So, have you ever walked through a revolving door revolving door? I saw something the other day that said the first revolving door was installed in Rector's restaurant in Times Square in 1899. But here's the thing, people were afraid of it, They were afraid of that revolving door. In fact, in the early days of the revolving door, people would skip meetings and skip lunch is if they had to go into a building that had a revolving door, they were terrified. Now, my guess is there are still people like that who will not go through a revolving door because they're afraid they're going to get stuck. But you know, the saddest thing about that is what they don't realize is through that one door, it could be a turning point in their lives a little. Something. Come on. Have you ever ever tried to slam a revolving door? Yeah, it's only chuck Norris can do that. No one else can slam a revolving door. But but in life, how about when your life feels like a revolving door, right? When you feel like life just keeps spinning, you're doing everything, you can but you're going nowhere. There's this sense of losing purpose, even though you're working harder and the door just keeps spinning and you're just back around and back around and back around and you feel like you're going nowhere. What about spiritually? What about the the spiritual revolving door that we find ourselves in? Sometimes someone put it like this. It's like when we think about God, we feel like we're in this revolving door and it's always he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. We're back and forth and back and forth. We're constantly trying to find our spiritual footing. And so is there any help? Is there any help for those merry go round merry go rounds of life. The spinning and the spinning of those difficult revolving doors? Is there any help and any hope When life keeps two seems to be spinning out of control? Well, there is help and there is hope. We continue our series that we're calling doors where we're looking at some of the most difficult doors that we will go through every single day in life. And today our message is revolving doors, we'll be looking at Second Peter chapter one verse one and as we do, I pray that you would catch that Peter is going to give us really one that maybe two fantastic facts for helping us when life feels like it's spinning a little too much. 2nd Peter Chapter 1: verse one Peter writes this. Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Now Peter was somewhere around 70 years old when he's writing this letter. Some believed that he was actually in prison that he was waiting for a sentence, really waiting for a death sentence. So in his mind and very practically speaking his time was short. So how is he? Using the time that he had left? Well as a senior adult? He was using his time to do everything he could to help people find jesus, help people follow jesus and help people enjoy jesus to be satisfied in jesus. He was giving it all he had in the second half of his life to make sure that people would find jesus and notice how he identifies himself. He says Simon Peter so what he's doing here is he's using the name he was born with and then the name he was born again with. Now this is a little bit different. I mean we don't see paul signing off saul paul, right, So so this is different but it's beautiful, it's fantastic because what Peter is doing is saying this, look I want you to know Simon, that's my old life and Peter is my new life. Simon is before christ and Peter is because of christ there was a change in his name, I think I've shared with you before my my friend Quincy became a christian when he was 44 years old and he used to tell stories all the time and he'd always say yeah, but but that was back in my Bc days and what he meant was his before christ days, do you have some BC days in your life has there been a name change in your life? Are things different? Do you have a a reason to to remember a life before christ and a reason to rejoice in your new life in christ or is your story the same? Is your name the same? Or are you still without christ? We would plead with you come to christ today and maybe you would say you are with christ, you are a follower of Jesus Christ and if so then let me toss this question out for us to consider, just look back over the, over the last seven days, over the last week, would you say that your faith in christ has been the most important thing in your life or has something else taken priority or someone else taken priority? Is your faith in christ the most important thing in life because if it is not then then please understand the enemy the devil. He longs when your faith is not your most important thing, he longs to sweep in and run your life and ruin your life. His his desire is to devour you. Peter knew that. So he wrote a letter because he didn't want christians to be devoured. So he wrote a letter and he wanted people to know that jesus had changed his life and how had he changed his life? Peter writes here that jesus changed him into a bond servant and an apostle. Now that order is is important, it's a big deal, Peter was an apostle. Okay, he he was purposely selected by jesus himself to be one of the first people appointed to preach the gospel and to make disciples. So he is clearly an apostle, but that's not what he leads with. Peter doesn't lead within his letter. Hey dominus ominous, I am his holiness. Bring me a plate of figs, bring me a hair band of loot and leers and kiss my ring. Please worship me. That's not how he leads. Now. He leads with humility. He wasn't a glory hound. He didn't take his title and position and say, look, I'm an important person in the church. You, you need to pay attention to me. No rather he leads, rejoicing that he is saved. That's how he leads. He doesn't lead with hey, I'm an apostle, he doesn't lead with, hey, I'm a pastor, he doesn't lead with, hey, I'm an elder, I'm a deacon or I'm a teacher, I'm a church member. He