1 Peter Chapter 5

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Good morning, church, again. I don't know if I can preach after that rousing song. Thank you. Bless you, team. I was thinking, there's the message already. Before we open God's Word, I just want to say thank you to all those who participated in the fellowship activity yesterday, culminating around much food and much fellowship. And that sounds so inviting, doesn't it? Then I put the words on the end, working bee. And so thank you to everyone who participated. We really, the gardens, if you came in through the front, beautiful, don't they? So they moved approximately, the crew moved approximately six cubic metres of mulch yesterday. Only a handful of people too. Imagine if we had 20 people there. We still have 12. Still have 12 cubic metres back left over for the rest of the garden. So, and thank you for those who cleaned the windows, spruced the place up. We did say this was a working bee getting prepared for the Easter event, the Christmas event. I've already jumped one event ahead. And yeah, no, it was good. It was good fun. To those who, we hired a dingo digger. Man, those things buck like a bull, don't they? I've never used one before. Getting off the trailer was fun enough. But yeah, so Matty relieved me on that after a while because he said, Doug, you're getting weary. Start to make mistakes. And yeah, so good, good fellowship. And I'm sure our bodies will pay for it later. But we do that for the service of the Lord, don't we? Let's pray. Father, we thank you as we've just been singing a song that nothing can snatch us from your hand. Lord, by the blood of the cross, we are saved. Father, we just thank you and praise you for that truth. We thank you for that promise. We thank you, Lord, we walk in that, in that promise, Lord. Father, as you open your Word today and we go through these challenges, Lord, these things that just speak to our heart about eldership and leadership and being a person of faith, Lord, help us to, Lord, connect with you. That, Father, we reflect on the songs we've sung, but Lord, put those words on paper. Lord, put them into action. Lord, we want to be worthy of you. And Father, we thank you and praise you for you. I thank you for your Son Jesus, who died on the cross for us, was risen again, that we may have eternal life through him, and that is the victory of the cross. But Father, we just thank you and praise you for this time together around your Word. Lord, just teach us, we pray in your name. Amen. So all those at home, welcome, and thank you for joining us. Those who are just visiting the church or new, I'm Pastor Doug, one of the pastoral team. You've already met Pastor Dylan, and Pastor Dave is still on leave for one more day. But as Dylan said before, exciting stuff about the carols. I love it. I love the fact that an organisation has invited us out into the community and said, Hey, look, you've got something. Can we share in that? And so as disciples of Jesus, what's our response? Oh no. No, no, you stay right. Yeah, it's fine. We'll just look after ourselves. No, we want to be kingdom people, don't we? And we have opportunities there to serve there, and Dylan will have all the details. And yeah, it looks like good stuff, good stuff, and we're going bigger and better this year. I think we're hiring elephants. No, we're not. No, I just want to see if you're listening. Let's open up God's Word to 1 Peter chapter 5, the last chapter in 1 Peter, and we're continuing with 2 Peter next time. To the elders among you, I appeal to you as fellow elder and witness of Christ's suffering, who also will share in his glory to be revealed. Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade. In the same way, you youngers, submit yourselves to your elders, all of you. Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because God opposes the proud and shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be alert and sober-minded. Your enemy, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after having suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying to you that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. She who is Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ. Signed, Peter. Well, we have this situation that we come to the end of this chapter. We're reflecting on all the wonderful things that have been spoken about previously, the challenge that we've had. And I just wonder if there's a straw vote for someone here. Has anyone here, if you're game enough to put your hand up, been challenged by the passages so far, one, two, three, and four? If there's been some change in your life because of it, if you'd like to raise your hand, if you'd like to be—I see that hand, brother, thank you. Yeah, okay, rightio. Some of you are raising your hand in your heart, I'm sure. But it does ask us, doesn't it, when we read God's word, what is the stuff that we're expecting from it? When Peter wrote this, he was looking at the group of believers he was writing to, and he was saying to them, There's some things I want you to think about. I want you to think about committed to be faithful and fruitful, committed to be faithful and fruitful for the cross. And so we have this great—thank you, Lindal, for that. I'm glad you didn't ask me to do that stretchy thing. I would have been the one in front of Dylan, because he's so strong. Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to do with those rubber band things. But what a great way to get our minds around what it means to be encouraged by one another and in God and have that strength of faith and be challenged to it, what it means to be together in God. So the overview, I'm going to give you an overview. So the first one is the spiritual walk of the leaders of the church, the body of believers. So he says to the elders, and we're going to talk about that in a little bit, he talks about the spiritual walk of the church, that is the body of believers. So not only is he talking about the elders or the older people or the leaders in the church, he's talking about the church family as well. And lastly, just a spiritual affirmation for the church, for the body of believers, much like the songs we've sung, the promises that we have. So let's have a look at the first passage, shall we? The first one is the spiritual leadership of the church. Peter starts off with, To the elders. Well, when we see elders there, we can say, well, it can be literally to the old folk in church, those who are mature in Christ for a long time. But also it can mean that the words in the Greek are episkopos and presbyterios are all words that mean similar thing in different settings. We're going to think of it as church council for a while. So we put all those three together and think of church council. For those who are in leadership of the church, to the elders among you, as a fellow elder, because Peter considers himself to be a fellow elder, he calls them to be shepherds of the flock under your care. Isn't it funny when we learn a life lesson, it comes back and we think, I'm going to use that in my life. I'm going to use that to reflect to people and to show them what it means to be a Christian. What is Peter's life lesson that he learned when he denied Christ three times and then he was restored by Christ in John 21? I'm just going to read it for you because it's the life lesson and there's some words in there that you can just see him coming out and he's feeding into the elders saying, The challenge for you guys is to love your flock like Jesus loves us. And the question we have for our elders and our leaders, our church council: love your flock. When they'd finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said to Simon Peter, Do you love me? And he answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him a third time, Do you love me? And he said, Yes, Lord, you know all these things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said, Feed my sheep. Now, for those of you who've never heard it before, there's two words for love used in that passage. Jesus is saying, Do you agape me? Unconditionally. Do you love me unconditionally? And Peter's response is, Yes, Lord, I philos you. I brotherly love you. Jesus says again, Do you agape me? He says, Yes, I philos you. I brotherly love you. And Jesus asked him again, Do you unconditionally love me? And he was hurt by that because he didn't see the nuance of what was happening. But the challenge is still there, the three times: feed sheep, lambs. And so he's writing from this life lesson. And my prayer is that when you have a life lesson that God teaches you, that you will use that to help people understand the kingdom of heaven in a better way. He has called you. So many people in this church have so many different professions, so many different encounters in life. I have personally been banned by my wife for telling too many of my stories because she's heard them so many times before. But that's okay. I can understand that because most of you have known me a long time, know my stories. And poor old Dave and Dylan, for the first 18 months, I've heard my stories. And Dylan's going, Oh, Doug's here today. That's great. And Dave goes, Oh, there's Doug again. He's going to tell another story. But when God teaches you those lessons, ask Him, Lord, how can I use this for Your glory, not mine? Not that I come out looking good. And Peter's saying that here to the elders. He says, as a fellow elder myself, as a fellow sheep person, as a shepherd, I'm saying to you, please love your sheep, care for them. I sit in many, many church council meetings over the years, and you know I cannot say there was once I've ever sat in one where the church council, whether it was the diaconate or the elders or the overseers, whatever we call them in different churches, have ever said, Oh, the church drives me nuts. I'm doing nothing for them. They are there because they love us. I sat under their care for many years before I was on the diaconate. And when I got onto the diaconate, eventually God taught me lots of lessons before I got there. When I got there, I thought, Oh wow, elders care for your sheep. He's saying that. He said, just love the flock. They need to be fed and watered and protected and