A Kingdom Call: Examining the Urgency of 2 Peter 3

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:00:00] How's everything going? Are you ready for the Super Bowl? Yeah? I don't watch football, so it's kind of weird talking about that, but it's fine.
[00:04:49] Let's get out and start the worship time this morning. And let's stand up for a second.
[00:04:56] And I'm going to ask you something real quick that we did in first service.
[00:04:59] can you just turn around from where you are and I will give you five seconds to go and say hi to the person that you didn't say hi whenever you get in you can just wave if you want to move
[00:05:11] if you move it will be better like to show community but yeah just say hi say like what's up it's nice to see you today did you shower did you get your coffee I'm glad that we are all here
[00:05:36] alright so let's close our eyes and then we pray thank you Father for everything that you do thank you for our families Lord thank you for this time that we are here on your house Lord
[00:05:47] and we pray and we are thankful for everything that you do in our lives Lord and we pray for the Holy Spirit Lord to be here this morning with us and to lead us into worship and lead us into
[00:06:01] your word Lord in Jesus name we pray Amen

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:06:03] well good morning church you excited to be here today go ahead and have a seat if we haven't got

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:15:25] a chance to meet yet my name is garrett i am one of the pastors here and on behalf of our senior pastor pastor david his wife katie and our entire staff and our elder team here welcome to christ
[00:15:37] community church this sunday it is great to be back in person with everyone today on a sunday morning. Fantastic. And it's a really big Sunday as well because it's small group launch Sunday here at Christ Community Church. We'll get to that here in a second. But if this is your very first
[00:15:53] Sunday worshiping with you, we would just want to extend a warm welcome to you as well and let you know that we hope that you feel welcome here at Christ Community Church from the moment that you
[00:16:04] stepped foot on the property. You just felt the presence of the Lord and the spirit of welcome here. We'd love to get to know you a little bit better before you head off to make preparations
[00:16:12] for the big game today. So in the seat back pocket in front of you, there's a couple of different cards. That blue one is going to be the Connect card. If you would take a few seconds,
[00:16:20] fill that card out. And then at the end of service, if you'll stop by the black Connect booth, somebody has a gift that we want to give you as our way of just saying thank you so much for
[00:16:28] joining us. The church family, could you make our first time guest feel welcome today? We're so glad you're here. And Christ Community Church, we exist as if you would come to know Christ, love through
[00:16:40] community and live as the church and so we have a lot going on right now and we've been out a couple Sundays so I'm going to talk about a couple of things on the news and note sheet you'll see
[00:16:48] everything on the website you'll see everything that's not on the news and note sheet but just know we live out our mission and our vision here we've got a ton going on starting with our next
[00:16:57] steps class happening right after service today so that's our pathway to membership if you're already signed up great we'll see you then if not and you want to know more about membership here stop by for the next steps class at 12 30 uh our women's worship night is coming up tomorrow
[00:17:11] night should be fantastic whether you win or lose tonight you're gonna winner if you're a lady and you show up tomorrow uh valentine's day date night uh out is for all couples uh that is coming up on
[00:17:23] friday let us know that you're coming so we can uh we can make arrangements for dinner and child care is provided that's for dating engaged and married couples okay so uh so make plans to attend
[00:17:33] get your marriage poured into with that. And then we got a men's breakfast coming up on Saturday morning. And that's going to be a fantastic one. We have a special guest speaker for that.
[00:17:43] That's our very own Pastor David Teague. Oh yeah. And Pastor David is bringing a word specifically for the men of this house. And men is going to be eighth grade and up. So if you've got a son
[00:17:54] that's in eighth grade or up, or you're a guy that's in here that you're in high school and you can get yourself here, but your parents don't, we'd love to have you here for breakfast
[00:18:02] 7 a.m pastor david speaking in 7 30 pastor david speaking i can't read uh pastor david's gonna be speaking and uh and also it's not lost on us that that is valentine's day we get it so start your
[00:18:15] day off with jesus gentlemen and also there is a 100 gift card that is going to be given away to somebody just for showing up all right just for showing up you get entered so if you don't have
[00:18:24] date night plans for valentine's day or right now you're realizing that you haven't done that one there's time. And two, you can get a hundred dollars to go out that night. Also, it is small
[00:18:34] group launch Sunday today. I said, I mentioned one of our mission, one of our values here is we see people love through community. And as a way of doing that, we have small groups. We do it in
[00:18:43] two semesters. So this is our spring semester that is launching today and it's 15 weeks. And if you're saying, Hey Garrett, I'd love to do life with a group of people and just a center around
[00:18:53] focus on either something, an activity or the word of God. We have groups available for every season of life, stage of life, different groups for men and women that are available. We have over 20 groups. All of those groups are going to be located on the wall right as soon as you walk
[00:19:08] out. So as soon as you leave service today, take a left and go and find a group that is right for you and just say, hey, for the next 15 weeks, not every single week. There's some groups that meet
[00:19:18] biweekly, some groups that meet monthly, but find a group that fits for what you're doing, the season of life that you're in and connect with other people so that you can love through community be this year as well. Also, along with our small group launch, we have classes that are starting
[00:19:33] again on Sunday morning. Our very first class is a class on marriage hosted by Doug and Donna Waldo.
[00:19:38] So that's going to be fantastic. And here's the deal. Space is limited for that to 20 people. So if that speaks to you and you want to invest in your marriage going into the year on an ongoing
[00:19:50] basis, it's a five-week class on Sunday mornings during our 9 a.m. service. So go ahead and sign up for that so that you can claim your spot for that class all right thank you so much for hanging
[00:19:59] in with me that was a lot go ahead and stand up as we get ready to go back into a time of worship and if you need to stretch things back out go ahead and do that right now and as we get ready
[00:20:08] to worship i just want to mention that our giving is an act of worship so if you gave online this week i hope you did it with a smile on your face if you brought a physical tie they're offering
[00:20:17] into the house you can give those at the giving kiosk in the lobby and if you're giving online today. Make sure you do it with a thankful heart based on what God's done in you and through you.
[00:20:26] And we give just as an offering, returning to him what he's blessed us with. So would you bow your heads and close your eyes and pray with me as we get ready to worship. Father, thank you so much
[00:20:35] for who you are. Thank you for the ways that you have blessed us. Thank you that we are blessed to be in the room today. God, there is so many things that we can be thankful for right now. And Jesus,
[00:20:47] as we get ready to lift up your name and make you great in this place. We're recognizing your greatness. We're not making you anything that you're not. We are recognizing your greatness.
[00:20:59] And as we recognize how big you are in light of everything that we're going through, our problems can get smaller. And so God, I pray that every single person would leave here with a different
[00:21:10] perspective on what they might be encountering right now, because they encountered you, a living god who cares so much about them we give you the glory and we lift you up now in jesus name

