|
1 PETER CHAPTER 5
KJV
WEB
See
previous page
1Pet 5,1-3
(12b) Servant
>>
Examples of God’s people >> Leaders are
examples of the Church –
Some people in pastoral positions don’t belong there because they don’t have the faith it takes to lead
others into a spiritual relationship with Christ (Rom 12-3), for many have ulterior
motives for becoming pastors in the first place, evidenced by the decline of
people entering the ministry when church attendance declined. Biblically, leaders
are servants more than they are leaders, as Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be
your servant” (Mat 20-26). Peter’s exhortation was to lead by example,
and Jesus taught them this more than anyone. See also: Problems of the Church;
101k
(76a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Hidden motives >> Based on selfish ambition –
Peter, the main apostle of the Catholic Church, bears witness against Catholicism. The Catholics mutilated the passage where Jesus called him Peter (literally translated ‘stone’) saying, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Mat 16-17,18). If the Catholic interpretation of this verse were true, Jesus would have advocated worshipping Peter, which He most certainly did not. Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Jesus was saying to Peter that flesh and blood did not reveal to him that Jesus was the Son of God; rather it was the Holy Spirit who revealed it to Him, and upon this foundation of spiritual revelation of God’s
word Christ would build His Church, not on Peter. Nevertheless, they picked Peter from the twelve apostles and figuratively built their church around him, and literally built Saint Peter’s Basilica directly over his alleged bones. Peter now testifies against the Catholic Church saying, “Shepherd the flock of God.” He was speaking to the leaders and elders, commanding them to exercise oversight over the
people. However, this is not the way the Catholic Church does business, nor is it how the protestant church operates. Clergy of the today's religious establishment
carry the vast majority of the ministry, which is not overseeing the ministry;
rather, they are the ministry! Pastors are about the only ones who minister in the Church, and the rest
of us are expected to sit down and shut up.
See also: Spirit and the Word (Spirit reveals God's word);
1Jn 1-1,2; 112j /
Catholic Church is not sanctified;
Act 22,24-30; 192f
(101f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Zeal >> Fulfill your calling with zeal – The concept of voluntarily leading
the Church is in reference to zeal. When we think of Paul and Christ (Ps 69-9), their zeal was voluntary; all zeal is voluntary. No one can force
anybody to become zealous. To be zealous is
to be obsessed, which is how the world describes religious fanatics,
and because of this, “zeal” has a negative connotation, yet this
was Peter’s message. If we
intend to fulfill our ministry according to the will of God, we will
have to do it with enthusiasm. These are the ways of God, who wants His
people to be zealous for Him and for the good works that He has prepared for
us (Tit 2-14).
(101k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Ambitious to promote the Kingdom of God >>
Building up the body of Christ – Peter said to exercise oversight; that is,
spiritual leaders are overseers of the flock, also known as shepherds. Note
that the shepherd is a completely different animal than the sheep. The pastor is in charge of evangelism and the sheep
are in charge of unity in the body of Christ. The only effective evangelism
is done through unity, hence the ministry is with the sheep. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the man
who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other
way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd
of his sheep” (Jn 10-1,2). Jesus declared every sincere Christian to be
a shepherd and leader of God's Church. The people who attend
church are the ones who perform the ministry, and the shepherd is merely an
overseer of their ministry, but in the Church today people have no ministry,
and as a result the Church attempts to reach a lost world apart from unity. The
most common perception of the people’s ministry is that of dragging people
to church so the pastor can preach to them, but according to Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John chapter 17), unity was His
top priority. His prayer was not that His church would grow numerically but
spiritually. God wants His Church to grow numerically too, but He knows that
if there is genuine unity among the sheep, people will come. With
unity we won’t even have to seek the lost; they will come to us, and the
prerequisite for unity is the truth.
