Wayfaring Strangers A Study Of 1 Peter Part 3, " By His Grace" Series

Wayfaring strangers

A study of 1 Peter

“By his grace”

1 Peter 1:3-5

Today we are going to continue our ongoing sermon series on the great book of 1 Peter

As we have seen over the last 2 weeks

The Apostle Peter, one of Jesus’ boys

And the unofficial leader of his rag tag bunch of Apostles

Has grown into the name Jesus gave him

Cephas- the rock

And has stepped up to help people grow in relationship with God

And learn how to live in a world that is sometimes hostile to the believers of Jesus

The first week was an introduction

Last week we looked at how God views us

How we are

Chosen

Set apart as Holy

Cleansed by the blood of Christ

Today

Through the words of Peter, to the first century Wayfaring Strangers

We will see exactly what it means to be born again

And more importantly why this is important

Please open your bibles to 1 Peter 1:3-5

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Listen. Peter got excited about God’s word

I am excited about God’s word

And I want you to be excited about God’s word as well

How do I know Peter was excited?

He could have simply laid out the facts

He could have written in a monolog, matter of fact manner

He could have written in less than inspiring manner

He could have simply listed the points of his message

But he didn’t do that. Peter begins his letter with an explosive statement of praise!!!!

Look at verse 3a

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All praise to God

Hallelujah

Yea haw in cowboy terms

Peter was excited about what he was about to tell his listeners

He was speaking from his heart

Out of his love for Christ

The way he begins his letter tells us how we should read, study and proclaim the word of God.

With excitement!!!!

Biblical preaching should always touch the head and the heart.

It should educate

But it should also inspire feelings of great thankfulness

Joy, peace and so on

Listen

It is never enough for a preacher to say, “Well, at least I covered those four verses today.”

Covering scripture is important

We need to be students of scripture

But we must also convey the truth from the heart to the heart.

Get it from our heads to our hearts

This goes both ways

From the way I preach

and to the way you listen.

We must not be content with merely spewing out facts

Spitting out scripture, facts and figures and such

Using big words that we don’t understand

We must not be content simply to gain biblical knowledge.

The goal is life transformation through God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit

We should not be satisfied with anything less.

So, in an effort to apply God’s word

Anytime we listen to preaching or teaching we should ask these questions

Is the speaker, preacher, teacher speaking truth? If not you should RUNNOFT

Does the topic matter to the one presenting it, are they excited about God’s word, if they don’t care, if they are not excited why should we be

And

Why should I care

The first question is vital because preaching based on anything other than the truth of Scripture is dangerous and misleading.

Adding to the work of Jesus on the cross for salvation says the blood and death of my savior was not enough and that is unacceptable

Changing or misrepresenting scripture to promote your own personal views or doctrines is both irresponsible and dangerous

Listen

It is not my job to entertain, I pray that my sermons are engaging and even sometimes entertaining, but I am not an entertainer

My job is not to tell stories, I tell stories to enhance the scripture, to give visuals that we can relate to , but the stories should always enhance the material and apply to it , a joke or a story that does not apply to the word being taught has no place in a sermon

My job is not to give opinions, we all have opinions

You care for mine about as much as I care for yours it is God’s word that matters