The Big Dwell

Just after our church went through a series called "Royal Priesthood" based on 1 Peter 2:9, I had the opportunity to share some thoughts that actually started over a year prior and were greatly cultivated in our home group.

This message is about Gods desire to continuously dwell with His people, and our role in cultivating that dwelling place, as understood through the life lens of Peter. The main part of the message actually came from what I call a "Flash Study" or a "Collective Study" in our home group. In this style of study, at the outset the facilitator recruits volunteers for a series of questions on a topic, usually about a verse/passage or centered on a verse/passage.In a collective study, no one is prepped in advance on the topic so there's no time to prepare. The point is to remind everyone that the Bible and studying the Bible is very accessible and based on a few core principles -- text, context, 5 Ws, plain reading, etc. This time, we looked at Peter's life journey to writing these words we now cherish in 1 Peter. That led to the timeline of Peter's life at the center of this message:

I share that background because the way the message came about very much is a picture of where the message lands. On top of that, we had our home group the night before and my mom (now 92 and still prophesiying) gave a word further emphasizing this theme.

One more note. Big House services are often unique, even from the first to the second service. For the first service, worship went extra long (+1 hour) and then one of our members, Nick Kruse, had a very clear word for our community that once again connected the overall theme and my message specifically. You can listen here. Nick invited us to participate in an activation in which we brought our (imaginary) "living stones" together, symbolizing our community building the Lord's dwelling place. "Just so happens" the passage of study included these words: "you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.."