Masterpiece From Damaged Merchandise

[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for choosing to listen to another faith-building message by Pastor David Entry. Faith comes by hearing and by hearing the Word of God.

[0:12] May your knowledge of Jesus Christ increase as you listen. Be blessed. 1 Peter 2 from verse 1. 2 Therefore lay aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all evil speaking.

[0:31] 3 As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby. 4 If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, 5 You also, as living stones, have built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

[1:00] 5 Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture. 6 Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.

[1:14] 7 Unto you therefore which believe in his precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.

[1:27] 7 A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble under the Word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

[1:39] 8 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that ye shall show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 8 Which in time passed were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

[2:04] 8 Somebody shout hallelujah. Here ends the reading of God's Word, and may God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. 8 Last week, it's interesting how we learned a few things about we being built.

[2:17] 8 Let me pick up again, just a quick recap. 8 Wherefore lay aside, and then it says, as newborn babies. 8 Remember, it starts from chapter 1. I always said, it starts from 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 23, how we have been regenerated by the seed of God's Word.

[2:32] 9 So we have been regenerated by the Word of God. 9 We have been regenerated by the Word of God. 10 And then it goes on in the... 10 So first of all, we are the seed of God, all right?

[2:45] 10 Or the seed of God gives birth to us. 10 The Word of God comes to us as a seed. 10 Then in chapter 2, verse 2, it talks about, as newborn babies, crave the sincere milk of the Word. 11 One thing that is easy to miss is that word, desire.

[2:58] 11 In some translations, it uses crave, all right? 11 So as newborn babies, crave, desire, crave the pure milk. 11 The pure, then, means that it's as pure as a mother's breast milk directly into the mouth of the baby.

[3:12] 11 Uncontaminated. 11 But you know, if you go and get the milk from a cow, it must be processed for it to be quite pure, right? 11 But the mother's milk is so pure, uncontaminated. 11 Nothing has infiltrated it.

[3:25] 11 And he says, the Word of God is actually pure. 11 And we should crave that pure. 11 And the craving means desire it. 11 You actually want it that bad. 11 That's what it means.

[3:36] 11 You should want the Word of God so bad that nothing can replace that desire for God's Word. 11 It's almost like a strong addiction. 11 Addicted to the Word of God.

[3:46] 11 You want it. 11 Without the Word of God, you need to have withdrawal syndrome. 11 Hallelujah. 11 I said, crave, desire. 11 Desire the Word. 11 Desire the Word. 11 Desire the Word. 11 So, crave the sincere milk of the sincere, the pure, unadulterated.

[4:01] 11 The adolus. 11 You remember the Greek word adolus. 11 Milk of God's Word. 11 That you may grow thereby, which is grow into your salvation. 11 We see NIV uses the word that you grow unto salvation.

[4:13] 11 So, in your salvation. 11 So, it's a salvation journey. 11 We are growing into it more. 11 Then, so you see, we are, say the Word of God is a seed. 11 Now, the Word of God is milk.

[4:24] 11 So, it's organic. 11 First of all, it's agricultural. 11 First of all, it's botanical. 11 Now, it's just organic. 11 It's like from the animal kingdom.

[4:35] 11 From a mammal. 11 All right. 11 Then, it moves on. 11 Then, it says that the Word of God, who is Jesus? 11 Same thing. 11 It says that, verse 3. 11 If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 11 To whom?

[4:46] 11 You have to come to the Lord before you can have this. 11 So, to whom coming. 11 Watch this. 11 This is very important. 11 To whom coming as unto a living stone. 11 A living stone. 11 To disallow indeed of men by chosen of God and precious.

[4:58] 11 So, as we are coming to him, he's a living stone to us. 11 He's a living stone. 11 Now, I'll show you something as we go on in the text. 11 It's very interesting. 11 Jesus is a stone. 11 He's not only a stone to me, the believers.

