Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Peter+005
 

Chapter 5

¹ So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ² shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; ³ not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.⁵ Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: Elders in the church are to shepherd God’s people. All believers are to be humble and self-controlled and look confidently to God and resist the devil.
2. Recall times that you have been especially aware that God cares for you. Did you feel freer to “cast” your anxieties on God then or during other times when His love didn’t seem so close? What causes these differences in feeling?
3. It’s hard not to be anxious when we’re suffering. Leaving everything to God seems difficult indeed.  But Peter said that suffering lasts only for a little while.  God will restore you, and make you strong.  And in His time, God will “restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”.  Whatever today’s pain, we have the promise of strength, and the prospect of glory – forever.
4. What anxieties do you still have? Read this passage again.  Tell God your worries one by one and ask for His guidance and care.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Be Still My Soul – youtu.be/mq59iE3MhXM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Peter+004
 

Chapter 4

¹ Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. ³ For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. ⁴ With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; ⁵ but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

⁷ The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.⁸ Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.⁹ Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.¹⁰ As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:¹¹ whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: Christians are to live for the will of God. We are to love and serve each other, and Christians are to rejoice in suffering as we share Christ’s suffering.
2. Peter described the Roman world of his day as a society filled with violence, oppression, cruelty, the abuse of power, and sexual insanity (v3). Christians faced tremendous pressure from all sides.  Living under such situations, how, for example, is it possible for Christians to maintain sexual purity in such a sexually overheated society? Peter encouraged them to live “no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (v2).
3. The more hostile the world is to us, the greater our need for support and encouragement. The antagonism of outsiders has the effect of bringing us closer and closer to others who think and feel as we do. Christian community is a close, warm and supportive fellowship where we can find encouragement and strength to get on with life in the grim outside world.
4. If you are missing the warmth of fellowship with other Christians, you lack something essential to your growth and well-being. If you are not a part of a cell group in the church, speak to the pastor, your SS teacher or members of the church.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Love One Another – youtu.be/reQOzkCs9_w

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Peter+003
 

Chapter 3

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: Christians are to practice submission in the home, and in the church.  If a person should suffer for doing good, he should remember Christ’s suffering which led to our salvation.
2. Peter reminds us that God’s eyes are on the righteous, so that in the normal course of affairs, good things do happen to good people. But there are situations when you do good, and suffer for it. When this happen to you, “you are blessed”.  Peter than told us how to react in such situations.  Don’t fear or be frightened; remember that Jesus is Lord and sovereign over all circumstances; be prepared to explain your hope to anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are; keep a clear conscience; remember that if God chooses to let you suffer, it’s much better to suffer for something you didn’t do than for committing some sin! (vv14-17)
3. Jesus Christ suffered innocently and yet all this happened according to God’s will. God wonderfully and graciously turned injustice into a means of grace and blessing for all mankind. So, when bad things happened to God’s people, we can be sure that He is personally involved and out of the evil God will bring out some very real good.
4. Our world is often unjust. Bring to mind some of your past or current sufferings. In the context of these sufferings, how can the suffering and consequences of Christ in this passage bring you hope? Thank God for the hope we have been given in Christ.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

I Will Trust My Saviour Jesus – youtu.be/E5S4OPzdM-g

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Peter+002
 

Chapter 2

¹⁸ Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹ For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ²² He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³ When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a Glance: Peter encouraged believers to grow spiritually as they received the calling as God’s chosen and holy people. Believers therefore are to live holy lives and to submit to authorities and masters, even when this involves suffering as Christ suffered.
2. None of us likes to be unfairly treated. It is most frustrating when we can’t do anything about it. In this passage, Peter calls for submission even when we are treated unfairly. Peter went on to tell us that we should do what Jesus did when He suffered unjustly.  Jesus didn’t retaliate, or hurl insults back at those who insulted Him.  What Jesus did was to entrust “Himself to Him who judges justly.”
3. Peter did not always understand that Christ’s disciples should expect to suffer unjustly. When Jesus first announced that the Messiah must suffer and finally die unjustly in Jerusalem, Peter attempted to stop Him. (Matt 16:21-23) But now Peter understands that out of the innocent suffering of the Saviour, God worked out our salvation.  The suffering of Jesus was not meaningless; it was permitted that through it good might come.  Therefore Peter teaches that if we would commit ourselves into God’s hands, we can be sure that not only justice will be done for us, but also that our suffering will serve the cause of God’s grace.
4. Have you ever experienced unjust treatment or hardship because of following the Lord? Pray for courage to walk “in his steps” even in the face of suffering, today, this week, this month.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

We Will Stand Our Ground – www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyHmQkN5QL8

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=1Peter+001
 

1 Peter

Introduction

The apostle Peter was one of the twelve disciples Jesus appointed and taught during his time on earth. Peter spent the final years of his life and ministry—in the early 60s AD—as a leader of the church in Rome. When he learned that churches in other Roman provinces (all located in what is now Turkey) were experiencing persecution, he wrote to urge them to remain faithful to Jesus. Peter’s letter was delivered by Silas, a man who also worked with the apostle Paul (see Acts 15:22–17:15). Peter introduces Silas and explains that he helped to compose the letter.

