Welcome To Monday Morning Coffee

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Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special Monday Morning Coffee Podcast. On this podcast, our preacher, Mark Roberts, will help you get your week started right with a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through its others and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday morning coffee with Mark.

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Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee Podcast for the week of September 27th through October the 3rd. It's Monday. I am Mark. I've got some coffee. I've got my Bible open, ready to talk about the first epistle of Peter. And I just need to give you a couple of quick notes about what's going on around the podcast. Because I'm not talking to you from Dallas, Texas today. Well, all of this is pre-recorded because for the next couple of weeks, Dean and I will be overseas. In fact, while you're listening to this, we are on a plane to Rome in Italy, or maybe, depending on when you're listening to this, we've already landed and are sightseeing all the amazing things to see in Rome, a lot of which have New Testament connections. Pretty excited about all of that. Kind of hoping, kind of hoping to get a cup of coffee with Paul. We'll have to see how all that works out, or maybe with Peter. That would be amazing, wouldn't it? I'm all about that. But yeah, next couple of weeks, Dean and I are overseas, and I'm trying not to talk way too much about all of that. Nobody wants to hear about somebody else's great trip, but you may see some stuff on Facebook being posted from time to time as we see some things that pertain to the Bible. Do hope very much, for example, to get to walk on the Appian Way and see the Colosseum, see the Arch of Titus, which has an amazing inscription engraving of the minera from the temple when Titus's armies took and city of Jerusalem and burned the temple in AD 70. So lots of Bible connections in the city of Rome. And then next week we're headed to Athens and on from there. So this is kind of an update here to tell you where everything is going on and what everything is all about. We're super excited about this trip. And as part of all the preparations and the things that we're doing for that, I recorded podcast ahead of time. So there you go. That you won't miss an episode. How about that? That said, it's time then. I've got coffee. Get your coffee, grab your Bible. Let's grow together. I'll give you

Sermon Notes

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a note or two right quick about the sermon yesterday, and then we'll get right into the Bible reading. Yesterday I preached a sermon for our young people about the prodigal son, and I haven't counted exactly, but I probably am starting to get into double digits on sermons from Luke 15, especially on the prodigal son. Really, really like that parable and think it's very helpful to young people. Would encourage you, if you did not listen to it, to go and do so. Particularly encourage a young person to think about that because his choices, the prodigal son's choices, are what shapes him. And sometimes young people want to believe that they're out of control, that their life is happening to them, and they don't get to make choices about what they are and who they are. And of course, that is absolutely fundamentally flawed. Need to think about your choices. Maybe the other thing I would say is go back and read Luke 15 and think about it as an adult. Because it does seem like, it does seem like I'm hearing about adults that are journeying to the far country, giving up their faith, giving up their marriage, heading to the far country, living like a pagan, living like the prodigal. So that sermon has application for everybody, not just young people. Having said that, then it's time to think about our daily Bible reading. Get your Bible open to 1 Peter chapter 1. Today we begin 1 Peter.

