The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
Introduction
I want you to think about a place that you’ve been to, a building or a structure that just took your breath away. It’s just a gorgeous facility. Could be a luxury home. Could have been maybe you went to the White House or Capitol Hill. Maybe you had the opportunity to go to like the Sistine Chapel overseas or something.
You know, for me, growing up, I grew up a… You can’t hold this against me, okay? You promise? No. Okay, I grew up a very intense, hardcore Red Sox fan, and I absolutely loved the Red Sox, like seriously. And so my father was a big, and mind you, I was from Southern California, my father was a huge Red Sox fan. If I wanted a roof over my head, I had a roof for the Red Sox. And my grandfather was a big Red Sox fan. He was from Boston and then got stationed during World War II in Southern California. So that’s how he got out to California. And then the Red Sox just stayed in our blood. My boys, they have to root for the Red Sox as well, as long as they’re in our home.
All right, anyways. So by the time I got to go to Fenway Park, if you’ve ever been there, I mean, it’s majestic. I had probably watched hundreds, if not thousands, of Red Sox games. I could tell you everything about that stadium just from having watched it on TV. But nothing compared to that first moment when I finally got to go inside of the stadium. And I started out walking through the concourse and you could just feel the old-time atmosphere that was there. And walked up to the press booth where I got to go in the press booth and overlook the entire stadium. And I remember it just, you know, it took my breath away how beautiful the stadium was.
We walked down the concourse and now we got to walk out on the field. And when you walk on the field, you know, the dirt that’s out there, it’s actually crushed red clay that they bring up from Georgia. And you walk out to left field and you have that famous iconic green monster, which just seems like a tower of just green, their wall out there in left field. That’s only 300 feet away from the plate. Going out to center field, which is 420 feet, back to right field, which is 310 feet. It’s such a uniquely constructed field that’s not like any other. And then you get that perfectly manicured Kentucky bluegrass that they bring in, and you just sit there and you’re just, you’re in wonder and you’re in awe of that stadium.
You know, when you think about stadiums or buildings, you know, cathedrals, you know, every like great cathedral or stadium, it all begins with a pile of stones or material. And every stone, each stone, it’s cut and it’s shaped. It’s placed according to the design of the architect. No stone ever exists for itself. It always exists for the building.
And what Duncan just read to us here in 1 Peter 2, Peter is saying this is exactly what Christ is accomplishing through salvation. That God is not simply just saving, rescuing sinners. He’s building a temple. He’s creating a royal priesthood. Which really raises one of the great questions of all the scripture, is what were you and I created for? Who are we created to become?
And we’ll answer that later. We’ll have to return back into what was God’s original design for this world. But you know the story, if you’re familiar a little bit with the Bible, from the Garden of Eden, to Sinai, from the tabernacle to the temple. What God’s been doing is restoring what was lost, making himself a people who would dwell in his presence and in return fill the earth with his glory because the vision of God is to fill this earth with his glory.
And here, Peter makes this astonishing declaration. He says that what Adam lost, what Israel failed to become, what the Levite priests could only foreshadow has now been restored through Jesus Christ. And Peter then turns and he looks to ordinary Christians like me and like you. And he looks at them and he says, you are that royal priesthood. So let’s go back through the text beginning in verse four.
I. Come to Him: The Living Stone (1 Peter 2:4)
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious.
Now we’ve got to notice where Peter begins. He begins with Christ because everything in life begins with Christ. It doesn’t begin with you personally. It doesn’t begin with your family, your finances, your work, your school. It doesn’t begin with your church. Everything begins with Christ. Christ is the starting point.
But before Peter tells us who Christ is, which he’ll unpack here in just a minute, we have to notice what are the believers doing? The first thing he says is, as you come to him. Now, that’s a phrase that could be easily overlooked. Peter’s readers, though, would know what that meant. They would recognize it immediately. That who was the one throughout the Old Testament that was able to approach God? All throughout the Old Testament, approaching God was the privilege of priests. And the people of God remained outside of the tabernacle or temple. And really only one specific high priest was able to go into the Holy of Holies.
