Beyond - Genuinely Saved

As we begin our adventure through 1 Peter, the Apostle starts with the foundation for both his letter, and for our entire lives - Salvation! This message unpacks what it looks like to be "genuinely saved," as Peter gives us three key ways that salvations makes a person distinct. And at the very top of the recording - we wish Megan a very happy birthday! 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

It is my birthday. Don't tell anybody.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

You have to stay.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Thank you. Um, thank you. That was really sweet. Um, my name is Megan, and I am reading the scripture for tonight. It's in First Peter chapter one. So get out your Bibles or your Bible apps if you have them. And I'm gonna give us a second to get there. First Peter one. Okay, let's take a breath. Thank you. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Benitha, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials, but these have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was appointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves by you. When they spoke of the things that have now been told to you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit as sent from heaven, even angels long to look into these things. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Amen. I love you. It's my wife, if you don't know. So before that got weird. Hey, it's good to be with you. I realize I've gotten up in front of you guys. And if you're brand new, I haven't yet introduced myself. If we haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Dre, I'm the young adult pastor here at Rocky Peak. And I'm excited that you're joining us again, whether it's your first time or your million time at Rocky Peak Young Adults. We believe in your generation, and we believe that God wants to unleash a movement of passionate, Christ-following young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 to change not only your generation, but multiple generations to come. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go into God's word right now, which is living and active. And so I'm gonna pray us in. And as I do that, like Megan invited us to, would you go ahead and just take a deep breath? Just one or two deep breaths. Would you go ahead and just close your eyes? And just in your own heart, would you just pray to yourself, Jesus, I want to hear you tonight? Jesus, that's ultimately our prayer. We want to hear your voice above anything else. We want to hear your voice above the voices on social media, the voices of insecurity in our head, the voices of anger or hurt. We want to hear your voice even above the voices of our hopes and dreams and desires. Jesus, your voice, no matter how good anything else can be, is the only voice that brings life and hope and resurrection. And so, Jesus, you've already been speaking to us. Would you put us in a posture where we can listen to what you have to say? As I often pray, John the Baptist, his words are precious to me. As a communicator, would I become less? My hope and intent this evening is not to speak at anybody, but to learn alongside my younger brothers and sisters. And so I hope that I fall to the wayside. I hope that you, King Jesus, become much, much more in our lives. And so we commit this time to you, and it's in your name we all said. Amen. Sharpie have mentioned uh several times over the years that I'm the proud father of three kids. And when I think of my three kids, most of them are on the teenage end of things. But I was thinking back this week many, many years ago too, when my kids were much, much younger. And when my kids were, I know they get it from me, when my kids were much, much younger, they went through that season or that phase that seemingly every young kid does, where it feels like everything that comes out of their mouth is a question. Have you ever been around young kids when they're going through that season when everything is a question? It's kind of like living with the Riddler from Batman, because they're asking a lot of what's and they're asking a lot of whys about everything that they can see. They're not asking like deep philosophical questions. They're asking why is the sky blue? Why is that dog big? Why is that dog small? They're asking informational questions. And have you ever been around a kid that asks a very honest question, but it was the most awkward time or situation? I remember with my oldest when he was about four, we were in the mall and very proudly and loudly he points and goes, Dad, why is that guy's head a square? And I just kind of grabbed him and ran with it. So my kids have all gone through that phase, but my youngest son, Isaiah, when he was around that age, there was something unique about his questions that he would ask a lot of questions, but he also would ask me to rank things. Isaiah was, I don't know where he learned it, but he was all about your top to dad. Tell me your top five X, Y, and Z. Hey Isaiah, tell me your top five X, Y, and Z. He'd be like, Dad, what are your top five football teams? What are your top five superheroes? Who are your favorite children? Who is this? And I remember he would often ask it as we would be driving, and there were two that always stood out to me. We were driving somewhere once, and he's like, Dad, out of nowhere, he's like, Dad, tell me your top five favorite lizards. To be honest with you, I don't know that I can name two lizards, but he's asking me to rank them. And then another time he's like, Dad, top five favorite juice boxes. And my answer after Capri Sun was purple or orange because I didn't know that. It's harder than you would think. And so here's what's gonna happen. Ten seconds, somebody around you, pick one of the categories, lizards or juice boxes, rank them. Go. You got 10 seconds, RF you want to talk to somebody around you, rank them. Alright, let me jump back in. Let me jump back in. Hey, raise your hand if you picked lizards. Somebody picked lizards? Brooklyn, what was your top one? Who was your top lizard? You just did it. Oliver, what was your top lizard? Komodo Dragon. Oh, you got some you got some agreers over here. John, what was your top lizard? Gila Monster? Nobody said Godzilla, what's wrong with you guys? Raise your hand if you said juice boxes if you went there. So this is probably a little bit easier. Who went Capri Sun? If you didn't answer Capri son, what's the matter with you? Did you say honest kids or something? When if Paltrow's not here, she can't hear you. Did anybody say sunny delight? Is that still a thing?

