Key Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Lesson One: We owe it to God to fix our hope.
• God’s We are called to hope—not primarily for what it does in our lives—but because it glorifies God
• We have the responsibility—as those who have received the great gift of salvation—to look ahead to the revelation of Christ, and the fullness of our salvation
1 Peter 1:3-5, 13 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..
THEREFORE—gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Lesson Two: Our hope should be fixed on grace.
• Salvation grace—both now and on that day—are the unmerited gift of God
Titus 2:11-13, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus…
Ephesians 2:8-9, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
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Action Plan
Gird your mind for action.
• Preparedness, disciplined alertness, purposeful activity
Exodus 12:11, Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover.
Ephesians 6:14, Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness…
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Be sober in spirit.
• Having presence of mind, clear judgment, self-controlled
1 Thessalonians 5:1-8, Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Luke 21:34–36, Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life…Be always on the watch, and pray…