We read in Psalm 2, why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand against Yahweh and against his anointed, his Messiah, saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Let me illustrate that in my introduction tonight. That means there's a flow. There's a flow of the world, and that's the way the world is going. Everyone is saying, forget God and forget what He says, and we don't have to obey, and we don't have to believe in Him, and we don't have to acknowledge our Creator. We'll pretend like He doesn't exist. And that's what it is, to cast away their cords from us and tear their fetters from us. And that's the flow of the world. And that's the challenge that we're all facing, is that's how the world is flowing. But He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord, that's Adonai, the Hebrew word is Adonai, the master, the boss, scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them with his fury saying, but as for me, I have installed my king upon my holy mountain, upon Zion, my holy mountain. The geographical reference is Jerusalem and Israel, the land God has promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever and ever and ever. the throne of David on Zion, which will be a throne occupied by the son of David forever and ever and ever and ever. And that son of David, that Messiah, that anointed of God, then says, I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance. The very ends of the earth is your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware." Okay, the flow, according to the Bible, the biblical worldview says that the flow of all the people is going this one direction in opposition to God. And God's answer to that is judgment and the coming of the Lord Jesus, the messianic reign of Christ is a reign of judgment in righteousness and love. But here's the way the righteous loving God deals with wickedness, with sin, with the problem that man proposes, man poses in his rebellion against him. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Sometimes the way to apply this in our lives is to look at the monolithic power of the world in opposition to God in all its many ways and just look at the news a little bit. And when you start to feel that niggling despair of the unraveling of civilization, you've found what I'm talking about. And it seems impossible for us to solve, and it is. And we then kind of feel that need to despair at the power of the enemy and his deception of even this nation. And then we come to this. The master is going to send his king, and his king is going to rule, and that rule is not at all troubled by the monolithic power of God's enemy deceiving the nations. It's not a problem. He will break them with a rod of iron, shatter them like earthenware, and here's the way. All those people and all their kings flowing in this one direction of opposition and ignorance and rebellion against God. This is what they all need to do. This is the application of the warning, man is on notice now for 3,000 years since these words were written. Now therefore, O king, show discernment, take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenant-keeping God who is the creator of all things. God who exists eternally as one God in three persons. Worship Yahweh with reverence and rejoice with trembling. And then let's specify, kiss the sun. The Son of God is God the Son. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Kiss the Son that he not become angry and you perish in the way. Remember his rod of iron? For his wrath may soon be kindled, yet how happy are all who take refuge in him. There really are two ways. There's wisdom and folly. There's God's way and not God's way. There's sin and righteousness. And there is therefore for us, we who are born in sin and broken, there is grace. and any effort man has to merit God's favor, which will ultimately end in failure. The glory of God is our objective tonight and always as we emphasize the grace of God and the study of his precious word. Let's take a moment for silent prayer. Make sure that we are not following the flow of the world and its opposition to God, but rather we're walking in fellowship with him. This is the interesting thing that happens when you who are in Christ, You who have your lives hidden with Christ in God, you who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and have been imputed with his perfect righteousness, it's been declared to your account. When you and I say no to God and our choices in the moment and we commit personal sin, that's an absurdity. It's an absurdity that we all know all too well. And what we do about that is we take it to God and confess it. and He forgives us and cleanses us, and I'm talking about in a fellowship sense, and to restore us and fit us for our service. Let's pray. Father, tonight, as we open the words of scripture, I pray that you'll show us how wealthy we are because we have you as our heavenly Father, because the Lord Jesus Christ is our life for us to live as Christ and to die as gain. Father, help us adopt this attitude, this perspective, and strengthen us, stabilize us. Take our faith, Father, harden it into the hope that stabilizes us for the crisis. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. We have walked a little bit through the life of Joseph. in its segment in Genesis as it's addressing what Genesis is actually doing, the life of Jacob and how Jacob ends up in Egypt. Well, Joseph is the answer. And we've been looking and applying in some detail, the life of Joseph in this consideration of Christian stability in times of historical uncertainty, Christian stability in times of historical uncertainty or any time, but especially these times when it seems like reality is in a perpetual earthquake and everything seems to be falling apart. and we have no idea what God is going to do with us or how history is going to turn, but we do know that we are, in times like this, we're more aware that we are so dependent upon Him for all that we have. And that's a good thing that we're recognizing that. To conclude the story of Joseph is to take you to the end of Genesis. And last time we finished chapter 47, where Jacob has his interview with Pharaoh. Well, we finished part of chapter 47. Jacob is interviewing with Pharaoh and Pharaoh says, how old are you? And Jacob says, I'm too young to be this old, basically. I haven't, my years have been too short and my life has been too bad. And I haven't enjoyed the length of time that God gave my fathers. And that's not the report you want to give the pagan king as God's representative on earth when the pagan asks you, how old are you? But that's Jacob's answer. And we said it's probably because he's dishonored his father. Short life. And I mean, long life and good days in the land is the promise in Deuteronomy and in Exodus when we honor our parents. And so that's the lesson in part we learned from Jacob's life. But the way the story of Joseph concludes is that he's successful. He gets his family secured in Goshen in the land of Egypt. And it was God's plan, but his brother's wicked acts and Joseph's faith all working together actually God working those things together for the good of saving life. Now Jacob dies in chapter 