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This when we look at the notices I’m excited about this year and I know we’re part way through January but I’m excited when I look at what this church is doing just together where we have the opportunity to just learn and be blessed together but not just us but people
Outside of us where we have the chance to bring others to it the first thing is we are doing an alpha plus now many of you here have done Alpha haven’t you who’s done Alpha that there’s lots of us have done Alpha but some here have written an
Alpha plus because sometimes we can do the alpha but we don’t we need more don’t we but we’re not quite ready to go on the next stage we need something that’s a bridge that we can walk over so we’re doing the alpha plus now if you want to know more about this it’s
Starting on Tuesday 7:30 till 9: here 5:30 till 7 Sorry Wrong Way Around whoa 7:30 is church time isn’t it weirdly yeah it’s Church o’clock I don’t know why but it is 5:30 till 7 here if you want to find out more about it then go and speak to Laura who’s over there
And waving at you go and speak to her also we are doing a week of prayer that’s coming up from the 11th of February to the 18th of February now if you are not on Church suite and you have struggled to sign up go and talk to
Laura who is sitting over there at the end of the service and she will help you be on Church Suite because if you want to find out what’s going on here if you want to sign up for this week of prayer that is incredibly exciting then you need to be on Church
Suite which is basically just where we send out an email to you you can sign up for stuff but you find out what’s going on here and you can say how you want to be contacted or not contacted at all but you’ll find out what’s going on
So at the end if you’re not on Church suite and I’m going to keep pushing this because you really need to see what’s going on here because it is so exciting go to Laura afterwards and she’ll put you on now if like me and techie stuff I
Love techie stuff but it also confuses me at the same time I love it but it confuses me and sometimes I just need somebody to just sit alongside me Laura today is that person to sit alongside you and put you on so go to her but the
Week of prayer is really exciting and we’re going to have lots of things that are happening that week and it also includes Ash Wednesday as well so it is a really really special week so those are the notices for today I’m excited about this week because when I think think about when I
Started the beginning of last year last January my hair was falling out in clumps I was wearing lots of headbands because basically my hair was just non-existent I start this year with hair that’s like what on Earth it’s happening to it and he’s cutting like all the time
Now I’m excited because I can see that God has taken me on a journey and I know that each one of you has been taken on a journey with God over the past year but that doesn’t finish and today we are starting our series second part of our series on Hope and
Identity we’re looking at one Peter and 2 Peter there are really exciting passages if you’re on a journey listen to the words today and see where God is going to take you this year but share it with each other if you are not in a village come talk to us so
You can share with others in a deeper way as well Villages are really important are places of smaller connection Ben would you like to come up and read today’s reading is from one Peter verses 1 to9 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to God’s select Exiles scattered throughout the provinces of pontis
Galatia capadia Asia and bethia who have been chosen according to the full knowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood Grace and peace to yours in abundance praise to be praise be to the
God God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great Mercy he has given us New Birth into a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade this inheritance is kept in heaven for
You who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time in all this you greatly Rejoice though now for little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of Trials these have come so that
So that the proven genuiness of your faith of Greater worth than gold which perishes even even though refined by fire may result in Praise Glory and Honor when Jesus Christ is revealed though you have not seen him you love him and even though you do not see him
Now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the end result of your faith the salvation of your souls this is the word of the Lord Matt’s preaching do you want to reach out your hands to him and should
We pray for him now when we reach out our hands all we’re doing is just saying we’re coming into agreement and we want to bless him for this Lord we thank you for Matt we pray that he pray that he speaks with a boldness and speaks your
