1 Peter 1:22 - 2:3 Love and Desire part 1

Introduction:

Given our title for this morning, which is “Love and Desire,” you might wonder if your kids/grandkids should be reading it. I assure you it is not for mature readers only. We are working through 1 Peter 1 and into chapter 2 today. As we proceed, I want you to get out of the individualistic mindset that our culture constantly forces upon us, and instead think about this passage as Jesus’ Church.

           

What great salvation has come to all who trust in Jesus, God the Son. But that salvation is not like fire insurance that we buy and then go about our business putting it far from our minds. No, His salvation changes everything about who we are, what we do and how we think. Being indwelt by His Holy Spirit, we become less like our old self and more like Jesus as we cooperate with the Spirit and the Word. Let’s see then what the Spirit tells us in 1 Peter 1:22 – 2:3.

Love and Desire:

Please begin this morning by reading 1 Peter 1:1 – 2:3. The Holy Spirit through Peter issues the command to be Holy and then gives other instruction relating to it. We’ve talked about those in previous weeks, so let’s dive into our text for today where our two main points are love the brethren and desire the Word. We begin with 1 Peter 1:22, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.”

Building upon the command to “be holy,” and the instruction to conduct themselves in fear of the One who judges according to each one’s work, the Spirit tells us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ because our souls have been purified by truth. You are familiar with “if-then” statements like, “if you want to eat dinner, go wash hands first.” Your mother may have said something like that to you often when you were a child. These are called conditional statements. There are several types of conditional statements; they basically go like this: “If” something is true or needed, “then” something else is also true and will (or should) happen. There are many conditional statements in Scripture. Consider Jesus’ statement in John 14:5, “If you love Me, [then] keep My commandments.” Another example is right here in 1 Peter 1:17, “if you call on the Father…[then] conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” Thus, IF you love Jesus and if you call on the Father, THEN obey Him and conduct yourself to please Him. The statement in 1 Peter 1:22 is a little different. Here the purifying of their souls is sonsidered a statement of fact; the Spirit knew their standing in the truth and love for the brethren. Based upon that, the Spirit commands greater love for each other.

The first occurrence of “love” in 1 Peter 1:22 is the Greek word “philadelphia” which spoke of the love one has for a blood-related brother or sister. The second occurrence of the English word “love” in that verse is the Greek word “agape” which is a stronger kind of love; it is used of God’s love for us in places like 1 John 4:10, “in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Thus, because believers’ souls have been purified by obeying the truth, revealed to them by the Spirit, with the evidence of loving each other as brothers and sisters, they are now to increase their love for each other to the kind of love God has for us, a fervent love from a pure heart. Understand this, the brotherly kind of love common among many Christians is not sufficient; it’s good, but not enough. Now, it so happens that we’ve just started a weeks-long examination of “the Love Chapter” (1 Corinthians 13) as part of our Step 4 spiritual inventory at Celebrate Recovery. You can visit crnewbrighton.blogspot.com to check that out. Let me just give you a quick sample: 1 Corinthians 13:4 begins God’s detailed definition of love by saying, “Love suffers long and is kind…” The entire chapter uses the “agape” for love. Verse 4 sets in place two pilliars of Godly love: patience and kindness. The Greek word translated “patient” or “suffers long” means “to bear up under provocation without complaint” (BDAG) while “kindness” is a rare Greek verb meaning “merciful behavior.” This patience is a passive state of mind while kindness is an active behavior, “love suffers long and is kind.” Going back then to the idea of 1 Peter 1:22, love each other with God’s kind of love which stands firm when grieved by you and merciful in its actions toward you.

That’s not even the end of it! The statement continues with further explanation of why such love is commanded by God. It is a high calling after all and totally not what would be natural. The reason such love is expected by God of His children toward one another is that He as done everything to make it possible. God issues some high commands, but He gives us everything we need to fulfill them. In this case, the Spirit reminds us that we can love like that because we have been born-again. We’ve been made new, the old self-absorbed sinful person is dead and a new creation is born in us with the ability to know and love with a Godly love because the Holy Spirit is in us. This was accomplished in each believer because of they believed and submitted to the truth of the Word of God. His Word stands forever, unlike our flesh which is here today and gone tomorrow, speaking of our brevity of life on this Earth.

