Sips of Sin & Steps Toward Holiness | 1 Peter 4 Explained - Between Sermons // Audio

Episode Transcript
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Ti'heasha Beasley (00:00):
Foreign. Welcome to another episode of between
sermons. You guessed it. I am not
pastor Brandt. I am Tyisha Beasley and
I get to be your creative director
and host of this show between sermons.

(00:24):
Why you laughing?

Pastor Carlton McCarthy (00:26):
Cause he said you wasn't Pastor Brent.

I'm not, you know. Cause he normally
opens the show.

That's right.

So you guessed it. Pastor Brent is
away doing mission.

So we can have fun.

We can have fun. So as a
matter of fact, let me get a
little loose, you know, why you looking?

David Beasley (00:41):
Kick your feet up. Put on the
table.

Kicking my feet up. So today on
the show, I have with me two
amazing guests. I'm going to leave with
my husband, David Beasley. Thank you for
joining the conversation.

Hey, husband. Of course.

Hey, wife. Carlton. Nice to see you,
sir.

Hey, husband.

Yes, I'm happy to be here. Happy
to be here. It's a pleasure as
usual.

Yes, it's good to have you on
the show. And then we have pastor
Carlton. What can we call you on
the show today? Just Carlton.

Yeah, man, just keep it casual.

I like calling you pastor Carlton.

I think that he started doing that.
I was like, who is she talking
to?

Pastor Carlton, 24 7. All right, so
we got a good show. Why are
you so cheesy?

I'm giddy. Like yesterday.

Yesterday, three services.

Excited.

How was it going into the three.

So we went to three services. For
those who don't know, it was exciting
at first, but then after that second
service, my body was like, something's missing
home.

That is hilarious.

So I started getting giddy.

Okay.

Anxious.

The Bible said be anxious.

I was dancing in worship. I never
do that.

That's funny.

I was moving.

Did you have coffee?

I don't know. Yes, I did.

That's what happened. Kicked in third surface.
Yeah, no, but it was a good
word. You did good. I love that
you brought your whole self to the
table when you were preaching.

I don't know what else to do.

Okay. No, that's good. Good role model
for us. So that was good. We.
We are still in the book, Peter.

Yeah. First Peter.

First Peter.

It's great.

So how's it going for you so
far, both of you?

Pastor Carlton, with going through first Peter.
Yeah, I think it's good because, you
know, first Peter. Not that we don't
look at non Paul letter books. Did
I say that correctly?

Yeah.

You understand what I'm saying?

Yeah, I do.

But it's always good to read books
that aren't, you know, the standard main
books of the New Testament, the gospels
and Paul's letters.

Yeah.

So reading first pretty. Peter was pretty.
Hey, pretty. Reading First Peter was refreshing.
It was a different perspective because I
think, and I kind of mentioned this,
reading Peter's writings, that it's a different
style than Paul. And because we read
Paul's writing so much, we get that,

(03:10):
I don't know what you call it,
that Greek metaphor, storytelling kind of style
of writing. And Peter, he has a
completely different style of writing than Paul.
So it was refreshing to get. It
was almost reading a different translation of
the Bible.

That's very true.

That was nice.

I'm glad you pointed that out. That's
very true.

Yeah, Peter's cool.

Yeah. Good observation.

Yeah. I mean, I'll add, I love
the fact that when you look at
First Peter, you see confirmation based on
the rest of the scriptures. So you're
so used to seeing, like you said,
Paul the apostle talking about some similar
topics from his perspective. You know, you
got end time prophecy, you have sin,
you have sin, of course, the second
coming of Christ and everything. But to
see Paul, well, Peter, see Peter, he

(03:55):
brings his unique perspective, highlighting the fact
that the way we should live in
light of those end times. Right. So
Paul does that in his way to
his own unique way too. But Peter,
Peter has a different perspective because of
his unique proximity with Christ. So we
all know Paul didn't necessarily walk with
Jesus. He wasn't one of the original
12. So here in Peter's perspective, it's

(04:16):
just refreshing to hear him elaborate on
what Jesus has started teaching him in
the 12 as they walk together. So
it's like a different, it's a different
point of view. Right. Paul, of course
is reliable revelation from Jesus. Confirmation from
the apostles, saw Jesus on the road
to Damascus, all those great things. But

(04:36):
Peter was like sat under him, walked
side by side, broke bread with him,
had a unique experience of betraying him
and then being restored by him. So
his perspective is so different and unique
just hearing it from him. So it's
always different, you know, and refreshing to
hear from a different perspective based on
the person's proximity to Christ.

And Peter goes hard too. And I
think one of the reasons he goes
hard is because he's seen Jesus get
crucified and then he's seen a return
and then he sees him ascend into
heaven. And then Jesus gives them instructions
on what to do when the Holy
Spirit comes and then he experiences the
Holy Spirit. And so Peter has such
a hands on spiritual experience with Jesus

(05:22):
that he is just landed out there
in first Peter about what we need
to do and how we need to
live in light of the end times.
And so Peter has a. More. It's
not that Paul's message isn't real to
us. It is real to us, but
it's different when you are like, at
the scene of the incident that leads

(05:42):
to how. To what you need to
say and how you need to preach
facts. So that's cool.

Yeah, no, that was really good. I
love that you guys touched on the
difference in writing styles and delivery styles,
because that's something. We haven't unpacked it,
I guess, in this sermon series. So
that's dope. I love that. So I'll
say, what's one thing from your message
yesterday that. Not that you struggle with,

(06:08):
but this was like, okay, this is
kind of close to home for me.

Yeah, I think the. The one thing
that I kept going back to was
Peter. He, like the first half of
the chapter of chapter four, he really
touches on sin. And one part of
it, he talks about not being your
old self, going back to the sin

(06:32):
that you used to do. And it's
like, you know, that's really powerful because
a lot of times, you know, as
believers, we come to salvation, we become
followers of Christ. But that doesn't necessarily
mean the desires of sin leave you.
Yeah, it just means that you have
a new way of fighting those desires
of sin being, you know, going through

(06:55):
the process of holiness through the Holy
Spirit that now lives inside of you.
But those desires don't go away. So
you need that spiritual instruction that Peter
gives us on how to stay away
from the life that you used to
live. Like, he very plainly says, stop
that. You know, stop going after human
pleasure. I think how he puts it

(07:15):
in the esv, he calls it human
pleasure. And human pleasure is sin. And
it's like a lot of times we
think that human pleasure is just our
nature is natural to us. It's what
we've always wanted to experience or have
experienced. But when we become believers, we
have to call it out what it
is, and it's sin. And so for
me, it's like, you know, just having

(07:36):
the revelation or the realization that I'm
a believer today, but I still have
the desires of human pleasure. And I
have to understand that human pleasure is
sin. And I have to find ways
to make sure that those desires don't
become actions in my life. So, yeah,
so that was good for me. Just
the whole reflection of sin and where
it is. And then also I talked

(07:58):
about the cup of sin. I think
I got that from Charles Spurgeon Life
in Christ by Charles Spurgeon. If you
guys ever want to read eight volumes
of great writing. He talks about the
cup of sin and how the cup
of sin starts sweet and like you
will take sips of sin. I don't

(08:19):
know how else to put it, but
he takes. He. He says, you take
sips of sin, and you take small
sips, and it's sweet. And then you.
You. You get to the place where
it's like, well, I can have this
as part of my diet or in
my life, and it not affect me
because I'm only taking small sips of
it. And it's. It's good. It's pleasurable.
You know, there's no harm in it.