See also: Problems of the Church; 138j
(138j) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >>
Exhortation >> Exhorting the people to remain
true to the Lord -- These verses go with verse 12. It
is very likely that the first century leaders of the Church knew that they
had a daunting task of writing the New Testament, converting sinners to
saints and giving the Church a good send-off before they died, since Christ
may tarry at His second coming for a few hundred years or possibly
longer. They evangelized cities and risked their lives to preach the
gospel with the boldness of Christ for the sake of
those who would be saved, and for the sake of the future Church. Their goal
was to save as many souls as possible, so by the end of the first
century the Church would be well established in many regions of the known
world, or else who knows what would have been the fate of the Church? They
succeeded, and by the third century the Church had become an entity of the Roman
Empire, but was that the will of God? What about us in the
last century? We were not called to write the New Testament, only to read
it, and most of us can’t even do that. Although we are called to preach
the gospel, yet we are not called to create the Church from scratch like the
first century did, nor are we called to give the Church a good send-off for
the future, because there is no future. We are merely called to maintain the Church in
the world, yet it is faltering. See also: Problems of the Church; 169j
/ History of the Church (First century Christians); 1Pet 5-13,14; 123g
/ Second century
Christians;
Act 5,17-20; 152d
(169j)
Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the
glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of
God >> Fearing their religion –
We come to church to sing songs, listen to sermons and tithe our money, but growing and maturing in the faith is not a built-in facet
of the religious establishment. Pastors and elders don’t know what to do with those who are
serious about their faith and are growing in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is an
eye-opening problem. It is not set up to nurture people maturing in the
faith but is set up for immature Christians to remain immature. The Bible teaches how churches should be
structured, that everyone should be able to both
partake and participate in the administration of God’s word, so that
anyone with a remnant of the Spirit has a
right to minister the word of God, but that all ended after Catholicism took
over the Church in the third century, and this architecture had remained
intact in both Catholic and Protestant churches to this day. This single observation is
only the tip of the
iceberg of the massive problems that plague churches, keeping them
ineffective in reaching their communities for Jesus. People who are truly seeking the truth and
spiritual maturity when the go to church are frustrated, because maturity is not
the goal of religious institutions; rather, self-preservation is their goal,
analogous to governments of nations, suggesting that the Church has
conformed to the world more than it has conformed to Christ.
Church elders don’t want people to actually mature, because they wouldn't
know what to do with them, but God knows what to do with them; He would use them to perfect unity in the body of Christ
(Eph 4,1-16). Church leadership supposedly kept lay people from ministering the word of God to protect the
doctrines of the Church, but their doctrines have been maligned by the very
people who claimed to be protecting them for the last 2000 years. See also: Problems of the Church; 240b /
Sign of a healthy
church; Rom 1,13-16; 123a
(198g)
Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained
by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions
>> In the ministry for personal gain
(240b) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >>
Pastor has a shepherd’s heart –
Leaders are shepherds; their job is to
oversee the ministry, not to be the ministry. At the workplace there is a
foreman; he is considered the overseer of production; he might do a little
work, but his main job is to ensure all the workers are correctly doing their jobs,
who make the product. It is the employees who do the work in a business
environment, so why are parishioners not allowed to do the work of the ministry
at church? The current format of the Church is conducive for false shepherds,
making them appear indispensable to the ministry, since they are the
ministry; and the current format of the Church is also conducive for false sheep,
helping them hide
undetected. The bigger question is how does the Church today glorify
God? It does very little of that, and since this is the purpose of the Church, it has all but failed in its objective. It’s goal is
to simply exist. Do you see how the Church has gone astray? It has had nearly 2000
years to perfect its wandering spirit. See also: Problems of the Church; 1Pet 5-2;
118f
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5-1,2
(247k) Priorities
>>
God’s priorities >> The will of God >>
We play our part in the will of God >> Doing the
will of God
(249f) Priorities
>>
God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >>
True perception of wealth >> Do not trust the
carnal perception of wealth >> Wealth influences
your motives – Shepherds must have a
willing attitude about serving the Church if
they are going to lead the people into the will of God. If a shepherd feels trapped
in his position, he should step down and let someone else take his place who
has a heart for ministry. Pastors should feel
driven to be leaders, and if he
doesn’t have that drive, then he shouldn’t be in the ministry. It’s one
thing to lose the drive to get it back later, but it is another thing
to never have it in the first place, who are
seeking positions of ministry for all the wrong reasons. Peter is saying that if
we
shepherd the flock of God for reasons other than to bless the
people, and if there is not a fire burning in our heart for God,
then our motive is wrong for wanting to be a pastor. People have seen that there is
money to be made as a pastor even in Peter’s day, but if
money is our motive for ministry, we will never mature, hence never mature
God’s people. Many churches across the country and throughout the world exist
for the pastor's sake, for his career and for his financial
success. Peter says not to shepherd the
flock of God for these reasons but for Jesus’
sake and for the sake of the people allotted to their charge. Look at the
Catholic Church throughout their intemperate history, having exhibited the
motive of money and prestige. The Catholic Church owns more property
than any other single institution in the world. So is the Catholic Church
about money? Yes it is! Has the protestant Church, a spin- off of Catholicism,
adopted their attitudes and values regarding money? Yes it has!
See also: Catholicism; 1Pet 5,1-3;
169j
/ Problems of the Church; 1Pet 5,1-3 12b
1Pet 5-1
(108k) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Revelation of Jesus Christ >> Revelation of the
glory of God -- This verse goes with verse 4.
Peter was a direct witness of the sufferings of
Christ. The Scriptures are a gift from God in that we have the thoughts of a
man who actually walked with Jesus for 3 years, saw the Roman soldiers nail
His feet and hands to a cross and witnessed Him alive 3˝ days later. Peter
said about His suffering that it is not all he witnessed; he is also a
partaker of the glory that is to be revealed, not a future partaker in heaven
but a current one, and in heaven His glory will be revealed in full.
