[0:00] So take your Bibles, go into the book of 2 Peter. Those who put it on the sign already knew, so they had it up there. And they were a little bit ahead of the game. I was in conversation with Brother Jamie, talking about it Wednesday night.
[0:12] And then I heard him say, hey, go put that on. Usually I try to keep those things to myself so nobody knows, but that's okay. But no, it's good. I'd let him know where we're going to be. So we'll be in the book of 2 Peter.
[0:24] We have preached from this text, but we've never preached through the entirety of this text. As is often the case when we do this, this will be your pastor's first time of preaching entirely through 2 Peter.
[0:36] I've preached in the past 20 years from the text of 2 Peter, but never through the text. In 2018, we preached through 1 Peter. Some of you say, oh, yeah, I remember that.
[0:47] Some of you say, I have no idea. We've seen a lot since then. But in 2018, we preached through the text of 1 Peter. Thankfully, you do not have to remember it, for we have great guys who do audio and visual.
[0:59] And so there's great IT personnel here. You can go find those sermons, and you can, if you so choose, listen to them again. And it would be very becoming to do so because 2 Peter is written to the same group of people that 1 Peter was written to.
[1:13] He alludes to that reality that he is writing to them once again. So we do not have to take time to kind of lay the groundwork and the foundation of the recipients of this letter. We do not have to take a lot of time to see where they're at.
[1:25] But I will tell you this in introduction purposes, that they are Gentiles. They are non-Jewish. They are scattered abroad. We can see that from 1 Peter verses 1 and 2. We can see it very quickly.
[1:36] And it's the same intended audience. And we need to know that. We need to have that understanding, especially as we open up this book. But we will not take a lot of time to kind of divulge into that.
[1:47] I will tell you that 2 Peter is written for the purpose of, and I love the fact. Do not coordinate with the song minister. Do not coordinate with all that. I love the reality of this. It says his truth will forever reign.
[1:58] Thank you so much for that line. And he is exalted. For 2 Peter is written to prepare the congregation of God's people to refute and resist false teachers and false doctrine.
[2:10] It is written for the purpose of exalting the truth. That they may hold on to the truth and they may be prepared. The majority of the text itself speaks of false teachers. And it speaks of the reality of those that were already present and those that were indeed coming.
[2:25] And Peter is preparing, yet near the end of his life, he says, that they may be able to resist. And to be able to resist, they need to know the truth. They need to know the weight of the truth and the reality of the truth.
[2:38] And that is what he introduces for us. So if you're physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me. As we stand together, I'll give you a moment. For my text is very brief this morning. And if I read it quickly, some of you will not be standing by the time I read it.
[2:51] So if you're physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we read the word of God? Just one verse. 2 Peter 1, verse 1. The word of God says, Let's pray.
[3:16] Father, we thank you for this day. Lord Jesus, we do exalt you. We ask that you be magnified in our presence. And Lord, by the power and presence and the movement of the Holy Spirit, that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to comprehend, and hearts longing to apply the truth which is recorded in your word.
[3:37] Father, may we see it as it is, the true word of God. And may it penetrate to the very depths of our being, removing any distraction, any hindrance, anything that would long to capture our attention.
[3:50] May you be the focus of our minds and hearts. And Lord, may we exalt you through our understanding of your word and our living out and applying it to our daily activities.
[4:00] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. As Peter introduces this second letter, he does so in a very intentional manner.
[4:14] And he does so very quickly. The introduction to the first letter, found in 1 Peter, verses 1 and 2, the first chapter, add a little bit more detail.
[4:26] There are some matters which we can build to there. He is writing to the saints. We understand here in this letter, he is writing to the saints. He is introducing the family once again to one another. He is acquainting them with the reality of who they are, acquainting them with the knowledge of whose they are, and preparing them for the attacks that will surely come against them.
[4:49] Just yesterday, we gathered with a portion of Carrie's family for a family reunion and reminded how families are often connected together, though you may not know each one. And I was reminded that several years ago now, we went to a family gathering of my own family that was not in this state.
[5:06] It was actually up in Indiana, which is where my dad is from. And we were gathered together with all the calverts. And many of them I did not know. Some of them I knew briefly from where I was very young.
