worship, maybe there's a few things you you appreciate, but actually what you appreciate the most is there's something of a feeling that you get when you're here.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's a lot of great churches in Colorado Springs, but you come to the road because there's some kind of something that resonates within your heart with the road.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's culture.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we come to the end of this book, Peter is talking to leadership of churches and the membership of churches about the proper, healthy culture that they should have.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter, and we're gonna look at chapter 5, and we're gonna conclude here.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start actually with one verse in chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So if you'd stand with me, we're gonna read God's word.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read all of it, and then we're gonna break down different verses within this final chapter.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna start with verse 17 because I think verse 17 is kind of a title preparing us for chapter 5.
SPEAKER_01: 417.
SPEAKER_01: For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: And if it begins with us first, then what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
SPEAKER_01: Now chapter 5, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: The elders who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, also partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, modeling what you say.
SPEAKER_01: And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, you younger people.
SPEAKER_01: So now he's talking to the congregation.
SPEAKER_01: He he points at younger people.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility.
SPEAKER_01: For God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, that's diabolos there in Greek, the diabolical one, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_01: Resist him, steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
SPEAKER_01: But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
SPEAKER_01: To him be the glory and the dominion for it ever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: By Sylvanus, our faithful brother, that's also Silas.
SPEAKER_01: We believe this is Silas in the book of Acts, Acts 15, Acts 18.
SPEAKER_01: Silas or Sylvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I've written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that Sylvanus was the one who brought the letter.
SPEAKER_01: She who is in Babylon, that's not the Mesopotamian Babylon, that no longer hardly existed at all at this writing.
SPEAKER_01: So this is probably Rome.
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking of Rome where he's writing the letter.
SPEAKER_01: She who is in Rome or Babylon, elect together with you, greets you, and so does Mark.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote the second gospel, Matthew Mark.
SPEAKER_01: Mark wrote that, who is my son with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son.
SPEAKER_01: Greet one another with a kiss of love.
SPEAKER_01: Peace to you, all who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we just ask you to take the word of God here this morning and use it in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Equip us, empower us.
SPEAKER_01: We are your sheep, and you are our shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: All right, guys.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go back to verse 17 of chapter 4, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
SPEAKER_01: We're living in a time where there's so much sin in the leadership of the church.
SPEAKER_01: It's just a bit amazing.
SPEAKER_01: It feels like the last year, every other month or so, we find about another sin or another area of usually sexual, usually sexual sin, among pastors of large churches in our nation.
SPEAKER_01: And so judgment begins with the household of God because we have the Holy Spirit and God can bring judgment to us and conviction of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: And what I've noticed in my own life is that God gives me opportunity to repent.
SPEAKER_01: God gives me the opportunity to repent because I have the Holy Spirit, so I can hear from God.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And so when we had the thing with the Paris, you know, and everybody was talking up in arms about that opening ceremony thing and all about the Lord's Last Supper and it being kind of a blasphemy against that.
SPEAKER_01: What do you expect?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you expect them they're gonna be worshiping Jesus or something?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the way the world is.
SPEAKER_01: That's demonic territory.
SPEAKER_01: That's what they do.
SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of stuff I would do if I didn't have the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So we need a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need to be judging and pointing our fingers at everybody.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't see it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see it anywhere in Scripture where it's our place to constantly judge the culture.
SPEAKER_01: Judgment begins in the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can't bring the good news if you're the bad news.
SPEAKER_01: So, so when I see this stuff happening in churches, I go, well, that's the point.
SPEAKER_01: We need to clean up our act before we judge everybody else who don't even have the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how would they know the Lord unless somebody who has the Lord leads them to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: And how can we lead them to the Lord if we're still messing around with our own stuff?
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, judgment begins in the household of God.
