We Can Still Become More in '24 (North OC)

It's hot outside, isn't it?

Aren't you grateful for AC?

Now, you're clapping again.

You find out about volleyball and AC.

Amen.

I appreciate that.

It's also the midpoint of the year.

We're in June.

It's getting hot.

Summer is here.

It's exciting.

We have camps, a lot going on, but it's interesting.

We're at the midpoint of the year.

It's good to do some reflection.

At this point because a lot of us have maybe made some decisions

at the beginning of the year And this is a good point to realize.

Okay.

Am I still going along that path?

How are things going in my life?

How are things going in my faith and and even spiritually we started the year

With the focus and we call it become more in 24 And which we were going to

focus as a church about becoming more.

We did a sermon series where we thoroughly walked through the ladder of faith.

Or the, uh, steps of transformation that's laid out in 2 Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

And we looked and dissected how God calls us to be, not just change a little bit.

Not just have behavior modification.

But for us to be transformed into His people.

And so now here we are we're in June and let me ask you how's it

going and becoming more in 24,

how's it becoming?

How's it going and becoming more in?

24 for some of us maybe it's going really well.

We're like man.

I've grown so much I'm continuing to grow in my knowledge of my depth and

in my faith some of us we may be Maybe we're we're Maybe a little stuck right

now and maybe we weren't growing.

Maybe we started off.

We were growing.

We're soaring But now maybe we're starting to tailor off and maybe we're

in cruise control or maybe some of us We're maybe regressed in our faith.

Maybe we're you know, the old school term We're backsliding a little bit

or we've been really struggling in our faith But I want to say to you

today that there's hope No matter where you are, whether you're on fire,

you've been soaring like never before.

You're in a place where you're maybe, uh, in the middle, or you've really

hit the dumps here lately spiritually.

There is hope for you and me today.

And so the title of the sermon is, We Can Still Become More in 24.

All right, we can still become more in 24.

Maybe you started soaring again and you're not at that point.

Maybe you're at a lower place or maybe again you're there, but God

still calls you to become more in 24.

Amen.

Let's go ahead.

Let's go to God in prayer.

God, I'm excited about what you've been teaching me.

God, what you have, uh, been molding me to, uh, to be and what

you have reminded me of recently.

God, and I pray that your word right now will be communicated in the way

in which every soul will take away the one thing you want them to take away.

Father, we pray that your word communicates.

Father, your heart, father, that we can receive it.

We can let it grow.

We can let it, uh, not just marinate, but take root in the very.

Soul and father that it can therefore produce the fruit that you want.

We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen So I want to remind us here of a couple of things God wants you and

me to become more like him God wants you to become more like him And this

is so vital for us in our faith and in our understanding, because if we

don't understand this, then we're not going to become what God wants us to

be, and we're not going to interpret life's experiences in a way in which

we should, because we don't have this truth embedded in our brains.

And so we have to understand that God wants to, again, transform.

Your heart and your character.

He wants to transform your nature, who you are, the way you view things, the way you

process what you desire, what you dislike.

He wants that to be transformed into his likeness and image.

And in Peter, actually in second Peter, he constantly says, I

want to remind you of things.

He says, until the day I die, this is Marcel's version, until

the day I die, I'm going to keep reminding you of these things.

And so there are going to be some things here that we

mentioned in which are reminders.

But Peter says we have to keep being reminded.

And so we're going to remind you of a couple of things

here throughout the scripture.

So let's go into it.

One.

Romans 8, 29 says for those God for a new, he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers

and sisters, second Corinthians chapter three, verse 18, and we all who with

unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his

image with an ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is God.

The spirit and then second Peter one, which we studied

out the beginning of the year.

His divine power has given us Everything we need for a godly life through our

knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness Through these he

has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may

participate in the divine Nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused

by evil desires And so this helps us to see this idea and this heart and desire

and plan and vision that God has for us to be transformed back into the image of Him.

God created us in His image, however, sin gets in the way and when Jesus

came and died upon the cross and rose again, that allows us to be reconciled,

but the work doesn't stop there.

