1 Peter 3:18-22

Good morning,Guys, I'm so glad to be here with you this morning. I hope you're glad to be here

as well. We had quite the experience this morning, quite the flight. There's going to be some

theological turbulence for sure. We're going to approach one of the trickiest, maybe the trickiest

passages in all the New Testament. I hope you drink a lot of coffee or whatever you drink, mud,

water or whatever it is nowadays.

But to frame our passage this morning, I want you to think about being a Christian in this culture

right now. For a really long time, being a Christian has been sort of the cultural thing

to do. It's been favorable. It's been something that could make you fit in, something that could

garner some spiritual status in the community or some social status better within the community.

That's no longer the case. Being a Christian, a devout Christian. Being heavily involved in your

church is no longer in vogue. It's no longer the popular thing to be. And if you're a passionate

follower of Christ and you start to engage with unbelievers around you. You can sense in that

moment as soon as they discover that you're a believer and that you truly follow Christ, it gets a

little weird. It gets a little awkward. They get a little bit uncomfortable. And that's good, because

that means there's a distinction between what a believer is and what an unbeliever is, between

darkness and light. But when you start to follow Christ, the Bible says it's unavoidable that you

will be persecuted.

Now, persecuted is a huge word that sounds like heavy persecution, violence, confiscation

Monetary penalties, things like that. But persecution doesn't have to be this heavy hitting thing

for us. It's not really for us, it's something smaller. You start to lose favor, you start to lose

friends, you start to lose respect, and the church starts to stop, starts to lose social influence on

an individual and a corporate level. We're no longer respected in this culture. And I want you to

consider just a really obvious statement that biblically, this is very normal.

Biblically and historically, this is very normal for us to be the oddballs in society, for us to be the

aliens, the strangers I want you to consider, though, a really likely future scenario. For so long

we have been protected in this country. We've been favored in this country. But a very likely

scenario, maybe in the distant future, is that we will no longer be favored in society. We'll be

penalized.

In society, penalized by our neighbors, socially penalized, maybe even by governing authorities

for being loyal to Christ. We will experience slander, confiscation, maybe fines, maybe

imprisonment. Maybe the government will try to censor what we're able to preach and say and

read and teach the things we're believing as a church may be able to try to stop that or curb

that.

But here's the thing, as I thought about this, when I say these things out loud to myself, it almost

doesn't feel real. Does this feel real to you? I really don't think we believe this is going to happen

to us. I really don't think the American church thinks this is really going to happen to us.

Because throughout history, many Christians have thought, this kind of thing won't happen here.

Things are good here. We're protected here. We're guarded here. We're respected here. We

have some space here to breathe and move. And be the church that we want to be. And they

weren't ready. They weren't ready when heavy, hard persecution hit them. And so, I think the

series in First Peter is preparation for true persecution for us. I think it's preparing us for what I

think will inevitably come to us, whether in the near future or really far distant future.

I don't know about God's Providence, but we need to be prepared for real persecution. I think

we will experience it. I think there may be when that hits a great falling away, I think that the

goats will no longer show up at church. I think the sheep will stay. I think there will be a

purification of the church. We need to be battle ready, not to fight people but to contend for the

faith.

I was just recently watching a timepiece show where three enemy ships show up on a shore

and they're checking out the defense systems of that area, which is very poor and unprepared

area. They were not ready for battle and the ship suddenly disappeared and so the whole city

just rallies and they're getting everyone ready. They're arming people, they're training people,

they're getting them ready for a potential battle. And I think The American church, truly guys, is

in a place where we are not ready. We are not ready for the kind of spiritual warfare that will

come through opposition. And First Peter is something that can really help us get ready.The

Bible assumes that we will be reviled, hated, disliked, opposed, and penalized by all in our

society.

This can lead us to fear, to doubt, discouragement, to despair. It can tempt us to waver, tempt

us to give up, And really, more to the point, it can tempt us to think that God is not really for us

That God is not really with us. So a question this morning for us as we approach the Bible is

Where do we draw strength and encouragement for suffering? Where do we draw strength and

encouragement for Christian suffering? For the time when persecution truly does come for us,

and just as a preview for the passages, we find strength and encouragement by fixing our eyes

on Christ, who went before us, who went before us as the apostle and high priest of our

confession, who suffered for us, and who also suffered before us. So go with me to First Peter

chapter three.

