How to Act in The End Times

Here we are back where we all started. What we started three and a half years ago, except Linda wouldn't let us go in the house because she's put carpet in the house since we were here. So she made Don build this garage so we can meet out here. I want you to keep praying for a Christian, Montoya. Judy and I went and saw him on Thursday of Friday, I guess it was Friday. And it's such a touching situation. Well boy, 11 months old and he can't move his body. And it's going to be a long recovery. We pray that God will completely bring him back to normal. That doctor is pretty positive about the fact that he's going to eventually regain all the movement in his body, but it's really something for a young parents to go through.

And Cassandra's been there by his side for a month and they're going to be transferring him. This next week probably Wednesday over to children's hospital in Oakland. And it's hard to say how long that they will be there. They put the tracheotomy in and so she has to learn how to take care of that. So you can imagine the pressure and the load that's upon them. I really want you to keep praying for them. And as you have opportunity just to visit and give her a call to some words of encouragement. Some of you have been, it's really wonderful. It's been a great encouragement to them. So keep it up. We're glad today to have Jeff Bodin here. He was our first deserter. And he went to Missouri. And he's about to build a house.

And he said we can all come back and visit. It's out there in the country. And he has a new, they were, they left. They were four of them when they left. Now they're five. Tell us her name. Audrey. And so they're all doing well. We want to see Kelly, actually, but she didn't come. And we need one to pray also for the fleshyers. As they have a very difficult move and transition. And there's lots of pressure on them right now. We've added a lot of pressure by letting them know that God doesn't want them to move and all that. But they have this move is very difficult. The timing of it and getting their house sold and getting relocated at Lanna now, I guess it is. Was Florida now at Atlanta? We don't know what'll be next week, right?

With Brentwood, yeah. Knights. But keep praying for them as they go through this. I want to spend a little time this morning in the first Peter chapter two. If you'll turn there, first Peter chapter two. When we, when this old group of people began this church three and a half years ago and began to think about what it was a God wanted to do through them. This is one of the passages that we looked at early on and thought about and prayed about. As Peter speaks here in this context, he's writing to Christians, a little Christian groups that are scattered around, if you look back at chapter one, he gives you the location through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asian, Bethinia, scattered around. And he's writing to these little churches.

They're undergoing some very specific kinds of trials and difficulties because persecution is beginning to come against the church in the Roman Empire. They're beginning to feel it because these external pressures and also some things going on in the lives of these churches, Peter writes to encourage them. There's a section here in which he very clearly tells us why we exist and what it is we're supposed to be up to and at as we live out our life as the church of Jesus Christ in the world today. I'd like to begin reading from first Peter chapter one, verse 22. Listen to these words. I'm going to read down through verse 10 of chapter two, beginning in verse 22 of chapter one. Since you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.

For you've been born again, not of seed which is perishable but imperishable. That is through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass and all it's glory like the flower of grass, the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word which was preached to you. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow and respect the salvation. Since you have tasted the kindness of the Lord and coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So this is contained in Scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him shall not be disappointed. This precious value then is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, he is the stone which the builders rejected. This became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. But they stumbled because they are disobedient to the word and to this doom, they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for God's own profession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you once were not of people. You had no identity.

You were just a, people had no connection with one another. But now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy. In other words, all you had to look forward to was the day of judgment when you would get righteousness, when you would get what you really deserve, when you would be judged according to God's truth and righteousness. You had not received mercy. Because mercy is when God treats you not based upon in accordance with what you deserve, but in accordance with what you need. And so he said, you had not received mercy. But now you have received mercy. That's what the Church of Jesus Christ is. We are the people of God. Scattered all over this globe. According to some accounts, the Church is growing incredibly fast today throughout the world.

There are more Christians in Africa. I heard James Kennedy say this morning, there are more Christians in Africa than there are in the United States. There are more Christians in Africa than there are people in the United States, if you can imagine. The Church is growing in different places around the world. There is more persecution today as well. More people die for the name of Christ. But as the Gospel goes out, and as it has effects in the lives of people, the Church of Jesus Christ grows, the people of God increases. And in fact, as Jesus gives the picture, when he comes back to this earth, and the angels go out and gather up his people, it's going to be this earth, when he comes back to this earth, it's going to be this earth where the people of God dwell, and in which, imagine that, the whole earth inhabited by the people of God.

