Overview of the Epistle to the Exiles the Chosen of God - March 15th, 2026

And we had a ton of joy filled memories for which we are very thankful. So those nine and a half years were good years, and we are thankful for them. But those nine and a half years were also very, very difficult years. And neither Beijing, China, or Seoul Korea ever felt like home. And we were frequently homesick, and we felt this homesickness even more acutely when we went through various seasons of trial. And this was particularly the case in Beijing. And one of the hardest seasons of our entire lives was in the latter half of 2009 when we were just starting out in Beijing. Well, first it was rough because we always felt out of place. We were never comfortable. We didn't speak Chinese. We couldn't read Chinese.

So with even simple things like setting up our internet or getting drinking water delivered to our home. We were completely at the mercy of other missionary friends. And because we're yellow, we could ethnically pass for Chinese, but as you know, we're not Chinese. And we can blend in because of our Asian features, but it never took long for people to discern that we were foreigners because we didn't act Chinese. And so we had to be careful not to draw attention to ourselves from the communist government. So we were always a little bit on edge. And we didn't like many aspects of the culture. I didn't like many of the smells. And we were out of place as American Christians, living with American Christian values in a communist country that was hostile to those American values.

Now, no one forced us to go there. We went willingly as missionaries, and that was our calling. That was our assignment. We were ambassadors for Christ on foreign soil, and we were living in China on purpose for a kingdom purpose, even though at times we try to we struggle to remember why we were there. There was a lot of painful spiritual warfare. About three months into our time there, around October 2009, our missionary team there was enmeshed in some fierce spiritual warfare, and for a short season, ministry became exceptionally difficult. Becky and I grew in our marriage and we drew strength from each other, but the circumstances around us were excruciating. And one evening at the height of the ministry drama, both Becky and I were in tears praying to God, saying, Lord, why did you bring us here?

It feels like you brought us out here into China by mistake. We didn't sacrifice and leave our lives in America to come here and struggle like this. I mean, we came to do real ministry work. But now you've allowed us to get sidetracked and entangled. We don't understand why you're allowing us to go through this, and that night we literally fell asleep crying and holding each other. And we were homesick missionaries living on foreign soil. And in that particular season, the discomfort and the homesickness were almost unbearable. And so we've been commissioned, blessed, and sent out by our church, but we were struggling to hold on to the purposes for which we had been sent. So we were living in foreign soil on purpose for a purpose, but we were barely hanging on.

So life in China was hard, but those years were invaluable. One of the biggest blessings of living as missionaries was that we were reminded daily of our identities as ambassadors for Christ. We were missionaries. And we were reminded of our calling there, and we prayed over our ministry duties and our responsibilities every day. We felt the spiritual battles every day. And we were in prayer daily because we were very sensitive to the realization that we were at war. So the homesickness that we often felt was a tremendous blessing to us because it was a constant reminder that we were there full time for ministry, and the homesickness kept us anchored to our purpose. It anchored us to how we spent our time.

It affected how we spent every dollar or remnant B. The homesickness kept us anchored to our purpose. It also caused us to prioritize people. We were regularly in the habit of praying for and striking up random conversations with random strangers. And of course, the hardships were predictable. No one goes to the mission field expecting to be comfortable. We had counted the cost, and we were doing our best to live up to the calling with which we have been called. So I'm sure you guys know missionaries, but missionaries have the advantage of being regularly reminded of their calling as Christians, and that the world in which they are living is not their home. Now I'm going to ask an important question here.

Is the calling for the overseas missionary different from the calling of the Christian living and ministering here in America? Think about it. Is the calling different? The answer is no. Amen. There's no difference. The only variable is that the overseas missionary is just living out his calling in a cultural context, not his own. And here's a bonus question. Is the calling for me as a pastor different from the calling for you as a lay person? No. Amen. The application and function may be different, but the calling is one and the same. So every person who has ever put trust in Christ has been given the exact same calling. You don't need to wrestle with your calling. Here it is.

Ephesians 4, 1 to 6. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord exhorts you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were also called in, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Amen. So every person who has ever put his trust in Christ has been given the exact same calling. So all the use in this Ephesians passage are all in the plural. It's all you all. Okay? So the calling is one and the same for every believer as we all have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.

