When God’s Plan Feels Hidden | The Conspiracy of the Cross Week 1

The Allies had just launched a successful invasion into northern France, close to Normandy. While that was going on, 1,100 armed American soldiers also landed in France with the most bizarre cargo of the entire war. Instead of guns and artillery, they landed with inflatable tanks and they carried these huge speakers that could make the sound of an armored division 15 miles away. They also had trained radio operators who could fake the traffic of an entire regiment. They were called the 23rd headquarters special troops. History now calls them the Ghost Army. Their entire job was deception. While the Germans were fighting where the real war was, they took their attention to what would be a fake war. History credits those American soldiers with saving 15 to 30,000 lives. The war ends. Every one of those 1,100 American soldiers were sworn to secrecy. The records were sealed. They went home, got married, have kids, they lived, they died, and no one ever knew what they did while they were serving in World War II. Nobody knew about it until 50 years later in 1996 when the confidential files were unsealed. For half a century, the biggest things that those men did in their lives was hidden in plain sight. The story was true, it's just nobody knew it. Nobody had opened the files and exposed the plan. What if the biggest thing God ever did worked the same way? What if a rescue plan had been running underneath all of human history in plain sight, but now the file is open? Now we have the revelation, Peter calls it the gospel, in the book that we're about to dive into today in this new series, the conspiracy of the cross, we're going to jump in and look at what Peter writes. And Peter explained to us that the plan was hidden in plain sight, and the plan was Jesus. Y'all with me?

Welcome. Those fired out to be in the house of God this week, so come on, somebody. Dr. Big Daddy back to bring the word today and then put on your spiritual seat belts. Welcome all of our campuses, online, all of you that are in wind communities. God behind bars, men and women, I met one of the God behind bars, folks this morning thrilled to meet her. Man, we're glad to have you men and women special, the armed forces that are joining us around the world, we're thankful for you and grateful. So if you're a guest, you'll be a great weekend, even though it's a holiday weekend, the houses have been filled, God is on the move, and I believe God's got a word for you today. And I would encourage you not to miss a message in this series, the conspiracy of the cross. And part of the reason that the spirit had Peter write this letter is that all of us are living in some form of what we're going to talk about called the gap. That is the gap is the space between what God promised and what we have actually received, what God says and the way that it is. And we all get, if you're high school or older, you're going to get cruising down your life and out of nowhere a diagnosis comes. The marriage is drained. The prayer goes unanswered, your hopes are dashed, your ministry crumbles, the future crumbles. And the Bible says hope that is deferred makes the heart sick. So what do we do when our train derails because we're walking through enormous difficulty? Now in that gap you can choose to believe one or two things, either God has gone silent or God's plan felled. Peter writes this letter to people and first Peter to a people living in what we're going to call the gap between what God promised and what they were experiencing. Peter wants him to realize that there is a third option that is actually the real truth. And Peter got the gap. I mean this student lived in the gap. He understood what it was to get out of the boat and walk on the water.

He also understood what it was to be afraid and sink underneath the waves. but deny it three times before breakfast is served. He got, he knew the gap because he had such incredible highs and incredible lows. He goes to an empty tomb that no one can explain, and then he finds herself on a beach with the resurrected Lord, after the greatest spiritual failure of his life. And Jesus looks and says, "Tend my sheep." In the book of Acts, we find Peter again, where people know where Peter's gonna be walking, and they put people on the side of the road that Peter's shadow would fall on them, and they would be healed. This dude had a highlight reel. I mean, if he was trying to get recruited, he had a highlight reel. But guess what? He had a blooper reel, too. That's why I like Peter. Can you connect with a highlight reel and a stupid reel? I mean, the highs and then suck on the very lows. I might get that. And so that's Peter. And in spite of all that, God chooses to be one of the key leaders of the very first church that God launches. Now, fast forward about 30 years. Now we're 62 to 64 A.D. And 30 years after the resurrection,

