Good morning pastor john cradle here coming to you from saddle Creek coffee company as a result of Mission Grove Church not having physical services this morning, thank you for wherever you're turning in, whether you're watching on our website, on youtube or on social media. I pray that this message will encourage you from God's word and that may it challenge you to live out your faith in this time of unsettled nous and chaos. So let me pray for us as we go into this morning's message and let me pray for you wherever you're watching this message from and then we will dive into God's word together. Dear heavenly father, we lift up our nation right now. God I pray for wisdom and those in leadership as we can best handle this pandemic of the coronavirus con I pray that we can respond with wisdom. God I pray that we can respond in love and that as we gather together. Now really across this community watching online together, I pray that we can be challenged by your word and changed by what you have for us. It's in your son's name. We pray amen. Pastor D. L. Moody once told a story about a woman who lived in the 5th floor attic of an old apartment building in downtown Chicago. Now this woman was secluded to this fifth floor addict because of a severe illness that kept her hidden with inside this Dungy room. Now a friend of hers came to visit her and brought along with her a wealthy woman and as they entered the building, the wealthy woman asked where is the elevator? And he said, this is an old facility, there is no elevator. And so as they started to walk up the stairs, they got to the third floor. And this wealthy woman said, man, it's so dark in here. And her friend said it's okay, let's keep walking. And it gets better higher up. And so they kept going up to the stairs and then once they got to the 5th floor he said he said man this is so Dungey and gross and dark. And the lady said no trust me it gets better higher up. So then they entered the addict and they spent the next few hours with just a saintly wonderful woman hearing her story and her positivity found in the person of jesus. And this wealthy woman's heart was changed and she turned to this woman who had been ill written in bed stricken and said, how is it that you can keep such a great attitude surrounded by such darkness in this dingy place in an apartment. And the lady from her bed without hesitation said it's because it gets better higher up. You see she had a view of eternity and when she had her eyes on eternity, she found peace in her problem. And today we're going to dive into 1st Peter Chapter four. And I think it's such a timely Passage because I planned our study about six months in advance. And so we've been walking through week by week, verse by verse through the study of First Peter and here we land on the passage that perfectly goes along with our struggles and unsettled this here as we battle the coronavirus. And so the question and tension that arises when people suffer and they go through hard times is why does God allow suffering now? This is one of the toughest questions that I face as a pastor and rather than ignore it. I've come to realize that for people to ask the question, we must even lean into that question and ask ourselves, what are the assumptions and the world are you behind that question? We struggle with pain and suffering as people because we understand that people at their core have value. If a building is knocked down or sidewalk is broken apart, it might be inconvenient for us, but we do not weep for a broken sidewalk or an old building. But we weep when people struggle with pain and suffering. And that is because at our core we understand that the human soul has value and that we also believe in our heart that we deserve better and that we long for more see that identity of value. That desire for better actually comes because we've been created in the very image of God and that at the point of creation God created man and woman equally in his image and that together had perfect relationship. But when he created us, he gave us the free will to choose to love him. Because love is a choice and that when you have the choice to love someone, you also have the choice hurt someone. And so it's out of that choice, Adam and Eve 1st sinned. And from that point on all of humanity has been surrounded by Brokenness and sin. And so it's not that one person's sin caused the coronavirus. In our case, it's the fact that creation and around us is that is surrounded by Brokenness and that we long for people. We long for God and as creation, we long for heaven. And so we long for perfection. And so even though we struggle through pain and suffering, we find ourselves in a place where we can connect with peace and that we long for love and ultimately we long for God, philosopher and teacher G K Chesterton once said this, he said here, he said, when belief in God becomes difficult, the tendency is to turn away from him, but in Heaven's name to what? And I want to ask that question for those that are listening right now, that if you have the temptation to run and turn from God, because you have big questions, I would say to dive deeper into those questions and ask you if you turn from God, where exactly are you turning because if you turn from your faith now you are leaning into nothingness, whereas our faith is made for moments such as this and while there are pain while there are problems, while they're a struggle, there is also peace and hope and light and community and healing in a way forward. And so while there are many stories of obstacles that people have faced, there are also many stories of how people overcame that. For example, Helen Keller actually is quoted as saying this that all the world is filled. Although the world is filled full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. Helen Keller story has been told now for almost 100 years at this point here is a child who was born both deaf and blind, but yet overcame such challenges and lived a life so worthy that we talked about her story of overcoming and so she did not enter a problem and fall short into hopelessness, but rather through the problem through the valley of the shadow of death that she walked through, she found hope and God and we can too Peter who is writing