1. “Are You Prepared?” 1 Peter 1:17-25 Page 1887 “Be Connected.”

2. Last Week: A Life Pleasing to God. We need to have our minds prepared, We need to be self-controlled, We must have our hope set on the grace that Jesus offers, We have to be obedient children, Not shaped by the world but shaped by God, And live differently from those who do not know God because God has set us apart for His work.

3. 1 Peter 1:17-25 Page 1887 Peter draws our minds to the impact that Jesus’ death has had on us as Gentiles. He reminds us that our connection to Christ and His word is intended to change us. We now have a different connection to sin and to each other because of the grace of God shown to us at the cross.

4. Different Bonds: Physically we can unite two items using chemical bonds, electrical connections, mechanical connections Some connections make a difference along other connections: eg chain, wiring, or wicking.

5. People Have Bonds: We are bonded by family, friendship, necessity, fear, choice, purpose, etc... There are even times when people are united because of payment; like employment or slavery.

6. 1 Peter 1:17-25 on Page 1887: Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. Simply because some people call themselves Christians does not mean that all will be well for them in the Judgment.

7. Verses 18-19 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

8. Verses 20-21 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

9. Verse 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. "purified themselves”, denotes the moral purity that comes to Christians through the Gospel.

10. Verse 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

11. Verses 24-25 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 1PE 1:25 but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

12. Changed Connections: We have a different connection to the desire to do wrong, God, each other, and mortality because of our redemption by Jesus. If we are connected to Christ, then all of our other connections change.

13. In Your Life: Have you connected to Christ? If not, why not? How is your connection to Christ? What actions and attitudes do you have that strengthen your connection? What actions and attitudes do you have that weaken your connection?

14. In Your Life: How does your connection on Sunday, or other classes, permeate the rest of your week, and life? How are you showing self- sacrificing love to others? How are you being changed by connecting to God’s word? With whom are you sharing the good news?

15. Thinking It Through: God has invested a lot in you; how far reaching is the change in your connections? Next Week’s Section is 2:1-8 and I have entitled that one “Be changed.”