Sermon Transcript
Well, I want to invite you all to open up your Bible, if you have one, to 1 Peter. It’s a familiar place. Hopefully your Bible automatically opens to 1 Peter. We’ve been there the last several weeks. We also put today’s text in your bulletin notes so you can follow along with that if you don’t have a Bible, or if you want to read from the NIV and you brought a different translation.
I have it in the NIV in your bulletin notes if you want to circle and underline and highlight. That’s awesome. So you can follow along. When I first started ministry, I was a college student and was an intern for 3 different summers as a— working in the youth ministry of a really, really large church in Houston, the one that I had grown up in. And I remember receiving a lot of practical training in how to give a Bible talk and how to engage with people in terms of communication.
And of course, experience is the best teacher of all of that, and I’m I’ve been doing ministry now for over 20 years. One of the things that nobody ever taught me that I wish that somebody had, because I would have avoided some mistakes along the way, is when you were done speaking on a microphone, a wireless microphone, and you step off the stage, you might consider turning off the microphone. That would be a good thing, so that in case you go to the restroom or you have a conversation with somebody, the entire congregation doesn’t hear. These types of things. I learned this the hard way from having conversations with people and being told, turn off your mic, turn off your mic.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too embarrassing, but there have been situations where people have been on a mic not knowing that it’s on, and it’s on.
You young people wouldn’t remember this, but there was one time a gentleman by the name of Ronald Reagan who was president— look him up in your history books, he was a real person, he was from California— and he was president, and I don’t know, 35 years ago or something like that, He was doing a radio broadcast and they were sort of doing the mic check, mic check thing, and he thought that the microphone was off and it was on. And so he got on and he said something to the effect of, my fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you that I just signed some legislation that will outlaw Russia. We begin bombing in 5 minutes. And of course he was joking, but everybody’s like, Mr. President, no, like the mic is on. The mic is hot right now.
You need to understand this. And so, Of course, there was correction. This still happens. Career politicians. This has happened to people who are politicians, celebrities.
Happens to people that the mic is on. And it made me think about when I grew up, my first full-time ministry job was in a city in deep East Texas I’ve told some of you about called Hemphill, Texas. You don’t get to Hemphill by any other way other than by aiming for it. You don’t drive through it on the way to anything, because it’s not on the way to anything. It was a town of 1,100 25 years ago, and it’s still a town of 1,100 people.
This was a church that I was working at that’s over 150 years old. I think some of the members are still there, the founding members that are 150 years old or so. This was a really old congregation. One of the things I learned about this small place was everybody knew who I was, even if they didn’t go to the church, because I was the minister of youth and music, and I waved my arms around as we did some hymn singing. And this was broadcast on one of the, I don’t know, 2 channels that was there in East Texas.
You could either watch the fishing program or the tractor pull or me waving my arms around. And so I would go to restaurants and places like this and people would comment on who I was, and I had no idea who they were. They’d watch me when I ate. We’d go into one of the 3 or 4 restaurants that they had in town, or I’d go into the grocery store, and people would comment on who I was. That was a little freaky for a 22, 23-year-old just getting out in ministry.
But what it taught me is this, is that as a Christ follower, the mic is always on, the camera’s always rolling, people are always watching, the world is always watching to see, as Christians, What is Christianity all about? And we never know who’s watching. And so, we have to guard our tongue, and we have to guard our thoughts, and we have to guard our actions, because it could be that we act or live or say something in a way that is contrary to the Christian message that we profess. And we spoke about this last week, and we’re continuing it. There’s a part 1 and a part 2 of this idea of what 1 Peter has been trying to hammer home to us is the fact that we live in a world where people are watching us as Christ followers.
So how do you conduct yourself as a person who is in the body of Christ? How do you live? And we saw last week in chapter 2 of 1 Peter, uh, where he said to live such good lives among the pagans, or among the unbelievers, or those who are non-Christians— live such good lives among them that though they accuse you of doing wrong They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. The idea is that we want people to see us and to see such authentic Christian lives that they ultimately glorify God and say, I want some of that in my life. And the word that we use to describe that is an English word, it’s winsome.
We need more winsome Christianity. Winsome is described in the dictionary as something that’s attractive and appealing and inspiring and pleasant. And persuasive. And so, I asked the question last week, is your brand of Christianity winsome? Is it the kind of thing that when people look at you that they want to know more, that they’re interested in following more and learning more about who God is?
