|
Joy as
known by Peter: is the fruit
born out of hope
Peter
thought Christian joy was
indescribable he writes in 1 Pet.
1:8 that Christians (in the midst of
suffering) are “filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy”
I think
the way things were in Peter’s world
he here is describing spontaneous
joy.
Not a
decision an explosion! We can decide
to do things that bring us joy but
Peter is on a whole different plane
here. Explosive happiness is what
Peter wants for his readers.
|
Joy
just makes us silly and giddy
because we are so happy
about the thing
that we are happy about that we're not
thinking
about any problems or bad stuff - we are just
full of joy.
Peter said that because Christians believe that they
have a home in heaven with Jesus that they have so much joy
that they can't even BEGIN to tell you how much joy they
have!
|
I Peter 1:24
Our glory is like these yellow blooms on the grass.
They are just there for a season; then they die and fall
off.
God's glory is like the evergreen tree. It
knows no seasons; God's glory endures forever |
I Peter 2:11
"Our fleshly body wars against
our spiritual body", Peter said. As an adult, I
might fight against such sins as 'overeating' or
'worrying about money'. As a young person, you
might fight against 'not listening to adults' or 'not
being respectful to others'. If we want to live
forever with Jesus, we must fight those sins just like
Jesus fought the Devil for us.
Question: How do we get faith?
Answer: Through Bible reading.
Romans 10:17
We
can not please God without faith.
Faith is 'being sure of what we hope for' (salvation)
and
'being certain of things that we can not see' (God).
Hebrews 11:1
Everybody has to find their own faith.
This
is not something that you can do for someone else,
nor
is it something someone else can do for you.
So...........
Question: How do we get faith?
Answer: Through Bible reading.
Romans 10:17
Grace is 'God smiling on you'.
Grace is 'God helping you'.
Grace is 'God giving you wonderful things' that you
don't deserve (like eternal life).
Peter explains that we have received God's grace; now we
should turn around and give it to others.
Are you a teacher? .......then tell others about
Jesus.
Are you a leader? ..........then plan a Christian
fellowship.
Are you well off financially? .........then give
generously so that programs can be carried out.
Are you a good cook? .........then take food to
other families.
Are you able to always see the bright side?
..........then encourage others by lifting their spirits
with your words.
I Peter 4:6
Being 'in sin' is like being 'in jail'
or having your hands cuffed. You are
limited in what you can do. In fact,
you can't do much!
But when Christ frees
you from sin, you can do so much for Him.
As you look at these
pics of what you can do with your hands when
you are not cuffed, think about what you can
do for God without being jailed by sin.
|
Just what I
think.........
I'm a very impatient person; I just can't wait in
line. I'll eat at a bad restaurant just so I don't
have to wait in line for the good restaurant. If I
see a line at the store, I go home and wait until later
to make my purchases.
So I don't understand why some Christians act as if we
are just standing in line for heaven. I don't
think we are. I think we have (a little bit,
anyway) of heaven already.
If we have a Bible in hand and are willing to read and
study and meditate on Scripture and obey what it tells
us to do, we have a relationship with Jesus that is
exciting (even entertaining)! It is certainly NOT
like waiting in a boring line.
But only if we read, study, meditate, obey. |
|
Praise means to tell people (and God)
how wonderful God is; how magnificent his gifts are;
and thanking God for all his blessings.
Some people praise God in song, too.
Peter pointed out that Christians could praise God for
His mercy, for His gift of salvation, for His promise to
protect our souls, and for His grace and his willingness
to cleanse us of our sins.
I Corinthians 11:15
says that a woman's long hair
is a glory to her.
Anything we possess that is good
can be a glory to us.
Ball players, lots of times,
give God the glory for their
talents.
Everything that God created is His glory.
I
Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whatever you do, do it for the
glory of God." So in everything we say and in
everything we do, we've got to think, "Am I making God
look good? Is He happy with me, His creation?"
Children can be a glory to their parents (or not)!
Honor means to recognize someone and give them respect.
It is a good thing to talk to people, say 'hello', call
them by name. We won't get far in life by ignoring
others. That is rude!
To
honor God (to not ignore God) would be to open the book
that He wrote to us and READ; to listen to what He has
to say to us.
Peter said in this letter that we should honor EVERYONE.
We
love our moms and our dads and our brothers and our
sisters; but do we love Jesus? We can't love
someone that we don't spend time with. We can
spend time with Jesus through Bible study and prayer.
If
we read and study the Scripture and we realize what
Jesus did for us (like an innocent lamb to the
slaughter) we will know in our hearts that we love Jesus
and want to live for Him.
Peter said that we must love everyone; that is the hard
part! But we all have a purpose in our existence
and it is not just to love ourselves. It is to
help others survive this world AND to help others enter
the next world.
|
Hope
in Hebrews:
Hope is
the beginning of faith because faith is
being sure of what we hope for (Heb 11:1)
Like an
anchor holding a ship securely in its place,
hope is the anchor of our soul it holds us
securely on God’s promise of salvation and
those things that accompany salvation
(Hebrews 6:9-11 & 6:17-20) A ship’s anchor
provides safety as hope does for the
Christian. The ship’s anchor goes down to
the ocean floor and that is how it holds the
ship fast , our anchor (hope) goes up to God
himself where we are held fast (Heb.
6:19,20). Therefore Hope is the confident
expectation of the salvation to come through
Christ.
Hope
only comes through Christ and His
resurrection from the dead. Peter uses the
word in his first epistle three times in the
opening chapter and twice more in chapter
3. His letter is meant to be a letter of
hope in the midst of suffering. Christians
do not have a “wishful thinking” kind of
hope but a “living hope” because the Author
of Christian hope is living. (1 Peter 1:3,4)
Titus
2:11-14
Gal. 5:5 |
If
we believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead and
now lives in Heaven, then we hope that we, also, will be
resurrected when we die, and go to live with Jesus in
Heaven.
Peter said that we should be ready to tell people about
this hope.
You
may be hoping for a bigger house than the one shown
here; I'm just hoping for a lot of books!
There are a lot of reasons to study Scriptures.
Some might be:
1) to be entertained by the Old Testament stories
2) to be helped by the parables of Jesus in daily living
and 3) to find HOPE in the verses that tell us about
God's heaven
Mercy is 'God not
punishing us' even though we deserve to be punished for
our sins.
Peter said in his
letter that we have a new birth and a hope that is alive
only because of God's great mercy.
|
I
Peter 3:21
Just like
the ark saved Noah and his family from the physical
death of the high flood waters......
being
inside the church saves us from the spiritual death of
seperation from God. |
|
