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Hey, we're going to be going through the book of 1 Peter and then 2 Peter, probably verse by verse, for the next many, many weeks. So it's going to be a great dive into the Word of God. And we're really looking forward to that. Because the Word of God is living and active, isn't it? The Holy Spirit authored the Word of God. And now the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the written word concerning the living word, who is Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit manifests Jesus Christ and all that He's done for us, all the many blessings that He has for us, all the resources of heaven. The Bible says that every spiritual blessing is ours through Christ. Amen. And that is an awesome, awesome privilege. Everything we need to live our lives in righteousness, godliness, and holiness is given to us through the precious work and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we honor Him. That's why we lift Him up, and that's why we give Him praise. Because He is worthy of all of our praise. And that is awesome. It's good to see everybody in the house of the Lord. I moved my clock ahead, one hour, and obviously, so did everyone in this building. Amen? So that was good. And uh now we can have a little bit of light in the afternoon, which is really, really cool. And I think it reached 70 degrees on Saturday, didn't it? Or that was that was beautiful. So, 1 Peter chapter 1. We had talked about um the first two verses on Wednesday night, and we're gonna talk about the next three or four verses today, and then on Wednesday night, we're gonna pick up on verse 6 and go till verse 9 on Wednesday night. So I want to encourage you to come on out on Wednesday night. It's a great time of worship in the presence of the Lord, a good time to dive into the word of God, and then a great time of gathering around for prayer. Praying for our nation, praying for each other, praying for the work of God here at Steel City Church, and it is awesome. Let's so let's read. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Lord, we thank you for your word. It's life to us, it's light to us. And as we read your word, we feel the love that you have for us, always drawing us closer to yourself, always preparing the way that we can live our lives for your glory and for your honor. And we thank you, Lord, for accepting us today, not based on our good looks or charm or education or where we grew up, or our high society background, or our low society background. We are accepted because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of Jesus that has cleansed us from all our sins. And we give you honor for that today, Lord. We praise you today for your mighty work of salvation and your mercy that is unbreaking, never ending, unfailing for all eternity, Lord. And we give you praise and adoration. Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So uh Steph and I we we love looking at uh the videos of little babies as they're goo-goo goo-goo and ka-ka-ka-king to their mom and dad. Just so precious, you know. And um a couple of years ago, Steph called me up one day and said, Hey, go to the uh pharmacy because I think I might be pregnant. And uh my jaw literally broke from my mouth opening, and I was like, What? And I literally said, Lord, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me. And uh praise God. Praise God, the the cup was passed, amen. Oh, that would have been something. But here in this passage of scripture, God is speaking about a new birth that each individual has to take part in. As you look around, we've all been born physically, and God is speaking his word to us that there is a new birth that has to take place in our spirits because our spirit is dead to God. And Ephesians chapter 2 says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God He has quickened us, amen? He's quickened us, He's made us alive to the things of God, and we were born again. Why don't you flip over to John chapter 1, and we'll read uh from verse 11. John chapter 1, and it reads this like this He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him, but to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And each of you that are in Christ today, understand this born-again relationship that we have with Christ. That when we looked at the gospel and the Holy Spirit wooed us, our spirit became alive to the things of God. And there was a regeneration, a born-again experience that happened in our hearts and lives. We were born from above. Amen. And all of a sudden the kingdom of God became alive to us. We know that the natural man can't receive anything from God because his spirit is dead to the things of God. And what Peter is telling these elect exiles that were kind of scattered and living in uh through the persecution of Nero, he was telling them that listen, always, always, always remember the God that saved you, the God that redeemed you, the God that had mercy on your soul to save you. He caused us to be born again. Amen? We didn't wake up one day and say, you know what? I really feel like coming to God today. So I'll knock on his door and let him know I'm in. You know? No, that didn't really happen, did it? The Holy Spirit reveals to us our sin nature and how we are so out of whack with a holy God. We're so unsorted before a holy God. We're so tainted and fallen before a holy God that there is not a means or a way or a bridge that we can get to God other than Jesus Christ. And when he reveals that to you, we turn to Christ in faith and say, Lord, you are the only way to save me from my sin, to save me from my brokenness, to save me from my hurt and my pain and my sorrow. And we accept Jesus Christ as Lord. The blood of Jesus is shed upon our hearts, and he cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future sin. And that is the work of God. Amen? That is the work of God, and it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Blessed, the Bible says, go back to 1 Peter. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like I said, this uh this word blessed in the Greek is used eight times in Scripture, and it comes from our word eulogy, and it's interesting how Peter is encouraging these scattered Christians to bless the Lord, to speak of the Lord, of his character, of his goodness, of uh his will, and of his way, of his grace, and everything that is about him. We need to speak it out and we need to bless him. Amen. We need to talk about it. The Old Testament says that we need to talk about the word of God. When you woke up this morning, did you bless the Lord? Did you tell him of his great effect upon your life? Did you let him know about the goodness that you've experienced, that the grace that you've experienced? Did you tell him, thank you for his love, thank you for his the the wonder of who he is, thank you for leading, leading us and guiding us and just blessing the Lord. David knew how to bless the Lord, didn't he? The Bible says that uh Psalms 34, this is my theme verse in college, I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Amen? Bless the Lord at all times, in every circumstance, wherever you are, whatever you're going through, the tendency for our human nature is that we would complain and that we would grumble and that we would fret and then that we would be anxious. Isn't it so? Well, the Lord is telling us here, and Peter is telling these Christians that are being harassed, being uh ostracized, being cast out, literally being slain in the Colosseums to continually bless the Lord. And this is a good good word for us today because of the situations that's going through the world, everything that's that's happening as Bible prophecy is literally being fulfilled in this day, in this day and age, we need to always bless the Lord in all things, according to his great mercy, his great mercy. This is the thing that keeps us every day, is the wonder of God's mercy upon our hearts and upon our lives. The Bible says that he gives us mercy that meets us every day. Mercy. And it is awesome. The idea of mercy is to show kindness or concern for someone in serious need or to give help to be wretched to the wretched, to relieve the miserable. This is the essential thought that mercy is it gives attention to those that are in misery, to those that are broken, to those that are hurting. It's God's kindness and goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them and to bring compassion and love to them. Beautiful picture of the good Samaritan. Amen. The priest went by, the Levite went by, but the Samaritan saw the need, poured in the oil and the wine, brought them to the inn, and said, Listen, inn innkeeper, whatever you pay to keep this, keep this Jew alive, put it on my account. Amen. That's what God has done for us, friends. When all the institutions and organizations of men pass us by, Jesus picked us up, poured in the oil and the wine, brought us into a personal relationship with himself, and said, I will pay the debt, and that's what Christ did. He paid our debt. Aren't you glad for that today? Amen? Man, we're not obligated to our sin. We're not obligated to our flesh. Those bills have been paid by Christ. We're obligated now to live our life according to the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of truth. That's our obligation, that's our task, that's our mandate, that's what we do. Amen? That's what we do, and it is awesome. The mercy of the Lord is incredible. Listen to this, Titus 3, 4 to 6. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, which is being born again, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, the movement and sanctification of the Holy Spirit in our lives, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. What a wonder God is. Amen. We bless him and we thank him every single day for his mercy. His mercy is unfailing. It never, never ends. It doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter where you've been, amen. It doesn't matter what your life has been through, the mercy of God is there to draw you closer, to relieve you of your pain, to forgive you of your sin, and to call you a child of God today. And that's why we praise him. That's why we love him. Because of his great goodness. There was a guy named, preacher named Whitefield, that said to Benjamin Franklin, said, as you have made a pretty considerable progress in the mysteries of electricity, I would now honestly recommend to your diligent, unprejudiced pursuit and study the mysteries of the new birth. Amen. My question to you today do you know that you are born again, born from above, and that if you died today, you'd see Jesus face to face. Amen? Are you born again? Is your spirit made alive? I'm not talking about religious rituals or traditions. I'm not talking about good works. I'm not talking about external self-righteousness. I'm talking about a relationship that you fall on your knees and you say, I am a sinner and bound for hell, but I need a savior. And the only savior that's worthy of my life and of my time and of my effort is Jesus Christ. And we bow to him. Because friends, every tongue will confess, every knee shall bow that Jesus Christ is Lord. Do it now while you can. Amen. Jesus Christ is Lord. Oh, what a great God we serve. I bring up Bob Dylan all the time, but that song that says, Listen, you gotta serve somebody. It might be the devil, it might be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody. And listen, if you're serving yourself, you're serving the devil. This is it. The devil feeds into your life, into this selfishness, self-centeredness, gives you all the whims and the wishes that you desire to keep you out of the love of God