How Now Do We Live?

In this powerful message, we're challenged to consider our true identity as citizens of God's kingdom. Drawing from 2 Peter 3, we're reminded that while we live in this world, our ultimate allegiance is to Christ. The sermon emphasizes the urgency of living with kingdom intensity, recognizing that Christ's return is imminent. We're called to be alert, active, and purposeful in our faith, not relaxing our spiritual vigilance even in times of perceived victory. The parallels drawn between animal instincts before natural disasters and our need for spiritual alertness are particularly striking. This message encourages us to reevaluate our priorities, focusing on eternal values rather than temporary worldly concerns. It's a call to action for us to pray more, serve more, love more, and worship more, hastening the day of Christ's return through our active participation in God's mission.

What is Ridgecrest Baptist Church - Sermons?

Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.

hope you've already taken your Bibles and opened up to the book of 2 Peter chapter 3. We'll read our text in just a bit, but you see the title of the message, How Now Do We Live? This is really a rephrasing of a question that Peter asked in the passage that we will read here in just a few moments. A few weeks ago, of course, I did a pre -election message, and I guess it was last week that the Lord began to burden my heart that we also need a post -election message, because I believe that it's important that both Americans and, in particular, the church of God, believers in our community, respond appropriately to the things that have transpired in the last couple of weeks.

And in the days that have followed the elections, and I say elections because there was more than one election, there were many elections, and in the days that have followed since these elections, I've been asked several questions. Several questions. I've been asked the question, for example, was God involved in the election outcome? And my answer is, absolutely. In fact, you'd be hard -pressed to deny, in particular, in the presidential election, you'd be hard -pressed to deny what even secular pundits are calling a miraculous and sweeping political comeback by Donald Trump, unlike anything in history. Was God involved? I believe so.

Now, hang on, all right, because you're going to have to wait a little bit. You may not like the outcome of the election, but you just hang on, all of you. And I got to thinking, I was working on the message, when I thought about that question that I've been asked, I thought about a little book, and I want to recommend it to you. It's by David Barton. It's called The Bulletproof George Washington. And it's a small book, so even men can read it.

But it tells the story of the providence of God in sparing him in order that he would serve our nation. And I think you would find it very interesting. But it's also true in a very real sense, because God is God over all the affairs of man. You do believe that, don't you? That he's involved in every election process. In fact, Proverbs 16, 33 says, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Now, sometimes, listen, God gives us what we deserve. And sometimes God gives us, mercy, grace, and a reprieve.

And that leads to the second question that I've been asked in the last couple of weeks, and that is, what is this and these elections, what do they mean for us and for America? And my answer is this. I believe that God has given us a window of opportunity to reaffirm values that are biblical, that originated when our country was founded, and that are vital to our ongoing health, as both the people of God and a nation. I believe God has given us a reprieve. But it may surprise you, not so much so the economy will improve, which I think is important and I'm hopeful about, not so much so that the borders will be legalized, which I hope happens. The Bible has a lot to say about borders and boundaries and those kinds of things.

Not so much for those issues. Those are important things. But I believe God has given us a reprieve in order that we might have national repentance and revival. And I believe that more than anything else. And so I don't want us to lose sight of what God may be doing in that He may have given us a window of opportunity. You say, are there any, has that ever happened before? Well, yes, it's happened in Scripture. In fact, if you're interested, I'll just give you a reference. I want to read a few verses to you out of the book of Isaiah, chapter 45. You can write this down and go back and read it more thoroughly on your own.

But there was a man named Samuel, and he was a man of faith, and he was a Cyrus. He was a pagan emperor. He was a godless emperor. And yet, the Bible says that God raised him up for the purpose of bringing blessing and favor to the nation of Israel. Let me read to you from verse 1 in chapter 45 and following. It says, the Lord says this to Cyrus, his anointed. God calls him his anointed. Now, I didn't just call Donald Trump anointed, okay? So don't walk out. But if God is in control, everything God oversees is anointed.

But if Cyrus is, the Lord says this, of Cyrus, his anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and disarm kings, to open doors before him and even city gates will not be shut. I will go before you and level the uneven places. I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two. I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places so that you may know that I am the Lord. There's a purpose there, by the way. I am the God of Israel who calls you by your name.

