Living Stones

What if your life—every piece of it, even the broken parts—was meant to be part of something sacred? In this powerful episode of A New Level Awaits You, we step into the truth of 1 Peter 2:4–5 and discover what it means to come to Jesus, the Living Stone, and be formed into something far greater than ourselves.

Betrayal and rejection can make you feel discarded, overlooked, or out of place. But Scripture reveals a different story: the very One who was rejected became the cornerstone—and in Him, you are not cast aside. You are chosen. You are being built.

In this episode, we explore how God takes what feels fractured and fits it into His divine design. You’ll be encouraged to:

•  Come again to Jesus, even after seasons of hurt or disconnection 
•  See your story through the lens of being chosen and valued by God 
•  Understand how brokenness does not disqualify you—it prepares you 
•  Embrace your role as a “living stone” in God’s unfolding purpose 

This is more than a message—it’s an invitation to belong, to be restored, and to take your place in what God is building.

✨ You are not just surviving the aftermath—you are being shaped into something eternal.

For more resources go to www.loisflewelling.com.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_01 0:08

And I'm going to be talking, you know, out of 1 Peter chapter 2, in part of this, but uh what the Lord put on my heart so much is that it's about living stones. And you know, we've done Easter messages, and it's always been the same, it seems like. And and I said to the Lord, what is it that I can say this time that is right now a now word for today? And so there is this invitation in scripture that is very simple, but I find it very profound. And it begins with these words, and I'm gonna be starting with uh verse four, and it says, um in one scripture, now I'm gonna do it in a different scripture, and it says, So keep coming to him who is the living stone. Though he was rejected and discarded by men, but chosen by God, and is priceless in God's sight. Come and be his living stones who are continually being assembled into a sanctuary for God. For now you serve as holy priest, offering up spiritual sacrifices that he readily accepts through Jesus Christ. The words here, this phrase, it's very intentional, it's very deep in my mind. It's it's that keep coming. He's saying, so keep coming to him, who is the living stone. And I want to focus on that because it's about relationship, it's not about a moment, about coming to Jesus. It's about a relationship, it's about a connection, it's it's not about distance, it's about this continually drawing near, not at one time encounter. I watched last night a woman who was sitting way back, and I could tell that she was she was uh nervous, there were some things going on, but yet when he called for the salvation message, she raised her hand.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I could read the struggle that she was going through. But she raised it.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

He didn't see it, I saw it because the Lord had had me focused over that way, and then her hand went up again, stayed up a little bit longer, and then it went up, and he saw her. And he led her to the Lord. She she but she also came forward a little bit later, and it was over prayer, and I saw the hesitation, like, I don't know, I don't understand this, I don't know, you know, should I what should I do here? Because so many of us are in this church atmosphere, we're kind of we're ho hum about it. We get used to it, it's familiar to us, and yet when you see somebody that all of a sudden discovers this Jesus, she didn't just go like this once, she did it twice, she did it three times, and she was brave enough to go forward, and what he spoke over to her, I heard it because I was in tune, I was I was a distance away, but I could hear it because I was very much focused on this individual, and what I heard him say and speak into her life was so profound, and I knew she had received a different thing because she was coming to Jesus. She kept on coming. I don't understand this, but I'm gonna keep on coming. I'm going to go, it's a connection. I want to connect here, I want to have a relationship. See, Peter calls Jesus the living stone, not a lifeless structure. Ever see the Buddha thing? It's lifeless. I know people who have worshipped Buddhas, and I've been in their homes, and they've got them all, and I'm thinking, why would they be so worshipful to a dead thing? What is that about when we've got Jesus that is alive? Now listen, he's not cold, he's not distant, but he's living, he's active in our lives, he's present and he sustains us. And yet, in the same breath, in this scripture, it he reminds us, Peter reminds us, he said, Oh, but do you remember you rejected that living stone? Do you remember that men rejected him, discarded him, overlooked him, misunderstood him, and yet he was still chosen by God. He was precious in his sight. There is something that just settles really deeply in my heart when we recognize that. I know what it feels like to be rejected. I know what people, when I look at them and they're telling me about how they're rejected and misunderstood. I understand what that is about. I know what it feels like to be passed over. I know what it feels like to be ridiculed, but my level of that stuff is nothing compared to what Jesus went through.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Because even though he was rejected by men, he was never rejected by his father, the heavenly father. And I want to tell you, this is so precious because no matter what experience we have here on earth, you are never, you never, ever, ever will be rejected by the Heavenly Father. You will never be in a place where you're misunderstood. You know why? Because he's going to have a conversation with you and he's going to draw you back. He'll talk with you, he'll woo you in, he'll he'll do that because it's so precious to him. We're chosen. We are chosen by him. And you know what? He positions us at the foundation of everything God is building. We're one of the stones. Why would we be called a living stone? And then Peter shifts his language in this, in this, and he goes, Come and be his living stone. Now I'm telling you, this isn't just an invitation for salvation. And I'm all for salvation. But we've lived in salvation for so long. We have to get over into this relationship, not just come to him once and say, I want to, I want to say, you know, accept you as my savior, but I want to come to him and then begin to be like him. Right? Do you get in this? This means it's not just about receiving something from Christ. It's being it's about being transformed into something because of him and what he's done. You are not, you are not just someone trying to get through life. Whether you realize it or not, you are being formed, you are being shaped into something that carries purpose and meaning far beyond the moment of salvation. He's about that. You are building, being built into a dwelling place for God. I want you to think about that. If you've noticed, I've shifted about the worship pieces because it's not just about coming in here and standing up and raising our hands or shaking a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I do all those things, it's not about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

