🎁 1 Peter 4:9-10 | "...As each has received a gift..."

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Happy Monday, everyone!

This week, we are taking a look at 1 Peter and exploring the simple truth that we all have gifts. And it’s important to do something for the Kingdom with those gifts!

In today’s email…

• ⛪️ To the church in exile

• 📖 A challenge to read and reflect

• 🎵 A song to remember our verse..

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MEMORIZE 🧠 

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

1 Peter 4:9-10

CONTEXT 📕 

The book of 1 Peter helps us understand what it means to live faithfully in a world that can make us feel displaced or foreign, like exiles.

This week, we’ll dig into two verses in 1 Peter to explore what we as followers of Jesus should do with our time, money, and talents when it comes to interacting with other believers.

But first, let’s step back and look at 1 Peter as a whole.

Date: Peter is the author of this letter and likely penned it AD 62–64, during the final years of his life, and possibly just before he was killed for his faith under Emperor Nero.

Audience: 1 Peter is addressed to believers scattered throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), including regions like Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1). These were mostly Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians living as social outsiders in Roman society.

Cultural context: As the good news of Jesus spread throughout the Roman Empire, early Christians often found themselves at odds with the surrounding culture.

They were accused of being disloyal to Rome, rejecting traditional gods, and disrupting family and social norms.

Peter writes to a community experiencing social pressure and suffering, encouraging them to see themselves as “elect exiles” (1:1) — chosen by God, but not at home in the world.

In a society that valued power, honor, and conformity, Peter calls these believers to a different way.

Themes:

• Recognize your identity: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (2:9)

• Live with hope: Even in trials, your faith is being refined (1:6–7)

• Serve with love: Use your gifts to care for one another (4:10)

• Endure with Christ: Suffering has purpose when seen through the lens of Christ’s own suffering (2:21)

This week, we’ll be unpacking some of these ideas and how they intersect with 1 Peter 4:9-10.

APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃‍♂️ 

📖 Read 1 Peter 4. Take time today to read the chapter in full. Let its words shape how you see your place in the world.

🧠 Memorize 1 Peter 4:9-10 this week. Do more than just read these emails! Practice writing the verse. Speak it out loud. Share it with a friend.

💡 Ask yourself: How might God be calling me to use my gifts to serve the body of Christ in my area?

🙏 Pray

Lord, speak to me this week. I surrender anything in me that needs to change so I can fully embrace what you call me to. Help me live as a faithful exile — rooted in Your kingdom, not this world. Open my heart to love, serve, and welcome others with all that I have, just as You have given it all for me. Amen.

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SONG OF THE WEEK 🎵 

Pay-it-forward subscribers, enjoy the song we created below to help you memorize the verse of the week!

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For our free subscribers, enjoy this song that has been taking the world by storm again recently.

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ANSWER KEY ✅ 

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

1 Peter 4:9-10