(144b) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The Church Bears Witness of Jesus >>
It bears witness of the
cross –
These two come as a pair: the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow. We
cannot have the glory without the suffering. We are not in control of the glory of God, but we
do control to some degree the suffering that we patiently endure. Some people are not
willing to suffer for Christ, and therefore the glory to follow
may not be fully revealed to them in this life or in the life to come.
Peter partook of the sufferings of Christ as He was nailed to a
cross upside-down, and He died there, and he also partook of
the glory that was revealed to him. On the day of our death we will be immediately escorted into heaven and see the glory of God’s kingdom.
Being a disembodied spirit dwelling in a spiritual kingdom, we will feel at home there. When we
receive our resurrected bodies, then we will begin to fully realize the
glory that is to be revealed. We know that after the Millennium, God will
create a new heavens and a new earth that will befit our resurrected bodies,
made of the same substance (Rom 8,19-23). Being that the resurrected body is a
spiritual body, the new heavens and new earth will be a spiritual/physical
universe, for God will sow His Spirit into the new creation. See
also: Resurrected body will reflect our view of Jesus; 1Jn 3-2; 224d
(188e) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Suffering >>
Suffering the will of God in your life -- This verse goes with verses
9&10
(233k) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering
>>
Seek His glory through hardship -- This verse goes with verse 4. There
are many mysteries awaiting us that we will enjoy to the degree that we are
willing to suffer for Christ in this life. Conversely, to the degree that we
are spectators of the sufferings of Christ in this life, we
will be spectators of His glory in heaven. We will see it, but many of the
important things that God has in store for us will be out of reach, because of our
lagging faithfulness in this life. The next
life will be a continuation of this one, meaning we will not suddenly develop
a will to serve the Lord just because we are in heaven. There will be
spectators in the Kingdom of God who will watch much of the activities
that happen without participating in much of it. In many things they will
participate, but in the important things they will asked to sit. Living for Jesus and being faithful and obedient in this life will determine
our experience in heaven. The more we are willing to suffer in this life, the
more glory will be revealed to us in the life to come, and the more often God will
call our name and request our services to do the important things that
He has prepared for us. See also: Experience of heaven; Rev 14-13; 137j
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5,2-5
(95j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Attitude >> Obedient attitude >>
Positive attitude about authority
1Pet 5-2
(118f) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Eyes
of discernment –
Peter is talking to pastors everywhere telling them to shepherd the flock of
God. Pastors should oversee the ministry, but in churches today the pastor is
the ministry. People pick their
seats in the assembly, stand on cue to sing songs, return to their seats,
stand for prayer, shake hands, give their tithe, hear the sermon, stand for
the final song, socialize for a while and go home, and in all of this the people have
no ministry. If
anyone has a ministry, it is probably unrelated to the Church; therefore, we
can say that the format of the service is completely unbiblical, for the
ministry actually belongs to the people. The shepherd sits on the knoll of the
hill and watches the sheep, making sure none of them go astray and he watches for wolves. The problem with the Church these days is
that the pastor is afraid to delegate authority, and they must get over this
term Layperson, referring to education, whether a person went to
cemetery school or has a degree in theology. There is no such thing as a layperson in the Church, anymore
than there are lay-sheep. The people are ministers of the Church according to Jn 10-2, “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the
sheep.” Compare that with the current mindset of the Church these days:
there is a professional minister and the rest are supposed amateurs. This is
not the attitude that should be conveyed. We are all shepherds, but there
should be at least one lead shepherd to watch over the flock, giving it
direction. There are some people who
would scream about this and recite all the verses in Timothy about preaching
and teaching, but Timothy was not a pastor. He was an apostle's assistant; his job was to help Paul establish churches, so yes he
preached and taught and helped people get on their feet and trained pastors,
which is quite different from being a pastor. Once the church became organized, Paul and Timothy left the churches to manage
themselves, so the people conducted the ministry with the pastor making sure
everything operated properly. Every person in the Church should contribute,
not just folding chairs and tables, participating in pot blesses, cleaning the
bathrooms and doing all the grunt work, but actually ministering to people.
The format of most Bible studies correlate better with biblical Christianity
than the church service, and for this reason the Church is suffering. See also: Problems of the Church;
1Pet 5-1,2; 249f
1Pet 5-3
(2k)
Responsibility >> Avoid offending God
>>
Get out of His way >> Do not touch the apple
of His eye >> Do not oppose others
1Pet 5-4
(104k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Pure in heart shall see God >> Shall see Jesus >>
Shall see His appearing
– The early church revolved around the teachings of the second coming of
Christ, investing much time and thought dwelling on it and preparing for it.