SPEAKER_01: So, men and women, what that what that's saying to us is, you know, let's let's walk in righteousness, peace, and joy, the fruit of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be the kingdom before we talk about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: How many times have you known people that have come to you and maybe a great message or whatever it is, but they're always late for work, or they always leave work early, or they do a lousy job, and yet they say they're a really committed Christian, and the thing that comes in your mind is this little word called hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: Versus someone who maybe they don't even they don't know how to share their faith yet, or they're not the greatest witness as far as verbal, but they're just consistently men and women of integrity.
SPEAKER_01: That's a better witness.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's great when you can do both, but the point is that he's saying, look, judgment begins in the household of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because God cares most about his sheep.
SPEAKER_01: He does.
SPEAKER_01: He cares about you and me in a deep way, and so we have the Holy Spirit, we can hear his voice, and God can speak to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so now he moves into the shepherds because in the household of God, the most important models or examples of the kingdom of God should be the pastors and the leaders.
SPEAKER_01: He says, the elders who are among you exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_01: This sentence is amazing because what Peter's saying is, I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and that was his greatest day of shame.
SPEAKER_01: That was Peter's greatest night of shame.
SPEAKER_01: Because it was at the sufferings of Christ that he denied he knew Christ three times.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows that.
SPEAKER_01: Who's reading this letter?
SPEAKER_01: Peter is saying, on my greatest night of shame, I'm a fellow elder with you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is phenomenal vulnerability.
SPEAKER_01: That is phenomenal authenticity by Peter.
SPEAKER_01: He, why did he say the resurrection?
SPEAKER_01: Because he was a witness of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: He saw that too.
SPEAKER_01: But rather, he says, I want you to remember that I'm not so great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just a fellow elder, just like you.
SPEAKER_01: You guys call me apostle, but look what I did.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you in this room, you've done really bad things, or you've had bad things happen to you, and you're ashamed of that.
SPEAKER_01: And it really is a weight on your heart, and sometimes it really bothers you.
SPEAKER_01: But look what Peter does.
SPEAKER_01: Peter goes on to say, I'm a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Peter has experienced forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's been set free.
SPEAKER_01: Peter's no longer, you know, hiding his shame.
SPEAKER_01: He's being authentic and real about his shame.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the things we train you in at a whole heart advance.
SPEAKER_01: I share about my stuff there.
SPEAKER_01: And I challenge you to go deeper in your heart knowledge of God so that God can allow his glory to be revealed in areas there's never been any glory before.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have these hidden dark places of our heart.
SPEAKER_01: We don't let anybody in, right?
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, God's saying, look, I want to heal that.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter's been healed.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter humbles himself with an authenticity that is flat unprecedented.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's unprecedented.
SPEAKER_01: Only in Christianity can you have that kind of vulnerability, know you're forgiven, and be okay with that.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want you to carry that, men and women.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you're supposed to carry that shame anymore.
SPEAKER_01: God wants you to walk in a new kind of freedom because you're vulnerable and open, because he says, confess, what does he say?
SPEAKER_01: Confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.
SPEAKER_01: So when we confess, which by the way, confession, another word for that is truth-telling.
SPEAKER_01: It's just telling the truth.
SPEAKER_01: All that confession is, is telling the truth.
SPEAKER_01: When you start telling the truth to God and to men, there's a healing that comes.
SPEAKER_01: God comes and he heals that, and it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Peter's saying here.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Look, I'm a fellow elder.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I blew it, but I have the glory of God on me because I'm healed.
SPEAKER_01: Shepherd, the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
SPEAKER_01: So here there is this Peter mentioned shepherding the flock of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, where does that come from?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the idea of the flock of God, the shepherding.
SPEAKER_01: Remember?
SPEAKER_01: Remember what happened to Jesus next?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what happened to Peter next?
SPEAKER_01: So a few weeks later, Jesus comes to them.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know how long it was from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee, but remember the disciples are out there fishing.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus comes, but they don't recognize him.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Hey, you guys, throw your nets on the right side of the boat.
SPEAKER_01: So they throw their nets on the right side of the boat, they make this great hall of fish, and then Peter's the first one to go.
SPEAKER_01: It's our Lord, it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so he jumps in and he swims to the shore, and there by the fire on the side of the Sea of Galilee, what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Do you love me more than these?
