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1 Peter 1:2-12 To Be or Not to Be · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
• 0:20
  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes through, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
• 0:49
  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.
• 1:15
  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you and the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Now, there's a lot of meat in these verses. And when I told my husband what verses I had, he was like, oh, those are so great. And I was like, those are so great.
• 1:41
  Not because they are great, but I felt a little like I had to get out my snow shovel. Remember how we talked about digging at the Bible with spoons? You know, just a spoonful at a time. But for me, this felt a little bit more like snow shovel reading. You know, like, okay, I don't know that my degree covers this. But I prayed and I read and I read and I read. And hopefully what I'm going to say to you is going to work. We just have to ask Jesus to do all that. I like to just be real up front where I'm going. So you'll see at the top it says theme.
• 2:11
  And what else? I do want to say one of those for myself. But you see that little nub at the top. I'm just going to tell you some of the things you can expect from what we're about to talk about, okay? I have four of them. In tonight's passage, Peter wants us to understand the wonder of our salvation. And the reason I'm telling you these things up front is because if you don't get it because of me, not because of you, you'll know what I meant to say, right? Tonight, you're supposed to understand the great wonder of your salvation.
• 2:40
  And I think my second one, my second idea for you to see from this passage is he doesn't want us to be put off. God doesn't want us to be put off by the theology of this section. Right. There are some things in here that I had to read nine million times. And it's not that I don't understand it, but to really apply it and understand and then be able to tell somebody else. Right. He doesn't want us to be put off by the theology of this section or any of the Bible for that matter. Right. But instead.
• 3:10
  to praise God more intelligently. Does that make sense? I think that's so vital because we hear these verses. There are parts of these verses that we've heard a million times and that are easy to ingest, but some of them are a little bit more difficult to chew on. And the more we chew on them, the more we can understand and therefore worship and praise God more intelligently.
• 3:34
  And the more we are intelligent about God, the more we know him, and the more we love him, and the more we trust him. Do you see how that works? It's like this cycle. Okay, another thing that you can find in our passage tonight is that Peter knows that the more we know of Christ with our brains, the more we are, I just said this one, are able to love and trust him. Right? It makes sense. Understanding the deep truths of God equals loving him more intimately and accurately.
• 4:04
  There are lots of people that are passionate about lots of things, right? It doesn't make them true, right? We have to love God intelligently and accurately according to his word. Does that make sense? Okay. And then we talked about last week that Peter was talking to these exiles, right? These people that were in modern-day Turkey, Asia Minor. You can kind of see it in the Mediterranean Sea. I can see it in my head.
• 4:29
  That they were aliens in a strange land. They were out of place, right? But he's actually using that metaphor. It's literal, but it's for us too, right? That we are aliens in a strange land. This is not our home. And this section is meant to remind us to bless God as the source of our spiritual inheritance. Do you want me to say it again? This section, I think, is supposed to remind us to bless God, to thank him, to love him more.
• 5:00
  as the source of our spiritual inheritance. I didn't give you very much space to write that. I'm so sorry. Some key words that you need to listen, and if you study the book further, one thing we've talked about is really pouring yourself into 1 Peter if you don't have a reading plan for the summer, to read it over and over. Look for the words or the thought processes about hope, inheritance, and salvation. I don't know about you guys, but if I know those things up front, I can catch more of what I'm trying to read.
• 5:30
  So I'm trying to help you build a net with these little ideas, and hopefully you'll be able to catch them. And then, now, I'm going to pray, because I wrote it on my sheet to remind myself, lest I forget, okay? God, thank you for these ladies. Thank you that they're here. Thank you for your word. I just pray that you would use this study to deepen and widen our love for you. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, I'm going to read verses.
• 6:01
  2 and 5, again, because that's where we're going to start. According to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
• 6:30
  who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Your first point is be secure. Be secure. Do you see it right there? That's where I got the to be or not to be. Get it? See where I'm going there? Very clever. Be secure. What makes you feel secure? What makes people feel secure? Lots of different things, right? It's probably a little different for everybody, but we could think of money.
