Pastor Goforth

But Grow in the Grace-2 Peter 3:18

July 21st, 2026
Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:1-2 to those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God…

Peter, though a “first follower” and leader, an Apostle chosen by God in Christ, did not think he had something that others could not have, but recognized that all can receive equal grace, equal promises fulfilled, because it’s all about, from, and through Jesus to all who believe.

So, may grace be multiplied to you…

Then he teaches such powerful things about growth in Christ in chapters one and two. And as he must have been aware that his days were numbered by both age and the attack of evil which would take his life as a martyr in the faith, he shifts to understanding that our days are numbered…

Since 3:11 these things are to be dissolved… so we should be holy and godly 12 as you wait…

If you live 5, 10, or 100 years, a “day” for the Lord… v8 is like 1000 years for us. So my life, over 60 years, has only been like about 90 minutes by the Lord’s watch. (if you know watches… I’m sure the Lord’s Watch must be a “Doxa” that’s why I have one)

So, if MY life has only been about 90 minutes… it’s only been about “two days” since Peter wrote these words, and then “any day now” he could come… or maybe in “5 or 10 or 90 minutes”.

With that understanding, focus on the right things, while you wait

v14 while you wait for these things…
- Be found without spot… at peace
- Recognize delay = salvation for someone else
- be on your guard… not led away by error… which can move us away from truth and purpose
Then 3:18
- Grow in Grace and Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Oh my, sadly I know people who “seem” to be growing in Knowledge” but don’t seem to be growing in Grace – charis = grace, kindness, blessing, concession, favor.

I won’t make more of it than to say – Grow IN – axiano = to make grow, cause growth, full grown. It is a verb in the Present, Active, Imperative tense. That means “Right Now, you MUST cause to grow toward full growth and maturity.”

So, we don’t grow TO grace, that is a gift of God, but we are to grow IN Grace. We don’t achieve grace, but we do need to grow IN it.

I was born to my family, but then IN my family I did need to grow up to be who we are, love what we love, do what we do.

We raised our sons that way, “this is who we are, grow into that, or do not do this or that because that’s not who we are, so put that aside.”

Knowing that any day now Jesus is coming again, I want to grow up to be more like him today in grace, and know who he is, what he expects, what he does, and what he doesn’t do – then seek to be that.

In Grace – Grow to be Gracious, Grace Filled, Grace Giving, Grace revealing…

… So that I become more Special? Famous?… NO

3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – To HIM be the Glory, both now and to the Day of Eternity

Grow in Grace to Glorify Jesus, Make His Name Great, Make Him Famous, Make Him Glorious
Podcast Episode: I Saw The Lord… and Isaiah 6 1:1-8

July 14th, 2026

Pip: There is a particular kind of sermon note that starts with a king dying and ends with the cosmos, and Pastor Goforth has written one of those.
Mara: This episode follows a single extended reflection on Isaiah 6 — the vision, the confession, the call — and how a moment of personal grief becomes the doorway to encountering God.
Pip: Let's get into it.
I Saw The Lord — Isaiah 6 and the Shape of Encounter
Mara: The post opens with a disarming admission: most of us will never see God with our eyes or hear his voice with our ears, and the question it sits with is what it actually looks like to "see the Lord" through Scripture and Spirit.
Pip: And the framework offered is five words — Posture, Preparation, Provision, Persistence, Presence — which sounds like a conference handout until you realize the post is using them to trace something genuinely personal.
Mara: The anchor passage is Isaiah 6, and the post sets it up through the detail most readers skip. Isaiah and King Uzziah were likely related — uncle or cousin — and Uzziah reigned for fifty-two years before a catastrophic fall: he attempted a priestly sacrifice forbidden to kings, and God struck him with leprosy. His final days were spent, as the post puts it, "in separation, disease, and disgrace."
Pip: So when Isaiah says "in the year that King Uzziah died," he is not giving us a timestamp. He is telling us he was grieving.
Mara: That's exactly the point the post makes. It notes the phrase is "in the year" — not the day, not the week — because loss takes time. Isaiah came to the temple humbled, and what he found there is the famous vision: the Lord seated high and lifted up, seraphim calling out, the room shaking.
Pip: And his first response is not awe. It is collapse.
Mara: The post quotes directly: "Woe is me… I am ruined." And then the confession — "I am a man of unclean lips, among a people of unclean lips." The post wonders honestly whether those unclean lips had been asking hard, accusatory questions during the year of grief.
Pip: Which is where the post gets genuinely vulnerable — there is a story about losing a close friend, sitting in an office, and sensing a quiet question: are you going to figure this out? The answer was no, and the pivot that followed was an invitation simply to worship alongside the friend who was already doing exactly that.
Mara: The sequence the post traces is deliberate: see the Lord, then see yourself, then confess — and only then does the voice come. "Then I heard the Voice of the Lord… Who will go for us? I said, Here I am, send me." The post reads that progression into Psalms 121 through 124 as well, a chain of lifted eyes and arriving help.
Pip: Look up, look in, listen, respond — that is the post's closing line, and it earns it.
Mara: The through-line here is that encounter with God tends to move through grief and honesty before it arrives at commission.
Pip: Which means "Here I am, send me" is not a brave opening line. It is what comes out the other side of something harder.
I Saw The Lord… and Isaiah 6 1:1-8