God’s Word will never fade, never become obsolete or irrelevant; it stands for eternity. Without looking it up on the internet, do you know who won SuperBowl XIX or even XXXI? Can you mention one of the powerful kings of Spain, Russia or Germany? Do you know who won the gold medal for, well, for anything in the 2000 Olympics? Can you, without looking it up, name the winner of best actor in a dramatic film in 2017? Even if you get one of these, it is most likely because you are particularly interested in the subject and if you can get them all you must be a trivia guru and seriously, there a better things to do with your time. But these human glories all fade away to obscurity and the deep files on some internet server. Conversely, we’re still being amazed and changed by God’s Word, the Bible, and it was recorded and revealed to us thousands of years ago. Nothing else comes in any way close to that because nothing else is the eternal Word of God.

Moving onto 1 Peter 2:1-3, the Spirit says, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Based upon the command to be holy and to conduct ourselves while living this life in fear of God, and having souls purified such that we need to love each other with God’s kind of love, we must also put off wickedness, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking. We must also crave the Word of God as a baby craves milk so that we can grow. Since none of you remembers being a newborn baby, maybe you remember having a newborn baby. The child ate at 8pm and soon after went to sleep. You were tired as well and went to bed before 10pm. It isn’t long, however, until you hear the cry. It’s time to eat again. You can’t ignore it because it will not stop. You have to get up and go tend to the child who needs to be fed. The child needs and craves milk, and nothing else will satisfy. That is how we need to crave God’s Word. That is how a believer grows in spiritual maturity, drawing closer to God and thus each other as the Spirit makes us more like Christ through the Word.

Now, we live in a very individualistic society where we are bombarded with the self-satisfying philosophy that life is “all about me.” That philosophy drives us to all kinds of foolishness, bitterness, hurt, despair and resentment. It is a breeding ground for addiction, disunity and hatred. Oh, look around and what do we see today? Addiction, disunity and hatred, go figure. Individualism crept into our churches like a sneaking, ravenous wolf. What we need to do then is ask the Spirit to reveal any unholiness, any selfishness, any lack of love in us. We all need to do that personally, and also together as the Body of Christ. As members together of the Body, sin in any one of us affects the others. If not directly, it impacts the others by the lack of Godly love because one is off chasing some self-centered sin and thus not doing his or her part in the Body. The Christian life is not about you, it is about Christ and His Church of which you are part as a believer.

Conclusion:

In 1 Peter 1 the Spirit tells us to be holy and to love one another with a zealous, Godly kind of love. Such love will only come when we feast upon the Word like a new baby feeds upon that life-sustaining milk. Don’t assume you are doing okay in these areas, ask the Spirit to show you the truth about yourself, about your love for God and other people and about your spiritual diet.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark

1 Peter 1:17-21 Time to Be Holy (part 2)

Introduction:

Over the past months a great deal of turmoil has come upon us. We are a strange people who forget what we should have just learned and often forget what keeps it all together as we move from one situation or crisis to the next. Consider that in April-May we were making heroes out of anyone whose jobs were considered essential, who had to be out in public places amid the pandemic. Yet in a matter of days a movement began to defund, that is eliminate, many police departments, people who were celebrated as heroes. What happened to Mr. Floyd was totally unacceptable, but you cannot project that crime upon all police officers, many of whom are heroes as they stand in harm’s way to protect, serve and maintain order so that things don’t degrade into anarchy. Racism is sin. Hating anyone based upon the color of their skin is wrong; we were all created in God’s image. Likewise, hating someone just because they wear a badge is sin also. We’ve lost the big picture.

Over the past decades, I believe we’ve become so focused on particulars, that we’ve forgotten the big picture of the Bible as well. There are an endless number of books, articles, seminars and videos that discuss things relating to the Bible. We spend much time, effort and money on studying those things and relatively little time meditating on the Bible itself. Denominations dig-in deep on some interpretation or opinion and find themselves separating from each other, and non-denominational groups do the same thing. In the process we neglect the big picture. God is the One True God who is the Creator, sustainer and Redeemer of sinful mankind. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be the sacrificial lamb who paid the penalty of sin for all who believe. Jesus rose again to give us new life in unity with Him and gives all who believe the guarantee of the Holy Spirit. As Spirit indwelt believers, we are to live for Him who redeemed us to Himself and that means being holy, like Him, no matter what situations come and go in this life. Part of being holy like Jesus means trusting, loving and obeying the Father according to His example and the Spirit’s leading. Jesus came to bring peace between Almighty God and rebellious mankind; He showed patience, kindness and love even to those who hated Him so that we could be united to Him, and through Him united to each other. Unity with Him is the only way we can expect any kind of unity with each other.