[5:17] But we were sitting around the room, and there are men in this room varying ages. At that time, I was still probably in my mid-20s. And it was going all the way around until mid-90s.
[5:27] And there were just varying groups of men gathered around. And Carrie kind of nudged me. And she looked at me. She said, I have an idea what you're going to look like at every age of your life. And I said, why?
[5:38] She said, because every one of you Calvert men are standing the same, and you look the same. And I can just look down the line and say, there's my husband aging. And I said, well, at least you know what you got. Right? So if you go home with me, now you know.
[5:50] But it is astounding, right? It is the family of which you belong, the attributes which you carry, the genes we say that run so strong. In the family of God, it is not necessarily a genetic pool that ties us all together, but it is a heritage.
[6:05] It is an understanding of who we are that helps us to establish where we stand in this truth and to resist false doctrine, false teachers, which inevitably will arise. They were already present when Peter wrote this letter very early in church history.
[6:20] And he speaks of the reality that they were there, but more were coming. And they are equally and more actively present even in today's time, that much harm and much debate has been a result of much false doctrine and false teaching.
[6:34] And doctrine is absolutely important. We can vary on minor issues. We talk about that quite often here. There are big rocks and small rocks. There are small rock issues which we do not have to agree completely upon.
[6:46] But there are major rock, big rock issues which we must adhere to, for they are foundational not only for salvation but for eternity. When we come to points of disagreement on small rock issues, hopefully it would be that which would cause us to investigate and to search out our own salvation and to know the reality of what we believe.
[7:04] I have been intentional over the years not to always surround myself with people who are just like me, who think just like me, who write just like me, or who have the same doctrinal points of view on the small rock issues as I do, for it challenges me to think through the realities of do I really believe what I proclaim I believe.
[7:22] If I believe it because it's the only thing that I've ever been around, then I really do not believe it. I've just been convinced of it. But if I'm convicted of a reality that I have forged out and worked out in my own study of Scripture, even in contradiction to what others may teach, now I have a conviction that grips me to the very depth of my being.
[7:41] And now that is something that I can say I'm not convinced of, but that I believe with all of my heart and I'm willing to stand upon it. Peter is doing that for the early believers here. He is wanting to establish them so that they can stand in the confidence of their faith, that they can be assured of the reality of who they are and whose they are.
[8:01] And he does so in a very intentional manner. He introduces himself to them once again, and as is often the case with many letters, he introduces who he is and who they are, and that there is a connection.
[8:14] It is from this letter that we will find, again, the affirmation of the Scripture and the attestation to the reality that Paul is being moved of the Spirit of God to write the Word of God.
[8:26] And we see here that the Word of God, even from our own portion of the Bible that we are looking at, that is 2 Peter, testifies that we must pay attention to the wording and the intentionality of it.
[8:37] That is why we can look at this first verse and say that it has such great truths that it declares to us. Peter, in his introduction, begins to speak of the position that is held by each and every believer.
[8:50] And if we're not careful, we would read over it, for we're so familiar with it in Scripture that we fail to acknowledge the position which Peter is writing from and therefore is introducing the family to one another that they also stand therein.
[9:04] The Word of God says, Simon Peter, the original language is probably Simeon Peter, which we get a connection found to Simeon, which is, again, the Hebrew name of Peter, and it is a connection to the authenticity of the text that we have.
[9:19] But it is Simon Peter, but notice how he describes himself. I mean, how would you describe Peter? We often describe him as the one who got out of the boat and walked on the water, at least for a couple of steps until he looked down.
[9:30] Or maybe we can describe him as the only guy who had a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane. At least if he didn't have it when he got there, he got it when Malchus got there, for he cut Malchus' ear off with it. We can describe him as the man who was restored and there was all this boldness and all these things.
[9:45] But yet here is Peter describing his own position which he holds. Some describe him as the head of the church, the first pope, if you will, the head of the Catholic church, the foundation.
[9:58] Some have described it as the stone. We have reason to disbelieve that and say that it is the rock of Christ in which the church is built. But notice how Peter describes himself.
[10:10] He says, Simon Peter, a bondservant, the word literally is slave there. We don't often use that in our English language for the word slave brings up this connotation of southern slavery that was so abominable in the early American heritage.
