Giving a Reason for Your Hope
Download MP3I invite you to open your Bibles to first Peter chapter 3. 1st Peter chapter 3. Let me just say as you're turning there, it's good to be back, taking 4 weeks off from the pulpit. Thank you for allowing me to do that as a church. It it was greatly appreciated and needed, And I love just being able to sit and to soak in God's word, and just really feast over these past few weeks with you.
Joel Brooks:I thought the preaching has been just outstanding, as, Ryan and Thomas and Jeff directed us to God's word and to Christ. So thank you. Last week, I was sitting in the front row here, and I'm next to my 8 year old girl, Natalie. And, just kind of midway through the service, she looks at me and she goes, daddy, like, yeah, who are all these people? I looked around and I was like, I don't know.
Joel Brooks:And so it was strange kind of looking around and seeing so so many new people, who have come in. And so I thought, but before we even opened up God's word together, I would just take a few minutes just to, kind of explain a few things of who we are as a church. For those of you who haven't been with us, for too long, we're about 6 years old. We started the church, in my house. We've been in 4 places in the last 6 years, it's kind of exhausting.
Joel Brooks:But but facility isn't really what defines us. The church is God's people, and we have really tried to pound that into our congregation in which you don't invite people to church, you invite people to come and meet your church. To meet the people of God that you come together and sit under his word, and that you worship and you pray together. So we we strive to do these things. Nobody gets the church that they want.
Joel Brooks:That was one of the very first things we ever said. Actually, it was. I think, we were meeting in our house and there was probably about 15, 20 of us there, and just talking about what this church would look like. And, one of the first things I said was, nobody gets the church they want. I'm starting this church and I'm not going to get what I want.
Joel Brooks:What we need to pray is not that we get what we want, but that we get what God wants us to have. And so over the years, the Lord, he's directed our our church in, just unusual ways. We met at a Girls Incorporated building for a while. I I preach with girl empowerment slogans behind me all the time, and I I never envisioned that, but that's where the Lord wanted us. And, and it's really been neat, the certain personalities, the certain giftings that the Lord has brought our way, in ways that I had never envisioned, and in some ways, wouldn't have wanted.
Joel Brooks:And God was like, this is what you need. And God knows what's best. And he has really used this church over the last 6 years to change me in a way I never thought possible. There are some things that we we strive for, as a church. You know, why don't I mention that, you know, church building doesn't define us, but really that we want to see ourselves as the people of God.
Joel Brooks:We want to see ourselves as a gospel community. And you're gonna hear me say that over and over, we strive to be a gospel community. And probably some of you are drawn to this church because you heard, we really want to be part of a community. And that's great, I'm glad you're here, but we're a gospel community. And that's more than just being a community, it's more than being a country club, or things like that, in which you just gather people who have similar interests or likes.
Joel Brooks:Gospel community is a community in which the gospel defines us, not our personalities, not our giftings. And it also is not an end in itself. Like, you go to church to find community. Community is a tool that the Lord uses, a light, if you will, to show people that we are his disciples, by the way that we love one another. So it's community for a purpose.
Joel Brooks:We come in and we're gonna radically love one another so that the world would notice and they'll realize Jesus is king. And so that's the goal of us forming these gospel communities. When we strive together, or when we come together here as, a congregation on Sundays, we do strive for a number of things. We wanna be a simple church as much as possible. To not be a program driven church.
Joel Brooks:We really have 2 things that happen in the week. We have this service that happens here and then we have our home groups that meet in a week. But we wanna free up your time so that you can actually get to know your lost neighbors, your lost coworkers, so that you can be salt and light into a dying world. Not just so you could seek other seek other pleasures, but we wanna be simple for that reason. We don't wanna be program driven for that reason.
Joel Brooks:And we want to, when we gather together, to just have a time simply of, you know, prayer, a time of singing and worshiping God through song, a time in his word or maybe testimony, and really strive to do those things well. I wanna have a prayer time after the message, we do that often. And we've had some prayer times already. And, you know, one of the things that, that we do when we pray, you're never gonna we're never gonna have a prayer time, and and when we pray, you open up your eyes and then, like, you know, the band's gone or there's stuff moved around on the stage, you know, like prayer is never gonna be a transition time for us, I guess, is a way of saying that. When we pray, we all want to pray.
