But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I

may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to
testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts:20:24
Directly from the sermon notes on
1/10/2015, 10:45am:

often of David who said in the Psalms O Lord

all day long I think about you (paraphrase)

1 Peter 1:13 (Key verse for the passage)

Therefore, preparing your minds for action,
and being sober-minded, set your hope fully
on the grace that will be brought to you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:1-4
If then you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth.For you
have died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with him
in glory.

Whats the therefore therefore? It takes us

from proclamation to application and action.
Why? Because when we realize how great our
inheritance is (The proclamation of 1 Peter
1:1-12) we will face opposition.
Jesus said: I have said these things to you,
that in me you may have peace. In the world
you will have tribulation. But take heart; I
have overcome the world. (John 16:33),
James said when you face trials of various
kinds.
Because opposition is to come your to do
what? prepare your minds for action.
Some translations say "Therefore, having
girded up the loins of your mind". It is an
image of a person of that day wearing flowing
garments, a robe, and tucking the garments
into his belt so that he can run and move about
freely. Reacting quickly without tripping over
himself.
This is used here as a metaphor for the mind
because Peter is urging us to pull up all the
lose ends of our lives and to discipline our
thoughts.
1 Corinthians 10:4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not of
the flesh but have divine power to destroy
strongholds. We destroy arguments and
every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ
The distinguishing characteristic is that it is not
just what you feel, but also what drives your
thoughts and what you meditate on. I think

This will be a great challenge because these

are dark days for the disciplined mind. We live
in a world that is flaunting evil more openly
than we have ever been accustomed to.
Perspective: Herod killed James and the
church grew, Nero killed Paul and the church
grew. Nero killed Peter the church grew. Nero
killed six million Christians the church grew.
This is the story of church history and we are
plugged into our iPads, iPhones, Androids and
the internet - amused to death; hoping in
lesser things and the church is shrinking. Why?
Because we are thinking with our eyes, being
moved and motivated by what catches our
eye, and not by the meditations of our hearts
and the mind of Christ.
J.I. Packer says: I believe that in this day the
church is wearing its robes far too long. our
minds have not been properly elevated. We
must my brothers and sisters raise them up
and tuck them in to make ourselves ready for
running. Only in this will we decide for hope in
Christ.
In Ephesians 6:14 The Armor of God Paul
tells us where to take our lose ends too. He
tells us to tuck them into, to allow them to be
taken captive (2 Cor 10:14) by what? The belt
of truth, the given to us by God to keep us
from moving with every wind of doctrine.



Continued on next page...

Being sober-minded means, if you really

want to obey the command to hope fully in
God's grace, don't let your mind drink in
things that numb the mind (and heart) to the
value of God's grace. The great problem with
drunkenness is that it distorts reality by
making us insensitive to what is true and
valuable. Peter uses the metaphor of
drunkenness because each of us will be drink
in something. Let it be the Word of God, and
the well where the Word is being taught.
1 Peter 1:23
since you have been born again, not of
perishable seed but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding word of
God
One of the great problems we face is that we
are spiritually dehydrated. We drink the warm
comfort of coffee and tea, the sweet wonder
of soda, or the sly vitamin water and yet only
real water, living water truly hydrates the soul.
If we find anything more attractive than Jesus
Christ, if we want to enjoy the world rather
than Jesus, we are lost.
Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says,
Surely I am coming soon. Amen.

Drinking in this kind of meditation keeps us

sober minded and allows us to hope FULLY.
Not hopefully. That is how a lot of us are
thinking about this: hopefully I can do this You cant do it that is why Peter make the
imperative to set your HOPE FULLY on what
Jesus has done.
1 Peter 1:3 he has caused us to be born
again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead,
Gods sovereign call raises us from the
spiritual deadness and blindness. The aim of
this call this new birth is so that we can
be alive to hope-giving truth.
In other words God's command is not first
what you can perform for him with your
strength. His command is first that you hope
in what he can perform for you with His
strength. That is why Peter tells us what the
object of the hope is the grace of God!
Grace and Peace
into the New Year,