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

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

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to make good decisions so that we can

make every effort to add to our faith.

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We thank you for your

grace and your mercy.

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We know we don't earn salvation.

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That's not what Peter says at all.

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Salvation is offered, but we

respond by giving you our very best.

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And father, we thank you that

Jesus made every effort for

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our salvation in his name.

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Amen.