1 Peter: Hope and Holiness

How you guys doing?

Oh, come on.

I mean, I literally have, you know, I've tried not to say that for like a year now because

my wife is getting on me because I said that every time I got up to preach and she's not

here right now.

So I figured I could get away with it at least one time.

And then that's the response.

That's not very good at all.

How you guys doing?

Okay, that's good.

When she comes back next week, don't tell her I said any of that, okay?

Because that's just not good.

But, you know, it's great to be back in Hong Kong with Watermark and we had a great summer.

And you guys, the staff did better without me here than when I'm here, which is a great

sign, right?

It means it's not dependent on one person or things like that.

And so we were back in the summer and I just got to tell you, for me, oh, by the way, if

you've been here for four weeks, my name is Tobin.

I'm one of the staff here.

So, yeah, so welcome to Watermark.

We're glad you're here on this journey with us because it's a journey and we're learning

and God is teaching us so many things.

And for me, I just continue to learn how much I need.

I'm just thinking of that song when you're saying, Lord, I need you, Lord, I need you,

you know, I need you.

And I'm just wondering, what do we think when we sing that song?

What comes to your mind when you say, God, I need you?

Lord, I need you.

You know, I said that a lot this summer, parenting and learning how to parent four kids that brings

a level of chaos into our house.

And it never fails.

You know, right when you're about to go off on this long trip and you have eight people

packed because you have grandparents packed in the minivan and you're about to go and

you're going to drive for five hours on one of the dangerous, terrible roads in Texas from

Dallas to Austin.

It should take you two and a half hours, but it ends up taking about six hours because of

construction.

And you're on the road in about 30 minutes.

You're the littlest one.

And they ask that question that all parents dread.

You know that question.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

What is the question they ask?

Are we there?

No, they ask you, when are we going to get there?

And I'm like, oh, it's going to be about four and a half hours.

And she goes, I hope we get there in an hour.

And I'm sitting there.

And for the next four and a half hours, I hear, when are we going to get there?

And I hope we're going to get there in an hour.

And I started hoping a lot of other things, which I probably can't share because I'm a

pastor.

You're not supposed to share bad things.

But I did.

But this summer was a summer of hope.

I learned a lot.

I continue to realize how much we need God in every area of our life.

And if we ever get to a place where we don't need him, we're lost.

Because what that means is we can do it on our own.

I watched TV this summer like I've never watched before because my in-laws watch it and watch

the news over and over.

And the theme that kept coming up over and over was this theme of need.

It was amazing to watch the radio and watch the news and listen to the radio and hear people

talk about just the hopelessness in the world around us, the need people have for somebody

to come in and to fix their lives, to make things right.

It seems like everywhere we look, people were without hope.

They're without hope on a mountaintop running for their lives with no food.

They're without hope within the borders.

They're out without hope with the political system.

They're without hope in the judicial system.

People have given hope in the governments.

People are giving up hope in themselves.

And everywhere, and all of a sudden this guy on the TV, he says this thing that I'm like,

yes, yes.

He goes, now, you know, we used to be the now generation.

But it seems like we're turning into the hopeless generation.

And I watched it, and I almost wanted to turn it off because I was just so depressed with

the hopelessness that we see around us in the world.

And Scripture talks so much into that.

It speaks so clearly to that.

It gives us a hope that transcends everything.

It gives us a hope beyond our own understanding.

It gives us a hope beyond ourselves.

It gives us the hope in a man, God, named Jesus Christ, who came to make all things right,

who came to fix all things.

And I watched these stories, and I just felt this incredible sense of hopelessness until

I remembered who I was in the hope that God has given us through his son, Jesus.

Have you ever felt that way?

We talked about it last week in 1 Peter 1, verses 1 through 12.

1 Peter 1:1–12

And in it, we came down to this realization that we all, if we are God's children, no matter

what's going on, because it's very interesting, because 1 Peter's happening amongst his

persecution, the Christians have gone out, things are getting really tough in the Roman

Empire.

I mean, you know, we think our lives are hard and difficult because we've lost our job

and other things, and those things are hard.

But these people, they're like the people on the mountaintop.

They have no food.

They're running for their lives, and the people behind them, they're killing them.

And that's what's going on here, and that's what Peter's speaking into.

And he's saying, this is what it means to be without hope, but this is where hope comes

from, and hope comes from God who cares, even amidst the craziness.

