Set Apart: Chosen by God - Part 3

Thank you for joining us for this broadcast from the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ in Haleyville Alabama. We hope that you will subscribe and will share our broadcast with others. Now, we take you to the pulpit of the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ. Let's have a word of prayer, then we'll get into our lesson together. God. We thank you so much for the time that we have to be in your presence this morning for the songs that we've sung for the opportunity to gather together and take communion with one another. So just take a pause from the busyness of our life and just come together at the foot of the cross this morning. And remember the sacrifice of your son. We just, thank you so much for that guy. We pray now that ass weave move into a a. Of a conversation from your word. As we continue these thoughts on being holy and being set apart, that we will open up our hearts and Minds to date. That will allow your spirit to move within us and to convict us. God in the change us into a direction that brings us into a deeper and more. Holy relationship with you. Be with us, please. Give us your thoughts today and seen your son's name we pray. Amen. So this is a very, very big and important weekend for a lot of people. It's the fourth of July weekend, all the stuff to to begin. The other service was Fourth of July themed and, and we all have a very special connection. We feel like to the day and it took to the celebration of the day that our nation was born more. So to me, it's about my brother, the fourth of July's his birthday. So he just thought everybody celebrated his birthday, but we do, we never wanted to bust that bubble to let him know that really wasn't about him. So but Fourth of July, how many of you have good, Fourth of July plans, or have had good plans this week and weekend. I'm done. Some fun things. Some of y'all need to have more fun in life, guys. Come on now. Fourth of July, I only asked you this way. How many of you are proud to be an American? That would that would probably be all up. Listen if If you've ever travel outside of America, you are. You are greeted very quickly with the reality that what is normal for us is not normal for the rest of the world. What is freedom for us is not freedom to the rest of the world? What is just really in many ways? The things that we kind of take for granted within our country are things that other people around the world look at in there. So, jealous of, and they want what we have so bad, especially as Christians, even though our our country and our nation tends to be walking in a direction. Further away from God, even in that environment, we still have the freedom that if we so choose to worship like this together, this morning and I didn't live a life of Christianity, we're protected, and are able to do that. We're able to teach the things that God wants us to teach were able to talk about those things without fear. Of a real persecution. Now, I mean the news not talk about us a little bit and it's and social media might talk about us a little bit, but we're not facing the we're not facing the persecution. But Christians around the world face every day because of the fact that they simply Proclaim their faith. We look at this idea of being an American as a badge of honour very similar to the way that Paul looked at being a Roman citizen, right? Like he he really took his citizenship as a rolling is as something that he was proud of. And, and, and he use that citizenship at times to kind of get himself out of trouble. And, and let people know that that, you know, this in, he was a born Roman citizen have to buy that citizenship. He was just luckily born into it. Now, as you think about the sacrifices that were made the greatness Our country and of our citizenship As Americans, it is in it is really in contrast to what God calls us to be. interestingly enough God never calls us to be an American, does he God never calls us to be an American but I believe there are some people There are some people that would claim that being an American is, maybe even more important to them than being a Christian. I want you to open your Bibles to 1st, Peter chapter 1.

and we're going to look starting in verse 13, but What I want you to think about is maybe starting in verse 1 of First, Peter, Peter Wright, Phillies versus Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect. So who you talkin to these talk to the Christians? He's talking to those people that have chosen to follow God. He's talkin about the bodies talking about the kingdom. He's talking about God's favorite. That's another word that Alexa can be translated into his favorite. And I love that idea. So different sermon for a different day. That's the first word he uses to describe them with the next word. He uses to describe them is exiles. The God's elect Exile scattered throughout the Providence is an any list where they all are. One of the things that is talked about in that we seeing scripture over and over and over. And we see right here in this particular verse, and we're really going to see it as we get into this passage that we're going to look at a little bit deeper today as we continue these thoughts and set apart. Is that above everything else? We have to live as God's elect. We have to live as children as people as brothers and sisters in the kingdom and as great as our country is and as wonderful as it is to be an American as great of a privilege, as it is to be born into this world into this country. At this time. We are called to be foreigners in this world. And sometimes that brings a contradiction in our in our thought sometimes that brings a harsh reality, but the reality is like I said as America tends to be moving further and further and further away from God, and that's hard for some of us to Grass that's hard for some of us to comprehend. Because, you know, as I said, you know, the average age of our church, that seems like it's gotten younger. But there are still many of you who are older, who remember you? Remember, when this nation could truly be called a Christian Nation, right? You remember that whether or not your neighbors with the church or not, you still live by basically a christ-centered set of morality I remember now I don't remember when it was happening but I remember watching things like, I Love Lucy. And, and even though everybody knows that Lucy and Desi, do you know that they're married? You know, that, you know, they live a married life, never once. Do you see that you in their bedroom? That is slipping what two separate twin beds, because something like that of a husband. And a wife leaving sharing a bed, was not going to be something that they were going to show on TV. How many of you miss those days? How many of you missed the Leave it to Beaver? Top world. That was once lived in this nation. And now it's it took a hard left and we're getting further and further and further away in the correct question becomes, as we talked the last couple of weeks about how we should live. How do we then? Respond is Christian. We got to live here, right? Anybody planning on moving away anytime soon? I don't think any of us are, how do weave them live a set apart life. How do we live a holy life in a world in a society that is increasingly becoming on? Holy I believe we find some of the answers here in the book of 1st Peter. Let's start in 1st Peter.

