We are back!

We are still assembling our team, but we are now back up and running thanks to the help of Rev. Clint Davis from the Chester ARP Church. He is allowing us to piggyback on a blog he is using for his church in February.

Kyle

1 Peter 1:10-12

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12 ESV)

Peter is here talking about the Old Testament prophets who long to understand what God was doing in bringing His grace. They only had bits and pieces of God’s plan. Even thought they did prophesy about Christ, even his suffering and death, there was still a veil over the fullness of what God was doing.

One of the points of our passage is that we now have the good news preached to us. We see clearly from the scriptures how God has saved us in Christ. We should seek to understand this because it has been reveled to us clearly now in Jesus Christ.

Application: Realize how blessed you are that you have the good news of Christ. You live in the light of Christ, whereas the Old Testament saints only had a dim light. These saints longed to know Christ, now that we have Christ we should long to know our salvation! We should long to understand who Christ is and what he has done for us, knowing that this will change our lives!

January 6, 2011 - 1 Peter 1:8-9

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” - (1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV)

What does it mean to believe? Many people will tell me, “I believe in God!” What are they saying? It depends on their head and their heart.

I believe that it is good to brush my teeth. My mind considers that to be a true fact. Yet, if I do not brush my teeth regularly, in my heart do I really believe that it is a good thing? If I really believed it, then my life would be changed.

If you really believe on Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord, then your life will be changed! Anyone can believe that there is a God. Hell will sadly be full of people who believed in a higher power, a god, even in Jesus. Consider what James says here:

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (James 2:19-20 ESV)

We are not to give a mental assent to God; that He is up there somewhere, doing something. We are to know God and his salvation even now, even though we cannot see Christ or touch Christ. This is a great hope for Peter’s readers and for us today too!

This is because we believe not in a mental proposition, but in the real relationship that we have with God who is active by His Spirit in our lives. We taste a bit of heaven now in our souls. We are re-made as a new creation, our hearts are changed, our attitudes are changed. Sin starts to die in us and holiness begins to live in us.

Do we see in ourselves the desire to grow in grace? The Holy Spirit dealing with us is an inward evidence that we have not only a mental assent, but a true trust and relationship with Christ. This should bring us great joy! For we are God’s people forever and ever. He will bring us to his heaven where the work begun in our souls will be completed and even our bodies will be redeemed and made anew.

Application:

Simple - Does your belief in Christ change you and direct you in life?

Do you have a desire to worship God, study the Bible, be with his people or is church something you do if there is nothing better to do?

Do you have a better taste of heaven as you go through this life or is God very distant from you?

What do you mean when you say, “I believe in Christ”?

January 5, 2011 - 1 Peter 1:6-7

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.“

(1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

We are called to stand to the trials that we face, not just to endure them but some how to rejoice in them. Are Christians immune to depression, sadness, and despair? Absolutely not! Christians still live in this world. We are called to be in the world, but not of this world. If we are in the world, then we will face trials. Yet in these we must know that God is at work for our good. The knowledge that God is working in us in our trials should encourage us and temper our frustrations in the midst of trials.

Andrew Bonar, the Scottish Preacher, quoted a Puritan who said that “a stick in the water looks crooked, but take it out and it is straight.” For us what looks “crooked in life for us, is in God’s will a straight and good thing for us. The key is understanding that we do not see what God sees as we look at life.

I had a friend that said that God’s providence, his perfect plan, looks like to us here on earth the backside of a beginners cross stitch. The threads run back and forth. There are knots, twists, ends, frays. It looks like a mess, until you turn it over and you see that every little mess in the back makes a perfect image on the front. We see God’s plan at work from the back of the cross stitch. God sees it from the front and it is a perfect plan.

So we know that God uses these trials, problems, and difficult situations to grow us closer to Him and to learn to trust Him in all things.

Paul writes in Romans, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

(Romans 8:28 ESV)

Our trials show us who we are. We see that it is genuine faith that endures difficulties, those with a false faith fall away in the midst of trials. Peter is writing to a people that need to know that these trials are but for a time, then when Christ comes whatever suffering we have done for God will have been worth it.

Application: Do you struggle with why God lets things happen in your life? Are their times that it seems God has allowed something to happen and you are left wondering why. Faith is about not seeing, and we cannot know everything God knows. What we can know is what he has said. God has said that all things work for the good of those who believe. He has said that not even a single sparrow falls unless he knows it, how much more valuable are we. Christian know that God is working in your life even if on the surface it might not seem that way.

January 4, 2011 - 1 Peter 1:3-5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)

One of the main themes of 1 Peter is hope for those who suffer for Christ. He is writing to Christians that are under persecution. We see in these three verse the rock solid foundation of our salvation. He is praising God because we have a living hope in the resurrection of Christ.

Christ is the first-born of the resurrection, just as Christ arose from the dead so shall our bodies arise from the dead on the last day. Christ resurrection serves as an assurance to us that our hope is real and true. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states,

Question 38: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

Answer: At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

Application: Following Christ is worth the cost! Though we might suffer here on earth for a short time, God in his power is watching over us and guarding us until the return of Christ. At the general resurrection of the dead on the last day, we will enter into the victory that Christ has won for us. Pray for those Christian that suffer around the world all sorts of persecution that they will remember this truth.

January 3, 2011 - 1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

(1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV)

In our modern day the art of letter writing has almost become extinct. The ease of communication and even travel has made what was once an necessary and important form of communication more of a luxury or a hobby. Letters were very important and much of the New Testament is made up of letters written to churches instructing them in the Christian Faith.

We learn that Peter is the Author of this letter and that it is written to Christians who were living in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. This is not just a few empty sentences, but are packed in theological significance.

One key concept is the Trinity. The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity is found in many places. Here we see the work of the Trinity in salvation. We see the foreknowledge of the Father. God in his grace has called a special people to be his people! The Westminster Catechism expresses this idea!

1. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
   A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer.

The Sanctification of the Spirit refers to the work of the Spirit in transforming us to be a new creation.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11 ESV)

It is by the Blood of Christ that we are saved!

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13 ESV)

It is the whole work of Trinity that brings salvation to Christians. It is by this work that we see Grace and Peace come to us!

Application - Understand that God has worked our salvation for us. The Father has chosen you, The Spirit is working in you, and Christ blood has covered your sin.

God Bless!

Pastor Kyle

A Morsel of Bread - A Beginning

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Matthew 4:4 ESV

This is a new blog with a new purpose. It is my hope to provide a short devotional everyday for our folks at First ARP Church Lancaster and whoever else happens by on the Web.

The Word of God is crucial to our lives. Our whole thinking needs to be immersed in the Bible and its teaching. It is my hope that God will use these short daily devotions to speak to His people and help them grow closer to Christ.

God Bless!

Pastor Kyle