Five Steps to Living Holy in a Messy World | 1 Peter 2 Study - Between Sermons // Audio

Episode Transcript
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Pastor Brent McQuay (00:00):
Foreign. Welcome back to another episode of
Between Sermons. I'm the host, Brent. I
get to be the lead pastor here
at Disciples Church in Tinley Park, Illinois.
And we are continuing our conversation from

(00:21):
Sunday. We've been in the book of
First Peter. It's been so much fun
just digging into scripture and trying to
find ways that we can apply it
to our lives today. It was written
2000 years ago to a group of
Christians scattered throughout modern day Turkey. And
yet somehow when we read it today,
it's like. It's like Peter is writing
it for us right now. And so

(00:42):
it's a pretty amazing book that we
are digging through. And so we're going
to turn some of that monologue from
Sunday into real dialogue where we're able
to talk out these ideas and maybe
dig at more of the. The practical
side of some of this stuff. But
in order to have a good conversation,
we need good people to talk with.
And so I am joined, as always,
by the one and only Taisha. How

(01:02):
you doing?

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:03):
Yay. I'm good. Why do I always
do that? Why do I always have
to have a sound effect?

So I don't know why you do
that, but I. I am curious why
you always have to say, why do
I always do that?

No, because it's like, I can't. I
do it in the moment. I'm like,
why did I do that? It's just.
I need a sound effect. Can we
add sound effects?

And then maybe I think part of
some. Some of that is just the.
The curse of communicators. Like, it's like,
there's tons of times on Sunday where,
like, I say something, I'm like, why
did I say that was the dumbest
dad joke possible? Like, why did I
do that? Why did that just come
out of my mouth?

Yes. I'm a work hard not to
do that.

There's a comedian. I forget if it's.
It's either Brian Regan or Jim Gaffigan
where he's like, I think it's Brian
Regan. He's like, oh, no, words are
coming out. It's like, like sometimes, like,
like I feel that way. Like, sometimes
I'm on stage, I'm like, oh, words.
But, yeah, so here we are.

I can see that. I can see
fun times. But we are joined today
by Pastor Harry Valentine. How are you?

Yo.

Harry Valentine (02:00):
I am great. It's always a pleasure
to Pete to be words, words, words
are coming out. To be in the
house with the between sermons family. Such
an amazing time. So I'm excited for
the Conversation today.

Yes. You are not a stranger to
the podcast. You always bless us with
your gems when you come through. So
welcome back in Praise God. The team
was kind of commenting. Today is the
first day of fall, and you are
ready.

Fall.

So tell us what you're wearing. Tell
us what you got on.

So you may not be able to
see my pants, but I have on
brown leather pants.

Swag.

See, there we go. Hey, they made
sure that you could get the shot,
so. And my wife did not pick
this out for me.

Your wife didn't pick it out?

She did not, man.

Cause she's the fashion.

But you know what? I did do
a fact check. I said, is this
okay? And she said, yeah, you're good.

Ready to go.

See, my wife also did not pick
out my outfit, but I don't think
that comes as a surprise to any
one because they're like, sometimes Brent looks
really good, and sometimes Brent looks really
comfortable.

Yeah, that's.

If I look really good, Sol picked
it out. If I look really comfortable,
I picked it out.

Okay, that's a good way.

Yes. There you go. I don't have
the brown leather pants, man.

Fall ready?

Fall ready. I love it. We, for
the first time, coordinate it because typically
we're off. I either have on pink
and you have one.

We're coordinated color wise.

Style.

I know aesthetic. Like, I. I know.
I'm ready to, like, watch a movie.

I know.

I know a game here.

Like, you're ready for a business conference.

I am. Like, it is so funny
because David is always like, every time
you leave the house, look like you
supposed to go on stage. And I'm
like this. I just love. It's a
corporate American type of thing.

That's your look.

Yeah. I've been in corporate America too
long.

My look is hoodie and jeans.

Yes. No, you can. I've seen you.

No, no, no. This is my look.

This is your. Okay, that's your look.

The other look is Sol's look for
me.

Got it.

So we have Sol's look, and then
we have my look for me.

I love it. Okay, so now we
know the difference. But no, we are
still, like you said in the book,
first Peter, before we dive into conversation,
Pastor Harry, how's it been for you?
How has this book been chopping you
up, breaking you down, twisting you all
around?

You know, the word itself is always,
you know, challenging. It should be convicting.
Right. It should be encouraging. And I
think Peter and where he's kind of
coming from, of course, you gave us
the context of who he's speaking to.
But as the believer right today, it
still applies. And so for me personally,

(04:32):
it's just this opportunity to have a
reflection of self, to see where you
are as you're reading this letter from
Paul. Because, you know, seasons change, right.
And so something you may not have
dealt with in terms of the things
that he speaks about getting rid of,
you know, justify few months ago or
maybe a year, maybe something in life
have changed where you have now have
to be that much more intentional about

(04:53):
those very areas. So I think it's
opportunity to take a look at self
and to ensure that, you know, the
spiritual house that he's speaking about, that
you're actually, you know, building that the
proper way. So that's kind of been
my reflection since. I mean, it's only
been two chapters.

I know. I mean it feels heavier
than two chapters.

It's because it took us three weeks
to get through the two.

Okay.

Yeah, that was still like yesterday. Could
have been probably a four week series.

Absolutely. I agree.

Like, I was like, I'm talking so
fast and I'm watching the clock just
crash on me. I'm like, I gotta
go. Yeah. So you did something just
now and I'm curious if anybody was
tracking yesterday how many times I did
the same thing. You said Paul instead
of Peter. And it's like I, like,
I catch myself so much like Peter

(05:45):
and Paul. Like it's just it. Yeah,
come on, man. It's like they're both
the guys that write. They start with
the letter P. And so I'm really
curious. Somebody should go back and like
re watch this series and just count
how many times said Paul instead of
Peter. Because I bet it's a bunch.

Yeah, it does.

And you don't even catch it when
you don't do it, you know, because.
Yeah, yeah.

And I didn't even hear it. I
heard Peter.

Yeah.

And in my mind I heard Peter
too. And I said it. I thought
I said it.

Yep. They'll play back the video and
they'll be like, nope.

He said crazy.

But you're so right. Like they are
the pillars of the face.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, and so interchangeably we use
them like that. But yeah, it's been
a great opportunity. Great opportunity for conversation
too in groups, even with my family,
you know, to really talk this through
about how we are called right. To
make sure that we are with the
living stones and how we're actually placing
those living stones in a proper place.

(06:40):
So, yeah, I'm here.

Yeah, you, you jumping Ahead with the
living stones that we're gonna get to
the building. But I would love for
you, Pastor Brent, as always, for those
who didn't have an opportunity to hear
the message on Sunday, just do a
quick recap so they're not completely lost
in the conversation. Quick recap. Well, don't
talk fast. Cause yesterday.

