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A NEW SERIES of messages begins this week. We are going to learn from the letter of Peter to the churches of what is now modern day Turkey. Peter was writing just before Emperor Nero's persecutions of Christians all over the Roman Empire were to begin. He was preparing them for a hard time, and giving them the hope which only Jesus Christ can provide beyond the hard time. We begin this Sunday with a most important greeting.....
Here's our text for Sunday, April 6, 2008:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
In the two verses above are contained all of the firm tenets of our faith. What we believe and who we put our eternal trust in.
Before we chose to accept God's ownership of our lives we were chosen by God to be offered it.
While this planet and our country, town, roof and bed are where we currently reside we are, because we have accepted His Lordship over us, aliens in our own land.
Christians were scattered to the four corners of the world before the Romans cast the Jews from Palestine because the Faith in Christ spread as new and varied peoples shared the Good News with other more varied cultures.
God chose us first, before we chose Him. We often say He LOVED US before we loved Him.
We are saved for eternity not by the work of our own hands, but by the love of God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus (the Trinity), evidenced ultimately in the very shedding, (sprinkling), of Jesus' blood upon the cross.
And finally Peter writes God's reason for us to accept His lordship over our own:
REAL Grace (unmerited and free forgiveness for the asking), and REAL peace (the peace, as Jesus said, that passes all human understanding).
So.....have you read the message now? Have you received all that God has for you from this text? I think not. I haven't and I've already begun to prepare it!
Hope to see you this Sunday, or hear from you, at least,
Pastor Ken
NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, all Bible verses quoted in this website are from the New International Version (NIV). Any words from those verses that are in "red" are words spoken by Jesus.
Pastor Ken sends a Weekly Newsletter that includes his devotional message for the week and an update of the current happenings at Hope Church. If you would like to receive his newsletter, just click below and he'll add your email address to his list of subscribers.