Verse 1:13.

He says it and if you don't mind, follow along with me up there, if y'all don't mind, I'll try to get my stuff going here to Saints verse 13 and therefore with Minds that are alert and fully sober set. Your Hope on the grace to be brought to you. When Jesus Christ is revealed as his coming as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires. You had when you lived in ignorance but just as he who called you is Holy. So be holy and all you do for. It is written be holy because I And hopefully there's the first thing that I want you to think about with me this morning. And that is BS to live in this culture. Petulia, the set apart must draw a bold lion around Holiness and refuse to Crossett. Draw, a bold lion around Holiness and refused to cross. And we talked about that a little bit over the last couple of weeks. But as children of God, is foreigners in this world. As Exiles, we have to say, we are a big Bobby standard of God that is our standard, nothing less. We are living by the standard of God. Now, as we've talked about over and over and I've said this time and time again, Holiness does not equal what Remember Holiness does not equal Perfection. Say it with me. MJ's. Got it like she's home. She's on with me this morning.

Say it with me. Holiness does not equal. Perfection with that. Let that sink in let that drive home. And we're talkin about being wholly. We're not talking about being perfect. Are you ever going to be perfect? No. Am I ever going to be perfect know? So let's quit. Let's quit setting that bar and being upset when we don't reach it. Let's focus on being wholly, being set apart, okay? So I've got this set of standards in my life and I have to live by the standards and he says there's ways that you do that. There's some ways that you do that some of your translations read a lot different verse 13. Doesn't it my translation then I'll be start self is therefore with Minds that are alert and fully sober. How many of yours says something different? I'm sure a lot of yours do and it probably says something like this. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. And if you're say something like that, what in the world does that mean? Any idea if you ever read something in the Bible, I have. And you're like, Well, I know what it says but I have no idea what that means. Get ready. Space get ready. But here's the idea. Here's the idea of what he's trying to say.

it's the image here and and that's why there's The King James translates, it may be a little more literal, and the NIV kind of trying to translate the thoughts a little more than the literal word-for-word. But what he's saying here it's the imagery. It's the imagery of say I'm in bed and I've gotten up in the morning and I'm getting dressed to get ready for bed to get ready for the day. Pull up your britches and get ready. Okay. Get prepared, get dressed. You could even take it and we can connect it to other things. New scripture put on the armor and be prepared. Be ready for us but it's this idea of move in a direction, set in your mind if I'm going to draw a line of of of Holiness. And this is my standard and I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do cross that line into sin. And I'm going to say, hey, look, this is this is where I live. This is my spear. I'm not going to let Temptation. Grab me, I'm not going to live by the standards of the world. It's the standards of God, then I've got to get up every day. And put on my Armour, I've got to get dressed and live prepared for those moments that it might be challenged.

