"Living in the Will of God"

1 Peter 4:1-11

Rev. Min J. Chung

(Sunday Worship, April 11, 1999)

 

"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of d issipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If any one serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

 

I. IntroductionA. As we continue on in this journey of 1 Peter, believe it or not, well cover

11 verses today. Last week we talked about Noahs Ark, so Ive been meditating on Noahs Ark. Its a fascinating story, isnt it? There were eight people saved€Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. Its a good thing they got married, before the flood. It would have been hard to find a wife after. Its a fascinating story. Can you imagine the smell for forty days with all these animals? I was thinking, two by two, animals were coming into the ark, maybe Noah was counting them, talking to them, (they probably had to get married before getting into the ark), marrying them. I asked Joshua, my first son who is eight years old, about the ark, because he asked, "Can you give me Bible trivia?" Hes always asking for Bible trivia. "What are the synoptic gospels?" He knows Matthew, Mark and Luke. "How old was the oldest person that ever lived?" "Methuselah! 969 years old." ; "How old was Noah when he died?" "950." He knows all these things. I asked him something not biblical but I pretended it was. "Which animal was the last one to enter the ark?" He said, "The worm." I thought that was funny. I was laughing out loud in a Chinese restaurant. So I got to meditate on worms. Can you imagine the worm? Wriggling. "Come on honey, we have ten days to make it to the ark." Two worms wriggling together. "Maybe we wont make it. Lets get there by riding on the buffalo." Why is Peter talking about Noahs Ark? Just as we talked about last week, it has some incredible truths, considering the context. It pictures the people going through unjust suffering in the time of Peter. In the first century, they

were getting killed. They were suffering and going through all kinds of things. As they were going through that, Peter explains that as Noah built that ark, he also went through a lot of suffering. He was a preacher of righteousness, preaching Gods word in the midst of persecution to people who were living in dissipation. They would not believe what Noah said and no one got on the ark. For 120 years he warned them. Then the flood came. The flood was the symbol of wrath, Gods anger toward the sins of this world. The floodwas the symbol of Gods wrath, but the ark was the symbol of Gods grace. If you were in the grace of God, you were saved. We are like those people in the ark. We are saved. If you dont trust in Christ for salvation, you are outside of the ark. You will face the wrath of God. You are living in sin, for yourself. Noah, a preacher of righteousness, preached God's word. Jesus Christ preached to those people, by the Holy Spirit, through Noah, at that time, so that they might be saved. But they did not believe.

B. Why am I talking about that? Peter is still talking and thinking about that context and picture as he goes into verse 4. He says that you can live one of two lifestyles. You can live a lifestyle in the ark or a lifestyle outside the ark. Verses 1-6 talk about life outside of the ark, as unbelievers. Verses 7-11 talk about life inside the ark, as believers in Jesus Christ. Thats why he starts out with verse 1. Every time the word therefore  is there, its relating to the context preceding it. We need to see what the word therefore is there for. He talks about Noah and the ark which is like the grace of Jesus Christ. If we are in Jesus Christ we can be protected from the wrath of God; we can be saved. "Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because He who has suffered in his body is done with sin." As Christians were going through unjust suffering, difficult times and circumstances, he tells them to think about Christ. He suffered in His body.

C. Arm  is a soldier term. Soldiers would arm themselves. We are soldiers. Arm yourselves with the same attitude. Think about Jesus. He suffered for you. Have the kind of attitude that Jesus had as He lived in the midst of unjust suffering. Christians are people with an attitude. We gotta have the attitude. Not a rebellious attitude, but really trusting in the Lord. What kind of weapon should we have as Christians? No matter what kinds of suffering come in my life, Ill have this attitude. Even if I suffer, Ill live according to the will of God. If we have that attitude, well be able to go through all kinds of things in our lives. Thats what the text is saying. As a result, if you have that attitude, "he does not live like the rest of his life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." There are two lifestyles that are contrasted here: 1) People who live for

evil human desires. Thats the kind of lifestyle outside of the ark. You can live according to your desires. Thats more like an animal, isnt it? An animal does whatever he wishes. Thats how he lives, there are no restrictions, but he lives for his desires. 2) People who live for the will of God. If you live according to the will of God, its like living inside the ark. You go against your desires. Only if youre in Jesus Christ and have the grace of God can you live contrary to your evil human desires. Those are the two kinds of lifestyles that Peter introduces. First of all, lets talk about living for human, sinful desires€life outside the ark. Secondly well talk about living for the will of God€life inside the ark.

