A reading from the book of Psalms, the 23rd:

The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the paths of righteousness for his namesake.

And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows.

And surely your goodness and love shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Let's pray together.

Father, we love you and we thank you.
And there are, throughout your word, so many different word pictures and adjectives and attributes
that describe who you are.
They could never fully define who you are.
As your word says, you're unfathomable.

That it's kind of like man thinking that he can alone plunge the depths,
the deepest depths of an ocean with no protection,
knowing full well you just can't get there.
But you're also so wonderful that in that deep ocean,
there is still a place that we can enter gently and safely from the shore.

And that's who you are.
You're unfathomable, but it doesn't mean you're unapproachable.
And you have so profoundly defined yourself in ways to help our minds
comprehend what can be known about you.

And so, Father, today we're going to climb into your word.
And it is important that we understand who you are, who Christ is,
that we might comprehend what you're calling us to do.
We love you and thank you.
In Jesus' name, we pray to you.

And all of God's people said, Amen.

---

Well, good morning.
I'll dive in in just a moment. Thank you all so much for your concerns, your messages, your emails,
everything you did on Facebook. Tammy is doing better.
We're on the right road.
We were able to get into Vanderbilt on Monday,
and she's been under Vanderbilt's care since 2019.
So they're very familiar with Tammy's condition.

And if you didn't know, last week at the 11, Tammy had a very substantial seizure
while sitting right here in the room.
And it led to us having to end the service and ask everybody to leave
while she was taken out via ambulance to the med center.
They got her stabilized.
We took her Monday. I did, of course, immediately to Vanderbilt.
And so we're on a good, solid treatment path.
Each day is a little bit better.
And it's a setback for sure.
But we're used to setbacks.
We're used to dealing with this.
And the one thing you do is you get up the next day
and you do exactly what's in front of you, trusting that God is already with you.

So thank you.
We'll keep you up to date on how she's doing.
And she'll probably be back in the building in a couple of weeks.
And I'll tell you now, when she gets back under these conditions,
she can get quite claustrophobic.
So a quick hello would be great.
Mauling her will not be good.
We'll have a police officer with her who will be rude if he has to be
because we're going to have to deal with that.
We can't, you just can't take up that oxygen space.
It's too overwhelming when she's battling seizures, okay?
Thank you so much. God bless you.

---

So up and within a few days, maybe 10 days or so now,
a little bit less than that, we have Veterans Day coming.
What is a day that you should?
It's different than Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is certainly, the word tells you,
is where we celebrate those who gave it all, you know?
And November 11th is the day we celebrate the all who gave some.

And it's amazingly important that you pause and you recognize and you understand the
significance of what it means to wear the uniform in this great country.

And as I was preparing for today, and my phone is on,
and if it rings, it's Tammy, so just deal with it.
I'm going to answer it. I promise you that.

But one of the things about joining the U.S. military,
number one, you have to understand, it is a 100% volunteer organization.
Everybody who's in has willfully volunteered to join it.
They were never forced. They volunteered to do it.

And when they raise that right hand, and they accept the responsibilities to wear the uniform of this great nation,
the taking on of those responsibilities is only part of what really happens.
It's rare that we contemplate what they give up in order to take on.

And they willfully surrender some of the inalienable rights
that the Constitution of the United States guarantees all its citizens.
And they willfully, willfully surrender certain aspects of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Like, number one, they do have limited free speech.
They are not allowed to participate in political campaigns.
They cannot have political signs.
They can never make a political statement in uniform. Never.
They don't have that right anymore.
They give up their First Amendment right to participate in what is free and open elections in a free and open way.

So I'm hoping that, you know, more and more and more people will join the military.
Wouldn't that be great?
Get a little bit more quiet in America right now. That'd be great.

They give up aspects of their Fourth Amendment rights.
They give up aspects of their Sixth Amendment rights.
They give up aspects of their Seventh Amendment rights.
They don't have the protection of a warrant must be issued before a search and seizure.
They give that up. Did you know that?
That they must surrender to a commanding officer.
They knock on your door. You're letting them in. Or you'll be court-martialed.
Did you know that?

That they're willing to say, you know what? My life is open to inspection at any time, at any moment.
It's insane.

They cannot go to a foreign country, fall in love, and marry a non-citizen without permission of the United States government.
Did you know that?
I know. It's crazy, isn't it?

So when you really begin to contemplate what it means to serve this great nation
and all the responsibility they take on, I think it's equal.

