The letter starts out like this, “Peter, an apostle.” I know what you’re thinking… ‘Peter can’t STILL be an apostle can he?! Not after what happened in Galatians 2:11-14!??’ Well… he is. Deal with it.

Peter addresses ELECT EXILES DISPERSED who are SPRINKLED with Jesus Blood. *So we have election, exile, dispersion, sprinkling, and blood. WOWZA! I mean, wow! Well… deal with it.

Then Peter says,”May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” I know a number of people who really don’t like GRACE and/or PEACE. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. The overwhelming evidence of their life (and relationships) reveals that they want judgment, harshness, conflict, and strife. But Peter is talking about grace and peace. So, once again, deal with it!

Then Peter says, “According to God’s great mercy, He has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” And, again, I know quite a few people who don’t like to be compared to NEWBORN BABIES, and they don’t like to think about death (and resurrection).

Then Peter says, “Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith…” *Grieved by various trials? Tested? Genuineness? Wowza!

Then Peter says, “Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him. And though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” We have never seen Jesus!? And we do not now see Him?! Wowza!

Then Peter says, “The prophets preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” The prophets!? They preached good news? Read Jeremiah! …do you think that if you lived in Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah you would interpret his preaching as ‘good news’? And what about this reference to the angels LONGING to look into the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

Then Peter says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” Oh boy!? What do you think this means? What do you think this could mean? *What if the passions of your former ignorance was People Pleasing? …what if the passion of your former ignorance was always trying to appease your dad ‘under the banner’ of honoring your father? But what if your dad was King Saul? OR some other egomaniac dad? …case in point, the next thing that Peter says is, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.”

Then Peter says, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.