Citizen Christian Series

INTRODUCTION

„X SLIDE #2

„X Aliens in a strange land, strangers, citizens of heaven, children of God, saints, chosen ones, holy ones, beloved of God.

„X These are but a few words the bible uses to describe the Christian.

„X Many of these words paint what seems to be an impossible standard for a person to live up to, SAINT? Holy One? Chosen One? Child of God?

„X It can be tough for us to live up to the standard God has called us to , but as we will see this morning, there is great reason for us to try to live for Jesus in this land to the best of our ability with the help of The Holy Spirit!

„X I would like to show you a brief clip from the movie ¡§The Alamo¡¨. In this clip Jim Bowie is sitting around the camp fire as Davy Crockett explains how hard it is to live up to his legend.

„X DVD Chapter: 8 Start Time: 0:57:18 End Time: 0:59:05

„X Crockett is a living legend to the men of the Alamo. While he recognizes that deep down he is just "simple old David," he also knows that the soldiers identify him with the man who rides the lightning. His power comes from that association, and he no longer is free to act as he will because others depend on him to be more. They look for him as a source of courage -- they are watching to see if he is the real deal. (www.movieminsitry.com)

„X Since we are called to serve Jesus, what is our obligation as temporary citizens of this world?

„X As we live in this world, do we have any obligation to the world around us?

„X Throughout 1 Peter, Peter is trying to encourage a persecuted group of believers to stay the course and recognize their persecution is but temporary.

„X Today we are going to look at how we are to deal with the world around us. We must be careful not to get so heaven minded that we forget what we need to do while we are here.

„X Let¡¦s turn to 1 Peter 2:11-17 as we begin our look at Citizen Christian. The first area of obligation we will look at is:

„X SLIDE 3

SERMON

I. THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS CONDUCT IN THE WORLD. (11-12)

„X What Peter is about to share is important, he starts off by calling his readers, beloved then he urges them to do what he is going to ask of them.

„X The word for ¡§urge¡¨ means to plead with, beg, implore. He reminds them once again of their temporary status on this earth as a subtle reminder that they have a higher calling to answer to.

„X Peter is about to urge then to do two things concerning their conduct in this world.

„X The first one is: CLICK 3

„X They are urged to abstain fro the fleshly lusts. The word for abstain means to not permit the mind to show any hospitality to something.

„X Fleshly desires are usually used in the sexual context, but during bible times it had much broader meaning. SLIDE 4 Galatians 5:19-21 is an example of the scope of the term.

„X When you put together abstaining and fleshly lusts what you get is this. We are told we are not to permit the mind to show any hospitality to any of the fleshly lusts. We are not to allow anything that motivates sinful behavior an opportunity to keep residence in the mind.

„X Sometimes the thoughts come into the mind through the prompting of the Satan, but we can control whether or not they stay there.

„X Men, we are not blind to beauty, when a beautiful woman passes by your eyes, do not let Satan play with you. Appreciate the beauty and go on, do not let thoughts build in your mind.

„X Peter tells us these fleshly lust wage war with against our soul.

„X Why do you think that would happen? The war spoken of here is not a hand to hand combat; it is a planned military exercise. It is much like Delilah¡¦s plans for Samson in the Old Testament. The fleshly lusts are a planned military expedition planned by Satan to ruin your life!

„X The second thing we are urged to do is to: SLIDE 5 Keep your behavior excellent.

„X We are given three reasons for us to maintain excellent behavior:

1. We are strangers and aliens

2. Fleshly desires are not good for our soul

3. The influence for good we can have on the world around us.

„X The word for excellent means not only good, but lovely, fine attractive, winsome.

„X We are being asked to make our way of life so lovely, so fair, that it will positively attract admiration from those around us.