Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Today I would like to start to deal with a new book, this time in the Brit HaChadasha, in the New Covenant, the New Testament. And we are going to go to the Epistles, as I have mentioned earlier. And I would like today to begin the study of the Epistle of Peter, 1 Peter, chapter 1. And if you will please take your Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 1 and 2. I am going to read this ministry meeting. Just by way of introduction to this book, a very important letter that was written, It was written by Shimon Petrus. Peter, an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

And I am going to read this ministry meeting. And I am going to read this ministry meeting, the first two verses of 1 Peter, chapter 1. In this ministry meeting, I would like to specifically introduce this letter that was written by this man by the name of Petrus. So, in Hebrew, Shimon Petrus, or in Hebrew, Shimon Petrus, Simon Peter, as we would say this in English. Now, let me just, by way of introduction, remind you, dear beloved brothers and sisters, that there are specifically five letters, five epistles, that were written to Jewish believers of first century. Those five letters in the Brita Hadashah, in the New Testament, were written by Jewish believers, Hebrew Christian, Messianic Jewish people, to their own brethren, who had a need of encouragement because of persecution, and also had the need of sound teaching, sound doctrine, that they will grow spiritually in their most holy faith.

Those five letters are, the first one is the letter to the Hebrews, El Ha'ivriim. The second one is the letter that was written by James, we would know it in Hebrew, Yaakov. The third letter, of course, is the letter that we are studying today, 1 Peter, the letter that Peter wrote, the first epistle. The fourth letter is the second epistle that Peter had written to Jewish believers. And the fifth letter is the letter of Jude. We call him in Hebrew, Judah. It's just before the book of the Revelation. Five epistles were specially written to Jewish believers of first century. And of course, it's applied to Jewish people and non-Jewish people in every generation of the church age.

But with the understanding that these letters have been written to encourage first century Jewish believers because they were persecuted, they were rejected, they were despised because they identify with Yeshua, the Messiah. And so the writers have written to them to encourage them, but not only to encourage those Jewish believers to continue to follow the Lord, but also their letters were written because there's so much false doctrine that already began to saturate the early church, the early assembly, the early congregation. So the early believers needed to be sound in teaching, to have sound doctrine. And I would say this many times again and again. If we are not going to have sound teaching, we are losing out of the healthy ministry that the Lord want to give us for our own hearts.

It's not only to get saved and to go to heaven with a ticket in our hand, but the believer in Yeshua, the Messiah, in the body of Christ today, need to have sound teaching, sound doctrine based on the Bible. On the Tanakh, on the Tanakh, on the Tanakh, on the Tanakh, on the basis of the precious, precious Word of God. And so those five letters were written to these Jewish believers of first century. And here we are going to study the epistles, as I have mentioned earlier, and I would like today to begin the study of the epistle of first Peter in the New Testament.

And look how it began. It began simply by Shimon Petros, by Peter, introducing himself. And he's writing in verse 1, he says, Peter, an apostle of Yeshua, the Messiah, an apostle of Jesus, the Messiah. The whole letter began by Peter. You know, usually when we write a letter, we will write to someone, dear friend, I would like to tell you about certain things, and I would like to tell you about my needs and your situation. And at the end of the letter, we'll say, your brother, Gideon, Levitam, or your brother or sister, and so on. But the Bible does the opposite. In biblical time, at least in the early church age, when you began a letter, you introduce yourself.

You would write who you are, what is your occupation, or what you are doing. And then you will present the desires of your heart to the people to whom you would write that letter. Well, that's how this letter had began. Peter, an apostle of Yeshua, the Messiah. He was, this man, by the name of Peter, an apostle of Yeshua, Jesus, Hamashiach, the Messiah, the Christ, the Christos. He was a sent one that was sent by the Messiah, Yeshua, to represent him as a messenger of the Redeemer, of the Savior, to those around, specifically to the Jewish people. Now, I want to emphasize, as an introduction, a little bit about the author of this book, A Man by the Name of Petros.

There is so much that we can read about him in the Brit HaChadasha, in the New Testament. And I would like you for a moment to turn with me to Matthew chapter 4, first of all. And I want to introduce Peter to all of us. But the whole Gospel of Matthew has so much to talk about Shimon Petros. We find out, first of all, in chapter 4, that he was chosen by Yeshua, the Messiah, to become a fisher of men. It says here in chapter 4, and verse 18, And Yeshua, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. Shimon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.

