Community Bible Church

For Christians, the Bible is our source of truth and standards. So when we are engaged in a defense of what we believe, we will frequently wind up citing a certain Bible passage. But what if someone doesn't take the Bible seriously as a reputable, reliable, historical document? This week we look at the 3 standard tests for determining the authenticity and accuracy of a document and examine how the Bible does in each test.

It's tempting for Christians to watch the world grow more disinterested in what we have to say, and perhaps even increasingly determined to stop us, and grow discouraged. But in 1 Peter 3:13-17, Peter calls the church to a different attitude, one that reflects a lesson Jesus taught Peter and the other disciples. So the question for believers today is: do we realize the incredible opportunity we have today?

The Bible is clear that Christians are going to find themselves in the midst of an unbelieving world that frequently is going to be hostile and antagonistic towards believers. So how are we meant to respond? In 1 Peter 3:9-12, Peter lays out 3 key behaviors that should mark how Christians engage with the world around us.

How do we live on mission for the Gospel? Many times when we think of "missionary work", we think of work done overseas by people who follow the call to leave everything behind and go to a different country. Though that is true and indeed very honorable, does that mean everyone else does different work from that of a missionary? When we look at Jesus' commands to take the Gospel to every nation, we actually see His command for every believer to be involved in mission work, whether they leave for a different country or stay where they are. We are all on mission as followers of Christ, but what does that look like?

As Christians we say we know that the church is made up of imperfect people; so how should that affect the ways we treat fellow believers? In 1 Peter 3:8, Peter lays out several attitudes necessary for Christians to have with one another. So as we study this verse, we must ask ourselves, does this describe how I approach my fellow Christians?

As we continue our series in 1 Peter, we come to 1 Peter 3:1-7. This passage can be taken out of context and abused, which is wrong. But it's also wrong to ignore it because sometimes it gets used incorrectly. So what does the Bible actually say about how husbands and wives are called to relate to one another? What can non-married people learn from this passage?

This week, we take a break from our series in 1 Peter to look at one of God's most common names: Elohim. We can learn much from what God calls Himself, and many times, they point to aspects of His character that help us know Him deeper.

As we unpack 1 Peter 2:11-25, we encounter a passage that might be difficult to apply. Peter starts to move to the topic of submission, and he starts with the call on Christians to submit to the governing authorities and every institution. What does this look like? And does this apply to our life all of the time, even when the authorities over us seem to oppose us? Peter gives us insight in this and graciously helps us understand this type of submission by focusing on the life of our Lord Jesus.

This week we look at 1 Peter 2:4-10 where God calls us a royal/holy priesthood. Do we understand what that means? Do we grasp the honor of that calling? Do we understand and take ownership of our responsibility as a priesthood?

In 1 Peter 2:1-4, we see that the key to the Christian life is coming to Christ; that word means "coming with the intent of staying there for fellowship," in essence, to abide in Jesus. This is a word we might be familiar with, but how do we know we're abiding in Jesus? In this week's message we answer that question and look at the impact of abiding in Christ.