Monday 1 Peter 1

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I have worked very hard to try to say that the Apostle Paul is much more a regular guy than sometimes we give him credit for. He's not so invincible and so armor clad as sometimes we think of him as being. But I don't think we have any difficulty with that with Peter. Peter's just always forging ahead and sometimes fouling up and then forging ahead some more. I think we can all identify with the guy who puts his foot in his mouth. Sometimes he's over-eager, and yes, he's had some very public failures. So there's no trouble in us reading 1 Peter and thinking this guy's just above it all. He he's helping us because he's one of us. So we begin 1 Peter today. This is probably written somewhere in the early 60s, because if Peter died under Nero's persecution, and there's fairly good evidence of some of that, then he would have been put to death somewhere in AD 64, 65. There is a reference to Babylon in 1 Peter chapter 5. At the end of the week, we'll read in 1 Peter chapter 5. There's a reference there. That's probably Rome. That's probably Rome, and don't freak out. That doesn't mean that Peter was the first pope. We'll talk about that more on Friday, but it's okay for him to be in Rome without suddenly ceding all of that ground to Roman Catholicism. Now the audience here, look at verse 1. The elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethenia. That's the churches in northern Galatia. It seems that Paul evangelized Southern Galatia, Peter seems to have gone north. And there's a lot of Jewish tone to this epistle. So there are some former Jews or Jewish Christians, if you prefer that. No if, ands, or buts about that. Look at 114, as obedient children, don't be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Or 18, verse 18, knowing your ransom for the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers. That's not a reference to Judaism, that's a reference to pagan idolatry. And Peter's purpose here is very, very clear. In verse 12 of chapter 5, he says, I'm exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God and stand firm in it. So this is about encouraging Christians to stand fast in a hostile world, particularly at a time when they are suffering. They are suffering as Christians. And I love verse 1 because he is talking to Gentiles there and he calls them elect. He calls them elect. Now Peter was the first to preach the gospel to Gentiles, but he doesn't say that was a mistake, or we got to back that up, or they're not really fully in. Nope, they're part of the elect. And the emphasis here at the outset is about salvation. That term occurs in 1.5, verse 9, verse 10, and 210. It won't occur again, but he starts with, we are saved. That's a great place to begin. And he is feeding in a little bit here this idea of trial and tribulation that becomes so important in the book. I do wish verse 4 in the ESV, it's an inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. I wish it was unperishable, because in the Greek, all three of those terms begin with alpha, and there's a str uh, it's a string of alliteration. And I just wish it would reflect that in the English translation. Unperishable, undefiled, unfading. It'd be all the with that same emphasis that Peter has given. And there is activity here, verse 5, by God. He is guarding us, he's the one that's acting and doing. And so even though there is suffering in verse 8, for example, we don't rejoice because of suffering, but because of our expectations of the future. And verse 8 really reaches out and grabs us. I haven't seen Jesus personally, and you haven't either. And Peter's talking to people who are in that exact situation, that puts us squarely in the boat. And so in verse 13, I love verse 5, God's guarding. Now, verse 13, there's things that we need to do. And verse 13 may say girding up the loins of your mind, depending on your translation. And that's an expression that just means roll up your sleeves or take off your coat, get in there and get busy. The ESV has prepare your minds for action. We must begin to act. We must begin to do. And the first thing that Peter will say about that is that we need to be holy. We need to be holy. Holiness is to put on the character of God. It's extremely important in the Bible. God's holiness is the center of who He is. So much of the Bible is dedicated to holiness. Go read Leviticus, for example. And holiness means to be set apart, to be used by the Lord. Not just set apart, set apart so that we can be useful to the Lord. And there's this idea of exile in verse 17. Talk a little bit about that in the heaven-bound series when it came out of Hebrews there. The idea of being a sojourner, knowing that we're moving forward for something better. And there is an emphasis here on divine initiative in verse 21. We're believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. It's God's work, it's what God has done that makes all of this possible. And so now his second emphasis begins to move forward. We've purified our souls, verse 22. That's about holiness. So what we need to do, and and we get holy by obeying the truth. So then what we want to do is make certain that we are living as God intends for us to live. That's that idea of purification and then sincere brotherly love. Love the brethren. In a time of persecution, we've got to pull together. Pull together. And verse 24 and 25 come out of Isaiah 40. And that is a part of Isaiah that is known as the book of comfort. And I think this would be very comforting. The reading for Monday, 1 Peter chapter 1. Welcome

