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Redeemer Community Church is located in the historic Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham, AL. Our church family exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
For more information on who we are, what we believe, or how to join us, please visit our website at rccbirmingham.org.
If you have if you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to first Peter chapter three as we're continuing our study in first Peter. And I've gotta be honest with you. If if I didn't believe in exegetical preaching, expositional preaching, I would have loved to just skip over this passage this morning. It's it's something that Well, first, I'll say this. We do have one of the most beautiful concise statements in the entire New Testament about the gospel.
Joel Brooks:But then, Peter, he just kinda seems to go off the reservation and gives us one of the most unusual texts, most bizarre texts in the entire New Testament. It's a text that has puzzled the church for the last two thousand years. As an intro to this text, I really think Martin Luther says it best. He said, a wonderful text this is, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for certainty just what Peter means. I cannot understand it.
Joel Brooks:I cannot explain it. And, there has never been anyone who has until now, Martin Luther. So, I'm gonna make it all clear. Just because he couldn't or Augustine or Tertullian or Athanasius or Calvin or you name it, that doesn't mean we can't get through this. Actually, the big picture is going to be pretty easy for us to understand.
Joel Brooks:The big picture is it's it's it's hopeful. It's very encouraging. But then, there's going be a few things that are going make you scratch your head, and don't be distracted by those things. We'll get through them as best we can. So, first Peter chapter three, we'll begin reading in verse 17.
Joel Brooks:For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Baptism, corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. This is the word of the Lord. If you would pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, we we thank you for your word, for giving it to us that we might know you. And, Lord, I pray that through your spirit, you would bring clarity to this text. I pray that the end result is that we would all walk walk out of this place with a much deeper hope in Jesus and looking more like him. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. When I read through this text, I cannot help but think back to our study when we went through the life of Peter for fourteen weeks. And I think of Peter's greatest moment and also one of Peter's biggest failures. If you remember, his greatest moment came in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked Peter, who do you say I am?
Joel Brooks:Peter stepped up and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus looked at him and said, blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father in heaven. And you are Petros. He gives him the name Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Joel Brooks:Peter, in that moment, he became the rock of the church when when he pointed to Jesus and he proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God, to be the Christ. And here, we see him once again as the rock because he gives us one of the clearest statements we have about who Jesus is and what Jesus has accomplished for us. But then, I told you that it this passage once again, it it reminds me of his failure, one of his worst failures, and that's the moment right after he made that confession. If you remember, right after Jesus, he said those words to Peter, Jesus went on to teach the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem where he says he will suffer at the hands of the elders and the religious leaders there and they will kill him and then three days later, he will rise. And Peter says, uh-uh.
Joel Brooks:No way. Not on my watch, Jesus. This will never ever happen to you. And, Jesus responded to Peter not gently. He didn't say, hey, come over here.
Joel Brooks:I wanna just do that. Maybe, you didn't understand. Let me further explain this. Jesus actually rebuked Peter and called him Satan. He said, get behind me, Satan.
Joel Brooks:Peter, you're no longer the rock, you've actually become a stumbling block to me. I mean, these are really forceful words that Jesus said to Peter there. He said, Hey, Peter, you know, in order for me to save the world, there must be suffering and to think otherwise is satanic. To think the world can actually be redeemed apart from suffering is the devil's plan, not God's. I'm reminded of this because when I read through this text and Peter always saying about suffering for weeks now, it's hard for me to believe that this is the same Peter who was rebuked by Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Mean, before Jesus actually went to the cross, Peter was a 100% certain. He would have bet his life that God his plan is to save us from suffering, not to save us through suffering. But everything changed in light of the cross. And now, Peter, he understands that the church wants to fulfill its calling to actually go and kick down the gates of hell itself. Well, it's not gonna come through the sword.
Joel Brooks:It's not gonna come through power. It's going to come through our suffering. We follow the example of the Lord Jesus in His suffering. And when we suffer, it points to his redemptive work on the cross. We now see everything through the lens of Jesus going to the cross and what he has secured for us.