I call you by your name for the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen one. Now, let me clarify what he just said. I've called you by name, Cyrus, for a couple of reasons. Number one, so that you'll know that I'm God. And number two, I've called you by name for the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen one, and for the favor of my people. I am the Lord and there is no other. There is no God but me. I will strengthen you. Now, listen to this. Even though you do not know me, so that all may know from the rising of the sun to the setting that there is no one but me, I am the Lord and there is no other.

Did you catch that twice? God says to Cyrus, I'm going to use you. But you don't know me. But I'm still going to use you and I'm going to use you for the good of my people. Now, be careful because I didn't just say that Donald Trump is the Savior. And we need to be careful with that. There's some folks that are mishandling that. I didn't say that. I'll address that in a bit. But I do think, I do think that God has given us a gracious chance to restore our nation to its roots, to see a move of God. And to see faith increase in this nation.

And then a third question that I've been asked is, so considering all that's happened, what is to be our response? And that's what I want to address with you from Scripture this morning. If you're physically able to do so, why don't you stand with me as we read our text beginning in chapter 3, 2 Peter verse 8. This is what the Scripture says. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away and a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Father, we are waiting for a new heaven. We are waiting for a new heaven. We are waiting for a new heaven. And Father, we want to be faithful and obedient. We want to be active. We want to be serving You. And we pray, Lord, more than anything else, that our nation will come to know, really know who You are and that we will repent and we will turn to You.

And we thank You, Father, for the window of opportunity that You have opened before us. We pray for those who lead us, that they will have wisdom to lead us in the ways that align with Your Word. And Father, we pray for the Father, I pray that we will not squander an opportunity to see you move across this land. Would you now take your word and speak to us in Jesus' name? Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Now, it's worth noting that the letters of 1 and 2 Peter are both addressed to the church. They're not addressed to the culture. They're addressed to the church. Now, I will say this, the culture to which Peter writes is almost identical to the culture you're living in today. Almost identical, especially in the sense of leadership and politics and those who call the shots.

And Peter's message is set in light of living in the last days. Did you notice that? He's talking about living in the last days. Because there were. There were skeptics and scoffers that had arisen. And so what you have are a lot of what we might refer to as cultural Christians. People that affirm the right things ideologically, but those things don't really characterize how they live. And these verses, Peter says, the skeptics, the cultural Christians are arguing that the word of God can't be true because Jesus said he was. He's going to come back. And now it's been a bunch of years since Jesus was gone. And Jesus hasn't returned. So they said, where's the promise of his coming? He's not coming back. And if he's not coming back, then the word of God is not true. And if the word of God is not true, we can live however we want to.

And so Peter addresses this. He says to these cultural Christians, he says, listen, you need to understand something. God is not slow concerning his promise, but is patient toward you. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the reason that Christ has not yet returned. But he will return, and he will be faithful to his word and to his promise. In other words, they were making the argument that if Jesus was going to return, he had already done so. And because he hadn't, the delay indicated that they didn't have to believe Scripture, or that Scripture wasn't true. And therefore, they could live. They could live however they wanted to live. And so they rejected the truth. Sounds a whole lot like our world, doesn't it?

Because to accept it, don't miss this, would mean that they would have to repent and turn to Christ, or they would have to decide to live under the terrible fear of the coming judgment of God. And so they didn't want to change their lives, so they just chose to reject Christ and the message of his word. Their argument, though convincing to some people, was really just a smokescreen to cover the pursuit of their own evil desires. In fact, verse 5, I don't know if you noticed, verse 5 says that they were deliberately ignorant of the truth. In other words, they purposely denied the truth. It wasn't accidental. They denied it on purpose so they could live in their denial and live however they wanted.

This is the truth. This is what we call cultural Christianity today, where our world says, oh, we believe in God, we believe in the ideas of God, until those ideas intersect with our life and we don't want to change the way we live, and then we no longer follow the ideas of Scripture.

Peter asks the important question in verse 11. So what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? In light of the fact that Jesus, Jesus is going to do exactly what he said, what kind of people should we be? It's the appropriate question. Now, I'll tell you that I'm glad for the recent election outcomes, but I'm equally concerned that we do not respond to it as cultural Christians do and assume that this is the fix for all the ailments of our nation and as a result, miss the window of opportunity to genuinely return to Christ.