It's really important for us to understand all the rights they give away.
And they're doing it for the common good.
They're doing it because they understand
that there's something good about being in this nation.
It's something good about protecting the integrity, the dignity, the honor
of being in this great nation and defending others when they're vulnerable and powerless to defend themselves.

And that's a phenomenal reality, isn't it?

Well, I hope we could get that down, not only for November 11th,
but that is exactly what the Bible is asking you to do as a follower of Jesus Christ.

As you are called to willingly give up certain portions of your inalienable rights as a human being,
not only in this nation, but just as a human being
and the rights that God gives all human beings,

it's an unbelievable privilege to raise your right hand and swear your allegiance to Christ.
But you better understand, you do give up some of your First Amendment rights.
That sometimes God would rather us keep our mouths shut politically
so that we're then in a position to speak spiritually.

Do you know that?
Do we realize that the right to exercise your rights, you give some of that up.
And why? For the common good.
There's a purpose behind it.
And it isn't just to be different, which is the word holy, to be different.

But you'll see today, Peter realized, while in the midst of the Roman Empire,
this would actually be the way to make the biggest difference.

Is that if we began to do things and respond to the culture in which we find ourselves,
which is certainly very different today than the Roman Empire,
we could actually be put in a position to demonstrate something you rarely see in the world.

Okay?

Because if I were to come to you and say, okay, as a follower, you need to submit to everyone,
you'd be like, I don't think so, bro. I got my First Amendment rights.
Not anymore, you don't.

You don't get to just wing that out there without consciously, cautiously thinking,
is my political opinion more important than my spiritual positioning?
That's a great question. How often do we ask it?

Like in the workplace.
No, man, I got rights.
I know you do. But could it possibly be God might say to you, no, you don't.
Not in this situation. I need you to be quiet. And do what you're told to do.

And all of the employers in this room said, well, hey, man, preach, Greg. Preach, right?

So there's a concept here that sounds really like, hmm, I'm not into that.
And then I ask you to go back and think about the men and women,
the two million plus who serve this country willfully,
who willfully give up some of their rights for the common good.

Could you imagine if they decided at any given time that when the captain said, take the hill,
they're like, dude, I ain't taking that.
You know, whether you're going to go to jail for the rest of your life.
Did you know that?

You know, it's still lawful under certain circumstances to shoot a defector.
But think about what it would be like.

Imagine the fire department, BG, Bowling Green Fire Department.
They pull up your house on fire and the new guys get off the truck and the captain says,
all right, grab the hose.
Like, I ain't grabbing the hose. I don't pull hoses.

What if Bowling Green Police Department showed up at your house and there's a criminal in there
and the guy gets out of the car and says, I'm just going to wait for him to come out.
Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

That you don't benefit by.
It's just a principle we've got to participate in.
Believing to the core of who we are, there is a benefit to this.

Okay. Today's big idea.

And there are limits. Certainly.
We can. We can submit.
You really can do this to the world's leadership without surrendering to the world's values.

Okay.
We can surrender to leadership without surrendering to values.
And that's the key.

So, Peter writing to these churches in Turkey, who have yet to experience the same type of persecution,
probably some of it, but not nearly as bad.

And the very first word Peter says to these people on this subject is our favorite word ever, submit.

Like, all we want to do is throw up when, as Americans, we get that word in our mouth.
I submit to nobody ever. I've got my rights.

And here's what he's saying, submit yourselves.
You actually have a choice.
You have a choice whether to do this or not. You do.
But then you've got to deal with the consequences of not doing it.

You have every right in the world not to do this if you don't want to.
Go right ahead.

The Bible also says, thou shalt not kill.
And if you don't want to pay attention to that, you don't have to.
It says you shouldn't lie. You shouldn't steal. You shouldn't commit adultery.
God's not going to force you to do this.

But what I can tell you is not living like this brings consequences into your life.
And if we're going to be thinking of the good, the good of the whole.
The good of the lost, not even the good of the church.

And we've got to be people who are willing to willingly submit ourselves.
And it means to get in line.
It means to, yes, in some respects, come under.

And I'm going to tell you, like, this is going to be a whole lot easier than next week when
it says, wives, submit unto your husbands. Boo.
I know. I know.

But you've got to come because nobody understands that word.
Okay? I'm not going to define it this week. I'll define it next week for you.

But get in line. Why? Why would we do that? Why do we do it?
For the Lord. There's your motivation.