Is your Christianity a winsome Christianity? Is my Christianity a winsome Christianity? Because the mic is always on, the camera’s always rolling. People are watching you. So, how do we conduct ourselves?
And we said last week, looking at the text in 1 Peter 3, We looked at 3 things. We looked at our relationships within the body of Christ and how we treat one another, the evidences of love, so to speak, among us, the oneness that we’re seeking. We talked about our relationships with people who seek to harm us and how we respond, and that gives across a strong message, a witness to others. And then we also talked about our motivation toward God, the fact that God’s eyes are always, always, always on us. So how we fear God and how we live before Him in terms of our motivation.
Are we seeking for God to just be our Santa Claus, or is He our God, and do we fear Him and revere Him in such a way that it is evident to everybody else? And so we focused on that. Today, we’re going to look at 3 more ways that if you want to be a more winsome witness for Christ, if you want doors to open for you, if you’re a Christ follower, we should care about these things. We really should. And if we don’t care, we need to repent of that.
We need to just admit it and say, we don’t care about this like we should. We should care about this. And so, if you care about this, take note of these things starting in verse 13 of 1 Peter 3. Verse 13, who is going to harm you, Peter says, if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.
Do not fear their threats, Do not be frightened, but in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, verse 16, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. And the first thing we see here in verse 13 is Peter saying typically doing good in Christ’s name is profitable.
It’s advantageous. It’s beneficial. It benefits you. It benefits other people. This should not be a super aha moment.
He’s asking a rhetorical question here. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? Even in a post-Christian, postmodern world, a secular society that may be anti-Christian in many ways, if you were a person who is eager to do good, who is going to harm you? More often than not, typically, normally, generally. And he drives home this point based on what he had just said in verses 10 and 11.
And if you go back there, if you have your Bible open, it says, whoever would love life and see good days You want to love life? You want to see good days? Okay, how do I do that? Well, you must keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. Verse 11, they must turn from evil and do good.
They must seek peace and pursue it. And so Peter was telling us, if you want to see good in your life, then do good. If you want more good in your life, then do good to others. And by this, I don’t mean by being a good little Christian. I don’t mean that that’s what makes you right with God.
Please hear me. If you know me, you know that that’s not what I mean. That’s not what Scripture teaches. If you are a good person, that, that is like filthy rags before God. Your righteousness does not make you right with God.
No one’s righteousness makes them right with God. But more often than not, if you are kind to somebody, our society still applauds that, even in this world. When you are generous towards somebody, kudos to you. More doors will open for you as a Christian and as a Christ follower if you are kind than if you’re a jerk. I hope that that’s not a revelation to you.
I don’t think it is, but he’s asking a rhetorical question. Who’s going to harm you, really? And even if they do harm you, this world is not all there is. Have hope, and we’ll get into that in a moment. But it’s similar to the question Paul asks in Romans 8.
Listen, if God is for us, who can be against us? And the implied answer is nobody. Who’s going to harm you if you’re eager to do good? Nobody. So be eager, be enthusiastic, be determined, be zealous for doing good.
Do as much good as you can. Wake up in the morning saying, God, give me an opportunity to do good. Jesus, the Bible tells us, went around doing good. It says he went around healing people. That’s good.
He went around being kind to people. And if that’s all that happens in your transaction with people and they left that interaction with you, with you having done good, that’s a good thing. We are to go about doing good. We are God’s workmanship, Ephesians 2 tells us, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Do as much good as you can, and more often than not, you will suffer far less than if you were obnoxious or a jerk.
But, second point, Verse 14. Eventually, persecution is inevitable. Typically, doing good in Christ’s name is profitable. Eventually, persecution’s going to happen. It’s inevitable.
Verse 14 and 17, touch on that. It’s really a theme all throughout 1 Peter that we see here. He’s saying, more often than not, being kind will get you further than being obnoxious. And this world will tolerate you for being a Christian, but not for long. Eventually, people will turn on you.
If you are a strong Christ follower, they will turn on you. And Jesus said to expect this. John 15, Jesus said, if the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first. If the world persecuted me, Jesus said, they will persecute you. And Peter here is not talking about just plain old persecution for being obnoxious, or from your own stupidity, or from your own ignorance, or my own sin.
He’s not talking about suffering because you made a bad decision. He’s talking here— that’s why he clarifies here in verse 14, for doing right, for righteousness’ sake. Or verse 17, for doing good. Suffering for doing good, for doing the right thing. And if that happens, he’s saying, there’s a blessing for you.