disciplined. Yes, disciplined. Sometimes you won't get, Oh, that's all right. Sometimes, What are you doing? Do you really need to do that? Because we've been entrusted to do so. Encouraged, mentored, and pray for them. All those things I can say that our church council does, and the church councils I've served in over the years. Can you be encouraged that the leaders, the elders amongst you, love you and want you to experience God in a real way? See, it's the role, as Peter says, it's more than simple inconvenience. He says, not because you must, but because you are willing, willing and eager to serve. Not because you're compelled or you've got to do it, but it's not the position, it's the loving that's unconditional. It's the loving that's unconditional. And in real sense, it's a call. It's set apart. So how do we respond to that as a church? If we're thinking ourselves, we're sitting out there, okay, Pastor Doug, you've just lifted up the whole of the church council before you. What's going to happen next? Well, the challenge is, how do you see and how do you support who God has put in place? Because the question I ask every day, Lord, I drive towards the office. I live five minutes from the office, and I drive in every day and say, Lord, just help me to do a good job today, because I know who I am, and I know I'm pretty, you know, dodgy sometimes. Please help me, Lord, to be effective for you. To the elders among you, as a fellow elder, you have a divine trust to serve as overseers on behalf of the owner, on behalf of the owner. Live a life worthy of the example. In Colossians 1 it says, We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through the wisdom and understanding of the Spirit, so you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so you may have great endurance and patience. So when we see things like live a life worthy of example in verse 3, he's saying, Well, I'm praying for you, guy. I'm praying for you as a brother. I'm praying for you as a leader. I'm praying for you as a representative of Jesus Christ. And then you are to look after the sheep. So we're looking at the sheep. Everyone go, Baa. Oh, I didn't hear that. Just try over here, baa. Bah. That is enthusiastic sheep. Bah. Oh, there's one that's asleep. Bah. Oh my gosh. Okay. You don't want me to do that call. There are people with pacemakers. And the part that I suppose we miss out on sometimes, oh, I can do this, I can do that, or, yeah, yeah, I can be a leader. But it says in Scripture we're answerable to God. That's why we need to pray for our leaders. The leaders are entrusted by God, but also they're answerable to God. He says for leaders to be clothed in humility. Clothed in humility. No one walks around with a Paul Hogan head wobble. You all know what that is, don't you? There you go, I'm pretty good. It doesn't happen. Be clothed in humility so we understand what God is. In Ephesians 13:17, it says these words: Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, that means there'll be no benefit to you. So when we pray and submit to the leaders, at church council we have a time where we open God's Word and we read it. We have a devotion book based on God's Word. We read it. We spend time in prayer. And it's not just, Lord, watch over this meeting. We pray the agenda goes well. We start praying around the room, around the table, and we pray for our church. I wonder, and the challenge for you, church, is how often do you pray for your church council? Is it just before the AGM? Or is it other times? Or do you pray for when you see them make a human mistake that happens every now and then? Or do you wait and sit and go, Huh, I knew they'd do that. We need to lift up our church leaders, lift up those in office that God has put there because they've got an authority there, but also they've got an account to give. We need to make sure they're connected and hearing God, and we can only do that through prayer and encouraging words. When I was out at Gatton, we went on a pastors' retreat. We have the Baptist Union sort of organise those days, pastors go away on retreat groups, so we meet up with other pastors. And I mentioned this to the leadership team that I needed a week off to go away for a retreat. And unbeknownst to me, one of the guys on the church leadership, one of the people on the church leadership, but for the pastor, gathered around people to write encouraging notes to me. I didn't know what they were. He presented me with this little paper bag. He said, Look at this when you get there in your quiet times. Unprovoked, just a show of love, as I read through these little messages from a church of 40 people, how many pieces of paper do you reckon were in there? Forty. When Pastor Dylan goes away for his conference in Brazil, I wonder if there might be some way you can say, We're praying for you, dude. Not just in words, but here's our actions. When Pastor David goes away on leave, where he goes on his retreat group, I wonder if that's something you could do for them. Our church council is going to retreat in January, the last weekend in January. I wonder how you can show your encouragement towards them, because