1 Peter 1:1-5

- Peter was not born a great apostle.

- Jesus chose Peter because God delights in transforming ordinary people.

- The Kingdom of God has never been built primarily by extraordinary people.

- It has always been built by ordinary people surrendered to an extraordinary God.

1 Peter 1:1

Acts 8:1–4

- Peter’s message is not “escape, give up, or compromise.” His message is “Hope.”

- One of the greatest mistakes Christians make is confusing hope with optimism.

- Optimism says: “Maybe things will get better.” Hope says: “God is faithful no matter what happens.”

- Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. Biblical hope is confidence in the character of God.

Because I belong to Jesus, I can live with confidence every day.

1 John 5:11–13

KNOW.

It’s not just about heaven someday, it’s about confidence today.

JESUS IS THE FOUNDATION OF MY ASSURANCE

Lyric: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

John 10:28

Romans 8:16

Your assurance is not based on how tightly you hold onto Jesus. It is based on how tightly Jesus holds onto you.

Heir of salvation: You belong to God’s family now. You have been given an inheritance.

Purchase of God: Jesus paid for you with His life.

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood: You are forgiven and made new

YOUR STORY SHOULD TURN INTO WORSHIP

Lyric: This is my story, this is my song

Psalms 107:2

What matters to you comes out of you.

SURRENDER LEADS TO JOY, NOT LOSS

Lyric: Perfect submission, perfect delight

Galatians 2:20

Matthew 16:25

Perfect submission leads to perfect delight.

Joy is not found in controlling your life. Joy is found in trusting Jesus with your life.

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight: When you follow Jesus, your perspective changes.

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love: You begin noticing God’s grace everywhere.

Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my savior am happy and blest: Peace comes from trusting Jesus, not controlling life.

Watching and waiting, looking above: You begin living with eternity in mind.

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love: Worship stops becoming forced. It becomes natural.

The story of the Bible is the story of God’s heart to dwell with people.

Pentecost marks a major change in the way God dwells with His people.

Exodus 31:1–11

1. Babel – People Arrogantly Climb Higher

Genesis 11. Humanity gathers on the plains of Shinar at Babel.

They say: “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower…”

Notice the language: “Let us make a name for ourselves.”

Babel is humanity united without God.

2. SINAI: People Tremble As God Comes Down

Exodus 19. God descends at Sinai.

At Babel: people arrogantly ascend upward.

At Sinai: people tremble as God descends downward.

God desires not merely to rule His people but to dwell with them.

BEZALEL

Exodus 31. God says: “I have filled him with the Spirit of God…”

The Spirit of God empowers people to create spaces where the presence of God dwells.

Talent without holiness creates idols.

Biblically: anointing is divine empowerment for divine assignment.

3. Mount Carmel: Holy Fire Falls on An Altar

1 Kings 18. Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal.

False gods produce exhaustion but no fire.

True God answers by fire.

We are living in a generation obsessed with hype but starving for holy fire.

4. Pentecost: Holy Fire Falls on People

Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost reverses Babel.

The fire keeps moving closer.

5. Revelation: FIRE FOREVER

What is revealed? No temple. No veil. No separation. No distance.

Revelation says: there is no need for sun because the glory of God gives light.

The fire of God never goes out.

What are you building?

- A tower for yourself?

- A dwelling place for God?

The gospel says: you do not climb to God.

God came down through Jesus Christ.

Pastor James John speaks on Philippians 3:10.

Exodus 1:15-22

Exodus 2:1-10

God’s redemptive plan moves forward because a handful of women decided children mattered.

One of the most powerful lines in the Old Testament: “But the midwives feared God…”

God used all of them in ways they could not fully understand simply by loving children and protecting their little lives.

1. Motherhood Is Kingdom Work, Not Lesser Work

The most important thing happening in Egypt was not inside Pharaoh’s palace.

It was inside Hebrew homes.

2. Mothers Shape the Spiritual Atmosphere of a Home

The question is not: “Will my kids be discipled?” The question is: “By whom?”

3. Motherhood Requires Courage and Sacrifice

Motherhood is loving someone enough to continually release them into God’s hands.

4. The Culture Often Undervalues Mothers — But God Does Not

The Kingdom of God has always advanced through ordinary people doing faithful things for a very long time.

