Living With Christian Hope

On what do you base your security for the future? Our families give us security in knowing that, when things go wrong, they will be with us as quickly as can be. Yet, as good as that family is, it can be taken away in death. In this week’s sermon, St. Peter describes a security that can never pass away or be taken from us.


Scripture: I Peter 1:1-9
To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.


Renewing Reflections
It is our prayer that Renewing Reflections will be a blessing in your life this coming week. This quote is taken from the sermon I Came to Bring Hope delivered on Christian Crusaders December 9, 2007.

This mission has been going on now for 2,000 years and will continue until it has been proclaimed around the world and millions of people have come to confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. That is what is going on today. In this hopeless old world, there is a message of hope for those who trust Jesus Christ. God loves them. He wants all people to be saved. He has established a kingdom, which begins here on this earth and climaxes in the kingdom of heaven. You enter this kingdom by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The carriers of this Gospel are people like you and me who trust Jesus Christ and tell others about him.


Christian Crusaders on Facebook
If you are a member of the online social network Facebook, search for “Christian Crusaders” and add the ministry as one of your Friends on the site. By becoming a Facebook Friend of Christian Crusaders, you'll receive online invitations to each sermon. Also, you can send invitations to your other Facebook Friends, suggesting they become a Friend of Christian Crusaders too.


On the Light Side
According to an old time radio historian, Bob Hope traveled to frontline war zones to entertain American troops during five wars, from WWII through Desert Storm in 1991. Speaking to our troops in the Persian Gulf, the 87-year-old entertainer questioned all the attention being given to America’s new radar-invisible bomber: “The stealth bomber is supposed to be a big deal. It flies in undetected, bombs, then flies away. I've been doing that all my life!”