And what we see is the priests draw near, the high priest alone enters the most holy place, and the Bible becomes this story of access lost, and also access restored through Christ. We see that Adam walked with God, but then sin entered into the world, and Adam and Eve went into exile. And the tabernacle, and the temple, and the priesthood, all throughout the Old Testament, only offers a foreshadowing, a taste of the restoration that was to come.
And here, Peter announces something that is, I think, quite astonishing. He says that through Christ, because of Christ, everyone who has faith in him now has direct access to draw near to God. The access that was once reserved for one man in one place, one day out of the year, now belongs to all who are united to him.
And so Peter’s not just giving us a sound theology or good biblical doctrine that it is, but he’s confronting us with a very important question that we have to reflect upon this morning. That if Christ has given us access to draw near to him and to be in his presence, then are we, are you, drawing near to him? You have access. Are you drawing near to him?
Well, how do you do that? You see, at any given moment, any given moment, if your faith is in Christ Jesus, you’re always in his presence. You know, where are you at right now? Well, you would say you’re here in Mount Laurel at the Rock Church, and in the flesh you are. But where does the Bible say you’re at? In heavenly places. Paul tells us in Ephesians that right now, if your faith is in Christ Jesus, you are seated with him. You’re seated with him. How’s that possible? Because your spirit, by the Holy Spirit, is with Christ. You’re in him. Right?
And so through prayer, at any moment, right now, you can close your eyes and not fall asleep, but you can close your eyes and have direct access to the Father. At any moment, you can open his word and read, and the Holy Spirit will illuminate his words because he speaks. We have that direct access to the Father. And yet, many Christians possess this privilege of priests while at the same time living like spectators and not taking advantage of that relationship. Where we have access to the presence of God, but we choose distraction over communion. And we rarely enter it ourselves.
And so for us, the issue is no longer access. Do you have access to God? Christ secured that. The issue is, will you draw near to him? You see, priests, they don’t simply know where the sanctuary is. The priests enter into the sanctuary. And by the Spirit, right now, we enter into that sanctuary.
So where do we go? As Christians, where do we go? Well, we don’t go to a mountain, like in the Old Testament. We don’t go to a temple. We don’t go to a building. We go to a person. And Peter calls this person here a living stone. Now, when you hear that phrase, living stone, to me, I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s a strange phrase. Stones are lifeless. They’re cold. They’re immovable. And yet here, Peter says this stone lives.
So all throughout the Bible, stones are very significant. They really represent the dwelling place of God. If you’re familiar with the story of Jacob, Jacob grabs a stone, goes to sleep, lays his head down on it at Bethel, and he sees heaven open up. And he sees angels descending and ascending up and down a ladder. And when he wakes up from this sleep, he stands that stone upright and he says this, Surely the Lord is in this place.
You see, stones represent the dwelling place of God. You fast forward and you see at Mount Sinai when God gives the law to his people. It’s written on stone tablets. Altars are built from stones. The temple is built from stones. And again and again, stones are used to symbolize God’s presence among his people. But here Peter tells us, that Christ is not just a stone, he is the stone. The true temple and meeting place between heaven and earth. That in Christ is the true dwelling place of God among men.
And this true stone is the stone that was rejected by the builders. All of us outside of Christ were the ones who rejected Christ. The stone. He was the stone who was crucified outside of Jerusalem. He was the stone that was sealed behind a stone in a tomb. He is the stone that rose again and lives forever.
And I would have to think at this moment when Peter is writing these words that he’s remembering his own confession when Christ asks him, who do you say that I am? And he confesses, you are the Christ, the living God. Now he knows the truth of that confession, that the temple was never about a building, but it was about a person.
And the Gospel of John echoes this in John 1:14, where it talks about Christ, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Literally, that word dwells means he’s tabernacled among us. That Jesus Christ is the true temple. He is the place where heaven and earth meet and where God and man are reconciled. He is the place where sacrifice and glory converge.
II. Living Stones: God Is Building His Temple (1 Peter 2:5a)
You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.
And then as we come to him, the living stone, something remarkable happens. So we have to notice that the tone shifts. The living stone now creates living stones, which means what? That you as a believer are not an isolated rock out in a field. You’re being assembled by God. You’re being joined together in the power of the Holy Spirit. You’re being connected to one another. You’re being built together because God is building his temple.
