Sermon notes --- Pray, Love, Serve

Judgement day was set for May 21, 2011, according to Harold Camping.

It's February 8, 2015, and Christ has obviously not come back, so he was wrong.

Today's sermon is on 1 Peter 4:7-11. Read it for yourself real quick.

It starts off with "The end of all things is near." It's been about 2,000 years since then, so near doesn't mean in a few years. It simply means the return of Christ is the next thing we look forward to.

How do we live if we know today is "the end of days"?

To sum it up, wisely.

This has been a topic on Nate's and my mind. When we consider having children in the future, we ask if we want to bring children into this messed up world. We wonder if the end is near, should we start a family? There's not an easy answer, and we turn to prayer to ask for God's will in this.

Prayer is the first thing Peter told us to do in these times. "Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." Prayer is powerful, and should be the first place we turn not what we do after we think we have solved the problem ourselves.

Second, in these times we're supposed to show love.  The second half of the verse says "love covers over a multitude of sins."

This is great for marriage. Our love for each other should cover over a multitude of sins. We should forgive, again and again.

As Christians, we should love and forgive beyond our marriages. We need to show love and forgiveness. The pastor put it as we should be hard to offend. Think how hard to offend Jesus is --- our sins are serious but he forgives his children so readily.

That love then should overflow. It turns into hospitality. We use our gifts to serve.