July 14th, 2026
Most of us will never “see” the Lord with eyes or audibly hear his voice with

ears, but we have his Word and his Spirit within us.

God reveals himself to us and what then do we do with that?

How do we “see the Lord”? There are words that come to mind that Position us to see and hear the Lord.
- Posture
- Preparation
- Provision
- Presistence
- Presence
I was then looking at several passages where “saw the Lord” is shown. One that came to mind was in Daniel 7:13-14. Daniel saw the coming future of the full dominion of one like the son of man with clouds of heaven… given dominion, glory, and a Kingdom… every people, nation, and language to serve him in an everlasting indestructible Kingdom and then in v15 his reaction My spirit was deeply distressed and the visions in my mind terrified me.

Seeing God, sounds exciting, but it is frightening and carries responsibility.

But of course, the most famous passage is Isaiah 6. The prophet shares his testimony, In the year that King Uzziah died, I Saw the Lord…

Isaiah had a vision to prepare him to be used by God as his voice to the people of HIS day, but then literally to every generation since who seek the Lord. Isaiah was used by God to give us a clear picture of God’s call to his people, the Provision of the coming Messiah, and what the days would be like when he restores all things.

To See the Lord, Preparation has to happen and Posturing takes place. Sometimes this happens intentionally, and other times it is circumstantial.

I’ve read, pondered, taught, and preached from this passage many times, but the word of God is living and active… and I saw something yesterday that felt very real and relatable to me.

In the YEAR that King Uzziah died… Uzziah was a great king, militarily, in building projects, and in his love and passion for God. Uzziah was man who sought the Lord and led his people to do the same. But for Isaiah, it is believed that he and Uzziah were related, perhaps as an Uncle or Cousin. As King, as Family, certainly Isaiah looked up to Uzziah. Uzziah was King for 52 year, but Uzziah, in spite of success, had a great fall. Uzziah tried to step outside his role as King, and offer an Incense Sacrifice in the Temple, which is strictly forbidden, and God struck him with leprosy and his final days were spent in separation, disease, and disgrace.

All of this prepared Isaiah to seek the Lord.

Notice, in the YEAR that… not “in the day that” or “in the week/month that”…

When we lose someone close, a hero, it takes time to grieve, to mourn, to be humbled, “why Lord?”

I feel Isaiah, struggling, came to the Temple.

I’ve preached this passage many times, and so I won’t belabor the points… but Isaiah was Postured, humbled, he was Prepared, knowing that no one else was on the throne, so he Saw the Lord seated high and lifted up… The Lord is surrounded by servants and worshippers.

Isaiah Persisted in looking and staying there in the Presence, he didn’t run away or look away…

When he Saw the Lord, then he Saw Himself…
- Woe is me… I am ruined
We need to see ourselves, as we are…
- He Confessed his Sin – I am a man of unclean lips, among a people of unclean lips
I’m only conjecturing here, but it is interesting the confession he gives. a man of unclean lips. If he was grieving, I wonder about his days, what kind of statements and prayers had he offered. Were there perhaps honest “accusations”, spoken or unspoken that he made about “A God who would allow my king to die”. Or about “My hero that let me down”.

Just getting “real” here.