To be ready in the next step of that, though. He says, it's not just getting ready, not just putting on, not just putting on the Wardrobe. Braves win the World Series last year, right last baseball season Braves win the World Series. If they were playing in Atlanta, I had on my home Atlanta Braves Jersey if they were playing on the road, depending on what Jersey they were wearing on the road, I either wore my blue jersey or my gray Jersey. My dad's like, are you playing like you apart of this? Like well I'm dressed like it, you know, I'm dressed the part but was I know I wasn't playing in the game and some of us are guilty of that we show up on Sunday, we dress the part, but we're not in the game. Lisa is here getting the game. Get dressed and then live a life of self-control, okay? Don't give in understand that this is where I've got to be and don't let other things control you. You tried to control the things you can through God to the Holy Spirit and says, do not conform, don't let people push you in this direction or that direction James talks about, you know, being pushed by the waves here and there and in, not knowing the direction in which you're going. Okay. He says Be self-controlled. Do not conform. And this is something I think is so important because Exile communities, the kingdom of God has to refuse assimilation. We have to refuse to look like the world. We have to refuse to let the week. We can't let them World slowly creep in and and their, their standards become our standards. Because when we begin to compromise, when we begin to compromise, we will become extinct. I mean, they're still maybe a building here and there still may be people that come and go to church.

But the kingdom might not be present. When we start to, let the world come in and dictate our morals and our standards, then we are going to become extinct as true children of God and we see that happen. We see that happened in the Book of Judges. It's one of the most powerful verses in the Book of Judges. It says a 2:8, Joshua, son of nun in the sermon, the Lord died at the age of 110 and they buried him in the land of his inheritance in the Hill Country of Ephraim. After that, whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors. What generation to generation of David? I'm sorry of Joshua, the generation that had seen all the great things that got it done. But the generation that new got it and maybe a little more personalized about the generation, that should have really been in stealing these things of the younger generation. Look at what it says. It says another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord, nor what he had done for Israel. They compromised. They stepped out of that world of Holiness, then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. In one generation, one generation. We went from crossing the Jordan River to the city of Jericho, the Conquering, the promised land to. I did evil in the eyes of the Lord. That's why this is so important. So how do we live this haha? How do we? How do we get? What, what is our standard go to the foot of the Philippians passage? If you don't mind. Philippians 4:8 if there's a certain way in which you live, there's a certain standards. He says, finally Brothers. This is the holding a standard, okay? Take the things that's going on in your life. Take the things that you're living in your doing every single day and hold them up to this verse finally, brothers and sisters read this with me. Whatever is True. Whatever is Noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. This is your standard This is what you live by you. Look at the things in your life and you go. Okay. Is this true Noble, right? Pure, lovely admirable, excellent praiseworthy. If not what we have to do. I'll let go of it when I get out of our life. Sometimes it's maybe a relationship. Sometimes, it's maybe a relationship with a family member that I'll look at this relationship and I saved because of this relationship is keeping me from being lovely. It is making me do things that are not praiseworthy and is keeping me from living a life. That I know it's true. And when that happens, you know, why it's hard to do. It's hard to go. I can't be in this relationship anymore. Hey, Mom, I love you. I've got to live in Holiness. I can't keep going down this rabbit hole with you. I can't keep living in the negative way. Hey Dad. Hey, brother, his sister. However, you want to put it, you know, I can't do this anymore. I've got to live for God. My best friend from high school. Hey, I can't do this anymore. I've got to live for God. So, we have to live by a holy standard.

In 1st Peter, he tells us you can do this because of two things. Number one. Understand you serve a holy God. Understand that God is. Holy is true. Promise you things and he's promise you things, he's promised to be there is promise to give you Powers promise to give you strength and so you can do this. But you're going to do it through God not on your own but you got to do it through God and hate. This heart with this world is not my home, but guess what? I have hope in something greater than this. One of my favorite passages comes a little bit later and 2nd Peter and really what makes me love it so much is the back end of the very last phrase of it, but he starts and burst in here. He says, with a day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar of the elements will be destroyed by fire and the Earth and everything done in it. Will be laid there. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago about a month-and-a-half ago. Now, about you know, what time is it? Are you ready for the return of Jesus? And we talked about how this is a positive thing, but when you read something like this, it gets kind of scary, doesn't it? But this is a positive thing. He goes on and everything will be destroyed in this way. What People out. You be, you ought to live what? Holy and godly lives. As you look forward to the day that God has, you look forward to the day of God and speed. It's coming. The day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat but I'm keeping with his promises God's. Holy right? He promises this thing. We're going to get what he promises been keeping with his promises. We are looking forward to a new Heaven and a new Earth. Look at this last phrase where why righteousness dwells

But that thing Kim. Or righteousness. Dwells.