Tuesday 1 Peter 2

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to Tuesday. Welcome to Tuesday. And it's 1 Peter chapter 2 that we are reading today. The reading for Tuesday is 1 Peter 2. This is a powerful chapter, and if you'll stay with me to the end of the podcast episode today, I will I'll give you a secret from this chapter that will deal with every gray area, every moral dilemma, every well, I'm not sure what to do kind of thing that we might ever face. So there you go. That's something to listen for. As you're reading there in 2.1, so put away all malice and all, so are therefore. That reaches back to 122, the idea of loving the brethren because you're born of the word. So the word helps us to know who we are and how to live. And the key here is that identity precedes activity. I need to know who I am before I know what I am going to do. And so here, the idea is to look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. He is verse 4, the living stone, the living stone. And the Bible makes so much use of stone and rock imagery. I'm reading from one scholar the stumbling stone of Isaiah 8.14, the foundation stone of Isaiah 28.16, the parental rock of Isaiah 51.1, the rejected but vindicated building stone of Psalm 118.22, the supernatural stone of Daniel 2.34. There's just lots and lots of rock or stone imagery in the Old Testament. And this passage that Peter is working with here puts together a bunch of Old Testament texts in a very Jewish kind of way, keying off the word stone or rock. That's a very common way the rabbis taught. So that would tell us that there's some Jews in the who are going to be reading this who are part of the congregations that are receiving this epistle, and maybe some Gentiles who are familiar with how that operates, have been maybe part of the synagogue. And so he says, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. I have to pause here because next week Dean and I are taking a group on a cruise into the Med Sea, coming out of Athens, and be going to a lot of really great places, talk maybe a little bit more about that next week. But the theme for the cruise is right out of 1 Peter 2, 4 and 5. That's our theme verse. Living temples. Living temples. That's what Peter's talking about. And we're a holy priesthood. We offer spiritual sacrifices. Even Gentiles are priests. How about that? Ah, that would catch people's ears a little bit, wouldn't it? They are not second-class citizens in the kingdom. And the heart of things then is in fact verse 6. Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. The stone, verse 7, the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone. Jesus was rejected by men. So we should not be, don't be surprised at all, Peter's saying, when we are rejected by men. And I don't think verse 8 is teaching they stumble because they disobeyed the words they were destined to do, verse 8. That's not teaching Calvinistic predestination. It's just saying the destiny of men is determined by their attitude toward Christ. The problem is disobedience, not predestination. And then coming out of verse 9, you really get the flavor here that the church has replaced Israel. It's the elect race, it's the royal priesthood, it's the peculiar people. All the things that used to be said of Israel now are said of the church. And in fact, Hosea chapter 1 and Hosea chapter 2 prophetically speaks of God's people. Once you were not a people, now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, now you have received mercy. So all of this sets up Christians to say, God has redeemed us, God has purified us, God has saved us. Yes, we are enduring trials and tribulations, but we need to stand firm in God's grace and continue to serve the Lord. And what happens now, beginning in verse 11? Look at the beloved I urge you. Now, Paul, oh Peter, I did you wrong right there. Let me get some coffee. Now Peter gives some very specific ideas about how Christians live in a non-Christian world. We are not Israelites who have conquered Canaan and we're all living happily here together among the people of God. We are much more, we're much more like exiles in Babylon. We're living in Babylon and we have to know how to get along with the Babylonians. And one of the key ideas here is that we have to live humbly. We have to live humbly in front of others. Sojourners and exiles. I love that out of verse 11. And then Peter mentions the day of visitation. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, that they may see good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. That may be the day of judgment, or it may be the visitation of salvation, the conviction and conversion that they see in Christian lives. However, you want to read that, the point is clear. You keep your eye on God and your responsibilities to Him. 13 to 17 then talks about being in submission to governing powers. Christians are not political revolutionaries. We're not trying to overthrow the government. And then 18 to 21, servants and masters. You're a servant of God. You need to serve the Lord humbly. In fact, verse 21, that's exactly what Jesus did. And the chapter concludes by talking about the example of Christ. And Jesus regularly taught, look at verse 21, about the cross. And we need to remember that when Jesus was doing that, Peter was saying, no, no, no, no, no. That's never going to happen. I'm going to stand up for you. Don't even talk that way, Jesus. He knows better now. He knows better now. And I have used verse 21 before, and I will continue to use verse 21 as the model, the pattern, the example of the essence of Christianity. Be like Christ. That's what we're doing this year. Be like the teacher. And there's echoes then in 22, 23, and 24 of Isaiah 53. And Peter concludes the chapter by saying, One supreme shepherd is over all of us. Now, I said that this chapter will give you all the guidance that you need when you're in some kind of troubling situation, some kind of gray area. What do you do? What do you do? Here's the secret. Just ask yourself, verse 11, does this help me abstain from the passions of the flesh? Verse 12, is this honorable? Will it cause others to glorify God? Verse 13 and 14, does this respect governing authorities? You answer those questions, you've gone a long way to determining whether or not you really want to be a part of that activity if you really want to do that and take part in it. The reading for Tuesday, 1 Peter chapter 2.

