1 Peter 1

Hello, and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

Thank you so much for listening.

We're startup church.

We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together.

And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more.

You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that.

We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today.

Amen.

Well, good to see you.

Good to see everybody.

It's been a few weeks since, since I've been in church.

I wanted to, or well, it's physically here.

I was at, this is what we'll talk about.

So actually two weeks ago, I went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I was a part of some meetings that's like the Baltic Nordic Missions Alliance.

That's a lot of words.

Basically it's a group of churches that are giving some of their, some of their money in addition to their regular contribution to churches overseas.

And it's really encouraging a lot of it's to plant, to plant churches overseas or to help a ministry staff.

There's, there's a lot of people who have given up, certainly given up jobs and stuff over the, and really there's different situations that we've, we've found out about overseas where churches maybe haven't given raises to their, their ministers for seven or 10 years and they're horribly underpaid.

And so stuff like that, we heard about that and we just don't want that to happen.

Especially people who are giving their hearts to, to the mission.

And so the, the purpose of those meetings is really to come together and make sure everyone's on the same page.

But in addition to that, and this is where, this is where the biggest growth and the most encouragement is happening is that it really is not just, we're not just a bank and you guys are not just a bank and we give a small portion of our money as we become self-supporting.

We'll give a larger portion of our, our special missions money to, to overseas missions, but we're not just a bank.

We also, we also want to provide spiritual support, spiritual health, and spiritual guidance.

And so the, the, the, the cool thing is that the churches over there, they don't want just money.

They want spiritual support and help and guidance as well.

And here's, here's a picture, it's tough to see you.

Here's some of us.

This is this meeting, a group of about 20 people.

What's that?

Trevor's in the building.

Yeah.

So Trevor, they put him to work as soon as he, as soon as, as soon as they left.

So Trevor is he's interning or kind of in the interim process of maybe taking over some of the financial administration, all the stuff with money and, and stuff like that.

And that's a, that's a maybe, but he was sitting in, yeah, good catch there.

Here's a couple we were able to worship then in Milwaukee on Sunday.

And then this other video is just the war memorial where we meet at in, in, in Milwaukee, just the outside of it really is.

It really is beautiful.

It's nothing like, you know, it's, it's, it's, but Kalamazoo is much better is what I want to say.

It pales in comparison to Kalamazoo, Michigan is all that I've got to say.

We're actually, it's, it's fun.

We're entering in a new series here and we're looking at the book of first Peter and then the book of second Peter as well.

And the question you might have, I don't know if you've spent any time studying them.

A lot of times they're kind of the, the books in the Bible that's right towards the end.

There's this little clump and you're like, it's somewhere right towards the back.

We can pull it here and there.

What we're going to do is we're going to, we're going to study it.

It's really, it's really powerful.

There's some, some main takeaways.

I might have this out of order.

We'll, we'll see.

We'll, we'll look at this one first.

I think as we start out, you might ask one of the questions that on Sunday we listened to a lesson.

This was on the 21st in Milwaukee.

And the speaker said, one of the, one of the fun ways to read the Bible is to ask yourself, how would the Bible change if this book were not a part of it?

Or how would, how would the scripture change if this story were not a part of it?

What would be taken away?

And so the question that you might have, and it's a good question is what does first Peter add to the Bible?

Some of the things that we are going to see in just for sure today, but, but over the next few weeks as well, is it, it's a confirmation of the church as God's chosen people.

If you remember, maybe as you were studying the Bible, you, you looked at a scripture in first Peter two that says we're the chosen people, the holy priesthood.

And he's talking about you and I, and not just the Jewish people.

And then the other, the other really cool thing, and we're going to see this today as well, is it identifies some of the unique roles of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit and, and the role that they have in our salvation.

But then it also makes clear about some of the role.

This can sound weird.

We'll, we'll make sense of it.

Some of the role that we actually have in our salvation.

And we're going to, we're going to look at it this morning.

So that, if that causes your ears to perk up, then, then listen up.

It's, it's a really powerful book though.

