The Word Endures Forever: Gifts & Trials
1 Peter 1:3-9
Pastor Bob Hiller
4/27/2014
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/R8Naj9fR9Gg
1 Peter 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,
1. Peter persevered through his ____________ because of the salvation ____________ to him by Jesus.
2. Trials come in all ____________ and ____________.
3. Though faith brings trials, these trials cannot ____________ God's ____________!
Scripture Readings
Acts 5:29-42
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Take It With You!
Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the message to help us as we contemplate and discuss what we are hearing.
Not only does our joy point beyond grief... it is actually strengthened through the very sufferings that we endure. Peter has declared that God keeps us for glory by faith. Our faith, then, must continue to the end of our life- long pilgrimage. If our faith is to endure, it must be purified and stress-tested. Like gold it must pass through the furnace (1:7). Trials should not surprise us, or cause us to doubt God's faithfulness. Rather, we should actually be glad for them. God send trials to strengthen our trust in him so that our faith will not fail. Our trials keep us trusting; they bum away our self-confidence and drive us to our Saviour. The fires of affliction or persecution will not reduce our faith to ashes. Fire does not destroy gold: it only removes combustible impurities. Yet even gold will at last vanish with the whole created order. Faith is infinitely more precious and more enduring. Like a jeweler putting his most precious metal in the crucible, so God proves us in the furnace of trial and affliction. The genuineness of our faith shines from the fire to his praise.
Edmund Clowney, The Message of I Peter
