Battlefront

Today on Summit life was JD Greer. God's holiness, which means separation was was greatly demonstrated not in his separation from us but is entering into more pain and absorbing concrete to Peterson's in response to God's holiness. You should be holy in all your conduct. The life you live should be reflective of the God that you love the clouds daydreaming date need to be on high alert. Every not focused on the battle at hand but did you know that as Christians we are constantly engaged in spiritual warfare. How much more important is it that we pay attention to the spiritual conflict around us.

We need to train our minds for the battlefield, pastor, author and theologian JD Greer is our training instructor today on Summit light as he continues a study in the book of first Peter called. I am an alien.

He called this message that (I am an alien cultural word and a concept Peter uses over and over throughout this book he addresses the book was almost couple weeks ago. The very first verse he addresses it to an audience that he calls the elect exiles some of your translations there would say aliens that are scattered all over Asia drop book is going to say things like chapter 2 verse 11. I urge you, as sojourners and exiles were again aliens, but you do this for you do that is trying to help them see that their citizenship is not here. There exiled their daily measure to see getting that identity right is going to be key to interpreting all of life correctly save you want to understand what God is doing what he expects from you is purposes for you. You gotta understand this concept to stop here because there are so many people that don't really get this thing the kind of thing they get it, but they don't see. When you realize that you're not from a country you could take one of several postures by one pastor is that of an immigrant and immigrant somebody is not from the country but they have you tried to become a citizen of that country. But it's not the original country to visit with her new citizenship is in an effort to make the whole lot of Christians are doing that with the world if they understand kind of theologically that are born from above in their citizen of heaven, but for all practical purposes this is where they made all that's why they're always you know thinking about how life is going down here brother leveraging the resources and their talents of their money to make a comfortable life down here is why they're always worried about what everybody saying about them down here the word about how things are gonna turn out for them down here with her to miss out on down here today. A bucket list of the word about things are knocking to get the do that is wrong conceptually say no you're not a citizen you do not immigrant right one to one category. Here's another tourist people think well cannot you a lot of questions when I get the idea that I'm not from here and so was it too risky when he's in a new country to pass through it right all of the tourist group to a foreign country, you can't stay in your group you speak your language.

You stay in your hotel you eat at your restaurant to complain that there's not a Starbucks in A stop because you don't really engage with that culture that much. You kind of observe at a distance they attitude a lot of Christians after the world there tourist rights are really get engaged in the world because they sequestered in a Christian ghetto like it a lot younger is passing through the Kirk Cameron. Gotta get ratchet off this trail part of a planet anyway so I never really engage now that's a lot of believers were that's wrong. Soon there's 1/3 category, the one in Peter's talking about. That is the category of exile exile you will try to become an immigrant. You also realize you're not a tourist, you realize that you are a point to be here with a mission, your station here and that means that that begins to form how you engage with the world around this concept actually has a very rich history of the Bible you see Israel for time was exiles and not given very specific instructions about how they were to live in the area that they were exiles they give you this is Jeremiah 729 will thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel told me exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon is are you supposed to live look. Build houses 11 plant gardens and eat their produce verse seven. Seek the welfare of the city right since you exile and pray to the Lord in its behalf in its welfare.

You will find your welfare. You say you're going to be stationed in this place you had a mission for this life you pray for their blessing their problems in their lives because you are appointed there. That's not immigrant is not tourist or something different. In chapter 2 peters really is a concept of ambassador ambassador somebody who simply one country with a mission for another country to hear she makes his home in that country, but he's really there on the business of a different country, but they're very engaged in the affairs of this country that they are now stationed that is crucial in order to get anything else that Peter is saying during ambassador urine exile because he says you're in exile. There are a few things you should expect you should expect personable that you're a very hostile environment. Your placement does not understand you, your place, that is, in many ways going the opposite direction of the waves are going so he says, verse 13.

