Pastor Malachi Maillot | Effective vs Ineffective | June 28th, 2026

Everyone's curious what's in the bag, but you'll find out eventually.

Um It's lunch.

Did you say it's lunch?

It's kind of like lunch.

Um God's gonna multiply it today.

I'm just kidding.

Um that's next week.

How's everyone doing this morning?

You glad you came to church.

I uh I had to wear my uh Canadian jersey today because Canada plays today in the knockout rounds, the World Cup, half of you care, but you know what?

I'm gonna preach really short today for those who do care, and we're gonna be out of here quickly, okay?

All right.

Um actually, one thing before I start.

Do you have that fundraiser slide?

Can we get that?

Is that updated?

Yeah, hey, we reached our goal.

Amazing.

Yes, thank you guys so much.

I just wanted to before this, just to say thank you.

Uh, I think it's actually higher than that, so maybe we'll get another updated slide next week.

It's way above that.

Uh, but I wanted to turn to 2 Peter.

If you got your Bibles, shake them at me.

Uh if you got your Bible on your phone, that's totally fine, totally acceptable.

We're gonna go 2 Peter uh chapter 1.

We're going from 1 to 16.

We're gonna read a hefty chunk of scripture and then we're gonna talk about it.

If you're there, say I'm there.

Awesome.

Says Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who obtain the faith, a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

May peace and grace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

Imagine if we greeted each other like that, right?

That'd be amazing.

I would feel so empowered.

I could run through a brick wall.

Uh verse number three, it says, uh, his divine power, someone say power, has granted us all things.

Someone say all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

Verse 4 says, by which he has granted us his precious and great promises.

Someone say promises.

Say that's for me.

Thank you.

Lady in the front is just gassing me up here.

The great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of his divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

In verse 5, he says, For this very reason, make every effort, someone say every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and with and virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from our sorry, if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord our Jesus Christ.

Verse 9 he says, For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to confirm your calling and election.

For if you practice, someone say practice.

We're talking about practice this morning.

A few of you got that.

These qualities, practice these qualities, you will never fail.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And finally, he says this.

This is one of my favorite verses of this portion.

He says, Therefore, I intend to always remind you of these qualities.

Nudge your neighbor.

Say, I'm gonna remind you.

Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have, I think that is right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder.

That's why we're in church today, is we're we're here to stir each other up.

We're here to remind each other of who we are in Christ.

Amen.

So I'm just gonna pray.

Maybe I can get a tissue.

I've been uh battling this last couple weeks.

But I'm gonna pray.

Oh, right behind me.

Hey, look at that, Jamin.

You get the best.

So, Father God, I just thank you so much for this morning.

I thank you for your spirit.

God, I thank you for this time of worship that we had.

God, I pray that uh as we as we dive into your word today, God, we're just so thankful that it's relevant even today, even though it's written thousands of years ago.

God, it's so relevant for today and for what we walk through and what we go through.

And God, just remind us of who we are this morning as we talk about this.

In Jesus' mighty name, someone say, Amen.

Amen.

Hey, thank you, team.

Can we give up for the worship team really quick?

Well, I want to talk about uh exactly what is written in in 2 Peter today.

We're gonna kind of walk through it, uh, but I want to talk about this idea of being effective and being ineffective.

Someone say effective.

And uh and I had some uh examples this morning, that's why I have the bag, but um I just wanted to talk about that idea of being effective.

And I think if there's an effective way to do something, we all want to be a part of that, right?

Right?

And if you think about uh, you know, we had uh a couple people over for dinner last night and the dishes were all piled up, and and it's like I could either wait till like tomorrow to do the dishes or I could do them right now, right?

Anybody, anybody like that?

Like, what's the effective way to do that?

You do it right away because then your house stinks, and in the morning you don't want to do it, and we gotta get up for church.

And and so my wife did all the dishes, so thank you.

Uh you're amazing.

Uh we just I went on a trip this week, uh, actually got to go see a World Cup game uh for Canada, and I I did the effective thing, which which a lot of us I don't think do.

We I packed the night before, right?

Anybody, anybody like a morning of packer?

Anybody?

Come on.

I saw that little hand go really quickly and up, right?

Like you give me anxiety.