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:21:21] amen there's nothing that can be against us because the lord is with us his holy spirit is

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:27:23] with us as well jesus name amen can we praise the name of our lord come on let's say thank you jesus

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:27:31] for what you do beautiful name lord you can feel our hearts and our soul there is nothing else

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:33:46] that we can sing for or we can have it's only you so every day of our lives lord it doesn't matter what age we are what's it circumstance moment season of life we can say that you're

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:34:15] worthy you're holy nothing can stop our worship to you needed uh tell the person next to you i'm

[00:42:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:42:14] so glad you're here today thank you team for leading us to the throne let's uh continue to be in his presence. If you got your Bibles, go ahead and open them to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter
[00:42:27] chapter 3. As you're turning, I just want to say a word of consolation for all the Duke fans in the house today. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that the Devils got beat yesterday, but if the altar is
[00:42:40] open at the end of the service, I'm just kidding. Now, looking at the big game tonight, really quick question how many of you are rooting for the local boy drake may and the patriots how many of you
[00:42:53] three of you how many of you are rooting for the seahawks it's five of you how many of you are rooting for the commercials a hundred of you how many of you are rooting for the snacks
[00:43:04] yeah that's the most that's definitely the most uh well today i'm really excited to start a brand new series i've missed you guys on sunday the last two weeks i'm so glad we get to do friday
[00:43:14] I saw some of your face-to-face like 10 days ago when we had worship on Friday, but I'm glad you made it through Snowmageddon and you've dug your way out.
[00:43:22] And now, thank Jesus, school is back in session, amen?
[00:43:26] Can I get a witness in the house?
[00:43:27] Yeah.
[00:43:28] So today we are starting a brand new series and this is our spring series.
[00:43:32] I'm so excited about it.
[00:43:34] It's called Upside Down Kingdom, Upside Down Kingdom, bringing heaven to earth, Upside Down Kingdom.
[00:43:40] And I want to tell you, we're going to look at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' most famous sermon.
[00:43:46] But today we're going to start a little after that sermon.
[00:43:50] We're going to be in the book of 2 Peter.
[00:43:53] 2 Peter was written by the Apostle Peter, and he is close to death.
[00:43:59] He's getting ready to be crucified, and he wants to write to some of his friends in the churches in modern-day Turkey.
[00:44:05] and so he's already written first peter uh this letter to them to encourage them and help them but but now he's writing the second one this is sort of his last will and testament some of the last things that he wants remembered by the church and how many of you know the closer
[00:44:21] you get to the end of your life the more clarifying everything gets like what's really important anybody ever have like a near-death experience like can you walk away from that it doesn't matter if you're 15 or 20 or 70 right you have a near-death experience and in that moment
[00:44:38] it's uber clarifying isn't it about what's really important in life what matters and what doesn't matter and so the apostle Peter has a message for the church because something was happening with the church in modern day Turkey and I think it's happening today in church especially in
[00:44:57] America and it was this there was some false teaching that was creeping into the life of the church and here's what they said as long as you have a relationship with Jesus it doesn't really
[00:45:09] matter how you live you can do whatever you want you you can live however you want you can behave however you want you can essentially be God over your own life but you got your fire insurance get
[00:45:21] out of hell free card but but it doesn't have to like actually determine the way that you live you can be with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God and the apostle Peter as it
[00:45:34] clarifies for him as he's coming to the end of his life he's he wants him to see the kingdoms of this world will absolutely disappoint you anybody disappointed with the kingdoms of this world like I don't care who's in charge I'm disappointed with the kingdoms of this world
[00:45:52] I'm disappointed with overt racism I'm disappointed with deviant sexuality I'm disappointed with envy and and with lust and all the stuff that goes along with having the kingdoms of this world and to me it doesn't matter if it's an elephant in charge or a donkey in charge all of us have a
[00:46:11] longing for a different and better kingdom that's run by the lamb and it's not going to be good until he comes back and so what we're talking about in this series is this reality of the type
[00:46:24] of kingdom this counter-cultural kingdom that jesus brings the stuff jesus said was radical they were totally expecting a different kind of savior they wanted a savior that was going to be mighty and powerful militarily they thought that might would make right they'd kick out the romans
[00:46:42] and then they'd rule and reign and everybody would come and worship them and jesus comes instead of riding the war horse he comes riding on a donkey it's the prince of peace they wanted somebody who was going to elevate them and put them on thrones and he picked up the towel and
[00:47:01] decided to wash people's feet it was a counter cultural kingdom and i have to wonder i think as i read through this part in second peter and i look at my own life i i wonder if we have gotten
[00:47:14] too comfortable as Christians having one foot in both kingdoms and lying to ourselves thinking it's no big deal it's really okay we've got all the time in the world in fact we spend most of our lives trying to make a little slice of
[00:47:31] heaven on earth right like we want this kind of home this kind of card this kind of job and this kind of bank account and all those things are good I'm not I'm not saying but they're gifts not the giver right they're not substitutes for
[00:47:43] for a relationship with him but but so many of us we want to control our own little kingdom that we're building right here on earth where things operate the way that we think it should like our
[00:47:55] kids respond to us the way we think they should and our spouse treats us the way we think they should and our neighbors like they do the things we think they should do and our co-workers they
