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    1st Peter: Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series
    1st Peter: Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series
    1st Peter: Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series
    Ebook134 pages3 hours

    1st Peter: Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series

    By Steve Copland

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    About this ebook

    This first letter of Peter's is filled with encouragement in the face of suffering, instructions on how we must live as God's holy people, advise on our attitudes towards government and secular authorities, and teaching for husbands, wives, and elders. Peter also calls us to be prepared to speak to those who ask about our faith in Christ, and instructs us on how to reply.
    Peter was a man who understood human weakness, foolish boasting, and godly humility. He had been called from his quiet life of fishing to be a 'fisher of men', and all of the lessons he learned along the way he shares with us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSteve Copland
    Release dateJun 9, 2016
    ISBN9781310726675
    1st Peter: Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series
    Author

    Steve Copland

    Steve Copland is a self-supported missionary from New Zealand, serving The Lord in Ukraine since 2003. He is member of the pastoral team at New Life evangelical church in Kiev. He lectures on Systematic Theology and Church History at the Ukraine Evangelical Seminary, and also Biblical Studies, Apologetics and Church History at the International Christian University in Kiev.

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      Book preview

      1st Peter - Steve Copland

      1st Peter

      Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series

      Steve Copland

      1st Peter

      Living in Christ: Bible Study/Commentary Series

      Published by Steve Copland at Smashwords

      Copyright 2016 by Steve Copland

      All rights reserved solely by the author.

      The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. This book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author, providing it is unchanged and being used for the purpose of making disciples.

      Steve Copland is a self-supported missionary from New Zealand, serving The Lord in Ukraine since 2003. He is a member of the pastoral team at New Life evangelical church in Kiev and former lecturer at the Ukraine Evangelical Seminary and International Christian University.

      Table of Contents

      Foreword

      Introduction

      Chapter 1: A Living Hope

      Chapter 2: Tests and Trials

      Chapter 3: Inexpressible Joy

      Chapter 4: Holiness

      Chapter 5: Living Stones

      Chapter 6: Aliens and Strangers

      Chapter 7: Godly Reactions

      Chapter 8: First Response

      Chapter 9: Nephilim

      Chapter 10: Baptism

      Chapter 11: The Good Fight

      Chapter 12: Discipline and Discipleship

      Chapter 13: Marks of Leadership

      Chapter 14: Final Instructions

      Other Titles by Steve Copland

      Contact Steve Copland

      Foreword

      A personal Note:

      The Apostle Peter is the subject of my novel Simon and Simon: Passion and Power. It was during the research involved in writing this novel that I came to see Peter's epistles in a new light; not simply theological instructions, but words of Divine wisdom forged from his decades of following Jesus Christ.

      Peter's life-story is both encouraging and inspirational, a story full of exciting and frightening experiences. This is a man who was leading a quiet life as a fisherman, but his decision to follow Christ led him into being freed from prison by angels, performing incredible miracles, confronting a demonic sorcerer, and defying a Roman Emperor. It is my prayer that those who have the opportunity to read Simon and Simon: Passion and Power will be inspired to walk with the same faith and eternal joy that Peter found in his, and our, beloved Lord.

      Steve Copland

      Introduction

      Ist Peter 1:1

      Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia...

      Authorship

      The author of this book we are going to study is a quite well known in jokes about the after-life. He is the one who, according to tradition, meets us at the pearly gates of heaven and decides if we can enter or not. In real life he was the most outspoken of Jesus' disciples and a natural leader of men. He was a practical man, a fisherman by trade, and a man of action who wanted to get things done. He is the one who often speaks and acts before thinking, such as the time he cut off the ear of the High Priest's servant in the Garden of Gethsemane trying to defend Jesus (Luke 22:50). He was the one who had great faith to get out of the boat and walk on the water, but after he thought about what he was doing, his faith was replaced by disbelief, and he sank (Matthew 14:28-31).

      He was the man who knew in his heart who Jesus was, the one who made the great confession, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Matthew 16:16). A year later, after bragging that he would stand firm for Christ even if all the other disciples fled, he was denying he even knew Jesus. Before the day of Pentecost, Peter’s life is one of a man with a good heart trying his best to be the disciple he knew he should be. He had considerable inner strength as a person, but without the indwelling Holy Spirit he failed miserably, lost his faith, and after Jesus' death, even returned to his fishing nets. Sometimes he was mature and stable, and at others, he acted foolishly.

