Tough Times – Grow

Grow | 1 Peter 2:1-10

Pastor Blake Hanson | 1.26.22

Genesis 2:7 (ESV)

7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Your spiritual is connected to God’s church. 

1 Peter 2:1–10 (ESV)

1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 

2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 

3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 

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

6 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.” 

7 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,” 

8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

10  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

4 steps to growing spiritually… (spiritual growth strategy)

1. Evaluate your . (v1-3)

1 Peter 1:22–23 (ESV)

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 

2. Join with other believers. (v4-5)

Hebrews 10.25 (TLB)

25 Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.

3. Make accordingly. (v6-8) 

Isaiah 28:16 (ESV)

16 therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

Psalm 118:22 (ESV)

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

4. Remember the . (v9-10)

1 Peter 2:9–10 (ESV)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.