Your Daily Bible

1 Peter 2:11-12 NLT

11Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

Support the show

1 Peter 2:4-10 NLT

4You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 5And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 6As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 7Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” 8And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. 9But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10“Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

Support the show

1 Peter 1:22-25 NLT

22You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. 23For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

1So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Support the show

International Children’s Bible

17 You pray to God and call him Father. And this Father judges each man’s work equally. So while you are here on earth, you should live with respect for God. 18 You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way. You got that way of living from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, but not with something that ruins like gold or silver. 19 You were bought with the precious blood of the death of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made. But he was shown to the world in these last times for you. 21 You believe in God through Christ. God raised Christ from death and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are in God.

Support the show

1 Peter 1:13-16 NLT

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Support the show

1 Peter 1:10-12 NLT

10This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. 12They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

Support the show

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

Support the show

The Christian Story in a Nutshell

Every good story needs a beginning, middle, and an end. In just a few rich verses, Peter tells the story of his audience’s life of faith.

They were living in the middle of the story, going about life with various hats on: citizens, slaves, family members. Their pre-Christian lives were not characterized by hope, especially if they were slaves. But now they were God’s people, every situation, task, person, and setback could be viewed through the glasses the lens of ‘living hope’ (1:3).

This living hope has a beginning: ‘the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ (1:3). The hope that Christians have does not float on clouds of wishful thinking. No, it springs from a tomb that once held the body of our crucified Lord, but that tomb is now empty. Jesus dealt death a fatal blow. It really happened! And if God has raised Christ from the dead, what can’t he do? Is it so impossible for him to set us free from the things that once bound us, and breathe new life into our lives.

Support the show

Living by a New Story

Tortoise believed life rewards the dedicated, and ended up crossing the finish line before the arrogant Hare. Chicken Little believed the sky was falling down, and ended up in a fox’s belly. Nothing will shape your life more than the story you believe yourself to be part of. Our view of life’s ultimate story will shape what we think is good and bad, how we spend our time and money, how we view ourselves and others – it influences everything.

Peter is writing to Gentiles across an area we today call Turkey. He locates them within a story, a story very different to the story they had once lived by.

Support the show

John 21:15-25

Jesus Reinstates Peter

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Support the show