Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Our praise awaits you with the dawn our souls awake to you and lift a song.
We've seen the things that you have done and still we know the best is yet to come.
There's more to come.
Open the gates and let your glory come down.
Open our hearts and let our worship pour out.
Your presence here is all we need. You break our chains with sounds of victory.
You're changing everything.
Open the gates and let your glory come down.
Open our hearts and let our worship pour out.
Open the gates and let your glory come down.
Open our hearts and let our worship pour out.
Come flood this place.
No one else could take your place.
Come have your way.
No one else could take your place.
Come flood this space.
No one else could take your place.
Come and have your way.
No one else could take your place.
Open the gates and let your glory come down.
Open our hearts and let our worship pour out.
Open the gates and let your glory come down.
Open our hearts and let our worship pour out.
Sam, what's up? Westgate.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: A little late to the call there. How we all doing this morning?
[00:03:47] Speaker C: Good.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Oh, how we all doing? Who's awake? Come on.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: All right.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: A few more people. Love it. A few more people.
Well, my name is Dan. I am the student ministries pastor. I almost said middle school pastor. That's not true anymore. My main focus is on high school.
And a little bit in a little bit, we have really cool stories of things coming of that trip we just went onto. But first, I'm glad you guys are here. Glad you're here to worship with us.
In the pews in front of you. We have these things called connect cards because we're a bigger church and we love to try to stay connected to our people. And so if this is your first time and you want to get connected to Westgate Chapel, you go ahead and put your information in there. You can go out to our guest services center. It's a mouthful.
And hand that to them, and they can answer any questions you have, maybe give you some insight about what Westgate Chapel's about. But we would just love for you to feel welcome and appreciated here this morning. So I'm glad you're here.
Coming up in a month, we have our church picnic. Who's been to the church picnic? There we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So church picnic is awesome.
All of us come together after the second service. It's gonna be August 24th after the second service. You can bring your lawn chair, your blanket. We're gonna have hot dogs, hamb, watermelon stuff like that if you have trouble walking, we're gonna have a tractor that's gonna take you over there. It's just a great time of fellowship, hanging out together. We're gonna have games. We're gonna have the Kona ice truck that's gonna be there for dessert. It's just gonna be a really cool time to be with your church family. And if you wanna invite anyone into that, that'd be a really cool opportunity to introduce them to Westgate chapel.
So it's August 24th, directly after second service. Give it to you a month in advance because you are busy people. I want you.
And so now I think that's all the announcements I have.
I wanna talk a little bit about our life trip. Who was here when we prayed for our group going to life? A lot of us. Okay. So thank you for your prayers. It was an incredible trip. God did a lot of cool stuff while we were there.
Just a little snapshot. Like, there were so many things that happened, so many conversations and moments. But there's about 10 students that said, I think God's calling me into ministry. Or I know God's calling into ministry. And so that's really cool. That's something I don't know if you remember, like, I prayed for up here, and I was praying going into it that there'd be students that would want to give their life to a life of ministry. And we all have a life of ministry, but, like, vocationally. And so that's really cool. We had four kids say yes to Jesus for the first time. And so that's incredible. Yeah, you can clap for that.
And then we had five kids get baptized in the hotel pool, which is just really cool. And so there's a lot of cool things that happened during that trip. And so what I wanted to do is just give you a little snapshot. It's like a three and a half minute video, but it's a whole week. So it's, like, hard to put all that into a short video of what the Life Conference looks like. And all these pictures and videos of our, like, our Westgate students. So they're not random people. There are people. So go ahead and watch this video.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: I give you my attention on my focus Pushing off the limits in this moment I feel your spirit moving all around me Coming have your way I'm looking at the trick levels that are higher I can see your face when I set my eyes on you Everything else fade when I look your way Everything else fade when I look your way Everything else upon your beauty Full of wonder the world falling behind me there's no other no other name like your name and there's nothing that can take your place When I say my on you Everything else fade When I look your way Everything else fade When I look your way Everything else fade you dancing in the light of your glory Joy is awakening Rising like the sun every morning Hope is alive in me yeah, we're dancing in the light of your glory so is your wel Rising like the sun every morning Hope is drive away When I sh.
My on you When I see my eyes on you When I say When I say my eyes on you Everything else fade When I look your way Everything else fade When I look your way Everything else fade.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah so that's a little picture of what life is like. It's hype, it's fun, it's loud, it's in your face, it's impactful, it's deep, it's personal, it's an awesome experience. And so up here this morning, I have Xavier Hale. Xavier Hale, and he's an incoming senior this year. He's been a part of Westgate students since sixth grade. And he loves Jesus. And he's one story we had about like 68 students go. He's one story out of 67. And of God did so many things, but he's just one. So I want to give us a snapshot of his experience in life. And so just really quick, tell us what was life like for you?
