I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Living Hope
Remember Peter? An ordinary fisherman turned disciple and apostle of Jesus. He was hot and cold, passionate and impulsive, occasionally fickle and yet still nicknamed the “Rock” by Jesus Himself.
Peter walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, traveled with Jesus, learned from Jesus, and experienced miracles because of Jesus.
He was gently corrected by Jesus, was lovingly empowered by Jesus, and was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life—both before and after Jesus was raised from the dead.
Peter was in Jesus’ inner circle. And it was that Peter, writing to persecuted believers throughout the ancient world, who said:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
1 Peter 1:3 NIV
This wasn’t hearsay gossip from some random person off the streets of Jerusalem, but a friend and a witness of Jesus who’d experienced the truth. Peter knew what he had seen: his friend, teacher, mentor, and Lord was executed … yet raised from the dead.
Peter knew that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, Christianity was fake … definitely not something you would give your life for. Like Paul mentioned in his first letter to the Corinthians, if Christ hasn’t been raised, our faith is useless and we should be pitied for believing a lie.
But if Christ has, in fact, been raised from the dead, then our hope is great and our hope is alive. It’s better than the best news imaginable! It’s more urgent, timeless, and valuable than anything else in this world. And Peter believed this with every breath he had.
Yes, Jesus was the first to rise from the dead. But, if we also believe what Jesus preached, then we know … we’re next.
If you’re not convinced by the evidence yet, keep searching. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Ask Jesus to reveal His power and glory to you in a fresh way, and get to know the believers across the world who are eagerly awaiting His return.
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for ...
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, ...