I guess so. I guess the. The
best recap I can give is. So
Peter writes this letter. The overall message
is, life bad, God good. Hang on.
And so in chapter two, he's. He's
going through some of the ways that
we should live in this life. Like,

(07:23):
when life is bad, when God is
good, when we're trying to hang on,
like, how do. How do we behave?
How do we live? Like, overall, he
talks a lot about being strangers and
exiles. Like, we're not of this world.
This isn't our home. You've been born
again, so live like it. And chapter
two is very. It's very much the
application. Further application to what he set

(07:44):
up. Chapter one is almost like the
introduction and the overview. And then chapter
two starts getting more into, like, do
this, do this, do this, do this.
And so if we break it down
across those 25 verses, Peter basically gives
us five instructions. Like, in your new
life in Christ, these are the five
things that you need to do. You
need to put it away, and we'll
talk about what that is in a

(08:06):
second. So you got to put some
stuff away. You need to crave the
word of God. You need to proclaim
him being Jesus. You need to win
the war, and you need to honor
everyone. And he just kind of. He
hits those five things, like, over and
over. And there's, like, other commands or
instructions that he gives, but they're really
tied into one of those five things
that he just kind of walks through.
And so because you've been born again,

(08:27):
here's what you should be doing.

Yeah, Like, I started before we even
got into the podcast. I said it
feels like just rereading it. It's a
continuation of chapter one, even the intro.
And so you said something that was
just. I loved how you said it,
but.

Yeah, I think I even said it
on Sunday. Like, this is the benefit
of. Of sitting down and reading an
entire book of the Bible in one
sitting.

Like.

Like, we've gotten so used to my
verse of the day. And then we've
like, okay, to try and elevate from
the verse today. Let's read the chapter
of the day. Yeah, but when. When
Peter wrote this letter, like, he. He
didn't Expect his audience to read the
first few pages and then put it
on the shelf and then come back
to it a week later or a
month later and read the rest like

(09:11):
it's, it's a letter. Like it's, it's
meant to be read as a letter.
Like, I use the example on Sunday,
like, if your grandma wrote you a
letter, and I use grandma because I
can't think of anybody else's writing these
days, but maybe your grandma still writes
a letter or you get an email,
are you going to drop down to
like the third paragraph, read that paragraph,
ignore everything else in the email and

(09:32):
be like, all right, I'll come back
to that later.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, no, like you're gonna read the
whole thing to understand the context, to
understand the message. And so while, while
Peter is, is broken up into five
chapters, it is really one message. And
that's why I wanted in that intro
to kind of give you like, hey,
this is where we're going. Yeah, this
is what he's talking about across these
five. And, and we had a much
longer version than the life bad, God,

(09:55):
good, hang on. But like, that long
version, it's is long, it's hard to
remember. But life bad, God good, hang
on, is easy. And if you wanted
to also throw in there, you've been
born again, therefore live like it. Like
that's, that's the other part of what
he's talking about, the holiness.

So. And maybe you mentioned this already,
but it's just coming to mind right
now, who I know. So did he
write this letter to just all believers
or was there a specific church or
body of people he wrote the letter
to?

Yeah, so we talked about that in
the first week. So it's a little
bit of both. So there's not a
specific church he actually addresses. In the
very first verse of chapter one, he
addresses five different provinces of the Roman
Empire in Asia Minor, which. That sounds
like a bunch of weirdness. It Turkey.
Like, if you were to travel to

(10:45):
Turkey, you would be traveling to these
five places. Okay. So it's all within
modern day Turkey, which is actually like,
I think, like sometimes people don't realize
like the Ephesus and several. Like a
bunch in Revelation, when you're reading about
all these churches and stuff, like a
bunch of them are in Turkey. So
like, Turkey was like a major hot
spot for Christianity outside of Rome. So

(11:07):
it was like Jerusalem, Rome, Turkey.

Yeah.

And so if you wanted to like,
track through like Christian history and like
where the church was started and stuff,
you. You would need to go to
modern day Turkey and explore that, which
is kind of cool. We've got missions
partners in the area, so it's kind
of fun. But yeah. So he's writing
to scattered Christians in that area of
the world. But he writes, we call

(11:31):
it a circular letter. And so the
idea behind the letter is it's not
for Taisha, it's for Taisha to read
and then give to Harry and then
Harry's gonna read it and give it
to Brent, then Brent's gonna read it
and give it to Andy and then
Andy's gonna read it and he's gonna
give it to pretty like it's, it's
gonna be circulated.

Wow.

Like that's the intent of the letters
and that's, that's what happens to all
of the, the New Testament letters, the
New Testament writings. But this one in
particular was like the intent from the
beginning was pass it around.

Yeah. So it's. So I'm thinking about
his intentions with writing this letter because
he addressed, he's like very specific of
the things he's addressing. Right. And we're
going to get to some of those
like wives and husbands. But in this
particular chapter it was like people over
you in authority. He sounds like a
modern day influence. Right. And I know

(12:23):
before you start developing your get it,
get it together.

Roll it out, roll it out.

He sounds like a modern day influencer.
And so in my mind, because I'm
still wrestling with how as believers we
should be responding to what's going on
in the world. Like is that level
of influence and addressing the church? Do
you think that's something that's a practice
that should be done with or are

(12:49):
people using their social media platforms? Like
is it okay for people to use
their social media platforms to address what
is happening here in 2025? You can
have thoughts after passing.

That's, that's a really interesting question. I
don't know that I would categorize category.
Categorize, yes. Those things in the same
way. Because I think like when you
talk about a modern day influencer, my
picture of that is social media influencers.
And that is not what Peter was

(13:21):
like. Peter was the head of the
church. Like so, like, like so his,
his authority wasn't like clout or standing.
In fact, he even, he even downplays
his own authority. In First Peter, I
think it comes up, maybe it's in
chapter five. I forget somewhere in there
he refers to himself as a fellow
elder. And so he's, he's putting himself

(13:44):
on the same playing Field with, with
the other elders of the church. Even
though, like, his, his role, Peter, James
and John had a higher status than,
than the rest. And then Paul as
well. And so like, he kind of.
I don't think he's trying to get
clout or getting like, like, y' all
need to listen to me, like, for
these reasons. Like, he's extremely humble. And

(14:05):
then he, he addresses things that are
happening in the times, but not, not
the way an influencer would be. Like,
he's not coming out and saying anything
pro or con against Emperor Nero. Would
have been very easy at the time
to say lots of things about Nero,
but he recognized that wasn't his place,

(14:25):
that wasn't like, what his purpose was.

Yeah.

And so he simply says to honor
the emperor. Doesn't say, hey, the, the
emperor is being a jerk to Christians.
Like, we can write him off. Or
here's, here's where we're going to all
gather so we can start a protest
about the emperor, or here's where we
hide the weapon stash so that we
can all fight against it. No, he
doesn't say any of that stuff. He
just says, and honor, honor the emperor.

