I pray today in your mind and in the depths of your heart, it is the best day of your life. Because it should be. You can't see it that way. It's okay, K2. It's okay, K2. Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 4. We're not done with Chapter 3, so we're not done with Chapter 1 or 2. We're just gonna keep piling on and getting things sort of understood clearer and clearer. Think for a sec. Where's your mind today? What's lubbering your brains? Wherever our thoughts are, that's where we live. Whatever is constantly on our mind are reality. There are people in life who sometimes lose signs due to sickness, due to disease, due to abuse, due to trauma, due to developmental issues, And when they find themselves in that place, the hard part is for those around them. Because sometimes, they're not aware. But it's hard to watch someone who is living in a state of peck, or a state of chaos, or a state of fantasy. And there's nothing we can do about it. You can't just tell someone to stop being ass. Just gotta stop being a shist. Don't be worried about stuff. I mean, that's like saying stop blinking. Stop breathing. Or for some, stop yapping. It's just not gonna happen. You just can't decide to stop. Or put your mind on things above. Things good, and things happy, and things joyful. Okay, how do I do that? Do I do that by ignoring the reality around me? Do I do that by ignoring pain? Do I do that by ignoring whatever? No, because then you're still living a fantasy. How do we find true, true peace in a place of unshakable peace and hope in the midst of extreme pain and chaos? How do we stand in a place of absolute clarity and purpose and vision when we feel like there's nothing worth living for? Friends, I'll be honest with you. There's very little, and I'm gonna say this, and then I'll clarify what I mean by what I'm about to say, but I find that there's very little in the Bible that will help you collectively in that venture. You can understand theology. You can understand the history. You can grasp the realities of the English and the Greek, the Hebrew and the Syriac, and all the different languages the Bible was written in. You can be told how to think and what to do. You can understand what Paul says. Have this mind among you, which hears in Christ Jesus, that though he was equal with God, he did not make equality with God something to be made much of, but made himself a nun, a slave, obedient unto death, even death on an uncrossed before God. You can know that. You can know the gospel in such a way that you can recite it and people's hearts are opened. But it doesn't mean that it has has power in your life. It doesn't. It's going to change how you think. That is a spiritual experience. It's an experience of resting. The sufficiency of who God is. That is the discipline of knowing that I, I can't. So He will. It's honestly to the place that I've understood is you have to become a child. As long as we're reliant on what we can apprehend, on what we self-actuate, when it comes to our biblical understanding of peace and hope, then we've not yet arrived. And so if your mind today is more on a destination, I'll make it simple for you. You go to Hebrews 11, and we won't go there right now, but you go to Hebrews 11 and 12, and you begin to see that at, I guess verse 13, all these having died in faith, having not received that which was promised. but having seen and greeted them from afar. What a day. Having knowledge that they were rangers and exiles on Earth. For people who speak thus get clear that they are in a homeland. If they'd been seeing or thinking of that from which they'd gone out, they would've had an opportunity just to go back. But as it is, That is our country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, nor I mean for he has prepared for them city. And then it talks about Abraham offering Isaac up to death. God had promised through Isaac that the nations of the world would be blessed. So that Paul writes there in that letter in Hebrews chapter 11. Therefore Abraham was as sure as the day God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. So he hesitated. They did not put him to the sword. It's ridiculous. I want you to hear that for a second. Every partition of my cognition knows that is ridiculous. Someone to say, ah, you know I told you that your children are going to like, have many children, who have many children, have many children, to kill all your children. Okay, I guess, it's just gonna work out in the end. That insanity. From a local, reasoning, working mind. You can't get there, by thinking. You have to get there by the spirit. Now, there's a lot of spirits, right? The spirit in which someone speaks, the spirit in which someone moves, the spirit in which someone teaches, the spirit in which we do. Some of the coaching that I do with men, we talk of covert, vert, collect. I did the dishes, and I did the laundry, and I helped in the house. You help at your house. It's your laundry. It's your dishes. She didn't want to go on a date. Oh, poor Wu. You did all the stuff so you could go on a date? How pathetic. You see? Covert contract. Sometimes we do the same in our spiritual lives. We try to think and act and posture in such a way that Oh, I'll have joy if I do all these things. I'll understand