Living Hope

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Heres what i want you to be when you grow up:

a godly adult that has firm biblical foundation and a hope that gets you through any situation in life.

Want to go back over the last chart from last week.

You ever hear something and you already knew it but it just clicks.

Thats what this is.

This chart brings together the christian life.

Worshipping God brings hope.

We worship go by engaging in study, experience, remember, and adore Who God is and What He has done and this is worship and this brings hope

chat with them about how it plays out in life

bible study-worship by learning about who God is and what he has done - brings hope

prayer-worship by asking God to work and praising him for who he is

, making decisions in life-worship by basing decisions on what we learn about God in scripture and then having faith to choose because we remember how he has acted in the past.

and even the way we sing at church should be based on this.

We praise God for who he is and what he has done.

Everything we do is worship, because remember everyone worships.

This is why we talk so much about reading your bible, praying, singing, sharing your faith - all the spiritual disciplines because the more you do them, the more you worship the TRUE GOD. And the more you worship, the stronger your faith and HOPE become, because of WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE.

So tonight we are going to dig in to WHO GOD IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE.

Lets go

1 Peter 1:3–9 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Lets define some big words to help us understand

Mercy- God not giving us what we deserve

Born Again- when God raises one from dead to life. Jesus says you were born the first time from your mothers womb, but you were still spiritually dead. Now you have to be born a second time.

This has to do with deciding to follow Jesus. But heres the reality, there was a spiritual awakening going on during that time when you came to Christ. Those days and weeks and months leading up to that moment, you were being born again.

There are many of you that have said, i was baptized when I was a kid because the other kids were but I was still not saved. I want to be saved now. DO YOU SEE THAT GOD HAS BEEN WORKING A MIRACLE IN YOUR HEART TO BRING YOU TO THAT POINT.

John 3 and Ephesians 2 talks a lot about this. Not going to read it right now, but if you want to read it later, it would be really helpful.

Living Hope - Its hope (a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen) that aint dead. Whats the difference between a living puppy and a dead puppy?

(Maybe discuss this with them a little, possibly)

So heres what I want to do tonight. I want us to look at this passage through our lense (the chart on worshipping God)

Worship is engaging with Who God is and What he has done. We get Hope from that.

So what does this passage tell us about who God is?

Worthy to be praised v3

1. We know there are at least two parts to God-Father and Son v3 (they do not have the same roles or responsibilities, but are of the same Godness)

2. Has the power to cause someone to be born again. v3

3. He has a lot of mercy v3

4. He must be rich because thats a pretty impressive inheritance v4

5. He can handle business. Really powerful. The ulimate fort knox v5

So what does this passage tell us about what God has done (or is doing)?

For those saved, He’s given us life. v3

Because he has great mercy, He subjected Jesus to death and punishment so that we dont have to die, and can live v3

He gave us life so we can enjoy an inheritance v4

He is protecting that inheritance v4

He’s working out the details of your salvation and has a plan for you to finish the course v5

Ok so to understand the worship going on here, we need to give some context to the suffering of the audience.

(Background, may not use)

64 AD - burning of Rome - Nero - christian scapegoat

Death of Peter- 64 to 65 ad

These two events in history would collide because most scholars say Peter died in Rome.

But this letter would have been written before Nero went after christians in Rome for the burning of Rome. So Peter cant be referring to that with this audience.

There are a couple of worldwide orders from Rome for persecution.

112 AD by Pliny

249 AD by Decius

So the persecution these people were facing wasn’t necessarily what we have heard about, where Nero is putting heads on lamp post and setting them on fire to light the streets.

But its very obvious these folks were going through something.

Its pretty historically accurate to say that throughout the world throughout history, from time to time, christians have experienced local persecution. This must be one of those times.

Persecution-any aggressive, violent act to shut someone up (Austin Ryan definiton)

So if their beliefs were offending a people without care and respect for life, then they were being persecuted because Christianity by nature, offends. Darkness does not like being exposed by light.

But Various trials (v6b) and also found in James 1, doesnt necessarily mean persecution. Sometimes life is just tough. It gets even tougher for a person that has morals and is trying to faithfully follow Jesus.

(end of background)

So what can we apply to our life of worship from this passage?

We have a living hope - v3

So right off the bat, worship = hope

Because GOD IS MERCY (who he is) and he has supernaturally worked in our hearts and lives (what he has done) - We have living (actually alive and moving-like a puppy) Hope by the supernatural work of God in our lives. v1

For Christians, knowing God has put ACTIVE HOPE inside of you should change the game.

Dont trust feelings trust truth. This is truth to trust when you dont feel hopeful.

making notes so i dont forget

2. talk about God is actively working to protect your inheritiance and making it to the end

3. God promises that the hard stuff in life is good.