unknown 9:36

Sunny D.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Sunny D. It was Sunny Delight in my days. I'm older than you. But let me go back to this idea of asking questions. The reason why a kid is incessantly asking questions is actually pretty beautiful. They're curious because they're trying to understand their world. They're curious because they're trying to understand the world around them. And here is something that was really beautiful to see in a kid. Whenever you answer their questions, there was a little bit of light in their eye because their world just got bigger. Their world got bigger. And the reason why I start with this is have you noticed that we were all that once? But as we age, we lose that. As we age, we go from being curious and inquisitive to being know-it-alls, to becoming unteachable, that I know everything. And often this is what Mark says. I already know the answer, therefore there can't be more. I already know the answer, therefore it can't be bigger. And when we lose that curiosity that a kid has, what happens is our world stops getting bigger. In fact, it shrinks and it starts getting smaller. And one of the most important and dangerous areas in our life that that happens is in our faith. That there's something that happens to us, whether by chronological age or just years and time of walking with Jesus. Some of you are still new in your Christian journey. Some of you have been walking with Jesus as long as you can remember. But there's this temptation for many of us that we get to a point in our walk with Jesus that we quote, know the answer. I know that about Jesus. I know that about church. I know that about the Bible. I know that about worship. And we start out, stop asking the question, is there anything more? And the older that I get, the more that I find myself going to this verse of Jesus in Matthew chapter 18, he says, truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And think about that, that is significant. Unless you change and become like little children. We often view children as being the models of immaturity. And yet Jesus is speaking of their hearts and he's going, No, no, no. Children actually reflect what spiritual maturity is all about. Spiritual maturity continues to be curious, spiritual maturity continues to pray, continues to seek, and continues goes, God, I believe that there's more than what I can see. Even if I know what the truth is, God, I believe that there's more than what I can see. And do you know what a child, like we talked about, when they see more, it brings joy. And so this is an invitation, not just a maturity, but it's an invitation to joy. And the beautiful thing is we start this journey through Peter's letter, the apostle Peter is Peter found had to learn this. This was a transformation that the disciple Peter thought he knew everything. The Apostle Peter is living in the beautiful truth that there is more. And as we start his letter together this evening, Peter essentially answers this one significant question that might sound so simple to some of us have been around church, but it's so profound and bigger and beautiful and more joyful than we realize. And that question is, what does it look like to be genuinely saved? Now, as we talk about children, if a kid walked up to you and said that, they might not put it as eloquently as I did. But if you're like, what does it mean to be saved? What is salvation all about? How do you think you would answer that question? But do you notice the word genuinely meaning how do we know the distinction between just saying it or just going through the motions? And genuinely we are saved. And as Peter begins his letter, what Peter's gonna talk about first thing out, as Megan read for us, is salvation. And this is not only the foundation for his letter, but what we're gonna see is this answer is the foundation for his life, and he's inviting us as the church to make this the foundation for our lives as well. And for those of you that are here for the first time, we're in week two of a series we just kicked off a week ago called Beyond the Yearbook. And the premise behind this series is that if there were like senior yearbook pictures or senior awards when the disciples were following Jesus, Peter would have likely gotten least likely to succeed. Because what we see in the gospel is a man who's prideful, who's arrogant, who's unteachable, who's angry, and who's insecure. And Jesus saw all of that, but he also saw more. And Jesus invited Peter to experience a life beyond what he was in that moment. And he invites us to experience more, to live in the beyond of what we are in this moment as well, through what's called transformation. And so throughout this series, what we're doing is we're going on a journey with an older, wiser, and much more humbled Apostle Peter, as he writes the letter of 1 Peter in the New Testament, the second half of our Bibles. He is writing to the early church and he's sharing them the more that he's