And he reminded us that if our hope is just here and now, if we just hope in what's going

on around us, we're going to be lost.

Because the here and now is not our home.

The here and now is just a temporary resting place for us.

But eventually, we're going to get to a true home.

And Peter reminds the Christians, and he reminds us over and over that we need to remember

where our true home is.

We need to remember who our true Father is.

We need to remember who we are.

And the moment we forget that, we lose hope.

We lose purpose.

We lose meaning.

Today, we're going to look at the next step of that.

And the next step is this, and it's going to be one of these topics that pastors sometimes

hate to talk about, because every time we talk about it, people roll their eyes.

And my greatest fear is when I talk about it, you go, well, he must have his act together,

or he's not that all together.

And let me tell you, I don't have my act together, and I'm not all that together.

And I'm probably the most broken person in this room, and I continue to learn God's mercy

and his grace.

And what Peter says in 1 Peter 13 and 16, and we're just going to look at the first three

verses, because what he's done up until this point is saying, this is what God's done for

you.

This is what God's done for you.

This is what God's done for you.

Now, this is what we need to do as God's people.

Now, if you're here right now, and you're not God's people, you're listening, you're exploring,

these words aren't for you.

I mean, our hope and our prayer is that one day they will be for you.

Don't take these words and put them on people in your office and say, this is what you need

to be doing, because if they're not in the family of God, it means nothing to them.

It doesn't belong to them, and it has no power over their lives.

But if you're here today, and you say, I'm a Christian.

I've invited Jesus Christ into my life.

I've repented of my sins.

I turn daily and just ask for God's forgiveness.

I sing that song, Lord, I need you, and I understand what it means.

Then this passage is specifically for you.

This passage is specifically for Watermark.

And the passage is going to talk about holiness.

What does it mean for us as a people of God to be holy?

To be honest with you guys, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to get up here today.

I've had food poisoning all night.

I was sick all night.

At about 3 o'clock in the morning, my gosh, this is the bad thing about not having a wife

who cooks your food, right?

Ladies, if you go away, please cook your husband some casseroles or something that's safe.

But so God is just, so I'm praying for this time that God would speak to us as a church

despite me communicating in the feeble way.

Probably I'm going to make up some words, which I usually do when I'm getting sick.

Just write them down, and we'll clarify those words later.

But we're talking about holiness.

And what I want to look at in this passage is I want to look at or try to look at three things.

I want to look at just this idea of what is holiness?

What does it really mean?

Why should we be holy?

And how do we grow in our holiness?

What is holiness?

What does it really mean?

And why should we grow?

Or how do we grow in our holiness?

And so the first thing we just want to look at is what is the idea of holy?

And I realize that often when we talk about holiness, people just roll their eyes,

and they just kind of, okay, here's one of these talks again.

We're going to talk about all these things, and I just want to give up because it's too hard.

This is what C.S. Lewis said.

He said, holiness is the great myth.

He says that we think to be holy is a bad thing.

We think that if we're holy, it will ruin our life.

We think that if we're holy, it will take away our fun.

It will take away our joy.

But Lewis says, in fact, that whenever we see holiness, there's nothing more captivating to us.

There's nothing that enamors us more than holiness.

And when we meet a holy person, a tender person, a gentle person, a loving person, we're drawn towards them.

I struggled with this when I was a young Christian, right?

And when I heard people talk about holiness, what I thought it meant is, okay, forget everything.

You're going to marry an ugly wife, and you're going to move to Africa.

Now, that's just what I thought, okay?

So it tells you, I was a young Christian, 16 years old, and guys were talking about being holy and walking with the Lord.

And my view of holiness was, you marry an ugly wife, and you move to Africa.

And that's just what holy people did, because that's all I experienced.

And so I know that's not true right now, right?

I married a beautiful wife, and we moved to Asia, right?

But in those days, you know, help me get out of this.

I don't know.

But we struggle with the idea of what does it mean to be holy, and we look at these things,

and we don't realize that it's something so far beyond what we talk about.

What the Bible says is this.

When you come to faith, God puts his spirit inside of you.

That Holy Spirit enters into your life, and that Holy Spirit begins to change you.

It changes how you talk.

It changes how you think.

It changes how you live.

It changes how you view your money.

It changes what you do with your time.

It changes how compassionate you are, and how gentle you are, and how loving you are, and how kind you are.