[10:26] And we see it not for what it really is, the willingness of subjecting oneself to the servitude of another. And so we try to soften that with the word bondservant. But bondservant implies that I'm your servant as long as you give me something else.
[10:38] And slave just means I'm giving myself to you. So the literal wording is slave. New American standards renders it bondservant. A slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.
[10:53] This twofold position which Peter declares he holds and in reality the twofold position that every believer holds. And it is first that they are a slave of Christ and then they are also the apostle of Christ.
[11:08] Now this is important for we are to resist false teachers and those who come in in sheep's clothing longing to lead us away. If we do not emphatically believe that we absolutely belong to another, then we may connect ourselves to someone and allow them to lead us astray.
[11:29] Scripture makes it clear. You have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ. Redemption is the word picture of being bought off of the auction block. Somebody bought you for you are a slave up for auction and you were purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ.
[11:45] Now people kind of revolt against that. They say, well, I've never been a slave to anything. I'm not a slave at all. And Jesus says, well, you absolutely are. You're either a slave to Satan or you're a slave to God. You say, well, I've never been.
[11:56] I am the captain of my own ship. I do what I want to do. Well, it is astounding for the very thing you want to do is the same thing Satan wants you to do. And you're doing it maybe contrary to your knowing that you're doing exactly what he wants you to do, but he holds you captive to do his will.
[12:11] And his will is to resist the holiness and the purposes and the plans of God. And it's to revolt against the righteous standard of God. And each one of us are led astray by our own desires and our own sinful passions.
[12:22] And those desires and sinful passions are put within us by the one who rules over us. But there was a day when we were put on the auction block and we were redeemed. And being redeemed, we belong absolutely to another.
[12:36] And he bought us not with silver and gold, but with the blood of the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. And being redeemed, we are then his slaves.
[12:47] Now, he's a great master. He's a great ruler. He is a great lord. He is not one to be pulling back from or to be fearful of.
[12:57] We ought to fear the Lord God and his holiness and righteousness, but that is to have a reverence for the reality of who he is. He is not a slave owner, as we would portray it in America, but we are definitely his slave.
[13:11] And it is that truth that is so often misapplied or even missed out on completely that leads us to connect to someone else. Listen, my friend, you belong in Christ to another.
[13:24] You are not your own master. In Christ, you have been redeemed. In Christ, you are his possession. And in Christ, he is jealous over you.
[13:36] If you know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, he is absolutely jealous over you. I do free marriage counseling with couples. I'll have some this afternoon.
[13:47] And there is one thing that I always tell couples. Friend, listen, jealousy is not a bad thing. Jealousy misguided is a bad thing, but the word of God tells us, for our Lord our God is a consuming fire.
[13:59] He is a jealous God. And I tell wives, you ought to be jealous over your husbands. And I tell husbands, you ought to be jealous over your wives. Don't let anyone capture their heart.
[14:10] Don't let anyone capture their attention. Let anything come between you and them. Be jealous with a righteous jealousy over them, for God is jealous over his children. And the first reality we need to understand is that we are the slaves of Christ.
[14:26] He owns us. We belong to him. And then he sends us, for we are his apostles. Friend, I want to ask you something. To be an apostle means to be the sent out one.
[14:37] No, I'm not here propounding the apostolic office that you hold the office of apostles, but you are sent from. The great commission is the sending out of the believers of Jesus Christ, right?
[14:47] You have been sent from him. You would never be sent out from one you do not first belong to. Too often we want to be sent from him rather than giving him ownership of us.
[15:00] If you are sent as an ambassador to a foreign country as a representative of your native country, it is because, first of all, you belong to that country which you would represent in a foreign land.
[15:11] We cannot be sent out from the one we do not belong to. Understand your position. Because until we understand our position, we will not be able to stand in the truth and resist false teaching.
[15:26] We are his slaves who have been sent out from him to do his bidding. Peter says, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, and what a glorious position it is.
[15:40] And it is a glorious position because of how precious the faith we have inherited is. Notice it. Look at the precious nature of our faith. He says, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.
[15:59] Do you notice this? To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. This is Peter who is writing this letter to whom Jesus says, Peter, I've prayed for you that after Satan has sifted you, you would be able to restore them being the other apostles.