if I have all these things in line. And God, sort of like a sand can cow, comes along and kicks a wave through it. And we'll go, now what? So there's a resolve there. There's a testing. But what I've found is that the more they're focused on the destination, the more that we're focused on where we're going to be, rather than looking to who we are, where we're heading. And realize that every moment of the day is part of that journey. Isn't it the same with road trips? Hey, we're going to Florida. Hey, we're going to California. Hey, we're going to Michigan. Hey, we're going to where? It's going to be a fun time. We're going to see a game. We're going to ride a ride. We're going to watch a movie. We're going to go to the beach. We're going to find an airplane. But there's always going to be pit stops, there's always going to be nails in the road, there's always going to be a storm, there's always going to be a wreck, there's always going to be somebody getting diarrhea in the middle of nowhere at 3 o'clock in the morning. There's nothing you can do about it. Why does it ruin the destination? It's part of... It's part of the journey. Journey is the point. Every single breath and every single day is a point. The script is that Jesus looked beyond the cross to the glory. The cross is just a tiny little step to it. The pain is just a tiny little step stool. The ashes that we saw in our lives, the ashes of the ruins of failures and problems and pains, that is what is under our feet. That is what builds the ground to the next apex of the next cliff. And we're never going to reach the peak. There is no such thing as the peak. There is no such thing as the final destination. And so we're walking around this world thinking every single day, why, why, why, why? How can I escape? How can I overcome? How can I become this and this? How can I do that? And we're seeking that which is already ours. We're looking to become something that we already are. And if we would very clearly see that we just take off the ears. I talk about this almost every week now. Because the book talks about it. Put off the old self. To death, that which is in the flesh. and be made alive in the spirit. As long as we are making a table, a setting for what we can do and what we can accomplish, we are forgetting who we are. Ask the question today, what do you know? Put in the first, what do I need right now? What do I need right now? Some just need to be left alone, I just need to be by myself. No, you don't. That's what you want, because that's the answer to your peace. Well, what I need right now is for somebody else to change. Oh my, and you are really one of the fools there, Aaron. I think somebody else's change is going to make pee for you. Well, I need more money. Then what? Temporary relief. Temporary desires. Desires you never knew you had now come cause you can. And then, you're in the same financial place you were a year ago with more in your pocket. That shit you no longer have. Because you're not content. Well, be in shape. Okay. Get it. Then be consumed by that journey. Be consumed by that destination. I mean, I've never met a mole. And I've never met a bodybuilder that was happy with their body. They live in a glass of mirrors. You never continue. If what you need is always a step away. What you need is to see who you are right now, and to content therein, and to decide, is this just to me? And if it's the true you, then live there and grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, and know there is no end to the growth. There is no end to the glory, there is no end. The glory of God is infinite. You can't look and say, oh, I've seen it. Hallelujah. Next, God's glory is not an exhibit to be admired. It's an endless gaze that is never full. We are in Christ. We too share that. So in an infinite, tiny, and a finite way, I'm able to look at my life every day and go, go, huh? There's more to learn. There's more experiences. There's more to deliver. I had a Keystone. Year's Eve. Day. And it was one of the best experiences I've had in a very long time. It was. I was giddy and in pain. laughing and hurting. But not once did my mama lose track of where I was going. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I can't wait to start writing about that journey. And I don't want another. But so be it. What will? Have that at an infection, or a month's frozen shoulder, or a broken foot that causes me septic. What will? What will? What is now in your life hope you don't experience? Why focusing there? Why is your heart? That's called anxiety. That is a lack of hope. That is a lack of faith. And it's okay. It's part two of the journey. Also a part of the journey. You're never going to escape it. You're never going to escape it. But I want you to know The greatest things that we can learn out of Peter's writing here is we are armed with everything we need to face everything we're going to. And that's what I see here. I mean, it only takes about eight minutes, a standard pace, to read this letter from beginning to end. If you're reading in your mind, you could probably read it in three. Or if you read it slowly, you read it in 10. Does it matter? The point is that here we are, a five-minute letter is still a thousand plus years later taking us a year to