1st Peter 1:1-2 “Focus In The Fire”

Everything is changing. But family, there is one other thing that doesn't change. In your life, my life, there is one thing that doesn't change, and that is how Jesus identifies you. As a follower of Jesus, you will always be viewed as one who is chosen. And if you are Christ, if you if you have no relationship with Jesus whatsoever, may we invite you to come? Come find the unchangeable relationship that that you will have with Christ. [01:18:20] (38 seconds)  #UnchangingIdentity

You need to know that by Christ, you have been chosen. Let me say that again. You have been chosen by Christ. I mean, that is incredibly humbling because there's nothing glorious about me that God should choose me for anything. And that's true for all of us. There's nothing about me explicitly, internally that god should look at me and choose me to be his. But yet in the text, we find that we are chosen by Christ. [01:08:38] (40 seconds)  #ChosenByChrist

This is the one I'm gonna restore. This is the one I'm gonna redeem. This is this one this one's mine. No. He, on his own ability, on his own decision, out of his own affection, chose you. He picked you out. He set you apart. He made you his. You belong to him. He chose you. And that election or that choosing is is a key pillar to who you are as a follower of Jesus, as a child of God. I am chosen by him. [01:09:51] (43 seconds)  #RedeemedAndSetApart

In all of your dysfunction, God knew with foreknowledge, all of your sinfulness, all of your messed upness, all the all the mistakes, all the trips, all the failures, all the disoriented thinking, all the depression, all the sorrow, all the sadness, all the defects that you and I are, and he still chose us. And he still chose us. And that makes no sense to us. Because man, we we are consumers, and we only consume what we want, and what we like, and what we prefer. [01:11:11] (44 seconds)  #ChosenDespiteBrokenness

The resurrected Jesus proves that man, death is not your end and that sin is not your end. It proves that he chose you and he resurrected you. You have all the evidence laid before you. So in your suffering today, if you want to learn what to focus on in the next several weeks as you suffer, why don't you start today by giving your life to Christ? You just come forward. I'll help you take steps. Somebody next to you will help you take some steps. You just come forward and place your life in His hands. [01:20:49] (37 seconds)  #ResurrectionAndInvitation

You chose the one with the superior program. You chose the one that has the most financial advantage. You chose the one that would pay you to go to school there, hopefully. Right? Like like, you chose the one that was the most glorious, but yet Jesus looked at us and chose us when there was nothing glorious about us. There was only problem after problem, brokenness after brokenness, and he still chose us. He still chose us. And when he chose us, that became a major part of who we are. [01:12:49] (45 seconds)  #ChosenBeyondMerit

You're not a person who lives bound up by your sin, but you're a person who's free from it. And in knowing the condition of the early church, check this, he he later says, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Peter understood what was getting ready to face them. He understood the pain they were gonna face the face for following Jesus, and this is what he wants for them. May the grace of Jesus just be multiplied over and over and over over and over to you. [01:15:46] (43 seconds)  #GraceMultiplied

But listen to me. I know I'm quick, but this is this is this is vital. This is vital for you and me. You are chosen by Christ. You're his. And if you didn't know that today, or you don't understand that today, or maybe maybe you like like, you're you're looking at this and you're going, there's no way he would choose me. I'm telling you the truth that you belong to him. You can believe today that Jesus Christ is the son of God. You can believe today that the cross that he endured was meant for you and meant for me. [01:19:18] (41 seconds)  #BelieveAndBelong