Central Assembly

1 Peter 3:15a
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.

PETER'S FOUR TIPS FOR COURAGEOUS SURVIVAL:

* Decide whose side you are on

* Know what you believe and why

1 Peter 3:15b
15…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

PETER'S FOUR TIPS FOR COURAGEOUS SURVIVAL:

* Decide whose side you are on

* Know what you believe and why

* Handle your critics with care

1 Peter 3:15c-16
15…But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

1 Peter 3:17-18a
17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

PETER'S FOUR TIPS FOR COURAGEOUS SURVIVAL:

* Decide whose side you are on

* Know what you believe and why

* Handle your critics with care

* Personalize Jesus' triumph for yourself

1 Peter 3:18b-20a
18…He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

Martin Luther . . .
“A wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means.”

1 Peter 3:20b-22
20…In it [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.