♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ Things in the past, things yet unseen ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes, all of my plans ♪ ♪ My heart and my hands are lifted to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life to you ♪ ♪ I offer you my life ♪ - You guys think that's too short of a song or the length is okay?

(soft music) - Do you repeat the first verse? - Yeah, maybe like, we sing the first verse two times. - Oh, like repeat it first verse and then chorus? - Yeah, like verse one, verse one, verse two, verse two. - Did you take that or no? - I just sing it one time.

- Yeah. (soft music) - I mean, that's-- - Is that too much? (soft music) - Or we just sing the chorus three times. - Yeah. - The last time is just voices. - Oh. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Okay. - Can we try the intro again? (soft music) ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ - Do you have a guitar with you?

Would that help you? (soft music) Oh, you do? (soft music) Are you using my sheet music or your sheet music? Okay, did you wanna change the chord? Okay, can we try it again? (soft music) ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you, oh Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ (soft music) ♪ Things in the past ♪ ♪ Things yet unseen ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes ♪ ♪ All of my plans ♪ ♪ My heart and my hands ♪ ♪ Are lifted to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer ♪ ♪ My ♪ (laughing) - Just twice, just twice, just twice.

In the beginning? (soft music) (soft music) - Okay, we can try that. - Okay. Let's try that, let's try that. (laughing) Uh, let's try it from verse one. First, yeah. - Yeah, three times at the end is kind of a lot. - A little, a little bit. (laughing) Try it.

(soft music) ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you, oh Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ All that I am.

♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you, oh Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ Okay.

- Let's do that. - Yeah. - Yep. - Yeah. - Cool. I think we're good. (coughing) - 705. - Okay. (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (gentle music) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) - Good evening, everyone.

We're gonna go ahead and get started with Bible study. How about we just take some time to just quiet our hearts and then we'll get into a time of praise. (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) Father, we thank you for gathering us here tonight to study your word.

We thank you so much for being a God that is sovereign, that is always in control of each and every situation of our lives, and that your will is far greater than our will. Now we can trust you. When we're anxious, we know that you are our comfort and our joy.

We pray for tonight as we study your word that we would really seek to learn more about you, that we would really invest and long for the spiritual milk from your word. We pray for this time of praise that you'd be honored, that these words that we sing wouldn't just be lip service to you, but you would receive all the praise and all the glory.

So we love you, pray all this in your name. Amen. Why don't we all stand for a time of praise? (gentle music) ♪ Oh sovereign God, oh matchless King ♪ ♪ The saints adore, the angels sing ♪ ♪ And fall before the throne of grace ♪ ♪ To you belongs the highest praise ♪ These sufferings.

♪ These sufferings, this passing tide ♪ ♪ Under your wings I will abide ♪ ♪ And every enemy shall flee ♪ ♪ You are my hope and victory ♪ Praise the Father. ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ To the valley.

♪ To the valley for my soul ♪ ♪ Thy great descent has made me whole ♪ ♪ Your word my heart has welcomed home ♪ ♪ Now peace like water ever flows ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Oh praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom ♪ ♪ Yours is the power ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory forever ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom ♪ ♪ Yours is the power ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory forever ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ All that I am, all that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, all my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ All that I am.

♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, all my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ Things in the past.

♪ Things in the past ♪ ♪ Things yet unseen ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes ♪ ♪ All of my plans ♪ ♪ My heart and my hands ♪ ♪ Are lifted to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I've been through ♪ ♪ Use it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ You may be seated.

(bell tolling) - All right, let me pray for us, and then I'll read the passage, and then we'll get our discussion time started. Lord, we are very thankful that you provide for us in our week where we can study your word in safety and with many resources at our disposal.

I pray, Father, that we would not take these things for granted, but truly to take advantage of all the opportunities that we've been given and really seek to be faithful, stewards with the gifts. And Lord, in turn, help us just to be good stewards with the relationships that we have so that the people that are in our lives truly will be blessed because we are near.