[5:09] 11 He's a stone anyway. 11 Whether you like it or not. 11 You like him or not. 11 You like it or not. 11 He's a stone. 11 But it's a particular type of stone to us. 11 Now, Bible says he's a living stone. 11 When you read the Old Testament, the law was given on stones.

[5:21] 11 And the law of stones. 11 The Bible said the letter. 12 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 11 I think that's 5 or verse 6. Yeah, verse 6. 11 He said, the letter killeth, but the spirit gives life.

[5:32] 11 So, the letter. 11 If you just look at the word of God, just from a grammatic point of view, it's not going to generate life. 11 All right. 11 But the word of God is meant to generate life. 11 And so, the word of God has life.

[5:43] 11 Remember, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. 11 It said, the word of God is living and sharp. 11 So, the word of God has life. 11 It's a living word. 11 So, we are saved by this word, which is a seed.

[5:55] 11 Seed is meant to have life. 11 It contains life and it conveys life. 11 As I explained the other time. 11 Seed contains and conveys life. 11 It contains life and it conveys life. 11 Whatever the seed gets to, the life germinates.

[6:07] 11 The life in the seed is not any different life, but the life in the seed is what germinates. 11 So, when we get one again, is the life in the seed. 11 So, when we get one again, is the life in God's way that germinates. 11 And now, we have the nature of God, the life of God.

[6:17] 11 That's what gets us born again. 11 Now, we have to grow in that life. 11 Until we begin to grow, we are not really transformed. 11 So, you are born again, but there are still elements of yourself, your old self, that if you are not careful, will get in the way of your walk with God.

[6:31] 11 So, we are supposed to grow in our salvation. 11 We are supposed to develop in our salvation. 11 And now, when we are growing in our salvation, the story begins to change. 11 But back to the living stone.

[6:42] 11 Jesus Christ is the living stone. 11 While the Old Testament, the law was given on stones that couldn't give life. 11 Even though it carried the purity of God, it didn't have the life of God to give life.

[6:55] 11 So, as you may say, the law was written on stones. 11 That was actually the law. 11 So, the law was supposed to actually convey the nature of God.

[7:18] 11 So, the law was supposed to actually convey the nature of God. 11 So, the law was supposed to actually convey the nature of God. 11 That sin living in me took the law and killed me. 11 So, the law became a murder weapon. 11 So, the law became a murder weapon.

[7:35] 11 So, the law became a murder weapon. 11 So, the law became a murder weapon. Jesus Christ is the life-giving spirit.

[7:46] Hallelujah. According to 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving spirit. He's the life-giving spirit. If you have him, you have life.

[7:56] So Christ is our life. So Bible says that he is the living stone, the stone that gives life. So now, coming to him, 1 Peter 2, coming to him as a living stone, not a dead stone, but a living stone.

[8:08] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's a stone that conveys life. Giving stone. And so in the first, let me go back to it again. It says that to him, coming as a living stone, men are not interested, but that's fine.

[8:21] You don't have to wait for people to be interested in Christ before you walk with him or celebrate him. Christ is precious if you are saved. Whether people like him or not. Whether the general population like him or not.

[8:32] Whether he's celebrated in the media or not. In your workplace or not. In the field of academia or not. In science or not. That doesn't change anything. When you are saved, you find out that Christ is precious.

[8:45] If I were you, I would just say, Christ is precious to me. If you are born again, then Christ, and you should be bold about that, that Christ is precious. Hallelujah. Christ is precious.

[8:58] Our precious stone in the mighty name of Jesus. Now, watch this. We move on to the, so verse 5. Ye also, so as you are coming to Christ, something is happening to you as well.

[9:11] Now, this is very important. I took my time to mention it last week. But permit me to go over it again. Because repetition brings learning. Repetition enforces learning.

[9:21] And it's important. Paul, Peter said, I know you know these things in 2 Peter 1. I know you know these things, but I will not stop saying it over and over again, so that even long after my departure, from verse 14 and 15, 13, 14, 15, 2 Peter 1, 13, 14, 15.

[9:39] He said, I know you know these things already, but to say it again is no problem at all. I'll keep saying it again, so that long after my departure, you will still remember these things. So it's very important. Now watch this.

