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1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, to those who reside as aliens / exiles/ strangers

Peter, an apostle of Christ and leader of the Jesus’ 12, one of the original, many stories from being first two disciples and went from denying Jesus three times to the man who God used to build the entire early church.

Peter is taking a pastoral focus, as someone coming alongside people by calling them God’s elect, that this is the people whom God is calling his elected, His church, His body, and its for those who have placed their trust in Jesus as Savior.

A lot of people focus on God’s election or predestination which a great conversation for another time but the focus isn’t who God has elected, but what does those who are the church and want the kingdom to flourish on earth do.

Aliens – as listed here but others say Exiles/ Strangers. So let’s take a moment to realize what Peter is doing here. On one hand this is God’s Elect His Church and on the other we are strangers.

Immigration type story – feeling out of place – not sure what a group of people are doing or expectations that have upon me. Story – cleaning up after yourself. Sharing portions, Superstore that closed near the place that also closed – Fed Ex

To be strangers in Exile, those who are not the same as the culture around them but rather convicted to the God who is leading them.

A young person shared with me “I feel like I am the only Christian in my class”

To feel and know you are distinct, not because of who you are, but because of whose Child of God you are.

To have faith in Exile, to be surrounded by a world that is focused on sending messages through a billion directions it seems whether screens or people and be resilient with God.

YOUTH GROUP

Peter is sharing that those who are feeling out of place, feeling misunderstood, feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because maybe we are. Paul is saying that this is actually how the church is to feel, not because of dismay but a badge of honor.

A clear knowledge, that you are distinct, you are not in the in-group, or accepted by the culture around you. Because the culture around this church is not the same as the church.

When culture shifts, churches do catch-up. We try to figure out the latest trend and react or overreach or ignore or several responses.

It’s like eating a chicken strip and eating a spoonful of ketchup to chase it down.

The church is not to chase the culture but be distinct and other than the culture.

As the culture shifts on a lot of topics, everything from social justice, sexuality, power, what is good or loving, the future of the church is to be a more distinct, not less.

During suffering, misunderstanding, and struggle we find we have hope and clarity.

This is the focus on 1 Peter and MENS MINISTRY BIBLE SLIDE

In preaching, some pastors come from a classic outline.

Intro, Three points, and Application.

This morning, we will focus on three points, but we will change our application.

We already got two of them, what we are doing is kicking off a lot of our ministries today and next coming weeks.

Part of our focus is not to overwhelm but give us each an opportunity to find a place to connect. Whether in service, support, or engagement. I hope something comes up that the Spirit uses to nudge you to say “Yes, that’s where I need to go”

We fill focus on our 1 Peter 4:7-11 passage that focuses on looking at how when life, transitions, ministry, churches, families, or wherever else changes.

Our attitude on it.

Our focus of how we are to treat each other and act to one another.

Our work, how focusing on God rightly focuses on how to serve God rightly.

Let’s dive right into our focus in

1 Peter 4:7-11

7 The end of all things is near

The end of all things,

Such an encouraging note to start things with. The end of all things.

We should pull this up a bit to figure out what’s happening. Peter has a few options people have worked with but th most likely.

The end of all things is near. The end of Jerusalem, all things religious and powerful is near. The end of the world, Jesus’ return, the apocalypse, people imagine it a million ways from the walking dead to fire and brimstone, nuclear holocaust, natural disaster, or nothing.

A lot of people, Christian or otherwise have overactive imaginations on the “end of all things” while others have no thoughts on it. It means nothing it does nothing to how they live today.

An end time frenzy, where every thought every conclusion every piece of information is not only valuable but must be truth.

Billions of people have been pulled into attitudes, frenzies, waiting in fields, demanding God judge the world and their enemies all around the end of times

A lot of the time the “end of times” isn’t actually the end of the universe.

It’s the end of our dreams. It’s the end of what we thought the church should do or how our marriage should have gone or watching our kids make decisions that are anti-Christian or agenda and cultural pushes.

The end of times in the Bible is Jesus return, but the end of times for me might just be my favorite toy and preference. The way I demanded things go and if I see the end of times go, it’s frenzy and gnash the teeth mode.

I know because that has been me. Instead of looking to God, I looked to me. I looked to fixing thing, controlling things, understanding things, getting validated in things, looking to the many or the few whichever one gets my narrative heard, and in none of that I find God or peace or control.

