Living Hope – regardless of the times and places that we live in, our hope is not threatened because it is not attached to external forces.

Hope is all about confidence in the truth. The by-product of hope is HUMILITY

If we place our hope in OURSELVES to be “rescued” we will live between the POLARIZATION of:

  • Superiority - Pride from Success
  • Inferiority - Fear from Failure

Big Idea: Humility is how we live in the world with hope.

1 Peter 4:19 - The Christian’s hope in suffering is to TRUST God as CREATOR:

  • Designed each of us universally
  • Knows each of us personally
  • Provides for each of us accordingly

5:1-4 - MATURITY is reflected in HUMILITY – Which is why Peter commends the Shepherds to lead

  • Not out of being forced – Not obligated, but as called.
  • Not out of greed – Not feeding themselves on that which belongs to the people
  • Not out of desire for power – Not demanding power but disseminating power

 5:5-6 - Peter calls the LEADERS to be HUMBLE before calling EVERYONE to be HUMBLE.

Pride manifests itself in:

  • Anxiety - Insecurity can manifest itself in anxiety, the cares of this life, the concerns that preoccupy.
  • Arrogance – Arrogance can manifest itself in self-deception.

5:8-9 – Be sober-minded and alert to be able to discern the lies, particularly the LIES we tell ourselves.

This is SOURCED in SATAN who is first and foremost a LIAR.

Self-deception is the condition of the human heart in which a person, often unconsciously, suppresses or distorts truth about themselves, others, or God in order to preserve a false sense of righteousness, control, or identity.

To KILL pride is to SEE the GLORY of God… for ETERNITY

5:10 - The PROMISES of God are for “all of life” – Past, Present and Future

  • Past grace (God’s call)
  • Present endurance (suffering “a little while”)
  • Future restoration (God’s final strengthening and establishing)

 v. 10 - Suffering for a little while, because “eternity”.

He will be your strength in the eternal life he gives you. Eternal life means just that— “eternal.”  The responsibility is not ours. The strength is not ours. The timeline is not ours. But the God who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ—He has all dominion, forever.