Sabbath Oct 17, 2015 Daytona SDB church Pastor Wray sermon “Create a Compelling Future”

Sabbath Oct 17, 2015 Daytona SDB church Pastor Wray sermon “Create a Compelling Future” I Peter 1:13-17

The best way to predict the future is to create it. The future that we create is by what we do and who we become. Don’t be always “down in the mouth”, complaining and being miserable all the time. We sometimes feel like we are not getting anywhere. But we must trust in the Lord to see us through. We need to read Psalm 34:4. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Sit down and give some serious thought to what you want in your relationship with God and family. What you want in your financial situation, career situation and the Lord will show you that all things in life that we really want is in our control. How close we are to God is in our control. How we treat others is in our control as well. We can control some aspects of our health by what we eat and how much we exercise. The money part- we can’t control how much money we get but we can control how we spend what we get. This is the same for everyone.
We need to realize that our future does not arrive without warning. Our future will be exactly what we created it to be. What a man sows is what he will reap. The text says our harvest is our future. The seeds that we sow today determine our future. How do we create a compelling future?

Things to Do For Our Future

1) Think it Through:
Do not go day to day with no plans for the future! Think it through before we do any ideas we may have. “What were they thinking” is a phrase used when people make decisions without thinking it through. Quaker Oats didn’t think it through when they bought the Snapple beverage company. They found out it needed to be refrigerated and Quaker did not own any refrigeration trucks. They ended up selling Snapple for 20% of the price they paid for it. Many have made decisions without taking time to think it through. Later we think back and wonder what we were thinking about when we spent money that we shouldn’t have. Many things like this happen to all of us. In verse 13, Peter tells us to think clearly and to exercise self-control. Be sober minded. Before we follow through, think it through. Think about the big picture and what God has promised to accomplish thru you. Think about what you will be. Think about how God who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will complete it. Before you follow thru, think it through. Learn to carry out an idea to its natural conclusion. If you plant a certain seed, what harvest will it bring? Before you sow a certain seed, think it through.

2) Raise the Bar:
Don’t settle for mediocrity. We need to set a standard for the least of what we will accept for ourselves. Set our bar higher than just saying we are a good person because we don’t kill people. We need to set a new standard as obedient children. Verse 14 says don’t fashion yourselves as we used to do as sinners. Strive to be holy and obedient to the Lord God. Create a new minimum that we will accept from ourselves. Peter is saying raise the bar and stop living like you lived in the past. Live obedient to God’s word. Verse 16. Be Holy because God and Jesus are Holy. If you want a good future, hold yourself to a higher standard.

3) Act On It:
When we get concepts in our head, act on it. Having good intentions is not enough. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. We need to do as Peter said in verse 17. Remember that God will judge or reward us according to what we do. We need to have faith. Faith is a doing thing. Faith is not a feeling but it’s something that you do. Faith leads to action! Faith without works is dead! James 2:26. As believers, we are saved by grace thru faith and not by works. Eph 2: 8-10. We are to do good works because God saved us for this. We are not saved by good works but we are saved for good works. The quality of our life is not measured by our good intentions. It is measured by what we do. Peter says to prepare our minds for action!

Obedience is what you do, not what you don’t do. Obedience to God will create a compelling future for us. The center of our focus should be on the good things that we do. Set the bar to live as God’s obedient child. This means we will read the word daily, give to God’s work, do our job even when the boss is not around. We will be judged and rewarded on what we do. The best way to predict our future is to create it. The harvest we reap will be the result of what we have sown. Act on your best intentions. Think it through first then raise the bar, then act on it and follow thru. Take action on your best intentions. We can thrive in this life and become more and more like Jesus. We can become excited by the future. God will never leave us!
AMEN
 
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