This will pick up chapter 1 verse 13 is us when we left off last time we left off for 12 or 13. Therefore, he says. Therefore, what. Therefore, because you're an axon alien, therefore preparing your minds for action by in vivo to x-rays, be sober minded, sober minded means are not naïvely unaware of the environment. You're in a hostile environment you are engaged in a cosmic battle gotta be aware of that first Peter chapter 5 chapters E should use that same word, sober minded if they be sober minded as you had an adversary who walks around like a roaring lion Satan seeking to devour you know if you knew that there was a lion at loose and you were walking around and you need to access you will that change his perspective that you have as you walk around right, you heard that it was a lie walking around the parking lot as you want your car to just change the mentality if you know that at any point, but some is what would somebody walk soberly you will wear what Peter is telling them listen first offense is something I think some of you deftly need to hear. You need to wake up because you were in a bout some of you have absolutely no idea of that. And the enemy is absolutely destroy you. You are not sober minded you are just not you live in the spiritual world and my favorite authors Blaise Pascal said the greatest thing that we need to happen is we need just to be awakened to reality is that for most people, life is like there. The rotten horse and buggy them and their barreling toward a cliff, a cliff that is you don't let your hundred feet unit 400 feet ago already said that Cliff represents her death. We all know were headed there.

All of us only what we do, we just can't distract yourself in the back of this could happen and we be getting days of the scenery. In a conversation just ignorant, willfully ignore the fact that Cliff is on its way.

I don't mean to be overly morbid with you, but you understand that you were going to die your children when they were going to die. A turkey is real evidence rule. Hell is real. There is real enemy.

He was after you sabotage your faith and destroy your soul as some of you need to point you just need to wake up because this is not a game. We are, you gird up the loins of your mind, sober mind may says verse 14. What of this set your hope fully on the grace and we brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Verse 15 but is he who called you is holy is he who called you is holy, you also should be holy in your conduct, since it is written in Leviticus, you shall be holy because I am holy. There were to be commended. The holy like God is holy close talk about them first lawyers were limited for the rest of our time. Basically I will talk about what holiness is and then I want to talk you about what Peter says, our response to that should be by limo talking about how it is that you can obey that command to be holy. Okay the first one. Here's what holiness is the key word to remember when you think about holiness is the word separation. The word in Hebrew that we translate as holy is the word Kadosh cutter. I don't know much Hebrew, but I love pronouncing the words that I do know Kadosh and Miceli. If one were to say you. But you will say don't yell at Kadosh. The person in front of you that wiping stop on the back of your head. You didn't say it right dose said dose it means literally separated or cut away from Greek the word is ideals hi Diaz, which means against separated or to be removed from when God told the Israelites that he was holy. What he meant was that he was different from then he was separated from them. It was unique.

He was one of the time. Example Exodus 15 verse 11 there is none holy like the Lord nobody is completely separate is completely other. By the way, if your name is Michael Michael that your name comes from members right there that verse in Hebrews myth IL nine holy like the Lord make IL there is nobody like God you are completely different separated, not you Michael, but you got you. If you study the Old Testament you are to see that when Israel got in trouble is when they forgot the otherness of God is because I started to think about God casually like God was just a slightly higher version of himself will more powerful little smarter, but the message of the Bible is he is not just a little smarter than you think. Not just a little different is completely different. He is the uncreated everything else had a beginning, everything we look at how to beginning everything goes back to a because God is the one great UNCLOS clots. He never had a beginning. He never had a vision. He is the outline here is the Omega ought to inform how you approach him on various issues I give you good example Joe Joe. Joe Jones. Jones got an argument against God. 38 chapters of the book of Job pages rails against… I don't think doing this is a making sense to me.I want some answers God shows up chapter 38 gives Joe before chapter answer which I can basically summarize like this. Job, who who are you and what universe had you created what you when you create your own universe and you come back and we'll talk. But until you created your own universe.

You are not peers, and I don't mind answering your questions.

Job achieving understand that I'm an altogether different category than you and the fact that you demand that I explain myself to you when you create your universe. You come back and we'll talk… You think you could understand me if I explain myself to you is flattering yourself in a way that is absolutely ridiculous as a 55 verse 89 because my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts, as the heavens are higher than the earth.

