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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. I want to begin with a question. What do you think is the best Way to impact The world For Christ. You see That question has been approached a number of different ways.
Somebody would say: well, just walk up to somebody, give them a tract. Others would say, no, you need a real glitzy campaign and mass evangelism.
Now all of those, both of those, will work. But some will even go to an extreme. to make an impact. William Sangster, who was a preacher in England years ago, Had somebody in his congregation who was a barber and he owned a barber shop and One day when his client was in the chair and the barber lathered him all up for a shave, he then walked up to him with that straight razor poised right over his eyes, leaned in and said, Are you ready to meet your God? The last thing people saw was a lathered man running down a London street.
Didn't make a great impact except stay away from that barber. Reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon where. Lucy says, Charlie Brown, I would have made a great evangelist. Charlie Brown said, Really, how's that? And she continued, Well, I convinced the boy in front of me in class that my religion was better than his religion.
Really? How did you do that? Lucy smiled and said, by hitting him over the head with the lunch box. Again, effective, but not to lead someone to What you're trying to Lead them to, and that is Jesus Christ. I remember on a personal note.
When I was living at the beach. And I tried to go witnessing on Sunday nights, sometimes Saturday nights. There was this evangelist at the beach who would yell at people.
So we all walked by and there was this guy yelling at the top of his lungs. Many of the things he said were truths, but people didn't feel compelled by somebody yelling at them and telling them they're going to go to hell very soon.
So, the best way to make an impact, making maximum impact. Most of us wouldn't choose without any of those ways.
However, what many will do, unfortunately, is go the opposite approach. Let's copy the world, some would say. Let's be so much like the world. in our value system and our behavior. That they won't know the difference.
Now, just think about that. Is that really going to attract an unbeliever? I mean, why would that person change if there's nothing to change to? If you're trying to prove to them you're as cool as they are, as inclusive as they are. I don't think lowering our standard or compromising our position or watering down the gospel.
Is going to attract or make an impact. Jesus put it this way. Let your light.
So shine before men. That they will see your good works and glorify your Father. Who is in heaven? In the 19th century, a hymn was written. A song was written called Onward Christian Soldiers.
It became adopted by the Salvation Army. And some of you remember that song? Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Somebody rewrote that. to reflect how modern Christians think. It goes like this: backward Christian soldiers. Fleeing from the fight. With the cross of Jesus nearly out of sight.
One of the things I love about Peter is he takes the right approach. We're in chapter 2, beginning in verse 11, and we're going to look at two verses, verse 11 and 12. Where Peter is talking to the people he writes to, writing to them. Telling them about making maximum impact in this world.
Now, let me just give you a little bit of background so you know where he's coming from. He's writing. To people who are scattered, Christians who are scattered around modern-day Turkey, ancient Asia Minor. In chapter 1, verse 1, he says that they are scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Those areas is a widespread swath of land.
These believers that are scattered are also suffering. In chapter one, verse six, he says, You're facing many trials. In verse 7, he says, Your faith is tested by fire.
So Picture now a group of young believers Who are feeling the pressure of the unbelieving world around them. And Peter knows they need encouragement and incentive. to shine their light brightly. And To show to the unbelieving world the validity of their faith. In the most impactful way The most effective way we can make maximum impact is simple.
Your life My life lived well. In a nutshell, that's the message. Your life, my life, lived well. Years ago, I'll never forget this. I met a man here at this church.
Who was all excited about being a Christian and excited about telling people he was a Christian? His only problem? He kept getting arrested. And put in jail for crimes he did commit. And I remember talking to him saying, Do me a favor, do us all a favor, either get your act together and let's see some changes, or quit telling anyone that you're a Christian.
Your life, my life, well lived. Chapter 2 Verse 11. Peter says, Beloved. I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles.
That when they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they observe, Glorify God. in the day of visitation.
Now he will go on, just for context, let's just see. how he says to do that. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to king is supreme, or to governors, or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers. And for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
As free yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but Honor all people. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. We want to look at those two verses.
We want to let them. Sink in. We want to dissect them. I like to say, unpack them and get their full import.