Isn't that amazing? That we're going to inhabit the new earth, and that we're going to live here and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ as He rules and reigns over His people. And we live out His will in this purpose. But at this present time, James Peter says that we have come to have the life that we're going to need to live in eternity. And in fact, it's called eternal life. It's the very life of God. As he ends the first chapter, as he talks about what's happened to us, we've all received this life. We've been born of the Spirit, born through the living Word of God. And this life has come to reside within us. And here we are in this alien world right now, a world that's still turned against God, although God has told us to go into the world and tell people that God's been reconciled that there's been reconciliation, rather he has accomplished reconciliation through the cross, and that we're to declare to people they should turn to Him and be reconciled to God.

But we still live in a world that's alienated from Him and their hearts still at war with Him, and yet we've been equipped to live in a world that's at peace with God. That lives under His blessing and His glory. And so we live in this unique time in what's been called the Interregnum. That is we live between the coming of the King to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross and as second coming He's going to come to reign, we live in this period of time. And we don't know how long this period of time is going to go on. It may end very soon as some believe it may go on for many more years. But during this period of time that we live with people of God as the Church of Jesus Christ, there are certain things He's called us to be and to do.

And He begins chapter two by telling us, first of all, that we need to be careful to guard our hearts so that we continue to have an appetite for the Word of God. Now in chapter, at the end of chapter two, He talks about this great change that happened in your heart when you purified your souls unto a love of the brethren. What in the world is that? Why would He call conversion? Why would He describe it in such terms? Do you notice that in verse 22 of chapter one, since you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere, in other words, a real honest, a goodness, love of the brethren. That's a quite a description of salvation because that's what he's describing here, regeneration.

When we purified our souls, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, our souls were purified and we begin to love the brethren. In fact, it's really the first sign of conversion that people begin to love the people of God when they come to faith in Christ. But He goes on to admonish us that because of this, then we ought to work hard at loving one another from the heart. And in chapter two, he tells us, we have put aside, this is really the impact of the sentence in beginning chapter two. It's quite literally says, it says, therefore, you have put aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. That's what happened to us when we came to faith in Christ. Those things that used to drive us in life.

You know how it was when you were in the world, you were outside of Christ and you were working in this world and your life was characterized by this. This is what drives people in this fallen world. It is these very things, malice, which just means bad-heartedness towards others. Guile. That is, you have this motivation down deep inside of you to get ahead, even if it costs you somebody else something. There's guile in our hearts. A hidden motive. And we seek to use people in order to advance. And then he says, by hypocrisy, which is simply, that's how we do it. That's how guile has worked out. It's by putting on a mask and pretending to be something or really something else. And envy. Wanting what someone else has, some position they have, some possession they have, some recognition they have, and all slander.

You know how it is? Backbiting people, backbiting in this world. If you've been on a job, I had somebody a young person talking to me the other day. He was not a believer. And they've been in the work world this short time and they begin to complain about how difficult it was out there in the work world, and how they wanted to get a different job. Because this particular job, people backbiting, they slander. And I said, guess what? That's how it is everywhere. That's the way this world is driven. And Peter says, you have been delivered from this. You have put this aside when you came to faith in Christ. No longer are believers. Is it necessary for us to be driven by these motivations? And these hearts can change.

And so therefore he says, since this is true, then like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word. Very strong language. He says, we have to take seriously the fact that we have a basic need as the Church of Jesus Christ to always have this driving hunger for the word of God. The sincere milk of the word. And what he's, the reason he uses this kind of expression, this metaphor, is because every one of you has seen a newborn baby, you've seen little babies that are driven to their mother's breast. They've craved the milk that nourishes them, that they need so badly. That's how he says, we ought to be towards the Word of God. And when you have a child who doesn't want his mother's breast, who doesn't want nourishment, then you know that that child is sick.

