Sabbath: Peter on the Great Controversy
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Pet. 2:9-10; Deut.14:2; 1 Pet. 4:1-7; 2 Pet. 1:16-21; 2 Pet. 3:3-14; Dan. 2:34-35.
Memory Text: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”(1 Peter 2:9, NKJV).
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
Peter’s writings abound with the great-controversy theme. Maybe that’s because he knew for himself, better than most, how easy it is to fall for Satan’s deceptions. Thus, he was keenly aware of how real the struggle is. After all, it was Peter who wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8, NKJV).
Peter sees the struggle unfolding in various ways. He sees a struggle going on in the church, which includes those who once fellowshiped with the believers but who are now cynical and dismissive of God and of any thought of Christ’s return. He speaks strongly, and powerfully, against the scoffers, because if faith in the promise of Christ’s return were to be lost, what hope remains?
Again, maybe Peter affirms faith so positively because of his own failures. He knows what it is like to scoff and deny and try to fit in with the crowd so that others would not condemn him for being a follower of Jesus. Hence his emphasis on how crucial it is for believers to live a life reflective and worthy of their high calling and election in the Lord.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 12.
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May our dear Lord increase and overflow his spirit upon you so that he will reward you. This is good.
My prayer is that 1 Peter 2:9 be a reality in you and all of us, now and forevermore
Today's memory text all but confirms our status before the LORD. Despite the fact that we are so darkened with sin, He sees His image in us. He comes to rescue us from the bondage of corruption through His own wil making us a holy generation,a special poeple, a holy priesthood! My prayer is that we should always identify and heed the voice of the Great Shepherd.
When things go wrong, or we are hurt by church members, we may become distrustful of, and distant ourselves, from God and his people. We may still believe in Jesus' return, but do not not look forward to it as before. Satan would have us think that we have a reason to forget about God. After all, why did He allow such bad things to happen to us? And when are careful about what we eat and how we live, Satan would have us think, "Why the hassle? Just enjoy life! Aren't you tired of having to explain to your colleagues every time you don't eat pork or seafood, every time you can't go to an event on Sabbath?"
Yet, when have reached the end of our rope and have no one to turn to, we unashamedly call to God to save us. And He ALWAYS does, without reminding us how we may have denied Him in the past. He reminds us that He has chosen us to be his special people. Because we have received His grace, it is not difficult to determine to live the life that God would have us live, and to share our experiences with those around us.
And yet it surpasses what we normally known to do or those things which we known for not doing, since they say people learn much on things we don't or rather choose not to do than those we do and choose to do. All is vanity, I realize there is absolutely nothing that can be done to fit in, profit or deserve to be loved of God, except that he loves us unconditionally. As long as we love people, or be kind in any kind to receive blessings, it all is but in vain, except we love and that love feels burdensome because they don't deserve it, we have not yet loved. Loving those that don't deserve and treating with respect the same who scorn and only look at us as repugnant. As Peter did not deserve anymore of love or trust from Jesus after his unmistakable to unintentional, which is beyond doubt denial over once or twice but the love made him known for brand. Let us then descend from being known for whatever things we known for, but rather boast in love, obedience and humbleness. Let that mind which is in Christ abide in us all.Amen
I Thank God Who Helps You In This Great Work You Are Doing To This World
The following thought(s) have been swirling around, probably, as a result of last week's study and the last paragraph of Saturday's reading re: Peter's experience on faith. What do you think?
The Word listened to/believed leads to/grows Faith
Faith successfully tested leads to/grows Trust
Trust exercised leads to/grows Obedience, Edification, Selflessness, Action
Obedience experienced leads to/grows Assurance, Courage, Peace, Hope
Assurance repeated leads to/grows Love, Joy, Patience
Love enacted leads to/grows Power, Praise/Glory to God
I like your paraphrase of Peter's "ladder." It parallels what I have been thinking .
Just as the struggle is real, God is real and we shall over come by the blood of Jesus.
Have you ever been in a place where the power goes and darkness, so thick, engulfs the whole building that nobody could even see to find the candles and matches or a flashlight to illuminate the darkness? I have many times and it is always such a relief when the electricity returns lights come on. You can hear shouts of appreciation all around, especially if the lights have been out for a considerably long time.
This is how I see Peter's description of what Jesus has done for us in (1 Pet. 2:9). In addition to bringing us out of the dreadful darkness into "His marvelous light", Christ has chosen us and made us a special people - we are royalty. What a difference Jesus makes in this whole scenario.