48 and blesses Joseph's sons before he dies and he blesses his sons and we have the prophecies of Jacob on his sons and we're not going to cover that. I've made a strategic choice and said this isn't a series on Genesis so we're not going to do the really the awesome spade work that's necessary to go through all the blessings of Jacob's sons, but we do have that in chapter 49. And then the way Joseph's story of what God was doing in his life ends. is in chapter 50, where Jacob dies. In chapter 49, verse 33, Jacob finished charging his sons and drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last. And he was gathered to his people. That's the death of Israel, of Jacob. And then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And this is a very significant moment in the life of the 12 tribes, the 12 sons of Jacob, of Israel. Because now Joseph is not responsible to his living father with his living father's oversight and how he treats his brothers who threw him into that abominable slavery which eventuated in imprisonment. The harsh treatment that he received at the hands of his brothers Joseph has already told him when he revealed himself in chapter 45, don't hate yourselves. Don't be bitter about what you've done on your own account, but God was doing something. God sent me ahead of you to save your lives. That was Joseph's account when he first revealed himself to his brothers. And now there's been 17 years of Jacob's sojourn in Goshen. through this famine that was completed. And they were able to survive because of all the famine stuff that God did through Joseph, the deliverance of the people through wise governance and a little bit of divine revelation that was coming this famine. But they've lived for 17 years with Jacob and all the sons and all their wives and children, Jacob's grandkids. And they've lived for almost 20 years since. Now Jacob has died. And so the brothers are concerned. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, this is the end of Genesis, Genesis 50, verse 15. They said, what if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him? Remember, 38 years ago, when we sold him into slavery, and then 21 years later, he revealed himself as the prime minister of Egypt and didn't hold it against us and said, God sent us ahead. What if 38 years later, he really is going to get us back, is what they say, because now it's not the family structure that holds Joseph at bay. Jacob is gone. He has no accountability to his living father. He would just have to honor his memory or something, or his own word, or more importantly, God. Is Joseph the man that his father thinks he is? Is Joseph the man that Jacob thought he was? Will he be good with his word? So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father charged us before he died saying, thus you shall say to Joseph, please forgive, I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin for they did you wrong. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of God, of the God of your father. So we're gonna throw God up there. We're God's servants and the God of your father. So honor your father, like notice the way the story works, like Jacob didn't in deceiving Isaac. Now you've got an opportunity. Every moment of your life where there's a choice to be made, it's an opportunity. Now you've got an opportunity to honor your father. And we're the servants, not only the children of your father, your brothers, but of the God of your father, we're his servants. So they make it theological as we all should and must. So verse 17, Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Those might be some of the prettiest words in the word of God. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. It's almost like, I'm sad that you would even think you need to say this to me. Because I told you already, I told you 17 years ago, I forgive you. God's doing something here. This is what God is doing. This is the way we want the story to end. Very interesting the way Solomon, when he becomes king, cleans up after David dies. All the people that wronged David in any way leading up to David's death that David forgave and Solomon goes and kills them all. If you watch the story. In verse 18, then Joseph's brothers also came in and fell down before him and said, behold, we're your servants. But Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for am I in God's place? You're God's servants. Am I in God's place to judge God's servants? This is what Paul will say. In Romans 14, who are we to judge the servant of another? But Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for I am in God's place. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good toward me. Your evil against me was God's good toward me. Now think about this. God works all things together for good. You selling me into slavery was your evil intent, but God's good intent. He had a good motive, a good intention behind it. in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. So therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. And then the rest is the honoring of Joseph's bones. And it's a great prologue to the Pentateuch. This is a great introduction to tell the people, the original audience, Israel in the Exodus, who they were and where they came from. It ends with an incredible testimony. This is what the heart of God is like. God is long-suffering. He is slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. He's the God of compassion. And that's the way Moses ends God's effects on the life of Joseph, on who he is. Tonight, I want to turn the corner from the life of Joseph in our extended study of this topic, Christian stability in times of historical uncertainty, the purpose in picking the life of Joseph apart in some detail and trying to dramatize it. The purpose, I hope you understand, has been to say it sounds just like the way we live, the way we think, we react the same way the readers and the characters in the story react to things. And The difference between the story of Joseph and the story of your life is that you can't see what God is doing in your life. He doesn't give you a God's eye view of your life. He gave you a God's eye view of Joseph's life to see this is how God deals with his kids. And you're one of them. And so this gives you great courage to remember this is the God with whom we have to deal. And God is doing many things, and you're facing one hardship, one thing that you're like, this is the biggest thing. No, this is one of the many little pin strokes, okay, in the beautiful thing that God is painting, the beautiful mosaic that he's building that you're part of. and you're a big part of it, and God is working all things together for good for those, for you, who love Him, for you who are called according to His purpose. Remember, that's the one to memorize is Romans 8.28. When you can't think, when you can't focus, when you can't deal with the hardship, with the crisis, with whatever that has compromised you, you need to say these words until you think them. And we know that for those who love God, this is Romans 8 and verse 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. And you need to say those words, you need to think those words. I don't mean mindless