You're under attack, and there are some things
you need to know about this attack. The good news is it is not an ambush. Peter says the Devil is like a roaring lion. That means he gives you a warning before the
warfare begins. Sometimes we act really surprised by things
we go through and ways we struggle. We come into situations that are harder than
we expected them to be, and we ask God to do great things in our lives, but the battle
begins and we act like we weren't warned. Peter said, "This lion, the Devil, is not
silent. He's a roaring…" Come on, give me your best roar. The Devil is all up in your face. He'll let you know it's coming. What you need to know if you are under attack… I will not have you raise your hand, because
perhaps the very people who need this message the most would be the most reluctant to admit,
"This is for me." He said when you find yourself in a season
of attack, that roaring lion is in your face… I'm thinking right here Peter is going to
say, "Run," because to me that's the only reasonable advice when you're faced with a
roaring lion. Hello! I don't even like dogs very much. Holly is scared of rats. Can you imagine if she saw a lion? But he doesn't say, "Run." Instead, he challenges us to resist. It's a certain type of resistance. He says to those who are under attack, "You
need to come under the mighty hand of God." I want you to see that phrase, because it
touched me so deeply in my study. I was hoping to explain it to you for a moment
today. The three things the hand of God represents. This is verse 6. "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of
God." That's an image that would have been familiar
for a Jewish audience, for it was with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm that God brought
his people out of Egyptian slavery. Peter wants them to know that same hand of
God that has been actively fulfilling his purpose throughout human history is still
reigning over your life. Humble yourself under that mighty hand. The hand of God represents his plan. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that
God's plan for my life has prevailed even against my own plan that I thought was better
sometimes. How many are grateful for the hand of God? If you're grateful for the hand of God, just
wave your hand at me. God's hand is not like your hand. It's an invisible hand. You can't see it, but you definitely know
the effects of it when it moves, because after you've lived a little while… Peter said, "I saw what happens in the hand
of God, the plan of God." Peter is not writing this as advice unsolicited,
and he's not writing this as advice uninformed. Peter is a grown Christian man now, getting
a little bolder about relaying his advice from his experiences. Who better to tell us about the hand of God
than a man who walked with Jesus Christ in the flesh? Who better to describe to us the function
of the hand of God than the one who saw his face? Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father." Peter didn't just trace the hand of God; he
saw the face of God. Now he says to those who were under attack,
up under depression, up under disappointment, dealing with failure, hit rock bottom, don't
know what's next, freaking out, crying yourself to sleep at night, feeling all alone… He says to every believer, "You have the upper
hand." The hand of God is mighty. The hand of God is strong. The hand of God is over your life and will
prevail. His purpose will come to pass. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares
the Lord, 'plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" If you find yourself under attack today, you
need to know the hand of God is guiding you, leading you, that same hand that split the
sea open so his people could walk right through it. The hand of God will make a way where there
is no way. The hand of God will bring water out of a
rock in a dry place. The hand of God is over your life and he has
a plan. The hand of God represents the plan of God. The hand of God represents the provision of
God. Who better to remind a church or a believer
who is under attack that the hand of God is the place where bread multiplies than the
one who saw 5,000 fed with just a few loaves and a few fish? Anytime you've seen a kid's snack pack from
Captain D's multiplied into a buffet, you know something about the provision in the
hand of God. Peter was right there. He saw what happened when they put the bread
in Jesus' hand. He knew that at times where you feel like
you are in a place of lack, your provision is never dependent upon your own ability to
provide for yourself or your own ability to create resource for yourself, but anything
you put in the hand of God will multiply. Anything you put in the hand of God, it just
keeps coming. Do I have any witnesses? You've been through some hard times in your
life, but hope kept coming. You've been in some tight places. You felt like you were running out. You didn't feel like you could make it to
the next day, but somehow strength kept coming. Joy kept coming. A tomorrow kept coming in spite of your past. The hand of God is a hand of provision. It's a hand of protection. God has me in his grip. Who better to help me see that the hand of
