Well, let's turn together to first Peter chapter two again. As we continue there. At the beginning of service, I read out of John 16 verses 16 through 24. Where the disciples were going to have sorrow. Because they were understanding what Jesus was saying regarding. His leaving and then coming again. And he makes a promise to them that they will have sorrow, but when they see him, they will have joy that is everlasting and immovable. And there's a lot, y'all, that grieves me in the world. A lot that causes turmoil in my spirit, in my brain, in my life. If I were to list those out and begin to focus on them, they would become all-encompassing. They would become not just overwhelming, they would be my identity. I would be a victim in the midst of a storm that cannot be escaped. And I think the same would be true for all of us. It could be true for all of us. And there's been a misapplication in my mind, holistically, about what the Bible is, and what it's supposed to be, and how it's supposed to be used, just because that's part of growing in the Christian faith. And I think that a lot of times we find ourselves entrapped, enveloped, engulfed, more in what the culture says concerning things than what we know to be true. So we can then find ways of either finding what we call echo chambers to validate our thoughts, to empower us in our drive, our vision, or we can become this lone voice in the wilderness trying to speak against the other echo chambers of the world. What I'm learning, and I pray that you are too through our time together each week, is that the Bible has a single thread. And that single thread is that God himself, through the means that he ordained, has revealed himself to his people. And that revelation is the glory of God. Anytime we can see God for who He is, we have seen His glory. That's what it means to see the glory of something. That means to see the essence of that thing or person in its fullness. Glory is not an attribute. Glory is not something that God has. God's glory is who He is. It's the point. So when we're thinking about seeing through the Bible, the glory of God. God has chosen to reveal himself in all his fullness through his son, Jesus Christ, in whom he is well pleased in his humanity. In his perfection, in his perfect sacrifice, in the promise of eternal life through his resurrection. So there is no other place. No, let me say this very emphatically. There is no other place whereby we can see God except the gospel in his fullness. The heavens declare his fullness. Why did he create the heavens? To save a people for himself in the gospel. Everything that is created speaks of the handiwork of God. God knit us together in our mother's womb. Why? So that He would be seen in His fullness for the redemption of His people through Jesus Christ. This is it. There is no nationalism. There is no government. Why do we see that? The reason I'm saying this is because we're getting into that section here in 2 Peter. But it's very easy for us to fall prey to the mindset, to the ideologies that this is what Christian living is, and then we have this little picture of what it means. Or this is what it means to be a real sold out for Jesus. What it means to be sold out for Jesus is that we've been purchased by Jesus. We've been granted the mind like an infant child to settle and be at rest in the glory that God has revealed through Jesus Christ the Son, the work of redemption. Therefore, the mind of Christ Philippians chapter 2, that is, ours in Him, which is, though He was God, He did not take His divine equality, something to be made much of, but became a slave, obedient to death, even as a criminal on a cross, despised by the world. So therefore, God highly exalted. Friends, we live in an age where, by God's design, a majority of, quote, believers do not live as believers. But the majority of these believers live according to their standard that they've established in their specific echo chamber, which happens to be a majority in a lot of places. that if you and I don't fit that mold, we are not counted in that number. While all the while, as the majority getting all the privilege, scream and yell about how they are persecuted. My flesh, the nature of my fallenness, wants to be sarcastic, wants to be indignant, was to get that real powerless, though seemingly powerful, posture of just being a smart aleck and degrading that ideology to the point where I create my own echo chamber and start my own parade with my own band marching to my own drum. It's very easy, right? Oh my goodness, it feels so good to be vindicated But the scripture says that we are at war as believers. But we're not at war with the governments, even though there have been times, past tense, been times where governments have oppressed Christianity as a whole. It's not the case in the United States at all. The ideologies that so many evangelicals feel are being oppressed are absolutely not oppressiveness. standing in the context of God's established Constitution to be free from religion and of religion. The Constitution is not a Christian document whatsoever, not at any place, as Christ mentioned, nor are the principles therein emphatically Christian. But we are free. We are free. We are so free as a nation. We are so free as a people that we can believe anything we want to believe and live in. We can