Rivercrest Presbyterian Church - Sermons

Holy living won't just happen in the believer. Jesus demonstrates for us how to live a holy and sacrificial life, one of witness to the world as we join Him in His ultimate plan of redemption. It's His will that is being done through His sanctifying people who must trust in Him and wage war against the sin in our hearts.

Peter has established the importance of his letter, that believers would remember the gospel and stand firm in the face of scoffers and false teachers. The Lord is patient and steadfast towards His people and will judge the world justly. Being outside of time He is greater and grander than all else, deserving of our adoration and praise.

As Peter begins to conclude his final letter he shifts the focus back to his main point; to encourage believers to remember the gospel. Jesus is coming back despite what scoffers say and the hope is for Christians today and until the Last Day when our faith and hope become sight and reality. 

The way of the world is the way of greater angst, anxiety, and ultimately fear. It's a pathway of always walking and never arriving. But what Jesus offers us is something greater. He offers us the way, the truth, and the life. 

Peter continues to emphasize the importance of knowing truth versus false teaching. God has consistently dealt with the righteous in grace and love while judging the wicked, keeping a remnant for Himself. Believers today can rest in Him knowing that it is Christ's righteousness that seals us forever in eternal life, while false teachers and the wicked will not last. 

The eye witness accounts of Peter are unreasonable, though he would have no reason to lie. But the apostle doesn't say "Take my word for it." but rather claims that the Old Testament prophets have been pointing to the very person and moment he is talking about; that Jesus has come and His Word is to be trusted completely.

Peter understands his calling to love believers and is encouraging them to remember the truths of the gospel even after he is gone. The legacy of a Christian is a life of love towards one another, one that points to Christ.

Faith is expressed in faithfulness. For Peter to encourage believers he points them to what faith becomes, not that we would be blind and ineffective in this life, but that our faith would lead to virtue, knowledge of God, steadfastness, brotherly affection, and most importantly - love.

Identity of a Christian cannot be separated from the knowledge of God. The life of godliness as a gift involves knowing the Lord who has revealed Himself to us, as well as revealing ourselves to Him. Through His covenant promises He has demonstrated His love and made us partakers of the divine nature; and Christians are called to such an excellent and abundant life.

Peter begins this letter both with an identity and a goal. He has been saved into servitude of the Lord and at the same time is focused on multiplying grace and peace to all believers who stand equally at the foot of the cross. 

Walking in grace, understanding the call to obedience, and understanding our failure to do it perfectly...it doesn't crush us...but it compels us, and it points us back to our Savior.

Christianity is not an individual faith. The Lord saves His people to a family that is the Church. Therefore unity in the body of Christ is utmost, that the light of the gospel would shine through us as we are together and loving one another. 

God is all powerful, fully of glory and unmatched in holiness. Believers are to rest in the One who is greater than all and, with full and gladdened hearts, to recognize and acknowledge God is who He says He is; the King.

Emotions don't change the gospel. For David, confidence in His God is rooted in what is true and not in his feelings or circumstance. Because of His great love towards us, we have a Good Shepherd who came to dwell with us and never forsake us.

Remembering the covenant promises of God we look back at what He's done with unabridged trust, as well as into the future of glory. Christians have many reasons to rejoice because Christ has the victory and enables us to live in love as the assembly of the Church.

A psalm that expresses the humble heart of King David challenges believers today with the question, "Is the Lord always before me?" In a world full of distractions, anxiety and heartbreak, Christians are to cling to the gospel and to Christ as they walk the path of life in Him.

The call of Psalm 3 is not just to express trust. That's easy. It's easy to say that we trust. But it's a whole different animal to actually trust. And that's the message of Psalm 3. It's to trust that the Lord both can and will meet us in it all...that He can and will sustain us in it all.

Stepping through the gateway to the Psalms, we're presented with a picture of the reality of life in all its genuine simplicity, seeing how there are, in the end, Two Ways, Two Peoples, and Two Destinies. 

As we look forward to Christ coming again, Peter encourages Christians to stand firm in the faith and be sober-minded. Believers have an adversary and therefore we must be united as the Church, leaning on one another and Christ. The future hope of restoration, confirmation, strength, and establishment fuels us towards the love of God and one another.

We are reminded of the heart of God in 1 Peter 5:5-7, that we as His children cast our anxieties on Him because He cares for us. In humility and under the mighty hand of God we faithfully follow after Him, knowing that our Heavenly Father will never let us go.

As we sojourn in this life as Christians we aren't left to figure it out alone, but God gifts His church with elders, shepherds of the flock, who are visible reminders of God's faithfulness and guidance. Elders are called to a high calling and therefore Peter instructs the church the importance of knowing what they are to be, as well as encourages them to follow.

As beloved children of God we are promised blessings, not as a result of our good works, but in ways that point us back and draw us closer to our Creator. In every circumstance Christians have assurance of salvation and hope in Christ.

All Christians are called to be hospitable, to love earnestly and to pray; but Peter also reminds us of our spiritual gifts that make us unique. These gifts are to steward God's grace to one another, making the Church a beautiful picture of community and the gospel as we serve in these last days, awaiting the return of the King.

What does it look like when Christians endure suffering in the world? And how are we meant to respond? Peter gives us answers to those questions.

In one of the most mysterious passages of the New Testament, Peter is encouraging believers in their new creation identity and mission to focus on what we know in Christ. This fuels the Church to move forward by faith and hope where one day those are of the past and only heavenly glory in the presence of the Lord remains.