And that word for blessing there means to be honored, to be privileged. Jesus is honoring you if you are persecuted. You are, you are being privileged. Why? Well, because you get to experience part of what Jesus experienced.
You are, you are identifying with him and his suffering, and that’s a blessing. And it could be that it’s not just a blessing for you, that it ends up opening many, many more doors. You can read all kinds of stories about Christian martyrs who have lost their lives for being a Christ follower. Somebody shared with me after the first service and reminded me of the story of Jim Elliot, who lost his head for being a Christ follower and for sharing his faith. But that turned out to be a major blessing— not, not to him, obviously.
Losing your head is not a blessing. But it turned out to be a blessing in terms of how the gospel went forth as a result. There is a blessing attached to being persecuted for your belief. And so often we wallow saying, why me? Why me?
And Peter here is reminding us it’s a privilege, it’s a blessing. Count it a joy for what you’re going through. Not again because of a bad decision that you’ve made, but for doing right and for doing good. There’s a blessing that’s attached to that. And he says in verse 17— there’s an interesting observation— there’s really 2 options in life.
You can suffer for doing good, or you can suffer for evil. Either way, God wills it, verse 17 says. God wills the suffering. And if you suffer for doing good, there’s a blessing. Now, why in the world would God will suffering for His children?
Wouldn’t God want to protect His children? Well, yes, but it could be that God has something else in mind. Verse 16 tells us it could be that, for instance, God wants to shame those who slander us, and that you are going through suffering and persecution, and that will be the vehicle that God uses to shame somebody else. That shouldn’t be the goal, to shame somebody else, but I have prayed. I’m praying right now about a situation with a friend who is going through a really, really awful time, and I’m finding myself— and I think that this is scriptural.
You look through the Psalms and just praying, God, I pray that this person would be ashamed for the harm that they’re doing to my friend. I pray that they would come to their senses and see that this is foolish behavior, and I pray that they would repent. I don’t wish harm for them, but I want them to be ashamed for what they’re doing. And you can pray that with sincerity and gentleness and wishing their well-being, but it could be that God wants to shame somebody, or it could be, chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, we saw this a few weeks ago whenever we started this series, that God is allowing you to go through suffering to prove the genuineness of your faith. Could be that this trial that is going through, God will use to show someone the genuineness of your faith, and it will cause someone to ask more questions.
Either way, God wills it, and while that may discourage some people, it should give us great encouragement to know, God, You’ve got this. Nothing can touch me. No one can come against me apart from You allowing it to happen. God, You’re in control the whole time. We see that through the Book of Job and the character of Job, that anything that Job went through was God-filtered.
God was in charge the whole time. And anything you or I go through, including the inevitable persecution we face, for standing up for what is right and doing good is God-filtered. He’s got this. He’s in charge. There’s no Plan B.
God’s got this, and He’s going to hold it together. And Peter there says in verse 14, when this happens, don’t fear their threats. Don’t be threatened. And there are quotation marks around that because he’s quoting from Isaiah 8. I’m not going to ask you to turn there, but the context of Isaiah 8, when Isaiah said, do not fear their threats, do not be frightened, was the southern kingdom of Judah in the Old Testament, and their king Ahaz was being threatened by the northern kingdom of Israel and this foreign power, the kingdom of Aram.
And they were coming against the southern kingdom, and King Ahaz in the south and the kingdom of Judah, the people there were feeling threatened, and they were fearful, and they were frightened. And Isaiah, speaking— the Lord speaking through him— prophesied, saying that Aram and Israel would be vanquished by the nation of Syria, and that God would preserve Judah and would preserve Ahaz, and He has His hand on them. So do not fear, do not be frightened. And so, just as Isaiah is saying, don’t fear these individuals of what they can do to you, I’m telling you, Peter’s saying, don’t fear and don’t be threatened by what these individuals can do to you. They can take your life, but they can’t take your eternal soul.
And if you are persecuted for doing right, count it a blessing. So typically, doing good in Christ’s name is profitable. It’s advantageous. Do as much good as you can. Be eager to do good.
And eventually, persecution will happen. It’s inevitable. But then he says in verses 15 and 16 that practically speaking, having good reasons for the hope that you have and being ready to share them with those who ask is indispensable.
Practically speaking, day by day, having good reasons, having understanding why you believe what you believe, and then sharing them with those who ask is a good thing. It’s indispensable. And we, as Christ followers, always have to be ready. He’s using a word here in verse 15 when he says to always be prepared to give an answer, and that term there is the term from which we get our English word apologetics.
