Somebody's Watching Us (Sin And Temptation) Series

Somebody’s Watching Us

Living – Hope part 6

1 Peter 2:11, 12, 24, 25

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

– Phil 2:14-16

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. – 1 Peter 2:11,12

Prayer

2,000 years ago…

PETER - you know the guy who left everything to follow Jesus.

PETER – the guy who walked on water and made the great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…

PETER – the guy who preached boldly to thousands at the Temple on the day of Pentecost – telling the convicted crowd to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and the guy who sank into the crashing waves when he took his eyes off Jesus.

PETER - the guy who loved Jesus so much and loved the church so much – that he literally gave his life - crucified upside down.

YEAH…

2000 years ago

PETER - the guy who had a knowledge of, a relationship with and access to Jesus that is unparallel in all of human history…

GRABBED - a pen and paper and wrote a letter to a bunch of believers who were taking some major hits in their lives…

A LETTER - (of living-hope) to men, women and children who were suffering greatly under the Roman empire, and who were finding it hard to hang on under the weight of their present circumstances…

A LETTER – that contained God-breathed words that every Jesus-follower need to hear.

MGCC/Fellow Jesus-followers

IF PETER – were in this room today, he would look each of us in the eye and say…

God the Father chose you

God the Son died for you

God the Spirit lives in you

AND BECAUSE – of His great mercy…

• You have been a new birth into a living-hope

• You have an inheritance in heaven

• The power of the star breathing God is protecting you

• You are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy as you receive the salvation of your souls.

YES

PETER – would look us each in the eye and that because of God’s great mercy we have (as Mark and Bob shared last week, wow they did an awesome job)… we have a new identity… once we were not a people NOW we are the people of God.

PEOPLE – who have been brought out of darkness into His wonderful light.

PEOPLE – who have built their lives on Christ… the solid, sure, eternal, living and enduring cornerstone….

YES PETER – would look each of us in the eye (with a gleam in His own) and say, “Man, I hope you are as pumped as I am about being the people of God.

PEOPLE – called and empowered to (be, look, and live) like Him.

PEOPLE – called to be holy – to swim upstream.

And Pete would say… because of all this you NOW have an incredible opportunity… which brings us to where the Word will take us today. THIS MORNING – (June 1… day 151 of the year 2014, which means we still have 214 days left) we will begin looking at a section of 1 Peter (1 Peter 2:11-3:22) that I am calling…

Somebody’s Watching Us

AND - the theme verse for this section is 1 Peter 2:12 – where Peter says to me and to you…

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. – 1 Peter 2:12

UNDERSTAND – what Peter is telling us – (exiles on a mission for Christ in a world that is not our home)… is that somebody is watching us.