believe in such a thing that doesn't exist that we may create it in our own minds and other people may also make it so. Every cult that exists in the world, I'm not talking about world religions, every cult that exists in the world started through the westward expansion of these United States, historically. And there may be a caveat or two. There may be an exception there that I can't remember. But ultimately, did the power and all just go out? Oh, well. There we go. Must be a power glitch. Y'all can hear me, though, right? OK. That's fine. So in all of that, we have what? We have a hope. I hope that we are waging war not against the governments. We are waging war with for an inner peace. We are waging war for an enter an inner struggle. Because the Bible says that we are at war, not because of with flesh and blood. But the principalities of darkness, the principalities of what? the spiritual realm. And this war goes on in the mind. This war goes on in such a way that we aren't necessarily certain that it's happening. But we feel it. We feel it. And keep in mind that in Peter's day when these people in the dispersion were being persecuted by the government, he doesn't mention that. I want you to think about it for a second. The government hated these Christians and put them out of their homeland, yet Peter does something very different. Listen to what he says, starting in verse 11. As sojourners and exiles, I urge you to abstain from the passions of your flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the sake of Christ to every human institution Whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free. Not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Honor the emperor. The reality of this is that these people who were being persecuted by the government are now being told to be subject to the authorities of the very persecutor. Not to fight against it, not to stand up and wage war, not to get their rights. But to be silent and wage war within. With inner peace and silence. Where in Christendom do you see this? Where in history do we see this live? Where in the historical records of the church do we really see this lived? What we see lived is people rising up, people taking claims, people making noise, people being martyred because they can't keep their mouths shut. It's not to be martyred for the faith when you don't, when you aren't quiet. And we think, well, look at the reformers. Look at the people. There's a difference when you're in the echelons of leadership of an organization called, whoop, the church. It's different when you have a responsibility to be questioned as a professor of antiquity or when you're seized by the government of Geneva and you're forced to live under lock and key without freedom so that you can govern people spiritually. Think about it. Think about it. But where is the peace? The peace comes from Christ, who spoke not a word in his own defense, but entrusted himself to the one who is faithful. So let's unpack with this mindset, this instruction to these people who are suffering deeply. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Beloved, I mentioned this last week, never overlook that in the text of scripture, do not overlook the reality that you are indeed the beloved. That's not a moniker that's frivolously thrown away. that's just put out there so that we can just sort of hear, hey, love, it's not a pet name. It's an absolute reality. We are indeed the beloved of God. And it's endearing to us to embrace this idea that we are not tolerated by God. We are embraced by God. We are loved by God. We are absolutely engaged by God as his people. He created the cosmos that He may have a relationship with us, His people, through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is not a small thing. This is the purpose, the everlasting purpose of God's glory. Never miss it. But the other moniker that we see here as sojourners, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, and this is sort of a review. What in the world does it mean? That means we are in a temporary state. That God is not establishing some long, nationalistic theocracy. God never intended any of that. That's why Israel, throughout its history, has always been enslaved. Because we see through the prophets of the Old Testament that God himself put them in slavery to keep them in humility and check. To be the what? to be the rod of correction, to be the very thing that brings them under loving discipline. So in all of this, we are sojourners. We should look at life, every single fiber of every single thing as a temporary pilgrimage through our faith. Hebrews 11, it talks about this wall of faith or this hall of fame of faith. Verse 13, it says these words, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. So as you are sojourners, as we are traveling through in a temporary basis, this world, the Peter says to abstain from the passions of the flesh, to just Put them away. Take them off. Don't cover up this righteousness that's beautiful and perfect. Just don't even pick those clothes. Don't even sort them. Don't even put them in the drawer. Don't launder them. Just throw them in the fire. Easier said than done. You might say, what are the works of the flesh? What are the works of the flesh? Paul tells the Galatians, he says this, the works of the flesh are evident. We don't have to really be told, do we? We know what the works of the flesh are. They're evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, And things like these. I love that list is like and things like these, Paul says, I warn you. Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, we understand the context there when our identity is found and this is who I am and this is what I do, then our identity is not found in Christ, we've not been granted repentance. It doesn't mean that the Christian doesn't have passions of the flesh. It doesn't mean that the Christian doesn't sometimes engage in things that they should not do, but we know what is and is not honoring to the glory of our righteousness, Jesus Christ. And this is and this is where we are waging war. Waging war, what does he say there? I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. See, until we stand as Christ stand in our flesh with absolute perfection, we are not to engage in another war because this war is yet to be won. This war is yet to be finished. This is the ongoing spiritual battle that we face with these internal desires. And you might say, well, I don't really think I engage in all this. Listen, folks. If we were to get to the bottom of it, and we were to spend an hour just expressly parsing out what is idolatry, we'd be so guilty we wouldn't be able to get up out of the chairs. I mean, our diapers would be full of lead sin. We'd have to scoot out on our butts like an itchy dog. Sorry for the picture. But I mean, that's the reality. We are not innocent of these things. We are not innocent of divisions. We are not innocent of dissension. We are not innocent of envy. We are not innocent of drunkenness, even for us who are abstinent in the context of spirits or drugs. There are other things that we do to our bodies to move ourselves into places. And friends, We're never going to escape it until one day when we've been recreated. And so we better do well to rest in the sufficiency of Christ rather than struggle with trying to get away from these things. The war is not as much as we're trying to stay away from these things. The war is between trying to fight them versus trying to rest in our righteousness. I think about that. The theological insights that continually flow from the New Testament for me, and you hear me say this, and some of you may be like, I get it, my identity. No, we don't get it. If we knew who we were in Christ, we would not be warring so hard. Our identity as believers, as sojourners and exiles, and in our conduct, should always reflect our heavenly citizenship, should always reflect our true righteousness that's been declared in Jesus Christ. That's a huge difference than the way the world's church teaches us to battle this. This is not who I am. I will not act this way. This is not who I am. This is not what I want to do. Doesn't Paul say that in Romans 6 and 7? Why do I do the very things that I don't want to do? Because I want to do them. And it's why it's so easy to get engaged in the cultural wars of so-called persecution against so-called Jesus that doesn't exist according to the Bible. Because it makes us feel like we're doing something exciting for the Lord when we're really not doing anything except creating idolatrous mindsets. I want you to shut off the internet in your mind for a minute. I want you to turn off anything that has come to your attention in the last 20 years because someone rang your doorbell and told you they saw it. What would you know? Some of you, I don't have a doorbell. Okay then, knocked. What would you know? Very little. I know one thing you'd know, you'd know who you were a lot more clearly. And you know what loving someone next to you look like a lot more clearly. I'm even of the opinion, just in my observation, that a majority of believers don't even read the Bible. They get almost everything they get spiritually through some type of intrusion from the World Wide Web, which means someone else put that in your life. That's not discipline. That's someone else living your Christian faith for you. We are in a place of spiritual warfare, but our citizenship is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, Paul says. The Lord Jesus Christ. This idea of warfare is a metaphor, right? We understand that we're not taking up swords and taking up guns and storing things. Warfare for the Christian is metaphorical. And I'm not a pacifist. Try me. I get too much joy in defending myself. But it doesn't mean that that's to be employed in my faith. The metaphor of war indicates the severity and the gravity, beloved, the severity and the gravity of our struggle against the flesh. Understand this. It's not out there. It's not the government. It's not the culture. It's not them. We could ever just find them and get rid of them. But you know what? You're someone else's them. And you're not justified in your perfection either. Neither am I. I did that last week. I did a little, what do you call that, exercise where I wrote down all the times that I was charged as a villain when I really was trying to do right. And I felt pretty good about how bad those people treated me because they didn't get me. And then I realized how bad I felt and thought of them. Them. And then I filtered that through the gospel. And my whole heart changed. And then I didn't want to change. I don't