In Galatians it speaks of fruits of the Spirit, one of them is self-control and in many times I had none. Which is why Peter along with all of Scripture doesn’t call us to frenzy mode he call us to

; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit

The two descriptions sound judgement and sober spirit can also be summarized as Self Control.

We are not to act out, we are to act in a controlled way.

Martin Luther the Reformer was asked what would you do if today was the time when the end is here he answered

“I would plant a tree and pay taxes”

No extra dramatic actions, no last day on earth before Jesus ruins my fun, No frenzy, no standing in fields. But rather a self-control knowledge that says God first and I don’t react because of an end or a change but a love for the Lord.

Sound judgement is the way we think, if you were to take your thoughts and place them in another, how would they act?

Self-controlled, or in a frenzy, cold and dismissive, demanding and entitled, arrogant and prideful?

Here’s the reality, many of us already are doing that. We call them children, those who follow, and those who trust us.

Our thoughts will always make their way into others reality. Both the reality of grace, in how we love others, and the reality of sin, how we hate each other. Will find a place in our homes, churches, families, culture, and life around us.

Is it sound, controlled, sober, and godly or dismissive, angry, arrogant, and pride based?

But why?

for the purpose of prayer.

A lot of the time we dismiss prayer. As the ‘must do’ rather than the purpose to do.

Christians are not called to be in dismay then pray, they are called to pray.

We find someone or something, whether its an end of something we love or it’s a person or thing we are lost in. Have you purposely prayed?

Not for their condemnation but their blessing?

Love your enemies as Jesus said, pray for those who persecute as we have said in the past, this isn’t an option this is a Purpose.

Let me invite you to our Prayer Groups and if we can help more prayer groups start, PRAYER SLIDE

PRAYER

The end of times in the Bible leads to hope, prayer is all about hope its not about dismay. Hopeful people pray for cancer patients, for broken, for the lost, the unsaved, the sick, and the confused.

All of us are to be purposeful prayers, so start praying, not because it’s the last thing but because it’s the first thing we are called to do, we are called to Pray and then act. A lot of us just act.

8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

We are called to above all Love, this is a powerful type of love called agape love, This means unconditional.

Agape is unconditional love and it is used two ways, first it is the way that God loves us, that God unconditionally loved us by laying down his son to die on a cross and that any who place their faith in Christ Jesus are under that agape love of forgiveness.

Because of that love of being forgiven by God, Christians remember Peter is writing not to a general world group but rather to Christians. Christians are to unconditionally love one another. To keep fervent in love for one another.

Loving one another does not forgive that sin before God, but it does create a grace in all of us.

A quote by a theologian named Grudem I struggled with a lot this week because I realized I had fallen into the trap of not loving.

“Where love abounds in a fellowship of Christians, many small offenses, and even some large ones, are overlooked and forgotten. But where love is lacking, every word is viewed with suspicion, every action is liable to misunderstanding, and conflicts abound”

Love that covers, is not love that forgets. It’s a love that forgives. That says that comment in staff meeting, that text, that snide remark, that angry look, that frustrated sign, that verbal abuse, the great and the small.

They are not more powerful than the love of Jesus that saved us and stirs me to love.

Love does not condonesin; for, if we love somebody, we will be grieved to see him sin and hurt himself and others.

Love though does release the person from those words, thoughts, and actions that could potential turn me into something that I would be horrified to meet.

When we focus rightly our action follow

9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

Hospitality among Christians is an important and tangible expression of love. In the first century, hospitality was a common courtesy that even nonbelievers extended to others.

Scripture lifts Christian hospitality to a higher level. A believer’s attitude toward the necessity and courtesy of hospitality should be without grumbling.

This expression speaks of murmuring and of repeated words of complaint. Such words were often spoken, not quietly to themselves, but to others.

What happens a lot is we as Christians have Open doors, open parties, open, plenty of food, a saying “You need anything let us know”

But what actually happens on the inside is a closed heart, we grumble about the number of people, or lack of invites, we only one ‘the right people’ at our party, we only want certain people serving.

Instead of hospitality to the stranger, its invitations to the accepted and we call it hospitality.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus focused on the people who weren’t the in-crowds, the outsiders, and the marginalized.

I am encouraged to see that the WOMAN’S Ministry is focusing on these marginalized people with an approach to the Gospel of Luke Devotional.

