Sermon Nuggets Mon Jan 10
Verses 2 Pet 1:1-4
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Christian Benefits
I was sitting with a good friend during her dying days. She was lying in a bed in the nursing home. Her breathing was belabored, her eyes were mostly closed. She could not talk. But when Judi and I walked into the room she sat up the best she could and smiled a toothless smile.
As we sat with her watching her struggle for life I reminded her of times we shared together in Wisconsin. I reminded her of how much a help she was to Judi and me and Judi’s sister, Marti years ago. I reminded her of Jesus whom she loved and served and in whose presence she will shortly go. I reminder her of the faith she had and the promises of God.
We begin a new sermon series from the Book of 2 Peter. It is a book of reminders to the believers of the things they possess because they also have faith in Jesus Christ. Instead of them being on a death bed, as it were, Peter writes as if it is last and indeed it was the last Scripture he wrote. He wanted to cut right to the core of the matter as he told them to remember what they had as believers in Christ.
As I watched my friend suffering physical limitations, Peter watched these people suffer spiritual persecution. His first letter was to a suffering church and he wanted to encourage them to keep the faith, and teach them about God's perspective. Now he writes to what is probably Gentile believers, Keep your lives pure for three very important reasons.
His message in chapter one is because you belong to God and He has called you to Holiness. In the second chapter he reminds them there are many false prophets and teachings that if you do not remind pure and close to the Word of God you will be deceived not only in your life style but salvation itself. And Chapter three he shares because the Day of the Lord is coming to judge and to redeem keep faithful. There is both the promise and the warning.
I want to remind us of these benefits in the weeks ahead and the privileges that are ours as believers saved by Christ.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Jan 11-
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
Believers Have Privileges
Because of my job as pastor I have certain privileges that others do not have. As a minister I have the privilege of a parsonage. No one else here has a parsonage. It is privilege granted to me as part of my position and responsibility. As an ordained minister in the United States I can take housing expenses taken off from State and Federal income tax and not be included as salary. That is a privilege allowed by the law.
When I thought about privileges I remember being at camp as a high school with the position of a Counselor in Training. I had responsibilities, but I enjoyed the privileges that came with some responsibility. I could go to the kitchen anytime when I wasn't working for drinks and snacks. When the kids were in bed the counselor stayed with them and the CITs could have late night freetime. There were privileges granted to me because of my position. After they were all asleep and we returned to the cabins the counselors took off for relaxation.
I saw the lower part of the Metrodome for the first time couple when I served as an evangelism counselor at Promise Keepers. I got a badge and could go where the other men couldn't go. I could buy refreshments more cheaply, as well as get some food for free. I had some privileges because I had a badge.
Peter begins his second letter by acknowledging his authority and responsibility of a privilege granted him by God Himself through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. I am a servant (that is his responsibility) I am an apostle (that is granted privilege and responsibility). Those are his credentials allowing him to be authoritative to the readers of his letter.
But privileges are granted to us all who are in a relationship with God. What is most important in anyone's life is their faith, and on that score Peter is on a level plane with the church. No matter how much authority a believer is given by Christ, he should never forget that the great joy of his life should be that he is saved by faith like all the other saints. No pastor, no apostle, no prophet, no King, no one else has any different privilege of sonship that you or I do because it is faith that is the same. Grace saves sinners.
It is precious. That is the word he wants to use to describe faith. It means priceless with highest honor. It is greater privilege than faith in money, faith in the economy, faith in our nation, faith in our president, faith in our car, faith in our church, faith in the locks on your doors, faith in our doctors. There is a precious faith that is granted to us as believers when it is given to us by God because it is in Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Lord.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Jan 12 –
Verse 2 Peter 1: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Believers have Peace
Grace and Peace are often coupled together in greetings among Christians in the first century. These truths are reminders of the gifts from God. Eph 2 It is by grace that we are saved which is a gift of God not of works so we have nothing to boast about.
Have you received this gift of God? That gift puts you into a relationship with the living God saving from sin and all its consequences and purchasing for you living everlasting with Christ in heaven. It is precious, marvelous, nothing can compare to it.
Faith must begin with knowledge. Without knowledge there can be no faith. "How can they call on one in whom they have never believed? How can they believe in one of whom they have never heard? and how can they hear unless someone proclaims Him?" "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10
Grace and peace are indeed privileges. Because of the gift of God which is grace we have peace with God having accepted His free gift. That is more than just a spiritual greeting in a letter. It was heart felt prayer and hope from Peter that we all will experience more of God's grace and more of God's peace. Grace includes the benefits that are ours without earning them, only knowing about them. And now we need to just realize what it is so we don't remain stagnant in our Christian lives. If you want to enjoy God's peace and be the aroma of his grace in the world, your knowledge of him has to grow.
Grace is a power that leads to godliness and eternal life; The channel of God's great grace is knowledge of God. Through the reading of the Bible comes the knowledge of God and through that grace and peace are multiplied as privileges to us.
People long for a peace with God and often don’t know how to get it. Many people who want to know the Lord have had no one clearly explain to them the truth. Pray that God give you the boldness and opportunity of telling someone this year about grace and peace through Jesus Christ. Give them your faith story. Yes, there might be some people who will rebel against God, and others who will argue, and others who will seem offended about religion, but don't bother with those folks if that bothers you. Ask God to lead you to the people who are ready to know more and want to respond but just haven't had the opportunity. Our job is to let folks know the privileges of grace and peace which can be theirs for the asking and is yours right now for the taking.
I think of the story of a hobo in South Western United states who inherited land with oil on it. Only he continued to live off the streets and eat from garbage cans, because he was unable to be contacted. When people would ask about him to inform him of his good fortune, he thought they were after him, so he ran and hid. He had tremendous benefits, but didn't know it.
