Not From Here

A Different Kind of Threat This morning we're shifting from 1 Peter to 2 Peter, and you need to understand that while these are both letters from the apostle Peter, they feel markedly different. If 1 Peter was written to churches facing external persecution, 2 Peter addresses a different kind of threat entirely. This time, the danger isn't coming from outside the church. It's coming from inside. The letter dates to somewhere between AD 64 and 68, which means it was written sh

A Word to Shepherds As we conclude our journey through 1 Peter in our "Not From Here" series, Peter brings it all home with final instructions for church leadership and warnings for the whole congregation. He begins in 1 Peter 5:1-4  with a word to elders, but notice how he identifies himself. He doesn't invoke apostolic authority. He doesn't pull rank. He says three things: I'm a fellow elder. I'm a witness to Christ's sufferings. And I'm going to share in His glory when He'

Arm Yourselves Peter opens 1 Peter 4:1-11  with a single command that sets the tone for everything that follows: ARM YOURSELVES. "So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin." That's striking language. It's military terminology. It conjures up the image of a soldier getting ready for battle, strapping on armor, pickin

The Lightning Round In high school, I was on the Academic Team at Western Boone. Picture a quiz bowl competition where you're racing against other schools to answer questions. One of the rounds was called the "lightning round." They'd give you a category and fire ten questions at you in one minute. Your team got one point for each correct answer, and if you somehow managed to get all ten right, you got a bonus point. In my four years on Academic Team, we only ever got all ten

A Remarkable New Year's Day On New Year's Day 1832, something remarkable happened in Lexington, Kentucky. Two preachers stood in a crowded brick building on Hill Street and clasped hands. That single handshake accomplished something unprecedented in American religious history: the first voluntary church merger across theological lines. Barton W. Stone and "Raccoon" John Smith represented two independent movements that had been circling each other for years. Stone had hosted t

What Child Dedication Teaches Us About Trust

How Exiles Think, Live, and Love Differently

The Problem with New Year's Resolutions January 1st just passed. You know what that means. New year, new resolutions, new hopes. "This is going to be my year," we tell ourselves. "Things are going to get better." We make our lists. We set our goals for weight loss, learning a new language, traveling more, reading more. We convince ourselves that this time it's going to be different, that we have hope! But deep down, we're not so sure. Because we've been here before, haven't w