Nov. 02, 2025

Pastor Dave's sermon begins at 27:20 min into the video. The music "Holy, Holy, Holy", "His Mercy is More", "Goodness of God", "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)", "How Deep is The Father's Love For Us", "Thank You Lord", and "The Blessing" are licensed under CCLI Copyright #2723035 and Streaming Media #22024223 licenses.

Called to Blessing - Part 2: Receiving a Blessing

Pastor Dave dove into 1 Peter 3:8-12 this week, continuing the "Called to Blessing" series with a focus on how we can actually love life and experience good days. The passage quotes from Psalm 34, where David wrote about finding joy even during some of the darkest seasons of his life—living in caves while running from King Saul.

The Foundation: Trust in Christ

Pastor Dave opened with a simple but memorable illustration about trust. He pointed out how everyone walked into church and sat down without inspecting their chairs first. "You had faith that that chair was going to hold your weight," he explained. "It's a silly analogy maybe, but it makes the point that to trust in Christ is to simply put the full weight of your life and your sinfulness on what Christ did on the cross."

This trust opens our lives to God's blessing and favor. As children of God, we inherit not just eternal life but also God's daily provision and care. Christ prepared a place for us both in God's family now and in heaven for eternity.

Deciding to Love Life

Pastor Dave got personal, sharing how he grew up around legalistic churches where people had "all these rules and regulations" but "didn't have one ounce of joy in their life." He admitted, "We would call them 'mule faces' because they were so long-faced and no joy." The burden of religion had robbed them of loving life, but Jesus offers something different—pure joy.

He gently challenged the congregation: "There's a lot of Jesus followers today who are very pessimistic about life. Can I say to us that we would be a lot better off, and our days would be way more enjoyable if we stopped focusing just on politics and started focusing on Him?"

Loving life is "an attitude of faith"—recognizing God's sovereignty and goodness regardless of circumstances. Even when life gets hard, we can say, "God is at work in my life. Yeah, this is hard, but God is still good. I can still have a good day."

Understanding Good Days

Pastor Dave redefined what makes a good day: "Good days are God days. Good days are days lived with God in our life." David wrote Psalm 34 while living in caves, facing fears and troubles, yet he could write, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Why? Because he had a relationship with God.

The passage assures us that "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers" (1 Peter 3:12). Pastor Dave emphasized this isn't about condemnation but comfort: "God sees what you're struggling with. He sees where you are, and His ear is open to the very whisper from your lips."

Practical Steps for Good Days

The sermon outlined specific actions for experiencing blessing:

Watch Your Words: Pastor Dave warned, "By your words, you can determine, you can invite certain things into your life." He humorously added, "Tomorrow morning when you get up, you can determine the response of your spouse by what you say." The key is letting prayer and praise fill our vocabulary instead of evil or deceitful words.

Turn from Evil and Do Good: Good is defined as "what has its origin in God and is empowered in the life of a believer by the Holy Spirit." This means being beneficial to others, showing kindness and respect, and serving others.

Pursue Peace: Using his signature humor, Pastor Dave shared about his hunting style: "I like to drive around in the truck with a cup of coffee and a cookie... That's not pursuing? That's just outdoors, right?" Real pursuit requires energy and effort. We need to pursue peace with God first, then with ourselves, and finally with others.

Pastor Dave concluded with two simple questions for reflection: "What is God saying to me today through His Word and by His Spirit? How am I going to respond?" He simplified it further: "God, what are You saying to me? Then in yourself, how am I going to respond to that?" The message ended with baptisms, celebrating three new believers who decided to publicly profess their faith in Christ.

It left us thinking about how this practical wisdom could transform our everyday attitudes and relationships throughout the week ahead.