want to feel tender toward these monsters. But in their minds, I'm their monster. See, it's war. Friends, little things like that will keep you in bondage every day, unconsciously. Jesus set me free. I don't have to do that anymore. Neither do you. You know Ephesians 6. You know what it says. We are in a serious struggle against our flesh. So we must be vigilant. And that vigilance is a reliance on God, the Spirit, to remind us in our repentance, which is a transformed disposition of thought, of whose we are, so that we may live according to that true identity, not that we may posture in such a way that we fake it till we make it, that we may find a small little group of T-shirts and put on, or bumper stickers and wear, or slogans and recite. Just be in Christ, and that is enough. Christ is the example of this. He lived a sinless life, abstaining from every desire that wasn't in the will of the Father. Even things like eating bread after fasting for 40 days. It's not a sin to be hungry. It's not a sin to eat. But it is when you're teaching the sufficiency of the bread of life. and that the world or the enemy may offer you the opportunity to do something with your own power that you have the right and the privilege to do to satisfy your natural flesh. That's the temptation of Jesus. You're the creator of all things. Why don't you turn this stone into bread and eat your hunger? Was there anything wrong with that? Not in and of itself, but it wasn't. in the will of God to answer the call to the flesh, to use power, to be told and tempted by the enemy to do so. Paul writes to the Hebrews in Hebrews 4.15, we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. In John 8, verse 46, which one of you convicts me of sin, Jesus asks. If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? So what do we do with that, church? We overcome temptation by being reliant on the promises of God and His Word. Jesus and it's Matthew, chapter four, the loose gospel. He responds to every temptation given to him by the enemy with what? Not his flesh. With the word of God. He quotes scripture. We're going to rest. We have to make the bed for such place, we have to create the mindset and the ambiance of rest. And in the spiritual sense, that is being reliant upon God by being desperate for his word. And if that were easy, we wouldn't be in such a war. We wouldn't feel like we were in such a war. Verse 12. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may seek your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Think about what conduct even means. That's how we live. That's how we act. That's how we speak. And that includes social interactions on the internet. Because the internet, as I said in 2004, is a place we exist now. It's not something we use anymore. It's just like being at the barbershop or the grocery store. It's where we are. And the reality there is that many of us do not live authentically online. We posture, and sometimes we get a little brave. We certainly don't live authentically Christian. So keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Our conduct, what we do. And here, Peter is not saying Gentiles in the sense as non-Jewish people. He's talking about unbelievers. We are to live according to the righteousness that is declared to us from Christ so that non-believers see it. And we should do so honorably. What does it mean if something's honorable? That it's worthy of praise. It's worthy of glory, it's worthy of adoration, it's worthy of being talked about. The Bible says that we as believers should never speak of any behavior in any detail at any length or point in interest to anything that is not honorable. Ever. We should never say, look at all that mess over there. Look at all that bad stuff over there. That's not Christ's life. Yet it feels good, doesn't it? Why? We love to point it out. That's been the moniker of Christianity for a long, long time, is pointing out everybody else's problems, especially other people who dare to say that they're in Christ. Look at how they talk. Look at how they dress. Look at what they eat. Look at how they live. Look at where they go. Look at what they listen to. Never in my life. Thank God He will not do that to us. Our behavior should be morally excellent and praiseworthy. And if there's things we just can't get over, that we just know we have to compromise on, then we keep them to ourselves. Don't brag about it. Hide it. You ever heard a pastor tell you to hide things that aren't praiseworthy? That's the best thing you can do. Now, the best thing you can do is just be honest with yourself and with God. But don't boast in that, which is appraiser. I think that's the better. That's that's the more pastoral advice. Don't boast. Be honest. Because there are people who will speak against us as able doers. So this is where the Church of the United States of America, the so-called church, gets all up in arms. Oh, they did something about the Vinci's painting. Who care who is the Vinci? I don't care. I don't care. That is not an attack on Christianity. That's a mockery of what Christianity actually is. A blasphemy of righteousness and compassion. The Church of America blasphemes Christ every single day. So what the world should do is mock it. The world should mock cultural Christianity to the point that it drives everyone who follows it to