Nourished for the Journey | Kyle Idleman

Well, hey there, Pando family. Welcome to Southeast Christian Church. We are so glad that you are joining us here for worship today. My name is Brandon Braun, and I am part of the SE Online team, and we just wanna let you know that wherever you are, we want to connect with you. You'll find in the description of this video our address down below. We wanna invite you just to write in to share your story with us, share how we can be praying for you. We love to get those letters to be able to respond to them and know how we can join you on your journey. And while you're down there, be sure to click the subscribe button. We have over 21,000 people who are subscribed to this channel. Join them to get updates every time a new video drops on the Southeast Christian Church channel. Now, today we have Senior Pastor Kyle Eidelman with us, and he is continuing on in our sermon series called Temporary Residence. We're gonna be in 1 Peter 2, where Peter's gonna talk to us about what it looks like to be spiritually nourished on the journey we're on. He always talks the first couple of weeks about what it looks like to be a sojourner in this world, what it looks like to live in a world where we don't belong.

And today he's gonna tell us how we sustain ourselves, how God sustains us on our path. So let's head into worship, and we'll catch you afterwards. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh, oh ♪ Yes, yes, yes! Let's keep on our worship this morning church. Come on, hey! ♪ Generations we've all got a story to tell ♪ ♪ Stories of rescue, rebirth, and redemption ♪ ♪ We've all got a story to tell ♪ Lift it up! ♪ If he's been faithful, if he's been good ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If he's been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ Come on, let the redeemed sing this morning. ♪ Let the redeemed of the Lord lift their voices ♪ ♪ Remember the things he has done ♪ ♪ We've heard from our fathers and we'll tell our children ♪ ♪ The wonderful things he has done, yeah ♪ ♪ If he's been faithful, if he's been good ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If he's been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ If he's been good, you sing. ♪ Oh, he is good, his love endures now and for eternity ♪ ♪ Oh, he is good, his love endures our history and our legacy ♪ ♪ He is good, his love endures now and for eternity ♪ ♪ Oh, he is good, his love endures our history and our legacy ♪ ♪ And our legacy ♪

♪ He has been faithful, he has been good, come on ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, he has been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If he's been good, you sing ♪ ♪ If he's been good, you sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, if he's been able ♪ ♪ Where no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ You're so good, you're so good, whoa ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, yeah relationships ♪ Resultation, I was born to lift your name above all names ♪ You hear the melody of all creation ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can bring ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ You are the infinite God of the ages ♪ Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place ♪ You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory ♪ So I have songs of thanks not even angels sing ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus

♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ Holy, holy ♪ Righteous one, who shed His blood ♪ You prove to us the Father's love ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up ♪ Holy, holy ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ You're seated on the throne above ♪ Holy, holy ♪ Righteous one, who shed His blood ♪ You prove to us the Father's love ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ Holy, holy ♪ Yes it is, it is to come ♪ ♪ You're seated on the throne above ♪

♪ Holy, holy righteous one ♪ ♪ You prove to us a father love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ we lift it up ♪ ♪ Holy, holy righteous one ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ For you are holy, holy ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty, you are Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ For you are holy, holy ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty, you are Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty, you are Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty, you are Lord God Almighty ♪ Thank God you are holy, you are worthy. And what a gift it is that we stand before you and we declare those words. God, get glory in this place today. May we never stop singing, holy, holy, holy. We love you, Jesus. Thank you. It's in his name, amen. Y'all can grab a seat. This week, when I was praying and asking the Lord how would he have us to best glorify his name and encourage his children, particularly on this Mother's Day, I was struck by this powerful reminder that God the Father, in his perfect plan, sent his one and only son, Jesus, to the earth. And y'all, he gave him a mother.

He gave him a mama to carry him in his womb, to birth him, to fill his belly, to kiss his cheeks. God the Father, in his perfect plan, sent Jesus, his one and only son, on this earth and he gave him a mother to encourage him, to listen to him, to sing over him, to pray for and with him. And it's the sweetest window into our Father's love and our Father's care for us. And in his perfect plan, he sent Jesus and he made sure. That his love poured out through a mother to Jesus. I know some of you are sitting here thinking, but what about me? That hasn't been my experience with mothering on this earth. And I don't know what mothering has thrown you. I don't know if it's been the sweetest blessing and I don't know if it's left you longing. But I do know in God's perfect plan, the Father sent his one and only son to the earth and he did give Jesus a mother on this earth. But hear this, he gave you and me, Jesus himself. And through Jesus, we are nurtured, we are cared for, we are heard and seen and most of all, we are saved. So as we prepare our hearts for communion, as we see this wafer and as we taste it, let us remember that God's perfect plan for you and for me is Jesus. That his very body walked this earth, he taught and he healed.

