Elders (Pastor/Overseer)
They are told to shepherd the flock of God. The main job of a shepherd is to feed (teach). They are also to protect sheep.
How are they to shepherd?
Not by compulsion but willingly (avoid laziness)
Not for dishonest gain but eagerly (not overly concerned about money)
Nor as being lords over those entrusted to you (avoid demagoguery)
But being examples to the flock
Attitudes of Christians
--Submit
--Humility
--Trust God
Younger people should submit to elders. All should submit to one another and be clothed in humility. God resist the proud, gives grace to the humble. Casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.
Showing posts with label I Peter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I Peter. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2007
I Peter 4--Suffering
Since Christ suffered, arm yourself with the same mind that you should suffer in the flesh and cease from sin.
We should put to death that old dead man and make the flesh suffer by abstaining from those things that it takes pleasure in (lusts, pride, etc) and cease from sinning.
As nonbelievers, we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Non believing friends (once you've converted) think you should continue in this behavior and will speak evil of you. But they will give account to the Judge of the living and dead.
Be serious and watchful in your prayers.
Above all things have fervent love for one another. Love will cover a multitude of sins.
The pastor who married my sweetie and I admonished us that we should live in such a way that no one will know his faults through me. And vice-versa. I've always tried to live by those words. Of course, I can't think of anything negative about him anyway. He's just perfect for me!
Also we had friends who used to say "Love Covers." They especially would say this when they heard someone exposing the sin of someone else. The issue is not confronting sin for in other passages we are encouraged to to that. But there is an appropriate way to confront sin, and initially it is not publicly or to those who are not a part of the solution.
Be hospitable without grumbling. I love to have people over, but sometimes stress out right before they get here--trying to make things perfect. Unfortunately, the grumbling comes when the kids are not helping me reach that goal. I pray the Lord will help me to overcome and help them to be more helpful.
Use your gifts.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen
Pastor said all spiritual gifts could be broken down into 2 categories : speaking gifts and serving gifts.
Rejoice in trials that you are partaking of Christ's sufferings.
4 Attitudes we should have during Trials
--Expect it
--Rejoice in it
--Evaluate the cause
--Entrust to God
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you!
Don't go looking for trouble by being a murderer, thief, evildoer or busybody.
It's interesting to me that a busybody is as bad as the others.
Judgement begins at the house of God
We should put to death that old dead man and make the flesh suffer by abstaining from those things that it takes pleasure in (lusts, pride, etc) and cease from sinning.
As nonbelievers, we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Non believing friends (once you've converted) think you should continue in this behavior and will speak evil of you. But they will give account to the Judge of the living and dead.
Be serious and watchful in your prayers.
Above all things have fervent love for one another. Love will cover a multitude of sins.
The pastor who married my sweetie and I admonished us that we should live in such a way that no one will know his faults through me. And vice-versa. I've always tried to live by those words. Of course, I can't think of anything negative about him anyway. He's just perfect for me!
Also we had friends who used to say "Love Covers." They especially would say this when they heard someone exposing the sin of someone else. The issue is not confronting sin for in other passages we are encouraged to to that. But there is an appropriate way to confront sin, and initially it is not publicly or to those who are not a part of the solution.
Be hospitable without grumbling. I love to have people over, but sometimes stress out right before they get here--trying to make things perfect. Unfortunately, the grumbling comes when the kids are not helping me reach that goal. I pray the Lord will help me to overcome and help them to be more helpful.
Use your gifts.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen
Pastor said all spiritual gifts could be broken down into 2 categories : speaking gifts and serving gifts.
Rejoice in trials that you are partaking of Christ's sufferings.
4 Attitudes we should have during Trials
--Expect it
--Rejoice in it
--Evaluate the cause
--Entrust to God
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you!
Don't go looking for trouble by being a murderer, thief, evildoer or busybody.
It's interesting to me that a busybody is as bad as the others.
Judgement begins at the house of God
Sunday, May 27, 2007
I Peter 3-Christian living and the Good Life
I love these first verses. I'm considering committing them to memory.
Be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, know that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
Blessing means to speak well of, find ways to serve, pray for salvation or spiritual progress, expressing thankfulness, speaking well and desiring well being.
If you want to love life and see good days:
-refrain tongue from evil
-refrain lips from speaking lies
-turn away from sin and do good
-seek peace and pursue it
-pray
Who will harm you if you act in such a way? But even if someone does, you are blessed.
Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope in you with meekness and fear.
Be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, know that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.