First Peter 3:18 is where we'll be this morning. Like I said, this has been named by some as the

most difficult text in the New Testament. I've way too many pages of notes just to get my

thoughts clear. I have 17 pages of notes which we won't get through. But that was just to show

you like this, the insanity of this text. OK, so just be prepared.

If you're not awake, now is the time to pump yourself up to do a little prayer, exercise or

something and say, Lord, hit me, wake me up. Do something, Lord, because we're,

you know, buckle your seat belt. We're going to get a little bumpy here. And you know when

you're in turbulence and the plane speeds up and slows down and drops, that's a little bit. I think

theologically what this will feel like. This morning, I strangely found myself on a Ferris wheel the

other day. Don't ask me how. I just found myself on a Ferris wheel with a brother and my legs

were so long they barely could strap me into that thing. And when you get on the top, you want

to be strapped in because that thing 's wobbling and it is much higher than you thought it was.

So that's what this feels like to be this morning. If we make it through, this will be a hat trick. We

had slaves, we had wives submitting to husbands and now we have this. I do not recommend

that the pastor start out in the middle of First Peter, that is for sure.

All right, verse 18. ‘For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that

he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he

went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formally did not obey, when God's

patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, 8

persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves

you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of

God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. “

Let's look first at verse 18, where here Peter connects us back to the previous text in the flow of

thought and also to the passage that follows. He says 4 Because we're on the basis of or in light

of, Christ also suffered. We're going to suffer for believing in Christ. Suffer for doing good in the

name of Christ. And then he says, lift your eyes to Christ. For Christ also suffered. The

righteous suffered for the unrighteous to bring us to God. That Jesus Christ is the righteous

one. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve persecution. He didn't deserve unjust treatment. He

didn't deserve to die for sin because he himself was pure and spotless and blameless. The

righteous suffered for us, the unrighteous to bring us to God. I love that clause so much.

Because the longer you're a Christian, the easier it is to drift away from the glorious reality that

salvation is meant to bring you into a relationship with God. Salvation is not merely a

transaction. Salvation is not merely this concept. Salvation is not merely a message. Salvation

is not merely about how to be saved, but salvation is about being reconciled to God so that what

you get is not simply God 's gifts, y'all. What you get is God himself.

The greatest gift is not his gifts. The greatest gift is Him. It's God in Jesus Christ. By this

indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit that salvation is about being brought into the glorious

Fellowship of the Trinity. You don't become part of God, but you enjoy the glory of the Trinity.

I'm going to throw this out there because the staff guys have been egging me on about it, but I

had this concept that I thought about called the glory boomerang.

OK, so we're just going to air this. It may fall flat, but in salvation what God does is he sends his

glory out like he shines his glory to us in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see the glory of God. We see

what God is like. And through this glory, this Jesus, this image of God, we get to be brought

back to God. That God sends his glory out, his salvation, his mercy out in the person of

Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ, he brings us back into the fellowship of His glory. This

is what I call the glory boomerang of salvation, that God brings us into the fellowship of himself.

That is what you need. That is what sinners need. We don't need to be acquitted. We need to

be brought back to God. We need to be forgiven so that forgiveness opens the path back to a

relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ That he shines his glory out in Jesus

Christ. We see his glory. We believe in him, and in believing in Him we have redemption and

reconciliation, and God draws us into fellowship with Him and all of His beauty and His glory.

John 17:3 says, ”And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ

whom you have sent.” That is salvation, that is eternal life. Eternal life is not simply a

transaction. It is having God and God having you. That's the glory of what Christ has done for

us, y'all. And then he says this, “I glorified you on earth.”

Jesus, verse 18, being put to death in the flesh, in the body. But made alive in the Greek in

spirit. Made alive in spirit. Now it literally says on the one hand killed in flesh and then made

alive in spirit. Peter 's not teaching here the resurrection of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. He's

saying he's killed in the body. He was killed in the flesh and made alive in spirit, in the spiritual

nature of his human person. That Christ was killed physically but still alive spiritually. That Jesus

Christ, being God and man, fully human, went on living in his human spirit That between his

death and resurrection, Jesus wasn't asleep. Jesus’ spirit was very much alive. Jesus was

moving about in the spiritual realm His human soul still existed and still moved, and he

did something in between his death and resurrection.