That verb used for built is passive, which means you’re not the one doing the building. You are being built, which means God is the builder. Right? Philippians 1:6. He who began a good work, he begins the work, will complete it on the day of Jesus. He will complete it. When you really think about it, you don’t do anything. You abide in Christ. Because he’s the vine and you’re the branch. And the nutrient of growth and life comes through the vine and pushes through the branch. And he produces his own fruit. It’s the fruit of the spirit. And Christ loves to feast upon himself and the fruit which he produces. God’s the builder. It’s not human construction. It’s divine construction.
And so Peter’s describing something that’s much larger than individual salvation. You see, we tend to look at our salvation as individual. No, it’s much more than that. There’s a corporate element. Peter’s describing a new temple. It’s not, you will build his church. Pastor Ben and the elders will build this church. No, he says, I will build my church. He’s the builder. We’re being built.
You see, that old temple was built from hands and dead stones. But this new temple is being built through the Spirit from a resurrected people. This is a Spirit-created, a Spirit-filled, a Spirit-empowered house where God himself dwells because he is the temple. We are his body. He dwells within us.
And so if it’s God who’s building his temple, then the question for us now is, well, who are the priests that serve within his temple?
III. A Holy Priesthood: Adam, the First Priest (1 Peter 2:5b; Genesis 2:15)
…to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
So Peter moves here from the temple to those who serve within the temple. And this isn’t accidental. Temples exist for priests, and priests exist for worship. So the moment that Peter describes the church as a spiritual house, which it is, he immediately tells us why this spiritual house exists. For what? To be a holy priesthood.
Well, to understand what it means to be a holy priesthood, we have to understand, well, where did the holy priesthood come from? You see, when we think of priests, what do you think of? Let’s just be honest. You think of the Catholic Church, right? We all think of the priest and the father and the collar. We have to see ourselves as priests. Because that’s what the Bible declares. And the Bible is our authority on that. The priesthood is the language of vocation. This is our purpose. It’s your purpose if your faith is in Christ Jesus. It is your job. It is your calling. It is your identity. Peter here is telling us who we are to become.
And this plan, through Christ, by the Spirit, to become his royal priesthood was his plan always from the very beginning. So with that, let’s go back to Genesis 2, verse 15.
The Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and keep it.
Now we understand Adam as the first man. We understand him as the first husband. We understand him as the first father. But scripture describes him here really as the first priest. And I’ll get into the language in a minute. But God commanded Adam to work and keep the garden. Now, to be a farmer? Not quite exactly. Just to build a garden with fruit? It’s representative.
You see, every person is a priest to a garden, if you’re in Christ. And every single person has the exact same five gardens that God has entrusted them with.
The first garden that you have is the garden of your heart, your life. And you’re called to work and keep it, to protect it. You’re an image bearer of God. We need to steward our hearts for his glory. The second thing that God then gives Adam is a family. Our family is a garden that we work and keep and steward for the glory of God. And that family was given a day of worship where they would go on the day of rest and worship and fellowship and have communion with the Lord and that’s the church. Your church is a garden that you work and keep for the glory of God. And then Adam was given a job to do. So work, our vocation, our actual what we do for income or our affinity groups, whatever it may be, is a garden. Work is not a result of sin that entered the world. Work is a gift given by God that we steward for his glory. So it’s a garden that we cultivate. And then lastly, it was to go out into the world. The world that we live in, your neighborhood, your place of work, a grocery store, all of it is a garden that God has entrusted you with to steward for his glory.
And so this word here, work and keep, is the same language that’s later used to describe the Levitical priesthood. Who guarded God’s sanctuary. And we guard these five areas of our own life. See, Eden was the first holy place where God dwelt with man. And Adam was called in his priestly role to guard it, to preserve its holiness, and to extend God’s presence throughout the earth.
But we know the story. Adam abdicated. He failed in his responsibility. And the serpent enters into that sanctuary where false worship enters into God’s holy place. And Adam sat there silently and sin enters the world. Humanity was exiled from God’s presence. But God’s purpose and plan to have a people who were his priesthood never changed. And from that moment on, the story of Scripture became the story of God restoring a faithful priest and a royal priesthood through Christ Jesus.