That's how much higher. My thoughts are than your thoughts. And I would just tell a few of you because some of you I know have these questions that you have against God and God's not against questions and you are free to ask them to tell you this.

You want to approach God with an understanding that he is holy. He's different. And there are some things about God that your little pit little brain.

Even the smartest of you and your your pet little brain might not be able to grasp yet and are saying I'm seeing MNC there's no answer form saying you, it changes how you approach God, there is a time when the mouse stops in the balance. I'm not talking about being gullible, naïvely, to swallow everything you're told what I am telling you is your approaching God is the one great uncreated when the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and begin and that means a certain amount of reference as you approach you say this is God changes your disposition toward him some excess is he's holy he's separate holiness also been separated from all that is impure Jewish people had all these regulations to keep them from entering the presence of God with any defilement because God was absolute purity.

He was separated from impurity totally perfect.

Now holiness is not an attractive concept to most Americans when I say holiness.

Most of you think of some kind of boring, sterile, bright white colorless light but holiness is the perfection of all that is good and I think of it as a whole mess, which is where we get the English word from wholeness. God is the whole perfectness of goodness he is wholeness and justice.

He is holy, perfect love. Now when you think about it that way.

We are all all attracted to that. God is so holy.

He is so full of beauty so full of perfection, injustice and kindness that he is separated from all impurity in the back bracket 113 says he so pure that he can even look at 130. You are of such holy I cannot even look. That doesn't mean that we who are evil or invisible, to God what it means is you can't gaze on your kind the same way you think about think about something that is morally repulsive to you and something adjust is discussed. For example, imagine that you were forced to watch an act of child molestation, you could look at it proposing your letter. Here's a different one.

I'm not as repulsive but important nonetheless you like you wanted me to help member that I just can't watch that kind of arrogance and racism repulsive God who is perfect beauty, perfect justice cannot keep his eyes upon the impurity, injustice of said is what God told them you put a boundary around there because if they break this boundary to look at my face.

They will they will tie because I do some such beauty that cannot look at injustice. God is holy, separate from impurity which brings me to probably the most magnificent thing about God's holiness. That is, that God's holiness was most manifested in Jesus.

Get this when Jesus came to earth, who was God's holy son is holiness walking around in the midst of simple disease, people's holiness did not destroy us. This holiness killed us.

This is one of the great enigmas of the Bible writes is confusing because here is Jesus perfectly holy we see things like this with this mapping separate Jesus came down the mountain, a leper now knows that leprosy is bad today, but in those days it was an incurable disease and you touched the leper that you would get there. Leprosy a leper came down to him and knelt before him, same Lord, if you will. You can make me clean. Not you know that when somebody who is clean touches somebody who is unclean. Somebody who is helping Texas money was sick. It's not that that you know it's usually the claim becomes unclean or the welder become sick right my life right now is a cold so what I did in bed at night with her. There's no chance that my awesome wellness is going to bleed off on her and make your cheese unclean here today so I can get a permit. She is as you are there so not my her uncleanness. Her disease. It actually has a chance of getting on because when the cleaning is would be unclean or window wells with six minutes it goes that way. But here's Jesus who is the perfectly clean the perfectly well stretched out his hand and talk to them, saying, I will be clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed. How does that happen one who is holy, peers would also listen to this. Jesus was not only holiness, purity. He was holy in his love and his power. So is holy, holy love absorbed our and holiness and suffered our death in his holy power conquered it by rising from the dead. Jesus was wholly perfect in his purity is also wholly perfect in his love and his power to his purity cannot look at sin without dying without the person died to Jesus absorbed in his holy law of our impurity into himself died in our place and concreted by rising from the dead. That's because he's holy, not just impurity but also a lot about. That's a pretty awesome book, the greatest display of God's holiness was not in his separating himself from us, but in his entry into our sin and corruption and taking upon himself and putting it away forever. God's holiness, which means separation was great was greatly demonstrated not in his separation from his entry into our pain and absorbing concrete to Peter says in response to God's holiness.