And he's helped, don't you? And that's the same, the same thing is true of us as believers. When we don't crave the sincere milk of the word, and this is a perfect metaphor, because as you mothers know, a feeding a child is not simply giving them nourishment, it really has to do with a relationship between mother and child. The same thing is true of the believer and his father in heaven. Feeding upon the Word of God is not just taking in data, it's not just taking in something that would feed your soul, it is a hunger that's driven by relationship with a father. And so we are to crave this sincere milk of the Word. And you know there's an implication here. And that implication is, the thing that keeps you from being hungry, the thing that destroys your appetite, are these very things that we have put aside when we came to faith and Christ.

When any church, any group of Christians, when any individual Christian, begins again to be motivated by malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and slander, they discover they no longer have a hunger for the sincere milk of the Word. They don't hunger it. In March after seven, Jesus says these things rise up in the heart, the heart produces these things. It doesn't come from the outside, it comes from what's going on in the heart. And what Peter is implying is this, we must keep this condition, we must maintain this heart condition so that we have a sincere desire and hunger and craving for the milk of the Word. We have to seek after it. And that's what the church, that's the atmosphere of the church.

Anytime we change things in the life of the local church in order to accomplish some purpose that removes this central priority of hungry and thirsting after the Word of being fed on the Word of God, then we're making a big mistake because it's through the Word of God notice that he says in verse three, in verse two, in order that you may grow in respect to salvation. This is how you grow. It doesn't mean that this is the only means of growth. It means it's a primary one and without it you will not grow. You won't grow without the Word. And having a sincere, rather having a craving for the Word of God, longing for it, longing for the Word of God is not simply liking to go to Bible study or enjoying a good sermon once in a while.

It means that you crave to understand the Word of God and you feed upon what it does to your heart as Christ is revealed to you, as Christ shows himself to you through his Word. And he says, we have to guard this. We have to watch out for this. We have to, and I think it's interesting here, you know that we talked about this in this last few weeks, that the two great commandments love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbors yourself. The way you can tell that you're not loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is primarily when you are not loving your neighbors yourself. When that isn't the condition of your heart, then you know something's happened in your relationship with the Father.

And when that happens, we will not hunger and thirst for His Word. And this is what we desperately need in need in order to grow. And notice in verse three he says, since, quite literally, since it is true that you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. That little phrase in verse three comes from Psalm 34. And in that Psalm, the psalmist is talking about the fact that when the people of God are looking for help elsewhere, that what they discover when they turn to God as their refuge, when they turn away from all these other things that they look to for refuge in life, for the answer to life's problems, when they turn to God and flee to Him and find refuge in Him, He says, you taste and you discover the kindness of the Lord.

And you see, that's what the Word of God does for you, isn't it? When you flee to Him, when you feed upon His Word, when you were actually fed, when it actually does feed your spirit and your soul, you taste the kindness of the Lord. And he says, that's the very same experience as you had when you first came to faith in Jesus Christ. It's a deliverance. And that's how the Word ought to function our lives continually. A continual process of bringing deliverance and wholeness and salvation into our lives every day. And especially in the context here, because He's calling us to be what we should be as a people of God so that we can fulfill this calling He's going to talk about now in the next few verses.

And so it's emphasizing the fact that this is played out in our relationships of one another, that we manifest who we are as the people of God. That's how we're going to have a bold witness to this world. And notice what He says in the next few verses. In verses 4 through 8, He talks about after telling us that we have to guard this healthy appetite, craving for the sincere milk of the Word, then He says we have to live our lives as worship. He says in coming to Him as to a living stone rejected by men but choice and pressures in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Notice these two metaphors that He puts together. The first is we're like newborn babes we're to be like newborn babes who crave the sincere milk of the Word. And something about babies is that they rarely complain about the food they're getting or the delivery system. Little babies just crave the milk and the bonding. But it's amazing how sophisticated we get in the church and we can fail to feed on the Word because we're always complaining about the way it's being delivered or something else. But when we have this craving of the Word of God and we're being fed upon it, there's actually growth in our lives as the people of God, then out of that is going to flow this next thing. And that is the fact that this is quite a description of us as the people of God.