Well, what did he do? Look at verse 19, in which in which in his spirit in spirit he went, and he

preached. He proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formally did not obey when

God 's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few,

that is, 8 persons, were brought safely through water.

Now y'all. this is crazy and I'm just going to have to do some spiritual summarizing here. OK so

stick with me. This is where it gets a little bumpy.

So, buckle in. Jesus was killed, still alive, made alive in the spiritual realm. His human soul, his

human spirit is still alive and at large. Jesus is dying for sin. He's alive in his spirit and verse 19

says he goes, and he preaches. The verb Que Russo, he's not. This isn't the verb for angelize.

So, he's not preaching good news. But he is preaching. He's proclaiming, he's declaring

something verse 19 to the spirits in prison. And apparently these spirits are those who did not

obey in the days of Noah.

OK, for the word spirits here he uses a very particular word. He doesn't use the word Sukai,

which is like human souls. He uses the word Numassin to refer to angelic spirits. Always refers

to angelic spirits. He's not referring to human souls here, Sukai. He's referring to angelic spirits

Numassin. And these angelic spirits, whoever they are, are in prison. They're in prison, and he's

apparently preaching to Numassin spirits who are in prison. He's declaring something to them.

Between his death and his resurrection, are we. OK, there's the few bumps of turbulence. That's

just the beginning. He's alive in his spirit, and he's proclaiming he's declaring something to the

angelic spirits who are in prison. And, I'll support that in just a minute.

Verse 20 says they formally did not obey when God 's patience waited in the days of Noah. So

these, these angelic spirits, these Numassin, are from the days of Noah. That's a huge clue into

what's going on. So the questions are here so far. Who are these spirits? Who are these angelic

spirits, and what did he say to them?

There are 4 main views. The first view is that I'm sure you could come up with more, but the first

is that Jesus is preaching the gospel to human souls in hell, the second is he's preaching to

people alive in Noah 's day, through the Holy Spirit through Noah 's preaching. Third, a view

could be that he's preaching the gospel or judgment to humans after right rising from the dead.

And the view I want to commend to you this morning is that he is preaching between his death

and resurrection to fallen angels from Genesis 6 who were imprisoned for some terrible sin they

committed . He's preaching to angelic spirits who fell, who sinned, who left their proper domain.

In Noah 's day, God can consider their sin so wicked that he imprisoned them in chains of

darkness, and Christ is preaching something to them. And later we'll see that He's not preaching

good news. He's not evangelizing.

He's preaching, like Jonah, “judgment”. He's preaching like Colossians 2 over the spirits and

powers of darkness that had rebelled against God. So this verse here, verse 18 and 19. If you

take this passage and you can note this down, Second Peter 2 verse four, we'll read that

second Peter 2 verse four and Jude verse 6. All refer, either direct or indirect. All refer to the

fallen angels of Genesis 6. These fallen angels left their proper domain. They married human

women and had children with them, and the result was the Nephilim. A corrupt human race This

sin was deemed so evil by God that he imprisoned these particular spirits.

Now think about the Spiritual Realm for a second. We know that not all fallen angels are in

prison right now. We know that they're active. This morning, y'all like the Spiritual realm is

active. This morning, I was sitting right here thinking, I'm going up there, and what we're doing

when we talk about Christ is spiritual warfare. Not all demons, not all fallen angels are

imprisoned, but these particular ones are, so we've done some textual work in first Peter.

Now let's read 2 Peter 2:4-5. “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them

into hell and committed them to chains.” That is prison language. “Committed them to chains of

gloomy darkness, to be kept until the judgment.” Notice Noah here, if he did not spare the

ancient world but preserved Noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought

a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

First Peter spirits in prison Second Peter. Fallen angels. Disobedient angels who are committed

to change right now until the final judgment still mentioned within the context of Noah 's day.

