PETER – 1 Peter 4
Christian Living
A person should live (a) to please human desires or (b) to please God. 1 Peter 4:2 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Peter said covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What should Christians do without grumbling? 1 Peter 4:9 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With what attitude should Christians show hospitality to each other? 1 Peter 4:9 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Christians should ___________ in their suffering. 1 Peter 4:13 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A person should not be ashamed to suffer as a (a) murderer, (b) thief, (c) evildoer, or (d) Christian. 1 Peter 4:15-16
How should a person suffer as a Christian? 1 Peter 4:19 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Good evening. I didn’t actually turn this off. It’s on now. It’s on. I just, I didn’t hear it. Click on the, just click on that, that screen and then hit enter just one of the windows. It doesn’t matter which one we are in first, Peter chapter four, courage you to open your Bibles there. First Peter chapter four,
let’s begin with a word of prayer, our gracious and bountiful father in heaven. We come before you at this time, grateful for the day, grateful for the sunshine and the life that it provides to our planet. We know that, uh, though some days may seem hot. As today has seemed. We also recognize that the heat and the light and the things that are brought forth from it are the things that sustain the life on this earth,
in which we live, we’re grateful for your daily mercies and All of the many ways you bless us, that we do not even fully comprehend and realize on a day to day basis. But Lord, we thank you, especially in most of all for your son and for his willingness to come to this earth, to die on the cross for our sins,
to show us a pattern of how to live, to leave us an example in doing good. And in suffering, we pray that we might daily seek to mold our lives in his pattern of living that we might look to him for strength, for guidance, for understanding that we might look into the things which he taught, the things which he did and the things which his disciples and apostles have given to us through the revelation of the Holy spirit,
to be able to understand what it is that we are to do and how we are to live. We pray that you will be with us in this country, help us to grow closer to you, and not further away help us to do things and enact laws that promote righteousness and not sin help us to live in accordance with your commandments each and every day.
When we sin and fall short of your glory, we pray that you will forgive us of those things. We pray for war. The leaders that are in charge in this country. May they look to you for guidance in doing what is right? And may they make wise choices. We pray for that same thing. All the world over. We know that the world is going through a tumultuous time and a difficult time.
And so many times we realize evil and those with evil intents, we’ll use opportunities like this for their advantage. But Lord, we also pray that open doors of opportunity are made available to teach the gospel and to preach it throughout the world. All this we pray in jesus’ name. Amen. As I mentioned on Sunday, uh, we’re going to go back into chapter three and grab some things in chapter three,
because that’s where the context of chapter four starts. Peter says in verse 12, uh, sorry. Verse 13 of verse of chapter three and who is he? Who will harm you? If you become followers of what is good, here’s the, here’s the premise of all of them. Chapter four, he asked, It’s going to harm you. If you mold your life after good things,
if you choose and enact in your life righteousness, who’s going to harm you for that. Now a rhetorical question, because he’s going to supply the answer. The answer is there are evil people who will do that, but there’s a result that comes from that. And he’s going to use Christ as the example. So as we go through here in chapter three,
at the end, as well as chapter four, we’re going to keep jumping our minds back to Christ Christ as the example, and what happened, why did it happen? And what did it bring about? And remember everything in, in first, Peter revolves around this idea of being Because God, because Christ. And So as we get into this idea of suffering,
he’s going to say, because Christ suffered, we should expect to suffer because God did this with the suffering of Christ. We can know God will do this with our suffering as well. Okay? So he says, and who will harm you? If you become followers of what is good, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, the assumption there is,
and you will, he says you are blessed and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled. You may remember a time in the early church. And there in acts chapter four and five, where the elders had taken the apostles and they had arrested them and they put them before them. And they told them do not speak anymore in the name of Jesus.
And they said, we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard. And they said, we’re going to throw you in prison. We’re going to beat you. We’re going to do this. We’re still going to preach. Is it better to obey God or to obey men? And so Peter admonishes, these Christians from one who has gone through this,
don’t be troubled by their threats. Don’t be troubled by what you hear them say, you know, God is in charge. He goes on to say, but so this statement do not be troubled by their threats, but sanctify the Lord, God in your hearts, what is the word? Sanctify me. Okay. Make clean, set apart. Okay.