II. BodyA. Living Outside the Ark: Living for evil, human desires

1. Lifestylea. What kind of lifestyle is this? Verse 3 says, "for you have

spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do." Talking to Christians, hes saying that they used to be like this. "Living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry." So there hes describing the lifestyle outside of the ark. What kind of lifestyle is it?Debauchery means living without any regard for moral restraint. Especially giving oneself over to acts of sexual immorality or of acts of physical violence. Lust means our passions and human sinful desires which have strong influence on our behavior. God made human beings like that. We live according to our passions and desires. Only when that is changed will our lives be changed. Drunkenness is excess drinking. Orgies means banquets or feasts given to wild immorality. Carousing is drinking parties or drinking bouts. Lawless idolatry. (If you notice in the original lang uage, its plural. Acts of idolatry.) What does lawless idolatry mean? Its not spiritual lawlessness, for there is no lawfulidolatry, but civil idolatry. There are idolatrous acts that are even unlawful for governments. For example, child sacrifices; thats unlawful idolatry. Think about those things. Debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, lawless idolatry. Thats a lifestyle outside of the ark. Thats probably what they were doing when they refused to enter the ark in Noahs day.

b. The question is what does all this mean in todays context? You might not be a Christian, but youre saying, "Im not

that bad. I drink a little bit, but I dont get drunk and go to orgies. I dont sacrifice children." How can that apply to me? Or perhaps youre saying, "Hey, Im a Christian now, but I didnt live like that. I wasnt like that." What Peter is listing are theextreme things, the worst of all these things, because hes talking about the direction of life. Here are the worst things but if youre not a Christian, the common denominator is that you live according to evil human desires. You may not be there yet, but slowly but surely, youre getting there; youre living according to evil human desire s. You may not be involved in debauchery, but you have passions and sinful desires that you cant control. There are sins you are addicted to. Every heart is idolatrous. We love something, while our hearts are made to love God. We love something, someone; always wanting the approval of people. We have that tendency. The Bible says that if you think lustfully, its committing adultery. Is it the same sin? No, but its the same type of sin. The degree is different. Its the lustful thought that causesadultery. Its the hating heart that causes murder. Even though the degree is different, its the same kind of sin. Peters talking about the direction of life. Evil human desires can go in that direction or towards the will of God.

c. The same principle can be seen when you look at verse 1, "Arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." Does that mean that youre really done with sin? No, it means that you are going in that direction. If youre a Christian, if you have a lifestyle of denying yourself, it says that youre done with sin. We are never done with sin until we see Jesus face to face, but its the direction of our life. You may not get involved in these exact things but youre going in that direction. Once you have Christ as your Savior and Lord, though youre not done with sin, its a matter of time. Slowly but surely, there is progression€we are being sanctified and cleansed. We all have problems with certain of these areas, and we need to check them, but we are slowly but surely being changed. This is the lifestyle outside of the ark.

2. Justificationa. Verse 4 says, "They think it strange that you do not plunge

with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they

heap abuse on you." Notice Peter is thinking about the flood. Flood of dissipation. Its life outside the ark. How do you deal with it when you live that kind of sinful lifestyle? There is a popular term in the world called cope. "You cope with it." I hate that word, because even though I was a psych major, it sounds like there is no true answer. You just gotta deal with it. Cope sounds like youre going to get punched, so you pull your face back, even though you still get punched. I dont think Christians should use the word cope. I dont mean to erase it from your dictionary, but Christians have the answer. We dont cope with it; we will be healed by His power. The Bible says that there is an answer to all the sin problems in this world. We can be truly changed. We dont merely copy, but if the grace of God comes, we can overcome. We will be done with sin sometime. If youre outside the ark, youre diving into sin.

