Why I Need To Stay Out Of The Mud Series

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE #2

„X Staying clean while living in the pig pen can be very difficult at times. We look out and it appears that everyone is having fun playing in the mud.

„X One of the hardest things a child can do is have to sit back and watch everyone else have fun. I bet you can remember times when as a child your parents would not let you go out and play for one reason or another. Maybe it was that perfect day to go sledding, but you had a slight cold. It was bad enough you did not get to go outside, but then all the kids who were out playing when you had to stay in were playing right outside of your window.

„X I remember when I broke my leg. I could not play football or baseball with my friends, all I could do was to watch. That was so hard for me to do.

„X If we allowed the children to go outside and play in the muddy yard right now, I bet your child would come to you and ask to play also. If you told them ¡§NO¡¨, they would tell you that everyone else is playing in the mud.

„X Are adults much different? We want to be able to do what everyone else is doing.

„X Last week we looked at how we can stay clean while living in an unclean world. Today we are going to look at WHY we need to stay out of the mud, WHY we need to stay pure, WHY we need to do the best we can to stay unstained by the world.

„X If we understand WHY we need to stay out of the mud, it will make it easier to do.

„X It is so easy for us to take a casual attitude towards sin in our lives, it is so easy to over look what we do and pass it off as weakness, or thoughtlessness.

„X Today, when we get our clothing dirty, we just toss it into a washing machine and it is done. We need to realize that getting in the mud of sin in our lives is not to be taken lightly. Jesus can cleanse us from the stains of the world, but we are much better off if we can keep the mud off of us in the first place!

„X The world around us is encouraging us to jump in the puddle with them.

„X Playing in the mud looks fun. Why shouldn¡¦t I do it also? Today we are going to look at five reasons we need to stay out of the mud.

„X In our text we are told to conduct ourselves in fear.

„X In the original text, verses 17-21 are one sentence. The structure of the sentence is best understood in the light of this thought.

„X Later we will look more at what ¡§conducting our selves in fear¡¨ means.

„X All of the subordinate clauses give us a number of reasons we should stay out of the mud or live a reverent life for Jesus!

„X Read 1 Peter 1:17-21

SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. WE ADDRESS GOD AS OUR FATHER. 17

His children need to be clean.

„X Verse 17 begins with the word ¡§IF¡¨. A better way to translate this word is ¡§since.¡¨

„X Since we address God as our Father, we are saying that we are going to follow what He tells us to do.

„X To ¡§address¡¨ is to call upon, or appeal to. It is another way of saying that we pray or call out to God as our Father. SLIDE #4

„X Jesus said in John 14:15 ¡§If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

„X When we call out to God, we are acknowledging the fact He is our Father. We need to be clean because we are His children, we belong to Him.

„X My parents asked me not to bring shame upon their good name by my actions. I wish I could say I never brought shame on them. We realize that what we do reflects upon our family name.

„X We owe it to our Heavenly Father to live a pure life. There have been times that knowing my actions would bring shame upon Jesus that I was able to refrain from the activity that would do this. Have you ever stayed away from doing something you should not have because you knew it would make Jesus look bad?

„X This goes back to verses 15-16, be holy because God is holy.

„X One reason to stay out of the mud is because we call out to God as our Father, therefore, we should conduct ourselves like one of His family.

„X SLIDE #5