In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches from 1 Peter 1:3-5 and explains how Christians are to live as foreigners in this world. Christians must think biblically and reside in the truth of God’s Word, dwelling upon God and speaking well of Him. Pastor also reminds believers of the tremendous inheritance they have have through Jesus Christ.
Full Transcript:
The Apostle Peter is writing to a group of Christians who were living, as it were, in a pressure cooker. It was in a region of Asia Minor – now modern-day Turkey. It was more hostile for anyone to even name the name of Jesus or be connected to the name of Jesus.
Peter thought it was important for the recipients to know three areas in time of persecution. The first area is salvation. What does salvation mean for the believer and why will it help us in times of trouble? Secondly is the area of submission. Who do we submit to in times of suffering? Then actual suffering itself. What is it and why does the Lord allow it.
Peter is writing and describing who his readers are. Describing the literal and spiritual status. He wants them to see themselves correctly and how God sees them. He calls the believers elect foreigners. He exalts them far above the natives with whom they live. The reason is because they are God’s chosen people. He talks about why they are scattered amongst people who are not God’s chosen people.
God’s election has made us foreigners and aliens in this world. However, God raised all His children to an exalted state. We don’t always feel that exalted state when we go through trouble and trial. We have Jews and Gentiles in this epistle. In verse 1 it shows that they live in a hostile society. They did not live in one place as a united, protected community. They lived without a permanent residence. Also, they were chosen. This is one of the main things in verse 1, it says
1.…who are chosen
So far in our outline of 1 Peter, we have looked at the destiny of the Christian which is salvation. Also, the literal status of the believer or the chosen. Those who are aliens are called to be citizens of another kingdom. Their literal state of being chosen is found in verse 2.
2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
The basis of God choosing them is according to the foreknowledge of God. The sphere of God choosing them is the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Thirdly, the purpose of God choosing them is to obey Jesus and be sprinkled with His blood.
We are looking at the spiritual status of the believer and the hope of salvation. Look at verse 3-5:
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Peter continues to move the hearts of those who are studying and hearing this book, to see and understand their exalted position as natives of a Heavenly Kingdom while experiencing the stresses of living as strangers and foreigners in this wretched world. A world fallen and defiled. Populated by people who have corrupt minds and deceitful hearts. Their minds are darkened by sin. Because of that, there is a fallout in our own generation and our post-modern world that left a slew of “isms” that we must deal with in our society.
The first one is Relativism. That means that there is no absolute. The second one is Pluralism. Everyone’s opinion is equal in value to other’s opinions.
The next one is Secularism. Human ability without God. Then there is Narcissism. The answers are found within self and the self can know reality. Then our own home-spun USA “ism”. Pragmatism. We cannot know reality, we must settle for what works. That is the philosophy of our country. Whatever works is what we do.
Deconstructionism: in the literary world, where the reader is the interpreter. The bible means what the reader thinks it means. This is what we are dealing with in the thinking of our society. All these things are taking place, pretty much at the same time.
How are those who have come to know God’s favor and understand that they are objects of God’s affection prepared for times of life’s difficulty? During difficult and conflicting times, our minds too quickly believe that God forgot us or abandoned us.
Sometimes we do feel abandoned, forsaken and alone in this world. You and I have felt that way from time to time. When we do, we often think incorrectly about who we are. We forget all God has done for us and what is happening to us.
So then, how are we to think or live when we face the stresses of living as strangers and foreigners in this world? Puritan Pastor Thomas Watson once wrote: Knowledge of Biblical Doctrine is the sole anchor to the ship that holds it steady in the midst or rolling waves of error or the violent winds of persecution. If the church loses the anchor of doctrine and teaching of the Word of God, it drifts off course at the smallest provocation.
Doctrine focuses on the most amazing Person in the world. It is meant to unite us to others as we strive together to be what God calls us to be. Doctrine represents the immense privilege that God gave us. To know what really is true about Him and ourselves. About the rest of humanity, about this world and about the future. We know that from the word of God.
As we continue to explore the spiritual status of the chosen, especially salvation’s future goal, we are learning that in that goal is the term of hope: that believers have and others do not have. Our status as Christians are based on God’s grace and blessings.
What are the things that we should think about starting today? We should start dwelling on the acts and blessings of God. In other words, we should start thinking Christian-ly. Many of life’s endeavors require studying before we can perform any action.
