“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”
2 Peter 1:3-7
The only thing that might be more powerful than Jesus dying on the cross for us is how we choose to respond to the fact that he died for us!
Today, we remember that Jesus died on the cross. And he died for many reasons, to heal us, to set us free from sin, to create a path for us to have a relationship with God. But he also died so that we could be divinely empowered by God. When we make a decision to respond to the price that has been paid for us, we are divinely empowered to think, be, and do like God. Like verse 5 says, we must respond to God’s promises, our choice of how we respond to what Jesus did will determine how much we are able to live the life that God wants us to live. What’s so good about Good Friday? The fact that Jesus died to give us the ability to be empowered to receive all God’s promises!
How can we respond to God’s promise and be empowered? Peter gives us a roadmap:
1) Have faith
2) Be the best you, you can be in every area (excellence) – For God, for yourself and for others
3) Have the right information, and the right skills (knowledge)
4) Lead yourself to do what you know you need to do (self-control)
5) Be patient and “suffer patiently” knowing that God still has a promise! (patient endurance)
6) Seek to be like God
7) Love the people you are closest to
8) Love everyone
This is the way that we are asked to respond to what Jesus did for us. As we remember the sacrifice that was made today, let’s also decide to respond to God’s promises through Jesus in the best way possible! Today is Good Friday because of what Jesus did, and every day can be a Great Day if you decide to respond to what Jesus did in the right way!
I invite you to join us this weekend for one of the great services we have at Elevate Life Church for Easter! Starting with Good Friday, 7pm, Easter service and SEE production, Saturday 6pm, Sunday 9am, 11am & 1pm.
If you are not in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, we invite you to watch online at elevatelife.com/watchlive
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