SPEAKER_01 0:00

Are you ready for the Word of God? Amen. You're ready to prepare your heart for the Word of God. We're so grateful for worship because worship softens our heart. So when God speaks to our heart, our heart is not hard, it's ready to receive the word of God. And that's why we worship the Lord. That's why we give Him praise. So we're so grateful for George to come now, and uh He's gonna bring the Word of God.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Praise God. Thank you, Father, for your word, Lord, as we gather together just to receive that life from you. Lord God, let your word enter into us and change us, mold us, transform us into the image that you've called us, and that is the pattern after Jesus. And Father, we thank you for that. So we are going to spend time in 2 Peter, pardon me, 1 Peter chapter 2, and verses 1 to 12. Kind of long passage. I'm gonna jump through the pieces of it, but we're gonna read it a little bit together. However, before we start, you guys understand punctuation, the numbers on the margins, the chapter divisions, those aren't really inspired of God. That's what different councils, right, over centuries decided is a logical break. Everybody gets that, right? The numbers, if if you look in the original text, there are no numbers, there's no chapter this or or verse that, right? It just read. A lot of these in the New Testament, well, they're just letters. Do you do you number sentences in your letters? No. You know, you don't chapterize your, you know, or you create an index for your for your letters. So neither did Paul or the Old Testament prophets. They just wrote as they were inspired and moved by the Holy Ghost. Amen? So the idea that that goes on here, like if we look at chapter one, right, it's talking about our salvation and and in until close to the end of that chapter, it's dealing with our coming to salvation and then the trials and adversities which begin to give us opportunity to transform. Okay? And and then we go on, you know, uh past verse 25. Now we got chapter 2. Well, chapter 2 in idea actually starts further back in in verse 22. However, he starts it by saying wherefore. That's why we got that chapter division there, because it almost seems like a natural break. We've talked about it before. What is wherefore, therefore? Anyone remember? It takes spiritual truths that were spoken of and now puts them into practical application. So we're about to get the application for everything that was discussed in chapter one. Okay? So let's take a look at that. Well, um, and in verse 22 of chapter 1, he talks about seeing that you've purified your souls and obeying the truth, goes into verse 23, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. And then he in verse 24, he talks about our life withers. It's short, right? We end up dying shorter than we, you know, sooner than we. Well, everybody here would like to live several hundred years, right? Well, it'd be kind of nice, wouldn't it? But I seriously doubt that's gonna happen, you know. Um, and verse 25, he says, but the word is what endures forever. And and this is the word which by the gospel, uh, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached to you. Good news, right? And he says, Therefore, lay aside all malice and all guile, hypocrisies, envies, evil speakings, and as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be you've tasted that the Lord is kind, that he's gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, we approach him as a living stone, and and he was disallowed, he was rejected by men, and and but he was chosen by God, and we also are living stones. We're living stones too. And we're gonna go on to see what these living stones are, right? But let's let's read it. And we are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God by Jesus. Wherefore also it's contained in the scripture, behold, and he's quoting now from Isaiah. If you haven't noticed, he quotes a lot from Isaiah in this book. Wherefore, as it's also contained in scripture, behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believes on him will not be ashamed. Can you say amen for that? Believe on Jesus, you will not be ashamed. We'll get we'll get we'll go through some things. There'll be some challenges. But if we adhere and remain and abide, as John said, in the vine, we won't be ashamed. We won't we won't fall away. Amen. Unto you therefore which believe, he's precious, but unto them which are disobedient don't believe, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the chief cornerstone, and has become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunto they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, and you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past you were not a people, but now are the people of God. And there's no resounding cheer. That was very resounding. Let's do it again. But your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises. I got I got lost. My eyes aren't what they were. Um show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into marvelous light, which in times past, there we are, were not a people, but are now the people of God. Good, good, good. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrimers, pilgrims, abstain from flesh fresh, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation, your life, your livelihood, what people see, your expression of faith, honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall see clearly, give glory to God in the day of visitation, when they are confronted and challenged by the Holy Spirit according to their sins by the life that we live before them. That's what he's saying. Everybody got quiet. See, this is exciting stuff. This is very exciting stuff. I mean, this is God telling us what his plan is for us. And in many ways, it's before we came to know him, we had no idea what we were living in and how far separated we were from God. And many of us here, I can I can probably with confidence say we probably grew up religiously or with some kind of mythology. In the sense of, you know, if if you if you know it's it if you if you do good, then you are good. Right? I mean, everybody, how many here have a have have have uh elderly folks, you know, going back in in time, you know, and they were good people. They were. They did good things. But the Bible, without belaboring the point, the Bible tells us very clearly it's not just about what we do, it's who we've submitted our life to and why we do what we do to give God the glory that He so richly deserves. It's not just about doing good, it's about the life of God in us and who we're doing it for. There are a lot of good things going on. So, here in this passage, Peter is going, he's he's taking us, he's moving us from a personal inward transformation or who we are becoming. At the moment of salvation, you're not who you are to be. You've started the journey of who you're going to become. We don't realize who we are to be until the Lord returns, takes us back, we receive a glorified body. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we're taken up and transformed. At that moment, we are who we were supposed to be. In the process, we are becoming that. Does that make sense? An inward transformation of who we're becoming, he's moving from that to our outward expression of the inner transformation or how we are to live before others. So in this passage, he's taken us from who we have been called to be, and he is through uh the the trials and things that that chapter one talks about that challenge us and change us and mold us and reveal things in us that need to be cut off. Through that process, he's taken us from that beginning to the end. And so that our lives become more and more like him along the way. Is anybody in here perfect? And the Bible, however, calls us to be perfect, doesn't it? And that gets kind of that's that's a little confusing. But what we're discussing is not the total completion of what perfection in our language and understanding means. We're talking about the character and the quality of the pursuit we're in. The righteous man, the Bible says, falls how many times? Well, I'm I'm here to testify it's more than that. Okay? But gets up again. Okay? It's not about fall. You can even fall backwards. As long as when you get up, you move forwards. David, talking about Saul, when Saul died, said very plainly, it's not where you start, it's where you end. Right? Okay. So again, he starts with with uh wherefore, so it's a hinge that connects the spiritual truths to the application, how we're gonna live what he's told us. And and so um the main idea of what we want to discuss here is that we as followers of Christ, after salvation, grow towards spiritual maturity, understanding our identity in Jesus, and living as a witness to the world. So those are the three things we want to take a look at, okay? How do we grow spiritually, finding who we are in Christ, and then becoming that example to the world? That's what he's dealing with. Um, 1 Peter 2, 1 to 3, spiritual maturity, right? So we have to take a look at and in honesty through an openness to God's word, which is that mirror that we can look into and are changed. And in that honesty, as we we view that, and in our fellowship together, because Proverbs says iron sharpens iron, as we behold one another, we're we're dealing with things that come up. You can't, you can't, there's an argument to be had. Two people in a room, you're gonna get friction. Well, I'm here to tell you, I know me, if I'm alone, there's friction. I got all kinds of arguments up here all the time before God. I can be all by myself and have all sorts of friction. Because we're never alone, are we?

unknown 12:07

No.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

We're never alone. If we're born again, then the Spirit is in us. Okay? And He is constantly exposing and revealing things. That's where the friction comes from, personally, for me. Right? But whenever you got more than one person in the room, you're gonna have conflict. No question, right? So so we have to take a look at the things that get in our way and be honest with them. And and because those things hinder growth. We all understand that, right? These are the things that hold us back. So uh Peter command uh begins with a command, right? He says, wherefore lay aside. Or or in the ESV, I think it says, put away. Put away. That that that is a personal responsibility that we have to get it out of the way. How many love a cluttered room? Raise your hand if you love a cluttered room. You love a cluttered room? We need to talk. Because you get to clean. Wow, really? Don't talk to my wife. She's always getting on me because I left something out. Um, but you know, it's it's hard. It's it's hard, you know, and and you think about it like at work, right? If you if you just leave everything out, it gets kind of hard to find what you really need. And I've used the excuse before. I know where it's at. My wife will tell you how many times I go up and go, hey, where's this? Where's that? Well, it's where you left it last. Okay. It's clutter gets in the way. It clouds up your thinking, right? Clouds up your thinking. And I and I don't know, you know, it it is at times that way, and and and um, but when everything's put away, it's only we can breathe, we can move freely, we can think, right? And so so the responsibility responsibility that we have as he says, put it away, we have to purposely take and get rid of that. It's purposeful. You have to intend that. So and he says specifically malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. These things working, and we can go back and look in the Old Testament, and and some of these are included where God says, these six things does God hate? Yes, seven are an abomination. And some of these are included in there because they not only hinder us, but they begin to have an impact on who we are part of. What is envy? What's envy? Somebody, real quick, what is envy? A jealousy. And and you're jealous of what somebody else either is or has or does. Right? What is birth in our hearts if we're envious? It starts with M.

