1 Peter
The Devils Opinion
December 11, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 5:5–11
During the advent season, we are called to celebrate the first coming of Christ and anticipate His second coming. This means we celebrate the fact that sin has lost its power over believers and anticipate the day sin loses its presence among believers. But in a season filled with joy and anticipation, we still feel the pain and tension of living between the two comings of Christ. Although the devil has lost its dominion over us, he still has an opinion that can influence us. His lies create in us a spirit of arrogance, anxiety, and apathy. In https://biblia.com/bible/csb/1%20pet%205, the Apostle gives us 3 ways to resist the roaring lies of the devil.
Expectations of a Pastor
December 4, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 5:1–4
If you ask 10 people what they expect from their pastor, you will probably get 20 different answers. Throughout history, pastors have been expected to be all sorts of things. But what does God expect the pastor to do? In https://biblia.com/bible/csb/1%20pet%205, God lays out the three expectations for every pastor: to be an elder, a shepherd, and an overseer. In this message, we will learn what these terms mean and how it effects our life with Jesus today.
Step Up Your Faith by Stepping Into Fire
November 27, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 4:12–19
By the grace of God, you will encounter a fork in the road where you have to make a decision: you can live by faith in Jesus, or you can die by fire without Him (https://biblia.com/bible/csb/matt%2025). If you put your faith in Jesus, you can’t help but express your joy through songs like, “I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground, my hope and firm foundation, He’ll never let me down.” But what happens when it seems like He does let us down? We set ourselves up for major disappointment when we confuse our eternal condition with our present one. Because contrary to popular belief, stepping up your faith is stepping into fire… and that’s a good thing. In https://biblia.com/bible/we/1%20pet%204 are encouraged to look at our trials like a fiery furnace: burning off our impurities & idolatries to further glorify Christ. In this message, we will learn about the three stages of faith that only come from stepping into the fire.
Your Threshold for Pain
November 20, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 4:1–11
In the Secular West, suffering has no role in the meaning or purpose in life. Therefore, you are considered “blessed” if you somehow find a way to mitigate disappointments and minimize pain. But can anyone really get away with a life free from pain and disappointment? In chapter four, the Apostle Peter gives us hope by paradoxically giving us a dose of reality. In this life, you will experience the pain of temptation (v1-3), reputation (v4-6), and expectation (v7-10). But in Christ, your pain can become a key ingredient to the life God designed for you to live (v3).
Win Them Over Without A Word
November 6, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 3:1–7
Words like “submission” and “authority” aren’t very popular in our western world. To follow a way of life that instructs people to submit to one another seems archaic at best and abusive at worst. But properly understood, the practice of submission is life-giving and freeing. In https://biblia.com/bible/csb/1%20pet%203, Peter pastors women in the church to lovingly submit to and respect their husbands. He also instructs husbands to lovingly serve and care for their wives. This idea of service and submission is echoed throughout scripture. Jesus himself teaches that true leadership and power actually comes through service and submission. The practice of submission then isn’t just for women, couples, or children. It’s a practice for all Christians that actually leads to the good life.
Stoke the Fear or Stir the Faith
October 30, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 2:11–25
In Peter’s day the church in Asia Minor was experiencing mild persecution, mistreatment, and social hostility because of their commitment to following Jesus. As tensions begin to rise in the world around them, they have two options; they can either stoke their fear of the future or allow God to stir their faith in Jesus. Like the church in Peter’s day, we too experience social hostility. And we too have the same options; we can either stoke more fear about the world around us or allow God to stir our faith in Him. By looking to Jesus’ life as an example, we see what it looks like to endure suffering and stir our faith. Rather than fighting back against the culture or assimilating into the culture, we allow God to grow our faith when we work to transform the culture through our suffering and submission. The first step in doing this is to honestly ask ourselves, “who am I called to submit and suffer for?”
Don't Be A Culture Vulture
October 23, 2022 • Trey Van Camp • 1 Peter 2:1–10
Although the culture we live in pushes us to create our own individual identities, our brains are wired to find our identity within the context of a group. Naturally, we discern our purpose, discover our belonging, and decide our values based on the communities we find ourselves in. As followers of Jesus, it is incredibly important to shape our group identity and practices around the humility and confidence given to us through the gospel. In 1 Peter 2, Peter warns us to avoid the common practices of the culture around them: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander, and encourages us to center our lives on the cornerstone of grace. Today, we live out this same identity by practicing humility and confidence within our community.
How to Be Holy - 1 Peter 1:13-25
October 16, 2022 • Caleb Martinez • 1 Peter 1:13–25
One of the most repeated instructions given throughout scripture is the command to “be holy.” We see it as a command directly from God given to the Israelites in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, a statement made by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, and in the middle of 1 Peter 1. To be holy simply means to be set apart. Holiness is first something that describes God. He is set apart and distinct by his moral perfection, but also by his very nature. But God can also make us holy through Jesus. Holiness, then, is something that is both done to us and something done by us. We are made holy when we repent from our sins and are saved by the blood of Jesus. But we can also be holy through our actions. As followers of Jesus, we live holy lives by aligning our thoughts and desires towards the way of Jesus. In order to do this practically, we must recognize the areas of our thoughts and desires that are not conformed to the way of Jesus. We do this through the practice of confession.
From Lost Homes to Living Hope - 1 Peter 1:1-9
October 9, 2022 • Caleb Martinez • 1 Peter 1:1–9
All of us need something meaningful and transcendent to give our lives purpose. In seasons of suffering, pain, or even just mundanity, we all reach for something beyond ourselves to make sense of who we are and what’s going on. The Bible calls this hope. 1 Peter is a book about hope. It’s a letter written to dispersed Christians living abroad in modern day Turkey who are experiencing pain. As Gentile followers of Jesus, they’ve committed to living lives that look radically different from the world around them. As a result, they’ve lost friends, jobs, homes, and their very identities. Peter opens his letter by giving them hope. He gives them an identity in their exile and strengthens their faith formed in their suffering. Today, we too live as exiles. We’ve committed to following Jesus in a way that has cost us social status, friendships, relationships, jobs, and our very own identities. But by allowing Peter’s letter to speak to us, and by asking ourselves where our faith and identities lie, we too can find hope that’s both living and life-giving. 1 Peter 1:1-9 CSB