Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule:
1 Peter 4-5
Yesterday, we were challenged by Dr. David Gibbs III from Acts 4. These early church heroes endured amazing hardship in order to spread the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ. Their perspective was eternally focused, and certainly not fixated on the temporal.
You probably have never heard of Miss Aida Scripnikova. I had certainly never heard of her before this morning. She was born in 1941 in St. Petersburg, when the Russian people were fighting to free themselves from the German armies. The enemy was eventually driven out, but for many decades there was no true freedom in her homeland. In the fall of 1961, Aida came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. She was nineteen years old. With her new faith came the impulse to share it with others. Therefore, she purchased some postcards with a beautiful picture on one side and then she wrote a poem on the reverse side. The poem expressed her perception of life and the need for people to find God.
Aida then took her postcards, stood on the busiest street in St. Petersburg, and handed out the cards to people who passed by. She was, of course, arrested. In April of 1962, Aida was tried by a Communist court. She was exiled from St. Petersburg and lost her job as a laboratory assistant. She was arrested again in 1965 and sent to a labor camp for a year. In 1968, she was arrested again and sent to a labor camp for an additional three years.
I do not know if Aida Scripnikova had ever come across 1 Peter 4, but she obeyed the instinct of her heart. In the midst of unrelenting persecution, she shared the message of Jesus Christ, regardless of the cost. In so doing, she lived out the implications of this amazing chapter.
This chapter continues the dominant theme of the letter: the reality of a fleshed-out faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. Believers in Jesus Christ should direct their hearts and minds toward living out the will of God, regardless of the cost. True believers must pay a price, but, in light of eternity, it will certainly be worth the cost.
Prayer Requests:
Personal
- Lord, please help me to always be willing to count the cost of serving you worth it.
- Lord, please help me to be faithful and steadfast in the midst of tribulation and trials.
- Lord, please help me to live surrendered to the Spirit and to deny my flesh.
Political
- Senator Jeremy Moss – District 11 – Southfield
- Representative Mike Mueller – District 51 – Atlas Twp.
- Representative Sheldon Neeley – District 34 – Flint