b. How do people cope with it? If you cant jump over a stick, you gotta lower it. Postmodernism says the same thing€if I cant meet the standard, what do I do? I make the standard. If my conscience says that what Im doing is wrong, I need to convince myself its OK. So we reason it out. We make all kinds of excuses. Then when Im convinced its not that bad, what I do is right, even though I used to think its wrong. Im the standard. There, the progression is that a sinner has become a mocker. Thats what verse 4 is saying, "They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you." They dont feel guilty anymore. Theyve coped with it already. Theyve dealt with it. Theyre convinced that theyre right and they heap insults on people who dont live that lifestyle. The first time is hard, the next time is easier. If you continue to do that, the line disappears. When our guilt is gone, we become mockers. We want people to live our lifestyle.

c. Its been well over ten years since the fall of the famous TV evangelist, Jim Bakker. Just a couple months ago I saw a TV show about the story of Jessica Han, whom he had the affair with. Man, after ten years they still put this story on TV. When I say Jim Bakker, people know. Religious leader make the headlines, because people raise the fall to the headlines€they are lowering the standard. Thats how they

cope with their sins, their guilt. If someone they think is holier than them, how do they deal with it? They lower the standard a little bit. They raise the fall to the headline, and they feel better. "You think youre pretty holy, dont you?"

d. How do you deal with it? Even though we cant do certain things with the people around us, we can do other things. When you deal with people, first we have commonality, then what has to happen if youre Christian is that you need to draw the line, but without a judgmental attitude€with a lot of love. "In my belief, I cant go over that line." Even though you cant participate in the acts they are doing, you can show love in so many other ways. "Im not rejecting you, but I cant participate in that type of behavior." You become Christians, like so many of your excellent testimonies last week at Easter service. I was so blessed, as well as everyone I talked to. If you make that radical lifestyle change, your friends will start to talk behind your back €those things will happen. Its good to have thick skin, but tender hearts. If you live it out, no matter what they say, through time, in their hearts, they will envy you. Because you have come out of that lifestyle, you were like that, but now youre different. Initially theyll judge you but slowly theyll realize what you have and envy you. A lot of times they want to get out, but they cant because they dont have the grace of God. When they are alone they will li sten. Dont beat them up for their lifestyle. Just love them.

e. These days Im befriending non-Christians as much as possible. I just love the guys Im befriending. When He was drinking water, Jesus befriended the woman at the well. When I play basketball, I try to befriend people. When Im at restaurants, I try to befriend people. I try to pray for them. I feel like I have two churches, CFC and the non-Christians I befriend. I just love them. When you love them, theyll want to listen to you. Some of the non-Christian guys made appointments with me. I canceled some of the appointments I had with you so I could meet with them. They ask me questions and I just love those times.

f. I realize something as I see many of our church guys in contexts other than church settings. In church, they look

like angels. But when I see them in places other than church, I realize something. A lot of guys make criticisms of our church. I used to say, "How can people say those kinds of things?" But now I say this. When I look at our lifestyle, I dont blame them. I dont blame them, because we do not live like people inside the ark. We need to do some radical repentance in our hearts and start to live it out. We really need to think like a Christian, live like a Christian, act like a Christian, talk like a Christian, be a Christian. And if we are loving to other people, they will come and ask you questions. They will come and want to talk to you. There are some guys I know who were really talking negative things about our church. A bunch of these guys last year, 5 or 6 of them, came and made an appointment with me. Why? Because I befr iended them. They made an appointment and we went to a Chinese restaurant. We ate a good dinner. They paid. We had a wonderful talk. Why would these people come and talk to me? Its because people are scared in their hearts. Theyre like little kids, in fear of death and uncertainty. They are in fear of eternal judgment. If you pray for them, God will stimulate that kind of thinking. That leads us to our third thing.

3. Destinationa. This is what theyre scared of. "But they will have to give

account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." Its a similar phrase that is mentioned in the preceding text. "Spirits in prison." "For this is the reason the gospel was preached." Because judgment is coming. Verse 6. People will persecute you and say negative things about you and you will be judged according to men while youre in the body and alive. But live according to God in regard to the spirit. On Judgment Day, everything will be paid. Judgment is coming. You can live however you want outside the ark, but if you dont get in, youll face the flood. You can live for yourself, but there will be payday someday.

B. Living in the Ark: Living for the Will of GodVerse 7, "The end of all things is near." We are living between the first and second comings of Christ; the Bible says that we are living in the end times. We dont know exactly when He will return. Most of the

major events have been fulfilled in prophecy. Jesus Christ will come anytime. He talks about three kinds of things we need to do as a result. Noahs family had eight people. They were a family, a church. Its the same thing for us; we are a family, a church. Its a family thing.