(08:40):
There's nothing wrong with it. But that's
the devil's plan, or that's his. His
ploy to pull you into darkness is
you, You. You. You do these small
actions in your life that are sin,
and you continue doing it until it
becomes habitual. It becomes a habit. It
becomes an addiction. And that addiction will
then lead to death. And how Charles

(09:01):
Pershing puts it is that that sweetness
fades and the couple's sin becomes bitter.
And now you're drinking that sin in,
and it's bitterness, and you don't even
know why you're still doing it. And
it's because that sin has taken over
your life and become this addiction in
you, and it's put you in darkness,
and you don't know how you got

(09:21):
there. Yeah, you don't know how you're
going to get out of it. You
get so deep into sin, it's like,
how in the world did I get
here? And why do I keep going
back to it? So, yes, I thought
that was pretty good. Me pulling that
information out of First Peter, Chapter 4.

That was really good. Where you just
unpacked it there.

Yeah, that wasn't me. Charles Spurgeon. There
you go.

And the Holy Spirit.

That reminds me of Scripture. I forget
where it might have been paused at
this point when he reminds us about
the deceitfulness of sin. And that's something
that stood out to me years ago
when I had various struggles thinking that
the activity I was participating in would
bring me pleasure and joy and peace
and everything. But, of course, it brought
the opposite. And when I ran across
the scripture that talked about sin, that's

(10:06):
deceitful. It made so much sense, because
deception, it gives off something that seems
true. But we know that it's under
the facade and under the behind the
curtain. It's a complete Fraud, it's fraudulent,
it's false, it's destructive. And that's exactly
what all sin is. Regardless of how
you say, you sip in if it's
sin, regardless of the amount, it's deceptive,
right? So small sips, huge gulps, whatever

(10:29):
the case may be, it's deceptive. So
realizing, like, the minute I see myself
or feel myself leaning towards the pathway
where sin may be crouching possible or
just flat out trying to tempt me,
that's the moment where deception is trying
to take root. And that's when I
gotta replace that with truth. And that's
what Peter, I feel like, is really

(10:50):
trying to remind us about, like, not
to operate, especially as sojourners, foreigners, not
to. Not to succumb to those around
us. He's. He's. He's highlighting the importance
of distinction, the importance of obedience, and
the importance of maintaining our witness. Which
is what you mentioned when he said,
when people malign you because of who
you are.

Right.

That's because of your witness, right. People
caught in the deception, you don't see
it right. While you're in it. And
I've been there before, too. It's almost
like the person who says, I can
stop this whenever I wanted to, whenever
I want, you know?

Right.

But we from the outside clearly see
there's an addiction. That person is decept.
He's caught in the act of, or
the snare, rather, of deception. And it's
not until God shows you the other
side of it, so you can see
it for what it truly is. So,
yeah, Peter's reminded us of, like, man,
like you said, like what Spurgeon said.
Small sips can lead to bondage and

(11:46):
can eventually lead to death. So, yeah,
having a proper view of that is
key. I think Peter showing us that
as well.

Yeah. There was one part that was
like, I had to really think about
it, and, you know, I don't know
if my interpretation of it is. Is
correct or not, but. But this is
what I pulled out of it is
when Peter, he's listing sins that, you
know, we should stop doing. He talks
about orgies and idolatry, drunkenness, and he
says drunkenness and drinking parties. I was

(12:14):
like. What I was like is, that's
a.

Drinking party in 2025.

I was thinking, like, isn't that the
same, Like, I. Like, I don't know
if I ever went to a drinking
party without getting drunk. And I don't
know if I was ever drunk without
it being a drinking party, even if
the party was with just Me alone.
But I was just like, what's the
difference between. Like, he separates it, but
he makes it on equal playing. So

(12:40):
I started thinking about this, and of
course, this is just my. My imagination,
but I was like, drunkenness is the
act of drinking, right? Drinking excessively. Like,
too much to the point where you
lose all your, you know, train of
thought, right? You. You lose your mind
in the drink, and you, you know,
you get drunk. And so I'm like,
well, drinking parties, okay? So this is

(13:01):
the act of being in a place
where sin exists. And so sin being
the drinking, the drinking, or the drunkenness.

So it's sin. Is it a sin
to drink?

No, I'm. I'm not saying it's a
sin to drink, but I. I think
the. The idea is being around drunkenness,
okay? And so now we can interpret
this anyway. But for me, I think
it's being around drunkenness. And so for
me, it was just like. Because I
used to have these thoughts, especially, like,
in college or as a young adult.
It's like I could be at the
party or with the group, as long

(13:36):
as I'm not doing the things that
they are doing. And for me, Peter,
put the act of the sin and
being around the sin on the same
plane. And I think it's just a
matter of caution. Like, we have to
really caution ourselves. You know, the friends
that we hang out, the social groups
that we're in, the environments that we.
In that we are not around. An

(13:58):
atmosphere of sin that could trip us
up and lead us down to, you
know, into the darkness of sin. So
I thought that was fascinating that he
put those two together like that in
the same line. And it could be
just my interpretation of it, but that's
the thing that hit me. It's like
there's the act of being in sin,
and then there is being in the

(14:18):
atmosphere or the arena of sin that
is as dangerous as actually doing the
sin. So that was. That was deep
for me.

I mean, that could just go so
many different ways.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because we. We know the big sins
that we talk about, but then we
have those. Those sins that people don't
like to identify as sins. It's just
my struggle. It's not a sin. It's
their struggle, or they're.

Or they're not engaging in it, even
though they're in the presence.

Right, right. Because I used to go
to a club all the time, and
I used to be like, man, I'm
not. I'm not doing the things that
the people are here doing.

Yeah.

And it's like, maybe God don't want
me in the club because like I'm
on the. I'm, you know, on the
line of being in sin or not
being in sin. It's like, why am
I trying to get so close to
the line of sin? You know, why
am I trying to be in an
arena of sin? Like if I get

(15:18):
in the ring with the devil, I'm
gonna lose. Right. There's temptation, there's desire,
there's human desire, human passion, as Peter
put it. So why would I want
to get close to that?

So do you think it's personal to
a person or is it your own
conviction?

Yeah, I do think it's conviction of
the Holy Spirit.

For me personally may not have the
same conviction as you. And you can't
call.