[16:26] Peter, you're going to deny me. You're all going to deny me. Essentially, before the garden, Jesus says, Y'all are going to deny me, but Peter, I've prayed for you so that when you are restored, you can restore them. And it is something that we see played out for us at the end of the Gospel of John where Jesus pulls Peter aside, asking three times, Peter, do you love me?
[16:43] And he's restoring Peter. And why is he restoring Peter? So that Peter could restore the rest of them. So that Peter, who had the keys to unlock, right, he went into Cornelius' home and he opened every movement.
[16:54] He preached the Pentecost sermon. So when we read the Gospel, or the Book of Acts, we see that every time the Gospel was going forward into a new region, it was Peter, it was Peter, it was Peter. So that when we stand up to the first church council found in Acts 15, it is Peter who says that the faith that they received over there is the same faith that we received over here.
[17:12] And then he writes this letter and he says, to those who have received the same kind of faith as ours. And he's writing to Gentiles.
[17:26] And he's writing to Gentiles who probably are still in the midst of Jewish persecution and uncertainty and kind of separation within the church. And it's this kind of weird time in church history where the Gentile church is outgrowing the Jewish church and there's kind of this turmoil that's going on.
[17:43] You can kind of read about it in Acts 15. And there's all these disruptions. And now we have Peter who's the bridge builder, right? He's the guy who is a Jew. Well, you say, well, Paul was a Jew. Well, sure, Paul was a Jew.
[17:53] But Paul, you know, also killed churches. You remember all that other stuff. And, you know, he didn't necessarily have the highest background among all those people. But anyway, you got Peter who was here, who's with Christ and walking.
[18:04] And Peter is preaching the Pentecost sermon. And Peter is in Cornelius' home. And everywhere the church goes, it's Peter unlocking the door. And Peter is seeing the Holy Spirit moving with power and all the testimonial signs that Christ has said there.
[18:16] And Peter is here affirming this reality that the faith of the Gentiles is the same as the faith of the Jews. But more than that is there is no diminishment in the quality of it among differing people.
[18:34] And he doesn't say that just because you're not an apostle doesn't mean, it does not imply your faith is a little lesser grade than mine. This is why I say you have to be careful about exalting any individual.
[18:46] And just for the record, Peter is an individual. I mean, Scripture testifies to that, right? It is funny that man has exalted him more than the others, but yet we have more fallacies of his portrayed and proclaimed in Scripture more than many of the others.
[19:01] And we are reminded of the reality that God uses this imperfect individual and put him in a magnificent position and used him astoundingly. But what he is saying is, he's like, it's not like I'm any better than you.
[19:14] For you have the same kind of faith as I do. And so Peter walked on water. Yeah.
[19:25] And he looked down. He messed up. His humanity shone through. But the shadow of Peter would pass over people and they were healed, right? Yeah, because Christ is moving in him.
[19:37] And what Peter is saying is the same Jesus working in me is the same Jesus working in you. And it's not like there's a degradation or a downgrade of faith is it passes on to other people.
[19:48] It is of the same kind. That implies the same quality, the same standard, the same reality. And we need to see how precious it is. I love the fact that Bible tells us the story.
[20:00] Scripture tells us the story over and over again of real people. People with real problems, real mess ups, real mistakes. And yet God uses them in a mighty way. You know why I like that? It's because I find myself in there.
[20:12] I said, well that's me. I so would have cut Malchus' ear off. I mean I would have. I'm that guy. And that's not something bragging about, right?
[20:24] I'm the one who thought, I can take care of this. When I only have one sword. And Jesus said, don't. I'm that guy. And then at times I so would have been Thomas who said, unless I see and put my hands in there, I'm not believing.
[20:38] I would have been that guy too. At times I've been Andrew who didn't know the answers but I could take you to someone who did know the answers. Here let me introduce you to Jesus. I don't know where to take you but here I can take you somewhere.
[20:50] I mean we've all been those people. And the reality that we find is that it is the same kind of faith as theirs. And what we read in scripture is not like, wow that's what the super saints do.
[21:05] No we say that's what God does in a supernatural way. with the saints. And those who know Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior are saints.
[21:16] You are saints positionally even if you are not saints practically. I'm reminded of that over and over again. 1 Corinthians opens and Paul writes to the saints which are at Corinth and then he tells us everything those saints are doing.