1. Praya. Peter is convicted, isnt he? Why? Because when he was

supposed to be praying, he fell asleep. Jesus had told him, "Pray that you will not fall temptation." So Peter says with conviction, "Be clear-minded and self controlled so you can pray." "Dont be like me." Three times he fell asleep and three times he fell into temptation. Pray that you will not fall into temptation.

b. Twice it says "so that your prayer will not be hindered." Verse 7, "So that you can pray." Theres another place in the last chapter. Look at 3:7. Hes talking to the husbands. "so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Then a couple verses later in 9, "do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." Then he continues through 10-12, and concludes, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Whats the difference verses 7 and 12? Both say that your prayers can be hindered. When he says to husbands, "so that nothing will hinder your prayers," I think the emphasis is on ones subjective prayer life. If you have a bad relationship, that consumes you (and that is so true, when you have a bad relationship with your wife, it consumes you) and you cant pray; it seems more subjective. Verse 12, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer" is more of an objective thing. God gives judgment until you clear it up and live a righteous life. If you have a righteous life your prayers will be answered. Verses 7 and 12 are talking about subjectively and objectively. When we sin or have bad relationships with others, our prayers are hindered.

c. Now going back to 4:7, "so that you can pray." Is this talking about the subjective or objective aspect of prayer? It seems to be more of a helpful suggestion on the subjective aspect. How can I pray? Its a great suggestion. Do you ever feel empty when you pray? It seems like theres a cloud;

youre hitting the wall? You just cant pray; its difficult and you fall asleep when you pray and all kinds of things come into your mid when you sit there and its hard for you pray? Well then, this verse is for you. "Be clear-minded" means to have sound judgment. "Be self-controlled" means to be sober from being intoxicated. Of course, it could apply to drinking alcohol, but if you drink the world, you are intoxicated by the things of the world and the joys of the world. What happens is that just like youre intoxicated by alcohol and it occupies your minds, when youre intoxicated by the world, it hinders your prayer life. have sound judgment and be sober from in toxication. You need to examine your life. Make a sound judgment according to Scripture, "Is this the wrong way?" "Is it getting my heart away from God?" You need to be sober from these things. Then you can pray. Let me say three brief things about prayer.

d. It implies that prayer can be hindered1. It can be clogged or block whether its a bad

relationship with others or a bad relationship with God. For some of you it might be computer games. When you close your eyes, things come down and pictures fill your mind. It implies your prayers can be hindered. It might be studying or guy or girl friends, not that those things are bad, but it can hinder our prayers.

e. What blocks our prayer is often how we live1. It concerns usage of our minds. Our minds are

consumed with what were passionate about. When youre addicted to certain things, intoxicated by the joy of those things, it blocks your prayer. What blocks our prayer life is how we live.

2. This is the sports season. Lets say you were watching three hours of sports before you come here. Then when I move my head like this, it looks like a football. It blocks our prayer.

f. Opening the way of prayer to God is a conscious endeavor

1. We need to examine ourselves and make conscious choices in our lives. We need to cut off what blocks our minds, so that our prayers will not be hindered.

Be clear-minded and self-controlled. Whatever you think about in your prayers is what you are intoxicated with.

g. During Lent, many people gave up a lot of things. But after Lent. Yes, I went to a Chinese restaurant after Lent was over. Only two times. Yes, I did watch TV. But usually after we give something up after forty days, we think, "Im free now!" And you indulge. I know you guys. That defeats the purpose of what you were doing. During Lent we abstain so we can be clear-minded and pray. The best time to pray is after Lent because we are free from the intoxication of those things. As youre free, now you can really pray. But people do the opposite; you indulge yourselves in the things of this world. Then its worse, because you put your guard down and get defeated spiritually. A lot of times people say they fall so much after Lent. Why ? Because you put your guard down. But it can also be a real time of growth. It cleanses our hearts and minds and helps us to pray and get closer to the Lord. Fasting prepares our minds and hearts to pray and get closer to the Lord. Now we are clean and now we can pray. But look at you! If you indulge yourself, it defeats the purpose of fasting. The reason we fast is to feast on Christ. Do not indulge yourself. Inside of the ark, pray.