I think it's wise though, and I
think not to mess around.

Yeah, I think there's a principle here
that all of us can take from
it. Whether it's your conviction or not.
There's a. There's a principle that could
be applied. Some people sometimes walking in
wisdom doesn't always mean you're convicted by
something that you should avoid. You just
feel like it's wise to avoid it
because it just may give off a
certain perception towards.

Because we should be blameless.

Right. You may not even feel. You
may not feel like, man, this is
sin for me and wrong for me,
but it may give off the wrong
impression. So I don't want to. So
a few things came to mind with
what you said. One, like you said
you used to be in the club
and you know, we all used to
be in places we shouldn't have been
for the most part or wasn't really
good for us. And sometimes we got
to realize the reason why the place

(16:25):
is what it is is because the
people are doing what they're doing. So
it's a club, you know, not trying
to come. Anybody going to. But I'm
just being honest.

Yeah, right, Absolutely.

It's a club because folks are getting
drunk.

Danc reason why I was there is
because I like to see all that.

I want to see it so now.
So that's what makes it what it
is. So I mean. And a lounge
is different than that to a certain
extent. Yeah. Like if you go to
a lounge, this is kind of different
based. I'm just saying they're different. They
are layers, there are levels, there are
certain.

It's a reason.

Cuz look, when a person opens a
business, it's based that the name of
it is Based on the activity. So
whatever's happening there, that's what you should
see when you walk in, you walk
into a certain type of restaurant, you
don't expect it to be a club.
It's like I thought this. So that's
one thing. Another thing is, am I
enjoying the downfall of everyone around me?

Yes.

Even though I'm not participating, I'm like,
I'm not drinking. But look at that
person throwing up in the corner. And
look at them over there doing that.
And look at that. Is our heart
broken for the sin that we see
others committing? And as the same reason
we're not participating because of the same
guy we know and the same consequences
of sin, the same hell that we
could face if we weren't believers and

(17:38):
all those things, it's the same results
that other people would face as well
if they don't repent.

In terms of man, my heart was
not broken. I was partying.

Yeah, that's something to consider too. And
there's one more thing.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry, host.

No, I'm a. No, go ahead.

Okay. One more thing. When you mentioned
drunkenness and drinking parties, it seemed like
Peter is differentiating to a certain extent.
I think he's differentiating between individual activity
and communal activity.

Yeah.

So it's like drunkenness is wrong. Even
when you at home by yourself, nobody's
around. It's just you watching tv, Nobody
will ever know. And you drunk as
a skunk and you wake up in
your lazy Boy, like, what happened? And
nobody knows it. Then you go out
and you a believer and everybody see

(18:21):
he's a faithful man of God and
nobody ever would knew he was getting
drunk or she was getting drunk behind
closed doors, Peter is saying, that's not
okay because God sees it and your
body's a temple. You gotta treat it
right. And then communal, of course, with
everybody have turned up in a party.
So I think he was showing the
difference between, like whether you're by yourself
or you and your homies.

That's good.

In either instance, drunkenness, not drinking necessarily.
I know people wanna debate, but drunkenness
for sure is not. Okay. Yeah, you
were gonna say something. I'm sorry.

No, I was just gonna say. And
maybe I like to get very logistical
with things. What if you are at
a family gathering and they're drinking, so
you're. Now you're that holier than thou
cousin. That's not good. Like, I'm gonna
get these. This food. I'm leave. Because
y' all drinking here. So my. So
my thing Is like, there is a

(19:12):
Peter. I love first Peter. I love
that he lays out things. But I
feel like you. I meet a lot
of new believers who are. Who believe,
who operate in works. Like, I have
to. I'm so scared of everything that
I can't live. You know, like, it's
like. So there is a thing of
works that is a play in this
too. And there is a thing of,

(19:33):
like, personal conviction. So. And then, because
we could get. We are all sinners,
like, saved by grace. And we are.
Like, this verse even talks about sin.

And fall as short of the grace.

Right. And we are. Nobody's perfect yet.
Right. So even though you don't have
struggles as other people, like, we could
get very. Like, it can become. So
now you're saying I can't be around
people who. I got friends. I'm not
saying I got friends who lie, but
I'm saying let's get down to the
little. The little sins. Now. I can't
be in spaces with people who got.

Who.

Who full of pride. You know, that's
a sin. So let's get to the.
The nitty gritty of it.

Yeah, but it's not as far as
works go. We're not. We're not living
a righteous life in order to be
saved because we're saved. We want to
live a life of holiness to be
more like Jesus. And so we're not.
We're not. We're not living a life
to. For the goal of salvation, because
we have salvation. We want the goal
of holiness to be more like Christ.

(20:33):
And I think we just know, like,
you know, Thanksgiving's coming up. You know,
we got some wild cousins, some uncles
who like to get ripped. We know
where the line is as far as
the conviction of the Holy Spirit, maybe
to tell you, okay, they're going to
a different level of partying, and it's
time for you to exit. And I

(20:54):
think that's okay. I think you can
be with your family and gather and
party with them until you get to
the place where you say, okay, I
know that this is going too far.
And then you might need to say,
all right, guys, I think that's it
for me. Let me pack up my
turkey and bounce, you know?

Yeah.

So I do think you still need
to guard yourself from being in environments
of sin, even if it's with people
that's close to you. But I wouldn't
say, don't go to Thanksgiving because you
know your family's ratchet.

Well, some people will go that far,
whereas that might be Separation.

Those are case by. That's case by
case scenario.

It has to be case by case.

People, different families are different. Different levels,
different levels of ratchetness can be different
depending on that family and the family.
It's just different. And, yeah, people go
to different situations, have different experiences in
family. One thing I would say, I
think Peter even addressed that. He says
they malign you because you don't participate
in the same type of activity that

(21:52):
they do. So it's almost expected. Now,
scripture tells us we should not be
judgmental when it comes to condemning others,
shouldn't think we're better than anybody. But
at the same time, those. Those type
of accusations of us being better than
others or looking like we're more superior,

(22:12):
those accusations come with the. They almost
come with the. With the territory. When
you follow Christ, there are some. No
matter how. How well you walk it
out, how loving you are, how gracious
you are, no matter how much you
explain, this is where I'm at with
this. I love y', all, but you
know me, God, you know, I just.
I just can't. You know, God has
got me doing this, but I love
y'.

All.

Hey, let's. There are some people that
was literally still treat you like you're
treating them like they're beneath you simply
because of who you are and who
you name, the name that you name,
and who you claim to follow. So
Peter even addressed that, letting us know,
like, some people will do that, but
following God and honoring his ways clearly

(22:51):
is the better choice, regardless of what
people say and do. But it's tough.

I mean, and I.

And how that looks is different.

I only bring that up because, like,
that's kind of like my background. Like,
I was brought up in a very
strict home where we couldn't do anything.
Like, everything was. That's it. That's it.
We couldn't even have toys that were
owls because it was a sand. Like,
the toy was the sand.