Joel Brooks:That's what we're here for, is to seek the Lord together. And we're here to sit under his his word together, and to be shaped by his word. So these are some of the things that define us. We also we want families to participate in worship here, during the first part, and they can send their kids to children's church if they want afterwards. Screaming babies don't bother me, you know, I've had 3.
Joel Brooks:Okay? And if I hear a screaming child, I I don't think I wish that mom would have taken that child away. What I think is that mom has every excuse in the world to not be here, and she is here. And from that child's earliest moments, they're in a church with God's people here, and they're hearing God's word. And that excites me and encourages me.
Joel Brooks:And so we wanna be just kind of a family friendly place for that as well. There there's a lot of things I could talk about about who we are as a people. If you are new to the church, I encourage you to come to our new person's dinner, and you can, you can just ask me questions about that. I'd love to do that. But But one of the things that does shape us is God's word, and that's where I want us to direct our attention now.
Joel Brooks:As we turn to 1st Peter chapter 3, we've been going through 1st Peter for a while. I'll begin reading in verse 8, and we'll go through verse 17. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
Joel Brooks:Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. For who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
Joel Brooks:But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ, the Lord is holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Joel Brooks:For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Our father is our joy to be here tonight. In spirit, you're welcome to be in our midst, and to draw our attention to our king, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Who has come, and who has saved us, and given us new life. Lord, my words are death, your words are life, and we need life. Let my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. Alright. Underneath 5 of the seats out there, 5 of the pews is an envelope that has a bible verse. And in just a second, I get you to reach under there and pull that out. And if you have that bible verse, you're gonna come on up here, and just for a minute or 2, you are going to talk us through that Bible verse.
Joel Brooks:Alright? How many of y'all were just scared to death? Alright. I I think every one of y'all were like, oh my gosh. No.
Joel Brooks:No. No. P Peter says we're to be prepared. We're not gonna do that. That we were at a church in Belfast.
Joel Brooks:And I if you've ever been on a mission trip, you realize you always have to be flexible. Okay? Just flexibility is key. And I would say, I've probably led 20, 30 mission trips over the years. This one trip, you have to be flexible more than any of the others.
Joel Brooks:And I am pounding that in our students. You gotta be flexible, you gotta be flexible, be prepared for anything. And so we're at this church in Belfast, and the pastor says, I would like to interview some of your students up here. Well, that's great. Be prepared, be flexible.
Joel Brooks:And they're like, alright. So, so the pastor just kinda tosses them softballs. You know, what do you think of Northern Ireland? You know, it's great. You know, do you like it here?
Joel Brooks:What's the favorite thing favorite thing you've done? And, and finally, the third person was actually James Cling, one of our elders. He he was a student then. He came up, and just out of the blue said, okay. Now, you've probably noticed the whole pro Protestant Catholic tension here.
Joel Brooks:Could you tell us how that relates to maybe the black white tension in the South? I mean, that guy came out of nowhere. There's this whole church, a large church in Belfast is is looking at him, and he just goes, I'm from Saint Louis, which really isn't the South. And then he goes and he sits down. And I was like, be prepared, be flexible.
Joel Brooks:And then I hear the pastor go, Joel, we're so glad that, you know, we brought your team here, and we're very excited about you coming up here and opening up God's word for us and sat down, and nobody had told me. And I was like, oh my goodness. And the whole team was like, be prepared. Be flexible. And I'm like, I'm getting up there, and I'm like, I have nothing.
Joel Brooks:Nothing. I'm going Matthew, Mark, Luke. Alright. Mark, open your bibles to Mark. And and I just prayed for a long time and tried to come up with something.
Joel Brooks:But Peter says we're to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Those are the words that I really want us to kind of look at carefully tonight. But before we jump into those words right there, we first need to deal with a certain assumption that Peter makes. When Peter writes this letter, he is he is making a huge assumption about the church. He is making an assumption about every single Christian who will read this letter.
Joel Brooks:He's making an assumption about every person here in this room who knows the Lord. And the assumption is this, You will be asked for a reason, for the hope you have. Christians, spirit filled Christians, who've been taken out of darkness and into light, who have joy put in their hearts, who know Jesus, and the joy that comes with it. With that, those Christians will be asked by others living in darkness, enslaved by sin. We'll look at them and say, could you please give me a reason for the hope that you have?