It changes all of those things in us.

It makes us different.

The Bible says that as Christians, we should be very different than the people who don't have God's spirit inside of us.

The problem is that as I talk to people in Hong Kong about Christianity,

one of the main reasons they reject Christianity is because the people that they know as Christians

act, talk, think, use their money, vacation, and live just like they do.

And so when we talk about Christianity and Christianity being different, they look at the people around them,

and they think, why would I want this to happen?

Because those people are no different than myself.

They have the same values that I do.

But what the Bible says is that when you come to Christ and God's spirit enters into you,

you begin to become holy.

You begin to change.

You take steps towards the Lord,

and as you take steps towards him,

his spirit inside of you

changes you,

and you're different.

Has that happened to you?

Are you different?

Are you more loving?

Are you more kind?

Are you more gentle?

The Bible says if God's spirit's inside of us,

then we start to change,

and that change is defined as holiness.

In verse 16, it says,

you shall be holy,

for I am holy.

There's two focuses there.

The first focus is on God,

and when it says God is holy,

what it means is he's pure.

He's true.

He's loving.

He's untainted.

He's beyond.

He's transcendent.

He's beyond our imagination.

Holy is the adjective that describes God in everything.

He's holy love.

He's holy compassion.

He's holy gentleness.

He's holy wrath.

He's holy judgment.

It just supersedes every one of his characteristics.

It tells us that he is so far different than we are.

It tells us, it should tell us,

that he's so far different than we are

that we can trust him

because he will always remain true.

He will always remain faithful.

He will always remain loving.

No matter how hard you feel things are going,

no matter how much you feel disappointed in him,

God is always there.

His holiness demands it,

and he's there.

When it says you shall be holy,

it's a little different focus.

It's the same focus of we're a mirror.

We reflect God.

We're doing everything that God does,

and we grow.

We don't become there right away.

We're never going to get there right away.

We're growing in that holiness.

It's a step that we take baby steps towards him,

and we're learning,

and as we do things to prevent our old life

from coming back in,

God's spirit, that seed, the Holy Spirit,

grows and changes and transforms us

into something amazing.

But for me, the easiest way to understand this

is basically this.

When it says you are holy,

you are holy if you are God's people,

all of it means is that you belong to God.

Do you know that?

What does holiness mean for you?

What does holiness mean for the Christians at Watermark?

It means that you belong to God.

When you walk in that office on Monday,

you belong to God.

God has placed you there.

It's not an accident.

When you walk into that marriage relationship

that's incredibly difficult

because both of you are so self-centered and selfish,

and there's been so many scars,

God has called you to be holy.

You belong to him.

You allow that spirit living inside of you

to change you

and to make you different.

We, as God's people,

have to be different

than the people who are not God's people.

How are you different?

How are you different in your classrooms?

How are you different at work?

How are you different in your families?

What does it mean for you to live a holy life

where God has placed you?

I'm not going to tell you this is what it means

because you need to find that out on your own.

I can give you some guidelines

because the spirit's working inside of you.

You're reading God's word.

You're experiencing your past.

I don't know your past.

You know your past.

So some of you,

it means to get rid of these things.

And for some of you,

it means to embrace these things.

And for some of you,

it means just keep walking day by day

and taking little steps

and just trusting the Lord

and knowing that He's going to take care of you

and you don't need to worry so much.

But if you're the child of God,

the scripture says that you are holy

positionally,

in front of heaven,

progressively,

you're walking every day

trying to become more holy.

And then one day

when you meet Christ

face to face,

perfectly,

you're going to look just like Him.

The question is,

are we different?

Why are we called to be holy?

Well, the first reason

we're called to be holy

is because God commands it.

And whenever God commands something,

it's a good idea for us to obey it.

Right?

Whenever God says,

don't do this or do this,

it's a really good idea

for you to obey that.

I think the problem I have sometimes

is God didn't ever ask me

before He did the law.

And I wish God had asked me

before He said,

don't do this

or only keep this amount

or act this way

because I really wish He,

He needs my input,

but God didn't ask me

because He knows what we need

and He's God.

So the first reason

that we are holy

or that we pursue holiness

is because God commands it

in our life.

How are we doing

obeying that command?

And there's a ten reasons

I could give you

why we should be holy,

why we should be living in the mouth.

Some of them are self-serving

because we just know

that to be holy

is just the best thing

causes the least problem.

