INTRODUCTION SLIDE #1
„X In the church we talk a lot about the concept of the ¡§church family¡¨. In a healthy family, we are there for one another; we are there for each other in the good times and the bad.
„X It is fun to be a part of a family when all is well; it is challenging to be in a family when things are not going so well.
„X During the writing of 1 Peter, times were tough for the family of God. Persecution was happening; those who were Jews who converted were subject to a loss of family, jobs, position within their society.
„X This was not an easy to be a Christian at this time.
„X Today, we are not facing same level of persecution that was happening during the days of Peter, but nevertheless, we still go through difficult things in life.
„X Maybe our struggle is with our faith; maybe we are having marital problems, or problems with our children. Maybe our struggle is with substance abuse.
„X It could be that as we face the aging process we are upset with God over how things seem to be going.
„X Where do we turn when we are struggling? Where do we go when we are persecuted in some way? We should be able to turn to our church family.
„X What do we do when we see a brother or sister in need? Do we pat them on the back and tell them it will be alright or are we willing to jump into the trenches and help them?
„X What can we do to be a real help to those who are hurting?
„X Today we are going to look at how we can give our brothers and sisters in Christ a helping hand when they are in need.
„X Let us read 1 Peter 4:7-11 together this morning. READ 1 Peter 4:7-11.
SERMON
When a brother is in need, we must offer the helping hand of: SLIDE #2
One of the helping hands we can offer to people who are hurting or in the midst of suffering is the hand of prayer. How many times has someone poured out their hearts to us only for us to say, ¡¥I will pray for you,¡¨ then we forget about the request and never pray for it.
I. PRAYER (7)
1. CLICK #2 Prayer is important because the stakes are high.
„X Peter begins this section by telling us the end of all things is near.
„X This puts a sense of urgency in our prayers. Peter is telling the end of the age is coming. Jesus could return at any moment or we could depart from this world at any moment also.
„X SLIDE # 3 Matt 24:36. 1Th 5:2
„X Since we do not when Jesus is when we see a brother in Christ who is in the midst of a deep struggle, we need to be there for them.
„X WE should pray fervently for them
„X Peter also gives us two commands that we need to follow so that we will be able to give the helping hand of prayer to those in need. SLIDE #4
2. We must think before we act.
„X We are told that we are to exercise sound judgment. This means that we think before we act, we think before we take a particular course of action. We are called to be aware of the eternal consequences of our actions or lack of action.
„X When we are facing tough times or trying to help those who are facing tough times, we must make sure we do not lose our head and do something rash or encourage another person to do something they will regret.
„X If we are not exercising sound judgment, we will get so caught up in the crisis we will forget to pray as we should or we will be asking God for something that will not help the one in trouble. CLICK # 4
3. We must keep ourselves focused.
„X Secondly we are told to keep a sober spirit. This means we are to keep ourselves from allowing anything to dull our mind or our spirit.
„X When a person consumes even a small amount of alcohol, it impairs their judgment and reflexes.
„X We are not to allow anything that will cause of to be spiritually impaired.
„X When we allow the world to take over our lives, we are not very focused on God.
„X We cannot allow things to take our focus off of God.
„X Verse 7 tells us to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
„X The word for ¡§prayer¡¨ is plural in the original telling us we are to offer up multiple prayers. We never stop with our prayers.
When a brother is in need, we must offer the helping hand of: SLIDE #5
II. LOVE (8)
SLIDE #6
1. At times loving one another will require a lot of effort.
„X What do people need for other people? They need some one to stand back and be critical of them. They need someone to tell them, ¡§I told you so.¡¨
„X When a brother or sister in Christ is struggling, they need someone to love them.
„X Verse 8 starts with ABOVE ALL. When you have finished your prayers, when you have strengthened your relationship with God, give top priority to being fervent in your love for one another.
„X The phrase ¡§one another¡¨ shows the context of this section is how we are to help our brothers and sisters in Christ, this does not mean we are to ignore the hurting people of the world though.
„X We are told to ¡§KEEP¡¨ fervent in our love. The word ¡§keep¡¨ is tied back to being of sound judgment.
„X A Christian who is thinking clearly will keep on extending his love to others.
„X The love we are to have is a fervent love. The word ¡§fervent¡¨ was used to describe the strenuous effort a horse who was at full gallop would exert or the sustained effort of an athlete who was trying to win a race would demonstrate.
„X There are times when our brothers and sisters in Christ make it hard to love them. Maybe they have done something insensitive to you or they did something flat out mean to you.
