Episode 1

Become More in '24 (North OC)

The slogan for the year is "Become More in '24" and our new sermon series. We will study out the "ladder of transformation" found in 1 Peter 2. Buckle up and get ready to join God's work of transformation.

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OC Church of Christ

Transcript
Marcel:

Let me ask you a quick question.

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What is compelling about

Jesus and Christianity?

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What's something that's compelling

to you about Jesus and Christianity?

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So go ahead, just take 30

seconds and share with the person

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to your right or your left.

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What's something that is compelling

about Jesus and Christianity for you?

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And if you're online, go ahead and type

in the, uh, in the chat right there.

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What is something that's compelling

about Jesus and Christianity?

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All right, let's get a

couple people to share.

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She said forgiveness of each

other and from each other.

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So in the world you could just, you

know, we cancel each other really

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quickly, but in the church there's a lot

of love, grace, and forgiveness there.

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Okay, awesome, appreciate it.

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All right, John, yes.

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Focus on love and relationships.

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Yeah, that's good, that's good.

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Any others there?

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Okay, Big Craig, yes.

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Okay, so Jesus helps us not to have

just a, uh, a form of religion and

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something that's dry and stale there.

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Okay, cool.

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All right, Eli.

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Jesus gives us purpose

and a direction in life.

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Okay, one more.

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Yes, Dorca.

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Jesus surrendered to God's

plan, even though it was hard.

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And obviously we are the

beneficiaries of that.

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You know, there's a number of

things that are compelling that

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I'm sure we can probably spend the

rest of our service talking about.

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You know, there's, that comes to mind for

me, eternal purpose and a mission in life.

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Uh, you know, forgiveness,

not just of each other, but

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forgiveness from God for our sins.

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Uh, the, the, uh, uh, uh, uh,

heaven that is our destination.

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That's something that's compelling.

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Uh, I think of divine truth,

divine wisdom for our lives here.

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Uh, but the thing that's really caught

me over the last, uh, probably about a

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month or two, how compelling it is that

Jesus and Christianity is that there

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is an opportunity for transformation.

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It's that when you really follow the

Jesus of the scriptures, the Jesus,

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the Messiah, the Son of God, and you

live out true Christianity, God gets

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us on a process of transformation.

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As you can see here, the caterpillar

turned into this beautiful butterfly.

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You know, I didn't realize there's

other animals and insects that also

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have this trans, uh, transformation.

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Did you know that?

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I didn't even realize

the whole frog thing.

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He's a tadpole and then he comes, I didn't

even realize that until the other day.

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There's other stuff.

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I'm like, whoa, this is incredible.

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But the caterpillar and the

butterfly, you know, spiritually,

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this is what God does with us.

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Is that he gets us on this process of

transformation where we grow spiritually.

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And we grow in our spiritual maturity.

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We can think of, uh, in Genesis

how it describes God creating,

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um, creating the universe.

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And how it talks about earth

was, was, was basically formless.

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And God transformed it into

what we enjoy and live on today.

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We think of Abraham and how he

transformed him and have it led to

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him being the the ancestor of really

many Descendants we think of Jacob

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transforming into Israel and that

becoming a nation in which Jesus would

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come through that line We think of the

New Testament in this passage right here.

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Check this passage out real quickly

Look what it says, but our citizenship

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is in heaven and we eagerly Eagerly,

whatever that word is, await a

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Savior eagerly I still can't say it.

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All right.

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Away the Savior from this.

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The Lord George, the Lord Jesus

Christ, who, by the power that

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enables him to bring everything under

his control, check this out, will

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transform our lowly bodies so that

they will be like his glorious body.

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I don't know about you, but I'm

looking forward to that glorious body.

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I'm hoping that it might be, you know,

a couple inches taller too as well.

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Or at least everybody's on the same page.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Or maybe God reversed it.

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All the short people will be tall.

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You know what I'm saying?

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And we'll look down on the

rest of y'all for eternity.

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You know what I'm saying?

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But man, this idea that we don't

even know what that's gonna be like.

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But our bodies will be transformed

into this glorious body.

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How cool is that?

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But in the meantime, and in between

time, God is transforming our

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hearts, our minds, our characters.

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Our very nature.

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And so God is in this transformation

business, helping us and calling

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us to grow and to mature in Him.

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Look at some of these

passages real quickly here.

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For those God foreknew, He also

predestined to be conformed

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to the image of His Son.

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So God's plan from the beginning

is for us to be like His Son.

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Do not conform to the pattern of

this world, but be transformed.

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By the renewing of your minds and

we all who with unveiled faces

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contemplate the Lord's glory.