(14:50):
And it's like one statement in the
midst of all this other stuff. But
that one statement, like, if you're living
under Emperor Nero at that time and
you're reading that like that's the double
take moment. You're like, whoa, that must
have, that must have been a typo.
I must have miss. Misread that one.
But yeah, so I don't, I don't
know that I'd get fully on board
with you. Did he have influence? Yes,

(15:12):
absolutely would. I would. If he was
a modern day. Would I expect him
to have like a TikTok account?

He would, he would. I believe Paul,
Peter, I believe all the disciples would
have, they would have been on TikTok.
They would have social media. I really
do believe that.

I mean, I would make the argument
for Paul probably even more than Peter.
Paul was very much like, let's get
this message to as many people however
we can.

Yeah.

Peter was a little bit more like,
I'm going to pastor you and I
just want to sit and be with
you. And. And he did. He did
preach when he had opportunity in front
of crowds and stuff. But I don't
know.

I don't know that it's something to
think about.

Maybe, Maybe.

What's your take?

Yeah, I think you mentioned in terms
of like, you know, our culture today
and kind of the, the tension that
we are experiencing in this lifetime. And
having a voice to kind of speak
to that someone that is. We use
influencer, but more of a voice. I
love what you said about Peter. It's

(16:11):
ultimately being called to as a voice
in the, you know, a mouthpiece of
God. It's just to help the believer
establish, you know, the way that we
should live according to God's will. And
so that's the priority. And even if
he, you know, felt a way about
Nero, that's kind of personal to him,

(16:34):
you know, is not what God would
want him to do, is this is
how we honor, you know, those who
are in authority. So if anything, if
we look at it like our social
media platforms and our influence today, it's
come from a personal place. You know,
it's more me I versus God, you
know, being the focal of what the

(16:54):
believer should be. So I think if
I had to look at those two,
for sure, it is a difference. But
in terms of a voice being raised
up, I think the word of God
is. Is enough for us. You know,
he's already spoken exactly what he wants
us to do and say. And so
if we just preach that, then the
outcomes of this life is. Is already
contributed to.

Yeah. None of that to say, like,
Christians can't be influencers or Christians can't,
like, be a voice on social media.
I think that's great. I think it's
awesome. But understanding, like, what. What the
role and responsibility was. And then I
just also want to highlight, like, Peter's
not just getting these ideas out of
thin air, like, to honor the emperor.
Like, he's. He's modeling what Jesus did.
Like, Jesus had to give to Caesar
what Caesar's like. He. He. There was

(17:36):
multiple times when. When Jesus had the
opportunity to fight back against them, and
he's like, no, I mean, Peter's the
guy remember that pulled out his sword
to cut off the ear of the
guy coming to arrest Jesus. And Jesus
said, stop it. Put that sword away.
Puts the ear back on the guy's
head and is like, hey, we're good.
Forgive him. He was out of line.

(17:57):
Like, so, like, that's. That's. That's the
guy that has to be like, oh,
okay. So Jesus wasn't going around saying,
caesar's the worst. Yeah, okay. All right.
So Nero's doing some really bad things,
but Jesus respected the position and honored
the person in it and told us
to do the same.

I mean, I just think that paints
a very vivid picture. And just even
thinking about what we're going through now
and then Taking it back to when
Peter wrote this letter of just what
was happening around him. So let's.

It's wild.

It was crazy for him to feel
like he had to address these things.

It was.

It was that heavy. So you broke
it down into five kind of like
points. Did you do it? Let's go
through those again because I want to
know, did you do it? Compared to
like taking those passages of like a
block of scriptures and adding a point,
or was it just like five overall
points that you.

No, they, they. They flow in that
same order. So verse one is put
it away. Verse two is crave the
Word. And then it kind of flows
from there. I'd have to pull up
Bible again. But like, his closing thought
is about honor. And that's where he
says, like, you could have more action
steps. Cuz like the last thing he
says about honor, he says honor everyone.

(19:14):
What is it? Honor everyone. Love the
church. No, there's a. He uses a
different word. What does he use for
that? It's fear God and then honor
the emperor. Last. What's number two in
there? He says to the brotherhood. Love
the brotherhood.

Okay.

I'm like, I know that he said
it in a unique way. Yeah. So
like, so you could add those action
steps in it. But I think that
what he was getting at there ties
into everything else too. But. Yeah, so,
so put it away is how he
starts off. So put away all malice
and all that stuff.

Yeah.

And then he goes on to say,
like, newborn infants crave the pure spiritual
milk. And we talked about how the
pure spiritual milk in that context of
what he's talking about, and because of
the Greek word play there, he's talking
about the Word of God. So we're
to crave the Word of God. Like
newborn babies are craving milk. Like he's
painting this picture. And so that's why

(20:13):
we're going to crave the Word. And
then from there, he says a lot
about how we are to abstain from
the Passion. Well, first he talks about
we're to proclaim him.

Yeah.

So we're all of this new priesthood.
We've been ordained in the priesthood. We
are now the temple. Like all this
stuff. It's so that we can proclaim
the excellencies of him who called us
out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Like, that's the. Like, what are you
doing as a. As a disciple if
you're not proclaiming Jesus? Like, we need
to calm down. Proclaiming ourselves or proclaiming

(20:45):
other people. We need to be proclaiming
Jesus like that's that's the mission. Yeah.
And then from there, he talks about
abstaining from the passions of the flesh.
It's waging war against your soul. And
so the fourth action step that I
gave was, we need to win that
war. Like, he's. He's describing, like, this.
There's this war going on inside of
you, and he doesn't necessarily flat out

(21:05):
say, you should win it, but, like,
that's the implication. Yeah. Why would he
describe a war that you're gonna lose
or that you should lose? Like, yeah,
so we want to win the war.
And the last thing he says is
to honor the emperor. Then he says,
honor everyone, and then he says, honor
the emperor. Like, he repeats himself several
times.

So.

So we just turn that into honor
everyone. There's your five action steps all
built into the scripture, going from verse
one all the way to verse 20,
and then 21 to 25, he kind
of wraps up this thought process he's
having by presenting the gospel.

Yeah, yeah. No, that's very beneficial to,
like, help as you're reading through and
looking at the app and looking at
Scripture, because when I was reading it
again, it's so much meat.

He's saying a lot.

He's saying a lot. So I don't
even know if we'll be able to
cover everything, but I definitely want to
start with verse one.

Yeah, for sure.

So. So put away all malice and
deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander.

Whoa.

Put it away.

Whoa. Now, again, he's. This letter is
to the believer, and so he's speaking
to the behaviors of us. And I
think that's the point that.

We'Re Christians that have been doing these
things.

Don't think about the world like, this
is for you.

And.

Right. And so oftentimes we think that,
is this in the house? We're so
offended when we come across the slander.

No, he's speaking to us because this.

Is the issues that the believers are
dealing.

He's calling out our slander of others.

Yes.