Ow.

Why they thought the owl was. It
could turn his head all the way
around and turn it back around.

It's called the. The Anatomy of the
Bird. The species. I know. I'm just
saying.

I know God made it.

Listen, this. This was so real.

God made the owl and that.

She used to be like, don't get
that. It was like a toy. This
was early on in marriage. We married
for almost 15 years. Early on, it
was like, we don't mess with owls.
I'd be like, why not? I was
just raised. I was like, God made
the owl unique. The owl could Just
turn his head360 and turn it back.
But I was just raised and then
somehow connected to, you know, maybe it
is strict upbringing.

And my parents, they are amazing. Love
God, serve the Lord, you know, to
this day. And I know they did
their very best, like all parents do.
But I was just like, I had
to. Had to kind of unlearn some
things because my relationship with God was.
It was out of fear. You know

(24:12):
what I mean? It was like fear
of doing something wrong, fear of being
around in the wrong place. Just fear.
And so, like, now, as a believer
who love God and I have a
relationship where I have discernment and I'm
able to see like, okay, you're not
going to the club. You know what
I mean? People, my friends don't even
my. I won't say my friends, but
people, if they have things out, I'd

(24:32):
be like, y' all didn't invite me.
Oh, we know you ain't coming. So
I'm just glad they know that I
ain't gonna be there.

But that's terrible. You don't get invited.

I don't get invited, and I'm okay.
I don't get the side eye like
you said yesterday. I don't give the
side eye, and it's. It's okay. But
I do like you. I just feel
like you just have to be a
little careful sometimes, because people can go
too far with the checklist of things,
and you definitely have.

To check your heart. I would say
motives and intentions of everybody matters. So
we can't read everybody's motives and intentions,
and people's motives and intentions could be
misunderstood, misread, and things like that. But
we should approach situations with the heart
posture of I'm not better than you.
I just. I know my proclivities. I

(25:19):
know why I can fall. I know
that my witness matters. And I just
don't want to give off a certain
perception. And maybe if we can communicate
that with the individuals that we. That
are close to us, our family, friends,
and things like that, I feel like
they would be more understanding because I
feel like sometimes the church, some folks
in the church, I don't like saying
a broad brush painting with a broad

(25:39):
brush. But some individuals in the church
can kind of like, just do things
with no explanation. It just looks like
we're condemning or judgmental instead of, like,
having a real conversation. An individual say,
this is why I am with this.
This is why I stand, and this
is why I do what I do.
It's not that I'm Better. It's just
that this. What God did for me,
and I just feel like the Lord
is leading me. And you may not
understand it.

That's good.

But just want, you know, that's what
it is. They may still look at
you like you're silly, but I think
nowadays folks will respect that more because
it's just not known for believers to
do stuff like that. You know, when
it comes to these.

Subjects, I think it's always good to
be cautious. Like, there's nothing wrong with
that as long as you have to,
you know, the right heart behind it.
You're not saying that you're, you know,
holier than thou. You're better than anybody.
But being cautious is better than finding
out on the back end, you know,
that you can't handle being in certain
environments. I'd rather you be cautious on
the extreme side than to, you know,

(26:33):
lose the caution or not have guardrails
in your life and find out that
you can't, you know, tolerate certain environments
and you fall into sin yourself. And
so, like, I know that it's, you
know, you kind of limit your lifestyle
and you limit the things that you
allow yourself to do, but I'd rather,

(26:53):
you know, people be cautious on that
end than to fall into sin. But
people who do it because, you know,
they just feel like there's a strictness
in the lifestyle of being a believer
to the point where they are completely,
completely. They've completely removed relationships from them.
I think that could be a little
extreme. I don't want anybody to lose

(27:15):
relationships. I actually want people to gain
relationships because they're a believer, because people
need a witness. People need somebody to.
To have a reflection of their own
life.

That's true.

And so it's not for you to
completely eliminate relationships. You just have to
know what environments you can be in
and what environments you can be in.

That's good. Yeah. So I know, going
back to the. I love this discussion.
It's really good. But going back to
the top of the message, when it
talked about suffering like Christ is, is
that in fighting your temptations, or is
this a just standing on truth type
of suffering? Like, which suffering is.

Yeah, I think, you know, one thing
I did with that is I wanted
to make sure that people didn't think
that Peter was trying to equate what
Jesus went through and what we went
through. And I mentioned this to the
audience. I said, we're not. No one
here is being crucified for the sins
of the world. But what I was
trying to make a Comparison to is
that Jesus suffered for the victory of

(28:15):
humanity, and we need to suffer to
have victory over sin. And Jesus gives
us the formula to follow the pattern,
to follow the blueprint on how to
be victorious over the things that you
go through. And I used love. I
said, Jesus loved us so much that
he was able to face the cross.
And I want that to be a

(28:35):
reflection on us. Do we love Jesus
enough to fight the temptations of our
sin? And that's the parallel that I
wanted to have with the trials that
Jesus went through and what we went
through. It's not equating what you know,
what Jesus, you know, Jesus versus me.
The things that I go through are
as bad as being crucified and having
the weight of the sins of the

(28:55):
world on my shoulders. Like, I'll never
experience that. But I can follow the
pattern that Jesus had in overcoming what
he went through and having victory for
humanity. And I think that we need
to adopt that same pattern. Is that
it's love. Like, do we love our
Savior enough to stop messing around with

(29:17):
the passions, the human passions, as Peter
puts it. Like, how much do we
love Jesus? Do we love Jesus enough
to stop doing the things that we're
doing?

That's good.

I'll even add the importance of understanding
what he accomplished and what he provided
for us that gives us the ability
to say no to those passions.

Right?

Because Jesus didn't just die. And that's
it. He equipped us. So, like, when
he died, he said, I must go
in John, he said, I must go
so the comforter can come.

If I said, it's better that I.

Leave, it's better that I leave so
that the comforter will come who's just
like me. He's. He's equal to me.
And he will be with you always.
And he will lead you into all
truth, and he will convict the world
of sin and righteousness, and he will
empower you. And that's the thing. Understanding
Peter is. Like I said, Peter was
there for that conversation. So Peter understands

(30:13):
fully. Like, there's better results and there's
a better plan, and you have more
power and you equip more than you
could ever know if you simply submit
to what Jesus has done and use
him as the example of his suffering
and realizing that your suffering will not
be in vain. And in fact, you
can endure it in such a way

(30:33):
that you would never imagine because he
has equipped you to do so. And
he promised that. And Peter knows what
it. Like, what it feels. Yeah, Peter,
I still. I'm Confused with Paul again.
Peter knows what it feels like to
endure suffering. He knows this. Peter understands
he was persecuted and arrested and everything
else when the early church started. Recognizing

(30:53):
what we have access to in light
of what Jesus suffered to do is
something that we can't ignore. It's not
like Jesus said, you know, you're going
to go through what you're going to
go through. And Peter says, okay, suffer
like a good soldier. Suffer because Jesus
did, but you're on your own. No,
he equips us with the ability. Scripture
tells us he has given us everything
we need that pertains to life and

(31:14):
godliness. I think Peter said that in
maybe second Peter maybe. Yeah, Peter says
in second Peter that he has given
us everything we need to live a
godly life or everything we need that
pertains to life and godliness. So in
other words, Peter is saying there's no
excuse. You have everything that you can
ever need to endure. And the minute
we understand that and tap into that,
so it's not just head knowledge, but

(31:36):
it takes residence in our heart and
then it's seen through our actions. So
just understanding what God accomplished in Christ
when he died on that cross and
what he gave us the ability to
do based on his spirit too, that's
important. That will help us suffer well
as well. That makes sense.