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Check this out are being transformed

into his image with an ever

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increasing glory, which comes

from the Lord who is the Spirit.

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God wants to transform you and

me, not into something that's just

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special, but he wants to transform

us into his own image and likeness.

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How awesome is that?

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Whatever great compelling characteristic

you see in Christ, God wants to

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transform you into that for that to

be your character and your nature.

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Whatever's compelling about following

Jesus, God has this plan where he

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wants to transform us into his image.

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And again, as we mentioned on

Wednesday, God's not interested in

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just a little behavioral modification.

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God is trying to transform you in me.

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And so for the first part of

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transformation and this growth in Christ.

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And so we're going to begin a series

today called become more in 24.

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And so we're going to study out the book

of 2nd Peter and, uh, really verse 1.

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And in fact, uh, you should have

on your, on your phone, uh, if you

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have the church app, if you don't

hurry up and download the church app.

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But probably we have a little handout,

a little series handout that's on

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there, but we do have some hard copies.

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So if you want a hard copy of

the sermon series handout, the

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ushers, if you raise your hand, the

ushers can give you one right now.

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And so we're going to study out.

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Uh, just the, uh, several verses

in second Peter, chapter one,

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verses five through seven.

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And we're going to look on how we

can continue in this process of

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transformation that God has you and me on.

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Are you with me, church?

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Let's go ahead and let's get into it.

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Second Peter, chapter one.

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Can I get an amen?

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Can I get an amen?

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Second Peter, chapter one, verse one.

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It says.

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And this is Peter and Peter's writing

to the churches will many believe he's

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writing to the same churches that he

wrote to in first Peter and he's dealing

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with some false doctrine, but he goes

on and he gives them encouragement to

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be faithful and to behold hold fast

to the faith because of the prophetic

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word, but also the transformation that

you and I can and will enjoy in Christ.

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Let's read second Peter one verse

one, Simon, Peter, a servant and

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apostle of Christ Jesus to those.

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Who through the righteousness of our God

and Savior, Jesus Christ have received

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a precious faith as precious as ours.

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That's just cool to think about.

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Our faith is precious.

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He also says it's more precious than gold.

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He says grace and peace be yours

in abundance through the knowledge

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of God and of Jesus our Lord.

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Now here we go.

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His divine power.

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God has given us everything we

need for a godly life through our

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knowledge of him who called us

by his own glory and goodness.

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Did you catch that?

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His divine power has given

us everything we need for

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godliness, for our life in Christ.

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That means you and I are fully

equipped, fully supplied to live a

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godly life through our relationship.

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With him, you do not lack a single thing.

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And this is incredible because he

says it's through your knowledge.

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And this isn't knowledge as far as knowing

about Jesus, knowing what Jesus did.

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This knowledge is really implying the

idea of knowing him on a personal growing

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relationship because of this relationship.

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And we know Peter also told us

when we repent and get baptized, we

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received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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So then when we have this relationship

with God, and then we are empowered by the

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Holy Spirit, God's design and intention

is for us to therefore live a godly life.

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We are capable because we are

empowered through our relationship

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and through the Holy Spirit.

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We continue going to verse 4.

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It says, Through these, he has given us

his very great and precious promises,

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so that through them, check this out,

you may participate in the divine.

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Nature having escaped the corruption

in the world caused by evil desires.

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This idea and I believe we talked a

little bit about this in two years ago.

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This idea here of participating

in the divine nature.

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What is he talking about right there?

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You see, God's desire and will

is for us to participate in

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the divine nature, meaning.

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We become like God in our

character and in our very nature.

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We can't become God like in the sense

of having divine authority and power.

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But we get to become like God

in our character and nature.

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Do you see any shortcomings

in your character and nature?

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If we're honest, yes.

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We probably see them.

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Some of us, we go to stream

and we see them too much.

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What God is saying is that in Christ,

through Him, we get to therefore now

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start to reflect and start to take

on God's character and likeness.

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And we begin to think, act,

behave, and be something different.

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And through the power of the Spirit,

we begin to change and reflect

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the character of God in our lives.

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Again, God is a God of transformation.

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And he's transforming you and me

back into our original intention.

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And that's his image and his likeness.

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God doesn't want you to

be whoever you are today.

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He wants you to be like him forever.

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And so we continue in verse five.

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And then it says.

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For this very reason.

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What reason?

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The reason for living a guided life.

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For the reason of participating

in his divine nature.

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Make every effort to add to your faith.

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For this reason, add to your faith.

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We play a role in this transformation.

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God has already provided

everything we need.

