Download “Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises”

“God’s Directions for Life”
2 Peter 1:1-11
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-11
Memory Verse: “…as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3a
Lesson Focus: God gives us the power to follow His directions for our life.
Activities and Crafts: Coloring picture, Word Search and Rope Craft.
Rope Craft: We will be building a rope of virtues that our mentioned in 2 Peter.
1. Give each of the kids the sheet “Rope of Virtues”
2. Have them color their virtues
3. Have them cut out their virtues
4. Have them make a rope by attaching them together (like a paper chain)
5. They may add construction paper strips to make a necklace
(Remind the kids that as we grow in Jesus we are to add these things into our lives.)
Introduction:
√ How many of you know what a GPS is?
GPS’s are navigations systems that people use for directions. They are
great pieces of equipment to have, especially when you are in a new place
or you do not know where you are going. But they are only as good as the
information put into them. All GPS’s are programmed by human beings.
That means that people put the information into the GPS system.
Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they put the wrong information
into the program and it leads people to turn and go the wrong way. There
are stories of people driving into lakes and onto railroad tracks because
they are just following the instructions of their GPS system and it got them
into trouble.
Peter in his second book is going to give us clear directions of how we
need to follow God. Peter knows that any one who knows Jesus as their
Savior needs to follow the right directions and grow as a Christian. They
cannot be lazy! They need to grow in the Word of God and follow it’s
directions to grow.
GPS Game: Tell the kids to stand up and follow your directions:
Turn right
Stand on one foot
Put the foot down
Turn right again
Jump up and down
1
Stop Jumping
Turn right again
Touch your toes
Straighten up
Turn right again
You are back to where you started. Let’s look at the book of Peter and see
how God wants us to start and follow Him.
Bible Lesson:
2 Peter 1:1-2:
√ Who is the author of this book?
√ What names does the author give? (Simon Peter…Simon was Peter’s
birth name and Peter was the name Jesus gave to him. He is using both
names to show his humanity and who he is in Jesus. Peter was an
ordinary man that God changed.)
√ How does Peter describe himself:
1. servant
2. apostle
Peter is letting us know that he both served and led the church of
God. He is leading by Jesus’ example.
√ Who is Peter writing to?
(to anyone who has the same faith in Jesus)
√ What is the first thing he tells them?
Grace and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God. Peter is writing
to people who know and love Jesus. Peter knows that everything that he
has is from Jesus. He knows he is saved through the grace of God
reaching out to him through Jesus. He wants his readers to know this too!
2 Peter 1:3-4
The reason that we can experience God’s grace and peace is in the
following verses:
1. Divine power given to us – this power equips us for the following: this
power has already been given to us that know Jesus.
a. all things that pertain to life
b. all things that pertain to godliness
c. knowledge of Jesus… “This is life eternal, that they may know
You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
John 17:3
Our knowing God means that we are in a relationship with God!
d. Jesus called us to a life that is meaningful. The word here for
“glory” means “weight” or “heaviness”. We are called by Jesus to
live a life that is substantial and full of meaning.
2
2. Great and precious promises given to us. Peter will use the word
“precious” several times in his two books. The word “precious” means
beyond calculation.
a. 1 Peter 1:19; “precious blood”
b. 2 Peter 1:1; “precious faith”
c. 2 Peter 1:4 “precious promises”
√ What are some of the great and precious promises that we have from God?
1. “But my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in
glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
2. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give us the desires of
your heart.” Psalm 37:4
3. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are called according to His divine purpose.”
Romans 8:28
4. “I will never leave you or forsake you.’ Hebrews 13:5
5. “Casting all our care upon Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter
5:7
Because we are given God’s divine power and His great and precious
promises we can live differently than the world. We are to live like Jesus.
We have escaped the corruption in the world by holding on to the promises of
God. We find the promises of God in His Word. This is the book that we live
by. There is not one word in it that is not true.
2 Peter 1:5-7:
Because we have these great promises of God.
Because we have the power of God to live this life and to be godly.
√ What does Peter tells us that we need to do in verse 5?
1. Be diligent…we need to work hard…we need to be purposeful
in how we live by working on the following things:
2. Add to our faith virtue….honesty – or a life worthy of praise or
doing the right thing
3. Add to virtue….knowledge – to know God personally.
4. Add to knowledge…self control (begin to control yourself. If
you do not control yourself who will?)
5. Add to self-control…perseverance (to go the distance…to keep
at it. We don’t give up in becoming like Jesus.)
6. Add to perseverance….godliness (a Christ-like life)
7. Add to godliness…brotherly kindness (showing kindness at all
times)
8. Add to brotherly kindness…love (God is love and His call on
our life is to love others. He gives us the power to build the
qualities in our lives so that we can serve Him on earth.)
3
Because each of these word is mentioned twice Peter is showing us
that each of these virtues are linked to each other. Just like a
rope…each strand gives the rope it’s strength. As we know Jesus
and as we grow in Him we build these virtues in our lives. And
just like a rope we get stronger. This is our roadmap to follow
Jesus. These are our directions. This is our GPS!
2 Peter 1:8-9:
√ What happens in our lives if we have these qualities?



We will not be barren…we will see people coming to Jesus
through us.
We will not be unfruitful and will grow in our knowledge of
Jesus
If we lack these qualities it is like we are blind
-short sighted
- blind
- we have forgotten what Jesus has done for us. Forgetting
is a bad thing.
2 Peter 1:10-11:
Be diligent….there is not laziness in our walk with Jesus! We need to
know that God has given us everything we need to walk with Him. We
need to actively work or engage our minds to know Jesus. When we
continue to want to grow then God will help us not to stumble.
√ What does it mean to stumble?
We stumble when we do things that do not please God. Just like
we fall down and stumble, we fall down in our walk with God
when we do not obey Him.
√ Let’s name some ways we stumble in our walk with God?
1. Not praying and trusting God in our lives
2. The words of our mouths
3. The way we treat people
4. The way we obey our parents
5. Our actions towards others (selfishness)
We know from the Word of God that Peter stumbled. We know that we
will stumble. But the Bible tells us that if we sin and confess our sin that
God will forgive us. (1 John 1:9) But, if we are asking God to help us
grow and are building the virtues into our lives so that we may grow we
can walk with god without stumbling.
4
Conclusion: We have God’s directions to follow Him. They are very simple and clear.
We just need to do it!
5
FAITH
VIRTUE
KNOWLEDGE
SELF-CONTROL
PERSEVERANCE
GODLINESS
BROTHERLY KINDNESS
LOVE
6