Words and I pray that our hearts actually are ready to receive that boldness and that radicalness that comes only from you thank you Lord amen amen thank you so much uh yeah as Sam said my name’s Matt uh I’m the leader of the Minster and it’s a joy to be kicking off
This series uh looking at one and two Peto uh because things change in life don’t they I’m sure a lot of us will look back at last year and go oh things are radically different now than they were then and of course when we look back even further we’ve had the pandemic
And all sorts of things and life is radically different to how they were 5 years ago 10 years ago even 20 years ago for some of us and so this this uh this journey through one and two Peter is going to equip us to know how to deal
With some of life’s big questions but also to help us navigate how we how we deal with life here and now with all the things that are changing in our identities and in all that it means to follow Jesus as the world changes around us isn’t that great because we need to know
It uh let me encourage you if you haven’t heard enough from Tam about joining up to church Suite this is the way that we can kind of make sure that you are connected in with what’s going on and we’re connected with you and to make sure that you’ve got all the
Information you need to know about what it means to be part of tord Minster so if you’re not sure go and chat to Laura go and chat to Tam come and grab me at the end because we’d love to put you on it now uh a while ago I uh went along to
Visit a church and uh it’s a little bit nervous nerve-wracking isn’t it when you go and you go to a church for the first time you’re thinking oh what’s it going to be like maybe you’re thinking where am I going to park the car how am I going to
Get from the car to the church what’s it going to be like and then you kind of pluck up the courage and you get going and you arrive and then you go okay now I’ve got to step into the doors and when you step into the doors you go okay great
Uh there’s someone there that’s going to welcome me I hope and I’ll be shown to a seat and it’ll all be okay maybe they’ve got some coffee for me to drink Hallelujah and that’s the way it’s going to go and they’ll be nice to me does
Anyone else kind of think like that a little bit well I went to go and visit a church a while ago I won’t tell you what church it is uh but kind of arrived at church on a Sunday morning and there was this big barrier across the car park and
I think thought oh have I arrived at the the place where I’m meant to go and I thought okay well I’ll just kind of Park up on a side street and and walk in and uh and I I kind of arrived at the front doors to this church and uh they were
Open and I thought okay it’s going to be all right they’re here I’m in the right place it’s okay and the person who was standing at the door was like uh just go inside I thought okay I’ll just kind of go inside and it’ll all be all right and uh uh
Kind of sat down and uh someone came over to me and went you’re sat in my seat I went oh okay so I kind of politely got up I said oh I’m terribly sorry and went and sat down in another seat kind of a little bit further away and uh about two
Minutes later someone came up to me and went you’re in my seat I went oh okay so I got up and I went over and I and I sat down and uh a family came and sat down behind me and they went I’m so sorry my kids
Are going to make lots of noise and I went no that’s fine and they went really I said yeah you know kids are kids uh and then someone came and sat down next to me and went you’re in my seat but it’s okay and then um then the kids behind them started
Making noise and they turned around and the way sh and I went okay wow is this a church that I want to be part of is this a church that I want to go to because sometimes Christians are the most grumpy people in the universe anyone else attest to that if you don’t
Know about any gr grumpy Christians guess what you’re the grumpy Christian okay but you know there’s Grace here of course you know uh Christians can be really grumpy Christians can be miserable people they moan and they groan oh I can’t be doing with that sometimes we complain a
Lot sometimes we have the sense of entitlement of it’s okay I want that and I want that and I want you to do that for me and D D D D D and of course none of us here at tord Minster are like that but sometimes Christians can be grumpy and
Miserable and complain and do all those sorts of things but we should be people who are the most joyfill welcoming inclusive people that you can possibly imagine because there is so much joy to be had when we follow Jesus as we journey through 1 and two Peter we’re going to discover some of
This joy that can be had as we as we surrender Our Lives to Christ as we welcome the infilling of the Holy Spirit as we change to be more and more like Jesus by the holy spirit’s help as we follow him there is joy to be had and we
As the apprentices of Jesus should be filled with joy uh with this unexplicable joy that you know joy that comes that we just can’t explain where it’s from but we know that it must be from Jesus there’s joy there we could be facing some of life’s really huge difficulties