Joel Brooks:His assumption is that this is It's a pretty big assumption. Some ways, I'm tempted to think that that's a false assumption when you look at my life. When you look at my life, I mean, I do get a lot of questions. I get I get a lot of questions. I I get asked at least once, twice a week, can I borrow your truck?
Joel Brooks:I get asked if, can I borrow, you know, your compound miter saw? I get asked, how is your vacation? Occasionally, I get asked if we invest anywhere, or what do I do about retirement? I get asked my thoughts about school systems, about marriage. I get asked about the size of our church.
Joel Brooks:I get asked about insurance. I get asked if we ever thought we would raise chickens. I get I mean, I get I get asked all these different things, but I can't think ever. Somebody very pointedly asking me this, Could you tell me a reason you are so hopeful? Like just just so direct asking me that.
Joel Brooks:Now, I I like to think it's because everybody knows I'm a pastor. Alright? I mean, so it's obvious. I mean, they know where my hope is because, hey, I'm a pastor. And so that's why they don't ask.
Joel Brooks:It's it's pretty obvious. Be like asking a mechanic, hey, do do you like cars? You know, of course. You know, it's what drove them there. Alright.
Joel Brooks:But I didn't get the puns for, like, right after I said that. Yeah. So so I like to kind of tell myself that, but but perhaps the reason I'm not asked, because at least at at a distance, it certainly looks like I'm hoping in the same thing that same things that they are hoping in. And that's why there is no need to ask. So let me ask you, have you ever been asked for the hope you have, the reason for the hope you have, Outside of the people in this room, do people know that reason?
Joel Brooks:Alright. Well, that's the assumption. Let's let's let's see how we get to this verse. What Peter does, the groundwork he lays in leading up to this verse. Peter gives us a few instructions of how we are to live in order to demonstrate to the world our hope.
Joel Brooks:The first instruction is found in verse 8. Says, finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. So Peter's first set of instructions here, all have to do with how we we relate to one another. It's it's an internal memo, if you will. This is what the church should look like.
Joel Brooks:And he tells us these 5 things. Unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. These things are expected of the church. Now, for those of you who are married, you're supposed to have these things towards your wife, and you fail. Or you're supposed to have these things for your husband, and you often fail.
Joel Brooks:We fail having this attitude, these attitudes, doing these things to people we have pledged our undying love for, people we have made a public covenant before. So certainly we're gonna fail in regards to the church. We really need Christ's strength. His empowering spirit to guide us in these things. I want you, I want you to picture the the community in which Peter is writing.
Joel Brooks:And we've talked about this over the last few weeks months. This is a community that is being persecuted. It's a community being slandered, being ridiculed. And Peter says, that's okay. Alright.
Joel Brooks:That's that's that's more than okay. That's expected from the world out there, but that has no place in here. This place is a refuge from the world. This place is an alternate society. We're we're out there.
Joel Brooks:Yes. They can be hostile towards us. They can be violent towards us, but not in here. We're we're a different people. We're tenderhearted to one another.
Joel Brooks:We love one another as family. We're we're humble before each other. And Peter of course, has experienced this. When you look at the disciples of Jesus, you could not get 12 more different people. I mean, some in the country, some are from the city, some are educated, some were not.
Joel Brooks:Some were loud and outgoing, some were quiet. Then you had, you know, you had Matthew, the tax collector. You had Judas, the zealot. Zealots killed tax collectors. It was kind of a problem if you're gonna be a little small group together.
Joel Brooks:But because of Jesus, 2 people that hated each other could come together and be tenderhearted towards one another. Peter has seen this happen. He's saying this needs to define who we are as a church. And here's the deal, we just talked about this when I kind of told who we are as a church and being a gospel community, is when we are these things to one another, the world sees where we place our hope. They're gonna notice that we're different.
Joel Brooks:Jesus said in John 13, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. And by this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. If we live this way, if we are a gospel community, all people will know that we follow Jesus. They will know in whom we place our hope.