everyone always hears the bad stuff, but we hardly ever hear the good stuff. I hope I'm making my point clear. We need to pray and support because each person at church council is going to give an account to God for their actions, and they know it, and they wear that burden with great joy because they love to serve. Now, let's talk about the church. Uh-oh, if he's that harsh on the elders, how's he going to be on me? In the same way, in verse 5, it says, in the same way, in the same way, young men, that is newly appointed leaders, those are new to the role, be taught by spiritual experience and the spiritual guidance of those who are with you. When people are new to a role, they come in with this understanding or this sort of weird feeling, I've done it before myself. What actually happens here? To be perfectly honest, you know that as a senior pastor, my experience is the sum total of this when I got here, and now it's the sum total of, How high is that roof? So many things. Trusting in God and getting around my brothers and sisters in Christ and just talking and asking to pray for me. But when you're a person new to the role, there is an uncertainty. You might be asked to lead youth group. I know that's become part of the thing recently, and I don't think I've heard anything back from Pastor Dylan where everyone's rejected him yet. They've all said, Yeah, I'll have a go at that, and sometimes they do well. Perhaps sometimes they don't. I don't know, but they're keen to have a go. What has God laid in your heart about the Christmas carols event? Was he laid in your heart about going to Siena Village, doing something a little bit extra, having a chat with Dylan, who's going to coordinate it, but having a chat to those who are doing things around the church at the Christmas event? One of the things about those three services, and I want to just encourage you, is that we're actually going to try and divide the number of seats here so that we have enough room for the unchurched and the visitors from the community. So if every one of our church, all 600 of us, as we said, applies for the six o'clock service, six o'clock meeting show, you're going to be disappointed, because only 150 are going to get in unless you've got somebody with you from the community. So the three services are divided up are three wonderful opportunities throughout the day to invite the community to come along, sit with them, have the seat beside you as a seat for an unchurched community person, enjoy the service, then go out and spend the afternoon with them, or go back and serve. When we're new to a role, when we're new to something, sometimes we stand back and go, I can't do that, or I don't think so. Can I encourage you to step forward and say yes? There was an invitation for membership before. Are you a member? You might be thinking, membership freaks me out, man. I don't want to do it. Can I encourage you to read the book, let and pray about it. Talk to one of the pastors about it. Say, what's membership about? If you haven't been baptized yet, why? If you're a believer in Jesus, it says in the Bible, believe and be baptized. But pray about it and say, God, what is holding me back? Or God, I need affirmation. How can that happen? Can I encourage you to reach out to God? All those who are seeking a new role to be taught by your spiritual leaders. Great opportunity for us as a church. And then part B in chapter 5, verse 5: all of you. That's everyone else. So young leaders new to the role, people new to ministry, people who are just trying to step out in faith, all of you, plus the ones who are sitting here now. All of you. Finger's not pointing at you; it's pointing up. All of you, clothe yourself with mutual humility. All of you, clothe yourself with mutual humility. Mutual humility says, not me, but Jesus; not I, but Christ; not my way, but your way, Lord. That's the basis of humility in Christian church. It's not about us. It's never about us. It's about Jesus. We can try and put our own cloak on it. We can put our own clothes on to protect us and keep people at a distance and all those sorts of things. But it says, clothe yourself. That means put it on. That means physically, mentally, spiritually put on that humility and say, Lord, not my way, but your way; not me, but Christ. You see, in Australia we have this thing called the tall poppy syndrome. And I looked this up because I was fascinated because I've heard it all my life, and I'm actually quite interested to see how it's changed in social context. When I was growing up, a tall poppy was a person who rose above the others and let everybody know about it. And so they had a Paul Hogan head wobble. So they walked around going, Did you hear what I just did? And someone in the group will say, Yeah, no way, buck, and they would say something to try and bring them down a peg or two, so a bit more humble. And so that's why when Peter speaks about God opposes the proud and shows favour to the humble, he's talking about a way in such that it means that just be honest about yourself. But in society now, they've actually tied it to some sort of teaching in almost like a