And the calling is this.

So whether you are a missionary to the Philippines, working at a bank in K Town or tending to aging family members or raising small children in the suburbs somewhere, the calling is the same. To fearfully and joyfully proclaim the excellencies of our God. Amen. Whether you are single or married, whether you have teenage children or are childless, whether you are a student, a cop, a pastor, a dentist, a retired grandparent, a stay-at-home mom, the calling is one and the same. So circumstances, context, and conditions may differ, but again, the calling is one and the same. First Corinthians 7, 20. So your age and your stage in life do not matter. Geographic locations do not matter. Amen. Your life stage is a means to the fulfillment of that calling.

Your location is the means of the fulfillment of the calling. Your career is the means. Our marriages and our young children are also just the means to the fulfillment of that one calling. None of those things were ever supposed to be a goal. So they are all good things, but again, they are only still the means to the calling of fearfully and joyfully proclaiming the excellencies of our God in Christ. And that's been the calling and purpose for every saint who has ever walked the planet, and that has been the purpose into which you and I likewise have been called. Is that pretty clear? God in his grace sometimes makes it easy easier for us to remember our calling by allowing us to go through seasons where we are desperately homesick and extremely uncomfortable.

Because theologically, you know that this is not our home. We do not belong here. We are all ambassadors on foreign soil. We are not permanent residents here. And we are all missionaries doing our part, fulfilling the great commission of making, equipping, and reproducing Christ's disciples. So we are all on foreign soil. We are all in enemy territory, right? The only ones who feel at home while in enemy territory are the enemies.

All Christians are to faithfully steward the call of being ambassadors of light for a season and then joyfully to return home. And again, that's 1 Peter. And my prayer is that a study through this epistle will be a fruitful one because for a while we're going to be thinking weakly upon our identity in Christ and on his calling, calling, one calling for each and every one of our lives. So this morning we're going to be primarily launching off of just 1 Peter chapter 1.1, the opening verse, but for context and to whet your appetites for next week's sermon, I'm going to read the entire introduction, which includes verse 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as exiles, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Amen. So the apostle Peter opens the letter with a greeting to the saints of Asia Minor. There were a scattered people who have been chosen of God. And they had been living as exiles on earth because of God's salvific choice. So the Christians to whom Peter is writing, they were royalty. Living as exiles and sojourners on foreign soil. So these are people who have been strategically and providentially scattered. So they're ambassadors and their commissioned sojourners just passing through. So in the letter, the apostle Peter referred to the Christians' earthly lives as the time of their sojourn. You guys see that? So whether it's a week or 80 years, that's a period of sojourn.

So this letter is a sojourn manual of sorts. And Christians are a chosen and exiled people, sojourning faithfully until they are finally and gloriously called to return home. Now, Christians weren't always sojourners. They had once been permanent residents of a world waiting to be destroyed by fire. But they had been purchased and redeemed people, chosen out of the world, and now belong to a different and a better country. And that's Hebrews 11 16. So your citizenship has changed if you are a follower of Christ. And so today's sermon is going to be a general overview, introducing us to the major themes and the background of this epistle, but we're going to see in 1 Peter that believers are first sojourners who have been chosen.

Okay. And they've been chosen from or chosen out of a previous condition. They were foreknown. They had been chosen, elected, and hand selected by God out of a previous condition. Second, believers were sojourners who have been chosen for something. And more specifically, for a particular future inheritance. So you have an inheritance waiting for you. That's what you were saved for. And third, believers have been chosen and assigned to a period of sojourn. Believers have been called into a season of living hope, the period in between what they have been chosen from, and from the inheritance that they have been chosen for. So you are in the period of living hope. You guys tracking? Hope when you receive it is no longer hope.

Okay, so it's a living hope. So Christians are sojourners in the in between. So the Apostle Peter was writing to a people who were in transit. They were sojourners in transit. And the apostle is writing to a group of homeless exiles traveling through foreign and hostile territory. So 1 Peter will basically be about sojourners who have been chosen from, who have been chosen for, and who are presently chosen to something. And that's a sermon outlined for the remainder of the morning, and that's pretty much the book of 1 Peter, all 105 verses. So first, what have all the believers been chosen out of? What have Christian exiles been chosen from?