[9:49] He said that Jesus Christ, he of verse 5, he also as living stones are built up a spiritual house. We are being built. So now watch this.

[10:00] We are saved. All right. We are regenerated by the seed. We grow by the milk. And once you grow by the milk, you end up becoming the stone. There's transformation that takes place through, watch this, through the milking process.

[10:13] So every believer needs the milk, the Adonance Word of God, the Guilas Word of God, the sincere milk of the Word. Every believer is not only baby believers. It's every believer.

[10:24] It is the only means by which we can be transformed. This is very important. Now, there's nowhere in Scripture, in life, where we are created stones.

[10:35] We are created with clay. In fact, in Romans chapter 9, verse 23, it talks about we being vessels of clay. All right. So we are vessels of clay.

[10:46] In fact, I think from verse 18 in particular, it talks about how a clay cannot ask the master, why did you make me so? So we are vessels of clay. That's the point.

[10:57] We are vessels of clay. It says it very clearly. We are vessels, but the vessels are made of clay, that he might make know the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy.

[11:08] We are vessels. So we are vessels. And then Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, where we have this treasure in earthen vessels, clay vessels. All right. So we are vessels of clay.

[11:19] Now, but here in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5, he also asked lively stones. Since when did we become lively stones, but not clay? I want to draw your attention to something very interesting, because Peter, Peter actually focuses on his experience with Christ, because when you watch the writings of Paul, which in theological circles, we call the Pauline epistles or Pauline writings.

[11:46] Okay. When you look at the Pauline writings and epistles and letters, Paul is, it was Paul who depicted the church as the body of Christ on earth.

[11:58] Why? Because of his initial encounter with Jesus. He encountered Jesus in a very graphic, in a very radical way. So his initial encounter with Jesus made him describe Christ in a very interesting way.

[12:16] How did he describe Christ? He describes Christ, the body of Christ as Christ. So the church as the body of Christ. But why did he do that? Because you remember, Bible says that he was persecuting the church.

[12:27] And according to Acts, according to Acts, Bible says, Acts chapter nine, Jesus Christ met him and he said, why, why persecuted thou me? And Paul said, no, who are you? I mean, what you say I'm persecuting?

[12:39] I can't persecute you for such a fiery, powerful personal, personality. He said, the church you are dealing with is my, it's me. So Paul's conversion, his conversion experience brought something stuck into his, some stuck reality into his memory or into him.

[12:56] That actually the church on earth is the body of Christ. That is why Paul depicted the church as the body of Christ. And he explained it in Romans, in Corinthians, and other parts of the scriptures of Pauline writing.

[13:10] He actually portrays the church very clearly as the body of Christ. Now, because of his conversion experience, now Peter comes, he didn't say the church is the body of Christ, which even though it is, he focuses on the fact that the church is, is, is collection of stones or building together of stones.

[13:26] Why did, why did he get that from? You remember in John chapter one, verse 42, when they brought Peter, when Andrew brought Peter to Jesus from verse 41, Jesus says, when Jesus saw Andrew, and saw Peter, and he says that, and he find, he's talking about, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, Andrew, he first found his brother Simon and said to him, we have found a bizarre.

[13:47] So verse 42 says that, and verse 42, and he brought him to Jesus. Now, when Jesus looked at him, he said, he asked Simon, the son of Jonah, you shall be called Seifas, which by interpretation, a stone.

[14:00] Did you see his experience? His experience was stony experience. In that sense, he's transiting, he's no, Jesus said, you are not, I'm going to be dealing, I'm not going to be dealing with you as a reed, which, that's the meaning of Simon.

[14:12] Simon means a reed. He said, no, forget about the reed status. I'm actually, I will be dealing with you as a stone, because you are a stone. So this stone experience stayed so much on his mind.

