Living Hope

• Teaching Text

  1 Peter 1:3-12

  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. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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. In all 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 the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

  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 the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Read 1 Peter 1:13-2:3, four times this next week.
Use the ‘O.I.A.’ Study method to look at 1 Peter 1:13-2:3

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Questions:
1) Think about a time when you experienced a big or small trial in your life. Share this with a small group.

2) How can you model the joy in your life to those around you?

3) Where in your life is God asking you to trust him?

Prayer:
Thank God the father for selecting you. Thank the Holy Spirit for transforming your heart. Thank Jesus for shedding his blood for you. Talk to God about one area of your life that you need to surrender to him. Take some time to sit silent before God.