Like if you if you pack them the night before, it's it's gonna be more effective.

Actually, I have a quick analogy, and I need my my my buddy Maddie.

Uh, can we just give it up from Maddie Seder?

He's one of our youth leaders.

And uh I have this can of beans, okay?

Because I know I know there's lots of protein in beans, and Maddie likes protein, as you can see.

Uh me and him work out once in a while, but uh it's more just me watching him work out.

Um protein.

So if I was to tell Maddie, you can just show the beans, show them off, you know.

We'll be auctioning this off after the service.

Um if I was to tell Maddie, hey, I uh, you know, especially for you, you know, you want the beans.

So I would I want to ask you to try and get the bean, the can of beans open.

Just try your hardest.

Just like don't make too much of a mess, though.

All right, he can't do it.

He he almost crushed the can, but he he couldn't get in the.

So if I was to say, okay, Maddie, all you need is a tool, right?

Tools are important, so hey, here's a tool to get in.

Just you know, use your discretion here.

Well, maybe don't, yeah.

He's gonna try.

He's gonna try.

Okay, maybe maybe that's the wrong tool.

All right, so let's give him a different tool.

We gotta we got another tool here.

Because it's just a tool, right?

That's all we need, is just a tool.

Okay, he's gonna try.

No, no?

All right, let's here.

Here's another tool.

We're gonna keep trying.

Oh, he broke it.

Okay.

Alright, oh here, we'll actually give you the right tool.

We'll give you the right tool, okay?

Let's see if you can do it.

Yeah, open the bean.

He opened the beans.

Does anybody want some beans?

Maybe your neighbor doesn't want you to have the beans, but all right, he opened it.

Hey, give it up for Maddie.

Hey, you can just leave it.

Thank you, thank you, buddy.

Right?

You can have the all the right desire to get the beans.

Like Maddie wanted the beans, okay?

There was not, there was not an incorrect desire, right?

He saw the beans, he wanted the beans, he wanted to eat the beans, his desire was right.

And he and he wanted what's what's inside.

And you could have effort, right?

He really tried.

He almost crushed the can of beans with his hands, which is pretty impressive.

Right?

You can have all the effort that you want, and you can try really hard, you can be really, really sincere about it.

Uh, but if you don't have the right tool, you're gonna be what?

Ineffective.

Right?

You're not gonna be able to open the can of beans.

You might cut your hand opening the can of beans, you might do something, you might make a big mess, but you're not gonna be effective unless you have the right tool, right?

So hopefully you remember that for the rest of your life, the beans.

You every time you go to the beans or the bean store, go to the bean store, anyways.

But I but I wanted to show you that analogy to help you just uh to help wake us up as well, but help you to remember something.

And and I think often and and most times this is true in the physical, what's true in the physical is often true in the spiritual, right?

It's it's usually a parallel between two worlds.

And and I would say this, you know, what if if there was a way to live your life?

You know, what if what if you were living your life and you thought you were doing it the right way, right?

We think we're doing it the most effective, proper way.

But it but if what if we come to the end of our life, and this is a sobering thought that that is out of Matthew 7, 21, and it's a so it's a sobering thought because we we you know you go through life and you think, yeah, you know, I'm being the most effective that I can, sure.

Like I feel like I'm doing things the right way, but at the end of it, if we found out it was all for nothing, it would be really, really scary, right?

And that's what happens in this uh this passage of scripture.

I just want to read to you in Matthew 7.

It's a it's actually a terrifying statement that uh that Jesus has stated to this man.

It says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, uh, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?

And I will declare to them, I never knew you.

And I think I think about that.

I actually think about that, and I was thinking about that this week.

Like, what if my life was, and I thought I was doing the most effective thing?

What if I I thought I was living the right way, and at the end of my life I come to that place and and and I meet Jesus and he says, I never knew you.

It's a sobering thought, right?

It's a scary thought.

It would make us think, how can I be more effective?

How can I live the way that God is wanting me to live?

And it's incredibly harsh and sobering what Jesus says, but at the end of the day, you know, I want I want to I want my life to mean something.

Right?

I want my life to mean something, not just for for the people around me, but I want I want my kids to look at me and to see me and be like, I want to be like dad.

Like I want to be like him.

