Latest / Arrow Heights Students / Art Vandelay: Architect of a Holy House (1 Peter 2:1-12)

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Art Vandelay: Architect of a Holy House (1 Peter 2:1-12) · Arrow Heights Students

• 0:03
  All right, you guys can open to First Peter. We're back in First Peter.
• 0:15
  Now, I kind of realized this this weekend. This weekend, I was speaking at a youth retreat in Atlanta for another church that asked me to come out there, one that I know of.
• 0:29
  And I realized that in most of my sermons, I think maybe three out of four, I at least referenced one time a sitcom.
• 0:40
  Maybe this is a problem, because then I came back, I looked at my notes, and I thought, wow, I have a sitcom reference even as the title. But I love them. You know, one of the most popular is, of course, Seinfeld, which I don't even know. I mean, that might be less and less popular as time goes on. It even predates me, but I know the show pretty well.
• 1:05
  Anyway, one of my favorite bits from this show is a pretend person that is referenced as a.
• 1:15
  You know, at different points throughout the show, characters pretend to be this man, or they pretend to speak to him. And his name is, of course, Art Vandelay. Arts Vandelay, A ridiculous name for a character. A man named George Costanza creates this Persona in his dream to pretend to be an architect.
• 1:36
  He wants to be an architect. And this makes me think of architecture. I don't know.
• 1:43
  Does anybody in here know anything about architecture at all? Anyone? Anyone?
• 1:49
  I don't. I'm in. Well, yeah. Hey, I guess you might know a thing or two. I know. I don't know very much at all. In fact, what I do know about architecture is that it's very, very hard.
• 1:59
  I had a friend in college who was studying architecture, and I think that's saying a lot that I had a friend that studied architecture because I never saw him one time. I mean, he disappeared for four years and then came back completely gone. Always in their, like, little studio drawing pictures of buildings or something like that. I don't actually really know. But always, you guys would not believe how hard those people work. It's way harder than any other degree, I'm convinced. And again, I don't know why, but I'm sure there's a good reason.
• 2:33
  So being an architect is hard.
• 2:37
  Now we can appreciate architecture. Maybe you like buildings, or maybe you like skyscrapers, or you like churches or something of the sort.
• 2:45
  And indeed, if we are Christians, what I want to contend today is that our lives are about architecture.
• 2:54
  They are all about architecture.
• 2:57
  Because as Peter tells us in this passage, each believer is a stone, a living stone that is part of the house of God that he is building in the world.
• 3:09
  So for the Christian, their life is about architecture, because each Christian is a piece of his house.
• 3:17
  That is again a primary theme we're going to focus on tonight. Now, again, Peter's first Epistle reminds Christians of this main theme, the first theme of first Peter that though they are suffering now, they will get to glory later.
• 3:33
  Suffering now, but glory later. Acknowledgment of their present circumstance while looking to a brighter eternity.
• 3:41
  So chapter one, which we finished two weeks ago now, was full of hope for believers that have been scattered abroad all across the world, especially those who are suffering. Hope for the suffering Christians that are scattered abroad.
• 3:58
  They have every reason to have hope, Peter reminds them, and yet they must also live holy lives by believing in and obeying the Word, as we discussed again two weeks ago now. So as we come to 1 Peter 2, we're looking at verses 1 through 12 tonight. The suffering Christians are now told that they are building blocks of God's own house, and being members of God's house means a few things for them.
• 4:24
  We will dissect those things during the sermon. But before we read here is the main idea of 1st Peter 2:1 12.
• 4:33
  The main idea of 1st Peter 2: 112 is each believer is an important part of God's household. Each believer is an important part of God's household, which is established on Jesus Christ. So that's talking about God's household, which is established on Jesus Christ.
• 4:50
  And therefore believers obey the Word, live honorably and glorify God.
• 4:59
  That's what believers do. They obey the Word, live honorably, glorify God, because they're important parts of God's household.
• 5:06
  Now thinking about that, let's read the passage. We'll read all 12 verses starting in first Peter, chapter two, verse one.
