Trust & Obey (The Purge)

By Pastor Alex Ruelo

1 Peter 2:1-12 says, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

In our obedience to the Lord, many of us need to be cleaned of our wrongdoings. Before we can truly trust and obey the Lord, there are things that we have to surrender and give up in our life. We cannot fully trust if there is something we are holding onto.

1. Purge your life. (V.1) Get rid of bad things in your life because anything and everything bad is not from the Lord.

2. Crave spiritual nourishment. (V. 2-3) Read your bible everyday. It is the most important thing you can do.

3. Trusting in the midst of… (V. 4-8) No matter what you are going through in life,  we need to trust God in all things.

4. Honor and obey God. (V. 9-12) This must be your everyday lifestyle

APPLICATION:

1. Reflect and repent. Acts 3:19-20  We need to repent from the sins that God is revealing to us.

2. Seek spiritual nourishment. Psalm 42:1-3 For you to hear the voice of God, you have to know Him. And the only way to know Him is to read the Bible because that is where he reveals Himself to us.

3. Obey despite opposition. 1 Peter 2:3-4 If we know that we are doing the right thing, what others say do not need to matter.

4. Live with integrity. Matthew 12:36-37 Do the right thing even if nobody sees you and nobody is watching becuase God sees everything.

The idiom, “face the music,” tells you that you need to face whatever is in front of you, may it be good or bad. Because one day, you will face God and everything you did on earth will be taken into account. Start building your mansion in heaven now. Do not wait until it’s too late.