Joel Brooks:Now, Peter moves from our love towards one another, towards our love for those outside the church. Look at verse 9. Says, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this, you were called that you may obtain a blessing. Now this command goes completely against our nature.
Joel Brooks:I was thinking earlier today, this goes against Newton's 3rd law that, you know, every every action results in an equal and opposite reaction. And so if we are hit, we wanna hit back. If we were insulted, we wanna insult back. If we were reviled, we wanna revile back. In equal force, if not even in greater force.
Joel Brooks:It's in our nature, we want to do that. Peter says, don't. And we know we're not supposed to. I mean, as Christians, we know we're not supposed to, so we don't, at least we don't do it overtly. We we we become very subtle in the way that we repay evil for evil.
Joel Brooks:And so if our boss, you know, at work is a jerk, you know, and just has unreasonable expectations of us or whatever, we're not gonna tell him or her to their face, you're a jerk. Alright? For 1, you don't you don't wanna get fired, but but 2, you you know, well, I'm a Christian, so, you know, I can't say these things. So instead, I'm just gonna talk bad about my boss to all the other employees. Or maybe if I, if I don't even talk bad, I could just give that kind of eye roll with a knowing glance, throwing him under the bus without saying a word.
Joel Brooks:So we find ways to slander. When we are treated unjustly or hurt by others, we usually respond negatively. A lot of times, negatively through things like gossip or through coldness, just being cold towards a person or sending out some, you know, vague tweet that everybody knows what it's really about, you know, like, I hate idiots. You know, you put that on, and everybody knows you just had a conversation with so and so. You're like, but but hey, I didn't say it.
Joel Brooks:I didn't name the person, you know, and that's a Christian way to throw somebody under a bus. And so we find these subtle ways to do that. Often we respond by exaggerating the injustices done to us. We blow out blow way out of proportion the evils to us done by this other person, and how we were more than innocent. And if you do that, know that you are not suffering for righteousness, you are suffering for self righteousness.
Joel Brooks:And it very well might be deserved. Peter here says, don't do this. Don't respond this way. And then he goes another step, he says, not only that, don't don't repay evil for evil, or revile for reviling, but bless. Take a take a step in the positive direction and bless these people.
Joel Brooks:You're to seek ways to improve their lives and not destroy their lives. You're to try to find ways to lift the person up who is trying to tear you down. Give life to the person who's trying to take it from you. You're to bless. And when what I mean by bless is you're to look at a person, and you are to affirm God's plan, and calling, and purpose in their life.
Joel Brooks:You were to look at them and see what God can make that person be, desires for them to be, and you were to affirm that and see what you can do to get them there. You're to bless those who persecute you. Alright. Don't look like I just kind of hit you with a big blunt object. I guess a reasonable question is, I hear what you're saying, but how really, how the heck can we do this?
Joel Brooks:All right. How? How can we do this? I mean, not only not pay the person back, but even bless. Peter gives you the reason why.
Joel Brooks:Go back to verse 9. Says, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. Here it is. For to this, you were called. You were called.
Joel Brooks:Boy, that thing's been coming all through Peter. You you were chosen by God for this. Alright? The only reason you're in the position you're in is because God called you. You are no different than the person who is reviling you other than that the grace of God has grabbed you and drawn you to himself.
Joel Brooks:He has made a claim on your life. Alright? Now do this. You were called to do this. He has caused you to be born again to a living hope in order to do this.
Joel Brooks:Peter, then he reinforces this command by quoting from Psalm 34, which is, we read the verses leading up to this when we open the service, and now he he picks up where we left off, and he quotes the rest. This psalm that he quotes here is a psalm written by David before he was king. It was written by David when, right after King Saul tried to spear him against the wall, shortly after that, and he had to, he had to flee. So David now has to run away from his king because his king is trying to kill him. And so he flees to the Philistines, and when he is there, he writes this psalm.
Joel Brooks:So the context of the Psalm is that there's David who has been called by God. Even though he's been called by God, he is now being persecuted by the very authorities that God has placed over his life. So even as he is trying to follow God and his calling, he is still trying to honor the king, if you will, the king is trying to kill him. Does the context sound familiar to 1st Peter? In which we are told to fear God and honor the emperor.