A playbook is a necessary tool for teaching different strategy on a football field. Blueprints are necessary to ensure a structure is being built according to the proper specifications. Elite military teams, such as Marine Core and other teams, meticulously plan out strategies and then practice each step in the strategy to physical exhaustion before entering enemy territory. They practice and plan aggressively in order to be several steps ahead of the adversary hoping to give themselves an advantage.
Christians also have a play book to understand their Christian playbook more accurately. They also have blueprints to make sure they are building with the right materials according to the proper specifications. Christians can enter the arena of world thought with the biblical world view. They know that they have revealed truth on their side.
The truth that is absolute, objective, propositional and eternal. It is not as post-modern way of thinking or merely relative. It is not experiential or short-lived. Christians need to be informed by the Word of God so that they think like God as far as living as strangers and sojourners on this earth.
There is no other way for Christians to think. We must think Christian-like. We live in a time where things are changing in a manner of how people think. There is a man named Harry Blamires who wrote a warning to the British church for its rapid departure from truth and he called for the restoration of the Christian mindset based on scripture. He said, “Our culture is bedeviled by its ‘all a matter of opinion’ code. In the sphere of religious and moral thinking we are rapidly heading to a state of intellectual anarchy in which the difference between truth and falsehood will no longer be recognized.”
It would seem possible that the words “truth” and “false” would eventually and logically be replaced by the words “likeable” and “dislikeable.” What you like and do not like is not a matter of truth. Christian truth is objective, it is four-squared and unshakeable. It is not fabricated by scholars or men in the street. Truth is not made, we reside in truth.
A suitable image of truth is a light house lashed by the elementary fury of undisciplined error. Those who come to reside in truth must stay there. It is not their business to go back into error to join their drowning fellows with the pretense that in and outside the conditions are the same. It is their duty to draw others into the shelter of truth. Truth is a shelter.
It is invaluable. However, if we start to dismantle it and give it away in bits to those outside, there will be nothing left to protect our own heads. No refuge to receive the others
If we start to dismantle it and give it away to those outside, there will be nothing left to protect our own heads. “No refuge to receive the others should they, at length, grow weary of error and start searching for truth”.
Blamire’s words were written over 50 years ago. Thinking like a Christianly is thinking biblically. Informing one’s mind about every topic from God’s Word. Firstly, that means that we are to think of who God is and what He has done. We are to think of His great acts concerning our salvation.
The blessings that flow to us because of these great acts. Properly handling the difficulties of life, sufferings and persecution must flow from a transformed, biblical mind. Our minds must start with scripture, so we get a proper understanding of His character and then we must dwell on God. The focus of our attention must be on who He is.
Then the thoughts of a believer must be placed on what He has done. First, we focus on the God-head. Our minds must dwell on God so we can think correctly of God and speak well of God
The most important that we will ever embark upon is the pursuit of knowing God. Several writers have written on this and have said that a right conception of God is basic to systemic theology and practical Christian living. An error in doctrine rises from imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
It was John Calvin who remarked on our detrimental tendencies as humans to keep our gazed fixed too much on earthly things and not on heavenly things. He said that if we just once fixed our gaze to heaven and contemplate the type of being that God is, we will gain a different perspective on ourselves and our world.
Isn’t that the big problem today? That our thinking does not start with God and who God is or even what He has done. We, too quickly, start by examining ourselves and our needs. We, in contrast, have an epistle before us that emphasizes the glory of the greatness of God who is over all. It also gives us a sense of His glory.
Look at 1 Peter 1:13:
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In other words, this passage of scripture directs our attention to prepare our minds for something. What are we to do? First, think on God. Look at 1 Peter 1:3
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
The word “blessed” is used in the Greek eulogy. It means to speak well of. We speak well of God when we truly say what He is and what He does in His attributes and works. Of course, we need to know what He does in His works and who He is in His character. We must confess there is far too little contemplation in our minds.
Too little praise of Him in our hearts. In the verse, we notice the apostle Peter rises first to pronounce a blessing on God. The first thing he does before ever mentioning to his readers about the difficult circumstances they are in – how suffering is important or how to conduct themselves in an evil world – he first adjusts their focus on the great God of salvation. He uses the term:
“…of our Lord Jesus Christ”
He uses the full designation of our Lord. Jesus is His name and draws attention to the humanity of our Lord. That word is derived from the Latin language in the form of the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Joshua. It means Yahweh is salvation. Peter’s point is that the Savior is Lord of all, the Messiah, God and man.
If God is near us for good, then we do not need to be unbelieving, sorrowful, afraid or captives of sin. We can overcome it with Divine help. We can master ourselves because God is near us to give us the victory. This teaching fills us with awe and worship. We can speak well of God concerning our salvation.