• 5:15
  So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
• 5:21
  Like newborn infants, long for the purest spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.
• 5:28
  If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good as you come to him a living stone rejected by men.
• 5:36
  But in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for it stands in Scripture. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
• 6:01
  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
• 6:15
  They stumble because they disobey the Word as they were destined to do.
• 6:21
  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• 6:37
  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which. Which wage war against your soul.
• 6:52
  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
• 7:04
  So again, each believer is an important part of God's household which is established on Jesus Christ.
• 7:11
  And therefore, believers obey the Word, live honorably, and glorify God. So this text here is instrumental to the Christian life. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this passage is about who you are, what you are a part of, and what you should do.
• 7:31
  So your identity, what you are a part of, your busyness, what you should be doing are all addressed in this passage. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 7:41
  So there are implications for the church with a capital C and the church with a lowercase C. What I mean by this is all Christians, everywhere and at all times. Church with a capital C, church universal and church with a lowercase C. Local church. We're talking about local assemblies like Arrow Heights Baptist Church. There are implications for all Christians worldwide and for each local church.
• 8:04
  This is so much the case that today's sermon is organized.
• 8:08
  I've organized this around the ABCDs of the church. How about that?
• 8:14
  The ABCDs of the church. Simple. So to start, we have a.
• 8:19
  A symbol on the right foundation.
• 8:22
  A symbol on the right foundation.
• 8:28
  Peter charges the Christians to put away sins such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander.
• 8:37
  And while there are other sins that could be listed, you know, you could imagine a lot of sins could be listed. It's not hard to see how these sins in particular are mentioned because they could infect and take down a church.
• 8:52
  I think that's the context. These are poison to a church.
• 8:57
  They are community poison. These sins, they destroy a community. They destroy a church when they get in and are unbridled.
• 9:07
  And he uses this statement, this statement to put away such sins, to launch into an exhortation or a command to long for the word. Verse two, right? He says, like newborn infants, long for the pure Spiritual milk.
• 9:23
  What is this spiritual milk?
• 9:25
  Well, it is the word of God. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the spiritual milk that they should long for.
• 9:34
  To see this, we need to I think, maybe even ignore for a minute that little subtitle above, chapter two. You see, maybe if you have the usv, it says a living stone and a holy people. I think sometimes that can make us see a bit more division than Peter or the author really intended.
• 9:53
  The end of chapter one is talking about the Word, which is the gospel, the word that is preached to the believers. That word is the word that is pure spiritual milk. So he's kind of continuing his thought, really, and we'll even see this next week as the flow of thought continues past the subtitle division.
• 10:14
  So I find this remarkable.
• 10:17
  By drinking of this pure spiritual milk, the word of God, they grow up into salvation.
• 10:25
  And this made me think, of course, as a father of a young one, I did. I looked up, you know, the statistics, because I know. I don't know specifically, but I know that babies grow really fast when they start eating when they are newborns. And I read that in their first 90 days, newborns increase their body weight by maybe about 70% just by drinking milk. Isn't that amazing? Just by drinking their mother's milk, they increase their body weight by 70% in three months. For perspective, that would be like someone in here maybe, who weighs 150 pounds to gain 105 pounds in three months.
• 11:04
  You know, of course, that is insane, right? That's a lot of weight gain. That is a lot. That'd be 255lbs total.
• 11:13
  So that is fantastic that Peter is using this illustration to help us see the importance, the foundational nature of the Word of God and how it helps us grow into maturity.
• 11:27
  So on what is faith built? Well, it is the gospel, the news that God saves sinners from the eternal punishment that they do indeed deserve through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ.
• 11:42
  To enter the church, you must believe in the Gospel. You must believe this word.
• 11:50
  So again, I just want to remind you I'm going to be talking about both senses of the word church tonight.
• 11:57
  I mentioned them a minute ago. I'll just remind you. There's the Church universal, or the Church Catholic sometimes said. But the Church universal has the same meaning, refers to all Christians everywhere, all throughout time and history.