2000 years later, Jesus is on the verge of His second coming and what
are we doing to prepare? Most churches are not even interested in studying endtimes, they say because there are so many views,
and there is no way of knowing which one is correct. It’s mostly individuals who
study endtimes on their own, hence individuals will be mostly
prepared for Jesus’ second coming and not the Church as a whole.
(108k) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Revelation of Jesus Christ >> Revelation of the
glory of God -- This verse goes with verse 1
(226b) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >>
God crowns us with glory for sharing our rewards >>
The reward of a crown –
When Jesus comes, those who have prepared will receive the unfading crown of glory. Everything fades
with time and some things fade faster than
others. Fruit rots on the kitchen table and mountains erode to hills, but the gifts and rewards we receive from God will
never fade.
(233k) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering
>>
Seek His glory through hardship -- This verse goes with verse 1. It
says in revelation that the elders threw their crowns before the Lord in
worship, indicating that their crowns meant nothing to them, compared to their
love and adoration of Christ (Rev 4-10,11). Why do we seek the rewards of
heaven; is it for a crown? God promises to crown those who are faithful, who persevere under trial, and the reason we seek a crown is not for the reward
itself but for an offering that we may present to Him. We don't enter
His presence empty-handed but come bearing gifts. He accepts our gifts, and He
rewards us for having wisdom to understand the relevance of bearing gifts when
approaching a great King. If the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon bearing caravans of gold, how
much more should we come to Christ possessing faith and a life that honored
His name?
(240a) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >>
Jesus is the chief shepherd
(243g) Kingdom of God
>>
The eternal kingdom >> The indestructible
kingdom >> The body of Christ is indestructible >>
The indestructible kingdom within us
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5,5-7
(8n)
Responsibility >> Prevent sin from coming
between you and God
(99b) Thy kingdom come >>
Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Enduring the will of God >> Enduring
the death of your flesh –
Enduring the word of God is easier than enduring the consequences of our
disobedience. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We are
not to get involved with the world or pursue a career that will later become a
hindrance to fulfilling our ministry that He will divulge to us in His time.
As a result, our life course and circumstances can be humiliating and arduous.
What is worse, when we wait for God, He holds us on reserve. God would rather have us working for a wage
that scarcely pays the bills, so we have time and
energy for Him and His cause.
The word of God and prayer together have the ability to prepare us for His ministry, and they also have the power to pull
us through whatever circumstances might befall us. Waiting
often causes anxiety, and Peter is telling us to cast “all your cares on
Him, because He cares for you.” Peter went through this
very thing (v9); He knew what it meant to have a vision. Imagine the twelve apostles before they met Jesus.
Peter was a fisherman, and he was called while mending his nets. The Father called His twelve disciples before Jesus entered
His ministry, and prepared them for the day Jesus would choose them. We
assume their ministry started at Pentecost, and they
assumed their ministry started the day they met Jesus, but in fact their
ministry started before they exited their mother's womb. See also: Story of the faithful; 1Pet 5-5,6;
77k
1Pet 5-5,6
(2l)
Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not stumble over Him
–
In many churches today we have pastors who act like charlatans,
something less than trustworthy, who are not in submission to God,
who are mostly in it for the money, considering their vocation more a career than a
calling. Back in the days of the early church they were scarcely paid for
their services and for the risks they were taking, receiving from the Church about the same amount as orphans and widows, which was barely enough to
survive. Today, pastors make a fairly decent salary, often taking home more
than the average parishioner of their churches. "This also is vanity and a great evil" (Ecclesiastes 2-21).
(23a) Sin
>>
Pride closes the windows of heaven – Imagine
serving a proud and arrogant God. Thankfully, God is opposed to the proud, and He gives His Spirit to the
humble (Jm 4-6), but those
who think they don’t need God have a hard time with faith, because in their
hearts they are aware of their arrogance. They instinctively know that God shies
from human pride, so they have no real reason to hope in Christ. If they tried to believe, where would they put their confidence that
God would listen to them? Those who are humble faith falls into
their laps, which drives them into the truth and the truth into the righteousness of
God, but the arrogant cannot afford a place with Him in their hearts because
of arrogance. The proud and arrogant seek to exalt themselves,
so God asks, ‘What do you need with me?’ For this reason they never come to know God
or believe in His gift of eternal life that He purchased with His own blood that
He gives to the humble through His Spirit.
