WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.620 Good morning church family. 00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:05.400 I'm glad to be able to join you online from wherever you're watching or listening from. 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.190 I want to invite you to 1 Peter 1 where we're going to be together. 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:13.560 While you turn to 1 Peter 1, we're in a series called All In. 00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:19.250 We're looking at how Jesus went all in for us and asking us the question are we all in for him? 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:26.640 And while you turn to that, I do want to let you know as a church family, I know some of us are starting to ask the question, what's it going to look like when we're 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.070 able to gather back together? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:36.180 I just want to pause as I get ready to get into this text and just tell you this morning just how thankful and blessed I am for the church that 00:00:36.180 --> 00:00:36.640 we have. 00:00:36.720 --> 00:00:42.920 I know the season we're in psychologically has a different effect on all of us depending on where we are. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:50.060 So as we move forward, we're going to do so with concern and care for everyone knowing we can't please everyone. 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.900 We want to be gracious in how we go through this. 00:00:52.940 --> 00:00:59.680 And just say whatever plan we put forth, we don't want you to feel obligated to have to do any of it. 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:05.580 But we do want to provide opportunities for us as a church family knowing that we all crave fellowship. 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:06.920 We want to do it the best we can. 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:14.300 We're going to contain to offer online opportunities and we're talking about different ways for people depending on where you are and how this is impacting 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:19.420 you in being able to provide some form of community to encourage you. 00:01:19.460 --> 00:01:20.520 But we are thinking about that. 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:24.310 We are planning, we actually have a meeting after this service to talk about those steps moving forward. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:29.280 And we recognize things change so rapidly that whatever we plan in a few weeks could be different. 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:31.280 But I do want you to know that I miss you. 00:01:31.300 --> 00:01:38.620 We're praying for you and throughout all of this have been just blessed and encouraged by seeing the care and generosity of 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.340 our church through our current a relief fund. 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.400 Our church finances have been good. 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:50.440 Seeing the way people have been just offering, caring and providing for community and people around them. 00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:58.180 Even the donation box we have out here as a church to collect food for non perishable items for people that 00:01:58.180 --> 00:01:59.640 might have needs. 00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:02.880 You can drop this off Tuesday to Thursday here at the church from nine to five. 00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:05.180 We have our doors open to do that. 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:12.800 There's a little concern with how the economic impact will continue and we just want to be ready to love on people and 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.200 actively loving people right now. 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:22.830 And as I consider where our church is, I don't want to make a bigger deal out of circumstances than what they are. 00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:29.960 And all of us may be viewing this from a different lens, but I think that we will continue to see a ripple effect through the scenario that 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:30.340 we're in. 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:34.240 And the book of 1 Peter is a beautiful book for us to look at. 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:35.760 So here's my prayer for us today. 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:44.400 I want 1 Peter not to be just a passage that I understand intellectually, but I want it to impact my heart 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:48.860 and my life in the way that it transforms me in God's word. 00:02:49.320 --> 00:02:57.180 And I can't emphasize enough how important 1 Peter 1-2 are for us. 00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:00.790 Because, Peter's writing to an audience that's going through adversity. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:09.120 I know that they're being persecuted because their faith, we're not necessarily being persecuted because our faith, but we're facing some challenges in life right 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:09.560 now. 00:03:09.760 --> 00:03:10.910 And it could continue. 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:12.790 It could amplify, I don't know. 00:03:13.600 --> 00:03:18.780 But 1 Peter, 1-2 lays really a foundation for us. 00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:21.180 So central to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:24.670 Then because of that he starts making the application. 00:03:24.940 --> 00:03:28.370 Okay with this foundation, what does it look like in my life? 00:03:28.940 --> 00:03:36.100 And so this chapter becomes the root for which everything else finds it's nourishment for 00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:38.360 how we live the Christian life. 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:46.200 If you just remember as we've gone through chapter one, we've taken a few weeks to do this, but as we've gone through chapter one, the 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:53.720 opening verses verse one and two, he tells us the audience he's writing to, which we've talked about as being modern day Turkey. 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:56.500 And Peter is not with the believers there. 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.920 He says he's writing from Babylon, which we believe is modern day Rome. 