Daily Bread - Dec 05 2006

1 Peter 2:5 - "We also as living stones are built up a spiritual house into a holy priesthood lifting up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Peter does not use the word Church in either of his Epistles; instead, he refers to the Church as "a spiritual house" and "the people of God" (2:10). Peter refers to those in the church as a royal Priesthood and a holy nation. Even as it takes many members to be a body, it takes many stones to be a house. God has so ordained that the individual believers go beyond their individualism to find a unity which will result in a place from which spiritual sacrifices may be offered that are acceptable to God.

In the first covenant, God established a place of worship, a Priesthood, and the proper protocol for worship. Through Christ Jesus we are made those who worship God in the Spirit who are empowered to show forth His glory and announce the excellencies of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (Philippians 3:3; 1 Peter 2:10). The Church is the assembly of God's people who worship in Spirit and fellowship in the unity of the Spirit, a house from where God is praised.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org