But deep down within us there’s joy and so we’re going to be unpacking some of that uh this morning if you’ve got Bibles then turn to one Peter it’s right towards the end of uh your Bible after James and after Hebrews and all of that it’s right towards the end uh and
We’re going to start in verse one and it says this Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ okay great Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ so what does that actually mean so we know that you know Pete he’s a great guy uh we know that he’s an apostle of Jesus
Christ which is really helpful but what does that mean as we as we dig deeper beneath it well GE uh Pete was an apprentice of Jesus with his brother Andrew and some of the other uh disciples they followed Jesus for three years and and Peter was one of the ones
Who followed Jesus for the longest he was a fisherman he was kind of just one of those people that that kind of knew everything uh that he was kind of one of those kind of we would describe him as a bit of a lad okay he was kind of bit
Edgy bit there he was a fisherman he kind of knew his craft and Jesus says to him Simon I’m going to make you a fisher of people and he gives him a new name he gives the Simon character a new name called Peter which means a rock and
Later on we see that Jesus says uh on this rock I will build my church and it’s a bit of a a bit of a play going on with the name Peter and the the rock that he’s going to build the church upon and of course we hear that he’s
Described here as an apostle now that’s a bit of a a tricky word for us to work out what that means but simply it means that he sent he’s sent from Jesus to somewhere else he was sent by Jesus to the world he was sent
By Jesus to those who are Jews and to Gentiles and to the whole world interestingly when he describes himself as an apostle it tells us more about Jesus than it does about Peter yes Peter was kind of the leader of the church in Jerusalem and kind of
Uh someone that all the other Christians kind of looked at as the person to go okay uh help us to navigate uh our way in a changing world but it tells us more about Jesus because Jesus is the one that sends him that sends him it’s a it’s it’s a
Military word for a commander sending the troops into battle and Jesus sends Pete into battle now people assume that Jesus kind of sent Peter to go and be Peter well that’s not quite true when we when we look down right into the depths of this he was sent to go and represent
Jesus just like you and I are sent you are sent into Telford you are sent to where you live you are sent into your workplace you are sent into your school you’re sent wherever you are sent to be a representative of Jesus to the people who are there you’ve got a
Badge which is not grumpy or miserable but filled with joy and people will see that as you tell them about Jesus so why is it so important important to know who wrote this bit on one and two Peter well uh it’s important to know because it’s
Trustworthy we know who Peter is we can see his successes and we can see his failures we can see where he got it all wrong he denied Jesus at his most crucial moments Pete hasn’t got it all right all the time but we can trust his words because
He Journeys through that he Journeys with Jesus for 3 years we can see his successes and his failures and we know that he’s got what’s best for us at heart and the best for the church that he leads at heart so it’s really important that we know that this is trustworthy and is
Sent to the people that it’s meant to get to and these people are are mainly scattered Jewish people around Asia Minor Greece and turkey Asia and bethia and galatia and capid doia and pontis Well Done Ben for reading all those names and these are the people who have
Been kind of separated out from Jerusalem and they’ve gone all around that part of the the Roman Empire uh because of famine because of other things and so Peter’s writing this letter to them saying hey this is how I want you to live in a changing
World and so hold on to it they would have known him and he would have known known some of them not all of them but some of them so so who are these people then and we see it in the second bit of verse one to God’s elect Exile scattered
Throughout the provinces of pontis galatia capid doia Asia bethenia who have been chosen according to the forn knowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood okay strap yourselves in we’re going to
Go on a bit of a roller coaster ride okay so here we go yes they are chosen by Christ they were probably mainly Jews which is why we see that word chosen who have been kind of dispersed across all that area uh now interestingly that the Christians who
May have been dispersed across these areas of the Roman Empire almost kind of 200 years later uh the Christians made up most of the Roman Empire at that time by the time of Constantine we know that pretty much uh around 300 uh ad most of the the Roman Empire about