I want my life to be effective, and I want my life to be fruitful.

I want to live effective.

Someone say, I want to live effective.

So we come back to 2 Peter, right?

Uh the author, he he gives us these tools.

He gives us these tools for effective living, right?

He he he doesn't like beat around the bush.

This is probably one of the most practical uh books of the Bible where he just gives us, he lays it all out for us, and here's what you do.

And he starts with this.

And uh I have just a couple points that I want to point out through this scripture, and he starts with this in 2 Peter uh chapter 1, 3 and 4.

He read it, I'm just gonna read it again.

It says, His divine power has granted to us all things.

Someone say, All things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

And so my first point is this, and you can write this down, remember this God gives you everything you need.

God gives you everything you need.

And Peter doesn't begin this uh this chapter by saying, Hey, you need to try harder.

You just need to grip the steering wheel a little bit tighter.

You just need to bear down a little bit harder.

And he actually begins by saying this: God has given you everything you need.

God has given you everything you need.

God has given you every bit of tool.

Like you have a tool belt, God has filled it with the tools that you need.

Before there is effort, there is grace.

Before there is practice, there is power.

Before there is fruit, there is relationship.

And so Peter, he he gives us uh the means in which God gives us everything.

And he says it's through the knowledge of him.

Through the knowledge of him.

And really this is the key.

And we read just in Matthew 7.

We see that they're missing something.

Right?

We're like, they're like they come to Jesus and they're like, hey, did we not like prophesy in your name?

Did we not we preach some really good sermons in your name?

We we even cast out demons in your name.

And what does he say to them?

I never knew you.

And so there's this missing piece that Peter says, hey, God is giving you everything you need through the knowledge of him.

The knowledge of him.

And it was it was not a problem with the actions that these guys were doing, it was not the morality in which they were doing so.

They thought they were doing the right thing, but they were missing something very key.

The knowledge of him.

And so the knowledge of God is not just information.

I think for at first glance you can be like, well, I'm just gonna go read the Bible back to front.

I'm gonna memorize it.

But that's not the point.

It's not just about information.

See, you can you can know all there is to know about God and still not know him.

Right?

Like you can have you can have all the facts lined up, memorized through and through.

You can go and memorize all through the Old Testament, and you can still miss God in it.

Because it's not just about the knowledge, right?

Like the head knowledge, like I can just like like spout off verses whenever I feel like it.

It's not about that.

See, the knowledge of God is understanding through experiencing him.

Okay?

It's understanding through experiencing him.

And we when we experience the fullness of God, and it talks about how we experience him through the Trinity.

Okay, there's these parts of God that we experience in him through, and we know the Father through his son Jesus.

We know the Father through Jesus Christ.

Jesus says, the only way to the Father is through the Son.

Right?

The only way to my Father is through me.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Paul says Jesus reconciles sinners to the Father.

He reconciles the relationship to the Father.

And through Jesus, we have a restored relationship to the Father.

We experience unity with the Son through the forgiveness of sins, through the work of the cross.

Right?

We we experience the Son as we repent and we confess with our mouth that we believe that in our heart Jesus Christ is Lord, that he died for us.

Paul says that we are no longer our old self, that old part of us is dead, and we are new in Christ.

We are a new creation in Christ.

We experience that.

That's why we talk about being born again, right?

And so we experience unity with him and it's in suffering with Christ, in our relationship with Christ, and then the Holy Spirit, as soon as we receive salvation, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us.

We receive him, and uh, and it's this daily filling of the Holy Spirit that we need.

Right?

We we talk about this two things there's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and there's the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit happens upon salvation, so you become a new creation, and the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside your heart.

But then you wake up Monday morning and you're still swearing and you're still frustrated, and you actually have to say, Holy Spirit, I gotta move some stuff out of the way.

I need you to fill me again.

Right?

It's this like daily filling of the Holy Spirit.

It's this daily choosing of the Holy Spirit.

It's a daily like sacrifice that we have to actually, we have to get ourselves out of the way, and it's choosing to submit to the Holy Spirit.

Um, Paul talks about this word, sanctification, right?

There's justification where it happens upon where it where we accept Christ's sacrifice and we're justified through faith.

And then he talks about sanctification.

It's like that walking out that salvation.