experienced in following Jesus. But like I mentioned last week, there's something about Peter's letters that also sound like he's writing to himself and to young leaders where he was at, some 25, 30 years previously. And so to be able to give us a foundation there in your note sheet, like I often say, we're coming in hot. And so your neon light statement, which is if you don't remember anything else, remember this. What we've seen in what Megan read is that salvation is what living beyond is built on. If we are gonna be a people that live beyond our yearbook photo, so to speak, it is built. That life transformation is built upon salvation. And salvation is much, much bigger than a moment. And I feel like as Christ followers, we unintentionally minimize salvation as being a moment in our life or a moment in our journey. It's how things started and then we move on. But what we see not only in Peter's words, but what we see throughout the New Testament of the Bible is that salvation is not a moment, but it is what we build our lives around. And so if you got your Bible still open to 1 Peter, you got your abs, I want to take you back to chapter one. And Megan read a big section for us, but we're gonna stay focused on about three verses tonight. And so I want to take you to verse three and verse four. And so in verse three and verse four, Peter says, Praise be to the God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his great mercy, who has given us new birth into a living hope throughout the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. So starting with these verses, and we're gonna look at one more a little bit later on. You see it there in your note sheet. Peter is answering that question. What does it mean to be genuinely saved? And he's giving us three essentials, three distinctives of what it means to actually be living and walking in salvation. And so he starts by emphasizing that salvation is a result of mercy. In whose mercy? He goes on to say that it has been given to us. And so the first essential, the first distinctive, the first way to know if you are living in genuine salvation, your first fill-in is this is that salvation is an undeserved gift. That there was nothing you or I could do to earn it. There is nothing you and I do to work to maintain it. Salvation is an undeserved gift. Now, I want to talk to the Christians in the house. This statement comes with a temptation to become numb to it. To be like, I know, I get it. We are here, we have been saved by the grace of Jesus, by the love of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus. We have sung countless songs about it, we have celebrated numerous Easters about it. I highlighted it in my Bible or it's in my app. I might have a cute little card on my bedroom wall about it. We get it, we know. And the thing is, there is a temptation we don't realize that when it comes to this truth, we can become numb to it. And how we become numb is that we move on from it. We go, okay, give me, give me the juicy stuff, give me the give me the varsity stuff, give me the 201 class stuff, talk to me about the Nephilim, talk to me about revelation. I get, I get that I'm saved, but here's the important thing. As Christ-following people, that means we are people of the Bible. The Bible is our model for life, and especially the New Testament never moves on from this. In fact, all throughout the New Testament and the letters of Peter, the letters of John, the letters of the Apostle Paul, they don't just move, they don't just talk about this, they dwell in it. This is where they dwell, that we have been saved by grace. They often go back to the fact that our sin isn't simply just doing bad things or breaking certain rules, that our sin was significant because our sin was rebellion and treason against God the King. In fact, think about sin this way. We often, like I mentioned, think about sin in terms of breaking a rule or telling something bigger than a white lie or something like that. But what happens when we all have sinned, you and me, is what we're saying with our lives, is we're saying that I don't want you, Jesus, to be king in my life. I can be or I can find a better king than you. That's what sin is. Sin is a declaration. I don't trust you to be king in my life. I don't trust you to make me happy. I don't trust you to give me what I want. I don't trust you in dating. I don't trust you with my money. I don't trust you with my future. I don't trust you with this sin. I don't trust you here. I don't trust you with my hurt. I don't trust you with my pain. And so what happens in sin is we are saying, I will find a better king than you. And when we become a people that are looking for a king, what that means is we're looking for somebody to give us identity. Last week we talked about how Jesus names Simon into Peter. That is a supernatural giving of identity. When we reject God through sin, we begin looking for somebody else to do that in our lives. We begin looking for it in other people, whether