[00:48:06] operate and what we're really saying is we would love to sort of sit on a throne and if everybody just thought and did what we wanted, life would be great. And I want to tell you that's the oldest
[00:48:19] lie from the oldest enemy. He says, God's keeping something from you. You could know things. You could rule. You could reign. That's what he told Adam and Eve. In essence, he's saying you can make
[00:48:31] your own kingdom, your own little slice of heaven right here on earth. And I want to tell you it's a distraction from the real kingdom he wants you to be distracted and so I have this question I
[00:48:44] think this is what the apostle Peter would say to us today it's just one question just jot this down and this is what I want you to think about as we enter into this series and it's this are you
[00:48:54] building your own kingdom or are you bringing God's kingdom to earth there's a better kingdom there's a better kingdom and jesus's kingdom is revolutionary and it's not about one nation it's about every tribe in every nation every people group on the planet he's forming a family that
[00:49:17] is part of a different eternal kingdom i think some of us have forgotten that we are just sojourners passing through our real citizenship the bible says is not here you live here 80 90 maybe 100
[00:49:32] years if Elon Musk has his way maybe 300 I don't know but I'm just saying like I don't want to be in a robot but but but here's the thing every single person is going to die and there's an
[00:49:43] eternity after it there's a kingdom that lasts and we spend all of our time building our own little slice of heaven right here on earth at the expense of bringing God's kingdom to the earth
[00:49:59] and the apostle Peter is saying, look, look, look, people need to see a difference in the lives of people who say they believe in Jesus. Have you noticed the name Christian doesn't really mean much anymore? There's Christian nationalism. There's Christian, like almost like you're born
[00:50:15] into it or something. Well, that's not true. That's not real Christianity. Christianity like is following Jesus. It's a personal individual relationship with Jesus Christ that connects you with every other person who personally confesses Jesus as their Savior and Lord as well and in the
[00:50:36] middle of that he's building a kingdom and he wants all of the people who believe in him to live in such a way that the other people who are here in the kingdoms of this world say that's
[00:50:47] different that's a different way of thinking that's a different way of living that's a different kind of marriage that's different kind of parenting that's different kind of a way to handle anger you know those christians they handle resentment so differently than the kingdoms of this world
[00:51:09] they handle grudges differently those christians handle gossip so much differently than the rest of the world these christians handle coarseness and joking or racism or whatever it is sexuality all all the different they they handle it so much they they handle generosity so much
[00:51:26] different it's like they're they're aliens right because that's what the bible says we are we belong to another place because he's changed our heart our old way of life has been killed off crucified buried with christ and he's resurrected a new person inside of us
[00:51:46] one where he's not just our savior to forgive us of our sins but he's lord over everything and there's only one who sits on the throne of the kingdom of God and it's not us
[00:51:57] so look at what Peter says to the church I think this is so important because I think we fool ourselves believing that there's so much time I want to tell you I don't think there's a ton of
[00:52:08] time now I might be wrong Peter thought there wasn't a lot of time 2,000 years ago but I can promise you this it's closer today than it's ever been right we don't know how long but but we know
[00:52:22] there is a point where everything ends and are we ready for that moment or are we living one foot in the world in its kingdom and one foot in the kingdom of god are you building your own
[00:52:35] kingdom are you bringing god's kingdom to earth look what it says in second peter chapter three verse one let's let's read through this he says now this is the second letter that I'm writing to you beloved and both of them read this out loud with me what does he say I'm like I love this word
[00:52:51] I'm stirring up anybody have a child that likes to stir things up uh yeah I I have teenagers right now and one of their favorite things to do is rage bait me like do you know what that is it's like to
[00:53:04] say things they don't even really believe but like just to say something to provoke a reaction out of you, right? Like, I'm just rage baiting you, dad. It's like, I'm offering it here, and then are you
[00:53:14] going to take the bait? And one of my kids this week told me, that's one of my favorite things to do with you, dad. I'm like, fantastic. I'm glad we're bonding. This is good. But there's something
[00:53:22] that is interesting about stirring stuff up, right? And the apostle Peter says, this word stirring up, it literally means shake you. Does anybody have a spouse or a kid or a parent that is a heavy sleeper right and it's like you can have 13 alarms that doesn't matter the alarms
[00:53:41] only wake you up not them and the only way they're going to wake up is if you go hey oh look at you sleepyhead oh yeah there you go right this is what peter is saying he says you're asleep you're in
[00:53:57] another state you're just living life like there's gonna be tomorrow you're living life with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom like you have all the time in the world. He says I'm
[00:54:11] writing you this letter because I'm about to be at the end and I want to shake you awake. Don't stay sleeping. He says I want to stir you up to a sincere mind. This is a pure mind. He says so much of your
[00:54:25] thinking is tainted. You've integrated the world's ways and Jesus's ways and you're fine with them being mixed. And he says it shouldn't be that way. It needs to be the way of Jesus. If you're
[00:54:37] a believer in Jesus, we got to be followers of Jesus. It's what he thinks, not what we think, not what the world thinks. It doesn't matter if the world says this is normal. What does Jesus say?
[00:54:49] And he's like, you've taken like this, this heart that you had that was pure and you've added all these things over time into it. And you've lied to yourself and said, it doesn't really matter that
[00:55:00] much i love jesus and the people around me know i love jesus and he says i want to shake you before i go to that cross i want to shake you awake don't accept the mixture and look at what
[00:55:14] he says verse two he says you should remember the predictions of the holy apostles and the commandment of our lord and savior through your apostles he said knowing that first of all at the end time scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing read this out loud following their own
