Living to Serve

1 Peter 4:12-5:14

Welcome! Today we finish up our look into the Book of I Peter, focusing on the end of Chapter 4 and all of Chapter 5. I will start by backing up a few verses and looking at the verses we ended with last week:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. – I Peter 4:12-15

Living for God

1 Peter 4

Welcome! Today we continue our series of messages in I Peter. Today we look at Chapter 4. Because it starts with a “therefore,” I am going to start with I Peter 3:18 and then jump into Chapter 4.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit… - I Peter 3:18

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. – I Peter 4:1

Living in Harmony

1 Peter 3

"Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste behavior. Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you."--I Peter 3:1-6

Before I begin to explain these verses, I must make one thing perfectly clear. The word submissive in this context does not condone a woman doing anything immoral or illegal because her husband has asked or demanded her to do it. Neither does it authorize the husband the right to physically or emotionally abuse his wife if she refuses to obey a request or a demand regardless of whether it is illegal or immoral. 

The Living Stone

1 Peter 2

Good morning. We get to continue in our study of I Peter this morning. Chapter two is falls into two parts covering two topics. The first half of the chapter will conclude the portion dealing with our position in Christ. The second half of the chapter delves deeper into our response to what Christ has done for us and how He went about it.

Last week, we covered chapter 1. The themes that came out last week were:

--We are God's elect, His chosen ones.
--We can have confidence that we are chosen.
--Foreknowledge (God the Father), sanctifying (Holy Spirit), and obedience (Jesus Christ)
--We are God's elect strangers, we are no longer of this world, but passing through .
--Through faith, we are shielded by God's power.
--Our faith is proved genuine by trials.
--Our salvation is a precious gift not to be taken for granted.
--Therefore, we must prepare our minds, be self-controlled and set our hope fully on grace.
--Do not conform to evil desires, be holy.
--We are redeemed not by gold (perishable) but by the blood of Christ (imperishable).
--As a result of this purification, love one another.
--We are born again of imperishable seed, not perishable.
--All men are like grass, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

A Living Hope

1 Peter 1

Today, we start a new series. We are going to study chapter by chapter the books of I and II Peter over the next 8 weeks, a chapter per week. So, you may like to use some of your daily quiet times to read ahead or read the two books all the way through.

I struggled with where to begin today’s message. Since this is a new series, I feel like I ought to tell you a bunch of details about the author, the timing, the recipients, the geography, the themes, and … and … and. While those details are not bad things, I’m afraid that it might possibly distract us from the message and what it might say to us today, right now, and how we can apply these truths in our lives.

So, I apologize if you came in this morning looking for a history lesson. I think you’ll pick up a little history as we go along, but I’m going to skip the lecture and jump straight in to the Word of God.