It’s the idea of to consecrate something, to set it apart here, you have their threats. You’ve got their threatenings against you. You’ve got them warning. If you don’t quit preaching, if you don’t quit teaching, if you don’t quit calling yourself a Christian, if you don’t conform to what we’re telling you, you have to do to live in our society.
Then we’re going to do this. And he says, you take God and you set him apart in your mind, you muddle these two messages together. You don’t mix what they’re saying to you and their threats and their actions. You don’t mix those with God. You set him apart in your mind. And you know that what he says is true with all the threats and all the things that the chief priests and the elders made against those against the apostles,
what power did they actually have over them? Oh, I mean, they could, they could end their life. And I mean, if they didn’t mind getting in trouble with the Roman government for putting somebody to death without authority, but they could only do so much. What did Jesus say to the disciples that he sent out? He said, do not fear the one who can kill the body,
but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy what both soul and body in hell. There’s a limit to their reach. And so he says, you set God apart in your mind. Cause he’s the only one. If we’re, if we mix what Jesus said in Matthew 10 and what we, what we’re reading here, he’s, he’s the only one who has that ultimate reach.
But if he’s on your side, the ultimate reach. The one with that ultimate reach, isn’t reaching against you for judgment. He’s reaching towards you for protection. So he says, sanctify set apart the Lord, God in your mind, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
Once you set apart God, in your mind, once you put God in his right place, you’re going to start getting questions. Because if someone is standing there threatening you, if someone is speaking against you and someone is judging you and someone is saying, I’m going to bring everything within my power against you. And that doesn’t phase you at all. You’re not quivering.
You’re not cowering. You’re not pleading for lenient. You’re not doing any event. You’re saying I serve one. Who’s greater than you. Do you remember what Jesus said? The pilot pilot said, do you not know that I have power to release you or the power to take your life? And Jesus replied, you would have no power except that we’re given you from above.
And you walk through the time that Christ with pilot and every single time, the responses, the reactions, the actions of Christ and the demeanor of Christ led pilot to a conclusion. This man is not guilty. He kept going out to the crowd. I find no fault in him. I sent him to be scourged. I find no fault in him.
I, I find no fault in. And finally he says, give me the water. I’m washing my hands of this because they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. So now Peter says, now that you’ve put, gone into the right place, now you be ready to answer. Why? Because people are going to ask you if you suffer for Christ,
if you suffer and then you glory in it, because you are able to suffer for Christ. People are going to look at you and go, Whoa, wait a minute. I can’t get through the happy days in my life and be that joyous. And you just went through that and you’re this joyous. What do you have that I don’t have the reason of hope that is in you.
You go read accounts of people who have been either in prison for a long time or especially prisoners of war. And people put in very harsh conditions and people put in solitary conditions and people having many bad things done to them and you’ll read over and over the moment someone loses hope they’re dead. Oh, it may take some time for them to die, but they’re done.
They’ll never live through the experience when hope is gone. And so Peter says, you have a reason for hope because you know, what’s on the other side, whether you live through the experience or not, you know, what’s on the other side that goes back to chapter one, the inheritance, which cannot be taken away, which is reserved in heaven for you.
You know, it’s on the other side, you know how the, you know how the game ends. It’s like going back, I’ve done this every once in a while. And you go back and watch classic sports, like a playoff series that happened years ago. You remember, you know, you know what? The final three seconds are, you know how the shot clock went down,
you know, whether or not Michael Jordan sank that last three pointer, you know how it ends. There’s still that, you know, that anticipation that, Oh, how’s this going to turn out, but, but in your mind, you, well, I know how it turns out. That’s this, that’s what Peter’s telling them. You know how it ends.