And he, this is Yeshua, said unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now here, Shimon Petros was chosen by the Messiah, Yeshua, to become no longer fisher of fish, but fisher of men. He was raised by the Messiah. And it is interesting because it was in the Galilee. He was occupied in his day-by-day business because he was a fisher of fish. He was in Galilee there. He was casting the net into the sea. And as he was doing his job, the Lord came there and called Shimon Petros. Andrew, come. You follow me, and I'm going to make you now no longer fisher of fish.

You do it very well in the Sea of Galilee. But I'm going to make you fishers of men. I'm going to send you to fish. You're going to throw the net into the sea of the population of this world, and you will roll in men. You will draw men to the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. It is the call of God. He was raised by the Messiah. He didn't force himself to become a fishers of men, but he was chosen by the Messiah Yeshua himself, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to become a fisher of men. You know, God is also working in our lives as well, and he's calling us to be vessels of honor to him, to use us in the vast ministry that he had given unto his own people to share the message of the Messiahship of Yeshua, of the gospel in this world.

Now, turn to chapter 10 of the gospel of Matthew. We find Shimon Petrus, Simon Peter, that he was one of the twelve apostles. It says, notice, and when he, this is Yeshua, verse 1 of chapter 10, he called unto him his twelve disciples. He gave them power against unclean spirit to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases. And now notice we have a list of the names of these twelve disciples, which he called them twelve apostles. The Hebrew word for apostle is shaliach or shlichim in plurality. The names of the twelve apostles are these. The first one is Shimon, who is called Peter.

And Andrew, his brother. James, this is Yaakov. And the son of Zebedee. And John, this is Yohanan, his brother. Philip and Bar Talmai. Thomas and Matthew, this is Matityahu, the publican. Then James, again, another Yaakov, the son of Alphaeus. Labias, whose surname was Tadius. And Shimon, the Canaanite. Here is another Shimon. And Judah, Judas. Ishkariot, who also betrayed him. We know what happened with Judas later on, who betrayed Yeshua, the Messiah, at the Passover time. And he was the one that ultimately went and hung himself and he died. And now notice verse 5. These twelve Yeshua sent forth. And he commanded them, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, but into any city of the Samaritan.

Enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Here we see Shimon. Petros was one of the first apostles who were selected by the Lord and sent by the Lord for this special ministry. That's why we read in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Yeshua, the Messiah. A shaliach. He was sent by our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, to be a servant, a minister to those whom he is going to be getting in contact with. Now, this is just the beginning concerning Shimon, Petros, Simon, Peter. We find thirdly about the apostle Peter that he was a bold man.

He was like a rough and a rugged man. If you turn your pages to chapter 14 of the Gospel of Matthew, and you remember on the Sea of Galilee when there was this storm on the Sea of Galilee, and specifically we read in chapter 14 and verse 28 and 29, when there was such a fear because of the storm, Yeshua came walking on the sea, and Peter saw him, and look what Peter said to him in verse 28. Peter answered him and he said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto thee on the water. And he said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

Now, I don't know how many men in the history of the universe walked on water, but the Bible does tell us that while Yeshua walked on the sea, he's in full control of all the elements. Peter walked on the water. He was a bold man. You know, many times you blame Peter. Peter, you know, you walked on the water and you failed and you sunk. But the rest of the disciples didn't even dare to ask the Lord to walk towards him. They were shivering and scared in the ship while Peter says, Lord, if it is you, call me and I will walk towards you on the water.

And the Bible does say, mark it in your scripture. Verse 29. He walked on the water of the Kinneret, the Sea of Galilee, according to Matthew chapter 14 in verse 29. He was a bold man. He loved Yeshua the Messiah so much, but he was a bold man by nature. He had a lot of rough edges. Just like you and I have so many rough edges that the Lord have to kind of chip it and deal with it. But Peter was a man that was bold. Fisherman that really have gone strong when he was desiring to follow the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He was not a perfect man, but he has gone forward for the Lord.

We find about him another thing that is interesting, that God the Father revealed to the apostle Peter, to Shimon Petros, the truth concerning the person of Yeshua the Messiah. If you turn your page to chapter 16 of the Gospel of Matthew, and I want you to notice one more thing about Peter here. He testified to the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus. And the fact that he was the Son of God. In Hebrew we say, Ben Elohim Chaim, the Son of the Living God. Look at Matthew chapter 16, and verse 13 it says, When Yeshua came to the coast of Kessariah Philippi, he asked the disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

They said, Some say, You are Yohanan, the Baptizer. Some said, You are Eliyahu, Elijah. Others said, You are Jeremiah, Yirmiyahu, O one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom do you say that I am? And look at Shimon Petros again. He always seems to talk first. He always seems to do things first. But here you see what he's saying. Shimon Petros said, Simon Peter answered, and he said, You are the Christ, the Mashiach, the Son of the Living God. Atahu ha-Mashiach ben Elohim Chaim. Peter is the one that testified before everyone there, specifically the disciples, concerning the Messiahship of Jesus. And you know what Yeshua said in verse 17?