5. Parenting Is Spiritual Warfare

The enemy always targets generations. You are not just raising children. You are raising image bearers.

6. Spiritual Mothers Matter Too

Some women have never physically given birth, yet they have spiritually mothered dozens.

7. Jesus Is the Greater Deliverer

Unlike Moses, Jesus would not merely deliver people from slavery to Pharaoh.

He would deliver us from slavery to sin.

Abner’s story is tragic because he is almost a true here

2 Samuel 3:1

- What long war do you find yourself in the midst of today?

2 Samuel 3:6-11

- Abner is fully aware of the Lord’s desire for David to be king

God is not at work DESPITE these messy circumstances, He is at work THROUGH these messy circumstances.

Romans 6:1-2

- “The fact that God works through messy circumstances is not to induce us to tolerate the chaos that we create in our lives, it is so that we recognize the grace of God in the midst of the chaos that has ensued in our lives.”

- Alistair Begg

2 Samuel 3:12

- David will not force his kingship, he waits to be invited.

“Abner only quotes scripture when it supports a pro-Abner move” - Dale Ralph Davis

2 Samuel 3:12

2 Samuel 3:17-21

5 character traits of Abner that The Lord used to position to make David King.

1. Loyal - He was loyal to serve the house of Saul

2. Strong - He was a strong warrior and a good fighter

3. Charismatic - He could easily rally people together and gain influence

4. Clever - He uses the right phrases at the right time with the right people

5. Ambitious - He has goals and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve them

There is a difference between believing and living

3 John 1-8

Gaius: Faithful

Faithfulness is not flashy, but in the Kingdom of God, faithfulness is fruitful.

Seven Characteristics of Gaius

1. He walks in the truth.

2. He is beloved.

3. He has a healthy soul.

4. He is faithful in ordinary things.

5. He practices costly hospitality.

6. He partners with gospel mission.

7. He serves without needing to be first.

3 John 9-11

Diotrephes: Overbearing

Diotrephes “likes to put himself first.” That is the disease. Everything else is a symptom.

Seven Characteristics of Diotrephes

1. He loves preeminence.

2. He rejects legitimate authority.

3. He uses words as weapons.

4. He refuses fellowship.

5. He punishes those who do right.

6. He confuses control with leadership.

7. He is a negative example to be resisted, not imitated.

3 John 11-12

Demetrius: Good Testimony

Demetrius has what every Christian should want: not fame, not hype, not platform — testimony.

Seven Characteristics of Demetrius

1. He has a good reputation.

2. He has been tested by community.

3. He is aligned with the truth.

4. He is affirmed by mature leaders.

5. He does not need to self-promote.

6. He is safe to commend.

7. He embodies the good John says to imitate.

The “We” Passages: Our Shared Responsibility

3 John 8, 12 

“We ought to support people like these.”

- Mission is not optional. When faithful gospel workers go, faithful churches send.

- You can be a fellow worker for the truth by supporting the work of truth.

“That we may be fellow workers for the truth.”

- The person preaching and the person supporting the preaching are both participating in

the work.

- No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

“We also add our testimony.”

- Healthy Christians do not only critique what is bad. They commend what is good.

- A healthy church must have the courage to confront what is evil and the joy to celebrate

what is good.

3 John 13-15

“We will talk face to face.”

- “Face to face” is the language of healthy relationship.

- “By name” – they know and are known. Love and are loved, celebrate and are celebrated.

God often brings salvation through unexpected weakness so that his people will trust his grace, not their strength.

Judges 3:1-4

Judges 3:12-14

1. Sometimes, God leaves battles in our lives on purpose.

Some of us want a Christian life with no battle.

God wants a Christian life with trust in the battle.

Judges 3:15-23

Judges 3:24-25

Judges 3:26-30

2. God raises unlikely saviors because he loves to shame human pride.

God loves to overthrow human arrogance through unlikely instruments.

God chooses the kind of savior that makes everybody say, “That had to be God.”

3. The Bible often moves from visible strength to surprising weakness, and it all points to Jesus.

God sent a poor Jewish rabbi from a nowhere town, with no home, no army, no political office, and eventually a cross on his back - that is your Savior.

Christianity is this: God saves through weakness - that is why the gospel offends proud people.