So it doesn’t matter why you’re going through the suffering in the sense of, if you’re suffering for righteousness sake, don’t give up because you’re suffering for righteous, the snake, you know, that’s a blessing. He goes on to say this. He says having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evil doers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
He says, here’s, here’s what you have. They don’t have. When you suffer for righteousness sake, when you suffer with a good conscience, when you suffer and all you’ve done is right. At some point that comes to light. At some point pilot’s insistence and every other witnesses insistence, except for the ones that got paid to lie said, this man’s guilt LIS,
this man’s innocent. So the shame isn’t on you who suffered wrongfully. The shame is on the one who accused you and caused you to suffer. He goes on to say for it is better. If it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil for Christ also suffered once for sins. The, just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh,
but made alive by the spirit. He said, you see Christ. He was the only one who didn’t deserve any wrong. He was the only one who didn’t deserve anything negative. He was the only one who didn’t deserve any judgment at all ever. And yet he died for us. And you harken your mind back to what Jesus says to the apostles before he goes to the cross.
And he tells them, John chapter 14, John chapter 15, John chapter 16, they hate me. And if they hate me, they’ll hate you too. They rejected me and they’ll reject you too. But then he goes on to say this. He says by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Now I do not claim to understand or fully comprehend everything that Peter means by that there are some who believe that it’s talking about something during the three days in which Jesus had was in the grave and was in the Hadean realm.
And before he returned back, Peter, doesn’t explain it. He just says it happened. Okay. Um, is, is this something else? Is this Jew some interaction Jesus had with the angels that fell? I do not know. I do know he uses this to reference back to Noah’s day. And he goes to say this by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight souls were saved through water.
There, there something here that I’m just going to freely admit, I don’t fully comprehend what he’s saying, but I know where he’s leading into. He’s saying here we’re disobedient ones. Here was Noah. Here were the eight and they were saved by their obedience. That brought a bout their clean conscience. Okay? Because remember he just talked about having a good conscience in verse 16,
here you have people in prison. Why would someone be in prison? Generally speaking, they’ve done something wrong that broken the law in some way. Okay? So you have wrongdoers who are hearing preaching a gospel message. Good news, news of hope, news of salvation. They’re hearing this message and they have an opportunity to go from those who are wrongdoers to those who have a clean conscience in all of this.
I believe primarily the focus of what he’s trying to say is here is Christ presenting the gospel and giving the opportunity for someone to obey. Again, don’t fully comprehend everything he’s saying, but he’s giving them that opportunity to obey. In contrast. Here are the eight who did here are Noah and his family. They obeyed the preaching happened. They heard the message G P Noah preached for a hundred years while the article is being prepared and how many responded,
see, that’s the other part of what Peter’s bringing out a hundred years. The message goes out, God’s bringing a flood. God’s going to judge us. You need to repent. Did they repent? No. And they suffered for right. Doing or wrongdoing wrongdoing. Right? And that’s not that’s let me clarify. I don’t think this is the idea of Christ going and preaching retroactively to them.
Okay. I think there’s something in here where, where this analogy is being brought forward, saying they had a message. They had an opportunity. They could avoided suffering for wrongdoing. They could have been like Noah who suffered for right. Doing, but you see the result. Okay? The result is eight. People were saved by water, not the entire planet,
not everybody that was alive at that time, eight people, but who did God help? The eight people, the ones who had the answer of a good conscience, the ones who heard God’s declaration judgments coming and did something about it. Okay. So the timeline and the full, the full arc of what he’s talking about, I don’t fully comprehend, but I know the conclusion he’s drawing here are the eight and you Christians in that day in time can be,
have your assurance just like those eight did, you can have that assurance in your salvation the same way NOLA had the assurance of his salvation today. But notice what he says. He says that who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the Ark was being prepared in which a few, then his eight souls were saved through water.
