Inspired to Hope
Title of the series “Inspired”
Sermon Outline: Inspired To Hope
Scripture Focus: 1 Peter 1:1-12
Misplaced Hope vs. Living Hope
· Where do we turn when life is desperate? (A cultural example vs. the biblical answer).
· The Apostle Peter writes to believers scattered in a hostile world to remind them of their ultimate hope.
I. We are God’s people and are a part of His victorious kingdom.
· Chosen: Given the glorious opportunity to identify with God's kingdom.
· Sanctified: Set apart for a holy purpose. God has a specific plan for your life.
II. We have been born again and are guaranteed eternal life in heaven.
· Our living hope is untouched by death, uncontaminated by sin, and unaffected by time.
· Your inheritance in heaven is reserved and paid for in advance by Jesus Christ.
III. We are protected by God and are exempt from unnecessary pain.
· We are shielded by God's power from the ultimate, head-on attacks of the enemy.
· God provides a "hedge of protection" around our lives that we often don't even see.
IV. We have meaning in suffering and are thankful it’s temporary.
· God allows suffering to serve a purpose: to deepen our faith like gold refined in fire.
· Pain is temporary, but the resulting glory is eternal.
V. We have knowledge of the gospel and understand God's overall plan.
· We see the complete, beautiful picture that the prophets and angels longed to understand.
· True hope isn't found in perfect circumstances, but in a perfect Savior.
SCRIPTURE:
1 Peter 1:1 (NIV) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia...
1 Peter 1:2 (NIV) ...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Romans 8:29 (NIV) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son...
1 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you...
John 3:3-5 (NIV) "...no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."
1 Peter 1:23 (NIV) For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:5 (NIV) ...who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1:10-12 (NIV) Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you... Even angels long to look into these things.