The purification (cleansing) process of our hearts is a cooperative effort (covenant) between the ministry of the Holy Spirit AND our submission and obedience.

If our faith isn't grounded on Jesus and only Jesus, we will be in trouble when the Church faces suffering and persecution of many kinds!

God calls us--his chosen exiles--to be holy or "set apart" from the sin of the world.

Peter explains that trials and persecution refine our faith into something beautiful, imperishable, and praise-worthy.

There is a living hope that can be ours when we are born again into God's Kingdom by water and the Spirit.

The Lord shaped Peter into an Apostle who instructed the persecuted Church on how to live as exiles in a pagan world on account of their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Church is meant to be so much more than the place we go to "get saved." The Church was instituted by Christ to be an outpost of God's Kingdom on Earth!

Rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son!

Paul describes a peace and hope that can only be found in the Kingdom of God!

God's incredible act of grace--through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ--has opened the doors to salvation, and we enter in through faith.