We don't have to worry about others.
Like, people outside of the church slandering
the church. Like, he addresses that. It's
like, they're going to do that, but
because of your good deeds, they're going
to look like idiots. Right. That's the
Brent McQuay paraphrase. But essentially that's what
he's saying. Like, if, like, the people
outside of the church are doing these
things, but you are doing good. And

(22:59):
if you have put away all of
this passion of the flesh. And you
have lived in this holy conduct and
all this stuff, then even when they
try and say, man, that Christian is
so evil or that Christian is so
bad. And you're like, look at how
I fed the hungry and I took
care of the poor and I was
loving my brother and I was doing

(23:21):
all like, what point at what I
did that was wrong, Right? Yeah, it's
fun.

It sounds easier said, done.

Yeah. No, no.

Simple things are never easy things. No.

Yeah, I think too, yesterday we were
talking about it and it's, you know,
talking about the fleshly things like the
flesh and those issues of the flesh.
And I just made this. This point
of, this statement of how if you
don't kill yourself or not kill yourself,

(23:56):
but die to the flesh, right? Then
your spirit is not going to mature
or grow. Like, it's not by default,
if you feed your spirit, then your
flesh dies. Right? And so you have
to have this balance. He's like, get
rid of these things, right? In order
for you to begin to get nourishment

(24:20):
from the word of God, you have
to remove the junk, Right. Remove these
things from your life, your behaviors. And
I just think it's important for us
to keep those at the forefront of
what we're doing and how we're doing
it as believers, because they are representation
of who we are. If we're proclaiming
God as our Lord and Savior, we
have to be representative of that. And

(24:41):
so he's just helping us to identify,
like, hey, deal with this. And then
I'm going to take this away, but
then I'm going to give you this
as a replacement for that. And so
it's this exchange that we have to
have.

Yeah.

Like it. So. So I pulled out
my Bible because my phone with the
Bible app on it got you because.
So I love the esv, the English
Standard Version. That's. That's the translation that
I use when I teach. 90% of
the time, it's what we've been walking
through First Peter using. And I like
it because it tries to be really

(25:12):
faithful to the original language. And I
like it because when it uses words
that maybe aren't as common, it forces
me to actually stop and think about
that word and why it's used. But
sometimes, like, we can hear the word,
like, malice and not really know exactly
what that is. So I wanted to
just read verse one in the erv

(25:35):
and this, this is where, like, this
is like your Bible study lesson is
having multiple translations is really good.

Okay.

Like, being able to go back and
forth between something that's putting it into
language you can understand a little bit
better and something that's a little more
faithful to the original. We would call
that like word for word or thought
for thought. And so yeah, so that's
the, the nerd moment. But so first
Peter, chapter two, verse one in the
easy to read version. So then stop

(26:03):
doing anything to hurt others. Don't lie
anymore and stop trying to fool people.
Don't be jealous or say bad things
about others.

Man, you can't get no straightforward, easy
to read.

Okay.

And it's, it's saying all of the
same things.

Yeah.

So he says malice, stop doing anything
to hurt others. Deceit, don't lie anymore.
What was hypocrisy is the don't be
jealous or say bad things about others.
That's slander. Like so like he's covering
like this, this translation is covering the
same concepts but in a much more

(26:41):
like just modern American language. Yeah. And
so sometimes I would say like try
and read the Bible in a like
a word for word, a more direct
translation. But then keep a thought for
thought or a paraphrase or something that's
like man, that's just my, my fifth
grade education. Can't handle that one.

Yeah.

And so having those side by sides
can be beneficial. So stop doing anything
to hurt others, don't lie anymore, stop
trying to fool people and don't be
jealous or say bad things about others.
Like I could tell my, my 10
year old daughter for sure that and.

Understood she's like now you need to.

Tell somebody 40 year olds. You need
to put that on social media today.
No, because I was just sitting here
thinking like actually I don't want to
say this is a joke because this
is very serious to some people how
they're saying the world is going to
end tomorrow.

Yeah.

Or the 23rd. It's one of the
days.

Yeah.

The 23rd or 24th. It's based on
bad math and bad, bad A. So
it's all built off. Sorry, this is
random.

No.

So that's relevant. If anybody's wondering why
people are saying the 23rd, 24th. It's
all based on. There is a Jewish
holiday, there's a festival, the feast of
Trumpets I think is the one that
it is. That can happen on either
day. Or it's like a. Some people
say it can happen on either day.
It depends on when the new moon
is.

Yeah.

And all this stuff. Or it happens
across the span of two days. And
so some people say, well if it
starts at the beginning of that feast,
then it would be on the 23rd.
If it's the end of the feast,
would be the 24th. And they say
all of that is. Literally all of
it is built on. Somebody made a
claim that this Jewish holiday is referred

(28:27):
to or known as the feast in
the day and hour that no one
knows. And so when Jesus says of
the end times, no one knows the
day or the hour. Like, that's what
he's. He's saying it's going to happen
during this feast is. And so then
they did math to try and come
up with this year is the year,

(28:49):
and it's. It's all. It's a hoax.
It's dumb. Like, don't fall for it
just because somebody tells you this. Like,
there's literally nothing that will prove that
this holiday is referred to by that
name.

Yeah.

Or that the original audience would have
interpreted it that way. And if you
just read the rest of what he
talks about and then, like, his other
conversations with his disciples, other passages that
talk about not knowing, like, it's.

It's.

At this point, the only day I
know Jesus isn't returning is the 23rd
or the 24th. Because there's no way
Jesus would be like, all right, I'll
just. I'll go ahead. This is one
of those things I think. I think
we made. I made a joke this
morning with you. We're like. You're like,
I should call you and tell you
what to wear to the podcast. I'm
like, literally, if you called me and
said wear black today, if I was

(29:35):
wearing black, I would take it off
and put on something else. Because that's
just my personality.

Yes.

And so maybe I'm projecting on Jesus.
Jesus. Like, I was planning on coming
back on the 23rd, but then all
these people kept saying it was going
to happen. I ain't doing it now.
So, like, that's. That's. We'll see by
the time the day that this airs.

Either.

Either this air day is not right
at that point.

But yeah, don't worry about the. The
world ending.

And so the reason I'm just really,
like. The reason I even brought that
up is because.

Oh, yeah, you had a point. I
just fell over. I just interrupted your
flow of thought.

I think it's so relevant to what
is happening. All of this, Man First
Peter is so relevant to what is
happening. I feel like he's writing it
to us, like, in modern day. Because
I'm, of course, scrolling social media. I
see that, and then I see, like,
the three days of darkness. And then
I see people arguing over who's right
or who's wrong with, with all of

(30:31):
this stuff going on with politics and,
and I see Christians doing this. Yeah.
And that's the part. It's like the
world, they're just like eating their popcorn,
watching us go back and forth hating
each other. Oh, I've seen people say,
oh, I lost a good friend today
because she didn't agree with my, my
viewpoint. And I'm just like, you are

(30:52):
believers. This is not like you said.

And they were a good friend.

They were good friends up until that
moment.

This is the, the deal breaker.

And I'm like, did y' all read
for. Did y' all read First Peter,
chapter two, the first verse?

Yeah.