Now this sounds like it's a chosen for, but I'm going to use this to think through what we've been chosen from. In verse 4, we are quickly introduced to what awaits in the future. And the Christian story would become a rags to riches story. Verse 4 touches upon the rags. Okay. So since the fall, all creation had been subjected to agonizing frustration. All of creation had been corrupted. Everything had been defiled and tainted in the yellow there. Death had come upon all things, and everything would be temporary and fading.

Believers have been saved from their worldly lusts and their ignorance, because those things would lead to judgment and condemnation. So left in your lust and in your ignorance, we would be by nature objects of wrath. Ephesians 2.3. But God has saved us out from those things. God in his mercy has restored us out of those things.

So no longer would believers come and go like the passing wind or like the withering grass, 1 Peter 124. We would be more of permanence. Okay. So in their unregenerate state, the unbeliever's conduct had been filthy, damnable, and futile. They had been living in utter darkness, and all of this is summed up in 1 Peter 2 9, which we previously read. And let me read it again. You are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

So prior to salvation, these chosen exiles were living as a godless people of darkness, performing deeds of darkness. But they had been saved out of that. They had previously lived lives of gloom, anguish, and contempt. And some of you guys, before Christ, you felt that a lot more than other people might have. You've sinned a lot, right? You know how bad you are. But because God was faithful to his promises, they have been saved and chosen out of that darkness. And that's what Isaiah the prophet had foreseen would happen through the arrival of the Messiah, the light of the world. Okay, and I want to read Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 to 2 for you. There will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish.

In earlier times, God, he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Napali with contempt, but later on he shall make it glorious by the way of the sea on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them. So believers had been living in gloom and anguish and contempt. Believers had been living in the land of the shadow of death, but the light of the world stepped out into darkness, shined on them, and now they have been born again into a great inheritance. So the believers were sojourners who had been chosen from darkness, and now they are sojourning saints chosen for an inheritance in the kingdom of light.

And that brings us to our second point. What have believers been chosen for? And 1 Peter 1 3 to 5 reads, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So believers have been chosen for salvation. And it would be a glorious salvation full of praise and glory and honor. And that's verse 6 and 7. It would be a salvation which comes along with a great incorruptible and a permanent inheritance.

And this salvation would involve knowing God intimately, more than a husband knows his wife. Hearing God's voice clearly, seeing his face, and entering into permanently the joy of all powerful God. So believing sojourners had been chosen to be saved out from this world and saved for eternal life and have it abundant life, a life to the full. And this life abundant is found in Christ. And so far, none of this is new stuff. You know all of this, right? And what is this life? John 17 3. This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So right now we're in an engagement period.

Eternal life has already started, it's just not fulfilled, right? And we're just waiting for the wedding day. But eternal life has already started. So the invitation had gone out. Believers have accepted the invitation. And what awaits now is the red carpet welcome and the inheritance into the kingdom and into the joy of the master. Matthew chapter 25, verse 21. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You are faithful with a few things.

Enter into the joy of your master. This is for all Christians, even the thief on the cross. Okay? This is for all Christians. Now, there's a commendation, there is unending joy, and interestingly, there will be a future charge to be given. Did you guys notice the inclusion of a commission and a responsibility that the slave is given as he's welcomed in? We're gonna be busy in eternity. We are going to be busy in this eternal joy. The creator of the universe will, future tense, be putting his faithful stewards in charge of many things.

Adam's charge in the Garden of Eden was to work. Our job in heaven will be to work.