IV. A Kingdom of Priests: God’s Plan Restated at Sinai (Exodus 19:5–6)
Let’s continue on. Go to Exodus. This is the story of priesthood. It begins with Adam. God never abandons his plan. We’re now in Exodus chapter 19. We can begin in verse 5. Before Moses ascends up to Sinai to receive the law of God, God declares this, tells Moses, all the congregation.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my commandment, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
You see, after redeeming Israel from Egypt and bringing them safely through the Red Sea, God gathers his people before the mountain and he says that, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. All his people. It’s always been his plan. It’s one of the most important statements of the entire Old Testament.
We have to notice what God says. He doesn’t say, you shall have priests. He says, you shall be priests. You see, God’s purpose was never to just appoint priests. His purpose was to create a priestly people. He calls Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, restoring what Adam’s job and his vocation was to be, to fill the earth with the glory of God.
And it’s important we got to notice the order. Before God gives the law, he gives his people their identity. Grace always precedes obedience. Your calling always precedes commandment. So you don’t earn God’s love through performing. You perform because God loves you and you want to worship and honor him.
Before Moses even descends and comes down that mountain, we know what happens. This priestly nation dies. Is worshiping a false golden calf. Once again, the nation called to guard true worship becomes idolaters themselves. Sinai becomes another Eden. The sanctuary is violated, another priestly failure. And once again, God’s people prove that they need a faithful priest who will succeed where Adam and Israel failed.
And it points to something significant. God’s purpose, again, at Sinai doesn’t change. The administration changes, because what happened? You remember Moses comes down, he sees all this false worship going on. He calls people into repentance to turn away from these false idols. And Levi and his sons, Levi said, we are with the Lord. And so Levi and his sons came over, along with Aaron. And the Levites, that’s why they became the priests when you fast forward in Scripture.
Instead of the entire nation functioning as priests, one tribe, the Levites, were set apart. But the Levites were never God’s final goal. They were only a temporary remedy. They’re not the fulfillment of Exodus 19, for the whole nation to be a royal priest, but they were the result of Israel’s own failure to worship God with their own lives. That kingdom priesthood was delayed but never canceled.
V. The Levitical Priesthood: A Shadow Pointing to Christ (Numbers 3)
Let’s turn over to Numbers. Keep going right. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, chapter 3. So what came of this priesthood? You see, Peter’s language here in 1 Peter brings us to Numbers 3. Here we have Aaron, who’s the high priest, and his sons that are just working a lot. There’s a lot of work to be done in the priesthood. And he’s got sons, Nadab and Abihu, where they die because they offered worship God had not commanded. It was an unnatural worship.
You know what they did? They used the wrong wood to create fire. You know, we can never approach God in such a flippant way where God tells us to worship him one way, and we’re like, yeah, but this is good enough. You just want fire, right? That wood burns fire. What’s the difference? Well, one, God said, I want that wood. I like the smell of that fire right there. I don’t want that one. They came to a holy God on their own terms and God judged them. And the lesson is clear that the priests don’t define worship. God defines how we worship him. And so as we draw near to God’s presence, we must take his holiness serious. Worship is not shaped by our preference, but by God’s word.
Let’s read beginning in verse five. And so the Lord said to Moses, because Aaron’s shorthanded now, bring the tribe of Levi. Remember, they were the ones set apart at Sinai.
…and set them apart before Aaron, the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting as a minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and keep guard over the people of Israel as a minister at the tabernacle.
There’s your language from Adam. Work and keep. Keep guard. Same word as keep in Genesis 2:15.
Here in Numbers, Moses gives us a remarkable detail that the Levites were given to Aaron. Your salvation was given to you so that you’d be given to the service of Christ. Here in Numbers, the Levites belonged to the high priest and they served under his authority. They guarded the sanctuary on his behalf. Their ministry wasn’t independent, but it was connected to the high priest. And so right there, this points us directly to Christ. Because Aaron wasn’t the final high priest. The Levites were never the final priesthood. The sacrifices never fully removed sin of the Old Testament. The temple never finally secured access for God’s people. But it all pointed forward and anticipated something and someone greater.