You may know that term, and the idea of an apologetic in the Bible is not to issue an apology or to say you’re sorry. You’re not to apologize for your faith. The apologetic sense means to provide a defense. And if you know anything about, you know, law, or if you’ve ever been in a court of law, you know that there’s a reasoned, well-thought-out answer that presents evidence that can increase the likelihood of your case going well for you. And that’s the idea here.
It’s to provide a reasoned defense, a sound answer. Why do you believe what you believe?
Why do you have hope? And if someone’s to ask, have those reasons ready to share. Be able to defend that. Always be prepared, he’s saying here. To think through what the answer is to that.
And there are some amazing books and resources that have been written to which I can point you if you’re interested in knowing why Christianity is a valid faith and why it’s unlike any other faith and why it’s worth you considering if you’re not a Christ follower. And there are great books that have been written on the validity of Jesus’ life and His crucifixion. And the resurrection and on His impending return and why Scripture is true and all of these things to which you can use to argue or to defend your case. But you don’t have to be a scholar or a seminary student to be able to do this, because Peter is writing to a group of people in the 1st century, many of whom couldn’t even read.
So he’s saying, if you were a Christ follower, you are always to be prepared, regardless of your age, regardless of how long you’ve been a Christ follower. Always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask. So I want to break this down and point out 5 things here quickly. One is, this is in the context of— what does verse 5 say? Or 15, excuse me.
Revere Christ as Lord in your hearts. So as you have good reasons for the hope you have, that’s good to have good reasons and then to share those, but it’s in the context of revering Christ as Lord. We miss this. We focus so much on the defending our faith rather than on the revering Christ as Lord. Well, what does it mean to revere Christ as Lord?
Well, that word there, that transitional word at the beginning of verse 15, gives us a hint. That word but. It’s in contrast to what he just said in verse 14. In contrast to verse 14 where he’s saying, these people may harm you, and yet do not fear them, and don’t be frightened of them, but revere Christ as Lord. So don’t be fearful of them, fear Christ.
Care more about not being a good witness for Him. Care more about your reverence for Him. And to revere Him means to sanctify, to set apart, to place at the highest place, to worship, to hallow. In the Lord’s Prayer where it says, hallowed be Your name, it’s the same word that’s being used here that Peter is using here. He’s saying, hallow the Lord in such a way in your heart That no matter who or what comes against you, that you’re saying nothing is more valuable to you than your relationship with Christ.
Not winning an argument. More important than even presenting your case, revering Christ as Lord. And if you were to be a winsome witness for Christ, take note of that. Is there anything more valuable to you than your relationship with Christ? If there is, Revere Christ as Lord and replace that thing with your relationship with Christ.
He says the second thing here in revering Christ as Lord. He says, always be prepared to share. Always be prepared to share. And you’re not going to believe this, but the word always in Greek, you know what it means? Thank you.
Always. You can look it up. I looked it up. Always means always in this situation. Always, always.
There you go. There’s your Greek New Testament lesson. Always be prepared to share. School, work, home, conversations throughout the course of the day. Always be ready.
And it’s possible that Peter had in mind, as he was writing this, the failure that he had to be prepared when he did not represent Christ and he denied knowing Christ. It’s possible that he had that in mind, and he was thinking that the night that Jesus was arrested, and that Peter denied knowing Him, it’s possible that Peter is thinking, had I been more prepared, I would have done better in that situation. When somebody asked if I knew Christ, I wasn’t ready.
And that makes me think about missed opportunities.
You ever miss an opportunity to explain about the hope that you have? You ever miss an opportunity— there’s a golden opportunity to share about your faith, and you walk away from it. Because of fear or doubt or not knowing that you’d have the reasons to be able to share with people. And he’s saying here, always be prepared. Don’t miss those opportunities when they come.
And then he says, when you share, share with gentleness and respect. Verse 15, share with gentleness and respect.
Gentleness means gentleness, and respect means respect. Here, and he’s saying you can have a well-thought-out response. You can have such a great response to this person who’s slandering you and questioning your Christianity that you just have a mic-drop moment. Boom. I just said what I need to, and I win.