Okay? It isn't because submission is what we're called to, so to speak.
We just got to be submitted.
It isn't certainly for women. You just got to be submitted.
No, that's not the point.

The point is we're doing this for a reason.
And that reason is the Lord.
Because the Lord's up to something with it.

Okay? There is a purpose to this practice.
And he has intention, holy, eternal intentions of why he's calling his people to willingly.

Can you imagine being a Roman citizen and hearing this?
I am not submitting to this.
And Peter's like, yes, you will.
And they did in the hundreds.

Submit to every human authority.

Now Paul talks about governing authorities ordained by God in Romans 13.
Now Paul talks about governing authorities ordained by God in Romans 13.
Now Paul talks about governing authorities ordained by God in Romans 13.
Now Paul talks about governing authorities ordained by God in Romans 13.

This is even worse than that.
This is every human authority.

So, when you're in the grocery store at the checkout line.
And you think they rung up the wrong price.
Okay? Certainly, bring that up.
But you got to submit.
You got to do it with honor and respect.

That 16-year-old kid with pimples on his face is in authority over you in that store.
You're like, no, they're not.
Okay. Grab a can of green beans and walk out the door.
Grab.

And that 16-year-old will call the police.
And guess who had more authority than you?
The 16-year-old with acne.

When you're in the restaurant, that person serving you has authority over you.
You're a guest in that restaurant.

When you go to work tomorrow, it's every human authority.
Peter is ratcheting this up.

And so, whatever there's a positional supervision or authority, we have one choice.
Choice, submit to it for the Lord's sake.

Now, he's up to something, okay?
And we've got to get this mindset down, okay?

Now, don't submit to anything that isn't a human authority, which would be demonic,
which could be spiritual warfare.
You've got to be very careful because the devil does.
He has his angels masquerading as angels of light trying to perform miraculous signs
and wonders so profound they can deceive the elect.

It's good to know we don't submit to demonic authority, okay, or the ruler of the air.
We only submit to human.

Whether it's emperors or the supreme authority or to the governor.
Now, we don't have an emperor, but we do have a president.
We don't have an emperor, but we do have a governor.
We don't have an emperor, but we do have a judge executive.
We have a city mayor.
We've got a chief of police.
We've got principals in high schools, parents.
They're positionally in charge.
They're in charge of that school.

What do you got to do? Submit to that.

You're like, but I don't like the way they're running the school.
Well, then you've got to go through proper channels.
And what are those proper channels?
It's usually the voting booth. Vote better.

I'm not paying my taxes. Why? Because I don't like what they're doing with it.
Vote better.

But once the vote's been cast and it's in, you've got one role.
You've got to submit, right?

And many people, and we're very close to a very thin edge right now in America where we think,
you know, like God wants.
You're a Christian president. That's not in the Bible.

How do you know that?
I look back and I see Nebuchadnezzar used by God.
I see he completely, I mean, he brought about more reform for Israel than any of Israel's kings.

Don't be so sure that God can't use a godless person in the White House to achieve his godly purpose.
Like, I know better. That's your problem. You're not willing to submit.

Do I believe it'd be better to have a born-again believer? Absolutely. That's what I believe.
But it doesn't mean that's what God wants at any given moment.

So what happens when there's a president in the office you don't like? Submit.
I know. You're like, nope. Ain't doing it.
Okay. Okay. Don't. All right? Because God's up to something.

Okay? So whoever it is, and even the ones that are sent by him to punish people who do wrong
and commend those who do right. Woo.

Okay. Okay.

So why? Because it's God's will. It's God's will.

That how many of you in this room would love to shut up the ignorant talk of foolish people?
And all of God's people said?
I want to shut up the ignorant talk of foolish people.

The ignorant talk of foolish people.

How do you shut ignorant people up? By doing good.
By doing good, you should silence, which means muzzle.
Put a muzzle on it.

Wouldn't you love that? Wouldn't you like to put a muzzle on your boss tomorrow?
No. Tell him when you go in tomorrow, hey, man, I brought my muzzle.
Oh, really? What are you going to do?
I'm going to clean the break room.
What? Yeah, no, don't worry about it. I got it.

They're going to be like, I, but.
You know what you just did? You silenced the ignorant fool in his talk.

How do you silence the ignorance of this world?
How do we stop all those idiotic talking heads that from left to right and straight down
the middle are nothing more than ignorant fools because they think they know everything and
ultimately they know nothing.