It's powerful because it's speaking to a Jewish audience, or rather a Gentile audience, which is like you and me.

It's and it's important because there's so many ramifications that, that are, that are maybe assumed in other books in the Bible that are totally solidified in this, in this book.

It's written somewhere between 64 to 67 AD.

Most most will hold that Peter, the apostle, he died in 68 AD.

And so it was shortly before his death.

And we, we understand Jesus rose somewhere between 30 and 33 AD.

You can just do a cursory Google search and get, get these, it might be within a year or two.

And so it's a little after 30 years since the church formed.

Some of the things that we'll look at opponents to the message will say that it was this, this was formalized 150 or 200 years, or at least a hundred years after Jesus rose.

Because some of the teachings are contrary to what Jesus taught and, and, or some of the teachings go in addition to what Jesus taught.

And none of this, none of this is true or accurate.

We understand with just a little bit of, of, of searching that's about 30 years.

And so the people that walked with Jesus, certainly Peter was one of them also would have, would have listened and heard this letter.

Let's go to first Peter one, and we're going to start out right in verse one.

I promise we're not going to go this slow, but we're only going to read the first foot.

Well, for at least most of it, but we're, we're just going to read the first verse right now.

It says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia.

And your guess is as good as mine, okay.

It starts out and I want to, I want to make mention why I'm not, I'm not just making this stuff up, but this is what the Bible teaches about God's people being a you and I, or everybody having the opportunity to be God's people and not just the Jewish people.

Why do I say that this word exiles scattered?

The word scattered is a, it's a, it's a Greek word, diaspora.

And basically this was always referenced talking about what happened to the Israelites, the Northern kingdom, and then a little bit, the Southern kingdom as well in between 700 to like 500 BC as they, as they spread out.

So the Jewish people were centrally located and then as they got taken over by other nations and as they led themselves, uh, led into sin, they then spread out and they scattered.

And so it was no, you, if you look up a Jewish diaspora, you would be able to find, oh, this is roughly when it took place and these are the years and it's just commonplace.

If you would go from what I understand and learn from any kind of Jewish scholar, they would be able to talk about this and it would be a widely understood thing that the diaspora is referring to the Jewish people when they were separated and then they were in little pockets of, of Judaism, trying to live as Jews in a world that was pushing against them from everywhere and saying, it's, you can't live like a Jew in this, in this space.

Why can we take encouragement from that?

Well, if you'll, if you'll work with me, if Peter's writing to an audience that is primarily Gentile, and if he's communicating that you guys are scattered, meaning you are living as Christians now in specific pockets with the outside world pushing in on you, remain strong, take heart, then you and I can, can connect with that pretty, pretty readily.

Right now we, we're, uh, you guys are also, we're living in a different culture, uh, or you, you are living in a culture that's different than what's appropriate or understood, uh, by the world around you.

Uh, there, there's, uh, you know, later on, we understand that later on in the Bible, you're going to pull stuff and it just says, don't be ashamed.

You're not, you're, you're going to do things differently than what you used to.

And people are going to look down on you for that.

Don't be ashamed of that.

Uh, this is, this is such a great encouragement, direct encouragement that we can pull.

Uh, we are some of these exiled and dispersed people, aren't we?

Uh, we, we have, we're in a community, it's a pocket and it's a beautiful safe haven.

I love coming to church and being able to smile and give hugs and just talk about how was your week and then ask, well, how was your week actually?

And we can, we can get real pretty quickly, right?

That this is, this is, it's amazing.

It's, it's what God created.

But every day that you go to the grocery store or you go to work or you go to your, uh, to, to where you go grab a bite to eat or you get a coffee somewhere, or if you go to the gym to work out or if you go out for a walk or if you go to class, there is this nagging pressure that, that if you're, if you're listening, that, that you'll feel, or if you're, if you're actually aware that you'll feel to do what the world deems appropriate, uh, it's tough, right?

It's nagging because it's not, uh, oftentimes it's not directly in front of your face, punching you, right?