OK, let's look at Jude vs 6 & 7. Now, Jude Man, this gets interesting. Hold on. I'm getting ahead

of myself and the angels. Look at that. Angels who did not stay within their own position of

authority but left their proper dwelling. He has kept that's chain language in eternal chains under

gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Just as watch this Sodom and Gomorrah

and the surrounding cities, which likewise angels and Sodom and Gomorrah. They both indulge

in sexual immorality. And pursued, unnatural desire serves as an example by undergoing a

punishment of eternal fire.

fallen angels are compared to sodden and Gomorrah because they both committed sexual sin.

You see that the connection there. So if you frame all of these passages in light of Genesis 6,

where you have the sons of God, which is often referred to as angels, those are angelic spirits,

taking human women, living with them, mating with them, and having children with them . This is

something that is not understandable by our minds, but it is something considered so wicked

like Sodom and Gomorrah that he chained these and imprisoned these evil, wicked fallen spirits

in prison in the days of Noah Luke 8:31

You can just note that down when Jesus is healing. The demoniac in the cemetery, he says,

what is your name to the spirit or the spirits? And he answers, our name is Legion, for we are

many. And what does Legion say? What does the legion of spirits beg Jesus not to do not send

us into the abyss. The pit read Revelation. I think. The pit or the abyss or the prison, Same idea

Is mentioned over at least 9 times. They're begging Jesus, please, are you? Have you come

before the time to torment us? Please, please, please send us into the pigs. Don't send us into

the prison, the abyss, the pit. Don't send us there where the other spirits are. We don't want to

be chained. We want to roam freely. Send us into the pigs. And Jesus agrees and he sends

them into the pigs, which rundown the steep hill and drown in the water. So Jesus between his

death and resurrection, y'all he shows up in his spirit. And he proclaims judgment and victory

over these wicked spirits in prison. Isn't that unbelievable? Isn't that amazing that they probably

thought, oh, the Messiah is dead, we win and all of a sudden Jesus shows up. You didn't expect

me, you guys But you're doomed and I win a problem to consider Jesus on the Cross, 2 thieves.

Today you'll be with me in paradise OK, how can Jesus go down, proclaim to the spirits in

prison, judgment and victory over them, and also be with the thief in paradise that day? How is

that possible?

It's very easy, think about it. He went to the spirits in prison and preached, and that same day

he went to paradise in glory and victory. He can do both things in the same day. He can be. He

can do both things in the same hour if he wants to, and so he can preach to the spirits in prison

and be with the thief in the paradise of heaven in the same day Now last thing I want to say, last

things I want to say about this is that there is no argument here that by all scholars that Jude

and second Peter mimic heavily or even think deeply about this extra biblical book called First

Enoch. Now, First Enoch is not breathed out by God. It's not. That's why it's not in the Bible.

Like it's not inspired by the Holy Spirit. We know that. But Jude even quotes First Enoch when

he says, Enoch preached to all the ungodly. Like he literally quotes First Enoch word for word.

OK, let's get a little weird. I know OK, but in First Enoch, it's a long book. In First Enoch, OK,

whether this part happened or not doesn't matter.

What matters is what the Scripture says. But I'm just giving you background here and how this

might relate. These spirits from Genesis Six are in the book of First Enoch. And they ask Enoch,

hey, go to God and plead with us to let us out. And God tells Enoch, now you go back to the pit,

to the prison. You tell them they're doomed. You proclaim to them. No, you are not getting out of

here. You're doomed. You're judged, OK And they're imprisoned Whether that part is true, we

don't know. We know Enoch is real. We know that he really preached as a man of

righteousness. We know that he is alive and he never died.

We know that but what Peter 's doing is whether that part 's true or not about Enoch. We know

that Jesus went to the spirits in prison because that's in the scriptures. And what Peter is doing,

he's playing off this idea of Enoch descending and preaching. He is saying, just like with Jesus,

the second Adam, that Jesus is the 2nd and greater Enoch. And that Jesus is victorious over

the powers of darkness. What an amazing savior we have. He's victorious over the spirits, even

in death and suffering.

How does that relate to the message of First Peter? When you and I suffer for the name of

Christ, we are victorious. We are not defeated. We have hope not to spare. We will be

vindicated. We will share in his victory. We will share in his conquering of the powers of

darkness and death. And Satan, because Jesus Christ even in his suffering, won ,And so we

can look to this Christ who descended to this place and preached judgment over the spirits,

and then went to Paradise, and then on the third day rose again from the dead.