[14:24] And yet he wasn't a stone because he was still a reed shaky. That's why he denied Christ. But when he spoke about the revelation of Christ in Matthew chapter 16, verse 16, Jesus, Peter said, you are Christ, the son of the living, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

[14:40] And Jesus turned to him and he says that, blessed are you, Simon. All right. You are still Simon. Not, not, not, uh, Cephas, Simon, son of Jordan from your natural state.

[14:51] You are Simon. Flesh and blood has not revealed to you, but my father in heaven. Then Jesus released the big revelation. Verse 18. He said, you are, you are Peter. Now he didn't say Simon.

[15:02] Say you are Peter, which is the Greek translation for Cephas. Okay. So the Greek translation for Cephas is Petros, is Petros, which in English we say Peter.

[15:13] So Petros is the Greek, which is Peter, but Petros is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Cephas. And Cephas means a rock or a, a, a small room or a stone. So Jesus said, you are a, a, a, a small stone, a piece of a rock, a small stone.

[15:29] I told you I'm making you a stone. You are stone. So it is, it is, it's not address Simon. And he taught Simon in the verse, verse 17. Bible said, you are Simon. It's very interesting. Blessed are you, Simon, Simon.

[15:41] But guess what? You, then verse 18. It says that Simon, even though you are Simon, you are Peter. Simon, you are Peter. I told you when I called you, you are Saphos. You are a stone. Hallelujah.

[15:52] And then Jesus said, upon this revelation, every revelation is a rock. Okay. And Christ is a revelation. Upon this revelation about Christ, I'll build my church. That's the first, that's the first mention of the word church in the Bible.

[16:05] And for your information, it came from the mouth of Jesus, the Lord himself, the builder of the church, the owner of the church. No pastor owns a church. Nobody can own the church. No one can be the head of the church, apart from Christ.

[16:17] He owns the church. He's the Lord of the church. He's the savior of the church. He's the lover of the church. He's the owner of the church. Bible says, he purchased it with his blood, precious blood. Hallelujah. In fact, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 20, and in Acts, chapter 20, verse 20, he purchased the church.

[16:35] So, let's move on from there quickly. So, he says that we are Peter. So, can you imagine, the imprint on the mind of Peter about this rock revelation, that Peter's writing his epistle, because of what he understood, because of what Peter understood, concerning what Jesus said, or concerning what the church is, because of his understanding of the church, as being transformed from clay to stone, he said, in 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 5, he also, as living stones, or as lively stones, hallelujah.

[17:11] Now, he said, why are you lively stones? For a purpose. You also, as lively stones, have built up a spiritual house. So, two things we have done, that has been done to us.

[17:22] We have built up. So now, until you begin to receive the milk, you cannot be the stone you should be, to be built up. Last week, I spoke about per mineralization.

[17:33] Okay. Per mineralization, or the proper, the other actual word is petrification. What is petrification? I think in some way in America, Florida or so, I think there's a big place, and they do petrification.

[17:50] Wood. They take ordinary wood, and they pass through water that contains mineral substances. So, particular stony or mineral substances, they pass through gently, gradually, over a long period of time, as I explained previously.

[18:04] And after, after a while, by the time you realize, the wood has lost its wood. It looks like wood in every sense, but its constituent components, constituent components have changed, from this wooden elements, the core essence of it, is not more wooden, it's mineral.

[18:23] So, it's stone. If you put that, if you take another wood, you put them aside, they look the same. But if you put them in water, sorry, in fire, if you put both in fire, the normal wood, and the petrified wood, if you put the petrified wood, and the normal wood in fire, one will bend, one will never bend.

[18:39] Remember when Paul says that, every one's work will be tested. Some people are building with wood, straw, and hay. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 12. Now, and then gold, silver, and precious stone.

[18:52] Those things cannot be burned. Gold, silver. Verse 14, it said, fire will test the work of everyone, everyone's work. So, it will be tested. Verse 13, I'm sorry. It will be tested by fire.

[19:04] Now, fire burns wood, but fire cannot burn stone. Hallelujah. That's why sometimes, when you see a house that has caught fire, every other thing is burned, but you see the concrete, and other things standing. Fire burns wood, but fire cannot burn stone.