[00:55:28] what? Sinful desire. He said, people are going to live their lives. Here's the motto of their life.
[00:55:33] Whatever feels good and makes me happy. That's what I'm going to do. And they're going to scoff at you. If you try to live a different way, why would you do anything that doesn't make you happy?
[00:55:45] That doesn't make sense. Why would you do anything other than sit on the throne of your own life?
[00:55:51] I mean, don't you want to be in charge? Don't you want to control? Don't you want to curate your life? Don't you want your relationships to look like this and this and this? And if not just
[00:55:59] right don't you want to be your own god and they were being lied to saying you can like add jesus to your life but still sit on the throne almost like jesus was an air freshener to make your life
[00:56:13] just a little bit better there's some people that preach the gospel like that in some churches where it's like there's no repentance there's no following jesus just like just pray and you add jesus to your life and then everything is going to be great he says no i'm not asking you
[00:56:29] to add me to anything you're dead and you need to recognize i'm the only one that has life and the only way you get life is complete and total surrender not just forgiveness of sins but where
[00:56:44] he's lord over everything where he sits on the throne and peter looks at him and he says stop following your own sinful desires look at what it says verse four they'll say that these false
[00:56:56] teachers well where's the promise of his coming ever since the fathers fell asleep in death all things just keep going from the beginning of creation like oh if God's really going to come and judge us why doesn't he do it already people say that now it's like oh well you know I mean
[00:57:12] there's all this stuff in the world clearly if there was a God who rules and reigns he wouldn't just let all this stuff continue he would have done something by now so just live however you
[00:57:21] want? And look at Peter's answer to this. Look what he says, verse five. He says, they deliberately overlooked the fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of the water,
[00:57:33] through the water, by the word of God. The word of God spoke it into existence. Jesus Christ, the word himself who became flesh, he spoke everything into being. And by that means of these, the world was then, that then existed, was deluged with water and perished. He says,
[00:57:51] people ignore the fact that there already has been a global judgment he was like the flood happened right a guy named Noah lived he said that there was a moment in time where the Lord looked down
[00:58:04] on all of humanity and it says that he was sorry that he made us because we had taken the beautiful image of God we were created in and we pushed it out of us and substituted what we wanted in its
[00:58:18] place where every person did what was right in their own eyes where they were God over themselves and he looks and he's sad and he says there has to be judgment look at the world look at how people
[00:58:32] are being treated look at all the stuff and he says people forget there already was a worldwide judgment it was with water and he says but now there's coming a different judgment and it won't
[00:58:42] be by water because the Lord promised he'd never flood the whole earth again he put his bow in the sky as a representation that you could always count on his promises that he would restore and
[00:58:51] he never fled the whole world again but look at what it says verse 7 but by the same word the same word from the same mouth that made everything by his same word the heavens and earth that now exist
[00:59:04] are stored up for for fire being kept until the the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly here's what he says everything you have is going to burn up so how important is it your
[00:59:22] house is going to burn up your curated life on instagram is going to burn up tiktok's going to burn up maybe it should soon i don't know i'm just saying it's pretty funny right like like your
[00:59:34] workplace is going to burn up some of you are like let it happen today jesus right like i don't want to go to work tomorrow look but he's saying there there's coming a time of judgment just because
[00:59:45] people say it's not happening doesn't mean it's not happening we've read the end of the book John the apostle was carried up into heaven he saw the vision he wrote down what the word of God
[00:59:59] said and told him the lamb of God Jesus himself said write these things down about what's going to happen at the very end and he says there's two judgments he says that there is a judgment
[01:00:10] who comes for believers for every person who's ever accepted Jesus's free gift of salvation the Bible says each person will stand before God who's accepted his gift of salvation who's received him as Lord will stand before him in the book of our deeds will be opened up and it's a judgment for
[01:00:29] mercy it's not a judgment about whether you get into heaven or not because he already earned your place in heaven it's not a judgment about whether or not you're you're going to be in or out it's a
[01:00:40] judging about what kind of rewards you're going to get and whether or not you have something to present back to Jesus before his throne that's the judgment of mercy the mercy seat judgment he's going to open the lamb's book of life and he's going to say your name is written by the blood
[01:00:55] of the lamb he says you received my gift of salvation you knew me as your savior and lord so enter into everything that I've prepared for you eternal rest but there's also another judgment the bible talks about it in the revelation it's the great white throne judgment the bible says
[01:01:15] that every person who's ever lived every person that has rejected jesus's gift of salvation that they will stand before the presence of an almighty and holy god and all the books will be opened and all of their deeds will be shown and in that moment not one single person will claim
[01:01:36] that they're good enough to make it into heaven because the goal isn't good it's perfect and you can't be perfect and at that moment every person will see Jesus and realize they rejected his offer
[01:01:54] of salvation the Lord doesn't send any person to hell but he lets you choose to go there right he's done everything required for your salvation for your forgiveness of sins he's done everything everything to give you a relationship with him but if you reject him and his offer and say no
[01:02:14] I'm good I just want to sit on the throne of my life I will be God over myself and I'll just see how it works out in the end he looks at you and he says depart from me I never knew you go into
[01:02:25] the hell that was made for the devil and his angels because you've chosen to go there yourself in the middle of this moment Peter says are you forgetting that there are two judgments like does that occupy the thoughts in your mind at all he's like i'm getting ready to die
