Well, today we're wrapping up a series we've been in for a little over a month called Different. Next week, we're gonna be jumping back into the book of Romans. If you've been here for a while, we've been going through this book in the New Testament called Romans. It is it is complicated, it is comprehensive, it's probably the most comprehensive explanation of who Jesus is, what he did, what that means for us that you could possibly uh engage in. And we've been going through it bit by bit. Next week we get to Romans chapter 9. We'll be going through Romans 9 through 11. Is anyone familiar with Romans 9 through 11? Anyone at all have some so those of you raising your hands, you know to pray for me. Um it's it's like a minefield. And actually, I I I pray really hard about what to call the series, because we always give a little title to the series that we're in, even when we're studying a section. And uh and I decided that for Romans 9 through 11, the series is called, wait what? That's literally the name of the series. Because like constantly in this section, you read things and you're like, wait, what? Like, I don't understand. This, like, I don't, this doesn't track. What is this about? And I say this honestly, it's it's humorous, but it's so easy to skip the hard stuff sometimes. It's so easy, it's so tempting. I'll be honest, it's tempting for me as a pastor to be like, let's just skip Romans 9 through 11, because everyone loves Romans 8. If you know Romans 8, it's like nothing can separate us from God's love, like, yeah, and then you get to Romans 9 and you're like, wait, what? Uh I'd rather just skip that, tell you to read it on your own, and we'll just move on to something more fun. But I think it's vital as a church and as a family that we don't skip the hard stuff. That we we go, hey, wait, God has even if you're brand new to the faith, even if you're not even sure where you stand with Jesus, you haven't figured that out. Look, you've been created by God with a deep capacity to understand who he is and what he does. And so we're gonna go through it, we're gonna have a lot of fun, and we're gonna answer a bunch of wait what questions, and I can't wait. But today we're wrapping up this series different. And the premise of this has been really simple. Number one, Jesus is just different. There's no one like him, there's no one like him at all. There's never been anyone like him, there will never be anyone exactly like Jesus. He truly stands apart, but as his followers, we're supposed to be, well, like him. He's different. We're supposed to be different too. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 20, verse 26, very simply, talking to his followers, but among you it will be different. He's just gotten done explaining how the world works, what the world values, and he says, but with you guys, it's gonna be different. It's gotta be different. 1 Peter 2 9 says, You're not like that. You're a chosen people. You are a royal priest, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he has called you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light. As Jesus followers, those of us who have made that decision, we're called to live different lives, to be different, not just for the sake of being different, so that we can make a difference. You have to be different if you want to make a difference. If you ever look at the world and say, hey, this is not the way it ought to be. That's true. And God's plan A for changing the world is you. It's us. Sometimes I question his plan A. I feel like we should be plan D or maybe F at some point. Like, what went wrong that he's depending on us? And the answer is nothing. This is what he's wanted, this is what he's desired. He chose his plan A to work through people, to transform our lives through the power of his spirit inside of us, not our own effort, but his spirit inside of us, when we submit to him and say, Hey, Jesus, I'm yours. I belong to you, I've given my life to you. Tell me what to do, tell me who you want me to be. When we like live that, we become different. And we make a difference. And so we've talked over the last few weeks about all the different ways that we're different. This hasn't been like a comprehensive thing. There's lots of stuff we could talk about. We've just focused on a few. We we talked about our relationship with truth and how for us as Jesus followers, truth is not something that we get to define and decide for ourselves. We don't elevate our own preferences and ideas to the level of truth. We actually submit our lives to the truth that God has spoken. We talked about love and how the love of God, kind of like Danielle talked about today during the Lord's Supper, it's deep and it's powerful and it's personal. God loves you personally. He doesn't just love you because he loves people in general and because you technically are one of those, he loves you. Like he loves you personally, he knows you personally. And if you've never experienced that, that would be my main prayer for your life is that you would encounter and experience the personal love that God has for you. We talked about our relationship with money and how we're not, we're not like the rest of the world. We don't worship money, we don't depend on money, we don't, we don't love money, we are just managers of what God has given us. We see that everything belongs to Him, everything comes from Him, and we just go, God, what do you want us to do with it? And and what He gives us is really simple. It's some combination of generosity, wisdom, and enjoyment. We get to, and that's a simple but beautiful way to live. When you can just be generous and wise and enjoy