to a group of christians who is going through a very difficult time. They were being scattered, they were being persecuted, they were being attacked and Peter writes this letter and he offers them in Peter chapter one Living Hope and we see this Living Hope played out now in first Peter chapter four verses one and two Peter writes since therefore christ suffered in the flesh. Arm yourselves in the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin and so as to live for the rest of this time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. Now, I want to point out a few things in these verses the first one here is that therefore since christ suffered in the flesh, this means that Jesus is our model for how to respond in times of crisis. Jesus was persecuted and suffered and went through difficult circumstances and gave us the model through which we can follow. And so because of the model of jesus, he tells us to arm ourselves in the same way of thinking in a sense, it's preparing for battle, it's preparing and training and getting ready for what's ahead of you. Now, we see this commonly throughout our world. Today, armies don't just immediately go into battle, but they have bootcamp. Sports teams don't just jump into the middle of competition, but have training camp, education, the entire education system as we know it is to develop young boys and girls into men and women who will be productive citizens in our society. So everything that we look at, whether it was a job, whether it was education, whether it was some form of business, sports or battle involved, some type of preparation ahead of time because if you wait for the battle itself to prepare, you might be unprepared and not know what to do next. And so we see in this scripture that jesus has told us, Peter through our Peter has told us that with jesus as our example, to arm ourselves in the same way of thinking that it's no longer about living for pleasure and living for the desires of the flesh, but ultimately for the will of God. And so if you're taking notes this morning, whether you're here watching with us live or here watching online, I want you to write this down is that you can't always choose your battles, but you can choose how you fight them. You can always choose the battles that you face, but you can choose how you fight them. You know, the beginning of 2020, no one came out and says, I really hope our country faces the pandemic of the coronavirus. I really hope that pretty much all sports are canceled and culture, as we know, it will be changed for this year. We didn't choose this, we didn't desire this. But now that it is here, we have the opportunity to choose how we fight this battle. Now, I am not a physician, I am not a doctor, I am, I do not have any expertise in the medical field. And so I'm not here to offer alternatives or solutions to physical problems. But I don't believe we're just facing a physical pandemic. I believe our country is facing a spiritual pandemic. And so I want to address, what is it that we can do in the spiritual battles for our heads, our hearts and really our our lives as we go through. And so as we battle the coronavirus and we battle through these difficult circumstances, I want us to choose how we fight them from a spiritual standpoint. And are we gonna live from a human perspective or are we gonna live from a godly worldview? So, peter in his letter offers us a battle plan for how we can prepare for the spiritual fights that we find ourselves in. And in his letter 1st, Peter Chapter 4: verse seven, he offers this battle plan for us, the end of all things is at hand And I want to pause there for a second. He's not actually saying the end of the world is near meaning that the end of the world is coming right now. This was written 2000 years ago. And so we understand that the world didn't end in that moment and I'm here to tell you most likely the world is not ending in this moment. So what was he saying when the end of all things is at hand? He was saying that we live in an already not yet. Culture already meaning that jesus came and died on the cross and rose again from the grave and now people who believe in him received the holy spirit. So we have already received the promises of God and we already have access to his hope, his light and his love and that we can experience and show that love to others because jesus first loved us now that is the already part but the not yet is that he has not come a second time just as jesus came and then predicted his death. He also predicted that he would come back again. But he has not come yet and because he has not come back because God has not restored all things to him because God has not created a new heaven and a new earth. We have not yet received the full promise of God. And so we still live in a broken world and we still battle persecution, suffering and trials of many kinds. So he says that in light of everything that is at hand, in light of the fact that we live in the last days, he tells us then to therefore be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Now right now I wish I could take this verse and just put it at every Costco and walmart and grocery store because right now people would see this and I'm telling you what you will not find people that are self controlled and sober minded and so that you might have been to the grocery store and see that everything is taken off the shelf and why everyone is cramming for toilet paper, I do not know, but I just know that that seems to be the top commodity but that if we would even just enter something as basic as the grocery store with being self controlled and sober minded it would make a huge impact in our culture. But the reason Peter tells us to be self controlled and sober minded is for the sake of our prayers, that if we have our minds aligned with God that we can focus and pray on the things that align with God's heart, so instead of focusing on our needs we can focus on God's heart and that's where our peace comes from, Paul actually writes in Ephesians chapter two that Jesus himself is our peace and so that when we are self controlled, so reminded we can have a connection with God and be closer to him in prayer, but he goes on and says that above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins, we