And you walk away. But if you’re a jerk about it, you’re not going to get very far. You can have all the other stuff, but if you’re not gentle and respectful in your tone and in your approach, If your goal is to be the smartest guy in the room, if your goal is to make yourself look better, if your goal is to defend in such an aggressive way that a person doesn’t want any more to know about Christianity, that’s the wrong approach. The goal is not to win the argument. The goal is to make people want to know more.
And how do you do that? With gentleness and respect. And then he says in verse 16, to keep a clear conscience. Always keep a clear conscience. Share with a clear conscience.
Well, what is your conscience? Your conscience is something you’re born with, that God places within every person, Christian or non-Christian. And it’s that divinely placed mechanism by which it’s sort of an umpire that helps you to know the difference between right and wrong. And as a Christ follower, this is our measure for what is right and wrong— God’s Word. And we build our lives around God’s Word rather than trusting our conscience to teach us what is right and wrong, because very often people listen to their conscience and they do the wrong thing.
Well, why is that? Because we need a regenerated spirit within us. We need to be born again so that we think like Christ and have the mind of Christ and have the Holy Spirit within us. Because over time, our conscience becomes seared. It becomes numb.
1 Timothy 4 talks— Paul’s talking to Timothy there, and he says that there are some people whose consciences have been so seared, it’s with a hot iron, And sometimes people just have a conscience that they do whatever is right in their own eyes, and it doesn’t matter. But God gives people— Romans 1 tells us— God gives people a conscience that tells them that there is a God, and that there is a right and a wrong. And they know, by virtue of this conscience, the difference between what is right and wrong. So, as you share, and as you witness, and as you revere Christ as Lord, and as you’re always ready, and you do so with gentleness and respect, to keep a clear conscience— well, how do you get a clear conscience? First of all, and this is the most important thing, Hebrews 9 tells us that Jesus came to make it possible for you and I to have a clear conscience.
That people in the Old Testament would do these sacrifices, and the blood of bulls and goats doesn’t give somebody a clear conscience. The only thing that can give you and I a clear conscience is the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that He made. You put your hope and your trust in Him alone, and you want a clear conscience. It’s only through that. 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So clear conscience can only come through Jesus. But on top of that, we see that we need to maintain a clear conscience by acting within our conscience, not acting against our conscience. Romans 14— we talked about this in our 40-day study of unity that we did earlier this year, where we talked about people having preferences. Some people say it’s okay to eat this type of meat, it’s okay to eat this type of meat, or I can only worship on this day. And other people say, no, you can worship on other days.
And whatever your God-given conviction is, you are to act within your conviction, within your conscience. If God gives you a conviction and you act against it, you’re going against your conscience. And so this is the daily battle we all face. Act within the conscience, the God-given convictions that God has given you. Keep a clear conscience.
And he’s saying share in such a way so that if people do slander you, you’re able to say, I have a clear conscience before God. I’ve been forgiven, but I’m also sharing with gentleness and respect for this person, and out of fear, revering Christ as Lord, and have a clear conscience before God. Then this is a really important point in all of this that you and I can miss if we’re not careful. We’re to share based on the hope that we have. To share based on the hope that we have.
The implication here is to give reasons for the hope that you have. The implication is You have hope. If you’re a Christ follower, you have hope. You may not feel that you have hope, but you have hope. And so, that causes me to say, well, then why don’t we share more freely and more openly and more often about the hope that we have?
Well, maybe it’s because we don’t feel very hopeful.
Maybe we don’t share because we’ve forgotten why we have hope. And so then, witnessing and telling others about this hope we have becomes more burdensome, and instead of talking about this incredible hope, this gift of eternal life, life, what you look at apologetics as being is, I have to defend why I go to Bridges Community Church. I have to defend this doctrine and this doctrine and why I go to church on Sunday and why I do certain things and I avoid other things. And that becomes really burdensome.
That’s going to become taxing. You can’t stand up under that, and I can’t stand up under that. So, Peter isn’t saying here, hey, defend these doctrines. Do these 10 things, Give evidence for the resurrection, give evidence for the person of Jesus and all of these things. Yes, that is part of it, but more important than that is to come back to why do we have hope?
And it’s possible that you as a Christ follower may feel that you don’t have any hope. It may be that if somebody was to ask you about the hope that you have and why you’re a Christian, your answer might be, I don’t know, it just seemed like a good idea. I just grew up that way, I guess. Everybody’s got a religion. I just chose Christianity, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
I just hope it all works out for me in the end. That’s not hopeful. That’s not based on the hope that you have. How do you get more hope? There’s no shortcuts to this, students, adults.