And that's what I mean. Like, it's
so relevant. But like, maybe for me
it seems simple, but what are some
action steps for people who are really
struggling right now with walking out, loving
someone who opposed. Oppose their opinion, you

(31:28):
know, hearing all of these false prophets.
How do we live in 2025 with
verse one?

Can I say something there, please? So
when Peter was writing, he, he gave
us the, the goal and that, that
we may mature in our salvation. Right.
And so when we see a lot
of this was happening with believers going
back and forth, what we see is
a lot of this immaturity of their

(31:56):
salvation. And so we could go to
church for 20 years and yet still
be one years old in our salvation
because we have not taken in the
word of God and allow for that
word to mature us. The way that
Peter is talking about, get rid of
this, be fed this right to get
the nourishments in order for your salvation
to mature. Because a believer, a mature

(32:17):
believer, these things, and this is not,
you know, being petty or directory, it's
just these things don't move you in
terms of what God is calling you
to do, to where it, you know,
separates the unity of the body. Yeah,
right. This is a conversation. If you

(32:38):
sit on one side, I sit on
the other, so be it. Right. The
intent of the Word of God is,
is that we would all come into
a unified body and presence of salvation
and to glorify him. And we're missing
a point here. We're going back and
forth about our opinions when the word
of God hasn't even established this, this
particular thought that you're speaking of. And

(32:59):
we just see a lot of division
centered around that. But I just think
we have to understand, like, the goal
of Peter and his writing in this
moment is though that we can mature
in our faith and we're just not
mature at all when we having these
type of conversations.

Yeah. I hate the distraction and division
that takes place in these spheres. So
I think the practical help for people
is to, as the poet once said,
check yourself before you wreck yourself.

There it is.

What poet?

There it is, bro.

Who said that?

The poet did. That's him.

The poet did.

I don't even remember. That was like
90s. Wasn't that 90s? It is.

Who is that? Is that MC Hammer?

I don't remember. Okay, somebody. Somebody's gonna
fact check it. Check yourself. But it
was rickety. Wreck yourself. Yep. You know,
are you gonna get.

I do.

Trying to get me canceled. Trying to
get me canceled. Ice Cube, come on
now. There we go. Thank you, Andy.

Okay.

No, I think that the. The best
advice I can give you is don't
read this verse thinking Peter's talking about
your neighbor or your spouse or your
friend or that guy you disagree with.
Read it as if he's talking to
you.

Yeah.

So, like, am I guilty of any
of these things? And. And I think
you have to spend some time just
kind of walking through it. Look at
your social media history, look at your
text message threads, listen back to some
of the conversations you've had with people
and say, okay, is. Has there been.
Have I. Am I guilty of slander?
Because, like, I, like, I don't think

(34:38):
I'm ever guilty of slander, but, like,
what if I have been? Like, have.
Have I been saying things in order
to damage others, that it's stuff that
isn't even true? Have I allowed. We
talked about in staff chapel this. Or
staff meeting this morning, like the envy
piece. Like, that's something that can creep

(35:00):
in.

Yeah.

And like, you don't even realize it,
but now all of a sudden it's
like, man, but that person said this,
and they got 50 likes and 25
comments. And I said this, and I
only got four, man, but that guy
doesn't even know what he's talking about.
And. Oh, like, now you're just demonstrating
your envy of their reach or their
influence. Like, that's weird.

Yeah.

Like, why would you do that? And
so I think that, yeah, just stop
and check myself. Like, am I guilty
of these things? Have I allowed these
things to creep in? And that's where
maybe you need to switch over to
the erv because it's really easy to
be like, I'm not guilty of malice.
Malice is like that. Yeah, that's a
big demonic. Yeah, like, I'm not. I

(35:42):
don't have malice. But then how does
the ERV translates to this? Stop doing
anything to hurt others.

Stop doing anything.

Oh, have I done something that hurt?
Well, yeah, like sadly, like Brent McQuay,
pastor of this church, I've done things
to hurt others and I'm not proud
of that. I'm not happy with that.
And I need to, I need to
stop, I need to check myself and
whoa, where am I? Where am I
guilty of doing these things? So I
love that, you know, and this is

(36:09):
one of the things that the ERV
loses that the ESV has. And that's
the word all. Like Peter uses the
word all three times in this list
of five things. And so it's this
idea that you got to get rid
of all of it. Like if there's
1% still in you, you still got
work to do.

And he says in NIV of every
kind.

Every kind. That's where we translate the
word all.

Yeah, like in case it was something
else that you just. No, I've covered
everything.

Yep. I love that because it's like
a blanket statement where now it's like,
well, you know, I haven't really been
lying to people, but I had like
a white lie. Every kind.

Every kind.

All of it.

Yes.

What is a white lie?

Let's a lie. I know up here
it's a lie. It's a.

What is a black lie.

It's just a lie.

These are terms like I've heard a.
Why.

No, so like, so like in, in
language like when we say a white
lie, we're trying to downplay the severity.
Like it was a small lie and
it was for their benefit. So it's
just a little white lie. And I
don't know the etymology of it, like
where it came from, but that's the
concept. But the reality is a lie
is a lie is a lie. Like,
yeah, you lied for the right motives,
you lied for the wrong motives. Still

(37:24):
a lie.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Well, I do
like point two because it kind of
talks to your point about the maturity
of believers. And I feel like sometimes.
And your, your point too, to stay
on track is crave the word. And
that goes with like verse too. Like
new born infants long for the pure.

Long for.

You want to say.

Yeah, like newborn infants. Like, it's just
such a good verse, unlike the Bible.
Like, like newborn infants long for the
pure spiritual milk. Yeah, yeah, it's so
good.

And, and I, I like that passage
because I think somewhere else it talks
about new. It really, it Talks about
newborns, infants as well, in relations to
like, maturity. But in this one, it's.
It's not saying, like, this is only
for new believers. Like, you know.

Right, right.

This is for.

Yeah, there's a. There. Paul has a
moment where he uses a similar analogy,
but they're talking about two different things.

Right.

And so, like, we've got to be
careful of that. Like, so when Paul
refers to the milk, he's talking about
there's some meat in God's word and
there's some meat in, like, the maturity
that we're supposed to have. But you
guys are still acting like babies.

Yes.

That's one subject matter. Peter here is
saying, like a newborn craves milk. You
should be craving in the same way.
So, like, they're describing two different things
happening. Yeah, that was a good, good
pull out.

Yeah, I thank you. No, I think
that's important. And I think you do
a great job leading us as disciples
church with just giving us, like, you
should crave the Word of God. Like
all disciples. Like, don't have your personal
opinion and don't pick up the Bible

(39:21):
when you want to. The Word of
God is the standard. And to your.
Just your wisdom that you're bringing to
the conversation, you can tell that it's
because you've been standing on the Word
like you stand on business.

You have to.

Yeah.

So, you know, I was in our
conversation yesterday after the service, which was
great. The sermon we were talking about.
So if I'm not craving the Word,
what am I craving? That would then
be reflective of how you live, you
know, and so garbage in, garbage out.

Yep.