It's walking along the road, and that's where we need the Holy Spirit to fill us, not just once, but daily.

Amen.

And so we experience all these different parts of God, and through those experiences, and through we, through experiencing Him, we actually gain knowledge of Him.

And and we experience God through His Word.

We experience God through prayer and communion.

We experience God through gatherings like this morning in community, right?

That's why that's why church is so, so important.

You know, you so there's there's people online that'll say, like, hey, you don't have to be, you know, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian, right?

Well, I don't have to, you know, go home to be married to my wife.

I don't have to live at my house, but how is that gonna go for me?

Right?

There's gonna be distance and distortion and and confusion and frustration, and and it's gonna put a strain on the relationship instead of like, I'm in the house of God and I'm with community and I'm with other fellow believers and we're reminding each other of who we are.

And that's why church is so, so important.

It's not just a religious act that we do on a Sunday.

Right?

We remind each other, we're rubbing shoulders with people, we're in unity with each other.

There's something that happens in corporate worship that won't happen in your living room.

Right?

And not to say that that when you're worshiping in your living room, it's not as powerful, but there's something unique about a Sunday morning when the the believers gather together and they sing all together one name in unity.

Right?

There's something different.

That's why when you come into this place, you feel different.

Like you're like, wow, there's like there's like an energy in the room.

There's there's like you you you're kind of moving with people and you're talking with people, and you're you actually feel different.

You feel encouraged by one another.

Like I'm not alone in this walk.

And so we experience God through Sunday mornings, right?

Even if you're in a bad mood, you're gonna walk out probably with a better mood.

We experience Him.

And through relationship, through experiencing God, through the knowledge of God, we get to, as Peter talks about, we get to partake in the promises of God.

And we get to actually partake in his divine nature, and we get to have unity with him.

And Peter says, uh, for these qualities are yours and increasing, we receive them by faith.

We receive them by faith.

So if God has given us everything we need, right?

That's how Peter started.

He's given us everything we need through the knowledge of him, through experience in him, through relationship with him.

Now we must, and this is my second point, practice what God has given.

So we've been given everything.

We've been given all that we need through relationship with him.

And now we talk about practice.

So Peter in verse five, he actually urges us to, he says, make every effort, make every effort.

Another translation says, giving all diligence to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

And so these qualities are not only given to us, but we're actually called to give effort to them.

Right?

And it's like that idea of when you go to a job site and you have all the tools.

You have all the tools in your tool belt, but if you don't activate them, you don't actually use the hammer and you're and you're like Maddie trying to open the can of beans with his hands, you're going to be what?

Ineffective.

Right?

We can show up to the job site with all the fancy, shiny tools, but not know how to use them, we're gonna be ineffective.

And so he calls us to give all diligence to these things.

Through faith, you've been given these.

I I like to say it this way: the Holy Spirit never does like he never shows up without a gift.

Like he shows up and he and you are gifted.

He gives you gifts, he gives you tools, he gives you something to do.

Right?

It's not as if you get saved, you're like, well, I have nothing to do, like I have nothing to offer.

No, God gives you gifts to give.

And we have to activate those things.

Paul talks about this uh in Philippians, it's like working out your salvation.

You're like working in partnership with God.

We don't do this thing alone.

And I think, again, at first glance, well, if it's giving In why do I have to do anything?

Like, why should I have to put effort in?

But Peter is not saying, you know, that you have to like strive to get these things.

He's not saying that you have to work to get these things.

It's not as if you have to be go like go before God, be like, all right, I'm a good person.

Like, I helped the lady across the street.

I didn't swear this week.

I, you know, I gave some money to the church.

Do I get these gifts now?

No, that's not how it works.

He gives those gifts and we have to actually steward those gifts.

Paul, uh, Peter's not saying, hey, we have to like try and and and have this moral way about us in order to get these gifts.

It's given to us, but we have to not let our faith get stagnant.

And it's that picture, I don't know if you've ever seen videos online of like still water where water's just been sitting and there's no movement in it.

And it and it becomes like bacteria grows in it and there's disease going in it.

And I was watching this video, it was like in a, I can't remember if it was like a silo and there's just water, and the guy falls in it and he's freaking out because there's disease in the water when it's when it's not moving.