God will protect me than the one who tried to walk on water? Do y'all know the Bible? Go study this story in Matthew, chapter 14,
where Peter got out there. He's trying to make his way to Jesus. He's coming toward him, and about the time
he gets there… Sometimes it's right when you're on the verge
that you start to sink. I never saw it before. In Matthew, chapter 14, it says Peter in the
storm got out of the boat, and when he walked out on the water he did pretty well. He came toward Jesus. "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and,
beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" He cries out before he goes completely under. He's sinking, but he's not sunk. He's going down, but he's not out. The lion is prowling, but he has not prevailed. This is what I never saw. Verse 31 says, "Immediately…" That's the word. "…Jesus reached out his hand." Immediately Jesus reached out his hand. Notice the construct of the narrative. Jesus is not walking toward Peter; Peter is
walking toward Jesus. When Jesus sees Peter falling and hears him
crying, he reaches out his hand, and Peter is close enough for Jesus to reach. The problem with some of us isn't that we're
sinking. It's that we won't stay close enough for God
to get us in his grip. I came to announce to that lion today, that
liar, the Devil, that I'm in his grip even when I'm going down. Even though the winds and the waves are roaring
and raging in my life, I'm in his grip. God has me in his grip. He has me in the hand of his protection. He might let me suffer a little while, but
he won't let me stay there. He is my God and I'm in his hand. "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of
God." It doesn't matter how well you can walk on
water; it matters how close you are to his hand. It doesn't matter about your intelligence;
it matters about your surrender. It doesn't matter about your ability; it matters
about your surrender. Humble yourself. I'm preaching to somebody. I'm preaching to somebody so straight you
can't even nod. You're trying to hold back tears, but God
sent a preacher with a message. You might as well go ahead and cry out, "Lord,
save me. I can't do this on my own. I am not enough by myself." Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God
and he'll lift you up in due time. He'll get you up. He'll lift you up in due time. He'll let you go down low enough to know that
you need him and bring you up high enough to let the world know he's with you. Verse 7 is what I've been trying to practice,
that I can be under attack and not anxious. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares
for you." I'm trying to do that. After Code Orange Revival, I felt like I went
under an emotional attack. I don't even know that I'm out of it yet. Part of it is probably because of adrenaline
and physiological factors that have to do with getting up 10 nights in a row and all
of the hosting of trying to put up with guests for 10 nights and make them feel special. Part of it, though, had to be spiritual. It was like for 10 nights… If you weren't here in our church, you basically
missed out on life by not coming to Code Orange Revival. Not only did our city go through a shaking
after the revival but I went through a shaking. I don't want to get up here and use you for
a counseling appointment, because I don't want to have to pay your hourly fee or anything
like that. I don't want you to worry about me, because
I promise you I'm good. I love my wife and my kids and we're good
and everything like that. Don't send me these emails. "We're praying for you, Pastor." That's not the reason I'm telling you this. It'll make me feel like you missed the point
if you send an email. I don't want a card or anything like that. Flowers, cookies, trying to get me fat on
carbohydrates because you think I'm struggling. I don't want any of that. I don't need any of that. I just want to tell you something. While we were in here talking about 10 nights,
celebrating 10 years, I felt overwhelmed about "Do I have what it takes for the next 10?" It's like once you've gone really high with
God, as a leader, I think you feel a pressure to go higher. Then it's kind of hard, because you feel like
maybe you've gone as high as you can go. Maybe you feel that way as a parent, not as
a preacher. Maybe you feel that way in your business. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but I'm
going to open myself up here a little bit for you today, if it will be helpful, because
anxiety attacked me. It hit me kind of hard. I wasn't staying in bed. I didn't go get addicted to some kind of pills
or anything like that. It was a thing in my mind. "I don't have what it takes. This is as far as I can take them. I don't know if I'm the one to do it." All this stuff that was going through my mind. That's how I got over to 1 Peter, chapter
5. I know that Scripture. I love that Scripture. That Scripture has helped me before. Sometimes when you are up against a fight
you have to go back to a weapon you know. "I can't fight Goliath in this armor. I have to get a slingshot." It was a well-known verse, and I went back
in there and considered the context of Peter, who fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane
while he was supposed to be watching Jesus' back. Jesus came over to him. He gave him two wake-up calls. He hit the snooze button three times. "Are you still sleeping?" I looked at how Peter was telling the church
to be alert, which is translated elsewhere in the New Testament, "Be prayerful." The Enemy eats Christians who sleep in times
of battle. Be alert to what's going on. Realize that the birthmark of a believer is
a bull's-eye. The Devil doesn't like it one bit that you're
moving forward in your relationship with God. I started taking the verse apart, because
the Word of God really is what I live by, not just what I make my living off of. I went into verse 7 really hard like I needed
an answer. When anxiety attacks, it will drive you to
seek God, to seek his hand. I was looking for him, because he said, "Cast
all your anxiety." While I was reading it, since I knew Peter
wrote it and he's a fisherman, I wondered if he was picturing casting the nets from
one side of the boat to the other just because Jesus told him to. Sometimes anxiety in our lives is a result
of our unwillingness to be obedient. When he cast the net to the other side… Maybe that's a word for somebody. He said, "Cast all your anxiety on him." Do it his way now. "We fished all night and caught nothing,"
Peter said. "But because you say so, I'm going to cast
my net on the other side. I've been trying to do this my way. I've been trying to handle it on my own, but
I'm going to cast my net on the other side." However, it was in verses 5-6 that I found
my answer. In verse 5 he says, "In the same way, you
who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe…" The Greek word means tie on. Tie it on, like a towel, like Jesus did when
he took on the role of a servant. He got a servant's towel and put it around
his waist. When Peter saw him tying on that towel, he
said, "No, you don't tie on the towel, Jesus. You sit on the throne." But Jesus tied on the towel. I wonder if, as Peter is telling them to clothe
themselves in humility, he is having a flashback of the Savior, who laid his riches in glory
aside and made himself nothing, found in the appearance of sinful man and became a servant,
humbling himself even to death on a cross, as he tied on the towel and washed Peter's
feet. Peter's response was, "No, Lord, you can't
wash my feet." Jesus said, "Peter, shut up." That's not the exact conversation, but it's
the essence of it. He did what he came to do. The Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Maybe my biggest problem was the fact that
I always thought verse 7, the instruction where he said, "Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you…" You go to the Word of God sometimes and try
to pluck up these little promises. You try to do stuff. "I like that verse. That verse." Back up and catch the essence of the text. Verse 6: "Humble yourself, therefore, under
God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares
for you." To really understand the essence and profundity
of the connection, you need to see a more literal translation of verses 6-7. Peter is writing this letter in Koine Greek. In the Greek language, as Peter is writing
this letter, as you will see demonstrated in verses 6-7, these are not two separate
sentences. It reads like this: "Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you [comma]…" What happens next is predicated on whether
or not what happens in verse 6 is applied. In Greek it is one sentence. "Humble yourself, therefore, under God's mighty
hand, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for
you." I've been trying to cast my anxieties and
keep my pride. The thing about it is you need to know the
pride and the anxiety come in the same package. If you insist on doing it your way, then expect
to feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, because it is. You can't just do verse 7 because you decide
to. "God, take it off me. God, take it off me. I'm so worried, God. Make me not worried anymore." "Don't you care if we perish?" That's what Peter said one time in the boat. "Don't you care that we're drowning?" "God, you said cast all my anxieties on you. I'm casting them. I'm casting them. This isn't working." Look at the word anxiety. I'm telling the Lord in my prayers, "I don't
know if I can do it. I just need you to give me a sign that I can
take the church forward the next 10 years. Take this anxiety. I'm casting it on you, Lord. I am casting it on you, all of my anxiety." After I prayed this way for a little while,
the Lord spoke to me in my heart. This is not an out-loud conversation. I don't want you to think I'm really, really
crazy, but this is the impression I got. The Lord said, "Are you done now? Shut up, Peter. Are you done now?" Look at the word anxiety. Look at how it's spelled in English. Look at what is in the center of the word. Do you see it? At the center of your anxiety, if you really
trace it… I'm not talking about a medical condition. I'm not a pharmacist. I don't know about all that. I am not a neurologist. I'm saying, spiritually speaking, the Lord
told me at the center of your anxiety is your pride. The reason you're so anxious is because you
have you at the center, and you can't sustain it because it's not
your throne.