Just. Just really take a look inside
to say, man, am I craving this
thing? And if so, I have to
let that go. Right. In order for.
In order to crave the Word, I
have to get rid of those cravings.

Yeah. It's interesting in our. In our
sermon planning, when we're developing out the
message, like, that came up and it
was like, okay, how do we get
people to crave the Word? And the
answer was like, well, Peter just says,
taste and see. The Lord is good.
Like, if you. If you experience, like,
Peter doesn't have to like, be like,
man, you need this, you need that.

(40:28):
No, he just says, like, if you
have tasted that the Lord is good,
you'll crave the Word. Like spiritual milk.
Like pure spiritual milk. Like, so. So
we gotta. We gotta taste it now.
To that, I think in the. Even
in the meeting, I stole from Bishop
Garlington, one of our overseers who used
to Say there's only two times when
you should pray, when you feel like

(40:49):
it, when you don't. And so I
just twisted it, and I was like,
man, there's only two times you should
be reading your Bible when you feel
like it and when you don't like
it's. The part of it is there's
a spiritual discipline. And so we talk
about that as disciples. Like, as disciples,
we should be disciplined. Like, we have
to choose to do the hard things,
choose to do the things that maybe
we don't want to do in the
moment. And one of those things is

(41:10):
to study God's word. And what Peter
is coming in and saying is, if
you'll do that, if you'll do the
hard part and do it even when
you don't feel like it, you're gonna
taste and see and see that the
Lord is good. And now you're gonna
be like, I want more of that.
And the first time this. This happened
for me, it's probably happened for everybody
in the room. The first time you
were reading your Bible, and all of

(41:32):
a sudden something just clicked. Something jumped
out at you. You saw yourself or
you saw how God was operating, and
it was like you were going through
something. And then you read a verse,
and it was like, thank you. This
is what I needed today that makes
you come back to the Bible. Like,
you tasted it. You're like, this is
good. I want more of that.

Yeah.

And so we come back to it.

This is a salah moment.

It really is.

I like God's word.

You got some deep thought going over
there, Pastor Harry.

It really just touched me because, you
know, when you. When you taste like
the goodness of the Lord and you
start to think about your life before
you actually taste it, you know, it's
like, man, I don't deserve it. And

(42:26):
he just said, if you just taste,
just. Just see, like, just try me.
Yeah, try me. Like, your cravings will
dissipate of the world, and I will
give you something that is worth craving
for. And you're on this constant pursuit
to crave more of God. And that

(42:46):
has been, for me personally, just the
beauty and the difference of my life.
And just. Man, I don't know, just
had a moment there.

That's a good reminder that we need
to remember where we came from.

Yep.

Like, that's part of Peter's point that
he'll make later on is he's like,
you. You were once outside of God's
mercy. Now you're in it. You were
once nobody. Now you are God's. Own
people. I remember where you came from
then.

Gives you identity in that moment because.

You'Ve been born again now live like
it.

Come on.

Yeah, that's so good. Which, like you
said, leans to your point of proclaiming
it. And what I took from that
was like that testimony piece, like, remembering.
And then it. It reminds me a
lot of Pretty who's on the show,
actually, how her. She stands so strong
on her testimony, and she takes every

(43:42):
opportunity to tell you, like, God saved
me when I was smoking weed. You
know, like, that's her testimony throwing.

Her business out there.

I mean, she put it out of
the podcast. Praise the Lord. But I
say that not like, for shame. Like,
we all have that thing where it's
like, God saved me when. Fill in
the blank.

That's mine.

Yeah, but it's like, that's how good
God is, you know, and just remembering
that, it kind of just. It's like
you. You give what you've received. So,
like, when we're talking about loving people,
people and not walking in malice and
all those, if we just remember where
God took us from, then we see

(44:21):
people in a different light. Which is
why I think Paul. I mean, Paul
did it. Which is why I think
Peter starts with, like, the malice and
the strife and the envy and kind
of walks us through this journey. Like,
see, remember what God did for you
and why you shouldn't do this and
why you should crave his word. You
know what I mean? He takes us
on a journey.

So I love that your slip of
the tongue there. Paul does do that
a bunch, too. Yeah, right. Like, Paul
will constantly be, like, tying you back
to, like, hey, remember what used to
happen? Like, yes, you were once one
of those, but now. Yes, like, now,
Come on.

Now I just think about that. The
goodness of the Lord and then that
craving piece is like, if you experienced,
like, a great restaurant, you know that
you were like, man, that was just
great.

Rico Loco, baby.

You see what he did? You seen
what he did? He did a straight
plug several times.

Another restaurant in Tinley Park.

But he had an experience that was
worth sharing.

I got. I would love to do
that for another restaurant in Tinley. I
just haven't had an experience at another
restaurant in Tinley like I've had.

If you're watching this and you own
a restaurant in T Park, send the
pastor leave pastor at Disciple Church.

Or maybe just tell me to go
to a place that's really good in.

We're trying to get sp.

My bad, my bad, my bad.

So no Different. You know, you've tasted
something, you experience something you want others
to experience. And I think that's exactly
what we should want to do or
should do as believers, is that we've
craved the word of God to the
point where we've tasted and seen the
goodness of the Lord. So now it's
our responsibility to not hold that in
right. And be selfish to the very

(46:01):
thing that we've experienced, but to share
and. And the goodness in the end
of the Lord.

And so it's weird when I talk
with people about, like, the. The need
for evangelism and sharing your testimony, and
they're like, man, but I'm just so
nervous. Like, I don't know how to
do that. And it's like, have you
ever seen a really good movie and
then told your friend that they need
to go see it, too? Yeah. Have
you ever been to a really good
restaurant and you had to tell your
friend that they should go that restaurant,
too? Yeah. You ever listened to a
CD and it's like, man, this is
a great album. Like, have you gone

(46:29):
and told somebody else to listen to
it, too? Yeah. Has Jesus done anything
in your life worth telling somebody about?
Because if. If not, then let's start
right there. But if he has, then
why are you putting that in a
different category?

Yeah.

Like, you got no problem being like,
man, you got to check out this
restaurant. It's amazing.

That's so true. Yeah.

Check out this Jesus. He's amazing.

Man. Some good conversation. I. To your.
You have. We have two more points,
but the win the war piece and
just staying. I'm wondering, as a storyteller
or writer, why he puts that there.
Like, between, like. I mean, at the
end of, like, okay, no malice, no

(47:12):
this. Think about the goodness of God,
proclaim it, and then win the war.
I feel like that should be before
we get to. But I feel like
there's a purpose there. I think he's
just saying, stay the course.

Yeah. He's basically saying he's connecting, so
he goes to their salvation in Christ
and all this. And so this is
another one of his therefore moments. Like,
so, like, you've been saved by the
grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ,
therefore, you need to abstain from the
passions of the flesh.

Yeah.

Like, we can't. We can't be new
and still do the old thing.

Right.