unknown 15:09

Murder.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Murder. Murder. Because if we are jealous of what somebody else has, we're really moving after what Satan moved in. And the Bible says he's a murderer. Satan was jealous of God. And Ezekiel, he claimed he would take his throne and place it above the throne of God. Okay? And and malice, well, you can't have malice to yourself because there's no man the Bible says that ever hated himself. You coddle yourself. You love yourself. It's expressed to others. Hypocrisy. You live one way, you behave another. Slander. We don't need to go far with that one. Right? These are all things. He's saying put these away because they all have an impact, not only on us, destroying us, but the environment we're in. Right? So he's showing us that who we are has an impact of who we're with. Okay? And aside from uh from these things, uh these sins, what they do to us, they damage our relationships and they weaken the church community. Right? And we're not about that. The church community needs to be a source of strength for us. Ultimately, it's the Lord, right? He's our our fullness of joy, he is our strength. Okay? But it's in the relationship that we have with one another we experience that. We experience comfort, don't we? We experience encouragement, don't we? Who's who's ever, you don't need to raise your hand, who's but who's ever felt despondent or discouraged? And you get with the people of God and you begin to get lifted up. You come here on a Sunday morning and the worship encourages you. Yes, even if we're singing the wrong note. Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

I don't know how to sing the right one.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

We'll talk about that later, actually. Even if we're singing the wrong note, or I hit the wrong chord, or the drums are off beat, it's still there's there's an uplifting there, isn't there? We get that from the community. So we have to do everything in our power to strengthen up that community. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 talks about God taking each member individually, placing them in the body as it pleases him to fulfill what he's called us individually to, all for the edification of the body, to build it up. Okay, we have that responsibility. And so spiritual maturity requires an intentional repentance. And and um uh Romans with uh Romans um uh 6, verses 6, 7, and 12 speak to that. And and Galatians uh chapter 2 verse 20, it says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. And I live by the faith of the Son of God. Right? And and that's that's how we we come together, that's how we allow God to work through us. By and faith simply defined is obedience. We live by the obedience to the word of God just like Jesus did. An earmark of who Jesus was here on this earth was a mature son, one obedient to the will of his father. Amen. So then, you know, as we're talking about this spiritual maturity, how do we mature? Well, through the word. It's the word that begins to reveal in us our immaturity, our lack. Right? And and he says, uh here in verse 2, he says, like newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Now there's another passage in 1 Corinthians that kind of says the same thing, but it's it's not. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 2, he says, There I couldn't give you the deep things of God, I couldn't give you deeper doctrine because you were just carnally minded, is what he's talking about in 1 Corinthians 3, though he uses babes and milk. They're all together different words. They're not talking about the same thing. Here he's talking about a newborn babe, even in utero. It all depends on how the word is used. And what do we understand about children that are still in the womb or children that are just born? They're eating nonstop. They're needing eating non-stop and for what or sleeping, right? Eating or sleep, well, three things. But we don't, the other, you know. Eating or sleeping, we'll keep it there, family friendly. They're eating or sleeping all the time. I mean, moms, newborn babe, you bring it bring that child home. It almost seems like every two hours they're up because they want to eat. Now, we as dads we don't know anything about that because somehow God has given us deaf ears than that. But they're always eating. And but it's a beautiful thing because what happens? You you mark a little one just born, they come at we have little ones here, so tiny, but every day it's almost like they they're they're bigger, they're more full, they they fill out, right? And before you know it, you you gotta you gotta put extra locks on things. So those guys are like Houdini. They can they can pick any lock known to man. Me, I have I sometimes I have a hard time opening up a drawer. They open up the drawer, get in it, pull everything out. You put those baby safety locks on things so they can't put they know how to pick them? Me? Those safety bottle caps on on pits. I'm glad my children are grown because I I reach I refuse those things now. I never could open them before, can't open them now, and I'm glad they're old enough to understand because it's it's tough. It's tough. So, like newborn babes, we're to long for pure spiritual milk. Literally, desiring God's word and feasting on it every chance we can. Every chance we can. Reading his word early in the morning, David said, I'll seek you. Late at night, I'll meditate upon your word. Right? And so many opportunities. Back, you know, 30 40 years ago, the only