Tocc Archive

Shortly after the Day of Pentecost, Peter and John were going to the temple to pray. A lame man was lying at one of the temple gates, begging for money. Though Peter and John had no money to give, they gave him something much more valuable – healing in the name of Jesus Christ. When the lame man realized that he had been made whole, he began to leap, shout, and praise God for his miraculous healing. Peter was able to preach the Gospel to thousands of people who witnessed the miracle and many souls were saved that day. The story of Peter healing the lame man at the gate called Beautiful provides us with lessons about God’s ability to heal and deliver in any situation, Christ’s perspective on the lost and hurting, and how courageous worship exalts the name of the Lord. Will you make a commitment to worship and serve the Lord boldly so that others may be won to him?

Celebrate Recovery

Following God’s moral compass by setting a Godly standard for yourself and your family, and then transferring those standards to your children over time, is the most important inheritance you as a father can ever give to your children. “A righteous man who walks in his integrity — how blessed are his sons after him.”

Principle 6 of the 8 Pricilple based on the Be Attitudes

We will begin with a look at Peter in Luke 22:61-62. We see here that Peter has just disowned Jesus for the third time and before Peter’s last word leaves his lips, a rooster crows. This is exactly what Peter said he would not do. He realizes he has failed again. The scene ends with Peter broken and weeping bitterly. Approximately 53 days later in the book of Acts 2, the same Peter without fear addresses a crowd of thousands in Jerusalem boldly proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord and 3,000 souls are saved. What happened to Peter during those 53 days? Defeated, weeping, broken, separated from Christ to BOLD, powerful, fearless, proclaiming Jesus is Lord! Semper Reformandi: (Always transforming) the transforming power of God. I declare to you today that the same power that transformed Peter is available to us today and until Jesus comes. Come Lord Jesus! Let the church say, come Lord Jesus, come!

We have been learning great truths from 1 Peter, and over the next few weeks will be applying more lessons from the life of this apostle. From the gospels to the two letters that he pens, we witness remarkable character development. This gruff, self-assured fisherman undergoes a very long, arduous transformation that begins with a great fall and ends in tremendous maturity and humility. Many of us can relate to the ups and downs that characterize his life, but this volatility is replaced with an enduring strength and poise that can only be explained by the discipleship process. Knowing Jesus Christ and embracing his call to follow him every day will result in a transformative work of our lives as well! Will you make both big and small decisions to become an authentic follower of Jesus that is willing to undergo continuous transformation? Semper reformandi!

As Christians how are we to respond when we are being mistreated by someone? What does God expect of us when we are going through suffering that we did not choose or cause for ourselves? Peter gives us some clear answers for these questions and points us to the example of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus, and how He handled suffering. We will gain important insight from God’s Word in I Peter 2:20-25 on how to glorify our Faithful Creator through mystery of suffering.

Our behavior needs to be excellent among those who are disconnected from God so that they will see good deeds in our lives and be drawn to Him. One important behavior they need to observe is that of submission. For the Lord’s sake, we need to be submissive to authority structures that He has established in four realms - government, employment, family and church. Today we will learn about the importance of submission in the first two of these realms.

We hope you are encouraged as we learn about Jesus Christ “The Chief Cornerstone” that we can build every aspect of our lives on. He is always dependable and He will never disappoint us. If we give Him first place in our lives and allow Him to set our direction in all areas, we will experience amazing blessings from “Zion” — God’s glorious Kingdom. Let’s learn from I Peter 2:6-10 about Jesus Christ “The Chosen and Precious Cornerstone” of a new way of life and a new Kingdom.

Simon, who was nick-named "Rock" or "Stone" - the meanong of "Peter" - explains to the recipients of his first epistle how they are now "living stones" who are being built into a spiritual temple where a new priesthood will operate and new "spiritual" sacrifices will be offered to God. Let's learn how we are to be a part of this incredible new calling for God's people as we study I Peter 2:4-5.

1 peter

As Christians we have been liberated from our slavery to sin. Our liberation was purchased by the precious blood of the Messiah. We have been liberated so that we may love one another sincerely and deeply from the new hearts Jesus gives us through His redemption and regeneration. We will celebrate and learn more about the invaluable blood of Christ, the fervent love of Christ, and the eternal Word of Christ.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been given new life. We can now call upon God as our Heavenly Father. Our earthly journey is to equip us to spend eternity with Him in glory. We must live now, however, with a deep consciousness that all of the work we do for God here on earth is being evaluated. Each of us will one day stand before God’s judgment seat and give an account of ourselves to our Creator. We will be impartially assessed and rewarded according to the works we have done for God. We will learn from I Peter how we can prepare for this ultimate evaluation before our Maker.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to transform anyone’s life. Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ first disciples, is a great example of this. After deciding to follow Jesus, Peter was derailed in his faith and ended up publicly denying the Lord: Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, however gave Peter a new start and a new heart. The risen Christ forgave Peter for his failures, restored him, and mightily changed him forever. We will learn how our Risen Savior and Lord wants to reveal His perfect and permanent love to each of us and miraculously renew us. Let’s celebrate! Jesus, the Messiah is alive and He is transforming lives today!

The Lord says to us “Be holy because I am holy” (I Peter 1:16). But what does it mean to be holy? What does this look like in real day to day life? How is a holy person different from an unholy person? In our message from I Peter 1:14 - 16 we will learn how holiness leads to wholeness which leads to fullness which leads to blessedness! Let’s learn how to grow in holiness so we can become more and more like our Amazing Father.

God wants you to have a disciplined and focused mind as a follower of Jesus Christ. He wants you to learn how to bring your thoughts into obedience to Christ’s Lordship on a daily basis. We will learn how the grace of Christ and the revelation of Christ at His return can help us to be holy in our thoughts and behavior so that we can bring glory to God and enjoy “wholeness” and blessing in every area of our lives.

The wonderful salvation God has provided for us was a long time in the making. Even before the foundations of the earth, the all wise God planned to send His Son into the world to save us because He knew we would sin and destroy our relationship with Him. Over time He progressively revealed His rescue plan to the Old Testament prophets. At just the right moment, The Messiah was sent and through His death and resurrection saved humanity. This gracious intervention is even fascinating to angelic beings! Let’s learn more about God’s intriguing plan of salvation through the Messiah

Why does God allow us to go through suffering and difficulties? Isn’t he powerful enough to prevent problems and hardship from entering our lives? We will gain wisdom and perspective from God’s Word in I Peter 1:6-9 that will help us answer these questions. This passage will help us see why it is necessary for us to go through testings, trials, temptation and even tragedies, so that we will bring praise, glory and honor to our Lord Jesus when He is revealed from heaven on the day of His return.

The Bible tells us that through the resurrection of our glorious Lord we have been given new birth into a “living hope” and into an “eternal inheritance”. God is guarding this amazing inheritance for each of us in Heaven. We will learn about our identity as “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ”. My prayer is that this truth will help us to be more heavenly minded and more earthly good in our service to our Messiah and Savior.

We will continue learning from I Peter how we have new life and wonderful hope because our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ, conquered death through His resurrection. Let God fill your heart this morning with His encouragement!