So no, that was good. So like,
just thinking about your overall message yesterday.
What do you feel like your key
takeaways were for, like, application purposes?

Geez. Application.

Yes.

How do I know People walk away?

How do they watch this?

Yeah. So I think, you know, going
back to Peter's writing, he had a
lot of things. I couldn't say that
he had one points. And again, we're
looking at chapter four and he didn't
write it with chapters. So the letter
is just written out.

Yeah.

And so we're taking a segment of
the letter and trying to find a
theme for that part of it, which
is very difficult to do. But Peter
does jump around a lot and a
few things that he tells us, you
know, he tells us not to live
a life in sin. So that's one
major application. I think another application is

(32:47):
just the awareness that you are a
disciple of Christ when the world brings
you hostility. I think that just level
of understanding that I am on the
right path in my life, even with
opposition from the world, being persecuted from
the world, I can rest assured that
I am on the right path in
following Jesus because that hostility is the

(33:10):
evidence that I have the spirit of
God with me and that I am
on the right track. And being a
disciple of Christ. And so having that
awareness is an application. And I think
the second half of the letter, Peter
really goes into love. You know, the
first half of chapter four, he talks
about what we should not do. In
the second half of chapter four, he
goes into what we should do. And

(33:32):
that's to love our neighbors. And it
really piggybacks off of, in light of
the end times, how should we live
holiness? With godliness. We should love the
people around us. Especially since we're going,
I said this in a sermon, we're
going to spend eternity with each other.
Let's get a jump start on loving
each other now and serving each other.

(33:52):
The. The gifts that God has given
us is not for us to hoard,
but for us to share with the
kingdom of God, for us to share
with our neighbors, to share with each
other. And I think that's a really
good application because we could look at
this and say, okay, what about me?
Right? Okay, I need to, you know,

(34:14):
stop having the desires of sin. I
need to fight temptation in myself. I
need to go through these trials. I
need to look at how the world
is hostile to me. But then it's
like, okay, well, what needs to come
out of me to the people around
me? And that's the gifts that God
has given us. And the foundation of
that is love. We have to love
our neighbors. Peter talks about serving. He

(34:35):
talks about teaching and encouraging. We have
to love the people around us. And
then he says it, like I mentioned,
that he stops and give a praise
break in the middle of the chapter.
That when he talks about serving our
neighbors, he says, so God could get
the glory. And I said this like,
the gift that we have comes from
God to us. And then the fruit

(34:58):
of that gift gets utilized to share
and serve the kingdom and the people
around us so that he can get
the glory. And that's the pattern that
we need to live by. Our gifts
that we have come from God. We
use that to help others around us
so that he can get the glory.
And also mention that we think of

(35:19):
gifts as things that are positive that
we have, but also the things that
we have gone through in life, the
trials that we've gone through in life
is a gift that we have that
we can share with others. Because we've
been through some things in life. We've
been through some traumas, some pains, some
heartaches, some hardships that we can, that
God has helped deliver us from. And

(35:41):
that testimony will bless somebody. Not only
the hardships that we went through, but
how we've overcome sin in ourselves. We've
overcome some sin, some strongholds, that that
testimony would be something that we can
utilize to bless others. And so I
like how Peter shifts the focus. And
the application would be, okay, there is

(36:04):
sin that I need to stop doing
in my life. But what do I
have now that can bless the kingdom?
That helps.

That answers a lot of questions, I
think, and a lot of issues that
people deal with when it comes to
seasons of life where they're dealing with
trials, struggles, doubts, setbacks, is this passage
encourages them and encourages me to not
have pity parties. And this is why

(36:30):
I say that. Because a lot of
times when we go through something, it's
all woe. Was me. I'm not getting
anything out of life. I'm not getting
anything out of my church. Oh, my
life is hard. Everything is. But I
was reading a book years ago, and
I bring this up multiple times to
multiple people. A book about marriage, I
think, by John Piper. And it was
talking about. It's kind of a tongue

(36:52):
twister, kind of. But he said finding.
Finding delight in the delight of your
beloved. And what that means is you
get delight and you get joy and
you get happiness and all the good
feels from serving and loving your spouse
and seeing how it affects them and
encourages them and builds them up. And
now all of a sudden, you feel
encouraged and built up. And it's the

(37:15):
principle of taking the eye off you
and putting it on somebody else and
helping somebody and how that even though
your situation still may be what it
is, there's a different aspect of joy
and peace. And you see God starting
to use you in different ways and
in different avenues because you chose to
step out of yourself to serve and
love somebody else. So I think Peter

(37:36):
is highlighting how important that is. Like,
yeah, you're suffering and going through, but
you're not the only one.

Right? Right.

Your brother and sister is too. Somebody
else needs your testimony. Somebody else needs
that. Your helping hand. Somebody else needs
your love. So how about you step
outside of yourself like Jesus did? Because
Jesus is the ultimate example. In fact,
his whole purpose of suffering had everything
to do with all of us, had
nothing to do with anything he did
or needed. It had everything to do

(38:03):
with what we did and what we
needed, which is forgiveness, salvation, and hope,
which is what Jesus provided. His suffering
was. His suffering literally was accomplished and.
And was purposeful because it was for
our benefit. So how do we. How
do we cause our suffering to benefit
someone else? We can use it to
Help push us towards service, love and

(38:27):
utilizing gifts, tapping into gifts that we
didn't even know we have. A lot
of times we won't even know we
had them until we step out and
serve.

Right.

We don't even know you had the
ability to witness. You didn't know you
had such a servant heart. You didn't
know you had such a gift to
be hospitable and loving and giving and
gracious.

Why?

Because you didn't step out and walk
in it. Then God shows you that.
And sometimes God uses suffering to take
the eyes off of us and put
it on somebody else. And then he
shows up in a way we couldn't
have imagined. I think Peter is really
highlighting the importance of not having a
pity party, taking your eyes off you,
putting it on other people.