51% uh were Christians but in this area of the country it was higher most of the people who were going to be in these areas were Christians interestingly interesting isn’t it these people who were chosen they had been fled because of Exiles they had been dispersed around that area
All of a sudden as the one Apprentice shares the Faith with another who shares a Faith with another who shares their face with another now represents most of the people in that area they were chosen they were chosen by by Christ it tells us wow okay chosen well what do we
Think if these people were mostly Jewish people and they hear the word chosen they must be thinking okay well well does that mean it’s part of my Heritage as a Jewish person to then kind of be be be included in God’s family yes does it mean that I’m also chosen by
By God dying on a cross for me yes does it mean that I’m chosen by the infilling of the spirit as I came to trust in Jesus yes all of those things see for us as mainly gentile people here in the UK we will see Chosen and we’ll think Ah that’s
Me but for a Jewish reader they would have thought ah he knows my Heritage he knows everything about me he knows my family he knows our story guess what friends Jesus knows your story Jesus knows your family Jesus knows where you’ve come from and where you’re going to and still chooses us
Isn’t that amazing whatever you’ve done whatever you’re going to do your highs and your lows your successes and your failures he still chooses you that’s something to be exciting exced about isn’t it it’s something that we don’t need to be grumpy about isn’t it it’s something that we can go
Yes I can be at peace I can bring hope and joy to a broken world because God knows who I am and interestingly it says chosen there but it also says uh whove been chosen according to the forn knowledge of God the Father wow he’s chosen us and he’s forn us now
Some of us who are kind of theologically minded will go oh okay oh here’s a predestination moment it’s a predestination moment I I know that by the grace of God I’ve been chosen not by works but by grace that was being given to Jesus yes that’s
True that is so true there is nothing we can do but know the love of God but interestingly here uh and that we knew that God would choose us but interestingly here the Greek word here and it’s only used one else and that’s uh in Acts the Greek
Word here for this for knowledge isn’t that kind of predestination word that we might think of it’s the word prognosis prognosis now some of us might be instantly going ah I’ve heard that before prognosis and it’s that kind of uh they know the the root of something when we
Go to the doctor and they give us some bad news they say oh the prognosis might not be so great that’s the context that we might have heard that word but interesting is God knows what the ending is going to be he knows what the Journey
To the End is going to be isn’t that amazing that God has chosen us and he’s forn us he’s known our prognosis from day one he’s known where we’re going he knows the end point and because of that we can have hope we can have joy it
Means that when we do face some of the difficult things in life when we facing cancers and we’re facing difficult medical things when we’re facing jobs going up and down and we don’t know what’s going on Jesus knows the prog knows this he knows the end point and he
Knows the journey that we’re going to go and it’s secure in him and I’m aware I’ve got to speed up because we’re only uh one and a half verses in okay let’s keep on going let’s keep on going it gives us grounds for praise and celebration now I know you know so many
Of us as Christians we are are maybe in this this room more of the kind of like yippe God’s good let’s have fun let’s bring joy but most of the Christians around the UK are the miserable lot I’m just putting it out there but but because of that because he knows
Us because he Sanctified Us by the work of the spirit he has sprinkled us with his blood we can have joy we can praise and it says the next word right there praise be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great Mercy he’s given us
New Birth into a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade that’s exciting we can have joy because our inheritance isn’t something that’s in a bank and we see the markets going up and down like this
It’ll never spoil or fade because it’s on Jesus it’s not on us it’s on Jesus it’s not on us isn’t that good isn’t that good news I promise if you if you went okay you know what I’m going to put an investment on Matt’s life to see that
You know he’s going to be one of those people guess what I’d love to tell you it’s all going to be great you’ve got a Sound Investment guess what you don’t you really don’t see because us as human beings we fail we get things wrong we do things
Terribly we don’t we’re not wise we’re not this which is why we need to kind of ask God daily for wisdom and for an infilling of the spirit but if it’s on Jesus guess what our investment is secure we get to have an inheritance that doesn’t spoil or fade