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Now we have to do our part.

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And so this is so cool and incredible,

and it's so helpful for us,

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because, see, here's what happens.

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When God's empowerment intersects

with human effort, this is when

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transformation takes place.

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When God's empowerment intersects

with our human effort, this is

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when transformation takes place.

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But if you remove one of these things,

you won't have transformation take place.

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Let's think about this.

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It's the new year.

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A lot of us are having goals.

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A lot of us have some

health or fitness goals.

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And so some of us, we want to get

ripped and be swollen and buffed.

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You know what I'm saying?

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We want to be like Dallas Kawhi.

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You know what I'm saying?

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Some of us would say, Hey, I want

to, you know, whatever it is.

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I want to eat healthier.

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I want to lose weight.

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Whatever the case it is, right?

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We all know we There's two major

components to achieving that goal.

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One is what?

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Exercise.

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And what's the other?

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Your diet.

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If you said something

else, there's some reasons.

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You have to have what?

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You have to have some exercise.

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But you have to have

the diet that follows.

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If not, you will look like Marcel.

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You see, I've been trying for a while

to get the six pack abs, but you know

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what, I got the exercise part down.

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But you know what, I just can't

give up those french fries.

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I said, Marcel, you gotta go ahead

and eat more vegetables, and I do,

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but I don't eat enough because then

I add it with some potato chips.

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You get what I'm saying?

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I'm like, it balances out.

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We all know if you want to physically

transform, you better have some exercise

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and you better have your diet right.

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If you want to be spiritually

transformed, you need God's empowering

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spirit and you need your human efforts.

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If you remove the human efforts,

transformation can't take place.

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And for some of us, we've been frustrated

about where we're at spiritually.

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Man, and then we blame God or we blame

the church or we blame ministers.

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We blame whoever, we blame, uh,

politicians, we blame government.

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We blame social media,

whatever the case is.

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But oftentimes it's because we're

neglecting to make every effort to add to

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our faith You see the Holy Spirit isn't is

effective in an actor when we decide we're

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gonna match him with our efforts What 3?

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God's already given you every single

thing you need you are not in need in

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order to grow and mature spiritually

But the requirement for you and me is

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to take the steps necessary to work

hand in hand with the Holy Spirit.

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And that's when transformation begins.

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Church are you with me here?

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You see, again, we understand

this physically, but we need

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to make sure we apply it.

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Spiritually.

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Let's continue going.

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It says, for this very reason, make

every effort to add to your faith,

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goodness and the goodness, knowledge and

to knowledge, self control and to self

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control, perseverance and perseverance,

godliness and to godliness, mutual

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affection and to mutual affection, love.

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This is going to be our text for the

next seven weeks here as we see really

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these, uh, you know, it's kind of, it's

been coined faith, faith arithmetic

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because it keeps saying add to.

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Or some call it the

ladder of transformation.

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Now let me ask you this.

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What would it look like to

have these things in your life?

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What would that look like for someone?

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To have these things in their life?

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You would say, man, that's a,

that's an incredible person of

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faith right there, isn't it?

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He said, man, that's incredibly like,

man, I'm, I'm becoming more like Jesus.

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I'm starting to resemble

more of my heavenly father.

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You see, this is what God

is doing is he wants us.

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To have these virtues, but we have to

again have our effort and then what's

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going to be created this Transformation

where we are the beautiful butterfly

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in Christ and we resemble behave think

and act like our God And then he tells

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us more Results he goes on in verse 8.

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It says for if you possess

these qualities in increasing

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measure Let's stop right there.

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The way the Greek is worded

there, it actually is telling

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us it's a continual thing.

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It's not a once.

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And so what this saying is, that we

should be growing in increasing measure.

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We should continually be going

after our growth in Christ.

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Never arriving until our

death or until Jesus returns.

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Let me ask you this.

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Have you arrived spiritually?

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You better not say yes.

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Of course, none of us

have, and we know this.

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And so every day we make decisions

to grow in our relationship and

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to grow in the likeness of Christ

and transformation continues.

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And so we should always see ourself as,

man, I need to grow, but not in a negative

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way, but God wants me to continue to grow

so that I can begin to think like him.

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Now, there's a difference between

behavior modification and what you are

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interested in, what your interests,

likes and dislikes, and how you think.

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You guys get what I'm saying here?

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See, at my conversion, I went from

a womanizer to, man, I'm going

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to try to be righteous and holy.

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But what God has been producing in me

is that I lift up and value women way

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more than I ever did in my life before.

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But he's having me start to

view them as queens, princesses.

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Now, my conversion, I didn't

have that thought process.