We are the people who are continually coming to Him as to a living stone. That expression coming to Him speaks of what's going on every day in our lives. In fact, it's not just talking about coming to church. It's not just talking about gathering like this in order to worship. We call this a worship service, but it's talking about life. As we live on our lives, we're continually coming to Him. We're approaching Him. We live our lives in worship of Jesus Christ. That's what we see every aspect of our life as being. Our service, just living out the responsibilities of life, doing our jobs, fulfilling our responsibilities, all these things are a part of coming to Christ. If our attitude towards Him is what it's supposed to be.

And He says, we are becoming Him as living stones. That's what we do. That's our characteristic rejected by men, the choice, and precious in the sight of God. If you remember, this is the passage that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost when he preaches the first sermon in the church, when the church is born on the day of Pentecost, and Peter preaches, he quotes from this. He identifies Christ as the stone that the builders rejected. A vantabler had a sermon on this, and the title of the sermon was, the stupidity of the specialists, because you see the leadership of Israel were the specialists in the Kingdom of God. They were the ones who knew all about the prophecy of the Old Testament and who Messiah was going to be and how the Kingdom was going to be built, and yet they rejected the cornerstone.

When Jesus came on the scene, and they should have known, because throughout the Old Testament prophets, one of the primary pictures of the Messiah was, he was going to be a stone, a cornerstone, upon which God was going to build the true temple of God. The temple in the Old Testament always pointed to the ultimate temple, which was the Lord Jesus Christ. The place where God meets fallen man. Where it is that a fallen person, a fallen human being, can meet a holy God in the temple. Where's the temple? There's no temple in Jerusalem. It's certainly not the temple in Salt Lake City. Where is this temple? Well, this temple is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the cornerstone. But not only that, you're a part of the temple because you're a child of God.

You are living stones who continually come to this living stone, who is God's choice. And he says he was rejected by the experts. He was rejected by men, but in God's evaluation, he is choice and precious in the sight of God. God sees Jesus as the perfect culmination, the perfect object to which all of the temples in the Old Testament, the first and the second temple, is it pointed to the ultimate fulfillment, was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this metaphor of us being a building built upon Jesus Christ, and the metaphor of us being a newborn baby, you put those two things together, and this is the way they fit, that in order to have corporate growth, as the temple of God, of people coming together, millions of people around this globe.

I mean, can you imagine what it's going to be like here? We are just a little group of people, and we sing praises to God, and we sing about the glory of Christ. And if the Spirit is working in our hearts, our hearts are moved, as we worship Him, and we offer up these sacrifices of praise, but can you imagine what it's going to be like when we gather with all the people of God, when the millions upon millions gather, in the name of Christ, and we sing praises to Jesus Christ, can you imagine what that's going to be like? I doubt if we'll even need a worship leader. I don't think we will need microphones or speakers. He'll be the center of attention. And he says, this is the characteristic of our life.

We're continually coming to Him. This is our base. This is the description of how we live our lives as the people of God. We are continually coming to Him, and notice how He describes us in verse 5. You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood to offer of spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You know the fact is that there are some beautiful structures that have been built just for the purpose of people gathering to worship. There are some structures in Europe that are magnificent. And if you were to go there this Sunday morning, you would discover there's nobody there worshiping. There may be a little group of people, about 12 women, and a few small children, maybe one man, meeting in some back room, and having a worship service.

Because you know what? It isn't this physical structure that constitutes the church. It's living stones that are being built into a house. And the house he's talking about is the house of God, the temple of God. If we were to build a building and put the name of our church upon it, Calvary Community Church, it would not mean that that was a church. That's not a church. That's a building in which the church means. This is the church. And these are the stones that God has chosen to put upon this living stone, this cornerstone, and he's building his house. And we are the house of God. And God dwells here on this earth in this house that he's building, a living stone. Stones made a flesh. And he dwells among us.

And not only that, not only do we contain, not only has God housed himself in us as a people. And that is true, not just individually. Paul talks about the fact that your body is a temple of God. And therefore, you ought to be very careful when you use your body. But there's a greater truth in that. And that is the fact that all of us constitute together the temple of God. And God is dwelling on this earth in this temple made of living stones. These stones move all over the place. They move to Missouri and sometimes they move to Atlanta and all around the world. We're mobile. But we are a house of God. We are the house of God. And not only that, he's made us a priesthood to function in this house.