And I pray for just a good time of Bible study tonight that you would lead our discussion, especially when it comes to the application and the hypotheticals and perhaps even the sensitive situations that arise in discussing this passage. Thank you, Lord, for just the great joy of being able to study this together, and we pray for your spirits leading and guiding tonight.

In Jesus' name we pray. I'm gonna read the eight verses for today's passage, including one from last week's because there is a connection there. So just try to track along, and I know that when we read a long passage, our brains can turn off, especially if we're already familiar, but this is probably the most important part of the Bible study where we're just reading the word of God just in its purity.

And so let me read this for us. "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, "so that in the thing in which they slander you "as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, "as they observe them, glorify God "in the day of visitation. "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake "to every human institution, "whether to a king as the one in authority "or to governors as sent by him "for the punishment of evildoers "and the praise of those who do right.

"For such is the will of God, "that by doing right, you may silence "the ignorance of foolish men. "Act as free men, and do not use your freedom "as a covering for evil, "but use it as bond slaves of God. "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, "fear God, honor the king.

"Servants, be submissive to your masters "with all respect, not only to those "who are good and gentle, but also to those "who are unreasonable. "For this finds favor, if for the sake "of conscience toward God, "a person bears up under sorrows "when suffering unjustly. "For what credit is there if when you sin "and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?

"But if when you do what is right "and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, "this finds favor with God." So here are the three questions, and I do wanna point your attention to the third one, 'cause the first two are what you kinda see every week. What does it mean to do right?

And that's a question that is gonna be very important for the application of the stuff that we're discussing. What does it mean to do right? And so when you get a chance, maybe you guys can go around even in defining this two-word phrase, do right. And then at 8.20, we'll resume and we'll do just a wrap-up portion.

All right? So we'll see you guys at 8.20. 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All right, more than in previous weeks, I feel like this week's, my little outline is of a little bit more importance, so we can kind of figure out how to look at this. So I tinkered with this quite a bit, all right? So when I'm looking at the purple bold, I see all the imperatives.

And there's one big one, and then there's a few minor ones. So the imperatives, submit yourselves, is kind of an overarching one. And then what I also discovered is, there's this attitude that we have before God, and I highlighted them green. For the Lord's sake, will of God, bondslays of God, fear God, all respect.

So you know, in some translations, when you're looking at verse 18, are you fearing the master, or are you fearing God? The word is phobos, phobos, same word for fear. And that word phobos keeps coming up. Keeps coming out in 1 Peter. And it's usually always in reference to God.

Okay, the NIV, I think, just straight up, makes it completely like in reference to God. The other translations, you can just naturally read it as like, oh, respect your master with some fear, or like, have fear for that. But I also included that as an attitude before God. All the institutions, I just underlined them.

King, governor, men, foolish men, people, brotherhood, God, king, servants, masters. And then I also included chapter three, verse one, and chapter three, verse seven, which is about the wives and the husbands as well, because I want us to see this theme and this pattern, okay? The red bolded words are the key words and phrases.

Hopefully you see that. And verse 15, for the for such, is very important, because depending on how you read it, is it the stuff that's coming before that, or is it stuff that's coming after that, so that's the will of God? Because if it's the will of God, we kind of feel like that's an important, like this is the will of God, like what part of this, right?

So I'll highlight that in red. The peach color is like howl. The blue bold, I discovered in my observation of the original language, that the word act isn't even in there, so that was added. So if I'm looking at that as an imperative, oh, okay, it's not even an imperative, it's just a strong suggestion that's there.

And then I noticed that all the other submits are all participles, they're not commands. So there is this overarching theme of being submissive for the Lord's sake to every institution, and then is being submissive here, being submissive here, being submissive here. So that's what I noticed. And then yellow is the stuff that God gives me.