He bore all of our sins on and in his body. Scripture says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross for you and for me. And as we see the juice and we. Taste the juice. Let it remind us of Jesus's blood. This Jesus blood that was poured out on purpose to wash you and me clean. Scripture says we are white as snow. God's perfect plan. God the Father sent Jesus the Son to the earth to save you and me, to forgive us of our sins and bring us back in communion with the Father. I love so much how John says it this way in 1 John 4, 9 and 10, he says this. This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. So today, no matter what the world has thrown at you and at me, let us eat, let us drink and let us remember of God's perfect plan in sending Jesus. Let us remember. ♪ There is no shadow of turning with thee ♪ ♪ Thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not ♪ ♪ As thou hast been, thou forever will be ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Morning by morning, new mercies I see ♪

♪ All I have needed, thy hand has provided ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord, unto thee ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord, unto thee ♪ My sister and I, we just had a rough childhood and just navigating Matt as sisters made us really close in ways. Her journey was a lot harder and we just went two different paths and she was a mom, a single mom of three kids and I was busy in my mommyhood with my three kids. September, 2017, Alicia died. That's when our lives changed forever. About a month later, we've gained legal guardianship of her three children, Austin, Alexis, and Journey. Lucy, who is our biological baby of the family, she was one and a half, Journey was two and a half, Layla was eight, Luke and Alexis, they were 11 and Austin, he was the oldest going into middle school. When all the kiddos moved in, it just got harder and harder and I tried adjusting as a new mom to six kiddos and just at times feeling very isolating being at home because it was easier to be home than drag little kids out. There were a lot of feelings and each kid was a little bit different. had their own personality and how they dealt with their feelings or how they verbalized them. And there were moments where I didn't meet that need because I had no idea how to even meet it. And I wanted to fix and I couldn't fix. I would be too harsh or too critical or mean. My anger would get the best of me or bitter over the whole situation.

There was just a moment in my grief journey where I was laying in bed and I just remember feeling my heart and I'm like, you know, I was crying and I was just sad and all those feelings that came up after Alicia had died. Those were emotions and things that I've forced for me to sit in those feelings and give up that control to Jesus because I wasn't fixing it. And I wanted to be the fixer, but I couldn't be. And I remember that feeling of peace just coming over me that he is faithful and these are his children before they were ever mine. And giving that control up to Jesus is what it takes because I can't do it alone. I can't fix it. I need him every day. I pray into the atmosphere. Spirit of God, you're here. You have all authority. I pray over my heart and mind. I am healed by your stripes. Your blood declares that I am free in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray, calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim every weapon formed against me. I must pray in the mighty name of Jesus. I draw a permanent boundary line. The enemy has no rights to come near my family. No scheme could ever undo God's plans. No matter the circumstance. The cross has sealed my destiny in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray, calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim every weapon formed against me. I must pray in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. I know all the power of fear and darkness must go. There's every key to every victory. I hope in the mighty name of Jesus. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides. By the blood of Jesus Christ. So I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. So I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides. ♪ Signs by the blood of Jesus Christ, yeah ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I pray, calling on the power of heaven ♪ ♪ I proclaim, every weapon formed against me ♪ ♪ Must pray, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know, all the power of fear and darkness must go ♪

♪ Cause every key to every victory, I hold ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, yeah ♪ God, we come together and we come to you in the mighty name of Jesus. We recognize that he is the one who has the power and he is the one who has made it possible for us to come into your presence, to come before you with our needs. Thank you, God. What we study in scripture, that we have a high priest in heaven in Jesus who understands what this life is like, who understands the challenges and the suffering and the pain of this world. And he intercedes on our behalf that we can come to you with confidence, knowing that he knows what it's like. And so in the name of Jesus, we pray for hope. We need lots of hope in this world. I pray, God, for healing. I pray that you would set us free from fear and from shame and guilt that so many of us carry around. I pray that we would experience victory, Jesus, in your mighty name we pray, amen. You may be seated. There's a familiar scene that I assume plays out thousands of times every day around the world. It's when a flight attendant stands up

towards the front of the plane and starts to go through the little spiel. I was a couple of weeks ago on a plane and I heard that little spiel differently because of the people sitting in front of me. So right in front of me was this mom with her toddler-aged daughter. And she, age three or four, would peek up over the seat at me while the flight attendant is talking and she has her pigtails, not the flight attendant, the little girl, pigtails, big smile, and I'm grinning back at her. And then I hear the flight attendant say something that I've heard, I don't know how many times, but this time, because of who was in front of me, I heard it differently. The flight attendant said, in case of emergency, secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others. And suddenly I thought how impossible that request might be for this young mom with her toddler-aged daughter. How do you do that? When there's this turbulence and the masks come down from the ceiling and you've got your helpless, adorable little girl there, you're supposed to put on your mask before you put on her mask? Like that goes against every instinct. It wouldn't feel right.

