Resources by David Strain
Now if you would take a Bible in hand and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3 on page 1016 of the church Bibles. We have been working our way through 1 Peter together on Sunday mornings. We’ve come to 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 13 through 17. Peter has given us some counsel on how to navigate opposition. He wants to help us face the possibility...
And if you look at the passage, verses 8 through 12, you’ll see it focuses on Christian behavior in three directions. First, Peter has counsel for how we are to live toward one another within the local church. There in verse 8, do you see that? “Finally, all of you” - he’s writing to the church - “all of you who hear this letter read or read it...
And that means of course that we are, today, at verse 8 where we’ll think together now about “The Cost of Christmas.” “The Cost of Christmas.” It takes us, verse 8 takes us from the manger all the way to the cross. And that may seem to you to be an unusual move for the Sunday before Christmas to be talking about the thirty-three year old Jesus hanging...
And now this week as we turn our attention to verse 7, we’re going to look at the very heart of Christmas. The words of verse 7 take us into the core of the Christmas story, into the heart of the Gospel, and the glories contained there. And we’re going to unpack them under three headings, really three apparent paradoxes that you’ll find in verse 7. If you’ll...
Well this morning we continue in our Advent series looking at Paul’s use of Philippians 2:5-11. We began looking at this together last time. You remember it is sometimes called “The Carmen Christi,” “The hymn to Christ,” used in the churches during Paul’s day, and Paul is quoting it here in Philippians as an apt summary of the significance of who Jesus is and what He came to...
And to guide our thinking, we’ll be working our way line by line through Philippians 2:5-11. It’s a famous passage, sometimes known as the “Carmen Christi,” the “hymn to Christ.” It was probably sung or used in some way in the apostolic churches, and Paul is quoting it here in the context of his letter to the Philippians as an apt summary of the message about Jesus’ person and...
We have been working through 1 Peter together as a church on Sunday mornings and we come to one of those passages that preachers often dread, and you’ll see why in due course. Peter is engaged in a practical section of the letter. He began by outlining for us the main contours of the Christian Gospel and now he is applying those truths to a number of practical...
And I want us to think through Peter’s answer under three headings. He essentially says three things about how to live for Christ in difficult circumstances. He says first we need to learn to live under the gaze of God. We need to learn to live coram Deo, “before the face of God,” to live for His smile and His blessing and not the approval or good opinion...
And I wish we had the time this passage really deserves to dwell on those details, but we simply don’t. All we can really do is pick out a few of the prominent details and meditate on them. Let me mention three for your consideration this evening. First, I want you to see that the Father delights in His servant. The Father delights in His servant. Secondly, the...
But 1 Peter 4:10-11 do have something to say to us about our stewardship. We’re going to think about the teaching of the passage under five headings. First, the perspective that we need. The perspective that we need. Then, the presupposition that we doubt. Then, the purpose we must pursue. Fourthly, the pattern we must follow. And the priority we must maintain. The perspective we need. The presupposition...
And here in chapter 4, we join the laborers in the city on the building site as they work on the walls. And they are surrounded, as we are going to see, by enemies on every hand. And if you’ll look at the text, you’ll see the chapter divides very simply into two main sections. One through 14 talk to us about the opposition facing the people of...
Through verse 12 of chapter 2, we’ve seen Peter give us, you might say, general theological and practical principles. And now, beginning in our passage this morning, he’s going to press some of those principles into the particular areas and contexts of our Christian lives. He will speak, for example, as we’ll see in a few weeks’ time, about slaves and masters, husbands and wives. Here, in verses...
Look at verses 11 and 12 with me just a moment before we begin and notice the central concern of the apostle Peter in these two verses. He wants to promote the practice of Christian holiness. That’s his burden in verses 11 and 12. He tells us first negatively, verse 11, “abstain from the passions of the flesh.” And then positively in verse 12, he wants our conduct...
First of all, the passage before us is going to call us to come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Secondly, come to Jesus by faith. Third, come to Jesus continually. Fourth, come to Jesus corporately; come to Him together. Fifth, come to Jesus to be like Him. Sixth, come to Jesus to praise Him. Seventhly, we are to come to Jesus to proclaim Him. And then eighthly, come...
And if you’ll look at verses 1 through 3, I want you to notice that Peter says essentially two things. If you’re going to live for Christ in a dark world, you need to do two things. He says you need to dress the part. You need to put on a new wardrobe. And he says you need to eat right. You need to cultivate an appetite for...
So there are five stages to this journey back to the source of the river that we need to follow. First is brotherly love. Second is the question of the purification that took place in their lives. Third is obeying the truth, conversion. Fourth is the new birth. And fifth is the means God uses to effect the new birth - the ministry of God’s holy Word.
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And so, Peter, in verses 18 through 21, our passage for this morning, is turning the diamond of the ransom, of the redemption, of the price paid for sinners at the cross by Jesus Christ so that we can see it, that godly fear may grow and flourish in our hearts and we may live for His praise and honor. We’re going to notice four things about the...
And as we consider Peter’s “therefore” and these implications of the grace of God in verses 13 through 17, I want you to notice with me that Peter is essentially inviting us to look in three directions. He wants us to look in three directions. First in verse 13, he invites us to look forward. He invites us to look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ at...