[00:11:17] Speaker D: Generally that goes. That video, like, literally gave me goosebumps. Like, that trip was something so, so special. And honestly, the most impactful thing to me personally was like, the relationships that I built out of. Like, I hadn't even talked to most of the people that went. And then the. The connections that I already had with people got so much stronger.
Whether it was like in the small groups, like talking after the messages or like just talking at lunch or the like 2am talks in the hotel floor. Like, all that stuff, like, really united our youth group so much. And I really think that this year our youth group is going to be on fire for Jesus.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: That's awesome. For sure.
And so I know that God did something really cool in your life, at life.
And so I'd love you just to share with the church, like, what that was.
[00:12:14] Speaker D: Yeah. So after one of the sermons, there was this kind of just a time of like, reflection during the, like the worship. And so, like the band was playing and like, I knew God had something for me this week or that week. And so I just opened My arms. I was like, God, like, I'm just gonna clear my mind. Like, just speak to me right now. Like, whatever comes into my mind, like, it's not me, it's you. And so like, I made myself available and I was like, just, God, do. Do what you want. And it was like this overwhelming feeling in this voice in my head, like, calling me into ministry. And I was like, it like brought me to tears. And I was like, I didn't even know what that looked like or I didn't want to believe it at first, but I like got to the point I was like, okay, this is real. This is actually happening. And I look over to my friend Colin and I'm like, all right, dude, you gotta pray with me right now. And so we're praying and then at the end of it, I was like, I've never heard God speak to me like that.
And that was really, really cool. And ever since then there's been so many like, reminders, confirmations of God being like, this is what I want you to do. And it's been part of my testimony and just, yeah, part of my story. And I've shared it with people and I've seen so much like, fruit and like, even this is like one out of 67 stories.
And just from me telling mine, like I've. The other night, for example, I was with my friends and I told the story to them. Like one's a Catholic and one was a Muslim. And I told it to like, them. And the Catholic guy was like, whoa, this has inspired me to like, lock in on my faith. Like, I want to like, be like you. Like, I want to be available to God. And I was like, yes, seed planted. And then, and then the Muslim dude, he was like, I just got goosebumps. Like, that's crazy. And I'm like, yes, like literally just the story from this trip that I went on, like, who knows what that'll do. So yeah, just being able to look back at what God has done in my life. And I'm like, he prepared me up to this moment. I made myself available to him. And then I'm like, boom, I have a little stuff to look forward to. So yeah, praise God.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Give it for Xavier. And yeah, I just, I'm so thankful for what God, like, right? He said, like, that's one story out of 67. And my prayer is like, I think this next school year in the youth group, it's gonna be something sweet. God's doing a work in our students lives. And I'm like, man, if all 60 of these kids come back and, like, they actually step into, like, what God laid on their heart or moved in them, like, what an impact that's going to have, not only in our church, but right in the community at their schools and their sports teams and all that. And so I'm pumped for what God has, man, and I'm pumped for you, Zay. It's going to be really cool. And so give it up for Zay one more time and praise God for what he did at this life conference. It was awesome.
And so now I'd love for you guys just to go ahead and greet one another, maybe tell someone you love them.
That was great.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Love you guys.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Love you guys.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: It Sam.
Presence of my enemies I raise a hallelujah louder than the unbelief I raise a hallelujah My weapon is a melody I raise a hallelujah oh, heaven comes to fight for me I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you're gonna hear my praises roll up from the ashes hope will arise death is defeated the king I raise a hallelujah with everything inside of.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: Me.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: I raise a hallelujah Oh, I will watch the darkness flee I raise a hallelujah in the middle of the mystery I raise a hallelujah oh, fear you lost your hold on me and I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm louder and loud you're gonna hear my praises roar up from the ashes hope will arise death is defeated the king is alive.
[00:19:08] Speaker B: All for him.
[00:19:09] Speaker C: And for his glory sing it out.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Sing a little loud sing a little louder oh, sing a little louder sing a little louder oh, sing a little louder sing a little louder come on, sing a little louder sing a little louder we sing a little louder in the presence of oh, sing a little louder louder. In the unbe we sing a little louder my weapon is a melody we'll sing a little louder heaven comes to fight for me sing a little louder in the presence of my enemy yes, we will sing a little louder louder than the unbelief we sing a little louder my weapon is a melody we'll sing a little louder heaven comes to fight for me come on and sing a little louder I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you're going to hear my praises roll up from the ashes hope will arise death is defeated the king is al going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you're going to hear my praises roll up from the ashes Won't we arise?
Death is defeated the king is alive.
I raise a hallelujah.
Hallelu.
Raise a hallelujah.
Yeah, raise a hallelujah.
So many things. There's so many things that God has done. I heard somebody say once as they the only thing God ever did for me was give his life for me on the cross. Would that be enough?
Such a good question, right? Walk into every day with such expectation. One of the greatest gifts he gave us was his grace. Ephesians 2 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own duty, it is the gift of God.