[21:29] And these are not people we would call saints. Right? Guys that are having their dads, wives as their wife. That's not a saint in our eyes but Christ, I mean Paul refers to them as a saint. Right? And he said he handed that one over to Satan right for the destruction of his flesh and the preservation of his soul.
[21:44] Right? He didn't do it so that he would be cast into hell. He did it so that he would preserve his soul for he is a saint who is positionally a saint but practically living like a rebellion. And over and over again we see this reality but to the saints God does magnificent and wonderful thing for the precious nature of the faith is not rooted in who we are but it is rooted in who he is.
[22:08] And we see that even in our text for our position is greatly upheld by the provisions which ensure it.
[22:20] Notice the provision. How can we have such a precious faith? How can we have a faith like theirs? because it says in the text by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
[22:42] Your faith in Christ is not precious because of who you are. Not because of what you have done. It is as he says by the righteousness of another one.
[22:54] It tells us in 1 Peter verses chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 he says to the saints that are scattered abroad throughout Cappadocia Asia and naming all these lists to those who have been chosen to those who are being sanctified and to those who have been cleansed.
[23:17] And all those adjectives imply the passive activity of the one who is having it done to them. You do not choose yourself but in Christ you are chosen by the king.
[23:32] We are very passive in salvation. We do not try to reconcile the reality that yes there is human will involved in the activity of God but God even overrules human will that is he is sovereign over all.
[23:49] We do not sanctify ourselves but we are sanctified by another we are not cleansed through our own actions but we are cleansed by another and we have this reality it says that you have received a faith of the same kind by the righteousness of another.
[24:10] It is not your own righteousness for as Paul would say all of our righteousness is like filthy rags. there is nothing that we could do that it would be good enough nor pure enough nor perfect enough to ever earn our salvation.
[24:28] All of us every heart of man is wicked even the good fall desperately short of the holiness of God. The heart of every man is black we understand that and if we are separated by God through our sins and our activities then how could we ever reconcile ourselves to a holy God.
[24:47] You say well I would just cleanse myself up and I would do better. Well there is a whole portion of the Bible that is given to the study of that and found that man left as a failure.
[24:58] All you have to do is read the Old Testament and see that God says here is the standard see if you can do it. And you say oh well that was just some people wandering around in the wilderness. Well those were some people being set apart and God was doing some magnificent things in their lives and he was leading them by a pillar of fire by night and a coming out of rocks and manna was coming down from heaven and meat was flying in enough to feed them multiple days and the waters were parting and he was bringing them in and he was pushing people out and still in the matter of all that seeing these wondrous works of God even then they couldn't choose to do right.
[25:35] So who do we think we are? On our own righteousness we do not have the ability to do it. but the provision of our faith is by the righteousness of another.
[25:52] His righteousness that is the righteousness of Christ as Paul would say in Romans is imputed to us. It is laid upon us. His righteousness becomes our righteousness and his righteousness is not diminished over time for he is completely righteous he is completely holy he is completely perfect.
[26:13] And the righteousness that pronounced Peter clean is the same righteousness that pronounced you and I clean. It is the same one imputed to us for there is no end to the wellspring of Christ's righteousness.
[26:26] You say well pastor what does righteousness mean? It just means to be set apart for a holy service to be sanctified to be declared right in the sight of a holy God. That's all righteousness righteousness means is to be in a right standing before a holy God.