leads with humility, I can't believe I'm saved. What would change in our lives if if that's how we lead. If in our hearts and our minds even before we shake someone's hand and introduce ourselves. What runs through our minds is I can't believe I'm saved, I can't believe I've been rescued by Jesus Christ. Being a bond servant is a fascinating picture because it, it shows a person that is swallowed up in the will of christ. See the reason Peter's leading with humility is he's not leading with his position of authority. He's leading with his position in christ. He swallowed up in the will of christ. He's leading with bond servant, not leading with apostle. He's swallowed up in the Will of christ. He's yielding to the will of christ. He's giving way to jesus. In other words, he's not obsessed with getting his way. He's not obsessed with having his personal preferences met. If anything, to be a bond servant, it means that you're obsessed with making sure that jesus gets his way. We're obsessed with making sure that jesus gets the fame and the honor and the attention. We're obsessed with making sure that we honor jesus and we do that, which he has called us to do every church of every denomination around the world is always in desperate need of church leaders and church members like that. People who are willing to say I am first and most a servant, I'm a door holder of the Gospel. Whatever I have to do at the church, to hold the door of the Gospel open for someone else that's me. We are not first and most someone who's been appointed an official to push an agenda. We are not the first and most members of a country club, desiring that all of our request be honored. We are servants. We are bond servants of jesus and being a bond servant. It's it's not just volunteering. It's not just signing up to help with something to be a bond servant is different than just volunteering. C You can volunteer and you can choose to not volunteer, right? Maybe you're tired or you're too busy, There's too much going on. So you're not going to help out with whatever that is. But but maybe if your schedule is free that you will help out. But being a bond servant is not a choice. It's not an option. It is a glorious, beautiful, satisfying obligation. So you're not serving so you can get on the stage, you're not serving so that someone can call you by a certain name, you're not serving so that you can get a plaque up somewhere at the church you're serving because you can't get over that jesus loved you and gave himself up for you. Your desire to serve is because you are compelled to serve because of the love of jesus Peter said, I'm I'm a bond servant, I'm compelled to serve. So are you compelled to serve? Is bond serving something that people might know you as Are you truly devoted to Jesus Christ? Or are you just an occasional a tender at church or an occasional volunteer at church. Peter was very clear. He wanted the people reading this letter to know that he was a bond servant first and most he was swallowed up in the will of God first and most and he was an apostle second. And who's he writing this letter to. I think the next part of verse one to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours. Peter was an apostle. Peter was with jesus. Peter was up on a mountain with moses and elijah Peter wrote two books of the bible and he was crucified upside down. What in the world could any of us have in common with Peter Peter says faith, he says that his faith and our faith, it's the same faith that his faith isn't greater than mine. He says the same faith, How is that even possible? Here's how paul writing to the church at Galicia said this, there is neither jew nor greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for you are all one in christ jesus. You know what kind of people are christians, educated people and educated, uneducated people, I can't even get under and uneducated. You get out and I got a degree. How about that? You know what kind of people are christians, people who are rich and people who are poor people from the right side of the tracks on the wrong side of the tracks. You know what kind of people are christians, americans and Iranians and north Koreans, you know kind of people are christians, people who are old and people who are young coke people and Pepsi people, you know everybody, anybody, lots of different people are christians and that's incredible. And here's why that means anyone can come to christ anyone, we should rejoice that the doors of this church would be open to awful, terrible sinful people that are nothing like us. There should never be a time that we turn our nose up at someone that walks in the door that's not like us, they might be lost. And they get to come to christ just like we came to christ. It is stunning that the gospel came to you, you and I have no place for pride or arrogance. It is impossible that you're a christian, impossible. It's impossible that the gospel came across the ocean to south Carolina. I mean that thing should have died over in the Middle East. Right. It is stunning, but you're a christian. It's stunning that the Gospel has come to us. And that's great news, paul was writing to the church at Rome and he said this for there is no partiality with God in the text there. What it was saying was the jews couldn't say, oh well we're we're favored. That's why we get more of the good stuff than the Greeks. Now there's no partiality with God, you're with christ or you're without christ. And that's great news because without christ, we got nothing, nothing nothing of lasting value. But with christ we have a lot of loud noises were good. I was just getting too loud. Eddie sorry. With christ, we have everything, everything you are very valuable to Jesus Christ, so valuable that he gave his life for you and get this. Listen to what peter is saying. You are so valuable to jesus, this math is mind boggling that Peter and paul and billy Graham and anybody else you want to