Ford Automobile Company is introducing the $140,000 Lincoln Town Car BPS � for Ballistic Protection Services � which can stop an AK-47 and block a grenade.
Later this year General Motors will roll out an armored Cadillac Deville capable of deflecting bullets from a .44 magnum.
At last week�s Geneva Motor Show, BMW introduced the 760Li High Security, which can be hermetically sealed in a gas attack and supply its occupants with germ-free oxygen. (I guess you don�t need any �gas masks� or �duct tapes� or �plastics� or whatever if you�re in this kind of car.)
Moreover, car-armor customizers are now putting full-metal jackets on Cadillac Escalades SUVs and Hummer H2s � at prices ranging from $30,000 to $350,000 above sticker price.
One of the auto custom-made shop is called Ibis Tek Shop in Butler, Pennsylvania. They make special SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle)s that look from the outside like one of those popular ordinary SUVs. But with the flip of a switch, the sunroof opens and a weapon pops out. You can take your pick: .50-caliber M2 machine gun, or 40mm grenade launcher.
However, fortunately, these heavily armed people-movers are not available in the United States.
But according to the Associated Press, they are being shipped by Ibis Tek to hot spots like the Middle East, where the expression, �Have a safe trip,� is more like a prayer.
If this kind of special armed SUVs were available in Jesus� time, Simon Peter would have appreciated a ride like this for Jesus and the disciples.
Peter was very much concerned about security. And he actually rebuked his master when Jesus began to teach that �the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed� (Mark 8:31).
Saying �No way, my Lord,� Peter must have tried to solve the situation by human force.
Remember when Peter swung his sword in a desperate attempt to protect Jesus from arrest?
At that time, what did Jesus say to him?
In John 18:11(NIV) Jesus commands to Peter: �Put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?�
For Jesus security is not to be found in firepower.
In today�s passage from Mark, Jesus challenges Peter. And, by extension, Jesus challenges each one of us � to focus on �divine things,� not on �human things.�
In v. 33 Jesus rebukes Peter and says: � �Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.�
While we set our mind on �human things,� using weapons, Jesus emphasizes on �divine things,� by saying:
In vv. 34-35: �If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.�
Somehow, it�s hard to imagine responding to this challenge with machine guns and grenade launchers. Jesus tells us that discipleship is not designed to protect us from pain or suffering or even death.
But at the same time, it would be dead wrong to assume that Christian life lacks security, or that it leads inevitably to personal destruction.
What we learn from Scripture is that by following Jesus we tap into the most powerful force in human history � for the life of Christ was nothing less than a godly grenade launcher that destroyed for all time the power of Satan, sin and death.
Jesus did not show weakness or powerlessness by walking the way of the cross, and neither do we.
We are now living in the world that is full of fear and anxiety because of war and its serious affects in life in many different forms.
The people have already begun to leave Iraq in order to avoid possible destruction.
It is natural and understandable to see that people seek and move to safer and much secure places.
In 1994, after the Northridge Earthquake, many Southern Californians moved to other states � because of the fear of more earthquakes to occur.
They, however, forgot that other states also had other natural disasters � floods, hurricanes, blizzards that could be worse than earthquakes.
My sisters and brothers in Christ!
Where is the safest place in the whole world?
Where is the place that is free from any dangers and from any disasters?
Where is the place that has only peace and joy?
Even Hawaii Island has volcanoes!
In the whole world � in the whole universe, there is no such place as �safe place.�
Where there is evil power present � which is everywhere � there is no safe place � ever!
Except for one place.
In Jesus Christ!
Again and again, I emphasize that everything is in God�s control. Your life, your hope - your everything belongs to God.
Before our beloved sister and dear friend Glenda Pearson has passed away, everyone thought that she would come home soon. Even her doctors thought so. But, suddenly one night she went into coma, and the next day � she went to the Lord!
I�m glad she passed away peacefully � with no pain � no suffering.
But in reality we are faced with many dangers that could lead us die in horrible and painful accidents or diseases.
Given these circumstances that are beyond our control, what are we supposed to do?
What are we supposed to believe?
How can we find true security?
Apostle Paul proclaims in Romans 14:8, �If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.�
We need this faith - this conviction! We don�t need a weapon of destruction! What we need is the weapon of salvation!
As the days of war approach � any day and any hour � we concern about security issues more than ever. However, we should not forget that God is our everlasting God and ever blessed Creator!
In Genesis text this morning, God makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah. And God blesses their offsprings forever!
[6] I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. [7] I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
So, when we say �offspring� of Abraham and Sarah, what nation are we talking about? Only Israel?
No. Spiritually we are also the children of Abraham � the nation of the Covenant! So God�s blessing upon Abraham is still ours and valid - because we are God�s children.
And His foremost plan of salvation � not as a weapon of destruction � is Jesus Christ � the Emmanuel project!
In God, we are safe and secure!
In the hymn (#133) �Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,� the refrain part goes like this:
�Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.�
True security, after all, is found not in the best technology, nor in the most sophisticated weaponry, but in the final recommendation of Jesus the Christ.
Our eternal life is assured when Jesus recommends us to God as people who have followed him in the way of the cross.
My brothers and sisters in Christ!
This Lent, as we walk the journey of faith, let us remind of that we are �born again� Christians.
The phrase �born again� means that you have already experienced the death of your �old nature.�
In Christ, your old things have passed away!
In Christ, everything becomes new!
In Christ, you are new creations!
Since you have a new birth in Christ, your life now is indeed a special �extra� life that needs to be spent for God�s service!
Therefore, it is right for you to live your new life for God�s glory and for others in any way you can!
Let me conclude my sermon with 1 Peter 4:1-2:
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.
My brothers and sisters in Christ!
Where you are in Christ, committing yourself to Him and living by the will of God, � whether you live or die - is the safest place in the whole world! (Amen)
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