And if we're going to respond properly to these things, I think we have to adopt the right perspective related to three things our passage teaches. The first is we have to have the right perspective about our kingdom identity. We see this in verse 11 when he simply begins this question, what sort of people ought you to be? That's an identity question. Who are you to be? Peter was calling them to understand who they really were and whose they were, You know, the Bible says you've been bought with a price, that you're not your own. Do you realize that? You're not your own. If you're saved, if you're a believer, you don't belong to this world. You belong to Christ. He paid for you.

And as a result of that, you have a different agenda. You have his agenda. It is a master relation. He is the master and he has the right to say to us, this is my agenda for you. It seems like today there's a fixation on this whole idea of identity though, doesn't it? I mean, everything from gender identity to identity theft. We hear about it all the time. But the scripture talks about our identity and it is not some worldly identity. It is about our identity in Christ and our identification with the kingdom of God. Now, it is your most important identifying mark.

Now, the Bible says one day that when we get into the kingdom, when we're in heaven, listen, this is a neat thing. Revelation says that his name will be on our forehead. I don't understand all of that, but I think that's cool. That when we get there, his mark will be upon us. Call it a brand if you want. I don't know. It may be a tattoo. I don't know. Whatever it is, his name is going to be on us in heaven. And it's going to be a badge of honor. But did you know before you get to heaven, you are ready or to identify in Christ Jesus? In the here and now. Before we get there, before it's stamped across our foreheads, we are to identify with the kingdom of God. It's the most important identifying mark.

In fact, Galatians 3 .26 says, For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. In Christ Jesus, by faith, you are sons of God, daughters of God. It means that you belong to him. You are bought with the price he owns you. And we have to understand that there are two kingdoms in operation right now. We're living. Among two kingdoms. And these kingdoms are in conflict. And they always will be in conflict until the day that Jesus returns. Now, as believers, you and I have to interact in these two kingdoms. But one of those kingdoms must take precedence over the other. And that's why we'd better understand the difference in the two kingdoms.

In Colossians 1 .13, Paul wrote and he says, He, God, has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. He specifies the two different kingdoms there. Did you get that? What are these two different kingdoms? Well, first of all, there's the kingdom of man. Or the kingdom of darkness. The domain of darkness is what he says there in Colossians 1 .13. He has delivered us. If you're in Christ, that's your identity. You've been delivered from the kingdom of man. The domain of darkness. What characterizes this kingdom? Well, it's a dissolving kingdom. Do you know? And if you notice that Peter talked about it in our passage, all of these things are going to dissolve. He's talking about the things of this world. They're going to pass away. The kingdom of man is a dissolving kingdom. It's temporary. And it's passing away. It's not going to last.

That's why, listen, don't hitch your wagon to this kingdom. There are a lot of Christians who are trying to live as a citizen of this kingdom. And a citizen of God's kingdom. And frankly, you just can't do it. It's a dissolving kingdom. So if you need to know anything, if you need some rationale or justification, the Bible says it's not going to last. So don't hitch your wagon to this kingdom. Not only is it a dissolving kingdom, it's a dictatorial kingdom. The Bible says that this world is under the leadership of the prince and power of the air. Now that means God has allowed that. Do you understand? The broken world, God has allowed the enemy of your soul to have a measure of authority, but it's under God's allowance. And so he's called the prince and power of the air. And we know that God has allowed him to have, for a limited time, control in this world on some level.

You remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. You remember what Satan offered him? He took him up on a high place and he said, Look, see all the kingdoms of man? All of these I'll give to you. Think about that. God had allowed him to have the authority over the kingdom here, this broken kingdom. And he said, I'll give that to you if you'll just bow down and follow me. It is a dictatorial kingdom. He has an agenda. I said, God has an agenda for his children. He does. But did you know the devil has an agenda too in this world? It's a dissolving kingdom. It's a dictatorial kingdom. And then it's a deceptive kingdom. The Bible says that your adversary masquerades as an angel of light.