[01:02:42] and so i'm thinking about that day like that controls what i'm doing today i'm living today with that day in mind he's like do you even think about that day do you think that there's going to
[01:02:56] be a moment where you don't do anything else in service for jesus that counts that that you're going to stand before him like he's like there's a day of judgment for rewards and there's a day
[01:03:11] of judgment for lost people he was like do we live with that reality in mind or do we just walk by everybody at work and not think one thing about the reality that that co-worker is going to stand
[01:03:22] before Jesus he says don't overlook the fact look verse 8 he says don't overlook this fact beloved that one day what the Lord is a thousand years a thousand years is a day the Lord isn't slow to
[01:03:35] fulfill his promise as some counts slowness read this with me what does it say but instead he is patient towards you not wishing that what anybody would perish but that what all would reach repentance he looks and he says he says uh any parents know the difference between um being slow
[01:03:56] and being patient right like any parent have to count like i really want to discipline you right now, but I'm just going to be patient. I'm going to count till seven, maybe 70, right? Like in this
[01:04:10] deal, we used to tell our kids when they were little, you got to be patient. They'd be like, what does that mean? And we would say, you have to wait nicely. You have to wait nicely. And the
[01:04:18] apostle Peter says, so many people look at the state of the world and they say, if he's real and he's just, why hasn't he come back and dealt with all of this garbage? And he says, because
[01:04:31] he's patient because he doesn't want any person to choose hell he's waiting because he knows there's still people who don't know him there's still people who haven't even heard of him do you know that there are groups of people that don't even have the bible in their language and
[01:04:54] they have no possibility other than a miraculous thing of knowing who jesus is there are still people but he says at the end of everything there's people from every nation every tribe every tongue every people group that march into the new heaven and new earth as one big global
[01:05:12] family so why is he waiting because there's still people it's because he's patient and he will let you choose to reject him but he doesn't want you to do that look at what he says peter wants them
[01:05:27] to remember look what it says verse 10 but the day of the lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and
[01:05:39] dissolved in the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed he he says the first judgment came through water the second judgment comes through fire he says everything that you know has been touched by the presence of sin do you realize that don't don't miss this look right
[01:05:57] here even heaven the place where we know as heaven right now has been touched by the presence of sin what do you mean well that's that's where satan and his demons used to be right
[01:06:13] he said i'm going to put my throne above god's and then he spent all of the time since then trying to trying to convince every person to put their throne above God's. God threw him out of heaven,
[01:06:27] the Bible says, and he has to roam the earth. But there's a day of judgment that's coming for him.
[01:06:32] And I want to tell you, in the midst of this deal, he's going to purify everything. Do you know that every part of the earth has been exposed to sin? Every home, every family, every place, even
[01:06:44] beautiful places it says all creation groans for the return of the Lord so that it can be restored to what he meant it to be in the original what he made in the garden listen he says there's coming a time when everything that was lost by
[01:06:59] Adam and Eve's choices in the garden is restored by Jesus he breathed his fire over everything and everything is renewed and purified and clean and he makes this new heaven and earth that super impose over each other and we're forever with the lord
[01:07:18] for every person that has named him as their savior look what he says verse 11 so since all of these things are gonna burn up since your job is gonna burn since your house is gonna burn since
[01:07:32] your car that you love is gonna burn since your motorcycle i do think motorcycles are gonna be in heaven that's just a personal belief system since all these things are going to be dissolved read
[01:07:43] this out loud with me what does he say what sort of people ought you to be what kind of people is it necessary for you to be knowing there's judgments that are coming and the world is
[01:07:55] gonna burn what kind of people ought you to be look at what he says to live lives of holiness and godliness to live lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of god he says you might want to tell people it might speed the timeline up right he
[01:08:20] says because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn but according to his promise we're waiting for the new heavens and the new earth in
[01:08:32] which righteousness dwells he says because all these things are happening as somebody who's getting ready to step into eternity it's so clear what's really important you can't stand with one foot in the kingdom of the world and one foot in the kingdom of God that's not the people he's
[01:08:48] called us to be you've accepted this mixing of Jesus with the worldly life and he says how will people know he's real he says look verse 14 therefore beloved since you're waiting on these things be diligent to be found by him what does it read this out without spot or blemish and at
[01:09:11] peace he says i don't want to be the reason that anybody standing in judgment points to and says you didn't act like he was real i want to be found blemish free it doesn't you're not going to be
[01:09:37] perfect but you should be repentant right it's not perfect but we shouldn't be hypocrites like pretending some sins are fine and other sins are not right it's a pursuit of holiness from him and he says i don't want my life to be able to be pointed to as the reason somebody says
[01:10:01] i wish somebody would have showed me the real jesus i wish i would have known he was real he says I want to be found when he comes back working for the kingdom bringing the kingdom
[01:10:15] to earth not building my own little slice of heaven he says I want to be at peace like if Jesus came back this instant would there be any thought of I wish my priorities would have been
[01:10:29] different he said I want to be at peace freedom from worry that I have laid it all on the line there's this story i'll share with you really quickly it's about a maharaji in in india he was