If, when there's the direct punch, you guys have been directly punched by the world and you guys have chosen to stand up and you've also been directly punched by the world.

And if you're like me, there's probably been a time where you've shrunk back and you're like, man, I knew I got punched there.

Uh, perhaps what's more, what's more sinister, what, what happens on a more day to day basis is this constant nagging to, to just listen to this a little bit more, to engage in this gossip, to take a second glance, to, to just consume whatever you want to consume.

These are the things that are probably a little bit more sinister because we can explain them away pretty quickly.

Can't we, there's this nagging.

If we are going to be exile scattered and there's this nagging that we're going to feel just as we, as we live in this world.

Uh, the joy that we can take from it though, is that this is how our brothers and sisters felt thousands of years ago.

Peter's writing and Peter's writing to them and he's saying, this is who you are now and don't be ashamed of it.

Be proud of it.

Uh, wear it like a badge of honor.

And later on, it'll talk about being a Christian and being, that's a good thing.

It's good to be called a Christian.

Back then it was used as like a kind of not derogatory in maybe the traditional sense, but as a negative word, that's like kind of diminutive that, that you're just a little Christ.

He said, don't be ashamed of that.

Be proud of that.

And that's stuff that we can, we can feel as well.

I don't know if you've ever been shamed for calling yourself a Christian or maybe you, you felt like, I don't know if I can say that I'm standing against this because that's going to mean that I'm a Christian, that I'm different and I hate feeling different.

Maybe you'll say, I don't feel this tension.

And if you don't feel this tension, then perhaps there's, there's really one of two options.

Either you're naive and unaware, or you're just not living a life like one who's scattered.

Let's, let's, let's keep reading here.

It says, so it picks up right in verse two and we'll read it.

It's a little bit longer of a text here.

It says, uh, so he identifies these people and then he says, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the father through the sanctifying work of the spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood, grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In all this, you greatly rejoice.

So now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Uh, well, yeah, we'll get there in a sec then.

Pause.

We'll pause.

We'll pause right before.

All right, here we go.

I have to be honest with you guys.

As I was preparing this, I felt like if I, I, I had weight, I feel like I just had way too much information and I'm like, this is going to be a 50 minute lesson and I'm going to lose you guys at about 25 minutes.

Uh, so I, it's not going to be that long.

I hope it's about a little over 25, but I was, I was pretty fired up cause I was kind of, I, it was supposed to be, usually I'll do three points.

This was like, it was like six points.

And I'm like, I can't, I can't do that.

Uh, I didn't prepare all of it.

I kind of stopped and then I realized it wasn't going to work well.

I appreciate that though.

Um, Peter's job, one of his jobs he takes on is to help us in the delineation between the father, the son and the Holy spirit.

And, and if you read just in this passage, there's some unique roles that are communicated.

Uh, what is the father do?

What is the Jesus?

What does Jesus do?

And then what is the Holy spirit do?

And then how, what do we do?

And, and so these are just, this is just a few, and this is just looking at verses two through five.

Uh, we understand God, the father, it says he chooses people according to his four knowledge.

So he has, what does that mean?

Does that mean, does that mean predestination and predetermination?

And we'll, we'll get to that just sec.

Uh, so people are chosen somehow in some way, shape or form, according to what his great mercy into his living hope.

And then later on, it says that he actually shields people, Lord Jesus Christ.

What is, what does he do?

Uh, people are called to be obedient to him.

Uh, and there's a living hope through his resurrection.

It's only through his resurrection.

Is there any hope at all?

This living hope just in this passage, we understand that in some way, shape or form people are sanctified by the spirit's work.

And then what's, what's our role?

Uh, we have to do something though.

It says in, in verse, in verse five, uh, through faith, we are shielded by God's power.

And so good luck working all of this out in just, in just a few minutes, but it's, it's incredible, right?

That, that God is working and you could say, God is, God is for us.

He's working for us.

Jesus died for us.

He's, he's going for it.

The Holy spirit is constantly at work around us and, and, and for those who are saved inside of us.

