Grace and Peace in Abundance

In one paragraph

The pastor opened 2 Peter 1:1-11 for the first time after returning from a week in Israel, and the passage gave him a three-part frame: God is sovereign, man is responsible, and striving for godliness matters because of both. The salutation in verses 1 and 2 already does a lot of work. Peter identifies himself as Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, and addresses Gentile believers...

Read together

1. Psalm 92:1 Read aloud as call to worship before congregational singing
2. Romans 8 Quoted before a worship song: the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, and will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit
3. 2 Peter 1:1-11 Main sermon text, read and expounded throughout the message
4. Romans 14:23 Cited from a lexicon definition to show that decisions not born of faith are by definition sin and eternally fruitless
5. Hebrews 10:23 Read before the congregation sang Standing on the Promises: let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope that we affirm
6. Colossians Two verses cited in the closing benediction about being buried and raised with Christ in baptism and setting your mind on things above

Talk about it

1. Peter describes himself as both a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he writes to believers from very different backgrounds, saying their faith is 'as precious as ours.' What does it mean to you that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, regardless of where you came from before faith?
2. Peter says that grace and peace come to us in abundance through an experiential, first-hand knowledge of God. How would you describe the difference between knowing about God and the kind of contact knowledge Peter is pointing to here, and where do you see that difference showing up in your own life?
3. God's divine power has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, yet Peter still calls believers to make every effort to add to their faith. How do you hold those two things together, God's full provision and your own real responsibility, without collapsing into either passivity or self-reliance?
4. Peter warns that whoever does not grow in these qualities is nearsighted and blind, even forgetting that their sins have been cleansed. He described that as being satisfied with just fire insurance. Where do you think you personally are most tempted to stagnate rather than press forward in faith?
5. The sermon closed with the baptism of Dean, and the pastor connected baptism to an initial step of faith that identifies with Christ. What steps of obedience, large or small, have you taken that you can look back on and see that God was faithful to follow through on his promises?