INTRODUCTION
SLIDE #1
• What is the goal of a lot of the things we read in the Bible? Why did God leave us the Bible?
• Why is Peter trying to encourage his readers to stay strong? Why in the midst of persecution is Peter not telling his readers to go hide in the mountain?
• We are given the Word because God wants us to grow up spiritually and as we do that He wants us to serve Him better each day.
• We are being encouraged to strengthen our serve.
• God’s desire for us is for us to be the best servants we can be. SLIDE #2
• 2 Corinthians 5:20
• When we give our lives to Jesus, we all are representing Him. If we are going to succeed in representing Him, there are a few things we need to do.
• We need to resist the temptation to just sit back and wait for Jesus to return or for our lives to end.
• Our life needs to be about being a better, stronger Christian.
• If you want to use a tennis analogy, if you have a slow weak serve, a good tennis player will jam the return right back down your throat.
• If we as Christians do not work on being better servants for God, the world will jam our faith right back down our throats.
• If we are not careful, the Devil will wreak havoc in our lives. He will get a hold of us and mess us up.
• If we are not careful, the cares of the world will devour us and render us ineffective for Jesus.
• Today we are going to look at three things we can do in order to strengthen our serve for God. These are three areas we can focus on that will help us to be stronger in our faith and therefore help us to serve our Great God in a better deeper way!
• READ 1 PETER 5:6-10
SERMON
Strengthening our serve requires us to: SLIDE #3
I. KNOW WHO TO LEAN ON. (6-7)
• Where do we go in times of trouble? Who do you depend on when the chips are down? Do we rely on our own strength? One of the ways we can strengthen our serve is by knowing who we need to lean on. CLICK #3
1. We need to humble ourselves before God.
o If we are going to serve our God to the best of our ability, we need to first humble our selves before Him.
o The passage literally tells us to permit ourselves to be humbled. Having an attitude of humble submission before God is a choice. There are things that happen in life that should humble us, but ultimately we have to decide to be humble before God. In verse 5 Peter tells us to cloth ourselves with humility towards one another, here we are told to do this before God.
o The MIGHTY HAND OF GOD is as common O.T. phrase that speaks of God being in the control of the destiny of His people if they humbly and faithful accept His guidance. When we humble ourselves before God, God will be in control. (Deut 9:26)
o Gareth Reese in his commentary of 1 Peter states: In the confidence that our Father in Heaven knows what He is doing, we take advantage of the opportunities for service which He permits to come our way that require us to humble ourselves before we can and will act.
o SLIDE #4 Jesus taught in Matthew 18:4 the need to be humble in order to attain greatness. Matthew 19:30
o If we are full of self, we will never be able to serve God to the best of our ability.
o SLIDE #5 The purpose for allowing ourselves to be humbled is so that at the proper time God will exalt us. Matthew 23:12.
o The hope we have in the future should make an impact on how we live in the present. God will exalt us at the time that is best of Him and for us. It is fruitless for a person to try to blaze their own trail, God needs to be the one whom we follow. SLIDE #6
2. Leaning on God allows us to cast our anxieties upon Him.
o Our pride will keep us from leaning on God. We will think we can handle everything ourselves.
o The person who humbles themselves before God will realize they need Him.
o Anxiety means to divide, separate, the feeling when the heart’s attention is drawn in different directions.
o When your mind is full of anxiety, that is when we need to remember God is there for you to turn to for help and consolation. (Gareth Reese, 1 Peter class notes.)
o The cast means to pass over to another, to deposit with another. When the burdens press and the cares distress, it helps a man to be calm if he turns his problems over to the Lord.
o If you will not humble yourself before God, do not get mad at Him when He does not calm your anxiety.
o When we know something is taken care of, our anxiety leaves us. If we turn something over to someone whom we know can help us, we all the sudden get calmed down. Who else can you think of who would be better to cast your anxieties on?
o Do you know why you can cast your anxieties upon the creator of the heavens and earth? BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU.
Strengthening our serve requires us to: SLIDE #7
II. BE ON THE ALERT (8-9)
o We need to be of sober spirit. We need to be able to think clearly instead of hastily jumping out and doing something that will harm us.
o After we cast our anxieties upon God, we must guard ourselves lest our freedom from cares degenerate into apathy and careless living.
o One of the things that will help us to strengthen our serve is by watching out for things that will trap us or ensnare us. There are things that come along that simply trip us up for a moment and other things that can devour our spirits. One of the things we need to be on the alert for is the Hungry Lion: CLICK #7
1. Watch out for the hungry lion.
• We need to understand that in our lives, we do have an adversary who wants to destroy us. SLIDE #8 John 10:10
• The word “devil” means slander, false accuser, to defame. The Devil does this to as all the time; He also tries to get us to fall for his schemes.