• 7:01
  A solid paycheck, that makes us feel secure. Provisions, shoes, water, things like that. Love makes people feel secure. People make people feel secure. Some people need people. Some people need not to have people to feel secure. Status makes people feel secure. When I was a little girl, I was very, very insecure. I constantly thought this.
• 7:28
  The police were coming to take my parents away for some of the things they were doing. And I was afraid of killer bees coming up from San Diego to kill me in northern. I mean, I was really just a fretful mess. And my home life was chaotic. My parents loved me. They loved me and took good care of me. But it was chaotic, and it made me insecure. And I was a worrier. My mom still is a worrier.
• 7:58
  And that led me to be insecure about a lot of things. The people pleaser a little bit. I had to grow through those things where I just wanted to know, do people like me? Can I make them like me? Can I pay them to like me? That's not why I give you gifts. I promise. I've grown through that. I like to give presents. That's why. But we know, right, that our security, the security for a believer, is not found in those temporal things. Right?
• 8:27
  Our security is found where? In Jesus, in our inheritance, right? What I want you to focus on for this one is not only be secure, but to be secure in your inheritance. And that's what that first section is talking about. If you go to verse 2, we talked about a little bit last week, the foreknowledge of God, right? That idea that we were chosen. And I'm going to give you...
• 8:53
  Some security handles. That's what I'm calling it. In my brain, these make sense. Hopefully they'll make sense to you. You know those people who rock climb on walls with the rocks and the handles? Okay, and have to find the right handle, and that makes them secure from falling? And also their harness, okay? Jesus is your harness, but right now I'm going to give you some, from these verses, some security handles. So just indulge me that that makes sense, okay?
• 9:17
  I think in verse 2, God's foreknowledge is one of the things that should make you feel secure. It's a handle, right? It's a security handle for you. You are chosen. Now, I don't know how it all works. I don't know how all the theology works behind it. And, you know, I told you last week, people really don't like each other because of this issue. I don't care. You are chosen. So live chosen. Feel chosen. Be chosen. Right? Be secure in that.
• 9:45
  That should give us this great sense of security. Look at verse, no, yeah, the end of verse 2. I didn't cover this last week because I thought it fit better with tonight. It says, in the sanctification of the spirit, and listen to this part, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. This is your second security handle, okay? The sprinkling with his blood. What he's referring to here.
• 10:11
  You could look up. We're not going to read this first passage. We'll read the second one. The first one I'm going to give you, though, is Exodus 24, 3 through 8. And that is where they actually sprinkled blood. Right? Moses sprinkles blood on the people. Okay? That's the Old Testament passage if you want to go back and read it. We're going to look at the Hebrews passage. So if you'll make a little turn in your Bible to the left and go to Hebrews 9, 19 and 20.
• 10:43
  Hebrews 9, 19 and 20. Again, this is a little security handle about the sprinkling of the blood. Hebrews 9, 19 and 20. I'm just saying it a hundred times so I remember. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.
• 11:14
  It was sprinkling actually on the people to show the covenant of obedience between them, the Lord, and his word. And you can go back, like I said, in the Exodus chapter. Why is this a security handle for you? Because just like the people of Israel, their inheritance was sprinkled with blood. It was a promise. It was a covenant. And Peter is using this as a metaphor for us.
• 11:43
  That just like that, we're just like those people. We don't sprinkle blood on each other, but God has a covenant with us. Is that a secure handle for you? It should be. It should give you security in your inheritance, right? God already promised it, and he's made a covenant with you, even though, praise the Lord, we're not being sprinkled with blood, right? Okay, verse 3. Okay, got to go back. Verse 3. Let me read it. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 12:13
  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We've been born again. If you believe in Jesus, you've had rebirth. You are a new man, right? You're not the old man. You're striving toward the new man. We've heard these things. And I think that's another security handle. If you've believed, if you believe in Jesus, if you've committed your life to the Lord, then you have new birth, right?