Now in the temple in Jerusalem, there was a priesthood there, the Levitical priesthood. And in order to serve in that priesthood, you had to be a descendant of Levi. And guess what? Jesus was not a descendant of Levi. The priesthood that we serve in is a different priesthood. It's a priesthood of Melchizedekian priesthood. It's a priesthood that's not based upon physical descent. It's based upon relationship with Jesus Christ. And every person who comes into relationship with Christ becomes a part of a priesthood. And so not only do we house the living God upon this earth, but we serve as his priests. That is, we are the people who represent men before God and God before men. What an assignment, isn't that something that you have the responsibility as a Christian, as a born-again believer, to represent God in this world.

And also to go before God and take your needs and the needs of people. And when I ask you to pray for Christian Montoya or the fleshers or anybody else, I'm asking you that because you're the priesthood of God. You're a royal priesthood. And your assignment is to offer up sacrifices that are pleasing to God. That's what he's called us to do, to function as priests. One thing I want you to notice in this text in verses 4 and 5, is that intimacy with Christ is the key to worship. It's because we're coming to Him. What a way to express your relationship with Christ. He could have said because we have come to Him and we now belong to Christ. But you know the fact is any of you who've lived for Christ very long know the truth about your own life.

And you know that there are seasons and there are times, there are moments and days, and sometimes months in which the fact is you could not characterize your life as coming to Him. But that's exactly how Peter characterizes it here. That you're the people on this earth who are continually coming to Christ. Not only have you come to Him in faith and receives salvation, but this is the characteristic of your daily life, you're continually coming to Him. And you know what, that's the key to worship. Have you ever wondered why at times you go through the motions of worship and you know the truth about your own heart that you're not really engaged in worship? You sing these songs without them ever passing through your heart.

There are words to come out of your mouth and you might have a very melodic voice. You may be able to harmonize and it may sound very beautiful to us as we hear you sing. But it may be that as God listens to your heart, He can tell your heart is completely out of tune because you're not coming to Him. And see, that's who we are, we're the people on the face of this earth who are continually coming to Him. And because of that, we can worship. It's based upon that. The word, the English word worship comes from an old English word, worship. The idea, the reason it was used as the word worship, it has the idea of us continually calling back to God what He is worth. How often do you do that? How often do you, from deep down your heart, you call back to God what He is worth.

That you tell Him who He is. Now He knows who He is. He's not having a lap, He doesn't have any kind of a problem understanding who He is. But it says that He delights to hear people use their lips to express their hearts to tell Him who He is because it reveals the fact that you've experienced salvation. Because you've come to see God as He really is. There are words in the New Testament for worship. There's a word of Prescanal, which means being aware of His presence. It has the idea of bowing down, of prostrating yourself before God. Being aware of His presence, that's how our life is to be lived. It's to be lived with an awareness of the presence of God in my daily life. Not just when we gather like this, but in all of my life.

And to be like Jonah learned that when you sin, when you rebel, it's always in the face of God. It's always in its face because that's where you have been put. Another word that's used, cebamai, which means this. It means to be odd by His presence. To be odd by the point that you fall on your face. It's not that you just simply get down and you bow down. It's the fact that you are overwhelmed with His presence. I know there are a lot of people in the church who think that we ought to somehow try to produce this atmosphere in the church. I grew up in a group like that. That really what worship is is when you enter into this altered state of consciousness. And you enter into another kind of consciousness in such ecstasy that you are no longer yourself.

You're out of your body and worshipping God in some kind of mystical way. Now, I believe people have those experiences, but I don't think that's what we're supposed to seek at all. What God wants us to do is to come before Him in our right minds and to worship Him out of a heart that's been enlightened to the truth of who He is. But there are times when we get so overwhelmed by the reality of who He is that we are slain by His presence. Another word that's used, and we've talked about quite a bit, is used in Romans chapter 12 when it talks about your reasonable service of worship. Your reasonable service of worship is according to Paul. When you understand the grace of God in Christ Jesus is that you would offer your body and service to Him that all of your life, all of your consciousness, all your decisions, all your investments, all your pursuits, would be given over to being done in order to honor and glorify and express your praise and thanksgiving to the God who saved you.

