[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] But tonight we have the privilege of having with us one of our missionaries. And very few missionary families have been through what Paul and Amber went through while they were in Nepal these last couple of years.
[0:30] First off, it was a pretty harsh blow that they didn't go to India. And they wanted to go to India and they thought that's where God wanted them to go and they were headed to India and God shut that door. We know God is bigger than us and God knows what he's doing and God works things out.
[0:45] And so they landed in Kathmandu. You didn't know that was really a city, but it really is a city. He may tell us a little bit more about that. They've had earthquakes. They have done without.
[0:56] I talk to them quite often on FaceTime. And they're always bundled like Eskimos inside the house. And they went weeks literally with no cooking gas.
[1:08] And so they've had a rough time, but a good time. And God's doing big stuff. And I'm glad we get to support them. And I hope you are. And I hope you'll pray for them. And so Paul's going to come and preach to us right now.
[1:19] So give Brother Paul a good welcome with a good handshake clap. Amen. It's so good to be with you all tonight. You all will never know how much of a home that Vision Baptist Church and you all are to Amber and I.
[1:37] We moved down here like three months after we got married. And this has been our home ever since. This is where JoLynn and Shepherd were born. This is where we lost Ezra.
[1:49] This is where everything that Amber and I have been through together, Vision Baptist Church has been there with us. And so this is very much like coming home for Amber and I. This is one of our favorite times of being back in America is being here at Vision and being able to spend time at the training center and be able to be here at the church.
[2:06] You know, as all those things that we went through, what allowed us to make decisions and move forward was the leadership and the friendship that we have here at Vision Baptist Church.
[2:20] I remember when the Indian visa office is just down off exit three. We had to keep going and keep going, keep asking for our visa, trying to figure out what in the world was going on here in Atlanta.
[2:34] And I remember the day I found out. I walked in. They had had our passports for over five months. I had asked and asked, what is going on? What are we supposed to be doing?
[2:45] What paperwork do I need to fill out? Who do I need to talk to? And I finally got a hold of a guy that kind of knew what was going on. I'll never forget. He looked at me. He said, I've seen this happen before.
[2:58] And he says, it doesn't end good. He says, I don't want to be the person to tell you this bad news. But he says, you're not going to India. He said, India is not letting you in the country. And this was probably two months before we were supposed to leave.
[3:13] We already had our tickets bought. We already had an apartment rented in New Delhi. And I walked out of that. And they only broke down. I didn't know what God was doing.
[3:23] I didn't know what he had planned for our ministry, for our life. We had done all the deputation. We told everybody we're going to India. We're going to start churches. That God was going to do something big in New Delhi.
[3:35] And I remember that day I drove straight to Vision Baptist Church. And all of the staff and Pastor Gardner were up in one of the old Sunday school classrooms there at the old warehouse. And I just said, I'm not going to India.
[3:50] And Pastor Gardner and Trent are probably looking at me like, oh, man, Paul's quitting. He doesn't want to do this. He's giving up on us. And I said, we're not going to India. I said, I don't know what we're supposed to be doing. I don't know what God's going to do.
[4:01] But we're not going to India. And they gave me the rest of the day that day and just helped Amber and I think through what God was doing and plan for allowing God to do something for our life.
[4:15] And we're so glad that he did. And we've spent the last two years in Nepal. And God has been so faithful and so good. And that's kind of what we're going to look at tonight.
[4:26] If you would, turn with me to 1 Peter. We're going to look at chapter 1. And Peter is writing to a group of people that's just like that, a group of people that are very confused.
[4:39] They're very frustrated with where they're at in their life. They don't really know what God is doing. And Peter just writes them this letter of encouragement. He writes them this letter and says, hey, guys, it's going to be okay.
[4:52] Let me show you. Let me tell you what God is doing right now. Let me explain to you what God is doing in your life. So if you would, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. And we're going to start in verse 1 this evening.
[5:03] It says here, verse 1.
[5:33] Verse 6 says, Verse 6 says,
[6:52] Let's pray, then we'll get into this text this evening. Lord God, I thank you for this opportunity.