Joel Brooks:So when we suffer, we're pointing to that. But Peter is making a big assumption here. He's saying that only happens when you suffer for doing good, not when you suffer for doing evil. If you suffer for doing something wrong, that has no redemptive value there. You're just getting what you deserve.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I hate that we're at a place in our society as a culture where I actually have to say this to Christians, but if you go out there and and you're just telling people biblical truth, but saying it in such an arrogant way and not with the gentleness and respect that Peter says, and you are being persecuted for it. You're being persecuted for evil. Most Christians get persecuted for just being jerks, honestly. And and, there's no redemptive value in that because we're misrepresenting who Christ is. Yes, we present the world with biblical truth and we do it by also saying it in such a manner that we are representing the character of God, gentleness and with respect that Peter has been telling us to do.
Joel Brooks:And so, that's our the assumption is that we're gonna we're gonna do it that way and then if we're persecuted. Well, you know what? It's just still pointing people to Jesus and the suffering He went through for us. He tells us about how we are pointed to the gospel in Jesus' suffering in in verse 18. He says, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
Joel Brooks:For years actually, for thirty years now, Lauren and I, we have wanted to go to Italy. And finally, we decided for our thirtieth anniversary, we were just gonna make it happen. It took a whole lot of time. It took a lot of time to plan. It took a whole lot of money, like but but we just like, when else are we gonna do this?
Joel Brooks:And so we we did it, and and it was a blast. We enjoyed all the fun things, you know, that Italy had there to offer. You know, we hiked, we we ate lots of pizza. I actually did not have a vegetable the entire time I was there. I kept carb loading, but then I never actually exercised afterwards.
Joel Brooks:But I am carb loaded. We we did the cheesy, silly things like, you know, getting our pictures, holding up the the Leaning Tower Of Pisa. We did all of that. It was it was a blast. And then we got home.
Joel Brooks:Lauren and I, we like to reflect on a trip, and she says, you know, what was your favorite part? I mean, was it worth it? What was your what was your favorite part after all the planning, all the money, all of that? What was your favorite? I said, well, that's easy.
Joel Brooks:I said, it was it was getting to be with you and all of that. Now, that wasn't just like I mean, I wasn't just throwing that out there trying to win her affection or anything, you know? It's just it's true. It's like, yes, it was fun doing all of those things. It was really fun, but the reason it was like really fun is because I did them with you.
Joel Brooks:It was being with her. That was the goal of it all and not having to worry about the capital campaign or the building. That that helped, you know, just getting away from all that, but but but it was being with her. So Peter here is telling us. He's actually telling us the ultimate good news of the gospel and I love it.
Joel Brooks:He does it in just such a Peter way. He's like, forget all the theological terms. Think of all of this. Let me tell you why Jesus suffered, to bring you to God. There it is.
Joel Brooks:That's that's the ultimate good of Jesus' suffering is that we now get to be with God. I mean, there's a whole lot of other benefits to it as well. I mean, we get forgiveness, we have our guilt removed, our shame removed, we're no longer destined to go to hell. That's a big one. I mean, there's there's lots of good things.
Joel Brooks:But in the end, all of those things are necessary for one reason, for us to be with God. I mean, yes, when we talk about what Jesus did on the cross, we could talk about substitutionary atonement, we could talk about justification, we could talk about imputed righteousness, and those are really good important things. But at the end of the day, why does any of that matter? Why does it matter? It matters because those were the things that were necessary to bring us to God.
Joel Brooks:That's the ultimate good of the gospel. I don't know what you're looking forward to in in heaven. There's a whole lot of benefits, whole lot of things. Maybe it's like, I'm gonna get the resurrected body and that's gonna be great. No more surgeries, sicknesses.
Joel Brooks:I get to see old old loved ones. Great. But it's being with God. That's the core of our hope because in His presence, there's fullness of joy, and in their right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. And, Peter, he just says, forget it all.
Joel Brooks:This, here's the heart of the gospel. And, this would have been such a comfort to these Christians suffering in Asia Minor as they're being arrested and they're being tortured. He says, take heart. You're just following your master. He suffered also.