So let me give you four principles. that will help you and I make maximum impact. First of all, we need to know who we are. We need to realize Our identity. There's three words that Peter uses to describe who we are in verse 11.
Notice them. Beloved Sojourners Pilgrims Beloved, I beg you as sojourners. and pilgrims. Let's look at each one. Yeah.
Beloved is a word Peter loved. He uses it eight times in two letters, 1 and 2 Peter. Eight times, he wants to tell them, God loves you. It's like what Billy Graham says at Crusades or now Franklin Graham, that God loves you. Remember, God loves you.
Peter would want them to remember God loves them. This is Peter putting his hand on the shoulder, about to give them a firm exhortation. This is an eye-to-eye contact, saying, Before I tell you what I'm going to tell you, I want you to know. You are loved by God.
So that your incentive to do what he says to do. is because you love the one who loves you. The second word that describes us, notice, is the word sojourners. That's a word we don't use a lot. It's a word that literally means alongside the house.
Alongside the house. And the reason Peter uses it is because you and I live alongside of people who make this world their home. It's not your home, it's their home. You're a sojourner. You live alongside.
The house. You're placed alongside believers who make this world their home. Look at the third word. you are pilgrims. A pilgrim is a traveler, a visitor, somebody who stops by temporarily but is on the move.
In other words, you're loved by God, but you are not a local. You're a foreigner. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that speaks into real life. And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift with a meaningful resource designed to encourage restoration and connection in your home and family relationships.
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Now, here's more from Pastor Skip. You don't belong here. You're an outsider, or in the words of Jesus, you are in this world, but what? Not of the world. In the world, but not of it.
That's the reason why John, in 1 John, says, Do not love this world, neither the things that are in this world. It's why Paul in Philippians chapter 3 says, for our citizenship is in heaven. Oh, yeah, we're still citizens of Albuquerque and New Mexico and the United States and this world, but we are primarily citizens of heaven. We have another home. And because we are citizens of heaven, we will always be square pegs in round holes.
Get used to that. Our problem is When we forget that. And when we forget who we are, we start living like perpetual citizens of earth rather than eternal citizens of heaven.
So we need to know who we are. We need to realize our identity. When we do, knowing this. will give us proper balance in life.
So easy to get off balance and forget. who we are and where we're going. One of the problems I have Because my dad was a builder. Is that when I go to somebody's house, especially if it's an older house, I was just back. Toward the east in my mother-in-law's house, and the problem I have is: well, you know, if I lived here, I would take that wall out and I'd put a fireplace here and I'd decorate it and I start redesigning the whole house, and then I have to catch myself: wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
You don't live here.
Somebody else does. This is not your home. And although it's Fun little exercise. It's energy misspent. I don't live here.
That's the reason why people who rent a home don't spend a lot of money fixing it up. It's not theirs. It belongs to somebody else. Another problem I have is when I travel places, I love words and I love. To see how people use words and hear their accents.
And I often will listen so carefully, and they're looking at me as I'm studying them because I'm trying to. Copy their accent. I'm trying to pick up how they say those words from different parts of the United States or overseas.
So one time I was over in England in London. And I decided that I would order my breakfast in an English accent. And I'm thinking, I'm going to pull one over on this guy. You know, I've studied this long enough. I listened to the Beatles growing up.
I can do this.
So. We were in this restaurant, and I was with a friend of mine from Philadelphia. He's talking like you know, Rocky. And so we were in this restaurant, and what I didn't know is the person taking our order, the local guy, He was adept. at listening to accents and telling you where you're from.
So my friend ordered breakfast. And immediately the man said, you're from Philadelphia. And he said, yo, right on, you gotta write.
So then I ordered in my British accent. I don't know what I said. Hello, I like to have bacon and eggs, you know. The guy looked at me and said, And you're from California? Didn't work.
I couldn't pull one over on him. He knew I was not a local. I was from out of town and I was just passing through. Knowing this will also not only give us proper balance, but give us proper incentive. Incentive.