They have a very limited perspective and many of the followers of God are getting a two-minute snippet from their favorite news source.

And at the end of the day, God's like, you want to put, you want all the vitriol to go away?
You want all that nonstop lobbying of bombs from right to left and left to right?
All this bloodletting when there's disagreement in policies?

How do we shut up? How do we shut up?
Ignorant people left, right, and down the middle do good, right?

Isn't that amazing? There's a purpose to this that we literally like our good deeds could be so loud that
people can no longer even hear the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Now, how do you want that world? See, God's up to something.

Okay. We can submit to authority because it's the way to silence
the ignorant talk of foolish people.

And you'll see it. I think it's two weeks from now.
Peter's going to give us some great advice.
We don't out-argue anybody.
He's going to tell us to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks for
the hope that lies within you, but do it with gentleness and respect.

He doesn't tell us to have an answer for every question.
He says, have an answer for anyone one who asks, right?

And so this is the beginning of Peter preparing us.

Listen, this isn't about giving up anything.
Live as free people.

What's the greatest expression of freedom?
The willingness to raise your right hand and say, I'll serve my country.

The greatest expression of freedom is to willingly give some of your freedom away, right?

So how do we express true spiritual freedom in this world?
Be willing to give some of that freedom away.

Show, be like Christ, show restraint, right?
Don't use your freedom as a cover-up for evil.

Live as God's slaves.

And this important word, because here's the thing.
It isn't like God's telling us to get out there and let the world master you.
You already have a master.

Read Romans six and seven.
God is our master now, and he's a good one.
A kind one.
A gracious.
A generous one.

So God isn't calling us to go into the world and let the world master us.
We have one. It's God.
And we operate in that realm, right?

Show proper respect to everyone.

So which person on this earth am I not supposed to show proper respect to?
No one. This is everyone, everyone, everyone.
A level of honor.

It's the same word down here as honor.
Proper level of respect to all people, but it is different in the family of God.
We love deeply.

Now I know the Bible says for us to love our neighbor as ourself.
I get that.
But this is a distinctive love.

Like us respecting the world is very different than us loving one another, right?
The Bible is very clear.

Therefore as you have opportunity, do good to all people, but especially to those in
the family of God.

Because we're creating a distinctive community, a different community.

So when you're in the world, yeah, you got to respect everyone.
But in the house, you got to love everyone.

And then he says, fear God, honor the emperor.

Boy, there's a difference.

Am I supposed to fear authority?
No, you'll see in a second.

The authority is only there to beat people who choose not to do good.
If you do good, you got nothing to worry about.

Like should I fear the president?
No, I don't. I don't fear him.
I fear God.
And I got to honor him.
I honor the office.
I honor the person, the governor, whoever it is.

But do I fear him? Absolutely not.
No, I don't fear him.

Do I fear the police department?
Absolutely not.
I have no fear of them. None. None.

Why should I? I'm doing good. I'm not doing wrong. Why should I?
Why should I fear them?
I honor them. I don't fear them. I fear God.

Right.

I know.

Slaves, very different word, okay?
This is doulos, the actual word for a person who is an indentured servant.

The NIV does a terrible job here.
This should be servant, not slave, because this is not the same word.

This is oikos, which means a house servant, basically an employee of the home.

Now certainly in that day, the employee rights were very, very different, but they weren't indentured.
They weren't enslaved, so to speak.
They were working for people who, and there were doctors and attorneys and others that fell into this category, okay?

So the one category I have God as my master.

Here, this is basically saying you've got to be an honorable employee.
You've got to be an honorable participant in whatever part of the market economy that you are in,
and do that in reverent fear of God.

And doing that, you submit yourself to whoever the boss is, okay?
So we're called to be good, submissive employees.
We're supposed to operate at a high level of honor.

Okay? At work, okay?
So being a rabble rouser, not allowed, all right?

And I don't know how much you might know about workplace safety, workplace organization.
When did it really begin, when workplace laws and all of that began to get birthed?
Just before the, and certainly after the industrial revolution.

But you know, the Bible's been talking about worker safety.
Worker safety and worker care for thousands of years.

God's the one who said in the beginning, they've got to have a day off.
God knew everybody needs to stop working for a day.

God's the one who said a man is worth his wage, you've got to pay them fairly.
God's the one who said you've got to pay each person before the sun goes down.

And when they began to enact and implement workplace safety and all those other legislations,
you'll never guess what was the most influential book that impacted all that.
Yeah. It's called the Bible.