How can we speak well of God concerning what He has done for you and I. Considering the spiritual status of believers, we need to direct our minds on what we should dwell upon. There are three things in this text that we should fix our minds upon.
First, we ought to think about the new birth that flows out of our salvation. Look at verse 3:
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
This causes us to think about what God has done for us in our salvation. We should think about this new birth that flows out of the salvation that God planned for us before the world was ever created. God’s mercy is seen as great when we contemplate what we once were in our fallen, natural birth and what we are now by virtue of our rebirth.
When we think of the word “mercy” in our text, we have to define other words to understand it. Justice means that people will get what they deserve from God if they are left in their sin, which is justice and wrath. Then there is grace.
That is God giving you what you do not deserve. Forgiveness based on Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice. Then there is mercy. It means that God will not give you what you deserve. What do we deserve? His wrath, His complete justice for my rebellion and sin against Him. That is what we all deserve.
Mercy is described as great because God does not give us what we deserve. His just judgement for our rebellion and disobedience. Great is a superlative word. It tops all other words. There is no higher word than great. It means that God’s mercy is abundant. It does not run out but is based on Him withholding His justice from you.
Disobedience is the distinctive character of people in sin. We all know too much of that. Not merely disobedience to a command but also of unbelief. A heart-felt refusal to place confidence in Christ. It is man’s self-assertion. He asserts himself against God. That is what rebellion is. Man is sinful and fallen by nature. He has a bad heart from Adam’s sin nature being passed to him and a bad record from his own acts of sin. In 1 Corinthians 15:22,
22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Our predicament without Christ is something we ought to think about because we were the objects of God’s wrath. Due to our inability to live up to the standards of God’s standards on holiness were justly condemned to an eternity in hell.
The human condition apart from the gospel is in a constant state of rebellion against God. The tragedy in all of this is not just the reality of hell as the punishment of sins but also that humans are helpless to do anything about it.
Man, internally, has corruption and death and on the outside, is engaged in combat with God the creator. Man is at enmity with God and faces His wrath. The entrance of sin into humanity has wreaked havoc on everything. This is who we were outside of Christ. We were dead in trespasses and sin. Led about according to the courses of this world. According to the prince and power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. We live in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and our mind. In this state we remain under the wrath of God.
What power can save the sinner from that predicament? No power but that of God. Our text in verse 3 says:
3…according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again…
The text is pointing out to us that God began to act upon us with resurrection power. We were in a predicament that we can do nothing about ourselves. We are in post-conversion. We must often be reminded of what we once were and what He made us out to be. The scripture shares that by His great mercy, He caused us to be born again.
That means that all people either receive justice or mercy. If they receive Christ, they receive mercy. If not, they receive justice. Justice means that people get what they deserve considering what they have done, based on what they know.
Justice comes with what people do with and respond to God’s natural revelation. Mercy and Justice comes with ow people responds to God’s special revelation. That revelation shown in Christ Jesus.
The Greek term, Mercy, brings to mind several synonyms: Clemency, compassion, pity. Mercy is pity shown to weak, guilty and underserving people. Mercy indicates the emotion aroused by someone in need. Also, the attempt to relieve that person and remove the trouble.
Titus 3:5 shows us:
5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit
God saw our despicable and helpless state and met the need by begetting us spiritually. In Christ, He caused us to be born again. We need to be born again. One cannot be a Christian without being born again. Being born again is what defined Christians. In the gospel of John 3:3, Jesus says
3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Without being born again, we are not able to enter the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? It is the changing and transforming reign established by Jesus and is synonymous with the term eternal life.
Jesus is saying then, that unless you are born again, one is unable to attain eternal life. You are unable to come into the kingdom that He and righteousness dwells. There is no unholy thing and purity. You cannot get there unless you are born again. One might say, “ I do not want to live forever, my life is hard enough. I have been in hell down on this earth and I do not want to prolong it anymore.
Anyone who says that does not know what home is like. They do not know what heaven is like and misread the character of God.
What is the alternative to eternal life? It is not temporary life, it is eternal damnation and hell. The alternative to life is not temporary. Romans 6:23 says
23For the wages of sin is death, …
So, then Jesus is saying that unless you are born again, you will face an eternity separated from God and hell. Without being born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God and He could not have stressed that any stronger than He did.
So, what does Jesus mean by born again? Jesus is really making entrance into the Kingdom comparable to physical birth. He is saying that unless we experience spiritual birth, we do not have a chance of having eternal life. Please understand the possibility of what Jesus is requiring.