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:05.980 It's the way they would refer to Rome at the time as Babylon because they don't want to be persecuted anymore than they were. 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:09.500 And so they would give this nickname, I think, to Rome as being Babylon. 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:14.940 And Peter is not too far from being martyred for his own life. 00:04:15.380 --> 00:04:20.339 In fact, Clement of Alexandria says that Peter's wife was crucified. 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:24.200 Then Peter himself was crucified upside down because of his faith. 00:04:24.380 --> 00:04:26.960 And so Peter, he's going through this hardship. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:34.060 In fact, it tells us in these opening verses in verse five and six that they're going through these trials and 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:36.270 the Peter goes on and says he's going through it with them. 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:44.140 But he reminds us that they have something that's imperishable and undefiled in verse three and four because of the resurrection 00:04:44.140 --> 00:04:45.180 of Jesus. 00:04:46.260 --> 00:04:53.360 That becomes central to who we are as Christians to the point where Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if the resurrection didn't happen, Christians 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.480 are to be most pitied of all people. 00:04:55.520 --> 00:04:57.480 So that is the foundation of our faith. 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:01.210 We see because Jesus has life, He promises that we too will have life. 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:03.780 And so our faith is undefiled in that way. 00:05:03.780 --> 00:05:05.140 It's imperishable in that way. 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:07.140 It endures despite circumstance. 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:13.080 I don't know how much you've thought about this, but when God created the human soul, it was created to live forever. 00:05:13.860 --> 00:05:19.040 It will live forever and God desires for your soul to be with him, by faith, through Jesus. 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:26.460 Because of what Jesus has done for you, if you put your faith in Christ, that soul is experienced in his grace and 00:05:26.460 --> 00:05:27.820 presence forever. 00:05:29.280 --> 00:05:31.040 It is imperishable in that way. 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:38.160 That's why Peter says to the believers, look, your soul is imperishable through the resurrection as it relates to Christ, because you will be through faith in Jesus 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:39.940 for what he's done for you with him forever. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:41.890 So you have that hope that endures. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:50.020 And so even though we're being persecuted, verse five and six, you have a faith, verse seven and nine that is, that is more precious than gold. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.830 Because it endures beyond all of this world. 00:05:54.020 --> 00:05:58.030 And then in verse 10 and 12 he reminds us just how incredible it is to be a part of today. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:04.180 Because he says in verse 10 to 12 that even the prophets and angels have long to look into this. 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:10.480 Angels can't fathom why God would become flesh and give his life for sinners who have turned their backs on God. 00:06:10.700 --> 00:06:12.240 And his love has transformed us. 00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:19.440 The angels look into this and the prophets have even looked forward to this day because they have been declaring something that didn't happen during 00:06:19.440 --> 00:06:22.280 their day but now it's become true in our day. 00:06:22.380 --> 00:06:24.360 So our faith becomes so precious. 00:06:24.520 --> 00:06:29.780 And then he gives this pinnacle statement, verse 15 and he begins to answer this question for us. 00:06:29.780 --> 00:06:32.820 How do we respond in these difficult days? 00:06:33.260 --> 00:06:35.280 We're all gonna face adversity in life. 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:36.700 And so how do you respond? 00:06:37.380 --> 00:06:40.520 Our faith is intended to be beyond circumstance. 00:06:41.440 --> 00:06:45.020 Because we have something that transcends circumstance in Jesus. 00:06:45.400 --> 00:06:51.140 And so verse 15 he gives us this statement, and this really becomes a foundational place for 1 Peter. 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:58.560 He says, but be like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves also in 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.240 all of your behavior. 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:03.240 And so then what does he say to us? 00:07:03.260 --> 00:07:10.420 What's our marching orders based on the circumstance though it may be adverse, but because of Jesus and what he's overcome, 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:14.000 he says this is where we're called to then be holy, be holy. 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:23.060 So as he lays out his letter in 1 Peter, he then starts to shape for us, okay, what is the outworking of all 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:28.540 of this because of what Jesus has done and our faith in Jesus, what does this look like? 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.880 What does it mean to be holy? 00:07:33.940 --> 00:07:41.640 I think it's important for us just to stop in this as we consider this idea of being holy, to 00:07:41.640 --> 00:07:46.600 just consider the magnitude of what it means to be separated this way. 00:07:46.660 --> 00:07:53.980 Remember I said last week that sometimes we think of holiness and we have a right framework towards it, but 00:07:53.980 --> 00:07:57.780 we sort of stopped short of really all that holiness intends to be in our lives. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:03.500 Sometimes we think about holiness, we think that it means don't sin or do good. 00:08:03.760 --> 00:08:06.660 It's about not doing the bad things and doing the good things. 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:13.380 But the problem with just stopping there is that it misses the bigger picture of holiness altogether. 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:17.260 Because you can be good all day long and never have God. 