And God's efficient. He's not gonna be.
He's not gonna waste what he's given
us. It's not that we can't utilize
it for ourselves or he doesn't love
us, but he really wants to advance
the kingdom of heaven. He wants people
to share what he has given them
so that we can be a blessing
for each other. He's just not going
to waste the gifts that he's given

(39:22):
you, how he's delivered you. He's helped
you overcome the battles that you have
in your life. He wants to utilize
that. It's a blessing for you that
you've come out of that. But he
wants to use it to bless his
other children as well.

Y that's true.

I like how yesterday you brought talk,
talked about the coming, the end. Cuz
it was in the Jesus is coming.
Jesus is coming. But you made, you
kind of made Jesus.

September 22nd already passed 23rd, 23rd I
thought was two days. I thought it
was 22nd and 23rd.

I don't even know 23rd. 20. I
didn't even hear the original prophecy.

I did, but oh Lord, it was
so.

So I. I've been saying on the
podcast how Peter, like this whole book
is so relevant to what's going on
now in the world. So that is
just crazy that that was brought up
because this is, it's still fresh. This
is a week old or a couple
weeks old, for the record.

He is coming.

He is coming.

Definitely.

We just think about it. Peter in
63 AD is looking for Jesus to
come. He said, Jesus is coming soon.
That was 2,000 years ago.

And it makes me think about how,
you know, how people be like, oh,
the world is so bad. Jesus is
coming back. Clearly the world was so
bad when Peter wrote this book. So.

Yes. I mean, like, and. And Jesus
says, you know, we. We need to
be watching the signs, not just the
weather. Like, we can predict the weather,
but. And it's like, there's a lot
of times in human history where it
was so bad on earth that you
could say, man, Jesus is.

He gotta be.

He gotta be coming back today. Like,
under the Roman rule, it was. It
got so bad for. For believers.

Yeah.

And then you think about other times
in humanity's history. You know, you got
the plague, you got World War I,
World War II. Like, it's just been
a lot of bad things that have
happened in humanity where you. You look
and say, it can't get any worse
than this. Yeah.

I'm sitting here thinking, like, why do
we say that so freely now? Like,
what's so bad about. I mean, it's
bad.

I think every generation has his. Has.
Has his reasons to believe Jesus is
going to come in that generation. And
I think each sign is a sign
that points to the fact that he
will return one day. So we're not.
We're not saying he won't. We're not
moc that at all. We. We believe
he said he will, but he also
said when he does, every eye will

(41:40):
see him and behold him. And he
also said when somebody says, hey, he's
over there, or, hey, he's over there,
do not believe. Because he said, no
man knows the hour of the day.
Nobody knows. So we don't listen to
anybody who says they do. But what
we do is we wait in. In
eager expectation. And one thing that was
highlighted was the fact that in the
midst of waiting for his return, we
do what Pastor Carlton just said, which

(42:01):
is what Peter said. We serve and
love one another waiting for his return.
In fact, we should be talking about
his return a little bit more often.
Peter said, Paul said, encourage one another.
First Thessalonians, I think, encourage one another
with these words about his second coming.
That's an encouraging thing to know, man,
one day he will return. But I've

(42:21):
heard some people say that sometimes thinking
about the return of Christ causes them
to have an escapism mentality and say,
oh, I just want to get up
out of here. And we need to
avoid that. Even though it's okay to
say Marinette, I get it.

Listen, even so, come Lord Jesus, an
extreme case.

He admitted to it yesterday.

Yeah, in extreme case is what I'm
talking about. Because we all should have
a healthy dose of God of wanting
him. Come on back Jesus, come get
us out of here. Marinette to come.
Lord Jesus, quickly. We should have that.
But also because what Paul said. I'm
talking about Paul right now in Thessalonians,
about how people were waiting and they
just became busybodies and didn't do anything
because they said, oh, he's coming, so

(43:01):
what's the point of anything?

Right?

We should avoid that as well and
be fruitful for the kingdom. But don't
get it twisted. We should still look
forward to his coming, but we should
be actively obedient and loving our neighbors
and honoring God as we wait. So,
yeah, but it is a hope that's
coming.

Yeah. And it's twofold, too. We are
looking at the calamities of the world
as signs of his return. But he
also said that the Gospel will be
preached to the four corners of the
earth. And so we can't just look
at the wars that we're dealing with
or the hostility of the world to

(43:38):
believers. We also got to say, how
are we evangelizing the world? Because it's
not just the one thing that is,
you know, the prerequisite for his return.
We also have to spread the gospel
to the four corners of the earth.
And so I think we can't just
be looking at it like, okay, well,
how bad is the world today in
comparison to human history? We also got

(43:59):
to look at how much are we
spreading the gospel compared to human history.
And I think that's important for us
to realize. We can't just be sitting
back inactive, waiting for his return. We
have to be proactive waiting for his
return. And that's spreading the good news
of Jesus Christ.

That's good. Do you think? And it's
kind of like my final question before
we go into takeaways, but this could
be a pretty full. First of all,
Reuben, I see all of the.

Ruben, you want us to lean a
plane? We not leaning the plane.

Ruby, my last question.

You got time, Reuben, man. Ruben. Hey,
Dang Ministries. Happening, Rue.

Like, why I'm catching these strays? I'm
just chilling.

Nah, we did have tacos today.

We did. We had tacos.

Why we do the podcast after?

Shout out to Ben and Jenny.

Yes.

If y' all watching this. Which camera?
Which camera? I don't know, but they
were delicious.

That's why the mood is the itis.

We holding on.

Woo, Child.

Taco Monday.

Some of the best tacos ever.

No, I actually was looking at you.
Cause I was choking and no one
looked up. And I was like, they
didn't throw.

You A water or anything. I ain't
wanna.

I ain't wanna be bootleg podcast and.

Tossing over here, like.

Cause I'm looking like Carlton's in the
middle of a deep, thick.

Carlton's like, yeah, you know, listen, Pastor
Brent isn't here. We can do whatever
we want on this podcast.

She's over there choking. I'm looking at
her like, oh, Lord. And then I
glanced over to the left like, does
anybody see my wife?

I was so happy Pastor Cross and
was giving his well thought out. Cause
I was over here choking, and.

I already said, I'm gonna pick it
right up. When he stopped talking so
she can clear her.

Pastor Bryne gonna be watching this podcast
on his flight back from Davao, and
he gonna be like, I'm never leaving
church again.

No, leave it to us. We got
it.

That's probably like, how did David get
my seat?

What's up, pb?

Pb Love you, bro. Love ya, sir.
Love you.

Okay. You had a question.

I did. My final kind of question.

Off the rails.

No, it was. This is good. This
is a good conversation. But do you
feel like when Peter wrote this, do
you think his objective was to, I
don't want to say teach perfectionism. And
of course I know the answer to
this, but I'm asking it for people
who may be watching this. And they're
saying, man, the last four weeks, y'
all been telling me all the stuff

(46:18):
I could not do, especially Pastor Jerry.

Last week, Pastor Jerry was on fire.