what you have, that changes everything. That's not the way the rest of the world works when it comes to money. Last week was the real fun one. We talked about death. We went from money to death. That was a great two-week stretch. And the reality is, is people, we don't live, as Jesus followers, we don't live in fear of death. Because our God defeated it. He died, and then he got back up. And he didn't just do that like in five minutes. You can clap for that. That's that's worth cheering, right? Jesus died and got back up. And by the way, he didn't do it like five minutes in, like that way, he waited until we were sure he was dead. You know what I mean? It was like, did someone not get the pulse? No, no, no, no. He was dead, dead. And then he got back up. And that that event has changed everything in history. But what it really means for us as Jesus followers is that we don't live our lives just trying to avoid death. That is no way to live. We live our lives pursuing the life that Jesus won for us. So we don't have to be afraid of death. We don't have to have our entire lives bend around some uncertainty. We're certain that we will die. But we're certain, through the power of Jesus, that we will live. And so today, we're going to talk about one thing that should make us different. And I think this is actually really pertinent for the times in which we're living. It's important, I think, as anyone, Jesus followers too, to understand the times and the season in which you're alive. We live in interesting times. And there is something about us as Jesus followers that should make us stand out from the rest of the world on almost a daily basis. And to make it really simple, here's what it is: we're not freaked out all the time. That's it. We're not panicked, we're not alarmed, we're not freaking out about everything that's happening around us. We're not running around acting like the building is always on fire, that everything is falling apart, that nothing good could possibly come of this, that as Jesus followers, we're just not freaked out. I don't know if you guys have noticed this, I'm imagining that you have. A lot of people are freaked out. Like, you know the scenes in movies, and it's like an iconic scene where there'll be people and they're on a vehicle of some kind and in some crazy circumstance, like it hits, maybe it's an airplane, something like they hit the edge of a cliff, and they're like, they're on it, but everyone's like, don't move because one false move and the whole thing goes down. That happens in movies a lot. I hope it happens in real life less, because it actually happens in movies and TV quite a bit. That's a terrifying situation. And a lot of people feel, believe like that's us all the time. We live in a time where everyone is alarmed constantly about everything. There's a lot of things to be alarmed about. Like, to be honest, it makes sense. There are a lot of things to be worried about. That's true. If anyone ever comes to you and says, hey, don't worry, there's nothing to worry about, that's a lie. There's all kinds of things to worry about. Have you ever considered where you live, for example? I don't mean Georgia. By the way, go braves, right? Come on. Like, let's pause here. God, after what happened in the Super Bowl a few years ago, we need this. We need this. You know? Alright, that counts. I don't mean Georgia, Atlanta. I don't, I don't mean the United States of America. I mean, like, the Earth. You ever stop and consider where you live? We live on a giant ball that weighs 13 septilian pounds. It's a heavy ball. If you've never seen that number, uh, here's what it looks like. That's a big number. That's how many pounds the ball that we're sitting on right now weighs, and it's floating in space. It's not just floating, it's spinning at a rate of a thousand miles an hour right now. And it's going through space at a speed of 67,000 miles per hour, right? So like we hit something, whoo, like a pebble, is we're doomed. And to make it better, we are circling constantly a gigantic ball of fire. That is every moment of our lives. We have all kinds of legitimate reasons to be concerned. You know, that's nuts when you think about it. But but honestly, like, all jokes aside, that there's so much to be worried about. There's there's disease, there's political turmoil, right? There's there's there's things with education. There's there's remember murder hornets like a year and a half ago? You remember those stories? Would anyone like an update, by the way, on the murder hornets? Because I I don't have one, but there are people talking about that, and then it just went away, and I'm like, I would kind of like to be aware of where those hornets are. Uh, but no one's talking about that right now because apparently there's we've got bigger fish to fry, right? There's all kinds of things to be alarmed about, apparently. There's there's the climate, there's just you name it. Everywhere you turn, people are freaking out. And it's not it's not even like a joke, it's statistical. For the last 20 years, if you look at the statistics on anxiety and depression, and I'm not gonna pretend like these statistics don't apply to us in this room or those of us watching from home, the number of people dealing and battling on a daily basis with anxiety and depression is on the rise. But but check this out. Last year, and this makes sense when you think about everything going on, last year, in a single year, according to a scientific study that just it just got published like last week, uh, the number of people that reported dealing with anxiety and depression went up by 26% in one year. Everybody's kind of freaked