Joel Brooks:We're to submit to the authorities that are being hostile against us. That's why Peter brings us in here, is the situation is the same. David was being slandered, his image was being dragged through the mud. He was being treated unjustly. He was being denied freedoms that everybody else in the kingdom enjoyed.
Joel Brooks:Yet he kept his tongue from evil and he pursued peace. And he writes about that in this song. Shortly after David wrote this song, one of my favorite stories is in 1st Samuel 24, familiar story, David flees into a cave, He's, he's hiding from Saul and Saul just happens to come into the same cave. Everybody's like, kill him, kill him the Lord. And, you know, finally the Lord's given them in your hand.
Joel Brooks:You can get rid of him and, and David refuses. He's not gonna trust in the power of the sword. He's gonna trust in God's calling, God's promises, not in his might, and he doesn't do it. And so as king Saul is, is leaving, David cries out, calls to him. And we read these words in 1st Samuel 24.
Joel Brooks:King Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good. Where I, whereas I have repaid you evil. Saul knew he was more righteous, and now he knew God's calling on David's life.
Joel Brooks:Why? Because David repaid him good when he repaid him evil. David demonstrates where his hope rests. And of course, David is simply pointing us forward to the better and the greater David to come. Our king, Jesus, who came in and he insulted or he endured every insult, every injury, went through a mock trial.
Joel Brooks:And as he is thrown up on the cross and people are hurling abuses at him, he says, father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. He is insulted. Then he blesses. And when we don't repay evil for evil, when we bless those who revile us, what we are doing is in a very tangible, real way, showing them Jesus. Because that's who Jesus is.
Joel Brooks:We're showing them where our hope lies. Alright. So we've up to this point, we've we've looked at Peter saying how we're to love one another and how we're to love our enemies. And now we come to kind of the the section of the verses about being ready to make a defense. Look again at verse 13.
Joel Brooks:We'll read 13 through 15. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Kind of imagine when the people read that, they're like, well, Nero, everybody, every authority over us. But then, you know, he says, but, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.
Joel Brooks:But in your hearts, regard Christ, the Lord is holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for reason, for the hope that is in you. So how do we prepare ourselves to make a defense for the reason for the hope we have? Well, first, you have to understand Peter is not talking about coming up with a really good argument. Alright.
Joel Brooks:You gotta come out with a well thought detailed planned out argument as to why you are a Christian, and be ready at a moment's notice to give that. That that is not what Peter is talking about here. If it was any kind of a problem with Jesus's words In Luke 21, where Jesus tells his disciples that when you are brought before kings, when you are brought before governors, that he says this, settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand, how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. These things kind of sort of seem opposed to one another.
Joel Brooks:Certainly, they would be if you thought that's what Peter's talking about. You need to prepare beforehand and really plan out exactly what you were supposed to say. That's not what he's talking about. So what is it? How do we ready ourselves?
Joel Brooks:You're gonna have to start working backwards in this text. You're gonna have to start going in verse 15 and working backwards. Because the answer to this question comes in the phrase that comes just before verse 15. If you look there, he says, or right at verse 15, he says, but in your hearts, regard Christ the lord as holy. In your hearts, regard Christ, the Lord as holy.
Joel Brooks:That's how you get ready for your defense. Something's gotta happen to your heart. You gotta regard him as holy, or some of your translations might say, you need to sanctify him. Some may say, you need to hallow him. It's the exact same word when Jesus says, you know, hallowed be thy name.
Joel Brooks:That we need to hallow the name of Jesus Christ as Lord here, you need to treasure him above all else. See him as supreme over all things. That's what that's what he's talking about. That's what hallow means. So to to all of you, type a, first borns out there, who'd like to make a list, and list of list.
Joel Brooks:Even if you've done something, you make a list just so you could check it off. Alright. And if you're thinking, alright, so are what you're saying is like, you know, if I make a list of my priorities that I have to have got at the top, then maybe family, maybe my job, and, you know, maybe my cat, or, you know, something like that. Just just that that's the order. And and Peter would say, not at all.
Joel Brooks:That is not hallowing Jesus. Because Jesus doesn't belong in the same kind of list as other things, even if he's at top. Jesus is the list. You you pull up this sheet of paper and you write, Jesus, and you're like, well, how can my family life work into following Jesus? How can my job work into following Jesus?
