HOPE

I Peter 1:3-5

What words communicate HOPE in these verses?

How does a person get “born again”?

1. Admit that they’re NOT YET IN the Kingdom of God.

2. BELIEVE that Jesus came to deal with their sin by becoming a sacrifice on their behalf.

3. Choose to place PERSONAL FAITH in Jesus, that His sacrifice was for them.

Living hope in a dying world…

…reveals death as A FINISH LINE, but it’s not THE END.

…PROMISES PURPOSE in the struggle.

The pain we face here is not ARBITRARY.

…unveils to us that there is MORE THAN THIS.

Two promises of “living hope”:

1. An ETERNAL INHERITANCE in heaven.

2. GOD’S PROTECTION until we get there.

Two promises of “living hope”:

1. An ETERNAL INHERITANCE in heaven.

“A Christian's inheritance cannot be destroyed by hostile forces, and it will not spoil like over-ripened fruit or fade in color (like old furniture).”

Bible Knowledge Commentary, p841.

God's shield is our guarantee that no matter how bad the suffering may get here, He will bring us safely home.

SUFFERING is not attractive

and DEATH is still scary;

but with living hope through the resurrection of Jesus,

suffering becomes MORE TOLERABLE

and death becomes LESS SCARY.

“NEXT STEPS”

I need to be “born again”.

Remind myself what my inheritance will be like by reading Revelation 21-22.

Commit my specific suffering to Jesus. “Jesus, I give ________________ to You. Help me to see You in it; and by Your grace, see me through it.”

Recommit to practicing Pi2 – pray, invest, invite –

so that my friends & family who don’t yet have

“living hope” through Jesus may be “born again”.