There's this redemption work of us being transformed.

And redeemed back into the image in our original intent.

And so we talked about this, I think, a couple years ago,

but I'm bringing it back here.

And this idea of theosis, or, uh, theosis is more kind of the Eastern,

uh, Christian, uh, terminology.

The Western Christian, uh, terminology is more sanctification.

But it's this idea that, hey, God wants us to become like Him.

And so He's sanctifying us.

He, He's, He's purifying us.

He's redeeming us.

To have the nature and character of his and so if you think about this it makes

sense because Why after we get saved don't we just go straight to paradise,

right?

Like if everything's just about being in paradise, which ultimately it is is

about an eternal relationship with God But God keeps us here after the day we

repent, come to faith and get baptized.

Well, why?

Well, I think there's two main reasons here again.

Yes is to grow in our relationship.

Everything's in that context, but it's this It's for formation and mission.

For us to be spiritually formed into the image of Christ And then for

us to join him in his mission work.

To see his will be done so that others Can get right and have an

eternal relationship with him and join it with God in his redemptive

work and becoming more like him.

The ancient Christian writers had, uh, really this, they

identified stages of maturity.

And so, I want us to look at this real quickly here because

I do, uh, I subscribe to this.

I believe this is a hundred percent true.

That there's stages of our transformation.

Church, are you still with me here?

There are stages to our transformation, to our growth, and to our maturity.

And the first one is this stage of willful obedience.

Meaning this is a stage in which we, we follow God and we obey, but

it's really more out of like really a holy fear and respect for God.

You get what I'm saying?

A lot of us, this is maybe why we even made a choice to become a Christian.

We're like, Whoa, man, I don't want to suffer hell.

So let me, let me go ahead and get right with God.

So that is willful obedience because there's maybe a fear of, of.

You know, somehow disappointing God or fear of judgment or anything like that.

But this is really the stage where there's a lot of self denial

because man, I want to do something.

But because I love and I fear and I respect God and his word and his

will, I'm going to deny those things and try my best to do what's right.

You guys get what I'm saying.

So this is willful obedience.

Then there's the next stage of relational obedience.

Where we follow God and we obey out of love and gratitude

for our relationship with God.

Man, God, I'm so in love with you.

Thank you so much for what you've done in my life.

Thank you that I get to have an eternal relationship with you.

Therefore, I want to obey you because I wouldn't want to hurt you.

I wouldn't want to go against your will.

We have this relationship.

You guys get what i'm saying back in the day You know when I was dating

kareena there there was some times of some willful stuff like okay Uh, let me

do this because I don't want to get in trouble or I don't want us to have any

problems And then it came a point where I was falling in love with her, right?

And it's like man because I love you.

I wouldn't want to harm you.

I'd want to do good by you You guys get what i'm saying?

Then the third and maybe the highest stage is this This is transformed obedience.

This is where we follow and obey because we become more like God in

our character and in our hearts.

This is the stage in which, yes, I have a relationship with God, but I am truly

satisfied in His good will and desires.

What God desires is actually what I desire.

I don't want to do these sinful things because, you know

what, I view them that way.

And I view what's good because God views it that way.

Because I'm thinking and I'm like and I'm viewing things like my father.

I'm becoming more like him.

I obey because my heart desires what God desires.

And so, yes, there's going to be times in which we're

always, we have a sinful nature.

So there's always going to be some willful obedience.

And it's good, it's always in the context of a relationship, but when we become

more like God, we think like God, we feel like God, therefore we behave like God.

So you see this progression in our faith and transformation.

And so again, we're reminded that God wants us to become more like Him.

And we can still become more like Him.

And we started off the year looking at 2nd Peter and I want us to do a little

case study here looking at the life of Peter, really Peter's spiritual

journey because Peter talks about this transformed faith and I believe he's

the great, uh, witness of this and the perfect person who can write about this

because he experienced this transformation in his own faith and journey.

So we're going to quickly go ahead and look at Peter and see

some of the parallels between his journey and our journey.

Church, are you still with me here?

Amen.

Let's go ahead.