SPEAKER_01: Three times, do you love me more than these?
SPEAKER_01: Do you love me more than these?
SPEAKER_01: So the three, see what's going on here?
SPEAKER_01: The three denials are now met with three positive responses of do you love me more than these?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_01: Tend to my lambs, feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_01: So immediately Peter knew that, he remembered back, I think, to a confession that he had made maybe a few months before, where Jesus asked him, Who do men say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You're the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus pronounces to him, basically, well done, Peter, on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: Peter knew that he was called to leadership, that he was going to be a shepherd over the flock, but that the main point was feed my sheep.
SPEAKER_01: And so now he says to pastors and leaders, shepherd the flock of God.
SPEAKER_01: Shepherd the flock of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the main responsibility of pastors and leaders in a local church.
SPEAKER_01: That's my main responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: I have to model it before my team, is feed the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I believe it's more important on Sunday morning that you get equipped and empowered with the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit than being an evangelistic-minded church.
SPEAKER_01: So evangelism's great.
SPEAKER_01: I love evangelism.
SPEAKER_01: I've done it my whole life.
SPEAKER_01: But on Sunday morning, my main responsibility is exactly here to shepherd the flock of God by feeding, feeding you.
SPEAKER_01: So that you go out and evangelize, so that you go out and make a difference in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And then he talks about three vices.
SPEAKER_01: The three vices and the three antidotes to being a pastor leader.
SPEAKER_01: He says, not by compulsion, but willingly.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the word compulsion here means pressure.
SPEAKER_01: Feeling like this, feeling this pressure, this pressure to be a pastor, this pressure to be a leader.
SPEAKER_01: But rather enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: Be in it because you're called to do it and then enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01: And that's so important with my pastors that we enjoy what we're doing, not by compulsion, not by pressure.
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's largely the reason I've not recruited much from seminaries.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the guys are getting their seminary degrees as they go, and I think that's valuable.
SPEAKER_01: It's important.
SPEAKER_01: I've got a seminary degree from Fuller, but a lot of times my experience has been that those who go through kind of the system, the American evangelical pastoral system, see the pastorate as a vocation more than a calling.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, you're you're looking for the job.
SPEAKER_01: And I know because I've counseled these people, you know, from time to time.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what do you know, what do you think about this?
SPEAKER_01: And think, well, what's God saying to you?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't, I mean, they pay this amount, and uh, this part of the country is really, it's close to our family, so it'll be really, that'd be good because it'd only be like, you know, uh two hours from my mother-in-law, and um, and da-da-da-da.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that is like the dumbest way to make a decision.
SPEAKER_01: You are, I say, when I hear that kind of stuff, I just go, man, you are in the wrong pastor's office.
SPEAKER_01: I've never made a decision on being close to my family or not being close to my family or how much they pay me or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: It's a calling, and God better speak to you about where you're supposed to go.
SPEAKER_01: Not by compulsion, but willingly.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, you're doing it because you know you're anointed and called to do that thing.
SPEAKER_01: So I get asked from time to time from family members, like, where do you want to live next when you retire?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, you had a couple problems with that question.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, I may not retire.
SPEAKER_01: And then number two, I don't have any decision in that.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's job.
SPEAKER_01: God's always spoken to us about where to live.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, right now, I just love Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: I dig Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: I can't think of a better city to be in with the best people in the world.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going anywhere, man.
SPEAKER_01: So, so he's saying that to pastors.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, look, you need to, you need to be all in.
SPEAKER_01: You need to be willingly there, not some kind of pressure thing, not trying to seek out a vocation or how much you can make, because he says this next, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not about a salary, it's not about finances.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's talking about dishonest gain.
SPEAKER_01: Honest wage is fine.
SPEAKER_01: It's all through scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Every pastor should be paid, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: But eagerly.
SPEAKER_01: Like you're not doing it for the money, you're doing it for the people.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing it because you love them.