So that knows a teacher, a mom, a receptionist, whatever you are, whatever vocation he's called you to, the purpose is that we would actually be a vessel in that place for the Holy Spirit to move. And I pray that that would just be the prayer of our hearts this morning, that we would just make ourselves truly available, that we would take time to listen to his voice and hear where he is leading us. Satan, grow as the road may seem Follow where your spirit lead.
Broken as my life may be.
[00:23:53] Speaker C: I.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Will give you every peace.
I hear you call, I am available.
I say yes, Lord, I am available.
Here I am with open hand mounting on your grace again Less of me and more of you.
I just want to see you move.
I hear you call, I am available.
I say yes, Lord, I am available.
I hear you call, I am am available.
I say yes, Lord, I am available.
My hands are open wide. My heart is open wide.
Do whatever you want to.
Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all.
[00:26:28] Speaker C: Surrender to him.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am. Jesus. You can have it all, you can have it all. Here I am, here I am.
You can have it all, you can have it all.
Oh, you can have it all, Jesus, for the one who gave me life, nothing is a sacrifice.
Use me how you want to, God, have your throne within my heart.
I hear you call, I am available.
I say yes, Lord, I am available.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yes, Lord, I I believe our posture this morning is with our hands open, just saying yes to whatever you have for us. We want to be available for you as your sons, as your daughters, as your children, that we'd be available for you with all of our lives, with all that we have God as we worship you, or that you would encourage us, you would speak to us, you would be moving to us, that you would be bringing healing to where we are this morning.
Whatever we are bringing in, whatever we're carrying with us this morning, maybe for some of us, we need to slow down, take some breaths to be with you.
We'll be available.
We ask this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
You can go ahead and have a seat. This morning at this time, we're going to share of our tithes and our offerings. And so if you're in the center aisles, you can go ahead and pass those buckets to the outer. And if you're up in the balcony, we're going from the outside to the center. An opportunity to worship by giving back to the Lord. This morning.
As we continue in our series this morning, we're in our second week of First Peter and last week, Isaac via one of our elders got to share with us. And this morning, Norm Weimer, another one of our elders, will be sharing God's word with us this morning.
Norman, his wife have been a part of Westgate Chapel for the last 13 years and Norm has been serving as an elder for the last five.
A few things about Norm, one very much we approve. He's brought some props with him this morning, which is, which is great, a basket full.
Also a few things about Norm is that he loves the Lord, he loves the word of God, and we invite him to share with us this morning out of what God has been sharing with him.
And in a very humble way, Norm has said yes to share the word with us. So Norm, let's welcome him together.
Good morning.
As Adam mentioned, Rob's been on short vacation and sabbatical, and so Isaac Villa and I were given the opportunity to preach God's Word.
So he somewhat introduced me. But I'm going to go a little bit further than that.
I'm obviously a child of God and I'm an elder, as Adam said. And for those of you who may not have met me, my name is Norm Weimer. There's a picture of the family about two months ago on top of Sleeping Bear Dunes in western Michigan. Michigan. Kim and I have two adult children and we've got five wonderful grandchildren ranging in age from about five to about ten and three quarter.
Kim serves here as a deacon, preparing so much of the yummy food that you may have had an opportunity to experience at the functions we have here.
As Adam mentioned, I do love the Lord and I love the Word and I'm going to give an unashamed shout out for community one.
Myself and several other guys teach at 9 o' clock in the chapel and we'd welcome you to join us anytime you'd like to.
So several things I would like to note given this is the first time I've preached a sermon here at Westgate Chapel, I'd first like to state I'm very thankful for this opportunity. It's very humbling and I'm honored that Rob and the staff would even consider me to give a sermon. And secondly, because I've been out there for hundreds of sermons given from this stage.
When one has to prepare one, it's a totally different story.
I'm awed by the quality of the sermons that our staff gives our pastoral staff. It takes a bunch of time and I'm going to tell you a great amount of effort and although we rarely recognize their sermons public publicly, I'd like to do that right now through a round of applause for our pastoral staff.
With that stated, if you didn't get a copy of the sermon notes, please raise your hands and one of the ushers will sprint down to you and give you one. Or if you're online watching along on a live stream, you can access the notes on the Westgate website.
Dear Heavenly Father, Father, prepare our hearts and our minds for your Word, Father. Let us not just be hearers of the Word this morning, but also doers open our hearts, Father, to remove the barriers of habit, habitual sin and even potential laziness in our lives which so often blind us.
Let your Word Father do its work.
Now that we have worshiped you in song, Father, let us now worship you, you in your Word.
Let it penetrate and permeate our beings, Father, so that we come closer to you and recognize that you truly are our living hope. We thank you Father, for your son's death, for our sin and his resurrection from the grave. For without that, we truly would not have hope. And all God's people said Amen.
The sermon series that Isaac kicked off last week is the Living hope. And our sub theme today, as shown on your sermon notes, is set apart for a purpose.