and the forgiveness of Christ. And that's why Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen? What a great Savior, friends. What a great God. We serve. What an awesome, awesome thing that God would love us. It is amazing. The new life brings a living hope. A living hope. The Bible says that if we have just hope for this world, we are to be pitied more than anyone. What God has given us is a living hope and a lasting hope. Amen. Why is this a living hope where Peter brings this out? It's a living hope because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Amen. And now that same risen Savior dwells within our heart. We've accepted Christ in our heart. The Holy Spirit regenerates us. And now the Bible says that Christ is in us, and Christ in us is the hope of glory. Amen? It's a living and lasting hope that gets us through this life and into the next. The people that have this just worldly hope does not really have hope. The Bible says that there are people that are without God, and because you are without God, you are without hope in this world. Jesus Christ is the living hope that He gives to us this new life. Jesus said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Then he said, Do you believe this? Amen? Do you believe this? The wonder of the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is awesome. Living hope. 1 Peter 1 23 says, Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. Living word of God. Now this living hope and this lasting hope brings us into this wonderful inheritance that we have. Amen. It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it doesn't fade away, and it is reserved for you in heaven. How many of you have ever reserved a hotel? Then when you got to the hotel, who are you again? Right? You're not here. What are you doing? This reservation is solid and cemented for you, guarded by the power of God in heaven, reserved for you. The confidence, knowing that you walk through the pearly gates and say, Dan Cudmore, I got a reservation. Jesus sent it to me. Amen. And I'm in. What a beautiful thing. An inheritance is property or money or title that you own upon the death of the previous holder who has made you an heir. And once that person dies, it's passed on to you. If you were named on as an heir, and usually this is done with uh parents to children. Jesus rose from the dead and he became a joint heir with us. We became joint heirs with him. Amen. Paul in Romans chapter 8 says, Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering, in order that we may also share in his glory. For I consider that the present sufferings of this world are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us when we see Jesus face to face. What a great salvation, friends. What a great salvation that we have. We have this living hope, this lasting hope, this inheritance in heaven that's reserved for us by the power of God. So we're born again to a living hope. It's a lasting hope. Somebody came out with a book, uh, Your Best Life Now. And you gotta look in the mirror and say, man, if this is your best life now, you're finished. Okay? You're done. Our best life now is not now. Our best life is when we see Jesus face to face. Amen? And as believers in these end days, we have to live for eternity and not live for the moment. Not live for materialism, not live for the things of this world. We got to keep our eyes looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Amen? The one who has bought us, won us, and sealed the deal for us. How many of you are wrapped up in materialism? There's no hands. There was one faithful soul that raised her hand. We get wrapped up in these things, amen? And these things become a God. And what they do is they they disrupt our communion with God. Now, we're supposed to take care of ourselves. God gives us income to allow us to purchase things that we can live our lives, but these things are not to be our God, amen. For Peter, heaven was not just a destination, but heaven was a motivation. We're living for eternity. There's eternity in our soul and in our spirit. If you're in Christ today, you're not living for the things of this world. You're not living for the desires of the devil. You're not living for your selfishness, because you know that your selfishness will never, ever, ever be fulfilled ever. It's the law of diminishing returns. The more you give in to self, the more it wants. But yet the more it is wanting and wanting. Wanting and wanting until you find yourself making decisions and having intentions that bring pain and sorrow to your life. Your selfishness will never lead you to life. And this is why we give our selfishness up to the things of God. Amen. And we serve, we serve God. We are so tied to this world because we say, this is real, this is real life. This is the life right now. No, it's not. As you well know, that you can pass on from this world at any moment and any time. And how you live for eternity is what matters most. Amen? There was a guy who opened a brand new business in a city, and his buddy wanted to celebrate, so he sent him a congratulatory gift, a bouquet of flowers and a card. The problem is the bouquet of flowers had a card attached that said, Rest in peace. So the new business owner was shocked and was like, What is this guy trying to tell me here? I just started this new business. What's the deal? Well, the owner then called the flower shop and said, I think there's a mix-up. I think I got the wrong bouquet. And the florist apologized profusely, said, Indeed, you got the wrong flowers, but just to brighten your day, just think right now, somewhere in town there's a funeral and a bouquet of flowers with a card that says, Congratulations on your new location. Amen. Right. And listen, friends, every funeral that we should go to, we should write that in a card if those people, if that soul