and now it's not young Peter, it's old Peter. It's Peter with scars on his body, on his mind of the persecution of the beatings, of the imprisonments, of all the things he has gone through for the gospel. And he's in Rome, and he's going to be crucified upside down soon, and he takes out and he begins to write a letter. And he writes it to these people. He writes it to these Christians scattered all over the known world, because the pressure's on him, but Nero is rising in power, and he is going to take it 10 times the persecution against these Christians, feeding them the wild animals, having them in the Colosseum, using their bodies as lights for the city of Rome. It was horrible, but it was about to get worse. Historians can trace this document of first Peter all the way back. You're just not, we're not just studying a piece of correspondence today, but we're listening to a man with first hand evidence who was intimately acquainted with Jesus. You have to realize, Church, you have a defendable faith. You just can't be lazy about your faith. You can't listen to what the world says about us and believe it. I hear the world say, "The Church's history is horrible.

"The Church is the greatest institution "for setting people free for 21 centuries." And I challenge you to study it. We say, "Well, what about this? "What about that?" Listen, you go about the top 50, I'm not even gonna go down that road. I love the Church. I love the Church. Church is incredible. Now it would take you about 15 minutes, by the way, to listen to first Peter on your Bible app. It covers your identity. It covers hope when life hurts. We all get that. It covers those of us who live for Jesus in a world that doesn't share our values. Peter wrote it to acquit people who were stuck in the gap so that they wouldn't quit. 'Cause all of us know people that quit, don't we? We've watched the deconstruction of people's faith because even though they said they had faith, they never learned to defend their faith. Then when you get an intellect on the internet who acts like they know everything and quotes wrong stats and wrong history, people deconstruct. And so Peter's writing, so you'll finish the race. Are y'all with me? And that's what this is all about. Then in this book, we will see that the cross

was always God's plan before the world began. The cross was his plan revealed at just the right time when he opens the file. Look at verse one and two. Now, I need you all to listen faster than the other services today. (congregation laughing) They really slowed me down. And I've been talking to Pastor Zach about preaching a little long, guilty. (congregation laughing) And some people say, "Keep preaching." And I would, but your kids are in the kids ministry. Biting people. (congregation laughing) And while y'all pray and the sermon goes on, they'll pray and I'll quit. So it's a spiritual warfare. Peter, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm joking. Come on, I'm joking. Nobody tell, Christian. Peter, an apostle in Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens. Your name in. Scattered to our punches. Galatia, capidocia, Asia, Bethinia. Those who were chosen. Hey, by the way, you were handpicked by God. You didn't choose him. He chose you.

He picks you now. Maybe you're an athlete. My pastor, Chase, the campus pastor here. He's an athlete. Looks good, you know. Handsome, great athlete. I was the opposite. And when you're kids, you pick teams. Remember, you got two captains and you pick teams. I always tried to be a captain. Because if I wasn't a captain, I was picked last. Matter of fact, I wasn't picked. I was argued over who had to take me. We don't want Chris. He can't even walk. Oh no, y'all get him. You got better play. I was a handicap. And so, I hated and never got picked. Guess what? God picks me. Are y'all with me? I'm special to God. And God picked you. He chose you. He walked through the orphanage of life and said, "I want you." And he picked you. You think that you're just out of your brilliance. You pick God. No, he was already at work.

He says that you're an alien. And alien is a legal term. Someone who ain't from around here. You know what I'm talking in Hillbillies? Come on, somebody. He's telling I moved to Louisiana to Cajun land and they always said y'all ain't from here. I mean, they were coonies. We were Hillbillies. We went, Michelle started making gumbo. It was better than theirs. They called it Hillbillie gumbo. (congregation laughing) 'Cause y'all ain't from here. We understand not from here. And alien is somebody that's not from here that moves to another town. Their suspect, by the way, they were taxed at a higher rate. And that's what Peter says, "We are." That's what we are. See, the reason that you don't feel like you fit in anymore is that your unbelonging flows from your belonging to God. And the closer you get to God, the less pull this wicked world will have on you. So when following Jesus makes you like an outsider in the break room, like an outsider in the chat room, come on, go ahead and get on that chat room and disagree with them and see what they do with you. Bring Jesus up on a political argument,