There is also an antique type, which now saves us baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So he’s saying, look, Noah, and I’m wondering if that this obedient is a description even of Noah and his family at a former time, you know,
they were the ones who found grace in the eyes of Lord, but that’s what it said. He said, they, he also went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient. When the divine slit long suffering waited. He gives you the timeline of when this happened. So this is the, this is the part that kind of jars us into,
wait a minute, what’s the timeline? He says, this happened, wow. The long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. He’s not saying Jesus went back and did this. That’s why I said, you know, some people try and interpret this and they get this being the three days Jesus’s in the grave before. And I’m just like,
no, the timeline is God did this in the days of Noah And did this, which is brought about their salvation by water. He says, that’s an anti type to our salvation through baptism. That’s a picture of what God’s doing for us when we are immersed in water for salvation, which is the answer of a good conscience towards God. Okay? So then he says,
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Okay. So he says, our salvation is based in the resurrection of Christ. And the assurance of that salvation is the fact that Christ is number one, not dead because he was resurrected. And number two, he’s not just alive,
he’s alive and has been given all authority. Okay. He’s sitting at the right hand of God. The angels, the authorities and powers have been made subject to him. Okay? So this, this whole focus is someone threatens you. Someone says, I’m going to bring the force of the law against you. I’m going to bring you to judgment. I’m going to bring about your punishment.
And Peter’s recognition through all of this is, do you know, who’s under the authority of Jesus Christ, every authority, every power, every principality are under him. So whose side do you want to be on the underling or the Lord of the mall? That’s the message that leads us into chapter four, chapter four. He says, therefore, because Christ,
because God, because Christ is the authority over all authorities, principalities and powers because of that, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh arm, yourselves, also with the same mind, put on the mind of Christ, he says, arm yourself with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. This idea is at least as I understand it,
Peter saying, when you get to the point in your mind where you have the mind of Christ and you look at suffering, the way Christ looked at suffering, you’ll start looking at sin. The way Christ looked at sin, you’ll start abhorring sin because you will see the suffering of Christ. And you will understand it because Christ suffered the cause of sin.
Our sin, my sin, your sin Christ didn’t suffer because he deserved it. He suffered because it was the only way to pay for our sin. So when you take on his suffering, you’ll understand, you’ll understand the cost for sin. So he says the one who has the same mind who suffered as he suffered in the flesh, he’ll cease from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the loss of men,
but for the will of God, for, we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles. When we walked in lewdness lust, drunkenness, revelries drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In regards to these, they think it’s strange that you do not run with the same with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you.
Yay. Let’s let’s bring this forward. He says there was long enough in our past, when we look at our lives and we look back at what we used to do with it, we were involved in these things. The world was involved in, we joined in these things and he said, now we don’t. He uses this illustration of the Gentiles now where there are no Jews who did evil things like this,
is that why he says it this way? So why the use of Jenn is, is this some racial statement? Is he just bigoted? No. Why is he using the reference Gentiles? Okay. Because they represented something, they personified something. And when you get this statement of Gentiles, get it in the context of Rome. You know, there’s the saying,
when in Rome do, as they do in Rome, that wasn’t a complimentary statement. It’s kind of like saying what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, except it really does it. Okay. That, that was the personification of the Gentiles. They created their gods dreamed them up so they could do more evil. Why do you think the gods that existed in Corinth existed and the gods in emphasis existed so that these people could do a horrific actions in the name of their gods.
And here Peter’s calling upon Christians not to fulfill the lust of the flesh for their God, but to suffer for their God. Oh, that’s a stark contrast. Here are all the idols. And they’re saying, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. Do what you want, do what you enjoy. And here’s Christ over here saying you suffer because I did. That’s why he uses the Gentiles.
It’s because of their paganism, that called them to fulfill their lust in contrast to him, calling them to suffer for doing good. Okay. So then he says for this reason, um, actually I missed some, uh, in regard to this, they think strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you.
He said, now they’re going to speak. He will of you because you don’t join in their sin. They’re going to be involved into Baudrey. They’re going to be involved in all of these things that he’s just listed here and drunkenness and revelries and drinking parties. And they are going to lie about you. And they are going to speak evil of you simply because you won’t join in,
in their sin. They’re going to make up stories about you because you don’t do what you used to do. Oh, you think you’re just too good? Well, I’m going to start spreading lies about you. And it happens. It still happens today, but he said, don’t, don’t go back to it. I’m warning you. Now, this is what’s going to happen.
