The Local Church

Are you laying stones or building a cathedral? In the early church, there was a woman named Tabitha who lived an extraordinary life. It's a life that reveals something for us today: we don't usually bear future fruit by doing great things with uncommon gifts or abilities. We bear future fruit by doing a good thing with uncommon faithfulness. If we are going to bear future fruit, it's going to be the Tabitha Way. Acts 9:36-40.

The trees we plant, the golden rule and the silver rule. Join us as we look at the turning point in Johns gospel and explain why some Greeks wanting to see Jesus was such a big deal. This is the silver rule, the desire for future fruit. John 12:20-26

In the final chapter of Peter's letter, we get his "yearbook message": Humble yourselves towards God and one another, and cast your anxieties on him. In these instructions, Peter provides the command and the comfort of the entire letter and we are met by a God who will never let go. A God who wants to protect and care for us. 

Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him." This is The Message's version of 1 Peter 4:1, and it helps us see three truths about recognizing God's voice, serving others, and using time wisely in this "4th quarter.

Learning to drive a new vehicle, the power of harmony and what to do when your three year old tells you that "you no come to my birfday party!" If we live a life of unified love with our Family and return blessing for evil we will have the opportunity to share the reason for the hope we have in Christ. 1 Peter 3:8-16

1 Peter 3:1-7: Context makes a world of difference in understanding so what do we do when our worlds are two millennia apart? We do the hard work. To understand Peter’s comments to wives and husbands we have to understand the context if we have any hope of applying the truth of scripture to our lives today. And there is truth to apply…

One of the tougher sections of Peter's letter the fledgling Christian church is found in the verses we explore today. We have to come to the text with humility and a desire to understand and obey. God wants to transform society by transforming individuals, while we we in the West often want to transform individuals by transforming society. This is messier, harder, certainly more painful but ultimately the path that leads to life (even when the path leads through death first). There is no resurrection without death...

The Wimbledon Championships, building projects gone wrong, and living stones being built into a spiritual temple. In 1 Peter 2:4-10, it is made clear that when we come to Jesus, we become like him: a living stone that God is building into a temple, a place where heaven and earth meet. We participate in this reality not as individuals, but together as the family of God with all the blessings that carries.

In 1 Peter 1 and 2, we find four key words that can really help us picture the scripture's application: Conformed, Holy, Redeemed and Crave. Which one might God want you to examine to help you find truth and growth?

A primer in fighting lions, the Battle at Kruger and the Lake Ann Camp diving team. Peter tells us to be alert and resist the devil, God told Cain to watch out for crouching sin that wants to destroy us, Jesus said we should take sin very seriously. Why? Because sin robs us of the very thing that Jesus died to give us. Life. The very thing sin promises is the what it steals. We can't stop fighting and as a church we can't give up on one another. The church is the herd and the herd doesn't give up on it's own...