Listen, you know the devil is fine with religion. He hates truth. But he's fine with religion. And there's so much religion in our world, right? I've had people tell me before, well, I used to be religious. Well, that's probably your problem. And there are a lot of religious people out there. And we see that. Listen. But there's a difference between being a religious person about God or spiritual things and being a related

person to God. And this kingdom that we're in is a deceptive kingdom. And the devil doesn't mind you being religious. By the way, the devil doesn't mind you going to church as long as you don't imbibe, as long as you don't take it in, as long as you just make that one more motion in your life. It's a deceptive kingdom. It's a deceptive kingdom. Then I would tell you, not only is it a dissolving kingdom, a dictatorial kingdom, a deceptive kingdom, but it is a dividing kingdom. It divides people, this world. You notice just in the last couple of weeks how divided, how divided in so many ways. The enemy loves to divide this kingdom. And he divides people by position. And he divides people by race. I couldn't help but notice, you probably did too, one of the big talking points in this past election was how many of the different racial groups went for one party or another party. Did you notice that? And all of that kind of stuff. Why? Because we're divided. The devil loves to divide us by position, by power, by class, by race. It's the kingdom of man. And then there's a second kingdom, though, and that's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of his beloved son. Did you see that? In Colossians, the kingdom of the domain of darkness, the kingdom of man. And then he said, the kingdom of his beloved son. That's the kingdom of God. This is the kingdom that must rule our lives. Its agenda must guide us, and its king must rule over us. Now, let me be honest and say that Christians haven't always done a good job at identifying with the right kingdom. In fact, one of the reasons Peter is writing to these believers is because they were confused. They were confused about which kingdom they really belonged to. We haven't always done a good job at identifying with the kingdom of God. We often say we belong to the kingdom of God, but frankly, oftentimes we look and act more like we belong to the kingdom of man. Jim Wallace, not a conservative theologian at all, but he got this right. He said, the kingdom of God, which Jesus came to inaugurate, is meant to create an alternate reality in this world, and ultimately to transform the kingdoms of this world toward the kingdom of God. I think he got that right. But frankly, it's often the other way around. The kingdom of God is transformed more by the kingdom of man. Now, let's make sure as we go forward in the days ahead that as we interact with the kingdom of man, and by the way, I'm not saying you can't live in this world and not interact with the kingdom of man. You have no choice. You're going to. But which kingdom? Which kingdom? Which kingdom are you going to identify with is the real question. And so as we interact with the kingdom of man, we elevate and keep our eyes fixed on the kingdom of God. Paul writes in Philippians 3 .20 and says this, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior. That's what Peter said, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's be careful and make sure that our identity, listen, is not tied to who's in Washington, but it's tied to who's in heaven. Amen?

Second, if we're going to get this thing right going forward, there is our kingdom intensity. Verse 10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. You say, what does that have to do with intensity?

Well, it means we need to live. We need to live urgent lives because the return of Christ is coming.

And so the question, again, is what kind of people should we be? We should be people of intensity, living out the faith. We should be people of urgency. The day of the Lord is coming. We have a limited amount of time left, and God is not willing that any should perish. I'll come back to that. But all should come to repentance. This is our motivation. Christ is going to return. We must return. We must live with this kind of intensity. We are not to live in fear or anxiety. Don't do it. The devil will try to say, he'll try to confuse intensity with anxiety. You see, there is a difference, right? Y 'all do this if you understand. Urgency and intensity means we have an agenda given to us from God, and it motivates us. And we live for Him. And I think in the window of opportunity that we've been given, we have to live for Him, and we have to heighten our intensity for the kingdom of God. Jesus said, We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no man can work. Urgency. Intensity. Not fear. Not anxiety. We haven't been given a spirit of fear, Paul writes, but of love and a sound mind. And between here and Christ's return, there are a couple of things we must do. First of all, we must not relax. We must not relax in the spiritual war. We must not relax in the spiritual war. You know, it's something about victories that have a way of causing us to relax and to assume that everything is well and nothing more is required of us. There's something about victories that causes us to go.

I mentioned that last week in my message, and a lady came to me after the second service. She said, You know, Pastor, you know, I didn't realize that until you said that, that I've kind of done that.

