The Good in the Bad

Peter writes in , Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

In other words, Peter says, all of these things that I’ve written to tell you about, that Jesus did for us and in us.

All these things that God chose to give us through his son and his sacrifice and his resurrection

He says, look forward to these things. Expect these things and be happy about the fact that they should be and will be happening in your lives.

This is what we have been looking at in our them of the year, “Living Expectantly” - what was it that Peter had written about to the church and how do we live in expectation of them and see them come to fruition in our lives?

Live Expectantly in Your Glorious Inheritance

Our living hope, based on that inheritance - It is sure, eternal and enduringOur Genuine Faith in the One who left us the inheritance - a real faith in THE REAL GOD!Our Awesome Salvation - The process of change in our lives that brings about renewal and restoration in our lives.

Live Expectantly in His Amazing Grace

Grace that sobers us up to the realities and seriousness of life, yet gives us real joy and power to face it every day.Grace that makes us Holy - Allowing the Holy Spirit of Adoption to live through us and effect our livesGrace that through that same Holy Spirit of Adoption makes us children of Heaven.Giving us the wonderful opportunity to know the Father Heart of God.

Live Expectantly in His Powerful Word

The Word that reveals God to us.The Word of truth that sets us freeThe word of truth that purifies our soul. And then Last week we said that we should

Live Expectantly in Our Spiritual Place and Position

The church is an amazing entity.

It is alive. It is a spiritual building made out of spiritual bricks - those being you and I

It is a place for the homeless and displaced

It is a place where those who don’t know God are introduced to him and where he is experienced

It is a place where we can belong.

And in that place of belonging, we find our mighty position - as the people of God

Live Expectantly of change

All of these things bring major change to our lives

in us in our world

That we exemplify Christ

That we conduct ourselves honorably

And that we make a difference by the way we live.

That’s the result of living expectantly.

But we are not finished yet,

Turn with me over to

1 Peter 3:8–4:6 NKJV

8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. 1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

1 Peter 3:8-

Live Expectantly in Blessing

Being blessed, but more than anything, being a blessing.

Today, we are a family. We guard that at this church. It is very important to us

Peter shows us here that this is more than being blessed, but this is living in blessing

When you live in blessing, you can do nothing more than share that with others.

Listen to the things that he mentions here:

Es ser de una sola mente. No hay competencia entre nosotros. No hay lucha en nuestra relación. Somos como la mente. Cuántos saben, eso trae paz

It is being of one mind. There is no competition between us. There is no struggle in our relationship. We are like minded. How many know, that brings peace

So together we can live in peace. And that’s a great thing in a world that steals our peace.

having compassion on one another , loving each other as brothers. If you look around this room today, you are among family. And what a great family it is.

Living in blessing makes us tenderhearted. Our hearts are touched by the situations around us.

Our hearts are molded by Gods hand to reach out and touch those around us.

We become courteous towards those around us

And we don’t treat them the way that they treated us, should we come across those who persecute us and bring hurt.

Why? Because those who are living in blessing, love life.

And because we love life, we understand the sanctity of life and we respond to life differently than those who don’t see life the way that we do.

These things should be what makes the church different than the rest of the world.

These things are what each and every believer in Jesus Christ should be marked by.

But what happens when the bad things come? Peter tells us here and we read it in other scripture that we can still live in blessing.

Peter says in verse 14 that even if you should suffer for righteousness sake (for the sake of that which is righteous or good) you are blessed.

Expect Boldness

Living in blessing brings boldness.

The natural inclination when someone attacks us is to back down and be fearful. This is how our enemy, Satan, operates

He operates in fear.

I don’t think that we should ever take a threat and treat it like a joke. We should take each one serious

But that doesn’t mean that we have to be fearful.

God told Joshua Fear Not for I am with you

David writes that even when he passed through the valley of the shadow of death that he would fear no evil

And the scriptures are full of the bravery and boldness of God’s people who put their trust in him.

We need to be living in the same.

Our boldness won’t be because we think that we can handle it or because we have arisen to some new level of strength

Our boldness won’t be because we are in the gym every day

our boldness will be because we know who Christ is and what he has accomplished.

With that boldness we can

Expect Peace

The enemy comes to throw these boulders in our waters of life to raise up ripples

But in the storm Christ speaks

He spoke in the boat - Peace be still

And he spoke outside of the boat and said Peter Come.

We will have both of those times in our lives - the times of having Jesus in the boat

And the time when it feels like He is on the outside and at a distance.

I want you to know that the blessing doesn’t cease, and the peace will still flow.

I believe that we all know this, but just in case, if you choose to follow Christ, you will be persecuted.

it’ a sign of the world that we live in.

To really follow Christ, means that we are really different. (I think I’ve proven that in this series of messages)

And how many know, our society loves to make fun of the different.

But it’s not only that. We also live a life that is dedicated to Christ differently than the normal life that isn’t

And that provokes all kinds of feelings from the world that we live in.

Some think that we are better than them. We aren’t better, we are just forgiven

Some think that we are judging them. But we know that we are not the judges of anything. And the Bible says to judge not lest we be judged.

And so there is a natural friction between the people of God and the people of the world. And don’t be surprised by that, because Jesus told his disciples that over 2000 years ago.

But in that persecution and in that reviling, don’t be afraid and don’t be troubled

And then Peter brings it all home

because.....

God’s Got This!!!

Peter goes right back to something that we looked at a couple of weeks ago.

Actually it’s the central thought of the whole series - Jesus did this for us, so expect it and live in it.

Here, Jesus already faced that persecution and that judgment for our sin and has set us free, so live like it.

Peter says that Christ suffered once for our sins that he might bring us to God.

My brother/sister, the sacrifice has been made. The words that Christ spoke on the cross were so true - It is finished

Everything that you had need of has been met.

He has brought you to God. You are a child of God. Now live like it. Expect what the Heavenly Father does for His Children

Peter goes on to say that this is all about the Spirit realm. That we have been made alive in the Spirit. That Christ went into the Spiritual prison and set those prisoners (the spiritual prisoners) free. That’s you and me.

This is why Peter says that we can live in the blessings of God with boldness and peace.

Because as the children of God, we have sanctified God in our hearts. Sanctify there means to set apart.

We have set God apart from this world and it’s treasures - He is supreme

We have set God apart in our minds - We think differently

We have set God apart in our relastionship, he comes first and because of that all of our earthly relationships are blessed

We have set God apart in our life - He is our Lord and our God

This gives us the ability to share with those around us, even those who are persecuting us and putting us through it, the hope that is within us

What’ is that hope. It’s our expectation of life. Right? Living Expectantly

Ves Iglesia, Dios tiene esto. Podemos vivir en la victoria hoy. Hoy podemos conocer la audacia espiritual. Podemos conocer la paz espiritual.

You see Church, God’s Got This.

We can live in victory today.

We can know spiritual boldness today

We can know spiritual peace

And we can know that the spiritual will always affect the physical

So expect Blessing today.

Expect that in that blessing, there will be some turmoil. Some attacks and revilings.

But in the midst of that, see the victory that Christ has won over those same things, look your spiritual enemy in the eye and remind him that you are a child of God.

WE have the victory today! Can you say Amen?

PRAY