Church Of The Lost Sheep

" Now the end of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for prayer. Above all, keep your love for one another constant, for “love covers a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable one to another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of the many-sided grace of God." 1 Peter 4:7-10 [This is the  40th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  10th  and last lesson in this  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be good stewards. Good Stewards Now we finally come to the meat and potatoes of how to live the blessed life . So after having gone through the appetizers , we now are going to consume the main course , the fundamental truth about living the bl

Respect and Order " For the Lord’s sake, submit yourselves to every human authority—whether to a king as supreme, or to governors sent by him for the punishment of those who do evil and the praise of those who do good. For this is God’s will, that you silence the ignorance of foolish men by doing good." 1 Peter 2:13-15 [This is the  39th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  9th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to respect aurhority. Respect Respect used to be more respected and more commonplace. Today is has all but become obsolete -- even the word has lost it's meaning. We hear people say respect is earned or respect begets respect. People do not even respect themselves, so how do we expect them to res

"Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be." 1 Peter 1:14 [This is the  38th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  8th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to behave and not be controlled by their desires. Obedience As believers in Christ, we are called children of God. Our Father in heaven is a Good Father and although when He looks at us He sees Christ, He will not be mocked by willfully disobedient children. As Christians, we ought to be like Christ.  Samuel the prophet of old said, Obedience is better than sacrifice. So many believers do lip service or worse, do things by merely following traditional or ritualistic sacrifices. God does not require

Chosen To Live a Holy Life " Be ale rt and think straight ." 1 Peter 1:13a [This is the  37th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  7th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be alert and think straight. Think Straight In other translations, this verse reads: Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober. and Roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game. In the previous lesson of this series, we mentioned how God wants us to renew our mind. This is because so many of the things we have learned or were passed down to us aren't really true, or at least not entirely true. Most unbelievers say people who believe in Christ are brainwashed . But if they really are to be honest or unbiased, they will have to

"Don't pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you, or ridicule those who ridicule you. Instead, bless them , because you were called to inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:9 [This is the  36th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  6th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to repay evil with good. Burning Coals Apostle Paul said the same thing to the 1st church in the City of Rome. Scriptures likened repaying bad with good to heaping coals of fire upon their heads. Romans 12:20 Blessing others who do us wrong is a sure sign of a blessed life. Revenge, retaliation, payback should not be part of the new life and the believer's playbook . If anything this is straight out of the enemy's bag of trick

" Do not repay evil for evil  or insult for insult , but give a blessing instead—it is for this reason you were called, so that you might inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:9 [This is the  35th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  5th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to n ot repay evil with evil. We have an old saying "two wrongs don't make a right". This is true. What good will it do if we repay someone who wronged us by doing something wrong back at them? If anything, this will make us worse than them. Intent Remember some people may have only done us bad, unintentionally, not meaning to, by accident or even because of things beyond their control. When we repay them with evil, we are the one with

" Finally, all of you should agree and have concern and love for each other. You should also be kind and humble . Don’t be hateful and insult people just because they are hateful and insult you. Instead, treat everyone with kindness. You are God’s chosen ones, and he will bless you. The Scriptures say," 1 Peter 3:8-9 [This is the  34th  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  4th  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be humble. Humility Peter knows this lesson well although it did take him a long time to get it. And Jesus had to teach him the hard way. But Peter got it eventually. So in his letter to the first church, he is telling them to do the same -- be humble! I know that the less outspoken among us may appe

" Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic , love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:8-9 [This is the  33rd  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  3rd  of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be s ympathetic, to love, and to be compassionate with one another. [We bunched these all together because they basically are all the same thing] Sympathy Christ redeemed us to live a new life, a blessed life . This blessing was given us to live this new life here on earth. We live out our remaining life here and look towards living with

"Summing up: Be agreeable , be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing." 1 Peter 3:8-9 MSG [This is the  32nd  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. 1 Peter [This will be the  2nd of a  series  within a series] Living the Blessed Life Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be agreeable, agreeable with one another. In other English translations, it is to be like-minded, be of one mind, be single minded, have unity of mind and be harmonious. Unity This is probably among the hardest things that we are called to do in living this blessed life God has given us. I know, I know, some preachers have often equated this bl

Suffering for Doing Good "Finally, all of you, be like-minded , be sympathetic , love one another, be compassionate and humble . Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing , because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing ." 1 Peter 3:8-9 [This is the  31st  message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet. The Apostle Peter gave a rundown on how to live a blessed life. All of us wants a life of blessing. And preachers have often equated God's blessing with wealth and health. It does, but that is not the essence of it and it involves much more than that. It involves  things that aren't about earthly riches, possessions, fleeting happiness, earthly fame, influence or power.  Blessing God's blessing is more about the things that are unseen and thi