• How do people get other people to fall into financial traps? They do it by deceiving them. People get other people to do things by telling them what they want to hear in order to deceive them.
• Satan works the same way with us. He will tell us what we want to hear and we take the bait and he reels us in.
• The illustration Peter uses is that of a lion. He says the devil is like a prowling lion. The hungry lion walks back and forth searching for food to eat. The lion will look for the weak animal in the herd. As the lion attacks, it is said the lion’s roar will freeze its’ prey with fear.
• When the lion is on the prowl, he is not looking for a playmate; he is looking to devour someone. To devour literally means to drink down. The hungry lion will gulp its food down even swallowing some of it whole.
• The passage tells us the lion is seeking SOMEONE to devour. This implies the lion cannot devour just anyone; he can only swallow those who are not watchful and sober, those who are weak and not resolute in their faith.
• The way we protect ourselves is by being strong in our faith, watchful for the schemes of the devil as he looks to devour us.
• There is no negotiation with the hungry lion. SLIDE #9
2. If the lion catches you, fight him off.
• The best thing we can do is not allow the lion to get a hold of us. Too many folks allow the lion to eat them without putting up a fight.
• SLIDE #10 James 4:7. We can resist the devil.
• We can maintain or faith in the midst of troubled times.
• If we maintain our faith, we are resisting what the enemy is trying to do to us.
• A way we can resist the enemy is by being firm in our faith. The word “faith” can be either objective (the body of beliefs we have from God’s Word) or subjective,(our personal beliefs). For Peter’s readers, simply cursing Christ in many instances would have gotten them off the chopping block.
• When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in Matthew 4, Jesus used the Word of God to fight him off.
• We can do the same, but in order to be able to use the word, we need to know the word. Every bit of knowledge of the word will help us. We will never know it all, but we cannot learn without some effort on our part.
• Our strength of faith will spread to other Christians and others who are struggling; it will serve as an encouragement.
• The suffering that is happening in this world to others is something that will help strengthen them. SLIDE #11
• Matthew 10:28. They cannot hurt us in the next life with God.
Strengthening our serve requires us to: SLIDE #12
III. SEE THE FOREST THROUGH ALL THE TREES (10)
• One thing that will help us to strengthen our serve is to be able to see the big picture. Too many of us cannot see the forest though all the trees. We get focused on a particular tree to the point we do not see the whole picture.
• There are a couple of big picture things we need to be aware of as we seek to strengthen our serve, or be better servants of Jesus. CLICK #12
1. There is a great reward awaiting the faithful.
• After we have gone through the difficult times of life, we need to realize that one day we will stand before our God and we want Him to say, “well done good and faithful servant.”
• In the world to come, Christians will be honored and they will bring the ultimate glory to God.
• We will be called to eternal glory, a glory that will never end! WE are called to share in the glory of the God with Jesus!
• God is the source of any grace we have in our lives.
• SLIDE #13 Revelation 2:10. This eternal calling will only be for the faithful. Those who belong to Jesus who are faithful unto death. SLIDE #14
2. God will fix everything that is broken.
• There will come a day when God will fix all that is broken.
• After we live this life, when God is finished with us, there will be a day when He who so faithfully was with us will make sure we are no longer in a place where we can be hurt again.
• When this life is over, we will be confirmed, which means He will give firm support to what is teetering. He will provide us a solid foundation for eternity.
• We are told God will perfect us. This word perfect usually means to complete, this word is one that is a surgical term denoting the setting of a broken bone. God will repair any injuries we have suffered in this life. Our new bodies will be perfect, complete, hurt and pain free.
• God will confirm us, meaning He will give us firm support, solid ground to stand upon!
• The sufferings of this life are nothing in comparison to the glory that is awaiting the faithful!
CONCLUSION
• God gives us all that we need in order to be a strong servant, to be the person He wants us to be.
• SLIDE #15
• If we are going to make it through the maze of life, we need to make sure we know who to lean on, and that we stay on the alert and that we are able to see the big picture of life.
• We need to understand there is more to this life than living and dying. We need to realize that God wants us to succeed in our walk with him.
• God cares for you and wants the best for you. When we serve live for Him, it will cause others to want to do the same.
• Today, if Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, you need to change that today. If you need prayer for some trials you are currently facing, we invite you to come forward as we sing our hymn of decision.