see what they do to you. When you, that feeling is a confirmation that your identity is as a Christ follower, even though it stings. See the gap you feel between you and the world exists because the gap is closed between you and God. Listen, give me God over the world any day. Give me God. He said that he picked us according to the foreknowledge. I love the Greek word foreknowledge, it's prognosis. God knew, he picked us. Then I wanna, I could do a whole series on this phrase in verse two. According to the foreknowledge of God by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, I can preach weeks on the sanctifying work of the Spirit. What is the sanctifying work of the Spirit? What is it? I'm so glad you asked. Here's the deal. Christianity is not hard, it's impossible. It's impossible. If I were to list out all the commands for you today and say, how many of those are you doing? You'd say, oh, oh, do you love people that hate you? Do you bless those that curse you? Are you a tither? Do you serve the body of Christ? Are you walking with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and faithfulness?

Are you producing that fruit in your life? And I could go on and on and see, the Christian life is impossible. What it requires is the sanctifying work of the Spirit in me so that as it goes on to say, so that to obey Jesus. To it, see, we can't. I don't know about you, but men, people that don't like me, I just think they have bad judgment. It's easy to unlike those people 'cause they have poor judgment. And so we can't do it. Full obedience is impossible. So what do we need? We need the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Does this make sense? Are you all with me? We need God to move in absolute power. Now, it's the Spirit that's working in you to help you accomplish. So our new heart works with the Spirit to produce fruit. But this is part of the reason why small groups are so important because you can't do this alone, you are meant to grow in a community, not in isolation. And so, hey, Jesus, before he began his ministry, The Apostle Paul, before he began his ministry, built a small group. If you read Romans chapter 16, the second half of that chapter is to shout out to people in Paul's small groups. We need help in a community,

and they have to commands that are given the detachment are only obeyed in community co-unity. And so it's, so last weekend, pastors act preach what I thought was a great message on small groups, it's great. It, I thought it was, I was off. And what some people I heard said, he pushed too hard. He pushed, why does he push so hard? Because he wants more for you than you want from yourself. Because he is a shepherd, and God's given him a shepherd's heart, and the job of the shepherd is to lead the sheep where they can feed and be healthy and reproduce. And that is in community. It's, it is, it's so vital. I mean, when I was a drug dealer, I pushed, I'm gonna tell you, I pushed Jesus harder than I pushed drugs. And so we want so much for you. And, and, and so what we're praying is God just makes you want to, 'cause you're only gonna do what you wanna do. Is that fair? And so 80% of you don't wanna tie us. Okay. Oh, well over half don't go to a small group. All right. I got it. 70% don't do anything within the church body.

You don't use your spiritual gifts. Okay. I got that. But don't ask us not to push you to do what God has commanded you to do. Are you with me? Listen, you can lock it up or leave it. That's just the facts. 'Cause I'm responsible to you, but not for you. And a lot of you said, I don't understand why I'm not growing spiritually. Well, do you know in my first few years of walking with Jesus, the sanctuary to work with the spirit happened because I started giving? You can't raise it as time for it to not raise a dollar. You want to, 'cause you don't want to give, because your idol is money. Are we okay? Well, there's a hush. Man, wow. It's just, it's where we are. And so pastor's act is going to push you. It's hard to decompose you. And some people say, "Well, I don't want to go to a small group 'cause I've been a small group and it sucked." Okay. There've been a restaurant had a bad meal? Did you quit eating?

(congregation laughing) Well, no, 'cause I have to eat, right? You have to be in community. Or who's going to be there when the devil kicks your tail? Who's going to mow your yard when you're sick? Who's going to bring the meal train? Who's going to pray for you when the doctor says cancer? Who's going to walk with you in your spouse or your teenager goes A-wall? The people in your community. And when life hits the wall, the people that Peter's writing to, and it falls apart, it's too late to seek community then. So get in a group. If you don't like it, get another one. Are you with me? Can you imagine trying to build a group for 8,000 adults that you like? Oh, my phone thinks I've fallen. I can't get up. (congregation laughing) As I get older, it's easier. So let me. So Pastor Johnson and I were talking about that this week. We were literally going over, how many people go to group? How many people give? How many people serve? How many people come along? We're just going over the numbers.