There's a lot of people

who aren't Christians,

but they know,

hey, if I don't do this

and I don't do this

and I read these things

and I'm just a better person

and those are some things

that happen with holiness.

But the thing I want to share

with us for Watermark today

is one of the reasons

that God has called us

to be holy as His people.

I was in a funeral yesterday.

About 450, 500 people there.

Young lady killed in a car wreck,

Taiwan.

Three incredibly beautiful kids.

They live right next to us

in our apartment complex.

And I sat there

and I thought about

what kind of testimony

had they had

from the body of faith.

Think about this.

In the Old Testament,

all the other nations,

all the other tribes,

all the other religions,

they had gold idols,

they had wood carvings,

they had rocks,

they had different things,

and all these things

represented their God,

they represented their deity.

And so when you were in Babylon

and you wanted to see God,

you went to the temple

and you saw Dagon right there.

Or when you were in Assyria

and you wanted to see Kamesh,

you'd go right there

and you'd see them sacrificing

little kids in front of it

and we said,

show us our God

and they said,

your God's right there.

But the people of God

didn't have those things.

The people of God

didn't have idols.

They were successfully

forbidden to do idols

because God was so infinite.

God is so great.

God is so totally other.

There's no way you can capture him

within those pieces of wood or gold.

And so what instead God did

in Leviticus was

he placed his imprint inside of us.

When you think about it,

the three books of the Bible,

the first three, right?

Exodus is God choosing a people.

I mean, Genesis,

God choosing a people.

Exodus,

God taking a people

and giving them out of bondage

and freeing them.

Leviticus,

God gives his people

relationships within a law.

So now there's these rules

about what it means to be holy.

And it's just not actions.

It's just, you know,

don't do this or do this.

But there were certain things

that were holy.

There was a pen that was holy.

There was a day that was holy.

There was certain land that was holy.

There was certain land that was unholy.

Holy land would be like Texas.

Unholy land would be like

someplace else.

I'm not going to say anything.

But clothes were holy.

So clothes didn't have to do anything

with their actions

or anything like that.

Food was holy.

Food was unholy.

God's people

were holy.

So that when the people

of the world looked

and they said they wanted

to see God,

what did God do?

He said,

well, look at my people

because my imprint's on them

as you see them love,

as you see them care,

as you see them do justice,

as you see them show compassion,

as you see them give mercy,

as you see my people

do these things

which are my character,

you see me.

watermark.

We're the imprint

of the God of the universe.

His characteristics

and his qualities

have been put inside your life.

And his spirit

is growing those things

and changing you.

So the question is,

when we go out

into this community

of Hong Kong

on the western side,

the central side,

the eastern side,

Kowloon,

what do people see of God

through our lives?

What's their takeaway

of God

through us

as a community?

All the other nations

could go,

oh, here's the gold idol.

Here's the wood.

Here's the stones.

Here's the mountain.

But God's people said,

here's the community.

Within that community,

you see God.

How are we doing

as a community?

Are we giving the hope

that the world around us needs?

Are they seeing God

live out through us?

Are they seeing God's love

and compassion?

That's what it means

for us to be his people.

That's what it means

for us to be holy.

Does that make sense?

Everybody's really quiet.

That's an incredibly

challenging thing for me.

It's an incredibly

challenging thing for me

to know that every day

I walk into a place

and I represent God.

It's an incredibly

challenging thing

for me to think about

and just pray through

because I make mistakes

over and over.

And again,

we're not talking about

we're getting there,

but we're taking little steps

to move towards holiness.

What does it look like

when people look at me?

They see me impatient

with my kids.

I realize more and more

how much I need grace

and God's mercy

in our life.

And my prayer for us,

each one of us in here

is we would realize that.

That we need to be

focused on Christ

over and over and over.

So what is holiness?

It means we belong to God.

Why should we be holy?

Well, God commands it.

We need to obey him.

And we're the community.

And if we're not holy

as a community,

then everything we teach

means nothing.

If we're not loving

as a community,

if we're not reaching out

as a community,

if we're not caring

as a community,

if we're not helping

as a community,

if we're not giving hope

as a community,

if we're not being good friends

as a community,

then everything else,

our representation

of a holy God

means nothing

to a world

that needs hope.

And finally,

how do we develop

that hope in us?

Because there's a two-part

section here.

I think often when we teach,

we just say,

well, God's giving you hope

and you just trust him

and that's it.