When I study any portion of this great book called the Bible, I go verse by verse.
We're going to do that today, but I'm going to tell you, put on the seat belts because we're going to be going pretty fast. There's a lot of text to cover.
So last week Isaac preached about the first 12 verses of First Peter, chapter one.
And at this point we've literally reached the midpoint.
Here in the middle of chapter one, Peter makes a shift. If the first part could be described as encouragement to live in hope of our coming salvation, then the second part of chapter one could be described as an exhortation to walk in holiness worthy of that salvation.
Then we're going to transition into chapter two where Peter gives us some specific instructions on how to conduct our lives.
So today's theme is set apart for a purpose. I like to start today with some practical examples. I hope you can leave today with some visuals, but I've got two serving bowls. One is plastic and common and one's pretty fancy, given to us by Kim's mom and dad. This one, the crystal, is not for everyday use, but it's set apart for special occasions.
So this one we use all the time.
God doesn't call us to blend in with our world or culture.
The analogy that I'm really. Whoop, can't put the bigger bowl in the smaller one.
The analogy I'm drawing here is God calls us to live differently, to be set apart from our culture or world, not because we're better, but because we're his, set apart for a purpose. My examples of purpose are pretty easy. I'm an engineer by trade and, you know, here's some wire cutters, here's a screwdriver. If I try to use these for putting in a Phillips screw, it wouldn't work. Likewise, if I tried to strip a wire or cut a wire with this, this, I'd become pretty frustrated. Each of these tools and many others in the toolboxes I own serve a purpose. So set apart for a purpose for those that are able. I'm going to ask you to stand to read the first portion of the text starting in verse 13, which will be up on the screen.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought as obedient children.
Fantastic. Please be seated.
The King James Version of the Bible states verse 13 as wherefore gird up your loins, prepare your minds for action, be sober. Rest your hope fully upon the grace that has been brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In this text, Peter starts with the word depending on the version, therefore or wherefore. You may have heard the joke that when you read in the Bible and you see a therefore, what is it there for?
This therefore links the first 12 verses of chapter one to the specific actions that we are to take because we have been chosen for such an incredible salvation.
Therefore. Therefore we have an obligation to respond and not respond in just any way, but in a very specific way.
Our response is holiness.
Holy living, righteous living in our thoughts, words and actions. And how do we prepare for living that holy life?
We start with our minds.
Minds which are girded, as it said in the King James Version, or alert and fully sober. This leads us to our first fill in of the day, which is shown in your sermon notes. Peter states by stating we must first prepare our minds for action.
As I just showed up on the screen. The King James Version states, gird up the loins of your mind. You'll see a picture here of what it means to gird a garbage garment.
In Jesus day they wore a long tunic which extended down to the ankles. When you girded it, you would pull it up and tie the hem of the garment up around your waist.
Girding the garment was always a preparatory step for decisive action, active work or battle.
That is what Peter is trying to tell us here.
Our first step in seeking the holiness that the Father wants us to pursue is to gird our minds.
It doesn't come by luck or wishful thinking.
We must mentally agree that holiness is in fact our goal. And continuing on in that same verse, he writes, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded. What does sober mean?
The literal meaning would mean not to get drunk with wine.
However, I think Peter's intention here is a bit more broad.
He's attempting to convey what your second villain is. Being sober is a general reference to controlling lust or passion.
If we are to prepare our minds for action and have them remain in control, I would offer that fasting could be a great discipline for us to practice.
The Bible states very clearly, when you fast, not if you fast.
I'm not going to belabor this point. We won't spend much time on it. But fasting can be a very good tool to discipline our mind.
Our flesh has its own power within each and every one of us, of us, and it influences our mind and influences our spirit. But the flesh can be disciplined and it takes practice. It's something I personally greatly struggle with. But I would encourage fasting as a methodology to help discipline our fleshly desires.
Continuing on in the text, the same verse it says, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your form ignorance.
Peter tells us that we are to be obedient children.
Now, I want to be sure that I convey this correctly. Our relationship with Christ is based on faith and not performance. Let's ensure we all understand that we are out of our love for Jesus to be obedient.
With that statement, I'm going to give you the next fill in our enjoyment of the Christian relationship. Relationship has everything to do with obedience.
If you want some proof of this, it's not too tough. Try living in complete disobedience and disregard for your spouse's wishes or your parents. If you're a young adult, do this even for a little while and see what effect it has on that marriage or that relationship.
The enjoyment is not realized nearly as much now. The marriage or relationship doesn't dissolve when there is some disobedience. Similarly, our covenant with Christ, thank God, does not dissolve when we disobey Christ's commands, but the fellowship suffers.
If you want multiple real life examples of this, please see Kim After Service.
So continuing on in verse 14 as obedient children, do not be conformed conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
Passions is also translated as evil desires or lusts, but I would like to focus on the word conformed which is also utilized in Romans 12:2. Conforming.