(56c) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> Humble yourself to be chosen of God
(77k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Being Humble Before God >> Having an attitude of
humility – God wants us not
just to
wait for heaven, but to partake of His life here and now. This is the hope of
humility: that
God would exalt us. There is a time when our lives come to a crescendo through many years of
patient endurance, bringing about the reward of faith and love. God will
eventually vindicate us who are willing to receive
God's blessing and cast their anxiety on Him, but those who exalt
themselves have all the more anxiety, because they have no one to
carry their load and no remedy for their inner turmoil. They must endure
the assault of their flesh against their own person in the weakness of soul that
plagues their lives. See also: Story of the faithful; 1Pet 5,6-8; 96h
(111a) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Spirit and the word >> Spirit sets you apart by
the word >> Set apart through
repentance
(116m) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke by dying to
self >> Dying to self by the Spirit
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5-5
(3k) Responsibility
>> To the Family
>>
God addresses both genders >> Good men – Subject yourselves to good men who are your
elders in the Church, for these things are necessary in order to perfect unity
in the body of Christ. One of the end results of humility is that we receive
grace from God, so we benefit and our lives are enhanced and we become
blessed, but the one who exalts himself and seeks to take charge and refuses
to submit to authority in the Church, God opposes. “Let not that
man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways” (Jm 1-7,8). We need to beware of those who
lack humility, who refuse to submit to authority, but cling to our leaders who
practice and understand humility (hopefully).
(4l)
Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >>
Being accountable to your brother –
The first thing we need before submitting to our elders is humility, for
coming short of humility doesn’t take us far with God; plus, how can we submit to Him if we can’t even submit to one another? If we
humble ourselves and submit to our elders, then we can do the same with God,
but if we don’t have these qualities,
then we don’t know Him. In today’s Church we need more discernment than
ever to discern who is our true brother in the faith, because some of the
proofs are missing, but then maybe the missing proofs are proof they are not
the true brethren.
(31b) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> He favors you as a servant
(57d) Paradox >>
Opposites >> God is opposed to the proud, but
gives grace to the humble –
God says that He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, so if
someone does not submit to their elders, it is evidence that God opposes them.
The word for “oppose” is opponent and a synonym for opponent
is enemy, and James said, “Whoever wishes to be a friend
of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Jm 4-4). Those who
will not submit to their church elders have befriended the world, which does
not feel the need for humility. The world exalts itself to get ahead but
thinks humility is a fool’s game. However, without humility we cannot relate to God;
without humility God Himself will oppose us, but with humility God
will endow us with His grace, and of course it takes grace to have humility
(catch-22),
and for this reason Jesus said, “whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an
abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away
from him” (Mat 13-12). This is one of the principles of God's kingdom;
humility begets humility, arrogance begets arrogance, rebellion begets
rebellion and submission begets submission. Whatever direction we are headed
gains momentum, and it will exponentially hurl us in that direction, making it much harder to stop if we
suddenly recognize the error of our ways. Likewise, if we are walking in humility, we
will gain momentum in that direction,
and in that direction we will receive grace upon grace to continue in that
direction. We just have to push ourselves in
the right direction to start and let momentum take-over. We must push through a few
obstacles to show God our loyalty, show the devil whose boss and show those around us that we
mean business about our faith, and things get easier, but if we straddle the fence, it
will never get easier and there is no reward. Those who straddle the fence are the most
miserable of all.
(73b) Authority
>>
Respect your leaders >> Those in charge of the
word –
The Church in the days of the apostles and the early Christians prior to
300 AD stressed that the saints should subject themselves to their elders. The
elders earned their respect and then warned the people that if they didn’t
submit, it was proof they didn't fear God either. What makes this
significant is that the elders were utterly trustworthy. They risked their
lives to shepherd the flock. They were the first ones to be arrested and
thrown in dungeons, often tortured and killed for their faith.
Sometimes their persecutors would just arrest the leaders and the flock would
scatter, thinking that if they made people afraid of them,
the Church would cower and die, minimizing the martyrs, knowing that persecution
had the opposite effect of inciting the Church to grow spiritually and numerically. They didn’t want
to wipe out an entire church population (though it had been done) because that would make
them murderers, and society would frown on them, and Christianity
would flourish. Martyrdom opens
people’s eyes to the fact that there are those who believe something so
strongly, they are willing to die for their faith. This more
than incites people’s curiosity; it makes them want to believe in Jesus.
