Have Faith in Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Praise God For A New Living Hope.
Praise God For A New Living Hope.
The scripture verse today is from 1Peter. I’ve asked Bethany Gallo to read our passage of scripture today.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Thank you Bethany
The season has been a long one… there is a sense that this is NEVER going to end. But I’ve been reminded that everyday in is another day closer to the end.
Just some housekeeping stuff… Thank you to those who have continued to give faithfully. That is making a difference to our church.
During the next several weeks, we are going to to looking at several passages of scripture that drive home the necessity of staying the course and not becoming discouraged. It is easy to get off track and discouraged about what is going on in our world around us and even in our little world here in the lower valley.
Once we are back together again and we have a chance to celebrate each other in fellowship and the church in corporate worship, and have a potluck and a large group hug. Then we will be getting back on our preaching plan.
We are going to be looking at the lessons in the Book of Acts. I really pray that what we find on that first Sunday is a full church and hungry hearts for the Word of God. That’s were you all come in… When opening gets close, begin to talk about a return and serious commitment to God and the local church. Talk about it with your friends, with your enemies, you neighbors.
I think we will have an opportunity that will last 2-3 weeks. We will see people that we may have ever seen in our church decide to attend. This is our responsibility to God… that we should begin tilling the soil and planting seeds. We will open again and reaping is not going to happen unless the soil has been worked and seeds planted. This is going to take work. It is a job for all of us!!
Acts will take us through the formation of the church and events of the disciples lives after Jesus death. We are still experiencing the results of these first evangelistic works everyday here in the United States.
I am ready for the church to re-open, for many to return to the open doors of Sunnyside First Baptist and for many to hear the saving message of scripture.
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As we begin… Let’s Pray
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This letter was written between AD 70-80 so about 40 years after Jesus died. It was written by Peter, an Apostle. There are a few scholars that would dispute that this was the same Peter from Jesus earthly ministry and death on the cross.
What we see is that Peter has completely embraced what would a have been called “The Way” at that point. Peter is speaking with Apostolic Authority… He is using this letter to reach out to to communities of believers in the modern day Turkey.
He is reaching out to them with a RESURRECTION message.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
All of us were born… except for the stray Outer Space Aliens that we have here in our congregation....
When we were born we received life from our mother, father and family. We received love, care and guidance from our family of origin.
Now for some of us that is a difficult. I was born into a family that by the time I had any real memories was a single parent family, filled with insecurity and chaos. I saw what it was to have that security in my some of my friends. These were parents that actually said “No,” and were present in their kids’ life. I did not have that stability.
In High School, I had no rules, no consequences and felt little love. Surprisingly, I also got in very little trouble. That pattern changed after High School and in college. I didn’t get into much trouble… But, I should have!
I want to look at this scripture now
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
I want to look at it backwards to offer some clarity
First statement
“Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…from the Dead.”
This is the basis for all of us who are followers of Jesus… if it were not for the resurrection we would all be nowhere… Lost in our sin and suffering. It is all abut the resurrection!
Second Statement
Because of that “resurrection”
He, Jesus has given us two things
New birth and
Living Hope
If you are here as a follower of Jesus you have NEW BIRTH and LIVING HOPE.
Third Statement
And of course we want Praise God the Father and God the Son for that…AMEN!
Vs. 4
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,
So because of our NEW BIRTH, we have been an inheritance.
What exactly does this inheritance look like…? How much…? How quickly…? and what do I have to do to enjoy it?
This inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade
Well then Jeff… Can I buy a car, a house, some land or business with this inheritance?
It’s worth even more than that…!
Why
It’s, “kept in heaven for you.” So I get no earthly reward for this inheritance…?
No, this reward is eternal. Our lifetime is just a blip in eternity. You want to story up as much of the inheritance in heaven as you can.
You can’t take a car, house, land or a business with you to heaven. At that point it is all just dust. Because dust you came from and dust you will return.
How much is my inheritance...
More than you can ever imagine because by your faith alone...
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
I’m adding a bit of the next verse so that it reads
“who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time…in this you greatly rejoice.
[You] are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation, here salvation means “saving” from the terrible events of the End-Times.
How quickly is it coming…?
I believe...If you are a follower of Jesus, you are shielded from the terrible troubles that await others in the end-times.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Yes, you are going to have to wait for it. There is going to be “grief” in all kinds of trials... But your “short” wait here is repaid a million-billion fold in eternity.
I have heard some of your trials, your cancer scares, your brushes with death and I’ve also heard the grief that you are experiencing in all of life’s circumstances.
These are ALL temporary… all of them.
7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
These trials have come so that your FAITH may be proved genuine. That is such a simple statement and is almost trite
Is it a trial… when your physical pain is so great that you can’t stand it any longer?
Is it a trial… to suffer with depression without any hope?
Is it a trial… when your spouse has a debilitating illness that there is no cure?
Is it a trial… to watch your kids struggle with life choices?
Yes, these are the trials of this world… these are the trials we suffer through because of sin that entered the world. These are NOT God’s plan… He has a better place and a better path for us His children!
What waits for those of us that have struggled through the trials of this world. As the last part of the V.7 says “…may result in the praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
What do I have to do to enjoy this inheritance?
Nothing… There is NOTHING TO DO to enjoy this inheritance.
I’ve seen over and over among friends, family members, church members on the proverbial mouse wheel.
Running, running, running as fast as you can but getting NOWHERE.
No matter how many miles that you put on that wheel, around and around your not going to get anywhere that you want to go. The only thing it going to get you is… Tired!
But Jeff… God’s gifts is so great, the reward is great and I don’t deserve it.. I have to prove that I am worthy.
That is a LIE from the pit of hell… That is a LIE from the pit of HELL!
Yes that is strong, but it true. There is nothing you did to earn it, there is nothing you can do to lose it. Once it is yours it is your forever.
Get off the performance merry-go-round… its just like the wheel the rat goes round and round on. Gets him nowhere.
So there nothing to “do” except to “be.” Stop doing and start be-ing.
After you are over this hump of performing…
Start serving with the best of motives… Make the lives around you know that you are a follower of Jesus and that’s why you serve and serve and serve.
Break a sweat… knowing that you are working to provide for your family, to be an example to your spouse, your children.
Remembering ultimately that, if you are a follower of Jesus you have already arrived at your final destination.
So someone is going to ask… “you have never seen this Jesus, how do your know that he is in fact real?” That he can do all the things that you tell me He can do?
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Even though I have not seen him, I love Him and he loves me, because he died for me . No I have never seem him, but I believe in him.. I believe that He did all that He said He did.
Because of the that I have inexpressible, glorious joy!!
Joy in my trials, joys in my triumphs, joy along the way… who am I kidding… I still grouse along the way in each of those. But I’m am growing each and every day to have to different attitude and to realize there IS a different destination because of it.
My faith, the in’s and outs, the highs and the lows, the victories and defeats are all the result of my faith
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We are receiving the goal of our faith...
The salvation of our souls!
I want to go to that story that I was telling about myself. I thought I had escaped from the consequences of my steps, the consequences of my sin, the consequences of the choices that I had made.
I did not… nor would any of us. Those trials, that heartache, those situations have molded us into the people that we are. If we are bitter, unforgiving, fighters, lovers of all things that God is against. He will keep trying, he will be weeping over us as we continue to sin.
Encouraging us to return to the place where we belong… in his hands. Under the care of His people. Working and molding us into something that we are much better for being!