And, and, and yet it doesn't, that doesn't negate our responsibility that through faith we, we can be shielded by God's power.

So does he choose people?

Yeah.

In some ways, but is it whose faith is it?

Well, it has to be our faith though.

It's only a little bit.

It's a very small sliver, but it is something.

Yeah, let's, let's, uh, we'll keep, we'll keep reading then in, in, in verse six.

And in all this, you greatly rejoice though.

Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire may result in praise, glory, and honor.

When Jesus Christ is revealed, though you have not seen him, you love him.

And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Again, there's, there's so much here, isn't there?

I it's, it's, it's cool.

The one, the one quick takeaway, I don't know if you saw this, but I don't know if you've ever felt guilty for why, why are you doing good things or why are you a Christian?

Sometimes you can feel guilty.

I want to go to heaven.

Um, I don't think that's a bad thing.

I think it's great.

You can feel bad.

Oh, he's dangling the carrot.

I want to do it just out of the sheer love.

Yes, absolutely.

But this is what, what Peter's saying.

He's saying that the end result of your faith is the salvation of your soul.

And so it's okay to, to look towards heaven.

But when it says salvation, don't look just to heaven because the, the salvation process and the sanctifying is going on right now.

Exactly.

And so of course it's, it's appropriate to look to heaven and say, this is the end result of my faith.

But one of the results of your faith is that you get to be in a community of people who genuinely love you.

Again, we're going to get to that a little bit later.

The call of a Christian being one that shows a deep and sincere love to one another.

And that's, it's unique.

It's unique to Christianity actually.

And so this salvation, of course it's heaven, but it's not exclusive.

It's not just heaven.

It is right now as well.

There's a lot to look forward to on this earth as we're living with one another.

Before that though, this is, this is powerful.

This, it says your faith is a greater worth than gold.

And we're not going to read it later on.

It says, Jesus, he says, your soul was bought with a price.

It wasn't bought with silver or gold.

It's like saying, Hey, it wasn't, it wasn't bought with millions of dollars.

It was bought with Jesus's blood.

And he's saying your faith though is worth greater, is greater worth than gold.

And so I, we looked up and then it says you got to, it perishes, even though we're fined by fire and it results.

I looked up just a little bit about what it takes to, especially in that day without all of the technology that we have to turn whatever the process is to make gold.

Okay.

And so I'm going to read a little bit.

There's three main, main, main processes though, that are identified.

The first is to pound shatter and crush the ore into a powder.

And it says the initial step in this process is to crush the ore into a fine powder.

The elements that made up the ore, dirt, rock, minerals, gold, and whatever other metals and unwanted materials remained were totally pulverized.

So you take this bit of ore and it's totally pulverized.

And then from there, it says in the physical gold refining process, after the mind or is crushed and pounded into powder, it must go through frequent washings and cleansings.

During these washings, the unwanted nonmetallic metallic elements are to a large extent eliminated.

Only the metallic elements are left behind.

And so now you go from this rock that now is turned, we got a bunch of garbage that's out of the way, and now it's just metallic stuff.

And then after that, this is when the burning process occurs.

It says at this point in the purification process, the crushed and cleansed ore is collected and placed in crucibles of clay.

Then it must be submitted to the furnace.

The impurity filled gold ore melts at the extreme temperature of, I think this is right, 1948 degrees Fahrenheit, over a thousand degrees Celsius.

In order to raise the furnace to that white hot temperature, bellows are used to pump oxygen into the raging fire.

Once the ore melts, an amazing thing happens.

The impurities in the gold begin to rise to the top.

The refiner is then able to skim the impurities off the top of the molten metal.

The more this process is repeated, the purer the gold becomes.

Saying your faith is of greater worth and he compares your faith to being like gold refined by fire.

How does this relate to us though?

This is where it gets really, I think there's beautiful connections that are made even just Peter's couple of sentences.

This first part, this pounding and refined by fire, isn't that the initial process that everyone has to have when they come to Christ?

That you can't be saved without seeing your need for a savior.

There has to be pure humility.