We’ve been working through 1 Peter 1 for several weeks now and when we take a passage in small sections as we are we can easily loose sight of the big picture. The big picture in 1 Peter 1 is, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1:15).

Your Redeemer

Please begin by reading 1 Peter 1:1-21. According to 1 Peter 1:17 part of our motivation for holiness is fear. This is the Holy Spirit’s command through Peter, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” I talked about that last week so let’s move on to the other motivation to holiness.

In 1 Peter 1:18-21 the Spirit reminds us of what our Redeemer did for us. It should give us a sense of awe as we consider how God the Son humbled Himself so that we could be forgiven and united to the Father. The Spirit says, “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6). The Spirit spoke of Jesus’ redemption of us this way through Paul, “being in the form of God, [Jesus] did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:5-13). That passage then continues as 1 Peter does by then saying our proper response is holiness, “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain” (Philippians 2:14-18).

In both 1 Peter and Philippians we are motivated to holiness through a realization of who God is and what He has done. It is through fear and awe. The Holy Spirit encourages and strengthens us, reminding us how God has lavished blessings upon us through Christ Jesus. Christ was preordained for His atoning work. He removed the enmity we created between us and God by our sin. It is through Christ alone we have faith and hope in God. It is God who determined our salvation, accomplished it, and in Him is all our future hope. That is awe inspiring. He is the One that then says, “Be holy.”

Being holy means being like Him which we can do by yielding to the Spirit’s work in our lives, minds and hearts. He changes us. We cannot make ourselves to be like Jesus. Please, He is God and we are dust. The only way we can be like Him is His changing us. The Spirit’s changes are radical, producing in us the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) so we will speak and think like Jesus did. The Spirit also produces the works of Christ in us; Jesus said to His disciples, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” John 14:12).

Conclusion

Being holy, like Jesus, as we yield to the Spirit is the only way we will have unity as God intended it. You can attend all the classes you want, read all the books available, and spend your whole life trying to change your heart, your attitudes, and your actions, but you will never have unity with the Father and selfless love for other people unless you trust in Christ as your Redeemer and yield your life to the Holy Spirit.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark

1 Peter 1:17-21 Time To Be Holy

Introduction:
A Wedding dress is not for everyday use; its not even for use on special occasions save your Wedding Day.  Wearing it any other time would be a little strange because it is made for one particular event. It has been set apart from all the other dresses and outfits as unique and special. Believers in Jesus Christ are set apart, referred to in Scripture as “made holy.” In a day and age when holiness isn’t talked about much, not even in many churches, is being holy passé?

Time To Be Holy

Please begin by reading 1 Peter 1:1-21. As believers we are commanded to be holy in 1:15 and today we are going to see why.

According to 1 Peter 1:17 part of our motivation for holiness is fear. This is the Holy Spirit’s command through Peter, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear” (1 Peter 1:17). I know the idea of fearing God is nearly rejected these days because it doesn’t fit our societal norms, but we cannot interpret Scripture by what society has to say. The main verb of this verse is the command, “conduct yourselves,” or in other words “live a certain way.” What way? Well, during the rest of our lives here on Earth we are to conduct ourselves in fear. Fear of what? The question is better asked, “fear of who?” because the answer is clearly given: fear of God.

Perhaps you can understand if you read Leviticus 26; I challenge you to stop and read it now.

“Well, that’s Old Testament, Pastor. That’s not the way it is now,” you might say. Then how do you explain away Hebrews 12:3-8, 11? That is New Testament. How do you write-off Jesus’ instruction to His disciples in Matthew 10:28 where He tells them, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Actually, Jesus’ makes a similar statement on another occasion which is worded more strongly than Matthew 10:28; it is in Luke 12:4-5 which is again spoken to His disciples, “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