philosophy, I suppose, of egalitarianism. I hope I said that word right, to the schooled students of word. But it means that everyone is equal. That's not what it means at all. The tall poppy syndrome means be humble under all circumstances. When I was in the under 12s, my peak of my rugby league career, I scored 14 tries in a season. And I was feeling pretty good about that because we had some fast guys in our side. We had some really good football players, and Doug, who couldn't run out of sight on a dark night. That's how slow I was. Scored 14 tries. Well, I thought I was pretty good. And so I'd share that with people. And the next year, guess how many tries I scored? Two. Humility comes before the fall, when you start to lift yourself up. But when we're in Christ, we're all the same height, because who do we worship? Jesus Christ. And Peter's saying here, church elders, look after your flock, all of you worship Jesus. Because even though we have the struggles, we need to have a teachable spirit. We need to put these on the body. So then the next slide will say, spiritual walk for the church. All of you, under God's mighty hand, he says in Scripture, because of his divine deliverance of your life. Now Peter's flicking back to the Old Testament because didn't the divine God deliver... The Hebrews from Egypt? Oh, right, we've got some scholars here. Did he deliver them from Babylon? Did he deliver them from anything else? No, we're throwing things around here. Yeah, some people actually said that with their hand over their mouth, so I couldn't tell who they were. That's all right, I love your humble spirit. He delivered us from sin. The mighty God delivered us from sin. That's the number one for us today. And he's talking to the people, trying to touch base with these people who are reading this, saying, Don't forget, under God's mighty hand, by his divine deliverance of your life, you are saved, and you are saved now by Christ on the cross, by Christ on the cross. We have an empty cross, don't we? Do you know why we have an empty cross? That's right, Christ rose from the dead. Years ago, when I was the administrator here, I got contacted, and the youth guy, I got contacted by the local high school, and they were doing a Faith in Community project. And so they were actually bussing their grade sevens in the day around to all the different churches in the area. And so I had, I think it was from some Paul's Lutheran, I think I had about two busloads of kids in here one Thursday or Friday morning, and they had all these questions, and they're writing away all these answers, and they're really good students because great school, and they're writing the answers down. And one of them said, So where are your icons? And I went, Oh, icons. And I said, What do you mean? And they said, We don't know. And the teacher's chuckling. I said, We have a cross. And someone said, Why is there no Jesus on it? And I said, Oh, it's because he's risen. All these 120 kids. I didn't understand, spiritually. Anyway, we finished the talk. Anyway, as I go, I said, thank the teachers for, you know, coming. They said, Hey, it was great. Thank you. Excellent, Doug, excellent. And I said, Where are you off to now? They said, The Catholic Church. I thought, Oh, those questions will sit real well. Folks, we are saved by the cross. Everything we do, it's not about us; it's about Jesus. Again, he says in verse 6, humble yourself. And then he says something in verse 7 that is really interesting. He says, Cast away. Cast away to his care. Cast away your troubles. Cast away the things you're struggling with. Cast away the sin in your life to his care. I know it sounds a little bit weird, but my heart is to persevere with our five minutes of contemplation before the service. Five minutes before the service, come early, sit quietly, contemplate God. Start praying about the stuff that hassled you while you got here. Give it to Jesus. Cast it away. He cares about your cares. Matthew 11, he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. What a great way to demonstrate to people your reverence in Christ. It's not about a false humility. It's not about trying to create a tradition of super Christianity. It's just being honest with God. You come in, you sit down. If you're here five minutes, that's awesome. If you're coming in a few minutes late, make your way to your seat. You don't need to greet the person beside you. You can talk to them after church. But spend those few minutes saying, Lord, thank you for who you are. Before we sing about you, you know my heart. You know what I've been stressing about. When I was there, Sheree and I were young parents. We made a commitment to bring our kids to church every Sunday. It was pandemonium at our house Sunday mornings. They were great kids, and they loved being here once they got here. But man, getting them in that car and getting them here was just like a strategic action of military proportions. Oh, it was a struggle. I remember coming here one day so frazzled, and I sat down in church. I don't think I heard the first song. I was so overwhelmed by just getting them here. And the kids