1 Peter
Overcoming the Enemy of Love
August 20, 2017 • Rev. David Juelfs
Sometimes what we need to hear is not what we want to hear. That’s how I personally feel about the passage from the Bible I am preaching on this Sunday. How is that for an encouragement to worship at Redeemer this Sunday? Peter is telling us that the Christian life is more dangerous than we realize, and that the comfort and safety we long for in this life is not guaranteed. Thanks, Peter! That’s not really what we wanted to hear. However, Peter does promise us that what is guaranteed is better than any fleeting comfort and safety this life could provide. Read 1 Peter 5:6-11. Meditate on it. Talk to God about it. Listen to God speak through it. This is not a message I want to hear, but it is one I desperately need to hear. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Love & Suffering
August 13, 2017 • Rev. David Juelfs
Why is this happening to me? Why now? Why in this way? God, where are you? This summer we have been studying together the letter of 1 Peter. Written by a wise and experienced pastor at the end of his life, Peter knew first hand what it is to suffer, to fail, and to lead others into and through both. I imagine that the followers of Jesus 2000 years ago, who were the first to read this letter, asked the same questions we do when we suffer: “Why is this happening to me? Why now? Why in this way? God, where are you?” Often suffering brings with it more suffering because we don’t know why we are going through what we are going through, and we simply just don’t expect it. Our hard circumstances can be made worse by the confusion, shock, and self-doubt that often accompany it. Peter knows this. Jesus knows this. That is one of the reasons we have been given the letter of 1 Peter. God wants us to know that he is doing more in our suffering than getting us out of it. Take a few minutes this weekend to read, meditate on, and pray through 1 Peter 4:1-6. If you are in the midst of a season of suffering these words can help. Yet even for those of us in a season of peace, of course difficulty and suffering in its varied forms can come at any moment. If we want to maintain resilience, even joy, when suffering does come, we must listen well to these words from 1 Peter. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Marriage: An Institution for the Sake and Service of Others
August 6, 2017 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Let’s talk about marriage. Too often people in our modern Western culture believe that marriage exists for our individual satisfaction. The apostle Peter in his letter says the opposite. Peter has a vision for marriage that is bigger: For a marriage that exists for the common good of others. In laying out his vision, Peter gives very practical and helpful instructions on how wives and husbands are supposed to love and serve one another. Take a few minutes to read, meditate, pray, and contemplate on 1 Peter 3:1-7. If you are married, reflect on how your marriage compares to Peter’s words. If you are not married, ask how you can encourage and walk alongside married couples in the church to best support them in their marriages, as churches thrive with a balance of married and single members. I look forward to worshiping with you all this Sunday! Pastor Adam
Being Present in the World
July 30, 2017 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
The Church is called to be present in the world. The Apostle Peter in his First Letter encourages the Church to be fully present in the world. To do good works for the common good and peace of the world. To support the local government and every human institution. And to even continue doing good works for the world when the Church suffers as a result of those good works. For the Church to be even more present in the world beyond good works and supporting every human institution, Peter also urges them to abstain from certain worldly behaviors. Yes, you read that correctly, Peter wants Christians to be more present by abstaining. Abstention from certain behaviors = Being more present in the world. In preparation for our study this Sunday, read, meditate, pray, and contemplate over 1 Peter 2:11-3:22. Reflect on where you spend most of your time, and then ask yourself these questions: How can you be more present there? Are their certain good works you can add/continue to do in those places and vocations? And are there certain behaviors that you can abstain from so you can be more present as well? I look forward to worshiping with you all this Sunday! Pastor Adam
A Royal Priesthood
July 23, 2017 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Every Christian is a priest. Every Christian is formed by love and has a priestly vocation to love others. This Sunday, as we continue our summer preaching series through the letter of 1 Peter in chapter 2 verses 4-10, we are going to see how God’s love not only forms us, but enables us to go and love others. A priest in the Old Testament was always a priest to real people. Likewise, Christians today are formed by the love of God and have a vocation to love real people in real places, no matter how easy or difficult it may be. Read, reread, meditate, pray, and contemplate on 1 Peter 2:4-10 and its application in your lives and your relationships to others. I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday! Pastor Adam
Love & Holiness
July 16, 2017 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
What does it mean to be holy? If you were to try and live a holy life what would that look like? Would that be any different from trying to live an upright or moral life? When the Bible commands us to be holy it’s telling us to be more than just upright and moral people. This Sunday we will be looking together at the call of holiness from 1 Peter 1:13-21. Take a few minutes to read, reread, meditate, pray, and contemplate on this passage before Sunday. While you do so, focus specifically on Peter’s call for you to be holy as God is holy and what that means for your daily life. I look forward to worshiping with you on Sunday! Pastor Adam
Love Revealed
July 9, 2017 • Rev. David Juelfs
If only we could have been there to see it ourselves! Have you ever thought that if you lived in the age of the Old Testament, where you could actually witness the miracles of God, then your faith would be strong and would propel you into a life of faithfulness and passionate devotion? In our passage this week Peter makes the case that what we have now, what we know now, what we taste and experience of God in Jesus now, is actually far better than anything the prophets of the Old Testament experienced. What they looked forward to we now see fulfilled. Read, meditate on, and pray through 1Peter 1:10-12 and 1:22-2:3. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Formed by Love to Love
July 2, 2017 • Rev. David Juelfs
We are formed by love to love. Our summer sermon series will take us through First Peter, and the themes of love and hope woven throughout. Peter tells us that we have been “born again to a living hope” (1Pe 1:3) and that we are to “above all, keep loving one another earnestly” (1Pe 4:8). Love and hope provide both our strength and our unifying mission. In times of trouble, when circumstances or even other people are afflicting us, our hope is to be so palpable, so certain, that even our tormenter would demand to know why they cannot with all their might crush our spirit and why we continue to love even them. As impossible as this sounds Peter tells us that the Christian has access to this kind of strength. It can be ours. Peter will show us how. This weekend consider reading through the whole of First Peter then focus back on chapter 1:1-9. Meditate and pray through that short passage. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David