This is Matthew's paraphrase here, okay?

Where we get to go home.

Where we get to go home.

We have hope in eternity. How many view loves home? I mean fuel of home. Like, how many of you are? Just true, homebodies. I love all my kids really dance. Probably has the biggest homebody of all of our kids. I was a big homebody growing up. I'm not I mean I love to be home now but not not. Not like when I was little I mean like I would probably going to have to go to someone else's house. Just want to be at home. There's just something about sleeping in your bed. Something about cooking in your kitchen, something about you know sitting in your living room, we love home. And This Promise Is Us. that, while we may be foreigners here, while we may live in Exile here, There is coming a time and a place that we get to look forward to. If we we commit ourselves to this holy standard of living. There's coming a time and place that God has promised us cuz he keeps his promises that he is going to take us where home. I don't know about you but that that makes me happy, that puts a smile on my face. Cuz that's got to be the greatest home that there ever has been and ever will be. We get to look forward to that as we live this life of holding us aren't Let's keep going very quickly, so I can get a couple of things I want to hit with you before we wrap this up, the next idea here. Is recognized The Emptiness of paganism and worldliness pickup in verse 17. Did you call in a father who judges each person impartially live out? Your time gives me as far as here and rev 3 of fear for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty ways of life handed down to you from your ancestors but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times, for your sake through him, you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your Faith and Hope are in a cup 2, Verse 18. Look at some of the word that they use here for, we know that it is not with perishable things. Such as what gold or silver, two of the most precious things. In our world, write two of the most precious things in our world as someone walks in and says, hey I want to give you this bag of gold. I mean you got to jump on it, take it easy, buddy. Got to turn it down anybody's if you're going to turn it down, I'm next in line, I'll take it. Okay. There's value in that in our in our world and what what does God called this? Because it's a, what a perishable thing. Perishable thing. some of you ladies, the most treasured things that you may be wearing in this room this morning or little round things on your fingers made of gold and silver, The meaning of you wouldn't take anything for him, that guy calls him perishable. And then he goes on. He says, you were redeemed from the white. Empty way. Alive here without Christ is what is empty, no matter how hard you work, no matter what you have, no matter how nice your house is, no matter how nice your car is, no matter how good your air conditioner, works is empty. It's empty. The first and then I went, you understand around this idea. Is that there's emptiness in this world and living of the way of the world? All right. It doesn't really feel anything. Matter fact, it creates more avoid. We were talking about something in class this morning about this idea of judgment, and how we approach other people from, from Matthew 18, where Jesus says, Hey when the brother has send you go and you talk to them, when you point out their wrong, we were talking about this Dynamic and Riley made the point. Cuz if we're not careful in that situation, we handle it the wrong way, we create more sense and that's really what the world does, right? The world is good at just creating more, send does the world ever create holiness. This is a world apart from God ever create Holiness. No, it's only going to create more send. It's so we have to understand there's emptiness in that, but here's the next step of that, that I want you to understand that. I think that were For those of you that grew up in the Leave it to Beaver World, okay? Seeing the world shift, you seen our country shift, you seen the Dynamics, Go a different direction, and he struggle with that, and I think there's a lot of people that are staying there going well, why in the world? Are they doing that? We have to quit expecting the world. To change.

You following me. We have to quit expecting the World to Change, become more like us. cross, the world itself follows who Satan. Every culture that's ever. Come up every Kingdom that's ever. Been established any nation has ever been established eventually Falls because of one thing. Send. The Roman Empire Falls cuz it's in the Egyptian Empire Falls because of sin and eventually America will fall. Why Cause of sin.

We have to quit being aggravated. When the Disney is in the Netflix and in all these different movie companies, promote social agendas that we don't agree with. It's sin. Don't be surprised. Don't be shocked if you're. So we got to do is exile from the kingdom. We've got to create our own culture. I was talking to somebody last two leaders about this very idea, and he said, I'm just kind of gotten tired of listening to people going Disney off of changing to go back to the way they used to be this group out of change and go back to the way that they used to quit, pushing all these social agendas, and this, and that. And the other pieces of Chris, this time for us to produce movies, it's time for us to write books, it's time for us to come up with music. See ghosts quit Waiting on the World to do our job.

