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1 Peter 5

“The Mighty Hand of God!”

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:1-9

Memory Verse: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6-7

Lesson Focus: We need to stay close to God and stay alert to the life around us!

Activities and Crafts: Coloring Sheets; The Devil is a Loser Work Sheet;

1st and 2nd Grade: Casting all your care on Him Craft

1. Give each of the kids the fishing poster. Have them color their poster and tap on a piece of string for the pole.

2. Give the kids the paper with fish on it. Have them write some of their “cares” or “worries” on the fish. Talk to the kids and write on the board some of the things that they worry about.

3. Have them tape their “worries” to the fishing line.

4. Remind them that we are to cast or throw our worries to God and trust that He will take care of us.

Introduction: Game: Lion Capture:

1. Choose 3-5 kids to be the lions. Give each of them a “lions” mask. They must hold up their lions mask and try to tag the other kids.

2. Tell the kids that when the lions “capture” you by touching you that they have to go and sit back down in their seats. They cannot be saved or rescued. They have to play fair or they will be asked by the leaders to sit down anyway.

After the game is played say to the kids, “When you play a game of tag or “lion capture” you don’t want to get caught, right? So in order to not get caught, you have to pay attention and run the opposite direction of the lions. You cannot just stand their and let them tag you. In today’s lesson we are going to be told to pay attention in our walk with Jesus. If we don’t pay attentions to our lives we will get tagged.

Bible Lesson:

1 Peter 5:1-4 – The Right Leadership

√ Who are the leaders of the local church?

The leaders of the local church are called elders. That does not mean that they are old, but it does mean that they are men that have been selected to lead a local church. An elder is an “overseer” that means that they oversee what goes on in a local church. The Bible gives us clear instructions of what these men should be like:

1 Timothy 3:2-7

1. Blameless (does not do wrong)

2. Husband of one wife

3. Temperate (no bad temper)

4. Sober minded (clear thinker)

5. Good behavior

6. Hospitable

7. Teacher

8. Does not get drunk

9. Not violent

10. Not greedy for money / does not covet what others have

11. Gentle

12. Not quarrelsome

13. Rules his own house well

14. Has children that follow the Lord

15. Not a new believer

16. Has a good testimony among non-Christians

This is quite a list of what the elder of a church should look like. So Peter is going to give further instruction to the leaders of the Church.

√ According to verse 2, what are the elders told to do?

1. An Elder is to Shepherd the flock of God

The Flock of God is everyone that is in the local church. They are to take care of you and me. Just like a shepherd takes care of his poor helpless sheep, they are to care for us.

2. An Elder is to Shepherd the flock of God with the right attitude:

a. They need to have a willing heart. They are not to do it because they think they have to.

b. They need to do it from a proper motive. Not to gain money or reputation. They need to do it for Jesus.

c. They need to set the right example. They are not supposed to be “haughty” or think that they are important they are to serve the flock the way that Jesus did. They are not to misuse power.

Jesus taught the right attitude of an overseer or elder when He talked to Peter. Just after Jesus was raised from the dead and He talked to Peter asked Peter three questions in John 21:15-17. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him. When Peter answered back that he did, Jesus told him to feed and care for his sheep.

The motivation for leading the people of God is our love of Jesus. Not to have power, but to love people enough that you want to see Jesus grow in them.

√ According to verse 4, who will the elders report to? Every one will answer to God for how we lived here on earth. But to those that lead the flock of God they will receive a crown from Jesus. This will be a reward from Jesus for serving well. And this reward comes from the “Chief Shepherd.”

1 Peter 5:5 – The Right Attitude of young People:

√ What does Peter tell the young people to do?

All of those under the Elders of the church are to “submit” to their leadership. We are to obey and listen to what they tell us and how they guide us. That means if they tell us that we are not living right that we need to listen and to ask God to help us change. Peter tells all of us to be “clothed” with humility. The word “clothe” means to “tie on one self.” Like tying on an apron we are to “put on humility.” That means just like you get dressed in the morning and put on your clothes, we are to “put on” humility. We are to ask God to help us be humble, because He is the only one that can do that in our lives with the help of the Holy Spirit. A humble person is a teachable person. That means that when God’s word teaches them something or a person challenges them on something they are not too proud to change and listen to the truth.