You see, in the Old Testament, every priest, every tabernacle, every sacrifice, every temple was only a shadow. Christ is the reality, the illumination of that Old Testament story. He’s the true Adam. He’s the faithful Israel. He’s the greater Aaron who entered into the sanctuary with his own blood. Where the cross became his altar, his body became the final sacrifice, and his resurrection declares that the work is now finished.
And so Peter says something remarkable. He says that through Christ, this royal priesthood has been restored. Not to one tribe, not to one nation, but to all who belong to him. Just as the Levites belonged to Aaron and served him, you, Christian, belong to Christ and serve him. We serve under his authority. We minister in his house and we proclaim his excellencies.
Go back to verse 5 in 1 Peter chapter 2. He ends it by saying that we are acceptable ministry goers. We minister acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Our worship is accepted, our service is sanctified, and our prayers are heard, not because of our own worthiness, but because they pass through the hands of the great high priest, Jesus Christ. And when you’re in Christ and you’re abiding in divine, every work is acceptable to him.
VI. The Cornerstone: Christ the Foundation (1 Peter 2:6–8)
For it stands in Scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, they stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do.
So now Peter here turns from the priesthood to the foundation of which it stands. That the church, that we’re not held together by shared interests or shared traditions or experiences. Those are all good. We are good. Bound together, built together, because we’re built upon a person.
And Peter is doing something. He’s weaving three Old Testament passages together. Verse 6 comes from Isaiah 28:16. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious. Psalm 118:22. This stone that the builders rejected has become this cornerstone. Isaiah 8:14. The stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. You see, these three Old Testament passages proclaim one truth, that Christ is the cornerstone that God has laid.
And for those who believe, then Christ now is the unshakable foundation and the cornerstone of God’s new temple. And so those who still refuse Christ believe. And he becomes a stumbling that you always will trip over. He becomes the rock of offense because his ways are foreign to your desires.
So the difference isn’t the stone. Christ is the same. The difference is how do you respond to him? You see, unlike every cornerstone, Christ is the one who sets the direction for the entire building. Where the church doesn’t define Christ, Christ defines the church. Culture doesn’t establish truth. Christ establishes truth. And so everything we do, our worship, our mission, our lives take their shape from Christ. And each one of us meet this same cornerstone. So the question is never, will you encounter him? But whether or not you will build your life upon him or stumble upon him.
VII. Who You Are: Your Identity in Christ (1 Peter 2:9–10)
For Those Who Are in Christ
Okay. So what? So what does this all mean for us? What’s the point? Why does it matter? You know, for those who are in Christ, what Peter’s saying here is he’s not inviting us to join another ministry. Sign up to just serve and volunteer, all things that are great and crucial. The first thing he’s doing is reminding us who we are.
Who are you? Well, when you’re in Christ, you’re chosen. You’re chosen. You’re a holy nation. You’re a royal priesthood. You’re God’s own possession. You see, identity matters. Too many of us build our lives on the identity of what do we do? How successful am I? Right? And if what we do determines who I am, then two things are going to happen. You’re either going to be fairly good at things and you’ll become arrogant and prideful. Because why do you really need the Lord? Look, my marriage is pretty good. I’m successful in business. Or you’ll live in despair because you realize you really can’t accomplish the things that you want to accomplish.
You see, when identity is not found in Christ, it always leads you to a place of pride or despair. And here Peter puts everything back in right alignment. If you’re in Christ, don’t ever start with, how are you doing? You start with, who is God? What’s his love for me? What did he accomplish for me? What did he do for me? Who’s his character? And who am I in light of who he is? He didn’t leave me. He didn’t abandon me. You know, he entered into my sin and took it upon himself. So Peter gives us our identity. And we’re called to live like it.
Where priests don’t visit God’s presence once a week on a Sunday morning. Priests live in it. Where every conversation, every meal gathering, every relationship, every moment at work, every responsibility, all of it becomes an opportunity to worship the Lord. Everything is worship for a priest. Because every day you’re in the temple of God. Because your body is a temple. And he’s tabernacling in you right now. He’s dwelling in you now. Which means every ground you walk on is holy ground because the holiness of God is with you. Which means everything in your life is an act of worship.
