In chapter one, Peter describes Jesus as our living hope. Here, in chapter two, he describes our Lord as a living stone who has become the chief cornerstone. Though Jesus was rejected by men, He is chosen and precious to God. To those of us who believe, Jesus is precious, but to those who are disobedient and unbelieving, He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. We too, who are believers in Christ Jesus, are rejected by the world, but we are chosen and precious to God.

Peter's first letter is called a general epistle as it's not written to any one church or person. It's written to the saints living in the Northern part of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Peter's readers were facing persecution for their faith. Because of its focus on suffering, 1 Peter is often referred to as the "Job" of the New Testament. Peter encourages these readers and us to not focus on the trials that we currently face but to look at what God has done to secure our salvation and the living hope that we have to look forward to. Which includes an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and will not fade away.

Have we come to the realization that we all have sinned against God? Meaning that we have intended to live our lives our way, ignoring God's Commandments and the warning that the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death, which we all will experience, but a spiritual death, which is the daily emptiness of a life that eventually begins to have no meaning or fulfillment.

Without God in our lives, we cannot experience life as it was meant to be. A kind of existence that is supernatural when God rules and guides our lives. A life that is defined as abundant versus empty. The Apostle Paul is laying the groundwork in his teaching on what life is like without God and what life can be like with God. The statement that there is nobody who seeks after God until God seeks us is the reality of our existence. That is the gateway to Salvation, the Gospel purpose of God, rescuing us from ourselves and our lostness and setting us free from our slavery to sin that ruins our lives.

Today, beginning in Lamentations 3, we will do an abbreviated word study of Grace in the Bible. You will learn of the rest and peace the Lord provides in times of turmoil.

The Book of Romans is the most comprehensive book on why Christ had to come and die for our sins. It causes us to see how far humanity has gone away from their Creator and His plan for the human race. We all have been, and are being infected daily by the power of sin and the worship of self. We cannot, apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, comprehend the state of our hearts and the bondage and slavery of sin. Today's teaching will dive deeply into what Paul warns us about, regarding the wrath of God that is already at work on earth. As the wages of sin found in today's rampant immorality and hatred of God truly brings forth destruction in every life that hasn't experienced forgiveness and deliverance from sin. Every person needs Christ's perfect work of salvation, bestowing upon the repentant heart God's immeasurable love and value He has for all those who turn to Him in faith.

Titus, a gentle, was a faithful co-laborer with Paul who was considered a son, a spiritual brother, a partner and helper, and a godly example to believers. Like Timothy, Titus was tasked with the assignment of bringing spiritual order to a Church planted in a pagan and immoral city. Like the Church today, Paul encourages Titus to Ordain godly leaders, teach sound doctrine, and refute false teachers. This is only possible through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

After Paul was arrested and brought bound by the governing authorities he was given a chance to speak. The audience he began to testify to was just like before his encounter with Christ. As Paul at one time hated Christians and persecuted them with imprisonment and torture he was now facing persecution himself for preaching Christ as The Messiah. The fact that God had miraculously saved Paul from sin and called him to represent Christ to a lost world after he had spent years persecuting Christians was indeed something people couldn't comprehend. Acts is a book of miracles and today's study proclaims that!

Today we study the final season of the Apostle Paul's Ministry. Paul's heart was always prepared to live his life for God's Glory and the blessings of others. He planned to meet with all the church plants to make sure things were stable, healthy, Truth based upon the scriptures and spreading the Good News. He realized based on his life of trials and adversity that we all need to be empowered to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. That people need to build up and be loved in the faith. He spent time with the leaders to teach them what he learned from the Lord regarding the responsibilities of being a servant and giving one's life for the sake of others. We as people are flawed and broken yet Christ loves us without limit in spite of our failings. Only God's grace sent by the Holy Spirit can cause us to grow in grace. Grace changes everything and will make us a little more like Christ. That was Paul's constant emphasis.

This portion of scripture deals with loneliness, abandonment, and persecution. But the mercy of God endures forever. Having assigned missionary destinations to his trusted assistants Paul requested Timothy to be diligent to come to him quickly. Paul was all alone after being forsaken by Demas who turned back to the world. Only God can promise to never leave us nor forsake us.

Throughout the pastoral epistles, Paul emphasizes the importance of teaching sound doctrine to Timothy. Paul has made teaching truth the focal point of his ministry. In a time when there were so many false teachers and deceivers it was critical that Timothy sticks to feeding his flock the truth of God's word. So in Chapter 4, the last commands that Paul would make before being executed, he charges his son in the faith to Preach the Word. We should heed this charge as well. Living in a world where morality is redefined and God's truth is resisted, we must preach the word.