Sermon Nuggets Week of Sept 21, 2009 1 Peter 5:5-11
Sermon Nuggets Mon Sept 21
Theme - God's Power in our Struggles.
Verses 1 Peter 5:8,9 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
God’s Power in our Struggles
I heard of an imaginary story of a man who met the Devil just as he stepped into the church. He inquired of Satan what he could possibly be doing there. He said, "All kinds of things will be done and said here today that will displease me, so I expect to do my best to prevent any good coming from this service.
"And how do you propose to go about your work?”
"Oh I have many devices.” said Satan. “For instance, before church, I go to each home and make a little trouble. I get the husband upset because the wife forgot to sew a button on his shirt, or forgot to fill the car up with gasoline. I make the kids upset to have to leave their television programs to come to Sunday School. Usually, it helps if one can't find a shoe, or misplaces their Bible. That really gets the Mother in a foul mood. Often this is enough to get their minds disturbed to prevent much of a blessing. I do what I can to make them late, for that almost always upsets someone in the family.
However, if they get to church in a relatively good mood despite my efforts, I have other ways of accomplishing my ends. I get one lady to look how another has fixed her hair, or how out of style her dress is. I get the better educated men disturbed by the preachers grammar or his style of delivery. Others I can disturb by the music, to use their critical ear by letting others know how really gifted they are by pointing out mistakes and out of tone notes others make.
Others I can disturb by a sight draft from a window getting their minds so occupied with the possibility of catching a cold that they hear very little of the message. If I cannot misdirect people's attention, then I just get them to apply the sermon to anyone but themselves. If some have been thinking about something God is saying to them, I manage to remove the blessing or conviction by getting someone to come up at the close of the service and talk about anything and everything but spiritual things.”
The churchman sadly shook his head, "Oh, I don't think those things would work in our church."
Satan smiled, "probably not, After all your church is much better than most." The man thought about how good he was through the whole service.
Satan works in various ways. So often the struggles we face in this life keep our focus on our needs and can get in the way for God’s best. Satan makes sure we have struggles. Some believers are faced with persecution, others with apathy, some with trials of discouragement, others with temptations of various sorts.
Peter looks at common struggles that come to us, many from the devises of Satan and reminds us how God's power is made available in different situations of our lives.
How do you see Satan seeking to dissuade you in your faith walk this week?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues September 22
Verses 1 Peter 5:5,8 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time
Grace to the Humble
As we talked about the lifestyle of a Christian leader last week we mentioned how important it was to be an example to others. 1 Pet 5:2 told us “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-- not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve;” God wants servants who lead, and leaders who serve. Young and old need the reminder that Jesus clothed himself as a slave that night in the upper room. Jesus girded himself with a towel to be a servant and told his followers to do likewise.
As leaders model servant hood and humility to other, so older folks need to model humility to the younger people. Experience helps persons gain wisdom. But humility recognizes ultimate wisdom comes from above.
Corrie ten Boom quotes the story of a woodpecker that pecked when lightening hit the tree and went around bragging. That is the way with many Christians- when God does the work we take credit for it. When we stop to think of Gods’ part and out part we are humbled at his power and our lack of personal ability.
There are many people who have struggled with their faith as older Christians and that struggle has taught them something younger Christians are still learning. There is no quick formula for spiritual maturity. It comes through complete humility and dependency on Christ.
Struggles humble us. It is hard to see that as a tool of the Lord, but God's grace is made perfect in our weakness. God opposes the proud, the arrogant, and the haughty. Only the humble receive the rich outpouring the His grace. Perhaps one reason God hates pride so much is that sin caused Satan to fall and rebel. He was prideful in Heaven as the most beautiful angel. He forgot his place in relationship to God and sought rebellion. The creature thought he could be like the creator. (sound familiar?)
In your struggles there is an important message. God is able to meet your needs. He is gracious. The mighty hand of God is the Old Testament's way of recognizing deliverance many times. God works on his own time schedule. In his time He will give us the solution to our problems. We want things done yesterday, but this isn't the way He works.
Peter would have his readers believe that those who humble themselves in recognition of the mighty power of God will in time experience a divine lifting up. Grace will give them the capacity to be adequate to the tasks to which God calls them.
v.6 says that the people who are humbled will be lifted up at the right time. The key is the phrase "in due time." God never exalts anyone until that person is ready for it. First comes the cross, then the crown. First comes the suffering, then the glory.
Moses was under God's hand for 40 years before God sent him to deliver the Jews from Egypt. Joseph was under God's hand for 13 years before God lifted him to the throne. One of the evidences of our pride is our impatience with God and one reason for suffering is that we might learn patience. One of the benefits of a close relationship with God is the privilege of letting Him take care of our burdens.