Joel Brooks:But, you know what? His suffering was to bring you to Him. And so, if if tomorrow Nero decides to throw you to the lions or to light you up as torches, you know what the end result of all of that will be? You get to be with God. In order to submit this truth deep into their hearts, Peter, he he now decides he needs to teach a little bit more about how God has used suffering in the past and the and the lives of his people in order to to bring his salvation and and to to bring glory into our lives through it.
Joel Brooks:But, I gotta tell you, how he goes about explaining that is not the path I would have chosen. But, you know, he's an apostle. I'm not. And so so so we're we're gonna listen to Peter in this. Verse 18.
Joel Brooks:For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, good so far, being put to the death, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water. Some of you are are now, for the first time, actually noticing this verse because we just kind of jump over all of this stuff when we're reading. Now, know that Peter, what he mostly wants to do is he wants to talk about Noah. He wants to talk about the story of Noah because there's several parallels with Noah's story and what's happening in Asia Minor. But to get there, he says these really confusing things about how Jesus was made alive in the spirit or by the spirit or through the spirit.
Joel Brooks:We're not sure. And then he went and he proclaimed to some spirits in a prison somewhere from the time of Noah. And so, there are a lot of questions here. Lots of questions. Like, where is this prison?
Joel Brooks:Is the prison hell? Is it Hades? Is it some other place? When did Jesus go to this prison? Did he go in between his death and resurrection?
Joel Brooks:We, you know, we really don't know what happened during those days. Was it after his resurrection? Was it after the ascension? And, when Jesus went, how did he go? Was it just his spirit that went or did he go in bodily form?
Joel Brooks:Was it a spiritual body, his resurrected body? And then, who exactly did He go to? Who are these spirits? Are they the souls of those who were just living during the time of Noah? Or were they maybe the the fallen angels that were mentioned in Genesis five?
Joel Brooks:Remember when we read the the sons of God came down and mated with the daughters of men, and then they had these children that grew up to be like giants called the Nephilim? I mean, there are so Nephilim interpretations of this text out there. Is that is that what happened? And then, what was his message? What did he proclaim?
Joel Brooks:Did he proclaim judgment? Did he proclaim victory? Did he proclaim a second chance to people? I mean, what what was he proclaiming? Those are just a few of the questions that we do not have answers to.
Joel Brooks:All in all, the the church over the last two thousand years of studying this text have come up with over 180 different interpretations of this text, and all of them have problems, every one of them. Honestly, this is best just discussed at back 40. I'm happy to happy to meet you guys over there. We could we can have a cold one. We could just stay for hours.
Joel Brooks:We could work our ways through them because there's a lot. Rather than just, you know, kinda walk through all 180, I'll just give you maybe just a few of the possible ways you can interpret this. One interpretation is that this is describing when Jesus was in the grave. During that time, he descended into hell where he preached to spirits that were in prison. The prison is hell from the time of Noah.
Joel Brooks:He didn't preach to all the spirits. He just preached to that certain group of spirits. The the problem with this interpretation, well, there's lots of them, but for starters, it never says he descended, let alone he descended into hell. Those words aren't found anywhere, and we don't even we have no idea where this prison is. Another interpretation similar to the first is that these spirits, they're just the souls of people even though the Bible doesn't use that language refer as spirits as talking them as if they were souls, but just assume that.
Joel Brooks:And, what is happening is that Jesus is going to this particular group of souls and he's preaching the gospel to them, maybe giving them a second chance at salvation. But the problem was that, once again, there's many. It's you know, for starters, we have no idea what Jesus proclaimed. Triumph, Judgment? Yet, actually, we do know he didn't proclaim a second chance because the Bible is very clear that there is not a second chance to follow Jesus after you die.
Joel Brooks:I mean, Hebrews nine says that man only dies once, and then there's judgment. A third interpretation is this. The spirits in prison, they're referring to the souls of those who were alive during the time of Noah, who have now since died, now they've gone into hell, which is prison, but while they were alive, Jesus went to them and preached to them through Noah. If if you're confused, you understood me. You're like, what?