True worship, according to Jesus, is direct communion of our person with the living God from the depths of who we are. When he was talking to the woman at the well in Samaria, and she kind of wanted to distract him because he was getting very close to her heart. And she says, well, you know, you Jews worship in Jerusalem, but we Samaritan, we worship here at this mountain on Gharazim. And so we're different. There was pluralism in the first century as much as today. They all had their gods. Everyone had their local deity. In fact, that's where Rome, after the fall, after the sacking of Rome, the Romans began to say it was because Christianity became the state religion. That's why Rome fell in their eyes.

Because when we used to honor all of the gods, and we used to encourage people to worship their own gods, Rome was in its glory, but when Rome became Christian, it fell. That was the mentality of the first century, just as it is the mentality of this century. If you could just convince people that Jesus is just a tribal god that we worship, and you have your tribal god, then they would tolerate Christianity quite well. It would be no problem. If we simply would make him one among many deities. But when we say that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me, it's blasphemous to this world. And that's why they blaspheme him. But we have been called to worship this god.

When this woman begins to tell Jesus this, he says to her, we Jews know who we worship. But he says, an hour is coming and now he is. There's a change coming. Because Jesus is coming. An hour is coming and now he is. When neither in this mountain, in Mountain Garezim, nor in Jerusalem, will anyone worship god. For God seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. It doesn't matter if you're in California, or Missouri, or Atlanta. What matters is, is your heart engaged in worship. What God seeks are people who will worship him from their heart, the depth of their being, that their worship becomes a personal communion with the living god through Jesus Christ. Now, the reason this is so important is where the only people on the earth is growing number.

Maybe it's over a billion now. We're the only people on this earth who actually experienced true worship because he's changed our heart. He's removed all these things that he mentioned in verse 1, the Malice and God and hyphocracy and in the Enslander instead of living our lives and competition with everyone else and trying to use people as stepping stones. That stuff's been taken out because we have been made right with God. And now we are the true worshipers of the living god. So relationship with Christ is the key to worship. But now look at verses 6 and through 8 and he tells us that faith in Christ is the key to this acceptance with God. The basis of our worship is the fact that we've been accepted through faith in Christ and listen to these statements.

You close them Isaiah. For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone. And he who believes in him shall not be disappointed. He'll not be ashamed, he'll not be condemned. This precious value is then is for you who believe. This is how you value Christ. It's a choice stone, a precious cornerstone upon which the temple of God, the meeting place between God and man is built. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Christ is the one who separates the truth from the false. Inside and outside the church, our attitude towards him. And when he quotes Isaiah 8, after quoting from Psalm 118, he quotes Isaiah 8 and verse 8, Christ is always in the way of those who try to come to God apart from Christ.

He'll always be a stumbling stone, a rock of offense. There are those today who actually teach, those who call themselves evangelicals, in prominent schools who teach that you can lead people to a relationship with God without Christ. That people in other religions who do not recognize Christ as who he is can come to have a relationship with God. Can you imagine that? You see what Peter is saying? That's impossible because Christ always stands in the way of those who would attempt to come to God apart from him. And we are to be people who worship because we are this living stone who is precious and choice in the eyes of God. Then one last thing, verses 9 and 10, he says, not only are we to God our appetite so that we are growing as the people of God by having a healthy appetite for the Word of God.

And not only are we to be a worshiping community, both locally and universally as wherever we are with the people of God. I think that's one of the thrill of these people went to Mexico is they discovered that there are people worshiping all over this globe in all kinds of languages. And when you're there with them, you can worship the living God in the same way as you worship with those who are just like you. But here he tells us that we out of manifest our true spiritual authenticity to this world. We proclaim the excellencies of Christ by being what God has made us and what we have been called to be noticed in verses 9 and 10. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous life.

He's made you what you are, what you uniquely are, as a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession. He's done this so that you can proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous life. For you once were not a people, you had no identity. People didn't recognize you as being one, but now something has changed and he's taken people out of every nation and people group and language group in the face of the earth and he's made us into one. And now it is the work of the Church of Jesus Christ. It's what God is doing through the Church throughout the world. We are proclaiming the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous life.

You see what we are? We are the people of God's own possession. What a wonderful expression. And the King James says we're God's peculiar people. I remember a lady in a church I grew up in when I was really young and she used to say, I'm just thankful that God's made me peculiar. Because she thought that was a unique characteristic of those who were really new God and she was peculiar by the way. But that's not what this word means. The peculiar people or people for God's own possession means those, you know those things in your life that are uniquely yours and no one else's and wherever you go you take it with you. That's what this word means. Those possessions that you would never change vocation.

I mean I'm not carrying your pocket every day but if you move that is going with you. That unique possession that is yours. He says that's what we are to God. We are God's unique possession. And why is that true? He says this is why so that we may proclaim the excellencies of him. God's excellent attributes that have been displayed in Christ Jesus. God has revealed himself in Christ and we proclaim the excellencies of God by proclaiming Christ. We are fulfilling what we were made for as the people of God. The church is the instrument of publicizing God's excellent attributes. Not seminaries, churches. The Church of Jesus Christ. I believe that seminaries are part of God's work. Some of them aren't some of them aren't but what God has called us to do is to proclaim the excellencies all of us as the people of God.

Not just people specially trained for this. People who have experienced this through God's grace in Christ Jesus. That's what he's called us to be. And the corporate witness of the church is the most powerful way that we witness when we witness as a body as the people of God. Let me read you a little quote if I can find where I stuff this. Let me read you a couple of things out of Peterson's little book. We have also considered the collective impact of a nucleus of Christians can have on the non-Christian. He's been talking about what kind of impact can we have as a group who have come to Christ and have experienced the power of the spirit and the work of Jesus Christ. How can we have an impact on this non-Christian world?

He says the simple fact that the group exists with its unique ability to love one another. In other words, when people get close enough and they realize what we're really like and that we are among a group of people who have an identity as the people of God. And we actually love each other. We love one another. He says it is in itself a powerful statement to the world. It is testimony to the reality of our message that we are in fact a transformed people. That Jesus was truly sent by the Father and that there is hope for anybody, if there's hope for us. There's hope for anybody. But if we expect this testimony to be heard and heated, the members of the body of Christ need to see themselves as being in the world for the sake of the world.

Why are you still here? Why are you still alive? Why didn't God just take you home when He saved you? It's for the sake of the world. For us to be a lampstand. For us to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to this world. In another place He writes in this same book. When we begin to look at evangelism as a corporate ministry, that is a ministry of all of us, not some higher evangelists. Not of one person especially gifted and he's the one who goes out and shares the gospel. But when we see this as a corporate ministry, we soon discover that virtually any spiritual gift that builds up the body also has its place in winning the loss. That is because we cannot separate winning the loss from edifying the body.

One cannot exist without the other. Evangelism as a function of the body takes place when a handful of disciples band together and pull their abilities and resources for the sake of reaching into the world with their message. Under these circumstances, whatever gifts are represented can be put to good use. Whatever comes naturally for you, hospitality, the ability to organize, regariousness, the ability to pray, cooking, Bible knowledge, teaching, whatever you can do can be useful in evangelism. Your gift, your ability, strengths, interests can build up the body and may I say even your weaknesses can build up the body and also build bridges of communication to non-Christians start with what you have.

As you go along, you will acquire abilities. You do not now possess. That's what God does. If we're willing to be used of him as his people. So here we are, the people of God. Just one little, every local church, the Bible says, is a local manifestation of the one body of Christ. We're not separated from them. We're a part of them. We're one little segment, one manifestation of the body of Christ in this world. God has brought us together and He wants us to work hard at having a good appetite for the sincere milk of the word. Of paying attention to the fact, do I hunger for it? Am I fed through the word? Does it really feed my soul? And then we are to see ourselves as the people of God in this world, the household of God, the temple of God.

