Who We Are in Jesus Christ 1 Peter 1:1-9 Sermon by Rick Crandall Grayson Baptist Church - October 21, 2012 *Most of us are old enough to remember famous actor, Kirk Douglas. He is Michael Douglas’ father. And in his day, Kirk was perhaps more famous than Michael. Kirk Douglas starred in many movies including…

Peter Greets a wide group of people, mostly from Turkey. Peter describes these as the elect who are exiles to this world in the same way as Israel was the exiles in Babylon. These believers find themselves as heavenly foreigners under persecution and descrimnation. This descrimination has caused them to doubt the reality of Christ's Divine work on calvary. He reminds them of who they are (the elect,) how they became the elect (work of the Holy Spirit), and the purpose of the election (obedience/membership in the people of God). The purpose of telling us about the election of God is to help the believers trust in the divine work of God in their lives. Trust in the divine work of God is exactly what will help persecuted heavenly refugee's overcome the suffering they are facing in this world.

Turn to 1 Peter 1 There seems to be a perception about God and the Church in our society - that God and the Church exist primarily to fix problems. “If God’s is so powerful, and He can fix all my problems, then He should fix all my problems and the problems of the world” - or so goes the idea. Of course…