opportunity. We had to be able to listen to God's word was on cassette, narrated by Alexander Scorby. Everybody remember him? No? Okay. I just dated myself. Um and and and so you know you could pop it in the car. And so you you had either that, pop it in at home, pop it in the car. You go to work, you could, but now we got we got smartphones and we have all these apps, right? We have like 553 different apps that have, each one has 674 different versions of God's word. And each one of them streams that word down. We can pop play and listen to it anytime, anywhere, any way we want. Right? Or we have have it right there in our hands. You know, we can open it up, turn to a passage, and read it anytime we want. Right? God's word is so available to us. And and and so just like a baby that's constantly needing to eat, we need to constantly be feasting. And this will uh begin to reveal in us, as we said, you know, will begin to reveal in us the things where we don't line up. Where we don't line up. It's all revealed here. And as we read his word, we begin to see, oh, yeah, I'm not I'm not loving fervently like it says in verse 22, seeing you've purified uh chapter 1, seeing I've purified my soul in obeying the truth through the spirit under unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Now I'm kind of holding something back when it comes to that person. Or I remember when this or that happened, and I'm not going anywhere near them. Things like that, right? And you begin to recognize, and God puts it into your heart. Yeah, this is an area, I need to get better about this, right? Job said in chapter 23, verse 12, I have valued his word more than the food that is necessary on a daily basis for me. Can we say that? God's word is more important to me than the food that I need. I would rather feast on God's word than that piece of cheesecake. Somebody said, uh-oh. Uh uh. I'm right there with you, Ida. I'm right there with you. That's a hard one. That's a tough one. Or bacon. Chocolate. Yeah. Okay, all these things, right? Do we value, desire, hunger for God's word more than those things that we eat? Okay. And so so, yes. This has to be intentional, guys. It doesn't just happen. It doesn't. This kind of desire and passion doesn't just happen. We have to pursue it. So now, you know, let's talk about our identity, right? Because as we start getting rid of all this stuff, we start learning who God has really called us to become, right? And and he says, you know, he refers to Jesus as as the cornerstone. Do we have any builders? Anybody that's you know, builders, we we got some builders, right? Um, folks that have handled tools, been in construction and trades. A lot of us may even know it just by you know what we've heard and experienced in time. So you build a foundation, and the purpose of the foundation is to sport everything above it, right? So, and hold it up so it doesn't fall apart. Okay, the foundation's got to be good and solid. When you begin to lay the foundation, you have to start there with making things true and plum. Everybody understand that that part of it? And so even today we use cornerstones. We don't necessarily use them like they did back then. A cornerstone that's being referred to here is bigger than the other stones that would be used. Okay? It was a bigger stone because it would need to not only establish true and plum, meaning that you know that the wall's not going like this or it's not going like this as it travels. Okay? It also, where the two corners met, supported that weight of the structure. Okay, so that one cornerstone would keep true and plum in both directions. And you'd have one on every corner to ensure that. Okay? So he says Jesus is that chief and precious cornerstone. That the foundation is solid and true, doesn't deviate, doesn't waver, doesn't fall forward, and supports everything that is built upon it so that it doesn't come crashing down. He goes on to say that we also, now that's that's an interesting thing. He he says, um, we also, in verse 5, as lively stones are built upon a spiritual house. Now in the ESV talks about you know the cornerstone there. So interesting. We can all understand that Jesus is true and plum. Supports everything, right? The Bible says that all things that exist were made by him and continue the way they are. Okay? They continue to exist. But here he says that we're a cornerstone, albeit not of the same precious value as him in the sense of he's the foundation. So what's being said that that we're those cornerstones as well. As we grow, we are as Jesus lived. Okay? Scripture says elsewhere that the devil would not have crucified the Lord of glory had he known what was going to happen and bringing many sons to righteousness. That was kind of a mix of a couple verses. Okay? But that's that's that's a biblical truth. That the devil would not have worked to orchestrate. He didn't know he was being used of God and stirring up that crowd that yelled, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Okay? That was God's plan from the beginning. Because elsewhere we understand it says that Jesus went with joy to the cross, knowing that he was going to bring us to righteousness. Went with joy in his heart for that. Okay? But it also says that the devil would not have done that had he known what the plan of God was. So we are those cornerstones. What's that mean? That as that spiritual house which we are continues to be built, it continues true and straight and plum. Right? So, Isaiah, where this comes from, and again, here, quoting from Isaiah 