It feels like I need to take care of her and then I can take care of me. But on every flight, they remind you of, in case of an emergency, secure your own mask first because the reality is, if you can't breathe, you can't help anybody else, right? Like if you run out of oxygen, then you can't do anything to help the people you're with, so you need to take care of yourself. And that's this really simple but biblical principle that Jesus talks to us about in Mark chapter 12 when he says, love your neighbor as yourself. There's something about caring for ourselves that can feel selfish, but it's not selfish to take care of yourself first. When Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself, he doesn't say love your neighbor instead of yourself. He doesn't say love your neighbor but not yourself. He says, love your neighbor as yourself. The part of loving others is loving yourself. Part of caring for others is taking good care of yourself. That God, as a father, wants to see his sons and daughters take good care of themselves. And when we do that, when we honor that principle, when we can breathe in some oxygen, then we're more positioned to help the people around us, but that's not always, it's not always easy to do that. And so in 1 Peter, Peter's talking to believers about some oxygen. He's gonna talk to us about the nourishment we need

for the journey we have ahead of us with all the turbulence that we can expect. Here's some things he wants us to remember. Now look, this chapter, 1 Peter 2, is not written to moms, but I'm gonna take a little time at some different places in the sermon to especially apply it to mothers, which I think is appropriate because, look, this is a challenge for moms, I think especially so, to put themselves in a place where they're caring for themselves instead of always looking out for other people, prioritizing some of their own care and making sure they get to breathe and making sure they have nourishment. So we're gonna work our way through 1 Peter 2. We'll have some special application for moms along the way. Here's what happens in 1 Peter 2. Peter's gonna give us three different images, three different metaphors, that if we can get these pictures in our head will help us live out our faith in a world that's pretty unpredictable. So we're gonna look at three different metaphors and then an application for each metaphor. Here's the first one, is a hungry infant. That's the picture he's gonna use. And here's the application we're gonna take from this. Feed your own soul first. A hungry infant is the image.

Feed your own soul first is the application. Look at verse two and three. Peter's talking to us about our spiritual appetites, our appetite for the things of God. He says, like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by it, by craving the spiritual nourishment in your life, by having this hunger for God's word, by having this desire to spend time in prayer with God, to spend time with other believers in worship, so that by it, you can grow up. You'll mature in your faith. You'll grow up in your salvation now that you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And so the image he gives us here is a baby who is hungry. If it's been a while since you've been around a hungry baby, let me tell you, when a baby is hungry, that's all they think about. They don't care about anything or anyone else. They just wanna get their food. Last week, my wife and I had two of our grandkids for like three or four days. My two-year-old grandson, McKay, my one-year-old granddaughter, Hallie Mae, who's getting ready to turn one this week. And it was exhausting. Like here's, to me, it's like you haven't worked out for years, and then somebody's like, how about you do nothing but work out for four days? That's gonna be pretty tiring.

And that's what it was like. And I really had one goal for my time with them during those few days, and that was to get my one-year-old granddaughter to say Papa, say Papa K. I'm Papa, Papa K. So just Papa was fine, but that's what we were focused on. That was the priority of our time together. And she could say Mama and Dada, but I wanted to add Papa to her vocabulary. So on the last day, I'll show you a little recording here. Say Papa. Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa. Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa. So that was my one goal. Yeah, I'm glad for her. That was my one goal, that and for her to survive. Those were kind of the two goals. And I was so happy that both of those things happened. When Hallie gets hungry, see, I mean, she's as sweet as she can be. When she gets hungry, Hallie gets hangry. And part of me understands why she can get hungry sometimes. Like some parents these days, like my daughter is so determined to feed such healthy foods to these kids. And I know that's hard to be critical of. Like I should be, it sounds like a hard thing to be in a position against that but hear me out.

Like she sent them with something called dino nuggets, which if you don't know, you would assume those are chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs, the kind of food kids should be eating. But not these dino nuggets. These dino nuggets were filled with spinach. Like they look like chicken nuggets in the shapes of dinosaurs filled with spinach. You don't think that's gonna create trust issues for her as a teenager? Oh yeah, like that's coming up in therapy. Like you can't do that. And so I understand sometimes maybe why she would get hungry. But when Hallie gets hungry, there's no reasoning with her. She's not considerate. She's not being thoughtful of what's convenient for us. It is a demand that she has. Like she doesn't care if she interrupts our schedule or wakes us up when we're asleep. Like her desire for food is urgent and can I just say non-negotiable. You can't negotiate with a one-year-old when they're hungry. And this is the word that Peter uses in 1 Peter 2. It's crave. That's the kind of spiritual focus and appetite he's calling us to have. Here's how that word in the original Greek