Let's get into it.

Alright, so first off here, we're going to go in Matthew chapter 14,

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

or excuse me, chapter 4 and 18.

It says, As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,

Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.

They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

Alright, Come follow me.

Jesus said and I will send you out to fish for people and once they left

their nets and followed him we see here the calling of Simon who would

later be called Peter and Jesus calls him and he calls him to follow me So

there's a call to relationship and then he says what I'm gonna make you go out

and fish for people He wants them to become more than what he is currently.

Hey, you're a fisher.

Men, but I want you to be a fisher of men.

And so I always believed Jesus was the first rapper.

You know what I'm saying?

Yo, you a fisher of men, but I'm gonna make you a fisher of men.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, Jesus was doing this, right?

And so he's called him to become more.

He has a plan and a vision.

And you know, that's the same for us.

When we, when we come to know God, we come to understand his will and

desire, we realize, well, Jesus is calling me to more than what I am

or what I was thinking for my life.

He's called me to a relationship and then we realize wait He's called me to join in

his mission Matthew 28 in Redeeming the world to have an eternal relationship with

him, you know in John chapter 1 We won't look at it, but Jesus gives Peter a new

John 1 · chapter mention

name He was he was Simon as we see here, but Jesus is like hey, you know what man?

We don't call you Peter from now on which is also Cephas which means

the rock and you know for us When we became Christians, when we became

disciples of Jesus, God gave us a new name and new identity, didn't he?

He gave us a new identity.

We were no longer the sinner.

No, we were children of the Most High God.

We were disciples of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

We were citizens in God's kingdom, etc., etc., etc.

We gained a new name and a new identity.

When we came to follow Jesus, then we continue in Matthew chapter

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

10 verse and you know some in 14 We see Jesus appoints Peter to be

an apostle and there's training.

There's relationship going on There's miracles that take

place Peter walks on water.

He takes a little dip, but he walks on water You know, there's all these

great things taking place And when we become Christians, we see God

do some great things in our lives.

We see his power We're seeing miracles take place in our lives and maybe

restoring relationships or even using us to participate and seeing others in the

miracles that God does in their lives.

And then we go on over to Matthew 16.

I want to read this here.

It says in verse 13, When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea

Philippi, He asked the disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is?

He's saying, Hey, who do people say I am?

What's, what's, what's the latest?

What are they saying on X and Instagram about me?

They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still

others, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.

But what about you, he asked, who do you say I am?

Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God.

Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was

not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and

the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose

on earth will be loosed in heaven.

We'll stop right there.

Peter has this shining moment.

We'll He gets the right answer, and Jesus says, Hey, you know what?

This was revealed by my father in heaven.

And he says, I'm going to give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.

I was talking to Alan earlier, he says, Marcel, and he shows me his

new keys to his, his, his new car.

He just got a new car.

It's not a brand new car, but it's a new car for him.

Now.

Everybody's like, man, I wanna see your new whip, Ellen.

All right?

So he shows me these keys and I'm like, man, that's really cool,

but man, I wanna see what those keys of the kingdom are like.

You know what I mean?

Adam's got some keys, but those keys can't compare to Peter's keys of the kingdom.

But we see Peter's growing in his relationship.

He's growing in his discipleship.

He's growing in his faith.

You see him growing to have more of God's desires.

And more of God's desires and plans are revealed to Peter as he's growing.

Now Peter hasn't arrived, but he's growing.

And he's becoming a king.

Transformed because check this out right after this.

This is what happens from that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples

that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders,

the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed on

the third day and be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Never.

Lord, he said, this shall never happen to you.

Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.

You are a stumbling block to me.

You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concern.

Whoo!

Boy, that was, that was a conversation right there, huh?

You go, wait, the last time we heard about Peter, man, you

got the keys of the kingdom.

Now what do we see?

Boy, you are Satan.

That's some strong language.

I don't know about you, I've been called a lot of stuff, but

nobody's called me Satan yet.

Now, again, is Jesus being mean?

No.

What he's trying to help him, he's rebuking him, he's loving him.

