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TITLE: Predictions for 2008

TEXT: 1 Peter 1:3-4


 

  1. As the year ends many are making predictions for what will happen in the next year.

  2. Some of these call themselves psychics and claim some special insight.

  3. Past predictions were not very accurate.

    1. 100 years ago during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a group of social analysts gazed 100 years into the future and tried to forecast what the world would be like in 1993. Some of their predictions were:

      1. Many people will live to be 150.

      2. The government will have grown more simple, as true greatness tends always toward simplicity.

      3. Prisons will decline, and divorce will be considered unnecessary.

    2. Almost 60 years ago, in 1949, Americans made some predictions about the year 2000 and what they expected:

      1. 88% believed a cancer cure would be discovered.

      2. 82% thought there would be another world war.

      3. 70% said we would not have reached the Moon.

      4. 48% felt sure we would have a 30-hour workweek.
        (U.S. News & World Report, 12-28-98, p. 74)

  4. I am NOT a psychic, I do not have special insight – but here are: My Top Ten Predictions for 2008

 

  1. The Bible will still have the answers.

    1. 1 Peter 1:22-23 22Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

    2. Many have criticized the Bible – still stands tall

    3. Men have worked to prove Bible wrong, error – only to fail

    4. Men will still have problems – Bible still has answers
       

  2. Prayer will still work.

    1. James 5:15-16 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

    2. Prayer changes things

    3. Prayer will change you

    4. Prayer can change the world

    5. Prayer is still the Christian's secret weapon – Ephesians 6:17-18 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
       

  3. God will still appreciate the praises of His people.

    1. Worship God

    2. God is looking for people to worship, praise Him

    3. That is why we were created

    4. Revelation 4:10-11 10the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
       

  4. There will still be a need for preaching.

    1. 1 Corinthians 1:21-24 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

    2. Great Commission is still in effect.
       

  5. There will still be singing of praise.

    1. Colossians 3:16

    2. Ephesians 5:19

    3. James 5:13
       

  6. God will still bless His people.

    1. 2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

    2. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
       

  7. There will still be room at the Cross for you.

    1. 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

    2. Ephesians 2:16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

       

  8. Jesus will still love you.

    1. Song – Jesus loves me

    2. Romans 5:6, 8 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

    3. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
       

  9. Jesus will still save the lost.

    1. Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

    2. Matthew 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

    3. Luke 19:10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
       

  10. And the devil will still be seeking whom he may devour.

    1. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

    2. Job 1:7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

 


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