It's charis from God, like some favor, like but what is that? Is that the same thing as credit? Is that an eternal reward? Is it something I receive on this side of eternity, or basically I get extra kingdom dollars, or kingdom-like points, and I get extra square footage of my kingdom house.

What is this favor, what is this grace? And this is all important because I'm thinking, why is it worth suffering? And suffering's supposed to happen. It's promise, it's guaranteed. If, because they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. 2 Timothy 3, 12, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

So suffering's gonna happen. So what is this charis? Is this like in the flesh, but God, I feel his nearness while I'm in the flesh? So these are important questions, but I highlight that, because that's kind of the reward. And my fleshly response is, well, that's not that worthy, like going through all of the suffering for that?

Humanly. And so the way I have outlined it, the first section, it's all about the submission. And there are kind of, I saw four categories. The second section is all the folks, all the people that I'm supposed to submit to. And then the third column on, it's all just kind of subordinate ideas.

So this helps me to kind of visualize what's the important stuff that I'm gonna be looking at the next three weeks, the next four weeks, right? And I also notice in the red, there's an in the same way for the wife, in the same way for the husband. So there's gonna be a theme.

And this is why I usually like to memorize a book before I teach it, so that I already, I know what's coming, so I can bridge it together. And so that outline, hopefully, it's gonna help hedge in a lot of the thoughts that we have and the observations. And I wanna show this slide again, okay?

Exegesis is, we're trying to find what does God intend to say through Peter to this context that I apply today in my life. Exegesis is, well, I like this, so I'm gonna apply this. I don't like this, so I'm not gonna apply this. I will pick and choose what I will submit to and what I won't.

Exegesis causes me to be like, okay, this is what God's word says. It's truth, it's unchanging, I need to change. Exegesis says, I will change God's word to fit whatever I wanna have it say. So exegesis is very important. And why is it important, again, for today? 'Cause there are challenges in this passage.

Because if you're like me, when you're reading this, your mind goes to all the hypotheticals, all the exceptions, true or false? Yeah, well, if I'm supposed to submit myself to my master who's crooked or who's harsh, who's mean, how far? Right? If in the future, my daughter is in the workplace and her boss is flirting with her and making advances toward her, what do I say to her?

Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every institution. I'm like, no, let me go talk to this guy. But is that a sin? And that's an important question 'cause this is God's will. You guys understand this? So my mind goes to all the exceptions, my mind goes to all the hypotheticals because this is a very weighty thing.

And my hypotheticals, my mind will even drift to, if I'm a Russian soldier, right now I'm a Christian, Putin tells me to do something that goes up against my conscience, what do I do? If the government says, church, shut down, what do we do? So the hypotheticals start coming into play.

So this is a very important passage but also a challenging one and you have to acknowledge what the differences and the challenges are. Okay? Some people will give up. Well, then it's irrelevant. No, it's not. There's a lot of stuff that we need to glean from chapters two, verse 13 to 20, but we just need to make sure we're doing it right.

Right? So here's some challenges. First Peter has general principles. We get stuck on the specific applications. Well, what about, how about if, right, there's general principles and you're gonna discover that these general principles are in pretty severe times. So I'll go into that a little bit. Another challenge is, we're not living in a system where if your boss is mistreating you, you can quit your job.

Right? But in that case, it's an easy thing. Well, if for the sake of conscience before the Lord, you wanna win him over to Christ, you decide to stick, that is honorable before God. Okay? So that's kind of, that's not that hard. So we, but the challenge is, when it comes to like, if we're living under a king, whatever he says usually goes.

But in a democracy where we actually can impact laws, how vocal do we become? That's where we do have to exercise some wisdom. Right? So there's context difficulties. If you don't understand what's happening in the Roman Empire in first century, you might misapply stuff. Okay? And there are parts of this that you want to prescribe to your life that are supposed to be descriptive.