After the opening, the letter has three main sections:

1. Peter first tells his readers to be holy in all you do. As Gentiles they once lived in ignorance (they did not know the ways of God). But they are now a holy nation, part of God’s own people, and are called to a new way of life.
2. Peter then explains how this way of life will impress those who might accuse and persecute them without just cause.
3. Finally, Peter acknowledges that his readers are suffering for their faith, but he explains that this is only to be expected. The Messiah himself suffered, and believers all over the world are facing the same challenge. The followers of Jesus are waiting for the day God will visit them, and even in their suffering they can show they belong to God.

 

www.bible.com/zh-TW/bible/111/1PE.INTRO1.NIV

 

I Peter Chapter 1 (ESV)

¹³ Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸ knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Chapter at a glance: After a brief greeting, Peter praised God for the salvation of those who suffered persecution. He urged them to remember the price of redemption and to live holy lives.
2. Peter’s call to holiness can be confusing and intimidating. We are often bombarded by the media depicting “holy” people as stiff, sexuality repressed, boring, lifeless, self-righteous, judgemental, and deeply hypocritical.  Yet to be holy is to be transformed into Christ’s image.  Peter talked about “be holy in all your conduct”, what does it mean practically?
3. Jot a quick list of all you have to do today (or tomorrow). How could you begin to tackle this list with the goal “be holy in all your conduct”?
4. Pray specifically from your list that you would be holy and would improve relationships with those around you.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Make Me Holy – youtu.be/YR0QKyKNgZw

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=James+005

 

James 5 (ESV)

The Prayer of Faith

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Recall a time when you came very close to wandering from the faith? Who helped bring you back?  Spend some time revisit that experience and all your emotions then and now.
2. Is God putting someone in your heart that is in the “wandering from the faith” situation as you were? How would you help him/her come back to the faith?
3. Pray for the people in the church and in your cell. We are all broken people—physically, emotionally, spiritually,—and we need each other in the community of faith to pray that we might be healed. Ask God to give us a spirit of harmony, acceptance, forgiveness, compassion, and love so that we would care for each other and witness God’s power.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

One Voice – youtu.be/Au_Znfrjab4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=James+004

 

James 4 (ESV)

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Setting goals and making plans can be good. The temptation, however, when we plan is to think that we are in control of our lives and our future, which pushes God away from our lives. And when God is not at the centre of our planning, we will find that we are not participating in His story—the things that He is doing in this world. Our lives and the future are in God’s hands. We need to come humbly to God and carefully seek God’s will for our lives.
2. What plans do you have for tomorrow, this year or next ten years? Are you willing to submit all of them to God so that you can be involved in His work for His glory and honour?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Sovereign – youtu.be/4jZesDWssd0

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=James+003

 

James 3 (ESV)

Taming the Tongue
¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ² For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

 

REFLECTION:

1. If you were to record everything you said last week to have it played back during church, what would you want to erase from the recording?
2. Meditate on 3:9-10. Have you been doing more praising or cursing? What are ways that you can praise and encourage others more?
3. Is there a family member, a friend or colleague, to whom you may say some encouraging words? During this week, pray that God will help you to speak words of kindness and grace, and pray for one particular person with whom you find it difficult to speak with love.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

To Be Like Jesus, To Be Like Jesus – youtu.be/1-nj1XJ4TbM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=James+002

 

James 2 (ESV)

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Faith is something that we cannot see but faith is made real and visible in our works. James tells us that faith and works go hand-in-hand; our faith in the person and gospel of Jesus Christ changes the way that we see the world, ourselves, and God’s work. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, our changed perspective and value system will cause us to behave closer to God’s way. Thus, our actions reveal our faith in God.
2. How has your faith affected the way in which you view your life, relationships, work, the Church, how you spend your time, etc? How is God already at work around you? How can you join others to live out your faith in actions?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Let It Be Jesus – youtu.be/v2zBXNNoAn8

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=James+001
 

 

James

Introduction

James, one of the brothers of Jesus, became a leader of the church in Jerusalem after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was respected for the advice he gave and for the wise decisions he helped the community of believers make (see Acts 15:13-21). At one point he decided to write down some of his best teachings and advice and send them to other Jewish believers in Jesus who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. What he wrote to them has become known as the book of James.

This book begins like a letter because it’s being sent to people at a distance. But it is actually not very much like other letters of the time. It is a collection of short sayings and slightly longer discussions of practical topics. The conversational style, the short, pithy sayings and the interweaving of themes all make this book similar to the wisdom writing found in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

Like those wisdom books, James concentrates on questions of daily living in God’s good creation. He considers such practical issues as concern for the poor, the responsible use of wealth, control of the tongue, purity of life, unity in the community of Christ-followers, and above all patience and endurance during times of trial. The godly wisdom here remains as valuable a guide to living fully human lives as when James first shared it centuries ago.

 

www.bible.com/zh-TW/bible/111/JAS.INTRO1.NIV

 

James 1 (ESV)

Greeting

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹ Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰ and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Life involves us in many kinds of testing; it is in God that the testing of our faith produces endurance and because of Him, we are able to grow mature. When we experience difficult times—financial or relationship—those times are when we are most able to focus and be dependent on God. These times can be filled with joy when we realize that He is strong when we are weak.
2. Recalling a trial you have experienced, what pressures did it bring on your faith? What “wisdom” did you gain through it?
3. In this wealth-chasing modern society, what do vv 9-11 mean to you? What might James say you should “take pride in”?  Will you heed his teaching?  Why?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer – youtu.be/TxC16duiHvQ