out. But as Jesus followers, we're not meant to. Let me read something that Jesus said. This is in Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 is a really interesting chapter, and I would encourage you, by the way, if you're like new to following Jesus, read Matthew 5 through 7 uh a lot. That's like this big chunk of Jesus' teaching early on is in his ministry. Read John 13 through 17 a lot. That's like this long conversation Jesus has with his disciples right before he goes to the cross. These kind of uninterrupted teaching moments of Jesus, they tell you a lot. And in the middle of that first one is Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 34. Jesus says, That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Don't worry. Whether you have enough food and drink or clothes to wear, isn't life more than food? And your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat, what we drink, what we wear, these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. But your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. And one of the things that blows me away about this teaching is how rare it is to have a person who has influence, or at the very least, a person who's seeking influence, decide to calm the people who are following them and listening to them down, versus rile them up. We should always be really careful if the people that we listen to are always causing us to be alarmed. Because there's a lot to be gained. There's a lot you can gain when you get people freaked out and they're hanging on your every word because they believe that if not for doing what you say, it's all gonna come falling apart. And we happen to live in a time right now where if you if you watch a news program, really doesn't matter which channel. Or if you you listen to a lot of the pundits and the talking heads in the world or the people with power, they are constantly telling you some version of you should be very alarmed. You should be very alarmed. Look at what's happening, look at how bad it is and how bad it's getting. You should be alarmed and oh, it's their fault. We should be very, very wary of ever sitting underneath anyone as a as a teacher, as someone's voice that we're listening to. We don't often think of those people as teachers, but we we treat them as such because we we hang on their words. When what they they teach us is to be alarmed, to be worried, to be afraid. That's almost always a recipe for manipulation. Especially when you live in a time like this where everything's so charged, where everybody's so riled up and on the verge of freaking out, it's really easy to tell people, yeah, you should be alarmed and here, do this, or or believe this, and people will grab that whole sale and take it in and follow it because they're they're kind of primed for that. There's a lot to be gained by getting people riled up and concerned. But Jesus didn't do that. If you spend time reading the teachings of Jesus, which is vital by the way, as Jesus followers, we've got to know what he said. His teachings have to be the words that are in our hearts the most. You would have never really walked away from a teaching of Jesus, fired up, like, yeah, that's right, let's go, let's take these people down, let's fix this, let's, let's, let's protest. Like you would never do that. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with protesting, I'm just saying that that's not that's not what anyone who would have walked away from a teaching of Jesus would have been ready to do at that moment. You would have walked away with peace. You would have walked away with love for other people, even people very different than you. You know, Jesus' day was was very much like our own. In fact, in some ways, it was more volatile. I mean, you talk about like divisions within people, everyone that Jesus talked to would have been conditioned from birth to hate, to hate the people around them. That's why when Jesus told stories like the story of the good Samaritan, it was shocking. Because everyone who grew up in Jesus' community would have been taught from a young age to hate the Samaritans. And Jesus tells a story with a Samaritan as an example, and early in his ministry, he chooses before he ever goes to Jerusalem, he goes to Samaria. The very first person he ever tells that he's the Messiah to, the first person he ever says, Yeah, I'm the Son of God, it's a Samaritan woman. And he's breaking all these batteries that people they they grew up in a culture that was conditioned to hate, to be divided. That's not new. We live in a divided country right now, but that's not new. You want to talk about fear, oh my goodness, disease. Let's look at that. Jesus' time, there was this thing called leprosy, and everyone was terrified of it, and rightfully so. And there was no cure, but it spread like crazy. And if you were someone that came down with leprosy, you would be quarantined, ostracized, completely and totally set apart. And so there was palpable fear of this disease that was going on in the culture that Jesus was part of, very much like what we've experienced in the last couple of years here in America. You want to talk about like political division? Oh my goodness. Like, there's we got nothing on what what Jesus had to deal with politically in his day. And so the the Jewish people had these three main groups. They had the the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and they were kind of like left and right in our culture, as far as politics is concerned. And then you had the zealots. And the zealots, they were they were extreme. And they were ready to overthrow Rome. That was their whole purpose, their whole passion, because these were all people who were living under the subjugation of an empire. And things got so heated that just about 40 years after Jesus died, it all culminates in this massive battle, this multi-year-long siege, actually, that ends up with Jerusalem being completely decimated, totally destroyed. 