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Words of Faith 1-6-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Today we will begin a new devotion series in 1 Peter.  Have you ever felt that you were under persecution?  Sometimes we go through a season of suffering.  At other times, the enemy comes at us at just when we are growing close to God.  1 Peter is addressed to Christian people, scattered about, who were going through times of significant persecution, suffering, and cultural conflict.  Can you relate?  I can.  These early Christians struggled to be victorious in Christ as people around them, and even the very culture they lived in was antagonistic.  How can we respond to tough times?  We can either grow or grumble.  We can be refined, or we can retreat.  We can either give over to God or give up on God.  Peter knew a lot about all those choices.  Peter knew the terrible loneliness that comes when we abandon Christ in the time of trouble.  Let's learn together each day from a very human apostle. 

 

1 Peter 1

     [1]  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

 

       Every day it seems there is more junk mail! Credit card applications. Messages are declaring me a winner of something I do not want and lots of advertising.  Even Email has become challenging to wade through.  If you are like me, the first thing you do is look at the return address and sort it all out. 

       Some of the marketers are pretty tricky!  They disguise themselves with a return address that sounds official.  Anything to get you to open the junk.  So there I am.  Toss, toss, toss.  Or on the computer, delete, delete, delete.  But then there is that gem.  There amid the junk is a handwritten return address that is familiar, from a friend.  A parent.  A dear saint in Christ.  A long-time colleague. The tossing or clicking stops.  Everything stops.  This is special.

 

       A similar experience awaits us as we flip through the pages of the Bible.  None of it is junk. Be sure to know that. But some return addresses are more familiar than others.  All are good.  But then we come across a familiar return address.  Yes, this is from God, but it comes to us through an old friend. 

       Remember Simon?  Peter?  He describes himself simply as an apostle of Jesus