Only the Beginning

Only The Beginning

Greetings to everyone in the name of the Lord. What an awesome Father, and an amazing season of ministry we are in.

People are praying all over this country for God to heal, and strengthen His church. There can only be one result from intense, committed, and persistent prayer. “God Will Answer”

It is my constant prayer for Him to do great things in our region. Praying that He stir the hearts of the faithful to tell the story of Jesus. His greatness is reflected in our words, and our footsteps. “Do we leave a path to Jesus everywhere we go?”

That is at least something to work towards, as we follow Him.

I want to share some thoughts today titled, “Only The Beginning”

Before I get into the text, and the heart of my thoughts I want to share a passage from Psalms. A word to describe the greatness of God in our lives, and our continued quest for more of Him.

Psalms 34:8 NASB

O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Amplified

O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good; How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who takes refuge in Him.

Message

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see, how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.

The word refuge from the Hebrew means, “to flee to for protection, to put trust in, to confide or hope in.”

David is using as a metaphor physical senses. Taste, see, that God is good. This is how we experience Him.

Keep this in mind for the rest of this message, and the rest of your life. “You will embrace what you experience.”

There is a lot of stuff going on in the next few verses.

1 Peter 2:1-6 NASB

1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,

2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

In these passages there are three topics I want to cover.

“Leaving Behind-Moving forward-Stones.”

1^st Leaving Behind

Verse 1 said, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.”

The Apostle is reminding converts of some very dangerous obstacles. Take note that these are character traits. The Apostle, like me, believes that the things that hurt the church, and our relationship with Christ, are the things we say and do.

Leave malice, an intention or desire to do evil-Leave deceit, the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth. Leave hypocrisy, the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. Leave envy, a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions or qualities. Leave all slander, the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.

“Leave behind your flawed character and take on the mind of Christ.”

2^nd Moving Forward

Verse 2-3 says- “2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

Pure milk of the word. Pure from the Greek means, unmixed. Milk from the Greek speaks of, less difficult Christian truths. Word is not referring to logos. It is from the Greek word, log-ik-os’ and it is referring to reasonable and logical speech or speaking.

You have to follow these basic principles so you can grow, “to increase or become greater” into salvation. Repentance from the old and following Christ is only the first step in a journey of growth, revelation, and experience. “This passage is an admonition to long for more. We must ever be coming to Christ.”

Hebrews 6:1 NASB

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Message

So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God;

“Not By Yourself”

The next 4 verse are talking about stones. Living stones, corner stones. “Why Stones?”

Stones are hard. When the Apostle called us living stones he did not mean hard headed.

To really understand what He is saying we must look at it from an Architectural perspective.

“Stones were for building. Building is a living process in that our relationship with Christ is constantly being built.”

After Peter’s confession of who Christ was. Jesus compared that truth to a stone. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “upon this rock I will build my church.”

Everything the devil throws at His church will never knock it down. It is a living, breathing, growing work of God.

In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus ended a parable this way.

Matthew 7:24-25 NASB

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Message

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.”

“Are you fixed to the rock today? What principles are you building your life on?”

Your initial experience with Christ was only the beginning.

The building is in process!