You should be holy as he who called you. Verse 15 is holy. You also should be holy in all your conduct. The life you live should be reflective of the God that you love just talk about a few ways that should be true. My first of all, it ought to be true in our devotion to God. I often hear people talk about God is what God wanted from us is God wanted merely to be top of our list of priorities. God gets his only list a given example my wife if I approached her as a baby is what you know this love you so much. Of all the girls and I know your number one was that me, does that mean that I'm sort of in love with kind attracted to sort of committed to a whole bunch of girls but not as much alert she gets wrong with you that nothing one sees the only one on that list is the sole member about list. God does not merely want to be number one on your list of priority… The top of my list. My last ticket his own list. Nothing else in your life created the universe. Nothing died for your sins. Jesus is not your copilot. He created the plane itself. But he basically the air that's why the law of gravity that it has to defy the stay in the air it created all that is not your BFF is not your old boy is holy which means our devotion to him was of an entirely different time and everything. Everything else, marriage, parenting, or even most intimate commitments of the pale in comparison to our devotion to him because he's holy in our adoration of him. That's another thing. How we adore God should be on an entirely different plane because he thought fire people sometimes compare our worship to like you know how we act a football game or basketball game and I certainly appreciate that sentiment but I tell you that our worship of God ought to be on it differently than everything else entirely. But if you let me be your pastor here for a minute. I really disturbed sometimes watching some of you worship in the stomach also conscious of. You don't always look at me now worship something like that.

It just disturbs because Mike is there any way they can actually understand the God they think they're worshiping or do they understand the commands that God has given them about worship couple years ago I did ask this study I taught you about the different postures that God tells us in words how to do that again. I think this is you always commands in Scripture Psalm 47, one clap your hands all you people shouting the guy with the voice of triumph. Psalm 3527 but may go to delight in salvation shout for joy in the God first Timothy 28. I command all men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.

These are command regular meals correct English class for Mennonite clap your hands all you people shop and the goblin was source of man's imperative imperative. It's a commands.

This is not my personality.

Did you see anything about personality. This I clap your hands all you type a aggressive, introverted people know that I have studied all these commands of Scripture and worship the Bible only through three different languages. Okay.

Not one time.

Does it ever say stand before God with the subdued posture aboard look on your face and a cup of coffee in your hand. Not one time, to the recesses clap your hands shot down the boards of tribe I command you to live holy and was is not my personality is not about your personalities about the commands of God. God. Everything we have, resubmitting to the master today message is titled battlefront in this assignment life with Judy Greer so Jeannie had a question related to our resource this month.

Can you understand what it means for our salvation to be described as in Christ that freezes he is all throughout the New Testament what the answer comes from several biblical passages version comes my sacred is 521, where Paul says about Jesus.

God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Salvation is not becoming a little bit better becoming more righteous and the family of the standard. It's that Jesus is righteousness is given to me all at once as a gift. I I'm completely made innocent and perfect and fully righteous in God's sight because Christ's righteousness goes to my account. It means it right now.

Right now Molly when I talk to God about my status.

I can say hey here's why.

I know you accept me because I fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and resuscitateI had so much faith that I walk on water. I was so obedient I went to the cross while on the cross. I pray for the forgiveness of those who were tormenting me now you know that I didn't do any of this things Jesus did, and his righteousness was credited to me that's what it means to be in Christ, he became your sin and you become his righteousness. You trade places so the glass will how do you how do you get to be in Christ. While that's a great news. You simply believe what he is declared he has done for you by believing that by believing that he took your place. God says in the book of Romans that your main road devotional modern devotional called assured it's based on a book I wrote. – Jesus in your heart that would love to give you this. This devotional can walk you through some key passages that will show you how you can be assured your salvation how you can explain to others may view the great study reach out to us in January.com to get this conversation started as often and really helpful to so much pretty assured when you get by calling 865 20 again, 8665 that our website Katie Greer sorry hear that ready for the fight. Be sure to listen. Tomorrow is called battle Thursday on Senate like Katie Greer 19 prayer ministry