Or corrode or any of that why because he’s given us New Birth we are made clean we’re made clean uh one of the joys we have here is to baptize people in the name of the father Son and Holy Spirit and as they baptize they get kind
Of dipped into water or buckets thrown over them and one of the things that people often say after baptism is simply this I feel so clean I feel so clean it’s like they’re about a foot tall than they used to be and and it’s all good why because Jesus has given us New
Birth he’s washed us clean our sin goes to him and he gives us a new start and sometimes that kind of we get more and more grotty don’t we like I’m just putting it out there like you know we all kind of fall short of the
Mark and Laura spoke to us about this last week we all fall short of the mark that is to to live up to God’s standards we all fall short which is why churches uh are full of grumpy people because we all fall short but Jesus has given us new birth and an
Inheritance so if you know that you need to kind of just come back to that moment of being washed clean we’re not going to baptize you again just putting it out there but what we’re going to to do is pray and we’re going to share life
Together and we’re going to say God I’m sorry for this and for this and for this and for this and he promises to make us new when we confess our sin to one another why else can we praise God and be like yes God we’re for you it’s
Simply this that he has shown us Mercy he shown us Mercy now uh a a a a theological college professor of mine uh always used to say Mercy is something amazing Mercy is when uh you’ve thrown a brick through someone’s windscreen and they bake you a cake saying it’s all
Okay like if someone threw a brick through your brand new car’s windscreen you’re going to be a little bit miffed aren’t you just putting it out there some of you are like yeah I insurance but no okay it’s like throwing a brick through someone’s windscreen and go here’s a cake
That Mercy is like that for us that we have deserved punishment for what’s going on but Jesus says it’s okay I’ve sorted it out oh and by the way here is me I will give all of myself to you that’s the mercy and by accepting that Mercy we are
Made new we given a living hope now it’s interesting there we’re given a living hope this isn’t a hope that kind of uh we can hide from week to week you know we often talk about kind of there being Sunday Christians well guess what you can’t be a Sunday
Christian if your hope is sort of uh is living when your hope is alive and active you can’t kind of just lock hope away in the cupboard and go okay I’ll get you out on a Sunday morning or a Sunday afternoon I I’ll get hope out of
The cupboard when I go to my midweek Village I’ll get hope out when I’m talking to other Christians and kind of then just quickly put them back in the cupboard hope that’s alive changes other people around us if hope is dead it’s not hope at all is it but if hope is
Alive it changes things if hope is alive it’s not just an intellectual exercise but it affects and effects our daily life life we can’t hope but exude something to the people around us so friends there’s nothing that we should be grumpy about or Sullen about
God has done all of this and we have an inheritance well what is this inheritance that God has given us and it’s it’s not just like when we when we go somewhere or or granny dies and we get all this kind of cash it’s not that kind of inheritance this is an
Inheritance given to us by Jesus now normally in the Jewish tradition it’s given to the older sibling so if uh uh mom or dad passes away mainly dad uh if if if they pass away it’s given to the oldest son only if you’re a second third fourth fifth
17th child you would miss out it’s only given to the eldest one interestingly in this Jesus being called the firstborn over all creation he is the elder son and you know what he doesn’t keep the inheritance to himself he says why don’t you have some of it
Too you can have my inheritance too well what is the inheritance one eternal life that death is not the end that there’s somewhere where we’re going that we’re saved from that judgment secondly is that we receive all of God ‘s promises everything that was promised is now
Ours thirdly we get to see the part of the new creation that is going to happen when Jesus comes again and we have an eternal reward that doesn’t run out doesn’t run out there something to be excited about it’s guarded for us by God’s power
Peter tells us in this it’s not going to be nicked now often I don’t know if anyone cycled here this morning but uh occasionally uh there are some bike racks outside of the Minster there and occasionally we see someone coming with bolt cutters and tin and nicking someone’s bike and heading off guess
What that’s not going to happen to your and my inheritance in Jesus no one’s going to come and Nick your bike from out there or Nick your inheritance okay it’s guarded by God God’s power it’s like being on deposit with him nothing’s going to it’s not going to change it’s not going to