is defined, an intense, desperate hunger that can't be satisfied. that can't be ignored and won't be postponed. An intense and desperate hunger that can't be ignored or won't be postponed. And just think for a moment how that can be in contrast to our approach to the things of God. Because for a lot of us, it's more casual interest in spiritual things. It's more spiritual hobby. And I'll, yeah, I come to church once a week. And that's your nourishment. If that's your nourishment, then yeah, you're gonna feel weak and you're gonna feel malnourished. That's not the kind of relationship here that Peter is describing. He says this as a command to crave, to crave, to have this hunger for the goodness of God, for the things of God in your life, that that would not just be this hobby once in a while, but this would define who you are. Maybe you hear that, and if you were honest, like you wouldn't probably say it out loud, but if you were honest, you would say, look, it's not that I don't want to have that kind of appetite. I just don't have that kind of appetite. Like I hear what you're saying, and I want to want those things, but I don't really want those things.

You just don't have much of a spiritual appetite these days. If that's where you're at, then Peter in verse one kind of addresses some things that can kill your spiritual hunger. And so he says, therefore, rid yourselves of some things. Get rid of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. And then he says, as newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk. There are these things that can grow in our lives that kill our spiritual appetite, and we don't always make a connection. And so here are the things listed. He mentions malice, which is harboring bitterness and ill will towards someone. Hebrews warns us about the root of bitterness that can grow, and it affects everything. Bitterness, it affects everything. We feel it towards one person because what they did to us, but then it affects our other relationships with other people, and it affects our relationship with God. And so when you're having this resentment, when anger is what you wake up in the morning feeling and what you go to bed at night thinking about, and you're just replaying something that was done or something that was said, like that is crushing your spiritual appetite. Deceit is also on the list, which is being dishonest with yourself or with others. You're not living honestly.

Likewise, hypocrisy, it's pretending spirituality. It's living this inconsistent life. And maybe you're not making the connection. Like you're trying to have the spiritual appetite over here, but then over here, you're living in a way that's completely contrary. And what you're not connecting is that what you're doing over here, the way you're living over here is killing your appetite over here. Envy is mentioned, which is resenting others for what they have. It's this preoccupation with what you don't have. It's this constant comparison. When you're constantly comparing yourself to people, and that results in like ingratitude and discontentment, like nothing kills your spiritual hunger like ingratitude. Like the sense of I'm not getting what I deserve, and why can't I have what they have? And the more time you give to feeding yourself with those kinds of thoughts, the less hunger you're gonna have for God. And then he mentioned slander, speaking negatively about others. Like there's this dynamic, when you are talking badly about other people, then intuitively or subconsciously, you're not gonna wanna talk to God because God loves the people that you're talking badly about.

And so he gives us these things, and he says, look, maybe there's some areas here that you need to let go of. And if you did, if you did, you'd find that that spiritual hunger that has somehow disappeared would return. I was reading this story about a four-year-old little girl who was admitted to the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati for malnutrition. It was a very sad story where she had drank mostly Mountain Dew before she could walk. And they had put Mountain Dew in her bottle, and once she had Mountain Dew, that's all she wanted. And so she's just literally drinking Mountain Dew out of a bottle. And finally, at age four, it reached this place of critical health problem for her. And if you talk to the mom, the mom would say, well, that's all she wanted. Like, I know it sounds crazy just to give her Mountain Dew all the time, but the only thing that she would drink is Mountain Dew. I tried to give her milk, she didn't want any milk. I tried to give her something that would be healthy and sustaining for her. All she wanted was Mountain Dew. And there was a connection that was getting missed. Like, you can't give the Mountain Dew and then expect an appetite for milk. If you want there to be a hunger for milk,

you gotta get rid of the Mountain Dew. And this is what Peter is saying in chapter two, that there are these things in our lives that are keeping us from really experiencing a spiritual hunger. And it's not that we don't want to have it, it's just that we don't have it. we are filling ourselves with these things that are killing that appetite. And so I talk to people who'd be like, well, look, I just don't find the Bible to be that interesting. Or I try to pray, but I just have so many distractions. There's so many other things going on and constantly on the phone. Lots of screen time, but not much prayer time. Or I wanna want to go to church, but I don't really wanna go to church. Even now, I'm thinking to myself, how much longer is this guy gonna go? And I've got lunch plans, and like, you don't necessarily even wanna feel that, but you just feel that way. And you make it sound like the Bible is the problem, or prayer is the problem, or church is the problem. And I would just ask you to honestly consider the fact that maybe the Mountain Dew you've been sucking on for years is the problem. Like, maybe that's the problem. And if we let go of some of these things,