it's friends, whether it's dating or romantic relationships, whether it's people online. We begin looking for it in our image and the way we present ourselves or the way we appear. We begin looking for it in the perfect body or the perfect health. We begin looking for it in our culture that tells us create your own identity, be whoever you want. And so we sit there, go, okay, so I'm just gonna create this version of me or this version of me or this version of me. We begin looking for it in success. If I can get the right grades, the right job, the right money, the right thing, if I can get into the right school. We begin thinking about if like if we hit the right signpost, if I can have the right family one day, we begin looking for it in sex or in porn, we begin looking for it in substances, we begin looking for it in laziness, and all of us, myself included, have attempted to find a to find life and identity in a false king, and always there has been something missing. Because what happened when we rejected Jesus is we rejected the one and only source of life. And so we have to start here with salvation. We do not move on from salvation. In fact, our eternity is going to be built on this foundation. That salvation is an undeserved gift. Very famously, the Apostle Paul, another key leader in the early movement of Jesus, in his letter to the Romans in chapter 5, he says this, you see, at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. That's talking about us. Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And one thing that the New Testament is incredible at is it's incredible at remembering. It's incredible at remembering who we were and contrasting that with who we are because of the grace of Jesus. And the New Testament doesn't invite us to remember because it wants you to live in guilt and shame. The New Testament invites you to remember because it wants you to live in joy. This is who you were. And look at what Jesus has done. You didn't earn it. You didn't get your act together. You didn't get your sins down to three a day. You didn't help a thousand old ladies across the street. You didn't do this, you didn't do this, you didn't do this. Jesus stepped into your story before you did anything and gave you a beautiful gift. And so the reason why Peter starts this way is this is not a story to get numbed, this is not a truth to get numb to. This is not something we move on from. This is what we constantly and consistently get to remember and celebrate. In fact, if I think of kind of an emotional energy for it, I think of all of us have certain stories of things that have happened in our lives that we tell over and over again, don't we? And all of us have these stories of things that have happened that we love telling these stories over and over again. And I'm talking about those stories, I feel like they somehow get better every time you tell them, right? Do you understand what I'm talking about? You all have stories that you're excited to be like. Can I tell you about what happened to me at this one time? Can I tell you about when I met this person? Can I tell you about when I had this experience? There's something beautiful about it. In fact, one of my favorite over and over stories that some of you who have been under my preaching for years have probably heard me talk about happened when I was 25 years old. When I was 25 years old, I flew out to Tulsa, Oklahoma that May because I was meeting one of my friends who had finished their freshman year in college, and he packed up his life and we drove back home to California. And we decided to leave that night at about 11 p.m. to be able to just drive through the night. And as we were walking out, one of his friends stops us to say goodbye, but also goes, Hey, make sure you guys are careful. There's a tornado warning that just went into effect in our area. Now, we are both from Southern California. Those words make absolutely no sense to me. I don't know if you've ever grown or spent any time in like areas like Oklahoma, Tornado Alley, and everything. All I know about tornadoes is what I've seen in movies. And so me being a dumb and arrogant young guy and going, well, we're gonna see a tornado, right? Tornadoes are big, we just won't drive towards the tornado. How hard could this be? Turns out pretty darn hard. Because we started driving for about an hour. And have you, if you've ever left California, one thing, and hear me, we put up with a lot of living California, but I love living in California. You know why? Because the weather makes sense here in California. When you leave California, have you ever experienced in other states how quickly and drastically the weather can change? So we were driving along the freeway and it was a hot evening, and all of a sudden a thunder and lightning storm broke out. And not like so living in California has lied to me about what rain is my whole life. So this thunder and lightning was like being in a war zone. Then after that, all of a sudden, one of