1 Peter

Joshua P. Howard
  • 0.0 (0)
  • CHRISTIANITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

1 Peter is a New Testament letter by the Apostle Peter, encouraging Christians facing persecution in Asia Minor to remain steadfast in their faith by focusing on their secure hope in Christ's resurrection, living holy lives, submitting to authority, and doing good to glorify God, even as "strangers and exiles" in a hostile world, following Jesus' example of suffering. The core message is enduring hardship through godly conduct, recognizing this suffering as a way to share in Christ's glory and grow in character.

  1. 18 JAN

    Watching Over the Flock of God

    This Sunday's passage is a bit of encouragement to elders, but I hope no one thinks that means this passage "doesn't apply" to them if they are not an elder! Elder leadership is an important biblical principle for Christians to understand. Our church is an elder-led church, which means we are led by elders who exercise spiritual oversight, and also led by deacons who serve the body. Our elders shepherd souls, and our deacons steward needs. In particular, Peter speaks about the elders who are "among you." You should know your elders, and elders should know their people! Elder leadership is a very personal business, and it's important for us to encourage a biblical view of eldership. Our culture has unfortunately become fascinated by "celebrity pastors" who preach at a distance, whereas Scripture leads us to see elders as shepherds who work among their own people. Also, many things in Peter's message remind me that our church should primarily be thinking "locally." Elders have a responsibility outside the local church, but their primary focus and attention is within that local body. In the same way, our church should have its primary attention locally—shepherding our own people well here at home, partnering with local ministries and churches, and evangelizing the local community (communities) in which we reside. Ministering locally is an important focus.

    41 min

  2. 11 JAN

    Faithful Endurance

    This week we turn back to 1 Peter 4, where the focus is once again on suffering. If that sounds familiar, you're not mistaken—Peter returns to this theme quite repeatedly. But he does so deliberately, because the threads that are woven throughout this letter are meant to bring us to a place where we can find joy even in the midst of suffering. This will be an encouraging passage.

    42 min

  3. 4 JAN

    At the End of All Things

    This Sunday we're picking back up in our study of 1 Peter—which is a fitting moment to jump into a Bible reading plan for 2026 and begin the year grounded in God's Word!

    38 min

  4. 14/12/2025

    Following God's Will and Not Our Own

    1 Peter

    1h 36m

  5. 23/11/2025

    The Gospel in Baptism

    It has been a tremendous joy to have several baptisms this month, and we are looking forward to more next month as well! I love seeing baptisms in our church, and it is the sort of thing we should look forward to and pray expectantly for (including for adult converts, which should be our constant prayer!). But it is also a great time for us to be reminded of who we are as baptized Christians. I will likely never forget this phrase in our Standards, because it was an unfamiliar phrase to me at the time that tripped me up during my theological examinations (upon my entrance into the PCA)… yet one that I have grown to love: How is baptism to be improved by us? To me, this sounded strange, since we cannot "add value" to our baptism—but that's not the meaning of the question. This is the older sense of the word "improved," and it is asking how we can "profit from" our baptism, or "make use of" the weight of our baptism. It asks what the continuing effects are from our baptism. If you have never read Larger Catechism #167, I encourage you to do so! It will undoubtedly encourage you as much as it has for me. Since this Sunday's message will be focusing on the theme of baptism, we will be considering what baptism is, and reminding ourselves along with Shorter Catechism #94: Q: What is Baptism? A: Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord's.

    43 min

  6. 02/11/2025

    When You Suffer While Doing Good (Part II)

    One of Peter's admonitions to us in this passage is to always be prepared to "make a defense" to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us. This word for "defense" (apologia) is where we get the word for "apologetics," which is the study of how to defend the Christian faith. I find it fascinating that Peter – a man who knew all too well the feeling of being unprepared to defend the faith – writes to believers with the encouragement to learn from his example. To be faithful, and even in times of suffering!

    41 min

  7. 19/10/2025

    When You Suffer While Doing Good - Part 1

    In the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, the city of Geneva (where John Calvin ministered) adopted the city motto post tenebras lux, meaning "out of darkness, light." There are good biblical roots for this phrase (Isa 9:2; John 1:5), but this was how those Christians viewed what God had done during the Reformation—it was a time of great darkness, yet God used faithful Christians to shine a great light into that darkness. That's what we celebrate every October: it's not a veneration of men, but it is a celebration of the work God accomplished by using faithful Christians to bring gospel light into great darkness. This is an ongoing task of the church. In our passage this week, we will hear Peter speak of honoring Christ in your heart as holy, and being always prepared to make a defense for the hope that is within you (1 Pet 3:15). This is an ongoing part of the task of the Christian Church until Christ returns: holding fast to our historic and ancient faith, guarding against error that frequently rises, and doing so with joy and faithfulness.

    39 min

  8. 12/10/2025

    Pursuing Unity and Responding to Evil

    We are in a section of 1 Peter that discusses unity, which should make a lot of sense if you consider where we have been thus far in our text. Peter has gone through several categories of submission, and he now leads into a passage about unity. When we do not submit to the authorities that God has placed over us, we will not find unity. Unity is something that is so precious to the Church, and it is something that is so fragile when we allow our sin to fester and threaten it. It's important to note that unity is built on truth, which is why Peter mentions turning away from evil. Unity is not the "end goal," in other words, nor is unity achieved for its own sake—unity is supposed to be the fruit of us following Christ while anchored in truth! That is one of the reasons we cannot only exegete passages, but we actually have to apply those passages. As a spirited Puritan named Matthew Henry observed about this passage: "The business of a faithful minister is to apply general truths to the particular condition and state of his hearers." Application is always where the offense can come in, but it is always worth it. We want to pursue unity, which means we want to pursue truth, and we want to faithfully apply that truth in our lives.

    46 min
See All (19)

About

1 Peter is a New Testament letter by the Apostle Peter, encouraging Christians facing persecution in Asia Minor to remain steadfast in their faith by focusing on their secure hope in Christ's resurrection, living holy lives, submitting to authority, and doing good to glorify God, even as "strangers and exiles" in a hostile world, following Jesus' example of suffering. The core message is enduring hardship through godly conduct, recognizing this suffering as a way to share in Christ's glory and grow in character.

Information

  • Creator
    Joshua P. Howard
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © New Covenant Presbyterian Church
  • Show Website
    1 Peter