Take care.

Let go and let God.

And you'll get more holy.

Trust me, you'll work.

That's not what Peter says here.

Is that what Peter says here?

Peter says,

if you are holy,

if you're walking with me,

here's what I need you to do.

Look at your verse 13.

He says this,

prepare your minds for action.

Keep sober in spirit.

Guard,

keep sober in spirit.

Fix your hope

completely on the grace

we brought to you

as a revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's kind of a command.

Why do we need that command?

Verse 14,

it's the reason why.

Because as obedient children,

we tend to be conformed

to our former lust.

We tend to go back

to our old ways.

Here's an example.

Don't do that.

The Holy One.

Look at Him.

Follow Him.

Watch Him.

And in Him,

you'll be like Him.

So how do we become more holy?

I just want to look at it

really quickly

and we'll finish up here.

Verse 13.

The first thing that Peter

says to us to do

is we need to prepare

our minds for action.

It's a very powerful word here.

It actually comes

from the Passover.

Usually when we did

a communion or Passover,

the Jewish people

would lay down

and they would sit down

and they'd just relax

and have fun.

But this comes from Leviticus

and in Exodus

and it's right before

the people are about

to leave Egypt.

And when he says

prepare your mind for action,

it actually means

gird your loins.

So in Jesus' day

and long before that,

men wore long shirts

all the way down here

and then they wore a belt.

And usually they wore

a mantle over that shirt

but they just wore

these long shirts

half cut off,

they still do today,

all the way down here.

And whenever a guy

did work,

he had to come down here,

grab his shirt,

tuck it up,

and then stick it

in the belt.

It's called girding.

And so most guys

would never do that

unless they were in a battle

or they had to run

or they had to do work

because it was undignified.

But in a battle

and running and working

it was okay

and so they left

their things down here.

But what Peter says is

now that you are Christians,

you need to prepare

your minds for action.

You need to gird your loins

and the idea is

we need to get ready for work.

We need to think about

what it means

to be God's people.

We need to understand

what it means

to read God's word

and allow it to affect us

and change us.

We need to think about

what it means for us

to be a Christian

in the workplace.

It's amazing to me

how often people take jobs

and they never think about

so what will this mean

for me as a Christian here?

So often people take jobs

and just realize

well I just need a job,

I'm going to take any job

or so people move

to a different area

but they never think about

how that's going to impact

their Christian life

or their family.

Can I be a good

Christian witness here?

Maybe it's an environment

where it's almost impossible

to be a good Christian

witness here.

I still need to do it

if God's called me

to do that

but what does it mean

for me to do it well?

Well that's what Peter says.

He says you need

to prepare your minds,

you need to gird up your loins,

you need to think about,

you need to get your mind

in order,

you need to think about

what does it mean

for us as God's people

to live out a holy life

wherever God puts us.

The second thing he says

is you've got to keep sober

and again these are

all choices guys,

these are all choices.

If you're here

and you're a Christian

and God's put his spirit

in you,

the spirit's there

but I think so often

most of us

we don't even read

God's word,

we don't pray,

we're not in a community

and we just think

well God's going

to take care of me

because he promised

to take care of me

and I don't really need

to do anything

and it's kind of like

this socket right here,

it's like this power source,

I'm going to get in trouble,

I know.

But this is kind of like

God's word

and the Holy Spirit,

right?

And we're plugged in here

and we're receiving

God's word,

I don't want to unplug

my sound.

But most of us

don't even plug ourselves

into God's spirit

and power source.

Most of us

don't even read

God's word,

most of us

don't even attend

community,

most of us

don't think of God

and there's this

power source here

and we wonder

why our lives

are a mess

and why things

are out of control.

The word there

actually means

to be sober,

don't to be drunk,

to keep focused.

Peter says

as Christians

one of our

responsibilities

to this Holy Spirit

and God in us

to grow

and to change

is to be sober,

to keep a clear head,

to think well,

to stay focused,

to understand

what God's word says.

What does the Bible say?

To be able to reject

false teaching

and to follow

true words.

It's amazing to me

whenever a new movie

comes out like

The Da Vinci Code

or other things like that

and they had this slant

about Christianity

or the Bible,

how often the church

just freaks out.

And the reason is

is that most of us

are pretty shallow

in our understanding

of God.