repetition. You need to ask God to help you adopt this perspective and think it through about this thing that has you feeling so overwhelmed. And tonight I want to camp out with you a little bit in three places and talk about how God stabilizes us in a crisis from the New Testament, how God stabilizes us in a crisis. Admittedly, it is a topical message, but it will be unsurprisingly exegetical. We will start with the text, we will watch its patterns, and then we'll apply those patterns to our lives. And here's the little hint as we start. Trust and obey. This is how God stabilizes us in the crisis. Not just trust and not just obey without trusting him, mindlessly going, well, he said do this. Trust and obey. It is personal in every instance. And if you're not doing both of these, you're doing it wrong. Now, I had a question. What is that image that I have right there? Well, I did want you to notice the dome tent in the foreground in the photograph there. the dome tent and the shadow of the Matterhorn. I think that's the Swiss Alps. That's the Matterhorn Mountain. And I thought that was such a striking photo, the way they captured the little pond, little lake with the mirror image of it. It's just such a majestic thing that God made probably through the flood of Noah, how this thing was built. But I just want you to notice the majesty involved and then the little dome tent right there in the corner. This is kind of like how our lives are in a way. There's a little bit of a way you could think about your life. There's this majestic, breathtaking thing that God is doing. There you are in this fragile little situation. And in a way, it doesn't fit the picture. In a way, it's exactly how to think about your life. Fragile, part of the thing, but God is doing a majestic work that sometimes we don't have the perspective to appreciate. So tonight I want to camp out with you. Three places to camp out. And when I say camp out, I mean memorize the passages I'm going to go over. and apply them in your day when you're having a hard time. I mean, you are in a crisis, you're in a struggle, you are overwhelmed, and you just can't, I mean, you're anxious as you can be. This is what you do according to the Bible about that. This is how you handle it. And I've been told in the past, well, what you do is you claim a promise. You get a promise from God and then you claim it. You trust God on the basis of what that promise says. And I think that's what you should do every time there is a promise in scripture that you're dealing with. But I think if you start with exegesis of the promises and the passages that we use as key promises, like Romans 8, 28, if you look at what they're saying, there's more than just say the promise and claim it. There's a little bit more involved as you look at what it says. So three places I want to camp out tonight. The first is Paul's weakest moment in the New Testament. Paul's weakest moment is 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10. Paul's weakest moment. And this is going to give us the rationale for hardship in the Christian life. There are other places we could go to, but here's what I want to tell you. You may be dealing with pressure from people, from systems where people are using structures of authority to oppress you. You might be dealing with government problems. That's systems. You might be dealing with personal relationships that are very painful or just the fear of a horrible outcome financially. Something has you where you're like, I'm hopeless. I am bleak. The sky is falling. I think a lot of what Satan's media systems do with us is try to get us into despair. The sky is falling. In 1975, it was going to freeze us all to death. In 2020, even though the clock that Al Gore proposed has long since run down, we're going to burn up because of the temperatures increase one degree, say, some. And no, all this despair, all this hopelessness is designed to get you in a constant state of anxiety. Well, we'll look at Paul's weakest moment in 2 Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 10, and borrow the rationale that Paul gives the Corinthians in a context where he's demonstrating his bona fides as a real apostle. I thank God that they denied him the respect that was due because of what he tells us in 2 Corinthians 12 for how he dealt with hardship, how he dealt with trouble in this life. The new believer's search for significance is the second campsite. 1 Peter 5, verses 5 through 7, not just 1 Peter 5, 7. If you just claim 1 Peter 5, 7, you don't know what he's even talking about. You gotta grab verse five to get the whole little section to the young men and really that whole piece right before. It's talking about how we deal with one another in the church and our role within the body of Christ. The new believers search for significance is what I'll call 1 Peter 5, 5-7. There's a rationale in that, there's a pattern, there's a way to think and act. that stabilizes you as a fully functional human being made in God's image, born again to a new life in Christ, filled by the spirit. And then we're gonna talk about a certain pattern for prayer. Wouldn't be surprising. It's probably gonna be the most familiar of all these. Philippians chapter four, verses six through seven. Now, if you've never memorized the scriptures that stabilize you, if you've never committed the promises of God to memory, these are the places that I would challenge you to start with an intentional memory work. And here's how this works. You get out a note card, you get a pen that you enjoy writing with. You know, I really like to write with a sharpened pencil, like a good old fashioned yellow, number two, without a chewed up eraser, sharpened pen. I love it. It's one of my favorite things in the world. I write more elegantly with that than any other instrument. It's just how I am. I've heard other people say the same thing because the more you write with it there becomes a little bit of an etched angle and it's perfectly suited for how you're writing because you've worn that angle in and it just you can write so neatly with that. But whatever you use, get out your note card and write this verse down, write the verses down, and then have it with you. And if you, and I've learned this in language classes when we had to make vocabulary cards, you can get an app that has the verse on your phone and you can look at it on your phone. But if you do it by hand and you have it with you physically, there's something that happens in terms of the learning process that you can't get from using electronics. 