Jesus is the 2nd and Greater Enoch. And he wins forever. He has triumphed, as Colossians 2

says. We spent a lot of time on that. That's very complex. Now what I want to do is go back to

the text First Peter 3. He says this in verse 20. “And because they formally did not obey when

God 's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few,

that is 8 persons, were brought safely through water.” Here's where it gets interesting. Now he

mentions baptism, so it just sounds like Peter 's stream of consciousness is going left and right

and up and down. It's like, how are all these things connected? Peter, why are you making

preachers go through this?

Didn't you know there would be expository preaching, Peter? And now we have to deal with

your stuff. Verse 21. Here's the other hard part, baptism, which corresponds to this now. Saves

you. We're not Roman Catholic, are we not, as a removal of dirt from the body. Peter knows this

will be misunderstood. Not as a removal, not as a bath. But as I watch this, the spiritual reality of

baptism, what's happening in the heart of the baptized person as an appeal to God for a good

conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the

right hand of God with angels.

Notice this, angels, authorities, and powers. Notice how that connects to prisons and spirits in

prison angel authorities, powers subjected to him. This amazing Baptism saves you though,

Peter? Really Baptism corresponds to this now saves you. It's not a bath. But he explains what

he means. He says what they were doing in the baptism ceremony is they were, they were

believers in the message of the good news. They believed the message. So the apostles in the

church preached Christ. They believed it in the heart Remember Acts 2 And when they say

brothers, we believe what you're saying about Christ. What shall we do? They believed it right.

They were cut to the heart. There's already faith working inside their heart and Peter says

repent and be baptized. What they're doing is by faith they're moving into the baptism,

baptismal waters. And in the baptismal waters they are expressing their faith to God. They are

appealing to God saying, “God forgive me, God have mercy upon me, God save me and Jesus

Christ you are Lord of all so that in baptism we're visibly and publicly expressing and declaring

that Jesus Christ, we need forgiveness. We need mercy, we need cleansing And Jesus Christ

you are Lord of all in the baptismal ceremony In the waters.” I

It's not that the water changes the heart, it's that the heart moves me into the water. And in the

ceremony of baptism, the earliest church was appealing for mercy, calling on the name of the

Lord to be saved. Let me just say it in modern vernacular Baptism was the original altar call.

Baptism was the original hand raised experience in a church, you know, I'm talking about it was

the original hand raised or the coming forward at a Billy Graham crusade. Baptism was that I

suggest let's make baptism cool again.

That's what I want to see. Baptism does not save by regenerating the heart. We know that the

baptismal waters have no regenerating birthing power. But we move into the baptismal

ceremony as people who believe in the heart and in the waters. We confess Jesus, we appeal

for mercy, we pledge our allegiance to Christ, and we demonstrate and visibly express the

inward repentance of our hearts and our desperate desire to be identified with Jesus the King

Let's frame this within the context of the spiritual stuff we've been talking about for a second.

The spirits in prison. Look at verse 22 again. He's gone into heaven with angels, authorities,

powers being subject to him. OK, Jesus is victorious through death and resurrection over all the

powers of darkness. So how does baptism, our baptism, fit into this whole mess of a context?

Well, our baptism is an appeal. The Greek word. There can be an appeal, a request for mercy.

Or it can be translated as a pledge of loyalty. Appeal for mercy or a pledge of loyalty, A Pledge

of Allegiance, like to a king. So in baptism, better yet faith, moving you into the waters of

baptism. What are you doing? On the one hand, you're calling on the name of the Lord for

mercy forgiveness and at the same moment you're also pledging loyalty to King Jesus, who has

gone into heaven with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him, that you are moving from

the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the beloved Son, that you are declaring that your

allegiance is no longer to darkness but to the Son of God.

