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SET APART CHRIST AS LORD: Always ready to give a defense

1 Peter 3:15 But set apart Christ as Lord (Master) in your hearts and always be prepared towards a defense to all who ask you a word concerning your hope, with objectivity of mind and respect…

If someone asked you why you believe what you believe, could you answer intelligently?

When we are asked about the hope that we have, it is not much of an answer to say, “We believe because we believe.” Or, in other words, we are not able to give a reason, or articulate, why we accept as truth the things we believe. We cannot have faith for the sake of having faith. Since a promise is always the basis for faith there is no such thing in Scripture as blind faith.
In the context of the book of 1 Peter, the author is encouraging Christians who are suffering unjustly and facing false accusations against their character because they are not getting involved with the lifestyle of unbelievers around them. When we live a life the follows God rather than the ways of the world, we are discernably different to unbelievers because of our actions, not our words, which can give the perfect opportunity to share with an unbeliever the Gospel for salvation and the resulting hope from believing when we are asked why we are so unusual and dissimilar to others.
You do not have to be a theologian to know what you believe. You may not be able to read the Bible in the original languages, or explain every verse, but that does not mean you cannot know what you believe and why you have the hope that you have. All Christians can and should mature enough to know at the very least […]

SET APART CHRIST AS LORD: Always ready to give a defense2023-12-14T12:31:19-08:00

1 Peter

1 Peter

Peter an Apostle belonging to Jesus Christ, to the elect strangers of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia dispersed according to the foreknowledge of God even the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit because of obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace is to you and may possibly peace be multiplied.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is well-spoken of, who birthed us again according to His great mercy into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ out from the dead, into an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance, which is kept in the heaven for you, the ones who God’s natural ability is guarding through faith into a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, in which you rejoice, since it is necessary for a little while to suffer in various trials, in order that the approval of your faith – more precious than gold even gold that has been approved by fire –  should be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love, in whom now not seeing but you are believing, rejoicing with an inexpressible joy. And you will rejoice when you are in a state of having been glorified, having receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of the soul.

Concerning which salvation the prophets sought out and diligently searched, the ones who prophesied concerning the grace unto you, searching into what person or what time the Spirit from Christ by them declared, having before testified of the suffering unto Christ and the things concerning the glories to follow, to whom it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were serving in these things now announced to you through those who declare the good news to you by the Holy Spirit, having been sent from heaven, into which angels desire to stoop to look.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your understanding (workings of your mind), being clear […]

1 Peter2018-11-09T13:59:53-08:00

1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians

Paul and Silas and Timothy to the assembly of Thessalonica in God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace is to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We give thanks to God always concerning all of you, making mention of you upon our communication of worship, constantly remembering your work of faith and the toil of love, and the patience of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God our Father, intuitively knowing, beloved brothers, your election from God, because our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in natural ability, and by the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, just as you intuitively know such as we became among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you have become an example to all those believing in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the Word of the Lord has been sounded not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in all places your faith before God has gone out, so that we have no need to speak anything, for they themselves announce what sort of entrance we had towards you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God and to wait for His Son out from the heavens, who was raised out from the dead, Jesus, our deliverer out from the wrath to come.

For you yourselves intuitively know, brothers, our entrance to you, that it did not come to be empty, but having suffered and been mistreated, just as you intuitively know in Philippi, […]

1 Thessalonians2018-11-09T14:02:54-08:00

Colossians

Paul an apostle belonging to Jesus Christ through the desirous will of God and brother Timothy, to the Saints even 1 faithful brethren in Christ in Colossae, grace is to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ2.

We give thanks to God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, communicating in worship always concerning you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love, the one unto all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, which beforehand you heard by the word of the truth of the gospel, the one having arrived unto you, just as also in all the world, and it is bearing fruit and growing just as also it is bearing fruit and growing among you, from which day you heard and have come to experientially know the grace from God in truth, just as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Jesus Christ concerning all of you, who also has shown clearly unto us your love in the Spirit. Because of this we also, from the first day we heard, do not cease communicating in worship and asking concerning you in order that you should be filled up where you are lacking with the full experiential knowledge of His desirous will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthy of the Lord into all things pleasing3, in every good work bearing fruit and growing unto […]

Colossians2016-10-12T06:02:34-07:00

One Incredible Expression of God’s Love: The Greatest Gift of All

In the Gospel of Luke the author looks back on events with the purpose of setting things in order. You see, something quite miraculous had happened; something that was not expected, and in the end changed the world.  Luke begins his record by stating that he has undertaken the task of setting things in order for all that had been accomplished so that the most excellent Theophilus1 would have a full understanding of the events that surrounded Jesus’ life. Unlike other historical records, Luke’s was different because he was writing about a wonderful work that God had done; a work that would forever change the relationship of men to God and would bring about the downfall of our enemy, Satan; a work that was wholly unexpected from man’s point of view, for Luke’s history tells of something that no man could have ever thought possible. God came to be in the flesh.

So stunning was this new event, that not even the spirit beings could understand it. …which none of the princes of this age knew. For if, assuming it is true, they knew, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory2. How could the God who created the universe be in the form of a man who is created a little lower than the angels? You had made Him for a short time a little lower than the angels, You have crowned Him with a proper opinion and honor…  3 This was nothing they had seen before, even though many of times the spirit beings had been with the Son of God when He manifested Himself to men as the Messenger of […]

One Incredible Expression of God’s Love: The Greatest Gift of All2023-11-23T12:51:14-08:00
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