The Bible's been speaking to workers for thousands of years.

So it isn't that the Bible's like, oh, I got to go work in this sweatshop.
No, no, no.

We're the one, there's rules and regulations within the Bible, believe it or not, about the workplace.

But one rule and regulation that's not in there is insurrection.

You may not like what's going on at work.
You have two options, submit or quit, turning the place upside down on its head.

You don't get to do that.
You don't get to do that.

You don't get to be an insurrectionist.
You don't get to go behind your supervisor's back because you don't like the way they're leading and you're trying to sabotage their future.

You don't get to do that. Sorry.

Matthew 18 says, if you don't like the way they're leading, go to them, not behind them, not around them.

You're like, yeah, but this, I like that. What about my rights?

Exactly. You raised that right hand.
You took on the incredible gift of being a follower, but also the incredible responsibility of submitting.

Submitting because God's up to something.
He's up to something, right?

You go to work and again, you're not anybody's doormat because you have a master,
but you got to understand what God's up to because he's going to do great things through those who do what he's asking them to do.

So if you're an employee in reverent fear of God, submit yourselves to your employers as your masters,
not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.

Oh, I don't like that.

Four. Therefore, it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering.

Why?

Okay. Because they're conscious of God.

This is driven by a God consciousness, which is at the depth of your soul.
Your conscious thoughts always go back to God.

I have a consciousness and you're going to see what you need to know about him.
I've already given you a little bit in the 23rd Psalm.

This isn't me being a good boy.
This isn't me a good girl.
This isn't me being a good citizen.

At the end of the day, it's all driven by my consciousness of God almighty.
And if he called me to it, he will see me through it and that I can trust that he's up to something in this world
and he wants us to be different so that we can make a difference.

And that difference is in order to watch lost people be saved.

Okay?

He, this is not a wasted situation.
It's not wasted effort.
It's not we're going out there and being everybody's pawns.

No, we're actually, we actually have more power than the world.
You know why? Because we're willingly doing this.
Willingly doing this.

My freedom allows me to decide what parts of that freedom I'm going to, nobody's taking it from me.
I'm laying it down.

And when we do that, God's going to do something powerful.

We can submit in very difficult situations.
We can submit in very difficult situations without surrendering our dignity.

Okay? You're not giving up anything of who you are.

Okay? It's powerful.

But how would it be to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?

Right? So like if you go in and you know, you throw your, a hissy fit and they're like, congratulations, you're fired.

What's the church supposed to do?
Whoa. Way to go. I'm so proud of you for sticking up for yourself. That's phenomenal.

Like we're going to congratulate you for losing your job because you stood up for yourself.

I was like, no, that's not what you're called to.

I don't think, you know, I think it's great that, you know, I protested. That's great.

But why'd you throw the rock through the window?
Well, cause I want them to know I was serious.

Congratulations. You're going to jail.

Right? There's no blessing for the beating because you've done something wrong.

Okay? But Christ sets you the example.

Okay? The example is not doing wrong.

But if you suffer for doing good and you endure that, now this is commendable before God.

And we, we're not like Peter, we're not having to worry about getting convicted of a crime and drug off and killed and lit on fire.

So what is, what, what is the price that we're having to pay for doing good?

In America, it's inconvenience.

Inconvenience.

You're being inconvenienced.

You're not being beaten.

You're not being imprisoned.

You're not being impaled.

We're not being covered in animal's blood and thrown in before the lions or the packs of dogs that drag us all around the streets and maul us and kill us.

It's, you see, in Rome, it was against the law for a Christian to do good.

And when they did good in the name of that Christos, that Christ guy, the abomination, then they were convicted of doing good.

You realize it is not against the law to do good.

And so the question would be, if it's not against the law to do good, then why aren't we doing more good?

Why aren't we pushing the good envelope?

Why don't we push it all the way to the brink?

Thank you, brother.

All the way to the brink of illegality, where we make such a, we make such a difference.

The thought might be, we got, we got to make that illegal.

The church can no longer buy gifts for kids that go to church.

They can't go to public school.

Now, that is a law we'll violate because you can't legislate against what God's called us to do.

Sorry about that.

Can you imagine them put, yeah, I can imagine a world where that might happen.

They got that blend church.

You got to separate church and state.

You're not allowed to give the names to the church because then the church is going to proselytize and then they proselytize.