It looks great, doesn't it? But a lot of people do that and might not even have the heart for it. Because if your heart isn't into who you are worshiping, what he's done for you in gratitude, we have to shift. God is calling us to be a living stone, and it's interesting here, like, not everybody receives it. Not everybody received the living stone, not everybody received Jesus Christ. You know that. There's huge rejection right now against Jesus, and it's coming. I mean, it just breaks my heart when I see all of the persecution, but that's hey, that's end time stuff. We know it. It's hard going to be hard to stand up. Psalms 118, 22 to 23 tells us that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The very one they dismissed became the most important piece of the entire structure. See, they thought that one was flawed. But yet that's the one, Jesus Christ, that was holding up everything. Interesting, isn't it? And the Lord says in that verse 23, the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. That's what the psalm says. The Lord did this, and yet, oh, he looks at it and he's it's marvelous what Jesus did.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

There's a choice in how we build our lives.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I'm kind of throwing out some scriptures, but Luke 6 kind of talks about the two builders, and remember, one hears the words and builds upon them. And when the storms come, and let me tell you, they're coming, they've been here, that life still stands. And then the other one hears the same words, but doesn't build upon it. And when the storm comes, everything collapses. And so sometimes, you know, we got to realize the difference isn't the storm. The difference is not the storm in those two builders. The difference is the foundation. What is our foundation? You can't build your own life on your own terms and expect to stand in God's purposes. There is only one foundation that holds, and that foundation is Jesus Christ, the living stone. So here's where it comes very personable. When you come to Him, something begins to change, doesn't it? Changes within you. Second Corinthians tells us that if anyone is in Christ, they're a new creature. The old is gone and the new is come. That means you're not simply improved, you're transformed. You're being reshaped from the inside out. Because they didn't truly build on the living stone. They didn't allow for the transformation, they didn't allow for all of the old to go.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

It was all done for them, but they didn't come into agreement with it. And they didn't allow for the new to come.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Jesus is our living stone, and if we want to be a living stone, then we too have to come into agreement with this, let the old go, and start walking out in that new that he has for us. Now there's a picture on the back on the screen. And I was looking up and asking, uh, you know, doing some research, and so I just kind of looked in and to check it out about living stones. And, you know, at first glance, this kind of looks like rocks, doesn't it? Small rocks, and they're scattered across the ground. It blends into the surroundings so much that you don't even notice that it's actually alive. And as I researched this, they said they're designed that way so that they could survive. In its environment, visibility could mean that they were going to be consumed by herbivores. So what they did, they began to look like what was around them. And yet it's alive. There's a flower that sprouts out from the very center of the rock. But it's not really a rock. It's a succulent. It's a plant that has adapted itself to the environment so it doesn't look like a plant because they didn't want the herbivores, the deer, and even the elephants, all of them to come and eat it. Interesting. The caterpillar is the most, what'd you say, ruthless, voracious herbivore that would go after them. Little caterpillar. And I thought about this and I thought, wow. Let's let's just think about this. It's kind of similar to ourselves. Because what we walk through, we've learned to blend in. We've learned to become less visible. We've learned to protect ourselves by not standing out, by not opening up, by not fully stepping into who we are. You know, I could get into this pretty deep. That's been my life. I gotta blend. But yet I don't I don't blend. But then again, I better bet blend. Because it's feeling pretty risky right now. They may eat me up if I don't blend just some. Isn't that? Are you are you hearing this? This is our lives too, isn't it? And yet we take on a form that keeps us safe, but it also keeps us hidden. And that's what's happened to the body of Christ. We've taken on this form. Oh, yeah, we got the flower coming out. We got we want to we want to show it, but boy oh boy, let's let's keep everything kind of hidden in, and because they might eat me up alive. And we're entering into a time where we can't not stay as hidden stones. In fact, scripture doesn't call us hidden stones, it calls us living stones. And what is living stones? They're alive, they're visible, they're connected. They're, you know, they're there's something that God is blending and building, and he wants us to survive, but yet there's there's something, a vibrancy that he is calling us into, a vibrancy that this flower is presenting. This blooming of this bride of Christ. And I could get into it. I heard a little bit last night about the virgins, the five, the ones that had the oil and the ones that didn't. And if you don't have the oil, guess what? Well, let me tell you: if you don't start acting like living stones, something may be sucked out of you, and you might not be as prepared as you think you are. John 6 says that all who come to him, he will embrace and never turn away. That means when you come to him, you are not rejected, you are not dismissed, you are not overlooked no matter what you have done in life, no matter what. And you are received by him. And as you continue, if I go back to them, so come to him as living stones. Something is going to shift within you. Your security is no longer found in how well you can protect yourself. Your security is in the anchor of who he is. And you realize that your life is not held together by your ability to manage it. Your life is held together because of your connection with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