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:20.460 You can do good things without God. 00:08:22.020 --> 00:08:29.520 You can't necessarily do good things that are godly things in that sense, but not sending and looking good or doing good. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.820 You can do that without relationship with God. 00:08:31.820 --> 00:08:34.760 So that's not entirely a rightfully what Holy means. 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:40.770 The better definition of understanding holiness is that where you are set apart as distinct. 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:45.580 Meaning there is this world system, but this world is falling apart. 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:46.420 It will fade away. 00:08:47.540 --> 00:08:51.300 And you as a believer in Jesus have now something that's imperishable, it sets you apart. 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:55.500 And that determines how you live, not this world. 00:08:55.500 --> 00:08:58.000 This circumstances do not dictate who you are. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.280 Jesus does the one who is eternal. 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:01.700 The one who created you for his purposes. 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:03.740 And that's what holiness is. 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:07.880 Now, in light of holiness that should transcend in the way that we live. 00:09:07.880 --> 00:09:13.340 That's why he correlates this word holiness in the very last word in verse 15 as behavior. 00:09:14.380 --> 00:09:20.000 Because your setting apart for God should then lead to a certain way in which you live your life. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:25.060 It's different to say that you believe something and believe in something, right? 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:29.320 You can believe things all day long, but it doesn't necessarily dictate how you live. 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:34.470 But when you believe in it, that shows this trust that permeates through your life. 00:09:35.660 --> 00:09:40.180 The Greek has this word for believe it's pistueos. 00:09:41.160 --> 00:09:48.260 It's "believe." But what's interesting when you look in the New Testament, they took that word and they combine it with this other word which is "in." 00:09:49.060 --> 00:09:57.140 This pistueos ice, "believe in." If I gave us an understanding or sort of an example of what that would look like, let's 00:09:57.140 --> 00:10:00.370 suppose for a moment that you walk into an auditorium. 00:10:00.540 --> 00:10:03.320 It's maybe been a long time since you've been in one. 00:10:03.770 --> 00:10:08.860 Maybe there's a crowd there, or maybe you're in a social distance auditorium and you're just the only one. 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:12.180 But when you're in there, you see a high wire walker. 00:10:13.880 --> 00:10:20.200 And this person comes down and he says, do you think I can walk across this wire with a wheel barrel full of things? 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:21.500 And you're like, sure. 00:10:21.520 --> 00:10:22.280 I believe you. 00:10:22.400 --> 00:10:23.620 You've seen them walk the wire. 00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:25.480 Why couldn't they walk it with a wheelbarrow? 00:10:25.760 --> 00:10:32.030 And so they get up and they walk across this high wire with everything loaded in it all the way across the other side. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:36.580 And then they maybe say to you, okay, but do you believe I could do it with you in it? 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.380 And you say, sure, I believe that you could do that. 00:10:39.380 --> 00:10:41.720 I just saw you do it with stuff loaded in the wheelbarrow. 00:10:41.800 --> 00:10:42.820 Of course you can do it with me in it. 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:49.220 And what if they say right after that, okay, get in. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:56.260 The difference in that will determine whether or not you believe or you believe in. 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:03.880 When you put your trust into that wheel barrel, the person pushing that wheelbarrow that says, okay, 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:08.480 you believe in it because now you're in the wheel barrel allowing this person. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:09.520 And I'm not that crazy. 00:11:09.520 --> 00:11:10.540 I'm not going to do that ever. 00:11:11.140 --> 00:11:12.340 So don't ask me. 00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:15.760 But that's what it means to believe in Jesus. 00:11:16.060 --> 00:11:18.840 You look at the truth of what he says, and it's one thing to simply say, I believe it. 00:11:20.760 --> 00:11:21.580 But do you believe in it? 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:30.200 Because when you believe in it, that's what leads you to this holiness, this place of being separated, distinct, 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:30.680 set apart. 00:11:32.280 --> 00:11:37.240 So the question becomes for us then in 1 Peter, knowing that these believers in this chapter are going through adversity. 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:42.220 What does that holiness look like lived out in my life? 00:11:45.400 --> 00:11:47.280 What does it mean for us to live this? 00:11:47.280 --> 00:11:50.460 Is to simply just say, okay, I believe, and I belong to Jesus? 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.140 When the rubber meets the road, how does this transpire through me? 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:01.990 He gives us the answer in verse 22 and he gives it this way. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:03.950 In difficult days, how to respond. 00:12:04.020 --> 00:12:05.020 Well, his answer is this. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:10.000 A holy life should meet difficult days with fervent love. 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:19.540 Let me read verse 22 for us, since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your soul. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.020 See, you've believed in this and you've been set apart. 00:12:23.020 --> 00:12:24.540 Your soul has been purified through this. 00:12:24.540 --> 00:12:25.950 This is the holiness he's describing. 00:12:26.180 --> 00:12:33.360 Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your soul for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:33.780 the heart. 00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:39.480 He's defining for us, okay, when you say you belong to Christ, how does that transpire in your life? 00:12:41.520 --> 00:12:42.020 Believing in. 00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:44.160 It gives you the answer. 