• 12:43
  And we can see all around us that humanity's sinful nature needs changing. Can we see that on a daily basis? Humanity's sinful nature needs changing. The nature of people needs help desperately. It's obvious. I mean, I can see it. And no matter of marching or rallying or changes of laws are going to change the nature of man. The problem is that.
• 13:13
  That they need to go from death to life. Their nature needs to be newborn, reborn. And only the saving power of Jesus can do that. And that is a handle for you. Right? That should make you live your life more securely. Because you have crossed over. And you don't need to look back. Okay. Verse 3 also mentions to a living hope. Right? That's a pretty famous part of this.
• 13:41
  Thank the Lord. Every time I read it, it's one of those verses, and I do this all the time, it's like an, oh, you know, the heavens open up kind of verse, right? That we have, we've been born again to a living hope. The unbelieving world doesn't know living hope. The unbelieving world only knows dying hope. They can have hope, but their hope doesn't last, right? It's a dying hope. But being secure in our inheritance always gives us hope.
• 14:12
  That's another handle. Okay, verse 4. To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. So another reason you should feel secure is you have an inheritance that cannot die or be destroyed, that is completely flawless, not been marred by the world, and that will never diminish or decay. Right? That's our promise. And that is something that...
• 14:41
  When we live on earth that we're aliens in this land, it's hard for us to understand. I don't know if you guys have inheritances or have gained inheritances, right? But it doesn't usually go this clean, right? It doesn't usually look this way. It's not flawless. It's not perfect. It's usually destroyed and marred, right? Because it doesn't...
• 15:05
  come from the Lord. And the Lord is saying, the inheritance that I have for you looks completely different from any kind of inheritance you get on this earth. And the cool part in verse 4. Do you see why? Do you see why it's imperishable, undefiled, and unfading? Because it is kept in heaven for you. It's kept in heaven for you. It's being guarded in heaven. Pretty amazing. I'm just going to throw this on the floor. I thought, it's like heaven is the most
• 15:38
  secure place in the whole universe and you have a reservation, right? That's so cool. That's a really cool thought. It's the most secure place. We have all been a part of turbulent places, turbulent times, whether it was your own home or just what you see on the news. It's not perfect, right? It's even, it's so far from that and it's not stable and it's not secure, right? We've felt security from things. We've tasted of that, but can you imagine?
• 16:09
  heaven, the most secure place ever, and your name is already there. If you believe in the Lord, that again should make us feel pretty secure. So be secure in your inheritance. Practically speaking, what does that mean for us? What does that look like? So I would say to be secure means to be hope filled, right? To be secure. If you're secure in your inheritance, you have hope.
• 16:42
  And you can fill in whatever it, what you think that means to be. What does that look like for you? If you are walking in security in your inheritance in heaven, what does that look like? I can tell you it doesn't look like uncertainty. It doesn't, doesn't look like worry and anxiety. I mean, I'm not saying that those things can't show their faith, but you know when to push them aside, right? Because you're secure.
• 17:14
  It makes me think of the verse in Proverbs 31, you know, the perfect woman chapter. It's verse 25. It says, strength and dignity are her clothing, right? We all know that part. And then the second part of it says, and she laughs at the time to come. So in my head, this security in our inheritance is like, I just keep thinking of laughing, right? Something comes your way, you're like, I wrote it down, so I was laughing.
• 17:49
  Right? Because that verse has always struck me in that chapter. And I probably, I wouldn't laugh too much at them because people are going to think they're really weird. But you understand what I'm saying. The picture of security in your inheritance to me looks like trouble's coming and you have no problem with it. You will know that you're secure. This doesn't mean that you have to just grin and bear it, right? It doesn't mean that you can't acknowledge that things are hard.
