Called to be a blessing

Speaker: Dr. SJ. Bowers , Pastor Emeritus EMBC

Called To Be A Blessing 

Sermon Study Questions 1 Peter 3:1-12 

Purpose: To challenge us to show the love of God in our lives and be a blessing to others. 

Since God has called us to be a blessing, we need to learn ;

Our text this morning begins with the word finally. Finally is one of those words which just shout out for you to examine the words which came before it. Finally (like the word therefore)  is one of those  words in the bible which indicates that something important was mentioned just before you came to the word. Peter began v8 with the words finally , all of you. Lets back up to see who Peter was talking to before he came to all of you. Well in v 1-6 he is talking to wives.

Peter exhorts wives to be submissive to their husbands even if their husbands are not good Christians. He says that wives have the opportunity to win their husbands over not by their hairdos or their makeup or their earrings or their fine dresses. He says that they have the ability to influence their husbands by the hidden person of the heart, the inner beauty of their spirit. And then in verse 7 , Peter tells the men to give honor and understanding to their wives because God has it set up that for married folks that your prayers won’t get thru until you get along with one another. Sounds strange, that your blessing is tied to someone else. But that is the way that God decided to do it. But the text of our message this morning deals with what Peter went on to say to the rest of the folks in the church. He told them also that they were called by God to be a blessing to others. That is the way we receive our blessings Peter says. But how do we go about being a blessing. Most of don’t know how to bless our selves , we mess that up, not to mention others. Well the answers that we need are in the text so let’s turn to the text as Peter tells us how to be a blessing to others as God prepares to bless us.. 

Understanding The Text

 2.  Read 1 Peter 3:1-6.  Who is God addressing in this passage?

3.  What does v. 7 teach us about God’s viewpoint on harmony in marriage? 

4.  What does  the word finally encourage us to do?(v8) 

5.  Look at the other Bible passages in this lesson. Match each passage with the virtue that Peter described as evidence of a Godly walk. 

•  Heb 10:24-25_____________________

•  John 13:35 ____________________

•  Matt 5:43-48____________________

•  Matt 15:19-20 ____________________ 

1. Harmony
2. Encouragement/exhortation
3. Love (Christ Disciple Identifier)
4. God imitator (Perfection/Completeness)

 Applying The Text

 6.  Name four (4) of the essential requirements that we must master to become a blessing to others;

 •  We must learn how to _______ in  ________.

 •  Explain what this means to you.

•  We must learn how to show ________.

•  Explain what this means to you.

 •  We must learn how to _______ as  ________.

 •  Explain what this means to you.

•  We must learn how to __________ the  ________ of ________.

 •  Explain what this means to you.

Owning The Text 

7.  What does v. 12 remind you to be thankful for?  

8.  Why is it important to God that you refrain from returning evil for evil.. 

9.  If you learned what God wants you to learn from v. 11, how would it impact those around you? 

10.  What should be your first step toward walking Godly? 

Sermon Study Questions. Copyright 2012 by Dr. S. J. Bo