the biggest torrential downpours came down on our car. And then you know what happened next? It hailed, and not even like a little bit of hail. We had to pull off to the side of the road because we were scared out of our minds. Why do I love that story so much? Because there were emotions, there was relationship, there was friendship, there was a wild experience. And whenever I tell it, it takes me back to that feeling and the laughter we shared afterwards as we nervously drove away after the hail. That's salvation. That's being saved by grace. That's what Peter is reminding us of as he starts with this. You know, over the last like year or two, there is a leader, an author, and a speaker named Megan Faith Marshman that has quickly become one of my favorite, uh, one of my favorite just Christian leaders of all time. I think I've got uh an affinity for wonderful women named Megan. And there on your notes sheet, I was listening to her talk about this recently, and this is what she had to say. She says, Grace is not just getting what you don't deserve, grace is getting abundantly what you could never deserve. Think about that. That's what Jesus says in the Gospel of John, life and life to the full. Grace is not just getting what you don't deserve, grace is getting abundantly what you could never deserve. Forgiveness, life, identity, purpose. And then it's again there on your note-cheek, but she goes on and she asks this beautiful question When is the last time Grace was amazing to you? When is the last time Grace was amazing to you? Can we stop for a few seconds? Can you just go before the Lord right now, just again in the stillness of your heart? And would you ask him to either remind you of how amazing grace is, or would you ask him to show you for the first time how amazing his grace is? Just take a few seconds in practice. Amen. So we go back to verse three. And the next thing I want to highlight is the fact that he says, New birth, that in his great mercy, Jesus has given us new birth. And if you think of that, that metaphor, that image of new life, that means that this is more than just being a slightly better version of who we used to be. Some of you have heard me say that sometimes a low view of being a Christ follower is that we're essentially the same person we've been. We just try to curse a little bit less, show up to church somewhat on time a little bit more, and again, maybe we try to do like two good things a day. But when the Bible is talking about salvation, it talks about a radical transformation. That leads me to your second fill-in. The second essential learning is that salvation is now your primary identity. How do you know that you're genuinely saved? Because salvation has now become your primary identity. And here's the truth about life. We live with multiple identities, and I don't mean in a schizophrenic sort of way. We just wear a lot of different hats. If I think about it from myself, I am a son of God. I am also a husband and a father. I am an employee. I am a friend. I am a son myself. I am a sibling. At other times in my life, I have been a student, and we could go on and on, right? Think about some of the identities you have right now. In fact, they're on your note sheet. Write some of them down. Some of you are sons and daughters, some of you are currently employees or managers, some of you are students, some of you are siblings. It's not even just kind of the basic relationships of some of you would go, I'm athletic, that's part of my identity. Some of you would go, I'm creative or I enjoy reading and stories. Some of you would go, I'm hurting, that's part of my identity. I've been hurting for a long time. Some of you might even say, I'm confused. See, we hold multiple different truths about ourselves, but when it comes to our identity, so to speak, there is always one that is primary. And whatever the primary identity is, is the one that impacts all the other ones. The primary identity is the one that sets the trajectory for all the other ones, but it is not always or automatically Jesus. Even if we are Christ followers, one of the things that Peter is inviting us to see is that sometimes being a follower of Jesus becomes one of the identities. But a key distinction is that we are now born again. This is our primary identity. And this is the one that impacts and modifies everything else. And in fact, that then leads directly into the third distinction, the third fill-in on your note sheet, is that salvation makes a difference in your real life. Salvation makes a difference. How do you know if somebody is genuinely saved? Because salvation is making a difference in how they live their real life, meaning their faith, their salvation, their identity as a son or daughter of Jesus the King is not contained to this room, is not contained to your life group, is not contained to this campus or to your home church. It is not contained to Christmas or Easter. It is not contained to when things are going well. It is not contained to