I mean,

most of us,

if we did the research

that we've done

since we've been

a Christian

at our workplace

for our new job,

we probably would have

been fired

a long time ago

because we wouldn't

even have known

how to turn on

the copy machine.

But for some reason

as Christians,

we think that's okay.

And so we treat

God's Word

really small.

And we treat God

really small.

And we wonder

why our lives

become

really small.

And Peter says,

be sober.

Think clearly.

Understand God's Word.

understand the implications

of it in your life.

Be in a Bible study.

Be in a community group.

Gather with people

who study the Word.

Meditate on God's Word.

Memorize God's Word.

Allow it to understand it.

Allow it to be barriers

in your life.

So the next time

you hear something

in your life

and it causes you

an incredible amount

of tension and trouble,

you can say,

well, what does God's Word say?

Nope.

Next.

But most of us

hold it up

and they go,

well, Pastor,

what does God's Word say?

And I'm like,

you can look that up.

What do you think

God's Word says?

I'll give you the verses.

Let's read it.

Verse 14,

he says,

as obedient children,

do not be conformed

to the former lust

which were yours

in your ignorance.

And that idea

is like a jello mold.

Jello mold.

That so many of us,

we've gone off

as Christians

and now we're new Christians

but we don't know

what the boundaries are.

We haven't read God's Word.

We're not sober.

We're not focused.

And our old nature

is like this magnet

and our old sin nature

comes in

and it grabs us

and it tries to squeeze us

into this mold.

Peter says,

be careful

when it does that to you

because it's going

to destroy your life.

I'm going to be

in trouble here

but I think this is

why Christianity

is so shallow

in Hong Kong

and America

and the rest of the world.

Because I think

most of us come to Christ

and we say a prayer

but we really don't

understand what that means.

Most of us

haven't repented

of the sins

that we used to do.

Many of us

still do the same sins

we did before.

Many of us

still act

the same way

we acted before.

And our Christianity

is like that deep.

And the sad thing

is the only person

we're fooling

is ourself.

Because everybody

else around us

especially non-Christians

see that our Christianity

is that deep.

We came to Christ

I said the prayer

but

and I'm speaking

to myself

many of us

did it selfishly

so that we don't

have to be selfish

on our own

we let Jesus

be selfish for us

right?

Jesus is going

to be selfish

Jesus is going

to get us

the Rolex

he's going

to get us

all those

really cool

things that we want

Jesus is going

to do it

now we're just

going to pray

and Jesus

is going

to do it.