SPEAKER_01: Nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
SPEAKER_01: So this word Lord has the idea of a military general, a military leader, or a political leader.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, you're pressuring people to do things, you're using people.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of pastors that use people to grow their churches, versus loving people and God grows the church.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand the subtle difference?
SPEAKER_01: I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail again.
SPEAKER_01: I, Jesus is saying it, he builds the church, we don't build the church.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, is it his church?
SPEAKER_01: Because he builds his church.
SPEAKER_01: I will build my church.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a senior pastor or a shepherd of the flock, you build my church for me, because I really don't know how to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Culture's too complicated for me.
SPEAKER_01: So I need all the new bells and whistles for 2024, right?
SPEAKER_01: To but to build the church.
SPEAKER_01: How about how about if we just let the church be God's church, and he's the capital S senior, capital P pastor, and then he builds his church through leaders that love people and care about people and model to the people.
SPEAKER_01: And that starts with me.
SPEAKER_01: And and guys, you know I'm not a perfect model of this at all.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I mess up all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And I feel that I feel that weight and that responsibility all the time.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing I'd rather do than be here with you.
SPEAKER_01: That's the reason I'm not gonna retire because there's nothing to do in retirement.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I like fly fishing, but not every single day.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Too many days where you don't catch anything.
SPEAKER_01: No, but but to see lives get changed and transformed.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I dig that, man.
SPEAKER_01: I dig the prayer up front.
SPEAKER_01: I like everything about the church.
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: I like when we have to change the carpet.
SPEAKER_01: I like when we think about architecture, I like when we think about starting groups.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, right now, over there in the library, all these people, like 40 people getting trained to be small group leaders.
SPEAKER_01: It's packed out in there in the library.
SPEAKER_01: I just went in there.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's all about, man.
SPEAKER_01: Starting small groups and doing that.
SPEAKER_01: It's just the best job.
SPEAKER_01: It's so much fun.
SPEAKER_01: We'll receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, you younger people.
SPEAKER_01: So this I and I think he's going after younger people here because younger people tend to be the most prideful.
SPEAKER_01: They tend to be kind of, you know, thinking they can take on the world and everything's going to go their way.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I think there's nothing wrong with that if you put it under the rubric of God's power.
SPEAKER_01: Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, all you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the deal with the church, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: After 40 years of doing this kind of stuff, how can you submit to something you don't know what it is?
SPEAKER_01: Sub under mission, a calling, a direction, a vision.
SPEAKER_01: What's the vision of the road?
SPEAKER_01: Tell me what it is.
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
SPEAKER_01: Come on, baby.
SPEAKER_01: My daughter, my beautiful daughter, and daughter-in-law and her roommate.
SPEAKER_01: They get it, man.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So you know our vision and you know our mission because we talk about it all the time.
SPEAKER_01: So he's saying, be subbed, be under the vision, be under the mission.
SPEAKER_01: How many churches?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what their vision is.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what their mission is.
SPEAKER_01: Why are they here?
SPEAKER_01: Pay the salary of the pastors?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why they're here.
SPEAKER_01: So during COVID, when everything was shut down, I would read in the Christian Post or Christianity Day.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know, all these churches are shutting down.
SPEAKER_01: During COVID, and I'm going, well, good.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want churches that are churches in name only.
SPEAKER_01: I want churches that are being built by Jesus, and if Jesus is building the church, they won't shut down.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't get sad about that at all.
SPEAKER_01: I just think it's great.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get it down to the irreducible minimum and start growing.
SPEAKER_01: So if your company has been dedicated to God and you're the owner of that company, he will build that company.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility, but it does mean that you keep putting that on the altar of God.
SPEAKER_01: You have to keep putting that on the altar.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta put your finances on the altar of God.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta put your spouse on the altar of God.
SPEAKER_01: You have to put your your uh your singleness on the altar of God.
SPEAKER_01: And God will build you.
SPEAKER_01: God will strengthen you.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because of what he says next.
SPEAKER_01: God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: So here's my definition of being prideful.