• 12:11
  It is the all Christians that will be gathered together into one assembly at the end of days when Christ returns. There's also the local church. The church local refers to individual groupings and assemblies of of the larger church, such as Arrow Heights Baptist Church. Christians are also commanded to be members of churches that are local.
• 12:35
  But entrance does not happen automatically. You must be approved by membership, baptized and take the Lord's Supper with that church.
• 12:44
  So we must join churches, but it doesn't happen automatically.
• 12:49
  So to bring us back to the topic at hand that Peter is giving to us, the church universal is built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 12:58
  The church universal is built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 13:02
  And each local church, if it is a legitimate one, is also built on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is crucial. It is simple, but we ought not overlook it. This is absolutely essential for the churches local and for all Christians everywhere.
• 13:23
  So very related to the gospel of it, to the gospel is Jesus Christ.
• 13:30
  I think usually when we refer to the gospel, I don't know if you've thought about this. What are we referring to? I think typically we're referring to the message that we call good news, this message that we call good news. The main character of this message is Jesus Christ.
• 13:49
  Thus, Peter also quotes the Old Testament. Starting in verse six, he says, for it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
• 14:06
  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
• 14:14
  The cornerstone is important imagery, an important quotation from the Old Testament. It would have been understood as part of the foundation of the building, but not just any part, really the most important part. The stone would dictate where all the others laid. It was the most important, most foundational stone in the building.
• 14:36
  And it is Jesus Christ who is the cornerstone of the church, both universal and local. He is the foundation of the church.
• 14:46
  And so if you are a member of the church, if you want to be a member of the church, you must love Jesus. You must see him as the foundation of your life and as the foundation of all churches everywhere.
• 15:00
  If you don't really love Jesus, then you don't really belong to his house. You don't belong to his people because his people love him. You must love Jesus.
• 15:14
  So you must come and assemble on the right foundation, being Jesus Christ the righteous. Believe in Jesus in the gospel and join the church.
• 15:24
  So that's A, a symbol on the right foundation. B, be busy with the proper function.
• 15:31
  Want to be busy with the proper function.
• 15:34
  It's not just where we assemble as a foundation, but what do we do if we are built on the proper foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can put ourselves into practice. We can operate in our proper functions.
• 15:49
  Peter calls believers in verse five, living stones. You see that? He calls them living stones. Christians are stones and they are building blocks that are being put together to form something, a spiritual house.
• 16:06
  Now, perhaps maybe you guys remember some books maybe called Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Probably your favorite books that you've ever studied at church, ever. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Maybe in these books you might also remember a couple of mentions about the importance of the temple, the temple for the Jews.
• 16:29
  Well, I'll remind you just in case maybe a couple of you don't remember. The temple was where God dwelt with his people. It's where God lived with them and they could dwell with him by offering sacrifices.
• 16:42
  So therefore, the temple is also a place where God's people could get forgiveness for their sins. So it's a place of forgiveness. And it was a place of God's dwelling that was crucial all throughout the Old Testament. And it was completed in Christ. And Peter is bringing it up again.
• 16:57
  The temple, importantly, was a sign or a symbol of the truth that God wants to dwell with his people.
• 17:05
  He wants to dwell with them intimately.
• 17:09
  So God's people now, through Christ, are built together into a spiritual temple where God can dwell with his people because a sacrifice has been offered for their forgiveness.
• 17:21
  This is a beautiful thing. All of this trouble of building the temple and having it destroyed and then them going to exile and coming back and rebuilding it is all answered in Christ. And now if you are in him, you are a building block of that temple. You get to be a living stone in the house of God where he dwells intimately in love with his people because he has offered a sacrifice for you.
• 17:49
  This is the function of the church, which is the spiritual house of the Lord.
• 17:55
  And we can actually see this spiritual house by looking at local churches. Local churches are how this spiritual universal church becomes visible to us, right? Because we can't know every Christian that ever has lived and currently lives and will live. But when we look at a local church, we see a group of people assembled. We see a visible picture of the kingdom of God.