So don’t go back to it. When they do it, he said in the stead, he says, they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. You remember in all of this, that the one who has authority over authorities is the one who will judge. And so one of these days, that person who’s speaking evil of you,
that person who is seeking to lead you astray that person who’s calling you and saying, Hey, we’re going to go party. We’re going to go do this. We’re going to go do that. That person is going to stand before God on the day of judgment and stand before Christ and give an account to him. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Okay? As we, as we use these, as Peter uses these references of dead and alive, understand he’s using them in a spiritual sense. This is not the good news preach to those who are dead physically. And therefore can’t choose whether to be righteous or not.
Any more. He’s talking to those who still have the ability to be a made alive spiritually. Okay? It’s why the book of revelation calls the end of, or the judgment of a person, their second death. They died physically at one point, and now they’re dying in judgment for their sins. Okay? So he says, for this reason, the gospel was preached to those who are dead.
Their current present state is dead spiritually, that they may be judged according to men in the flash, in other words, humans, but live to God in the spirit. Now, how does that work? Follow me, persons alive. They’re born. They begin to mature. They stand before God in a safe state. They haven’t yet sin. At some point they do.
They’re cognizant, they’re knowledgeable, they’re accountable. They sin. What happens when they sin spiritually speaking, they die. They’re dead. Men walking at that point. They’re dead. They’re alive in the flesh, but they’re dead. Now. If in the flesh, they die in that state and they’re judged as men in the flesh, how are they judged,
guilty or innocent? Guilty. Now take that person. Who’s dead. Who’s judged according to the flesh and make them alive in the spirit. In other words, they obey the gospel. Remember, this is the context of the gospel is preached to those who are dead. You preach the gospel to these who are lying about you. These who are joined in these sins,
these who are doing these important things, and they become alive in the spirit by the salvation of the gospel. They’re not hopeless. There are there of POS. There is a possibility that I can get it out of them being obedient to the gospel instead of being judged for their wickedness, Joe, right? It is the same thing as Noah’s day brought forward in Noah’s day eight,
we’re safe. Peter saying the opportunity now is for these to be saved, but then he goes on. He says, but the end of all, things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. I am in agreement with many that the end of all, things here is not a reference to the second coming of Christ. It’s either a reference to being in the last days B being in the church age,
or it’s a reference to in being a very Jewish centric book, uh, and letter focused on these Jewish Christians. It may well be a, a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. That’s just a few years away and it’s 80, 65, right then 80 seventies on, on the horizon. And remember, Jesus spoke about that happening Matthew 24 and many other places.
Jesus said, this destruction is coming and you need to be ready for it. Peter’s reminding them of that. You need to be ready for it. This hasn’t happened yet. And Jesus told us he will, you need to be ready for it. He goes on to say and above all these above, all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another. Without grumbling as each one has received a gift minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold. Grace of God, this gift here most likely is a reference to the miraculous gifts of the Holy spirit. This idea, uh, in the wording, the verbiage there in the Greek is not the idea of a gift or a talent you’ve had all your life.
It’s not the idea of something you’ve developed. It’s the tense and the meaning. There is, this is something that was given to you at one point in time, as if you inherited your father’s gold watch, okay. That was a, or he gave it to you. Here’s my gold watch. He gives it to you at a point in time.
You didn’t, you didn’t always have it. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t, but someone gave it to you. Well, how did they receive the gifts of the Holy spirit in the first century laying on the hands of the apostles, it was given to them. Okay. So notice what he says. He says each one of you has received a gift,
minister it to one another. The idea here is you don’t use it for selfish purposes. You don’t use it to fulfill your own loss, your own desires, because that’s the context we’re just coming out of. He said, you use it for the benefit of one another. You use it to minister to one another, uh, as good stewards of the manifold,
grace of God, if anyone speaks, let him speak. As the Oracles of God. If anyone ministers let him do it with the ability, which God supplies that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. When you’re making your choices, he says to these Christians choose to do good to one another.