Fear is not a command most Christians in our culture or churches expect or want to hear. “Live in fear?” they say, “No, God loves me.” After all, the Bible says, “perfect love casts out fear.” Yes it does, that’s 1 John 4:18.  Now we know that the Bible has no contradictions in it so let’s turn there and see what’s going on because Peter tells us to conduct ourselves in fear, but John says perfect love casts our fear. In 1 John 4:12-16 the Spirit tells us through the Apostle that our love for each other bears witness to our unity with God. If I say I love Him and you say you love Him, we better have some Godly love for each other! I mean, He tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) so as believers we surely better love each other. Now, let’s read 1 John 4:17-19, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.” We have no fear because it is obvious by our lives in this world that we have close communion with Him. We don’t just know about Him, but we know Him because we cling to Him and we do, say, and think like Him. Verse 17 says, “as He is, so are we in this world.” God’s love has been perfected in us through that intimacy with Him and thus we can have boldness WHEN? – in the Day of Judgment. In Christ, we are made perfect, in that we are declared righteous through the Blood of Christ. That is our legal standing before God according to the Holy Spirit through Paul in Romans. Romans 5:18 says, “For as by one man’s (Adam) disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s (Jesus) obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 8:3-4 adds, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” That is absolutely the truth; as believers in Jesus Christ, washed by Blood and filled with the Spirit and communing with Him, we have no need to fear. His perfect love, which provided forgiveness and unites us to Him, casts out that fear. It’s not because we are better than anyone else, the only difference is that we recognize and confess our sin, ask God to forgive us by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, and give our lives for Him; we conduct ourselves in holiness. Back in 1 Peter 1:17, however, we’re not talking about fearing future judgment, it is talking about fearing God’s intervention now when we rebel against Him through sin.

Referring back to the command to “be holy,” the Spirit tells believers to conduct themselves in fear of the Sovereign God who oversees all that is said, done, and desired by every human being and who judges according to each one’s work (1:17). That’s what Hebrews 12:8-11 is about, God chastising His children when they neglect their love for Him and do what is sinful. As a loving Father, He disciplines His children for their own good. Sin, rebellion, and hardness of heart cause hurt and division. It is us separating from God and in the process hurting each other and ourselves. Look around, sin caused the division we see in cities across America right now. Mr. Floyd was deplorably and unmercifully killed and that was sin. Meanwhile, rioters (not peaceful demonstrators, but rioters) have destroyed, robbed, fueled division, injured and killed (no one is talking about the many good police officers that have been injured and killed in the riots). That too is sin. Hating someone because of the color of their skin, whatever color it is, is sin. Hating someone just because they are a police officer is sin. All lives matter. Can’t you see that we are being played by sin, dividing us and turning us against one another? It has to stop.

God is the righteous (and patient) Judge. He rebukes sin and holds us accountable. Look, we all expect the man who killed Mr. Floyd to be held accountable, right? Yes, we can all agree that that man needs to pay for his crime. We tend to want everyone else to be held accountable when they sin, but when we are the ones who are guilty of some sin, “give me grace, have mercy on me!” The fact is, everyone who rejects the forgiveness available through the Blood of Christ will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment for the sin they committed.

The idea of Christians fearing God is all through the NT.  Look up these passages: 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 5:21; Philippians 2:12; 1 Peter 2:17; and Acts 5:1-11. The context of 1 Peter 1:17 is a command to be holy, to live holy, putting away the former sins, because the One we call Father judges each man’s works. If I am in communion with Him I have nothing to fear, but if I am ignoring or rebelling against Him I can expect some discipline. God told the Israelites that punishment would come if they disregarded Him and entered back into their sin.  Great fear came upon the church in Acts 5 due to the sudden and severe discipline brought upon two members for lying to the Holy Spirit.

Conduct yourselves while here in fear because you have not been redeemed with corruptible things (1:18). Look at the contrast, conduct yourselves in fear, not in the worthless way of life you used to have. Rather, conduct yourselves in fear because you have been redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ (1:19). How pleased with you do you suppose God is when you bring disgrace upon His Son Jesus Christ, which is exactly what you do when you sin?  The Son who was sacrificed in your place and who the Father then glorified, you disgrace by returning to your sinful conduct. You think He says, “Oh, that’s okay because I love you?” Perhaps we need reminded of what the precious Blood of Christ has done for us:

·        Colossians 1:20-22 though we were the enemies of God, we are reconciled in peace

·        Hebrews 9:14 it cleanses our conscience from the need to do dead works (the Law)
·        Hebrews 10:19 it gives us bold access to the Father
·        1 John 1:7 it cleanses us from sin

We are also motivated to holiness through awe of Him and what He has done. Jesus was preordained for His atoning work, removing the enmity we created between us an God. It is also because of Jesus that any of us have faith. It is God who determined your salvation, accomplished it, and in Him is all our future hope.  That is awe inspiring.  And He is the One that says, “Be holy.”

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark

1 Peter 1:13-16 Time to Get Serious

Introduction:

What would you do if you had to go to Pittsburgh tonight around 11:30pm?  A trusted friend calls and says she is in trouble and needs help. There were demonstrations throughout the day that turned violent, the city is under curfew and your car has been acting funny lately. Would you go? How do you prepare for such a trip?  What do you do before you go? What do you take with you?