[7:02] I thank you for this church. Lord God, I pray that you would continue to honor this church. Lord, that you continue to use this church to raise up missionaries like myself.
[7:13] Lord God, to have an impact and such a great influence on others. Lord, as they have had on me. Lord, I pray that you would bless them, Lord, as they continue forward for you. I ask, Lord, that tonight as we get into your word, that you would prepare our hearts, Lord God, that you would touch us tonight, Lord God, with the truths of your word, that it would change us, that it would make us what you'd have us to be, Lord.
[7:34] And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. As Peter starts off writing here in 1 Peter chapter 1, he starts off and he says this group of people in verse 1 that are scattered throughout all these different places.
[7:49] These people that have been thrown out of their homes, out of their communities. They've moved into these new places. And they are strangers. They don't fit in. They are strangers to the people that are around them.
[8:01] They are outcasts. And these people, as we read through the book of 1 Peter, they're very frustrated. They're confused. They're wondering, what is God doing with our lives?
[8:14] Why are we being treated this way? In 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 4, he says, These new communities that these Gentile believers, maybe some Jewish believers as well, they've moved into these new places.
[8:35] They've been thrown out of their homes. They've been scattered throughout the earth. And these new places say, why are you so different? You're not like us.
[8:46] You're strange. They spoke evil of these believers. They thought it was so, why do you not act like us? Why don't you do the things that we do? Why don't you talk the way that we talk?
[8:59] In 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 12, it says, Whereas they speak against you as evildoers. These new communities, these groups of people, as these believers moved in, they said, why are you so different?
[9:12] They spoke about them as evildoers. And so you can imagine these believers who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ thinking, what in the world is going on?
[9:24] Why are we being treated this way? We're trying to do good. We're trying to serve God. But it's not working out. This isn't what we pictured. This isn't what we imagined when we chose to be followers of God.
[9:36] But look here in verse 2, what Peter says about this group of believers, these scattered people, these outcast people. He says, Elect, chosen, special according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
[9:59] You know, these words that Peter is using, this description of these people doesn't fit them. This isn't who they are. Peter is using a picture of Israel, God's chosen people.
[10:14] Even more than that, he's talking about the priesthood. He's talking about people that God chose out from among people and made them special, prepared them for service.
[10:25] He says, Sanctified, set apart, prepared to be used by God. This imagery, this picture can be seen throughout the entire book of 1 Peter.
[10:36] In chapter 2, verse 5, he says, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Peter's looking at this group of outcasts, this group of misfits.
[10:49] He says, You're special. You are chosen by God. You are a holy priesthood set apart to offer up spiritual sacrifices. He says, You are special in the eyes of God to do something special for God.
[11:04] He says, You're acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He said, This world might not have accepted you. This world might not want anything to do with you. But God accepted you. God wants you.
[11:15] God has chosen you. God has set you apart for His purpose. Accepted by God through Jesus Christ. In chapter 2, verse 9 and 10, he says, You're a chosen generation.
[11:30] He says, You're an elect group of people. You are a group of people that God wants. He says, You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.
[11:54] He said, This world doesn't want anything to do with you. This world thinks that you're different, that you're strange, that you're an outcast. But he says, You are the people of God. When this world didn't accept you, he said, God chose you.
[12:08] God wants you. You are not a people. You are not of God. You are part of this world. But now you are the people of God. He said, Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
[12:24] He says, God is doing something special in your life. Peter thought of them as having a privileged status before God, at least equal to that enjoyed by the chosen people of Israel, whom God protected, preserved, and blessed in the Old Testament.
[12:41] Peter looks at this group of people, and he says, You are chosen by God. God wants you. God is doing something special in your life. He's protecting you. He's preserving you and blessing you in this world.
[12:55] You know, this contrast with who they are in the present. I imagine as this group of believers, they got this letter from Peter, and they're just, like I said, they're frustrated. They're outcasts.
[13:05] They don't belong in this new community, in this society of pagan people. And they're thinking, What in the world is going on? And they get this letter from Peter, who is a Jew, who is the leader of the church.