Choose to help one another. Choose to bring glory to God by serving ministering to one another, because God is worthy, okay? Because God has dominion forever and ever. He says beloved, do not think it’s strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice, to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings,
that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy as you come through these trials. And as you experience this difficulty and is you have this hardship placed upon you. He said, don’t think it’s strange. Don’t be the wilderness by how difficult this is. I’m telling you now it’s coming. You’ve been told before it’s coming. Don’t act as though you weren’t warned.
It’s coming So many Throughout time have lost their faith because hard times came and they never expected hard times to come. And yet Peter says, don’t think it’s strange. Don’t think it’s out of place. Don’t think that perhaps somewhere that God’s given up on you, no, he says, instead you rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings as if one little bit of what Christ suffered.
You could have a hand in not as you did before you had a hand in it before you sin and caused him to suffer. Now he’s saying you have the opportunity to partake in a different way. Not as the cause, but as a joint sufferer with him, then he says this. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, verse 14,
bless it are you for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part. He is blasphemed. But on your part, he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busy body and other people’s matters. Yet. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.
The implication is you suffer as a murderer or a thief, or as a liar or as an evildoer or as a busy body. By the way that that term busy body learned something interesting week. That term busy body is the same root term as elder or overseer. But notice he is, this is an overseer. Now an elder is an overseer of a flock,
other people, but he’s been given that authority by God. This is an overseer in other men’s matters, who hasn’t been given any authority over those people. That’s what he says. They are. He says, they’ve taken that authority on themselves to oversee someone else. I’m going to look at you and I’m going to nitpick everything you do wrong. He says,
no. And then he says this. He said, if you suffer as a Christian, you have no shame. You suffer as any one of those things, you get every bit of the shame you deserve. So then he says, if any, yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glory. God glorify God in this manner for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God here.
Again, got that context of judgment coming against Israel, which is kind of pinnacle flies in the destruction of Jerusalem to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?
We’re going to come back to this on Sunday. Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. Okay? So as he pulls all this back, he said, you do this. You commit yourself in trust yourself in trust your soul, not to your own recognizance, not to your own abilities,
not to your own anticipation of the future, but to God, why he’s the creator? He’s the one who created it all. He’s the one who gave you life, put your hands or put your soul back in his hands, and then you can have hope and assurance. Okay, let’s go through the questions. A person should live a two please human desires,
or be to please God, to please, God, hopefully everybody got that one, right? Peter said, blank covers a multitude of sins. Love, love verse eight covers a multitude of sins with what attitude should Christian show hospitality to each other. Okay. W without grumbling, there’s, there’s two ways that you could answer this. And so I think there’s probably one we’re going to toss out because it’s vague.
And I rewrote a better question in my opinion, for the one after it. And that is the attitude you’re supposed to have is the fervent love talked about in the prayer prior verse, but they don’t reference that verse. So you go, well, what, what are you supposed to have? Well, you’re not supposed to have that, but that’s not an answer to the question.
So I don’t like the question. So I rewrote another one. Christians should, Christians should read this should blank. Sorry. Should blank in their sufferings. Did I skip number three? I did. All right. Sorry. This is the one I rewrote. I wrote it above it and forgot to delete the other one. What should Christians do without grumbling be hospitable?
Okay. So I think four ought to be about love in verse eight and nine. And I think verse number three ought to be hospitality and grumbling. But anyway, uh, number five, Christians should blank in their suffering. Rejoice. Number six, a person should not be ashamed to suffer as a, a murderer, be a thief, see an evildoer or D a Christian Christian,
number seven. How should a person suffer as a Christian, commit their souls to God. Okay. Commit their soul to God. Alright. We will be dismissed. And we’ll start our devotional in a moment. Yes. Good evening, everybody. It’s good to see everybody out tonight. I hope you didn’t suffer too much in the heat today, but it has been hot.