Wednesday 1 Peter 3

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It is hump day. It's hump day. Get up on that camel, grab your coffee, open your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 3. It's time to talk about 1 Peter 3. One of the most difficult passages in the Bible is found in 1 Peter chapter 3. And there's a tough passage at the top of the chapter as well. I'm afraid sometimes we get really focused at the bottom, maybe really focused at the top. We might miss the goodies in the middle. Let's try to do better than that. So likewise, 3, 1, likewise what? Likewise links to what went before. Peter is introducing the idea that as God's people, that's chapter 2, verse 9. We are humble. We're subject to governing authority. Chapter 2, verses 13 to 17. Slaves are subject to their master. 18 to 25. Chapter 2, 18 to 25. And wives need to be subject to their husbands. 3, 1 to 6. Wherever you are on that, and people say mean things about the Bible, it's chauvinistic on and on and on. It's what the Bible teaches. Period. Period. It's what Peter expects of Christians in the first century. And it's what Peter, and it's what the Lord expects of Christians right now, today. And I think as you think a little bit about where a Christian woman would be in the first century, you have a better appreciation for what Peter's talking about, winning your husband without a word. Because a woman in the Roman world was certainly expected to adopt her husband's religion and do as he does. So a Christian woman who no longer went to worship idols, wow, that would be seen as very out of step. But instead of being a radical revolutionary, verse 2, the Christian woman is going to serve the Lord and try to, by her good example, help her husband come to the Lord as well. In verses 3 and 4, don't get lost there. It's not about fashion. If Peter is forbidding all braiding of hair and putting on of gold jewelry, then he's also at the end of the verse, verse 3, forbidding the wearing of clothing. Maybe that's a little too far, don't you think? I would expect so. This is not technically a not but construction, but it's a very close. The idea here is not this but that. This isn't important, this is. And it's not clothes, but character. And this little section concludes verse 7 with Peter saying, husbands need to live God's way too. A man needs to treat his wife as an equal and more. He treats her better than himself. Both are to honor God. That's what this is about. Marriage is not about how can I get what I want? Get you to do for me, how can I be served? How can you make me happy? No. Christianity is the way of service, even in marriage. And then verses 8 to 17, really beautiful passages here about what it is to be a Christian. Verse 8, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heart, humble mind.

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Woo!

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Work on that for a while, couldn't we? And here, look at verse 10: whoever desires to love life and see good days. Verse 10, so quote out of Psalm 34. Sometimes people try to act like Christians can't be happy, can't have the good life. No, Peter says, we can have the good life. Keep your tongue from evil, your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good, verse 11, seek peace and pursue it. Christians pursue what is really the only good life as we serve the Lord. And maybe we should be reminded that these Christians are being persecuted. And Peter's still saying, you can live the good life. That tone of persecution then begins to creep into the text more and more in verses 13 to 17. Who's going to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? And then, of course, in verse 14, I love this. Peter says, But if you are harmed, you'll be blessed by God. So just stand with the Lord, let the Lord work it out. And we don't have to always be preaching it, folks, verse 15. But if somebody asks, then in fact, and that may actually be in a kind of courtroom tribunal setting, but if someone asks about your faith, we should be ready to answer those questions. And speaking of questions, that brings us to the section in verse 18 to the end of the chapter. Christ suffered once for sins, verse 18, being put to death in the flesh, made alive in the spirit, which he went and proclaimed, verse 19, to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah. What in this world, what is going on here? Now, I need to say, I certainly don't know everything about that passage, and I don't want to pretend that I've got all the difficulties fixed and solved, and I can answer every question. But in a in an epistle about suffering, it is clear what the main message here is. You Christians are suffering, Peter says, and then he says, well, you know, Jesus suffered too. Be like Jesus. And in fact, that's 4-1. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. So whatever 18 to 22 means, we know where it's going and what Peter is trying to say there. I do think being alive in the spirit, verse 18, is a reference to Christ after his resurrection. And so verse 19 says after his resurrection or in his resurrected state. He went and did some preaching, did some preaching, and then there's a reference to the days of Noah. By the way, verse 21 then comes to the fore because baptism is a copy, it's a representation of the deliverance that Noah received. And so then, verse 22, Jesus is now in charge of all things. Someone says, wait, wait, wait, back up. Tell me more about that preaching Jesus did. Well, well, there are several views. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, we'll talk about it. There are several views here. One is that Jesus did go to the realm of the dead, and he preached to those spirits who had been disobedient during the time of Noah. Usually with this, the idea is that his body was in the tomb, but his spirit was preaching. And then there will be debate about is Jesus offering them a second chance and lots of discussion in that direction. A second alternative here would be that by the Spirit, Jesus preached through Noah to the people at Noah's time. And that is very, very slick. That kind of deals with a lot of the problems and makes it all go away, but it certainly does not seem to fit the tenor of the passage at all. This is not about being like Noah, it's about being like Jesus. So how about this view? After his resurrection, Jesus preached to some supernatural beings that had been disobedient during Noah's day. Someone says, Well, what supernatural beings? Where, how, why? I don't know, but that doesn't mean that's not what the text is saying. That seems certainly to be what the text is saying. Now, what did Jesus preach to them? It seems to me that he preaches a message of victory. He told them that their doom was sealed, that he was victorious. You think you won, you attacked Noah, but you didn't win, and the final victory is now assured. So the summary of the text here is that Christians can be confident in the face of persecution. Jesus overcame even notorious disobedient spirits. We can overcome as well. Standfast, stand with Jesus. The reading for Wednesday. First Peter chapter three.

