Be Unashamed
In the present context for those studying this booklet, our suffering is mostly along the line of inconveniences at best and insults at worst. However, we should remember that Christianity Today magazine issues a World Watch List each year. That is a listing of the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to follow Jesus. North Korea is the highest rated. It categorizes…
Every Nation, Tribe and Language
Be Decisive
Jesus warned his disciples about the response of the world to their decision to follow him: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20). Sometimes the cost of discipleship is being maligned; sometimes it is being martyred. Since Christ suffered, Christians must be resolved to suffer whenever and however necessary.
Worship
Consider a couple of citations from two quite different sources concerning worship practices in the first/second century church.
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternative verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud,…
Little Children and Jesus
Be Righteous; Be Baptized
Be Righteous, 1 Peter 3:8-17 If you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.
Be Baptized, 1 Peter 3:18-22
Baptism…now saves you
Christian Identity and Community in the Roman Empire
Even though Christianity began as a rural movement (Christ emerging from the agricultural region of Galilee; Peter a small-town fisherman, etc.), the real growth and spread of Christianity came in the large Roman cities. Christianity, lived out in faith, in these large, close-quartered cities such…
2020 Series
Be Submissive
1 Peter 2:13-3:7 addresses the subjects of politics, of a master/slave economy, and of the submissiveness of wives to the authority of their husbands. This section of scripture and others like it are often met with disdain by 21st century American culture. Given poor interpretation and application, today’s Christians may have their own issues of embarrassment surrounding…
The Eagle and the Cross
The majority of the book of Acts plays out against the backdrop of the gospel intersecting, impacting and often changing the surrounding Roman-dominated culture. One example is detailed in Acts 19:23-41 where the proclamation of the gospel had a negative economic impact on artisans and merchants who crafted and sold household idols. They lost enough business as a result…