Returning to hospitality, it’s not open doors and closed hearts.

Hospitality is about how we receive and welcome the strangers among us. Because we are all exiles in a foreign land that is opposed to God.

Our hope and prayer for LIFE GROUPS is they become intentional places we connect with one another, that its both an open door and an open heart. If you would like to either join a group or maybe God’s tugging on you to start a group in your home. The format is simple, gather, connect around our Scripture sermons, and spend time with each other.

Hospitable Christians are those who know how to welcome others not once but many times over. Because it’s how Christ welcome us over and over.

An example “Hi. How are you?” go ahead and answer.

Recently, a member was telling me their experience of people here during the picnic it was

“How are you? And?”

That little word of And, changes the whole conversation,

I was meeting with a group of people from the Sunday Morning Coffee, the point of that time is not to have a spread of food but have a time of fellowship. It’s a time to have a focus on “How are you? And”

Food is great, we love food, but fellowship is the focus. Food adds but is not the same as fellowship.

When I was in the single dating world, I would always choose a restaurant I enjoyed or was curious about. The reason, I could guarantee the food would be good but not so sure about my date.

Food doesn’t equal relationship; it can help my story with my wife is all about food as our start but food isn’t the reason we are still married.

What we want for both our SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE AND WELCOME TEAM is that we to welcome others, food helps, but fellowship is the key. Our hope with these ministries is they become welcoming places that welcome, and some of that my change in our future but the goal remains the same “Hospitality.” More than a “how are you” towards the “and”

10 As each one has received a special gift,

Notice it said “each of us” not the pastors, the leaders, the elders, the teachers, the super-christiasn, the older

Each of us

One of the influencing places for me as a younger person was ability to serve in a real way. To start in a place that made sense like being a greeter at church and eventually go into places of teaching, leadership,

Each of us, Jr and Sr High, kids, men, woman, young, old – a lot of people like to say they are too old to serve, or they are done.

I guess we have forgotten the story of Abraham and God’s creativity to use anyone, each of us, to accomplish his story.

The problems aren’t our ability to serve, it may be our willingness to let God show us something new and our willingness to follow.

We should talk though about Special Gift; in this passage it is “spiritual gifts” but lets clarify some language around what we hear

Gifted vs Gifting

Gifted is a person who excels at a certain thing or activity or way of doing life.

People would say I was gifted at a karate when I competed in tournaments, they would say I was gifted at karate.

We use it a lot to speak of intelligence, a gifted child.

Gifting though is something different. It’s not our ability to excel because going back to karate people would say a bunch about it but it doesn’t feel that way to me. Because I just am me. I don’t feel gifted, I only know its gifted because people tell me.

Gifting is what we are. It can be natural abilities, spiritual gifts, that allow us to excel or survive in the world around us.

Gifting of endurance allows a runner to both finish a race and a struggling abused mom to survive in a horrifying world

Gifting is present in both, and the same gifting of speech can lead to Martin Luther King Jr or Adolf Hitler. Gifting is present for both, how we use it is the key.

All of us have gifts, natural, learned, and spiritual.

For a Christian, gifts are not made for us.

employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Gifts are to be a blessing to the world around us.

Gifts enhance value but they do not create value.

Gifts are value adders but not value identifiers. ‘

Dr Strange Movie

Gifts are like energy, we can use them to enhance the world aroud us aiming to be a good stewards.

A steward is one who does not own it but rather makes it better.

If you give your investment banker $10,000 for 3 years, and he only has $1,000 from it by the end. You would fire him. Because the money wasn’t his to waste, it was his to steward.

What we choose to do with our time, energy, and resources is the gift God has given, but its up to us whether we do creative problem solving to encourage our friends and family, or we binge 10 hours of Minecraft.

We have been given opportunities to show God’s grace, especially in the church to each other because this is what 1 Peter 4 is talking about

11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God;

Peter makes two types of Categories of gifts Speaking Gifts and Serving Gifts

Gifts are either Verbal or Physical Results, but they are always spiritual.

They either edify God or the edify selfishness. We don’t really have many options.

This doesn’t mean we must be perfect or extra weird holy people that’s equally foolish. After all, rest, entertainment, Sabbath, and enjoying good things has a place in this conversation.

What though it means to build up others using our gifts, means that others flourish because we serve.