Uh, we’re glad everybody’s here. We’re helped there a lot listening only online thing, whatever they call it. I don’t know. But anyway, we need to remember our sick Rodale and Dorothy Wilson and Jones, Pranger, uh, Pam safe and still having problems with her back. I don’t know what they’re doing about that, but Sylvia is going to have a MRI next week.
And I tested negative on my COVID test. What are you glad to hear that? But I still have my cough and I will, till the day I die, hallways have had it. And I guess I’ll keep it. Kim Fran, Rhonda max has got the covert virus. We need to keep these people in our prayer. The nationwide gospel meeting call in is,
um, got the flyers on the table in the foyer. You want to participate in that and pick one of those up. Uh, a reminder early voting starts Friday and goes through August the seventh. So the fellowship hall will be off limits. Oh, Joel is going to lead singing. Aaron has a devotional in mercy praying, or we’ll have the closing prayer.
Thank you. I’m going to rephrase that for Terry. I’m gonna try to leave saying boy, if you wouldn’t Martin, number nine 11, that would be Encouragement. Number nine one one, and then be turning to number 550 to have that on white load.<inaudible><inaudible> I am the<inaudible> mommy and magic man. After that while I am waiting. Yeah,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> search me and try be master today.
Wider. That’s a long wash me just<inaudible> uh, somebody I, uh, ah,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> take your Bibles and open them to second. Peter. Second, Peter chapter three, Peter closes out this letter. He writes to these Christians about the end about what’s coming. He says, the Lord is not Slack concerning his promise.
Verse nine, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering toward us. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Just before this, the dialogue has gone back and forth. Peter arguing both sides, but he says there are some who are saying that since the world began, everything’s just continued on the way it’s always been.
So why should we live as if Christ is coming back any day? And he goes on to say, the Lord is not Slack concerning his promise. As some men count. Slackness when you look at humanity, you look at a man, they promise you they’re going to do something. And they might even those of us who strive to make sure we only speak the truth and that we always fulfill our promises sometimes fail,
but not the Lord. So it doesn’t matter how long it takes until the promises fulfilled with the Lord. The promise is always fulfilled. But then he says this. He said, if there’s long suffering, if there’s a delay, it’s not for the fact, God, can’t fulfill this promise. It’s for us to have the opportunity to repent. Then he says this,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come. Don’t don’t skip over that to get to the rest. We, we go, it’s going to come in this way. It’s going to come in this way. It’s going to be that don’t skip up. The day of the Lord will come.
Don’t think God’s going to be Slack in his promise. The day of the Lord will come. Is it going to be, today is going to be tomorrow. We don’t know there’s the description, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. And the elements will melt with fervent heat,
both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up the day. The Lord comes back. Well, there’ll be, will there be skyscrapers? Will there be star ships floating around Mars? Could be, will it keep the Lord from coming back? Nope. Will it change anything about any of his promises? No. And when he comes back and every thing that we think in humanity’s eyes,
we’ve done so magnificently, God’s going to bring it all to nothing. And then he says, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, everything you live for in this life, everything you hope to attain every prominence, every, uh, every promotion, every piece of property and everything of value in this life is all going to dissolve since that’s true.
What manner of persons ought you to be in Holy conduct and godliness? Since it’s true as if here’s a math equation, one of those wonderful math equations where you know this plus something equals that he’s given you the conclusion, here’s the end. And since you know, that’s true, that middle factor is your holiness and your godliness because you know, the end result.
So if you’re here this evening and your life isn’t being lived as if the Lord’s coming back, what manner of life ought you to be living? How do you need to change? And if there’s any way we can help you, please let it be known together as we stand in, as we say, Christ or broken lie. So I’m art by<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> uh,
you’re Nick<inaudible> last safe. Your Rabo saw, Oh, my buddy Fred and his press, uh, shall be a Mars<inaudible> with, uh, him life would be, ah, dark. Ah<inaudible> but with morning breaks and have a<inaudible><inaudible>.