I've worked my entire career in the automotive industry and specifically in high pressure die casting. If you drove or rode in a car here today, which I assume the majority of you did, there's probably a couple dozen high pressure die castings in it. Why do I bring that up? Because in high pressure die casting we take molten liquid aluminum and we inject it into a mold. Under pressure, the aluminum takes the shape of the mold.
It conforms to the shape of the mold. This is true of our lives all and is also your next fill in. We really will take the shape of the object we worship.
Now give this some thought. It has serious implications. How do you tell what you worship? Get out your checkbook or your online account.
Maybe journal what you do for a couple weeks.
You will understand how you're spending your time and what you're worshiping.
You will look like it, you will advertise it. You will take the shape of the object you worship. In other words, if you're a Christian and we are intentionally and actively worshiping God, you're not shaping your life by the passions of this world, lust and anger and the things that characterize this culture in this world that we live in will not affect us.
We are to gird our minds, set ourselves apart heart, and intentionally live our purpose for God. We take our Savior's shape.
Do not conform to this world.
The last portion of verse 14 says, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance this verse ends with the words of your former ignorance.
We no longer have excuses, Church.
I'll leave it at that.
So now I'll get to the last two verses of what we read together up on the screen.
But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am so holy. Okay, Church, let's shout out the definition of holy.
Bingo. You guys are quick learners to be set apart, of course. Or a more formal definition. If you yank a dictionary off the shelf or Google, it would be set apart for a sacred purpose or consecrated, which is obviously the theme of this text.
I also ran into a great quote by the Pastor J. Vernon McGee While I was preparing for this. He states, even today you can know the Lord, but be sick spiritually.
What physical health is to the body, holiness is to the believer's spiritual life.
I like to pause and let that sink in.
What physical health is to the body, holiness is to the believer's spiritual life.
Kurt Skelly is a pastor that Kim and I have traveled to Israel with and other parts of the Mideast. And he listens.
He wrote seven truths about this portion of the text which are in your handout. We are God's children. We are accountable. We take the shape of the worship. We object. We know better now. Can't use ignorance as an excuse.
God's own example. Jesus Christ exhibited that holy behavior. That we are to follow his calling is unquestionable. And we have an incentive to live, live like Jesus Christ.
A great verse which reinforces everything we just talked about is made by the author of Hebrews, which I'll have up on the screen here. In Hebrews 10:14, it says, for by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
And God even spoke this to Moses. In Leviticus 19:2, God said to Moses, speak to all the congregations of the people of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, are holy.
So if we seek a closer relationship with our God, with our Savior, with our Lord, we need to seek holiness to find it. Okay, continuing on with the text. In verse 17, and if you call on him as Father, who judges impartially according to one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile.
Peter's kind of turning up the heat a little bit in what he's writing.
The ESV version shown on the screen starts out with and if. Well, the word if is ei. The letters EI, which is pronounced I in the Greek.
It basically means something that is true and leads to a conclusion.
In old computer programming language that I Learned in the 80s, you may be familiar with if then statements in Fortran or if you're if you do Excel, it also has it, but what it means an if then statement is if the first logical statement is true, then the programming proceeds to the next statement.
So if we call God our Father, or since we call God our Father, he is also later in that verse, our impartial judge.
Now please note, the word for judge here is the Greek word kreno. It's not like you're going in front of a judge for a traffic ticket.
This word suggests judging with the intent to find good.
It reminds me of what Adam emphasized two weeks ago, being a judge at a county fair for animals for or livestock. They judge to find good, not with a sense of condensation.
God will evaluate our works. Peter is stating looking for what we did good. It's not a judgment of salvation that was settled on the cross.
The verse then goes on to state that we conduct ourselves in fear during our short time that we're on this earth. This is not a hey, I'm scared to death or kind of fear, I live afraid of God. It means that we have a reverential awe and respect for our loving Heavenly Father.
And that fear again begins with an awareness, a mental toughness, not to get sidetracked into the whirlpool of the world's issues.
We should fear the eternal consequences of our sinful choices when we had a call on our lives to do otherwise and honor God.
So the text knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Maintaining a healthy respect for God begins right here in the text. We're not purchased with silver or gold, but but with the perfect spotless lamb that was slain for our salvation.
We have all been purchased with a great price.
That leads us to our next fill in.
What something is worth is equivalent to the price paid for it.
Think about this.
The greatest price paid for anything in this world God was willing to pay with his own life for each and every one of us.
The most expensive item ever purchased at a public auction was a painting that da Vinci did. It's called the Salvador mundi. It fetched 450 million at an auction back in 2021.
It remains the highest known Price for a singular item at an auction.
Quite frankly, each and every one of us are worth more than that.
Please turn to your left and your right and say, you are valuable. You are priceless.
You guys must talk slower than I do.
Continuing on in verse 20.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. What does this mean?
