I Will Survive

This message is only to specific and select group of people. I wan’t to talk to day to the survivors.

If you were to survey the room right now, and ask anyone in this sanctuary you would find that we are if nothing else, a group of survivors. (Elaborate)

(History/Context)

1. Abase Yourself (v.6)

After all Peter has just said in this letter, he ends with a “therefore humble yourselves...” because after all God has done and all God is doing when times are tough you must remember that God is God and you are not.

It’s the “Therefore” that gets me here. Therefore, in the biblical text, especially in the epistles let you know the author is making a claim based off of a case they have built previously. Therefore because “God is opposed to the Proud, but He gives grace to the humble” (elaborate).

and in the proper time he will exalt you. (preach)

2. Cast away your Anxiety (v.7)

If there is anything that is of major concern in 2025 it is anxiety. Worry. However being anxious is antithetical to the Gospel. The Gospel is good news. I know that there is plenty in this world for us to worry about (list some) but there is nothing in this world that we worry about is too big for our God to handle.

3. Stay Alert (v.8)

After all Peter has just said in this letter, he ends with a “therefore humble yourselves...” because after all God has done and all God is doing when times are tough you must remember that God is God and you are not, and in the proper time he will exalt you. (preach)

In our studying and reading of God’s word sometimes you can get a good understanding on what the text is saying by reading the opposite of what it says. So, here Peter says be sober, the opposite then is to be, what intoxicated, inebriated, or anesthetized. And let me help somebody today and assure you he isn’t talking about sobriety from alcohol but of the things that would otherwise keep your mind occupied while you are being perused by the enemy. (preach)

You need to be aware, educate yourself, read gods word and see that nothing that is happening in the world is expected until He comes. And if you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.

The question then is who is the adversary, who is the devil? (Satan and Empire)

4. Resist the Adversary (v.9)

Satan is on the offensive church. He has lost much, he has been cast down, and his time is limited. But even with all of his influence and anger he you can resist him.

1. the ability not to be affected by something, especially adversely.

Tree that cannot be moved.

2. the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.

Our ancestors resisted. Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, Bobby Seal and Huey P. Newton,

So resistance is not passive retreat for survival, it is active opposition for survival.

We have spent so much time in the church in the past 20 years “Rebuking the Devil” but there is no text that says you can, nor that you should. What it does say is that you can resist. (Run. Close)