And Pastor Johnson made a comment that don't tell him I said it 'cause I don't like him very much. But he made a comment. He said, "Spiritual growth is rarely convenient." And here's what we all want. We want convenience, don't we? Look at the apps on your phone. The bulk of the apps on your phone is there for one reason to make your life easier. We got Macs, we got accounts, we got Google, we got chat GPT that we ask everything. We got all these apps to help make life easier. And because we want it so easy, when we hit a spot in our life that's difficult, we don't want spiritual growth enough when it's not convenient for us. Can I tell you something folks? The cross was not convenient for Jesus. And I love it when people come to me and they say, "But it's not fair," Pastor, and I say, "Listen, It's the Son of God, leaving heaven, being born, living a perfect life, and letting broken, sinful humans nail him to a cross and execute him. That is unfair. You know with me? Come on, somebody. You might not know this, come on, it's good. (audience applauding) So our goal, Pastor Zag, Rachel, myself, Michelle,

and all of our pastors is to clash as 128 and 29 you. It is our goal to present you fully formed, holy devoted, all in for Jesus. And so we're gonna fight, and preach, and pray, and beg, and cajole, and fire, and work, and believe, and keep pressing you. 'Cause we wanna present you to Jesus fully formed, holy develops, sold out, and we wanna hear, more than you wanna hear it for you. Well done, good, and faithful, servant. Do you know what we talk about on the Stephen's Family Vacation? You? You know what we'll talk about today? If Family launches to Stephen's house, you. You know what Jason and I talk about when we go play golf, we talk about you. You know what Pastor Zag and I talk about when we go to a conference, we talk about you. When was the last time at your Family Vacation, you talked about us? We are committed to bringing you to fully formed. And people come and go, they rise, they come in, they go out, like they're picking their favorites, fast food restaurant. Y'all with me? There are 15,000 people that came in the last 90 days to faith promise church. There are 567 adults who give, who go to group and who serve.

567 adults, not a 15 stinking thousand who give and serve and go to group. So Pastor Zag is gonna pound. I'm gonna pound. Pastor Chase is gonna pound. We're gonna work, we're gonna pray, we're gonna go. And we're gonna do the best we can if we gotta drag you, kick it and scream it. Y'all with me? Come on. Damn. All right. Ooh, mercy. I still got 10 more verses. (audience laughs) Are you okay? Mr. Are you okay? Somebody ought to look okay. (audience laughs) Lock the doors, I'm sure. (audience laughs) Verse three, blessed be the God of our Father, Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again while we can camp out. To a living hope, what's a living hope? A living hope is tied to somebody that's alive, not somebody that's dead. We serve a live Lord. Are y'all with me? We serve a live Lord.

Verse four, to obtain inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled which will not fade away or serve in heaven for you. You know what? The hope that Peter writes about is anchored in the resurrection and that Jesus is alive and Peter saw it. We all can lose inheritance, can't we? You know what I'm talking about? I told my kids, listen, I wanna spend every dime we make and live to be able to be a burden on Micah and Zay. (audience laughs) Not faith, faith doesn't deserve it. Micah doesn't deserve it. (audience laughs) Now the problem is they say, "We're only taking care of mom." 'Cause mom was nice to you dad. We're finding the junkiest home we can find. (audience laughs) You know, we're parking your rotten keister in there. It's so dishonoring. All right, let's keep running. Yeah, I'm kidding, come on, I'm kidding. And the inheritance can be lost, can't it? Money can go away, names can fade everything. Jesus said he's got an inheritance. Verse four, imperishable, undefiled which will not fade away. Who are protected by the power of God?

So you know, the Bible says you're protected by the power of God. The Greek word powers to enemies. The word protected means to stage or to put guards around someone or some city or whatever it is. God has put angels around you to protect you. Many of us think this, I'm just holding on to Jesus. (laughs) You're smoking, crack. (audience laughs) He's holding on to you. John 10 says what I put in the Father's hand, nobody can pluck out. If I'd listen, if my salvation was based on me holding on, I'd be in trouble. attack from me falling away. It protects us. And so there's some of you that want some things that you love, a job, a relationship, a small group, a ministry, fade away. Just fade away. That's what these people that Peter saw, because they lost houses and farms and lands and relationships, because when they bowed their knee to Jesus, they were excommunicated from their families, from the synagogues, from everywhere. And so he goes on in verse 6, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though for now for a little while it's necessary, you have been distressed by various trials." Come on, we all have had trials, hadn't we? Some of you in the middle of it right now, so that the proof of your faith be more precious than go, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found in a result in

praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus. Fire hot enough to destroy lead won't destroy gold, because gold is a better alloy than lead, and gold outlasts the heat of lesser metals. That's why I said, when you're in the fire, various trials, when you're being purified, when your faith is being tested, when you're in there, understand when God's gold is in the firmest, his hand is on the thermostat. He knows where you are. Now we don't think it's fair, right, and we're mad about it, but what does God do? He said that your proof of your faith, more precious than gold, even though tested by fire, if somebody's got a pot and it's got liquid molten gold and they're smelting it, they are purifying it, they stir the gold, bring it to a great heat, and then they scrape the dross, the impurities of other metals that were in that gold, they scrape it and they stir it and they scrape it and they stir it and the heat cranks up, and the smelter knows that the gold is perfect when he can look over the pot and see his reflection in the gold. You are God's gold, and God is looking over that pot and he knows that the sanctified work of the Spirit is done when he sees the image of Jesus when he looks at you. That's the deal. He said that the fire is going to prove what's in you, the sanctified work of the Spirit, and so some of us are in the pot, we're in the pot, and we're in the pot, and we don't understand why we're in the pot because we tend to look on the natural and not the supernatural or the spiritual. In verse 8, "And though you have not seen him, you love him, that's us, though you do not see him now, but do you believe in him and greatly rejoice with joy and expressable full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls?" He goes on in verse 10, "At this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come, till you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking in all person or time the spirit of Christ of them was indicating that he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." So what happened?

For centuries, the prophets who wrote the older Testament, it was sealed. They didn't get it. The Bible says, Peter said, "They made careful searches and inquiries, pouring over the scripture to see who the Messiah was, when would he come, how would he get here, what would be?" And they knew that a rescue was coming, but the fire was closed, just like that ghost army that no one knew about for 50 years. They knew he would arrive, they knew that he would carry out the mission, but what did it look like? What was going on? And so they're in there, but it's stuck. It's confidential. They don't see it. Then verse 12, "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, the readers of 1 Peter, and these things which we have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, into which things angels long to look." Isaiah wrote for you, "David sang for you, Solomon wrote poetry for you, and I can prophesied for you." The Old Testament was given, every prophecy was a memo addressed to us, and they never fully got it. Most writers were writing for people that they would never meet, for another generation to come that was us. And the verse ends with this, "Things to which angels long to look." I love that. Who see the glory of Jehovah God that would actually kill us in the flesh. They see his full glory. They're worshiping. Guess what? They long the word long means to look intently to to try to understand something this far away The angels seek God's face in yet. They long to know what we have felt those of us that have been resurrected from the dead It's so cool. It's so amazing. It's so awesome Man this salvation. We ought to give up every day and I can't believe I'm safe today. Thank you God It has gonna be an incredible day

And if I face trials man, you're just got you got me in the fire. You're gonna prove me today Come on man. This is in stinking credible and listen an ordinary believer in East Tennessee We've seen in the confidential file We hold it in our hands the living one of God the gospel of Jesus. We have it. Thank you Lord Crossless never plan B. It was always plan A and it was real to the right moment The plan was hidden in plain sight and the plan was Jesus y'all with me The plan always been Jesus. It will always be Jesus. There's no plan C There's no Mohammed. There's no Confecious. There's no all those prophets are dead. Jesus is alive Which means this by the way that Jesus is the Lord and not Caesar It means Jesus is Lord not the Republicans It means Jesus is Lord no government no version of yourself It means Jesus is Lord when you confess the word confess means to agree with God When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord listen We Americans kiss Kate Harley get this But when you confess Jesus is Lord you have Resented all your rights and privileges as an American as a person and you have said Jesus is my Messiah He is my rabbi. He is my master. He now. Oh, I don't have a house. I don't have car I don't have kids. I don't have money. It's all his it was always was his the Bible says the earth is the Lord's from the fullest They're up. I just now have been revealed to me that it's his and I'm gonna be obedient with everything that he has given me are y'all with me That's what we do. So what do we do? Everything else in our life falls the second place We trust God when we're in the pot When the fires turned up we trust God when we're in the pot that he's refining his gold and he's gonna do it We just trust God Now what that means is by the way that his presence is not hidden His plan can be hidden. So I'm so one nineteen one oh five your word is aligned into my feet in a lamp to my path Here's the problem God's only giving you revelation for a step