2. Lovea. Thats what verse 8 is saying. "Above all, love each other

deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Verse 9 continues, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." Those verses begin with "above all". The most important thing is love. Two things are involved in love: Love and hospitality. Above all, love each other. Above all, its very important to love each other deeply. The word means intensely. It says love deeply and offer hospitality. The two things are related. Deeply means love with passion. Hospitality means love with action. Some people have one or the other. You have passion and heart but no actions. "Oh, I love him, yeah." But you dont do anything about it. Some people are doing everything for people, but have no passion. They say, "Uh huh, I love you,

Jesus" [in a depressed manner] and do all these things. But you gotta have be both passion and action. How?

b. The key is in verse 7, "Be clear-minded and self-controlled so you can pray." If you pray, the Holy Spirit comes and gives you His love. If you pray just like you pray for Jesus to come and preach through you, Jesus will come and show His love through you. Romans 5:5 says, "Because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit." How can we have love? We need to pray. Then what happens? We are so filled that we will spill His love, even if we dont want to. < B>We should be spillers of Gods love.

c. Verse 8 says, "each other." This is talking about people in the ark, believers in the church. Why not just everybody? Shouldnt we love those outside the ark? We should, but theres something about loving one another as believers in  the ark. Jesus says that by your love, they will know that you are My disciples. Theres power in loving each other as Christians because there is power in love in terms of evangelism. Loving each other as Christians is not just some n ice thing to do, but an absolute necessity in evangelism. When we love each other as small groups, people come to know the Lord. How many people become Christians through small groups? So many! Why? Because they are attracted to love. If you love people, whod want to stay away?

d. If you love each other, it covers over a multitude of sins. I talk to people who tell me that roommates dont talk to each other for 6 months. I ask them why. It all starts with little things piling up. That shows that you dont have true love. If you had true love, itd cover over a multitude of sins. Pray that the Holy Spirit will come and fill us with love for him and love for one another.

3. Servea. Verses 10 and 11 talk about that: "Each one should use

whatever gift he has received to serve others." Each one meansevery Christian has at least one gift. Every single one of you has something, some gift that you can contribute to the body of Christ, to one another. Every one of you has some kind of gift that God has given you. At

least one. Maybe half for some of you. But you have something. Each of you has something.

b. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others. The purpose of the gift is to serve, not to show.Thats the proper perspective. Whatever we can do is not some superficial thing, but its there to serve. For t hose peple who set up chairs today: Youre serving the seats to people. For those people who gave out hymnals today, youre serving hymnals to people. Those people who sang, and played guitar: You served music to people. For those people preaching today: You are serving sermons to people. For those people serving bagels: You are serving bagels to people. For all the pastors that are counseling: You are serving advice to people. We are just serving Him in everything we do. There is no room for superior attitudes. We are serving one another.

c. And it says , "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering Gods grace in its various forms." What does that mean? Its talking about the gifts. If the grace of God is like a beam of light, our gifts are the different colors that appear€as when light passes through a kaleidoscope. Different gifts are the means to show Gods grace. We are a kaleidoscopic array of different-ness. Thats Gods grace, Scripture says. And the grace of God comes in different forms and we serve. Thats why non-Christians can see the grace of God. If we serve and love each other like that, they will see it. There is power.

d. Verse 11 says, "If anyone speaks." If your gift is speaking, you should speak the words of God. It doesnt mean that every time we speak we quote Bible verses. But especially if your gift is like that, we should do it with the authority of God.

e. "If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides." When we serve, we gotta do it with Gods strength.We can serve with our strength or we can serve with Gods strength. How do we objectively see which one weve done? How do you know? You cant. Thats the scary thing. When you serve, you cant see whether youre serving with your strength or Gods strength. When will we know? On Judgment Day. You can do everything in this world, but

we cant tell by whose strength weve done it until we see Him on Judgment Day. Then Hell say, "You were doing it with your own strength." Or "You were doing it by My strength; well done, good and faithful servant." The results will be different. "If any one serves, he should do it with the strength God provides." If you do it with your own strength, self-exaltation is the result. If you do it with Gods strength, the glory of God is the result. If you do it with your own strength, there is no reward in heaven. If you do it with Gods strength, there will be an eternal reward.