      When the Day of Pentecost came, those people who believed in Jesus Christ were born again and the Holy Spirit came to live in them as a permanent resident. Peter’s life, like all who have experienced new birth, was transformed. Full of the Holy Spirit, he stood up and preached his first sermon and three thousand people believed in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. He performed many healing miracles and witnessed in power. When he was threatened, beaten, flogged and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel, he never denied his Lord, he never gave up in fear, rather he rejoiced that God would consider him worthy to be beaten for Jesus' sake. Peter, like all who are born again, had passed from death into life; death was no longer something to fear.

      At the end of his life he was imprisoned in Rome by the emperor Nero and sentenced to die by crucifixion. The Peter who denied Jesus before he was born again would most likely have denied him again at the thought of such a horrifically painful death, but instead, according to tradition, this Peter made a request which was granted to him by Roman officials. He asked to be crucified upside down saying 'I don’t even deserve to hang on a cross the way my Lord did'.

      Reason for Writing

      According to Roman historians, the emperor Nero was an egomaniac who was on the brink of insanity. Much of the city of Rome was burned in Nero’s time. History claims that he ordered the fires lit in order to legitimately destroy other statues and buildings which had been dedicated or built by previous emperors. He wanted to replace these buildings with memorials to himself. But the crowds were angry, and when rumours circulated about Nero's involvement, he needed someone to blame. He blamed the Christians. He began to persecute them, using beatings, floggings and imprisonment. But he and the crowds wanted more.

      He ordered the torture of Christians, and in a spectacle that shocked even the hardened Roman crowd, Nero had Christians placed gagged, blindfolded, covered in tar and tied to stakes at 4 meter intervals around his huge garden. On a dark night he opened the gates of the Palace Garden and invited the crowd to follow him around the cobbled path as soldiers ran ahead of his golden chariot and lit the Christian's bodies. The sight of these tortured souls, and stench of burning flesh, was too much for many, even in their hatred for those they believed had burned their city, they thought Nero had gone a step too far. In the Circus Maximus, a large arena used for entertainment, he had Christians torn apart by wild beasts and used for bloody sports, finishing the days entertainment with a series of crucifixions.

      The persecutions, which began in Rome, spread throughout the empire. Christians fled the terror and became dispersed all over the empire, running for their lives. It is to this dispersed group of people that Peter writes his first letter, to those 'scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia'. Christians were even hiding in the catacombs beneath the city of Rome, a place used for burial. Many lost everything, even their lives in order to follow Christ.

      The Message

      The key word in this letter is ‘suffering’. Every Christian faces storms in life. Throughout the world many are being persecuted for their faith. Every other day we see horrific images of atrocities carried out against God's children. And there are other forms of suffering which may not threaten our lives; physical pain, emotional pain, broken dreams, conflicts, tensions and stress. Peter’s message, written and inspired by the Holy Spirit, offers good news to Christians. God has given us the power and strength to face any and every situation, power to overcome every form of suffering, and the peace and calm which is always present on the ocean floor, even when the storm above is furious.

      Peter writes to 'God's elect, strangers in the world'. These first words call us to understand who we are, they beckon us to look upwards to the One who has called us into His eternal kingdom. We do not belong to this world, a world which is passing away, rather we are strangers here, or as Paul would say, aliens and citizens of heaven, a people just passing through. In these first words Peter points directly to the keys which unlock the mystery of dealing with suffering; keeping our eyes upon Jesus, and holding fast to the living hope we have in our new birth through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

      This first letter of Peter's is filled with encouragement in the face of suffering, instructions on how we must live as God's holy people, advise on our attitudes towards government and secular authorities, teaching for husbands, wives, and elders. Peter also calls us to be prepared to speak to those who ask about our faith in Christ, and instructs us on how to reply. Peter was a man who understood human weakness, foolish boasting, and godly humility. He had been called from his quiet life of fishing to be a 'fisher of men', and all of the lessons he learned along the way he shares with us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

      Chapter 1

      A Living Hope

      1st Peter 1:2-5

      In our introduction we briefly outlined the circumstances in which Peter writes his first letter to the Churches. From verse one we see that the Church was ‘scattered’ throughout the Roman empire, trying to escape the violent persecutions at this time. In verse two he calls his readers those who have been chosen according to

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