I remember losing a close friend to sudden death at a relatively young age. I was in a funk for a period after that. I wasn’t “angry” but I was “confused”. “Lord, why would this happen?” I didn’t “see” the Lord, or “hear” and audible voice, but one day in my office, I sensed the Lord ask, “Jim, are you going to figure this out?” I thought, “no”. Then the Lord impressed on me the question at what my friend was doing at that very moment. I sat forward in my chair and said, “he is Worshiping you.” Then as clear as a voice, I sensed the Lord say, “then why don’t you just join him, until or even if you never figure this out.” I said, “I can do that.”

My Focus Changed

Why was Isaiah aware of his sin and know that he was “ruined” in need of being silent? My eyes has seen the King, the Lord of Armies”

At some point, we need to look away from what we face, who we idolize, what we don’t understand, and look at the Lord.

Then with Confession comes Cleansing. Romans 10:9 and 1 John 1:9 are powerful truths that match Isaiah 6:7. Yes, if we confess that Jesus is Lord… we will be saved… If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse…
- 6:7 he touched my mouth… your iniquity is removed and your sin atoned for
Seeing the Lord, Seeing ourselves, Confessing Sin…

“Why doesn’t God speak to me?” Have you looked? Have you Seen, Have you Seen yourself and Confessed sin? Well, then you aren’t ready to hear anything else.
- Then I heard the Voice of the Lord… Who will Go for us?
- I said, Here I am, Send Me.
Yes Lord, it is a Process of lifting our eyes to the Lord, seeing, confessing, then hearing…

My mind immediately went to Psalm 121 – I lift my eyes to the hills 2 my help comes from the Lord 3 … your protector will never sleep…

Then I continued to read to Psalm 122:1 – the first verse I ever memorized as a boy, I was glad with those who said to me, ‘Let’s go to the house of the Lord’

Then I continued to Psalm 123 I lift my eyes to you, the one enthroned in Heaven…

And then finally to Psalm 124 if the Lord had not been on our side… they would have swallowed us alive… 6 Blessed be the Lord who has not let us be ripped apart… 8 our help is in the Name of the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth…

Go read all of those Psalms into 125 as well… My, My, My…

Look Up, Look In, Listen, and Respond
Podcast Episode: A Traveler or a Disciple – Luke 14:25-35

July 8th, 2026

Pip: Pastor Goforth opened up "the Google" this week, and what he found there might be the most convicting search result anyone has ever run.
Mara: This episode follows one extended study from pastorgoforth — Luke 14, the cost of discipleship, and a question that cuts right through comfortable church attendance. Let's start with what Jesus actually meant when he turned to face the crowd.
A Traveler or a Disciple
Pip: The setup here is deceptively simple: a massive crowd is walking with Jesus, and the post asks whether walking with someone is the same thing as following them. The answer, it turns out, depends entirely on what you mean by "with."
Mara: The Greek word behind "traveling" in Luke 14:25 is symporeuomai — to journey together — and it's the root of our word sympathy. The post frames the whole passage around that distinction: "Jesus is asking this great crowd — are you just sympathetic toward me, or are you my disciples?"
Pip: Sympathy is not discipleship. That is a short sentence with a long reach. You can feel warmly toward someone's mission and still be heading somewhere else entirely.
Mara: The post maps four traveler types onto that crowd — tourists, commuters, professional followers, and people just relocating — and holds each one up against Jesus's actual criteria from the end of Luke 14. Hating competing relationships, bearing your own cross, counting the cost, preparing for battle, renouncing possessions, staying salty.
Pip: That list is doing real work. Each item sounds like its own demand, but the post argues they all collapse into one.
Mara: Verse 27 is where the post plants its flag: "whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple." The post points out that the original audience had no resurrection theology to soften that image — they knew exactly what a man carrying a cross looked like, and it wasn't a metaphor. It was public humiliation, stripped of everything.
Pip: So every other item on the list — possessions, relationships, control, reputation — is already included in that one image. The cross-bearer has lost all of it before they even arrive.
Mara: The post closes with an Oswald Chambers line that reframes the whole thing: "Our Lord never proclaimed a Cause; he proclaimed personal devotion to Himself." The tourist follows a cause. The disciple follows a person, at whatever cost that person names.
Pip: Salt without flavor, the post says, isn't even good for fertilizer. At some point the question stops being theological and becomes very personal.
Mara: The distinction between sympathy and devotion is one that doesn't resolve easily — it keeps asking the same question every time you show up.
Pip: Which is, I suppose, the point. See you next time.
Podcast Episode: O Jogo Bonita – the Beautiful Game