[13:19] He was one of the three people that were close to Jesus Christ. At this time, the Jews and the Gentiles, there was this separation. There was this dispute that the Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles.
[13:33] And these Gentile believers, these outcast people, get this letter from Peter, and they read it, and it says, Elect, by the foreknowledge of God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.
[13:48] I imagine as they read it, they're like, I think Peter put the wrong address on this envelope. I think Peter might have sent this to the wrong church. Peter didn't mean to send this to the Gentiles, these outcast people that have been scattered throughout the world.
[14:04] But Peter's looking at them as this leader of the Jewish, the apostle to the Jews, the leader of the Jerusalem church, one of these close three to Jesus Christ.
[14:16] He's looking at these forgotten, forsaken Gentile outcasts and saying, Hey, guys, you are chosen by God. God wants you. You are special to Him. The Trinity is working in your life, he says.
[14:26] Look at what he says here. He says, By the foreknowledge of God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. Peter looks at Him and says, The Holy Spirit, the God, the Father, and God the Son are working in your life.
[14:44] The Trinity is at work in your life. All parts of God, you are special to Him. This would be similar to God calling Abraham a father of a multitude.
[14:54] You know, as the world looks at Abraham, they say, You don't look like a father of many people. You don't look like what your name says that you really are.
[15:06] It's like God looking at Gideon and saying, Hey, you're a mighty man of valor. You know, God sees something in our life that this world does not see. God sees something in our life that's special.
[15:18] We belong to Him. He has given us mercy and sanctified us and cleaned us and set us apart to honor and glorify Him in heaven. We are special people to God.
[15:30] You know, as we think of their condition, the life that they live, we can understand why he says, According to the foreknowledge of God, because it didn't make sense in their present. He says, When God looks at you according to God's knowledge, according to what God sees, you're special to Him.
[15:45] You're special. You're sanctified, set apart for this world. It didn't make sense with man's knowledge. And it didn't make sense with anything they could see in those days. But when God looked at them, He saw something special.
[15:58] He says, The Trinity is working at your life. And Peter is yelling at them. He's writing this letter and he's yelling. He's saying, God cares about you. This world doesn't care about you.
[16:09] This world doesn't like you. They're speaking lies about you. They're trying to hurt you. They don't like what you're doing. They don't like what you say. They don't like what you do. But God in heaven is looking at you.
[16:21] And He likes what He sees. He says, You are chosen. You are elect by God to do something special for Him. He says, Imagine Peter looking at this group of people and say, You are chosen by God.
[16:36] We would look at that and we'd say, How can these things be said about us? Because God thinks the same way about us, doesn't He? God looks at us and He says, Man, this is my people. This is the people of God.
[16:47] These are the people that I love, that I have died on the cross for. I love my people who have chosen me. He says in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
[17:21] You know, as we look at this passage and we say, You know, it doesn't fit our life. This description doesn't match what the world says about me. This description doesn't match what I think about myself.
[17:33] Peter says the reason we can say this and what makes us different is that we look to the resurrection. We look to what comes next.
[17:44] We look to the things that God has reserved for us in heaven. He says that is our hope. That's what we look to. These things will be revealed in the end, not now.
[17:57] These aren't things that are added to our life now, but we look towards the end. We are resurrection people. It is a greater prize than this world could ever offer us.
[18:09] The prosperity of this world, the riches of this world, the pleasures of this world, do not match what God has to offer us in eternal riches in heaven.
[18:20] Peter says it doesn't make sense to this world. The world can't see it. The world can't see how special you are, what God has done in your life, but God in heaven sees, and he says, I have set apart this people to an inheritance that will never pass away, that will never be ruined, and it will never run out.
[18:41] It is a prize for us, for God's people in heaven. These things are reserved for us, and they're kept by the power of God. He says, I'm holding them out for you.
[18:52] I'm holding them onto them so that you can have those riches one day. You know, God's economy doesn't make sense in this world. The way God talks through his earthly ministry is looking at people, and he says, if you want to be the greatest, you've got to be the least.