God in His mercy needs to cause us to be born again, if we are to be born again at all. That is the point of what He means when He says we are the chosen. Just as God caused us to be physically born, He causes us to be born spiritually.
Just as we cannot determine our physical birth, we cannot determine our spiritual birth. Only God can do that. We all must be born again if we are to enter eternal life and be spared eternal destruction that awaits us if we are not.
Notice how impossible this all is. If we are going to be spared eternal judgement in hell, we must be born of God. However, we cannot cause ourselves to be born again anymore than we cause ourselves to be born physically. It must be by the mercy of God.
The mercy of God included God the Father in eternity past, choosing us in Christ to be holy and blameless. He predestined us to be adopted as sons, poured out His mercy and grace on us in Christ Jesus.
God the Son, then, came into history for us. He redeemed us through His blood and brought us forgiveness. Lavishing on us gifts of wisdom and understanding. Even now, we are included in Christ and looking forward to the complete fulfillment of God’s plan and the glory that fulfillment holds for us.
The Holy Spirit, in the present, what does He do? He convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgement. He regenerates us and makes us new. He baptizes us into the body of Christ. He seals us until the day of redemption. He fills us, indwells in us and sets us apart for God to make us more holy. He administers spiritual gifts to us, so we can serve each other until that day.
Each person of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has been involved in bringing us the mercy and grace of God in which now we stand. We are born again when the life of God is implanted in our souls.
Everyday we should be thinking about our new birth and what happened to us. That will make our mind ready for anything that comes to us.
A second thing our mind should be thinking about is the hope that flows out of our salvation. In 1 Peter 1:3, it says:
3. …His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
He is speaking about us having a hope. The hope, here, can be defined as a mighty certainty. What makes Christian hope so strong is our growing knowledge of God. Hope is the realization that you have been called to be a Christian. The call came from the offer of the gospel. We responded to it with repentance and faith. God brings His children from an empty, false and dead hope to a strong, active and living hope.
The hope rests on God’s power and His promise because Jesus was raised to life! We will live because He lives. A living hope can never be extinguished because of what Christ did. Christ not only was raised from the dead but He also ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Hope speaks of our response to God’s promises. He offers us hope and we can have hope in Him and He guarantees that hope will come to past.
We can believe God with confidence. This hope is not a wishful logic and not a biblical hope. Biblical hope looks forward with conviction and expectancy. It is not a hope mingled with uncertainty and doubt.
It does not deny that the hope God gives is true. Hope has a future in mind and always has something in front of it. It points eagerly ahead to the consummation of salvation’s plan. A Christian’s hope is connected to the first end time event that already took place.
What is the first end time event? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus volunteered to leave His home. He descended into existence on earth. He accomplished His redemptive work on the cross, defeated Satan and returned to heaven.
It is a reminder that our ability to arrive safely at God’s home is rooted in God’s mercy and grounded in this great truth: We are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The past end time event accomplished solely by the power of God helps us to hold fast to our hope for the future. The hope for complete salvation.
We cannot forget what the scripture records alongside Jesus’ resurrection. When Jesus was raised from the dead, the bible shows in Matthew 27 52
52The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
In other words, this is saying that Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our resurrection. This is where our hope resides. Our hope is in the guarantee that we will be raised also from the dead and enter eternity with Christ.
Christ arose, and many other saints arose also. All those who trust in Christ will be resurrected. We should be thinking about our new hope every day. That is what transforms our mind.
Our salvation is so incredibly grand and vast. It is impossible to understand all the implications that go with it. It is even difficult for the great Apostle Paul to muster together the vocabulary to wrap our minds around it.
To understand what we have as those chosen in Christ Jesus. A persecuted Christian may not have very much while living as an alien and a stranger in this world. So scripture reminds us of the magnitude of the inheritance God has for us.
Look at 1 Peter 1:4, this will bring us to the third thing our mind should be thinking about. We should be thinking about the sure inheritance that flows out of our salvation.
4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
An inheritance is usually passed on after someone’s death. This describes Christ’s death. Peter is looking for the right words to describe the magnitude of what is ours in Christ Jesus. Also what we will experience when we drop off these bodies and go into the presence of God and made perfect in His presence.
The first word he uses is imperishable. This means no destructive force like moths, rust, thieves or any corrosive material can destroy it. It is described in Matthew 6:19, 20
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
It is hard to imagine a world without locks or alarms. A world with no jails, police force and no need for a military. As long as we live in this fallen, defiled world we are in great need of those things. As soon as we do not have the police there is anarchy. We have a need for those things while we live in this world.