We are the worshippers of God. He's called us to give our lives, to live our lives as worship to Him. Every decision you make, it should really be submitted to this one question. Can this be a part, how can I best in this decision? How can I best fulfill my calling to be a part of the people of God, the temple of God, and to live my life as worship of the living God? That has to be the question. God's called us to be His temple in which He dwells, a priesthood that offers sacrifices to Him that are well pleasing. And then we need to see ourselves as those who proclaim the excellencies of God for this world. This world needs to hear the truth about God that's been revealed in Christ Jesus. And we're the ones who are called to do it.

That's what He's called us to do. And He's transformed us so we can do that. So as we head down the road into our heading towards our fourth year, it's just a little band of believers. We need to see the significance of this, that us being a part of the body of Christ, that God's given us a high and lofty calling to proclaim His excellencies, be a lampstand. And I think what He wants us to do is to will that. He wants us to do that willingly. He wants us to agree with Him and to consciously live our lives in fulfillment of this calling to which He has called us. Let's pray and we'll sing one more time, Father. We have gathered today for the very purpose of worshiping you, of offering up the sacrifice of praise which you say in Hebrews 13 is a sweet smelling savor to you.

It's very pleasing to you and we praise you with our hearts through our mouths. We've gathered for that purpose to sing praises. We've gathered for the purpose, Father, to hear your word. It's very difficult for us in this world with so many things competing for our attention and our life for us to have a real appetite for the word of God to crave it, to savor it, to love it, to love it when you speak to us, to spend enough time in it that we actually hear your voice. We bond with you and we feed upon your word like a newborn baby bonds with his mother and feeds upon her breast. I pray, oh God, that that would be a characteristic of not only this church, but all of us as the people of God. And we know it's only as this happens that we're going to truly be worshipers and we are really going to be effective in proclaiming the excellencies of Christ in this world.

God, we pray that you'd work in us and then you'd work through us for the glory of Christ. We pray that we'd live our lives in such a way that when we stand before Christ, we will delight in hearing of one another as we stand there and listen to the Father who is going to give a word of praise to every person. As we listen to him say, well done, now good and faithful servant, we could take great delight. Help us to live our lives with purpose, to fulfill the calling to which you've called us, I pray. God, make us strong. Help us to stand against this wave that is so overwhelming that's always trying to sweep us away and to live our lives the way James describes it in James 4 is just one pursuit of our desires after another.

Instead of living our lives conscious of the fact that we are the temple of the living God, a priesthood, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. We pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Well, don't we stand as we sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. And we, the redeemed shall be shown in prayer, praise and glory will come and day, other and power and strength.

We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. And unto the land, praise and glory will come and day, other and power and strength. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you.

We sing this last song, salvation belongs to our God, a holy priesthood that's been called to offer up sacrifices that are well pleasing to you. Father God, that's our cry, God, that all of the glory and the strength God would be yours. We pray, Father, that you would help us to see that we're not just a social group or a gathering of people who meet on Sunday and through the week, Father, but we are the chosen people of God, a people for your own possession. Father, you've called us out from many different ways from all over this world, God, and you've called us for a significant purpose to save us, to give us new life, that we could be people who are characterized as coming to Christ. God, you've given us the greatest mission on earth, Father, that is to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ.

Oh, God, I pray that you would unite us with this one purpose, God, united in unity. I pray for those today who are going to be at the cornfest, Lord. I pray, Father, that they would have a divine appointment, Lord, that there would be those walking through that cornfest, God, who are searching, who are trying to feel the holiness of their heart, Father, and that there would be one there, Father, who would be able to speak to good news, and the sweet name of Jesus, God, would fill them up, and that they would experience what it means to be born again. Father, God, I want to pray for Mary and for Nancy, God, as they've gone back to Ohio, or Illinois, Lord. God, be with them as they mourn the death of a family member, Lord.

God, just give them words of encouragement to their family. Father, we pray that you would bless our fellowship now. We thank you for this glorious morning. We thank you, Father, that as a group, as the chosen people of God, we've been able to come and meet with you and sing praises to you. And we know, Father, that you're well pleased because you're well pleased with Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.