2 Corinthians 12, verses 7-10, 1 Peter 5, 5-7, and Philippians 4, 6-7. This is where we develop the rationales for Christian stability in times of historical uncertainty. And it's a little bit more involved than claim a promise and trust God by what he said. It involves that for sure, that's a great summary, but there's a little bit more to the passages that we're going to pull up and how you would properly respond to these. And by the way, It has to do with the imperatives. There are several commands in all of these. Commands. What you do with the command is not, oh, I believe I'm responsible for that. Yeah, you better start with, I believe I'm responsible. But then the next thing you do once you believe you're responsible for the command is you do it. You do what the command says. which is not the same as believing, it's actually doing on the basis of that faith. All right, so let's get into Paul's weakest moment. I hope you understand that there is a lot of energy here in this word of God, and I pray that it will energize you. Paul's weakest moment, what's going on? He just gave the litany of all the sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11 that Paul endured to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Corinthians are not impressed with Paul. They're impressed with other teachers, some of whom apparently are not correct on the gospel or the relationship we have with God. They certainly don't have the mysteries committed to the apostle Paul, the special revelation that he was given from the Lord Jesus face to face. And so they are not impressed with Paul. The Corinthians are carnal. They're Christians, but they're carnal, they're fleshly, they walk like mere men. this is one manifestation they have disrespected disregarded paul and so in the context of explaining his experience of having to suffer for the lord jesus christ he in chapter 12 tells them of the great revelation that he received he tells them in an oblique way he tells them in a kind of a circumlocution I like that word. We keep saying that word. A way of speaking around the issue. He doesn't say, I received from the Lord special revelation. He says, I know a man. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I do not know or out of the body. I do not. He's telling about himself, but he says it in an oblique way so that it's about God. And what he's doing is not about me as the vessel of this special revelation, but that's exactly what Paul is saying. He is in chapter 12, verses one through six. Verse six says, for if I do wish to boast, I will not be foolish for I will be speaking the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. And so what's he talking about? He was caught up to the abode of God, which Paul calls paradise. Paradosis is with God, wherever God is in the abode of God. It used to be in Abraham's bosom. Now it is where God is and all the Old Testament saints are. And here's what he says. I was caught up into paradise, verse 4, and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. He's been given a special deposit of revelation. And now verse 7. Because of the surpassing greatness of these revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there is given to me a kin throne, a thorn in the flesh. Let me be more specific. An angolos, we translate here, messenger, angolos, usually we transliterate angel, from Satan. The thorn of the flesh is a personal oppressive demon that is, it's described, it's so uncomfortable that he's receiving this oppression that it's like a thorn in the flesh. An angolos of Satan to torment me. Now God sent it, but, or permitted it. Satan's angel, Satan's messenger has an intention. This is just like, this is just like Genesis 50. You meant it for evil, God meant it for good. God is keeping Paul at bay. His arrogance is being stymied. He cannot exalt himself. Now, if God wanted to do this to Paul, as important as he is to our spiritual growth, the Christian life, all the doctrine we received from the Apostle Paul, if God thinks that it is so important that Paul not exalt himself, how big a deal is humility for us? How important is it that we never think we're there and we're always striving for it? It's our goal, it's our aim, to humble ourselves before God. See, Paul is allowed to be oppressed. God allows an oppression from Satan to keep him from exalting himself. Verse eight, concerning this thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And my Bible puts verse 9 in part in red letters, because the Lord in Paul, Kurios, usually is a reference to Jesus, emphasizing the deity of Christ, since Kurios is how the Greek Old Testament translation translates Yahweh. And Paul often quotes that, and that was the Greek Old Testament of their day. Concerning this, Thorn in the flesh, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for literally my power is perfected, brought to its full expression in weakness, your weakness. My power is brought to its maximum expression in your weakness. You can't get the power that I want to express through you unless you are weakened sufficiently. Our strengthening ourselves, our pulling ourselves up, our glorifying ourselves stops somehow the maximum expression of God's power through the believer. So this is to your good, even though it is to your pain. That's the rationale that Paul teaches here. Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me, therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake. Now here's what you need to do, Christians. If you're gonna suffer, make sure it's for Christ's sake. Put it on him. Say, I need your help with this. Would you take this off of me and let it be your problem? This is now suffering for Christ's sake. And if we're not, if we're suffering because we're not walking by the Spirit, we're not walking in the Christian life, we're not running the race that's set before us, maybe the suffering is to say, get back on track. But if I'm on track, if I'm walking and I'm running the race that's set before me, I'm walking by the Spirit, then you need to connect your suffering to the sufferings of Christ, that he is maximizing His expression of power through your maximum expression of weakness. When I'm weak, then I'm strong, is the way Paul thinks about his suffering. So let's walk through the rationale. In verse 7, God permitted it, and His purpose was my good. That's the first thing we know, is that the suffering that I have, God permitted it, and it was for my good. Every suffering we have, you can say that. Everything you encounter, you can say that. Now, Paul has special revelation from God about this thorn in the flesh. Well, we have what Paul tells us. All things are working together for good. God permitted it and his purpose was my good. Now, here's what we'll do. It hurts. Gotta hold that out a little vibrato. It hurts. And so God permitted it, so he's mean. No, you gotta think the whole thought. God permitted it and his purpose in it was my good. Both things, you hold on to both. That's the first thing. The second thing we know from verse eight is ow, it hurt. And that addresses our feelings. And our feelings become very powerful. And they overwhelm us. And they overdrive the microphone of our heart. And we can't handle it. This hurts. This is clear. It's emotions. It's feelings. This hurts. Well, maybe my physical pain sensory nerves aren't necessarily my emotional feelings. I don't think when you're in an acute moment of pain, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, I don't think you're really worried about parsing exactly where is the pain coming from. It hurts. And it does no one any good to come along, skippy Christians come along, hi, there's really no problem. All things work together for good, shouldn't hurt you so bad, bye. That's no good, that's not what Paul's dealing with. This hurts and it doesn't stop hurting and the hurt's real. Then we don't