Which means a descriptive passage is this happened. The donkey talked. That's descriptive. Prescriptive tells me to kind of do the same thing. So if I'm looking at Balaam's donkey, I'm not reading that as a prescriptive passage. Well, I go to my animals at home and be like, give me a message from the Lord.

I don't do that. Right? So, but in this passage, sometimes we can confuse, this is supposed to be a description of a Christian. And then I try to like find ways to kind of fit and apply it in different ways. So that's a little bit of a challenge. And there's a natural tendency in your heart to isogee.

And so you have to be careful not to swing the pendulum too much over here, where whatever I do doesn't matter, or too much on this side where you're saying, well, this has to apply to every Christian across the board, all over the world. Okay? Hard, fast rules, you need to be very careful to make.

You guys get that? So there are challenges in this passage. This is from the New Testament survey class. I wanna just kind of walk through a little bit of what's going on in the world of first Peter. This will all be available to you on the slide after we're done with the Bible study.

So you can just look at that later. You don't need to write it all down. 64, there's a great fire in Rome. Nero blames the Christians, and that triggers a great persecution throughout the Holy Roman Empire. 8066, Jews in Jerusalem revolt. Jews and Christians are not distinguishable to Roman citizens.

So here's the thing with Christians that were easy targets. Christianity was seen as a cult of Judaism in early history. And cults are sometimes very weird. And there's a lot of assumptions on how cults work. So in this period of time, they had misassumptions of what Christians did when they gathered secretly.

They thought Christians practiced homosexuality because of the Philadelphia, they practice in brotherly love. So they're like, is that a code word for like homosexual practices? The Roman world also assumed the Christians did some kind of a weird cannibalistic ceremony because they were eating blood or drinking blood and eating a flesh.

So if you're not part of it, you have assumptions. So Christians were easy targets, but the biggest offense of Christians is that they were monotheists. We believe in one God, and the emperor's not him. And the Jews had the same problem. So the Roman world hated the Jews and the Greeks.

All right, sorry, the Jews and the Christians. And they didn't distinguish. So there is, boom, persecution. And the Jews get all feisty. So in AD 67, Rome actually declares war on Israel. 150,000 Jewish inhabitants in Judea and Galilee are killed at the onset of this war. Paul's beheaded, Peter's crucified.

In the blue, I just kind of distinguish because somewhere in there is the context of 1 Peter. You guys get that? And I wanna turn your attention over to your right, and I'm gonna read this. Nero launches an imperial persecution against Christians throughout the empire and against anyone who would not declare allegiance to him.

This proves to be the first and most intense persecution in Rome's history. Some are covered with the skins of wild beasts sent into arenas to be torn apart by dogs while others are crucified. Many others are burned, their bodies first clothed with pitch, paper, and wax, and then fastened to stakes through their throats.

At night, their bodies are lit up as torches to give light, especially to provide light in Nero's garden so that he could put on circus shows. And this time of persecution lasts until Nero's death in June 68, a period of three and a half years. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the one in authority or to a governor.

This sucks. And also, we are also looking at bond slaves today. And to the crooked master, right? And they translate it all differently, but crooked. Seneca was Emperor Nero's tutor as a child and an advisor as an adult. So Seneca stayed with Nero for most of his life. And Seneca, making an observation, he's speaking against the abuses of the masters on their slaves.

So this is what he says. Okay, so this is not like an endorsement. This is actually him saying, let's not do this, guys. All right, so this is what Seneca says. You may take a slave in chains and at your pleasure expose him to every test of endurance. And that's the, he's allowing for that exception.

But too great violence in the striker has often dislocated a joint or left a sinew fastened in the very teeth it has broken. Anger has left many a man crippled, many disabled, even when it found its victims submissive. (pages rustling) Servants, be subject to your master. So this is pretty heavy stuff.

How would you like to be told to be subject for the Lord's sake for this? It's pretty intense. So when it comes to our response to the government, our response to crooked bosses and leaders, I think 90% of the situations, you'll know what to do. Right? But when it comes to very tricky things, in World War II, it's a lot of Christians hid the Jews and they straight up lied to soldiers that were coming by saying, do you have Jews in your house?