that spiritual appetite can return. So verse one, get rid of some things. Verse two, crave pure spiritual milk. Verse three, taste, you've tasted and you've seen that the Lord is good. That when you taste the goodness of God, here's what happens, an appetite begins to form that wasn't there before. As many of you know, my wife and daughter, they have a business and ministry that includes horses that I know very little about. But I woke up this morning around 5 a.m. with my wife telling me that a baby horse, or a foal, was born during the night. And, but that the baby wasn't, this is just like a few hours ago, but the baby wasn't nursing yet, and she needed me to come out to the barn and help. Which she knows, like, we both know that there's not much I can do in that situation. But she needed me to hold the mare while she helped the baby foal, because how I understand it, like, in those first few hours, it's just really important that the baby foal tastes. It's really important that the baby foal begins to nurse, because once that baby has a taste, then it'll trigger this appetite. But if the baby goes long enough without tasting, then it can be really hard to get her to nurse.

And so my job this morning, bright and early, was to hold the mare while my wife was helping the foal get a taste. And this is spiritually what it can feel like, where you don't have any desire, but if you'll just taste, if you'll put yourself in a position where you'll be like, okay, God, I'm just gonna be honest. I don't have much desire here. I want to taste your goodness. I want to know this, I want to know this spiritual nutrition that you talk about. Would you give me an appetite for it? And then you just pray a simple prayer, or you read a scripture, or you listen to a worship song, or you do what you're doing by coming to church. And if you taste, then that appetite can start to come back. So verse two and three, there's this image of a baby craving milk. Next image in chapter two is a living stone. And here's the application for a living stone, is you're not building alone. You're not building alone. So the image of a living stone doesn't connect with us quite as naturally as like a baby who's hungry. So we'll unpack that. But look at verse four and five. As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans,

but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So Peter gives us this picture to help us understand what God's doing in our lives and what he wants to accomplish. That God is building a house. He has something in mind. He's the master builder. And we are a living stone where he takes us and he takes our lives and he puts us into a place that maybe you wouldn't choose, might not have been your first pick, but he's got something in mind and he places you as a stone into what he is building. And in ancient structures, every stone was selected and shaped and positioned. And so many of those have stood the test of time. And so Peter says, this is who you are. You're a living stone. God is positioning you in the house that he is building. A random rock laying in a field doesn't have much purpose, doesn't really have any sense of significance. But that rock in the hands of a master builder, even though it might seem imperfect, that rock in the hands of a master builder can be placed in a strategic way

that is exactly what that builder has in mind. And so the question is, how does God shape us as living stones? I was researching this week that stones were prepared and shaped to be used in ancient buildings through pressure and friction as a way to shape and smooth out the stone. And this is often the case, that we go through these challenges, we experience these pressures, and God shapes us in ways that we didn't really expect. And this room would be full of people who would say, oh, that's true for me. It's not that I wanted to go through this, it's not that I would have chosen it, but God used that to shape me in some ways that I can now see I needed, and that's how he used me. And so what if the difficult situation is actually a sacred invitation from God? That difficult situation that you don't want and you wouldn't choose, what if that difficult situation is a sacred invitation to submit yourself to the work God wants to do, to being dependent on him, to saying, okay, God, I want to be used how you want me to be used. I want your picture for my life to be who I am. Verse six, Peter continues this metaphor. He quotes Isaiah. He says, see, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in that cornerstone won't be put to shame. If you put your trust in that cornerstone, you won't feel this weight of shame that you've been feeling. And he's talking here about Jesus. This is a messianic prophecy. He's saying Jesus is the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the cornerstone. It sat in the corner at the bottom, and then the house or the structure would be built around it. And so the cornerstone had two primary functions where it would hold up weight. It's a foundational stone. And then it would align the structure. It would hold things together. And so Peter says, this is Jesus. You're a living stone. He's the cornerstone. What gets us into all kinds of trouble is we mix our metaphors here. We get it wrong. We start to think of ourselves as the cornerstone instead of Jesus as the cornerstone. We think, oh, I've gotta be the one to hold all this up. I've gotta be the one to keep all these things together. It's all on me. And when you do that, you're saying to Jesus, I'm, you know what, I'll be the cornerstone.

And you're meant to be a living stone. Jesus is the cornerstone. So let me just ask you a few questions to help diagnose if maybe your metaphor is cornerstone when it should be living stone. So just engage with these questions as you listen to them. When something goes wrong, do I automatically assume it's because I failed somewhere? Is your first response to something going wrong shame? That you hear about something going wrong and you just, you find a way to make it your fault? Or maybe what that looks like is you can't accept any of it. And so you blame, you blame, it's gotta be this person's fault. But you're looking for either yourself or someone else as a way to blame or as a way to shame, to explain why things are the way they are. Here's another question, do I believe that if I just tried harder, prayed more, did better, that all my problems would be solved? If I just had my stuff together a little bit more, it would fix all these things. Now look, this doesn't mean there isn't room to grow, that how often do you just put it all on you and be like, okay, look, it's my fault. I just need to do this, this, this, and this. And if I do, everything's gonna be held together. Question number three, how do I respond when things don't go according to my plan? How do I respond when things don't go according to my plan?