See, hey, look, you're thinking worldly.

You have some stinking thinking.

And what you're talking about, that's what the devil would want.

He wouldn't want me to go to the cross.

Because that means there's no redemption for everybody else.

So you can see why he's trying to really get this point.

And he wants everybody else to get this point.

But Jesus, here, has some strong legs.

And you know, this is a pretty humbling experience, wouldn't you say?

You know, like if we had somebody else, and, and we got on the mic, and it was

like, yo, Sonia, you are a Satan, right?

In front of everybody, people are like, whoa.

Let's give her a pat on the back, let's encourage her.

So you can imagine this.

But check this out.

Here's what it says.

This is the next thing we read.

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, the brothers of James, and

led them up a high mountain by themselves.

This is where they had this momentous experience where the

transfiguration takes place.

Six days later, who's the first name that's listed to go?

Peter.

So he's riding this high he's getting fired up about these keys and maybe that's

what got him in trouble He's like man.

I got the keys to the kingdom.

I could say whatever I wanted.

He's like, no you can't He has this humbling moment, but right back.

He's right back.

Hey, you're still in the inner circle You're still with me.

And in fact, I'm gonna reveal myself in a powerful way like

never before And so Jesus still loves him still believed in him.

It was really cool.

Peter didn't get bitter Did you notice that Peter didn't I'm out?

I'm out leaving this church I can't believe he would say

something like this to me.

No, Peter got it spiritually.

And Jesus was willing to speak some truth, but still loved him.

Did nothing to change in the relationship.

But some truth had to be revealed.

That's a different sermon for another day here.

Alright?

And so we go ahead and now we get over and see the witness of the transfiguration.

But Matthew 26, this is when Jesus goes through, uh, the Last Supper and

then to his, his death upon the cross.

And we see extreme highs faithfulness of Peter.

He starts off with the other guys in the room and they're like,

Hey, Jesus will die for you.

And then they go outside, some people come, Peter pulls out a

knife and cuts a dude's ear off.

He was bout it, you know what I'm saying?

Peter was there, he was with it, okay?

And so he, he's actually falling through, I'll, I'll, I'll die

with you, and he cuts the ear off.

Jesus is like, what are you doing?

Man, put this ear back on, man, man, put that knife away.

And then right after that, then Jesus allows himself to get arrested and Peter,

with all the other ones, run for safety.

But then Peter decides let me go back.

He goes back and there's this kind of mock trial for Jesus.

And then we get to this point here in which Jesus then and this is maybe

the lowest point in Peter's faith He fails because he denies that he even

knows Jesus three times in public.

Yes, you can imagine how he felt.

However, the story doesn't end.

We go into John 21.

Jesus reinstates Peter.

Gives him a chance and he says, Hey, you're back and no, you're

still going to be that rock that I told you you were going to be.

To be, and then we continue in Acts chapter two, we see when the church for

it starts on a day of Pentecost, Peter preaches the very first gospel message.

He preaches and thousands come to faith.

Thousands get saved and get baptized.

Then in Acts 10, we see Peter using those keys to open up the doors

for all the Jews to understand.

Hey, this salvation is for all nations, all people.

As we see in Acts chapter 10 with Cornelius there.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And so Peter's being used and you go, man, that's awesome.

But the story doesn't stop there.

Peter is still, he has still not arrived.

He's still being transformed.

Because in Galatians chapter 2, he has a time with Paul the apostle.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

And Paul calls out Peter for his fear that led to hypocrisy, that

even led to the treatment of the non Jews in a prejudicial way.

Now hallelujah, Peter repents.

Peter gets back on it and then here's what he says again.

This is the last recorded words that we have from the Apostle Peter.

We go back and here's what he says again in 2nd Peter in verse 3 in chapter 1.

His divine power is giving us everything we need for a godly life.

Through our knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and

goodness through these he has given us his very great and precious

promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.

Now think about this again.

We've seen his journey.

We've seen the highs and the lows.

We've seen the miracles.

We've seen the failures.

We've seen the roughneck Peter to this man at this point in which he

says, you know what it's all about.