But don't freak out. Because it's on only this side of eternity that work has been cursed and corrupted. But in eternity, the chosen of God will be given charge of many tasks that result always and only in glory and joy. So this is what believers have been chosen for. Amen. So it'll be like, yes, you are resting in heaven, but you're resting while you're working hard in heaven, sinlessly. A great inheritance awaits the saints at home. There will be an overwhelmingly joy-filled homecoming filled with reward and treasure. And in heaven, what will there not be? Corruption, destruction, or loss of any kind. So as it says in Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 to 20, the chosen sojourners do not store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

But genuine believers, what do they do? They store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Now, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, it's easier to take this inheritance of heaven for granted. And we don't think to want to go there. We don't long for it as we ought. And a lot of that is due to our short-sightedness and our ignorance. Biblically illiterate people don't know how good God is and how heavenly, how heaven is full of nothing but bliss. And so our limited knowledge doesn't inform our imagination adequately. And without regular feeding, we don't imagine heaven being that grand or that good.

We just want to avoid hell. But what does the apostle Peter say about this great salvation? It is so amazing, so mysterious, and so jarringly wonderful a thing that it has the angels of heaven zealously longing to look into it. And I want you guys to think about this. The holy angels who are powerful are in awe of this salvation. They are at the edge of their seats, jealously curious to see how it all unfolds and to see it come to fruition. The angels are mightier than we are. They're wiser than we are. They're sinless, and they're amazed. So 1 Peter 1, 12, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which have now been declared to you through those who proclaim the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

So believers are chosen sojourners, heirs and ambassadors who have been saved from darkness, judgment, and wrath, and saved into something which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has ever conceived. 1 Corinthians 2 9. No human genius has ever come close to accurately conceiving a vision of heaven. But that's what we've been chosen for. So verse 13 here it says, In the meantime, therefore, you've been saved from, you're saved for, so therefore, now, having girded your minds for action, verse 13, being sober in spirit, fix your hope 100% on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What does the word completely mean? 100%. So whenever you see a therefore in the scriptures, you have to ask the question, what is this, therefore, therefore, it bridges what has just been said to an expected application.

Believers have saved, been saved from, believers have been saved for, therefore, do the following. And what we're supposed to do is roll up our sleeves and get ready for work. Get ready for action.

Girding your minds is rolling up the togas for men. Before they had to do some hard work, they had to roll up their togas. But I contextualize it saying, rolling up our sleeves, right? To do some work, fixing our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and to do what? Proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness while living surrounded by the people of darkness who greatly mistreat not only the ambassadors of the Messiah, but who have mistreated the Messiah himself. So because believers are ambassadors of light, living in darkness, they will be hated, they will suffer.

Nothing. Everything is cursed and is going to burn. That's a seem of second that's the theme of 2 Peter and Jude. You guys know this, right? And the fire has actually already been lit. Does that make sense? So Apostle Peter's first epistle was written sometime between AD 62 and AD 64, and the Christians of ages of minor were suffering and they were being persecuted. They were going through not just ordinary just trials, but fiery trials. Literally, the word is fire. And that's what it says in 1 Peter 4 12. Fiery trials. God had appointed these ambassadors to suffer and to be singed by the fire. And that God had charged them with the task of proclaiming his excellencies in the midst of the fiery trials and sufferings.

So suffering is the major backdrop of the entire letter. It is actually almost the theme. So a lot of pastors don't like to preach out of 1 Peter because it leaves the congregation feeling down. But again, what awaits? Something that is so glorious that the angels can't fathom it, right? Suffering fiery trials according to God's will, as God's ambassador and members of God's royal priesthood is the theme. These trials by fire are mentioned in every passage or every chapter of the book. And the fiery trials or what Peter says is part of the Christian's calling. This is a big part of what Jesus meant when he said, follow me. You guys know when Jesus said, follow me, right? Do you know what that meant?

If anyone is to come after me, he must take up his cross daily, deny himself, and follow. So 1 Peter 2 21. For to this you have been called. Now, pausing here. Pastor's calling, bankers calling, housewives calling, millionaires calling, all the same calling, right? To this you have been called. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. So our Messiah, our Lord and Savior, suffered. Amen. So the call is for us to do the same.

This is not a comfortable message. But this is not just one verse taken out of context. Suffering is part of the Christian's calling. So the apostle Peter doubles and even triples down. He says it's not just part of your calling, your command, but it's your very purpose. He goes beyond saying that Christ's suffering was an example to follow here, to saying that his chosen sojourners should gird themselves, arm themselves, and straight up embrace this same purpose of suffering. Chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the what? Same purpose. Because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So the Lamb of God was sent into the world, born and raised into the world for the purpose of what?