00:12:46.180 --> 00:12:47.980 It's demonstrated through the way that you love others. 00:12:50.300 --> 00:12:56.980 People that belong to Jesus demonstrate that belonging to Jesus in how they love others. 00:12:57.260 --> 00:13:00.890 Because we more than anyone understanding what it means to be forgiven as a sinner. 00:13:02.280 --> 00:13:09.580 That God's love transforms us and the way that God worked in this world is through his love to the point he gave himself on the cross, 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:11.280 and that's what God's people are known for. 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:18.720 Holiness is seen in love and how you love. 00:13:19.300 --> 00:13:26.680 He describes it as not, not just the idea of love, fervent love, fervent love, 00:13:26.780 --> 00:13:26.880 right. 00:13:26.900 --> 00:13:34.020 Verse 22, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from 00:13:34.020 --> 00:13:34.380 the heart. 00:13:35.800 --> 00:13:36.540 Fervently love. 00:13:38.180 --> 00:13:40.480 Why work fervently? 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.180 And how in the world can you sustain fervently? 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:53.420 I would do much better with this idea of being holy to the Lord and loving in the Lord if he didn't describe it as fervently, 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.120 but more described as occasional love. 00:13:56.160 --> 00:13:57.760 Or circumstantial love. 00:13:57.760 --> 00:14:01.520 If the circumstances make you feel like you should love them, then just love. 00:14:01.700 --> 00:14:03.380 Or love when it's convenient to love. 00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:05.620 But he doesn't choose that word. 00:14:05.640 --> 00:14:07.960 He says fervently love. 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:10.350 And why is fervent love so important? 00:14:10.380 --> 00:14:11.560 Let me give you an example. 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:14.920 Fervent love is this love that works with an effort. 00:14:14.920 --> 00:14:18.180 It's like this sweating right towards this love. 00:14:18.180 --> 00:14:19.720 This straining in love. 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:21.820 It's this exerting, it takes energy. 00:14:24.920 --> 00:14:25.900 Why love that way? 00:14:26.560 --> 00:14:33.680 I read an article that talked about during this pandemic of recent that there 00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:39.260 is a record number of Bibles being sold right now. 00:14:41.640 --> 00:14:41.990 You know what that means? 00:14:45.160 --> 00:14:50.360 When circumstances disrupt our days and interrupt our routines, people look for answers. 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:59.580 And sometimes what we do in circumstances that are out of our routine is we like to hit the pause button and wait for things to go back to 00:14:59.580 --> 00:14:59.780 normal. 00:15:02.420 --> 00:15:03.560 But you know what fervent love recognizes? 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:11.960 People right now are asking questions and God's people have an answer. 00:15:12.020 --> 00:15:15.700 We're going to look at that answer in just a moment in this passage of scripture, but God's people have an answer. 00:15:17.040 --> 00:15:21.540 And what it encouraged you with this idea of fervent love, believers, is not to hit the pause button. 00:15:22.900 --> 00:15:28.210 But to understand that if you want to see transformation in this world, you've got to stand up, step out and do something. 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:30.920 Love fervently. 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.120 That's what it means to be holy in the Lord. 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:41.480 This fervent love it's definitely this idea of work in the love. 00:15:41.540 --> 00:15:45.600 That it's a love that becomes tangible, but how can I love fervently? 00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:53.340 You think about this when you get belittled, stressed, pressured, flustered, or even fought against like the Christians are 00:15:53.340 --> 00:15:54.220 in the first century. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:55.350 You think they're being persecuted. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.000 We do have challenged today in our circumstances. 00:15:59.380 --> 00:16:00.680 Maybe jobs are at risk. 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:02.400 Maybe you don't like the convenience of the way things are. 00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:05.000 There could be a little shortage in food coming up. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:06.200 All those things could be true. 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:09.640 What comes out? 00:16:13.540 --> 00:16:14.980 What comes out when you get stressed out? 00:16:17.020 --> 00:16:20.330 Do you stop and say, and I'm going to love deeply right now. 00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:30.520 So when you think about this fervent love, what I began to recognize in my own life is this fervent love needs to 00:16:30.520 --> 00:16:33.180 be met by something supernatural in my life. 00:16:35.540 --> 00:16:42.680 When I think about being holy to the Lord and that holiness looking like fervent love and understanding this fervent love for these Christians in the first century is 00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:47.940 met in adversity, in challenges, in circumstances that were not convenient for them. 00:16:48.020 --> 00:16:55.120 Yet Peter says to respond this way, to be able to do that, you have to be able to transcend your circumstance to something 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.320 greater than what's in front of you. 00:16:57.500 --> 00:16:58.760 Now, where does that come from? 00:16:58.780 --> 00:17:02.780 How do they get that supernatural love in those moments? 00:17:02.780 --> 00:17:05.280 In verse 23 he tells us this. 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:09.940 Fervent love is fueled by God's word. 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:15.900 Look at this, for you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable but of imperishable. 00:17:15.980 --> 00:17:22.400 There's something supernatural here and that is through the living and enduring word of God. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.280 What transformed your life? 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.319 The word of God's spoken into you. 