(113e) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >>
Garments of the new creation
(131k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Working together for one cause
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5,6-8
(96h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Attitude >> Having an attitude of humility – God tells us things in advance,
giving us time to endure the
word of God for a season before He releases us to fulfill our ministry. He exalts us at certain
times and gives us
visions and dreams so that we come to know things from the Spirit. We spend our lives
waiting for Him to impart these special moments and messages in our lives,
that we might share them with others who will receive us. We are like
a fine wine in a dank cellar before we are allowed in the light of day to
begin our ministry and fulfill our visions from God. We go through trials and
learn from them for the sake of faith. Meanwhile, God orchestrates
circumstances and events in the world and in the Church among our fellow
believers, so when the proper time comes, we will be ready, and those whom
God has prepared receive our ministry. It would do no good if we went through
years of preparation, trusting God and hoping and waiting for a people who will receive
us to never meet those people and no one receive our ministry. By the same
token it would be useless for God to prepare a people to receive the word of
God but no mouthpiece to tell them. See also: Story of the faithful; 1Pet 5,5-7;
99b
1Pet 5-6
(215c) Sovereignty
>>
God controls time >> God’s timing >>
Fulfillment of God’s time >> The moment we
have all been waiting for
1Pet 5-7
(24f) Sin
>>
Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Anxiety >>
Worrying about the things you need –
Fear without an object is called anxiety; people become anxious over nothing. With
some people anxiety is their normal mental state. We can point at the thing
that is the source of our anxiety, but when we look closer, it is unfounded.
There is really no need to be anxious about the things that keep us awake at
night; Paul said to “be anxious for nothing,” that if we are anxious, we
should pray about it (Phi 4-6,7). When we become anxious, the best thing to do
is label it, and we will soon find that we cannot actually locate the source
of anxiety. As Paul said, we are literally anxious for nothing. God
doesn’t want us to live in any kind of fear whether founded or unfounded.
Sometimes it is actually less fearful when our fear has an object, because
then we can address it and try to resolve the problem, but anxiety is
insidious in that it doesn’t have an object and therefore no way to
address it. Paul told us to
address all our anxiety through prayer, and that the antidote for anxiety is
peace, which indicates the nature of anxiety; it is a state of unrest. We
may think restlessness is not that big a deal, but it takes away our energy;
it weakens us, and usually it is a door into our mind for confusion. Being preoccupied with
anxiety makes it harder for us to focus on the real problems.
(33j) Gift of God
>>
God is our Father >> God serves His people who
serve Him >> He treats His people with special
care –
We are to cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us. Though our
circumstances be unsolvable, God’s love trumps them all. Anxiety is like a
car that gets stuck in the mud; the wheels are spinning and throwing up mud, but
we’re not going anywhere. People know those who are afflicted with anxiety;
they have worry lines troubling their faces. It is not the will of God that we should worry; He wants us to
know His peace and live by it. The voice of anxiety says we can’t solve
our problems, and God isn’t willing to help us either, but every bit of that
is a lie. We need to understand there is no truth in anxiety; in fact,
God and fear are opposites. God fears nothing, and we are the children of God.
He wants us to train our mind to fear nothing, because there is no object of our
fear that is big enough to overcome us. When we think of the most
horrible thing that could happen to us, if we subtracted fear, would minimize
the scenario to a manageable level.
When the emotional aspect disappears, the problem almost goes away by itself.
Faith overcomes fear by the knowledge that God fears nothing and that He cares
about us. Fear is a choice; every time we choose to fear, it is always the
wrong choice, and we must be careful that it doesn't create our reality. God wants
the opportunity to create our reality, and we need to give Him that
opportunity by becoming a student of the word and a disciple of prayer. He wants us to know the
truth and we
cannot know the truth in a mental state of fear.
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5,8-10
(8o)
Responsibility >> Prevent backsliding from God
(28b) Gift of God
>>
God is our advocate >> God protects us through
our faith
(45k) Judgment
>>
Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >>
Satan VS the saints
– We have a spiritual
enemy not left to conjecture. People who deny the existence of Satan
understand nothing about the spiritual realm. They are especially ignorant of God,
and if they don’t understand Him, it explains why they don't understand the
bondage of demons, for darkness blinds them both to itself and
to God. This is how people end up with a secular worldview, being arrogant
and convinced that they are right about everything,
but God has given us wisdom that the world does not understand. We only need
to
open our eyes and see the truth for ourselves. The lying demons roam the earth
looking for people to devour who are spiritually naďve and want to suck the life
from them, who afterward have
no alternative but to make victims of others, as the devil has done to them.
Possessing nothing in themselves, they can only steal, kill and destroy. The opposite of
spiritual darkness is faith, which is the engine that produces love, and love freely
gives of itself to a world devoid of substance. We receive from God what we freely give; we
have an endless supply of all good things originating from heaven. When we
encounter victims of demonic ravaging, the spirits behind the façade want to suck the
life from us too, but we resist them firm in our faith, not firm in our flesh. The devil uses people to spread his
death and destruction throughout the world. If we resist their flesh it
accomplishes nothing, but if we resist their demons, the
people will be exposed as servants of Satan.
(46g) Judgment
>>
Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >>
Removing Satan’s obstructions –
The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy our vision. He
wants to pull it out of our heart, throw it on the ground and trample it. One small step at a
time he leads us into sin, sin
leading to doubt, doubt leads to unbelief, which is the devil's belief system.
