At the end of his first letter, Peter reassures the church that, though suffering is inevitable and spiritual attack is probable, submission is vital and salvation is eternal. This was true for the early church and it is true for us today. It is the true grace of God and we should stand firm in it. Join us Sunday as Executive Pastor Arik Stewart brings us a message titled Stand Firm from 1 Peter 5:6-4.
"submission" Tagged Sermons
The resurrected Jesus has been given all authority. What is this authority and what does it look like? Jesus strategically linked His cause for the disciples with His authority. What would His authority look like in the life of a Jesus-Follower and what difference would it make?
The subject of calling can be a confusing one. In common vernacular we talk about “finding our calling” and it mostly has to do with following our dreams. Many of us can feel a sense of angst if we haven’t “found” it. But if there’s a calling, then there is a caller. And if there is a caller, our part is listening…
There’s nothing like a near-death experience to give one clarity about what’s most important. It’s in this context that Paul got thinking about succession: leaving a legacy, establishing a lasting influence, and investing in the next generation. In this text we see the shift in Paul from being primarily a sower, to becoming both a sower and a weeder/tiller/pruner. So instead of moving on…
God and His will are unchanging. It has always been His desire that the gospel be nondiscriminatory and that it eventually be received by all nations and all peoples. This was revealed to Peter, yet his Jewish heritage made it difficult for him to overcome his prejudice against the Gentiles. By submitting to God, he was able to bridge the gap with people he despised in order to share the truth and love of Christ. We ought to do likewise.
You can sometimes tell a lot about a person, from the way they die. Stephen, the “Jesus is Lord” movement’s first martyr, is one of those cases. The narrative of Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 gives us great insight into someone spiritually mature – someone described as “full of grace and power,” “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,” and wise beyond his peers. So how is it possible that someone like that would drive the leaders of a nation into a mob frenzy that ends up killing him? The answer is a surprising one: because God was looking for someone to deliver a strong message to his leaders (“your God is too small!”), and in so doing plant the seed of a disciple-making movement beyond the understanding of anyone else living at that time.
Throughout the Bible Jesus is portrayed as The Good Shepherd. In this well-known Psalm, we see many of the benefits of following Christ including living with Him in Heaven for eternity. To receive the benefits, we must see ourselves in the proper perspective and follow Jesus, The Good Shepherd, wherever He leads us.
Our cultural default and the tradition of America is to be completely in control and to live out our dreams. The culture in Jesus’ day was to live “in-control” in a religious sense – full of prim-and-proper religiosity. When Jesus is asked a question about fasting, He replies with a veiled correction followed by 2 mini-parables that almost seem out of place, but after examination, highlight how humanity’s need for control and the familiar has to be given up if one is to have real, deep, intimate relationship with God. Jesus Himself perfectly demonstrated this, maybe no more tangibly and beautifully than in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Most of us feel a little uncomfortable when we hear the word “obedience”: it conjures up feelings and/or memories of punishment and pain, or a long list of “shoulds.” Samuel and Saul are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to obeying God. Their juxtaposition provides an avenue into seeing what God is really after when He asks His people to listen to Him, wait for Him, and walk humbly with Him.
We all face change and change can be hard. In this message, Dr. Scott Wenig shows from Prov. 3:5-6 how God wants us to grow in our trust in Him in the midst of change. When we learn what “trust in the Lord,” “lean not on your own understanding,” and “in all your ways acknowledge Him” really mean God’s promise for us is sure. He does not promise the absence of difficulty but to give us direction, purpose, fulfillment, a positive impact in our world and then when we die God will lead us straight into His presence to spend an eternity with Him.