(pages rustling) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, actually one of the early pastor, he even said, you know what, if I have a chance, I'm gonna kill Hitler. So it almost seems like there are exceptions when the government is demanding ridiculous things. Right? And that's where it's difficult for us to say, this is a hard, fast rule.

Disobedience to God's word on this is a sin 'cause we have to be very careful. So when I'm looking at what is my attitude and response to a government mandate or my bad employer? Actually, I don't have a bad employer, I have a great employer, Pastor Peter. (audience laughing) You, when you have a bad employer, okay?

So what does First Peter two have to say to all of this? Is what I wanna look at. Get wisdom from here. Because sometimes my problem is not my knowledge. Knowledge sometimes leads people to being fools 'cause they think they're smarter than they actually are. Okay? I need more wisdom from God in these situations rather than more facts.

Would you guys agree with that? Our problem is not a dearth of knowledge. Our problem is we have a bunch of people who are dumb, who think that they're really smart. Okay, so what does First Peter two have to say? Because it will enlighten me a little bit. What does the whole of the epistle of the First Peter have to say, directly and indirectly?

What do the other epistles have to say? And we looked at a little bit of this in Titus. And what does the whole Bible have to say? Because we wanna exegete, not isageete. So we're gonna have to look at that. Okay, now I'm gonna do only one step for you.

This is what else is being said in First Peter chapter one, verse three, that's very simple to understand. One, you're protected by the perfect power of God. Hallelujah. The only one you need to really fear is God, amen? You will suffer as a Christian for the name of Christ, true or false?

It is guaranteed. The form, I can't predict, but you will suffer. You will be persecuted. You will be hated. That's in the scriptures. But we're protected by the power of God for salvation that is ready to be revealed when? In the last time. And in this, we greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while we are enduring the fiery trials, okay?

But a believer, prescriptive and descriptive, is sober in spirit. A believer is called to be holy. A believer is to fear God, not men. The word phobos is translated in different ways in First Peter, depending on the translation. But it's the same word in the Greek, phobos, phobos, phobos, phobos, okay?

But we're supposed to fear God, phobos God, not men. Believers are loving, especially toward other believers. Believers do away with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. 'Cause that hinders longing for the word, if you guys remember from a couple weeks back. We feed and grow. We abstain from fleshy lusts.

We don't use freedom in Christ as a license to sin. Believers are not vindictive, right? If you're not applying this, your chances are you're walking in the flesh. And those who are walking in the flesh do not have the mind or the spirit. And when you don't have the mind or the spirit, your reaction toward the governing authorities, your reaction toward your unbelieving husband, your reaction toward your unsubmissive wife, your reaction to your crooked boss is gonna be fleshly.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, 2 Corinthians 10, three and four, but they have divine power to demolish strongholds. But if you're not focused on this, but you're more worried about how clever your point is on Facebook, you're not winning anybody over. Today's Christendom has a lot of social justice warriors.

You have a lot of people for seemingly Christian causes saying all kinds of stuff, being divisive, slandering leadership, slandering all of, it just, you're not catching the basic foundation of who you're supposed to be. So this is not to say you can't be a voice for the oppressed. This is not to say you can't do things to engage people online, but you don't need more facts and more knowledge, per se.

You need more wisdom from God. You need to be led by the spirit, not by the flesh. What does it say? Abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, you may, because of your good deeds, cause them to give glory to God.

So we really, our application, you don't need to worry about the exceptions on a day-to-day basis. The hypotheticals on a day-to-day basis. If someone were to intrude into my house, what would I do? And some of you guys are thinking, no, you need to be prepared, PPC, right? But if someone were to intrude in my house, I'm gonna throw down, okay?