Joel Brooks:Wait. He preached through Noah? It That's actually not that unusual. Paul uses this language in Ephesians when he's telling the church in Ephesus. He says, Christ came to you and preached to you who were near and preached to you who were far away, or actually, it's other way.
Joel Brooks:Preached peace to those who were far away and preached to those who are near. And we know for a fact that Jesus never came anywhere near Ephesus. But, what Paul is saying is, actually, when I went and proclaimed to you the gospel, it was Jesus proclaiming it through me. I'll do one more just for fun. It could be referring to the ascension that when Jesus ascended on his heavenly throne, there was a proclamation of victory that rang out through the entire universe.
Joel Brooks:And at that time, apparently, he went to those who had been imprisoned since the time of Noah and told them. If you wanna hear more options, once again, back 40. We'll work through all 176. But just so you know, every time I've ever studied this text, every time I've ever preached this text, I have changed my opinion as to what I think actually happened. I I I believe something different every single time, which is why I'm not telling you what I think.
Joel Brooks:You'll be different next year. So so so here's a question. What are we supposed to do when we come to a text like this? I'd rather look at that. What do we do when we come to a text like this?
Joel Brooks:We take a step back and we focus on what we know. The Bible is actually really clear in 99% of everything it says. A lot of the times, we act confused. We don't really know what this really means, not because it's unclear, but because it's crystal clear and we just don't want to believe it or obey it. 99% of the time, that's what's there.
Joel Brooks:But occasionally, we do have texts like this, which you just can't figure out. And so, you take a step back, look at the context, and then we focus on what it clearly does say. If I were to tell you right now that yesterday, when it was pouring down rain, so much so that I had to put three buckets in my office to catch the rain coming through the the roof, and I were to tell you, it rained like cats and dogs, every one of you would know what I meant. And yet, none of us have any idea where that came from. And, literally, it makes no sense whatsoever.
Joel Brooks:But, you know what I meant because the context would tell you, you knew it rained, rained like cats and dogs, it must just mean it rained a whole lot. We also know that there's a story somewhere we'd love to know, where that expression came into existence. I mean, was there literally? It was wind whipping up dogs and cats and they were coming down or like, oh, how did that story come? But, we don't know.
Joel Brooks:But, we know enough to get the gist of the meaning, and that's what we're gonna have to do here. There's a story we're unfamiliar with, but we look at the context, and and and we can figure out what he is saying. The context is this. This word is to be a encouragement to people who are suffering. That rules out a lot of the interpretations.
Joel Brooks:This is supposed to be a really big encouragement to those who are suffering. And the second, we can clear out some of the things he does say pretty clearly. His main point is that although Jesus suffered, in the end, Jesus proved victorious over death. And, the news of that is so far reaching that even those who rebelled long ago now know it. That's clear.
Joel Brooks:No matter how you interpret that's that's pretty clear. You know, once again, it's it's that Jesus suffered, but in the end, he proved victorious over death. And, the news of this is so far reaching that even those who rebelled long ago now know it. In other words, the point is this, Jesus has won. That's what Peter is saying.
Joel Brooks:Jesus has won and even the evil powers in the darkest places now know it. He's won and that truth has wrung out through the entire universe in all time and space. That's an encouragement. And, that's so that that's that's Peter's main point. But, really, what he's trying to do, even as he's saying this, is just get us to Noah.
Joel Brooks:Okay? He wants to get us to the story of Noah. Actually, better question, really, if you're going through this is, why in the world does he bring up Noah to a Gentile audience living in modern day Turkey, in Asia Minor? How in the world would they ever know about Noah? But he's talking to them like they do.
Joel Brooks:And the it's actually really fascinating. They were very familiar with the story of Noah. And, actually, around this time, during the course of five different Roman emperors, they actually had on a coin, the emperor's image on one side and the image of Noah on the other. They they had their own kind of flood myth, but very quickly, at some point, they'd incorporated Noah as being the one who is a part of that. And, I I think Peter, he's just saying, hey, you guys are you're somewhat familiar with Noah.
