This passage encourages us to "authenticate" ourselves by moving forward with the virtues of the Christian faith. To ignore the growth element in our faith is to be blind to or forgetful of what we have been saved from and to.

Living a life of humility is quite contrary to the way people perceive a successful life. Humility, to some, means weakness and loss. But humility is essential for relationships both with God and Man.
To obviate concerns of weakness and loss, the apostle urges believers to cast their anxieties upon the Lord. In this way, the struggles of the humble are not only made bearable, but provides the fuel of hope for the future.

The passage extends the issue of Christians facing persecution and the crucial role of Elders in guiding the community. the crucial shepherding role of Elders within the Christian community. The Elders are to be willing shepherds that follow Jesus in His example and become examples themselves. As Elders are not to domineer the church, younger men are not to fight against them. Everyone in the church of God is to take a humble position.

"Forest for the trees" is a description of the emphasis in this passage. The apostle is dealing with what ought to be the main thing and the main direction in the course of one's life. He emphasises love that is expressed through serving one another with the grace gifts that God has given to each individual Christian.

Good Friday message

The message delves into how Christians handle adversity, stressing the significance of sanctifying Christ as Lord in our hearts. It highlights responding to insults with blessings. Peter urges believers to defend their faith with gentleness and reverence, pointing to baptism as the means of accepting God's provision and victory through Christ's resurrection. This brings hope and assurance amid trials and persecution.

Amongst the general instructions on submission to "human institutions", we have specific instructions here to wives and husbands.
The Gospel is all important and doing good whilst bearing up under unjust treatment is the way to win over an unbelieving husband. By the same token, a husband needs to be considerate to his wife if he is to "win over" his God so that his prayers will get heard.

Christians are said to be in the world but not of the world. However, far from abdicating social responsibility, Christians ought to be exemplary citizens. In being conscious of God, Christians honour human governing authorities. In the context of God's sovereignty, we are bondslaves first and foremost to Him. Giving honour to human authority comes as result of our heavenly master's will.

This passage insists that Israel turned against the word of the Lord (the Gospel), hence, turned against God's Christ‌. Yet, Gentiles obeyed the call of the word & put their faith in Jesus Christ.‌ Peter reveals that what was Israel’s position & place, has been taken from them & given to the church.

In this passage of Scripture today, Peter explains that it is the very word of God that causes growth in the Christian. He says to crave this word like a new born babe craves its mother's milk. By this, as with a babe, growth takes place. But if there is no craving, there is no growth.

Living Life under the Lord can be daunting at times. However, in this passage, the apostle Peter grounds our incentive for holy living firmly in what Jesus has done for us. As we look forward to the salvation that is to come we are encouraged to live the life that is pleasing to God.

The trials for the Christian revolve around the challenges of integrating faith in every response we make in life. Those trials come along to test & refine our faith so that it will result in praise, honour and glory at the coming of Christ.

Peter begins by establishing the great & living hope we have as believers in Christ. God's divine work in giving us new birth has established us as His people and secured us in His blessings and protection.

The apostle Peter in v.2 reveals that these Christians in nth Turkey are part of the chosen people of God, the Church. They have been established by God and through Jesus, have become His people.

Sometimes the expression"needs a bomb under him" in order to move a person is fitting. For the apostle Peter, it required an awakening, a transformation in thinking. His once exclusivist Jewish view had undergone a real shake up.
He now understands everything through the lens of Jesus Christ. The old Jewish covenant of identity and law have been updated. Peter struggled with accepting the newer version until the resurrection of Christ. Now, however, the awakening made that change complete.

This passage reminds us of the importance of acceptance of the eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection. Instead of defaulting to disbelief, people should accept the testimony of the eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection. Signs accompanied that generation with a "pool" of eyewitnesses and those signs verified the fact that Jesus is alive.

The message emphasises the transformative power of Jesus' resurrection, contrary to the disciples' initial belief that His suffering and death signified defeat. It underscores the triumph of the resurrection, bringing hope not just for this life but also for eternity.

In this passage, Jesus is taken before the Governor, Pilate. He is falsely accused, but He does not defend Himself. He has already decided to accept the Cup (of suffering) the Father has given Him to take. In spite of the Governor declaring His innocence, the crowd chooses a different hero for themselves. A man who better reflects the Messiah they would prefer.

In this passage, Peter denies Jesus three times, confirming unequivocally that he has denied Him. Nevertheless, there is hope for their reunion in Galilee, as the grace of Christ remains with him despite his denial. However, it's important to recognise that these disciples are pre-resurrection men. It's one thing to deny Jesus without knowledge of His resurrection, and another to deny Him with a full understanding of His victory over the grave.

In this passage, Jesus finally reveals in no uncertain terms who He is. He is both Messiah and Son of God. This leads to the charge of blasphemy and the High Priest has got was he was searching for. However, Jesus arrest and what will be His suffering and crucifixion are all part of the unfolding plan of God to enable reconciliation with those who would accept Him through Christ.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus is left all alone as His disciples desert Him. Why did they desert Him in this crucial hour? Listen to find out why!

In the middle of what seems doom and gloom, Jesus reveals a great hope to His disciples. But before the hope is revealed, Jesus will unjustly suffer a criminal’s death. That Jesus suffered all alone demonstrated that this whole plan of salvation is God’s initiative & doing. Jesus’ disciples will have no part of that plan, since this is a divine work, where the glory for it, will be God’s alone. Accordingly, the disciples will desert Jesus. But He has inserted hope into this moment of rejection, since He will meet them again in Galilee as their resurrected Lord.

Jesus shares His last supper with His disciples before He will suffer a "criminals" death. During this Passover supper, He changes the meaning of Passover that centred on God's saving activity that gave Israel it's birth as a nation, and transfers God's saving activity to the church. Jesus and His church will now become the centre of God's presence and activity through what is called, the New Covenant.

The shadow of Jesus' predictions of His death and resurrection is now upon Him. Mark, in this passage, highlights a few things: The contrast between the haters of Jesus and the priceless devotion of a true disciple. The woman's "anointing" of Jesus reveals that He will be subject to a criminals death. The plot by the haters will find a willing betrayer in the "at a price" Judas.

Jesus is enthroned as the "son of David" and with that authority judges Jerusalem and abolishes the temple and it's sacrificial system. The focus of attention now is not Israel's national shrine, but the Son of Man. Being enthroned as king, having received the everlasting kingdom, He gathers His church from all over world and commands His disciples to be about His business so that when He comes, they will not be found unprepared, but diligently serving and faithfully carrying out the mission of spreading His teachings and love to all corners of the earth. This includes sharing the good news of salvation, practicing compassion and forgiveness, and living in accordance with the values of the Kingdom of God.