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:29.540 And what will continue to transform your life? 00:17:29.780 --> 00:17:31.400 The word of God spoken into you. 00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:38.680 That's why I said in the beginning when we look at this chapter more than anything, my prayer for us in these first couple of chapters is to understand the significance of 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.620 this basis. 00:17:39.780 --> 00:17:43.120 Because this lays the foundation for everything that we do as believers. 00:17:45.620 --> 00:17:52.840 Everything that we are about is founded in this chapter, through the resurrection power of Christ made known to our lives 00:17:52.840 --> 00:17:54.580 in the power of his word. 00:17:56.800 --> 00:18:04.160 God's word is life in darkness because you have been born again, 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.460 not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:11.000 The living and enduring word of God. 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:14.380 Think of how significant this is. 00:18:15.840 --> 00:18:19.720 God's word, his presence, it's life. 00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:22.000 It's life. 00:18:22.060 --> 00:18:25.360 I think that's why John 1 copies Genesis 1. 00:18:26.820 --> 00:18:31.400 You think in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void. 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:34.020 And God's spoken said, let there be light and there was. 00:18:35.860 --> 00:18:38.160 When God speaks, life begins. 00:18:40.280 --> 00:18:41.440 God's word is life. 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:47.260 And in John 1, in the beginning, the word was with God and the word was God. 00:18:47.280 --> 00:18:48.980 The word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.020 And we beheld his glory. 00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:52.870 And now Jesus's presence comes, God in the flesh. 00:18:53.620 --> 00:18:55.820 And God's presence is life. 00:18:58.140 --> 00:19:01.260 2 Timothy 3:16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 00:19:01.260 --> 00:19:04.240 It refers to scripture as literally the breath of God. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:05.650 That's what the word inspiration means. 00:19:05.780 --> 00:19:07.200 God's word is life. 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:15.960 And so when we take this word and we allow it not just to know it intellectually but believe in it, let it become a part of our being 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:21.280 and saturate our soul, that it produces this supernatural life in us. 00:19:22.300 --> 00:19:23.660 So this is the encouragement for us. 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:25.810 How can I be holy and set apart? 00:19:25.860 --> 00:19:26.750 What does it look like? 00:19:26.780 --> 00:19:27.540 Well, fervent love. 00:19:27.840 --> 00:19:29.480 I can't love fervently. 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:31.460 My love has an end to it. 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.150 I can't do it in and of myself. 00:19:33.360 --> 00:19:35.100 I love when it's easy to love. 00:19:35.100 --> 00:19:37.200 I don't naturally love when it's hard to love. 00:19:37.320 --> 00:19:40.080 How can my life ever be transformed to love this way? 00:19:40.280 --> 00:19:44.040 Let God's life speak into you and where do you find that life? 00:19:44.100 --> 00:19:45.020 In his word. 00:19:47.260 --> 00:19:48.610 That's Peter's argument. 00:19:51.580 --> 00:19:58.980 When you think about the challenges of your day, when you want it to make a difference, you should root yourself 00:19:58.980 --> 00:19:59.920 in life. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.540 And that life is found in his word. 00:20:01.540 --> 00:20:03.180 God gave you his word for a reason. 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:09.580 That's why in Ephesians 6 it talks about the word of God is the sword. 00:20:09.860 --> 00:20:13.020 Or Hebrews 4:12 a similar description. 00:20:13.060 --> 00:20:18.490 He says it separates for us the bone and the marrow from the spirit and the soul. 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:22.200 That it cuts through us in that way. 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:26.160 In 2 Timothy 3:15 that it makes you wise for salvation. 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:33.480 And Romans 10:14 how in the world can anyone ever come to life less someone preach God's words to them because God's word is life and it brings life 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:34.380 into us. 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:37.080 It's life. 00:20:37.760 --> 00:20:42.680 Jesus even says in Matthew 5:18 not one jot or tittle will pass till all of it is fulfilled. 00:20:42.800 --> 00:20:43.700 All of God's word fulfilled. 00:20:45.800 --> 00:20:49.100 And Jesus highlighted the significance of his word for us. 00:20:51.300 --> 00:20:54.100 When I think about the power of God's word having life. 00:20:54.140 --> 00:20:58.660 And I think about just for historical sake, thinking about our own country. 00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:05.320 When I considered the Pilgrims and the Puritans that came across the ocean. 00:21:05.340 --> 00:21:11.300 Across the Atlantic to America and landed here, the Bible that founded America was the Geneva Bible. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:13.820 It wasn't the King James Bible. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.080 The Geneva Bible is written in Geneva, Switzerland. 00:21:16.100 --> 00:21:22.000 And the reason it was written in Geneva, Switzerland is because the Puritans were persecuted to the point that they went there to find safety. 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:26.490 And they put together the first study Bible in English. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.300 It wasn't the first English Bible, but the first English study Bible because they want to study God's word. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.140 And they wanted freedom to do that in a land where they wouldn't be persecuted. 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:35.130 So they come to America. 00:21:35.560 --> 00:21:36.820 And here's what's really cool. 00:21:37.120 --> 00:21:44.960 When they come to America, the first Bible printed in America, 00:21:45.280 --> 00:21:47.380 wasn't even in English. 00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:57.020 The first Bible printed in America came from a man named John Elliot for the Algonquin Native 00:21:57.020 --> 00:22:04.440 Americans In the 1600s the individuals seeking freedom 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.680 to study and learn and grow in God's word. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.580 They come across Puritans, Pilgrims, and they have the Geneva Bible. 00:22:11.020 --> 00:22:15.300 A Bible written out of persecution because they understand the significance of God's word. 00:22:15.340 --> 00:22:16.730 And they knew God's word was life. 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:21.570 And when they get to America, the first Bible they choose to print isn't even in their own language. 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:29.120 But rather they choose to print it in another language, the language of the people group that's already here because they knew God's word is life and they wanted that life for those 00:22:29.120 --> 00:22:29.520 people. 00:22:31.180 --> 00:22:38.060 So the Algonquin Indians or Native Americans, it says in the translation of John Elliott's Bible, it refers to them as Indians and not Native Americans. 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:40.290 But you can see a picture of it today. 00:22:43.060 --> 00:22:44.280 Not even written in English. 00:22:44.780 --> 00:22:44.940 Why? 00:22:46.540 --> 00:22:49.700 Because they knew the word of God has life. 00:22:52.900 --> 00:22:54.960 Two examples then Peter gives. 00:22:55.780 --> 00:22:59.080 Two examples of how God's word fuels our fervent love. 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:02.420 Because you could look at this and say, okay, that's great that we say that. 00:23:02.520 --> 00:23:09.260 God's word, that it fuels this holiness for us to fervently love, but how does it do it? 00:23:09.260 --> 00:23:16.480 And so Peter wants to just iterate these points for us by giving us two examples of how God's word fuels our 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:17.180 fervent love. 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:23.320 In verse 24 and 25 he gives us the first example and he says it like this, the Bible endures forever. 00:23:23.360 --> 00:23:24.200 That is example. 00:23:24.300 --> 00:23:24.580 Look at it. 00:23:25.260 --> 00:23:31.600 Verse 24 for all flesh is like grass and all its glory, like the flower of grass. 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:39.040 The grass withers, the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 00:23:40.120 --> 00:23:42.980 And this is the word which was preached to you. 00:23:45.020 --> 00:23:49.740 How precious this is what was given to you, what indoors forever. 00:23:53.860 --> 00:23:54.780 Why should we care about it? 00:23:56.420 --> 00:23:59.220 And Peter's answering, because it endures forever. 00:24:01.220 --> 00:24:06.880 He's quoting from Isaiah 40 here, which is considered the great chapter of the glory of God that you can go back and read. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:11.060 But this chapter highlights the significance of God's word and understanding the great glory of who he is. 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:18.650 I love the illustration here because it talks about the beauty of life and the things that we look to for security. 00:24:20.280 --> 00:24:25.820 I think we are attracted to beauty and security and we want to be a part of something that lasts forever. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.190 Something that matters, something that makes a difference. 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:30.200 We want to be a part of those things. 00:24:30.280 --> 00:24:35.960 How can I be a part of a group that just makes a difference in things around me. 00:24:36.020 --> 00:24:37.100 And so we look for those things. 00:24:37.100 --> 00:24:38.630 We're attracted to those things. 00:24:39.300 --> 00:24:41.620 And he talks about the beautiful things in this world. 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:47.380 But he also talks about in these verses talking about the beauty of the grass and the flower that blooms from it. 00:24:47.520 --> 00:24:51.900 But then he reminds us of something, even though that beauty is there, even though we're attracted to it fades. 00:24:54.260 --> 00:24:58.740 So if you want something that matters, you need to find something that transcends it. 00:24:58.760 --> 00:24:59.360 Something that's great. 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:04.940 Or maybe they, even the thing that produced the beauty of what the flower is, because your life can be of more significance to that. 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:07.740 So he shows us, okay, so what is that? 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:09.900 And it reminds us, it's God's word. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:11.560 The Bible endures forever. 00:25:11.780 --> 00:25:17.920 If you want to be a part of something that matters, something that's wonderful, beautiful, that gives life. 00:25:19.780 --> 00:25:21.210 How about what caused the flower? 00:25:23.360 --> 00:25:26.300 And you can find that through the word of God. 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:27.700 God speaks, life begins. 00:25:27.800 --> 00:25:29.400 And God speaks to us through his word. 00:25:31.800 --> 00:25:33.700 The word endorsed forever. 00:25:34.100 --> 00:25:34.880 The beauty of the flower fades. 00:25:37.340 --> 00:25:38.940 God's loving endures forever. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.040 His word endures forever. 00:25:40.060 --> 00:25:47.080 Now when God calls you to fervent love, and you look at this illustration of the flower fading, but God's God's word 00:25:47.080 --> 00:25:48.040 endures forever. 00:25:48.040 --> 00:25:50.580 Can I just say this for us? 00:25:50.580 --> 00:25:57.800 That when it comes to fervently loving, the thing that will jade our love quicker 00:25:57.800 --> 00:26:01.120 than anything is repeated disappointment. 00:26:03.820 --> 00:26:08.620 When things let you down, that fire for love dies. 00:26:10.890 --> 00:26:12.520 Let me say it like this. 00:26:12.560 --> 00:26:18.680 When you put your hope into something that doesn't turn out to be all that you thought it would be, love fades. 00:26:23.300 --> 00:26:30.680 So what Peter's rooting us in this chapter is to understand that there is something of which you could find your love rooted in that will strengthen 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:34.880 you and continue to strengthen you and never fail you and never disappoint you. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:37.080 Though other things around you might, what is it? 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:38.340 It's his word. 00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:39.400 \. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.120 So how do I maintain this fervent love? 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.700 By rooting your love in something endures and he says that the Bible endures forever. 