invalidate it, we just say, God needs to give us a bigger perspective to encompass this hurt and all that he's doing with it. And so while I'm hurting, I come to be able to rejoice as we watch the process. Remember verse nine ends with him rejoicing. So it hurt and I begged God to remove it. Nothing wrong with that prayer. Now, in this case, it's not God's will. So here we go. God, take it away. He didn't take it away. Well, he's no good, right? That's what we'll do because I asked him to take it away and it's still here. So obviously there's a problem with God. No. I asked him to take it away. He said, apparently in this case, he says no. Praise the Lord. There's something that he's going to do with this. And so I beg God, there's nothing wrong with asking him and expecting him to have his way and it be for my good. That's how we should think. I'm gonna ask him, I'm gonna ask him to have his way, I'm gonna expect his way, and I expect it to be for my good. In this case, he doesn't take the thorn away. That's a really important part in your prayers, is when you say, God, take this away, and he doesn't take it away, you say, blessed be the name of the Lord. This hurts, and it's hard. I'm not saying it's easy to do. I'm saying that that's the thought process, and that's the key. I actually just tipped my hand. It's the thought process. Verse 9, the Lord told me how to think about it. That's the key to this rationale. The Lord tells Paul what to think. He doesn't say, don't you feel empowered, Paul, by your great weakness? No. He says, hey, this is how this works, Paul. This is the math. Your incapacity means my maximum expression. Your total weakness means my maximum power. And so for me to get the maximum power, you're going to have to be brought down to complete incapacity. That's the deal. That's a total thought process. Paul isn't like, oh, this feels like I'm being empowered. Paul, you feel that weakness and feel how bad that hurts? Don't you feel strong? No, I don't. I feel completely helpless because the point is not our feelings. The point is what is God doing? And there's a huge difference. There are gonna be times when you're gonna look back on the thing that you thought you couldn't get over and God got you over it. There are gonna be times when you grow and you develop and you mature, and you're gonna look back on the things that you really struggled with and say, was it really that hard? Remember when you were a little kid and you first learned to ride a bicycle? For some reason, a lot of things I did as a kid, we had to do the hard way. My first bicycle, I think I was six years old, it had 26 inch tires. It was an old school circa 1962 or whatever cruiser. The other kids on their BMXs would laugh at me and chase me. And I could always get away from them because I had 26 inch wheels. And I didn't understand the physics of that, but it worked. But I learned to ride this bike that was really much taller than most kids as they're learning to ride a bike. And was that ever the hardest thing, the fear, especially with, you know, that was a big fall falling off that thing when you're six. You know, I had to get on the curb to get on the bike and to put it against the curb and put the pedal just right and get on it and get a good skip. My dad would run behind me and give me a push. He would shout as I was screaming and, you know, ah, you know, scared. He would shout, pedal, pedal, stop. pedal and I did I wouldn't pedal I'd crash I probably crashed three or four times in the various I think my dad and I probably had four or five bike bike riding experiences before I finally got it son you got a pedal you got to stand up and pedal it's the last thing you want to do you're stand up i'm already six feet off the ground i'm going to stand up now it's it's going to be even bigger fall and hurt myself when i fall off this thing and so now you look back at that you're like son gyroscopic forces if you just get going uh fast enough the thing steadies itself It's really just, just trust the process, you know, and it's easy as can be. But back then it seemed like such a huge hurdle. I remember there were times, I remember, I don't remember when, but I remember the time when I was just a little kid and I would think about riding that bike as it would be my, I would go to bed falling asleep, thinking about and almost dreaming about being able to ride it. It was red. It had, it was, it was great. It had chrome, um, uh, uh, fenders. And I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have, but it was awesome. And when I finally got it, I was so accomplished, right? Now you look back and you're like, come on. It's the easiest thing in the world. We've all got an experience, learn to ride a bicycle. It seemed like an impossible task back then. The thing you're facing today, 10 years from now, if you walk with the Lord and you grow in the word and you trust him and you serve him and you do what he wants you to do, if you make your life about him and make your ambition to please him and you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I mean, if you hunger and thirst after the pure milk of the word, like a newborn baby after his mother's milk, and you really put on Christ, 10 years from now, the thing that you're facing today, I really believe is going to be like when that little kid was trying to learn to bike. You're going to be like, why did that seem like it was so hard? But it just was. It was that tough. Y equals mx plus b. And you tell me m is the slope of the line? Remember, how in the world can m be a slope? And now I look back on that basic pre-algebra stuff, and it's just so fun and easy. You're like, yeah, of course. Back then, it just seems like so impossible. You hurt, and you feel fear, and you've got this disaster looming over you, and it sucks all the air out of your life. It sucks all the joy out of your soul, and it's all you can think about, and it's the impossible thing. It's got this tractor beam that you're just, and you're just chewed up by it, whatever it is. And the solution to that emotional, overwhelmed, compromised, ecstatic, you know, in a really bad way sort of experience is that God tells him how to think about it. Really is that simple. You switch from what you're feeling. It is true. Try to just put that word and start thinking. And if you can't, well, you can. If you think you can't, that's a point of prayer. God, help me think. Help me think this through. The Lord told Paul how to think about it. And the principle is this. Arke soy enkaresmu. Arkeo enkaresmu. is to be sufficient or to be enough. It's a verb that in some cases as a passive means to be satisfied, to be filled up. In an active as it is here, it means to be enough. This satisfies, this fulfills, this is sufficient. That's why it translates, my grace is sufficient for you. But he leads with the verb sufficient. It is sufficient for you what? My grace, my grace. My grace is sufficient for you. this is the principle that he tells him to think. Oh, I feel like I can't handle this, but you're telling me, contrary to how I feel, that your grace is sufficient for me. I didn't think I had enough bullets. I didn't think I had enough energy. I didn't think I had enough