Question number four, am I constantly anxious about things beyond my control? Is that what weighs you down, things that you, if you're honest, you have no control over. Another question, is my sense of worth completely tied to my success? So let me apply that one to moms. Is my sense of worth completely tied to my success as a mom? Do I find my value and my worth in my kids' struggles or successes? Here's another question, do I resist asking for help because I should be able to handle everything myself? So when's the last time you said to somebody, I need some help? I'm not sure what to do, I need help. Like the more of these questions you say yes to, the greater the likelihood that you're operating as the cornerstone and you're not the cornerstone. Jesus is the cornerstone. If you're trying to be the cornerstone, you're gonna feel overwhelmed by the weight you're carrying. You were never meant to hold it all up and you were never meant to hold everything together. You're a living stone in the builder's hand, but you are not the cornerstone. There's one last image here in 1 Peter 2 that I want us to take a look at. It's the image of a royal priesthood. So he talks about a hungry infant, a living stone,

and then the third image is a royal priesthood. And here's the application is that your ordinary is sacred. So verses nine and 10, this is both metaphorical and literal. He says, but you are a chosen people. I don't feel that way. Well, that's. That's who you are. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. That's who you are, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into this wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Now you have this identity because of Jesus. Once you had not received mercy, you weren't worthy of this, but now you have received mercy, not because of what you've done, but because of what Jesus has done for you. And so Peter calls these believers a royal priesthood, and when he says it, it's awkward because it feels offensive. For those Jews who had grown up under the Old Testament system, like calling just an ordinary normal people a royal priesthood feels sacrilegious because in the Old Testament, I mean, the priesthood, I mean, they were the spiritually elite, and there were a lot of qualifications, and you had to be from the tribe of Aaron,

and no one could perform certain spiritual duties except for the priesthood, and no one could enter the holy of holies except for that high priest, and no one could offer certain sacrifices. Like there were these things that only priests could do, so when Peter comes on the scene and says, you're a priest, you're part of the priesthood, you're like, ah, I don't think it's okay for you to say that, it doesn't feel right. But this is what Jesus did. He put an end to any kind of hierarchy where somehow people are more deserving than others to go before God, that you get to go directly into the presence of God. You don't have to have somebody that you pray through in order to talk to God. Like Jesus gave his life so that you would be able to be a part of this priesthood of all believers. And as I was looking at this, one of the things that struck me is that there is this commonality between priesthood and motherhood. And so what I wanna do as I finish this message up is I want to look at some parallel functions between priesthood and motherhood. So let's look at a few of these really quickly. One, like if you were to have a job description for priesthood and motherhood, one thing that would be on there is this,

transform ordinary into sacred. That's what priests did. They took ordinary elements, bread and oil, grain and water, and then through consecrated service, they would transform those into sacred offerings. That was part of their role, is they would take things that were ordinary and through spiritual intentionality, take ordinary things and turn them into sacred things. And mothers, this is part of your job description. A simple bedtime routine becomes a place of spiritual blessing and spiritual formation. Time around the table becomes a sacred place of connecting with God and each other. A car ride transforms into a space of worship as songs are being sung. Disciplining a child becomes a picture of God's gentle and loving correction. An evening walk becomes a time to notice God's creation and model the practice of gratitude. Just these ordinary moments that if you just looked at them through the course of the day, they don't seem that significant. But when infused with spiritual intention, when looked at through this metaphor, this lens of royal priesthood, these common things, these ordinary things become sacred. Another parallel function in priesthood and motherhood would be to find holiness in the hidden work.

Priests' lives were not just these supernatural dramatic moments. Most of their ministry happened in quiet and unseen corners. They're organizing storerooms and they're cleaning vessels and they're maintaining the space and God had quite a checklist of things for them. Yet scripture doesn't ever distinguish between their spiritual work and their ordinary work. It was all sacred service. And moms, I just wanna encourage you with that. Like your unseen labor, the meals that no one thanks you for, the middle of the night comforting that no one seems to remember the next day when you're tired, the endless tasks that always have to be kept up with. Like these aren't just necessary drudgery, it's spiritual service. It's taking something that's done in hiddenness and recognizing the holy calling that God has connected to the work. And one last parallel function between priesthood and motherhood is a priest and a mother stand as representatives between God and others. In Old Testament, priest and through our context, stand as a representative between God and children.

