Category Archives: 1 Peter

Real Rolex for 20 dollah!

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It looks real.Ephesians 5:1
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.
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“Is that a genuine Rolex watch for $20?” Street vendors in Thailand are known for responding to such questions with, “Same. Same. But different.” It is the exact same … only different. It is an imitation.

The Holy Spirit tells us to be imitations of God. To be the “same, same” as God even though we are “different”.

There are cheap imitations that look good on the outside but their inner workings are not the same. Such fakes won’t last. At the first test, they break. Lord, I don’t want to be a cheap imitation.

The Holy Spirit is not telling us to be fake, to masquerade as something we are not. In fact, He is telling us to be what, in Christ, we genuinely are. We have a new nature, a divine nature. We are new creatures, spiritual beings. We have a new mind, the mind of Christ. Imitate God. Be genuine. Live like what we truly are, born again, drawn from God’s gene pool, “his dear children.”
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1 Peter 1:14, 15
So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.

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13 – Lucky or Unlucky?

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I rolled a 13As I read through the book of Joshua, chapter 13 is one that is tough to read because of the strange names and most of us have little interest in how the land was divided. But, often hidden in chapters like this is a jewel if we take time to look.

You probably know Israel was divided into 12 tribes. Each tribe was named after one of Jacob’s 12 sons. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and that is why they are called the “Children of Israel”. But did you know there were actually 13 tribes? No, this isn’t some weird new teaching.  Continue reading →

The Greatest Miracle in the Bible

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Sad sun“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped … the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not go down for about a whole day.”                    – Joshua 10:13
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The sun stopped for a day! This is even more miraculous than raising Jesus from the dead. For Moses he stopped some water but here, the sun stopped! Did all the stars and planets stop rotating, too? What of the tides and gravity and all the implications of this complicated cosmic system suddenly grinding to a halt. How about folks on the other side of the planet who had two nights back to back. Absolutely amazing! Why would God do such an astounding thing? Why does it get so little press coverage in the rest of the Bible? Continue reading →

Crazy, Dangerous Love

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Luke 10:25-29
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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What was this expert in the law asking?  Who is my neighbor? In other words, just who do I have to love? I certainly don’t want to be wasting any love on anyone I don’t have to. The law seeks to limit liability and responsibility. “According to my contract I have to do this and no more.” “Just who am I obligated to love to fulfill the command? I will love my neighbor but no one else.”  Do you sense the straight jacket of legalism in this? Continue reading →

Devil on the run

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Devil tastes defeatLuke 4:13
When the devil had finished every temptation, he left (Jesus) until an opportune time.
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You know Satan wanted to stay on top of Jesus 24/7 tempting and attacking Him.  But after a period of intense temptation Satan left Him alone.  Clearly Satan didn’t want to leave Jesus alone but the Bible promises that if we will do two things the devil has to get out of our face – 1. Submit to God and 2. Resist the devil (James 4:7)  . Certainly he doesn’t do that by choice but he must flee.  If the devil is constantly knocking at your door and never goes away, something is wrong – either on the submission side or on the resisting side. Continue reading →

Pain: Evidence God has plans for you

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Trials against blue skies

Individuals that God uses in a special way are often put through deeper and more difficult trials than others.  We see this throughout Scripture.  You cannot name a single individual used greatly by God that did not face fire, opposition, sickness, hardship, persecution and testing.  In fact, you often see a correlation between the depth of their despair and the height to which God uses them after they have been proven by the testing. The deeper the pit the higher the mountaintop to follow. This is counterintuitive to our way of thinking (and, sadly, also counter to much of what today is proclaimed as “gospel”).  Why would a loving God not treat His children better?

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I’d kill for Jesus!

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John 18:10
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
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Some time earlier, during their last meal together, Peter boasted that even though the other disciples might all abandon Jesus, he was willing to die for Him. Evidently he was sincere. Here we see Peter was certainly willing to kill for Him. (Remember, Peter was a fisherman, not a swordsman. Certainly he was attempting to kill the man but was only able to clip an ear.) But the disciples were outnumbered and out armed so Peter’s attack could have led to his death, too. Apparently Peter was willing to die for Jesus.

But Jesus put a stop to Peter’s attack. The Lord was more interested in Peter living for Him than Peter dying for Him. Peter failed the ‘living’ test though and denied the Lord three times. Continue reading →

Arm Wrestling Your Wife

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1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
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Men, when Paul speaks of a wife being “weaker” he is not referring to the fact that you can (probably) beat her at arm wrestling nor saying that she is somehow flawed. “Weaker” speaks of more finely tuned, more intricate in her workings and, therefore, in need of extra attention.

When finished using your hammer you can toss it in the tool box but you wouldn’t do that with a guitar. It gets carefully placed into a padded case. The guitar is not faulty or second rate but it gets treated with “respect as the weaker” item. The hammer is built to take the abuse but your wife, like a finely tuned instrument, is not. She is easily “knocked out of tune” and, therefore, needs extra care. Continue reading →

Are you an innie or an outie?

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1 Peter 3:1
Wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to
the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.
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Not being a woman I want to tread lightly here but it seems Peter laid a pretty heavy charge on women in 1 Peter 3:1-6. He says if you have an unbelieving husband you are to win him by your actions – the purity and reverence in your lives – not by your words. He says your beauty should come from within – a gentle and quiet spirit – not from decorating the outside.

Maybe women find this easier than I do but my initial response would be, “Are you kidding? That is too hard and takes too long. Surely I could win my husband quicker by letting him regularly know how disappointed I am in him that he is not a Christian. Even with my regular prods and encouragement he hasn’t changed so how do you expect him to change if I just shut my mouth and … and … you are saying I should submit to him, too? But He isn’t even a Christian, at least not a mature one like me. Continue reading →

I Am Hopelessly Holy

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1 Peter 1:15, 16
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
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There can be no question that God wants believers to live our lives differently than we did before we became His children. If a profession of faith does not lead to a changed life there is reason to wonder if there has truly been a “born again”, “new creature” experience at the level of the spirit.

However, in my life, this has also led to discouragement, frustration and a near hopelessness because I am so aware of the fact that, though “The Spirit itself beareth witness with (my) spirit, that” I am a child of God (Romans 8:16) I still am no where near “holy in all I do”. Continue reading →