• 18:21
  So Peter is instructing Christians as members of churches to do two works. We see them in the text here. First, he wants them to priest. Christians must priest. Maybe there's a better verb for this, but he wants them to be priests, a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, rather priests. What did they do? Well, we Read about them a lot, especially in the Old Testament, some Christian or Christian adjacent traditions still have what they call priests. Well, biblically, priests went before God on behalf of the people to get forgiveness. So if you want to remember what a priest is, you can write that down. Priests went before God on behalf of the people to get forgiveness. They went before God on behalf of the people to get forgiveness.
• 19:06
  And now if you turn and trust in Christ, you can boldly and confidently approach God in worship.
• 19:15
  You can go before God, you can if you trust in Christ.
• 19:22
  But that's not necessarily the focus. That is a wonderful truth for us to remember. That's not necessarily, I think the focus.
• 19:30
  Peter refers to a holy and royal priesthood.
• 19:35
  A priesthood. This is a group of priests. This is a group project.
• 19:41
  When individual Christians assemble as a local church, they then act as priests together.
• 19:47
  This is not to say you in your own home, you can be your own priest and your own church. And you can be your own priest and your own church. This is a function we do when we come together.
• 19:57
  This is a function of the church. We can go before God boldly as a church. Now this doesn't mean you can't pray to God on your own and worship God on your own.
• 20:07
  But he's talking about a particular function. This is something that we do together.
• 20:14
  Practically this means that members of churches, yes, churches should have members. They come together to do the work of priests. We offer spiritual sacrifices as the Old Testament priests offered animal sacrifices. We now offer spiritual sacrifices in the form of worship with hearts full of love for God.
• 20:37
  We die to ourselves and our sins and turn to Christ.
• 20:41
  And together churches declare who is a member and they declare who is not a member.
• 20:49
  They grant membership and they can discipline and take away membership. That's something churches do together.
• 20:56
  To say this is the church. This is not the church. This is a believer. This probably is not one. This is what the church does when they priest, they intercede.
• 21:08
  Again, I know that this does not apply, at least to most of you yet, but one day you should be committed to coming to members meetings and voting on who becomes members or not, because it is your duty as a priest.
• 21:23
  Every single Christian, every single member of the church should do their best effort to participate in this work because this is what the Bible tells us to be doing. This is our function. This is a group project.
• 21:36
  So don't be that guy that doesn't do his part in the group project.
• 21:40
  Participate. The church needs you if you are in Christ.
• 21:45
  The second function that the church does is the Church proclaims. So we priest and we proclaim.
• 21:52
  Verse 9 says that we should proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• 22:00
  Again, there's an obvious application. We should share the gospel with others, right? We should call people out of darkness, proclaim the gospel to them and show them the light of Christ.
• 22:13
  But I want to challenge us to again, keep thinking about the church. That seems to be the context. We want to keep thinking about the church. And how would this apply specifically to the church?
• 22:24
  How do we proclaim these excellencies as a church?
• 22:28
  Well, we do it again in membership and church discipline or church accountability, because we are confirming who is or is not a Christian so that the world may actually know which of us represents the gospel and which of us does not represent the gospel. It's drawing borders to know who is a Christian and who is not. That is why membership is important, why I've brought it up twice now.
• 22:53
  This is one thing that we do to proclaim the gospel is by proclaiming who believes the gospel. What else does the church do? Well, the church should preach the Word faithfully and you should always make sure that the Word is being preached to you faithfully. Don't settle for less.
• 23:11
  We sing songs that reflect biblical truths. We did that tonight, even a wonderful song. We pray biblical prayers and we read from the Bible. We do all of these things as a church, and this is how, as a group, we proclaim the excellencies of Christ, the One who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.
• 23:33
  So if you're in Christ and are members of a church, then you are living stones being built into a spiritual house.
• 23:40
  Act like it and do the work of priests together.
• 23:44
  Don't overlook the importance of togetherness in these verses, especially for these suffering, possibly lonely saints.
• 23:54
  Now we get to point 3 C.
• 23:58
  Commit to Christian fellowship.
• 24:04
  Commit to Christian fellowship.