Priests in the Old Testament, that was their role. They would represent God to people and the people to God. So when God had a message for his people, he would deliver that through the and the priest would speak that over the people and he would remind the people when they started to forget. He would keep it in front of them on a regular basis. He is representing God's will to the people. And then they would do the same thing, representing the people to God. So when the people had these needs, when they had these fears or these concerns, the priest would then go to God and say, God, let me tell you what's happening in this house. God, we need your help over here. We need you to deliver here. God, we ask for your forgiveness here. And so the priest is going back and forth, representing God to people and representing people to God. And moms, you are literally serving in this priestly function. When you pray for your children, you're performing the priestly act of intercession. When you help your children understand God's character, you are interpreting for them divine truth. When you model forgiveness and grace, you're showing them God's heart, like the first image of God that most children have is formed through your eyes and your touch and your voice.

Like long before they will cognitively understand anything theologically, they will experience God through you. And so it's not just parenting, it's priesthood. And I just want you to think about how much that metaphor could change how you approach your daily life. That there's this sacred calling so that your kitchen, can you see it? Your kitchen isn't just a workplace. It is a holy and ancient temple. And your living room isn't just a relaxing place. It's a sacred ground where eternal souls are being formed. And your car isn't just transportation, it's a moving sanctuary where worship happens. And so mothers, on this Mother's Day, just receive the truth that you are, you are not just managing a household, you are ministering to God's people. You are ministering in God's temple. Every ordinary moment holds sacred potential when you see yourself as the royal priesthood that God has declared you to be. Well, as I was on that flight, listening to the flight attendant and that little girl speaking up over the back seat, I noticed something else that was said when the oxygen mask speech was being given, something I hadn't paid much attention to in the past. The flight attendant said, the oxygen will be flowing to the mask even if the bag doesn't inflate.

In other words, if you put on that mask and it doesn't seem like anything is happening, don't take it off. If you put on that mask and it doesn't feel like it's having any impact, keep breathing. It doesn't seem like it, it doesn't feel like it, you can't see it in the moment, but oxygen is flowing, so you keep breathing it in. You keep breathing it in. And that's my encouragement to you spiritually today, that some of you are in a place where you had the mask on and you tried it and you feel like, well, it didn't work. I didn't see the impact I was wanting to see. I still felt tired and worn out and overwhelmed. And it just didn't seem to you that the oxygen was flowing. And I just wanna challenge you to breathe in again, the goodness of God, to try it again, to just keep breathing in, even if it seems like it's not having much impact moment to moment. Like when it feels like you're just going through the motions, when it feels like your spiritual disciplines aren't really having much impact, when your prayers, it seems, aren't being heard, when you're not getting fruit from the efforts you're putting in, oxygen is still flowing and you need to keep breathing it in.

Not only do you need it, but people around you are counting on you. So tomorrow morning, before you rush to meet everyone else's needs, like before you check your phone, before you make breakfast, before you begin solving everyone else's problems, before you put together your task list for the day, breathe in God's presence. Breathe in God's goodness. Crave His word like a hungry infant. Take a moment to rest on Him. He's your cornerstone. You're not the cornerstone. And as the royal priesthood, commit your ordinary moments to God as sacred offerings. Let's pray. God, I thank you for these images that you give us in your word that help us understand how we need to live and how we need to think and how we need to see ourselves. But God, for some of us, it really just starts with getting rid of some Mountain Dew. There's just some things that have been filling our lives and our minds and are taking our energy that we need to repent of. We need to surrender to you. We need to let go of.

So would you help us, God, in these next few minutes? Even as we sing, that we would put you as the cornerstone, that we would declare that you are gonna be the foundation that our lives are built on, that you're gonna be the one that holds things together, that there would be just tremendous freedom that is felt as we worship you. And we're reminded that that is weight that you carry. And God, that you would reawaken an appetite for us that in us that might've grown cold. And maybe God, there's somebody here who hasn't been to church since they were a kid and they've kind of forgotten about you. Would you, Holy Spirit, in this moment, would you remind them of your goodness? When they tasted that you were good, when they received mercy. And God, I pray that even as we worship, you would reawaken a spiritual appetite, that you would help all of us crave you with all of our hearts. It's in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna sing a song here in worship together and celebrate some baptisms. As we worship, I would love to just challenge you to do what we've talked about, to say, okay, Jesus, you're the cornerstone. I wanna build my life upon you. I want you to be my foundation. So if you wanna talk to someone