We can’t have this sacred and secular divide as Christians. If you’re in Christ, it’s all sacred and we need to take dominion over the land that we’re walking on. Over the relationships that we’re in through the gospel.
So for those in Christ, guard your heart, build your home, strengthen Christ’s church, see your work as worship, proclaim his excellencies wherever you are, because that was God’s original purpose in Eden. This garden was never meant to stay within this little lot of land, but it was meant to go out and fill the earth. And now through Christ, by the Spirit, that mission has been entrusted to the church, where every disciple made adds another living stone through Christ, where every gospel conversation declares that Christ is Lord, every act of faithful obedience advances the kingdom of our great high priest.
So let’s not think small. We must think big. The cornerstone has been laid. Christ reigns. The Spirit dwells within his people. So draw near to him. Re-evaluate your life, your heart, your family, your church, your work, your world. Where can you worship the Lord more with him? Offer all of it for his glory.
For Those Who Don’t Know Christ
Now for those who don’t know Christ, you know, the old saying, just because you sit in a garage doesn’t make you a car. Just because you eat a donut doesn’t make you a what? Cop? Sorry, if any police officers here. All right, just because you’re here doesn’t make you a Christian. Just because you serve, just because you give, just because you whatever, it doesn’t make you a Christian.
So if you don’t know Christ and your faith’s not in him, perhaps you’re the one that’s searching for purpose and peace and a place to belong to the Lord, a place to belong in general. The truth is, every single person, Christian or not, is a priest. Because everyone is worshiping something or sacrificing for something. See, we were created with this role. This is our identity. So you can’t escape it. So you are sacrificing and worshiping something. It may be success or approval. It could be pleasure, yourself, your own ambitions.
But the truth is this, and if you’re honest with yourself, you would admit it, that the gods of this world always demand more and more and more. They’d never say it is finished. Whew.
You see, if you’re not a Christian, you were created for something greater. To know God, to know his presence, to belong to his kingdom. But like Adam, all of us have failed. Where we worship the created things more than we worship the creator. And that is exactly why Christ came. The great high priest Jesus became the perfect sacrifice. We’re at that cross. He bore our judgment. So that sinners could become sons and daughters, so that dead stones could become living stones, and so that rebels could become a royal priesthood. And it’s Christ who declares it is finished. The striving has ended, the debt has paid, and the way into God’s presence has now been opened forever.
And so today is that day and you’re not in Christ. What are you waiting for? Come to him and find your rest. Lay down your guilt and your shame and your empty hands and trust in the cornerstone of God that was laid for you to receive forgiveness, purpose, and a place within his life.
The beginning of Peter’s invitation in verse 4 is simply beautiful. As you come to him. So come to the living stone today. Discover who your life is in Christ, who you were created to be. And build a life based upon his foundation. Where in it is his righteousness, peace, and joy as you belong to him.
Closing Prayer
Let me pray for us.
Lord, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. God, you are more amazing than we could ever describe. God, we thank you that you have a plan that never failed. Your initial design and purpose given to Adam lost through sin has been restored in Christ. And we are this new creation. We are your royal priesthood. We are a people for your possession.
Lord, as you are building this your kingdom here on earth, Lord, you are doing it through ordinary people like us. You’ve entrusted us with all these areas of life that we would steward for your glory. So God, help increase our understanding. Help us to see how all of life is one of worship. There is no secular, sacred divide for a Christian. So God, may we not live in fear, but may we live in the confidence that you said you will fill this earth with your glory, Lord, and we can look back in our lives and say that is true for us. So may it be true for others.
I pray for those who don’t know you, who are striving in their own efforts and abilities, seeking status and identity from these false gods of the world that never say it is enough. Lord, I pray today would be their day of rest, that they would turn to you open hands, releasing all the guilt and shame and condemnation, Lord, that you absorb on the cross. May today be their day of freedom and salvation.
So, Lord, we love you and we thank you for your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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