And it's the same thing in our faith.

If our faith gets stagnant, it becomes like still water.

Right?

And it and it starts to in and it gets infested, it starts to grow these ugly things in our life.

When our faith is not moving, right?

It becomes like still water.

He says, Don't let your faith be stagnant.

Faith without works is dead, right?

We have to add to it, we have to grow in it, we have to practice it.

And it's this idea of like letting that invisible work of God become visible.

Right?

We just had we had baptism services a few months ago.

That's why baptism is so important and so powerful because it's like you're you're responding with an outward motive, like an outward physical thing of God doing something invisible on the inside.

And that's what faith is.

Like God comes and starts doing work, and then it starts to come out.

Right?

And that's what faith with works.

It becomes action, faith in action.

Again, we aren't working for our salvation.

Right?

You have to kind of flip the we're working out our salvation.

We're not working for our salvation, we're working it out through the sanctification process.

We're living from a position of being saved.

We don't we don't practice to earn God's grace.

We practice because we've earned God's grace.

It's like a motivation for me.

I don't want to waste what He's given me.

Right?

So our response to being saved is living these things out.

Living these things out.

Verse 8, Peter says, if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful.

So he's telling us there's a way to live as a Christian that can be either effective or ineffective.

And there's a way that we can live our life, and you'll get to the end of your life, and unpleasantly you'll hear Jesus at the door saying, I never knew you.

Or there's a way, yeah, ouch, it hurts.

And then or there's a way we can live our life that's effective and fruitful, and we get to the end of our life, and we come and meet Jesus, and he says, What?

Well done.

Well done.

Exactly.

My good and faithful servant.

And what's missing is the relationship between it's not just about moral acts of goodness, it's not just about being a good person, it's not just about having my ticket to heaven, it's about doing as much as I can with what God has given me now on earth.

And my faith is in action, it's a heart issue.

I don't just believe in Jesus, I believe his words.

And if I believe his words, then I'm gonna live my life as if I believed them.

Right?

You can the demons believe in Jesus.

Some demons have more faith than some Christians.

Right?

They believe in Jesus.

I can believe in Jesus, but if I don't believe his words, and not only just believe his words, but actually live my life as if I believe them, I'm missing the point.

Faith in action.

It's not, again, it's not try harder.

It's not just grip the steering wheel and just like try to wheel your way through life.

It's having that fruit in our life.

Right?

God plants those seeds, and are we allowing the fruit to grow in our life?

It's not an instant transformation.

Right?

We've said that before where it's like you get saved and you wake up, you know, you're still frustrated, you still have little patience for the drivers of Kelowna.

You're honking your horn.

Gotta get to church.

Right?

I haven't had my morning.

I'm a terrible person when I don't have coffee.

But it's like, it, I am I allowing those fruits that God has planted to grow?

Am I nourishing, am I, am I creating the space for them to grow?

Am I watering it?

Am I feeding it?

Or am I starving it?

Right?

It's two things.

It's like, am I am I creating that space for it for it to grow in my life, or am I destroying the space?

It's like the Galatians, right?

We talked about Galatians 5.22, the fruits of the Spirit, they are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, right?

Those are the fruits.

As we allow more of his spirit, that's why I talked about how we need to be filled daily by his spirit and creating that space and watering the ground and feeding our soul, right?

Where those things begin to grow in our life.

And we we ask God, I need more of you, more of you, more of you.

This morning, it's like more of you.

Like I can't get enough.

And as you as you allow the Holy Spirit to continue to fill you, those fruits become more evident in our life.

Then Peter says, you know, what happens if I lack?

What happens if I if I if I don't be diligent with this?

What happens if I lack these qualities?

And he says, Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind.

And then he says, they will have forgotten that they were cleansed.

If I lack these qualities, if I if I don't allow the Holy Spirit's work to happen, if I block, you can block it.

Right?

There's ways, there's things, there's choices, there's things that I can do in my life to resist it.

But if I'm open, he's gonna come in.

Right?

But I like to say it like this the Holy Spirit's a gentleman.

He's not kicking your door down and just like rearranging your house.

If you ask him to, he will.

But he's a gentleman.

And so he says, whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten he was cleansed.