read and to unpack because the application in this dissenter causes us to think and to consider and to contemplate and to be arrested by its warner. There are poems that I have spent years eating. And in pieces of literature and movie plots and shit, I've spent decades going, going, wow, wow. A little piece here and there, but only the Bible can you read a thousand tongue times and still find new. Not new, something you've not seen before, but new in the way that it is new today. It's new in power, it's new in purpose. It's new in its presence. So I want you to listen in chapter 3, verse 10. Oh, I cannot stand it. I've got it. I've got it. I've learned to just move. It starts, there was all for Christ. But you know the context there. There's suffering, and Peter is here as said to be gentle in spirit, know who you are, know who you are in the gospel, and the good report, the story of Jesus, and what he did, who he is, what he accomplished. There's people, and that you'll be slandered, but live a life that the slander is obviously lies. Live a life in such a way that when people say, how are you enduring here, you give a reason for the hope that is in you, gentleness and respect, do it always with gentleness and respect. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be God's will, than for doing evil. Baptism being submerged under which sponsor saves you as not cause it removes the dirt on the body body but as a little God for a good conscience. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was submerged into death, baptized into death, who was gone in heaven and is in his right hand of God with angels, authorities, all powers having been subjected to him. As we talked about last week, since therefore verse 1 of chapter 4. Christ suffered in the flesh. Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased sin. To live for the rest of the time in flesh is no longer human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. Meaning insensuality, passion, drunkenness, orgy, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to their surprise, When you do not join them in the same debauchery, they malign you. But they give account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead. This is why the gospel did report that the good story was preached even to those who were dead. That though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. So, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving another earnestly, since its love covers a multitude of ends. Show hospitality to one another without outgoing and complaining. As each has a gift that they have received, use it to serve each other, as good students of the very grace of God. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. As in order in everything, God may be glorified in Jesus Christ. Because to Him, long glory and dominion ever and ever. Amen. Over the next four weeks, I'm going to unpack this first eleven verses of of the four. But I want you to see today that we are armed with the with the Christ. Chapter 4 verse 1-2 is all we're gonna do today. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself the same way I'm waking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased sin and so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh longer for human passion for the will of God. What does this all mean? Well, since therefore Christ has suffered in the flesh, are cells with the same thinking. I'm not picking up the connection, maybe you say, because maybe it's because you break it down so slowly, and we go so slowly, you're not reading it together. Suf Suf Saints. They were kicked out of their own home and they lost everything. They lost their identity, they lost their nation, they lost their government, they lost their houses, they lost their family, they lost everything. And they were kicked into other areas of the world where they had power, they had no clout, and they were actually hate. Peter says you need to assimilate, and you need to be quiet, and you need to drive yourself to peace, and to hope, and to live, and to work with your hands. See this in Saint Paul and to the other Gentiles in the same situation. Just do what's right. Live at peace with people. Give a reason for the hug you have when they say, How are you enduring this when people hate you? How is your mind so focused on peace? It's better to suffer for doing good. For Christ suffered once for sins. Righteousness for the righteous. So therefore, Croc suffered in the flesh, in this way, and hated it, and even endured the wrath of God, in this way. Arm yourself with the same way of thinking. So my first question we started today is what's on your mind? Now some people will tell you to refrain. Now what does that mean? So you have an altar, and you're looking at it like, that's boring. Take that picture out of that frame, put it into this frame, that looks pretty good. I know when we got married everything was gold, gold plated. Plates were gold plated, frames were gold gold plated, the bowls were gold. There's always gold, or bronze, or brass, something goldish on every decor. Now that's like gone. Everything's muted, blues, greys, browns. When I was a kid, everything was harvest gold and green. Flowers, or stripes. And somewhere, thank God I missed it, Zebra and