(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)

Hey, you're listening to Cut for Time, a podcast from Faith Church located on the north side of Indianapolis. My name is Claire Kingsley. And I'm Dan Breitwieser.

Each week, one of us will sit down with the person who gave Sunday's sermon to discuss their message. Cut for Time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation, and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from the sermon on Sunday. Thanks for listening.

Hey Jeff, it's Cut for Time, and we took a little break, but it's so good to be back. Yeah, it is. It is good.

Yeah. And I'm surprised that I have as much of a voice as I do. It's a little raspy, but I feel like if people are regular listeners to Cut for Time, they know that I like lose my voice about once a year.

And I'm like, wasn't sure if this was going to happen, but I'm glad that it's, it's got it. I have enough oomph to be able to record this podcast. Yeah, kind of spring allergies, gets into your throat, that kind of thing.

I don't know what it is, but probably just being asked a hundred questions a day while being sick and like, you know, by the kids. So like not talking is not an option. Yeah, well, yeah.

Yeah. It doesn't, it's harder to, it's harder to do a Cut for Time podcast if like you just hold up questions to, for people to read. Yeah.

Yeah. I almost had to like call on my trusty sidekick, but all is well. Thank you for powering through.

You do a great job. And I love getting to sit down and talk with you. I appreciate it too.

So let's go ahead and dive in. We started a new sermon series this weekend. This was our kickoff for 2nd Peter.

And so why 2nd Peter? Why not start with 1st Peter? Don't we, what context might we need from 1st Peter for 2nd Peter, if any, or is it really standalone? Yeah, it's, it is a little bit more standalone. You know, like 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, you can obviously read 2nd Corinthians without reading 1st Corinthians, but there is a context there, you know, Paul's, you know, like following up in a sense from the first letter and stuff has happened in between. And it's not really the case with 1st and 2nd Peter.

I think he seems to be writing to the same churches that he wrote to before, but that was also kind of a circular letter that went around to a number of churches in Asia Minor, what we call Turkey. And so he's not addressing like specific problems inside a particular congregation. He's writing about a context and a culture that they're living in and challenges that they're facing increasingly as witnesses of Jesus in their culture and in their time that are very relevant to us as well.

So no, we don't, you don't really need to have read 1st Peter to kind of get the story and the point of 2nd Peter. We also, you know, I also mentioned that it's a shorter book, which is helpful for this Easter season. We just touched briefly on the fact that Easter isn't just a day.

It's a season that lasts 50 days from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first followers of Jesus. And we don't make a big deal of Easter season here at Faith, which is fine, but it's a good just to acknowledge this season following Easter that is, you know, traditionally in the church has been about what does it mean to grow in this new life that God has given us in Christ? And that's what 2nd Peter is about too. And some of the cultural challenges that I mentioned are familiar to us and I think resonate with our moment and our season.

There's cultural challenges. There's false teachers in the church. There's spiritual drift happening.

And Peter wants to address those things, particularly as we saw in the passage, focusing on the knowledge of God, because people are coming into the church, people claiming to follow Jesus who are saying, yeah, we're really Christians and here's what Jesus is like and what he wants for you. And it doesn't line up at all with who Jesus actually is and God's character and nature and will and purposes. And I think we can acknowledge that there's, you know, that that's a reality that we're living in, in our culture.

And Peter's writing to help us sort out and have confidence in who the real Jesus is that we're following so that we will actually know and grow in him. OK, so is there anything else that you wanted to add that was specific to your sermon on Sunday? It was looking at chapter one, verses one through four. Oh, well, I mentioned, you know, there's gosh, there's so much that we could get into, especially in a couple of just huge phrases that, you know, we could spend a couple of cut for times going through what it means to participate in the divine nature.

I mean, we talked about that. And I think it's easy to acknowledge that Peter's just using different language to echo some of what Paul talks about in his letters about growing in the character of Christ, reflecting what Jesus is like. But the way Peter phrases it just opens up maybe a different way of thinking about what that means for us and how we think about what it means to be Christians, that we're actually participating in the life that Jesus has in himself, that it's just, you know, what a beautiful phrase that is, that there's so much to unpack there.

That's huge. His great and precious promises. Peter doesn't go into a definition around what those great and precious promises are.

And I think he intends for us probably to just reflect and spend time meditating on all those great and precious promises that we have in Jesus. So, yeah, there would be a lot there. And God having granted us all things that we need for life and godliness.