Blessing means to speak well of, find ways to serve, pray for salvation or spiritual progress, expressing thankfulness, speaking well and desiring well being.
If you want to love life and see good days:
-refrain tongue from evil
-refrain lips from speaking lies
-turn away from sin and do good
-seek peace and pursue it
-pray
Who will harm you if you act in such a way? But even if someone does, you are blessed.
Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope in you with meekness and fear.
I Peter 3--Wives and Husbands
Wives, be submissive to your own husbands.
Gentle = meek and humble
Quiet= character of her action and reaction to her husband and life in general.
Perhaps I could learn to be more quiet in my reactions to life. My dh and I have very little conflict. Unless you count that once a year argument that we used to have over how to hang the lights on the Christmas tree. But we've handled that one, last year we bought a prelit tree! Hee! Hee!
Husbands dwell with wives with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel ...so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Understanding = sensitive to needs, fears, and feelings of wife.
Physically weaker--in need of protection, provision and strength.
All I could think when reading this is how grateful I am for my sweetie and what a wonderful husband he is. And how hard it must be to dwell in understanding with me when I flip-flop emotionally. Also, he is so great to be my source of protection, provision and strength, especially as a homeschooling mom. He encourages me to persevere even when I'm at my wits ends, which fortunately is not too often. I am so grateful to the Lord for the best hubby in the world!
Well, I have a story about being submitted. So I won't go down the road of pride and say that I am so submitted. I said that once, and the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me of an area I wasn't. But I try.
Do not let adornment be merely outward. Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.Gentle = meek and humble
Quiet= character of her action and reaction to her husband and life in general.
Perhaps I could learn to be more quiet in my reactions to life. My dh and I have very little conflict. Unless you count that once a year argument that we used to have over how to hang the lights on the Christmas tree. But we've handled that one, last year we bought a prelit tree! Hee! Hee!
Husbands dwell with wives with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel ...so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Understanding = sensitive to needs, fears, and feelings of wife.
Physically weaker--in need of protection, provision and strength.
All I could think when reading this is how grateful I am for my sweetie and what a wonderful husband he is. And how hard it must be to dwell in understanding with me when I flip-flop emotionally. Also, he is so great to be my source of protection, provision and strength, especially as a homeschooling mom. He encourages me to persevere even when I'm at my wits ends, which fortunately is not too often. I am so grateful to the Lord for the best hubby in the world!
I Peter 2-Submit to Authority, Words to Live by, Suffering
Beloved abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
Submit yourself to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Words to live by:
Honor all people
Love the Brotherhood
Fear God
Honor the King
But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. I've done good and suffered before, but can't say that I took it patiently. Oh well...I still can grow by God's grace! :-)
Submit yourself to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake.
For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Words to live by:
Honor all people
Love the Brotherhood
Fear God
Honor the King
But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. I've done good and suffered before, but can't say that I took it patiently. Oh well...I still can grow by God's grace! :-)
I Peter 2-Lay Aside, Jesus is.., Who you are
Lay aside
~malice
~deceit
~hypocrisy
~envy
~ and evil speaking
And desire the milk of the Word that you may grow.
I think we have to lay down the bad stuff and focus on desiring the Word. As we feed on the Word we grow and those evil traits lessen.
To those who believe, He is precious. But to those who are disobedient, He is a stumbling block and a rock of offense.
You are:
-a chosen generation
-royal priesthood
-holy nation
-His own special people.
That you may
-proclaim the praises of Him
-who called you out of darkness
-into His marvelous light.
~malice
~deceit
~hypocrisy
~envy
~ and evil speaking
And desire the milk of the Word that you may grow.
I think we have to lay down the bad stuff and focus on desiring the Word. As we feed on the Word we grow and those evil traits lessen.
To those who believe, He is precious. But to those who are disobedient, He is a stumbling block and a rock of offense.
You are:
-a chosen generation
-royal priesthood
-holy nation
-His own special people.
That you may
-proclaim the praises of Him
-who called you out of darkness
-into His marvelous light.
I Peter 1-Trials and Holiness
Genuine Faith
The genuineness of your faith is tested through trial.
When a believer comes through a trial with his faith intact he is assured that his faith is genuine.
Prophets of Old Testament
The Old Testament prophets inquired and searched carefully for this salvation. They looked forward with faith. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you. The spirit of Christ testified through the prophets. This is an encouragement to us as New testament believers that hundreds of years before Christ came, it was prophesied that He would come. And even back to the beginning of time, Adam and Eve were told of the Messiah that would come.