July 8th, 2026

Pip: Pastor Goforth is here to talk about the World Cup, and somehow also about everything — life, faith, dirt fields with large rocks, and why Americans keep asking when the scoring starts.
Mara: This episode follows one extended reflection on soccer, its global reach, and what the beautiful game turns out to have in common with how a life is actually lived. Let's start with the game itself.
O Jogo Bonita — What Makes Soccer Beautiful
Mara: The post opens with a question worth sitting with: what actually makes soccer beautiful, and why does that beauty seem to elude so many American sports fans?
Pip: The answer lands somewhere unexpected. Here is the line that pulls the whole piece together: "Futbol, Football, or Soccer is a Beautiful Game because it is much more like life. Anyone can compete. We must work together, think proactively, get in position, pay attention, be patient, stay at it when you are tired, just like life."
Mara: So the upshot is that the game's structure — ninety minutes of continuous play, low scoring, sustained effort — is not a flaw to be fixed. It is the point. The doing is the reward, not the scoreboard.
Pip: Which puts American sports culture in an interesting light. The post walks through baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and even pro wrestling, noting that each time a sport felt too slow or too unpredictable, someone added a faster payoff. Three-point shots, slam dunks, choreographed fights. We kept asking the game to come to us.
Mara: And soccer simply does not do that. Ninety minutes of play, maybe one goal, and the crowd sings the whole time anyway. The post makes a point about World Cup national anthems that is genuinely striking — at other sporting events, the anthem is performed at people. At the World Cup, the teams and fans sing it themselves, together, out loud.
Pip: There is something almost embarrassing about that contrast, and the post does not soften it.
Mara: The piece also draws on personal history — decades of playing, coaching youth teams, and carrying a soccer ball across four continents on mission trips, where it consistently opened doors that other approaches could not. The game as a shared language before any words are exchanged.
Pip: It closes on Colossians 3:23 — whatever you do, do it from the heart, as for the Lord. The beautiful game, it turns out, is also a sermon illustration that actually works.
Mara: And the invitation at the end is simple: if you have not watched, watch. Not to become a fan, but to understand what has the world so completely absorbed.
Pip: Patience, sustained effort, small victories inside a long stretch of doing — as life metaphors go, that one holds up.
Mara: More from Pastor Goforth next time. The game, apparently, continues.
A Traveler or a Disciple – Luke 14:25-35

July 8th, 2026
Defining a Disciple is an important thing.

I looked up on “the Google” the word “Traveler” and it says, “anyone who goes on a journey or frequently moves from place to place – it can broadly refer to tourists, commuters, business professionals, or people relocating”

Then I looked up the word “Disciple” on that information storehouse…

“a dedicated follower, student, or learner who adheres to and helps spread the teachings of another person or master”

In Luke 14, while eating at the house of a “leading Pharisee” on the Sabbath, Jesus tells a story of a man giving a banquet who invited many but people didn’t come, they had many excuses. That man told his servants, go into the highways and hedges and make them come in so that my house will be filled.

At the end of that encounter, then he is traveling and 14:25 says – Great crowds were Traveling WITH him. So, he turned and said to them…

Then Jesus defines a disciple by what they are and are not. My thought then is, “are we Disciples or just Travelers?”

That Greek word translated “traveling” is symporeuomai = to go with, journey together. It looks like and is the root word where we get our word “Sympathy”. Jesus is asking this “great crowds” – polys = many… “are you just sympathetic toward me, or are you my disciples?”

Now looking at that Google definition for the word “traveler”, are we just “spiritual tourists” or a Disciple? I’ve been a tourist many times. Tourists are there to see what’s happening, what has happened. Are we just “commuters”, heading somewhere else on the same path, but going to a different destination or for a different reason? Are we just “Professional Followers”, are we just “relocating”, or are we Disciples?

Then Jesus throws out several defining questions / statements that define a disciple in the end of Luke 14:
- They “hate” other relationships compared to Jesus. If not, he cannot be my disciple.
- Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple
- a disciple must Count the Cost – “Calculate” the CSB renders it, meaning giving careful thought o what must happen, what it will cost, and lay up the needed resources for completion. If not, other will say, “he started, but wasn’t able to finish the building.”
- a disciple must understand and prepare for the battle instead of giving up and “making peace” with the enemy
- If you don’t renounce all possessions, you cannot be my disciple
- Then, he says, as “salt” – don’t lose your “taste”. That word, = moraino = to be foolish, become tasteless. If we do, we aren’t being his disciple
Well, Jesus, what do you really think?

