YOU'RE A VIP (1 Peter 1)

1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,  To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout ….   ²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.      

I. In Christ – You Get the ROYAL Treatment 

³Praise 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, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you.  

II. In Christ – Trials Are Your Teachers   

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  

III. In Christ – You Have God’s Secret Service Protection   

⁹for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  …. ⁵who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.