[19:17] So, God is changing us from just elements of wood to stone. We cannot be burned. Now, yes, this is very important.

[19:28] I'm heading towards the point. So, that is the purpose of petrification. So, a petrified wood cannot burn in fire, because it is now stone. It's core essence is stone.

[19:41] It's stone. Now, what is this? The word, even the word petrified, petrified, the original Greek that translates petrified. Okay.

[19:51] It is translated from the original core. The core Greek word that is translated petrified is the same core Greek word translated petros, Peter. Peter.

[20:03] So, Peter is like a petrified wood, a petrified personality. And so, he is telling us, we too, as people who are being petrified, how are we being petrified?

[20:13] Watch this. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I want to shout hallelujah. I hope you don't mind. Hallelujah. Watch this. We, as stones, as ordinary beings, clay, being petrified, we are being transformed.

[20:28] Guess what? How is this happening? The verse two. That is it. The adolus, adolus, the sincere adolus milk of the word.

[20:40] The sincere milk of the word. As going through, every day, as you keep hearing the word and reading the word. As you keep hearing the word and reading the word. Hearing the word and reading the word. Something is happening to you.

[20:51] Sometimes you may, you don't have to, if you, oh, no, no, no, no. Just keep it, keep it systematically. You don't even see it. It's like imperceptible. Like the way the hair grows on your skin.

[21:01] You never feel the hair growing by growth or your nail. The way your nail grows. You never feel it growing. But guess what? It's growing. It's the same way. As you expose yourself constantly to the word of God, to the word of God, something is happening in you.

[21:15] Petrification is taking place. Pair mineralization is taking place. God looks like Jasper. And that the New Jerusalem also looks like Jasper, which is made up of stone. So we are also like Jasper.

[21:26] We are, we are the building blocks of the New Jerusalem as Jasper. So we are being Jasperized. The more you get close to God, the more I preach a whole message on Jasperization. Hallelujah. God is washing.

[21:38] We are being awash with God. God's call. God's essence. The more you come to the word. So as you expose yourself to the word of God, feed on the word, hear the word, read the word every day, systematically, systematically.

[21:52] You may not feel it, but actually something is happening. You are being transformed. You are being metamorphosed. You are being changed. There's transformation going on because of your exposure to the word.

[22:04] And now that is what makes you even an appropriate material for the building of God's house. I hope you are getting what I'm talking about. So now after the milk comes in, we grow.

[22:16] And as we are growing into, and as we are growing our stones, we are now being built together with others. Now, as I mentioned at that time, the togetherness of the building is very essential.

[22:29] Togetherness of the building, we are being built together into a holy, a spiritual house, and a holy, very important, a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.

[22:39] We are the house of God. And 1 Peter 4, verse 17, he said, time is coming, and the judgment will begin in the house of God. Oh, okay. Where is the house of God? We, the church, the house of God.

[22:50] We are the house of God. In Hebrews 3, verse 6, it says, whose house we are. In 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, it talks about, you will know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.

[23:09] What is the house of God? The church of the living God. So we are being built into the spiritual house, but we are not just a natural house. We are a spiritual house, which I spoke about. And not only a house, okay, not only a spiritual house, it takes the life of God to make us spiritual.

[23:25] And it takes the nature of God, as I said the other time, to make us holy. So we are a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. What is the purpose of the priesthood? Is to offer services. As I mentioned, offer services.

[23:37] We are supposed to offer services. In Romans chapter 15, verse 16, it's very important, very interesting. The job of the priest, one of our jobs, is to offer services. What are the services?

[23:48] By saving the lost soul and bringing them to Christ. So, and building the church by that. So watch this. He says that, that I might, I might be a minister. That word translated minister is a, it is a liberating priest.

[24:03] A minister is a priest who is liberating, okay? A liberating priest to the Gentiles. Oh, sorry. Of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. ministering the gospel of God that, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by them.