the occasional good act. It is making a difference in your real life. Look at verse 6, because Paul, remember, this is a letter that Peter is writing to real people. And he says, in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trial. And that idea that he's talking to people who are hurting, meaning they're living real life. They're not living a Disney fantasy, they're not living an idealized life, they're living a real life, and real life is messy. Real life is confusing. Real life is hard. And so, what is Peter saying is that this is impacting more than just your weakness. Salvation is meant to make a difference in your real life. And look at that word, rejoice. Peter is not minimizing their very real hurt and pain. But what he's showing us is that in real life we hurt. But salvation makes a difference because it gives us hope that the world doesn't have. Not hope. Often in our world, we talk about hope like it's a wish, like a sporting event. Like I really hope my team wins. But we don't actually know what's gonna happen. Peter is reminding us, no, no, no, that's not how we deal with hope. We rejoice because Jesus is alive, and that changes everything. And so when it comes to this making a difference, do you see how this is tied into your primary identity? And so, as disciples of Jesus, as the saints of God the Father, we now get to learn, we now get to ask, how does salvation make a difference in every area of my life? That's what you saw in the promo video that our one-day conference is all about. How do we be Christ followers that are living in our salvation each and every day? And so think about these questions rhetorically, right? But because you, if you are here today as a Christ follower, if you are here as somebody who has given your life to Jesus through a beautiful act of repentance, these are not guilt questions, these are opportunity questions, okay? So think about it. How does salvation have an impact in how you plan for the future? There are many of us that we operate for our future, our job, our schools, what's gonna happen in the fall, what's gonna happen the next day, that we just go through the motions or we do it based on what our parents want, or what other people around us, or what we think is gonna make us happy when it comes to your future, when it comes to how you think about it, when it comes to how you're planning, has salvation had an impact on your future? For some of us, the question is has salvation had an impact on how you think about dating, on how you approach a dating relationship, on how you think about sex in marriage? Are we influenced by the culture? Are we influenced by movies? Are we influenced by social media? Or does salvation have an impact in how we approach that? For some of us, it's how you approach your anger, it's how you approach your hurt, it's how you approach your bitterness, it's the fights you're having with people in your head. It's an opportunity to ask the question: how does salvation impact and make a difference in it? For some of us, like me, it's fear. We live with a lot of anxiety. We live with a lot of fear. A lot of our decisions are fear-based and we chase after an idol of safety. How can salvation make an impact on that part of your life? For some of you, it's being a leader somewhere, volunteering somewhere at the church. How does salvation make an impact? And again, we could go on and on and on. But here's the thing that Peter is inviting us to. He's inviting us to see that what it means to be genuinely saved, and please catch this, has nothing to do with perfection. It is not about being perfect, but it is about being committed. And commitment and follow-through gives evidence that this is making a difference in your life. It is not about perfection. And sometimes we get scared at this idea. But James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes in his letter, what good is our faith without deeds? And it's not starting with a behavior. You're saying, no, no, no, because if if salvation is exactly what it says it is, it is us going from death to life because of the grace and mercy of Jesus the King, then how does that not make a difference? And now as disciples of Jesus, I get to think about my whole life, one area at a time, in terms of the lens of how is salvation making a difference in this area in my life. Peter is inviting us to what he's learned, that this is not simply words we say, but this is the difference maker of our whole lives. It's not about perfection, but commitment and follow-through. That makes a difference as we are learning and we are trying. Let me illustrate it this way. When I was much younger, when I was about eighth grade or ninth grade, I found it kind of ironic and funny that I was surrounded by a lot of people that I went to school with that claimed to be in a band, claimed to be musicians of some kind. And I find it ironic because I love music deeply, and the good Lord did not give me any type of musical ability in any way, shape, or form. But