You are secure in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Not because you have avoided hardship, but because your foundation cannot be shaken. Peter goes on to say that we are not only living stones, and if we go further in this scripture, but I'm gonna kind of close this up. He says we're active participants, we're holy priests, we're not supposed to be passive in this process. Our lives matter, our worship matters. What we bring before God matters. So we're offering today a spiritual sacrifice, lives surrendered, hearts aligned, and obedience given. And these are received by God through Jesus Christ. I want to tell you. Not I don't know what. My purpose is your life carries purpose now. Stop trying to find it. You've already got it. We want to put words into it. Well, I have to be, and we put labels into it, and that's my purpose. No, your purpose is to be a living stone in the foundation of the body of Christ and the kingdom of Christ. That's your purpose.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

God is using you right now.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

He's building you, he's using you. And so the question I have for you as we close here today. Are there places where you've chosen to blend in rather than allow yourself to be wholly placed? Are there areas where you have held back where you are where you stay guarded, where have you resisted the shaping process? The invitation is not changed. God's still calling you. He says, keep coming. Keep coming.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Keep allowing him to form you. You are being established.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

You're not just surviving. Stop it. You're not just being surviving. There's days I felt like I'm just surviving, but I'm not. I'm being built. Takes on a whole different mentality, doesn't it? And when I look at that, I'm not just existing. He's establishing me. He already done it. You're not just recovering from what you walk through, you're becoming something new. The living stone is the one who holds you all together. I guess I gotta say this too, and never forget this. Our foundation is not just a memory. It's not a story from the past. Oh, I was twenty-two years old when I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. It's not that memory. It's just not a story that I can tell in the past. But it's a living savior. He is alive. The living stone is not buried, he's risen. He is active, he is present, and he's move moving even right now. That means the one that you're whoa, the one that is building upon your life is not distant, he's not silent, but he's engaged in every detail of your life, even if you don't feel like it. How often do I sit here and go, God, are you in the room today? God, are you with me today? I'm not feeling you, God. I'm not sure if you're here, God. And I always hear those words, Lois. I'm right here with you. We may not feel it, we may not see it, we may feel totally opposite, but let me tell you, he's always right there because he lives, your future is secure. And because he lives, you're not building being built on something fragile. And you can be shaken a little bit, but if you stay in the foundation of Jesus Christ, it won't be shaken. Powerful, isn't it? I want to leave you here with this scripture. So come. So come to Him as a living stone. Not a dead person in your past, not a dead person in your present, but as a living stone that is vibrant, brilliant, brilliant, not just surviving, but brilliant before him in every aspect. So let's just let's just pray here for a minute. Lord, we come before you this morning, and I say, I'm so thankful, Lord, that you are our living stone, that you're unshakable, Lord God. Thank you that you're precious to us. And I thank you, Lord, that you're forming us even right now as living stones because we have made that decision today to keep coming. Keep coming in, keep being connected, keep going right after you in everything. So, Lord, come and continue your work today, building us in your foundation. For the kingdom of God needs us. And I thank you, Lord, that we're chosen and you are establishing us in your purposes and plan in your precious name. Amen. Amen.