And boy, there would be a great conversation to have there about, well, it doesn't always feel that way, right? Like, it doesn't seem like I have everything that I need for life and godliness. So, yeah, it would be good if we had, you know, really extended time to dig into that. And I think Peter's big point is we're not lacking anything that we need to follow Jesus faithfully. 

And maybe sometimes we feel like, well, there's stuff that I'm definitely lacking in my life, which is probably true for all of us in some way or another. Right? We're not in heaven yet. So we're going to be lacking things that God intended for us from the beginning that are a result of living in a fallen world and dealing with difficulty and loss and lack and things not being the way they should.

But in that context, God has, in fact, given us everything that we need to be able to walk with him faithfully and grow into the character of Christ in the middle of lack and loss and unknowing and uncertainty about what's going on in our lives. And that's I think that's what Peter wants us to focus on is he's not saying Jesus has given us all the answers or everything we'd like to have, but he wants us to know that we really do have all that we need to grow into what God intends us to be and to walk faithfully. OK, thanks, Jeff.

Something that you mentioned in your sermon was just the difference, but important. Both of these are important. The difference between knowing God and knowing about God.

So let's settle in there just for a little bit. Tell me what brought that about and why are both essential to the Christian faith? Yeah, I think it's a helpful, I don't know that I want to say distinction, but recognizing those two dimensions of knowledge are important because they're both there in kind of the cultural and linguistic, I don't know, freight, significance, relevance, reference back in the ancient world to say to know someone or to know something wasn't just about having an intellectual knowledge or having a grasp of the concept, but it was about actual experience of that thing, of that person as well. So when Peter writes about the knowledge of God, that's what he has in mind that we are both aware of.

We have intellectual knowledge. We have a depth of understanding that's also connected to an actual experience of this person, of this God that we know about. And yeah, there's so for us in our context, we tend to think of knowledge primarily as head knowledge, as an intellectual awareness, as an understanding of a subject, as a doctrine or a concept.

And that's important. And Peter's not downplaying that, but he's also carrying in that phrase the knowledge of God, the call, the expectation, the encouragement that we're actually experiencing God in a real way because he's alive and he's active in our lives. And, you know, there's for some of us, there's nothing wrong with loving doctrine and knowledge and theology.

And I think Peter would say we have to make sure that we're actually taking that theology, meditating on it, reflecting on it, talking to God about it, asking us to help us know him more intimately through those doctrines and those truths about him. Some of us maybe have a more, you know, kind of experiential side to our faith. And Peter definitely wants us to make sure that our experience of God isn't just, you know, to use an old phrase, warm fuzzies and, you know, nice, pleasant feelings.

I mean, that's joy of the Lord is true and real. But our knowledge, our experience of Jesus has to be grounded on who he actually is and his character and his will and his purposes for us. We need a God that doesn't just encourage us, but also convicts us and challenges us and stretches us and can get in our face and tell us where we need to, you know, do better or exercise more effort in what he's called us to do.

So that's, I think that's how those things come together for us. And I think it's probably maybe just a good opportunity for each of us to reflect on which one of these do I maybe tend more towards. And that could be in a part of our lives.

It could be in a season of our lives. There may not be just, you know, like one answer to that. It could be in my parenting, in my work, in my marriage relation, in my friendships, in how I think about the church in, you know, in a dozen different ways.

Am I leaning more towards a head knowledge that isn't really leading me to worship and love of God? Am I leaning towards a heart knowledge that's, you know, excited and grateful and thankful, but is not actually maybe stretching or growing me in a way and is just sort of grounded maybe on my ideas about God and what I want God to be like less than who he's actually revealed himself to be. So let's say someone's hearing this and they are doing that reflection work and they're ready to take that step to grow in one of those areas. Can you give us a few steps to grow in each area? Yeah, well, knowledge, of course, the primary way that we grow a knowledge of God is through his word. 

And that happens on our own, but it also happens in community. And of course, we have lots of great opportunities, you know, in formal structures, formal ministries in the church through grow classes and community groups and Bible studies. And we need that.

I mean, we have the incredible blessing that followers of Jesus in generations past didn't have access to so many resources to know God better, to study theology, to not even just, of course, the Bible is our ultimate authority and foundation. But there's so many great resources of theological understanding and understanding what how does Christian ethics work out and how do I live out my faith? So there's just there's so many great resources available to us that, again, could be Bible study, could be finding resources online even. But I think one of the best ways that we grow in knowledge is in community with one another, that we're learning from each other, we're learning with each other.