the brink of insanity. Because the Bible says that when we live honorably, they will accuse us of evil and then they will go, wait, it's really not evil. Let's praise their behavior. You can't praise the behavior of the cultural church. You can't praise the behavior of evangelicalism. You can't praise the behavior of Christian nationalism. That very thing, by definition, is blasphemous. We are not of this world. We're not to take this world by storm. God established the Constitution so that we could not do that legally. And in order to do it legally, we have to overturn God's established means of freedom to worship without persecution. Glorify God. When they accuse us of evildoing, It is false. When we are compassionate, when we are loving, when we are quiet, when we are grounded, when we know whose we are and people accuse us, we don't have to defend ourselves. And I say, no, it's not me. I'm not like them, please. No, stop. That's OK. Because when the day comes, everything they've said about the true church will be a lie. And the scripture even says that unbelievers will glorify God through the witness of the good deeds of the believers because they've come to faith during the war inside. I honestly believe that most so-called Christians would rather have totalitarianism to modify behavior to a specific standard of ethics and morals that they create rather than see people go to heaven. We'd rather be Pharisees than Christians. There's nothing changed, right? Nothing's changed. I mean, look at Genesis. Nothing's changed. But we're changed. But it's so easy to fall into this. And friends, we've bought a bill of goods. And I'm of the opinion, this is some dogma that I used to have, that I used to sort of poke fun at. I'm going to say something now that I've never said publicly. I believe you can witness through your behavior. Because I don't care what your theological doctrines are, what your premise is theologically. I do not care. If your life is not the epitome of compassion and quietness and care for others, especially people who disagree with you, especially unbelievers, especially heretics, especially people who are completely far away from what you think is an ideal life. I don't care what you believe. I want to see how you live. The whole New Testament is written to that point. Because you believe this, because you know Christ this way, because the gospel has come to you in power, therefore do these things, even the Thessalonians. When Paul wrote Thessalonica, he says, I want you to love more than you're loving. You're not loving enough. But yet, their whole testimony around all of the different places in Asia Minor and Palestine, their entire testimony is these Thessalonians are the most loving, compassionate, forgiving, and amazing people we've ever seen in our lives. Where are these men who came and talked to them about this Jesus guy? We need him to come to our town. And the mimicking of the love of the Thessalonians had begun to take root when the apostles got there and other places to the point where they were already living as Christians before they even knew the gospel. And Paul says you need to love more. What's the point of that? It's not even hyperbolic. It's the absolute reality. We see in Ephesus when Jesus talks to the church of Ephesus in Revelation. for John to write it down. He says, your love for truth and your passion and zeal for this and that, you don't want to have this false stuff invade your personal families. Because what's going on over there is not our business to bring attention to what's going on over there. The worst thing we can do as a Christian is to bring attention to something that is false to people who have never heard it. It is wicked. Watch out! It might twist you. What? Look at that. You see? Don't taste this. It could kill you. Open your mouth. So you know what it tastes like in case you ever want to eat it. That's silly. There is no prescription. Soapbox off. Back to the point. Scripture says, we can witness through our behavior. Then we have a reason for the hope that we have when people say, how are you so resolved? How do you have joy? You lost everything, this Jesus guy. How are you okay? Let me tell you for the reason of my hope. Titus, show yourself in all respects to be a model of goodness and good works. And in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that can never be accused or condemned, so that anyone who comes against you may be put to shame, because everything they say evil is a lie. That's James's paraphrase. There's also an eschatological perspective and in times perspective to our lives on the day of visitation. That means the day of the Lord, when the Lord returns and judgment is satisfied. In all things. God's glory will be revealed and justice will be complete. The church's business is not to correct the world or to correct the error outside of its absolute Specific taught means within in every correction inside the churches for restoration period Any other any of any other possible outcome is sinful Any other reason for us to correct someone other than see other to embrace them to feel at peace and at whole and love and have the compassion of Christ is not biblical and theologians can fall on that sword if they want to. They're evil when they say otherwise. And they will chop off our heads for that in the metaphor