God wants to transform you.

My spiritual journey has taught me this.

God wants you and me to become more like him.

To participate in the divine nature.

And Peter does die for his faith.

Do you think that Peter ever became just like Jesus?

Probably not.

But he became the best version of Peter that was the most like Jesus.

And I believe that Peter did reach that point of the third

stage of transformed obedience.

And that's where he got to that point where he desired what God desired.

So therefore he was the perfect candidate to write 2 Peter and to

write these things for you and I.

Because of his journey in his faith and where he got to.

And now he resides in paradise with a transformed body.

That's what Philippians 3 tells us.

And he's with the Lord.

Again.

This serves as a model for you and me and our faith and our journeys.

You know, God calls us to become more like him and to join in his good work.

And we have many highs and we have some lows in our faith and in our journey.

There's growth and there's regression.

But in the end, we should be looking a lot more like Jesus

than we did at the beginning.

In the end, we should have more depth.

Of a relationship more knowledge of god in his will and we should have

more wisdom than we did When we started and we should reach that point of

the third stage of transformation In which yes, it's relational.

Yes.

There's times where I have to deny my sinful flesh but I start

to look and resemble and take on the image and likeness and

character of my father in heaven

And we are transformed.

And so here's the encouraging thing again for us today.

Whether you're growing, you're stale, you're stuck, or you've regressed.

There's hope for you today.

And there's also a call for you today.

There's a hope that we have.

We can still become more.

And there's a call to continue to become more.

Like I want to read this passage man that this this hit me a couple weeks

ago Or just it hit me this week, but I heard it a while ago I've read it many

times, but it just resonated check this out here It says being confident of this

that he who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion until

the day of Christ Jesus Boy, that's, there's hope, there's confidence, there's

assurance in that passage right there.

That God who began a good work in you will make sure to see it to completion

until the day that Jesus comes back.

There's some hope and there's some confidence.

There's hope that we, God's not done with us.

No matter where we are, God is not done with us.

And then there's the confidence that, hey, if I persevere, if I keep trying, if I

don't quit, I put my foot forward, I keep taking steps, that God's gonna make sure I

continue to grow and become like Him, and He'll do it until the day Jesus returns.

And then I'll reach that third stage, but I'll reach God's intended

destination for me, and that's for me to take on his character and nature

and be like him in likeness and image.

So there is hope and there is confidence.

We are going that direction and God is making sure we get there.

So hopefully, whether Jesus comes back tomorrow or we die before

the day the Lord's come back, we have hope and confidence that we

can and will be more like him.

What's our response though?

Again, we have a role in this

and we'll remind you from what we saw earlier in the

year is to make every effort.

2 Peter 1, look what Peter says here.

He also, he says it three times in this letter.

He says again, as he talks about escaping the corruption in the world,

uh, evil that I says, for this reason, make every effort to add to your faith.

And we studied that out.

Verse 10.

He says, therefore, my brothers and sisters make every effort.

To confirm your calling and election for if you do these things you will

never stumble and you will receive a witch Rich welcome into the eternal

kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ chapter 3 verse 14 So then dear

friends since you are looking forward to this make every effort To be found

spotless blameless and at peace with him.

What's Peter's points?

Make every effort make every effort.

We are not earning this No, that's not what he's saying But because God has

equipped this and given us everything we need we need to make every effort to

put it into practice And so again, we're reminded of this reality and truth that

the intersection of God's Empowerment with our human efforts when those things meet

transformation takes place Transformation doesn't take place by me just gritting

through it and me just trying on my own.

No.

Many of us have tried that and it didn't work.

But transformation doesn't take place by just sitting back and

saying, God, you got all this right?

You're going to do it.

I don't have to do a thing.

No, God says we're going to do this together.

I'm going to empower you, but you need to make every effort.

And when we do this, we become more and more and more like Christ.

Amen.

In our nature and in our character.

So let's get real practical here.

Church, are you still with me here?

Action steps this week here.

For, for some of us here, uh, maybe we have not made a decision to follow Jesus.

So we're not able to fully relate to the things that I'm mentioning here.