This is the initial process of beginning this repentance that I know that I messed up.

I don't have it all figured out.

I need help and this is the pounding.

You can reference in Matthew 21, it talks a little bit about this.

Then the next thing, this is the washing the ore powder is baptism.

This washing, this physical washing.

And then there's an ongoing cleansing that you'll continue to confess your sins.

In 1 John 1, it talks about if you continue to confess your sins, you'll be made new again, you'll be made clean.

And then what is this fired in the furnace processes?

There's no replacement for some of these struggles and these griefs and these difficulties in order to make us stronger Christians, in order for our gold character, our gold faith or however you want to define it to be refined.

This connects really well.

As I was reading it, I was like, man, this is perfect.

It's in Matthew 28 in verse 18, you can probably quote the scripture.

It says, Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples.

Maybe this initial process of somebody having to be crushed or learning to be crushed by what's going on that's not good in their life.

This making disciples process, this being washed, the baptizing process.

And then in verse 20 and teaching them to obey everything.

I'd have to believe that a lot of teaching people to obey everything means allowing people and helping people through very difficult circumstances and trials that they're going through.

That's what the Bible teaches.

This is our responsibility to one another to help each other to get there.

Let's keep reading.

We'll just go to verse 15.

It says, but just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.

For it is written, be holy because I am holy.

Since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors.

But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

This is one of the proof texts that people use to determine that this is written to a Gentile audience.

It says that there's an empty way that's handed down.

Run away from that way.

That's the run.

Run away from that.

That's not how you were redeemed.

And rather, you're redeemed by the blood of Christ.

The cool thing, it just says, be holy as I am holy.

You'd understand this to be such a difficult task, right?

How can we go about being holy?

Or how do we go about being holy as God is holy?

There's never going to be a time that we can say, well, I am holy just like God is holy.

I don't have any way to grow.

There's always going to be things that we got to improve upon and grow in and grow to become more like Jesus.

But the call though, this is where I really, I do love the connection that it makes between our responsibility.

But then what God has already done is that he sees it's in some ways, it's like living up to, I'm already looking at you like you're holy.

Just live like it then.

I'm looking at you like you are set apart, like you're different than everybody else.

So go ahead and live like you're different than everybody else.

There's a great, it's actually a great responsibility then, right?

That your father is looking at you and he says, you know what?

I know you're better than that.

I know you can do more than what you think you can do.

That's why you're being refined.

So just, you can do it.

I'm already looking at you like you've overcome.

So just be holy, be set apart.

But the other call though is this word holiness.

That means that we have to be set apart.

And so people ought to know you're a Christian by your words and your actions.

It's not enough for people to know you're a Christian, you a Christian.

Yeah, typo there.

People ought to know by your words, you a Christian.

There we go.

It's with your words.

You know, it's great to say, if I live my life this certain way, then everyone's going to ask me, what is it about you?

Why are you always smiling?

Why do you high five me when I walk in?

That's a great thought.

In practice, I don't, it happens.

I don't know how practical that is though.

If it's just, if it's just with your actions that you're living like a Christian, that's, I think that's the better of the two is what I would say.

But I think you're probably missing out a little bit.

I think you're probably missing out on some of the fun part about partnering with God to help him restore his lost, his lost creation.

Then the other part though is, is you can't just say with your words, okay, I'm this way, I'm that way, I'm the other way.

If you're not actually living it out either.

But people ought to know you're a Christian.

People ought to know that you're set apart based on your words and your actions.

We're going to, we're going to close up here in a few minutes.

If you keep going to verse 22 now.

It says, now that you have been pure, now that you have purified yourself by obeying the truth so that you have a, so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God.

For all people are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

And this is the word that was preached to you.

I think I've read this.

I've read this.

I don't know how many times, even in the last week.

I've read it many times prior to that.

I've read it many times and there's so many, uh, well, why don't we say, what are some, what are some churchy words or some Jesus, like religious words that you hear in this passage?

You guys can just shout them out.

Purify yourself.

Yeah, absolutely.