all sin and we all fall short and we all make mistakes. But thankfully we have a God that loves and forgives and that because we have grace, we can in turn love others. And so let's continue on now as he keeps writing he says, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. And so that means not the grinding of teeth but with a generous and gracious heart that we can show the hospitality of christians now remember Peter was writing to christians who were being beat up being persecuted for their faith, they did not have buildings of worship, they did not have power, they had none of that. But yet it's in that Peter still says, open up your home, open up your lives and to do that without complaining, but with a gracious heart and it says as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God. It's very grace, let's continue on. It says whoever speaks, speak as one who speaks the oracles of God. If you're going to speak, speak the words of God, that is what offers hope. So we are not sharing panic, but we're sharing power and that power comes through the word of God and says whoever serves Serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. And this is important because it is the strength of God that gives us the ability to endure and to press on. And so when Peter calls these christians who were hiding, who are being persecuted and he says to serve the question or the tension that they might feel is but served with what I've got nothing left to give. Well then he says, to serve with the strength that only God supplies. It says in order that in everything God may be glorified through jesus christ to him belong the glory and Dominion forever and never Amen. And that word Amen is not just meant to close a prayer, but that word Amen is actually meant to say, I believe this. And so by saying that in order for everything maybe to the glory and power of God himself, Amen. We are saying that in this situation right now, in this panic that we are facing as a country in this crisis that we face in our communities that we will live in a way that shows love and compassion and hospitality and that we can serve one another with the strength of God. So that through all things we may point to the light that is found through jesus christ alone. And so we have our battle plan and he lists this out And the battle plan really involves three steps, Peter says to prepare your attitude to prepare your affections and to prepare your actions. He says in the in those words, we just read together to be sober minded. Well when you turn on the news or when you see social media a lot of times we see people speaking their minds but they're not sober minded and they're not self controlled. Rather we can speak in wisdom, we can speak calmness into a situation, we can speak peace because we prepare our minds for the struggles that we're going to face, but then it says to prepare your affections. So not only do we love, but we love and show hospitality without grumbling that we speak words of hope that we serve with the strength of God and so you want to check your heart as you go into these next couple of weeks that I have a feeling that our culture is going to get worse before it gets better. But we understand this that jesus christ still sits on the throne. And so if we know that if we arm ourselves, if we prepare ourselves through preparing our attitude and what we think and we prepare our hearts with what we feel and then we prepare our actions and how we serve. We can give glory to God and everything that we say and do. Peter goes on to write this in first Peter 4 12 he puts here, he says beloved. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Now in the context of this passage, he was talking about persecution and suffering, but I think this verse applies to us today that this is a fiery trial, not just for our own lives but for our community and for our country and really the globe as we know it. How will people respond to this pandemic known as the coronavirus? What's crazy to me is the timing God has for our church community, as I mentioned earlier, that we prepare sermons about six months in advance. And so we had this passage laid out. And so before I even knew the word coronavirus, we had this passage laid out for today for right now and then this verse is do not be surprised. This tells me that for our context for our culture to understand that while we might have been taken aback and while we might have been surprised, but what happened in our country this week, God was not and thankfully what scares us does not scare God. And what we were unprepared for God was fully prepared for. And it's within his will that we can rest and trust his sovereignty, that we can move forward. And so we should not be surprised that something crazy is happening. But to be prepared. Peter closes this section with verse 19 and he says this. Therefore Let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. I want to highlight to specific words for you this morning. # one is to entrust your soul to the creator Colossians 117 actually tells us that not only is God before all things, that actually he holds all things together. So I want you to take a moment. I want you to put everyone whether you're watching online or here in this room. I want you to take your hand and I want you to put it on your heart. And no, we're not doing the pledge of allegiance. I just want you to pause for 1 2nd and I want you to take a deep breath and I want you to feel the air entering your lungs. Mm hmm. As you feel your lungs breathe as you feel your heartbeat. No, that that is only possible because our creator allows it. And so while we don't know the future, we can collectively take a deep breath as a community and as a society because we don't know the future. But we know the one who holds the future. And so that when you understand who's you are meaning God, you can understand and have confidence in that where he's taking us and so you can entrust your soul to God who loves you. It reminds me back to my oldest who have told stories before Jackson as we would be driving down the road. And and he loves to tell me what to do. Maybe it's just God given me somebody like myself. Very stubborn. And and so we'd be driving. And I remember even at