[01:10:44] a wealthy king there is a beggar and the beggar he has to beg every single day for rice and he only gets enough rice for that day and he's by the road and and all of a sudden the maharaji
[01:10:56] comes down his road the king has a procession down his road he can't believe it it's his lucky day And so he walks out and he says, I'm going to get to speak to the Maharaji.
[01:11:07] This guy owns so much.
[01:11:09] He's so wealthy.
[01:11:10] I can't wait.
[01:11:11] Maybe he'll fill my cup.
[01:11:12] This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
[01:11:14] And so he walks up to the Maharaji and the Maharaji steps down off of his elephant and he walks up to him and he sees the cup and the Maharaji looks at the beggar and he says,
[01:11:25] do you have anything you could give your king?
[01:11:28] And the beggar looks at him and he's like, say what now?
[01:11:32] what are you talking about willis do i have something to give you what this is all i've got it's just these little grains of rice that's it i don't have anything and he says well would you
[01:11:43] be willing to give me what you do have and the beggar looks at him like he's crazy and he picks out here's what i'll do i give you i'll give you some rice he pulls out one grain of rice and he
[01:11:55] gives it to the maharaji the maharaji looks at him he says thank you for that but um you sure you don't want to give me any more tell you what i'm feeling extra generous today maharaji
[01:12:07] he pulls out two more grains of rice and he hands so it's three total grains of rice maharaji thanks him he gets back on the elephant the procession goes down the road and he's so
[01:12:17] disappointed and bitter like what just happened and then he looks inside of his cup and on the inside of his cup he notices something glimmering and he looks and it's three little nuggets of gold
[01:12:34] and while he wasn't looking the maharaji took what he offered and replaced it with something better and in that moment he felt such regret and you know what he said why didn't look at what i would
[01:12:52] have had and here's my fear church that we're going to get to a moment and it's going to be a surprise for the world when the lord returns but it shouldn't be a surprise for us and my fear
[01:13:04] is we're going to get to that moment having one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom building our own little kingdom instead of bringing the kingdom of God to earth and we're
[01:13:15] gonna have all why why didn't I do this the apostle Peter says don't live in a way today that would make you regret tomorrow do it all like you're not gonna be you're not gonna be
[01:13:32] perfect but is there any area that you've said it's no big deal and God says it's sin this week as I've been praying the Holy Spirit keeps mentioning this phrase over and over and we think about our flesh right and I think there's so many times where we just
[01:13:51] sort of feed our flesh just a little bit it's just a little it's just like you know this one gossiping conversation it's just this one joke that's crude and crass it's just this one phrase
[01:14:03] that comes out it's just this one image or video or series that we watch on Netflix or you know whatever it is it's just it's just this one thing of envy it's just this one thing of lust just one
[01:14:13] thing of of not being generous and being stingy and and coveting other people's stuff right like whatever it is you name your it's just one time that i'm gluttonous or one time that i gave into
[01:14:24] anger it's just really i mean that's just part of my struggle right and we just sort of indulge our flesh and and the spirit has put this phrase in my mind i heard a pastor that i love uh say it
[01:14:36] a couple months ago and he's brought it back to my mind this week and he said instead of feeding your flesh break your flesh the time for playing is over it's time to break our flesh to crucify
[01:14:51] it to beat it to death because the time is short and there's no time to play around we don't want people to look at us and say you claim to be a christian and you shared all these things on
[01:15:06] Facebook you did all this stuff and this is how you treated people and this is how you talked about people this is how you lived your marriage and like he didn't really make a difference in
[01:15:14] your life so I didn't think he was real he says no no it's time for an upside down kingdom where we bring the kingdom of heaven to earth and people will know he's real would you pray with me this
[01:15:32] morning maybe you don't have a relationship with Jesus would you just tell him I want to know you like that i want to know you like that jesus i want you to be my savior where you forgive my
[01:15:43] sins and i want you to be lord over my life where where you are in charge of me and i'm not on the throne of my life anymore would you just tell him that the bible says that with the confession of
[01:15:54] your mouth that jesus is lord in your belief in your heart that god raised him from the dead in that moment you're saved the holy spirit of god comes and awakens a part of you that you didn't
[01:16:02] even know existed. And so if you've done that today, I want to celebrate. The Bible says you've crossed over from a destiny of death and judgment to a destiny of life and mercy and reward. And so
[01:16:14] the first thing you should do is tell somebody. So on that little response card in the seat back in front of you, put your name and address, put on the back, I prayed to receive Jesus as my savior
[01:16:23] today. Take that to the connect booth across the lobby and they will be so excited for you. And they got a book about what you do now that you started this journey with Jesus. I can't wait for
[01:16:32] you to discover the radical upside down kingdom of Jesus. But for those of you that are in the house that are believers, let me just ask you, because I'm convicted, because the Holy Spirit is convicting
[01:16:47] me. Listen, what areas of your life are you accepting that Jesus says is sin? He's coming like a thief but it shouldn't be a surprise for us we should be ready it's time to stop building
[01:17:08] our own little kingdom and it's time to start bringing God's kingdom to the earth by living a life that's not tainted not perfect but not tainted where we accept sin and so would you just ask the Holy Spirit he's been doing this to me this week he's been pointing out things that
[01:17:30] I've said are okay and just kind of fine with being a part of my life and he's just been pointing out and he's saying break your flesh break your flesh put it to death don't feed it put it to death
[01:17:44] would you just ask the Holy Spirit would you show me that so that that I'm not the reason anybody can point to and say I didn't know he was real Jesus help us live for you as we study this
[01:17:59] upside down kingdom would you shake us awake and would you let us be examples to the rest of the world by your holy spirit's power in jesus name and all god's people said amen give it up for