• 18:17
  Or troublesome. But that you know you're secure. Okay. Here's a little quote to sum up this section. He, that's Jesus, is the source of the believer's inheritance. It comes because of his mercy and by the gracious means of the new birth. And it remains perfect and eternally secure. A reality all believers can fix their hope on. Okay. The second point is to be joyful.
• 18:47
  You knew it was coming. It's right there. Be joyful. Right? Verse 6 says, in this you rejoice. In what? Do you think he's talking about? All that stuff we just read. In this you rejoice. You rejoice because of your security. You rejoice because of all those theological deep things right there. Right? You can have joy. Joy is a deep-rooted confidence. Right? It's different than happiness.
• 19:17
  Happiness is external. Joy is internal. I feel like happiness is just a positive response to positive things, right? That's right. Why? If you don't have the deep-rooted joy, you can be happy for a time, but you're surely going to go the other direction if it's not, if it's just happiness, right? Those things come. The various trials here literally means in the Greek, many-colored, right? So look at verse 6 again.
• 19:47
  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. It means many colored trials. Many colorful things coming your way. Big, small, black, white, dark, right? It's going to be all different. And they are promised to us. It's not because God doesn't love us, right? He's just saying that's what happens. But do you catch this part? In this rejoice, though now for a little while. For a little while.
• 20:16
  It's only temporary. Can you rejoice that it's only temporary? Now, temporary might mean your whole life. It's not here. It's in heaven, right? Okay, look at verse 7. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's talking about persecution, right? It's talking about trials.
• 20:51
  And trials really are, how you respond to them, are your faith proven. Right? It's proof of your faith. The genuineness of your faith is more precious than gold. And not only that, trials and hardship produce our faith, but can produce joy, allow joy. And then God uses that as a beacon of light for people who aren't saved. Have you ever seen that? For me, well, let's just talk about the trial that was kickback.
• 21:23
  And I know some of you heard. And I wasn't a part of the direct hailstorm and chaos that ensued, right? But I was praying for those kids because there were many of them that don't go to church, that might not be saved. And here they were witnessing adults and younger adults and their response to these trials. When I was young, I remember.
• 21:52
  being exposed to the church, going to church, and having a family that wasn't saved. And, you know, if the truck was a problem, if something was going wrong, it was the end of the world at home. You know, I'm just using that as an example. Whatever came up was not handled correctly. There was lots of throwing and yelling and cussing and, you know, things were desperation. And then I met these people that God put in my life.
• 22:19
  They handled it totally different. You guys, that was so vivid to me. So vivid to me. And I thought that for these kids this weekend, how many of them have things going on at home that are chaos and are not responded well. And then they got to witness just servant-hearted adults taking days off of work to pull their clothes out of the mud. You know, I pray that they really saw the seeds of that.
• 22:47
  Our opportunity, too, right? How do you respond when various colorful trials come into your life? What do your kids or your grandkids or your coworkers or your husband or the people around you see? Right? Because it can be a huge indication of where your joy is, what your joy is found in. You guys, your joy is supernatural.
• 23:13
  It's supernatural. Have you tasted of those times when things are so dark and so desperate and you're praying and you're asking the Lord and you're like, wait, I should not feel this way, right? I mean, I don't want to smile necessarily, but the inside feels good because I know that my joy is supernatural. It isn't dependent on these temporal things. The literal translation for inexpressible, do you see that in verse 7?
• 23:44
  Is it verse 7? I'm sorry, I lose my track along. Verse 8 and 9. Let's go to verse 8 and 9, Hallie. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Inexpressible. It means that there are no words. It's higher than words. That joy that I was just talking about is so supernatural and deep-rooted if it's in Jesus, if it's on the right things.
• 24:14
  That you have no words to express it. And I think you guys have felt that, right? I know that I have. But you can only find it and feel it in Jesus, right? If we go back to the other point, if you're secure in your inheritance. We all know the verses in James about joy, right? Consider it all joy when you face various trials of many kinds. We're not going to read that one. Let's read Romans 15, 13.
