SERMON NOTES

Stop Going to Church

Be the Church 

Text: 1 Peter 2:4-10 (p. 1014) 

If we put on the lenses of faith and see everything in our existence through Jesus, we have every reason to live not just with hope but with the  and  that are the fruit of hope. 

While we wait with anticipation for His return, Jesus promises we can live our day to day lives in this fallen world not as survivors but as . (Rm. 8:35-39)

In God's kingdom, we must possess   everything we've been . (Josh.1:3) 

The way we possess hope is to do it . 

More than ever, we need  - but not in the way we normally think. 

We together - the  who carry the hope of Jesus, the church - we are the house of God...

...that you may proclaim the  of him who called you our of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Pet. 2:10)

Church is not where we  but  we are. 

We will never possess the hope, live in the confidence, we're intended to live in without . 

Righteousness that leads to hope comes as we are  - not casually attend, not throw in a little religious activity at a religious place on occasion -  (Ps. 92:12-13) 

Jesus uses that church in all our weaknesses, and struggles to do the vast majority of His work in our lives. (2 Cor. 12:9) 

I can testify not just from my own life but from the lives of thousands - the  of the church is worth it. (Pr. 14:4)

If you desire to live with a hope that is lacking greatly in our world right now, the answer is . (Heb. 10:25)