If it's someone trying to hurt my family, I'm not gonna be subject to that. Okay, that's a completely different topic. But on a day-to-day basis, my obsession needs to be that. So if these are not in place in the Christian life, the God-honoring attitude toward human institutions will likely be fleshly, and the word corrupt appears again and again in 1 Peter.

But you've been saved, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused to be born again to a living hope, right? And then verse four talks about our inheritance, which is what? Incorruptible. So we need to be worried about this stuff, first and foremost.

Here's a wrap-up, and Peter himself wraps it up with a to sum up. You guys get that? To sum up, he said, in the same way, in the same way, in the same way, be submissive, be submissive, submit, live. In the same, and then he goes to sum up.

All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit. While you're trying to sort out what is God's will for me in this particular situation, at my work, in my government, what is it? Not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. And here's an Old Testament quote again. For the one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good.

He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the, toward the righteous, and his ears are attended to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. How much damage is being done in the name of Christ by fleshly church people saying all kinds of stuff with recklessness?

You guys following this? Remember, our minds will go to the hypotheticals. Our minds will go to the exceptions. But the application and the energy for us to seek to submit ourselves, hipotasso, to the word of God, first and foremost, is the list that I showed you right before. So I'm gonna show you this again.

(pages rustling) I wanna look at the green again. Whether you eat or drink, whether you suffer or laugh, whether you worship through singing, whether you worship through listening, whether you worship through evangelizing, whatever you do, do it all for what? For the glory of God. For the Lord's sake, this is the will of God.

You're a bond slave of God. Fear God. Respect toward God. Conscience toward God. And he responds with charis. Grace and favor. Now, I have all kinds of questions on what charis is. That's my daughter's name, so I like that word. But I'm like, is this like something I get later?

Is this something that happens after I die? Or is this special protection on this side of eternity? That, I don't know. Those are inductive questions that I have. But there's all kinds of human institutions. And in all of these institutions, you should be the same person, inside and out.

Amen? In relating to all of these institutions, you need to give God fear first before we try to figure out what to do in the hypotheticals. You guys following the logic here? So, next week, we don't have Bible study. We have praise and prayer. College students are going on retreat.

And so, pray for them over the course of the next week. This is for the following Wednesday, March 30th. The last question is the one that's different. What does it mean, verse 21, if you guys do a little preview, for to this you were called, right? For Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

Next passage is pretty strong, okay? But then, what does it mean for me, then, to die to sin and live to righteousness? Is it merely a suggestion or a theological point of study? Or is it a command to be obeyed? And so, that's the part that my encouragement is, as you prepare this, filter your application toward question number five.

And then, tonight, this is what you're gonna be discussing. In what ways is your submission to the various human institutions in your life honoring to God? In what ways are you doing right? And this might be a painful reflection and confession for some. Question number two, what are the heart attitudes that were adjusted and affected through the study of this passage?

Are there specific ways your group members can pray for you as you relate to the non-believing authorities around you? And I think the immediate application for you guys, a lot of it is just your workplaces, too. Those are the things that I feel like you can immediately apply, right, the context.

It's not Russia, it's not Ukraine for us. For us, it's here. And in the areas in which we minister as salt and light. How do we need to adjust certain things? Even if it means you're suffering, suffering unrighteously. It's great credit, it's charis before God for you to suffer unrighteously, even in your own way, perhaps at your work, right?

So let me pray and then we'll get to this. Lord, we really do need a lifetime to plumb the depths of just, just wisdom. But Lord, as it says in the Proverbs that the fear of Yahweh, the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of wisdom, but it's also the source of life for us.

In our lives, I pray that you would take center stage. Lord Jesus, help us not to just be religious people, but help us really to be obedient through and through. And that is not something that we can do in our own strength. Help us to grow up in our salvation as we long for the pure milk of the word.

Help us not to be so entangled with this world that the hunger for your word gets quenched out. So we need your grace, we need your favor. I'm gonna pray all these things in Jesus' name. 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