Wayfaring Strangers- A Study Of 1 Peter Part 8" Who Are You" Series

Wayfaring Strangers

A Study of 1 Peter

Part 8

“Who are you”

Today after a 2 week break for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday

We are returning to our sermon series

From the book of 1 Peter

Titled

Wayfaring Stranger

Before we dig in

Let me ask you a question

I will tell you

It is a rhetorical question

Because

I already know the answer

But I want you to open your minds before we begin todays study

How many of you have ever felt

Less than Perfect

Less than adequate

Less than valuable

Less than good enough

Strong enough

Less than smart enough

I could go on and on

We all at some time in our lives feel as if we don’t measure up

To whatever standard we using to measure ourselves by

Right?

This is exactly where the wayfaring strangers of Peter’s time found themselves

They had given up their old lives

Their old beliefs

They had accepted Christ

Shown that though the first act of obedience

Which is baptism

A public confession of faith

And suddenly they were told that they were lacking in something

That they were no longer good enough

Holy enough

Righteous enough

Many had been ostracized by their families

They had been abandoned by former friends

They had lost Jobs

Homes

To make matters worse

The Jews saw them as traitors

The Romans saw them as the potential leaders of a rebellion

So

They were neglected

Abused

Treated unfairly

Even tortured and killed for their beliefs

On top of that Satan was using everything he had to tear down their new faith

To render them ineffective at spreading the word of Christ

Old slick

Used fear

Disappointment

Despair

Sorrow

Anger

And many more tactics against these people of faith

In an attempt to stop them

To stop their faith

To make them hide

Or go back to their old ways of life

He tried

But he was unsuccessful

We know he failed because God’s word persevered

It is still changing lives today

But make no mistake

It is still being attacked by Satan and this evil world

All that is evil

Wants to stop

All that is good

So

I know

Because he whacks on me as well

That Satan

Will make every attempt to stop you as well

He will use every trick in his sack

Every tactic he knows

To make you feel less than what you are called to be

He will wage war

To make you doubt yourself

Your own worth

Make you doubt God

Make you think you are not good enough

Clean enough

Holy enough

Righteous enough

That you are somehow less than standard

And when he is able to accomplish this

He can sit back and grin

And work on the next ones

Because he has rendered us ineffective

He can’t take our salvation

But he can take the joy of our salvation

He can keep us from using our salvation to help change the lives of others

For us to combat these forces of evil

It is imperative that we understand his tactics

And them it is even more imperative that we understand who we are

Please open your bibles to

1 Peter chapter 2

Beginning in verse 4

It is my intent

To show you who

You are

And whose you are when you have accepted Christ

I need you to hear me on this

It is much more important whose you are than who you are

So for the first part of this message

I am speaking to believers

Those who have on purpose

Decided

To place their faith and hope in Jesus Christ

Listen to me

I am not talking about walking an isle because everyone else did

I am not talking about agreeing to be baptized

Joining this church or that church

I’m not talking about those who said a prayer and never experienced change in their hearts

Change in their minds

Change in their lives

I am talking about those who have understood that they are sinners

Understood that the sin in their lives separated them from a Holy God

Those who understood that without a savior they would get what they deserved

Which is eternity in Hell

Those who cried out to Jesus Christ as Lord

And received the gift of salvation

And the gift of the Holy Spirit filling their hearts

Right then

Redeemed

Saved

Forgiven

Listen

If that describes you

Then the next few minutes of this sermon are for you

If you are not in that category

It is not too late

Listen to this message

Open

Your minds

Your hearts

And

Listen

Because everyone who calls not the name will be saved

And everyone means you

So

It is vitally important to know who’s we are