[26:43] And friend listen to me when Jesus Christ finished the work and he was laid in a borrowed tomb and on the third day he rose again after a number of days and calling up the saints and going into heaven it tells us that he sat down at the right hand of the father and when he sat down at the right hand of the father he was perfectly righteous that is he was right in the presence of God this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased right and he was right when he sat down and if he's been setting in the perfection of glory ever since then what in the world could ever make him less right in the presence of the one he sets at the right hand thereof he is in a right standing with God and it is his righteousness that is placed upon us that is the provision for the faith which we profess but yet the false teachers say if you do this this this and this then you'll be good or if you need to abstain from this food and that food and do all these other things and start adding all these you need to friend you do nothing I love the quote that Jonathan
[27:48] Edwards said at one time we bring nothing to our salvation but the sin that makes it necessary the only thing that we bring to salvation is the sin that requires the need for a savior and it is his righteousness that has brought it to be and if we bring nothing to it then yes we will work because of it but we're going to do anything to add to the quality thereof it is a precious faith because of the provision and it is a precious faith because of the provision and the person who did it notice the person by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ the original wording there is very intentional it is there are two descriptions given to one personality it is that Jesus is both
[29:03] God and savior it is a declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ and a profession of the humanity in which we need it it is a reality that is affirmed some caution and say well you cannot use this text because there is discussion historically among the church whether or not we're reading the Greek right and if it shouldn't be missing something else but I believe it is very clearly and has been attributed throughout the ages that the Greek construction implies that these two describe that one individual he is both God and savior and it is a descriptive of one personality who is Jesus Christ but even if you want to bring question into that reality the question is not about building a doctrine upon one verse for we dare not ever build any doctrine upon one verse we do not want to pull it out of context we do not want to pull it out of the truth that it is there but rather it is an affirmation of a biblical truth taught throughout the rest of scripture that Jesus
[30:09] Christ is fully God and fully man and he is the person that has brought about the reality and it is his righteousness that is provided for our salvation and as we see this we see the person in whom we trust it is not just a man who did it right but it is a man who is fully God and fully man this week I've got a wedding that I'll have to you know officiate a part of this coming weekend I don't know if you guys are aware of that I hope these ones on the front are aware of that and as I consider again the glory of marriage and you look back at the the root and the heritage of that beautiful thing called marriage I was astounded in my study of Genesis 2 where it says it is not good for the man to be alone it says it's not good for the man to be alone
[31:14] God did one of the most gracious things I've ever seen scripture you guys can plug your ears because you might hear it again later tonight one of the most gracious things God's ever did and that is he took every animal that had been formed from the ground and he brought them before man and man was naming it man was naming it man was naming it you say well that's kind of a cool thing to do but what God was doing so much more than letting Adam give names to the animals found a hell to him it was God who said it's not good for man to be alone Adam didn't even know he was alone Adam was in the garden Adam was in paradise Adam was walking with God in the cool of the day hanging out with the animal kingdom ruling thereof he did not even know he had a need it was God who realized the need it was God who Adam did not know he had a need but
[32:22] God said he has a need that he doesn't know of yet so I'm going to make him aware of his need and he made him aware of his need by bringing all the animals before him and as he named them Adam is like man everything has got to mate but me and now all of a sudden this need has been brought to he takes from Adam and you ever wonder why didn't God just make Eve from the dust of the ground for he made Adam from the dust of the ground you ever wondered that I'll get to that in just a minute it hit me this week it's so good so he took from the side of Adam in a more complicated fashion made a woman they are more complicated than us men!
[33:05] It says it he formed a man he took his time and made a woman that's the wording more complicated and that's a good place to say amen you can say it because scripture says it you can say that men because scripture affirms the reality to that amen thank you for the signs and he did it and he brought it to the man and says and that man says whoa this is woman for she is of my flesh she's what I needed you know Paul says in Ephesians 5 marriage has really not got anything to do about man and woman Paul says in Ephesians 5 I speak of a mystery this has to do with Christ and the church and you know what we find all the way back in the garden is that we have a need you and I have a need that we don't even know about we need redemption salvation forgiveness and we don't know it but God does and there comes a day we pushes all the joys of the world before our face and they parade in front of us and we name it and we say oh this is fun this is fun this is fun this is fun and we have a good time with it and then we look up and say but what am I supposed to do for I have a need I can't meet and God in his grace tells us about it and then he puts us to sleep and it has to be one of us it has to be from us for the wages of sin is death and man has to die so he takes one from us but it's a perfect one it's the last Adam and he is the perfect one who lives perfectly he is both God and man because he has to be from us because that's what we need notice the person in whom we trust you don't trust in yourself you dare not trust in another no matter how eloquent the speech may be or how flattering the appearances can be
[35:13] Peter is telling them it is our God and Savior Jesus Christ and heal them let's pray Father we thank you for this day we thank you for your faithfulness and your goodness towards us and we thank you for your word Father we know it challenges us and it moves us may we not resist the leading and movement of the word of God as it's fueled by the spirit of God may you mold and shape us to become more and more like you and may you be glorified through it all we ask it in Jesus name Amen Amen