Perishable.

Yeah.

Love one another sincere.

Yeah.

Sincere love.

You're like, well, I don't ever really hear that any other time.

Obey, obey.

Yeah.

We don't like that.

And we hear, we hear that the word of the Lord endures forever.

You know, like these, these are, and what I did was as I was reading this, I just kind of, I was like, you know what?

That just all means you just got to live like a Christian.

You know, that was kind of my, my, okay, good.

And I, as I studied it, as I really sat with it, I hope to communicate it well, but I found that, um, that it's even more powerful than that.

And so this is, this is, this is some of it.

It's, it starts out and it, it, this first word, where this sincere love is the word Philadelphia, um, city of brotherly love.

Maybe, I don't know if you, you knew that, but, uh, that's, that's this, this Greek word.

So, um, or Phila, whatever, however you figure, but we get that we get Philadelphia from that the city of brotherly love.

He says, first, you guys got to show a sincere love.

Very good.

Um, but the sincere love comes through purification, which comes through the obedience to the truth.

Okay.

So to start this, this sincere love that we can have for, for, for one another, that you might feel this.

When I think of sincere love, I just think of this great gratitude, right?

You just, oh man, I'm just so grateful for this group, or I'm just so grateful for this person.

And I'll, I think about moving.

Um, I, well, I grew up in Milwaukee until I was five, but then I think about moving back to Milwaukee and there were many people who I didn't have much relationship with, but I remember there, what I would call sincere love, inviting me over to their house.

They, one guy drove me 40 minutes to his house.

We had lunch and then he drove me 40 minutes right back on campus on a Sunday.

And, um, and just out of this sincere love that I just, he just wants to, to love me.

Um, and that, that, that, that comes through obedience to the truth, uh, that doesn't come from, from other means and other avenues because you, you'd understand that, that I don't know if you felt it in the world, in the world, whenever somebody does something nice for me, I do feel like, well, there's something I got to do nice for them.

Now I got to, and maybe I, maybe they don't even, perhaps they don't expect it, but maybe they do that there's, there's, I kind of owe them one, or I want to give a little, take a little in, in relationship.

And you can, you can maybe feel that this, it says that sincere love, this, this brotherly love comes from obedience to the truth or through comes this sincere love comes purification, which comes through the obedience to the truth.

But then this is another thing that I found because there's another word that, that it talks about, uh, right here, this, this word, um, love one another deeply is the word agape and it's a one maybe you, you've heard before, but this is a word that even, uh, in, in many big circles that, that will be known actually as, as being a kind of a, a uniquely Christian term.

It's used elsewhere, but it's, it's uniquely Christian in the, the expansiveness of the word.

It's the, uh, it's the love.

Jesus has all both of these loves for us.

Um, but it, it's the love that you might think about when somebody goes above and beyond because they know you so well, they know how you need to be loved.

Um, it's that, it's that kind of love.

And he says, so what does that mean for us?

He said, well, you, when you became a Christian, you, you just, you were baptized into, you walked into this sincere love that you just felt like, I just really love everybody.

Uh, but now that you do that, uh, go ahead and learn how to love each other.

Deeply that you have, we, you have this love and don't, it's not being replaced.

It's being added onto, right.

That you have this genuine caring consideration and you want to help, but then this love each other deeply is to get to know who somebody is, what, what their fears are, what their struggles are, and to go ahead and, and invest yourself in their life so much so that, that it's only out of this, this love.

As you look at the life of Christ, you, that's the only way you can show them this kind of love.

And how do we, how do we grow in, in these loves?

How do we grow specifically in this agape love?

Uh, the, the Bible, the, the Bible gives this, he says, you've been born again through the living and enduring word of God.

And then he says the word endures forever.

And that's the word that was preached to you.

What does that communicate to me?

It communicates to me, if I'm looking to love you guys better, then I'm going to have to look in my Bible and what am I looking for?

What am I trying to study?

I don't know yet, but, but I have to, I have to be connected to Jesus is what I do know.

And one of the ways is through, through the word.