Lepant came into play. Never really been to that. But you know what I'm talking about. Things change. You go into the house that's cluttered in the 1980s, like all this big furniture with this bad fab looks like it's covered in wool, weighs 750,000 tons, you gotta get a backhoe in there to move the sofa. And you go in there now and you're like, wow. As if you're thinking, man, Grandma's house is old. But then 50 years later, you're like, that's expensive furniture. I like that stuff. Where's that at? It's a reframe. We're looking at it through a different lens. We're looking at it through a different piece of glass. So you need to think about how you frame the world around you. Some people just say, well, just change the way you see it. Just change the way you think. That doesn't work. You're living in a fantasy you just reframed for the sake of reframing. Well, I broke my arm. No, you didn't. Just think of it a different way. You became more flexible. That's just ridiculous. A real frame is an opportunity to reflect on positive or other point of view, but you can't pretend that that point of view is real when it's not real. So a frame must align in reality. Otherwise, you're living a fantasy. So Abraham sacrificed Isaac because he could see that the frame that he looked in the flesh was like, I'm about to kill the very, very son that I longed for before it promised me. But he'd say he'd be the father of many nations. So if he dies, God's gonna bring him back. Okay, let's do this. And then God stopped him. So in a real sense, he did rise back from the dead because he was as good as his dad. Just like Abraham back from the dead because he was as good as his dad when it came to bearing children. Or to get to, you know, he and I have to have children. So the frame had reality. Don't live false reality. Don't live in fantasy. That's what anxiety is all about. That's what anxiety or avoidance is all about. We worry about it or we're gonna think about it at all. We're gonna live in a false place. Both of which are prisons. So when you think about it, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking. The suffering Christ was not a demise for him. The suffering of Christ was not something he worried about. Yes. Did he fear it? Absolutely. Did he want it past us? Yes, we saw that. Did he live his entire life in fear of it? No. The moment of his arrest, before that, he prayed. Then he got up and resolved. Because my IQs are low. It's probably what he said. Let's go. Let's do this. My IQs are cunts. Let's go. Facing fear. Understanding the reality of what that experience is supposed to be. It's fuel. Fuel to what? Journey. To the ultimate destination, which is a continual journey of learning and discovering and understanding. A continual journey of resolve. So we should arm ourselves with the same way of thinking. So Christ suffered in the flood. Peter here is connecting. This passage is death. I've already read there, in verse 18, He suffers for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. That He might bring us to God. So the suffering of Christ's purpose, therefore, our suffering has purpose. What does it do? James tells us that it rinds us, it grows us, it helps us be steadfast. Peter's going to tell us in chapter 4, well, do not be surprised at the fire trial that comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's suffering that you may also rejoice and be glad when the glory is revealed. If you're salted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. Let no one suffer as a murder thief, or a murderer, or a meddler. But if anyone suffers a follower of Jesus, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Same thing over there. Those suffer for a while if necessary, and this suffering, what does it do? What does it do? Test the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes through it. By far, it may be the result of the praise and the glory and the honor of the revelation of Christ Jesus. Not seeing me loving him, do you not now see you love him? Rejoice with the joy that is often inexpressible. and filled with glory, and the outcome of your salvation, the outcome of your soul, the outcome of your hope, your rest, faith, which is the work of Christ, and his work knew that his suffering was a part of glory, of that revelation, of that reality, of that core identity, of that core purpose, of that value. Christ's suffering was purposeful, it was not arbitrary, but it was designed to accomplish something. Arm yourself with that same mindset. What does a kidney stone prepare you for? A lot of essays. And a lot of jokes. What if I weren't even a believer? Look at the material that I have. Look at it. But why not? It super-empowers my empathy for pregnancy and labor. It super-superpowers empathy for people who've said, I've had a kidney stone. Superpowers my aunt for people who are not in a right state of mind when they suffer. Reminds me of where I used to be when I'd had an injury or it gets cannot be wet for years. Because it causes emotional fallout. It helps me see well. Wow! What is this in comparison to suffering in the reign of Christ? Nothing. Not nothing. It's part of life. Woe is me. Absolutely not. Yes, it's me. It's for me. What if it's a deeper? What if it's a loss of a loved one? What