Thursday 1 Peter 4

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It's Thursday, and today we read 1 Peter 4, the reading for Thursday, 1 Peter, the fourth chapter. This chapter has a grim reality to it because it's all about how to suffer as a Christian. And Peter's answer to the problem of suffering is be like Christ, since therefore, verse 1, Christ suffered in the flesh. Be like Christ. And being like Christ means that yes, we will suffer, but we are not to give in to that suffering. Don't want to do that at all. In verse 1, it then says, whoever suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That troubles us. That's not entirely clear what Peter's meaning by that. It may mean that that he's talking about Jesus, that Christ is the whoever. He suffered in the flesh to overcome sin, to be done with it, and to break its power. Or it may mean that we identify with Christ, we're the whoever, and that if we do that, we have made plain where we stand and that we're done with sinning in that way of life. In fact, the NLT reads, if you're willing to suffer for Christ, you've decided to stop sinning. So there's no going back to our old way of life, verse 2. Christianity really has, verse 3, kind of a before and after aspect to it. Maybe you've seen those pictures in a magazine. Usually they're associated with diets. The before picture, here's the fella, here's the lady, and they're uh unhealthily overweight. And then the next picture, the after picture, there they are, just all nice and trim. Well, uh, that's kind of where Christianity is. Before we were involved in all these things. Verse 3. Now we we don't do any of those things anymore. And that results in Gentiles making fun of us. Gentiles saying, What's wrong with you people? You're missing out on everything. And that's why the gospel is preached, verse 6, Peter says to the dead. Now that's very difficult. Who's he talking about there? He's probably talking there to people who have died since Peter was there preaching. In fact, the NIV supports that by adding the word now. The gospel is preached even to those who are now dead. And so maybe, maybe Peter's referencing some of his own time spent there among those brethren. And he says the end of all things is at hand, verse 7. And verses like that, and there are a lot of them in the Bible. Remember, David McClistra on our Super Saturday event came and talked about that. You could listen to his lecture about that. It's on the website. There's a lot of verses like that. And mainly that's just about how Jesus coming is always in the big picture, the next thing, the next big thing that will happen. So don't panic there. This is really a big us and them kind of passage. There's them over there, and they don't understand us over here, which means we need to develop a close bond with our brethren. Verses 8 to 11. And hospitality here may be, maybe more than just entertaining and giving a place to rest and a place to sleep, uh to visiting missionaries and preachers. There aren't any holiday ins or motel sixes in the New Testament world. If there is an inn, it's often associated with a tavern or even is just a house of prostitution. So many times Christians would host other Christians who are traveling. But this may be more than traveling missionaries. This one another business may indicate hospitality within the church, to encourage and to help each other, have each other in our homes so that we can know each other better and help each other be more of what Christ wants us to be, and especially to stand up under suffering. And as you look there at verse 11, maybe the two main sorts of ministry are teaching and serving. Maybe that's where that is. Maybe that's the most important kind of thing for us to be doing. So don't be surprised if you are in any way persecuted. Verses 12 to 19, we will suffer, but suffering does not stop God's purposes. It fulfills God's purposes in purifying us. And notice if anyone suffers, verse 16, as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. There's conversation about the use of the term Christian today. Some have decided that it's become so overused or stereotyped, we shouldn't use it anymore. If Peter uses it, we can use it. Just call Bible things by Bible names. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, because judgment has it will begin, verse 17, at the household of God. And all that means is that God hates evil so much that he will judge even his own people. So what of the evildoers who have spurned him? And so if the righteous is scarcely saved, verse 18, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? It's not scarcely saved in the idea of, oh, they just barely got into heaven. The idea here is through major difficulties, through all this suffering, Christians will be saved. So we're going to suffer according to God's will. Verse 19, we'll entrust ourselves to the Lord. Our reading for Thursday, 1 Peter chapter 4.