Right. So do you think it's achievable
to have a sinless life?

No.

Okay. Of course I know the answer.

You mean to expand this.

I just want you to expound like,
yes.

No, because if that was the case,
we wouldn't need Jesus. I think that
we need to strive for holiness.

That's good.

Like, we need to put forth 120%
effort to be holy, allow the Holy
Spirit to work in us, to sanctify
us.

That's good.

We've been justified now sanctification needs to
happen. And I. And I think that
is. That's our goal. Like, to be
without sin is impossible for us, or
we wouldn't need a redeemer who came
and was without sin and died for
our sins. But I do think that
we can get to a place where

(47:19):
sin doesn't affect our lives anymore. Sin
is not the driver of our thoughts
or our desires, where holiness becomes such
a way of thinking and a way
of life, that the thought of sin
or the action of sin is not
paramount in our lives anymore. I can't
say that we will be completely without
sin because we still live in this.

(47:41):
This body. What did Paul call it?
Old wretched man that I am, you
know, who will deliver me from the
body of this death. So I think
that because as long as we're wearing
this flesh, we are. We have the
proclivity to sin. But I think that
holiness is what we should be striving
for. God is not looking for us
to be without sin. He's looking for

(48:01):
us to be covered with the blood
of Jesus, who was without sin. I
think he's looking for us to be
like Jesus in the pursuit of holiness.
And so I think that we have
to live. I had a preacher when
I was at Oru in chapel. This
preacher said, you know, can you live
a year without sin? And everyone's like,
no, you can't live a year without

(48:21):
sin. Can you live a month without
sin and a week and then a
day? He's like, no, I probably can't
go a day without some kind of
sin. He was like, can you go
five minutes without sinning? And we were
like, yeah, we can go five minutes
without sinning. Maybe. He's like, okay, live
your life five minutes at a time.
So there needs to be an effort
to not be in sin or not

(48:42):
live in sin. And our effort should
be towards holiness. But it would be
very difficult for me to say, impossible
for me to say that you can
live a life without sin completely, because
like David said, you can't ransom yourself.
You know, we can't redeem ourselves from
this life. So, yeah, I think that's
my answer.

The godless holiness.

I like that, David.

I completely agree. And I even add
to it. You mentioned what Paul said
as Romans 7, When Paul was talking
about the good I want to do,
I don't do. And sometimes the good
the what I don't want to do,
what I hate to do, I do.
And that shows it's not me necessarily
do it, but it's sin in my
members. This is Paul. It's in my
members. And he says, oh, wretched man

(49:24):
that I am, who can deliver me
from this body of death? Then the
next phrase, thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ.

Yes.

So Jesus Christ delivers him. And then
Romans 8. He talks about the walking
in the spirit and not the flesh.
He's not giving an excuse. That's another
thing. We don't want to leave anybody
with an excuse to say, oh, since
I can't, you know, I might as
well know. Just like he's saying, when
sin abound, grace abounded. Shall we continue?

Shall we continue sin so that grace
can abound? God forbid.

If we are dead in sin, how
can we live in it any longer?
But it's called sanctification. And it's a
process, right? It's a process. And one
thing about growing in Christ and growing
in holiness is that as you mature
and cross a milestone, so to speak,
God will show you something else that
you gotta address. Something. It'll come in

(50:16):
a form of pride or a form
of discontentment, a form of idolatry. It
may not be some big old scandal.

It may not be an action of
sin or outward expression.

It could be delayed obedience, some God
that's disobedience, and disobedience is sin. But
when he shows it to you, the
same power you had to overcome the
previous hurdles and make it over those
previous milestones is the same power that
he'll give you to overcome those as
well, right? Because you're more equipped and

(50:49):
he'll never leave you nor forsake you.
And he'll give you the grace to
overcome it. And it's a process of
learning and growing. Now, Paul is older
when he's saying stuff like this, this.
He's older when he's saying stuff like,
oh, this wretched man that who can
deliver me. He, you know, he. He.
He's been living the Christian faith for
a while and then walking with Jesus
myself. I will say that yes, you
grow, you mature. And there are certain
sins and certain things that don't even.

(51:11):
That used to have me bound, that
I don't even really. It's like not
really the enemy could try to when
there's a rough season. Something like I
remember how that felt. Deceitfulness of sin.
I remember that I'm not going back
to that bondage. But I'm not saying
there aren't other things. There are other
things that aren't as prominent in my
heart that I'd be like God, I
need to check that. Why did I
snap right there? Why did I get

(51:32):
so frustrated right there? Why did I
snap on my son? Why have I
not been, you know, as gracious or
loving as I should to my wife?

What?

Yeah, it happens. I know I was
crazy.

Not often see what happens when you
give an inch.

They take confessing.

Trying to be transparent here. Be healed.

Which camera that makes Kim a great
husband. But the fact that so aware.

But the fact that the matter aware
of what he not doing right, but
anything right. Something I know I should.
Why didn't you tell that person, talk
to that person, pick up that phone
call?

Yeah.

Why didn't you respond to that message?
Why were you short with that person?
You know, stuff like that. So just
realizing a life of sinlessness in that
regard, I'm thinking like Jesus type. No
sin whatsoever at all, period. First of
all, it's impossible to do that for
any believer because we're born in it
and we've sinned from the beginning. So
we gonna be sinless like Jesus. We
gotta be sinless since birth, and that's

(52:23):
not the case with us. But at
the same time, even in our rebirth,
it's a process and God is revealing
things in us. And that doesn't mean
we don't grow in maturity. Because I've
heard people say scripture says, be perfect,
for I am perfect. That see, be
perfect. I've had conversations and debates years
ago with individuals trying to say, see,
you can be perfect. But that word

(52:43):
perfect really means more maturity. It's a
sense of holiness and holiness. Yeah. It's
growing and Christlikeness. Do that and do
it consistently and pursue that. So like
Pastor Carlton said, growing in holiness, seeking
Christ likeness. Because God's gonna always show

(53:04):
you something about yourself. And when that
happens, praise God.

That's so true.

Because you're growing and he'll give you
the power to overcome.

Sometimes I just blame my flesh. I'd
be like, God, you know, I'm human,
man. Come on.

Yeah.

You know what body I'm living in?
Jesus, you was in the same body.
You understand? There's no excuses.

No excuse.

I'll be like, guy, I'm human. I'm
sorry. You know, that's a good question
you.

Asked, though, because some people rebound by
that sinless perfection.

Perfect.

Yeah, I got it. And that's not
an excuse. Because you got to be
people, they swing pendulums all over the
place nowadays. But rest in Christ first.
Know that he gave you everything you
need. Pursue holiness and obedience to him,
and he'll help you grow. And when
you fall, get back up. Like Donnie
McClurkin said. Who we fall.

We have such a self aware staff
here at dc.

How so?

I just. I just watch. I watch
like we. So up close and personal,
you see the flaws. Like, oh, okay.
She. I'm one of them.

