First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: 2 Peter 2:1-3

Today’s passage: 2 Peter 2:1-3

Helpful thoughts:

  • False prophets/teachers were around when Christ came, they were around in the early days of the church, they are around today, and they will be around until the end.
  • False prophets/teachers will be characterized by:
    • Claiming to be Christians (“Bought by the Master”), but denying Him
    • Subtle tactics (Bringing in false teaching from within)
    • Being led by feelings (Less Scripture/More “What feels right to me”)
      • By the way, this implies that false prophets/teachers will not believe they are false prophets/teachers!
    • Greed/Exploitation
  • God is not ignoring them.  Their judgment is sure.

Questions to consider:

  1. Given the characteristics above, would you expect to find false prophets/teachers working outside of churches or inside of churches?  Would they be starting new religions or would they be calling themselves Christians and pastors of churches? (Or Christian recording artists on Christian radio stations, Christian therapists at Christian counseling clinics, Christian motivational speakers at Christian conferences, Christian authors writing Christian books for sale at the Christian bookstore, etc.)?
  2. How would you expect a false prophet/teacher to respond if you told them they were a false prophet/teacher?  What would they say and how would they feel?  How would their feelings guide their response?
  3. In our culture today, what would greed and exploitation result in?  How would a false prophet/teacher exploit people in the American economy and marketplace?
  4. How should a genuine Christian prepare for a life of following Jesus with the constant threat of false teaching?

Devotional: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Today’s passage: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Helpful thoughts:

  • Peter is referring to the “Transfiguration” of Jesus from Mark 9:2-13.
  • The Word of God (The Bible) is as prophetic as the message from the very voice of God which Peter heard that day when Jesus was transfigured.
    • The way you would listen if God spoke to you while Jesus was shining in glory right before your eyes…read the Bible like that.  Pay that kind of submissive attention to it until Jesus comes again.
  • The Bible was written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
    • The Bible is God’s Word, not the opinions of individual people.
    • It means what God intended it to mean, and it only means what God intends for it to mean.

Questions to consider:

  1. What makes the Bible so special?  How wonderful is it that God gave us a book?!?  Why might we be tempted to think too little of it or take it for granted?
  2. If the Bible only means what God intends for it to mean, why do people disagree on many important doctrinal issues?  What should we do if we find that our beliefs don’t agree with what the Bible says?
  3. What might be the danger of the statement, “What the Bible is saying to me is…”?

Devotional: 2 Peter 1:3-15

Today’s passage: 2 Peter 1:3-15

Helpful thoughts:

  • Godliness comes by divine power (Grace) and through effort (Make every effort-Vs. 5).
    • Reading the Bible with understanding takes grace (The illuminating work of the Spirit).
    • Reading the Bible with understanding takes effort (Studying takes work, commitment, prioritizing).
  • The best way to “confirm” your calling and election (To be sure of your salvation) is to be growing.
    • If you are not pursuing growth in virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness (Faithfulness), godliness, brotherly affection, and love, you are probably not going to feel like a Christian.
    • If your pursuit of all these Christ-like traits is not built upon the foundation of faith in Christ (The Gospel), you are not a Christian.

Questions to consider:

  1. What does all things mean (Verse 3)?  Is there anything pertaining to life and godliness that we need beyond what God has given to us in the knowledge of Himself through the Scriptures?
  2. Is there anything that you are presently seeking answers for from the world when God has already provided the answers for in His Word?
  3. What are some ways we can stir one another up in our knowledge and growth?

Devotional: 2 Peter 1:1-2

Today’s passage: 2 Peter 1:1-2

Helpful thoughts:

  • Peter humbles himself in his introduction:
    • He is a servant/slave.
    • His faith and standing is no higher than anyone else, because our righteousness has come from Jesus Christ by grace.
  • Grace and peace multiply in us through knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.

Questions to consider:

  1. How do you come to know God?  What message/truths must you learn?
  2. Where do we go to gain knowledge of God and Jesus Christ?
  3. Why is it better to know the Word of God than it is to study the counterfeits?  What wouldn’t multiply in us through a vast knowledge of anything else?

