Finding Your Place In The Palace

oh jesus [Music] darling jesus i love to go home i said oh every day your name is one more time now i said [Music] i [Music] your name is the same [Music] lord and you told me that you'd always be right there seems like my problems they had already begun lord gone off of my knees lord they were already anyone saying oh jesus lord i don't think jesus yeah how i love how i [Music] [Applause] every day have you ever lost somebody lord so close to you lord that it hit you so hard you didn't know what to do caught on the savior she is running from your eyes [Music] jesus yeah [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i know that your name is again we're grateful and thankful to god for all that he has done for us all that he has done with us and even what he has done to us we thank him for his goodness his grace and his mercy we're so thankful on last week brother benny wilkerson did an excellent job and talking to us about i believe in god and we're just grateful that god can use us all in the kingdom to get his word out and bless his people and we're grateful that god bless you to be a part of our online worship service on this week pray with me please father we thank you again for your hand touching us for allowing life to cling to us because of that father we are grateful and we are so thankful because we acknowledge that we're not doing as well as we are doing because we have been good all the days of our life but god we're doing as well as we're doing because of your grace and your mercy and for that we say thank you be with us father as we go into your word on today we invite the holy spirit into this place that he may lead us and guide us in the direction that you will have us to go father we fully give ourselves over to the spirit that this worship service may be pleasing to you that it may come all the way up to heaven as a sweet smell and savor into your nostrils now god watch over us guide us be with those who are sick be with those who are bereaved be with those who are struggling with the various issues of life be with those god who have hidden hurts who are dealing with betrayal dealing with hurt dealing with loss dealing with anxiety dealing with depression right now god touch as only you can and erase all of that that we may come into your presence and worship you father forgive us of our sins and our transgressions one day god we want to hear you say well done thy good and faithful servant god if you'll do this we will say it is well with our souls now father bless us guide us guard us and keep us be with me as i preach unto your people let my heart and my mind and my mouth be right now ordained by you we ask this in the mighty name of jesus and the people of god said amen again we're grateful and thankful for you we invite your attention to first peter chapter 2 first peter chapter two we'll begin at verse number one and conclude at verse number four first peter chapter two beginning at verse number one and concluding in verse number four many times we look at verse number nine where the bible says that we are a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people but before you understand that you're a royal priesthood a holy nation and a peculiar people peter lets us know that there are some things that we have to get in order first peter chapter 2 verses 1 through four that the bible says wherefore laying aside all malice and all gaul and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the lord is gracious verse 4 to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of god and precious verse five ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ i want to talk to you a few moments today from this subject finding your place in the palace finding your place in the palace as i said just a few moments ago many times we look at first peter chapter 2 and verse number 9 where the bible says you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people peter is letting us know that we are made of royalty once we come to jesus christ but i am convinced many times that when people don't understand their position their precious position in christ they don't understand their precious position in the palace of god or the house of god when that happens many times people don't understand just how precious they are in our sight of god and too many christians are now living beneath their spiritual privileges because they don't understand that they are a royal priesthood they've been baptized their sins have been forgiven they've been washed in the blood of the lamb but yet they're still walking as if though they're strangers to god and orphaned children and so peter wants to make it absolutely clear today in in his writing and i want to make it absolutely clear today in my preaching and my teaching is that you have a place in the palace and it is now time that you began to take your rightful place in the palace and understand that you are the apple of gods i stopped listening to demonic talks stop listening to satanic suggestions that suggest that you're nobody but i come to tell you that you're somebody in christ jesus even if they treat you like you're nobody on your job you're somebody in jesus even if they treat you like you're a nobody at the grocery store you're still somebody in jesus even if your family treats you like you are a nobody you need to understand that when you come to jesus christ when you give your life to god when you are directed by the holy spirit it does not matter what the world says about you it does not matter who the world says you are it just matters whose you know you are and so as we look at this text first peter chapter 2 forms the final unit of this opening letter peter here begins this stunning climb makes his description of who a christian is because of who christ is here readers have been born again through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead which gives them a new relationship with god the father as well as a new inheritance and a living hope that will result in their deliverance from god's wrath on the day of judgment in other words once you have a the right relationship with god you ought to put a smile on your face and joy in your heart because that right relationship with god will assure you that you will be delivered from the wrath of god as long as you keep your hands in god's hands and so in first peter he completes the instructions about their new identity by describing them the new nature of this community that they are now a part of see once you come to