• 24:09
  Christian fellowship through local churches permeates this passage. Christians are living stones being built into a spiritual house. This necessitates a group because one stone cannot be a house. Right? Verse 5, one stone is no house. Plurality is necessary for them to form the house of God. They are a priesthood. Verse 5 says Verse 9 says, they are a chosen race of people.
• 24:35
  Similarly, they're a holy nation.
• 24:38
  They are a people for God's possession. Verse 9.
• 24:42
  Along with that, verse 10, they at one time were not God's people, but now they have received mercy from God and are God's people.
• 24:51
  So in this world, there are two nations, two cities, as One theologian put it, a city of man and a city of God. By our sins, we are citizens of the sinful city of man that is dying.
• 25:07
  But through Christ, we can gain citizenship into the heavenly and eternal city of God.
• 25:14
  As Christians, you are in the city of God together. If you believe in Christ, and if that is true of you, embrace and commit to Christian fellowship.
• 25:25
  We commit to this because God is committed to it.
• 25:29
  He did not save anyone necessarily as just an individual. Now there is a personal aspect to salvation, but we sometimes ignore this other aspect, that we are saved to be part of a people.
• 25:40
  He saved sinners into a people. Once you were not my people and now you are again. This is echoing something we read back in Zechariah, that one day they would be his people and he would be their God. He saves a people, he brings them into his family and adopts them as his own children.
• 25:59
  God has not and will never save anyone. For him to be a Christian by himself without a church. God wants us to be together.
• 26:12
  To live separately like this, I think might be disobedient. Sinful would not reflect the life of someone who has truly been saved by God.
• 26:24
  You know, patriotism, the Word and the concept, for whatever reason, has caused a lot of political conflict in the past.
• 26:33
  However, maybe it's good for us to be a patriot in a sense, not a New England patriot.
• 26:42
  Patriotism sees the value of loving and being devoted to your country.
• 26:47
  Well, Christ has saved Christians into a holy nation.
• 26:50
  So maybe Christians should be patriots for the church of God. Maybe we should have zeal and passion to see the good of God's kingdom on earth.
• 27:01
  So here's how we can do that. We can go to point 4D, which is do good works and faithfulness. This is how we could be, quote, unquote, patriotic for the church. We can do good works and faithfulness.
• 27:17
  So Peter kind of sandwiches this passage, verses 1 through 12, with some commands about holy living. So to start Peter's concern that their local churches be peaceful and unified.
• 27:30
  And they cannot be peaceful and unified if there is malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. Right? That was in verse one.
• 27:39
  So I want you to ask yourself, do you do anything that might cause disunity in the church?
• 27:47
  I think there's always something we can be doing. Am I behaving?
• 27:50
  Am I thinking? Am I acting?
• 27:53
  Am I loving others and not loving some? What am I doing that might cause disunity in the church?
• 28:01
  Further, Peter ends the passage by saying, I'll read it again because it's been a while. Verse 11.
• 28:07
  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.
• 28:15
  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation by reminding them and us again that we are exiles also. So, sojourners, we still ought to live holy lives, in particular, as a member of the Church and a citizen of the City of God, living in the city of man. There will be war.
• 28:46
  The holy nation butts up against the unholy world. There will be war. These cities are at war. The light and the darkness are at odds. Therefore, all are in a war, fighting on one side or the other. Every single one of us. We are fighting on one side or the other. But by default, we are born fighting on the wrong side. We are born enemies of Christ Jesus.
• 29:14
  So change your allegiance.
• 29:17
  You are now free to do so because Jesus won that for you and gives power through the Spirit for His Beloved to repent and believe.
• 29:25
  And even after believing, you are in the war against sin. So abstain from the passions of the flesh.
• 29:34
  The flesh have fallen into sin.
• 29:37
  It is driven by evil passions. So you must resist those passions.
• 29:44
  You must resist those passions. You must believe that Christ really has given you the power to resist them through the Spirit.
• 29:54
  You must believe that.
• 29:56
  I think this is probably one issue we face our own doubt that God has really given you enough to completely quit a sin that has enslaved you.
• 30:08
  God really does give you the power to do so through His Spirit.