Quit Waiting on the World to do your job as a Christian cuz they never will cuz they're full of emptiness. Instead, as Exiles we have to create a culture of love, we have to create a culture that centered on God and so that we're not going to convert the whole world, we can convert people within the world and bring them into this Kingdom and give them hope and fill their emptiness and help them. Realize there's more to this life than just the emptiness of the world, if you're a great artist, Start drawing Christian books for a good Rider. Start riding Christian plays. If you're a great music and start riding Christian music, don't wait on the World to Change and be like us because they're not going to We have to do our job and not expect them to do it for us. Here's the last thing. Let's get to it real quick. Choose loyalty to the church above all other Earthly loyalty and I've got it parentheses on my notes, choose loyalty to the church, each other, the kingdom. I don't want you to think that I'm just talkin about what we're doing right now. Can we not talk about the church talking about the kingdom of God? I'm talking about the body of Christ. I'm talking about the church, cuz it's talked about in scripture not going to church as we use in our kind of Church of Immaculate vernacular, but look at what he says here. As we wrap up, this particular section. He says, now that you have purified yourself, okay? You've gone through this process. You've been making me. Okay. Now that you purify yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other. Stop right there and understand what he's telling him. He saying I understand that what you already have, what you already have is a sincere love for each other.

But he's going to challenge them and he's going to say, love one. Another deeply. Love each other more. Take it to the next level. You love each other. Great love each other more. From The Heart, Don't Let It Be a surface thing. Don't let it be something that's just about what benefits you. The most listened is Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We should always be there for each other. We should always want what's best for each other. We should always support each other in, good and positive Endeavors. I'm going to tell you I got a picture, I meant to put it in here but but I forgot to but I got a picture and then this is a simple illustration of this but I got the picture from the last baseball season that one advances games. We had 15 people from church, show up and watch Vance play that night, 15 people from church, showed up and watch bands, play that night and my father-in-law came that night and why and he was blown away at the people from church. So just showed up. To watch Mets play baseball for an hour and a half and a hundred degree weather. William away a lot to me because it was this being lived out. What if we all supported each other, in our positive Endeavors in that way, but even more in from the heart, every single opportunity that we had. What if people knew how much we love God, by how much we loved each other way to say. It doesn't Jesus say that doesn't Jesus. Say they're going to know who you are by. How you love? What? One another.

So let's make sure that we're devoted to each other that we're committed to each other. That we're supporting each other that we're not trying to tear each other down that we're not trying to tear you down so that I can be built up or I'm not holding a grudge. So I'm going to try to text. No, no, no, this is what he says we do to each other. You love each other great. Love each other more love each other more. Before the flip side of that is bisque. Make sure you're living your life in a way that I can support you. Okay, make sure you're living your life way that I can support you. I don't want to go into the place that I'm going to support you and then someone be like you're here for David Albright. Wait, David Albright goes to church with you. Never had that moment happen in life, you know? Yes, I want to go to church. They go to church. And we're all about love and grace, and but make sure you're living your life in a way that when I come to support, when I come to love, it's not going to surprise anybody. Make sure that you're living your life in a direction that I can love you, that I can support you that I can live this life the way that I'm supposed to live it. Was that bring us to bring this to the end. Set apart.

Living in this world is not easy. Leaving countercultural in this world is not easy because so many things in this world looks so good. He looks so great. They look like they're worthy of our time. They feel like they're worthy of our time. They feel like they need to be a part of Who We Are.

How does things up for that? Holiness test, Philippians, chapter 4, Understand that this world is not my home, we sing that song all the time. One of my favorite songs, world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue, but do we mean it, Are we just singing it? Because it sounds pretty. Peter tells us in the next book, there's coming a time we're really going home. Going to go home for the Last Time in Forever. If you get there you have to live this holy life you have to live set. Apart is so important in our society today that has a church

We bond together and we live this life with each other every single day as closing the word of Prayer. God. We thank you so much for the chance just to be in your presence. We thank you so much for the opportunity to open up this book of 1st, Peter, and then read, and be encouraged and be challenged. Young Living set apart from the world is not easy. It's counter to what we want to do. So many times Paul talks about it, what he wants to do, we can't do and what he doesn't want to do, he dies? He'll we understand that? We live. It everyday. Help us to find strength in you supposed to trust in your spirit to focus on your son. So we can live a holy life help us to be holy Just Like You Are. Holy God. Your son's name we pray. Amen.

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