stamina. But what you're telling me is that what you provide is enough. So I felt incapable, insufficient, supported, but you're telling me that I am given sufficiency. So contrary to how I feel, I'm going to have to think what you tell me, and this is a shot across the bow of our faith. Will we trust him? Do you trust me that my grace is sufficient for you? And God doesn't leave him there with a riddle, Yoda-like, and say, ah, you know, here's a proverb, my grace is sufficient for you. He's gonna tell him there's mechanics involved, and you need to think through the mechanics. Four. My power, my dunamis, the power in your weakness, asthaneia, is brought to full expression, teleao. My power in your weakness, I've supplied your, it doesn't say your in the Greek, but my, it is my in the original. My power in your weakness is brought to full expression. And I think that through your weakness, my power, me, on all the way and you off all the way equals maximum power, maximum expression for my power. That's the rationale. Think about the theology. I mean, it's nice to do that when you're not biting your nails in a crisis, right? Just think about this. I mean, Paul is in the middle of, oh, this hurts. And God's saying, think this through. And Paul's supposed to like, not think about how he's feeling and feel so much, but think about what God's saying. Apparently it's possible to do. So God tells him a couple of things. There's a purpose in it. I know all about it. I've got this. It's for your good. It actually mechanically accomplishes more of my power through your life. So do you want to be used by me? Do you want to be a product of what I'm doing? That's the kind of rationale that God's giving him. And then we have the attitude and actions in response. to God's way of thinking about it, the attitude and the actions, both. It's not just a feeling, it's not just the thoughts, it's the attitude and the actions that go with God's way of thinking about this suffering he's going through. Most gladly, I've underlined all the emotional words. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So I now I know what the game plan is with suffering and weakness. There's a whole different way of thinking about it. And because I'm thinking this way, not that I've been forgotten of God or forsaken by him or that he doesn't care about me or there's no purpose or there's no hope. No, this is for my good. This is advancing God's agenda in my life. If I know that, then I can boast in my weakness because I know the power of Christ is being expressed through me. Therefore, I am well content with my weaknesses, my insults, the distresses, with persecutions and difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then I am strong. There's your rationale. What do I think? I think God's grace is sufficient for me. There's a purpose in it. He's going to glorify himself through it. And so I'm not saying it feels better. I'm saying I have a different way of thinking about it. And those thoughts, along with this hurt, have feelings that go together. And so it's bittersweet. It hurts, but it doesn't just hurt. This is the rationale. Feeling overwhelmed is not as big as God's revelation in our thinking. Feeling overwhelmed is less than, is less powerful, is less important, is less dominating than God's revelation in our thinking. This is what solved Paul's problem. I was overwhelmed and I begged God thrice to take it away. And God said, no, this is not how we're gonna do this. So my feelings of overwhelm, fine, you can't cope. Great, let's start thinking. Let's start thinking and actually deal with God's propositions. God's revelation in our thinking will beat this overwhelmed anxiety thing every time. Did it for Paul. That's the rationale. And so there is a promise here. I think what you're supposed to do with this is not just memorize it and claim it. I think you're supposed to think it through and trust God that there's a purpose in your suffering. There's a glory to him. in maximum expression of His power. Now, I wanna come sit down with you and live this with you, because it's awesome to preach it. It's clear that's what it's saying. It's clear there's a rationale. But when it comes and we're dodging these painful, overwhelming feelings by thinking God's thoughts to be stabilized and supported by His most gladly, therefore, and rejoicing in suffering. It's a little different. There are tears here. There's a lot of pain here. This is why we need each other in part. This is why the body of Christ is supposed to come together and be part of each other's lives. Because that pain is real. Because it hurts. Because it's part of God's plan. It has a good purpose in it. And you need other people in your life when you're facing that to say, I know from God's word what this means. Unbelievers around you have no idea. Family and friends that don't know Christ, they have no idea how to look at your pain. The best they can offer is, you do believe in God, right? I mean, is he involved here? And then you say, yeah, actually, the Bible talks exactly about this. It's temporary. This'll pass. This is the way to think about it. Now, how do you counsel someone with this? No, this is me, this is us counseling ourselves. This is us taking God's word to heart and putting it into our situation. How do you, I think, read with them, right? But this is the rationale. If my feelings of being overwhelmed are less powerful than God's revelation in my thinking. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter five. It's a long encampment tonight, 1 Peter five. Why did I call it the New Believer's Search for Significance? That's pretty big language there. Why'd I call it that? Well, because that's what Peter's talking about. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. So the past sufferings of Jesus, I partake in that as one in Christ, united by the baptism of the spirit to Christ. I've been made an elder, okay, by spiritual growth. It's a spiritual maturity discussion he's having. And also I'm a partaker of the glory that's coming. So past and future, it's all about Jesus for the apostle Peter. He tells these elders as their fellow elder to do something in verse two. Poimino, the flock of God among you. Y'all elders, y'all need to shepherd. I like to throw some y'alls in there some. You elders need to shepherd. So elders, pastor. Elders and pastor, I think are the same job. You pastor the flock of God among you, exercising oversight. There's the third word, overseer, mutilated into English as bishop. Bishop comes from episkopos. And if you throw that together real fast, episkopos eventually becomes bishop, bishop, bishop. So it just, it just means overseer. When some, when a pastor, I heard of a church down the road that the pastor would, you know, had his 20th anniversary and promoted himself to bishop. I thought, We're being a little bit arbitrary and emotional and mystical at this point, because it just means an overseer. So elder, overseer, and pastor, all the same guy in chapter five. Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. Wait a second. Shouldn't you be, Pastor Patton, shouldn't we be slapping people that are compromised and outrun our maps and stuff? Shouldn't we be just totally militaristic? No, it says, not as lording it over those allotted to your charge. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. He knows how to do that. We don't. right? We need to be examples to the flock. That's what we're called to do by the apostle Peter. And when the chief shepherd, that's the real pastor point point main, when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. This is pastoral ministry one Oh one. Now that's the context for what he's going to do here in the new believers search for significance. We heard about the elders. And now what about those that are not the elders? He says in the same way, net Oteroi, newbies, neoteroi. It doesn't first jump out at you as young men. We had presbuteroi, the older ones. And now you have an adjective, neos, new, masculine, plural, new males. It's a new believer. It's new believers. And I think it's a general statement. New believers, hupotageta presbuterois. Now, I'm not going to read it all in Greek, but I want to show you the flow of this. In the orange on the screen, that word hupotasso is the command. It's a command. It's underlined. Watch the flow. And I'll asterisk with commands. Younger men need to submit. That's the command. And then we have another command that is for all to one another need to submit by submitting need to put on humility. And the second thing that's underlined here, egg combo is to put on or to tie on means to gird yourself, put on humility, second command. So submit, put on humility to commands so far, because he's given commands through the context. And then there is a becausative because God is opposed to the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble. He gives you a theological explanation for the commands. God wants you to think like him. So very often, as we've already seen, my grace is sufficient, there's a theological principle, now here's the mechanics, the power comes through your weakness. Here, humble yourself, submit to the elders, Here's the theological principle because this is how God is. So we have a theological principle that is the flow. Now, I know you don't know Greek. I'm just showing you the way this works. Command, command, theological principle. Command, command, theological principle. Watch how this works. And then he says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. What is tapenao? It's a command. There is no way to respond to 1 Peter 5, 6, except to obey it. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and then a theological principle so that he will promote you at the proper time. The loving, awesome God we serve, whose character is manifesting through Joseph, not Jacob, at the end of Jacob's life, right? The awesome God that we serve. who is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to promote you. He wants to exalt you. He is not holding back the goods. God knows that when you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you'll become like God, knowing good and evil. See the great diabolical implication of Genesis 3, 5, that God is holding back the goods, right here. God wants you to be exalted. It's his plan for you. It's his desire for you. I'm just showing you the theological principle jumps out right after giving command in verse six. And then in verse seven, what do you notice? I know you don't know Greek, look at it. You have an underlined word, which is a? Command. And then you have the dark orange, which is? A theological principle. This is much bigger than trust the promise. This is think through the rationale with God and obey what he says as you're trusting him. This is trust and obey. All through here, I'll put it in English. In the same way, you younger men, it's masculine, and I think it's probably not just saying young men is just the category, it's talking to those that are not elders. Okay? You younger men, submit to the elders. Command, submit, hupotasso. Now everyone to one another be submitting, or one to another be submitting. And then it's masculine plural, y'all put on humility. The command is to put on. Sorry about the texative plural, but it's you plural, put on humility. So you submitted the first command and then for the younger men, but then everybody needs to submit one to another. And by submitting, put on humility. That's the clothes, that's the garment that we wear. This is the dawning of the town, washing the disciples' feet. This is what it is to represent our Savior. So two commands, submit to the elders, put on humility, everybody, elders and everybody put on humility. And then because God literally to the arrogant ones stands opposed. That's the literal, the theological principle. God is opposed to the arrogant, but to the humble, he gives grace. He gives you this theological rationale. Now, do you want God to be opposed to you? In verse five, what should you do if you want God to oppose you? What should you do? You should be arrogant. You should be self-glorifying. You should be thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Our very much default setting very often. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. You want God to be opposed to you? Be arrogant. If you want God to give grace to you, be humble. It's a basic principle of all reality. That's the theological principle about God's dealings with man. It's all through the Proverbs. It's all through the Old Testament. It's what God is teaching you. It's basic Christian most operandi. Humble yourself. So we submit to the elders. We put on humility because God to the arrogant one stands opposed, but to the humble, he gives grace. Therefore, Here's your command. Humble yourselves. Ta'pena'o in the imperative. It's a command. The way you respond to verse six, you need to memorize it, but the way you respond to it is do it. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Intentionally, in your thinking, place yourself under God's hand, under his authority. It's a thought process. It's a mental attitude. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. And this is the so that, this is the theological principle that is the reason why. So that he will, not might, so that he will. The subjunctive mood here, hena plus the subjunctive, is communicating purpose. The reason you do it is so that he will exalt you in time, at the proper time. This is why you humble yourself under the mighty hand. It is the shortest track to glory. The shortest path to exaltation is humility. It's humbling myself before God. It's counterintuitive. We're grabbers by nature, sin nature. We feel like we had to grab and grab and grab and get for us, but let it go. Empty your hands, humble yourself under God's hand, and that hand will elevate you at the proper time. That's the rationale. You have a command to follow. There's a theological principle behind it. God is going to promote you at the proper time. And it isn't just humble yourself under God's hand without any further revelation. He says that God will promote you, that God will exalt you at the proper time. And then he gives you further instruction, which I memorized as a child without context by participle explaining how you humble yourself by casting all your cares on him. This is part of the command to humble yourselves. Casting all your