Think for a minute –
- Salt without flavor is truly useless, what’s the point? It isn’t even useful for soil or fertilizer, so just pitch it – Don’t just be a Traveler
- Other relationships have their place, but if they get in the way of following Jesus, you are just a Traveler, not a Disciple. You are just watching what might happen but not looking for life change.
- If you aren’t prepared to invest in the life of Christ, you might clear some land, lay some building materials, but not build the household of faith. That’s just a traveler who went, but had nothing to show for it.
- If you aren’t preparing for battle, you will make peace with the enemy; and his terms of “peace” are total surrender – if you think you “saved your life” you still lost it all – you relocated to the enemy’s realm.
- If you hold on to all your “stuff” but not Jesus, what will you have in the final accounting? You can’t take that stuff with you. Lay it down don’t be a professional traveler.
- But the Most Radical Thing he says is v27 – whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Think about that… How would they have heard that statement? In that day, they didn’t know Jesus was going to die on a cross and then when he did they didn’t understand the “why”.

But they knew, in the Roman World, that anyone condemned by the Romans for an awful crime or sedition – they were humiliated, stripped bare, forced to carry their cross of execution, then they were nailed on that cross in a public place for all to see.

Think about all of those definitions of what is NOT a disciple – The one who takes up the cross is all those things combined –
- all their worldly possessions were gone
- their family was of no value
- their taste was gone
- they were defeated
- they had no control
All of the OTHER statements are wrapped up in this one statement in v27 – Lay it all down and follow me

Are we “Tourists” – just came to see, take some pictures, get some souvenirs?

Are we “Commuters” heading somewhere else, but just traveling near Jesus?

Are we “Professional” Church folks?

Are we “Relocating”?

OR

Are we Disciples of Jesus Christ, laying everything else down to Follow, totaling humiliated, dead to everything else, counting the cost, and willing to bear it all to come after, that’s a Disciple, of Jesus?

“Our Lord never proclaimed a ‘Cause’; he proclaimed personal devotion to Himself.” – Oswald Chambers
O Jogo Bonita – the Beautiful Game

July 7th, 2026
Pelé made the term popular when playing for Brazil and then in the USA.

We have certainly seen it in this round of hosting the World Cup in North America. Sadly, some Americans just can’t get it, but it is a Beautiful Game, and it’s been a beautiful expression of the world here in USA, Canada, and Mexico.

It is beautiful for many reasons:
1. The skill, artistry, athleticism are just where it starts. The ability to control a ball, the ball flight, the height, the curvature, no it’s not easy, nor is a beautiful work of art easy to create, but that’s what makes it beautiful.
2. It’s beautiful because it is a worldwide sport that has been part of culture all over the world for 3,000 years.
3. It is beautiful because it can be played with many different balls or substitutes for balls. It can be played with great equipment or no equipment. It can be played by young and old, tall and short, rich and poor, and when unable to participate it can be enjoyed for the beauty of it.
4. Americans have struggled to grasp it for many reasons. Americans tend to like short term rewards, a hit, a walk, a strikeout, a homerun. a First Down, the Ability to bang into one another and physically block, or take down a player, a Touchdown, and Interception, we want it to come quickly. High scores are enjoyed by American fans, when a basket wasn’t good enough, we wanted a three-point shot. When a layup wasn’t enough, we liked a Slam-dunk. When a goal wasn’t good enough on ice, we wanted to see a fight. When a wrestling match was over too fast, too unpredictable, someone wanted to create a “soap-opera” in a choreographed athletic event and call it “pro-wrestling”.
5. Futbol, Football, or Soccer is a Beautiful Game because it is much more like life. Anyone can compete. We must work together, think proactively, get in position, pay attention, be patient, stay at it when you are tired, just like life. An American Football game has 60 minutes on the clock, has commercials and all that may last over Three Hours to complete – and yet, action is only about 11-12 minutes, but a Futbol/Soccer game, 90 minutes of Play – and that might be with only a goal or two scored. Just like life, we stay at it, and get successes in short opportunities but it’s the doing that is Life.
Soccer / Futbol is a beautiful game – because it is a love of the game and a love of your team, and in World Cup, it is a Love for your Country. One of the Most Beautiful Things in this last month and with still another week to go has been the national expressions of pride, as well as appreciation for the other country’s pride.

