The Mindset of an Elect Exile - 2025 - Firm in the Faith: 1 Peter

This Sunday we will be starting a new series in 1 Peter which we are calling Firm in the Faith. Peter is writing to Christians spread across the world to encourage them to continue to hope in God and the salvation he has accomplished in Christ. Life in our world is difficult, and we see and experience tremendous amounts of suffering daily, but this should not lead us to despair or abandon our faith. Peter wants us to remember what God is doing even in the midst of everything - that God will be faithful to save us. Peter also makes God really big in his letter. The bigger we see God in our world and in our lives the surer our hope becomes. If we are going to face everything that life throws at us we need to hope in the Gospel and what God is doing. This week we will begin our study of 1 Peter looking at 1 Peter 1:1-12. Here Peter wants to remind us who we are as Christians and of our relationship to the world. We are ‘elect exiles’ as he calls us. People chosen by God for a salvation that will be accomplished, and yet we live life as foreigners on this earth as we wait for Jesus. We will be tested through suffering, but that suffering is used of God to refine us. This is what God has planned, and he will be faithful.