Here's an interesting thought:
In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner writes of the probability of just 8 of the prophesies of Christ coming to pass. However, there are many more that were prophesied and came true!
"Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10 to the 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom. Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 10 to the 17th power of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ."
Holiness
As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL your conduct. If you are a Christian, conduct yourself while on Earth in the fear of Lord.
You've not been redeemed with money, but with the precious blood of Christ. You have been foreordained before the foundation of the world. Since you have purified your souls in obeying truth through the Spirit, then you should love one another fervently with a pure heart. Fervently means stretched to the limits, going the extra mile, going above and beyond the call of duty!
I'm reminded in these last few verses of I John. John speaks of basically 3 essential for a true Christian:
1. Love your brothers
2. Obey God
3. Know God--sound Biblical doctrine, Truth.
The genuineness of your faith is tested through trial.
When a believer comes through a trial with his faith intact he is assured that his faith is genuine.
Prophets of Old Testament
The Old Testament prophets inquired and searched carefully for this salvation. They looked forward with faith. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you. The spirit of Christ testified through the prophets. This is an encouragement to us as New testament believers that hundreds of years before Christ came, it was prophesied that He would come. And even back to the beginning of time, Adam and Eve were told of the Messiah that would come.
Here's an interesting thought:
In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner writes of the probability of just 8 of the prophesies of Christ coming to pass. However, there are many more that were prophesied and came true!
"Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one of ten tickets, and place all of the tickets in a hat, and thoroughly stir them, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten. Suppose that we take 10 to the 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote using their own wisdom. Now these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 10 to the 17th power of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ."
Holiness
As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in ALL your conduct. If you are a Christian, conduct yourself while on Earth in the fear of Lord.
You've not been redeemed with money, but with the precious blood of Christ. You have been foreordained before the foundation of the world. Since you have purified your souls in obeying truth through the Spirit, then you should love one another fervently with a pure heart. Fervently means stretched to the limits, going the extra mile, going above and beyond the call of duty!
I'm reminded in these last few verses of I John. John speaks of basically 3 essential for a true Christian:
1. Love your brothers
2. Obey God
3. Know God--sound Biblical doctrine, Truth.
I Peter 1-- The Elect
The Elect
This book is written to the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
Elect means to pick out, to select. Those chosen by God to salvation.
I know there is a great debate in the church over what Elect means. And just for sake of clarification, I'll say that I lean reformed and therefore hold to the position that it's all God's doing. He chooses to bless those whom He wants to and elects them for salvation. At some point in the future as I have time. I'll try to go into the reformed position. Although I know that this has been debated for centuries and greater minds than mine have discussed, debated, and argued this subject. There have been books and lengthy debates and councils throughout church history that have discussed at length the Remonstrance and TULIP. So I'm not sure that my feeble attempts at a synopsis will do justice. But I may try sometime, just for the sake of trying.
Foreknowledge is the foreordained, predetermined relationship in knowledge of God
Why were some elected? For obedience! They are set apart from sin to obey Jesus. True salvation produces obedience to Christ. So why is it that so many in the church are willfully sinning? Perhaps it's because we do not know what the scriptures say.
Or perhaps we are not looking in the mirror of God's word and being cleansed
This book is written to the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
Elect means to pick out, to select. Those chosen by God to salvation.
I know there is a great debate in the church over what Elect means. And just for sake of clarification, I'll say that I lean reformed and therefore hold to the position that it's all God's doing. He chooses to bless those whom He wants to and elects them for salvation. At some point in the future as I have time. I'll try to go into the reformed position. Although I know that this has been debated for centuries and greater minds than mine have discussed, debated, and argued this subject. There have been books and lengthy debates and councils throughout church history that have discussed at length the Remonstrance and TULIP. So I'm not sure that my feeble attempts at a synopsis will do justice. But I may try sometime, just for the sake of trying.
Foreknowledge is the foreordained, predetermined relationship in knowledge of God
Why were some elected? For obedience! They are set apart from sin to obey Jesus. True salvation produces obedience to Christ. So why is it that so many in the church are willfully sinning? Perhaps it's because we do not know what the scriptures say.
Psalm 119:11 says--Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Or perhaps we are not looking in the mirror of God's word and being cleansed
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
But in order to grow in the Lord, we must be in the Word. I Peter 2:1-2.
We are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation. (verse 5) This is a good verse of the P in TULIP. Perseverance of the Saints.
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