a young age in his booster seat in this child seat, I would make a turn, I would turn right and he would point out the window. Dad, Dad, no, it's turn left, turn left. And I'd say son, you don't know where we're going. And and we were driving and he was really young and he was telling me which way to go. Alright, dad keep going. I was like, thanks, thanks son. And so I was just driving down and we were going to our destination. But we were going at sunset and we were going at sunset and pretty soon it got dark and his little mind, Jackson's little mind at that time, he couldn't see anymore out the window. And so he started freaking out. He's like dad, dad, I can't see where we're going. And I looked back and I wish it was more heartfelt and compassionate. But he had been telling me where to go for so long that in anger, I looked back and I said, Jackson, you don't need to know where you're going. Your dad knows where we're going and that is enough. And I just put my foot on the gas and went forward and I'm telling you, I didn't get more than 10 seconds down the road. And before I realized, Oh I'm that child in the backseat trying to tell God where to go, Trying to tell God, no turn left, turn right. And and then when we go through a time of darkness and I can't see where we're going or where I'm supposed to go, I freak out. And I have to remember that I am not the driver in this situation and that if you're watching right now, you are not the driver of the situation that God is driving and he is in control. And so we can entrust our souls to him. So what do we do In the meantime, when we are entrusting the future to the God who holds it to the God that is sustaining the breath and the heartbeat within our bodies right now to do good to do good to do what you can for who you can whenever you can, you might not be able to change the world, but you can change somebody's world. And it starts with a simple act of kindness. Maybe reach out to that neighbor to a phone call or a text or a knock on the door to see if they're okay. Maybe it's not about hoarding all the toilet paper and supplies from the grocery store, but maybe checking on family members and other people in the community to see if they're okay, if they have all the supplies that they need right now we are being socially conscious and we are distancing ourselves so that we can limit the spread of the virus that in and of itself is an act of love and sacrifice. And so as we entrust our soul and we are no longer worried about our future, that allows us to focus on our present and to love the people that are next to us and the people that are in front of us and we can love intentionally and we can love with purpose because God has showed us this love even in the midst of suffering. I want to close this morning's message and talk about an incredible woman. Her name was Annie johnston flint. You can see her picture here. She was born in the 1800s, as if you couldn't tell by her picture. But she was born in the 1800s. But I want you to consider her story. She was orphaned twice as a young girl and she faced many physical challenges, including she battled rheumatoid arthritis, various types of cancer. She actually ended up in the latter part of her life with boils all over her body To where she was Bedridden, and needed eight pillows at night just to surround her body, just so she wouldn't move. So here is somebody who was abandoned. Lost parents because of death because of evil, had experienced suffering and rheumatoid arthritis and cancer and boils and all these things. And so how did someone like her respond? She wrote about the goodness of God. And she wrote this, I want you. I don't want you to miss this. That this person who battled cancer, loss of loved ones, experience extreme suffering. And at the end of her life wrote this famous him and talking about God, Annie johnston writes this. He gives us more grace when the burdens grow greater. He send us more strength. When the labor's increase two added afflictions, he added his mercy two multiplied trials. His multiplied piece. When we have exhausted our store of endurance when our strength has failed here, the day is half done. When we reached the end of our hoarded resources. Our fathers forgiving has only begun. Fear, not that that I need shall exceed his provision for God ever yearns. He's resources to share. Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing the father, Both thee and thy load will a bear. His love has no limits. His grace has no measure his power, no boundary known unto men. For out of his infinite riches in jesus, he did both and give it and giveth again. Her focus was not on what she had, not on her problems, but on the peace and the person and the power and the provision that comes from jesus christ alone. Let us remember that over the coming weeks as our culture and our community and our nation battles suffering like our country has not experienced before. I do not remember a time like this. May we remember that we can't always choose our battles, but we can choose how we fight them. So let us prepare our minds and our attitudes. Let us prepare our affections and let us prepare our actions because we can entrust our souls to the creator who loves us and spend our time doing good for our neighbors. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, I do pray for our nation. God, I pray for those that are watching right now as they're trying to figure out what to do with their business, what to do with their kids in school and I pray for those across our country that have been infected. I pray for those who are in health care. Taking care. God, I pray for wisdom and our leaders trying to make decisions that is best for our country. But God in this time of need, in this time of questioning may we have the perspective of Annie johnson Flynn, but we just trust that your power is greater than ours and that it's out of your infinite wrenches in your son, jesus that you give and you give and you give God. I pray that we can trust you with our future. God. I pray that we can trust you with our present. And I pray that we can trust you with our lives, You are our hope and God will we fight these battles spiritually with you on our side, We love you and it's in your sins that we pray. Amen.