[24:19] So it's like, we offer the Gentiles. What the Gentiles here mean, people who don't know Christ, who don't have a relationship with God. We offer them to God. That's why every believer must be a soul winner.

[24:32] Every believer must be a soul winner in establishing souls in the church. That is part of your priestly duty. and as well as serving in the house of God to build the house of God.

[24:43] That's why you have been saved. You are a stone to be a spiritual house and a, and a holy priesthood, a body of priests. We are just seven. Now, watch this. This is very important to understand.

[24:55] Um, at the, at the NIV of, NIV version of Romans 15, 16, look at it again on the screen. NIV version is that to be, to be a minister of Jesus, Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, which, sorry, to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God.

[25:17] It's a priestly duty. Okay? You don't have to wear a collar or all that is going to Sanskrit. No, no, no. I'm talking about every believer or the priesthood of all believers.

[25:27] We are all priests and one of our assignments is to offer the unsaved, save them and offer them as sacrifices to God. What sacrifice have you got to offer to God?

[25:38] This year, may God use you to save more souls. This year, may God use us to save more souls and build his house and then part of it too is the job of the priest in the Old Testament is to offer special sacrifices, the sin offerings, the burnt offering.

[25:52] Christ is our sin offering. He's our meal offering. He's our burnt offering. He's our peace offering. So our worship to God is actually, is accepted through Christ. Hallelujah.

[26:02] We are there to give God worship. Praise the Lord. So moving on from there, we are spiritual priests. Now that brings us to verse 6. Wherefore, also, it's contained in the scriptures.

[26:14] In the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. So this, Jesus is the cornerstone. He's elect, precious. He that believes on him shall not be confounded.

[26:25] Jesus is elect and precious. And if we believe on him, we will not be confounded according to what the scriptures say. Now watch the verse 7 says that, it says that, unto you, therefore, us, who believe, he is precious.

[26:40] But it's not so to everybody. So don't wait for everybody to say, I like Jesus before you serve him the way you should. Because not everybody will love our Jesus. Unto you, he said, unto you, therefore, who believe, he is precious.

[26:52] But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. Excuse me, the head of the corner. I need you to understand this, brothers and sisters.

[27:03] This is very, very important. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. Now, we, to us, it's a precious stone.

[27:14] But it doesn't cease to be a stone to those who are not saved. Yeah. See, it's there. It doesn't cease to be a stone. He's still a stone to them. But he's a stone of offense. Look at verse 8.

[27:25] Look at verse 8. Verse 8 says that, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, where, where unto also they are appointed.

[27:37] So it's a stone of offense, but to us it's a precious stone and Christ is our stone. Now, let me end quickly because of my time. Let me end quickly by landing us into, in verse 9.

[27:48] Verse 9 is such an amazing text to look at. Verse 9, it says that, but ye are a chosen generation. Come on, me, you, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

[28:01] Wow. Four things that he has mentioned we are. Number one, we are a chosen generation. Number two, we are a royal priesthood. Number three, we are a holy nation. Number four, we are a peculiar people.

[28:12] What? We? Now, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, the Bible says that we are the workmanship of Christ. The Greek word translated workmanship is poiment.

[28:25] And the word poiment also means masterpiece. Okay. So we are God's masterpiece. What? That's the New Living Translation. For we are God's masterpiece.

[28:37] He has created us anew in Christ. Wow. We the church, we the, this petrified stones, we the church of Christ, we the same people, we have been created anew in Christ Jesus.

[28:50] So we can, we can do good things he planned for us to do, which is the offer priesthood service and build the house. Okay. Now, back to, so we are masterpiece. We are masterpiece.

[29:01] We are, but with this rubbish, rubbish, but I like the way that I think John Newton sang a song. He said, amazing grace, that amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saves a wretch.

[29:16] Wretched, we are wretched sinners. The only good thing in us is, I mean, in fact, there's nothing good in us. We are only good for hell. We are, that's why when you are coming, you are born again, you should appreciate that it's God who chose you.

