I Peter 2:24

I Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Our verse for today talks about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Because of the death of Jesus, we can live. He died for us so that we may be alive spiritually. Our verse also speaks of the beating that Jesus received of the Roman soldiers. This beating was prophesied over 400 years earlier in Isaiah 53! Our sins are healed because of the beating that Jesus took on His crucifixion day. This was all in God’s plan. God loved us so much that He sent His dear Son, Jesus to die for our sins. What a wonderful love!

I Peter 2:18-21

I Peter 2:18-21 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: In our verses for today we are reminded to follow the example of Jesus Christ. We are reminded to be good employees and to work hard for our bosses just as if we were working for God. And truly, we are working for God. If we suffer for being a bad worker, we are just getting what we deserve. But if we suffer for doing right, well, that is just the way Jesus suffered. We should be patient and follow Jesus’ example. We should be good examples to others. As our verse says, we should follow “in his steps.”

Thanksgiving 2014

Psalm100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Today is Thanksgiving in America. We commemorate that first day of thanksgiving that the Pilgrims celebrated in 1621. After a hard winter, when half of their numbers died, the Pilgrims had a bountiful harvest that fall. God had blessed them and they invited Squanto, Samoset, and their clan to celebrate the bountiful harvest. Here in Psalm 100 we are reminded to be thankful to God for His goodness. Let’s stop and thank God for all that He does for us. Let’s also thank God for sending His Son, Jesus and for making us his dear children.

I Peter 2:17

I Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. This verse is a great verse and tells us how we should live. Listen as I read it one more time and then ask you some questions. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. How should we treat everyone around us? We should honor them. How should we treat those members in our church? We should love them. How should we treat God? We should fear Him. That doesn’t mean to be afraid of God; that means that we should be extremely respectful and worshipful of God. How should we treat our government? We should honor and respect our governor and senators and our President. We don’t have to agree with them, but we should honor them in their government position. If we live this way, we will be happy and pleasing to each other and to God.

I Peter 2:13-15

I Peter 2:13-15 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: Peter, through the Holy Spirit’s leading, is telling us that we should be obedient to the government that God has put us under. We don’t have to agree with it, but we should obey the government because God has put it there for our security. But as in the case of Daniel and his three friends, we should obey God rather than men – if it comes to that. Jesus paid His taxes, but He came to earth for man’s spiritual needs. When Judas and the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter drew a sword to defend Jesus. But Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. Jesus had to die and He was respectful to the government. If we are good citizens and obey the laws of our land, people will notice and wonder why we are different. Then we will have an opportunity to explain why we are different: we are Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ!

I Peter 2:6-8

I Peter 2:6-8  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. Yesterday Peter used a newborn baby as an example of how we should go after God’s Word, the Bible. Today Peter talks about building a house out of stone. When the builders got ready to build a building back then, they got a big square stone and laid it in the corner. They measured how wide the building would be by measuring from that cornerstone. Then they measured how deep the building would be by measuring from the same cornerstone. And lastly, they would measure how high the building would be by measuring up from the cornerstone. Peter reminds us that Jesus is our cornerstone! We do everything from what Jesus said and what Jesus did. We are followers of Jesus. What is a follower of Jesus called? We are called Christians because we are like Jesus Christ. Are we truly like Jesus? We should be.