And so here's the, uh, action step for you.

And that's to take the next step toward God.

To take the next step toward God.

You know, some of us, we have this idea that, Hey, I can't get right

with God until I get myself right.

Some of us have even had that thinking.

But that's actually backwards.

And even we see it through the life of Peter.

No, we take a step, we get right with God, and then He transforms us from there.

So it's not, let me get myself together, then I'll go after you.

No, no, no, no, no, because you'll never have yourself fully together.

No, it's come to me and I'm going to make you more like me.

And so I want to encourage you here today or you're online here with us.

Take the next step toward God.

And some of us, we have a fear of messing up.

Oh no, but if I do this, then what if I mess up or I fail?

Well, look at Peter.

He was given the keys of the kingdom.

Did he fail?

Many times.

And that's just the recorded times.

There's a whole lot more because if Peter's like you and me, which

I'm sure he is, there's probably a mess up every single day.

But God says we'll get back up and let's keep going.

For some of us, the action step is to resume making every effort.

And so maybe you haven't been making effort, but like Peter, let's get back

up and let's start making every effort.

To add to our faith, to live a life in honor of Jesus Christ.

Who died for our sins, but raised again so that we can die

to our sins and live for Him.

Cause there's no excuse not to.

We see a great example in Peter, he failed.

Man, if anything, especially after denial, he could have just quit and left.

But Jesus is like, no, no, no, you're still with me.

And you're still that rock.

And you're still gonna be that person that has the keys.

And I'm still gonna use you.

And you're gonna be like me, and guess what, you're gonna

write some of my words down.

And it's gonna have a profound effect upon people for thousands

and thousands of years.

And so we need to resume it.

Because we can, because God's given us His Spirit and we have every tool

needed to apply it to our lives.

And for some of us, we've been on top of it, we've been growing, well then

let's bring others along with you.

Let's go ahead again, nobody has arrived.

Peter never really fully arrived.

You and I would never be the exact replica of Jesus by the

time he comes back or we die.

But again, we could be soaring, we could be growing, but it's not just about us.

We are called to bring others along with us.

So that's those in our fellowship, those in our family groups.

Hey man, let's keep going, let's make every effort.

That's reaching out to our neighbors and friends.

Hey, there's a God who wants to transform your life and wants you to be like Him.

Let's bring others along, whether they're disciples or non disciples of Jesus.

Let's bring others along, cause this isn't a solo ride, this is a team effort.

And we are called to be relational.

We start off the year saying, let's become more in 24.

Today we're reminded we still can become more in 24.

God desires and is working to transform us into the image of Christ.

And like Peter, our journey is going to have ups and downs,

but we need to keep going.

And so let's make every effort.

Right now we're going to take communion and this is where we take the emblems

that represent Jesus's body and blood that was sacrificed for the

opportunity for us to have salvation.

And we're reminded again that everything that we have, this opportunity,

this likeness, this call, this redemption, this opportunity to join

in the work is all through Jesus.

There's no way outside of him.

And so we praise God.

We thank God for Jesus coming.

And for the gospel message, we close out in Philippians 3 verse 20.

Philippians 3:20

I referenced this earlier and says, but our citizenship is in heaven

and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who

by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control.

Check this out.

We'll transform our lowly bodies so that we will be like his glorious body.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for Jesus.

We thank you for the call and the opportunity, the hope and

the assurance that we have of you completing your good work in us.

We know that comes through your son Jesus.

We realize these things because of your son Jesus and him being the

full embodiment of you, the father.

And we thank you for your spirit that strengthens and enables and

empowers us to put your word into practice and to be transformed.

And God, we thank you that we have not only a longing for our character and our

nature to be transformed in this life.

But God, it says in the scripture that you will transform us

into the resurrected body.

And that we will somehow, some way, take on the resurrected body of Christ.

For all eternity.

We thank you for your plan, for your vision for us, for your

faithfulness, for your perseverance, for your love that is enduring.

And we thank you for Christ's endurance on the cross and most

of all for his resurrection.

It's in his name.

Amen.