• 30:13
  I don't think we need to take the Alcoholics Anonymous approach and forever say, I'm an alcoholic. I'm always this type of sin or that type of sin. Christ, through His Spirit, offers a way of escape. And he offers all you need to defeat your sin, because he has already accomplished it. He has wiped it clean and given you the power to turn and say no.
• 30:35
  And that endeavor is incredibly important. For Peter says in verse 12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable.
• 30:44
  So we read the word Gentiles here, but we should maybe understand it as the nations.
• 30:50
  Everyone who is not in Christ is in view. That's who he's thinking of when he says the Gentiles.
• 30:57
  So live with honor. Why?
• 31:00
  Because the world is watching.
• 31:02
  Live with honor because the world is watching.
• 31:05
  And today, when people's first instinct is to whip out a phone and record something, we need to be sure that we represent Christ. Well, anything that you do that is evil can become ammunition against the church. Again, this is why it's important that we affirm who is in the church.
• 31:23
  You know, whether that's right or wrong, it's a reality.
• 31:26
  So what if you think of this? What if you lived in such a way that you actually considered what your words and actions say about Christ?
• 31:36
  What if you lived in a way that your words and actions you considered what they might say about the church?
• 31:43
  If you wear the banner of Christ by faith, then you must not embarrass him with your words or actions. Take a moment to evaluate yourself about how you represent the church. If you claim it and live honorably. That is a challenge. It's not necessarily easy, but this is the challenge that Peter puts forth to us. To live honorably in the sight of others.
• 32:05
  Because the wicked will speak evil against Christians.
• 32:08
  They just will.
• 32:10
  But when the day of visitation or the day of judgment comes, will the devil's accusations be found to be true or will you be vindicated?
• 32:21
  May the devil's accusations not be true of us.
• 32:25
  And often it is the good works of believers that are accused by the wicked. So if we're accused by the wicked for the good things we do, praise the Lord.
• 32:34
  Christians protest the vile practice of abortion. Christians refuse to support and attend gay weddings. Christians believe that there are two genders created by God and that physical transitions are mutilation.
• 32:47
  Christians, they don't participate, but they shut down gossip. Christians are all sorts of things. In their places of work, they try to be good witnesses to their peers. They don't participate in many Christians conversations amongst their peers. They stick up for those that are bullied and thrown aside in life and oppressed. But students, none of these things that Christians rightfully do will win you friends.
• 33:14
  None of them not from the world.
• 33:18
  But they will earn you a crown of glory in heaven if you trust in Christ and live honorably.
• 33:26
  And God will be glorified in you.
• 33:29
  When the world accuses you of such things.
• 33:33
  So go out and remember your abcds. A symbol on the foundation of the gospel of Christ.
• 33:40
  Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church. He's the foundation of each believer. If you don't know Jesus or if you are still living in your sin, then you don't need B, C or D. You need to focus on A.
• 33:55
  You need to trust in Christ.
• 33:57
  But for those of you who do trust in Christ, be busy doing your function as members of the Church of God, proclaiming his name, affirming others in the faith. Be great members when you can.
• 34:11
  Commit then to Christian fellowship and love your church. If you love Jesus, then you must love the people in his church. And finally do good works and in accordance with your faithfulness to Christ.
• 34:23
  Each believer is an important part of God's household which is established on Jesus Christ and the Word. And therefore believers obey the Word, live honorably and glorify God. Let's pray.
• 34:37
  Father, thank you for your word and for this challenge. Lord, we thank you for the gift of the church and all that this provides in encouragement that we get to do these works together, assemble on the foundation of Christ together, not be alone, but we get to be saved into a group, but also God.
• 34:57
  We pray and ask that you would help us to rise up to the challenge that if we have believed in Christ, if we wear your banner, if we claim your name, that we would honor your name in how we live.
• 35:12
  Not because we think this will keep us in your good graces. For your grace is sufficient and does not fail and you do not change your mind. You do not withdraw your grace from those that you love, but rather because we love you and want to honor you in the sight of others. And we want to raise up the church and proclaim the gospel to the dying world so that many may be brought out of darkness and into your marvelous light. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.