put on the list. You're just as valuable to jesus as any of them. That's that's amazing. And we we shouldn't be stunned because that's the very nature of the gospel. Anyone can come to christ and this faith that we have in common. It was faith that we didn't get on our own. We received it. That's what Peter says. It says, our faith is received. So when it comes to salvation it's it's not so much about something that you were that you get as much as you were given, you were given salvation. This is the picture that he's trying to paint and because you've been given this because you've received this salvation all the more when the doors are spinning and life is spinning in that moment because you've received salvation from Jesus Christ because you are valuable to Jesus Christ in that moment. You can get out of that door of, he loves me, he loves me not he loves me, he loves me, not friend, jesus loved you and gave himself up for you. He loves you. He loves you. I shared with you last week about my friend who's been a christian for Probably more than 40 years and has struggled the entire time with feeling like God loves him, I always struggle with that, but he told me that there's one thing that God has tremendously used recently and and it's a book called gentle and lowly by day Northland. Um our staff started going through that book together this week. I know are widows life groups started going through that book this week. Um, I think our GoPro has already been through that. Some other folks have been through it. Um if you want a copy of the book by the kindness of our former intern Michael Kennedy, um we have a lot of free copies and so Michael found out a way for us to get a lot of free copies and we got him. There are some when you walk out this back door on the table there and when you walk out this door, there's some, there there's free books available for you. I really encourage you to grab one. One of the things early in this book that has captivated me was was this sentence that dane wrote about jesus, he is the most understanding person in the universe. That's fantastic because because here's what it means. Not only can you come to jesus, but even if you don't know it, you want to come to jesus. You know why? Because your spouse is not always the most understanding person in the world and your kids are hardly ever the most understanding people in the world. Your pastor is never the most understanding person in the world, your grandparents, your parents, your politicians, your doctor, your nurse, anyone on the universe on this planet is never the most understanding person in the world. But jesus is he's the most understanding person in the universe. Therefore we want to come to him. There is something about him that says I can get out of this revolving door if I will go to jesus. He understands so really, really, really come to jesus receive, jesus. Peter says that's how we get it. That's how it happens. We receive this salvation from jesus. There's no other way. But how is that even possible? I mean do the math here, How is it possible that enemies of God can become friends of God and let me go ahead and say this. Some of you like I'm not an enemy of God. I grew up in church, it was a pretty decent kid. I made good grades. I pretty much honored my parents fabulous. Unfortunately the bible says we're all born in sin so we're not as good as we think we are and we all need to be saved. So how do enemies of God become friends of God, How does this transaction happen? How in the world can this scrub from north Augusta have the same faith as ST peter? Well Peter tells us verse one by the righteousness of our God and savior, Jesus Christ on judgment day, you will not be standing in front of a mirror thinking I'm not perfect, but I look okay. You know, I'm alright, I've done some good things. I I think I'll be okay. You know, the truth of the matter is you'll be standing before a holy and just God and you will have no righteousness of your own to offer up. None Prophet, Isaiah said, we can take all of our righteousness, our best good deeds on this earth, whatever you've gotten a plaque for whatever you've got a trophy for. If a building is named after you, take all of that, hold it up and Isaiah says, it's filthy rags like it will not get you into heaven. We don't have a righteousness of our own. In fact, if we look at the math of the bible, how good do you have to be to get into heaven? Scale of 1-10, how good you have to be? Well, the scale doesn't work because you have to be perfect to get into heaven. That's that's not good news for any of us, right. That means none of us are good enough to get into heaven because we're not perfect. And that leads people to ask a question something like this, How can a good God send people to hell? How can a good God send people to hell? If you look very I'll say not even biblically or christian lee at this. If you look at it practically hell actually makes sense. We are rebellious, we're sinful, we hate God's ways, we will do them if we have to, but we don't really want to, we are selfish, we're prideful, we're arrogant. We are prone to gossip, we're prone to slander. Were prone to wine and grumble and complain create conflict all kinds of things. So our sin, which all of us have separates us from God. Our sin makes it impossible for for things to be right between us and God. So hell actually makes sense. And here's why someone put it this way, do you invite your enemies to live with you? We don't do that, right. We don't invite our enemies to live with us because we don't trust them. We don't like them now. You ain't coming in and and eating, you know my cake, you're not coming in and drinking my milk. No, we don't invite them in. So the question is really not, how can a good God send people to hell? The question is how can a good God let anyone into heaven? How is this even possible that a good God would let anyone into heaven because none of us have our own