Sermon: When Every Curse Is A Sneeze
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Duration: 30:55
Size: 14.1 MB
New Life In The Same Old Place
“When Every Curse Is A Sneeze”
1 Peter 3:8-12
I. The Most Common Blessing
For most people, the only time they bless someone or ask God to bless someone is after a sneeze.
A. Called to a Life of Blessing (3:9)
If you were to bless someone, how would you do it (assuming they didn’t sneeze)?
To bless is to do “good” in some way, not “evil”. It is to verbally help, not verbally abuse.
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
It is a heart that wants God’s goodness to pour down on our opponent in such a way that our blessing is used to make them into a blesser.
B. Called to a Community of Blessing (3:8)
After specifically addressing different groups in these churches (i.e. servants, wives, husbands), here in 3:8 he brings it back to everyone in the church.
It is our strength as a local church family that God wants to use in our lives individually in the face of difficult times.
God’s design for us as a church is that we would love one another as brothers and sisters, siblings who look out for each other.
We are called to a life of blessing, even with those who hurt us. And we are called to that life together.
C. Called to Inherit a Blessing (3:10-12)
We have been called to bless, and that calling results in our being blessed; “to obtain a blessing”.
We give blessings in light of the fact that we will receive the greatest blessing.
For a people tempted to fear in the face of opposition, Peter reminds them that God is in control, and that as they bless those who curse them, God has blessed, is blessing, and will bless them.
II. Blessing Because of His Blessing
Are we as a church encouraging one another, are we standing with one another or are we responding with anger and bitterness when a brother or sister hurts us?
When we treat every curse as if it were a sneeze, that is, when we treat every curse as an opportunity to respond with a blessing.
Next Week
“Christ-Centered Suffering”
1 Peter 3:13-22