[29:31] We are a chosen generation. You didn't choose yourself. He chose us. See, once you have this mind that I didn't come by myself, I was chosen. It's a generous and it's test and greater desire for honoring God.

[29:44] It's, it's actually helped us to actually desire to honor God properly. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, it's important. We want to honor God properly with our lives. It makes us want to honor God with our substances.

[29:57] It makes us want to honor God and we are, we are grateful in our worship and in our approach to the way we do the things of God. We are grateful to God. We are grateful to God. Why? Because he saved us.

[30:09] He saved us. He chose, we were living our own life on the way to hell and then he said, no, I'm not going to allow you to go to hell. I'm not going to allow you to go to hell. I'm going to save you. I'm coming to save you.

[30:20] So he said that he chose us. Somebody say, I'm chosen. A righteous sinner, chosen. Come on. Don't, you see, the problem is when people don't realize how much Jesus has done for them in saving them from their sins, they don't actually appreciate it very much.

[30:34] They complain about all kinds of things. But if you know how much you didn't even deserve to be called a Christian, I didn't deserve to be called a child of God and yet he chose me and made me a child of God.

[30:44] It makes me very humble and very grateful. I'm chosen. I'm chosen. And we are a chosen generation. I'm chosen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And we are, guess what? Not just a chosen generation.

[30:56] We are four things. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Hallelujah. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation.

[31:06] So we are a generation, we are a priesthood, we are a nation, and we are a people. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is what makes us the masterpiece. Can you imagine? He has made a masterpiece out of or from a damaged merchandise.

[31:22] You, when you were born, before you became born again, before I became born again, I was a damaged merchandise. Good for the garbage. Not good for God. Nothing in me was good for God.

[31:36] Damaged merchandise. Hallelujah. You remember who you were. You know how you used to be. You know how your life used to be like. Nothing good. In spite of that, oh, yeah, you learned, you're able to do, you're successful in your business and learn of things.

[31:51] This is just earthly. Spiritually bankrupt of anything good. Spiritually bankrupt. That's what the Bible says, that blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall be saved or they shall see God.

[32:07] You know, Jesus Christ came. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for this is the kingdom of heaven. If you admit your poverty, how impoverished you are, we were. It makes you admire.

[32:18] It makes you humble enough to be grateful to God. I thank God for my salvation. And I thank God for your salvation. If you are saved. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And so he chose us, he chose us damaged merchandise.

[32:33] Damaged merchandise. Anybody who is not born again, spiritually speaking, is a damaged merchandise. If you are not in Christ, you are a damaged merchandise. Good for nothing.

[32:43] And nothing's good, spiritually. Good for nothing, apart from Satan's works. God cannot use us for good works. He said, masterpiece. We are the masterpiece of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

[32:55] But if you are not, if you are damaged, you can be used for good works. Hallelujah. You can attempt to be a philanthropist, do nice things, but spiritually, you are still not good enough.

[33:06] Hallelujah. But thank God that me, a damaged, oh, come on. I feel like preaching. Thank God that me, a damaged merchandise, have been saved. A damaged merchandise like me, I have received salvation.

[33:18] I'm talking about a damaged merchandise like me. He said me. He said me. He said me. He said me, and not just said me, and made me a masterpiece.

[33:31] He said me, and made me, oh, I feel like preaching. He said me, a damaged merchandise like me, and made me a masterpiece. He said me, and made me a masterpiece.

[33:43] He said me, and made me a masterpiece. If you are the one I'm talking about, shout hallelujah. damaged merchandise from a masterpiece from a damaged merchandise. We are chosen chosen chosen hallelujah for the choosing of God hallelujah for choosing us glory to Jesus for choosing us we are chosen I'm having a good time here I'm having a very good time here I'm the sound engineer I'm the God's life because of coronavirus I'm alone in the office and doing everything and I'm having fun and the world is living so good hallelujah praise God we were damaged we were damaged but we have been chosen to be turned into a masterpiece the church is the masterpiece of God it's the masterpiece of God a masterpiece out of damaged merchandise it's only God who can take you you come on look at who you used to be people are being so shocked you are changed when you say you are changed you yourself you didn't really think hey is it for real when you say you are changed a lot of people are surprised no you can't be changed they say we give you one month we give you two weeks we give you three weeks or we give you three months you'll backslide but thank God look at this you are real this thing is for real this thing this salvation