00:26:47.100 --> 00:26:49.740 And so this is where our hope draws into. 00:26:50.620 --> 00:26:54.820 This is how we won't be disappointed because the promises of God will always be true. 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:56.400 Here's what becomes important for us. 00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:03.480 One of the things that if I find silver lining during these Corona days for us as a church, one of the prayers, one of the hopes, one of the things I'm 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:09.760 anticipating for us as a church family, I love the fact that we have a church community to help us nurture and grow in him. 00:27:10.420 --> 00:27:17.260 But one of the things I'm hoping this allows us to do is to take responsibility within our own homes, to the nurturing of discipleship of the people under our roof. 00:27:19.420 --> 00:27:20.500 How are you growing in the Lord? 00:27:22.060 --> 00:27:25.340 What you cultivate, you replicate. 00:27:27.580 --> 00:27:29.180 What is your family being cultivated in? 00:27:31.020 --> 00:27:31.640 How are you growing? 00:27:33.420 --> 00:27:36.100 The word endures forever. 00:27:36.120 --> 00:27:41.700 And he goes on and gives us a second example to this idea of holiness, seen through fervent love. 00:27:41.740 --> 00:27:45.040 In 1 Peter 2:1-3, this is the last example we're going to look at. 00:27:45.420 --> 00:27:52.240 He says this, therefore put aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 00:27:52.800 --> 00:27:59.140 And like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:00.610 What is he saying? 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:04.320 The Bible provides the nourishment needed for the soul. 00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:08.660 The Bible provides what you need for the soul. 00:28:08.700 --> 00:28:10.870 Now he does an interesting thing in these three verses. 00:28:11.300 --> 00:28:15.220 He starts off talking about something really strange in comparison to where he goes. 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:16.040 You think about this. 00:28:16.080 --> 00:28:23.120 He says, put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, and then he says like a baby, go for God's word. 00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:25.790 Now how in the world does that correlate? 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:33.180 When you think about why is he saying put this aside and like a baby along for this milk that will help you grow. 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.000 How are these two even related to one another? 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:39.960 Well, here's what he's saying. 00:28:41.040 --> 00:28:46.820 When you think about this description in verse one, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:49.500 You know what those words are all rooted in? 00:28:50.550 --> 00:28:51.400 You. 00:28:54.300 --> 00:28:55.940 Why would you slander someone? 00:28:56.540 --> 00:28:57.960 Why would you be envious of someone? 00:28:59.280 --> 00:29:00.330 Why would you want to be deceptive? 00:29:02.340 --> 00:29:03.360 Because you don't like what they have. 00:29:03.820 --> 00:29:05.100 You want what they have. 00:29:06.120 --> 00:29:13.150 Or you don't like what they might think about you so that you could create some sort of environment to think differently about you because what matters is you. 00:29:14.500 --> 00:29:18.120 And we get lost in the things of this world and we will desire those things for me. 00:29:18.120 --> 00:29:20.720 And so we will get malicious in order to have them. 00:29:22.580 --> 00:29:28.100 To the point where we'll even become, as this says, hypocritical, we might criticize other people because we're jealous of what they have. 00:29:28.340 --> 00:29:31.970 When we ourselves do the very same thing that we're being critical over them about. 00:29:35.080 --> 00:29:37.770 And we get lost in the things of this world because we crave that. 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:39.600 So what does he do? 00:29:39.800 --> 00:29:46.880 What Peter in this verse, he gets to the most primal description he can get us to understand of all the things 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:48.160 that could distract us in life. 00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:51.000 But here's where he says, okay, simplify here. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:51.460 Think about a baby. 00:29:52.940 --> 00:29:53.520 What do they do? 00:29:54.700 --> 00:29:56.680 They cry, they poop and they sleep. 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:57.360 That's what they do. 00:29:57.360 --> 00:30:01.660 And when they're crying, the reason they're crying is because they need you to change the poop or they need fed. 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:04.180 And you don't have to tell a baby they need to eat. 00:30:04.580 --> 00:30:06.790 A baby already knows they need to eat, that's why they cry. 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:13.640 In the most primal description is saying, look, in all the things that can distract your soul, can you just make your soul about this? 00:30:13.660 --> 00:30:15.240 Like a baby that desires milk? 00:30:17.620 --> 00:30:21.920 Make your soul about the word which changes your life. 00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:30.940 What he's saying is, sometimes in life we can get worried, be concerned, get distracted by all sorts of things. 00:30:33.500 --> 00:30:35.400 Feed your faith and starve your fears. 00:30:38.260 --> 00:30:41.540 You think about the first century Christians worried about the circumstances around them. 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:44.060 It's getting hard, Peter, what are we going to do? 00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:51.720 He says, instead of run, instead of hit the pause button, fervently love. 00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:58.540 This is the time for God's light to shine forth in his people because we have something that transcends the circumstance. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.500 And how in the world could you ever fervently love and be holy in these days? 00:31:02.620 --> 00:31:04.340 We do not have the natural strength. 00:31:04.340 --> 00:31:05.480 We need the supernatural strength. 00:31:05.800 --> 00:31:06.820 And what do we do to do that? 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.060 The same thing that transformed you in Jesus continues to transform you. 00:31:11.080 --> 00:31:12.040 The power of his word. 00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:18.200 Let your soul be filled with it. 00:31:18.380 --> 00:31:21.110 Not just know it, let it become you. 00:31:21.140 --> 00:31:22.960 Don't just believe it, but believe in it. 00:31:23.360 --> 00:31:26.500 I love how scripture uses the word repeatedly, meditate. 