I wonder for how many that is how it is?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Jan 13
Verse- 2 Pet 1: 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Believers have Power
An additional privilege for the sons and daughters of God is the gift of divine power. This power is Gods' which gives us everything we need for life and for godliness. Peter is aiming at eternal life and godliness; moral and spiritual transformation now and hope for life in the age to come. And there is a close connection for Peter between godliness and eternal life. You can't have the one if you reject the other.
God has given us the power to do what He wants us to do. You might think "I want the power to walk on water, just like Peter had." Why? Why was it given to Peter? To increase his faith to trust Jesus.
How many times did Peter walk on water? He certainly didn't try it afterwards. It even says after Jesus resurrection he yelled to the disciples to fish on the other side. When they caught so many fish Peter jumped into the water and swam ashore to be with Jesus. Why didn't he walk or run on the water to Jesus? Didn’t he have enough faith? That was not what God wanted him to do. He only had an original audience of 12 during the storm. God did not want him to use it to show off, for convenience,or for evangelism, he wanted Peter to walk on water to show him to trust Christ to provide whatever Christ wanted to give him to do whatever Christ called him to do.
Christ has the power to give you what you need for life and godliness. If he wants to use you in a great way to give He'll give you money, or the ability to make it. If He wants you to speak He’ll give you words? If to love, he'll give you people. If to show acts of mercy he'll give you hurting people. You have been given the gifts of the Spirit by this divine power. You will even been given the power to perform miracles if that is your calling by Christ, but not everyone is going to have the gifts to do the same things.
Peter saw how the Lord met physical needs on a daily basis. He personally saw the power of God displayed before his very eyes. The Lord took him out on a boat on the Sea of Galilee and taught him how to handle storms. Jesus is the master of stormy situations in our lives. He fed him and others when they were hungry. He broke bread when there was no bread to be had. He taught the disciples that he is the One who knows about their need. And throughout those three and a half years the apostles learned to trust and obey.
I was feeling rather inadequate as a pastor (and still do). I know my limitation more than anyone. We often don't need to point out other's inadequacies, we already know them and try to pretend we don't have them. So I was complaining to God one day explaining that He made a mistake. There are so many more capable people who have gift and abilities that I do not have. Do you know what he told me in my pity party?
"You're right! You are not capable of being the pastor of Stanchfield. You are not gifted in ways you want to be gifted. But I will give you what you need for what I want you to do. If I called you, then I will work through you. You don't have what it takes, but I do”
Peter, James and John didn't have what it took to be an apostle but Christ did. Moses didn't have what it took to lead the people into the promise land, but God did. Faith is allowing God's power to work in you.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Jan 14-
Verse- 2 Peter 1: 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Believers have Promises
There are not only things that we have right now for what God wants us to do to live for Him, but He has promises for the future. Very great and precious promises! It is to participate in the divine nature and escape corruption in the world. Wow.
Some versions translate that to partake in the nature of God which is to begin to take on the characteristics of God. That is, to love as God loves, to have joy as God has joy, to know peace as God knows peace, to exercise self-control as God exercises self-control. Hebrews 10:12 refers to become a partaker of His holiness. We may sum up by saying that to share in the divine nature is to "become more like Christ (Gal. 2:20)
There will be a day coming when this goal which has started will be complete. The world can't begin to understand the fanfare that will introduce the second coming of Jesus Christ. The world can't begin to understand the horrors of destruction our evil desires lead it to. Some benefits of saved people is they will never have to experience hell. They will never have to be bondage to Satan. They will never have the consequences of sin. They will never have to be captive to the repercussions of victimizations by others. That freedom is yours now when you grow in the knowledge of God.
Don’t misunderstand this verse. There is only one God and I know I'm not Him. This does not teach the New Age belief that we are all gods in ourselves to partake in the divine nature. But we have God in us by the power of the Holy Spirit! Abraham didn't have that privilege, Moses didn't have that privilege, King David didn't have that privilege, Even John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets, didn't have that privilege. The Holy Spirit may have come upon them for various tasks but not dwell within them as it true for you and me today. We have God in us that hope of our glory. We have the word which gives us instruction that spirit that brings it on home to us. We have the advocate who intercedes for us in words we do not understand.
Madeline L'Engle said "It is a good thing that we are not God: we do not have to understand God's ways, or the suffering and brokenness and pain that sooner or later come to us all. But we do have to know in the very depths of our being that the ultimate end of the story, no matter how many aeons it takes, it going to be all right."
That confidence comes in the growing knowledge of God and belief in his promises that affects how we live today.
Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world" It is the realization of what Jesus has done that gives us confidence of the promises will hold true of what he will do.
C. S. Lewis said, "Men down through the ages when they have needed courage might cry out Billy Budd, help me! and nothing very significant happens. Or if they need wisdom they might cry out "William Shakespeare, help me!" and nothing very significant happens. But down through the centuries men in times of deep and desperate need have cried out "Lord Jesus, help me!" and they have found he never fails."
But we have to remember that we have a destiny that reaches far beyond the few years of life we have in these bodies. God is preparing us for eternity by teaching us now how to walk in dependence upon Him. This means achieving our full potential must wait until we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus himself. In the mean time, weare learning, growing, changing --standing on the promises of our Lord and discovering (sometimes to our utter amazement!) that He is able to keep us from falling. We are learning to escape the corruptible thing sand focus on eternal things. We are sharing in the very life and nature of God as He lives out His life through ours. And we have no excuse for growing to our full potential in Jesus, for when He gave us the Holy Spirit, he gave us everything we need for life and godliness.
Pastor Dale