Joel Brooks:Let me tell you about him. Because he's also gonna tell him about Noah in second Peter. But, he wants to bring up Noah because of all the parallels. Noah was surrounded by very evil people. Yet, Noah remained faithful, even in the midst of enormous persecution.
Joel Brooks:I mean, absolutely no one understood Noah. I mean, you're like, why are you choosing to live that way? Why are you why are you choosing to to work so hard doing that? That's that's literally the most idiotic idea I could think of. He would have just been constantly mocked for it.
Joel Brooks:I mean, can you imagine the abuse that Noah took? I mean, people come in my eyes like, you know, I mean, my eyes might be deceiving me, Noah, but kinda looks like you're building a boat, like a really, really, really big boat. And, I might be wrong, but it seems like the ocean is at least a few 100 miles away from here. And, they they would just they would just mock him. And they did this for one hundred and twenty years.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you you think that coworker's bad. I mean, you've been suffering with them for like a year. One hundred twenty years. This this mocking, this persecution, Noah has had to endure. And yet, he this whole time, he was faithful.
Joel Brooks:And not only that, but he preached to them. Peter tells us that in second Peter. It says that he was a herald of righteousness, meaning he faithfully declared to them who God was and how we're supposed to live. But yet, all he got was mockery. And, what Peter is saying, remember that.
Joel Brooks:Because in the end, those mocking voices were literally drowned out. In the end, like you would have never thought it possible, it was Noah who was saved. I know, like, it it was a small number of believers. It was just eight people who were saved, but that's kinda like you, isn't it? It's what Peter is saying.
Joel Brooks:So like like you're just a really small small group of people and you're just completely surrounded by all of this evil. And, you know what? Just as God saved Noah, He's going to save you. Noah had to cling to the ark. You've got to cling to Christ.
Joel Brooks:But, if you cling to Christ, you'll be saved. That's that's His point in this. I know it feels overwhelming. I know it feels like no hope that the suffering, the mocking, the persecution is never going to end and you're just so small. But, God's got a plan.
Joel Brooks:He's going to save you through it, just like He saved Noah. And, because He's He's talking about the flood that comes in, this naturally leads him to talk about baptism. I also wouldn't have gone there, but Peter does. He says this in verse 21, baptism, corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus. And, you read that, and you're like, thank you for clearing that up, Peter.
Joel Brooks:Baptism now saves you. Just so you know, Peter, he's not just suddenly going against what the rest of the New Testament teaches concerning salvation. He's not going against we're saved by grace through faith or, you know, Paul's words in Romans 10 that if you confess with your mouth that that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Those things are true. He's not going against any of that.
Joel Brooks:He's talking about baptism the way that I would have grown up talking about walking down the aisle. I I I grew up Baptist. How did you get saved? Well, you walked down the aisle. I don't know if any of you have had that experience, but that's what it was.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you could literally go talk about your salvation that way. I walked down the aisle when I was nine years old. Now, I know that walking down the aisle didn't save me, but it's just it was just so associated with when I got saved, that's what you talk about. Or think about it this way, if I were to tell you, you know, hey, it was thirty years ago today that Lauren and I exchanged wedding rings. Like, you know what that means.
Joel Brooks:That's when we got married. But you also know that it wasn't the act of just giving one another ring that made us married. That was the symbol for what happened thirty years ago. And but they're so closely associated, you could kinda use the language interchangeably. And I think that's very similar to how Paul was talking about faith and he's talking about baptism.
Joel Brooks:The two go together. But, almost as if he knows there's a bunch of Baptists two thousand years later are gonna have all these questions about it, he says, and just to be clear, when I'm talking about baptism, I'm not talking about taking a bath. It's not the removal of dirt from the flesh. This is what I'm talking about. It's an appeal to God for a good conscience.