Devotional: 1 Peter 5:6-14

Today’s passage: 1 Peter 5:6-14

Helpful thoughts:

  • We are to humble ourselves.  God is the one who does the exalting.
  • Anxiety is not hard things happening. Anxiety is how we are thinking about hard things happening.  The reason we can cast our anxieties on God is because He is in the work of caring for us.  He is going to exalt us in the proper time.  Faith in God and in His process (Which includes obedience to His commands) wipes away our anxieties and fears.
  • Satan is not the causer of all suffering.  This means:
    • He is not to be blamed for all of our hardships.  Sometimes it is the fault of others.  Sometimes it is our own fault.
    • He is looking for times of weakness, distraction, anger at God, etc. to attack.
    • He can be resisted, even during times of great difficulty.
    • Resisting him will not automatically result in the end of our suffering.
  • All suffering is for “A little while” and will be followed by eternity with Christ!
  • “Babylon” was most likely a code word for the city of Rome.

Questions to consider:

  1. What would be the difference between humility and pride during suffering?  What would they look like?
  2. Why would obedience also be a part of exercising faith in God and in His process?  How would that also remove anxiety?
  3. What are some ways we could come to understand our enemy better as a result of reading this passage?  How do we sometimes blame him for too much?  Too little?
  4. How much of a “Little while” will our suffering feel like after our first 10,000 years in eternity?

Devotional: 1 Peter 5:1-5

Today’s passage: 1 Peter 5:1-5

Helpful thoughts:

  • Peter exhorts (Comes alongside) elders as a fellow elder and as one who will share in eternity with all of us.  Peter, an apostle (Having “witnessed” Christ), humbles himself first as an example before telling elders to be an example.
  • The flock (The church) is God’s.  It does not belong to the elder(s).
  • Eldering (Or pastoring) is to be accomplished among the flock that is among you.  This passage gives further evidence for the structure of the Local Church.
  • Pastors are to exercise oversight.  They are to lead, guard, and feed:
    • Willingly
    • Selflessly
    • Humbly
    • Without intimidation
    • By example
  • Every shepherd is under the authority of the Chief Shepherd

Questions to consider:

  1. Why is humility so important for godly leadership?  Did Christ come to be served or to…?
  2. What might be the reason “younger” people in the flock were singled out in this passage to be submissive to their elders?  What does the word “likewise” in verse 5 point us back to?
  3. Why is it so important for pastors to remember that churches do not belong to them nor that the “buck stops” with them?

Devotional: 1 Peter 4:12-19

Today’s passage: 1 Peter 4:12-19

Helpful thoughts:

  • It wouldn’t be strange to endure hardships and persecution.
  • Difficulties in this life will make His glory revealed that much sweeter.
  • “According to God’s will” = Suffering as a Christian, NOT suffering as an evildoer.

Questions to consider:

  1. Why might we be surprised by persecution in our time and culture?
  2. What does judgment and discipline accomplish for the Christian, since we cannot be condemned? (Romans 8:1, Hebrews 12:3-11)
  3. What does it mean to entrust our souls to our Creator?  How does the fact that He is “faithful” make that sound like a good plan?

Devotional: 1 Peter 4:7-11

Today’s passage: 1 Peter 4:7-11

Helpful thoughts:

  • Jesus Christ is coming again, and we don’t know how soon that might be.
  • Having control of your thoughts and thinking rightly are critical for prayer.
  • Every command in verses 8-11 are for me to bless others with and sourced by God…and for His glory.

Questions to consider:

  1. How does looking to God for all my strength and looking to others for opportunities to serve keep me from being consumed with how I am being treated (Persecution)?  How would that help you to remain self-controlled and sober-minded?
  2. Whose love covers a multitude of sins?  Does this passage encourage us to ignore people’s sin or to love them even when they sin against us?  What are some ways we could mix up this verse and its application to others’ detriment?
  3. How does the promise of God’s glory and eternal dominion give you rest and joy?