SPEAKER_01: Definition of pride means I can do it, I've got what it takes, I don't need anybody to help me.
SPEAKER_01: That's pride.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what humility is.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is I don't have what it takes, I'm not strong enough, I'm not smart enough, but God is and I'm gonna submit to him.
SPEAKER_01: That's all that humility is.
SPEAKER_01: All that humility is, is realizing you don't have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: I think Peter, at the very beginning, here is trying to help us understand that's where he was.
SPEAKER_01: He was still full of Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Even as Christ has been arrested and then taken by force to this colonnade area at night with a fire.
SPEAKER_01: At that point, in the reference to that culture of that time, to have a servant girl ask Peter, aren't you one of his disciples?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, I don't know him.
SPEAKER_01: No, I think I saw you at no, I don't know him.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a soldier, it wasn't a centurion, it was a servant girl at night.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about, you know, a coward.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was a coward, and he's saying, he's reminding them that I was a coward because that's where he's taking us here.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, God resists the proud.
SPEAKER_01: That was me.
SPEAKER_01: But he gives grace to the humble, and that's who I pray I am now because God humbled me.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: There's the definition of humility.
SPEAKER_01: The definition of humility is right there in verses six and seven.
SPEAKER_01: Humbling yourselves under.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I said submission.
SPEAKER_01: Under the mission, the direction, and the power of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And let him exalt you.
SPEAKER_01: If I was speaking to pastors, let Jesus exalt your church if it's worthy to be exalted.
SPEAKER_01: Let God exalt you if you're worthy to be exalted.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even think about what people say about you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even think about what people say about the road.
SPEAKER_01: Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's where you need to stay.
SPEAKER_01: Stay low.
SPEAKER_01: Serve your people.
SPEAKER_01: Love your people.
SPEAKER_01: Be all in in El Paso County.
SPEAKER_01: Be all in.
SPEAKER_01: Just love people.
SPEAKER_01: Keep going for it every day for Jesus, for his glory.
SPEAKER_01: And if he in the economy of God wants to exalt you, he will.
SPEAKER_01: Don't think about exalting.
SPEAKER_01: That's what drives me crazy about social media.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's into social media.
SPEAKER_01: That's to me like the dumbest thing on the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: It's like you're always exalting yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You know, here I am, you know, with so and so.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I know I know ministries that pay people hundreds of thousands of dollars to be the frontmen for their ministry, so that there's like there's a photo every day of them doing something or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Because, and I know some of these people.
SPEAKER_01: And the first thing they want you to know is how many views they get, how many followers they have.
SPEAKER_01: What pressure.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't even I never even look at it.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who looks at it.
SPEAKER_01: So if you read stuff that she she put it on, so if it just really seems like it wasn't really good, that's charity's fault.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: If it looks really good, it definitely was charity's fault because I didn't have anything to do with it.
SPEAKER_01: So be careful with that stuff, gang.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful with exalting yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You know, slow down.
SPEAKER_01: Everything's fine.
SPEAKER_01: We love you.
SPEAKER_01: Your family loves you.
SPEAKER_01: You got some friends.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody in the world does not have to see you on your vacation doing little things that you look happy when you're not, because you just had a fight with your spouse like the entire time.
SPEAKER_01: Or you went to this or that country and you puked your lungs out because you got food poisoning, but then you're like this in the picture on the beach.
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I guess that's what they do.
SPEAKER_01: I never read it, I never look at it, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But uh when I was doing it five years ago, that's what it seemed like it was like.
SPEAKER_01: I would think it's at a new level now, right?
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the other part of it is when we're prideful, God resists you.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's one thing if one of your friends resists you.
SPEAKER_01: It's one thing if, you know, you made a mistake and you know you got something wrong and that resists you because you made a mistake, but God?
SPEAKER_01: God.
SPEAKER_01: Creator God.
SPEAKER_01: He's a little smarter than you.
SPEAKER_01: He's a little bigger than you.
SPEAKER_01: When you're prideful, he resists you.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are in company, situations, finances, relationships, God's actually resisting you.