f. When I can preach Gods message, I can do it with my strength. Ive preached for years and Ive done it enough times to do it by my own strength. I can conjure up something and make people laugh. "Wow, Pastor Min, thats pretty good." But no one will be converted or transformed. God is not glorified. Even though I might be preaching without much eloquence, which is usually the case, and it might not even be that funny or entertaining, but if Im doing it with Gods strength, your hearts will be touched and transformation of life will take place. Why? Because Im doing it with Gods strength and God is glorified and it results in praise, glory and honor on the day He returns. Thats my desire. "Lord, I dont care if I look bad, but be glorified through my effort." That should be the attitude of our hearts.

g. "To Him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen." Peter is saying, "Thats what Im praying. As Im writing this letter to the Diaspora, may I do it with Your strength and power so that You will be glorified, praised and honored forever and ever. Amen!"

h. How can God be glorified? We dont understand this word power. He already has power, doesnt He? It means dominion. "To Him be the glory and dominion." So whatever I do, may it glorify Him. Reign in me. Dominate me. Every corner of my heart, physical strength and emotions, may You take rule. Be king over my soul; then He will be glorified.

i. How can this happen? How can He dominate my life? How can He rule and be Lord over my life? Verse 7 says, "the end of all things is near, therefore be clear-minded and self-

controlled so that you can pray." May He rule over my soul so He ll be glorified. Rule over my emotions, strength and spirit so everything I do will result in His glory and as people see the glory of God through my actions and how I treat them in love and treat one another in love, theyll come and ask questions: " ;What is the reason for why you live like that? I want that." Then theyll glorify the Lord.

III. ConclusionA. Pray to the Lord for a few minutes. There might be some of you who

have never trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. And you know in your heart there is emptiness. Youre living according to your wishes and desires. You may not be that bad in eyes of people€maybe youre a nice guy and youre heard that all your life. But heres the thing. When you stand before God, Hes not going to judge you on how nice you were in comparison to other people. Hell judge you according to the standard of Gods Word and youll stand there defenseless against Gods standard. You cant lower it or do anything to change it. What you need to do right now is humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. Say, "Lord Jesus, help me. I need your strength and power to cleanse my desires. There are evil desires within. I need your help." As you humble yourself, the Lord will come and your life will never be the same again. Why do you sin? Because you want to. Why do Christians sing praises to the Lord? Becau se we love to. Sure we sin at this moment but Hes changing in us our desires; Hes giving us strength to go on in our lives. Do pray that, because if you dont, one day youll stand defenseless before the mighty hand of God. If youre Christian you need to pray that we can love and serve. We are intoxicated by things of this world. What causes passion in our hearts? Lent is over, but Easter is forever. We serve the resurrected Christ! Continue to disassociate yourself from sin and the sinful desires of this world, so we can pray, so He can give us strength to love people and serve Him. People will come and ask questions: "How in the world can you do that?" We need to live that kind of lifestyle. Lets pray at this moment for the strength to change us, transform us, so well be the people in the ark. Just like it was in the days of Noah, the end is coming and people are dying in sin and in the flood of dissipation. Do you really care? We need to pray that we will love, that we will serve. It starts with our clear-minded, self-controlled prayer. Lets pray at this moment.

B. There are two different kinds of lifestyles according to the Bible. You can do whatever you want. You can live that kind of lifestyle, but there will be payday someday. Everyone of us will stand before God. You

have to answer His questions. " ;What did you do with your life? Did you live according to your wishes or Mine?" If you lived that kind of lifestyle, theres emptiness. Theres longing. Still drinking salt water, doesnt satisfy your thirst. intoxicated by the world. You need to come to Him today and say, "Lord, help me." My heart is filled with sin. I justify my sin, I give excuses, forgive me. Holy Spirit come into my heart and cleanse me. Jesus I need you to cleanse my sins, to be my Lord and Savior. You need to pray. He will surely come. I dont know when, but He will surely come and transform you and your life will never be the same. For Christians pray be clear-minded and self-controlled. Pray. The end is near. Love and serve. There are so many people dyin g without Jesus Christ. Lets live it out, act like it, live like a Christian. We need to corporately repent for the behavior that does not truly exemplify Christ as a body. Not pointing fingers at one another, but really that God will cleanse our church to be better representatives of Christ. Lets pray to the Lord for a few minutes.

 

Suggested Closing Song:

Hear My Prayer

I Will Never Be

I Believe in You

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