[35:10] I'm like it's for real I have to end up it's for real but four things he has made us out of which makes us a masterpiece number one we are a generation number two we are a priesthood number three we are a nation number four a peculiar people when we are priests we are priests what does it mean people to give service to God remember I spoke about it so to be a priest means we are called to offer services to God hallelujah that's what we are so if you are out of service it's not good say my friend lady madam if you are out of service to God you are not offering services to God it's not good because you are called you are to offer service that's priesthood and guess what not ordinary priesthood but we are royal keenly keenly priesthood we serve the king and then number two so first of all it says that for you are sorry let me start the chosen generation chosen generation what does it mean to be a chosen generation if you talk about generation you cannot you can it can also it also means a race we are a chosen race to be raised race is like descent

[36:22] God is we descend from God we are a race a race every race comes from a particular line so God is our lineage we are a chosen generation a chosen race God chose us and then number two a chosen generation a royal priesthood now we are we are royal keenly and to offer sacrifices so generation means we are we are descendants of God descent our descent is from God descent is from God and then number two priesthood means offer service a holy nation okay and holy when you talk about a nation a nation is a community of people a large community of people and we are a community of God's own community hallelujah and guess what we are a holy God's own community and then finally we are also a peculiar a peculiar people a peculiar treasure according to Titus chapter 2 verse 14 it says that he saved us with his blood to make treasure out of us he's making treasure out of us so he saved us it says that who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify us and purify for himself for himself his own special people zeal us for good work we couldn't be good for good works but now we are special peculiar people we are unique to God when we talk about peculiar we are precious in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6 yeah

[37:53] Deuteronomy 7 verse 6 God said it to the people of Israel Deuteronomy 7 6 he says that for you are a holy people to the Lord your God that the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself a special oh my God this is so good a special treasure above all the peoples on the face we are special we are God's special people look at chapter 7 chapter 14 Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 2 look at Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 2 it says that for you are a holy people to the Lord your God and the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself a special treasure above all peoples who are on the face of the earth look at chapter 26 verse 18 Deuteronomy 26 verse 18 this is too beautiful he said also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people just as he promised you that you should keep all the command so he has proclaimed us to be his special people and in Exodus chapter 19 verse 5 he says that if we keep his covenant with him now therefore if you indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people hallelujah and now this is what

[39:06] Peter is talking about that we are a special treasure to God we are a special treasure to God we are a special treasure to God let's hold dear to it let's serve God and know that we are a special treasure of God we are a treasure means something that has value God has investment in us and we are valuable to him on the whole in the earth the whole of the earth the people of God people may not identify us like that in your family because you are born again they might marginalize you disdain you people may not respect you much maybe because you don't have drive that car or you don't do that you don't do that but guess what you are treasure to God God sees us as treasure so even in these times of crisis and pandemic God remember God has his treasure on this earth and we are his treasure we are his treasure come on can you imagine God has made a treasure out of us and we are his masterpiece we were damaged merchandise damaged goods but now we are his masterpiece we are his masterpiece we are the chosen the chosen generation the royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people chosen royal holy peculiar hallelujah chosen royal holy peculiar that makes us a masterpiece from damaged merchandise thank God for his goodness and thank God for his kindness

[40:34] I believe somebody has received something today I believe this thank you for listening to hear more from David Entry follow him on Facebook Instagram Twitter and LinkedIn why don't you subscribe to our YouTube channel at Carish Church and subscribe to our podcast so you are always up to date be blessed and I hope this noch cracks you are Oystered for your life every day and we thank you for listening to you the Harryhaus and I'll see you how manyOOace would you stay and be able to do and really and hey hi and hey and thanks a lot to have you to Aud cancers