Joel Brooks:It's faith. That's You're believing in God, and through faith, you're appealing to him, and that is what makes you your conscience, that's what changes your heart, that's what saves you. So that's what he's talking about here. Let's go to the end because here, Peter, he ends this chapter with the greatest comfort of all. He says that all of this is possible through the resurrection of Jesus, who has gone into heaven and as of the is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Joel Brooks:That word subjected should be like ringing in your head. I've I've heard that word somewhere. Yeah. You've heard it a lot as you've gone through first Peter. I mean, a whole lot.
Joel Brooks:He has told us that we need to subject ourselves to every human institution. We need to subject ourselves to emperors, governors, leaders, and the government. He said, servants, you need to subject yourselves to your masters. Wives, you need to subject yourselves to even unbelieving husbands. Over and over, he has been telling the church to subject themselves to even these these evil powers over them.
Joel Brooks:And so as we've been reading, we're we've been told to suffer patiently. We've been told not to fight back, to love in the midst of hate, to bless in the midst of persecution, to deal with everyone with gentleness and respect despite the fact they're treating us like the scum of the earth. But now, Peter, he reminds us, it's like, you know why we could do all this? Because all of those things have now been subjected to Jesus. All of them.
Joel Brooks:Christ is sitting on His throne. And now, all angels, all authorities, all powers are now subjected to Him. He is He's now ruling over it all. I mean, that's the biggest encouragement. When Lauren and I, we we got to go to Italy, we went to Rome, and my my biggest takeaway from from that trip when we were there was actually going to the Roman Forum.
Joel Brooks:And I don't know if any of you have have been to Rome before. It blew me away. To go there, the Roman Forum, it was it's essentially it's the heart of Rome. It's the plaza. It's where the government buildings were, where the the Senate House was.
Joel Brooks:It's where all the the, like, the the big temples were there, the coliseums right by there. To enter it, you go through this huge arch and that's where the generals, when they would come back from war and they would bring back all of their host of captives behind them, and they would they would enter into that part of Rome, the heart of Rome, through all of the cheers. The whole place just it exudes power. You go in there, it is just that's all you can think of is power. I in the middle of of the room, I just kept looking around.
Joel Brooks:I was like, I have never seen anything like this, even in the modern world. I mean, this is it's unbelievably impressive even though it's it's ruins now. I'm thinking of that, like, it's at its height in this moment. When when Rome is at its height and all of that power, I think of there was this Jewish carpenter, like, this nobody, this Jewish carpenter going around with 12 guys and he's telling them, My kingdom is the kingdom that's going to last. I'm I'm actually the king.
Joel Brooks:Caesar is not the Lord. I'm the Lord. This kingdom is gonna is gonna fade away. My kingdom will span the entire globe, and it will last forever. Like, do you realize how absurd that had to sound in light of that?
Joel Brooks:It's it's it would sound like utter nonsense. And, do you realize how even more absurd that would have sounded when Jesus was crucified? And, it was all the power of Rome putting to death that little Jewish carpenter. Yet, Peter knows because he saw the risen Lord. He knows Jesus is Lord and his kingdom will grow and it will endure.
Joel Brooks:And so, he's telling this little band of of people following, they're just so small. He's like, I know. It looks like all of Rome has the power. It looks like this is gonna be the kingdom that will go on and on and on, but trust me, someday, it will all be rubble and it is. Yet, the kingdom of God has expanded within just a few centuries that overtook the Roman Empire.
Joel Brooks:You know, it grows and it grows and it will never ever end. Take comfort in that. That's what he's telling us. Remind yourself of that. Jesus reigns.
Joel Brooks:He is building his kingdom. There's your hope. It was their hope then and it's our hope now. Let's pray to him. Jesus, I have to confess, and maybe I'll confess on behalf of everyone here, that we look at the powers of this world, and we are, impressed.
Joel Brooks:We're enthralled. We're like we're just we're like, wow. And, Lord, you look at it you're like, it's it's all fading away. None of that will last, but my kingdom endures forever. Would you please give us the eyes to see that and to live it out, to where truly our citizenship is in heaven and not here on earth.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, you are Lord of heaven and earth, and even the darkest, most evil places know it. The whole universe rings with that truth. And, I pray that we'd live into it. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, our present and our future king. Amen.