if it's regret? What if it's something I can't undo? You can't undo any of it. You can be who you are in the midst of you and everything you suffer is for you to grow stronger and to give glory to God. Give glory to God for it. The suffering of Christ is what accomplished our redemption. He did it willfully. He laid down his life so that he might take it back again. So this sets the foundation, this sets the bedrock for us to sit upon as believers that our suffering has meaning and rooted theologically according to the Bible in the participation with Christ's victory over death. Hebrews 12.2. We talked about Hebrews for a little bit a minute ago. Hebrews 12.2. Look to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith. I mentioned this already. Who for the joy of crawl, of joy, that was set before him endured the cross. Despise and shame. And is at the right hand of God. Takes the cross to be seated at the right hand of God. Excruciating comes from the compound of from the cross. Excruciate out of us. It's the only word that exists to describe pain that came from the actual place that that pain was felt, which is crucifixion. Days. Christ's joy in his suffering came from the ultimate glory that it would bring the life of his people in the exaltation of his prominence and preeminence. Christ's suffering in the flesh also highlights his humanity in John's gospel. I haven't even jumped back in there in a couple weeks. What's wrong with me? We see He. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ. Our Father in the footsteps of their Savior. And we have the mind of Christ. In His humility, He came to Earth to set us free. So our suffering sets us free from something. So now we are armed in the same way of thinking. The thing of being armed. I know a lot about that. I know a lot about being armed, being prepared, being vigilant. I know a lot about defending myself, protecting my family. I know what a home agent feels like. I know what an attack feels like. I know what it feels like for people to try to jack you. I know what it's like for people to mug you, for people to try to steal your bicycle. I've come up on many opportunities where people have mugged and robbed and chased down the perpetrators. I know what it's like to be fronted, to be accosted, to be threatened, to have a gun pulled on you. And it's a little weird, sorta liked it. In my mind, I was armed and ready for those occasions. Just weapons, not just personal defense. But in my mindset, I wasn't worried about the outcome. Because I had the control. Now, that's a little naive. And by the mercies of God, I served well through the years. But there's one thing for sure. is that if I have to get out of the night and I have to go somewhere downtown in a town that's not pleasant and I know I'm going to be in a place that has probably no homicides an hour I'm not going to get out of the truck haphazardly I'm going to be prepared, I'm going to be vigilant, I'm going to be aware and I'm going to make sure that I do what I have to do to have all the tools that are necessary for my survival and even then it doesn't mean that I'm going to survive But I'm not going to walk into something unprepared. So we see here, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. I want you to get that preparedness mindset, almost like physical military-type preparedness. Because the imagery here, that word for arm, should strike up in its original language like a soldier going to battle. Soldier's gonna have his ammunition, he's gonna have his artillery, he's gonna have his fellow soldiers with him, he's going to have a plan, he's going to have an officer, he's gonna know where he's supposed to be. There's gonna be strategy, there's going to be everything. Everything that is needed for preparation. In our thinking, we have to have everything needed in that preparation. So believers, the weapon that we take up and make sure that we have is the mind of Christ. Everybody was going to Ephesians 6. Oh yeah, here we go, baby. Give me these weapons. The weapons of righteousness in the right and the left hand. The Word of God. The weapons of preparation is the mind of Christ, which is this being too. Christ, being odd, didn't doubt that at all, and didn't use position, but made himself a slave and died instead. It's not a very superhero. It's not a very good script. It's not a very good gelanti. It's not very good. It's super anything. It's a super stupid guy. Are you ready? I'm armed and ready. What's your weapon, sir? I'm going in with the mind of Jesus. Which is? Tump up over the tables? Throw him out of the thing? Kick the stone off the grave and say, I'm back! No. I'm nothing. And I trust myself to the Father. Judge is right. And if I suffer all the way, it's okay. I get it all. I've won it all. It's all mine. I am the king. I'm the child of a king. They can't kill me. That's crazy. Isn't that powerful? It's ridiculous. Go back to the ridiculous part, right? But it's the mind of Christ. I don't know why, but you know, growing up as an 80s kid, You can't touch this. I just hear his hammer all the time in this. You can't touch the joy. You can't touch it. You can't take it. You touch the resolve. Or how hard we ought to establish this core core identity and this absolute value of suffering