cares on him, theological principle for he cares for you. This is the pattern of how to deal with the crisis of significance. For example, in context. Well, how do I have it? I don't put me in coach. I wanna play ball. I wanna be significant. I wanna have a role. I wanna do something useful. right? Well, obey the elders, submit to the elders. Everybody needs to be clothed with humility and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God because of his policy of arrogance versus humility. So we see these these commands all through, commands are peppered all through here. How a Christian would ever say that grace means that we don't obey and not understand that by God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, you are capable of obeying. And if you don't, you need to confess personal sin that you disobey. It's a theological, it's people being taught dispensationalism without understanding it. Well, that was for works and this is grace or some nonsense that misunderstands this language. Theology is helpful, but it can also be a distraction if it's not tethered, anchored to the scriptures. Here's your rationale. You have a command. And then you have the theological principle that motivates your obedience to the command. See, the command is submit and humble yourself because God is opposed. So I'm motivated to submit to authority because God is opposed to arrogance. So I have a command and a theological principle motivating my obedience. And then I trust God that he is opposed to the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble. I believe that, I trust him on this theological concept. And then I obey that command. That's the rationale here. And it is faith. It's faith in God. What are the principles we need to believe? That God is opposed to arrogant, gives grace to humble. I need to believe that he will exalt me at the proper time, that that's his goal, that's his desire for me. And I need to believe that he cares. All of those principles motivate my obedience to basically humbling myself. So yeah, you need to claim this promise, these promises. You need to bring these to bear. the circumstance. And finally, the prayer that brings peace. We're going to close on this. The prayer that brings peace. Memorize it. Philippians 4, 6, and 7. The prayer that brings peace. And how does it go? Be anxious for nothing. What am I going to say about that? Be anxious for nothing. What kind of a statement is that in English? It's an imperative. You could also translate it, worry for nothing or do not worry about anything. You would not translate it into English. Stop worrying. That's a mistranslation. It's a misunderstanding of Greek. I know it's been popular to say it, but it doesn't mean that you're already worrying and you need to stop it. It means it's a general prohibition. Do not worry. So my new America standard be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, prayer is talking to God. Supplication is urgent, specific requests to God. That's what prayer and supplication means. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Now let's box some of this out. The first thing is a command, do not worry. It's a negative command. The next command is given mechanics. Let your requests be made known to God. How? All the time with everything, with prayer and urgent specific requests and with thanksgiving. This is how we make our requests. I see two commands in verse six. This is gonna stabilize you so much as you trust God, but you have to do what it says. Do not worry, it's a command. How do I not worry? Well, he says don't do it, so I better start asking to help me not do it. I think the other two verses would help you with that. 2 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 5. Be anxious for nothing, and let your requests be made known to God, and then, Theological principle, it's a promise. Peace of God that surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's what God wants to do. This is the theological principle. It's also the promise. So there's a command that I have to trust God that he'll do what he says. And so whenever you're in crisis, whenever you don't know where to turn, this is the best 911 there is. Romans 8, 28, and Philippians 4, 6, and 7. These are the places that you go to think God's thoughts after him and trust him as you're asking him. So God, you promised peace if I would come to you with my requests and thanks in a context of thanksgiving. Never forget the thanksgiving. 2 Corinthians 12 will teach you to thank God for the crisis. Thank you for the weakness. Thank you for what you're doing. I know not the hardship, but I know you're bringing something through the hardship. Thank you for promising to make this matter, to make this suffering count. This is the pattern that we constantly see. Obey God's commands on the basis of who God is because you're trusting God. So that faith in him motivates you to obey him. And he even gives you in these verses, the rationale God cares for you. In this case, God is offering you his peace. So you have a negative command, do not worry. A positive command with a method, let your requests be made known to God. How do I do it? God help. No, with thanksgiving in your prayers and urgent specific requests, you let these be known to God. You tell him with thanksgiving is ultimately the method. And you obey that command with an expectation of the promise that he's going to bring peace that surpasses our comprehension. This is a little bit more than claim a promise and believe it. And then, you know, I mean, this is how God stabilizes you. As you personally engage with him, you interact with him, you take what he's told you and you believe him. So therefore you obey him. And these passages that are the stabilizers are full of commands. I hope you can see the richest we have of our interaction with God. Of course, everything's in a context of faith. I believe in him. I believe that he wants to exalt me, so I humble myself. I believe that he wants to give me his peace, so I give my request with thanksgiving. And I believe these are not just magical principles or something. I think these are rationales that he wants you to think through. My prayer for you is that you enjoy that peace in the crisis, that you can see the problem as something that God is working together for good, that you can be stabilized as you think these thoughts, and kind of zoom out a little bit to a God's eye view of your circumstance through what he's promised. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege to think your thoughts after you, to be stabilized in the crisis by trusting you, and entrusting you, obeying you and the power you've given us. Your son told us without him, we can do nothing. Your Holy Spirit lives in us to make us able to want and to do what pleases you. Father, put us on mission. Let us see success. We've prayed it in our prayer meeting tonight. We wanna see the fruit of these prayers for the lost around us. We want to see the fruit of our prayers for the spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters as they put on Christ, as they live out the giftedness you've given them and grow into its expression. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.