are, Hey, hey, hey, go, and then caught up all their mates and they're chatting away. Off they go to Sunday school, had a great time. And afterwards I thought, Oh Lord, is it worth it? Yes, it was, because that was a teachable moment for me about why we do things and the spirit in which we do it. So I encourage you in that, our personal God who desires a personal relationship, number one, two, three, or four. That's the God we worship. So for all of you, He encourages you to be in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If that's not your story, if you're struggling with some aspect of that, even if you're a believer and walking for a while and you're still struggling, can I encourage you to give it to God? Seek His forgiveness first in your heart and come to Him. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, for you will find rest in your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. For all of you, the next slide please, guys. Under God's mighty hand, be aware of spiritual battle. Yeah, it happens. It doesn't mean we're immune to it. It just means it's a reality of life. You can interpret this, I suppose, in many ways, but I have a look at it and I think, okay, how can this be a spiritual battle for me? Verse 8 says, Be alert and sober-minded. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around you like a lion looking for someone to devour. To be alert is to watch, not to be so preoccupied with it that you're seeing everything around you, but just to be wary of it. Sober is to be a steady mind. To have a steady mind, your mind needs to be in Christ. You need to put it up here. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He's in my heart. He gives me the victory. I walk with Him. This is something that's happening to me. Jesus loves me. He's in my head. He's in my heart. I walk with Him. Someone does something to me. Jesus is in my heart. He's in my head. He's in my head. He's in my heart. He's my Lord and Savior. I'm walking with Him. Be alert and sober-minded. Your enemy is seeking to infiltrate, and one of the commentators said he's seeking to infiltrate the army of believers. I don't know if that's possible. Perhaps it is. This is his theory. So where are the army of believers? And if you're in an armed force, I watch lots of TV shows about this, so I'm a bit of an expert. Oh, there's that Hegwobble. Sorry, humble, humble, humble. And it seems to me that sometimes people try to get into organizations by pretending or acting the right way. God knows who those people are. But he says there are rounds, so just keep praying for the body. Keep praying protection for them. Keep praying over them, because by looking for someone to discourage, disillusion, or struggle. Wow. I saw a quote by John Stott that said that if you're leaving the church because of the church, people are the problem you've got, not God. And you need to get that sorted out quick, because we do have struggles, but we need to make sure we focus on Christ. The reason why I think Peter uses a lion is he probably saw one walk past and thought, Oh, a lion's a good illustration to put in here. But also, a lion is a dodgy animal, because what the lion does is it likes to look for the weak in the herd, the ones that are struggling a little bit, and it'll be very patient and just prowl and stalk and prowl and stalk until all of a sudden that one has just dropped a little bit away. Bang! He strikes. Disillusionment, discouragement comes in. You see, that's the lie we have, the lie that Satan is. He says, You are alone. You are the only one. If you're feeling that today, I want to reassure you that that is not the case. You are not alone. You're not the only one. We all struggle equally, but most importantly, we need to understand that when we are struggling, we need to be careful of the temptations that creep in. Things like itchy ears, want to hear what you want to hear. People saying, Oh yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah, I think the same way. And you go, Oh, I can't be. Oh, I'm not alone here. But are those itchy ears saying stuff that is godly? Have we listened to wives' tales and gossip? Sorry, wives. I've yet to work out the 21st century version of that saying. All those can be under temptations from Satan. And he just says, Resist and stand firm. We have the victory in the cross. We know this because in John 10:28 we read, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, because no one will snatch them out of my hand. We just sang about that, didn't we? We just sang those words. I pray those words sit in your heart and encourage you, and if you are struggling, nothing can snatch you from God's hand. And the last one: spiritual affirmation for the church. So we've looked at spiritual affirmation and spiritual work for the leaders, and then for all the believers, and now just an affirmation for you. And I love the way he finishes off this chapter. It doesn't give you a real, like, cosy feeling, but it gives you that real assurance. And the God of all grace—we all understood grace. We're all under God's grace—knowing what lies ahead will fortify you. God knows what's