There’s no shortcut to this. It comes from God’s Word.
Start with the book of 1 Peter. You can read through 1 Peter in 20 minutes, all 5 chapters. And if you go through 1 Peter, for instance, certainly you can go through other Scriptures, but 1 Peter talks about how Jesus came, God in the flesh, lived among us. God didn’t stay at a distance from us. He came near to us in the form of Jesus.
And 1 Peter affirms that, and it affirms that Jesus came and He died and He took our sins upon Himself because your righteousness and my righteousness isn’t good enough. And so Jesus died. And 1 Peter affirms that Jesus rose again. Chapter 1, verse 4 says, we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And Jesus is one day going to return.
1 Peter affirms that. And that’s good news for those who are in Christ, because this world is not all there is. We’re foreigners. We’re exiles. We’re just here.
We’re between 2 worlds, in a sense. But this world is not all there is. There is hope. And Jesus has got your suffering and your hardships and all the persecution that you’re going through in his hand, and he’s got your world in his hand. All of those things are reason for hope.
And so if you lack hope and you’re like, I, I need more hope, go back to 1 Peter and then share with gentleness and respect based on the hope that you have. If somebody asks, be ready to share those reasons based on this hope that you have. And if you’re not a Christ follower, or you’re not sure that you’re a Christ follower— we talked a little bit about this last week— it is God’s desire that you have hope. God desires everyone, every child, every young person, every adult, to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And I came to faith not because somebody argued me into becoming a Christian.
That doesn’t work too well. But through dozens and dozens and dozens and even hundreds of conversations with other Christ followers who had hope, as a young person and as a teenager, I could have access to these people through my youth group and through my church. And I started seeing winsome Christianity lived out before me in a very appealing way that made me want to know more about Christianity. I remember talking to a guy named Jim my sophomore year of high school. He was working with our youth group.
He was just a volunteer. And he showed up on a Wednesday, and we were just chatting, and I said, hey, how’s your week going? And he said, I just lost everything I own. My apartment just burned down a couple days ago. But he had such a peace about him, and I remember talking to him, and that had such an effect on me.
He had hope, and that gave me hope. And it’s those types of divine circumstances that God wants you to give hope based on the hope that you have, that I have. And so if people aren’t asking, we want them to ask. And if you don’t feel that you have hope, you can have hope. You can leave here today with hope.
I stand here before you. I don’t know that I’ve ever faced too many, you know, life-altering circumstances where I’m afraid I might lose my life, but I can tell you I have complete peace that I could die today And that I’d be standing, by the grace of God, before the throne up in heaven. I have complete confidence in that, not because of anything I’ve done, but because I have hope, and God has put this hope in me, and I want everybody to be able to have that hope. And that’s the type of hope that you can share that says, how do you, even in the face of persecution, still maintain? How, in the face of suffering and going through what you’ve gone through, still have hope?
Why do you believe what you believe? And when those people ask, Be ready to share. And if they’re not asking, what does that say about us? What does that say about us? If you want to have hope, look to God’s Word.
If you’re not a Christ follower, you can have hope by saying yes to the invitation to become part of God’s family. And you can pray and just say, God, come into my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the hope that Jesus died to give me. That’s it. And you can have hope today. And I’d love to talk with you afterwards if you have more questions about what that looks like.
But for those of us who are Christ followers, let’s pray that people would ask. When was the last time you prayed that people would ask you about the hope that you have? Did you pray about that today? Did you pray about that yesterday? Are you going to pray about that tomorrow?
I’m sure you’ll pray about the things that you remember to pray about for yourself and for other people, but what about praying that God would give you opportunities? To answer those who ask about the hope that you have. Let’s pray that they would ask, and let’s be ready when they ask. Let’s pray. God, we come before you unworthy to be called sons and daughters of God, but by grace we have access to you through your Son Jesus, who’s forgiven us.
And we can do all the things right and avoid a bunch of bad things in our lives, but none of those things is sufficient. Only what Jesus has done. So come and forgive us and cleanse us and make us right with you. I pray that those who do not know you would be born again and would receive your Holy Spirit in their life and say yes to the invitation to follow you. For those of us who are in Christ, I pray that you would give us opportunities to share about the hope we have.
And Lord, I pray that we would repent Where we have lost hope, where we come into a church service or we just go through the motions and we just forget why we believe what we believe and why we have hope. God, forgive us. Thank you for your Son, and thank you for your word today and your faithfulness. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