The singing of National Anthems has been unlike any other sport expression. I love to have the opportunity to sing our National Anthem at sporting and community events, but that is a performance. You go to a baseball game or other sporting event, when the national anthem is sung, people are respectful, generally, but they aren’t participating. In the World Cup – just music is played and the Team and the Fans Sing their Hearts Out for their Country. It is loud, it is proud, it is Visceral!

I would add one other thing from my own experience. Yes, I played soccer as a boy and young man. Pelé came on the USA scene when I was at that age, and I wore his Adidas, NASL White Cleats with Red Studs on the bottom. As an Adult, I continued to play, coached a couple dozen teams as my sons were growing up. But I’m 61 years old, and I’ve been on Four Continents as a Tourist but also on short and long-term mission work and do you know what has been a common denominator as well as a vehicle to relate, but also to create opportunities to share my faith? The Beautiful Game. I’ve played it on Beautiful “Pitches” as well as on Dirt Fields with Large Rocks Protruding. I’ve played it in streets, inside buildings. I’ve talked about it and shifted to talking about the Greatest Game – Life – and what is available in Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t played, or watched, put down your flippant statements, and give it a watch, if for no other reason than to know what’s got the world so transfixed, and be able to have a conversation with someone from somewhere else.

It IS a Beautiful Game

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people (CSB
Caught Up

June 25th, 2026

He is NOT a Thief, who steals away what he already owns; He is but an owner, a warrior to rescue, taking his goods back home; And So comes Christ , …
Caught Up
But You Are – 1 Peter 2:9

June 23rd, 2026
Those without Christ, apart from Christ, lay their own path. But, because of Christ, the child of God finds Christ to be Source and Strength, Path and

Purpose, Instigation and Destination.

He is the Why, the How, and the Where.

In Peter’s first letter, he writes to those chosen, living as exiles – paradidemos = sojourner; temporary residents in a strange place.

We hear a lot about “foreigners, aliens”, but in Christ, whether politically, positionally, actually, or relationally, we are just on a journey in this world.

Peter writes to followers of Christ in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. He tells them that God knew already that they would become his. As they have become his, the Spirit is at work sanctifying them. That word, hagiasmos = making them holy.

Paul speaks in Romans 4:29+ that these God forknew, he had destined them to be conformed to the image of Christ, and he had called… justified… and glorified. All of those are listed in the past tense in that they are completed work of God, even before we experience them. Then Paul continues… if God is for us, who can be against us?

God will finish the work, Praise the Lord, but between the justification and glorification Peter speaks of the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient… That’s the day-to-day lifelong process of becoming who we are remade to be.

1 Peter 1:3 says because of mercy he has given us a new birth into living hope… v4 into inheritance… and as you read on he says, be holy because I am holy.

Well now I want to Preach 1 Peter… but that’s for another time.

Let me get back to where I started in 1 Peter 2:9… Peter says, But You Are….

That means there is a negative opposite experience. 2:1 says, Therefore, rid yourselves of…

What?
- Malice – kakia = wickedness, evil, malice
- Deceit – dolos = not just lying but deceit with intent = deceit, treachery, cunning
- Hypocracy = hypocrisis = a playcating answer
- Envy – phthonos = envy, jealousy – i.e. I want what you have and I hate you for having it
- All Slander – katalalia = evil speech, slander, not necessarily lying, but seeking to destroy by truth, and false implication
- GET RID – apotithemi = to lay aside, take off – Take Off these filthy, nasty, clothes…
Why?
- v2b so that you may grow up into your salvation – not to receive salvation, but to grow into the salvation you have already received
Peter confesses, yes, you may be rejected by people, but you are CHOSEN and Honored by God.

I have struggled much in life and continue to try and be accepted, be good enough, be honored… but Peter tells us that in Christ, we are Known – prognosis, Chosen – eklektos, and Honored – entimos = valued, precious, highly regarded

Come on Now Somebody…

Honor will come to all who believe, but the Unbelieving he says, they stumble – proskopto = strike against… because they disobey – and just as God knowns who will be his, and has chosen them for great things, he also knows those without him, and because of their refusal, he has destined them to stumble

and fall.

