This week Pastor Matthew introduced our 1 Peter series with part one: An Explosion of Praise. This book was written by Peter while he was in Rome. Peter (previously named Simon) was one of Jesus’s 12 disciples and wrote this letter to multiple communities of Gentile Christians within Asia Minor.
Pastor Matthew read and took us through the first 12 verses of Chapter 1, in which Peter introduces a type of floor plan for the book. The width speaks to our identity in Christ, the height to God’s mercy, and the depth to suffering, and how it purifies us to respond with praise, glory and honor.
We are dual citizens between this world and the Kingdom of God. We are to be signposts within this reality, pointing toward the next. The whole world should be able to look at us and know there is a God, as the same power that raised Jesus to life is the same power that works within us. With Jesus we are not to simply make it through this life, but to do so with joy and with praise.