00:31:26.620 --> 00:31:32.170 We've talked about this in the last six months what it means to meditate in God's word. 00:31:32.320 --> 00:31:36.640 Meditate is the same word in Hebrew as the roaring of a lion. 00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:42.160 When a lion roars, it reverberates from the depth of his being. 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:46.310 It's not just a sound he makes with the lips, but the core of who he is. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.560 And so it is when you meditate with God's word. 00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:56.720 I've found in my life when I get a reading list like I tried to read through the Bible in a year, I oftentimes don't do well with that in the feeding of 00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:57.220 my soul. 00:31:57.220 --> 00:31:59.860 And the reason is because I make it about the list. 00:32:01.940 --> 00:32:05.340 But rather if I approach God's word to just read it and tell, I'm blessed. 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:09.740 To churn it within me, to allow it become a part of me. 00:32:09.820 --> 00:32:11.300 I find them far more enriched. 00:32:11.300 --> 00:32:16.450 Now, it doesn't mean I don't do a yearly Bible reading, I still do that, but I just approach it with a different mentality. 00:32:18.280 --> 00:32:19.180 Read until I'm blessed. 00:32:19.180 --> 00:32:21.640 Sometimes I don't even stop when I'm supposed to end with the reading. 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:26.860 I just want to keep going because I feel my soul is being nourished in his word and I enjoy that. 00:32:26.900 --> 00:32:34.280 So what he's, reminding us of is just this primal idea of allowing yourself to grow. 00:32:35.340 --> 00:32:43.960 Let me say it like this, guys, if you love Jesus, I 00:32:43.960 --> 00:32:45.650 shouldn't have to convince you to read his word. 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:57.240 I don't want to guilt you to read the Bible, but rather I just want to ask, how can I better 00:32:57.240 --> 00:33:02.440 encourage you to love Jesus and love the word that he's written in with his blood? 00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:09.580 What would encourage you to let that become who you are, your identity? 00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:16.680 We should respond to the things we claim by our love. 00:33:19.100 --> 00:33:24.020 Do we just say it's important to us or do we reflect that it's important to us? 00:33:25.180 --> 00:33:27.580 What you cultivate, you will replicate. 00:33:30.360 --> 00:33:32.840 Have you even read through the Bible? 00:33:33.140 --> 00:33:36.780 Like if I just said, how many of us have read through Harry Potter series? 00:33:37.120 --> 00:33:41.040 Or how many have ever read Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia? 00:33:43.260 --> 00:33:44.520 How many of us have read God's word? 00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:50.200 You make time for the things that are important to you. 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:54.560 And God's word more than anything will transform you. 00:33:57.120 --> 00:34:01.400 I know sometimes it becomes difficult to understand, but it's like riding a bike. 00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:04.880 The more you do it, the more you get out of it. 00:34:06.500 --> 00:34:08.239 So if you say to me, Nathaniel, how do we respond today? 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:15.500 If you look at chapter one and we just say this, Christians went through adversity and they continue to go through adversity, 00:34:15.699 --> 00:34:16.780 but Jesus has overcome. 00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:25.500 And he calls us to live a holy life that will make a difference in the way that we love for him through a fervent love for Jesus. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:29.320 That love is born and fueled by the word of God. 00:34:31.139 --> 00:34:35.320 And sometimes we lose hope, we saw in the first example by false security and empty beauty. 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:40.520 And sometimes we want to respond in malice, 1 Peter 2:1. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:47.040 But the word of the Lord endorsed forever and it's very nourishment our soul needs. 00:34:48.860 --> 00:34:56.060 If we aren't using this quarantine time to get closer to God, I mean you have more of that individual time with him, what 00:34:56.060 --> 00:34:56.880 in the world are we doing? 00:34:59.720 --> 00:35:01.540 What are we doing? 00:35:03.520 --> 00:35:05.320 Do we really believe he has life? 00:35:07.220 --> 00:35:13.120 If we don't wake up and live in that, what difference will his people make? 00:35:15.220 --> 00:35:19.140 I believe that God's people can go through adversity and come out stronger. 00:35:21.180 --> 00:35:28.200 I read an interesting statistic that said, one third of US presidents had a parent pass away 00:35:28.200 --> 00:35:29.210 when they were a child. 00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:33.320 One third of entrepreneurs have some sort of learning disability. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:40.180 There's something about the human nature that when it's challenged, it overcomes the adversity stronger than without it. 00:35:41.700 --> 00:35:48.880 I've said before because I grew up as a poor kid in West Virginia, that I think the Lord really used that to give me the strength I needed to plant a 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:49.160 church. 00:35:49.460 --> 00:35:51.280 Especially here in our Valley. 00:35:53.480 --> 00:35:56.340 But I think that we have the same opportunity right now in the middle of adversity. 00:35:58.420 --> 00:36:00.010 To make a decision of how we respond. 00:36:00.100 --> 00:36:02.250 Do we just simply say, we believe, or do we believe in? 00:36:03.740 --> 00:36:10.900 And believing in leans into something, not because we're being guilted into it, because we see the power of what it is, and that's what Peter's reminding us of this 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:11.400 morning. 00:36:12.740 --> 00:36:13.620 There is power here. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:21.580 And when everything else can distract us, let your mind go to the rudimentary thought. 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:30.740 This primal idea of God's word is like milk to a baby, and by it God's 00:36:30.740 --> 00:36:31.630 people grow.