jesus christ and let me speak to our new converts because i'm getting i need to prepare you because the doors of the church will be opening up soon and you're going to meet people that you've never met before you're going to talk to people that you've never talked to before and i want you to understand that there will be people in the house of god there will be people in the family of god who don't always act like the children of god let me say it one more time there will be people that you will meet in the house of god who are in the family of god but they don't always act like the children of god so what i want you to do even before we come back into this place i want you to understand that your position in jesus christ is not dependent upon other people what they think about you or say about you but your position in jesus christ is secured because you've been washed in the blood of the lamb and you have been added to the body of christ you have been added to the church of christ and since jesus is the one who has added you to the church can't nobody subtract you from the church and so peter wants us now to understand that this this this community of believers that we are part of this spiritual family that we've been born into we're now a part of because of this new birth that we have in jesus christ here peter emphasizes the community of believers not in terms of their relationship to one another because he's already done that in in first peter and in first peter chapter 1 verses 13 and following but what peter is talking about when he talks about this community in chapter 2 he's talking about our relationship to god see he's already dealt with our relationship to each other okay now he's getting ready to deal with our relationship to god and once you understand your relationship to god watch this it will help you in your relationship with others one more time once you understand your relationship with god it will help you and assist you in your relationship with others because if you have the right relationship with god then it will help you to deal with others based upon what their relationship may or may not be with god so the holy spirit has a very common and i'm so thankful that so many members now are talking about the holy spirit and one of the things we talk about uh in our bible classes and in our discussion is that the holy spirit has a very calming effect on your life see when you give over to the holy spirit and you get that deep relationship with god the holy spirit god the father and god the son then it helps you in every other relationship in your life and so peter is attempting to show us and to get us to understand that we are a part of the whole and because we are a part of the whole we have to find our place in the palace and understand that we are important just like every other member of the family is important let's look at this so in verse number one first peter chapter two verse number one he says wherefore laying aside all and he lists some things wherefore goes back to the fact that a new life has been imparted if you go to first peter chapter 1 and verse number 23 the bible says being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed by the word of god which liveth and abideth forever so when he gets to chapter two and says wherefore he's pointing back to how we used to be and what he just said in chapter 1 but now that we've been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible seed he says wherefore but before there was a wherefore there was a therefore see wherefore i have been born again therefore i shun sin i will love my christian family therefore i will not speak evil therefore i will trust the lord at all times therefore i will live my life according to the will of god therefore wherefore i will stop lying stealing and cheating in other words since we have come to jesus christ it changes everything about our lives so that's why he says wherefore because now since i have been born again of not of corruptible seed but incorruptible seed since i have been born again by the blood of jesus christ since i have been saved from my sins he says there are some things that we need to set aside because those things that we need to set aside are indicative of this new life that we now have oh glory be to god this new life we now have changes everything so here's what peter says he says my therefore causes me to live a life that is not about spiritual maturity but now that i've come to jesus he understands and let me help you with this you will never attain spiritual maturity by being the old you one more time you will never attain spiritual maturity by being the old you that's why i said in chapter 1 verse 23 being born what say it with me again see once you've been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed watch this by the word of god which liveth and abideth forever see when you have been born again by the word of god it moves you towards spiritual maturity so there's an old jew all right and there is a new you this new you has been conceived by incorruptable by an incorruptible seed which is the word of god the old you was conceived by a corruptable seed from your mother and your father but this new seed that we have been born from is the word of god and when we cling to the word of god it leads us toward spiritual maturity so that's why i say we can never be spiritually mature by being the old us that we used to be and then he lists five things as i get ready to wind down he lists five things that we have to set aside and once we set these five things aside it leads us towards spiritual maturity and when we have spiritual maturity or the reason we yearn and move towards spiritual maturity is because we want to fit and find our place in the palace so let's look at these five things real quick he says it is important he says that you put away now when he says wherefore he says laying aside or put away all of these things all right he says now the first thing you have to put away watch this when you give your life to jesus okay there are five things that you need to put away and if you don't put these five things away it will hamper your spiritual maturity and that's why i said earlier there are some members of the church who have been members for a long time but they are not spiritually mature and one of the reasons that they are not spiritually mature is that when they came to jesus christ no one ever told them that these five things you must put away and if you do not put these five things away if you don't destroy them if you don't