We never repented

we never said

that's wrong

we never said

sin is bad

we just said

so I was in a church

this summer

and I'm really thankful

it wasn't our church

and we would check out

some churches

and they had a testimony

and we probably need

to cut this off

and in the testimony

several people

came to be baptized

and the first person

came up

and they said

you know

I needed a job

and I really wanted

this type of car

and I prayed about it

and you know what

I got this job

with this company

and they gave me

that exact car

God must be real

I'm here to get

baptized today

no repentance

of sin

no confessing

their need for God

no talking about

their brokenness

next person got up

you know

I've been single

for a long time

and I've been praying

that God would give me

this guy

that was this tall

he had this color

of hair

he had this kind

of job

he made this amount

of money

and he drove

this type of car

and he was fun

and you know what

that guy came

into my life

praise the Lord

God must be real

so that's why

I became a Christian

today

no mention of sin

no mention of need

no mention of God's

holiness

and not ours

and I wonder why

Christianity

in Hong Kong

is so shallow

no wonder we have

a hard time

forgiving each other

and being nice

to each other

and loving each other

because we never

understood that

that's what God

did for us

we just think

God gave us

a nice car

and a good boyfriend

or a girlfriend

Peter says

be careful

because your old

nature

your old ways

is going to try

to drag you back

it's going to try

to consume you

it's going to try

to stick you

in this jello mold

it's going to try

to make you act

the same way

that you've always

acted

and probably

for many of us

here

we say

that's already

happened

I don't need

to worry about that

and finally

verse 13

Peter says

God has done

all these things

now this is what

you need to do

to continue to grow

in holiness

and be the people

of God

and be the people

that a lost world

a hopeless world

needs to see

this is what you need

to do

is fix your hope

completely on the grace

to be brought to you

at the revelation

of Jesus Christ

actually if you read it

in Greek

that sentence says this

because that's the only

command in this sentence

what that sentence says

is fixing your hopes

completely on the grace

to be brought to you

at the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

preparing your minds

for action

keeping sober in spirit

so the main focus

is we fix our hopes

completely on what

grace

and when he uses

that word

what he means

is it's the

totality of everything

that God has done

for you

it's the totality

of God's mercy

his goodness

his blessings

his grace

it's what Peter says

if you want to walk

with the Lord

if you want to grow

in holiness

if you want to be

God's people

if you want to be

a reflection of what

it means to be

the church

this is what you do

you fix your hope

solely and completely

on all that Jesus

has done for you

you think about it

every day

you ponder it

you wonder about it

when you get into

difficult times

you bring that up

and you say yes

but you know what

Christ has done

it is so far greater

than what I'm experiencing

right now

I can trust him

because he's good

how are we doing

fixing our hope

what are we fixing

our hope in today

what are the things

that go through

our mind

what are the things

that it capture

and enamor us

what are those things

the passage

the passage

says

an amazing thing

it says

you and I

were lost

and the thing

about is

we didn't even

know we were lost

and God

the creator

of the universe

sends his son

he sends a lamb

and that lamb's blood

was shed

and that lamb's blood

is so much more precious

than anything

you're going to

collect here on earth

it's more precious

than your cars

more precious

than your house

more precious

than your MPF

more precious

than anything

that you have

that lamb's blood

is so much more

precious

and what it means

to you

and to the people

who see you

is so much more

greater

than anything else

that you can bring

and collect

in your life

and the passage

ends

and the question

is

how do we

respond to that

that's God's people

what's our response

how do we spend time

with the Lord

after all that

God has done

all these things

for us

this is now

what we're to be

as his people

this is how we're

to act

this is how we're

to love

this is how we're

to grow

in our holiness

the question is

will we

will we

let's pray

father we thank you

for this day

I realize right now

that even as we speak

in the midst

of my words

which

I just pray

that you would

make them forget

anything that wasn't

of you

and you would not

let them forget

what is of you

I realize

that there are

some people

in here right now

who've been living lives

that are far

far away from you

they've been living lives

that are self-centered

and self-focused

and you've been

continually

touching their heart

you've been continually

touching their mind

you've been continually

opening their eyes

the fact that they're here

and they're not Christians

is not

in a mistake

it's because your spirit

is moving in them

and I pray for them

Lord

I pray that

you would open their eyes

to your son

and that they would

enter into the family

they would

choose him

they would find

their hope

in Christ alone

and realize

that all that

you've given

is so much more

precious

than what they're

striving for

right now

Lord I know

that there are

some of us

in here

who are just

faking it

we're faking it

outwardly

we're one way

inwardly

we're another way

one way

at church

we're this way

outwardly

at work

we're a different way

and maybe vice versa

and when we look

at consistency

and reality

and holiness

we realize

that you haven't

called us

to be half holy

or partially holy

that you've called us

to be all holy

every part of us

and we know

that that's

steps that we take

towards you

Lord I pray

for my brothers

and sisters

who are faking it

that they would stop

life is too

precious

funerals

funerals

happen

too often

and if the life

that we're living

isn't a beacon

and a reflection

of your mercy

and grace

I pray that we

would stop

I pray that you

would make us

stop

take us out

of the picture

because your grace

and your mercy

and your word

and your name

is too holy

to be profaned

by us

Lord I pray

for all of us

here

we all need

you desperately

we'll never

get to a point

where we say

okay I'm okay

now

everything's good

but as Peter

says that we

continually fix

our hope

on the grace

and mercy

to be brought

to us

through your

son Jesus

Christ

Lord I pray

for us

as a church

help us

to be a church

that's different

help us

to be a people

that's different

Lord I pray

for us

as men

help us

be men

that are

different

because we're

Christians

Lord help us

to be wives

that are

different

because we

love you

help our

families

to be

different

as we

walk

amidst

the darkness

the people

desperately

need to

see your

son Jesus

Lord we

just help

us to repent

to confess

our wrongdoing

to confess

our brokenness

and our sin

Lord I pray

that we would

turn away

from those

things

and follow

you

Lord we

know you're

not asking us

to be perfect

but you're

asking us

to be a

people who

are yours

that belong

to you

may that be

true of all

of us in

here

may you

use those

things to

change

Hong Kong

and beyond

Father we

love you

and we

pray these

things in

your son

Jesus

holy name

amen

you