Title: A Living Hope
Scripture: 1 Peter 1: 3 – 9
Speaker: Mr Yap Chee Kai
NOTES:
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Today is 9/11: marks the 20th anniversary of the memorial in NYC that took away the lives of almost 3,000 souls, including Brady (a faithful believer of Christ). Where was hope on that darkest, tragic day?
1.2 Martin Luther King Jr’s quote: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
1.3 Today’s text is about hope. Peter’s living hope lies in the risen Lord, and our hope is anchored in this truth.
2.0 Living Hope: Reason for Praise and Thanksgiving (vv.3–5).
2.1 V.3 begins with praise and thanksgiving: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2.2 Peter lists reasons for praise and thanksgiving to his readers who suffered under great persecution from the unbelieving and hostile world of pagan religion.
2.3 In v.3, Peter says we’ve been born again, to or into a living hope, that’s real, certain, living and effective, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
2.4 Peter reassures us in v.4: the object of this living hope is an inheritance: our eternal home in His kingdom.
2.5 This inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is also kept in heaven for us.
2.6 Also, in v.5, God guards and sustains His people’s faith, so that they can receive His eternal inheritance that awaits them in the last days.
2.7 As God’s people, we need to respond with praise and thanksgiving to Him. This is what Peter is addressing his readers.
3.0 Living Hope amidst Suffering (vv.6–7)
3.1 Peter exhorts his readers to rejoice amidst their sufferings: v.6. Peter spurs and encourages our faith to remain steadfast.
3.2 Peter reminds us again that compared with the eternity we will be having, we need to suffer, in v.6: for a little while, if necessary, and have been grieved by various trials.
3.3 Peter stresses the grief Christians are experiencing now has a divine purpose, which is in v.7: so that the tested genuineness of our faith, is far more precious than gold that perishes.
3.4 Having proven to have that genuineness of faith, can we truly result in praise and glory and honor to God, who has preserved us and kept us safe for the salvation to be revealed in the last day at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
4.0 The Respond.
4.1 Remember, I first started with 9/11, with Brady. Brady’s sister, Camille in her grief, concluded “Hope Isn’t Lost” for her brother, because in that aura of hopelessness, it was the gospel that gave him hope. To those who have not put their faith in Jesus, will you put your faith and trust in Him today?
4.2 And for those who believe in Him, Peter urges the believers to keep trusting Him. Let us give thanks for His great mercy and the eternal inheritance: the Living Hope. Let us pray.
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