work on killing them and eradicating them out of your life you're going to look up and you've been in the church 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 45 50 60 years and you're still not spiritually mature and the reason that you're not spiritually mature is that nobody has ever taught you that there are five important five imperative five things that are paramount that you must eradicate from your life and so peter says listen as newborn babes here's what you have to start asking the holy spirit to help you eradicate from your life let's look at this he's the first one is malice it refers to any kind of wickedness listen when you come to jesus christ you can't have a wicked spirit he says now uh you gotta put aside malice and then he says all gow gal is the translation of a word which in its verb form means to catch with bait in other words you just crafty you you you you down south we call it shady you just you just shady and and and when i was growing up we called it and y'all helped me uh i i'm going to throw some ebonics out at you uh jk you just janky see there's some janky christians if you hadn't figured that out by now so he says listen gao means to to catch with bait peter uses the word craftiness but but but really you you let me put it where you can understand it you just shady you you you crooked have you ever seen anybody coming and you just shake your head because you know that they that there's something that's just something shady about them then he uses the word hypocrisies see when you come to jesus christ in order for you to continue to grow spiritually you gotta you gotta not be a hypocrite you you have to set aside uh hypocrisies the word hypocrisies it literally means to judge under write that down hypocrisy means to judge under as a person giving off judgment but they're hiding under a screen watch this or a mask preach people see when you have a mask on folk can't see what's written all over your face and so when he uses the word hypocrisies it means that you're judging but you're hiding while you're judging which means the true identity is covered up behind the mask that you put on and so peter says in order to attain spiritual maturity you got to take the proverbial mask off and let people see who you really are because some people let me help you real quick will smile in your face and stab you in your back some people will talk to you but then they'll turn around and talk about you some people will compliment you in your face and criticize you to the crowd peter says they're nothing more than hypocrites and hypocrites do not grow spiritually in the body of christ then the next word he uses is is is envies see you can't be envious and jealous i tell you all the time that what god has for you is for you and can't nobody take it from you see it makes absolutely no sense to be envious and jealous of what god has done for someone else god has never ever taken anything from anyone because you didn't want them to have it one more time let me help somebody god has never taken anything from anyone because you didn't want them to have it let let me turn let me turn to to my new favorite scripture real quick i i'm kind of turn with me in the third john w we read this in uh our bible class on on uh uh this past week since joanne read this scripture in our bible class turn with me if you would to third john i want to show you something and i'm gonna connect it to uh envy and jealousy third john in verse two says this beloved now this is john an exile on isle of patmos john says i want you to absorb this spirit in your scripture because some of you need to stop apologizing for what god has done for you he says beloved i wish above all things john is elder in the body of christ he's saying listen uh this great apostle he says my my greatest wish for you is this that you may prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers john says my wish for you as a child of god is that you prosper well what's prosper it's prosperity it's being successful john says i want you to be successful and prosper and be in good health i want you to enjoy the things of life watch this even as your soul prospers which means that as much as your soul prospers your body and your life should also prosper so i said all that to say this when god is prospering you or when god is prospering someone else it makes no sense for you to be envious and jealous because john says his desire and the desire of god is that we as god's children are prosperous in everything that we do and why would you ever let anybody talk you out of the smile that's on your face and the joy that's in your heart after god has prospered you after all the work that you've done after all the toiling you've done after all the stressing you've done after all the strain and you've done getting up early in the morning and laying down late at night working your fingers to the bone going to bed late getting up early staying up all night long taking care of your children taking care of your family putting a roof over their head putting food on the table putting an automobile in the driveway and then god blesses you and you gonna let somebody steal the joy off your face the smile off your face and the joy out of your heart i wish i would allow anybody to stop and cause me to stop using and enjoying the blessings of god see what god has for you is for you and one of the reasons let me help you with this one of the reasons give me about four more minutes one of the reasons that we don't enjoy that we don't enjoy the blessings and we allow people to cause us to curl up in a corner because of our blessings one of the reasons we do that is because people don't understand the struggles that we've gone through to get what we got and because they don't understand the struggles that some of us have gone through to get what we've got then they don't understand what it took to get it and they become jealous and envious and if you're not careful you will get you will begin to apologize for what god has blessed you with but you need to also be reminded of your own journey and your own struggle because guess what you didn't always have what you have right now and why would you let some critic in some coward say something about what god has blessed you with and then you want to take it back you want to return it i guess i still got the tag on it i'll return don't you return nothing that god has given you oh preach people then he says let me give you the last one uh and all evil speaking the word evil speakings uh means to speak