is in Christ. Amen. Congratulations on your new location. Amen. Save, redeem in the presence of the Lord. Friends, this is why this crazy verse that says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. When you look at it through natural eyes, he's a cruel, cruel monster. When you look at it through the eyes of a loving Savior that wants us to be with him and enjoy him forever, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Amen. So you must be born again. A living hope. Not just a lively hope, but a living hope that is a lasting hope and an inheritance that is settled in heaven, reserved for us and kept by the power of God to keep us until we see him face to face. This world is a scary place, isn't it? And there was a lady that felt unsafe and got her a concealed carry, and she felt safe for about five months, but then something happened. She was leaving the mall at night, and walking to her car, she saw four men inside her car. And she went up to them and asked them to leave. And of course, they didn't leave. So she drew her gun, pointed it at the four men in the car, and screamed, get out of the car. And the doors blew open and they fled into the night. And then she had to find her car. Amen. Right? We can rest assured today that God sees you, He knows you. He knows what heavenly car you're driving in. He knows how to keep you safe. He knows how to guard you. And it's all because of the power of God as we yield our lives to Him, friends. This is the beauty of our Savior and our God. He is the one that has caused this. It's his fault. Amen. That we are his. The Bible says that the Father woos or draws us to the person and work of Jesus, and we see the wonder in the person and the work of Jesus, in the blood of Jesus that can cleanse us from all sin. We cry out to him, and the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates that dead spirit, the deadness in our hearts and lives, so that we could see the very kingdom of God. And this is uh this is the beauty of knowing Christ Jesus, kept in heaven, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last day. Awesome, awesome power of God. The question that you really have to ask yourself is have you bent your knee and has have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord? And if you haven't, today's your day. Amen. Salvation belongs to the Lord, salvation is of the Lord. He's the one that's calling us, he's the one that's allowing us to experience the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin, that we can't make it through this life without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Bible says that in the end times there'll be people that will always be learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. And we see that in our in our politics, education, in our culture today. Everybody just doubling down on their viewpoint and on their opinion and on their argument, never allowing the truth to enter into their hearts and lives. We don't want to be people like that. Amen. We want to always be learning and we want to come to a knowledge of the truth. The Bible says that we shall experience the truth of God, acknowledge it, and say that is right, and that truth, the Bible says, will set us free. Then the Bible says that there'll be folks in the end times that will have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. And that's a scary, scary place. Jesus got after the Pharisees and the rulers and the teachers of the law for having this satanic self-righteousness that literally pushed them to kill the Son of God. The very one that loved them, the very one that came to die for them. Then the Bible says that because of lawlessness, the love of many will wax cold. What was once on fire has gone down to this coldness and this callousness in our hearts to the things of God. And this cannot be, amen. This cannot be. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 3 that he stands at the door and knocks. If any man opens the door, he's gonna come in and he's gonna eat a Mediterranean diet with you, amen. And sup with you. And this is the beauty call to the church, not to those that are unsaved, but to the church. He's knocking at the door. Will you let him in? Amen. In Revelation it says that Christ would rather have the Laodicea, the Laodicean church, same as this church today. I'd rather have you hot or cold because if you're lukewarm, I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. And man, back in those days there were aqueducts that brought water into the cities. And this water was distasteful, it was tepid, you could hardly drink it. But there's water that is hot for healing. Amen. Hot to wrap up the wounds of our lives. And then there's this cold, refreshing water that gives us this renewal and refreshment of the Holy Spirit that we need. Let's be hot, let's be cold. Let's not be lukewarm. Amen. Let's stay on fire for God. As Paul told Timothy, stir up the flame, stir up the gift that is within you. Stir it up, man. Blow into those embers that once died down. And allow the Spirit of God to come in. Stir up the gift that is within you. Let's rouse ourselves. And listen, if you're outside of the will and way of God, maybe you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, today's the day. There's a lot of musts in our lives. Amen. You've got to have air to breathe. You've got to have water to drink. You've got to have food to eat. And for a soul that is reckoning upon eternity, there has to be, there has to be this thought that you must be born again. You must be born again. If you're not born again, you can receive him right now and accept him as Lord. This might be the first day where you claim him as Lord and Savior of your life. Amen? What a great, great God we serve. So I'm gonna have the worship team come up. We're gonna worship the Lord. Seal the dealer.