does. Just like with Job. Okay, go ahead, touch him. Take it all. And take his life, take everything else. God told Luther. And Job never stopped thanking God. He had his moments, yes! But his resolve was... was unshakable. And my biggest frustration in life today is the lack of service with my mobile provider. I'm having a bit of it. My feral mind just wants to get upset about Pamperston that I don't get. It's nothing. It's nothing. Soldiers train for battle. Law for enforcement aim for the streets. Believers train their minds through sure. Romans 12, and I preached on this some time this year. To be renewed, to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. I have an extremely large set of works that I've written in the last two years. And I've broken them down over the last month or so, or a few months actually. Now I'm putting them together for a course. To be taught in a simple way. But it all starts with discovery. Everything in life starts learning, growing, and that process never stops. And the more we grow, the more we understand, the more we find our identity, the more we discover our values, the more we discover who we really are, who we really want to be, then we can answer the question, what do I need? And then we can seek after that and align our lives into the areas of discovery. But it's not going to be easy as we try to get things on track. We're going to have to refine ourselves. We're going to have to refine the path. We're going to have to refine the journey so that we can live according to our true selves. Well, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient unto death. Thus, we are armed with that mind. Whoever has, listen to this next phrase, whoever has suffered, the flesh has ceased from sin. Now I could probably spend the rest of the time here, but I don't want to. I want to get through a few applications here in a minute. But why is this here? What does that mean? You could say I still do things that aren't right according to the book. Or I still feel things. Or I still do things that aren't perfect. That's absolutely okay. The word sin means it's the mark. Everyone misses the mark but Jesus. And Jesus' perfection is applied to our account. One day we will be like him. So we are the righteous as God. We have ceased from sin. How would Peter throw that there? That's where we put our brains. We put our brains, instead of learning and discovering and living and letting the journey be the point, we put our brains on the destination of what we're trying to become. Well, I gotta perfect this, and I gotta get this outta here, and I gotta, and then we end up actually moving into a space of ZZZZ. More like an investigative police officer that's trying to get a K because he can't get a quota, so he's just gonna investigate everybody. We look ourselves in such a way that we try to figure out ways of getting rid of everything that doesn't make Mark. It is not what the Bible tells us to do. Well, the reason this happens is because I did this, this, that, and the other. Okay, responsibility. We're right along. Grow up. Let's go. Let's go, let's get beyond this, and then learn and discover. Every failure we've had, had part of the journey that God has established for our good. Abraham, liar, deceiver, distrusting person, yet he's in the Hall of Faith. David, same thing. Noah, same thing. Joseph the son. We don't emphasize that as the heir. We emphasize the son of Christ, the eminence of Christ, who is at the right hand of God. We emphasize the mind of Christ, the dream. It is the point. So whoever has suffered the flesh has ceased sin, and Peter reflects This is a decisive break from the power of sin. It doesn't mean perfection, but a shift in allegiance. See, my focus is not to overcome sin. My focus is not to give in to sin. My focus is not to live for sin. My focus is that I am the righteous God. God wows who I am. Awesome, this is my new identity. Let me walk that way. And my suffering allows me to, with the mind of Christ, which is just my armor and my weapons, what do I do here? Do I go into sin that I may feel a little tiny temporary reprieve, feel good about things? No, I do not feel about things, but this is taking me someplace else. I have a tire on the way to Florida, do I blow up a car and throw myself off a cliff? No, I put a new tire on and we have a really time when we get there. Our old self-sacrifice was crucified with him. Who was died has been set free from sin. Romans 6, 6, 6. Suffering for us in Christ refines us. So that we may live and amplify the life of Christ in our lives, even in our suffering. It's not potting, it's not pretending, it's not colloquialisms, not cliches. It's literal, authentic, pure, and real responses from pure heart. At overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. It is the best day of my life. It should be the best day of your life. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord should be your strength. There is no informing me that shall prosper. There is no weapon formed against you that should prosper. But look, I'm hurt. That doesn't mean it's proper. People who are in medals as heroes usually come with wounds. Despite popular opinion by pompous idiots, the ones who once were cats are the greatest heroes. They endured much suffering. Prisoners of Civil War. So, this refinement clarifies our priorities and it loosens the grip of the world and everything. It loosens the grip of, wait, we gotta fix this person in my life, we gotta fix this relationship in my life, we gotta fix this issue with my health, we gotta fix this issue with my focus, we gotta fix this, I gotta find myself, I gotta do this, if I just have sex, I'd be happy. What? Noolash, you're gonna be more miserable with more responsibility when you get it. if it's required for happiness. Suffering is transformative. It deepens our dependence on God, strengthens our resolve against sin. I like to quote that out of James 1, verses 2, 3, and 4. Now, here's the kicker. I work with a lot of people. And I teach these things and frameworks without the Bible. A lot of people are seeing this become reality for them without even the Word of God. But they've been selling stuff in their own identity, understanding themselves and the value that they have. Shouldn't it be even more so powerful in the lives of believers? Cause I can kick-kick the can James tips-tip all the way back to the end of the road and when I kick off the clip-clip, there's the glory of God. True for you, for you, beloved. Whoever suffered in the fruit of the flesh, ceased from sin. So as to live-live for the time of the flesh, no longer for human impassion, but for the will of-will of God. See, it's the culmination of this entire argument here. There has come-come to this illusion. that we are no longer enslaved to the passions of the flesh, but we are now free to pursue the will of God, which is what? Love one another earnestly, because love covers a multitude of sins, and hospitality to one another without grumbling or complaining. If you have a gift in your life, if you are a gift of life, use it to serve one another, but that isn't yours, you are a steward of it, the grace of God. So if you speak, then speak as one who speaks because of God. If you serve, serve as one who serves the strength that God has given you, so that in everything, God would be seen as who he is through Jesus Christ, the word glorified, because to him belong all the glory, amen, forever and ever, so it is. Amen. That's the point, right? What am I gonna be strong for? Because you are a gift to the world. And if you are in Christ's face, you are a powerful gift to the world. Not that you can trash out this theological stuff and get everybody to agree with you. That's garbage, and honestly, I'm gonna say something that's very shi-shaking. I think that most people who fight in so deeply are demonically troll. I'm going to say that clearly. Most people who fight over theological things are demonically controlled. Soapbox moved. Because they don't love anyone more than themselves. They have no love world. And they know the love of God. Did I just say theology wasn't important? No, I did not. Because I teach it every week. But that's not the purpose of us living Christ in this world is to right the wrongs. The letters of the New Testament are the wrongs in the church. We are to love one another and show hospitality with one another without ever complaining. You see that? That's a strong statement. Well, I say what is true about my life and no one tell me that I'm wrong. So let that sit for a second. Yes, when I was in bed and those those things and fall and pray to those things, that was out of the spirit of God. So. Changed my mind. I was a slave to the powers of darkness. In those areas. Can I fight it? Can I argue it? Can I hate it? You believe it. Is that what my calling is? Nowhere to be found in the New Testament. My calling is to live joyfully as a lot of people because Christ loves me. To proclaim the excellencies of his good story. To live the rest of our lives in the flesh no longer for human passions. No longer for the flesh, for the will of God. For the rest of time. So, as to live for the rest of the time in flesh. I've been back in this area for 13 years. And it has gone so fast. And when I do this twice more, I'll be 77. Have time. Play. Where am I going? I need to be there now! You do, you do too! The reason time goes by so fast is cause you're busy looking to a place that doesn't exist yet. Hoping to get there. Hoping to find that one day, next year, New Year's Resolution. Alright, this'll be the year. How about, what is today? What are you doing today? Makes a difference for a channel. You ever had a lazy day and it's like, wow, wow, just felt like the longest day ever? Why can't every day feel this way? Because you weren't thinking about anything else that you hoped to do, get to. You were just present. I've been in the ministry 27 years. 