of war. You can't live as a Christian in this world because your first persecutors are going to be those who claim to be Christian. The world received, Gentiles received the gospel The religious zealots rejected it. The same thing is true today. It's not about rejecting theological things. It's about rejecting who we relate to, who we embrace, and who we're willing to associate with in the context of Christ. Jesus is the great example of this. He performed good deeds. He healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He showed compassion to the marginalized. How God anointed Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the enemy for God was with him. So we need to live in a way that's blameless. Pilate asked Jesus, what's the truth? What is the truth? And when he said this, he went back outside to the Jews and he looked at them and he says, listen guys, I find no fault with this guy. Every argument that's been brought to me is just ridiculous. There's no evidence. You can make the debate all you want. Well, this church was so alive and did so much good work, but look at the homeless in that city. They didn't do anything. Well, crime is really bad in that county. They really love the Lord. Or look at how many corrupt people were in the county, and the church didn't do a thing about it. That's not our job. And what's that got to do with anything, according to living as corrupt? These accusations are silly. Well, look at these people out here in the dispersion. They're just fools. That's all they could say. That would be true. Because from a rational point of view of a religious person, we are fools to embrace the heart and the mind of Christ and to live it in a culture that hates it. A culture of Christians that hate it. But here's where the rubber hits the face. Submission to authorities, verse 13. Be subject, man. For the Lord's sake, to every human institution, whether it be the emperor supreme or the governor's assent for him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. All right? So what do we do there? Be subject. What does it mean to be subject? That means voluntarily submit in obedience and respect. You know, we mock a public office that God has ordained. We mock God. We should do that for the Lord's sake, we should be respectful and voluntarily submit for the Lord's sake, because ultimately, if I submit to the authorities, then I'm submitting as an act of obedience to God, because God says to do this to show his power. What if the law says I can no longer pray? Who's going to stop you? Unless you got on the street corner, which shouldn't be the thing anyway. If you can't have a Bible, hide it. Or better yet, memorize it. But where's that at? Who? Just the good stuff? No, the bad stuff. Every human institution. Every level of government authority. Not the church, not the ecclesiastical authority that has overstepped its boundaries and stepped into government. The church is never supposed to have to encroach government. We see everywhere in history where that went crazy, right? The church does not have the sword, literally. It has the cannon. which is the sword. Emperors and governors, these examples of authorities to whom believers should submit, are given by God in their roles to maintain order and justice. And there's always the debate, well, this isn't just. No, it wasn't just that they were kicked out of their homes. But look at Pilate. He submitted to the religion out of fear of losing foothold in the government and killed an innocent man, because it was the will of the Lord. And what if the Christians of Jesus' day acted like the Christians of today? They'd have never put him on the cross, and we'd have never been justified in a real and legal sense. And as much as we want to think that there are a lot of things that are wrong with the government. Beloved, the government is working just fine. Order is intact. And if we think that there is no order and no justice being kept by the Lord through the government. We need to read history. We have it made. And y'all, I mean, I have peers. I don't want to say friends anymore, but I have peers who are like waiting for something to pop off because they're going to go storm Fort Stewart. And I'm going to laugh while the soldiers just push a button somewhere and smoke them. This is not for the church to be a part of. It is the will of God that we submit willfully and respect and obey the government so that we may silence the ignorance of those who accuse us of being evil and not doing anything. In California, I was part of a conglomerate there and did some radio shows, often weekly sometimes, live, syndicated all across the country. And when Johannes Miserly killed Oscar Grant, if you don't know what that's all about, look it up. We were living about a half a mile from that when it happened. And things got really upset. City caught on fire and stuff. Well, the trial lasted for a while. They moved it to LA County out of the East Bay. And we were going to be down on the courthouse. We, some friends of mine, we're going to be down live on the radio talking and praying to people and just trying to encourage everybody to maintain the sense of peace. So what do I do is I pick up the phone and I mean, I'm, I'm trying to leave out of Hayward and there's just civil unrest there some 20 minutes away. And I'm going, man, I