going to happen, and he will be there to walk beside you. Even if it's not what we think it might be, he will still walk beside you in faith. He says to stand strong and steadfast, and that means to strengthen, taking Jesus at his word. Matthew 28, he says, I will always be with you to the end of the age. Is that a lie? No. He said he's going to always be with you to the end of the age. He means it. So no matter what you're going through, what's happening is stand firm and steadfast because he's with you to the end of the age. He's not like, you know, a person who is sort of wishy-washy and drop you like a hat. Some of my Facebook friends have decided not to follow me, and I'm devastated. I'm down from 300 to 280. Yeah, I don't know half of them, but anyway. Firm means to read His Word. If you stand firm and steadfast, I'm going to interpret this this way, and I believe this would be a great thing to catch on to until I come again. Devote yourself to public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching. Remain strong, firm, and steadfast. And steadfast, be intentional in your daily prayer. We can't go any further, really, if we're going to have an example than Jesus. In John 17, He says these words in 19 to 21: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who believe in Me through the message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The last part of that passage: that the world may believe that You have sent Me, that the world may believe through our church fellowship, through us as the body, no matter where we sit in all that hierarchy I just talked about, that the world will believe in Jesus. Wow, that's awesome, isn't it? Isn't that something to praise God for, that He's given us that responsibility, He's given us that challenge, He's given us that way of saying, Hey, we have a purpose. We have something we can do. God calls us to this purpose. We have one job. In all circumstances, to make Jesus look good. You have one job. I had an illustration the other day of a pastor who was traveling in America. He was, in a way, had to be called to a conference really urgently. So he booked his flight, and everyone flies in America a lot, apparently. So he got to the airport, and the line was super long. And he's looking at the time counting down, and he's just losing his mind. He gets to the counter, and she looks at the thing and it says his name. She says, Oh, pastor, you're on this flight here. And he said, Yeah. He said, You should have got here earlier. He said, Are you kidding me? I've been in the line for like a half, three-quarters of an hour. She said, You should have got here earlier. He gets onto the plane, doesn't get the seats allocated. Apparently you can swap seats in America. He gets bumped somewhere else, probably near the toilet. And then he gets to the place. He's late getting to the place. All these things start to happen to him. And then he runs across a person, similar circumstances, and greets him and says, Hello, pastor. How are you today? Welcome to the conference. How have you been today? How have you honored God? And he didn't know this because he was late to the conference. The person who was emceeing said, I want you to go to each other now and say, ‘Have you honored God today?’ He didn't know this. He wasn't prepared. He walked into the room, and this person put their hand out to welcome him with a smiling face, said, ‘Have you honored God today?’ He said, I just felt overcome by the Holy Spirit. I was convicted, and I had to tell the person, I haven't had a good day. Actually, haven't today. And the person said, Let me pray for you. You have one job, in all circumstances, to make Jesus look good. We have a chance at the carols. We have a chance at our AGM. We have a chance at Siena Village. We have a chance at a working bee, at morning tea, all our ministries and missions throughout the church. One job: make God look good. Because a disciple of Christ is a witness and an ambassador. And that is the message that Peter has for us today. Let's pray. Father, we are humbled, Lord, that you called us into your service. Lord, you've remembered us by name. And Father, as we, Lord, close the service today, Lord, we don't want this to be the end of the road, but just a bend in the road. That, Father, the things you've taught each person here today, Father, they will act upon. Lord, words that I have not even uttered, Father, you've uttered in their spirit. And Father, you are about changing lives. Lord, help us to be humble. Help us, Lord, to step faithfully after you. Help us to trust in the mighty hand of God. Lord, we will know who you are in our lives, and others will know who you are in our life. Lord, we can't put on any falsehood. Lord, we can't pretend to be something we're not. Father, accept us, Father, when we confess to you, Lord, that you are our God. And Father, we pray, Lord, that you'll give us more opportunities to make you look good. We pray, Father, you give us more opportunities to speak your truth into the life of those who don't know you, that they may come closer and engage in the kingdom of heaven through your Son, Jesus. Amen.