DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE

Sermon Series: The First Letter of Peter

Sermon Title: The Surprise of the Gospel

Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:1-2


Daily Devotional Guide

A surprise can be good and it can be bad. If your boss calls you in to tell you that he wants to give you more money for working less hours, that's a good surprise. If he calls you in to tell you that your office has been moved to the shed out back and that you're now going to be paid with words of affirmation instead of money, that would probably be a surprise too. It's just not a good one. 


If you understand the Bible and the human condition, you'll know that the gospel is a surprise. And it's a good one. It's a surprise that a loving, holy God who spoke creation into existence would grant salvation to humans, the climax of his creation, who rebelled against him. This is a mystery. Mysteries, like surprises, can be good or bad. The gospel is a good mystery. It is the best of surprises. 


My prayer for you as we begin through the book of 1 Peter is that, if you haven't already, you would repent of your sins, submit to Jesus, and believe in his mysterious, surprising gospel. My prayer for the rest of us is that we would grow stronger in our faith so that we would remain faithful and always be ready to proclaim and defend it in a world that is growing increasingly hostile to it. 


Monday - 1 Peter 1:1-12

Tuesday - 1 Peter 1:13-25

Wednesday - 1 Peter 2

Thursday - 1 Peter 3:1-7

Friday - 1 Peter 3:8-22

Saturday - 1 Peter 4

Sunday - 1 Peter 5


DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE

Sermon Title: Three Things To Remember about the Spiritual Battle for the Church

Sermon Text: Colossians 1:15-18


Daily Devotional Guide

It's always interesting how God tends to illustrate your sermon for you during the week leading up to the Sunday that you're supposed to preach it. Today, I'm preaching on the church and Spiritual warfare. Earlier this week I found out about a prominent Bible-believing and Bible-preaching church that is rapidly falling apart, even to the point where most of the members of the large staff have resigned. Later on I heard of another prominent church devoted to the glory of God where members are suing one another because some of them didn't like the outcome of a church business meeting. And, of course, there are the countless churches that aren't meeting regularly due to COVID. Some are doing this because a lot of their members are sick. Some are meeting secretly because their government is out to get them. And of course, there are the dozens of Canadian churches that have been burned over recent weeks. 


As we noted last week in regards to the family, we would be foolish to view these events as disconnected. If you are familiar with your Bible, you'll see this for what it is - a direct attempt by the Enemy to stop the church. Sometimes he uses fire. Sometimes he uses politicians. Sometimes he uses false teachers. But he will never stop trying until the return of Jesus. Although the body of Christ ultimately wins, these attacks remind us that we need to take church seriously. These crazy times serve as great opportunities for us to reevaluate our commitment to the body of Christ. I'll leave you with a question to consider as you read and pray this week. 


If your devotion to your family, your sport, your finances, or your job were the same as your devotion to the body of Christ, how would those things look?


Monday - Ephesians 1

Tuesday - Ephesians 2

Wednesday - Ephesians 3

Thursday - Ephesians 4

Friday - Ephesians 5

Saturday - Ephesians 6

Sunday - 1 Peter 1