• 24:46
  And Danny was praying about what book to do next in church after the summer. And I said, how about James? And he said, no. No. Too hard. Romans 15. Don't tell him I told you that. 15, 13. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Ooh, that's good. How about Romans 5? Go a little to the left. Romans 5, 3 through 5.
• 25:21
  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings. Knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. If you're having trouble finding joy, read those verses. Right? Read those. That's where joy comes from. So, to be joyful. Right? To be or not to be. To be joyful, what does that look like? Does it have to show?
• 26:03
  time seen it on your face. Show once in a while. I'm not saying you have to pretend like everything's hunky dory all the time, but sometimes put on the joy, right? Because if it's real, it's going to come out just like the bad stuff accidentally comes out, right? The joy should overflow too. If it's in there, what does it not? What is it not to be joy to be on your face? Sometimes it means unwavering, right? Unwavering despite our circumstances, not
• 26:37
  to be easily swayed, not to be bitter, not to be resentful, not to be overcome with doubt. If you're struggling with those things, then go back and check if your joy is in there, if it's deep-rooted. So let's review. God wants us to be, and Peter is reminding us, that we are to be secure in our inheritance and that we are to be joyful amidst our trials.
• 27:05
  Lastly, number three, we are to be confident in our salvation. Be confident in our salvation. I'm going to read these last three verses, 10 through 12. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was so to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
• 27:31
  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Easy, right? Totally makes sense. Everybody got it? It's a little, it's a little, it was a little deep for me, right? And I, and I, so I studied a lot. We'll see how it comes out. These three verses give you four reasons that you can be confident in your salvation.
• 28:00
  And they're a little bit tricky because they were written 2,000 years ago, but I'll tell you, they still apply. They should give you confidence in your salvation. The first one, don't you feel like, I heard one time somebody said that when people are confident, they're attractive. Not in a weird way, just that people that are confident tend to attract people to themselves because they know what they're doing. Everybody wants to be that person's friend. They're usually a good leader because they're confident in the right things, usually.
• 28:33
  And the world, confidence is a hot commodity, right? Especially self-confidence. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have a lot of confidence in myself. In a good way. I don't want to put my confidence in this. I would fall down a lot, right? My confidence comes from my relationship with the Lord. I'm not saying that self-confidence and your worth are not valid. They are. Jesus cares about your confidence, and Jesus values you, right? He thinks you're important.
• 29:03
  He gives you your value, right? We're valuable because we can find our confidence in the Lord. He guides us. He gifts us. He made us who we are. And we can have confidence in that. If I rely on my own deal, it doesn't work out for anybody, you know? So what do these verses, how do these verses apply to your confidence? Can I just give you the overview first, okay? In verse 10, he's talking about that the prophets studied. I'm just going to give you these little blips. So when I tell you,
• 29:33
  you'll understand why this gives you confidence. Verse 10 is like the prophets studied. Verse 11 is the Holy Spirit inspired. Verse 12 is the apostles preached and angels continue to investigate. These four things are supposed to give you confidence in your salvation. What Peter's saying about the prophets in verse 10 is they didn't have Jesus, right? They had their prophecy.
• 30:06
  Which they fully believed, which they studied, which they lived their lives for, right? Their prophecy. They searched it, they studied it, they knew it backwards and forwards. But they didn't have Jesus, they were on the other side of the cross. Right? And what Peter is saying here is, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully. You can have confidence in your salvation because a long time ago, there were prophets prophesying about what we...
• 30:35
  get to testify to. Does that make sense? That is how you can know that your salvation is the real deal. It's one of the ways. Verse 11 says, The Spirit of Christ guided them, inspired them. Have confidence in your salvation because the Holy Spirit has been working way before you. Right? A long time. Does that make you feel confident in your salvation? Just like those verses at the beginning said that you were chosen.