Yeshua answered and said unto him, Blessed are thou Simon, Shimon, Bar Yonah, his father's name was Yonah. He was the son of Yonah. He says, Flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. God the Father, Ha-Abba, revealed to this man by the name of Shimon, the son of Yonah, the truth concerning the person of the Son of God, of the Messiah. He revealed to him that he was the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the Living God, ben Elohim Chaim. But it was not something that was initiated on his own. It was a revelation that God the Father had given unto him.

And you know for this what Yeshua said to him in the next verses, verse 18? Yeshua said to him in Matthew 16, 18, he said, I say unto you, thou art Peter, a stone, petals, and upon this rock, upon your confession, I will build my assembly, my ecclesia, my church. Peter, your confession, that I am the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, upon your confession, I am going to build the church, the assembly, the called out ones. Peter was not the first Pope, but Peter was the one that received the revelation concerning the assembly, the church, Jewish people, and Gentile, united together in the body of the Messiah, in the present day dispensation.

From his vantage point, it was still future. For us today, it is the truth that you and I as believers are part of the body of Christ, the body of the Messiah. And notice what he said, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And Peter received the keys, notice verse 19, and to you will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Peter received the key, the responsibility to open the doors to the Jewish people, to the Samaritan, and to the Gentiles. He was the one that was the first one to preach the message to the Jewish people, to the Samaritan people, as well as to the Gentiles when he went to the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.

So he was the one that received the revelation concerning the Messiahship of Yeshua. You know, another thing we find out about Shimon Petrus is that he, just like you and I, often trust ourselves to say to the Lord, Lord, I'm going to follow you wherever you will send me. Peter had this weakness in his flesh. He often times trusted his ability to follow the Messiah Yeshua. I want you to turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 26. And you notice in verse 31, Yeshua said, unto them all of you shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Now look what Peter, bless his soul, he loved the Lord, but he did not really understand the weakness of the flesh, the old nature that we have. In verse 33, Peter answered and he said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet I will never be offended. See, he trusted himself. Even if everybody will be offended because of you, Lord, I will never, notice that, I will never be offended. Now what Yeshua had to remind him, Peter, you know, I want to tell you something, he said to him in verse 34, Yeshua said to him, Verily I say unto you, Peter, that this night, before the cock crow, you will deny me three times.

See, the Lord knew the heart of Peter just like he knows our hearts. He knows that we can't trust ourselves. The best of us have an old nature that is sinful and the possibility to fall into rebellion and sin and disobedience is existing in our own hearts. The Lord Yeshua have to teach Peter this important lesson. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, again Peter said to him in verse 35, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny you, he said again. And then of course the other disciples said exactly the same thing. You see, they're all trusted in their ability to follow the Lord.

And the Lord Yeshua had to teach Peter this important lesson, You cannot trust yourself. And in the first repeat of Peter, Peter teaches us the importance of not trusting ourselves, but trusting in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And you know, brothers and sisters, what Yeshua prophesied in verse 34 surely did happen. Look at this, the same chapter. The time didn't pass too long. Notice verse 58 of Matthew chapter 26 verse 58, it says, Peter followed Yeshua afar off unto the high priest's palace. When Peter followed the Lord, he stayed at a distance from him. You know, this expression far off is a very important expression because we need to stay close to the Lord, not to stay far away from him.

Because when we stay far away from him, we are liable to deny him, to despise him, to fall into all sort of things that can happen in our own life. This is what we are capable of. And here he stood far off. And now notice, brothers and sisters, Matthew chapter 26 verse 69, Now Peter sat without in the palace and a damsel came to him and they said to him, You also was with Yeshua of Galilee? But he denied before them all saying, I know not what you are saying. Then we read in verse 71, When he had gone out into the porch, another maid saw him and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Yeshua from Nazareth.

And again, beloved brothers and sisters, he denied with an oath and he said, I do not know this man. Notice in the next verse 73, And after a while came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, Surely you are one of them? For thy speech betray thee. He had a Galilean speech in the Galilean Hebrew type of dialect or the Hebrew that revealed that he is a Hebrew, a follower of the Messiah. His speech as well proclaimed that he was a follower of Yeshua. And look how sad in verse 74, And he began to curse and to swear. And he said, I know not the man.