[19:10] The person that's going to be the last, that person's going to be first. The person that's going to be poor, he's going to be rich. The sad person, I'm going to make them happy. You see, God's economy doesn't make sense to this world.
[19:24] And as God's people, as we serve him here in this earth, we're working in God's economy. We're working for him. We're working for the riches that we have in heaven.
[19:37] Matthew 6, verse 18, it explains to us so much more about what we are supposed to do in this world. Matthew 6, verse 18, it says that thou appear not on, verse 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.
[19:59] But rather, he says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. This is Jesus looking out.
[20:11] He says, if you want riches, true riches that will never run out, he says, you've got to work for my economy. He says, you've got to get involved in my work.
[20:22] And that is serving for the resurrection. That is living a life that doesn't look at what this world thinks about us. That doesn't worry about what the world thinks about us or says about us.
[20:35] When we realize what the goal is, it will change how we live our life to get that prize. You know, Amber and I went with Lamar and Latasha White to escape the room this past week.
[20:48] And the whole time, we're trying to figure out all these puzzles. We're doing all these different things. But we were working for one thing. We wanted to get out of that room. Right, Lamar? We wanted to get out of that room.
[20:59] So everything we were doing, we were looking to the end. We were looking, how do we get out of here? We were looking for the end result of having the victory, of getting out of that room.
[21:11] Obviously, we didn't make it. We failed. But, you know, when we serve the Lord, he says, your riches are guaranteed. And as we look at this world, as we work in this world, as we live here and serve here, he says, your rewards aren't in the moment.
[21:28] Your reward, as we tried to figure out all those puzzles, the one, as we figured out one puzzle, that wasn't the reward. The reward was at the end. We were looking ahead.
[21:39] We were looking to the future and saying, we'll be victorious. We'll be happy. We'll be satisfied when we get to the end. And as Christians, we do so much here in this world.
[21:49] We've got so many responsibilities. We get so busy with what's going on in this world and trying to bring the pleasures of this world and the satisfaction. Peter looks at this group of people and he says, hey, we're looking to the end.
[22:04] He says, we're looking to the victory. We're looking to the rewards that God has laid for us up in heaven and not the temporal, earthly rewards that we have here on earth.
[22:15] When we got saved, the game that we were playing changed and the rules changed. And all of a sudden, we were playing by God's rules. We were playing in God's economy where we don't get the rewards here on earth, but we're saving up rewards in heaven where we can have them for eternity with God the Father.
[22:34] You know, as we look at this and we look at how Peter talks to these people that are frustrated, they're outcasts, they don't fit in this world, he says, when we look to the end, when we look to God's riches, when we look to the things that God has set aside for us, he says, it's going to change the way we live our lives here on earth.
[22:54] It's going to change what we do here in this temporary life, this life that God has given us here on earth. In verse 6, it says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye're in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[23:23] He says, it's coming at the appearing. It is coming later. That's what we're working for. That's when the praise and honor and glory will come, when we're in eternity with Jesus Christ.
[23:35] Verse 8 says, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired, searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the suffering of Christ and the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel, unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
[24:22] You know, Peter looks and he says, we can rejoice in heaviness. When this world brings tribulations into our life, when this world treats us like we don't feel like we deserve to be treated, when this world acts like we've done wicked, when we haven't done right, and they put evil on us and they treat us wrong, and they put us in persecution, they put us in this heaviness, he says we can rejoice.
[24:51] He says we can be happy. He says we can have joy abundant because we know we're playing a different game. He says we know we're looking to a different end.
[25:02] We're looking for different joy than what this world thinks will be joyous and a reward. He says even though we do not fit into this world, we can rejoice knowing that we are being prepared for a greater reward in heaven.
[25:18] You know, he says here that the prophets and the angels throughout the Old Testament, throughout all of history, the prophets and the angels, they've been studying this thing because all of God's people from the very beginning of time, since Adam and Eve in the garden, since Cain and Abel, God's people have been persecuted here on this earth.
[25:39] This world has never liked God's people. This world has never treated God's people correctly or right. And from the beginning of time, the prophets and the angels, they've been studying this thing.
