Can People Still Receive Salvation After They Die?

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 4:1-11.  Let’s go!

On verses 1-3:  What does Peter mean in verse 1 when he writes, “because whoever suffers in his body is done with sin”?  For us Christians, the moment we die physically is the moment we go to heaven and are done with sin and its ill effects.  Here Peter is saying: live that way now.  Think of your old life – the life you lived in the past before coming to Christ (v3) – as having died already.  Now you are living a new life that is controlled by Christ, not by sin, a life lived for the will of God, not for human desires (v2).  You are a new creation in Christ.  That is your identity, so live that way.  As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

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How To Always Be Ready To Share Jesus With Others

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 3:13-22.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 3:13-15 (NIV) 
13  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?
14  But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
15  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.

On verses 13-15a:  Don’t misunderstand Peter in verse 13.  Peter is not naively saying that no one will want to harm you if you are eager to do good.  Peter himself witnessed the greatest doer of good in history, Jesus Christ, being repeatedly criticized and ultimately crucified by people intent on harming him. But what Peter is saying to his Christian readers is: remember that the Greatest One is on your side.  He will be there to protect you and to keep you from any ultimate harm.  So do not be afraid of those who want to harm you while you live out your faith and calling.  For even if you suffer because of it, you will be more blessed in the end.  When you remember that the Greatest One is on your side, or in Peter’s words, when you “set apart Christ as Lord”, you will not give in to fear.

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How to Treat the One You Marry

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 3:1-12.  There are so many powerful lessons we can learn from this passage.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 3:1-2 (NIV) 
1  Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,
2  when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

On verses 1-2:  Continuing his theme of being submissive to your leaders, a theme which Peter introduced in chapter 2, Peter addresses married women and tells them to be submissive to their husbands.  What is the reason Peter gives for why married women should submit to their husbands?  For Peter it’s about evangelism, or as we say at THRIVE, living out loud: it’s about leading the husband to Jesus – “so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives”.    Here again we see Peter’s ongoing emphasis on how a Christian’s actions should speak well of Jesus.   

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When Unjust Suffering Leads to Great Redemption

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 2:18-25.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 2:18-25 (NIV) 
18  Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
19  For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
20  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God…….

On verses 18-25:  Amazingly, in the face of persecution, Peter tells his people not to complain or fight against those who persecute them, but to bear with the suffering and endure it.  He even says it is “commendable before God” (v19) for one to suffer for doing good and endure it while being “conscious of God” (i.e. with God in mind) (v20).   What is Peter’s reason for saying all this?  It’s because we are following in the footsteps of Jesus when we suffer unjustly for doing good (v21).  Peter goes on to talk about the way Jesus put up with unjust suffering – how “when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats” (v23) and entrusted himself to God who judges justly (v23). 

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Let Your Actions Speak Well of Jesus

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 2:11-17.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 2:11a (NIV) 
11  Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world…
 
On verse 11a:  Here is the “alien and stranger” theme again from Peter, the idea that as Christians our home is not on earth but in heaven.  So don’t live as if your life on earth is all there is, but every day live with heaven in mind.
 
1 Peter 2:11b (NIV) 
…to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
 
On verse 11b:  How does sin “war against your soul”?  By trying to get you to buy into the lie that you’ll be happier and better off if you sin.  That is the deceitfulness of sin.  Are you tempted to sin in a certain way today? 

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Crave the Word of God

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 2:1-10.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 2:1 (NIV) 
1  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
 
On verse 1:  Here’s a Bible reading tip: whenever you see the word “therefore”, look at the verses just before “therefore”.  Then you can better know what the “therefore” is there for.  In this case, just before verse 1, Peter has been telling his readers to “love each other deeply from the heart, since you have been born again by the imperishable word of God” (1 Peter 1:22-25).  So it is with the goal of loving each other deeply that Peter tells his readers to rid themselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 
 

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There’s No Expiry Date on God’s Word or Jesus’ Blood

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Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Peter 1:13-25.  Let’s go!

1 Peter 1:13 (NIV) 
13  Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

On verse 13:   Peter is telling believers everywhere in the Roman empire: don’t place your hope in money, pleasure, people, or anything else you have now.  Instead, place your hope fully on the grace you will be given when Jesus comes again: the future grace of being united with Jesus, of knowing Him intimately, of experiencing His presence so closely and without limit, and of being home together with Him and with God’s family in heaven where there is no more death, sickness, suffering or sorrow.

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Nothing Like The Hope We Have in Jesus

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Hi GAMErs,

Today we begin our look at 1 Peter, a letter written by the apostle Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, probably around 64 A.D. to Christians scattered everywhere throughout five Roman provinces.

On verses 1-12:  When you read this passage, keep in mind the context within which Peter is writing this letter.  In approximately 64 A.D., Christians in the Roman Empire are going through severe persecution.  Emperor Nero has launched, or is just about to launch, a widespread movement to capture and destroy Christians.  He would become famous for setting Christians on fire as human torches for his dinner parties and feeding them to lions in the coliseum.  With this background of great persecution in mind, read verses 1 to 12 and you will find that they come alive with so much more meaning and relevance.  Likewise, if you have ever been bullied, ostracized, or excluded by others, may you find encouragement from this letter by Peter.

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Ultimate Restoration

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Hi GAMErs,

Now onto today’s passage. Today’s passage is Job 42:1-17.  Let’s go!
 
Job 42:1-2 (NIV) 
1  Then Job replied to the LORD: 
2  “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

On verses 1-6:  Job has now abandoned his previous push to challenge God on His justice (v2).  He now admits to speaking of things that he had no ability to understand (v3).  Job had heard about God all his life, but now, having heard God speak personally, he experiences God’s presence in a powerful and unprecedented way.  In response to encountering God, all Job can do is see how small and unholy he is.  Job repents of his pride before God (v4-6).

What can we learn from this? 

1.We were made not just to hear about God but to experience Him personally.

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Matchless Power

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Hi GAMErs,

Now onto today’s passage. Today’s passage is Job 41:1-34.  Let’s go!
 
Job 41:10 (NIV) 
10  No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me?
 
On verses 1-34:  For one whole chapter, God talks about the leviathan.  What is the leviathan and why is God talking about it? 

The leviathan is described as a powerful marine animal that is violent, not easily captured or tamed, armed with fearsome teeth (v14), and who is impervious to attacks with various premodern combat weapons (v26).   In the past scholars surmised that perhaps the leviathan was a sea monster, a whale, or a marine dinosaur.  Today, many scholars believe that the leviathan is a giant crocodile, since “the crocodile fits God’s description of the leviathan’s back (v13, 15-17, 23), teeth (v14), chest and undersides (v24, 30) and its churning of the waters (v31-32)” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary).  If the leviathan is a giant crocodile, then the references to it being fire-breathing (v19-21) might be an exaggeration for effect.

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