Are we.

Yeah, we so self aware. Like, we'll
have those days and then the next
day we'll come back or send a
text and it's like, I'm sorry, like,
shouldn't have responded like that. I just
love that for us it's.

Good times, though, because we are vulnerable
to each other and we open up
ourselves and we combative. We like to
debate and fight. Fight in a good
way, not fight in a bad way.
Everybody.

But did you just give us three
minutes?

That means what is happening for the
fight. But that means that we. We
trust each other and love each other
so much that we are open to
each other and can be vulnerable to
each other.

I agree.

You know, one time, David called me
a monster.

You did?

Only out of love.

You called him a monster?

I cried in the inside like a
winner. But out of love. You just
never know.

I probably did.

It was like, you monster.

Sure was just.

I do remember that.

I do remember that. It was justified,
though.

But look, it was justified. But that's
okay. I was vulnerable to receive it.

Oh, okay.

My brother was checking me.

Wow. Okay, well, we love one another.
We lean by example.

No, Is that right? Jesus's example.

Okay, we. We are landing the plane
cuz Ruben gave us three minutes.

On fire. But who is Reuben? The
people under. They can't see Ruben. Who
is.

Ruben's been on the show. But yeah,
we got an amazing. What is he
producing team back there. We got Pretty
Angie and Reuben who run the. Run
it with Pranny.

Pretty Ruben and Andy. I like it.

Wait, what's the four of us trapped?
We're trapped.

We in the trap right now. Listen,
growing up, you ain't want to be
in a trap. Where I was from,
you don't want.

To be in a trap.

Thank God for grace and deliverance.

No, we got. We got a nice
squad who make between sermons. And a
lot of things happen here at D.C.
but okay, as we land a plane,
we give a takeaway for people watching.
Like, just what was the strongest point
that stood out to you or what
you want to leave the people with?
Try Jesus. Don't try me.

After all that, he's still working on
me. My wife's got a shirt that
said, he's still working on me. I'm
like, is that your excuse for how
you're gonna act when you're wearing a
shirt? A takeaway?

Yeah, takeaway, man.

I think my. How I landed, the
message was probably the takeaway that I
want people to have that judgment is
real. Jesus is returning.

Yeah.

It like, we can't escape that. I
almost want to say, it doesn't matter
how you live your life. He's returning.
And that's still true. But I want
people to have an urgency to how
they live their life and accepting him
as their Lord, as the sovereign ruler
of their life, because he's returning. I

(57:07):
don't want people to have fear of
hell and run from hell to Him.
I want people to run towards him
because of love. He is returning. And
I want people to have an urgency
to make him their Lord. So that
was my. That's how I landed the
plane Sunday. And I want people to
really, you know, take heed to that.

(57:28):
I want them to think about their
eternity, their eternal destination. And with that,
with, with that in mind, how should
they live today?

That's good. That's good.

I would say I want people to
walk away with the knowledge and understanding
that Jesus is better. Regardless of what
you face and whatever you're situation is,
and regardless of the sin, the temptation,
the addiction, Jesus is better. Peter reminds
us to flee all types of debauchery
and drunkenness and parties and org all

(58:04):
type of things. Why not? Because he's
trying to ruin parties, but be a
party pooper necessarily and ruin your fun?
It's because he knows firsthand that Jesus
is better. So the person who says
it has great credibility based on his
experience and his proximity with Christ and
his life that Jesus was that Jesus
was Lord and Peter saw firsthand his

(58:26):
lordship and how powerful he is and
how Peter was a man who was
a fisherman, who Jesus made a fisher
of men. Also the fact that Peter
denied Christ three times and the Lord
restored him and used him mightily. He
saw that Jesus was better. He saw
Jesus die and rise from the dead,
defeat death, ascend into heaven. He saw

(58:48):
that and experienced the first outpouring of
the Spirit of God. And some may
say, what does that mean? What does
that have to do in anything? It's.
The fact of the matter is he
was there at some of Jesus's most
pivotal, mighty moments to, to. To. To
speak firsthand and let us know that
sin, temptation, all those things, they pale
in comparison to having relationship, you and

(59:09):
union, intimacy with Christ. That's what's. That's.
That should be first and foremost in
our lives. So I would encourage the
people and all of us to just
know that Jesus is better. Whatever the
thing that tries to draw us away
from him in other directions to appease
ourselves and please our flesh and our
own desires. I pray we look at
those things and confess that Jesus is

(59:30):
better and believe it and allow him
to transform our lives.

Man, those were so good, I don't
even think I need to give one.
So what?

No more drinking parties?

Are you saying that that's.

Oh, no, that's not your. Your takeaway.

That's my takeaway. Okay. No, I think
overall, I was just thinking, like, just
saying, like, as an encouragement to believers
who are especially newer believers when they're
having to identify some areas in their
life, like being at these parties or
being in company of people or putting

(01:00:06):
themselves in situations to be tempted. Like,
it is hard, but it is worth
it.

Pastor Carlton McCarthy (01:00:13):
And you.

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:00:14):
It will become easier. And you may
get people who think you are holier
than thou and all those things, but
it's. That's part of the journey, the
faith walk. So I just encourage you
to keep going. It gets easier. God
will send the right friends, and y'
all can have Christian fun like I
do now. I have good old Christian
fun.

David Beasley (01:00:32):
You make it sound so lit.

You make it sound so terrible.

It's. It is like. It is like,
in a grand scheme of things, we
are the lame.

The life of Christ is so much
better.

It is, but it's o better life.
Like, I have peace. I got joy.
I. I ain't waking up with drama
the next day.

There's a different mindset that you have
when you are in Christ that it's
like, I was talking to a couple
pastors, and it was an event that
happened, and they was like, did you
get invited to that event? I was
like, no. They was like, did. Did
you get invited to that event? It
was like, no. They was like, thank
God for not being invited. And it
was such a piece that we had

(01:01:10):
that we can just. And it wasn't
about, like, maintaining holiness or anything like
that, but, like, we don't need to
be involved. It was such a piece
and a confidence. We don't need to
be involved in what the world is
doing. Yeah, it was great.

It is great.

It is.

It is. And the more you mature,
you'll realize it's for your good. And
so, yeah, I just encourage you to
stay strong. But we thank you for
rocking with us. Thank you guys for
being on this episode. The trap. Be
with the trap.

Bees in the trap. Be bees in
the trap.

Between sermons.

Between sermons. I hope. Pastor Brad, I
hope we did you some justice while
you were away, but.

Kind of like this seat, though, PB
Kind of comfy right here. I like
the angle. Okay. Get used to this.

All right. All right. Well, until next
time, we hope you enjoyed this show.
If you have any questions, let us
know, and we will see you next
week. Sam.

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Sips of Sin & Steps Toward Holiness | 1 Peter 4 Explained

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Sips of Sin & Steps Toward Holiness | 1 Peter 4 Explained