I was surrounded by a lot of people. Now, did you notice I used the word claimed? And there was a pattern amongst many of them, mostly guys, that tended to play out, the story tended to repeat itself over and over again. They would talk a lot about what they were gonna do. They would talk a lot about their plans for their band. They would be like spend a lot of time drawing logos and coming up with names and stuff. They would talk a lot about the songs they were gonna write, the epic songs that would change the world. They would talk about the styles and the genres and the covers they wanted to do. They would talk about the performances and how they saw themselves as these rock stars and the lifestyles that they were gonna live. And many of them had what I would call the right, quote, knowledge. They knew certain truths about what it meant to be a musician, about what it meant to be in a band. In fact, if they were to take a written test, many of them would have gotten these answers correctly. Many of them had the right gear, they had instruments, there were people that would walk around like drumsticks in their back pocket, they had the right ripped banties, and you know, they looked the part. And some of them even had experience that they had gotten to play in front of people or actually gotten their ragtag band together in a garage and learned and go in. But very few of them, in my observation, were actually committed to it. And so what happened was for a season, it was like all they talked about. And then it started getting less and less and less, and then they moved on. They moved on to the next fad. They moved on to the next interest, they moved on to the now I'm this, now I'm committed to this, now this is the greatest thing ever. And what did I learn? Not just from watching them, but what I've learned in my own mistakes in my life, that they loved the idea of being a musician more than the commitment it needed. The idea felt a lot better than actually living it, than actually following through. And so, to put some modern language to what Peter is saying, don't let salvation be a fad. Because it's not. It's our eternity. And so this is not a guilt question of is salvation making a difference in your life? This is a we get to let salvation make a difference in our lives. We get to be transformed, we get to be different through the leading of the Holy Spirit. And why does Peter start his letter this way? Why does Paul often start his letters this way? Because everything else they're gonna talk about, everything else we're gonna look at in our journey this summer throughout this letter is built upon salvation. We don't move on from it. And so finally, there in your noji, there's just one last question What is your next step to live your life in salvation? What is your next step? And I mean this beautifully, but to be specific. Not conceptually, yeah, I'm gonna live in my salvation. Awesome. How? And that's not a judgy question, but how? What's one area that you feel like the Lord is leading you to start with? For some of you, maybe it just starts here at church. I need to be around other believers and I need to be around saints. I need to commit to this even when it's not convenient. For some of you, maybe it's gonna be getting in a life group in the fall. For some of you, maybe it's confession. Maybe it's like I've been holding on to this sin for a long, long time, and it's kind of been defining me rather than me giving it to Jesus. For some of you, maybe it's finding a place to give back and to serve. For some of you, it's starting a spiritual discipline like prayer. I I want to start talking to God in my mornings. For some of you, it's reading or listening to a free Bible app like UVersion, going, I want to learn. What does this say? What is going on in the Word? What's the one, what is your next step to live in your salvation? And I want to give you an opportunity to really think about this. And to do that, we're gonna spend a few minutes together engaging in one of the most powerful ways to remember and celebrate our salvation that Jesus gave us, and that's through the act of communion. And so, in just a few moments, I'm gonna pray first and I'm gonna release you, and you might notice that there are tables set up all around the room with communion. And here's the purpose of what Jesus did by modeling this for us, because he knew we are forgetful people. And so we not only want to remember our salvation, but we want to remember the weight of sin and the joy of grace. And that's what communion is all about. And so this is an opportunity for the believers, for saints that have given their life of Jesus to be able to go to the tables, to be able to take of the bread, which represents the body that was broken, to take of the drink, which represents the blood that was shed, to again, not to live in guilt and shame, but to feel the weight of what our sins required, but also to celebrate the joy that Jesus said it is finished, and the tomb is empty.