We appreciate the relationship that we have with God through Christ. Without the word God becoming flesh, as the Gospel of John states, we would not be able to to understand God. There is one way, one truth, one life.
Jesus is that mediator. He is the express image of God. By Jesus we have salvation. Can I get an amen?
Jesus died and was resurrected and now lives in a glorified body.
As believers in Jesus Christ, this is also our future.
I'm personally looking forward to shedding this body and having a glorified body. Body.
We have a God that has a plan for our life. We are set apart with a purpose.
Continuing on in verse 22. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
Here Peter's giving us an essential ingredient for success in the pursuit of hope. Holiness.
Have sincere love for one another.
Love one another deeply from the heart.
We are not to pursue holiness alone. The love and support in each and every one of you is critical in the Church's pursuit of holiness.
As Jesus loved us, we are to love others.
Continuing on in verse 23. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God.
For all flesh is like grass and all glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the Word of God remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
This last portion of the text to me really states, Our time on earth is short compared to eternity.
Live as foreigners, as visitors, as exiles, as aliens on this earth, because this earth is not our home.
Okay, we're going to transition into chapter two now. Is everyone with me?
I'm going to start with a short story about one of my favorite pastors.
To kick off chapter two, Joni's mother looked out the window and noticed him playing church with their three kittens.
He had the three kittens sitting in a row and he was preaching to them. She smiled and went about her work. A little while later she heard some loud meowing and hissing and she ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the kittens in a tub of water.
She called out, johnny, stop that. The kittens are afraid of water. Johnny looked up at her and said, well, they should have thought about that before they joined my church.
This story reminds me a little bit of First Peter Peter because sometimes I feel like one of those kittens.
You know, one minute I'm playing church and it's easy and convenient. But then the next minute the Lord gets serious with me and he begins to show me the truth of His Word in many new ways. And then the next thing I know, he begins to get serious about with me, about the purpose that he has for me and his expectations about what I'm supposed to do in my walk as a Christian.
So continuing on with the text in chapter two Put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Like newborn infants long for pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is is good.
This chapter starts with the words so and put away. In the Greek, put away is the word apatithy.
Most Bible versions use the word set aside, or putting aside, sow are Therefore Again, what's the therefore? Because we have been brought into faith by God, so therefore do two things. First, one's a fill in rid yourselves of sin, rid yourself, or put aside things that used to grip me or bind me before I knew the Lord are to be thrown off.
This same word is stated in Ephesians chapter 4, Colossians 3 and James 1. In Ephesians 4:22 it says, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of Life.
In Ephesians 4:25 it says, Therefore having put away all falsehood, in Colossians 3. 8 it says, but now you must put them all away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. And lastly in James 1, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.
Many occasions of putting things aside in the Bible, giving us direct instruction.
And so before we can be influenced by the word of God effectively, we've got to deal with the known sin in our life or put it aside.
And the second item, Peter states, is long for the word of God.
The end of chapter one stated, to fervently love one another from the heart. What inhibits the this my own selfishness, my own flesh.
We need to set aside these traits because they stand in the way of Christian maturity. Malice stands in the way of fellowship and abiding relationship with other believers. Deceit stands in the way of transparency and the conviction that transparency promotes hypocrisy, envy and slander are a result of a heart condition of malice and disposition. Deceit and all these characteristics, all these adjectives come from the flesh.
So you may be asking me right now, what's the secret sauce? Norm? You know, how do we leave these sins behind?
So it's found in verse 2.
Like newborn infants long for pure spiritual milk that you may grow up, that by it you may grow up into salvation.
The great John MacArthur, excuse me, who passed into eternity about a week and a half ago ago, may have stated a summary of this verse.
Don't read the Bible traditionally because your parents read it. Don't read it superstitiously as if it's going to deliver some religious charm. Don't read it educationally just to know the facts. Don't read it professionally for material for your lesson or for your sermon.
Don't read it inquisitively just so you can bring out the latest biblical trivia. No, no, no, no. Read it spiritually.
Read it as nourishment.
This is your next fill in.
Read the Bible because you can't live without it and you'll be exposed to a terrible danger if you don't read it.
As I previously stated, Kim and I have five grandchildren, five to almost 11.
Kim and I no longer have babies in our direct family.
But what are some characteristics of a baby or a newborn infant that relate to Peter's verse which we'll show on the screen? Like newborn infants long for pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.
An infant baby simply desires milk, doesn't have to be taught. It's a relationship of dependence and necessity and it's a natural desire. The newborn doesn't eat a variety of foods. The baby only drinks pure milk. And just like babies who long or crave for pure milk, that should be our attitude as Christians regarding God's Word.
Just as a baby couldn't eat junk food and be expected to thrive, we as Christians can't expect to mature properly on a diet of self help books.
So we need to ask ourselves, how thirsty are we for the Word of God?
How open like a newborn baby are we to learning all that the Spirit wants to teach us?
