1Peter 3:8-18

1 Peter 3:8-18 8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11 They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear their threats ; do not be frightened." 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. Last week I spoke to you about how easy it is to overlook sin in our lives and because of those sins we are not able to receive the blessings that God desires for us. In life there a things that can be known generally and other things that are to be known specifically. What is the most important thing in a conversation? It is listening in order to understand the main point. Without understanding you are just wasting time. When we interact with people it is possible to know the heart of someone without even speaking to them through body language. In war, it is possible to know the enemy through their actions and that can be the difference between victory and defeat. When someone comes to you, depending on the time they come, and how they come to you, you already know why they have approached you. When you are at work, and your boss approaches you, if you are quick to understand why he is speaking to you, and if you are able to move upon that knowledge, then you can succeed. The word of God has been given us so that we are able to receive all the blessings that God desires for us. If you a able to satisfy the need of your spouse, then they in turn will satisfy your need. God desks for us to submit to him, but before we do so, we ask Him to bless us. In today's passage it says that we were called to inherit a blessing. Who receives blessings? It is one who has prepared to receive it, the one who has done something worthy to be blessed. When you take an exam, will you receive a good grade when you refuse to answer the question?  If you think that you a better than the teacher and do not fill out the exam will you pass the class? If you do not do according to what the word says, can you receive the blessings that God has for you? The word of God is not only pastors, or elders, or some other believer.  It is for all.  For all who believe. All of us are to be one and like minded.  We are to turn from evil and to do good. We are to be compassionate and humble.  It stays to not repay evil with insult but do we live like this? How easily we argue with our spouses and say things that are evil to each other. It says that whoever would love life and see good days, then we are to keep our tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. Do you need more clarification? It says to turn from evil and do good, to pursue peace. Have you ever thought that when you do not do these things that of a living in rebellion? You are being disobedient if you do not pursue peace.  Have you thought about this? It says that God has his eyes on the righteous and he hears their prayers. But what about those who are evil, their sin will be shown them on the day of judgement. It says that you are blessed when you suffer for what is right. How much did Paul suffer for Christ?  How many days did he suffer beatings, being shipwrecked even death for Christ? Peter suffered the death on the cross and he was crucified upside down. We think that we need to protect our lives.  We think that we are important because God is using us, but we fail to see that it is God who does His will and God is important not us. When God has provided us for us to share but we use it for our own pleasure, we will be punished.  How much more does one person need? When we are tempted by the things in this world, if we are lazy, or if we become complacent we are facing trials, but if we fail to see this and fall into it then our spirit goes numb to the truth. We fail to see the sin in our lives, we become unrepentant and then our relationships suffer because we have sin in our lives. We cannot be blessed because now there is sin in our life that is hindering us from drawing close to God. If your child asks for forgiveness is all forgiven, or do you wait to see the change in behavior to verify that the child is repentant? You cannot fool God into forgiving you. If there is sin in your heart that you refuse to repent of, then you cannot be blessed by God.  The sin in your life is destroying you. If Christ really is in you, then there must be repentance. The blessings you receive are not for you, but they are to be used by you to be a witness for Christ. You do not always have to go out a proclaim Christ. Your life should be intriguing to make others wonder what makes you so blessed, so that others will want to come to ask you why your life is so, then you can share the gospel of Christ. We need to see that God is speaking to us and that these words are for us to change our lives and then to receive the blessings.  We cannot ask God to give us the blessings first. It is useless to say that you are a Christian if my life does not follow the behaviors of one. When someone is speaking to me, to give me advice so that I may receive the blessings of life, then I must understand what they are saying and put those things into action. If you have things in your life that you need to change, then make the changes so that you can receive the blessings that God desires for you.