Our
vision becomes a distant memory, appearing immaterial, though we remember it was once the most substantive
factor in our lives. We feel fooled into believing a lot of vaporous ideas,
but Satan is the vaporous one; all he offers is lies and
deception. To the flesh our vision gets in the way of its pleasure-seeking
adventures, and to our faith the
world gets in the way of obeying Christ, so which will we choose? The world promises
everything, but delivers nothing except that we die
in the end, while God promises eternal life and asks for our patience to
receive it. We need to look past Satan's lies to the truth of God and His
vision for us.
(98l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >>
Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >>
Endurance invites the glory of God
(146h)
Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness
of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Disciples have
authority to cast out demons – It is a common scenario to be at war with
the devil. We can feel it in our spirit; we can sense the demons, and we know
what they want. They want our faith, the
engine that produces love that promotes the Kingdom of God in a world of evil. Satan wants to
replace our faith with disobedience and unbelief, but if we resist him firm in
our faith, his strength will fade, and he will have to submit to our will that
we have subjected to Christ.
This is also true about casting out demons; sometimes we have to suffer for a
little while and persevere, but eventually they must leave. Their
resistance is a lie, and the light of God’s authority over spiritual powers
of wickedness will expose their deceptive resistance. Their failure to resist the power of God exposes their lies, and
by this they are exorcized. There is not a big difference between someone who
is demon possessed and someone who implicitly obeys them, willingly
spreading death and destruction along his path, because the result is the
same. Once the demons are put in their place, God will
establish us on a higher plateau of faith that grows at every victory.
(192g) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by
losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >>
Being patient to receive something better
1Pet 5-8,9
(158a) Works of the devil
>>
Excerpts of the greatest verses of this chapter
1Pet 5-8
(84a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >>
Stay awake
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5-9,10
(32l) Gift of God
>>
Father will honor your devotion to Him >> He
will honor
your faith
(98a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >>
Standing firm in the faith >> Be strong
(170i) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Outward
appearance >> Temporary >>
All suffering is temporary
(188e) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Suffering >>
Suffering the will of God in your life -- These verses go with verse 1
1Pet 5-9
(100f) Thy kingdom come
>>
Diligence >> Diligence in working the grace of
God – We know how to resist
telemarketers and so-called charities: we ignore them. They pester us
to give them money with no guarantee how that money will be used once it
leaves our hand, and they won’t take no for an answer. They remain persistent, hoping we will cave to their pressures just to get rid
of them; but if we give them one red cent, it will incite them to call (or
mail) us
all the more. Telemarketers have the ability to call multiple numbers at once and talk to the first person
who picks up the phone, and however many people they interrupted on other
lines to talk to that one person is immaterial to them, just like we mean nothing to
the devil. They use Satan's tactics because they are his children, who is also
persistent in his harassment and temptations. Peter is telling us
to resist him and his servants firm in the faith, not surrendering to their lies and deceptions, but
knowing they do not have our interests in mind. The best way to get rid of
fake-charities is to read the Bible to them (Mat 4,1-11), or else record your
voice reading the Bible and play it back to them as a robo-respondent. The gospel of John chapter three is a good choice; it
speaks about being born again and the love of God and about judgment to come
for those who reject His love.
We’re not being mean when we tell them about Jesus, for they need to hear
the message of salvation. With the bundles of snail-mail we get badgering us
to give, look for their no-postage-necessary envelop and mail their junk back
to them. We resist the devil in the same way: read him the Bible.
(106l) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Hearing from God >> Purpose of hearing from God >>
To protect your faith
(136b) Temple
>>
Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of
Christ >> Similarity in the body >>
The body suffers together
1Pet 5,10-12
(116f) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Through hardship
1Pet 5-10
(9f)
Responsibility >> God strengthens us
through our weaknesses –
Time is like a knife that cuts, and God uses time to cut through our theories; if we are wrong they will not stand the test of time. This is
usually His method of correcting us; it is effective and can also be very painful, because it causes chronic suffering.
