Tue July 28

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words exiles and faith.

Reading

1 Peter 1:1-7-Elect Exiles Living by Faith

Optional Reading

Hebrews 11:17-40

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

We are called to live by faith.
That involves living holy lives, even when life is hard.
We can do that with God's help.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

To whom is Peter writing?
Why is trusting God harder when life is difficult?
How can we find joy even with tough problems?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

Peter is writing a letter to God's people. But he isn't writing to just one church in one town, like Paul often did. Instead, he's writing to Christians who were spread out across a big area called Asia Minor (mostly what we know as Turkey today).

But this doesn't mean they were all alone in their houses, like people getting a big email. These Christians had been scattered from Jerusalem, but they were still meeting together in churches in all those places. So Peter's letter was meant for groups of believers-just like churches today all around the world.

Peter tells these Christians (and us) to live holy lives, to trust God, and to keep following Him even when life is hard.

A believer trusts what God has promised for the future, and that helps them deal with what's happening right now. Because we know Jesus will come back and take us to be with Him, we can stay strong - and even find joy - when life is hard or when we face tough problems.

Peter calls these Christians sojourners or exiles, which means "temporary travelers." He's reminding them that earth isn't their forever home-heaven is. He also calls them elect, which means God chose them ahead of time. And everyone God chooses, He sets apart by His Spirit so they can obey Jesus.

So Peter's letter is really for us too: Is he writing to you? If you belong to Jesus, the answer is yes.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 31a, 51a

Prayer

Ask God for His promised help in living by faith.
Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.