Disappear but and now this is going to be a really really big whopping great size 40 but things are going to be tough things are going to be tough T see sometimes when people come to know Jesus they think oh that’s it my life is going
To be amazing uh I don’t need to worry about anything else and that is true but it doesn’t mean that everything’s going to just be okay it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to face difficulty it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to face illness or hardship or
Or anything else or loss or grief we’re going to face that friends we’re still going to face those difficult things there will be trials and there will be suffering if we have a look at verse six in this you greatly Rejoice though now for a little while
You may have to suffer grief in all kinds of Trials these have come so that it is proven genuiness genuiness of your faith see we will have difficult things it’s guaranteed one out of every one of us will at some point die unless Jesus comes again just like
Caveat one out of one of us will get sick see but it’s how we approach it that changes see when we when we stick in those tough bits and we still say you know what regardless of what’s going on I will be faithful to Jesus regardless
Of what’s going on my life I will have joy regardless of what’s going on my life I will have a living hope that go us all into eternity that proves that our faith is genuine see I’m sure that all of us will have friends and family and others that
We know who they started out and their faith was alive and they were all singing all dancing their faith was on fire but then hardship comes hard hardship comes maybe they’ve met some of those grumpy Christians that I started off with at the beginning and they’re
Like you know what that’s it I’m done I’m walking away maybe they’ve had a church leader who’s been abusive and they go that’s it I can’t be following Jesus Anymore maybe uh they faced some difficult prognosis in their life and they’re going you know what Jesus can’t be there
If but our faith is proven genuine when even in the middle of those struggles even in the middle of that hardship we can say do you know what my hope is alive my joy is complete in him and I want to bring that joy to other
People it’s when we know our faith is genuine but for those of us who are now thinking okay oh I’ve had friends and family who have walked away guess what the inheritance is in Christ it’s not going to get nicked is being guarded by God’s power keep on praying for them
Please keep on praying for them keep on bringing hope to them keep on bringing joy to them don’t get miserable see Pete knows this because he’s been in this position too he’s walked with Jesus he’s he’s known him and seen him and spoken to him and eaten with him carried his
Bags been there where he’s been faced up with all these kind of Pharisees and the people who want to kind of get him he he he kind of forgets who Jesus is and Jesus brings him back he still believes he’s gone through all sorts of difficult bits if we read through
Acts but still he’s filled with inexplicable Joy or inexpressible Joy so this morning here at the beginning end of 2024 I would love you to just examine yourself which is a tradition that has happened all the way through uh the Christian Life all the way back to the
Time that Peter wrote this examine yourself shine a light into the difficult bits of your life shine a light into the bits that you don’t really want Jesus to go into and ask yourself what is it like what am I like am I one of those grumpy people am I one
Of those hopeless people or am I hope filled what grief and what pain are you going through and can you find joy and hope there and you know what if you kind of search yourself and you’re like oh I’m lacking this or I’m lacking that do you know
What Jesus says to us on the sermon of the mount ask and you’ll receive how much more will the father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and see when we encounter God when we encounter the spirit we are filled with joy we are filled with hope we are filled with
Peace not that’s dead but that’s alive and so are you up for that great I’ll tell you what why don’t we just stand up I’ve been speaking for a long time if you want to have a bit of a shimmy I promise we won’t rate you out of 10 on your dance
Moves but why don’t we just in that moment just examine ourselves what is it does it look like in our hearts what does it look like in our minds what does it look like in our relationships are they hope filled is Joy the marker of our life is Joy the marker of our
Church have we lost that Joy so Holy Spirit would you come would you help us to examine Our Lives the good things and the things that we need to change but Lord would you examine us now why don’t you just ask the Holy Spirit to come he already knows but it’s
Always polite to ask ask him to just come and show you the difficult bits going on in your life and what might need changing thank you Jesus