The emptying of our nest of 4 beautiful children has allowed us to reset our lives by living light for the sake of spreading the Light through the local gospel ministry of the Stillwater Community Chapel. (https://stillwater-chapel.org/) This blog is the musings and ministry of the Wolfgangs as we have gone wherever God leads. May we always live light and in the Light, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
1 Peter 1:3-12...After the thesis statement comes the body of the term paper...
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This Sunday I started off my sermon talking about term papers. Not my favorite thing to do but knowing the parts of a term paper make it more manageable to accomplish. You have a thesis statement at the start and then the body of the paper and then a concluding statement at the end. I feel we have seen Peter's thesis' statement in 1 Peter 1:1,2 and he is emphasizing 3 main points to be fleshed out in the body of his letter.
1. He wants his readers to know about the Trinity (The Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit).
2. He wants his readers to know more about their salvation (born again) in connection to the Trinity. (God planned, Jesus purchased, Spirit polishes)
3. He wants his readers to know how to live (reside) as "born againers" in a hostile world.
Peter dives into the body of his letter by focusing deeper on point 2.
We have a "living hope" because Jesus rose from the dead.
We have an inheritance that is like no other (imperishable, undefiled, unfading and kept/guarded in heaven).
Our faith is protected by God's power while we are here.
Our salvation is ready now to be revealed in its fullest sense in the last day.
We have a faith more precious than gold and it doesn't perish.
We can experience now a love of and a belief in and a rejoicing to God.
Our salvation was proclaimed by the prophets of old and from the eye witness apostles being led by the same Holy Spirit.
Our salvation gets the attention of the angels in heaven (they turn to and stoop down).
One question I ended with was this, "What on your plate needs the knowledge of your salvation added to it so you respond differently, a way that results in the praise, glory, and honor of Jesus Christ?"
All these "whereas" bullets will lead into the "therefore" of verse 13 and following next week.
But, I would like to share one last verse with you that come up in my study last week. I use the 3 circles diagram to explain what the Bible says about God's salvation.
God created a perfect world but we live in a broken world because of sin and our rebellion against and running from God.
God so loved this broken world that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ to come, to die, and to rise again as the way of escape and we respond with submission to Jesus as Lord and Christ and now we run to God with repentance.
We are then restored to His perfect kingdom and now share in the gift of eternal life. The Holy Spirit is at work in us so we grow in Christlikeness and we go, retooled, back into the broken world to tell others of the way of escape.
Romans 6:22 (LSB) says,
"But now having been freed from sin (rebellion against, running from) and enslavedto God (submission to, running to with repentance), you have your benefit (share, restored to), leading to sanctification (grow and go), and the end, eternal life." (parenthesis mine)
I pray you have a great week with God and His Word.
This isn't 5,000 men plus women and children as in the passage last Sunday but this is our 5,000+ for the week. It is amazing to be all around the table at once. There are now 20 of us. We have went from addition to multiplication in our family as each of our 4 children are now having their families. Our 2 year reunions have been highlights of our lives and this one was spent in Colorado. This picture featured the 20 rainbow trout the grandchildren caught at a local kids' fishing pond. Jesus is going to present 2 amazing events back to back for his disciples. In this big feed they are ready to pass off the responsibility to someone else. They tell Jesus to send the crowd away and their solution is that those people can fend for themselves. They use the word " only " and calculate what was possible with the money they may have had. The disciples were identifying and pointing at the need but they were not going to get involved ...
See the bike in the foreground? Pumped up the tires and have been making trips to town and back a couple times now. The mountain in the background is locally called Mount Baldy but officially Mount Craig. The bridge is over the canal between Shadow Mountain Lake and Grand Lake. A lot of wedding pictures are taken here. I am itching to get up into the mountains and see the roaring waterfalls and the beautiful springtime mountain flowers. Another Easter/Resurrection Service has come and gone. Covering the same material each year can be a challenge at times and especially when you are in front of some of the same people. Thankfully there are typically visitors on this special Sunday from the area and from afar. Last year I handled the whole of Matthew 28 and focused on which story we were following. Was it the pre-made cover-up story fueled by a bribe from the religious leaders to the soldiers that the disciples overtook ...
Doesn't she look like a true mountain woman eating here bison/cranberry jerky? This is a recent trip up to Lulu City on the Colorado River Trail that was only in existence for 5 years and the population of 200. Only 3 sides of one cabin remains. For awhile it was just us and the wildlife on the trail but this is the time of the year when people migrate to the park. We love family. My brother and his wife, Tom and Tammy, swung into Grand Lake for a couple of days and also shared a worship experience at SCC. This was the trek up from the Alpine Visitor Center to get our photo at the sign. Seek to keep family ties strong. Seek to restore them if they have been severed. Pull out the super glue and piece it back together. With both mom and dad gone now, my next connection to them are my siblings who carry on similar experiences of our time on Lehman Road so many years ago. We ventured into chapter 14 of Matthew this pas...
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