• 31:06
  The Holy Spirit has been doing his thing for a long time. You can have confidence in that. He hasn't changed his mind. Verse 12, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you and the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news. Okay, so it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, the prophets, right? They weren't serving themselves. It was revealed to them through the Holy Spirit. That makes us feel confident.
• 31:35
  It was revealed to them that what they were working on, the things that they were learning, the things that they were prophesying, the things that they spent their whole lives studying were for us. The big picture came into view. That's amazing to me. I don't know what it all looked like. I don't know how it all went down. But that God was orchestrating those kinds of things, yeah, that makes me feel pretty secure in my salvation. Verse 12 is interesting. The end of verse 12 is interesting. It says,
• 32:11
  that the apostles were teaching. Again, those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit. Again, another reason that we can have confidence is those apostles were preaching the gospel. Again, they, and Peter said this a little while ago, that we believe even though we haven't seen. Right? Do you think that was a big deal to Peter? I think so. Peter was intimately associated with Christ and he denied him. And Peter is saying, wow, you guys.
• 32:41
  You believe and you haven't even seen. Right? That's so cool. And that's what they're saying here about the apostles. That they also, even though they saw the cross, they witnessed that. Right? They understood the big picture. That what was going on was for us. And then it says, another way that we can have confidence in our salvation is this line about the angels. Right? This verse about the angels. Things into which angels long to look.
• 33:12
  And I think it's so interesting because a lot of people are enamored with knowing about angels, right? Even unbelievers are enamored in understanding what angels do, what they look like, what their job is, all those things, right? It's, I don't know, it's enamoring to people. And here it says, here we are, enamored with angels, and it's saying that the angels are enamored with us. Not us, but with salvation.
• 33:39
  They long and keep searching for because they can't understand salvation. Right? Can you imagine the things that angels have seen or are going to see? The jobs that they've been giving, the declarations they've been able to make, the heralding they've done. They were there at creation. And yet they cannot believe how impressive salvation is. That's what that verse means. That's so cool. Right? They can't believe God's love.
• 34:11
  how it works, because they don't get that, right? They don't get salvation. The angels wonder what it's like to experience the grace and glory of salvation and God's forgiveness of sin. Even with all that the angels had seen and that they had done, they were impressed. And you guys, that should make us impressed with our salvation. These are just little things that Peter is saying he's trying to encourage us with. Remember what I said at the beginning? This portion of 1 Peter is meant to
• 34:43
  to encourage you and remind you what you get to have in Christ. Okay, I'm just going to review that little section. Prophets studied, Holy Spirit inspired, apostles preached, angels continued to investigate. Those things should help us to be more confident and walk more confidently in our salvation. So, to be or not to be. Are you confident in your salvation? What does that look like?
• 35:16
  When I was writing it, I kept thinking of that song, Blessed Assurance. Right? That's what it looks like to me. Blessed Assurance. It's my assurance. It's my confidence. What is it not to be? Right? If you're not confident in your salvation, you're going to be skeptic. You're going to be distrusting, uncertain, doubtful, maybe shifty, back and forth. Right? Like the waves of the sea. Because you don't have.
• 35:48
  That deep-rooted confidence. Secure, joyful, and confident. Secure in your inheritance. Joyful amidst your trials. Confident in your salvation. Let's be the women who are characterized by that. Right? And not by the world's standards. But can you imagine what kind of ministry and light we could shine and do if we were that way? Not because of our great power, but because of the Lord's.
• 36:20
  Okay, I ended with enough time for you guys to discuss around your tables. Are you so proud of me? I'm so proud of me. Okay, I'm going to pray one more time because that is how it works, okay? As you can discuss around your tables. Anything that stuck out or verses that hit you or whatever your table leader decides. Okay, here we go. Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you again for your word.
• 36:46
  For your son, help us to be hope-filled, joy-filled, secure. Lord, let us understand the joy of our salvation. Thank you so much, Lord, for saving us, for drawing us in, Lord. We love you, and we're so thankful for a church that is willing to teach us the truth. Lord, thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.