We must avoid that. We must. We must not relax. We're in a spiritual war. And the danger in relaxing is that we miss what God is trying to do. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 3, while people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. We're engaged in spiritual war. What's going on in our culture goes beyond the surface. You know, we talk about culture wars. We hear that term. That's become more common. I've talked to you about that many times before. But can I tell you, the culture wars that we're seeing going on out there are birthed in a spiritual war. They're the manifestation of what's going on below the surface. The evil that you see around you, the battles that you see for power, and the rejection of God, the truth, and righteousness are all manifestations of this cosmic spiritual war that the Bible speaks about. And between here and the return, the return of Christ, we must not drop our guard, we must not relax, we must not assume that all is well and all will be well. The enemy of God is still plotting. He's still scheming. And he, listen, he loves it when the people of God relax. Maybe you've heard the statement, eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. You ever heard that statement? Well, if you've been here, you have. I used it last week.

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. We're not going to use it. We talk usually about that in terms of the freedom as a nation and that kind of stuff, but I want to tell you that's true in the spiritual world. Eternal vigilance is the price of spiritual freedom. It's true spiritually. Why? Because the enemy of God is still on the move. If you go over to the first letter of Peter in chapter 5 and verse 8, Peter writes, be sober -minded, be watchful, don't relax. Why? Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. There are a lot of people that following the elections have just let out this collective sigh of relief as if everything is now fixed, and that leads to the next statement that I share with you, and that is you must not rely on earthly leadership.

Don't get me wrong. Leadership, elected officials, and the selection of those who govern are very important. I'm not minimizing that at all, not in the least, and it's why I preached a pre -election message, because I believe it makes a difference. But we have to understand that no man, no individual, or no group, no party can fix all that ails a broken and sinful world. I don't care who they are. Only Christ can transform a culture. Now, leaders can help that. They can speed up the decline, or they can arrest the advance of darkness. But only Christ can transform broken people. Washington can't. They've proven that time and time again. It doesn't matter who's in office. And only Christ can bring lasting light into darkness.

Tragically, there are some, listen, in the culture you live, there are some moral ships that have left the port that are not going to return. It doesn't matter who's in Washington. It doesn't matter who's leading. Now, those who govern are important, because they can stop the drift. They can stop the drift. They can be instruments to impede the advance of darkness. They can be instruments that restore righteous rules. And that's why elections matter. They can give windows. But our trust must not be in the president.

We should pray that he'll have God's wisdom. And by the way, I've heard people, and this disturbs me. Again, I like the outcome, okay? But I'm disturbed, because I've heard people that act as if the new president, is the Messiah. Dear friend, if you want to get a spanking from God, you elevate a man to a place that only God deserves.

And so, we pray for our president. But our trust is not that the president will fix all the ailments. Our trust must not be in Congress or Senate. We should pray for them, that they'll act with sanity and rule with wisdom beyond the power of God. But our trust must be in God alone. We print it. We still do. There are some who've tried to have it removed, you know. We print it on our coins and on our bills. In God we trust. That's our national motto.

Friend, I believe that it's time that this motto is once again believed and carried forward. Why? Because time is short. Time is short. We have a limited amount of time. Now, when Peter wrote these letters, he said, well, that's almost 2 ,000 years ago. And Jesus still hasn't returned. Did you also catch what he said? One day with God is as 1 ,000 years. Well, if that's the case, it's been 2 ,000 years since he wrote that. We're getting pretty close. I believe we're in the last season of the last age. You see, we've been in the last days since Jesus ascended to heaven. Since the very first advent, we're about to celebrate advent. And since that advent, about 2 ,000 years have expired and we need to have our antenna up. The Scripture is being... Look, if you just studied the Scripture you didn't know anything about prophecy, but you began to read the Scripture, things that were said 2 ,000 and 3 ,000 years ago, and if you got a particle of sanity, you would go, wow, how did they know that back then? And yet today, we see it. It's playing out. Friend, time is short. And so we must live our kingdom identity. We must live with kingdom intensity. And last, we must understand our kingdom priority.