And Peter states something that's kind of it's kind of scary for us.

When we stop walking, when we stop, when we stop allowing our faith to be active, it's like we we not only forget, we not only forget what to do, but we actually forget who we are.

Right?

We're not just forgetting what we do as Christians, but we actually begin to forget who we are.

And and I like to say, and I say this because I think it's important, the gift is not revoked.

The gifts and callings of God are without repenting.

Like he doesn't pull the gift away.

And that's why we see, like you see a lot of famous people that are very gifted, and they're not using their gift for God, but they're they're famous for that reason because they're they're gifted.

God's gifted them.

He's not gonna pull the gift away, but it's about how we use it, right?

And so the gift is not revoked, but we simply forget.

And it's far, far worse because I forget that I've been cleansed, I forget that I've been made new, I forget that I've been forgiven.

I forget that I belong to Jesus, and that he says that we become spiritually blind.

There's this verse in James, he talks about how it's as if you you look in the mirror, you look at yourself in the mirror, and as you walk away, it's like I forget what I looked like.

And I have to keep going back to the mirror and reminding myself who I am.

And if I'm not if I'm not reading scripture and I'm not attending churches and I'm not talking with people, how am I gonna know who I am?

Right?

And so it's like a daily reminder, and I go back to the mirror and I remind myself of who I am, and I and I and I walk away and I'm not gonna forget what I look like.

Right?

But that's the thing, is the enemy, that's his main tactic, is he wants us to forget who we are.

He wants us to forget the promises of God.

He wants us to forget our identity, he wants to mix in weird little lies with truths.

Right?

That he wants to keep us down and in shame and and hidden.

And that's why in verse 12, Peter says this.

He says, Therefore, I intend to always remind you of these qualities, even though you know them.

Like he's talking to a mature church.

He's like, I'm just gonna keep preaching the same sermon each week.

And and he's like, I'm just gonna continue.

Like my life's goal, he says, is to remind you of these qualities, to remind you of there's an effective way to live your life, even though you know them.

He says, I think it right as long as I'm in this body to stir you up by way of reminder.

It's incredible.

It's like my life's goal until the day I die is just to continue to remind you of the things that you may already know.

But I'm gonna continue to remind you and remind you and remind you because who who's like who knows are just forgetful?

Like anybody?

Like I'm just I forget all the time.

It's not like every single day, but it's I when I'm stressed, I begin to forget things.

And I think human, the human condition is to forget.

Right?

We'll walk away from the mirror and then we'll see another mirror in the room.

Like, oh yeah, I I didn't don't know why I did my hair like that.

We forget.

Like five minutes later, we'll forget.

And Paul Peter is saying, hey, like, it's my job, my life's goal is to just continue to remind you of these things.

Even after I die, he says, I'm gonna train people to remind you.

We're gonna bug you and annoy you and just continue to remind you.

But that's but that's the truth, is we actually need to be constantly reminded of who we are in Christ.

I'm gonna finish with this.

I'm gonna invite the team to come in verse 10.

He says, Therefore, brothers, be diligent to confirm your calling.

For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

Isn't that encouraging?

It's like it's not this cryptic message that Peter gives us.

If you practice these qualities, if you activate these qualities in your life, you will never fall.

You will never fall.

We might trip.

We might, we might we might even fall, but we're gonna get back up, right?

And he's talking about that idea of fall, like to fall away.

It's a permanence.

But if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

And so I just want to give, again, this is gonna be a very practical thing.

I'm gonna invite you just to close your eyes.

This is just an inventory that I want to invite you to do this morning.

First, I want to I want to just answer that question.

You know, how do I practice?

Maybe you're asking that question, what does it look like?

And simply put, it's just a few things.

It's you know, we read his word, and it's very simple.

And some of you are amazing at reading the Bible, but there's this idea, it's like it's like I'm not just reading to get knowledge, it's that idea.

Am I reading the Bible to experience him?

Am I experiencing God in this moment?

Pray honestly.

It's one thing to just pray before a meal, and another to pray openly and honestly before God because He already knows what we're going through.

We don't have to hide it from Him.

And God, God loves an honest prayer.

God, I'm frustrated.

God, I've had it.

God, I don't know if I can continue, and He wants those types of prayers.

