This letter was written to encourage the scattered Christians to maintain hope while suffering. The intended recipients of 1 Peter appear to have been facing significant hardships as a result of social and governmental opposition to their faith in Christ. In this Study of 1 Peter 1 and 2, Peter reminds these believers to stand fast, to endure persecution, to …
Change Offers Growth
One of the hallmarks of weak leaders is the insistence that the followers give unquestioning loyalty and adherence to them, often at the exclusion of all others. Such leaders usually employ subtle intimidation tactics to create fear in their followers. Governments rule by the threat of force, and religions by the threat of rejection. Both create fear and fear is …
Matters of the Heart
Why is the heart important? Well, from a biological point of view, it sustains life. Without the heart pumping the life-giving blood, the body would quickly die. The same is true spiritually. The heart is the well-spring of life. When it is allowed to become infirm with sin, a person’s spiritual life quickly deteriorates. This is why God, our concerned …
The Gospel of Christ
The word gospel literally means “good news” and is used 93 times in the New Testament. In Greek, it’s the word euaggelion, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel, and evangelical. Specifically, the gospel is the good news of Christ’s salvation to the world: 1.) That God so loved the world that he gave his only son to …
Family of God
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God. This fact is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that, as God’s son, Jesus is a member of God’s family. This is a spectacular truth to consider: God, creator of the heavens and the earth, has a family. And not only is Jesus a …
The Book of Titus
The Book of Titus is a letter Paul wrote in AD 63 to one of his faithful ministers, a man named Titus, a fellow-laborer who Paul left on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean to complete a work he had previously started. This Pastoral Epistle tells of Titus’s assignment regarding this Church at Crete – to “set in order …
Too Good To Be True
The first Christmas I remember was 1962. I was five years old. I recall rubbing my eyes in wonder and eagerly watching as the gifts were passed around by my two older brothers and sister. To my complete surprise, I got a BB gun; a small, lever-action Daisey BB gun! I was shocked and remember thinking, “Surely Santa made a …
The One Body
As Christians, individually, Christ is in each one of us – hence the name, Christian, meaning Christ-In. And we, both individually and as a Church, are in Christ, “In Christo.” This phrase signifies something dynamic, and not static; it signifies life and growth. Most importantly, it signifies union. We are in union with Christ. God provided this unchangeable reality of …
No Partiality
The early definition of the word “partiality” connotes something that is not whole or complete. The word later developed into an idea of one-sidedness, or, an unjust or unreasonable preference for a person or a group over against another, and this is its general meaning in scripture. In the Authorized Version, God testifies that He is not a “respecter of …
God’s Peace
The Bible tells us that God is not the author of confusion but of peace. Peace and order are essential to one’s relationship with God. When we consider God’s still, small voice, peace is essential for our well being in our walk with God. We cannot remain emotionally and spiritually balanced without it. That secret place in our hearts is …