And so you've been made new. It's
time to do the new thing. And
the new thing is to abstain from
the passion of the flesh. And he's
tying it Again, to. We are to
proclaim him. And I, I brought this
out in the message that, like, when
you're sharing your testimony, the thing that
makes the person listening to it go
more than anything else is when they
look at your life and they're like,

(48:05):
yeah, but you, you're not living this
out, right?

Yeah.

Like, I don't even think you believe
what you're telling me right now, because
if you did, then. Or like the
example I gave, like, when, when somebody
like, you're like, man, this is a
sin in your life. This is a
sin in your life. And that person
just happens to have grown up in
church maybe, and they're like, yeah, but
that thing that you were doing yesterday,
that's also a sin.

Right.

And so we're both in sin. And
the answer is yes, but like, the
hypocrisy of saying, you need to fix
yourself, but I don't have to fix
myself. That's messed up. So I think
that's the connection piece. So he's saying,
you're born again, now there's a new
way to live. We're proclaiming him. The
thing that's going to mess up your

(48:46):
proclamation of how good God is is
when you keep doing foolishness, really bad
things.

Yeah.

I tell my kids all the time,
protect your witness, because that's what you
have as a believer. And so what
you reflect, people will hold you to
that very thing. And the moment they
see something outside of that, they're going
to remind you of it. And I
think that fighting piece, man, fight for
what you believe and no hey win

(49:13):
award. The thing is we fight from
a w. We fight from a win.
Jesus has won it all. And so
we don't. It's not as if we're.
We're looking to, you know, do more
than what Jesus done, but we do
have to protect the very thing that
we believe. And so when we go
back to verse one, that's. That's you
protecting your witness. Yeah, I, I need

(49:36):
to go and I need to apologize
to my brother and my sister about,
hey, if I had a moment and
I, you know, I slipped up, I
did this. That's protecting your witness. That's.
That's you fighting the war because you
are a representation of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yeah.

Right. And so protecting your witness is
so important.

Yeah.

So vital.

Absolutely. And it's not to say that
any of that's going to be easy
to do.

True.

Cuz like, that's why he describes it
as a war. Like, wars are rough
like it's.

You going to get beat up.

It's bloody. Like it's a war raging
in sin side of your soul. Like
it's.

Yes.

Like you can be alone with your
thoughts and the war is raging.

That's true.

You don't even need somebody else, right.
To have this battle. Like it's, it's
happening just you, you're alone in the
room and you're fighting. And so like
that doesn't mean it's easy. But, but
we can win it. And so I
think I gave a few practical tips
for how to, how to win that.
And the Bible as, as a whole
gives others. And so yeah, we just
need to keep fighting. Fight the good

(50:34):
fight.

Yep.

So good. Woo. It's hard out here
in east Christian streets, man.

Yeah man, I, I hate that some
people heard a gospel message that, that
said if you give your life to
Jesus, everything's going to be easy. Yeah.

Yeah.

Cuz then they gave their life to
Jesus and life didn't get any easier.
So their, their conclusion was then Jesus
isn't real. Right. The conclusion should have
been you lied to me. You told
me there's something that's not true. Because
I picked up my Bible and here
Peter's talking about suffering as Christ suffered.
But if I give my life to
Jesus and everything's gonna be fine. Like,

(51:10):
but, but why am I suffering? Yeah,
well, yeah, because suffering is a part
of the life that we have.

That's true, man. And it goes as
we end with this honor piece. I'm
gonna tell you the truth, I was
struggling. Not that I don't honor my
leaders now. Like you and Pastor Soul
are great Mama Chris, you know, Jerry,
you know, but I've sat under other
leaders where I'm like, yo, we don't
want any.

We got to put away all slander.

I know, but I'm just saying I'm
speaking. I gotta let you know where
I came from, how I got here.
But no, it was, it was like
I'm reading that and I'm like asking
God like, man, God like. But people
be. They are. Can be a mess
and honor.

Yeah.

So I mean, yeah, let, I don't
want to say let's unpack that. But
what is some good practical. Because I
like practical things. Ways we could. I
mean you kind of listed it out
and Peter did too in his passage
of how we should honor these people.
But I like the question pretty posed
this morning in staff chapel or when

(52:17):
we were in staff meeting and she
said, well, what if you know someone
Isn't intentionally trying to push those buttons
or just like you said the back
then, he was burning Christians in his
garden. Like, how do you honor like.
Like, and not just in works. How
do I honor this person in heart
and really mean it? Like, you know
what? I'm going to honor this person,

(52:39):
submit to this person. And I know
that they intentionally, like, they do not
like me. They don't want to see
me win. They don't want nothing good
to come from my life. How do
we walk that out?

Remember the Gospel, Jesus died for sinners,
and so Jesus thought Nero was worth
dying for. So who are we to
say I'm gonna mistreat that person or
degrade them or anything? No, honor is
about recognizing that we're all made in

(53:10):
the image of God. And so I
think that that's. Man, that can be
really hard. And I've had people in
my life who were in authority over
me that abused me, that, that mis.
Mistreated me, that mistreated my wife. Like,
we've got stories of stuff, but we've
got some stories that we don't even
share because at this stage of our

(53:31):
lives, there's no way to share the
story without it becoming an attack against
the person that did it. And so
we choose to keep our mouth shut
on something, and that's our way of
honoring them. So, yeah, it's tricky. It's
hard, it's not easy. But I think
it begins with remembering the gospel, that
Jesus died for that person in the

(53:53):
same way he died for you. And
if you don't think that person deserves
it, you probably don't either.

Well, that'll do it.

That'll do it.

Disappear, period on that. That's it. I.
I can't even.

I mean, yeah, I didn't mean to
shut down the conversation. It's just. That's
the heaviness of my heart is, Is
just. It's the gospel. Like, we don't.
We don't pick and choose who Jesus
died for. No. And we want all
man. There's this image. I think I
brought this up a while back when
we were talking something about Paul, like

(54:30):
the beauty of the gospel. I think
this is how I phrase it. The
beauty of the gospel is that when
Paul died and walked through the gates
of heaven, he was greeted by the
people he persecuted. And they greeted him
with joy and love and honor because
what they wanted most was for him

(54:52):
to know Jesus. Can we do the
same? Can the person that is been
treating you so poorly if they were
to give their Life to Jesus. Could
you celebrate that? And if you can't,
you're the one in sin. Say it.

Oh, I can celebrate them coming to
Christ because they not that way no
more.

Wow, that is so good. It is,
but it is. That's the good news.
Yeah, that is the good news. It's.
Here's the thing we have to remember.
We all sit on the other side.

Absolutely.