There is absolutely no substitute for the Word of God. The Word of God, which will be the Instrument which draws us to maturity.
We must long, we must crave for God's Word in our life.
We got to make it a priority. Starts up here.
We must stop eating the junk food that our culture throws at us. And there is so much junk food in our world.
Use discernment. Once we do these two things, we will grow in the spirit and mature as Christians.
There's a quote that I found from a gentleman named Weird.
He quoted it is sad when Christians have no appetite for God's word but must be fed religious entertainment instead.
Ooh, this leads us to our last fill in for this morning.
We cannot improve on the Word of God.
We cannot improve on the Spirit inspired Word of God.
Crave Yearn for the Word of God.
Stop allowing ourselves to dine on junk food.
We'll continue in chapter two at verse four. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men. But in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Christ, for it stands in Scripture. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
They stumble because they disobey the Word as they were destined to do a long portion of the text, but I'd like to highlight the beginning of it in verse four. It starts out as you come to him, the living stone.
Let's break down this verse. Who is you?
It's pretty obvious it's you and I come to him. Wow. Let's give this some thought. Isn't it incredible that we, you, me, I can approach God directly?
That was the focus of our last sermon series, Teach us to Pray.
Approaching God or communicating with God directly.
But sometimes I think we can be so cavalier and not recognize the blessing that we have as New Testament believers. How indifferent and sometimes nonchalant we can be with the fact that we can approach the Lord. Lord, at any time of the day, any day of the week.
If we look back into the Old Testament, remember, for generations people would have loved that opportunity to approach God. Even in God's chosen nation of Israel.
In Old Testament times, only the high priest could go into the holy of Holies. And that was once per year on the day of atonement. And it was with great fear and Trepidation.
But you and I can approach God anytime, anywhere, with confidence.
Why? Because of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, the author of Hebrews states, let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
Continuing on in that section, Peter stated, see, I lay a stone in Zion, a precious and chosen cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
Well, Peter states that just as Christ himself was called the chosen or chief cornerstone, choice and precious in the sight of God, we likewise are living stones.
We are put together as the Church and we are imperfect.
However, the perfect stone, Jesus Christ, is our cornerstone and we build off of that perfect base, the perfect base that he showed us during his time on earth.
So we utilize that perfect cornerstone, Jesus, to be our model for our behavior, for our behavior, to exemplify or demonstrate obedience and holiness.
Now how is God going to put that obedience and holiness to work if we, the Church, devote ourselves to holiness and self control? If we put aside those persistent sins associated with former selves and grow in the maturity of the Word of God, we are additional stones to construct his bride, the Church.
But like our cornerstone, Scripture also states we should expect persecution out in the world and we may be despised in this world. From the Beatitude from Matthew chapter five, it says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. And it follows, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is difficult to to take.
It bruises our pride.
Rejoice and be glad when we are insulted, when we're persecuted, and when we're lied about.
But the next section of the text will help us understand this.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
In this biblical time that we live in, known as the Church Age, Peter reminds us through the verses on the screen that we are God's chosen people. We are a priesthood of believers. We are a holy nation set apart from this world to be a light.
We are people that God calls His own and he dwells with us through the Holy Spirit, and we receive mercy. Amen.
Now we'll come to the last two verses of today's text.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Here again, Peter uses identity language. He uses the word sojourners, which can also mean foreigners, and he uses the word exiles, terms that show this is not our home.
In other words, we're living in a strange land right now. We may have been born here physically and for a time we may have thought of this earth as our home, but at that time we had no idea of anything more. But now, as Christians, we've been born again by the Spirit into a living hope, into a heavenly citizenship.
So now, as Scripture clearly tells us, we belong elsewheres, even though for a time we're going to live here. While we may understand and even agree to this principle, it's an entirely different thing to live out. It's tough.
Then yet again, Peter states to abstain from sinful desires in these closing verses. In verse 12, he says, Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Live such a life that non believers see Christ through your actions.
This verse makes me think of our neighboring outreach that Julianne is heading up that they may see your good deeds and glorify God.
Folks.
That's the definition, in my opinion, of neighboring Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, continuing on with this so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they see your good deeds.
Another example here is two mirrors that I'm holding and I'll apologize in advance if I reflect some light into your eyes.
One is clean, I can see my reflection very well.
The other other smudged, dirty, no reflection whatsoever.
We church, as shown by the verse on the screen, are meant to reflect the behavior of our Savior, he who gave us the most valuable gift on this earth, eternal life.
What are we going to reflect? Are we going to be like this mirror, clean, surrendered, and people around us can easily see a reflection of Jesus?
Or are we going to be like this other mirror where no matter how I turn and tilt it, you can't convey a clear image?
Surrender church and allow God to use each and every one of us to reflect his glory.
Think about how you can apply this at your workplace, at your home out in the world, that they may see your good deeds and glorify Go.
That is our goal.