SPEAKER_01: You're never gonna get healed, you're never gonna see breakthrough because you're so full of yourself that God can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: So nobody's impressed with you anyway.
SPEAKER_01: So why not just humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and submit to Him today?
SPEAKER_01: And watch breakthrough happen.
SPEAKER_01: That that breakthrough is the name of God in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: He is the God of breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody need a breakthrough in their life?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Me too.
SPEAKER_01: He gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he pours out power on those who humble themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting, casting all your cares.
SPEAKER_01: That means all your anxieties upon him.
SPEAKER_01: And then be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the good news and the bad news.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is that I think when we learn to cast, and to me that's the definition of humility is casting your anxieties upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Basically say, I can't do it, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I can't.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and I failed and I failed and I failed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a lousy dad, I'm a lousy husband, I'm a lousy wife, whatever it is that you struggle with, which by the way, he doesn't think you're lousy.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't think you're lousy.
SPEAKER_01: He sees all the good in you, he sees all the beauty in you, he sees you trying.
SPEAKER_01: But now, men and women, there's another level, and that's you realizing I'm not lousy, I'm not a loser.
SPEAKER_01: I can change.
SPEAKER_01: So right now, Lord, I just cast my anxieties upon you.
SPEAKER_01: I give it to you.
SPEAKER_01: Because I've tried and I've tried and I've failed and I've failed, but I need your power in my life, I need your guidance in my life, and then you actually start to work against the roaring lion, you start to push him back, resist him, resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
SPEAKER_01: So, what he's saying, you guys, is that when you realize you can't do it, which is a beautiful place to be, and you and you start to change your identity to the identity that's true about you, that you're a winner, that you're a child of God, that you're forgiven, that he who lives in you is greater than anything on the outside, that with the power of the Holy Spirit and a little bit of faith, mustard seed faith, you can move mountains.
SPEAKER_01: When we start to confess that and we take our anxieties to him, watch out.
SPEAKER_01: The God of breakthrough is gonna come.
SPEAKER_01: So quit saying those things about yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It's not true.
SPEAKER_01: You can change through the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10, but may, because here's what will happen, may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
SPEAKER_01: To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's the way to end a good letter.
SPEAKER_01: That that's a that's a way to end a sermon from Peter.
SPEAKER_01: All the stuff he's talking about, all the suffering, remember that?
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Suffering, suffering.
SPEAKER_01: You you here at the road have a great theology of suffering from Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Us going through 1 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We have a theology of suffering.
SPEAKER_01: He says, if you will submit now, here's the crowning theme of everything that he said.
SPEAKER_01: Will you now cast your anxieties upon him because he cares for you?
SPEAKER_01: He will come with his grace, and he will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
SPEAKER_01: So I remember a long time ago, we were raising support for Japan, and uh God spoke to us to not ask anybody for money, and that's what you come back on furlough, partly to do, is to raise, we need$10,000 for a bunch of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And we were in we were in gatherings where I man, I could just share, but I didn't share, and I always had before.
SPEAKER_01: And on the third day before we're to fly back to Japan, we've been back for four months.
SPEAKER_01: This guy calls us.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just start, let me go backtrack and say, every day we cast our anxieties upon the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So every day we cast that need for finances to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Every day, listen, I did that together.
SPEAKER_01: And then on the fourth day, before we're supposed to leave, this guy calls us another UCLA grad that had been really close friends with Liz, he says, What do you guys need as you go back to Japan?
SPEAKER_01: I said, We need$10,000.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You got it, I'll write the check today.
SPEAKER_01: You see, men and women, when you cast your anxieties upon the Lord, the Lord hears you casting your anxieties upon him.
SPEAKER_01: And I think, and I don't understand it all, I don't, it's a mystery to me.
SPEAKER_01: But it's almost like when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and we start casting our anxieties upon him, he hears that, it's like it opens a window of heaven, a blessing that you couldn't get if you didn't cast your anxieties upon him.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Warren for War podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.