1.1 million people died. And all of that was boiling at the time of Jesus. So these were people that politically were like, were ready to take sides. My point is simply this Jesus had every opportunity because of the culture that he was part of, and all the fear and all of the alarm, he had every opportunity to lean into that. Because the people were ready for it. They were chomping at the bit to have someone tell them, yeah, follow me, let's go, let's climb a mountain right now, let's take everybody on. But they were they were ready for that. They were ready to be alarmed and and led, manipulated because of that. But Jesus never did that. What does he do? Instead, he calms them down. He says to them, Don't worry. Stop freaking out. Don't worry about all these all these things going on around you. Focus on God. Focus on the Father. And it's not just this teaching. If you sit at the feet of Jesus and you listen to him teach, you don't walk away angry. You don't walk away blaming anyone. You walk away loving everyone. You walk away with peace. And so, as Jesus followers, one of the things that one of the things that should make us very different than the rest of the world is we're just not that alarmed. Now, I'm not saying that we should be aloof. Like that would be like way on the opposite of alarmed. I like the word aloof. I think it's a word we should use more often. Aloof means like unaware of what's going on, but not in like just an ignorant way, like I haven't, I haven't read current events. Like, you don't want to, you're kind of cynical. You're like, ah, I don't even, I want to be detached from everything going on in the world. He doesn't call us to be that. So if if we're not to be alarmed and we're not to be aloof, what are we supposed to be? And the answer is really simple. We're supposed to be alert. Alert, but not alarmed. If you ever read Matthew chapter 24, it's a very interesting chapter. And it's one that a lot of people really get into, and I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but if you're someone who's like all about figuring out whether or not we're living in what people often call like the end times, Matthew 24 is something you've probably read. You know, it's funny, people will try to like figure out when that's gonna be. Jesus in Matthew 24 goes like no one knows, but people still try to figure it out. And I don't know why they do that, because even if you did figure it out, God would just move the day. He's like, Well, I said no one knows, you've picked the right day, we're moving it. You know, that's how it would work. But but it's a chapter that that's it's complicated for a couple of reasons. Number one, Jesus has has just gotten done telling his disciples that the temple that they were just in in Jerusalem is gonna be decimated. And they can't believe that. I mean, this thing is like a modern marvel, and in their eyes, it's synonymous with God's power. And he's like, Yeah, there's not gonna be one stone left on top of another. That, by the way, happened 40 years later. And in their mind, well, that must mean like the end of the world. That's the only scenario they can think of where that would happen. So they asked Jesus two questions. Question one is, when will these things take place? Question two is what are the signs of the end of the age? Because in their mind, like, that's all together. And and Jesus starts to answer him, but it's kind of complicated because it's hard to know sometimes which question he's answering. The first one, like, when will these things take place? Meaning what he just said would happen with the temple. Or what's the sign of the times? And so it's kind of a difficult read. Some people interpret all of it to be about the end of the world, some people interpret some of it to be about that, but some of it to be about the temple, some people interpret it to be nothing, some people don't interpret it at all. Uh, point is it's complicated. But in that, in that whole, in that whole section, Jesus says this in verse 42. Therefore, in light of the fact that, yeah, crazy stuff's gonna happen, in light of all that, he says, be on the alert. For you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you must be ready as well. For the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. Translation, God surprises us. God's timing, oh. Like, I'm the stories we could all tell of the timing that God chooses for certain things to happen, right? You know what's funny about uh, well, funny is not the right word, personally funny, but not funny overall. But when when uh the the COVID thing first happened, I literally had a phone call with a friend two days before all this this news broke out. And this was the phone call. He's a he's a fellow pastor that I've uh talked to over the years here and there, uh really, really respected guy. I said, Man, I'm struggling. And he said, What are you struggling with? Like, is his hands going okay? I'm like, it's going great. That's why I'm struggling. And he said, Well, what do you mean? I said, Well, as long as I've I've been in leadership here, there's always been like a crisis of some kind I'm trying to solve. And some of those are like you know, big crises, some of them are like just little things, but there's just always something, like some problem I'm dealing with. I'm like, I don't have a crisis. I