The reason baptism saves you is not because it changes your heart. But it publicly expresses

your desire to belong to Christ. In baptism, the earliest church would sometimes ask baptism

candidates, and if you know church history, you know this is in some places this is happening

They would ask a candidate in the baptismal ceremony. Do you renounce Satan and all of his

works I do. I do. That's what's happening in this passage. Jesus preaches to the spirits. In

prison, Jesus rises from the dead as Lord of all, shaming his spiritual opponents. And in baptism

we're saying I pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ and him alone. I trust in Jesus Christ and him

alone for my salvation and his blood that conquers my sin, and I belong to him. I renounce

Satan and darkness in all of his works. I don't know how to do any better than that, so if it still

doesn't make sense, I apologize. Let's make baptism cool again. Because baptism is spiritual

warfare .Baptism is someone publicly declaring an alternate allegiance that they did not have

before they came to faith in Christ. Have you been baptized? If not, we would love to baptize

You. New birth takes place in the heart Baptism simply merely signs and seals and expresses

that allegiance publicly. We want you to have that opportunity, declare your allegiance, and

renounce Satan in all his works. And identify with the victorious one, Jesus Christ. Lastly, let me

give you an example of this, just to calm your mind maybe a little bit.

Before you think I'm a Roman Catholic, which I'm not, I'm very much Protestant. Acts 22 then

I'm just going to read this. Ananias is sent to Paul. Paul has just seen Jesus. He has just seen

him, right In Paul 's heart if Paul saw Christ. Paul believes in his heart already, like he knows

he's the Son of God. He even says, who are you, “Lord, Paul is not yet baptized. And Ananias is

sent to him and he says this Brother Sail, receive your sight. The God of our fathers appointed

you to know His will, to see the righteous. 1 to hear his voice, for you will be a witness for him to

everyone what you've seen and heard. Verse 16 Listen to this. “And now Paul, why do you

wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. Here it is calling on his name.”

Appealing to God for a good conscience. Pledging allegiance to Christ. Appealing, requesting

mercy. Calling upon the name of the Lord. This was encouragement to Paul even to rise, be

baptized, wash away your sins calling on his name. Romans 10 says. “If you confess with your

mouth, Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You'll be saved.”

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We believe in the heart. We're

regenerated by the power of the gospel in our hearts, and that repentance and faith should

move us into the baptismal ceremony where we publicly among all men and women, before the

angels and demons of heaven and hell, where we declare my allegiance is to Christ and Christ

alone. My salvation is in Christ and his finished work alone In closing If Jesus died to bring us to

God And that's the goal of salvation.

Do you want God this morning more than his gifts? If not, repent. Come back to your Father

through Jesus Christ And say, Lord, make me one who treasures you more than what you can

give me And if you haven't been baptized. As a believer, we want to give you that opportunity to

publicly, before angels and men, declare your allegiance and your hope in Christ. We would

love to talk to you about that. So please let us do that.

Let's pray. We love you so much we worship you, Father, and give you the glory that's due your

name. We need you. We thank you that Christ has won. Christ is the Savior. Christ is alive with

angels and authorities subject to Him. Thank you that through faith and expressed outwardly in

baptism, we get to declare our allegiance before angels and men. We get to appeal and call

upon the name of the Lord for His mercy Thank you that we get to publicly and cosmically be

those who are people of faith and those who have had the opportunity to identify with Christ

visibly in baptism, this outward sign and seal of the righteousness we have by faith alone. Thank

you for my friends here this morning. Thank you for their willingness to go with me through that

turbulent passage. And we pray, Lord, that our faith would be strengthened in suffering so that

as we suffer for Christ, we would remember, remember the one who's gone before us Who set

his eyes, fixed his eyes on the joy set before him, so that he endured the cross, despising the

shame. Glory to your name, God. We think of two people this morning, though in prayer, Lord

We think of Tobin, his wife, Abby, from the ADA County Sheriff's Department. We think of his

wife, his unborn child. We think of their church, Compass Church. We think of the people that

knew him and know his wife and family and are grieving. We ask for your comfort. We ask that

Christ would be vindicated and glorified through this in the eyes of all. We ask that his life and

his legacy of Christian faithfulness would be encouraged. His Church, encourage the Saints

around him, that you'd sustain and provide for his wife in every way, and his child. Please help

them. God, please have mercy on them. We also lift up Steve Walker, our very own. One of our

elders, precious Steve. We asked after two successful operations for his health issues as he's

on medical leave. We asked for complete and total recovery and healing. We asked you to bring

him through the 3rd operation. Later be with Barb. Bring him back to us as a leader and elder in

the church. Thank you so much for Steve. Encourage him right now and we pray in Christ 's

name. Amen.