Hebrews 11 is also a champion passage on faith and the humble service and persistence of the saints. But in due time God will lift them up. The rewards and final judgments in glory become the encouragement to the Christian.
How have you experienced the grace of God recently? What did you do to deserve it? Is it any wonder we need to be humble people when a great God chose to demonstrate His kindness?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Sept 23
Verses 1 Peter 5: 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Care in our Anxiety
When circumstances are difficult, it is easy for us to be anxious and worried. We live in an anxious world. What causes anxieties? Finances, job security, family relationships, peer relationships, responsibilities that I do not want to lose results more in anxiety instead of success. What an ego-centric list! Anxiety rises over what people might say, or not say, over job evaluation, whether people like you or don't like you. Are you ever anxious over the things of the Lord?
Do you ever listen to people who share how God got their attention? People have told me God got their attention during their time of illness, divorce, financial ruin, fires, car accidents. I guess He is speaking all along, but we are too anxious over things for which we desire instead of resting in who He is.
What is the power in this struggle? HE CARES FOR YOU. That is the truth that sustains people in their troubles. You need the continual reminder that God really does care for you. You are loved by the Creator of the universe. You are on the mind of God. If you turn over these areas of your life He will do what is best for you. But it might not be money, or fame, or power, or houses, clothes and job, but it will be far better. The love of God will sustains you.
Let me add another object lesson Corrie ten Boom shared. She took her purse and started to take her cares out one by one. She identified the pills, bills, problems conflicts, she named them has she took the items out. Out came billfold, flashlight, and more odd and comical things than you would ever dream could come out of a woman's purse. Each article was a care. She started to think about them. She began to worry about the bills. She picked her billfold up from the table and put it back in her purse, and one by one she picked up each care and put it back in her purse. At the end of the illustration her purse was again bulging and she was loaded down as she had been before she began. We give our burdens to the Lord and pick them up again.
Warren Wiesbe said God shows His love and care for us when we give our cares to Him. He performs four wonderful ministries on our behalf.
1. He gives us the courage to face our cares honestly and not run away (Ish. 41:10)
2. He give us the wisdom to understand the situation (Jms 1:5)
3. He give us the strength to do what we musts do (Phl. 4:13)
4. He gives us the faith to trust Him to do the rest (Ps. 37:5).
In the midst of the humbling process we are also to learn to cast all our cares and anxieties and worries on Him for He cares for us. Humility recognizes our dependence on God and expresses confidence in Him.
The late Dr. Criswall from First Baptist in Dallas said, "It is for us to dig the well; it is for God to send the rain and the water. It is for us to plant the seed; it is for God to make it sprout and grow. It is for us to cultivate the field; it is for God to give the harvest. It is for me to witness; it is for God to give the increase, to save the soul. When I have done the best I can, then God must do the rest, and He will."
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Sept 24
Verses- 1 Pet 5: 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Strength in our Resistance
Satan is active. We don't have to look far to see the results of his dirty work. Marriages breaking up, rise in sexual perversions, pornography, anti-Christian bias, racism, riots, greed, injustice, poverty. You must not let down your guard for even a little bit for Satan will take opportunities and eat away at them. Many Christians give in to the temptations and as a result affect their faith and others.
Simple flirting quickly turn into affairs, innocent borrowing of a little cash quickly escalates into stealing, A little distortion of the truth so as not to embarrass oneself soon becomes a series of outright lying. A little pick me up with some drug soon captivates our desires for more. Some times to relieve tension can easily build into focusing more and more of our attentions on hobbies, pleasures, and materialism that such away on spiritual discipline and growth.
Satan is full of deceit. He is a liar. He is deadly seeking to devour anyone he can just like a lion in sheep's clothing. If he can fill you with pride he'll do it, if he can fill you with low-self esteem to keep you from using your gifts he'll do it. If he can keep you preoccupied with unimportant things he'll do it.
There are times when the evil one will smack us in the face with adversity and outright temptation, but more cunningly he attacks while we are asleep spiritually not dependent, not praying, not seeking God's will for today. We cannot stand on yesterday’s victories.
What can we do to utilize the power and protection of the Lord? There is strength given by God if we really want it and are ready to do what we can to resist temptation when it comes our way. We cannot always live on an emotional high, but spiritual growth is a walk of faith regardless of our emotional ups and downs. It is obeying God in good times and bad times.
This is why we are instructed to be sober, or self-controlled. We must have our minds under control. How we are thinking makes a difference as to our protection against Satan whose job it is to destroy you and me. We must be vigilant and always on guard. His strategy is to counterfeit whatever God does. According to the parable of the Tares wherever God plants a true Christian Satan seeks to plant a counterfeit. He could deceive us were it not for the Word of God and Spirit of God. The better we know God's Word, the keener our spiritual senses will be to detect Satan at work.