don't have a crisis right now. I don't know what to do without a crisis. Two days later, it's like, oh here you go. It's good timing. Right? Thank you, Jesus, for the crisis. Like, what am I supposed to do with that? You know? But I was just used to crises and I'm comfortable in a crisis situation. But when everything's going great, I'm like, well, what do I do? What do I do then? Thankfully, right now, everything's going great. So I don't want a crisis. I don't. God has interesting timing, and Jesus says, look, look, yeah, you know what, guys? There's a day, and this is important for us to know as Jesus followers, there is a day, sometimes scripture calls it the day of the Lord. The point is, all of human history is moving to a point. And that point will ultimately end with God judging the world and making everything right, making everything the way that it should be. And that's in Scripture a pretty intense undertaking. And we don't know when that's gonna happen. But Jesus doesn't say to his people, like, hey, yeah, this is this stuff's gonna go down, so freak out. Right? Hey, Jesus, what should we do if this is all gonna go? You should just run around, put your hands in the air and go, ah, like do that. He doesn't do that. He doesn't tell them to be alarmed, he doesn't stir them up and rile them up and make him afraid, right? Because there's a close link between being alarmed and afraid. What does he say? He says, just be alert. Be watchful. Pay attention. Look at what's happening around you. But don't be alarmed. Don't be afraid. As Jesus followers, we're meant to be on the alert, but never alarmed. And this isn't just when it comes to society in general, this is in our own lives. I'm gonna look at a story. It's one of my favorite stories about Jesus. I love this story. I think I first heard this when I was like in fifth grade. We started going to church when I was a fourth, fifth grader. First time I heard the story, I was like, that's awesome. I just believed it and it always stuck out to me. It's the story of Jesus walking on water. Matthew chapter 14. It says, immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat, cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. He's just gotten done teaching thousands of people, and miracles have happened. It's pretty cool. After sending them home, he went up to the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone, meaning the disciples, or meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had arisen and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. This is awesome, by the way. I just love this. Just picture it. Like I wonder, like, was Jesus up praying, and like he looks and he sees them and he's like, oh, I gotta go fix this. You know, what's the quickest route? I was walking. You know? It's 3 a.m. These guys have been fighting really strong waves and they're freaked out, right? They're they're literally freaked out. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, it's not that they were calmed down, they're already alarmed at the waves, now they're just more freaked out, right? Says they were terrified in their fear, they cried out, It's a ghost. If I was Jesus, I so would have leaned into this. I so would have messed with them. You know, I'm so glad that he's not me. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid. He said, Don't be alarmed. Take courage. I'm here. And then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. Yeah, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over to the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and he began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted. And Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith, Jesus said. Why did you doubt me? And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. You really are the Son of God, they exclaimed. I kind of wish Jesus had said duh at that point. Like, yeah. I think about this story pretty often because I think all of us are more like Peter on the water than we might realize sometimes. I mean, honestly, we're all surrounded by things that freak us out. And we all find ourselves on shaky footing sometimes. Like in the last month, how many of you, just to be honest, let's interact with each other, how many of you have thought I have no idea what to do at some point in time? Yeah. Tuesday, I got home, and uh my my youngest Eli, some of you guys know Eli. Um, Megan has posted photos on Facebook, especially when he was young, like, look where Eli is. Eli, Eli's a unique kid. I love him. I have to. I'm his dad. But Eli is unique in that he's afraid of things he shouldn't be afraid of. Like in his room, there's a thermostat. His room and and Judah, he and Judah, my youngest two, share a room, and that room is where the thermostat for our upstairs air conditioning system is, right? You see, you know that sound that a thermostat makes when it clicks on? It just goes, you know that? Scares him to death. He can't handle it. Like if that noise and he's like down the stairs, like, dad, dad, and he'll even do that. He went, it went, and I'm like, yeah, it's not a big deal. You know, I'm trying to like as a dad figure out how to he's like, turn the air off. I'm like, I can't do that because it just gets really hot upstairs, and you're just gonna have to figure out the click. You know, we're gonna work through this. But it it freaks him out. But then at the same time, he's not scared of things that he should be scared of, like heights. So he's in the backyard playing on Tuesday, and uh, and he loves playing like hide and see. You know, so sometimes you'll be like, hey, Eli, where are you? And I go in the backyard, and I