Author: evangelist_breland

1 Peter 2:6-10

Christ is a Living Stone – the Chief corner stone of the church. We who are in union with him are also living stones built up by Him. As the church, the Holy Spirit dwells in us; therefore, we must be holy as the temple of the living God. Our responsibility as priests is “to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ” (5b). In verse 6 Scripture prophesies what Christ is to believers: “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Unbelievers may foolishly refuse to repent and accept Jesus, the life-giving stone. However, those of us who trust in God we believe that Jesus was chosen and precious. No matter how bleak our situation may seem, there will never be shame to a child of God. Hold your head up and press on by faith in Christ.

Then the apostle prophesies about what Christ is to sinners. To those that believe, Jesus is precious; however, to those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” (7) and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” It is disobedience to God’s word that caused them to stumble then and causes us to stumble now. We are appointed to stumble (8) if we reject God’s word. Jesus is precious, chosen by God. He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the stubborn disobedient. It’s our choice.

As believers, here’s what we are to God: (a) chosen generation, (b) royal priesthood, (c) holy nation, and (d) His own special, or peculiar, people. You have been bought with the blood of Jesus. He “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (9). Thank God for mercy; “We are now His people”(10), the holy temple of the living God. Give Him glory!

1 Peter 2:4-5, GNT

Children of God are spiritually awakened and blessed to be born again. As a new creature with a new nature in Christ, we have tasted the sincere milk of God’s word and that the Lord is kind. As we daily long for His word, we grow spiritually. We, therefore, enjoy a life free of “malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking” (2:1).

In verse 4 Peter informs these believers of the powerful position they’re in in Christ: “Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable.” Accept Christ, the precious, living Stone that man rejected and crucified, yet chosen by God. Many saw Him as worthless, but God saw Him as valuable. What about you? Do you see the value in accepting Jesus as your Savior and Lord, or are you among the ungrateful that sees Him as worthless? He died on the cross, making it possible for God to redeem us through the power of the Holy Spirit. He promises that all who believe in Him may live forever (John 3:15).  How much more valuable must one be for acceptance?

Peter goes on in verse 5 to say that we are also living stones. God built us up as “the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16) of holy priests. How do we please God? Our reasonable duty is to set ourselves apart as a living sacrifice. We offer sacrifices that are spiritual and acceptable to Him through Jesus Christ. Don’t reject the chosen Stone of eternal life.

1 Peter 2:1-3

Every living organism goes through various stages of development to reach maturity. Human growth – physical and emotional – will be stunted if a child doesn’t get adequate nutrition. The same principle applies for a newborn Christian’s spiritual growth. First Peter chapter Two tells these young believers what they needed to do to grow spiritually. In order to connect the last part of 1 Peter 1:23-25 with 1 Peter 2:1, Peter begins with “therefore.” He’s saying that we have the DNA of Christ Jesus. “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1:23), we are to “lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking” (2:1). These are the traits of corruptible seed – the seed of carnal man. Get rid of them, or they will stunt our spiritual growth. Believers are not to live according to the flesh because we will die. Scripture promises that if we live by the Spirit, we will kill the deeds of the body, and we will live (Romans 8:13).

Peter identifies these young believers as “newborn babes” in Christ. Just as a baby needs the right physical food to grow properly, a new born-again believer needs the right spiritual food to grow properly. Apostle Peter commands “like newborn babies [we should] long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it we may be nurtured and grow in respect to salvation” (v.2, AMP).

A baby wants to eat every two to three hours and will cry for it. We must have a daily desire for the Word as a baby has for his/her food. God’s Word is pure and wholesome nourishment for our soul. When last have you had a hungered for it? The more we read and study God’s Word or listen to it, the healthier we grow spiritually. For sure our life will improve if in fact we have tasted, that is experienced, the goodness and gracious kindness of the Lord (v.3).

Genesis 3:7-13, 22-24, NKJV

June 30, 2021

Adam and Eve disobeyed God; sin entered the world and led to death as God had promised Adam: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (2:16); but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (2:17).” “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Whose word will you believe today – the Lord’s or Satan’s?  

Out of shame and fear they hid in the garden because they were naked, but God called them out: “Where are you (9)?” “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat (11)?” God holds each of us responsible for our acts of disobedience. He promised the serpent that because he deceived Eve, He would put open hostility, between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed. He shall [fatally] bruise the serpent’s head, and the serpent will [only] bruise his heel. Here God prophesies of Jesus’ coming for mankind’s redemption of (15).

Genesis 3:22a says: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us” (22a). The Lord explained that the man has come “to know good and evil” (22a). The minute they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. Their innocence was gone; disobedience brought them to the naked shame of sin. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings (v.7). What do we use for fig leaves to cover our sins and who do we blame? Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent.

For their disobedience and by chance man put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever falsely (22b): God drove him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken (23). Yes, our willful disobedience to God leads to a life that is separated from God, resulting in eternal damnation. So He placed cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life (24) that man would know that he can only be redeemed through acceptance of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7

From the beginning God’s plan for man included the principle of work. Man’s   first task was of ruling over and caring for the rest of God’s creation. Then God gave him the responsibility to tend and keep the garden that He had prepared for man and placed him in. His command to Adam was “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (2:16); but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (2:17).”

Scripture gives no indication as to how long Adam and Eve were naked and without shame. However, in Genesis 3:1-6 Satan, disguised as a serpent, targeted Eve and came to tempt her. He questioned God’s Word (v.1) – the Truth and nothing but the Truth. He was “the most cunning of all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made.” (3:1a). Satan blatantly called God a liar, denying God’s Word (v.4), telling the woman, “You will not surely die” as God had declared in 2:17.  There’s no shame in Satan’s game. Whatever fiery darts he can hurl our way, he will if it causes us to accept his lies and reject God’s Truth (v.5). He’s a deceiver and a liar and will get into our mind, disputing the word of God. Our mind is very important as creatures made in the image of God. What’s Satan doing? He’s creating doubt to get us to accept him over our all-knowing and loving Father. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

^“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant, literally a desirable thing, to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate (v.6). Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (v.7). Disobedience is yielding to temptation, and our first parents disobeyed God’s command, falling  from grace, causing us all to be born sinners.