speaking down it is a per a person referring to the act of defaming and slandering someone else see strong spiritually mature christians don't talk about other christians don't talk about other people don't they don't defame they don't slander they don't speak against anybody and so let me help you with this before i take my seat because we gonna be coming back together real soon and i need to tell you some of y'all haven't seen your new preacher you got a new preacher when you see me the next time because what we're gonna do is stand up for what is right and and and and when you understand that the beauty of the kingdom is is that we can have differences but still coexist we have to love each other and we have to stop evil speaking that's what the bible says just slandering just talking about have you heard about what you think about let's talk about this that's evil speaking and because of that that's why there is little to no spiritual growth in some people's lives because they will not close their mouth and open up their heart or preach people see some people need to close their mouth and open up their heart so the word of god can be poured into it and let me help you with this last thing evil speaking is evil speaking even if what you're speaking is true evil speaking is evil speaking even if what you're speaking is true if it can hurt or harm someone's reputation the bible calls it evil speaking even if what you're saying is true so that's why we need to move towards spiritual maturity that's why when you give your life to god you understand that you're now you now have a place in the palace when you give your life to god you understand that you're now coming to a place where god is trying to nourish your soul and trying to bless you day by day the word of god has no ulterior motives like so many human teachings but it has only its purpose is to nourish our soul the word of god is only here for those that are down and who need comfort the word of god is here for hurting to be healed the word of god is for the suffering that needs support for the injured that needs encouragement for the crush that needs console and for the rejected that needs reassurance for the damage that need deliverance for the ruin that needs relief for the persecuted that needs power and for the attack that needs answers that's what the word of god is here for and so we thank him for his word we thank him for allowing us to be a part of his forever family and so i encourage you to move towards spiritual maturity you move towards spiritual maturity by one accepting your position in the palace by understanding that i am somebody in christ jesus and when you know who you are you don't have to look down at your shoelaces at nobody you can look everybody in the eye and speak the word of god i pray that this message has been a blessing to you there may be some right now who need just a prayer you're on the edge you're on the brink of losing that you're ready to give up you're ready to throw the towel in but understand that you are not born of a corruptable seed but an incorruptible seed which is the word of god and if you need to accept jesus and be born again you come by hearing the word of god be willing to believe what you've heard repent of your sins confess him jesus christ to be the son of god and we will baptize you for the remission of your sins i pray that this message has been a blessing to you stand firm and stand strong the devil is only attacking you because he is afraid of the purpose and the power that god is getting ready to place in you may god bless you and may he bless you extremely well there's a fountain [Music] [Applause] is [Music] we've come to a portion of our worship service where we give back give back to the lord so that he might be able to continue his work in this part of the venue that we might share in it the prophet malachi writes in the book of malachi the third chapter commencing with the tenth verse bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house test me in this says the lord almighty and see if i will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it now shall we go to our heavenly father for word of prayer merciful father we thank you today for your blessings that you continue to bestow upon all of us father we pray that the saints here at sepsis street and for the offering that was cheerfully given today with gladness and sincerity of heart may this offering be used for the continuous building of your kingdom and this part of the vineyard bless these tithes and offerings this day in the name of your son jesus christ we pray and give thanks amen and now let us repair our hearts and mind to partake in the lord's suffering this is a very solemn moment the lord's supper has been instituted by the father by the lord so that we might remember him remember his sacrifice remember that he became sin although he had no sin he died for us so that we might live the apostle paul provides instructions to us on how we shall partake of the communion in 1st corinthians the 11th chapter for commencing with the 23rd verse the apostle paul writes for i have received of the lord that which also i delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this dude in remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had sucked sane this cup is new testament in my blood this duty it's off that you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily and drink damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body now shall we go to our heavenly father [Music] eternal god we ask you in the name of your son jesus christ to bless and sanctify this bread which is your son's broken body and this fruit of the vine which is your son's shed blood we pray that you will bless the souls of all those who receive them that they may eat and drink in remembrance of the body and blood of your son and the promises that you have met gave to his spirit and that we will always be with you and you will provide us comfort in the name of your son jesus christ we humbly pray we give thanks amen now let us partake of the sacrament [Music] is amen i love to praise him praise his name i love to pray praise him praise his he's my [Music] i hallelujah help me sing hallelujah well he's my right he's my right no he won't never let will he's yes he's in the he's just hallelujah [Music] one more time

Channel: Simpson Street Church of Christ Atlanta

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Id: f0pHCJdGqR0

Length: 43min 27sec (2607 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021