[25:52] They've been looking at it and saying, how is this going to work out? This doesn't make any sense. Everybody that says they love God, everybody that chooses God, that receives God, their life doesn't look like God's people.
[26:07] Their life doesn't look like they have the blessings of God. Their life doesn't make sense. What in the world is going on? What in the world can God possibly be doing? You know, as you look at the story of Cain and Abel, one of the wildest stories in the Old Testament, and you read it and you're like, this doesn't make any sense.
[26:26] But Moses writes, and he says, remember Israel, the two brothers? Cain, who went after his own pleasures, who sought to bring his own salvation and do his own thing, and then Abel, who wanted to serve God, who wanted to please God, who wanted to do the right thing, who wanted to make God happy, and Cain comes, and he kills his brother.
[26:51] And it looks, if you serve God, your life is over. If you choose God, this world is going to kill you. This world is going to take away your life.
[27:02] But even more than that, as you read the story, God takes care of Cain. God puts a mark on Cain so that nobody will hurt Cain.
[27:13] God puts protection on the wicked. God provides protection for the person that hated him, the person that didn't serve him. He could have put the protection on Abel, couldn't he have?
[27:27] Before Cain killed his brother, God could have said, no, you're not going to kill Abel. He's mine. But Abel was killed because he chose God, and Cain became very prosperous in this world.
[27:39] He built cities. He had children that did all kinds of amazing things. He did all, as the world looks at that story, they would say, hey, Cain was pretty successful.
[27:50] As they read the story, they say, man, Cain, he had kids. He had cities. He had riches. He had fame. He had all the things. If the world would look at Cain and say, he was a successful one.
[28:02] He was the one that we want to imitate. He was the one that took matters into his own hands and got what he deserved made a way for himself. But as Moses tells this story, he looks at Israel and he says, hey, remember those two brothers?
[28:18] Remember Cain that got all those riches and got all of that fame and all that prosperity and that protection and all that glory here on earth? He said, Abel was the one that was victorious.
[28:32] Abel was the one that was pleasing God, that was chosen of God, that God said, I will give him rewards in eternity.
[28:43] As we look at that story and as God's people, we can't look at what this world says is better. We can't look at the world's understanding of what is good and what is wrong.
[28:56] We have to look at God's understanding. We have to look at what God says. And Moses looks and he says, hey, even though Abel died, he was given riches in heaven because he was a follower of God.
[29:10] He was given life eternal in the resurrection. Moses lived out that same truth that he learned from all those fathers through the book of Genesis.
[29:22] In Hebrews 11, verse 13, it says, these all died in faith, speaking of all these heroes of the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
[29:43] You see, God's people through the Old Testament, they were looking to that resurrection. They were looking and those prophets were studying it and they were looking, they were trying to figure out when Jesus would come, when the Savior would come and set the captive free, set the strangers and pilgrims and give them a home eternal.
[30:01] And all those people, they were looking and they were saying, that is what we want. We don't want the riches of this world, we don't want the pleasures of this world, we want what God can give us. We want what God has to offer those eternal riches in heaven.
[30:16] in their searching for more, they discovered that Jesus would first of all suffer and only then would glory follow. And see, God's economy doesn't make any sense.
[30:28] The way God does things doesn't make any sense to this world. But Jesus, to bring glory to Himself and to His people, He first had to suffer. He first had to suffer.
[30:40] The pattern seen in the life of Christ is in fact the pattern of our lives. Our suffering is not a sign that Christ has betrayed us or that He no longer is concerned about us or that He has abandoned His throne.
[30:53] Our suffering is a sign of our fellowship with the resurrected Lord. He who first suffered for us, suffering in some respects becomes a sign of the glory that is to follow in our lives when we enter the presence of Christ in heaven.
[31:09] See, we as God's people, we're looking to the resurrection, we're looking to the eternity, our home in heaven, our riches that God has set aside for us. That Christ would be magnified and glorified in suffering the world never expected.
[31:24] The world never saw it coming, but Jesus said, I will suffer in this world so I can bring glory to the Father in heaven. I can bring a resurrection, a life to those who have always loved me from the beginning.