Verses 9 and 12 illustrate this, I think. In verse 9, he talks about, again, God's not slow. God's waiting for more people to come to know Him. That's part of our mission. I'll talk about that in a second. But then look at verse 12. This is one of the most interesting and perplexing verses in the New Testament. Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. By the way, this isn't talking about the rapture. This is talking about the return of Christ. Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. And so to answer Peter's rhetorical question again, what kind of people should we be? The answer is people with kingdom priority. It's harder than it sounds. I know that. It's harder than it sounds because it's easy to become so distracted by the temporary things of the world that we lose sight of the eternal things of the kingdom. We're so one -dimensional, aren't we? That we get distracted by the world and the things of this world. And it's easy for us to lose sight of the things that are eternal, the things of the kingdom, the kingdom priorities. And so it's hard sometimes. Not intentionally. Most of us don't do that intentional. We just get swept up in this kingdom that we're operating in every day, getting up and going through the routines of this kingdom. But Peter says, what kind of people should we be in godliness and righteousness? That's kingdom stuff. He gave them a couple of kingdom priorities, by the way. There are plenty of them in the New Testament. But he gives them a couple right here. One is that we must be alert to the return of Christ. He says, waiting for the return. Waiting for the return. Waiting for the return. We must be alert there.

National Geographic carried an article back some years ago titled, Did Animals Sense the Tsunami Was Coming? And it talks about the 2004 tsunami that hit and reshaped the shoreline of Sri Lanka. It was devastating. It was a horrifying, massive tsunami. Listen, the destruction caused in just a few minutes was unimaginable. More than 40 ,000 people. More than 40 ,000 people died in just a few minutes because of that. And thousands of homes were wiped out. It took months for them to recover from the devastation. And as the rebuilding process began, the article talks about a strange discovery that they discovered through this process of rebuilding. And that is that prior to the tsunami, animals in the wildlife close to the sea

instinctively seemed to sink. They sensed the danger that was approaching. And as a result, the animals moved to higher ground or further inland in order to escape the effects of the killer waves of that tsunami. Isn't that interesting? I think we should take a lesson from the animals and be alert to the return of Christ. Why? Because he's warned us of the wave that is coming. But he's given us a window, I fully believe. Between here and that return. And the warning signs are all around us. It's the whole context of this chapter. Really, if you go and read the verses above where we started, you'll see that context expressed.

We should be alert. Because Christ will return. And notice, he says, I'm going to give you signs. I'm going to let you know when it's close, when it's close. But he said, I'm coming like a thief. Paul reiterated that in Thessalonians. Alertness to the return of Christ should create this urgency to live holy and righteous lives. That's kingdom priorities. And we have a window, I believe, important for us to take advantage of. And not only are we to be alert to the return of Christ, Peter also tells us to be active in the plan of God. Now here's the thing. You know, I said that verse 12 was one of the most perplexing in the New Testament to scholars, theological scholars, because it says hastening the coming. Did you see that? Hastening the coming of the day of God.

Waiting for the return of Christ is not a passive activity. We're not to sit around doing nothing, but we're to hasten the return. And in the Greek, the word hasten has a couple of meanings, but primarily it means to hurry up, to speed up the day. And what Peter is saying is that we actually have a part to play in the return of Christ. And that we're to be active. And part of that activity is that we're to fulfill the great commission. You know, we've been talking about for a couple of weeks now our Reach the World offering. We do it every year at this time. We give hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the year toward world missions. But at this time of year, we take that special extra offering so that we can bless mission partners. And we're to be active. While I'm doing a commercial, be sure you give to that above and beyond your tithes and your other offerings. But listen, that's part of the mission. It's part of waiting for His return, but hastening that through our active participation in the great commission. Taking the gospel. This gospel will be preached to the whole world for the first time in history. We can actually say we can get the gospel to the whole world. We can get the gospel to the whole world. This gospel will be preached to the whole world, and then the end will come. Time is limited, and the mission is priority. We must elevate it. We have this purpose. And that purpose should inspire us to do some things. It should inspire us to pray more. I don't know if you got to be here on the Monday evening before the election, but this bottom floor and some in the balcony, this bottom floor was packed as we sought the Lord. It's a beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. And the Spirit of God touched down in this place. If you were here, you experienced it. You know what I'm talking about. And the fact is, the kingdom purposes of God should inspire us to pray more, to spend more time in communication with Him. It should also inspire us to serve more. The church of Jesus Christ should never have to beg for servants. We should have servants begging us. How can I serve? What can I do? Put me wherever you need me. Here am I. Send me, as Isaiah said. It should inspire us to serve more. It should inspire us to love more.

