3C's Bible Study

The Christian life is a call to follow Jesus, in an intimate and personal relationship, that leads us where He goes, including the path of suffering. Suffering though not pleasant is only allowed by God because there's a glory that He wants to reveal through it.

To overcome suffering then is endeavour to see that the glory of God is revealed through it - and what we need to do first in order to reach that goal is to arm ourselves with the right mindset.

This study is all about building up the right mindsets around Christian suffering and to help us keep the love of God and His glory at the centre of it at all times.

The primary basis for sharing the Gospel is that our hearts are grounded in the hope and experience of the Gospel, and the next is to be ready or prepared to give an answer for that hope.

Reasoning about your faith requires the preparation of learning how to defend the faith. We consider in this study, how to start Gospel conversations and stay in the conversation.

Marriage provides the platform for revealing the glory of God like no other human relationship or engagement does because of the practical daily sacrifices that make us more Godlike. Each marriage will fulfil this divine aim of revealing the glory of God to the extent that both husband and wives live by the character of the life of God.

Peter also addresses the need for unity and compassion in the family-like relationship atmosphere of the church and touches again on the importance of righteous conduct and a conscience that is without blame before God. This all means that in the face of contradiction or opposition, Christians can put on display the same life that that Jesus did when He walked the earth.

The kingdom of God advances only on the backs of those who lay down every thing. In these verses, Peter charges those who will be part of God's building to abstain from lusts of the flesh, to practice submission and to embrace suffering. This episode unpacks each of these and uncovers the mindset that enables us to live out the supernatural life of God in the heat of life.

Peter unearths the powerful metaphor of "living stones" to describe the nature and purpose of God's work in Christ, which is now extended to us as His representatives on the earth.

The ultimate expression of the glory of God is in a house or a community of believers, each individually crafted by God for a unique function, and connected together by the foundation of Christ. It is here that prayers are answered and significant breakthroughs are unearthed.

The underlying principles of raising such an abode and becoming a functional part of what God is doing in your territory is in consistency. Through consistency, we get to really know God and to provide Him with something sure and precious that He can fill with His glory.

God's objective in our lives is to produce His glory, and the pathway into that glory is holiness. The two main channels through which our lives can produce the glory of God are our priesthood and the witness of our lives. 

The privilege of priesthood and witness rests on the grace of God, and the effectiveness of them in our lives rests on the formation of the holy character of God in us. To be holy therefore is to be saturated with God - to be consumed by the influence of the life within us.

Our hope is that we'll find the beauty and joy for which we were saved and that our lives will be effective channels of revealing the glory of God to a world in darkness.

Peter's first letter is addressed to "the dispersion" in Christ, those who were fleeing persecution because of their convictions. We examine the source, meaning and goal of suffering in the Christian life.

We also consider the three-fold cord of a salvation that will reach its end and what that end looks like. We have been called to a living hope, whose riches we can lay hold of today by faith. 

Pure faith endures because of the love and affection for Jesus that places our relationship with Him above our need for self preservation. Our cry, and God's intent for us, is that our faith will be strengthened, steadied and secured by His love.

As Christians, we will live live most of our lives in the Chronos (the routine), and what we do in the routine of life is what will determine the outcome of our faith in the Kairos or opportune moments. It is in the Chronos that is most tested.

The closing chapter of this letter therefore offers secure grounds for faith in the everyday, of which the most secure ground is to stay in the love of God. There are equally admonitions to denying self and the flesh, hospitality, fidelity of faith, and dependence on the God of peace.

The God of peace is the one who equips every effective labourer in the kingdom of God with grace, hence, the letter closes by inviting us to the altar that supplies us continually with this grace and life.

Faith by its nature rewards believing and perseverance, allowing anyone to who believes to receive from God. It is possible, however, to receive from God but fall short on the main goal of faith, which is to please Him, because of the absence of discipline in our lives.

This episode traces the pattern of endurance and discipline that was at work in Jesus, explores the question of the contradictions of faith, and unveils the principle that enables us endure the discipline of God.

The goal of God's discipline is that we may partake of His holiness and in doing so reveal the glory of His nature to the world around us. He has fitted us for this calling with the great provisions of grace and a kingdom that cannot be moved.

The golden principle of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11:6 requires that anyone walking with God by faith will need to make an upfront investment of believing and further down, the investment of perseverance. 

Believing is what led the heroes of faith in the chapter into their journeys of destiny and for many, perseverance added along the way. Yet, God has prepared something better for us so that our own feats of faith will complete theirs.

What faith project is God laying on your heart? Do you have a promise from God concerning what you are believing for? What steps will you take on account of the fidelity and ability of God? Let's find out together in this episode.