Suffering. His people have been chosen before the foundation of the world, called out from darkness for an internal inheritance, and left behind in the world to suffer the same. Now, Peter doesn't even stop there. Apostle Peter takes it a step further. This is the will of God for the lives of his saints. Not just an example, not just a purpose. This is God's will for you. And I want you guys to kind of uncomfortably pause here. Because a lot of times we think of what is God's will for my life? Who shall I marry? What job shall I get? Remember, all of those things are not the goal, they're the means. What is God's will for your life? Let's look at 1 Peter 4 19.

Those who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls to a faithful creator and continue to do good. The saints of God need to do good in and through the suffering, and then leave the results to God. This call, this command, this purpose, and this unfolding of God's will was not just localized to the believers in Asia Minor at the time. Peter takes it another step and writes that this has been ordained for the church of God. 1 Peter 5 8. Be sober. Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him. Now, pause with me. Imagine that. The lion, the satanic lion is trying to devour you, and you have to fight him.

Resist him, right? Firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being uncomplished among your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, strengthen, confirm, and ground you.

Sojourners have been chosen from, sojourners have been chosen for, sojourners have been chosen to suffer.

But that's the part of the Great Commission is to teach them everything, right? And this is not just Apostle Peter because he has extra loyalty to Christ, that he was with Christ upon him, the church is founded. It's not just Peter. Read Paul's letters. We're in 2 Thessalonians right now, right? What were Jesus' own words? Suffering is part of the identity and calling for each and every sojourner. No missionary ever goes to the mission field expecting not to suffer. True or false. No Christian is to live this life expecting not to suffer. I mean, we don't, well, we don't invite it. We don't do it for the glory of self. Look how much I'm suffering. No, it will happen. Suffering has been ordained for this God the Son.

Suffering has been ordained for the saints of God all over the world. But the suffering is what? Very temporary. It will come to an end. God will repay with affliction all afflictors. He will throw Satan himself into the lake of fire. Satan right now prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour. He's a murderer. He's a liar. He's a father of all lies. He is a constant disorder of the truth. And Satan had emboldened those in the Greco-Roman world to hate Christians. And the Christians were very misunderstood and hated. And that hatred of Christians is actually growing today. Would you guys agree with this? The animosity is really picking up. And a lot of the hatred of Christians is coming from people who call themselves Christians.

It's just so interesting. So for some context, we need to understand what these churches of Asia Minor are encountering. In this period of time, the Christians, they were known as the followers of the way. They were extremely misunderstood. They were persecuted often, and they were always viewed as troublemakers. And there was confusion as to what the followers of the way really believed. And when the followers of the way gathered together, people were kind of curious and confused. Because the early church was extremely exclusive. You were denied access and entrance if you were not born again and baptized. The early church was extremely narrow-minded. They preached that salvation was only by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

They were teaching that there was absolutely no way to be reconciled to God outside of Christ. Acts 4 12. So they preached an exclusive gospel. And they preached repentance and holiness. And so they did not let people into their churches, gatherings, until they were genuinely convinced that this person is a believer and they're baptized. And if you are wishy-washy, you wouldn't choose to be baptized. Because that's a life sentence of hardship for you. Only if you were really convinced that he really is the only way, then you would be baptized. So the people on the outside looking into this weird group of Christians, they had a lot of misconceptions about this cult. They believed that Christians were cult members who engaged in social homosexual practices of their cult leader, Jesus of Nazareth.

Because they practiced in their gatherings Philadelphia, brotherly love. So they're like, that's probably code word for same-sex stuff. Some thought these Christians were cannibals. Because at every celebration, whenever they gathered together, they ate of their master's flesh. They drank of their master's blood. Huh. That's a weird group. Some viewed Christians as unpatriotic traitors to Rome. Some viewed them as insurrectionists. Some viewed them as primitive and backwards. They wanted their citizens to be progressive, but these Christians were too narrow-minded and conservative. Because some economies like those in Macedonia were ruined because Christians boycotted idols. So Christians at that time became scapegoats for society's woes.

