Category: 1 Peter 4
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A Word About Suffering
1 Peter 4:19 “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Suffering: one of best definitions I’ve ever heard for it was the following by Elizabeth Elliot: “having something we don’t want or wanting something we don’t have.” According to the verse above, a similar…
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The Cost of True Faith
1 Peter 4:17-18 “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’” I remember…
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Fiery Trials
1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” How should we react when trouble…
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In Service
1 Peter 4:10-11 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and…
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Hospitality
1 Peter 4:9 “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” You’ve heard the expression, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, in reading the passage above this morning I had a parallel thought, i.e., that a few words from God are worth a thousand words of man. You see, our omniscient God never meant…
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Earnest Love
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” How earnestly do you love? What’s the extent of it? How far does your love stretch before it breaks? What’s its “tensile strength,” if you will? We can get some insight into this from the verse above. In essence…
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The Stretched
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly” It is noteworthy that the command above was given from Peter to Christians who were being severely persecuted. It’s a surprising message in that during times of extreme stress, our thoughts tend to turn inward, rather than outward. Don’t you agree? Isn’t it true that…
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Look and Live!
1 Peter 4:6 “For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.” Some passages of Scripture are more difficult to understand than others. Peter said as much when he wrote, “Paul…
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A Surprising Life
1 Peter 4:3-5 “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will…
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The Rest of the Time
1 Peter 4:2 “So . . . live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” One of my greatest regrets in life as I look back over the years is how I wasted so much time in my youth living not for…
To Encourage You 