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Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. (1 Peter 2:12) Pastor John’s Notes: Our witness to the world takes more than mere words. We must demonstrate the truth of the gospel in our actions. In fact, our actions should come first. Even though our behavior might be blameless and our intentions noble, people will still oppose us. Still…

Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11) Pastor John’s Notes: As members of the church, the body of Christ, we are to live in a new and different way. We are to become a holy people. Holiness is the word we use to define the character of God, and because we are now the people of God, we are to take on the characteristics…

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10) Pastor John’s Notes: Peter is inviting us to think back to the time when we were not members of God’s household. He wants us to remember what it was like not to have received the mercy of God. So let’s consider this for a moment. Without the mercy of God, we carry the burden…

For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, “The stone that the builders rejected—this one has become the cornerstone,”  and “A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over.” They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this. But you are…

This week we will read about the hope God has in store for the church, the body of believers in Jesus Christ. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— you…

For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you. (1 Peter 1:24-25) Pastor John’s Notes: Our hope rests in the word of God, for everything else is passing away. When God implants his eternal and living word within our soul, the product of that word is also…

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23) Pastor John’s Notes: As God has loved us, so should we also love one another. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom of love. Sometimes loving each other…

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21) Pastor John’s Notes: Here’s a fascinating concept: God had planned out our redemption even before he created the world. Now that Christ has come, we are living in the last age. All that remains…

If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. (1 Peter 1:17-18) Pastor John’s Notes: Our redemption requires both the activity of…

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1:14-16) Pastor John’s Notes: The call to holiness would distress any reasonable person. If we would be honest about our actual spiritual condition, we immediately question how holiness is even possible for us. And were…