„X Sometimes disappointment from unfulfilled or unreasonable expectations gets in the way of our ability to love each other.
„X The love we are to have is a love that causes us to do what it best for the other person spiritually.
„X Why should we go to the heartache of loving someone especially if they wronged us? CLICK # 6
2. Loving one another is important because love will cover a multitude of sins.
„X I can love people then sin all I want then I will ¡§pay¡¨ for my sins? NO
„X This is one way this could be taken, but that would mean we earn our forgiveness from God.
„X I believe this is directed toward the object of our love.
„X If we love a person, our love will give them a lot of latitude. When we love a person, their faults are not a big a deal to us. We do not magnify or publicize the sins of the ones we love. Love is not blind, it is just that love demands we love the person the way they are.
„X When we love others, we will not be critical of them. People who are always critical of others, most likely are not very loving people.
When a brother is in need, we must offer the helping hand of: SLIDE #7
III. HOSPITALITY (9)
There are times when we need to open our homes to other Christians. Each week get the opportunity to show hospitality to Jared. For those who have not been able to house Jared for a weekend, you are missing out on a blessing.
The word hospitality literally means ¡§to be friendly to strangers.¡¨ In Peter¡¦s day that was very important since there were not Holiday Inns and the places to stay that were like it was usually hotspots of immorality.
When Christians were being persecuted, they needed places to stay while they were traveling. SLIDE #8
1. Our attitude is as important as our actions.
„X Having someone stay with you whether they be a friend or someone you do not know very well can be inconvenient at times, it can put you out financially at times.
„X Peter tells us not only are we to be hospitable, but we are to do it with the right attitude. 1 Cor 13:3 CLICK # 8
When a brother is in need, we must offer the helping hand of: SLIDE #9
IV. SERVICE (10-11)
When a brother or sister is in trouble, hurting or in need, it is our job to serve them. For us to do that there are some things we need to take note of. SLIDE #10
1. We must realize God gives us our gifts.
„X Verse 10 speaks of each receiving a special gift. The word translated ¡§special gift¡¨ denotes supernatural gifts that were passed on by the laying on of hands by the Apostles. We get the word ¡§charisma¡¨ from it.
„X The word translated ¡§AS¡¨ means ¡§according as¡¨ which tells us not all were gifted with special gifts.
„X Once again, this thought ties back to exhibiting sound judgment. As we do this, we will use our gifts for serving others because God gave them to us. CLICK # 10
2. God expects us to use our gifts wisely.
„X We are told to employ the gifts we have as good stewards.
„X A steward is one who manages another¡¦s property. God has given us gifts and we are told to make wise use of them.
„X In sports, we look at a gifted athlete who does not use their gift as a waste. We see a person like former Dolphin running back Ricky Williams quit football in the prime of his career so he can smoke pot.
„X In the church it is sad to see so many gifted people sitting on the sidelines or not even in the game. Manifold grace means the various gifts we have. WE NEED TO USE THEM
„X Each of us has gifts and abilities from God, do not waste them. CLICK # 10
3. Our guidance should be bible-centered.
„X Would it be wise for one blind man to ask another blind man how to get somewhere?
„X There are going to be times when we have the opportunity to guide people, to give them advice about life.
„X When we speak, we are to make sure what we say is Bible-centered, God- centered.
„X We need to know the Word so was can share it with people, not only about salvation issues, but on issues of life.
„X The word translated ¡§utterance¡¨ was used as a when talking about the words of scripture. (Rom 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) SLIDE #11
4. Our strength comes from God.
„X There are going to be times when we do not feel we can serve. When we get that way we need to realize our strength comes from God.
„X The word ¡§serve¡¨ deals with practical deeds of Christian service.
„X We are to serve in a spirit of humility with an awareness of God¡¦s presence. CLICK #11
5. Our service should be done for His glory!
„X Some people do things to get noticed and recognized. We should do what we do for the glory of God who has given us all we have and who saved us by sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins!
„X Jesus holds dominion, this means He has the right to be held in the highest esteem and has the right to exercise sovereign rule over all!
„X We serve Him to His glory!
CONCLUSION
„X SLIDE #12
„X If we are going to be a family, then we need to be there for one another in our times of need.
„X I pray that each of us will prayerfully consider how we can carry this out in our lives.
„X We do not want to be a country club church where every goes just to go, we want to continue to be a church who serves Jesus through serving one another and serving those who need Jesus.