But YOU are…

When he tells us who we are, and tells us to put aside the clothing that doesn’t match the holiness we are, and are becoming, who we will be, he gives us the biggest…

Why
- You are Somebody – a Chosen Race – genos = nation, people, class
You are part of a somebody in a group. Not somebody by yourself out there. You are part of a bigger Somebody, a Chosen People Class.
- For Something – a Royal Priesthood – a people called to serve in the holy worship of the king
- Into Something – a holy nation – hagio ethnos – a set apart spiritual ethnicity
- To Him – a people for his possession – peripoiesis – comes from the word poieo = to make – he has making us into a treasured possession
- To Be Something Outward – so that you may Proclaim the Praises – exangello = an angelic proclamation – Tell out arete = the excellence of his character. Go Tell somebody about the the one who called you OUT of Darkness, INTO Marvelous Light. Tell Them that ONCE you were not anything… but now you are a people, once had not mercy, but now have received mercy…
Well that’s a lot – then you go and read the rest of the chapter, and the rest of the letter based on understanding who you are. It affects then how you lie, how you act, toward people, toward the government, at work, in relationships…

v21 – for you were called to this…

It all comes back to living according to who you are, who we serve, why he saved us, as you are Growing Up Into the Great Salvation we have received.

Yeah we have a way to go, like a kid walking in Dad’s Shoes… but grow up into it!
No Greater Love… Lay Down His Life – John 15:13

June 16th, 2026
No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are MY friends if you do what I command you (John 15:13-14 CSB)

John 15 is so full – so powerful. Jesus is squeezing so much teaching in this night before his crucifixion.

In John 13:34-35, he has already said, A new commandment I give you… love one another… as I have loved you… by this all will know you are my disciples…

Now, he has talked about “abiding in him” 15:5 that’s where life and fruitfulness exist for the “branches” The Vine is the source, the Branch gets life from the Vine.

Then you get down to verse 13, and we often read this looking back and knowing what Jesus died for us, but I’ve often pointed that Jesus didn’t just “show up” and die, no, he came and LIVED, gave up his LIFE, not just his death.

So, is he calling us to consider how we live? Is he saying we should live lives surrendered to the better FOR someone else?

Yes

Oh wait, my greatest love is laying down my life, for my friends. philos = beloved, dear one – Ok, I can do that – live surrendered to my friend…

That’s the problem, when we pick and choose verses.

Laying down your life for your friends, got it…

Wait

v14 you are MY friends if you do what I command you…

uh-oh – What has he commanded? Back up to all of this chapter, but even if you take a few verses…

v9 as the Father has loved me, I have loved you (1) Remain in my Love – if you keep my commands you will remain in my love…

Is he saying that when I do not do what he says I’m NOT staying in his love?

He continues, Just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in HIS love… Well… go to John 5:19 and Jesus said he was unable to do anything on his own… only what the Father does… the Son does…

Then in John 15:11 says there is Joy in this… that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete…

Joy comes in knowing and doing what Jesus says, what the Father says

(2) v12 this is my command, love one another, as I have loved you…

Well, he keeps saying this doesn’t he?

Romans 5:8, Paul teaches us that Jesus demonstrated / proved his love in that while we were sinners, separated from God, he died for us.

1 John 3:16 this is how we know what love is: He laid down his life for us… we should lay down our lives for our brothers…

Well Now… this is more clear and more hard… but I still can just do it for my “friend” right?

Well… sort of… Jesus said, you are MY friends IF you do what I have commanded…

What did he command? Love one another and remain in my love…

Jesus’ disciples had come a long way here in John’s Gospel. From chapter one as seekers, to followers, to followers, to disciples, to servants, and now toward friendship.

v15 I have called you friends… have made known to you what I heard from my Father. 16 you did not choose me, I chose you.

I’ve always thought, as someone who had been picked LAST sometimes on the playground, blessed to know, Jesus picked me FIRST.

So, when I choose to obey, to love, to show love, do love, then feel love… it is not about me, and not even about those… it is about being a Friend of Jesus!

You are my beloved, dear one, friend if you do (poieo = to make, fashion, do, accomplish) what I command you

Yes, Lord, I love you, I am grateful for the opportunity to be more than a servant, but a friend.

This is Love – lay down your living life (psyche = soul, breath, life)

Oswald Chambers in speaking on this
- “we are not made for brillant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways”
- “If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for him”
- “Salvation is ‘easy’ because it costs God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult
Alright then, child of God, Servant of God, Let’s grow into Friend of God.