And I'd say that's really, in a sense, almost the same context that God intends us to grow in our experiential knowledge of him as well. Yes, there's an opportunity for us as we know more about God to reflect on that, to meditate on it and to ask God to help us take the knowledge that we have and let it lead us into greater worship and praise and a greater sensitivity to him and listening to him in how he wants to grow and stretch and change us. I think, you know, a head knowledge that needs to get maybe a little deeper to our heart grows by asking ourselves and with other people, what does God want to do with this knowledge that I have of him? It's great that I have this knowledge of him.

And, you know, I think we can sometimes fall into, I don't want to say a trap, but there can be a tendency sometimes to, you know, we have lots of Bible studies, we have lots of resources, we can gather lots of knowledge about God. But how is it actually getting worked out in my life? Is it drawing my heart closer to God and is it actually changing me in a way that is motivated by love for God and a desire to honor him and live out what I'm actually learning about him? And again, I think we do that in community with others, that as we're in Bible studies, as we're in grow classes, as we're in community groups and we're learning about God, that part of that is the application of the knowledge that we're getting, that it should be growing us and changing us. And yeah, even the asking God to help us take that knowledge of him and turn it into worship and a joy and gratitude for what we're learning about him and who he is.

Something I love that Erin said on Sunday when she was service hosting, she was talking about prayer and she said, like, if you're new and you don't know how to pray, then listening to other people pray is a great way to learn and that's OK. It's encouraged. And so just like another reason why, like, even if you have knowledge about him, but you don't know how to talk with God, yeah, being in community makes a huge difference.

That's just one small example. But yeah, what I hear you saying is don't isolate yourself and don't like I think some people make the excuse that faith is private. You know, my faith is my own, but it's a private thing.

And I'm hearing you say, no, it's not. You're losing, you're missing out on, you know, a lot of knowing God by isolating. Yeah. 

And I cautiously go further and say it's not just a matter of missing out, like, you know, not having the whipped cream on top of the brownie, but there's something foundationally wrong if we're not following Jesus in community with others. Our faith is personal, but ultimately it's not really private. Christian faith is never meant to be private.

It is absolutely personal. And I'm called to know and follow Jesus. And but I'm always called to do that as part of the body of Christ and in community with others.

And so the normal experience of the Christian life is gathering with others, not just to worship on Sunday, but as we're trying to live out our faith in community with each other, that's why there's all those one another's in the New Testament. Love one another, encourage one another, build one another up, hold each other accountable, spur one another on to love and good deeds. We need that.

I need that. Jeff, is there anything else that you wanted to add that you maybe had to cut for time from your sermon on Sunday? Well, yeah, I mean, we talked a little, of course, about, boy, we could spend so much time going into what does it mean to participate in the divine nature? What are these great and precious promises? There's there's just so much there that would take, you know, other sermons or a whole other string of cut for time podcasts. I would say the best thing with those like really significant phrases that we've already encountered in Peter's letter is to spend some time reflecting and praying about that and talking with others about that just informally with friends as you get together in community groups and in Bible studies.

Like, wow, what do you think? What do you think Peter means by that? Here's here's boy, this is what came to mind. What do you think? How you know, what is God doing in your life with this? And where have you seen this worked out? Yeah. All right.

Thanks for your time today, Jeff. Yeah, thank you. And we look forward to this study.

And if people missed the sermon journals on Sunday, encourage you to grab one. We have new live ready sermon journals that are free and we would love for you to pick one up and use them. And if you have like teens or even fifth graders, encourage them to have grab one themselves and open up God's work together.

Yeah. And I know you would never say this clear. So I get to say it.

You do a fantastic job in developing these resources for us. This is one that we printed in house that you oversaw the design and the printing of. And it's just it's beautiful and it's engaging.

And I just love that we have these resources to make available. This is part of what, you know, our regular giving to faith helps provide is resources like this to serve the body. So take advantage of it, folks, because Claire does a great job pulling together resources for the church in a lot of ways.

Get one of these scripture journals. Thanks. All right.

Thanks for your time today. Yeah, thank you. Have a great week.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Cut for Time. If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following Sunday's sermon, you can email them to podcast at faith church indie dot com. Or text them into our faith church texting number and we'll do our best to cover them in next week's episode.

If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you to share it with others. We'll be back again next week.

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)