Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  Pilgrim Living: Who is your King? I Peter 2:6-8 Introduction : The passage this week builds on verses 4 and 5,  and gives the Scriptural basis for Peter’s thesis. Last week we saw that Jesus is the precious cornerstone of our faith and our greatest privilege is to know Him and to serve Him . This week Peter points to the Scriptural basis of that truth. This is the pattern we see in virtually every book of the New Testament, the writer appeals to the Old Testament as the inspired Word of God which looked ahead to the coming of the Messiah, our Rescuer, the Savior who would lay down his life for sinful humans, and provide the way to true life in fellowship with God. Jesus IS the Son of God, it is not Him who is on trial, He has nothing to prove. He isn’t running for office. Election day is coming. So is Judgement Day . We will be judged on the basis of our response to Him. John said in John 3… " The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.  36 "He

  Pilgrim Living:  “ Jesus is the Cornerstone ” I Peter 2:4,5 Introduction : We tend to use certain terms to describe our church building: “The Church,” or “The House of God,” or maybe for the main meeting room, “The Sanctuary.” There is nothing particularly wrong with those designations, except that they are not precisely biblical!  In fact, there is almost nothing in the New Testament to describe the building in which we worship. The “church” is the assembly of believers, the people of God gathered for worship and mobilized for ministry. All the attention is on God’s people as His “Temple” in this age. God’s people are described using the imagery of God’s “temple” in this passage in I Peter. Paul said it as well twice to the Corinthians, “ Don’t you know that you are God’s Temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ”  (I Cor 3:16; cf. 6:19; Eph 2:21; etc.). That same imagery comes up in this context in I Peter 2, but what does it mean? The theme of the “House of God” is a

  Pilgrim Living: “Philadelphia and the Christian Life” I Peter 1:22-2:3 Introduction : John MacArthur told the story of a terrible construction accident... “ While on a three-story scaffold at a construction site one day, a building engineer tripped and fell toward the ground in what appeared to be a fatal plummet. Right below the scaffold, a laborer looked up just as the man fell, realized he was standing exactly where the engineer would land, braced himself, and absorbed the full impact of the other man’s fall. The impact slightly injured the engineer but severely hurt the laborer. The brutal collision fractured almost every bone in his body, and after he recovered from those injuries, he was severely disabled. Years later, a reporter asked the former construction laborer how the engineer had treated him since the accident. The handicapped man told the reporter: “He gave me half of all he owns, including a share of his business. He is constantly concerned about my needs and ne

  Pilgrim Living: Motivation in the Pursuit of Holiness I Peter 1:17-21 Introduction :  As we consider the needs of many on our church prayer list, and the difficult news that we constantly hear in the media, may we be reminded that we are only pilgrims, that God is in control, and that we fear God, not men. Dr. Paul Tripp said: “What is chaotic to you, is controlled by your Savior. What is confusing to you, is understood by your Lord.” Truth!  God is good, and He is in control . So, we live with hope! Our series in I Peter is called “Pilgrim Living in a Fallen World.” We trust God, and now, for a little while, He has us in the world to carry out His mission. But this really isn’t home, we were created for eternity. Therefore , rejoice in the Lord always ! Our last look at I Peter, 1:13-16, was a call to live a life worthy of our calling. We are to be obedient children who have self-control, who are in the world, but not of the world, who are “set apart” by God and for God because