go, hey, Eli, where are you? And I hear him go, I'm here, but it is not on the same plane as me. I go, like I hear it, and it's up there. He has climbed to the very top of a pine tree in our backyard. I'm not joking, the very top, he is at least 25 feet in the air. And he goes, I'm stuck. And I'm like, I'm like, you know, as a as a dad, those of you who are dads, like those moments where you should freak out, but you just God gives you the grace to just channel, like, like, okay, like I'm I'm calm, but I've I don't I don't know what to do. Like, what am I? I don't have like a fireman's ladder, just like, and so I start to climb the tree. I'm like, hey man, just hold on, you're good, you're good, and my money's not good. Uh but I'm telling him he is. I'm like, hold it, just you, your awesome job climbing the tree. You're such a great climber. I start to climb, I weigh slightly more than Eli. Um I get about halfway up the tree, and the branches, like, these are no longer gonna support me. And this is the crazy thing. I look at Eli, I'm like, hey man, I'm gonna help you get down. You just need to listen to daddy. And I'm picture this, he's 25 feet up, I'm like 15, and he goes, You just want me to jump? And I'm like, no, no. And he goes, You'll catch me, right? And I go, no, I will not. That's gonna, mm-mm, no. I'm like, he got up there, there's a way down. There's gotta be. That's logic. And so I thankfully, I'm like, Megan comes out and and we're like, hey, put your put this foot down. Nope, no, no, no, no, that foot, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on with your hands. And eventually we get him down. And then we look at him and we're like, never, ever do that again. And he looks at us and says, okay, but in that way with a child where you're like, he's totally gonna do this again. Like he's not afraid at all. So pray for me. Because I don't know if it's like, maybe I just just lean into it, let him be a climber. And the best way for him not to get hurt is to be better at climbing. I don't know, but it's it's terrifying, right? Like there's those moments where you're just alarmed and you don't know what to do. You have that thought, I don't know what to do, I've never been here before. You're like Peter on the waves, you're like Peter on the water, and all around you are things that are scary. That's what I love about Jesus. He doesn't tell us, hey, don't be worried because there are no troubles today. He says, Hey, don't be worried, there's already enough trouble. Your worry isn't gonna help at all. Don't freak out because you're gonna need a sober mind to handle the stuff in your life. And tomorrow's gonna bring more troubles, and you can't freak out, you can't be alarmed because that's not gonna help, but you have to be as alert. You know, when Peter was on the water, as long as his eyes were on Jesus, as long as his thoughts were on Jesus, he was alert and focused on his savior, he's good. But the second he freaked out and started looking at all the waves around him and felt that terror, that's when he sank. But even then, guys, how cool is this? Jesus was right there. He didn't drown. It'd be a very different story if it's like, and then Peter drowned, you know? And Jesus is like, should have had more faith. That could have had could be the end of the story, but it's not. Now, I'll have to shout out to my my good friend Scott Case. Uh Scott's been a friend of mine for years, goes to his hands, and years ago he was talking about this story, and he asked a question I never thought of. He was like, How do you think they got back to the boat? And I was like, Oh, I've never thought about that. He's like, They probably walked. It's cool to think about, right? Like Jesus lifting Peter out and then just putting his arm around him and they walk back to the boat. I don't know, maybe Jesus dragged Peter, and Jesus is on top, and Peter's like waterboarded or something like that. Maybe I'm not sure how it worked, but I had that thought. I'm like, yeah, I bet I bet they did walk back. The point is this Peter had every logical reason to be terrified. Alarm is to be expected when you're walking on water surrounded by waves. But Jesus wasn't afraid at all. Listen to what Jesus says about us in John chapter 10. He says, My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me. For my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. The Father and I are one. The picture being painted here is that you are in Jesus' hands and he's in the Father's hands. Good luck. Good luck for anyone to snatch you, to take you away from him. Now, this is not meant to alarm us. What is this meant to do? It's meant to calm us down. And so, prayer team or worship team, you can make your way up. Prayer team, get ready because people are gonna get prayer today. Um listen, there's a there's a lot of stuff going on in the world. There is. And a lot of it's crazy, and a lot of it's our own doing, and a lot of it's sad. You know, just like in the time of Jesus, we live in a time where there's division. There's there's divisions along political lines, there's divisions along racial lines, but but Jesus looks at us and says, Among you, it must be different. We love each other. We love each other. And that's who we are as Jesus Father. We love each other. And Jesus never tells us that there won't be political strife. He doesn't tell us that that there won't be major issues and legitimately crazy things. In fact, uh, sorry to the guys back on the tech team, I'm gonna go back to Matthew chapter 24, verses 6 through 8. He actually says, hey, you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There'll