28, verse 16, he says, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. Psalm 118, verse 22 says, the stone that the builders rejected has become that cornerstone. And and and again, moving into, we are uh those living stones, because we're being built into a spiritual house. And made into that, we're being built into that temple, right? God's temple, and consequently, we are also individually the priests of that temple. Okay? So it's it's kind of interesting to see, you know, what God is calling us to here. We are a kingdom of priests, right? I mean, your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now we get that, right? We're all peculiar. By peculiar means uh uh uh special. Well, yeah, I guess that doesn't help either, does it? We're different. We're different. That's it. We're different from what the world is. Our life has to be different. If if the world around you doesn't recognize you're not like them, you're not living for Jesus the way you should be. Now, I don't mean to insult anybody or hurt anybody's feelings or step on a toe, but it's true. If the world doesn't recognize the difference, then where's the holiness? Where's the set apart that Rose talked about? Right? Cartwright was an old Methodist, I think he was Methodist. Memory eludes me. Um, circuit rider, preacher, a couple hundred years ago. And and this is I I haven't seen this expressed out solidly in history books or not, but there's there's a story that goes, um, he was he was, I think it was Cartwright, he was traveling between towns, you know, as an interim preacher, right? He would go and spend some time in this town, preach there, revival would have revival would happen, you know, he'd move to another town and continue preaching the word. Um and and he recognized as he was going that he began to feel maybe he was praying and talking to the Lord. He's like, you know, God, am I in sin? Have have I not lived like I should, or you've called me to? Because he realized that he hadn't, a few days went by and he hasn't experienced any persecution. And so he was praying and crying out to the Lord, search me, know me, try me. If there's anything in me, reveal it so I can get rid of it. Because I I want to be close to you. Because Jesus, and he's going off of how Jesus said, if they hate me, they'll hate you. Right? And for day a couple days go by, no persecution. As he's praying, the story says that somebody started yelling obscenities to him and pelted him with rotten tomatoes. He began to rejoice, offer up praises to God, knowing that he was right. He was right with his Lord. Okay? So again, not to belabor the point, but if if the world can't see the difference, then what are we living before that? 1 Peter 4, verse 10 says, As each one of us has received a special gift, employ it, serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12 to 27 goes on as we were talking just a few minutes ago, just so you have your scripture references of how we fit in the body and for the purpose, what the purpose is. But then I want to uh call your attention to John Piper, right? Uh Christian author, preacher, um, made this comment. He said, Contact with the living stone makes us alive and fits us for our place in his architectural plan. Christ is the builder here, and he builds individual Christians into a spiritual. So God is making us into that. Okay? And so as we're, you know, this chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, you know, understand that that the purpose of this is that we can proclaim his excellencies, the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness. And the contrast, as we were talking about this transformation, is we're we were not a people, the Bible says, but now we are people. We were not a people of God. We were lost and forsaken, but now we are the people of God. Chosen, brought in. We had no mercy, but now we've received mercy. And our our identity, so we understand, our identity isn't defined by the things that we do. It's not defined by the things that we're doing now, it's not defined by our past. Okay? It's our our identity is defined by God's calling, his grace, and his mercy. And I want you to understand, right? If and I think to a to a measure, we all struggle with this because we've all got a past. Right? We all have a past. We have a tendency sometimes of dwelling on that past more than is right. Because there's no question. God knows what our past is. But how many understand the beautiful thing about that is that he removes those sins as far as east is from west? He casts them into a sea of forgetfulness, right? They're remembered no more. So who are we then to bring them up and allow the condemnation of the devil through that? Because you understand, while a believer can't be possessed, they can certainly be oppressed. And so while the devil can't possess us, he will do everything in his power to condemn us. Don't give that place. Because he whom the Son sets free, okay, and I've over the years heard plenty of people talking about, you know, these sins from their past. And yes, they were there. And you know what? We may find ourselves doing it again. We may fall back into that. But we talked a few minutes ago about the fact that the righteous man is gonna what? He's gonna fall, but he's gonna get back up again. So stop laboring or belaboring or dwelling on the fact that I fell. Get up! Just get up, just get up and move forward in that faith. Move forward in understanding that God has set you free. That's your identity. Not what you used to do, but who you're doing it for. 2 Corinthians 5 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. That's too quiet there. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. Amen. Amen. The old has gone and new is here. Romans 8 1. For those of you that want to dwell on that and allow the devil to chew off your ear, there is therefore now no condemnation. Come on. There is therefore now for those who are in Christ Jesus. This brings us to our witness. Moving in that kind of confidence is going to present to the world what Jesus can do. Seeing that difference. Because again, we we said about if the world doesn't see the difference, if the world doesn't recognize you're different, we've got a problem. But if the world is seeing that difference, where they might not understand it, but who's getting the glory? God is getting the glory. Because they recognize in themselves they are what you used to be. But you're no longer that. You are becoming who you're supposed to be. And they see that. And surprisingly, whether they say it or want to admit it, they want that too, because they're wrapped under the condemnation of the devil, just like we were. So we're we're passing through. He calls us sojourners. He says, we're exiles. We're passing through. John 15, 19, if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own as it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. So this means as Christians, we live in the world, but do not belong to its system or values. Now that's important to its system or values. And understand, it is easy to be deceived by what our culture wants to say is acceptable. Do we need to go into what these things are? There are abominations that are called acceptable, even in the church. You have some denominations ordaining homosexuals. Transsexuals. Transvestites. Abomination. Now, we love their soul and understand it's a sin just like any other. Sin is sin. Sin is sin. And the same grace and forgiveness that's delivered us from sin or forgives us when we fall back is the same that's available to the whole world. It's God's will that none should perish. First Bible verse everybody's learned. It's God's will that none should perish, but that all should come to everlasting life. We don't accept the sin, we present love to the sinner. We don't accept their lifestyle, we call them to a relationship with God. The choice is theirs at the end. But we cannot accept as okay what the culture of our society says is okay. We're not of this kingdom. We are sojourners and we are exiles. Right? This world is not, we're not part of this world. We are here to influence. We are here to show the change. We are here to show what God's plan was from the beginning. And just as God, his love is available to everybody, we are to be those hands and feet. We're to be the mouth that speaks that love and that truth. Not wash over it. And whatever it is, whatever the sin is. We have folks in our family that are addicted to drugs, to alcohol. Do you accept it? Do you accept it? You understand that's what they're struggling with, that's what they're bound by. Do you accept it? Do you accept it? We need to be that watchman on the wall. We need to present God's truth. We need to present God's love. Show them by our lifestyle, our example, and our words. There's a thing that goes around, right? You know, the unspoken witness. Okay? And there is a witness that comes, you know, but how are they going to know if they don't hear? Romans tells us, how are they going to hear unless one is sent? Right? Hearing comes by the word. You got to hear God's word. So we have that responsibility. We're to live, um another, just to again to illustrate this. Jerry Bridges, another, another author, said the sin of worldliness, the acceptance of what the world says is okay, the sin of worldliness is a preoccupation with the things of this temporal life. It's a preoccupation with this world. Right? And we're seeking a city, Hebrew says, whose builder and maker is God. Not this world. We're here temporarily. We're sojourners, we're passing through, we're exiles. Okay? So it's a preoccupation with the things of this temporal life. It's accepting and going along with the views and practices of society around us without discerning if they are biblical. Without discerning if they are biblical. It doesn't. We can't allow that as the filter through which we see the world. We can't allow the world to tell us how we're supposed to view it and accept it. God's word tells us how we're to view the world and relate to it. They want us to see it their way and accept it. God wants us to see it his way and relate to it accordingly. And thank God for his mercy. Because not one person in here can't say, had it not been for God, where would I be? So we're to live honorable lives, lives dedicated and committed to the Lord. Matthew 5, 16, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. So, again, he's showing us that transition from the initial inception of salvation, growing and maturing spiritually, or removing sins and pursuing that spiritual nourishment, which is going to lead us to our identity of understanding who we are in Christ, and then being that witness for him, so the world can see who Jesus is. And that it's not some cosmic connection, but a very real relationship. We're called to be different from the world and with a conduct that highlights our faith and honors God. And Jesus said in John 12 32 If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself. I will draw all men unto me. So knowing who we are shapes how we grow. How we grow shapes how we live.