Discussion Questions

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RISE ABOVE Pt 1: Living with Hope Text: 1 Peter 1:1-8 Senior Pastor Ken Werlein

1. Read Philippians 4:8 & Colossians 3:1-4. According to these passages, what is the importance of our thoughts and where we set our minds? a. What are things in your days/weeks that compete with setting your minds on the right things? b. How does social media, news, etc. take a role in this and even perpetuate your fear? c. When fear or prospects of the unknown seems overwhelming, what do you do? To what (or to whom) do you turn? 2. Read Malachi 3:3; Zechariah 13:9; Daniel 12:10; 1 Corinthians 3:13. a. In what ways is the testing of our faith in trials similar to the testing of gold in fire? b. What are your current trials? c. In what ways is God growing you, changing you, and ultimately refining you in this time? 3. Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-10. Ken talked about how seasons of hardship and unrest in our world are not new. What encouragement does this bring you? 4. In his letter, Peter said that Christians have been given “new birth into a living hope.” What do you learn from the following verses about that new birth and where our hope is? a. John 1:12-13 b. John 3:3-6 c. Romans 8:22-25 d. 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Challenge: What is one discipline you can put into practice this week that allows you to set your mind on the hope we have in Christ, rather than on our temporary circumstances and surroundings (prayer, journaling, accountability partner, time in the Word, Scripture memory, etc.)? Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You for the calling to ponder the magnificent and measureless implications of the resurrection of Jesus, best described, in Peter’s words, as hope—

living hope. Not a “fond hope”—fragile and uncertain; not “hoping against hope”—a wistful yearning; and not “hoping in hope”—groundless optimism, but a living hope. We dare live with hope because Jesus is alive—raised from the dead. He’s not our dead model to imitate; He’s present Savior, to know, love and trust. We can live with hope because we too are alive, a second time—having been given new birth, a new life, and a new creation story through the gospel. You cannot love us more and you’ll never love us less. Father, thank You for Your endless mercies, measureless grace and steadfast love, all lavished on us in Jesus. Thank You for a most certain inheritance, kept in heaven for us—the legacy, heirloom and new-birthright of the life in the new heaven and new earth (2 Peter 3:13). Everything broken will become unbroken. Every tear will be wiped away—no more death or mourning, only life and the perpetual new morning of a grace-full eternity. And, Father, thank You that this inheritance is not only being kept for us, but that we are being kept for it—shielded by Your power until the Day Jesus returns, and You finish Your good work in us. Hallelujah, many times over! We can no more keep ourselves saved that we were ever able to earn a relationship with You. Through the riches of this living hope, may we live and love to Your glory; may we suffer and wait patiently by Your grace; may we love and serve Jesus increasingly (1 Pet. 1:8), and fret and fear, less and less. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ bold and beautiful name.

STUDY DEEPER

Simon Peter Simon was a common name, the Greek version of the Hebrew name Simeon (Acts 15:14). Simon was born in Bethsaida (John 1:44) near the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. His family were Jewish fisherman, like many of their neighbors, although many Samaritans and Greek speaking Gentiles also lived in Galilee. Simon probably received “the normal elementary education of a Jewish boy in a small town” – that is, he learned to read a little Hebrew and enough Greek to do business, and he spoke Aramaic and common Greek fluently. He was not trained in Jewish Scriptures and law as a rabbi, nor in literary Greek (Acts 4:13). Before meeting Jesus, Simon may have followed John the Baptist. Simon was one of Jesus’ first and closes disciples. He was always listed first among them and he may have been their leader. Jesus renamed him Cephas (Aramaic) or Peter (Greek), which means pebble, or rock. This name indicated his future strength, endurance, and foundational position in the church, and his dependence on the church’s true Rock: Jesus. Peter the Pillar Peter seems to have remained the leader of the apostles after Jesus’ death (Acts 1:15-26), although he was a leader among equals. The first 12 chapters of the book of Acts shows Peter leading the disciples’ proclamation of the risen Christ. Paul also called Peter “a pillar” of Jerusalem church during this period, from about AD 33-47.

Martyrdom Early sources say that Peter spend the last years of his life in Rome. In AD 64 a fire broke out in Rome, destroying much of the city. Many people suspected that Emperor Nero had ordered the city burnt, so that he could rebuild in a modern style. Nero found scapegoats in an unpopular religious sect – the Christians – who were social outcasts already and suspected of wicked practices. They were executed horribly. Although the disgusting executions made many Romans feel sorry for the Christians, the spectacle encouraged others to harass the sect. According to early Christian sources, both Peter and Paul were executed within a few years of fire in Rome. A third century Christian, Origen, records that Peter was crucified upside down, feeling unworthy to die as Christ did. Asia Minor First Peter 1:1 says that the letter was addressed to Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These were Roman provinces in what is now called Asia Minor, or Turkey. Paul had founded churches in Asia and Galatia; we have letters from his to Ephesus, Colossae, and Galatia. But Peter seems to have known these Christians well. By AD 60, the churches in Asia Minor were probably converting Gentiles and a few Jews. There is some disagreement, but many scholars believe that Peter was speaking to all Christians in the region he addressed, Jews and Gentiles, and especially new converts. It is believed that 1 Peter was written sometime after AD 60, probably from Rome. From NavPress Life Change Series on 1 Peter.