be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world, but all of this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. I mean, this is Jesus saying, like, yeah, crazy stuff's gonna happen. The world's a crazy place, but don't panic. Don't be alarmed. Just be alert. Focus on Him. Keep your eyes on Jesus. How does that happen? Well, it's in a word, prayer. Ephesians 6 18 says, pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. I love here we're talking about being alert, not alarmed, not aloof, alert. And here scripture connects being alert with being prayerful, being watchful. Prayer is a powerful thing, not just because we get to talk to God, which is cool, not just because we can hear God, but prayer affects us as people. You show me someone who spends a tremendous time in prayer, that's a person who has discernment. Discernment's interesting. Charles Spurgeon, famous preacher from years and years ago, once said that discernment is not knowing right from wrong, discernment is knowing right from almost right. Knowing right from almost right. When you spend time in prayer, when you're alert and you're focused on God, and you're bringing all of your cares and all of those, all those waves in your life, all those struggles, all those what do I do situations, when you're praying, God gives you discernment. He gives you the ability to navigate those things. You're connected to him, and he's wise, and he knows exactly what to do. You know, while I'm helping Eli down, I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't praying, but Megan was. Prayer works. It tells us in Philippians chapter 4 not to worry about anything. Instead, what do we do? We pray about everything. Pray about all of it. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he's done, then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. When you pray, you get discernment. When you pray, you get peace. God gives you his peace, and it will guard your thoughts, it will guard your mind so that you won't be freaking out. The world does not need another person who's alarmed, but the world needs the church to be alert, to be watchful, to be ready to assist, to help, to heal, to mend, to teach, and mostly to introduce to Jesus. The world needs Jesus. And we've got to be alert enough to be the ones who have those conversations, who set those examples. And so, whatever's going on in your life, whatever's going on in the world, even murder horns. Look those up if you want to hurt about the crazy. Uh don't be alarmed. Be alert. If you got some struggle in a relationship right now, and you don't know what to do, don't be alarmed. Don't panic. It's not gonna help anything. Be alert. Pray. Go to the Lord, ask him what to do. Let him give you peace, let him give you discernment. If you've got something going on at work, some difficult situation, some difficult decision that you've got to make, don't be alarmed. Don't freak out. Even if the stakes are really high, guys, the stakes are always high. Don't be alarmed, be alert. Go to God, pray, ask him what to do. Listen to, open up his word. Do a Google search. Hey, what does the Bible say about these situations? See what God's Word says. It'll give you peace. You'll be sober-minded, you'll make better decisions. Don't be alarmed, be alert. And when you look at the world and all the craziness that's happening in the world, don't be sucked into that. Don't sit underneath the teachings or the ramblings of someone who's just trying to get you riled up and angry. Turn that off. And sit at the feet of Jesus. He will never make you panic. He will never make you afraid. But he will always give you the truth in love. So don't be alarmed, be alert. That's what makes us different. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much for this family, for this church, and thank you, Lord, that we can actually be people who live in really crazy times, in a crazy world with all kinds of craziness happening all around us. And unlike the rest of the world, we don't have to be alarmed, we don't have to be afraid, we don't have to freak out. We can be alert, truly alert. Help us be watchful, Father God. Help us be people who are paying close attention to what's going on around us, to what's going on in the lives of our family, our friends, our children, our coworkers. Help us be watchful and alert. Lord, help us pay close attention to what's happening in the world around us, to see the way that things are happening, the way that things are moving. Lord, to see the strategies of our enemy. You actually tell us in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, to be alert, because our enemy, Satan, is like a roaring lion looking for those to devour, Lord. We're not aloof to that. We know that we have an enemy, we know that he has strategies, Lord. We know that he's doing things in the world to cause strife and division and pain. But Lord, help us be people through prayer, through going to you, Lord, through knowing you, through living life connected to you with your spirit inside of us. Help us be people who are not alarmed, who are not afraid, who are not freaked out. We are simply alert, paying attention to what's going on, but knowing that you are always there. You are always acting, you are always doing something new. And there is not one problem in this world or in our lives that you're not aware of. There's not one problem that's happening in this world or in our lives that you are not the solution for. And when we live connected to you, God, things are good, even when they don't feel that way. Lord, help us trust that. Help us believe that. Help us be alert but not alarmed. We pray all this in your name. Amen.

Amen.