The church is a unique people group. When God called Abraham, He promised to make him into a great nation. From Abraham’s seed, God created Israel, an ethnic people that were to draw the nations to Him. Through that people group, God sent Jesus to provide salvation for everyone. Still, God hints in the Old Testament that He has a plan to work with other people groups. The Psalms encourage all the nations to praise the Lord. In Isaiah 19, God calls Egypt and Assyria God’s people, too. And in Hosea, God says that a people who were not currently God’s people would be called His people. These promises started to take shape when the ethnic people of God rejected God’s plan in His Messiah. The church started in Pentecost with Jews who spoke different languages but shared an ethnicity. But it wasn’t long before the gospel spread to Samaritans and then to Gentiles. Soon, the church became a melting pot that shared the Spirit of the Savior, in spite of ethnic differences. Although the church and Israel are unique, they share similarities as peoples of God. Peter highlights the similarities when he connects Old Testament metaphors to the church. Peter’s language doesn’t blend the church and Israel, but it highlights the overlap we would expect among the peoples of God. God created Israel to draw the nations to God, but He gave us a unique calling. The church is to declare His excellencies in a world in which we live as strangers and aliens. So let’s be what God made us to be, His unique people set apart from the world to declare Him to the world. – Pastor Rory
Sunday at Liberty
9AM: BTH–Church Fathers Introduction
10AM: Pastor Nate–The Church Defined: God’s Called-Out People–1 Peter 2:4–10 (sermon notes)
No Evening Gathering