Remember to Give Thanks
Mike Stone
1 Peter 1:3-5
This weekend is Memorial Day. It was originally called, ''Decoration Day'' because people were encouraged to go and decorate the graves of those who died in service to the country. Whatever we call it, we are to remember sacrifices made for the sake of freedom...to recall the lives that were given and the blood that was shed that we might know liberty in this land.
Yet as great as that is, for the people of God, every day ought to be a Memorial Day. A day where we look back and remember the cost of our freedom...the life offered and the blood shed that we might experience real liberty for all eternity.
To have this Memorial Day we don't look to earthly battlefields and history books. Rather, we look back to the Hill called ''Calvary'' and the truth recorded in First Peter chapter one.
The book of First Peter was written by Simon Peter, the disciple who infamously denied that he knew the Lord. Right away, we have reason to be thankful that God still uses mixed up, messed up, cracked up people!
Simon writes to the first century church as they begin to face unspeakable persecution. And interestingly, he begins with a word of doxology...an exclamation of worship. ''Blessed be...''
John MacArthur says that this passage is ''a hymn of worship designed to encourage Christians living in a hostile world to look past their temporal troubles and rejoice in their eternal inheritance.''
So a fallen disciple, restored by Jesus, writes to discouraged Christians living in a world that is hostile to their beliefs. And he shares 3 reasons they can give thanks even in the midst of pain.
1. Remember to Thank God for His Deliverance
Earlier we sang, ''I still remember the day You saved me.'' In verse 3 Simon Peter teaches that we can face THIS day and whatever it brings because of THAT day and all that it brought. THAT day gets us through THIS day because THAT day gets us in on THE day when Jesus will set a ...
Mike Stone
1 Peter 1:3-5
This weekend is Memorial Day. It was originally called, ''Decoration Day'' because people were encouraged to go and decorate the graves of those who died in service to the country. Whatever we call it, we are to remember sacrifices made for the sake of freedom...to recall the lives that were given and the blood that was shed that we might know liberty in this land.
Yet as great as that is, for the people of God, every day ought to be a Memorial Day. A day where we look back and remember the cost of our freedom...the life offered and the blood shed that we might experience real liberty for all eternity.
To have this Memorial Day we don't look to earthly battlefields and history books. Rather, we look back to the Hill called ''Calvary'' and the truth recorded in First Peter chapter one.
The book of First Peter was written by Simon Peter, the disciple who infamously denied that he knew the Lord. Right away, we have reason to be thankful that God still uses mixed up, messed up, cracked up people!
Simon writes to the first century church as they begin to face unspeakable persecution. And interestingly, he begins with a word of doxology...an exclamation of worship. ''Blessed be...''
John MacArthur says that this passage is ''a hymn of worship designed to encourage Christians living in a hostile world to look past their temporal troubles and rejoice in their eternal inheritance.''
So a fallen disciple, restored by Jesus, writes to discouraged Christians living in a world that is hostile to their beliefs. And he shares 3 reasons they can give thanks even in the midst of pain.
1. Remember to Thank God for His Deliverance
Earlier we sang, ''I still remember the day You saved me.'' In verse 3 Simon Peter teaches that we can face THIS day and whatever it brings because of THAT day and all that it brought. THAT day gets us through THIS day because THAT day gets us in on THE day when Jesus will set a ...
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