These kids might get saved and you can't have that.

Right.

So, why are we not pushing?

Let me put it this way.

If the Commonwealth of Kentucky outlawed doing good deeds tomorrow, would there be enough evidence to convict you of violating that law?

Bottom line.

And truthfully, the men and women of our United States military are paying a much higher price for the protection of this nation than most the church of Jesus Christ is paying for the protection of the human soul.

You're like, I'm not so sure about that.

Really? They haven't received a paycheck in quite a while.

You working for free?

You know how many of those moms are trying to raise their kids on these bases that aren't getting a paycheck and their husband's in Europe.

He's in the Middle East. He's in Asia and mom's raising three, four kids and they're flat broke because they're not getting a dime from the government.

That's a whole lot more than inconvenience.

Right.

And all God's calling his people to do is do good.

Don't grow weary in doing good for at the proper time, you will reap a harvest if you don't give up.

There's something distinctive about doing good when you're not compelled to do so.

And God will use that every opportunity.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, what's going to happen if that opportunity gets removed?

Right.

God's up to something because to this you were called because Christ see Christ suffered.

We're called to a little bit more than inconvenience.

Okay.

And you know my heart, we're going to do whatever we got to do for as long as we got to do it to reach as many kids and youth as we can.

And I think it's a powerful opportunity with 600 plus kids this Christmas to move and step into their lives and let them just let them know they haven't been forgotten.

They haven't been overlooked.

And do we have to knock on their door and deliver that and put the family in that awkward, shameful position?

No, no, no, no.

We trust God.

God takes the good and does the glory.

We just do the good, do the good, do the good.

And when we do good, we silence the ignorant talk of foolish people who think the church is all about itself.

That the church is all about money.

It's all about money.

Yeah.

Well, you know what?

We sent an email out to every family that has children this week.

It was Kristen's idea.

And right now, Kristen's actually in labor.

Kristen Lawson giving birth to a child.

Where's she at? Right now.

Yeah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

And literally, she wheeled herself into my office in a rolling chair.

Okay.

And I'm like, go home.

She's like, no, I can't go home. I want to move as much as I can. I need this baby out of me.

I said, okay.

And she said, let's do it.

I said, it's a great idea.

And we're prepared to take on 200 to 300 to 400 different families, whoever needs.

And so, not only did we, we're getting tons of replies from people in our church who won't have the money to have a decent meal because of SNAP benefits.

So, what are we going to do?

We're going to do good.

Sure, we could get out there and say the government's things, the rotten government, Trump and the Democrats.

Or we can shut our mouths and shut up those ignorant people by just doing good.

Feed them.

Right? It's a whole lot easier.

And then all the ignorance is like, you just silence the ignorant talk.

We're prepared to spend upwards of somewhere between 15 and 30 grand to feed families.

Okay?

And you know how we're able to do that?

You foolish people give.

It's not my money.

We're positioned to take advantage of these opportunities to do good.

Not to be right.

Got no time for that.

But we can do good.

Right?

This is the thing.

And you follow in his steps.

Who paid the highest price that we could be forgiven.

Right?

So how do we see, like, how do we get through this?

Are we going to be forgotten?

No.

Remember, Peter says, he committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

When they hurled their insults at him, this is all from Isaiah 53.

He didn't retaliate when he suffered.

He didn't make any threats.

Peter's calling to mind Isaiah 53.

He's like, listen.

As a lamb is silent before its shearer.

So Christ was silent before his accusers.

He didn't retaliate.

He didn't threaten them.

Like on the cross, if I were on the cross, I'd be like, wait till I come back. It ain't going to be good.

What's he say?

Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.

Right.

And he made no threats.

Instead, he turned himself over to him who judges justly.

Don't worry about all that nonsense.

There's a judge and he judges justly.

Just put it to bed.

There's more to every situation than ever meets the eye.

He knows it all.

I know I'm pretty passionate about veterans getting their money and people getting their food.

It's a bigger issue than me.

I can argue with that all day or we can do good.

He himself bore, took on our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for doing the right things in the right way.

Righteousness.

And by his wounds, you've been healed of the greatest ailment that will ever strike against the human body and soul and that is sin and its penalty thereof.

The Lord is my shepherd and I've got everything I need.

And he leads me by quiet waters.

Right.

You know, this past week when the hurricane just before it hit Jamaica,
the outer bands were hitting it.

The United States Air Force and the weather group that flies,
and may God richly bless them, they surely need help.