Look at the end of verse 5:

“God resists the proud

But gives grace to the humble.”

This is a verse taken from Proverbs 3. God always supports those that are humble in their spirit and that are teachable.

1 Peter 5:6-7 – The Right Attitude in Life

√ Who wants to have the right attitude in life?

Peter is going to tell us right here what the right attitude in life is?

Right Attitude:

1. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God

That means that we take everything that life throws at us and we know that God is in charge. God is in charge and we are not! He made us and we live knowing that God is in control. We live under His hand and we don’t shake our hands at Him demanding to know why? The “mighty hand of God” is a “word picture” of God’s sovereignty.

2. God exalts the humble at the right time. God will reward us in  His timing. His reward does not always mean a physical  reward, but can mean a joy and spiritual filling that is better  than anything that we could receive.

3. We realize that God loves us and cares for us. The word “casting” means to throw. We can cast or throw all our worries onto God because of His love. We trust our creator to be in charge of our lives.

1 Peter 6:8-9 – The Right Control

√ What does Peter tell us that we are to do to be prepared in our walk with Jesus?

1. Be sober (self-controlled)

2. Be vigilant (watchful)

We have to be aware of our attitude and our walk with Jesus. We can never coast along and think that “getting saved” is all there is to being a Christian. There needs to be constant growth in our lives!

Why, because the devil is walking about like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour.

√ How is the devil like a roaring lion?

1. Prowling: walking around looking for easy prey – an animal that is not aware that there is a lion on the prowl. The devil has free access on earth to move about and catch us when we are not aware.

√ When are times that we are not aware?

a. When we have a bad attitude

b. When we are not close to God

c. When we are not in prayer

d. When we feel like we have failed God

e. When we don’t forgive others

f. When we are not in the Bible and growing

2. Enemy: The devil is our adversary. He is not for us. He does not want us to know Jesus or get close to Jesus. He will do anything to keep us too busy to grow in the Lord. He is the “father of all lies” (John 8:44b) and never speaks truth.

3. Devours: The devil wants to destroy us. However, he can not take our salvation away, but he can influence us not to grow. If we do not follow God’s truth in the Word of God and if we listen to what the world says is ok, then we allow the devil to have an effect on our lives. Many Christians give a lot of excuses for their bad behavior. Jesus has the ultimate authority over anything that the devil wants to throw at us. Our victory is only through Jesus and the Holy Spirits power.

Peter experienced this first hand right before Jesus was arrested and crucified. When Jesus was in the garden praying and He took Peter, James and John with Him and He said to them;

“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”Mark 14:34

Jesus was telling them to pray and keep watch with him. He was telling them that this was going to be a hard night and they needed to be ready.

Let’s see what happened:

“Then He came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, “Simon are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:37-38

They could not stay awake. They wanted to follow Jesus, but at that time they were not willing to be watchful and ready for what was going to happen. So when Jesus was arrested, they were not ready for it. They all ran and hid. Peter ended up denying Jesus three times. They all failed because their hearts were not ready, even though Jesus warned them. But even though they failed they were all restored later after Jesus was raised from the dead. I bet the devil thought that when Peter denied Jesus 3 times that he had won in Peter’s life. But the devil did not win and Peter was restored by Jesus (when he asked Peter if he loved Him three times and then commissioned him to feed His sheep.) God had the victory and Peter learned from his failure.

Conclusion: We do not need to be afraid of the devil we just need to be aware. We read in the verses before verse 8 that we humble ourselves under God and we cast our cares upon Him. God will always give us the victory if we have faith in Him. In James 4:7 he tells us, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

“Resist” means to take a stand against. We take a stand with our faith in Jesus. We take a stand by growing in God’s word. We take a stand through prayer and the Holy Spirit’s power.

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