There is a complete lack of security in earthly possessions. All earthly things bear the seed of corruption and decay. Nothing stays new, everything breaks apart, rusts and decays. The moment we begin to live, we begin to die.
However, God assures us that our inheritance is free of death and decay. That is an assurance given to those entering persecution and may mean that their possessions are taken away. Things they strive for their whole life may not be there. This is because they are connected to Christ and are believers.
Believers are experience persecution in other parts of the world where they lose everything including their lives. If they are assured of these passages and the truths in them, then this is the strength that transforms our mind to think on the right and not the wrong things.
The second word used in verse 4 is “undefiled”. That means it is pure. It cannot be stained or made dirty. It says in Revelation 21:27, in reference to the celestial city:
27and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
In this Word, God assures us that our inheritance will be free from uncleanliness and immoral impurity. Nothing can ruin it.
A third word used from verse 4 is “unfading”. It can not whither or become old or worn. It is not like the grass that becomes old and wither away. It will never lose its vibrancy and delight. God assures us that our inheritance will be free from the ravages of time.
Our great God of mercy assures His children of the eternal validity of our inheritance that will never be polluted and never be subject to decay. It will ever be destroyed. People say, “It sounds too good to be true and if so it is not true”.
Here is the reality of it. This is something that sounds too good to be true and it is true. It is backed by the character and promise of God. If that is not enough there are three other things about inheritance that reinforces what already has been said. Look, again in 1 Peter 1:4
4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
It is guarded I an eternal place. The term “reserved” is a military verb. It is a military metaphor and refers to a fortress with strong walls being guarded by a battalion of soldiers. The verb is in a perfect tense meaning it has a present and continuous implication. God is reserving it in heaven and will continue to reserve it in heaven with your name on it.
That is for us and is the encouragement that we receive in scripture.
Secondly in 1 Peter 1:5
5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Not only is our inheritance reserved in heaven, but we ourselves are protected by the power of God. A power that only the God-head shares. God is the One who guards and keeps our inheritance for us. He is the Guardian who keeps it safe for us and keeps us safe to receive it in its fullness.
If we look at scripture, we see that God is been about this all through the Word of God. We think about Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel did not get eaten in the lions’ den, because God protected him.
We think about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men were thrown into a furnace that was heated seven times the normal heat. The people who heated up the furnace were killed from the intense heat. However, the Hebrew men walked out without even smelling like smoke. God protected them there.
We think about Job as well. God sets bounds around Satan to only do with Job what God allows. We think about Paul with the shipwrecks and the hardships. The persecutions that God protected Him from.
Let us look at the author of this epistle. In Acts 12:3-11
3When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.6On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." 9And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
He had a sense of how God can guard, keep one safe and rescue someone. He knew all about that. Also, in 1 Peter 1:5 it shows that it is not far off, reserved in heaven and protected by God.
5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In other words, faith, trust, the guarding and protecting power of God’s almighty power. The aim of that protection is ultimate salvation. That means that everything is ready and complete for full salvation to be revealed. It will someday be revealed.
Our eternal salvation will be made visible to all. They will see us in Christ and the inheritance we were given because of our salvation. It will be visible to all.
There is one sad note I must mention. The people of the world have no inheritance awaiting them at the end of their existence. So, we should not say we are not wealthy. We are so wealthy, there are no words to describe it. This is the mindset to have when we are in times of trouble, trials and when persecution comes into our lives. These are the things to think about so the Word of God can transform our minds. Our minds should dwell upon our new birth, new hope and our sure inheritance.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we want to speak well of your name. And we want to speak well of what you have done on our behalf. The inheritance that you have planned for us astounds us. It should cause us to be brought in our minds to a place maybe that we’ve never been. Help us, Lord, even before we receive our inheritance in full, to live lives for you that are comparable to the things that You’ve done for us. Help us to live a life that is holy and undefiled. And its is your Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that we place our hope today. For there’s no other way that we can be saved if you didn’t take care of all things for us. So Lord we want to humble ourselves today under Your mighty hand. Because Lord, we know that we’re not home yet. And trials may come into our lives that we didn’t plan for and didn’t expect. Lord, help us to have this mind. So that when they do come, these are the things that we can think about. Because Lord, you will bring to pass everything that is said in the Scripture. And Lord, these things are ours today. We have them by faith. Someday we’ll have them by sight. So thank you, Lord. Continue to bless us with a mind that is transformed by Scripture. I pray this in your name, Amen.