Joel Brooks:But but he's the one you hallow. He's the one you hold us supreme. That's what it means to hallow him in your hearts. Peter says, if you do this, then you're gonna have your defense. So what you need to do is you need to ask your own heart the question, who do I hallow?
Joel Brooks:Who is my hope? Ask your own self this question. And if you can answer that, then you can answer it when you're asked by somebody else. But you need to come to grips with this in your own heart. Who exactly do you treasure?
Joel Brooks:Peter's not saying here that it's your duty to defend some kind of doctrine. He is saying here, it is your delight to share in people the very hope that you have in your heart, and who you hold supreme. Alright. One way to examine. I'll just give you one.
Joel Brooks:One way to examine whether or not Jesus really is who you hope in or who you hallow in your heart is to look at this. You gotta look at what you fear. Look at what you fear. Peter connects these two thoughts in verse 14 and 15. 14, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.
Joel Brooks:Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy. So the opposite of fearing the people who can hurt you, the opposite of being troubled by these circumstances is in your hearts regarding Christ, the Lord is holy. Get that? Regarding Him as holy is the opposite of fear, fearing people. So we do not fear those who persecute us.
Joel Brooks:We do not fear those who could take away our jobs. We do not fear those who could take away our health. We do not fear those who could take away our freedoms. Because we see Christ as hallowed and not the things that people can take away. Did you get that?
Joel Brooks:The only reason you should ever fear somebody is if you know they can take away something you hallow. But they can't take away Jesus. But if you hallow money, you will fear the people who could possibly take it away. If you hallow the idea of someday getting out of singleness and being married, then you're gonna fear the possibility of that never happening. If you hallow the idea of having a good reputation, then you are gonna fear the person that could possibly drag that through the mud.
Joel Brooks:If you hallow your health, your life, you're gonna fear the person who could possibly take it away from you. But we don't fear those things if all we hallow is Jesus. If all we hallow is Him and see Him as supreme above all things. Let me tell you, I the Lord, probably 11 years ago or 10, 11 years ago, really just kinda pricked my heart with this verse. I didn't really even remember it till I started studying it this week.
Joel Brooks:I'm started a ministry called University Christian Fellowship, UCF, and I was preaching at that ministry a long time ago, and actually I asked one of one of my interns at the time, who was either my first or second intern I ever had, if they wanted to preach, and they preached, they did a pretty good job. And, and afterwards, somebody came up to me and said, you know, gosh, this person did a really good job. And I said, you know, he did. And then I added this phrase, I'll confess. I said, you know, it's, it's really nice when you have like 2 or 3 months to prepare for a sermon.
Joel Brooks:Just kinda, you know, just just kinda slide that in there. Passive aggressive, I guess. I don't know. And I realized afterwards, I was like, I I I fear this person. Why do why do I fear, like, this this you know, how to intern come and preach a sermon?
Joel Brooks:I should talk to some people about it and then they said, you don't have anything to fear, you know, they're, you know, the person that they didn't do that great, they didn't all do this. I'm like, you missed the point. You missed the point. I I hallow what people think about me. And if it's not this person who I fear, it's going to be somebody else, then it's going to be somebody else, then it's going to be somebody else.
Joel Brooks:But there's always going to be fear there. The the problem is not in the person. The the problem is what my heart hallows. If I live a life like that, who would ever think that Jesus is my hope? Nobody.
Joel Brooks:And so I had to confess that then and there and deal with it. I think we all have things like that. It's probably not the big things, you know, money, your life, or health, you know, those are there, but it's probably those little teeny everyday things that you find out what you're really hallowing. We need to lay those down because then we will always be afraid if we don't. We need to say, Jesus, you are our treasure.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Our father, in this moment, through the power of your spirit, I pray that you would lift up Jesus in our hearts to where we see Him as supreme, where He is hallowed, where He is treasured, where he is worth us selling everything and enjoy going and buying the field that we might have him. If we do that, the world will ask, where where is that hope come from? Tell me. I want us to be a church in which we're consistently asked that question.
Joel Brooks:I pray that Peter's assumption of the church would not be a false assumption when we think of Redeemer Community Church, when we think of my life. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