It is so easy to feel unnoticed and unappreciated in this world. And what makes it worse is when you try to bring your faith in Christ into the setting you grew up with, into your family, into your friends, and they push you away because of your faith in Christ, now you feel. more isolated and more alone. I've always loved the story about Samuel Morrison, a missionary who gave his life to the continent of Africa. He was coming home to retire.
He was on a ship headed for New York Harbor. On the boat with him was President Teddy Roosevelt. who had been in Africa for three weeks hunting Big game. When the boat pulled into New York Harbor, Samuel Morrison, the missionary, noticed the crowds who came to welcome the president home. There were balloons and bands and banners and people shouting at the president.
He, however, Samuel Morrison walked off the same boat completely. Unnoticed. It bothered him. In his mind, he was thinking thoughts, really, almost a prayer to the Lord. This president's been in Africa for three weeks killing animals.
He comes home and the whole world. Welcomes him home. I've given my life to see souls saved and eternal life given. And I come home and nobody notices. Just then, he heard the Lord's voice speak to his heart, saying, You're not home yet.
This world is not your home. And to give proper incentive as well as proper balance, we need to remember we're loved by God. But we're just passing through. were sojourners. We need to realize our identity.
The second is to resist. Knowing who we are will help us know what to do when certain impulses and temptation come. Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Do you see what Peter is doing? He's beginning on the inside.
With our hearts, with our minds, and what we think and how we deal with thoughts. Before he gets to the outside, because Peter wants us to know: if you're going to live a godly life on the outside, it begins by living a godly life on the inside.
So here you are, you're passing through. This world is in your home.
So. Say no or abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul. It's pretty obvious that Peter acknowledges that. In this world, we will be bombarded with desires to do bad things. Sinful things, wrong things.
And here's why. Our souls are saved. If you're a Christian, our souls are saved. There's a newness in you. But your soul is incarcerated by your human fallen nature.
The flesh. And so Paul says, there is no temptation taking you, but as is common to man. Get the point? Everybody goes through them. Everybody has temptations.
Everybody has impulses and drives and desires to do wrong things. Everyone. Even that cute little baby born into your home. That son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter that you think is perfect. Flash, news flash, they're not.
Years ago, A report was put out by the Minnesota Crime Commission, 77 pages. I'll spare you, but I'll give you one paragraph, very, very insightful. document. And I quote. Every baby starts life as a little savage.
Every parent is chuckling right now. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it, his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch. Deny these. And he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous.
Were he not so helpless? If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child. would grow up a criminal. A thief. A killer.
A rapist. Close quote. Powerful. Powerful. statement.
What's the source of all this? You have it right here. The flesh. The flesh. Paul writes in Galatians: the flesh wars or lusts.
That's what the word here means: strong desire, intense craving. The flesh lusts, wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. It happens in you. It happens in me. Dwight L.
Moody, the great evangelist, once said, I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than any man I know. You find that to be true? The biggest struggle is often inside.
It's what Peter means here. Fleshly lusts which war against the soul. You know what the word war means here? It's not a single battle or a skirmish. The word that he chose for war against the soul means to carry out a long-term military campaign.
That's how the Romans fought and conquered. They would set up. A village, a town, a city around the city they wish to conquer for weeks, months, and even years. It was a long-term military campaign.
So here's the truth. All of those allurements afforded to us by the fallen world that produce desires within us. They're like an army of terrorists that want to subdue and enslave you. What are these? Fleshly lusts, well, there's a little list of them given in Galatians chapter 5.
I'll read it to you. Paul writes, Galatians 5, verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh Are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies. And just about now, you're going, okay, okay, I get it. But he keeps going. Outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, and you're going, okay, I got it. But he keeps going.
Envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries. And then he says, and the like. Which is his way of saying, etc., etc., etc. Implying this is an endless list.
So what's the solution? What's the fix?
Well, in that very same chapter of Galatians 5, a few verses up, Paul puts it this way and gives us the solution. This I say then: walk in the Spirit. And you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Uh We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder.
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We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect the Skip-Heitzig Weekend Edition. Make a connection, never foot. Of the crossing. Castro with burning.
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