Regardless of where you were in that.
On the other side. We all sat
there because the sin that kept us
distant from the Lord. And so when
it comes to this, this place of
honor, he's not giving us a choice.
It's not a, you know, checkbox or
yes or no. It's no. You must,

(55:51):
you should honor those. And I love
what you said. It's because, one, I
honor my Lord Jesus, you know, my
Savior. And so I want to be
representation of who he is, a Christ
representation of his character, his nature. And

(56:12):
so you do that, you honor. You
may not agree with everything, but in
love, you honor those who are in
leadership. And I know another part of
it, too, that came to my mind
is that oftentimes we think about Nero
and how even, you know, how Peter
established, like, hey, you know, you still
honor those who are in authority, but

(56:34):
the world lives by the world's standards.
Right. And so their standard is different
than our standard. And so we are
yet still called to love them and
honor them. But some of the things
that they do is almost. We kind
of expect it because it's the world's
behaviors, you know, and so we can't
be so critical about, man, they doing
this, they're doing that. It's like, what
do you expect? But for us, our

(56:55):
behavior is not of the world. And
so we respond totally different than how
the world acts.

Yeah. And, man, I don't even know
if we mentioned this in week one
when we talked about Nero being the
emperor, but both Peter and Paul will
end up being executed under Nero. Yeah.

No, we didn't. Intense.

The emperor that Peter said to honor
is the same emperor that has him
killed, crucified, upside down. Yep.

That is intense.

So if we compare that to your
situation, it's not comparable. It's not. It's
not honor. Yes.

Done, man. Yeah, well, it's a lot
to chew on. No, I'm just playing,
you know, it is. I, I, I.

What a heavy weight.

I'm trying to figure out.

How do you segue that one?

We can land this plane with some
good takeaways, man.

We're in the middle of, like, the
worst turbulence ever. I was like, let's
put this plane on the ground.

I was two steps away from having
a whole breakdown on a shot.

Laughter is good medicine.

It's all right. No, it is okay.
Yes, let's land the plane. So what
are. What are your takeaways for those
who are watching? Who wants to start,
I guess, to.

To the believer, the disciple of Jesus,
Reflect, self. Reflect each day, right? Each
day, take a look at. Take an
inventory of self. Just kind of see
where you are in the behaviors of
the believer that Peter is speaking to.

(58:36):
And then make sure that you align
whatever area that needs to align to
his will and his word so that
you could protect your witness, you know,
because that's the most important part through
it all. That's what we are here
for. And so if you. If you
don't protect your witness, then can you

(58:57):
call yourself a disciple of Jesus? That's
my takeaway.

That's tough. And it's. It's funny because,
like, nobody. Nobody wants you to. Like,
nobody wants to hear somebody say, well,
you aren't really, like, in the mix.
Like, you're not really a disciple.

Right.

However, that's kind of why I love
the word disciple, because. Because it shows
up so much in the New Testament
that you can actually point to places
where it says, if you're a disciple,
you'll do this.

That's right.

And if you're a disciple, you won't
do this. And so if you are
guilty of doing this thing that you're
not supposed to do, or you're not
doing this thing you're supposed to do,
that defines you as a disciple. That
means you're not a disciple.

Like.

Like Jesus says, they're going to know
you by your love for one another.
Like, if you. If you can't even
love Christians.

You'Re not sitting with sinners at all.

Like, are you a disciple at the
point? Like Jesus said, you'll truly be
my disciple when you abide in my
Word. Like, abide in my Word and
you are truly my disciple. So, yeah,
that piece right there, that doesn't feel
good. Nobody wants to be like, well,
who are you to say who's in
and who's out? I'm nobody.

Harry Valentine (01:00:03):
It's the Word.

Pastor Brent McQuay (01:00:04):
I'm absolutely no one. Yeah, but read
this verse and tell me what you
think. Yeah.

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:00:11):
Yeah, that's good.

All right. That's not my takeaway. That
was just my base. I like what
Harry's saying. I know you got to
go to an appointment. Clearly, I'm Just
a jerk. Clearly. So I think my
takeaway is I, I can't tell you
which of the five things that people.

(01:00:34):
Peter's telling you to do is the
most important. Like you got to do
all five.

Harry Valentine (01:00:38):
Sure.

But I will say trying to do
all five of those things this week
is going to be impossible. Like, you've
got to break it down into like
bite sized chunks. And I think the
best way to do that is sit
with those five, pray, ask the Holy
Spirit to help you. If you still
can't figure out which one of the
five, then talk to whoever's closest to
you. Your spouse or somebody in the

(01:01:00):
home. Hey, which one of these five
do you think I need to work
on the most? If they don't know
or you don't have anybody in that
role, then just start from the top
of the list and work your way
down, I guess. But like, pick one.
Pick one and make that your focus,
make that your emphasis. And I think
at the end of the, at the
end of the time, you're gonna need

(01:01:21):
all five. But start with one.

Yeah.

Maybe it's to put away those things.
Maybe it's, it's to what was next?
To crave the word. Maybe it's to
proclaim him. Maybe it's winning the war
or maybe it's honoring somebody. I, I
don't know. I don't know which one
in your life is most important right
now, but it's. I'm sure it's something.

Now you got me thinking. I'm like,
what do I need to. Let's go
around and share? No, I'm just playing.

I think you already kind of admitted
the honor everyone is, is, is tricky
for you right now.

Well, well, not right now. That was,
that was a season I walked through
and it just, yeah. Triggered some things.
But my takeaway is verse nine. But
you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for
his own possession, that you may proclaim

(01:02:16):
the excellencies of him who've called you
out of darkness into a marvelous is
light.

You're all these things that you may
proclaim. Sorry.

As a preacher. He's okay.

I know I have one.

Oh, go ahead.

You need to know. You need to
do your thing.

Go ahead.

The royal priesthood, like that's such a,
that's such a, A cool phrase because
for the Jewish people there wasn't a
royal priesthood like that. The. So royalty
came from the line of Judah, the
priesthood came from the line of Levi.
Like it was two separate entities, two
separate groups that Any time before Jesus

(01:02:55):
when they would, like, mix those two
groups, it ended up really bad. Like,
Saul tried to take on the role
of the priest, and it was, like,
really bad. There's a couple other moments
later on with some of the kings
that, like, they try and do the
priestly duties, and it's just, like, it's
destructive for. For the. The people. So
it's. These are two separate concepts until

(01:03:17):
Jesus, because Jesus is the king of
kings and our high priest. So Jesus
is the first royal priest. And so
it's just like this beautiful moment of
now. Now as the king of kings
and high priests, he's making us like
him.

Yeah, that's good. That's good.

So royal priesthood, like, it just sounds
nice, but it actually has, like. There's
some meat to that. Yeah, right there.

No, that's good. That.

Sorry, I just.

No, that's. That makes my point that
much sweeter. So thank you.

Beautiful.

Thank you. Because those are heavy words.
And the world will try to put
other titles on you, and you may
even put other titles on yourself, and
that caused you to act an old
man. Oh, flesh. But I feel like
this passage is really encouraging us. I
feel like Peter is just reminding us

(01:04:10):
who we are, who we belong to,
and how we should be behaving. And
so that is my takeaway.

Yep. And that is the message of
First Peter.

Yes. So we love you, and we
hope that this message is rocking you
like it's rocking us, because y' all
seeing in real time how we being
rocked by this message. So let us
know if you have any questions or
comments. And until next week, we love
you and we are praying for you.
God bless.

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Five Steps to Living Holy in a Messy World | 1 Peter 2 Study

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