They fly their airplane into the middle of this till they penetrate the eye wall.

Phenomenal.

That was this week.

And I didn't capture, I couldn't capture the whole photo,
but this is directly from them and there's a little time stamp and a slight report.

When they penetrated the eye wall, they give a report.

And you'll never guess what it said in that report.

Found a large flock of birds in the eye.

Just flying.

Smart birds.

Because they know where the calm is in the midst of the storm.

And as the storm moves, so did the birds.

Stuck with it.

They were in the eye.

Surrounded by absolute utter chaos, but completely safe and calm because they're in the middle of that storm.

Right in the eye.

And that's us.

Because we have a shepherd.

We have an overseer of our soul that Peter would write.

Because it's the last thing he says.

We've returned to the shepherd.

We have an overseer.

This is poimen and presbyteros.

We have a bishop of our soul.

An episcopoi.

The one who administers for us.

He's our key administer of God's graces in our life.

In other words, the bishop and overseer run the church.

This is running your life.

And we have a shepherd in this world.

We have one who will protect us.

One who will provide for us.

One who secures us and keeps us well fed.

Because he's a good shepherd, it says in John 10.

How do we operate like this in a crazy world?

We experience the peace that transcends all understanding.

Do you really know where the greater danger is?

Just on the outside of that wall.

You don't got to go far to find it.

And what we need to do is be people who do good.

And communion is this beautiful and constant reminder that we have a shepherd who not only died.

A savior who not only saves.

But ongoing provision in the midst of all of this insanity.

He's always reminding us.

Through this beautiful moment.

For as long as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death until I come.

I'm your shepherd. I've got you.

I am the good shepherd.

So as we celebrate today, let us consume the reality of who he is.

And that's what gets us through what God's called us to do.

Do good. Submit.

And look what Christ did.

And look how it benefited you.

If you're serving communion, I'd love it if you'd make it to your station.

This beautiful meal, the Lord's supper or communion, whichever term.

They're both legitimate in the Bible.

Is a moment when the people of God come to the Lord's table.

To be reminded of what he did and to be encouraged by what he's going to do.

It's the meal in the middle, if you will.

And the power of this meal in the middle is only available for those who know the Lord.

Who know that he is, in fact, your shepherd.

And that you have believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

And you spoke with your mouth that he is Lord.

The Bible's very clear about that.

You will then be saved.

But if you haven't accepted Christ, do not come.

Because you take judgment on yourself.

And if you think the wrath, the coming wrath of that storm heading towards Montego Bay was something.

I'm not sure you comprehend the nature of God's coming wrath.

I wouldn't poke my finger in his face and say I'm going to do what I want to do because I want to do it.

I would ask you to humbly not come and take it.

More importantly, I would absolutely exhort you, encourage you.

I'll go so far as to beg you to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

The Bible says on the night of his betrayal, he took the bread.

He blessed the bread and then he broke the bread.

And he said, take this all of you and eat from it.

This is my body which is being given up for you.

The Bible says when they were done eating, again, he took the cup.

Again, he gave thanks and said, take this all of you and drink from it.

This is the cup of my blood.

The blood of a new and everlasting cup.

This is the covenant.

It is being shed for you and for all men so that sins might be forgiven.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death until I come.

At Crossland, we participate by a method that's called intinction or rip and dip.

And we rip and we dip while we're standing there and participating.

Subject: Submit To Everyone! | Crossland Community Church

Dear Crossland Community Church,

I hope you’ve been thinking about what it really means to submit to authority for the Lord’s sake as we live out our faith in a world that often pushes back.

Last Sunday, we unpacked Peter’s call to willingly submit to every human authority—not because we lose our dignity or freedom, but because God is up to something bigger through our obedience. We reflected on how those who serve in the military give up rights for the common good, and how, as followers of Christ, we too are called to lay down parts of our freedom to do good and silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Submission isn’t about being doormats; it’s about honoring God by respecting those in authority while holding fast to our identity in Christ, even when it’s inconvenient or difficult.

So here’s the challenge: don’t just talk about your rights or complain about leadership—choose to do good in your workplace, your home, and your community, even when it’s hard. Remember, your submission is a powerful witness that can quiet the noise and point others to the hope we have in Christ. And when you face unfair treatment or hardship, keep your eyes on Jesus, the Good Shepherd who leads us beside quiet waters and strengthens our souls.

Blessings,
Crossland Community Church Team