The conflict is resolved when He steps into the picture and is on our side of the great controversy between sin and righteousness, obedience and disobedience, redemption and condemnation, life and death. Jesus' precious gift to us guarantees our place in God's everlasting kingdom to reign with Him as kings and priests forever when He returns in power and majesty. In preparation for this great event, we only need to accept the gift He offers and the promise of victory over every sin in our lives each day. The controversies between us, (God's church) will disappear as we become changed by the indwelling Christ and thus we are enabled to "sing forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light".
From the memory text, we is how vital it is for each one of us to know our identity. You need to know who you are. When you fail to do that, you will find the devil coming to you with temptations like,’ If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread ‘(Matthew 4:3).The fact that you have no food in the pantry now or you are hungry now, does not rub off the fact that you are a chosen generation, special and of royal priesthood. Imagine that was the first temptation that Jesus got from the devil .If you read the previous chapter (Matthew 3:17) it says, ‘And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my BELOVED Son, in whom I am well pleased. ‘Now the devil comes in the next verse to sow in a seed of doubt about Jesus identity. I wonder why he did not actually say it as the voice of God confirmed, the BELOVED Son not just a Son. We are the beloved ones of our Heavenly father. I have learnt that knowing who I am is very important. Let us live lives that depicts who we are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
While Peter was willing to fight for Jesus, we see soon after that he was not ready to die for Him. Yet, Mark 14:50 says that they all forsook Jesus when it was clear that He would be arrested and taken as a prisoner. Peter was one of only two disciples that dared to venture near to where Jesus was being held, and it seems the only one accused of being a follower of the now condemned Messiah. We simply cannot assume he would alone deny Jesus under those circumstances, since the others stayed far away out of fear of personal danger.
I believe that Peter represents many who have done the same in their lives of being professed followers of Christ, yet often denying His Lordship. So isn't it appropriate that Peter would be so prominent in the work of the Gospel, giving hope to all others who have denied the Lord in similar circumstances?
Peter stands in a position of experience with comforting words and urgent counsel for those presently caught up in this great controversy, especially in it's final days.
I believe that Peter became qualified for his work as an undershepherd by his recognition of his weakness and his deep repentance.
All of us should request greatest power of God in order to enter in the God's sabbath.
I have a problem with requesting the power of God because essentially that power is already available to us. The real problem is that we do not effectively use the power that God has given us. If we pray that we want to be used by God, then he will give us the power sufficient to those tasks that he gives us. Sometimes that is as simple as listening to someone else who needs to talk.
God's power is a bit like electricity. You cannot make more electricity than you can use. If you want to use more electricity then you need to switch more switches on. Does that say something about our relationship with God?
Maurice, where would you place a prayer such as "create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me", or "lead me in the way everlasting", etc?
God gives to those who ask, and asking for more will get more won't it? Didn't Elisha ask for more than what Elijah had? Yes, a double portion. He felt his need was greater.
God loves for us to ask in faith.
They are prayers for help in turning on the switch. No problems with that.
So requesting God's power is actually "turning on the switch". Great!
The analogy between the power of God and electricity is a good one, however the metaphorical turning on of switches is like opening the doors for the power of God to flow into a person, however there is a problem, it's called resistance. Resistance impedes the flow of electricity and in some cases stops the flow altogether.
The human heart is the major resistor because of its selfish condition, that's why David asks for "clean" heart and right spirit within him, because unless these risistors are removed the flow of the Holy Spirit is impeded.
Only God can remove them, our part is to confess and repent and then we can have unrestricted access to the power of God.
The Bible promises that anyone is able to know God's will, be forgiven of sin, resist temptation, endure hardship, serve obediently and receive eternal life. God provides the power we need through Jesus' blood, the Scriptures, prayer, hope, love and other Christians. No needs to be lost.
This week's lesson has given me courage to believe that anyone can overcome their past, achieve victory over sin and become what God requires us to be.
You know sometimes people who aren't Christians become overwhelmed by the sacrifices Christians must make, the work to do and habits to change. They become discouraged that they don't even try. That is why they scoff because we're not on the same page, simply because they just don't uderstand; why all this! To them, it's madness.
On the other hand Christians at times become discouraged as they try to live for God and find they have failed in some area. Some give up entirely.
Others pretend to serve God while living in sin and excusing themselves by saying they simply cannot accomplish what the Bible says.
Paul, Peter and the disciples were given a chance to get things right with the LORD and through their fall they uplifted many that no longer had hope for change. Don't let scoffers tell you otherwise for you know what has brought you this far.
You can serve God successfully