In our passage here, Speaks means any gift that requires speech and we are to take it seriously, realizing that if we are to be people who speak of what God speaks in Scripture, we are to do it with a level of respect, and understanding of His Holy care. The word this scripture uses is utterances and as a church.

Men’s and Woman’s – other places we can use both teachers and speakers with a knowledge and willingness to follow Jesus as an example to others. Additionally, Life Groups fall in here.

WORSHIP MINISTRY – this is a gift that requires your voice for choir or singing or even instruments. To have the ear and knowledge of musical notes to bring out. WORSHIP MINISTRY, we would love to have a conversation more if you have instrumental or musical background to see if worship ministry is a good fit.

Others include KINGDOM KIDS and Mastering Motherhood – we have opportunities here for more teachers with the kids, kids are an excellent place to begin refining speaking and preaching abilities because kids will let you know just how engaging of a speaker you are or are not with them. Additionally, both JR and SR high can use this as well. And Mastering Motherhood

Community events, we are a church that enjoys a good party. This is a major area that can always use people who love to bring energy to the room and make something fun.

But what if you aren’t an upfront type of person, a speaker, a teacher, a kids leader, or a jr or sr high

whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies;

To serve, means everything regarding our mind, our hands, and our attitude.

Our minds may be more interested in administrative or communications, or problem solving, or finances, or technology.

TECH BOOTH – needs people who are problems solvers, technology oriented, and able to work with specialty items.

Community – setting up and tearing down for parties, especially around moving large items like our Christmas portraits, stages, worship equipment, clean up, games.

Our hands- we can always use people to help with landscaping, helping people in our congregation, rides, skilled trades in our building, organization, even nursery. You may not be talking as much with the kids but they need kind people and kind hands to help, no speaking abilities needed.

All the ministries I’ve mentioned, Kingdom Kids, Mastering Motherhood, Men, Womans, jr and Sr. All of these need people who are focused on set up, games, activities, clean up, there is no shortage of places to serve with your hands and attitude.

Sunday Morning Coffee – we need teams of people to be responsible to help with food and coffee. We want to continue this but we need to be careful.

All of these places, can easily become burn our.

Serving by the strength which God supplies, what God doesn’t supply is burning yourself out to exhaustion, over spending, and undercaring for our emotional and physical health. We provide all the burn out,

Consider this in the beginning, in 6 days God made, and on the seventh He RESTED

God unlimited energy, Rested. Why do we think we can beat the strength God provides.

I want to slow everything down though and if you have realized, it’s time to get involved I want to help.

Get involved in serving or get involved in being in something or get involved in prayer.

Which is where I want to lead us.

If you are currently involved, in any of the ministries I’ve mentioned currently, because today marks a Kickoff of sorts. A kickoff of ministries to get us into a new season.

I’m going to ask any of those involved in any sort of way of serving to stand.

To be clear if you are in Mens, Womans, Elders, Kingdom Kids, Mastering Motherhood, Tech Booth, Greeters, Coffee, Nursery, Set up or clean up, landscaping, Jr, Sr High, Worship, Prayer, community, or maybe something I didn’t list but you know you are serving within BE Free or with our mission partners.

Please Stand.

This is what BE Free Church. It’s not me, it’s not Pastor Pat, its not the elders, its not even the people standing up, because each of us will one day change and not be in our current roles.

Its those who are sold out for God, to see that Jesus is glorified.

It’s people so focused on Jesus that it has nothing to do with me, and has everything to do with the verse I’m reading next.

so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,

to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

All things God may be glorified through Christ Jesus. Our church struggles with vision, but it does not struggle to realize that we are here to glorify Jesus, if its anything, anyone, or any place that is glorified and made the center of the church is not our mission.

Our mission is not family, our mission is being a people who are pleasing to Jesus who is the Head of the Body of Christ, and we are only brothers and sisters alongside of each other because Jesus is the King.

Everyone please stand and worship team come forward

I know this was a lot of places to connect, if want to slow down have a conversation. Talk to us, I’ve available to have conversations about figuring out a place for us to serve and begin anew. Use connect cards, website, or come and speak with one of the leaders.

To the servants and stewards of BE Free Church, who God has called to holy purpose and holy living in unity I read again 1 Pet 4:11

11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God;

whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies;

so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,

to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen