WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:06.400 I'll be reading from 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 13 to chapter 2 verse 3. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:13.919 This is page 1217 of the Church Bibles. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:15.919 Be holy. 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:23.760 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.679 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:33.840 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.359 For it is written, Be holy because I am holy. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.039 Since you call on a Father who judges each person, work impartially. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.719 Live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:01:00.079 For you know that it was not with perishable things that such silver or gold that you were redeemed with from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:05.599 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:12.560 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:22.079 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:30.159 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:35.200 For all people are like grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:39.920 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.159 And this is the word that was preached to you. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:48.640 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:57.760 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good to you. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:32.159 So I'm Dave, I'm one of the two pastors here at Fresh Book Church, and I have the privilege again this morning of leading us in the second part in our series in One Peter. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:37.120 But before I step into that, I just want to bring a couple of simple announcements. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.319 We have some runners and riders in the building this morning. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.560 There was a lot of excitement last Sunday. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.400 Uh folks finishing the marathon in under two hours. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:59.759 But we have a marathon uh rider, shall we say, who was expecting to do it in five and a half if he did it at all, but finished in three hours, 58 minutes and 22 seconds. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:10.560 And where's it sitting at the back in his purple hoodie with his wheelchair and the medal that's this big? 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:12.960 Mudley would be very happy with it. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:14.800 Please see him afterwards. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:19.759 Uh, he knows you want to see his medal, that's his excuse for wanting to show it off to you. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.080 Uh, and then yesterday in the sun at Lydia Park. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:27.280 Sorry, I've realized you're probably all deaf now. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:30.319 My volume goes up when I get excited. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.039 Steve would be working hard on the desk. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:34.400 Sorry, Steve. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:36.960 Um, the race for life. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.639 Uh, I know of three in the church who ran the race for life. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.400 One, who ran it twice. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:47.680 Uh, yesterday, Carrie Fisher ran the race for life. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.280 She'd said to me, I'm going to do this. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:55.520 Now, Carrie struggles to walk to church on a Sunday, but she ran The Race for Life. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:59.039 I have a lovely photograph of Carrie. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:09.199 Um, part way round where you recognise the what she's wearing, and one that was shared with me at the end where you have, you're not even sure it's Carrie, but she assures me it is. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:10.479 She'll have that photograph. 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:15.439 See her afterwards, asked to see the photograph of her she finished across the finish line. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.240 Uh, also Katy and Tanya stead. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:22.800 Tanya ran the 5k route with Katy, who's eight. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:25.199 Is that right? 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:26.639 Six. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.800 Oh, I gave her too much credit. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:30.800 Uh now that's great for Katy. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:32.240 She ran it, she got muddy. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:43.120 Uh, Tanya ran around with her as a parent guardian, uh, but then Tanya had to see all the mud that her daughter went through, knowing that she was going to run it again immediately afterwards and go through it herself. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:49.199 So Katy and Tanya and Carrie ran the race for life uh raising funds for cancer support. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.000 So, well done, each and every one of you. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:53.360 I don't know if the others have met. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:55.839 Do you have medals, Tanya, to show off? 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.360 Yeah, they do. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.160 Okay, there's a whole load of medals to see afterwards. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:06.639 Have you brought your medals? 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:07.680 No. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:14.480 So the noisy corner over here also ran the 10k or ran and walked. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:15.360 Well done, Libby. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:16.560 You read and run. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:17.199 Good job. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:24.160 So we come this morning to our text in 1 Peter, uh, verses 13 through to 2 chapter 3. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:37.360 We concluded last week as reflected on the living hope we have in Jesus through his resurrection, and through it, the assurance that brings us uh in this life for the next. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:47.920 So, whatever hardships or suffering we face, or however many fleas in your life, and if you don't know now what we're talking about, uh then you weren't here last Sunday. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:52.720 Go back and watch last Sunday so you catch up on the story of the fleas. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:00.160 Whatever we face, hardship or fleas, we can walk through it all with grace and peace in abundance. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:11.600 Therefore, Peter writes, in the light of what we have already learned, let us consider how we live in holiness. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:23.839 Now I happened to say out loud in the church office on Friday that I was preparing my thoughts for the talk on Sunday on the theme of living in holiness. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:29.519 A friend who shall remain nameless said to me, Keep it simple. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.519 So I will try. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:33.600 Thank you for that advice. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.319 Let me pray as we begin. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:41.439 Holy Spirit, open our ears that we may hear. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:52.399 Open our minds that we may understand, our hearts that we may be impacted and changed by what we learn. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:53.439 Amen. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:01.839 When people hear the word holiness, they often think of one or two things. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:16.800 Either that sounds like it's for super spiritual people, and so not for me, or that sounds restrictive, like a list of things I can't do. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:29.920 But Peter doesn't present holiness like that, he presents it as a natural response to a life that has been changed. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:42.879 So the question for us today is not can I achieve holiness, but am I living out what God has already begun in me? 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:50.800 So, first part of three as we'll work through it, set your hope fully on grace. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:54.160 And we'll look together at verses 13 to 16. