Dear friends, last night I had a dream and in this dream I saw myself protecting Aliens from being shot and I took a bullet for them so they could escape.
As I woke up the scripture in 1 Peter 2:11 kept coming to me which talks of us as "aliens and strangers in the world" which we are and the more we stand for the things of God and His word, the more we will stand out as aliens from a foreign land that people just don't understand and want to harm in whatever way that may look like, whether that is with words, with judgement or whatever.
I saw myself protecting them and that is our call as a christian is to protect our brother or sister in Christ as we are part of the same family. More often than not we actually see more hurt come from our brother and sister in Christ than from the world, but we are called to protect one another from harm.
In Exodus 22:21 it says "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt." We are called to grace, the same grace we have received we need to give to others. Yesterday someone rang and apologised to me and I said to her at the time as she received grace from me, to give that grace to the person who does it to her, as we will be challenged to give that grace to others in some way. We quickly forget the grace that has been given through Christ to us and as in Exodus they were reminded that they too were aliens in Egypt and they didn't like being mistreated or oppressed by the Egyptians and so don't do the same when you become free.
Back in 1 Peter 2 verse 16-21 it says "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honour the king. Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."
So I encourage you this morning to protect our brothers and sisters in Christ, from others and from ourselves as we can often hurt them by our actions and our words, recognising that the same grace we have received from God, we called to give to others.