Because if God gave me a whole Ten steps, I'm skipping every other step going up or down. I'm running up. I'm running down I'm skipping them. We got to grow my faith every step. We want to know the plan some of you want to Plan all the way through your funeral Marriage 2.5 kids streets out square for the house. That's kind of cars. It's kind of this yeah, I retirement We want to plan everything and God says hey, I'm the one that makes the plans I'm the one that makes the plans It's so he's gonna give you a lot for the next step now. I'm so far behind time Here's here's to deal some of you are in the fire right now and you just need somebody pray for you So do me a favor. No, no, don't do me a favor It won't help hurt me if you're in one of our camps this right now, and you're in the fire and you won't pray We just stand up Go ahead. Just stand up. Just stand up. Come on. Just stand up. We're a family here. Just we're just a big family We want to stand up stand up come on don't miss hey if you're in the fire don't miss prayer Cuz you're proud don't miss it. All right. They'd find some people they're standing up reach out go find one Just put your hand on the shoulder you don't need to know what's going on You just need to know they're in the fire and ask God to move on him right now Just ask God to move right now intersea form God knows Pray for God we come to you right now the name of Jesus Lord we bring your gold. It's in the fire. The fire is difficult for us God It's hard for us And we pray that you would move in power of glory But you'd have your way that you would grow us that at the results of the fire would be glory honor and praise at the Revelation of Jesus that we reflect your love and your mercy God would you move in power and Jesus and we pray and all God's people said come on give him a shot of praise would you now What do you do you? Stay in the file. If you go to the app tomorrow morning, there'll be a Bob already planned for you through the book of 1 Peter.

It'll be in small groups. It starts tomorrow Monday morning, the seventh. And so just jump on there, help that. And then what do we do next? We show those hope that don't have any hope. Somebody gave you the gospel. It's your turn now to give it out. That ghost army was sworn to secrecy. By the way, remember? Could tell anybody? You're not sworn to take-- you're commanded to tell the story. Are you with me? Somebody did it for you. You got to do it. You're the next link in the chain. And then let me tell you one more thing. In 2022, the Congress, the United States awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to those 1100 military men who were called the ghost army. Most of them were dead. A few of them were there to receive the medal. Most of them were given to their family posthumously. Because nobody knew what they did. Hey, some of you think nobody knows what you're doing for God. Can I tell you, he sees. Are y'all with me? He sees. And just like they were awarded, there's going to be awards ceremony in heaven.

And we want you to hear well done. Enter the joy of your master. Come on. That's the deal. Some of you, one more thing. Some of your life, maybe good or bad or whatever. But you've never made Jesus the Lord. You might be religious. You may have been Baptist Methodist Pentecostal. I don't care what. But if you're-- if you've not confessed to him as Lord, as surrender your life to him, you're not going to heaven. Except you repent. You still are likewise perished. So they were headbound. Let's pray this. I'm all elated in a simple prayer. If you're ready, confess Him. Just pray this for me. Dear Jesus, I know we're separated because of my sin. I repent of my sin. I confess you as Lord. I confess you as my Lord. I want to live for you, follow you, and obey you. Save me. Have my heart in Jesus' name. Now, if you look up here, if you prayed that prayer, give me a favor. It takes the word saved to the QR code. If your online is clicked, I raise my hand.

And they'll get some information. And somebody will call you. Hey, it's been good to be in the house of God this weekend. Come on. This Labor Day, you're here. Way to go. Idaho. Awesome. Prayer team's coming up. Prayer team's coming out. We're going to have one more song of worship. And listen, I want to know who you're bringing next week. Man, get in a group because we're going to be doing the conspiracy of the cross gather. Let's stand. Prayer team, come on. Come on, let's give him praise. It's got awesome, give him a shout, church.