don't know if I want to go down there. So I called the Oakland police department. I said, hey, this is Pastor Tippins, and I'm part of this, and I need to get down there. And this is what they said to me. Pastor Tippins, we cannot guarantee your safety from this point to that point. And if you come down here, it is at your own peril. Best you call on the telephone and broadcast that way, unless you really feel like your physical body needs to be here. But keep in mind, we cannot guarantee the safety of your physical body. So I texted my brother, and I said, I ain't coming. And you know what happened? For four straight days on the air, they bashed me and mocked me because I was too chicken to drive my car 20 minutes. I wasn't chicken. I just thought, you know, the best way to figure this out, am I going to have a cookout tomorrow afternoon? Or are we going to have 40 mile an hour winds? How about we call the authorities who actually care for our safety and see what they think and then submit to them? But we get bashed for doing what's reasonable. That's just an example. And it worked out. It worked out. We're all friends now. But this divine sovereignty and human authority go hand in hand. all authorities established by God. Paul says it in Romans 13, the same thing. So we have a moral and civic duty to be exemplary citizens, demonstrating respect and integrity in our interactions with civil authorities. Jesus did the very same thing, rendered to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is God's. And then Jesus responded to Pilate, he says, You'll not speak to me. Do you not know I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify? I mean, Pilate spoke to Jesus. And to crucify you. And Jesus responded. Because he wouldn't respond, remember? He said, you're not going to speak to me? You're not going to answer? I can save you. I have the authority to save you. And Jesus says, you have no authority over me. Unless it had been given to you from above. So when we submit that which God purposes will be ours. That's hard to live by brothers and sisters. I don't like it. I'm a vigilant person. Because we have true freedom, right? Live as people who are free. Not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but as living servants of And I'll close with this, no matter how restrictive it may feel, no matter how weak it may appear, friends, we have to live in such a way because we are free. We get to live this way. And it doesn't mean we don't speak out against injustice. It doesn't mean that we don't say, hey, no, we're going to love the oppressed. That's part of it. We do what we need to do to change the lives of those. But blabbing about it and causing an uproar is not the way. Let's just make a difference. And we'll talk about that in the weeks to come. There's a time to speak up. But most Christians don't even speak up because they don't even know where they're talking. When it comes to what we have the freedom to do, to be subject to the government, our Constitution gives us the right to say certain things. So how do we do that? We're going to learn it. But we're going to also understand the consequences. The consequences therein, but ultimately, Jesus says, if the sun sets you free, you are free in deed. So we don't use and give you a preview, we don't use our freedom as a way of excusing and justifying sinful behavior. In other words, we can't treat our enemies like dogs and say we're being free in Christ. We can't choose in our minds to want to hurt somebody just because they're doing something wrong and be subject to grace. I struggle with this. I didn't think I struggled with this, but I've learned that I struggle with this. At the end of it all, We've got to remember we're we're living as exiles and we are suffering. The question is, is are we suffering well by waging war with inner peace and silence or are we suffering on purpose with no peace? Because we're trying to affect change that we have no power to make. A love of Jesus Christ gave his life that we may be free. And there will come a day when standing for Christ and standing with marginalized people and standing with compassion is going to be the hardest persecution you ever face. And I do believe that it's going to be. Not some perceived persecution that we bring on ourselves because of the echo chambers that we live in. I think until that time, let us learn to get this right so that we're prepared to face the worst. Because Jesus Christ faced the worst. He faced the wrath of God for all justice and righteousness, that we may be his righteousness. Let's pray. We thank you, Father, for your life. By speaking it into us, by creating everything around us that we may live it, and by giving your son to secure it. So as we come to the end of our service, let us remember the body and the blood of Jesus that truly set us free, that we may be at peace. Even in the hardest of internal wars, Lord, help us to be at peace. Help us to grow each other, to help each other. to have compassion for one another. And most of all, Lord, help us to be available to the world around us. That our compassion may be what you have chosen to use to soften the hearts of some to listen to the truth. And that by your spirit, you may cause them to see and to taste that you are good. And we pray these things in the name of Christ our King.