(43i) Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Perfected by God
(91k) Thy kingdom come
>>
The called >> Titles of His calling >>
His calling makes you a distinct member of the body
(113l) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
The anointing >> Anointing establishes us in His
will
(155h) Witness
>>
Validity of the believer >> Witness of the
believer >> The Father bears witness of the
believer
(215e) Sovereignty
>>
God controls time >> God’s timing >>
God views time in eternity >> God sees eras as
moments
(226f) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >>
Eternal rewards
1Pet 5-11
(213c) Sovereignty
>>
God is infinite >> God is all powerful >>
The creation is subject to Christ –
Reader, look out your window and try to see past the changes caused by time, and
then imagine the future changes that will transpire
as a direct result of Christ’s Kingdom established on the earth. It will be
a far different world than it is now. Jesus will take possession of this earth
and become king of the entire planet. He will evict Satan,
who will be chained for a thousand years, and all the people who will not
worship God will be killed during the bowls of God’s fierce wrath, until
only a remnant remains prior to His coming, and they will repopulate the
earth. Over the centuries millions of people will be born,
and they will be worshippers of God, and if anyone disobeys Him, the Lord will
know about it, and justice will be swiftly rendered. The rains will not come
to his field, and his crops will wither (Amos 4-7). This will be the way of the kingdom in the Millennium; it will be a
thousand years of peace and prosperity,
and in the ages to come after that, we will be integrated into Christ and
interwoven with our fellow saints as one and have the
same mind, so there won't be any terms or conditions to our inheritance,
except that God has saved us and we live for Him, He raised us from the dead
and perfected us so that we are an extension of Himself; we represent Christ;
we are His hands and feet. These things are true even now, but they will be
truer in the ages to come. Now it is spiritually true that we are the body of
Christ, but then it will take on physical qualities, so that the literal with engulf
the figurative. See
also:
Post-millennium
theology,
trying to force God's hand; 1The 5-15; 46aa
(252i) Trinity
>>
You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship
God >> Worship God for who He is >>
Glorifying God
KJV
WEB
/ Navigation Bar
1Pet 5-12
(98b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Rooted deeply >>
Plant the word deeply in your heart
(102c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Faithfulness is
dependable >> God’s servants are dependable
(114e)
Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy
Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the
revelation by putting away the flesh – The true grace of God is the
truth, which is simple to understand; it is written in the Bible; all we need to do is read it. It’s all there, but outside the truth
is a world of lies and deception. Any contrivance that man would believe
comes from a near infinite array of ideas, none of them upholding the truth,
and the devil makes sure of it. God’s truth is infinite and eternal, but we don’t see God’s truth
as infinite yet; all we see is what we can read in the Bible, which
has numbered pages that goes so far and then ends. His perception of the truth
is the truth. When we get to heaven and God reveals the
truth to us, it will take an eternity to process it and fully
understand it and comprehend Him, but while we are here He asks us to process
the truth he has given us by standing firm in it.
(138j) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Exhortation >>
Exhorting the people to remain true to the Lord -- This verse goes with
verses 1-3
1Pet 5-13,14
(123g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Love >>
Spiritual affection >> Ministry of the saints >>
Emotional benediction toward helpers –
In the first century people greeted each other with a “holy kiss”, but
that was replaced with a simple handshake or a hug after such a greeting
became an opportunity for the flesh; kissing the young girls
became abusive.
Had the original apostles been alive in the days when the Church replaced the
kiss of greeting for a handshake, they would have severely rebuked those who
were party to this abuse. It shows that the Church was beginning to slip from
its stand of holiness early in its lifetime. These were all signs of apostasy
already infiltrating the Church, complacency and lack of sincerity of faith.
From the first century to this day, nobody really knows what they had and
lost. See also: First century Church; 1Pet 5,1-3; 138j
1Pet 5-13
(61g) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> Babylon—Capital city
of the abominations of the earth / Home town of the Jezebel spirit –
Babylon was in Persia, which is present-day Iraq. In the days of
Nebuchadnezzar Babylon flourished, and then like all nations it was toppled by another in its rise to power. Babylon
was never rebuilt, nor was any other city built upon its soil since its fall
in 539 BC. Much like Sodom and Gomorra, that too is a place that
has never been inhabited by another people since its fall in 1852 BC. So when
Peter mentions Babylon, he is not talking about the original Babylon but a
type of it, and that city is Jerusalem. Babylon conquered Israel and captured
Jerusalem because of their disobedience and rebellion against God, and they
marched the people to Babylon
and held them there as slaves for 70 years. Although the Jews deserved what
they got, nobody touches the apple of God’s eye and gets away with it. Although God used Babylon to judge the Israelites, He
didn't forgive them for enslaving His people, and along with the Tower of Babble
in its resume' (Genesis 11,1-9) it has become a symbol of debauchery and
depravity for all time. The book of Revelation illustrates Babylon as an evil woman holding a chalice filled with the blood of
the saints, and it says that she will become a smoldering crater upon which no
one will ever build another city. In Peter’s time the people of God according to the
flesh in Jerusalem, acted the same as
Babylon, persecuting Christians, why Peter called the holy city Babylon (1Pet
5-13), “the city that
kills the prophets and stones those sent to her” (Lk 13-34). Peter lived in
Jerusalem, which was headquarters of the Church at the time, because that is
where it belongs, for it is the city of the great King, and the Jews should be leaders of things pertaining to
God.
(219c) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> The elect >>
Man is a spectator of his own salvation >> God
has chosen us
|
COM