The Biblical way to protect ourselves is to resist him. Take our stand on the Word of God and refuse to be move. Be stubborn. Our weapons are the Bible, prayer, and the armor of God.
Never get the idea that you are the only one going through these battles, because your brethren are facing the same trials. We must pray for one another and encourage each other in the Lord.
Peter's call is remembering the brothers and sisters who going through trials. I am surprised when people in church think they are the only ones with a particular problem, sin or temptation. I have hardly met anyone who in a general way isn’t faced with something someone else has gone through. We all suffer although in different ways. We all have burdens we carry. We all hurt and bleed in some area of our life that others do not know about. Marriages in conflict, problems with money, infidelity, depression, sin, unsatisfied with work the list goes on. Whatever you are facing you are not alone, and even people that you greatly admire with strong faith have that faith worked out in hard times when trusting God in the dark as well as in the light is what causes it to grow. Instead of pretending it is not true, pray for one another and encourage one another. Satan delights in getting us into the attitude or self-pity, or just giving up because of repeated failures. Don’t believe him. Do not let Satan have upper hand. Stand firm believing God not your emotions and with a steadfast determination trust Him and follow Him and believe Him for Satan will do everything he can in his power to cause you to fall, fail, and quit. God will give you a way out and strength to endure it. (see 1 Cor 10:13)
Pastor Dale.
Sermon Nuggets Fri Sept 25
Verses 1 Pet 5:5-11 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Victory in our Suffering.
Because we resist Satan and stand firm in the promises of the Bible and God's word then even though there will be suffering there is the promise that God will restore us. Make us strong and make us firm and make us persevere. I look at the problems so many pastors face from the weakest to the strongest and see the fight and it is hard to be persistent.
We need the reminder that God knows what He is doing and is in complete control, no matter how difficult the fiery trial may become, a Christian always has hope. We have God's grace. We know that we are going to glory. He has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. Suffering will result in glory. The road may be hard, but it leads to glory and that is all that really counts.
Our present suffering is only for a while. Our various trials are only for a season. Then the glory that results is eternal. But also don't forget, our trials are building Christian character. The Greek word translated make you perfect means to equip to adjust to fit together. God has several means by which He uses to equip His people for life and service, and suffering is one of them. The Word of God is another; prayer is another. The church is an important tool. This is restoration- to mend what is broken to take what is missing and put it right.
So suffering can add to a man's character that which is missing. It can repair weaknesses and add greatness. Suffering is meant by God to add the grace awareness to life.
There are three other words to describe the kind of character God wants us to have. To be strong or “Strengthen” refers to God's strength given is enough to meet the demands of life. A life with no effort and no discipline is flabby. No one really knows what his faith means to him until that faith has been tried in the furnace of affliction.
The second word, firm is also translated Established. That means to fix firmly to set fast. We must not be unsteady in the stand for Christ but established in the truth. When we are established we will not be moved by persecution, or led away by false doctrine.
Steadfast means to lay the foundation. That is like the rock and anchor upon which we have faith. When we have to meet sorrow and suffering that we are driven down to the very bedrock of faith. It is then that we discover the things which cannot be shaken.
We began our relationship with our Almighty God when we realized that we could take no pride in ourselves. We are sinners in need of forgiveness. We are dependent upon Christ's death on the cross to make us right with God. He died for our sin. When we make our commitment to make Christ Savior and Lord, He continues the work in us and calls us together with others in Jesus to serve him together according to our abilities.
There is a focus however, and that eternal focus is heavenward. We shall see Him as He is. Jesus is returning for us and to win the victory.
Isaiah said, "but as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.""
Our eyes have seen some marvelous things. We have seen the sunset the whole earth filled with color and beauty of the glory of God. Our ears have heard inspiring songs, and beautiful music. Words that have brightened and gladdened our hearts, but we have not heard anything compared to what we shall hear over there.
The Living Bible says, "After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come and pick you up, and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever. We may suffer now. We may be under constant attack form the devil now; but this will not always be so. When He comes for His own, the victory will be ours.
How do we receive power in our struggle in our lives? First we humble ourselves as sinners and be willing to serve God completely. He gives us his grace. Then after we have given him our sin, we give him our cares and worries. We have experienced that He really does care and love us. He is in charge of all of our lives. Then we resist the evil one by being in the word, in prayer and in the fellowship of believers. Lastly we look to the victory that is ours known the strength of God is our hope, our help.
Pastor Dale
