Hope For A Better Life Series

"Getting MORE out of Life"

"HOPE for a Better Life"

Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 3 this morning....

...and while you're turning there.....I want to quote a Very Familiar Verse in John 10

Jesus said in John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it MORE ABUNDANTLY.

CJB calls it "Life in its FULLEST Measure"

....That's the Life AVAILABLE to us In Christ Jesus.....Life in its FULLEST Measure........

.....that's the Life you and I are CALLED, APPOINTED TO and QUALIFIED TO LIVE in Christ.....

And ..... NO MATTER What Stage or Position you are at in your life....

....no matter How BAD or How GOOD....

...God's Standard,... His Measure,.... His INTENDED Life for you is MORE and BETTER than you've ever Known.....

It is the FULLEST that LIFE CAN BE

...That is God's Desire for EVERY PERSON today..... that we live life as HE INTENDED....

>>>VICTORIOUS and GLORIOUS ....that is the goal...

....and that is WHY He sent Jesus....that WE might have Life by God's Standard...

>>>But it doesn't Just HAPPEN.....does it?.....that's why Jesus said ".....they MIGHT have life...."

You need to know today that HOW MUCH LIFE you have.... AND the Quality of it is not up to God....

...but it is up to YOU....

Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

What determines the Course of your life?....YOUR Heart.....

(That's why the First Thing God wants to do in our lives is Give us a NEW HEART...that's Fashioned by His Spirit......so we can live the God Kind of Life....)

Your Heart is your Life Production Center....(Ezek 36:26 "A new heart also will I give you....")

Your Quality of life is not controlled by the president, the congress, or the Economy....

....not.....by your parents or your children.....

...or Anyone other than YOU YOURSELF....

I know that Others can Influence some things.....and they can make things easier or more difficult....

...but THEY CANNOT CONTROL YOU.....

...and they cannot Keep you from God's Will for Your life....

Jesus' death, burial and Resurrection made all men FREE to CHOOSE for themselves.....

....But it's WHAT YOU DO ABOUT WHAT GOD HAS Said and DONE than Will Make ALL the Difference in Your Life.....

God has Made Available Everything We Need for Living Life in the FULLEST MEASURE.....

....Everything for Getting More Out Of Life....

Now, you've found 1 Peter 3...... Turn a few pager further and let's see something in 2 Peter 1 ......

...We're talking about Getting MORE out of life......What MORE is there Available?

2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV) 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

Do we Know all there is to know about God and Jesus? Of course not.....

...but what did that say happens the More we KNOW THEM? Grace and Peace MULTIPLIED (not just added) to us

Grace is the Opening of Every Good Thing God has for us.....and Peace is the Possession of it

....That's why one explanation of the word translated "peace" here is "nothing Missing and Nothing Broken"

You don't get anymore WHOLE than that.

3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

These 2 verses tell us What's AVAILABLE......All things that pertain unto life and godliness

.....AND exceeding great and precious promises that LEAD to Partaking of the divine nature and Escaping corruption.

Verses 5-7 show us the RIGHT RESPONSE to Verses 2-3......Diligently start ADDING to what you've got.....

And then Verse 8 gives the Result of our Right Response....SUCCESS or FRUITFULNESS

2 Peter 1:5-8 (KJV) 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are things that PLANNED and LIE AHEAD for us......FULL POSSESSION of the Promises.....and......Getting the MOST out of life......

...Today...we're talking about HOW to GET to this BETTER LIFE where MORE is....

Well ONE VITAL Ingredient to our Moving Ahead is Revealed in 1 Peter 3:15