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You guys get what I'm saying?

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Don't throw any tomatoes at me.

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I'm just being vulnerable up here.

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But God now has me and he's like, boy, I'm

going to give you two more daughters so

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that we can really implant this in you.

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And so my thought process is changing

and I'm starting to think more

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like my heavenly father because

transformation is taking place.

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Do you understand what I'm saying?

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You see, we can be converted

and that's a lot of behavior

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modification, a lot of our desires.

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But when we start to desire what he

desires, think the way he thinks,

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that's when we start to really

reflect and become the image of

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Christ, which we were intended to be.

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He goes on and he says, they will keep you

from being ineffective and productive in

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your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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When we're growing, again,

we're not ineffective, no, we're

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productive, meaning we're living a

fruitful life the way God intends.

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But whoever does not have

them is nearsighted and blind,

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forgetting what they have been

cleansed from their past sins.

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You know, if we're not growing,

if we're not going after these

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things, then we become blind.

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We become nearsighted.

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We can only see things, but we

don't see the spiritual realm.

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It's or we become forgetful and we

forget what our past life was like.

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What's the result of that?

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Spiritual damage and destruction

and oftentimes affecting

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others in the process.

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I read this quote and I want to

read it says a lack of spiritual

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growth is a sign of spiritual death.

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When we lack spiritual growth, it's a

sign that, that there's some trouble.

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We need to have some warning signs.

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We need to heed those and take

our faith seriously and get help.

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Then it goes on.

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It says, therefore, my brothers

and sisters make every effort to

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confirm your calling and election.

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For if you do these things, you will

never stumble and you will receive a

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rich welcome into the eternal kingdom

of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

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Again.

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Yes, you're gonna.

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He says not stumbling.

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I mean, you'll never sin.

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But if you think about this if I'm

growing in all these attributes I

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probably will have a lot more victories

over sin in my life, wouldn't I?

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But I won't stumble and fall meaning

I won't leave God But I'll be welcomed

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and have my eternal goal of eternity

with my Savior Again, there's so many

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things that are compelling about Jesus

compelling about a life in Christ But

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brothers and sisters It is incredible

that you and I have the opportunity and

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we are in the process of transformation

of being transformed from who we were,

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who we are into being like Jesus.

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You know, people of faith

will not stand still.

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The nature of our discipleship is

to grow and this transformation is

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available, but we have to do our part.

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And so what's the response to all of this?

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I believe it's this is to make every

effort, you know, to give our best to

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God, to give our very best to growing

spiritually, not a little bit, not

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just some, but giving our very best.

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Some of us in here, we've maybe never

made that decision to seek Jesus.

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And so my encouragement would be to

you to take a faith of step toward God.

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Get some help, study the Bible

so you can see what is this

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transformation that is offered to me.

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Let's get real practical here.

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Here's an action step

here for the week here.

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And so it's real simple here, and it's

to pray through the list in 2 Peter 1

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through 5, or chapters 1, uh, verses

5 through 7, every day this week.

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Just during some time, whether it's in

your devotional time in the morning, in

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the evening, whatever the case may be.

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Spend some time and just

pray through this list.

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Right now we're going to take communion.

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The emblems represent Jesus

body and blood that was broken

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and spilled for our salvation.

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And we read again in 2 Peter chapter

1 verse 10 it says, Therefore my

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brothers and sisters make every effort

to confirm your calling and election.

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For if you do these things you will

never stumble and you will receive a

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rich welcome into the eternal kingdom

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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It's because of Jesus life,

death, and resurrection.

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And resurrection that we have a chance

to not only participate in the divine

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nature, but also in eternal life in him.

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Let's pray.

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Father in heaven, I thank you

so much for your word today.

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I'm excited.

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God about growing.

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I'm excited about seeing the

church collectively grow.

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I'm excited about us growing

individually and thank you for

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giving us your Holy Spirit.

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Thank you for giving us the word.

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Thank you for giving us the

church and relationship.

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Thank you for giving us the

example in Christ on how to live.

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And God, we thank you that Jesus

persevered, and God, that all the

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qualities listed in second Peter,

Father, all those Jesus demonstrated.

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:

And so Father, we pray that we can have

the strength and you can help guide us

392

:

to make good decisions so that we can

make every effort to add to our faith.

393

:

We thank you for your

grace and your mercy.

394

:

We know we don't earn salvation.

395

:

That's not what Peter says at all.

396

:

Salvation is offered, but we

respond by giving you our very best.

397

:

And father, we thank you that

Jesus made every effort for

398

:

our salvation in his name.

399

:

Amen.

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