4. Every human being is trying to save themselves, but salvation only comes as a gift.

Religious people try to save themselves through morality. “If I am good enough, pure enough, faithful enough, disciplined enough, then God will accept me.”

Irreligious people do the same thing with different tools. “If I am successful enough, attractive enough, loved enough, wealthy enough, important enough, then I will know that my life matters.”

What keeps many people from salvation? Not their weakness, their strength.

5. God laughs at arrogant evil, so his people do not have to live in fear.

That the gospel remains should do two things in us:

First, it should give us courage. Second, it should soften us into compassion.

6. One day God will make our bitterest stories laughable.

The oppression in Judges was real; yet, later, the people tell the story with laughter.

God can redeem suffering so fully that one day his people will tell the story without tears.

For those who belong to Christ, sorrow does not get the last word.

7. In God’s kingdom, availability matters more than ability.

That does not mean gifts do not matter. It means gifts are not ultimate.

Ordinary Christians obeying God in ordinary moments with extraordinary dependence – that’s how things move forward.

God takes weak acts of obedience and fills them with his power.

1. Grace goes looking :: David seeks someone to bless.

2 Samuel 9:1–3

2. Grace chooses the unlikely :: Mephibosheth is broken, ashamed, and helpless.

2 Samuel 9:3–6

3. Grace replaces fear with kindness :: He expects judgment, but receives covenantal mercy.

2 Samuel 9:6–8

4. Grace brings us near :: He is restored and seated at the king’s table.

2 Samuel 9:9–13

5. Grace tells our story :: We were Mephibosheth, and Christ brought us near.

Ephesians 2:12-13, 19-21

Romans 5:6-11

6. Grace changes how we live :: Those who believe the gospel become like the gospel.

You do not produce gospel fruit by raw willpower. You produce gospel fruit by deepening awareness of gospel grace.

7. Grace must overflow somewhere :: Who is your Mephibosheth?

Do for the one what you wish you could do for the many.

Matthew 28:1-10

1. That stone preaches that a door has been removed.

The stone used to say, “Death wins.” Now the missing stone says, “Death has been invaded.”

Romans 5:18-19

Ephesians 2:13-14

2. That stone preaches that a trophy is displayed.

The stone is a monument in broad daylight saying, “The King has won.” Satan lost. Sin lost. Death lost. Hell lost.

The stone is no longer guarding Christ’s body. It is now advertising Christ’s triumph.

1 Corinthians 15:55–57

3. That stone preaches that a foundation is laid.

The stone that once sealed a grave becomes the stone beneath your feet. You can build here. This ground will hold. This gospel is true.

Christianity does not stand on vibes, tradition, or positive thinking. It stands on an empty tomb.

1 Corinthians 15:14–20

4. That stone preaches that rest is provided.

The stone has become a seat. A place of rest. A symbol that the work is finished.

Religion says, “Do more.” Jesus says, “Done… It is finished.”

Hebrews 10:12–14

5. That stone preaches that a boundary is marked.

The stone as a dividing line. Same stone. Same tomb. Same Jesus. Totally different reality.

The empty tomb does not allow permanent neutrality.

1 Peter 2:7–8

6. That stone preaches that evil is defeated.

1 John 3:8 …The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

The stone rolling away is the beginning of the end for the kingdom of darkness.

The resurrection is heaven’s declaration that Satan’s empire has been breached.

The rolled-away stone is like the first fallen brick in a doomed fortress. The wall is coming down.

The Bible says Jesus Himself is a stone in one of two ways for every person in this room.

1. He is either the Cornerstone…

A cornerstone is what the whole building lines up with. It sets the angle. It bears the weight. It determines what is true, straight, and lasting.

You do not add Jesus to your life as a religious accessory. You rebuild your life on Him.

1 Peter 2:4–8

2. Or, He is the stumbling stone.

If you will not build on Jesus, you will trip over Jesus. Rejecting Jesus does not remove Him. It only guarantees collision with Him.

The stone you refuse to build on becomes the stone you break against.

Romans 9:32–33

Jesus Christ is alive. Right now, He offers salvation, forgiveness, cleansing, adoption, eternal life, and a new beginning to anyone who will repent and believe.

If you are waiting until you get your life together, you do not understand the gospel. You come to Jesus because your life is not together.