[01:18:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:18:15] pastor garrett now thank you pastor david so much for an amazing word uh before we head out on this sunday i'm going to invite our missions partner of the month up as a church we give to support
[01:18:27] different missions around the world around the nation and also right here locally so today we're joined by Dawn from the Community Pregnancy Center of Mooresville and she's gonna tell us a little bit more about what they do and how we can get
[01:18:41] involved. So Dawn, what do you guys do at the Community Pregnancy Center? Hi, yes so

[01:18:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:18:46] at the Community Pregnancy Center we have been in this community for 40 years last year and we've been helping women in crisis pregnancies. We want to provide a resource for them, provide ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, mom support with
[01:19:03] diapers, wipes, clothing, gear, uh, just give her all she needs to help her to choose life for her

[01:19:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:19:09] baby. Awesome. And is there a specific time recently where you've seen the Lord move?

[01:19:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:19:16] Yes. So recently, uh, the Lord has been really moving in our ministry to go outside of our walls.
[01:19:22] Um, so we've been in the Mooresville community for 40 years, but he's really pushed us to go outside of our walls with our medical mobile unit, which we had here a couple of years ago.
[01:19:31] and we're bringing that down to Planned Parenthood we're going to the front lines where women are going to Charlotte and over 10,000 babies are being aborted there and that was too much for us so we are going down there and offering hope and the way that God's moving down there is that he
[01:19:51] has he's broken our heart for the women that are coming out who have had abortions and we don't want them to stay in that shame or that guilt or that place of thinking that they're not worthy
[01:20:06] for God's forgiveness because God forgives all sins if you go and repent to him. So we're just really encouraged by the women that we can minister to on the sidewalk. All right. And last