Contrary to what those who don't understand us might say out in the world, we're not hate -filled people. We're compelled by love.

We don't like sin, but we love sinners. Because Jesus died for them. And that's all of us. And if that weren't the case, none of us would be sitting in this room today. We are to inspire. Never be inspired by the love of God to love our world. I see Chris Jones sitting over there, and I love his great line. He has this great line. And you'll notice sometimes Chris does our RBC. Everywhere he goes, when he talks to me, he always finishes up and says, nothing but the love. He's talking about the love of Christ. Nothing but the love. By the way, Chris was an Army Ranger.

And I always thought, would you, can you imagine this dude standing over you on the battlefield looking down saying, nothing but the love.

Took you out, but it was inspired by love.

But frankly, honestly, we are to love more. Let's love more. Let's, look, they may label you because you believe in biblical values. They may call you haters.

The young people use this line. They say, haters are going to hate.

But you know what lovers are going to love. So let's be those people to a dark culture. A dark culture that desperately needs to know that God loves them. And we have answers. The kingdom purpose should inspire us to love more. And then it should inspire us to worship more. Man, I love coming in this place and worshiping. I do. I look forward to it. Do you look forward to it? It's just good, isn't it? You come in here and maybe you've had a bad morning or your coffee tasted bad or you didn't get a Krispy Kreme donut before you came to church or something. But you come in here and all of that stuff goes away. For just a while, you get to worship and it's good. And the fact that Jesus is coming back should inspire us to say, I want to worship more. Look, get used to worship. Because if you're a child of God, you're going to do it for eternity. This is practice. That's what this is. So practice and practice with all your heart. Worshiping God. Now let me close. I genuinely believe that God has given us a new window. I believe it's a window of opportunity in this nation and in the church. And I believe if we squander this opportunity, the next time will most certainly be an expression of God's judgment upon us.

You understand?

Don't just relax and say, oh, we like the outcome of things and it'll all work out. This world's broken. The enemy's already got a strategy. He's already at war. Don't drop your guard. Be the people of God like never before. Never before. When you get on your knees to pray, you say, God, I thank you for this moment in time. Let me live for you with all my heart. Let me love this world like you love this world. Lord, let me return to you if I've wandered away. Let your people return to you. God, use me. God, use us. God, God, use us. Let my great and mighty move across this land. If my people are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land. Y 'all believe that, don't you? So let us renew our identity with the kingdom of God. Let us live with a renewed intensity for the kingdom of God. And let us reflect the priorities. Of the kingdom of God. Waiting, watching, working, and serving until he returns. Father, help us to be your people like never before. In an age that so desperately needs to see what real Christianity looks like. Father, thank you for this moment in time. Let us not squander it, let us, Father, take advantage of it. Every chance we have, like Cyrus, so that people will know who you are by watching who we are. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. It sure has been a joy to share it with you. And even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ. Perhaps as you've watched this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ. The prompting of the Spirit has caused you to recognize that you need Christ as your Savior. And the good news is you can receive him right where you are. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Right where you are, you can call on him. Say something like this from your heart to him. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. I know I'm a sinner, and I know that you came into this world and died on the cross for my sins. And right now, I invite you to come into my life. Forgive me and be my Savior. I can assure you, if you'll call on him, based on what God has already told us in the Bible, that he'll hear that prayer, and he'll answer that. And he wants to begin this new journey in your life with you, transforming you into his image. We'd love to help you with that decision as well. You'll see a QR code on your screen. And if you would scan that, or you'll see contact information, or if you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps. There are no strings attached, no fees involved. We'd just like to help you begin that journey with Christ. You may be watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to. I already know Christ as my Savior, and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family. Also, if you will, scan that QR code. That'll take you to a location, and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions, like becoming a member here, or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things. So contact us through that QR code. You'll see the contact information on the screen. Well, again, it's been a joy to have you with us today, and I hope you've been encouraged by God's word. Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us. May the Lord bless you.