A Living Hope, A Sure Anchor In Troubled Times Series

Living Hope

A Sure Anchor In Troubled Times

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 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…

- 1 Peter 1:1,2

Prayer…

THIS MORNING - we are going to begin an exciting journey in God’s Word… AND – to be honest I am really starting to get pumped up, stoked and jazzed about it. BECAUSE – I am confident that God is going to do something HUGE in the lives of some of us in this very room as HIS WORD speaks.

BEGINNING TODAY – we are going to dig into the book of 1 Peter…

I MEAN – really dig into it… a verse by verse study… where we will attempt to mine every ounce of it’s treasure… (AND – if not every ounce at least a bunch of it).

UNDERSTAND - this book is: powerful, supernatural, life changing and life altering. THERE – has never been another book like it…

NO BOOK - compares to it… It’s been a best seller for centuries…

NO BOOK - has been published more or translated into more languages.

NO BOOK – has inspired more art, poetry, music, good deeds and changed lives.

AND NO BOOK – has been scrutinized, criticized, attacked and destroyed more… YET – it still and will continue to stand forever…

IN FACT – that is exactly what Peter puts it in this very letter…

"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." – 1 Pe 1:24,25

For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

– Hebrews 4:12

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us

- 2 Tim 3:16,17

LOOK UP…..

THIS BOOK – I am holding in my hand…

THESE WORDS – are God breathed!

THEY ARE - alive and they are active.

THEY - cut through all the junk and barriers in our lives…

THEY - judge our thoughts and our attitudes.

THEY - show us what is wrong with the way we are living and they tell us how to live right.

THESE WORDS – can put our lives back together and shape us to do all the things God has called to do.

YEAH FOR - the next several weeks… I am going to ‘metaphorically’ speaking grab a Holy Spirit inspired sack of seed and begin throwing it all over this room…

AND LISTEN – this (God breathed, living & active, standing forever) seed is going to land on all kinds of soil (hearts)… hard, rocky, thorny… and some will land on good soil that will reap harvest 100, 60, 30 times what was planted…

YEAH

NEEDLESS TO SAY - I’m really starting to get pumped up… about the book of 1st Peter… AND – our new message series… called, “Living-Hope, A Sure Anchor In Troubled Times…”

MG – 1 Peter is an amazing letter. I went through it a couple of times this week… AND – my initial reaction was OMG! There is so much amazing stuff in here… AND – my initial thought was… “man this stuff is really going to change some lives at The Grove.”

UNDERSTAND – 1 Peter is an amazing, inspiring, compelling & practical book. AND EACH WEEK (beginning today)- awesome truths will be uncovered that will both enable and empower us to live Hope-filled, Christ-like lives, especially in challenging times…

ALL – for his honor and glory!

ALRIGHT – let’s do this… 1 Peter chapter 1 verse one…

Peter…

OKAY – ‘pause’ let’s stop there for a second… (yeah I know some of you are starting to get worried… I mean there’s 2482 words in 1 Peter – stopping at every word could take a very long time)

AGAIN – what is the first word in this letter…? Peter.

UNDERSTAND – in the first century that is how they addressed letters… First the senders name and then the recipients name… Which is the exact opposite of how we address letters…. Today our first words are usually the name of the person we are writing to… “Dear John…”