Friday 1 Peter 5

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It is Friday. It's Friday. You made it through the week. And today we're reading 1 Peter 5. The reading for Friday, 1 Peter, the fifth chapter. I just want to continue the idea of what to do when we suffer. I think that's the dominant note in 1 Peter. And so a couple of ideas here when we're suffering. Very humble appeal. It's not some, I'm a big apostle, I'm taking charge. I'm a fellow elder. I know what this is about. I know what's going on. I know how much you need. Shepherds. Shepherd the flock of God among you. Shepherding, of course, in the Bible is such a rich metaphor. David is a shepherd. God is said to be a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23. Ezekiel condemns the false shepherds who don't care for God's people. And of course, Jesus says he is the good shepherd. He is the good shepherd, John 10 and verse 11. Peter has picked that up in chapter 2 and verse 25. Shepherds provide what the flock needs to survive and to thrive, and they are among you. I think that's a strong statement for local church autonomy. Sometimes I hear of a church and they say, we are overseeing this other church. We're overseeing this work in Africa. We're overseeing this nationwide evangelistic effort, and which means they're overseeing the treasury and the use of the money by churches all across the nation. That's not possible. A shepherd can't shepherd a flock on the other side of the planet. It breaks the metaphor. And Peter could easily say, now, this church over here is a little bit weak, it's a little bit small. So I want you, brethren, in Pontus, to go over there and to tell those brethren how to do, and you take over that church. And he does not. All local churches are independent and autonomous. No one can tell Westside what to do, and we aren't telling anybody what to do, because our shepherds are shepherding the flock of God among us. And we need, as we continue to think about this theme of suffering, we need humility. Verse five. Need to be very careful here. Sometimes we read this like it's just for young people, but you who are younger would be the entire congregation, younger than the elders, is the idea. So this is about how we respond to our leadership. And then we need deep trust in God. When we suffer, there's always a temptation to judge God. He's failed us, he's not there, he doesn't care, prayer doesn't work, all of those kinds of things. Don't let that happen when you're suffering. The enemy will come get you, and we need to stand firm against our enemy, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. Notice verse 9, we must resist by being firm in our faith. It's not wrong to have doubts. The problem is when we let doubt fester, we don't do anything about it. We just let it linger. We don't get out our Bibles and study. We don't get help from somebody who's strong in the faith, get that resolved. And then we also resist the devil by knowing that we are not alone. There are others in the brotherhood who are experiencing the things that we are experiencing. So that concludes the epistle, the admonitions of the epistle. There's a final word here. Silas, probably verse 12, is the one that's bearing the letter. And Peter says you need to stand in the true grace of God. That's Peter's letter and what he's teaching here. And he probably is, verse 13, referencing Rome. Babylon is in ruins at this time. There's no record of any church or apostolic visit there. Babylon is used to mean Rome in the book of Revelation. And in fact, Babylon opposes God and God's people all through the Bible. It's always Babylon. And that's probably what he is referencing here in a book about suffering. And that in Mark, my son, verse 13, that's probably John Mark, who seems to have accompanied Peter in his preaching trips. And that may, that may affect what Mark wrote in his gospel. He may be writing the things that Peter preached, and John Mark heard him preach those sermons. Peace to all of you, verse 14, who are in Christ. A final word of peace. The peace of Christ means standing firm in Jesus even when we suffer. The reading for Friday, 1 Peter 5. That concludes the podcast for the week. Certainly do appreciate you listening to the podcast, studying the Bible along with me. Hope your coffee's been great this week. Hope you've had a great week. Look forward to talking with you next week, even as Dean and I are. Yep, we're traveling a little bit, but uh through the miracle of technology, we can continue to work together in the Word of God. We're doing our daily Bible reading even overseas, and I hope that you are as well. I'm Mark Roberts. I want to go to heaven. I want you to come to see you Monday with a cup of coffee.

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Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, just Christians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from Upbeat.io. That's Upbeat with two Ps, U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.