It has to be something that I'm sure overflows out of my mouth.

It has to be something that just emulates how I live and how I act.

If you want to grow in your agape love for, uh, for, for the church, as you should, because if you call yourself a Christian, then yes, you should.

Uh, if you want to grow, then you've got to read the Bible.

There's, there's not two ways about it.

It's not this checklist of things I've got to do in the morning.

It's, it's this connection to God that then overflows out and you can spread to other people.

Amen.

You know, I, I, I think, uh, I don't even know if this fits.

I, I, I, well, I think it does.

Um, you know, I remember, uh, the, the call that you realize how good it is to be loved, how you want to be loved or to be like encouraged, how you want to be encouraged.

I think about, uh, I remember going into, this was when I, it was in 2017 ish.

I started coaching basketball and I, and I went into one of my, uh, one of my basketball, like coach's office, DaVinci DaVinci's office.

And it is, uh, it, when I walked into his office, it was like the most stressful work environment I've ever seen in my life.

Like there's 50 cent blasting on the radio.

Mind you, he's in like the student center of, uh, the, the, the student union.

He just has a little tucked away office and there's 50 cent blasting.

And there is like, he has two daughters.

There's probably a hundred pictures of just like drawing, like some of you guys know how children draw some of those kinds of pictures.

There's like five and three at the time.

And it's just the, the growth, you know, it's so stressful.

As I walked in, there's pictures everywhere.

And I'm like, man, I said, DaVinci, do you, what do you, why do you do this?

Like, why do you do this to yourself?

And he just said, well, I just, you know, they made them for me.

And so I got to put them up and I was like, okay, that's great.

I, uh, you know, I, and so I think about, you know, when, when I, I love, I love both of my daughters so much and I, Jordan is amazing.

You know, when she, when she draws things for me, it's, I could take it or leave it.

You know, I, I'm, I'm super grateful.

I, I'm super grateful.

Mostly I'm grateful because I don't care what she draws.

I'm grateful when she gives it to me and says, Daddy, I love you.

That's, that's what I care way more about, right?

I, the picture, I could take it or leave it.

I could leave it, actually.

I don't even need to take it.

I, I, I share that to say that the picture is great.

But what I care more about, you know, if she'll get to know me and she'll learn that the picture, I mean, I'm sure she'll always give me the picture.

That's fine.

But I think there's going to be a time when she learns, wow, if I just, if I just tell that how much I love him, that means even more to him.

I can just keep talking with my words and I don't even got to take the time to make the picture.

I just got to say some nice words and he'll do any, virtually anything for me with just these words.

Maybe you're a picture person.

Maybe you're a words person.

I don't want to go into the five love languages and all of that stuff.

That's not, what I mean to communicate is the responsibility that you and I have is to figure out how we can love each other, not just how we can encourage them, but how they'll actually feel encouraged.

If anyone thinks of you, I know if anyone sends you a text this week, Hey, just thinking of you, appreciate you.

I can bet a million dollars.

You'll feel encouraged by that.

If they knew something about you, they knew that you needed this thing or they wanted to give you a meal, whatever it is, or they just, they wanted to pray with you over the phone.

Whatever it was, if you, I think if that's exactly what you need, you'll feel even more encouraged.

That's the responsibility that we have though.

This, this agape love.

And so as we, as we kind of, as we bring it in, um, for a, for a landing here, uh, uh, you can, you know, take, take mental stock then of, of the different ways in which, uh, just in this little bit, just in the student, just in the first chapter that, that Peter really confirmed the church as God's people.

He said, you guys were, you guys are exiles.

Like they were exiles, but you guys are different now.

And then even in just this first chapter, he identified just these different ways in which we work, but God works, the Holy spirit works, uh, Jesus, Jesus, our Lord works in all of this.

And we realized that right now there's, there's more than a few passages even here that talks about, uh, in verse 19, um, you were bought with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Uh, let's, let's remember his sacrifice.

You can come up and pray for, uh, for communion right now.

Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected.

Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on.

In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.