They were arrested, captured, their leaders were thrown into lions for sport, hoisted on stakes to light the streets of Rome. So imagine if the police come, they take me, and then the next thing you know, I'm publicly executed. That would kind of shake up the church. But that was happening. So churches found themselves in panic and in confusion and in some fear, but nonetheless, by the grace and power of God, this group kept multiplying and growing, and the leaders of the church were continuing to be raised up. And that's why later in chapter 5, Peter exhorts the leaders to shepherd not out of compulsion, but willingly, lovingly. So imagine if you're living in that time, you're supposed to be a blessed people, but you're slandered, mistreated, persecuted, and even executed.

They were despised, they were hated. They wouldn't always feel like a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 1 Peter 2.9. So in this letter, Peter is going to remind them of their identity.

So 1 Peter is book-ended in the beginning and the close with the reminder that Christ will be revealed and he will come back soon. So 1 Peter 1, 6 to 7.

Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And at the end, he says, When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. So we are exiles here on earth. Amen. We're sojourners just passing through. I don't care how much you long for this world to be your home. If you are a child of God, this is not your home. As we grow in our faith, we're going to grow more and more in homesickness. We are here on purpose for a purpose. We have counted the cost.

And we are all missionaries in this great but hostile harvest field. Do you understand this? You are a missionary because you are a child of God. Just your location is LA. We all should long for home. We should be eager for the return of Christ on our return flight home. When we are in eternity with the Lord, we're not going to look back with any hint of nostalgia or longing for this life. Does that make sense? Yesterday, Becky and I were at a funeral of a former church member named Claire. She passed away a week and a half ago after a three-year fight with cancer. She was only 36, and she is survived by her husband and six-year-old son.

I visited with her often, prayed for her often. And yesterday I got to see just her lifeless body in the coffin. Another one of our previous church members, three daughters, actually, mothers, just passed away last Saturday. Her name was Kim. Both Claire and Kim have now returned home. They had fought the good fight. They had finished the race. For one, it was 36 years. The other one was close to 70. They had kept the faith, and now they're at home. The red carpet was rolled out, and these princesses of the kingdom were welcomed home. And now they're busy working. Neither Claire nor Kim, I am absolutely confident, are regretting that they have died. They are absolutely elated to have physically died.

Or one of Kim's daughters. They're not Kim's. They're Shia's, right? But I said the following. Just heard of your mom's passing. Sorry to hear this. May the Lord comfort your hearts with the truth that she is now perfectly and joyfully at rest. Nothing is going to replace the loss of your mother or fill this void for your family on this side of eternity. But I pray you do take some profound comfort and delight in knowing that she doesn't miss any of you at all. She's to be, she's too busy being overwhelmed with the all-surpassing joy of being in the presence of Christ. This is not home. For now we are here on purpose for a purpose to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And when it's all said and done, and we return home, I am 100% sure we will not miss this life one bit. We'll have too much excitement knowing what it feels like to have no sin. But while we are here as exiles during the season of our God ordained sojourn, we need to roll up our sleeves. Why? There's a lot of work to be done. And the enemy is going to stop at nothing in hindering that work from being done. He may use suffering. And then he may lure the suffering person by promises of ease and comfort. False gospels that say, you know, that church that is preaching suffering is the will of God. That's a false church. Come to our church, where it's all about Jesus saying, Come to me, all who are burdened and heavy laden, I will give you rest.

And they distort truths. Satan will craftily and busily be at work. And so, as a scripture says, be sober. And I pray that as we study through 1 Peter, the Lord will teach us how to soberly sojourn well. Amen. I'm not asking for suffering. I'm not a, I don't have martyrdom as a golden life. But what I see in the scriptures is the darkness hates the light. Let us not try to blend in with the darkness. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we pray that you would help us not to be afraid. Time and time and time again, you keep saying, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. And I pray that as we grow in our confidence of our eternal security and inheritance in heaven, that we would long to go there way more than we long to stay here.

Help us all to longingly wait for home and hasten its return. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.