about your relationship with Jesus, building your life on him, you can go to our next step room. We'd love to pray with you, we'd love to talk to you about that. Let's stand together and let's worship our great God. Amen. Amen. ♪ My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ I dare not trust the sweetest frame but only trust in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Christ alone, cornerstone, the weakness shown ♪ ♪ In the Savior's love, through the storm, He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace ♪ ♪ In every heart and soul began, my anchor holds within the veil ♪ Let it rise. ♪ My anchor holds within the veil, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Christ alone, cornerstone, the weakness shown ♪ ♪ And the Savior's love through the storm ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all ♪ ♪ He shall come, the trumpet sound ♪ ♪ Oh, may I then in Him be found ♪ ♪ Dressed in His righteousness alone ♪ ♪ For this stand before the throne ♪ ♪ Before the throne, before the throne, before the throne ♪ ♪ It was in the cornerstone of love ♪ ♪ I built my life, I built my life, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh Christ of hope ♪ ♪ Carved in stone the weak made strong ♪ ♪ And the Savior's love through the storm ♪

♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh Christ of hope, carved in stone, the weak made strong ♪ ♪ And the Savior's love through the storm, oh ♪ ♪ He is Lord, the Lord of all, yeah ♪ ♪ You're the Lord of all, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, You'll never cry sleep near me ♪ ♪ For I've been found, I get it, my heart is free ♪ ♪ The hope of heaven before the grave behind, hallelujah ♪ ♪ You brought me back to life ♪ ♪ I won't forget the moment I heard You call my name ♪ ♪ Out of the grip of darkness, into the light of grace ♪ ♪ Just like Lazarus, oh, You brought me back to life ♪ ♪ And where there was dead religion, now there is life ♪ ♪ Now there is living faith, all of my hope and freedom ♪ ♪ I found in Jesus' name, just like Lazarus, oh ♪ ♪ You brought me back to life, yes, it is ♪ ♪ No longer are You there, but Christ in me ♪ ♪ Again, my heart is free, the hope of heaven before me ♪ ♪ The grave behind, oh, hallelujah, You brought me back to life ♪ ♪ When something says I am guilty, I'll point to the price You pay ♪ ♪ When something says I'm not worthy, I'll point to that empty grave ♪ ♪ Just like Lazarus, oh, You brought me back to life ♪ ♪ No longer are You there, but Christ in me ♪ ♪ For I've been born again, my heart is free, the hope of heaven before me ♪ ♪ The grave behind, oh, hallelujah, You brought me back to life ♪ ♪ I cannot begin to thank You for all that You've done for me ♪ ♪ Jesus, to fully praise You, it would take all eternity ♪ ♪ Just like Lazarus, oh, You brought me back to life, oh, yes, You did ♪ ♪ You brought me back to life, oh, yes, You did ♪

♪ You brought me back to life, You brought me back to life, yeah ♪ ♪ No longer are You there, but Christ in me, for I've been born again, my heart is free, the hope of heaven before me ♪ ♪ Again, my heart is free ♪ ♪ The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you brought me back, oh yes you did ♪ ♪ No longer I could live, but Christ in me, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, with all my heart again, my heart is free ♪ ♪ The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you brought me back alive ♪ ♪ Oh, we love you, Lord, oh, we worship you, God ♪ Well, Pando family, welcome back from worship. Such a powerful day of being able to celebrate Jesus and remember what it is to be his people in this world. And I love this sermon series we're in, in First Peter, kind of walking through this letter as Peter talks to us about what it means to be sojourners and travelers in this world. And the image that Kyle talked about that really stuck to me in this message is that image of the young girl who had to go to the hospital because she was only being nourished by Mountain Dew and how that Mountain Dew took away her taste for what really nourishes and the milk she actually needed. And I think that is such a powerful image for us as Christ followers today, right? That we can fill ourselves up on a lot of junk and spiritual Mountain Dew, right? On the bitterness and the envy of this world. We can just get ourselves in a place

where we're just filling up on things that don't matter, that are empty, that just keep us from really chasing after Jesus. And I would just challenge you and encourage you in this week to look into your life, to look at those questions that Kyle asked us about what are we filling up on? What is really getting priority in our life? And to find those habits, those practices that allow you to really find that spiritual milk, that nourishment that only Jesus can offer. Now, this week we are continuing on in our new SE Online Bible study called Stand. It's going through Paul's letter, 1 Thessalonians. Paul is writing in that letter to a church that is just facing challenge after challenge. They keep getting knocked down as they continue to follow Jesus. And Paul just writes to them to encourage them, to tell them to stand firm, to stand tall, to continue on in their relationship with Christ. Now, a new episode will drop every Wednesday on this channel. So be on the lookout for that and join us as we talk about what it looks like to stand in our world today. Don't forget, while you're here, to click the subscribe button for this channel. That way you'll get an update every time a new video drops,

whether it's a weekend message or one of our Bible studies. You'll get those updates. Just click subscribe before you go. Guys, thank you so much for joining us for worship today. We'll see you next time.