Worship.

This isn't just a Sunday morning.

This is how I live my life.

You worship what you value.

What am I putting priority on?

What's the priority of my day?

What's the priority of my week?

And whatever is at the top is what you're worshiping.

So if God is not first, what is what is your priority?

I talked about this already to gather with the believers.

This is what practice looks like.

We gather.

It's not just a religious act that we come to Sunday service.

This is where we get real with people.

This is not just a social gathering, but but it talks about how iron sharpens iron, to where we can we can gather together, we can be real with each other.

That's what this, that's what church is for: a community of gathering together and sharpening each other, reminding each other, as Peter would say.

Repent quickly.

To be to practice this is return from your sin quickly.

Don't let it sit, don't let it fester, don't stay in sin.

Shame loves to keep you a prisoner, but conviction is freedom.

And finally, to be filled with his Holy Spirit.

We talked about that as well, but it's but it's that daily asking.

God, this morning, I just ask you to fill me with your spirit.

God, fill me and lead me by your spirit.

Help me to walk in the ways that you want me to walk, God.

Where do you want to lead me?

What am I filling myself with?

Or am I allowing his spirit to fill me?

I want to give you one last thing to just do is add one thing this week.

Maybe, maybe this morning God's been highlighting some things for you.

And it's that question of like it's not this idea of like fixing your whole life.

I think we can oftentimes hear a message like this, and we're like, man, there's so many things I need to fix.

I need to get on this now, I need to work.

No, it's like, okay, I have some things to work on, but I'm just gonna add one thing.

And maybe this morning, the Holy Spirit's been highlighting to you one thing, one adjustment, one movement where you're saying, Hey, I want, I want more of that time.

I want, okay, can we adjust here?

Can we adjust here?

Maybe, maybe a priority shift in your life where the Holy Spirit can come and He has more room.

The question I want to ask too is like, where am I lacking?

And these things that Peter lifts off, where what am I lacking?

Because if I'm lacking, I don't want to become blind.

I don't want to, I don't want to have a blind spot in my life.

Where am I lacking, God?

Where do you want me to grow?

And out of that list, it's like, do I need virtue?

And that that idea of virtue is is integrity but no one's looking.

Do I need knowledge?

Do I need to know uh more of God's word?

What does my devotional time look like?

Do I need self-control with my with my phone, with my with my time, with my body, my emotions?

Where do I need steadfastness to stop quitting when it gets tough?

Where do I need godliness to take his holiness seriously?

Do I have reverence and fear for God?

Do I need brotherly affection to care about the people around me?

Asking the Holy Spirit to give you compassion for people around you?

Do I need love?

And I just want to pray for you this morning.

If you could stand, we're just gonna go into a time of worship.

And I'd really just ask, just to remain in that atmosphere, just is God's is God kind of picking apart something in your life?

Is he highlighting something for you today?

Out of that list that I read off, or just even just something that he's spoken to you this morning, an adjustment, a priority shift, where he wants you to become effective for his kingdom.

And we're just gonna sing this morning, and I just wanna I'm just gonna pray really quickly, and we're gonna just lift up his name, and maybe just during this time, uh, even if the if the prayer team wanted to come forward, you want to get prayer, or if you just need a moment in this time of worship, we're just gonna sing, but I'm just gonna pray, Father God, I just thank you so much for your Holy Spirit.

God, would your Holy Spirit be in this room right now?

And God, as we just talked about, that shame will often try to hold you, but it's conviction that is freeing.

And so, God, if your Holy Spirit would just convict and push us, God, looking for those spaces in our life that we need to adjust, looking for those things in our life that we just need to, maybe it's a 10-degree shift, maybe it's a 50% shift, maybe it's a one-degree shift.

Whatever that is, God, this morning we just want to lay our life down for you.

Lay those things down, God, that are holding us back from you.

And God, this week, would you just allow us to be led by your spirit?

God, help us to even just be in that place where we're the first thing on our mind is I need to be led by his spirit.

I need to invite his spirit into this situation.

I need to invite his Holy Spirit to lead me through this tough navigation.

These choices that you might have to be making, God, Holy Spirit come.

Reveal those things in our hearts, God.

But guide us by your spirit.

Let's just begin to sing.