[01:20:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:20:19] question, Dawn, for somebody that's here today that would maybe be looking at getting more involved

[01:20:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:20:24] with what you guys are doing how can they do that yeah of course um there's three ways that you can get plugged in with us um i like to say they're the three things pray serve and give um please
[01:20:38] pray for our clients that walk in the door that are scared and frightened and not sure what to do pray for those women um pray for those babies that have not been aborted yet that they will
[01:20:52] their moms will choose life and pray for our staff as we minister to those women to help them to see the beauty of their unborn baby and then serving i have some cards out in that i'll be out
[01:21:07] in the lobby that has a qr code to sign up to be a volunteer you can volunteer as a small group you can volunteer as an individual you can volunteer monthly weekly quarterly per fundraiser
[01:21:21] We have a really great, just all kinds of opportunities.
[01:21:25] So you can sign up for that and then give.
[01:21:29] Baby Bottle Boomerang starts today.
[01:21:31] So we'll have baby bottles in there.
[01:21:34] If you'd like to take a baby bottle home and fill it up with change cash or checks and then boomerang it back here in a few weeks, that helps us to give all of our services free of charge.

[01:21:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:21:46] Awesome, can you guys thank Dawn so much for being here today?
[01:21:50] As Dawn goes, she's going to be hanging out in the lobby.
[01:21:53] So if you'd like to talk more with her specifically about what she does, you can do that.
[01:21:58] Also, make sure you stop by and join a small group before you leave on the left.
[01:22:02] And I'm going to invite our Elder of the Week, Adam Pfeffer, to come up now and join me.
[01:22:07] Adam is our Elder of the Week.
[01:22:09] So if you need something this week, you can reach out on our website.
[01:22:12] Adam's going to be the person that you're going to be talking to.
[01:22:14] He'll also be available in the lobby by the fireplace.
[01:22:18] and he'd love to pray with you and hear more about what's going on in your life.
[01:22:23] Adam.
[01:22:24] Thanks, Garrett.

[01:22:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:22:25] And we're going to have a great sermon this morning.
[01:22:27] You guys enjoy that?
[01:22:29] Amen.
[01:22:30] Well, let's pray.
[01:22:31] God, I pray that just like David talked about, that you'd give us a little shake on the shoulder this week, God.
[01:22:38] I pray that you'd put in our vision and our hearts things that you want us to crush in our flesh.
[01:22:45] I pray that you'd show us ways that we can just be a little bit different than the world around us, whether it be through generosity or compassion, loving enemies, patience.
[01:22:57] Lord, help us to see the ways that we can shine your light in ways that are different from everything happening around us and help wake us up from just going with the flow of our environment in ways that do not honor you.
[01:23:10] And I pray that you'd speak to each one of us this week and just nudge us in some subtle direction so that we can live for you, Lord, and build your kingdom.