24 years longer than Jesus. What have I left? Doesn't matter. I know where I am today. Rest of time I'm underscores the urgency of our tiny little brief life. Reminding us our days are finite. And that they need to be lived within an eternal purpose. Paul would say very clearly in Galatians 20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And though I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me. So let me recap. We need to have the set of Christ in our suffering. To understand that the power of sin has been broken. so that we can live for the will of God and give Him glory. How do we do that? I've said all these things, but I'll lay them out there very clearly for you. We prepare our mind every single day, being armed with the mind of Christ. What does that mean? Prayer, meditation, mindfulness, embodiment. Meditate on the passes that the Bible teaches about who we are. about the promises of God. Meditate on passages that remind us of the humility and the obedience of Christ that we may be driven to the same thing. Not out of guilt or fear, but out of gratitude and love. And we need to ask God every day to give us the strength and the heart to be thankful for trials. Lord, help me be faithful, even when I don't feel like it. Not, oh God, I gotta be faithful or I'll feel like I'm dead. Come on, difference. Second thing is we need to embrace suffering as a tool, as a powerful tool. It's one of the greatest tools that's ever been given to us. To refine us, align us, to discover that we may amplify our lives for the sake of. Suffering strips away all the layers of distractions. Exposing what truly matters. Consider months of suffering in our life. The question, do they draw me closer to God or deepen our trust in His provision? And if they don't, we need to keep digging. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, he talks about all these terrible things and he goes, for we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being glorified day by day. As we look not to the things that are temporal, but to the things that are eternal. The things that are temporal are just passing away. Journaling helps. Authentic journaling helps. Write it raw, baby. Write it raw, honest. It's not for publication anyway. You need to speak to God truly. And you can evaluate your priorities as you unfold these things. You're living for human passions. You're living for human hobbies. You're living for theological things that are human hobbies and passions. You're living for ministry things that are human hobbies and passions. You're looking to try to see that you are right, or you are good, or you are worthy. You are worthy! Because God says you are. So live in that. With all these passions, they masquerade as harmless, harmless purses. These interesting endeavors are as these real deep, deep trumissions. What they do, they pull us away from the heart of God. Do not love the world or the things of the world, for if anyone loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So we gotta look at our calendar, we gotta look at our finances, we gotta look at our time, we gotta look at our arts. And not in a way of fear, just like the first thing I said, not in a way of going, oh, look at all this money. No, listen, we find what we find when we find it. But if what we're doing in life and what we're pursuing is not pushing us to our hope and our identity in Christ as a journey every single day, and we're really trying to get away from it to get someplace else, let's align ourselves. Months ago I said that submission is really aligning ourself with the heart of another. Submit yourselves to the Lord. Everywhere we're submitted to, is it? Is that voice loud in our lives? Is it leading us to where we want to be? And then focus on an eternal purpose. Life's short. But life's not urgent. Do not live with urgency. I will not live with urgency. Because if I live with urgency, I don't live with wisdom. And if I live with urgency, I have to decide in my own wisdom, is that urgent? Well, if it's not fire, or pooping, it's probably not urgent. Made that up last week. Now, take my joke for what it is. But every moment matters. Look carefully at how you walk. Walk as unwise but as wise, Paul says at the Church Ephesus. Making the best use of time because the days are evil. So let's make sure that our goals, the hopes, the focus, allows us to live intentionally with the people around us. Intentionally with the purpose that God's called us to be lovers. Serving, mentoring, teaching, leading, sharing, So let me ask you some questions in closing. How are you arming yourself with the mind of Christ? What areas of our life do we see our past competing with the one of God? How many moments of suffering have shaped you to break free? How is your eternal perspective of helping you make the most of your time every day? Nowhere to stop. Thinking about what Jesus said. This is my body. Which is broken for you. And this is my blood which you shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Remember this. That's why we do the table every week. Always puts the emphasis on what Christ is. And what he did to save his people. So that we're never ever just a few hours away from that mindset being reminded about. And then we spend every day not guilt laden, not frustrated, not fearful, but every day as if it were the only day that we're not on fire. We're present in this moment for the sake of God, Lord. Father, give us peace. Give us peace. And give us hope and give us joy and give us focus. To discover who we are in you. And to understand everything that we go through aligns us with your will and purpose and refines us in our mission and our journey that we may make. Just expose ourselves to the world as your people. That they see us and hear us and walk with us to freedom. We thank you for the truth of this. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.