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.639 And as I work through the text, I'll share through the readings too. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.279 If you're able, follow it uh in the Bible. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:03.759 If you don't have a Bible and want to follow it, raise your hands. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:08.000 One of the stewards from the back will uh deliver one forward to you. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:23.199 Verse 13, Peter writes, Therefore, with your minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.879 This is where holiness begins. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:37.679 With minds that are alert, that is, they are awake, they are aware, and that they are intentional. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:48.000 And also that we be fully sober, not distracted, and not drifting in our thinking. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:58.320 And the way to set our hope, to set a hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.919 It is actively fixed on that. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:09.039 So holiness starts with where your life is pointed. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:15.360 Then Peter writes in verse 14, as obedient to children. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:22.559 Do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:30.399 In other words, don't slip back into your old patterns. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:44.720 And then he brings us this command, verse 15: just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:57.200 Not just in some things, not only when it's convenient, but in all that you do. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.240 And why? 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:09.840 The answer in verse 16 for it is written, be holy because I am holy. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:25.759 Note this instruction to be holy is not a New Testament instruction that came to us after Jesus or through Jesus and since his time. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:46.159 But it is an instruction that goes back to the Old Testament, it goes back to Leviticus chapter 11, verses 44 and 45, where God commanded Israel through his uh prophet Moses these words saying, I am the Lord your God. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:53.600 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:01.759 Do not make for yourselves or do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:07.519 I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:13.120 Therefore, be holy, because I am holy. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:17.440 Let me try and illustrate that for you. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:20.000 Think about a satnav or a GPS. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.440 Now, I appreciate some of you don't like those and don't trust them. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:33.360 But if you don't set your destination, you can still drive, but you'll drift and you'll take wrong turns. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:39.200 Some of you might argue the satnav does that to you as well, but you'll ruin my illustration if that's where your mind is. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.519 And you'll end up somewhere you didn't intend. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:49.679 Holiness is like setting your destination. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.000 Set a destination, you'll get there. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:06.399 Now think, most people don't drift into holiness, but they do drift away from it. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:17.600 So if your hope is clearly set on Christ, then your decisions start to align with that direction. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:24.000 So here's an application for you to consider this morning. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:30.879 What is shaping your thinking each day? 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:36.480 And where is your hope actually set? 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:43.279 Because if your hope is scattered, your life will be two. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:52.080 Holiness begins when you intentionally set your life toward Christ. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:01.679 And then my second point I want us to think about this morning, live in reverent fear because of the cost. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:06.159 And we'll look at this in verses 17 to 21. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:21.679 So Peter continues, verse 17, since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:27.600 That's attention we don't always hold well. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:32.080 God is father, and he is judge. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:44.320 Fear here doesn't mean terror, it means taking God seriously. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:49.919 Living with an awareness that your life matters before him. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:14:02.639 This is why Peter tells us in verse 18, for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.360 You weren't bought back cheaply. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:17.200 But as he continues in verse 18, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:19.840 That's the heart of it. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:29.919 Holiness is not about earning God's love, it's about responding to the price already paid. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:40.240 Peter continues in verses 20 and 21, saying he was chosen before the creation of the world. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:46.320 This is Jesus he's speaking of, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:55.600 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:01.039 Let me try to illustrate that for you as well. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:08.879 Imagine someone pays off a huge debt for you completely. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.559 You didn't earn their kindness or their generosity, and you cannot repay it. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:25.120 If somebody were to have done that for you, you wouldn't walk away going, Great! I can go on and do all that I did that led me into debt. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.159 No, you'd live differently because of what they sacrificed for you. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.799 Or at least you should. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:54.240 If only because of the lesson that Jesus taught in Matthew 18 of the unmerciful servant who was given and forgiven an unimaginable debt, but was not changed and suffered the consequence. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.600 So consider this as an application. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:04.240 Do you treat sin lightly? 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:12.720 How do you become used to grace instead of being shaped by it? 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:25.200 And the last point as we move towards the end of the text comes out of verses 22 through to chapter 2 and verse 3. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.799 Live it out, love, remove, crave, Peter tells us. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.840 So Peter brings it down to everyday life. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.759 After all, Peter is just or was just a simple fisherman. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.519 He says to us first of all, love deeply. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:53.039 Verse 22, he writes, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have sincere love for one another. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:57.279 Love one another deeply from the heart. 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.080 Now, our English language is weak here. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:03.679 We just have love. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.440 Love for this, love for that. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.839 And we have love for chocolate, love for husband and wife, love for children. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:14.160 We just see the word here love and it can be all sorts of things. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:19.359 The root behind it in the Greek defines it more clearly. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:29.599 When Peter writes of sincere love, he uses the Greek word philadelphia, which implies a brotherly love, a family love. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:40.720 But the word used when translated in the love one another deeply is from the Greek word agapeo. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:45.119 Peter's distinction is intentional. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.519 The first love is a matter of family. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.680 You have to love your family. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:53.359 You say you don't get to choose them, they're just there and you love them. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:58.720 But the second love is a choosing to love. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.960 There's no natural obligation to love in that way. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:08.000 This agapeo is sometimes referred to as a sacrificial love. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:18.960 That is the word that's used in John 3.16 when it describes the love of God for the world when he gave his son to die for our sin. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:24.559 So holiness is not just about personal behavior. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.720 It shows up in the way that we treat people. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:42.640 It's not a surface-level politeness, but real, genuine love, a deep love, a choosing to love. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.119 Thinking about love and understanding it. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:59.279 You can always tell when someone is just being polite and when somebody genuinely cares for you. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:13.759 The difference between that casual connection and the deep love and intentional relationship is their attention, their time, and their depth of engagement with you. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:18.720 Peter is saying to us, go beyond shallow. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.240 Love from the heart. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:31.680 And having commanded us to love deeply, he instructs us to remove what destroys. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:44.880 Chapter two and verse one, Peter writes, Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:52.079 This is practical, but also maybe uncomfortable. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.039 Malice wishing harm on another. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:12.720 Deceit, bending the truth, hypocrisy, pretending, envy, resenting others, slander, tearing people down. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.440 You don't drift out of these things. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.039 You have to choose to put them away. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.839 Now I have an illustration for this. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:28.720 An illustration of clearing out a cupboard. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:39.599 If you keep stuffing new things into a cupboard, but never remove the old, eventually there's no room left in the cupboard. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:45.200 Don't need a show of hands, but who has a cupboard like that at home? 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:52.960 The cupboard that you think carefully about, you one hand on the handle, the other ready to catch. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:58.079 Because you know when you open the door, the floodgates are open. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:07.759 Some of us are trying to grow spiritually without clearing out of our cupboard. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:10.160 What is holding us back? 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:18.240 Just as you think, I must do something about this cupboard at home. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:31.680 If the cupboard of your life is so full of who you were, there's little room left to fit in who you should be and will be. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:38.240 And then the third point crave what helps you grow. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:40.079 Chapter 2 and verse 2. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:46.559 And there are many here who will relate presently or relate historically to this. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:56.000 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.279 The mothers in the room. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.519 Know what it is to have a child who craves their milk. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:16.000 The fathers in the room may get to a place in the development of the child where the mother can leave a bottle and they have just a vague sense of what the mother went through. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:24.240 For a baby that has an insatiable appetite, a love for, a craving for milk. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:33.119 So understand this growth is not automatic, it's driven by desire. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:39.920 And then this key line now in chapter two and verse three. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:49.519 Now what you have tasted, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.519 That's the turning point. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.079 You don't crave something you've never tasted. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:06.000 Just for a moment, think to yourself, what is the tastiest thing that I ever tried? 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.160 Picture it, let your mouth salivate. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.240 Imagine if you were offered the opportunity for that at lunch. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.880 Would you turn it down in favour of a salad? 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:19.359 You know I wouldn't. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:30.559 When you taste something genuinely good, you want it again and again. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:37.519 Psalm 34, verse 8 tells us taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:40.799 We've sung that this morning in a song. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:52.160 Once you begin to experience his goodness, then we want more of this God. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:02.640 Know this, holiness grows when you remove what harms and crave what nourishes. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:11.759 So as I draw to the end of what I want to share with you this morning, a few thoughts for you to reflect on. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:19.839 Holiness is not about becoming a different kind of human. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:26.559 It's about becoming the human you were meant to be. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:42.079 And if you want to start on that journey or re-start that journey this morning, set your hope fully on Christ. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:58.079 Remember the cost of your redemption and live it out in love, repentance, and growth? 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.680 Show these questions to you as I finish. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.240 Are you drifting? 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.680 Or are you intentionally following Christ? 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:25.039 What in your life needs to be removed to make room in that cupboard? 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:37.200 And what is it that you've tasted but forgotten that you loved, that you need to start craving once again? 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:48.720 Now, to some of you here, I perhaps need to ask you: have you ever truly tasted that the Lord is good? 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:52.720 And perhaps some of you haven't. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:26:00.559 If you want just to catch a sense of the goodness of God, but it's not known to you, you wouldn't know Jesus as your savior. 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:06.240 You're not sure that He knows you, as we talked about last week. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:08.559 Then we are running an alpha course. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:11.920 There's one on a Friday, there's another on a Thursday. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.839 Uh, do ask afterwards. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:22.960 I know ordinarily they'd say that uh this last week, I think, was the best week to join in, but they're not going to turn you away if you'd like to come along. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:28.799 And if you've missed the first bit, roll over to the next one, catch up, and do it again. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:32.240 You can't get too much of the goodness of God. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:43.200 Because it's only once we've begun to taste that the Lord is good that holiness will arise in us. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:47.519 It comes through encounter. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:57.759 I'm inviting you this morning to encounter for the first time the God who loves you, who gave the most for you. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:01.279 We looked at what he gave to us last week. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:11.519 This week, we're looking at what we give in return to the God who loved us more than we could possibly imagine. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.519 May God bless his words to us this morning.