Time to Get Serious:

Please begin this morning by reading 1 Peter 1:1-16. We cannot just jump right into our text without having the opening verses fresh in our minds. Today we are going to consider some implications of our salvation. Up to this point the Holy Spirit, through Peter, has been giving us some doctrine, in today’s passage He makes application, telling us what we must do as a result of the teaching just given in 1:1-12.

This starts off with a rather strange statement… “Gird up the loins of your mind.” This figure of speech is a phrase that has shifted out of our normal use. Today we might say, “get your head together,” “get focused,” or “stop messing around, its time to get serious.” Then 1 Peter 1:13 goes on to say, “be sober.” There is no time to be drunk or under the control of anything that hinders or alters your thoughts and emotions. Also, “be serious” because there is no time for goofing off. That should be very easy to understand these days with things coming unglued. Set your hope fully upon the grace to come, here pertaining to the future and complete realization of our salvation at Jesus’ return.

So, what would you do about helping that friend stranded in Pittsburgh? You prepare yourself to go help, you get serious and you stay alert the entire time. This would be no joy ride or sight seeing tour, this would be an intervention. The idea of 1 Peter 1:13 is that we stop wasting our time, and get serious about how we are living and spending our time. In our culture, we spend to much time living for ourselves, forgetting or neglecting the awe of our salvation and the reason we remain here in this life. We too often neglect our duty as disciples of Christ who have been given a mission. Maybe you don’t think this describes you; maybe you believe you’ve got it all together as Christ’s ambassador. Let me ask you this, “How does your salvation affect your daily life?” Now don’t just throw out the good Christian answer that you know you should give. You need the real truth in this answer. The self-justifying delusion our minds tend to dream up will not suffice. The reality of how your salvation through Christ impacts the way you live and think on a daily basis is what you need to consider. I suggest you pray for the Spirit’s revelation of truth as you search the Scriptures to find this answer. You cannot reliably answer this question without time (like several days) of prayer and searching the Scriptures.

Notice that the statement begun in 1 Peter 1:13 continues into 1:14, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.” As a disciple of Christ, you don’t live like you did before committing your life and will to Him. As a Holy Spirit indwelt believer in Jesus Christ, you have to think, speak and act differently; it’s the difference between dark and light, death and life.

The sharp contrast in how we live now verses how we used to live is even commanded in 1 Peter 1:15-16. Basically, it says to stop giving yourself to your old sins, and be holy. The reason is that we’ve been called by God who is Holy. We talked about being called several weeks ago with 1:2 and 1:3. By God’s grace He called you, you didn’t deserve it, nobody does. But God lavished His grace on us. I love Ephesians 1:7-8, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” How can you and I be united with God if we don’t keep ourselves from sin and be holy? From Leviticus through Revelation God tells His children to be holy. “Holy” means to be dedicated to, or reserved to God, set apart. God is Holy in that there is nothing and no one like Him; He is unique, different than everything else. Our holiness comes from separation from sin and self and dedication to God. In Leviticus 17-25 God spelled out in no uncertain detail what holy living meant to Israel in the OT. We aren’t under the Law anymore, but we are still commanded to live a holy life. Israel was surrounded by immoral and demonic cultures and so are we. Immorality is everywhere, demonic forces are at work all around us the Bible warns. Division, fighting, disunity and chaos are the work of spiritual forces of evil and they are hard at work right now. God required repentant hearts and sacrifices in the OT; He still demands repentant hearts, but He supplied the sacrifice in sending His Son Jesus to the Cross. As indwelt believers united to Him, we are to be dedicated to and engaged in God’s will, God’s service, and honoring Him all day every day.

How you and I are doing with that is the question we will ask over the next several weeks.

Conclusion:

We need to be ready. Ready to do His will in any and every moment as He directs and leads us. We need to be holy. Putting away the former sins and meaningless endeavors. What on Earth could be more important?

Over the coming weeks and months we will be doing a spiritual inventory at First Baptist. On Tuesdays at Celebrate Recovery this spiritual inventory is at the individual level, while on Sundays it is on a group level. We will be seeking the Spirit’s leading as we do this. As Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.” Then again in Lamentations 3:40 we read, “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” Hope to see you on Sunday and Tuesday because you can’t get the real truth about yourself unless your spiritual inventory includes both the individual and group aspects.