[31:38] Christ is our example and all the Old Testament pointed to that amazing mystery of the cross and the glory that it would bring to God's people. The glory that it would bring to you and I tonight if we have chosen to be God's person.
[31:54] If we have chosen rather to serve God than serve the things of this world. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24, the story of Moses, it says, by faith, that faith looking to the resurrection, the same faith that Abraham said, hey, I'll sacrifice my son because my joy in my son, my hope for my son is not in this world, it's in the resurrection.
[32:17] And he said, my God is the God of a resurrection so I'm not worried about my son. I know God is in control. That same faith, Moses looking to the resurrection, he said, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
[32:32] Moses said, I don't want anything to do with what this world has to offer. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He says, I want to be called the son of God. I don't want anything to do with this world.
[32:45] Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ's riches, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the Lord.
[33:02] Moses said, I can, I wake up every morning, I see all the riches and all the knowledge and all the stuff that Egypt has to offer me. He says, but I would rather have the riches of God.
[33:13] I'll get rid of all that. I'll turn all that aside. I'll refuse it all and I will choose rather to go through the difficulty of being a child of God in this world knowing that better things are to come, greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt.
[33:28] By faith, verse 27, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. He said, I see something that everybody else doesn't see.
[33:39] I see a resurrection. I see a home in heaven. I see a God who can make a difference in my life and he chose the things of God. And tonight, as God's people, we have chosen the things of God.
[33:52] We have forsaken this world and so tonight, no matter what the world thinks of us, we have to learn that what the world thinks of us doesn't matter as much as what God thinks about us.
[34:05] That as we walk into this world and we don't quite fit in, we don't quite fit in at work, we don't fit in with our families. As Amber and I go to the country of Nepal and we start sharing with people that are Hindu, people that are Buddhist, and they choose rather to serve God than the things of this world, those people will not fit in.
[34:28] They won't fit into Nepal. Everything about Nepal screams Hinduism. It screams their culture, the way they dress, the holidays they celebrate.
[34:39] Everything is showing that they follow after Hinduism and a believer, a child of God just doesn't fit in there. It doesn't work. And you would say, why would you bring, why would you pull people out of their community?
[34:55] Why would you show them a different way? Why would you make them so different because the riches in heaven, because the things that God has to offer are so much greater than what all of the riches of Nepal, what all the riches of Egypt, all the riches of this world have to offer?
[35:12] God's riches are greater. We must be resurrection people. We must look at this world and say, we're looking to the resurrection. We're not worried about what this world thinks, and we must live in a way that doesn't fit this world.
[35:28] You know, if you leave tonight and you say, I don't really understand what he's saying. You know, I fit in with work. I fit in with my family. I fit in everywhere I go. I'm really not that much different than the world.
[35:39] And I would ask you tonight to look at your life and allow God to change you so that you don't fit this world, that you would become a stranger in this world, that you would choose rather to be a witness for Christ, that you would choose rather to change your life and to live in a way that this world doesn't feel comfortable with.
[36:02] This world doesn't feel comfortable with. Us and the world should be very much different. And the longer we live here on this earth, the farther away America goes from God, the farther away this world goes from God, the more different we will become.
[36:18] And we must live in a way, and that's a difficult thing for us. It's difficult for being that person at work that says, hey, I'd rather be a witness for Christ, I'd rather share Christ with this person than be worried about what they think about me.
[36:34] I don't care if they think that I fit in, that I'm one of them, I don't care what they think about me, I want them to know one thing, that I am a child of God and I serve Him and I live for Him and I'm a witness for Him.
[36:49] That is who we are. We're resurrection people looking to the end, to the eternal, everlasting riches that God has for us in heaven. Peter looks at this group of people, he says, I know you don't fit into this world, I know this world doesn't want you, this world doesn't want anything to do with you.
[37:07] He says, but God wants you. God loves you. He says, the Trinity is at work in your life, God is doing something special. Would you live for God today? Would you give your life for Him to transform it and make you a stranger in this world that one day will be at home in heaven with Jesus?
[37:31] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.