righteousness, We don't have it. We're not good enough. We'll never be good enough. God did not look down at Me one day. I I like that down. I think I want him on my team. You know, God didn't look down at my mom and say, you know, I like Pat, she's going to invite her up to heaven for afternoon tea. Now the picture we have in the scripture tells us that when we stand before God we will not be looking at a mirror of the filtered instagram version of ourselves that we think we are, we'll be standing in front of a holy and just God and we will not have our own righteousness to offer up. But if we are in christ we do have something to offer. What the exact same thing that peter will offer, I don't know, maybe right beside Peter we're offering up at the same time the same thing and that's what the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that's it, that's all Peter has to offer, it's all I will have to offer. It's all any of us have to offer is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And why why is the righteousness of Jesus christ? The only key to the kingdom of God? And I stress that the only key to the Kingdom of God is the righteousness of christ. And why is that Peter says it right here? Because jesus is God and savior, only a perfect person can perfectly absorb the penalty of sin because they've got no sin in them. But God is the only one that's perfect. So how's it going to work. Well God and his kindness sent the second person of the trinity God, the son to earth to be a man and jesus on this earth lived the perfect life died, the perfect death two perfectly pay for the penalty of sin. That's what Jesus did, that's who jesus is. And in christ, you get his perfection, you you get his perfect righteousness. Listen, Jesus is not just a god, jesus is, is not just a cool guru, he's not a noble teacher, he's not a concerned humanitarian. Jesus is god. And the letter to the Hebrews that said this about jesus, he is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. Listen to noble teacher cannot uphold the universe with his words, but jesus can because jesus is God. One day there were some church leaders that were opposing jesus And this is what he said to them, John Chapter eight, you are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Look, you might be standing in the coffee shop this week waiting for your boysenberry caramel cookie crunch frappuccino. And there may be a guy standing next to you wearing a mork and mindy T shirt and he may turn to you with a really weird look on his face and say, I am not of this world, that guy probably just needs some coffee. Okay, but jesus on the other hand, there is a wait of historical and practical and spiritual evidence that affirms that jesus is not of this world, Jesus is God, Peter makes sure that in the beginning of this letter that he is pointing to the risen jesus as the fulfillment and the perfection of everything that you and I need. When thomas saw the risen jesus, he fell on his feet and he said, oh you are my Lord and my guru, you're my Lord and my noble teacher, you're my Lord and my concerned humanitarian. No, he fell on his face and he said you are my Lord and you are my God, jesus is God. Someone said this a savior who is not God is like a bridge broken at the farther end. You will know until later. Listen, faith in Jesus Christ is not a broken bridge farther down the road. Faith in Jesus Christ is the most certain thing in the universe. Your politics are not certain. Your checking account, your retirement, your job, your life and how many years you have left. None of those things are certain. But faith in Jesus Christ, it is certain and that's exactly what Peter wanted these christians to know and to see and to remember but why why was it so important that he begin this letter letting them know look? Our faith is the same and it is in jesus our savior and our God, why was that so important? I was listening to a podcast this week and the question was asked, what do you hope pastors did this past Easter sunday? What do you hope they did, What do you, what do you hope? They said and one of the panelists gave a fantastic illustration and it was about robert louis Stevenson who wrote the book Treasure Island. And it seems that when robert was just a wee lad that they lived on a hill up outside the village and it was dinner time at night and his parents kept calling him and kept calling him, but robert didn't come, didn't come, didn't come. And finally I think it was his mom that went upstairs and she said hey what are you doing? And she found roberts sitting at the window and he was looking out into the night and the lamplighter down in the village had started walking around the village and lighting those lanterns on the street, she said, what are you doing? He said, I'm watching this man punch holes in the darkness. There's not as many people here, this sunday as they were last sunday and that's okay, we were glad they were here last sunday. But you know why I long for them to be here again this sunday because this week has been full of darkness and the empty tomb is this reminder that jesus is always punching holes in the darkness, he's always doing it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a holiday sunday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the hope of every day of our lives, it is the resurrection that keeps punching holes in the darkness and so in your life this week, when it happens when you're in that revolving door and things are spinning and you feel like they're spinning out of control. Just remember this, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the one glorious, ultimate lasting moment in history that tells you all day every day, God, he loves you, there's no back and forth, does he love me? He loves me, not know. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is punching holes in your darkness and reminding your heart, God loves me, God loves me. The risen jesus is my proof.