Paul states it this way in Ephesians 2 for we are God's handiwork, created in Jesus Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do so. In conclusion, I've listed some questions in the handout for you to consider this week, and I'm going to highlight one of them going back to verse two. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.
As I said before, junk food can rob us of our appetite for pure spiritual milk.
I challenge each and every one of us to identify the junk food in our life, what needs to occur to change our diet life and taste the full goodness of what the Lord offers and salvation?
God's prepared for us a wonderful life we earlier defined what set apart means. To be holy, we are given a direct command from Peter through the Spirit.
We are set apart for a purpose.
God has given us free will and I'm going to challenge myself and all of you with these last words.
Yeah, but as he who has called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written you shall be holy or set apart, for I am holy Set apart so I'm going to end with a series of questions. How set apart do we want to be in this world?
Do we want to be set apart enough to wear a cross, but not enough to carry a cross?
Do we want to be set apart enough to get to half, but not set apart enough to change our behavior here on earth?
Do we want to be set apart that the Word may inspire and excite us on Sunday mornings, but not enough to transform or change me permanently?
Do we want to be set apart enough for God to bless my plans, but not set apart for God to be able to change my plan plans?
Do we want to be set apart to love those who love us or not set enough apart to love those who are difficult enough to love, difficult to love?
Do we want to be set apart to be a good neighbor, but not set apart enough to love our neighbors as ourselves?
And lastly, do we want to be set apart enough that we taste your milk on Sunday morning, but not set apart enough to crave this wonderful mill Monday through Saturday?
Like these two mirrors, we basically get to choose how set apart we're going to be and how we reflect our Savior to an unknowing world.
We all have a purpose which goes beyond ourselves, set apart for all, a purpose and church. If we don't fulfill these purposes, being the hands and feet of God on this earth, who will?
Who will?
Heavenly Father, the closer we get to you, the closer we get to your word.
It brings conviction.
And conviction is not necessarily easy, but it's a necessary component of the Holy Spirit that we improve.
Lord, we give all glory to you. We love you and we just love the truth of your word.
You know, earlier, the team here played the song I am Available.
I say yes, Lord, I pray that for each and every one that is in here today that we say, yes, Father. I pray that you cover the mistakes that I made in this teaching today with the truth of your word.
I pray that we discipline our minds, we gird our minds with a focus on holiness, as you have told us to do. I also pray, Father, that however you want to set us apart, whatever purpose you want us to fill in your plan, that we be obedient to that direction. I pray we would seek to please you, Father, through a pursuit of holiness.
And I pray that anyone who has not accepted you as their savior, Father, they do that this very minute.
I pray they come on up to the prayer team after this last song and give their heart to you, Father, in the great name of our Savior Jesus Christ and all God's people. Sad.
[01:16:13] Speaker A: Here's your heart.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.
As I am found, I am yours.
I am loved, I'm made pure.
I have life, I can breathe.
I am healed, I am free.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.
Cause I am found, I am yours.
I am, I am loved. I'm made pure.
I have life, I can breathe.
I am healed, I am free.
Cause you are strong, you are sure, you are alive.
You endure and you are good.
Always true.
You are light breaking through.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord. Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Speak what is true.
[01:18:59] Speaker C: Here's my life.
[01:19:02] Speaker A: Here's my life, Lord.
Here's my life, Lord.
Here's my life, Lord.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
[01:19:42] Speaker C: You know in this world you're going to have many voices competing for truth in your life.
The world's going to tell you a lot of different things are truth.
But there is only one truth that you can ever count on.
That there's a God who loves you more than you will ever know.
When we cry this out, will you guys cry out? Would you give your heart, heart truly up to him? Let him know that we worship him and him alone.
[01:20:10] Speaker B: It's for his glory.
Would you sing this with us?
[01:20:26] Speaker A: Cause I am found, I am your.
I am loved, I'm made pure.
I have life, I can breathe.
I am here, I am free. Cause you are. Cause you are strong, you are sure.
You are alive.
You endure and you are good.
Always true.
You are light breaking through.
And you are more than enough.
You are here and you are love.
You are hope, you are grace.
You're all I have.
You're my everything.
So here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord.
Here's my heart.
Lo.
Speak what is true.
Here's my life, Lord.
Here's my life.
Here is my life, Lord.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
Oh God.
Speak what is true.
Speak what? Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
Speak what is true.
Amen.
[01:23:06] Speaker C: Church Valuable reminder today that you are chosen, that you are loved. And we have been set apart for a purpose.
For a purpose to go out and reflect his light and his glory into this world that is dark and desperately needs it.
So as we close here this morning, thank you for worshiping with us.
If you would like to be prayed for, you have a prayer need something that's come up that you would want our prayer prayer team up here to my left and your left of both sides up here. Come up here or our prayer room back off the atrium. We can have and receive prayer that way as well.
And as you go out this week, go with the love of the Father and the grace of the Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit, go in his peace. Amen. We'll see you next week.