And immediately the cock crowed. Immediately in fulfillment of verse 34, Verily I said to thee, that this night before the cock will crow, you are going to deny me three times Shimon Petrus. But he trusted in himself. He had a confidence that everybody will deny you. I'm not going to do so. And beloved, that teaches us how the flesh is weak. Even if we mean well, we say, Lord, I love you because you first loved me, but the flesh has no ability on his own to follow the Messiah. We need the help of the Spirit of God in living our lives with a new nature, the divine nature that we have, and putting down that old nature that is reckoning it as dead to sin.

That's the way it is. And the Lord had to teach Shimon Petrus, Simon Peter, this important lesson, not to trust in yourself. And you know what we read, beloved brothers and sisters? Look at the verse 75 of chapter 26. Peter remembered the word of Jesus, of Yeshua, which he said unto him before the cock crow, you shall deny me three times, and listen to this, he went out and he wept bitterly. He realized that all the promises that he made to the Lord, that all that which he thought about himself, I'm going to be following you Lord all the way. And he realized that he failed the Messiah.

And you can imagine Yeshua is there inside being accused, being bitten, being despised and spit upon. And here is this disciple outside, walking afar off, denying the Lord once, twice, three times, and then remembering what the Messiah has said to him. And he went out and he wept. He wept because he realized, I have really made promises that I didn't keep. I failed my Messiah, my Lord. And he wept bitterly in other passages. Yeshua looked at him and he said, you are the one that made the promises to me. where is the promises that you made to me? Where are you today? And doesn't it remind us of our own self, the promises that we made to our Messiah, Yeshua, and how many times we failed him, and we dishonored him, and we in a sense deny him before people around us, didn't talk about the Messiah, instead of identifying with the rejected Yeshua, we identify with the world and its views and its system.

Peter became an example to us. And that's why God raised him. Yeshua, the Messiah, called him to be an apostle, that he would minister the word of God to those around. He was sent by the Messiah to be a minister of the gospel. Now look at this, brothers and sisters, just by way of introduction, continue here. Turn with me to the gospel of John, chapter 21. It was Peter that needed to be publicly restored to Yeshua before the whole group of the disciples and apostles. In chapter 21, it was Peter that was restored by Yeshua, by the Lord Jesus, before his other disciples in order to be used in the ministry, in the service, and he was commended to the ministry.

Look at this, John, chapter 21, in verse 14, we find out, this is the third time that Yeshua showed himself unto his disciples, after he was risen from the dead. Notice this, verse 15, when they died, Yeshua says unto Peter, Shimon, son of Yonah, do you love me more than these? And he said unto him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he says unto him, feed my lambs. And again he said to him the second time, Shimon bar Yonah, do you love me? Lovest thou me? And he says unto him, yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He says unto him, feed my sheep.

The third time, in verse 17, he says unto him, Shimon on Ben Yonah, bar Yonah, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, do you really love me? And then he said unto him, Lord, you knowest all things. You knowest that I love thee? Yeshua said unto him, feed my sheep. Here is the Lord publicly really exposed Peter, Shimon Petrus, and he said to him, do you really, really love me? If you love me, I want you to minister to my sheep, to my flock. I want you to minister to the little lamb, and the bigger one, I want you to minister to the people of God.

And here publicly he is accepting, in other words, he's commending Peter, Shimon Petrus, to the work of the ministry. Three times he asked him to feed the sheep, to feed the lambs, to feed the flock. And here publicly Shimon Petrus was called by Yeshua the Messiah. You see, it says in Verily, Verily, I said to thee, when you were young, you gird yourself, you walk with you wanted, but when you will be old, you shall stretch forth thy hand, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou would not. This he spake signifying what death he, this is Peter, Shimon Petrus, would glorify God.

And here we see that the Lord Yeshua the Messiah have commended Peter to the ministry, restored him to relationship with him publicly before the disciples and said to him, you know, now that you are young, you go wherever you want, but as you're going to grow older, and he has a reference to his ministry, you will be taken away where you would not want to go. And ultimately you're going to stretch your hand and you're going to die the death of a follower of Yeshua the Messiah. This he spake signifying by what death he should glorify God. And you know brothers and sisters the history say that Peter was crucified upside down because he said that he is not worthy to die in the same way that his own master the Messiah have died.

And so we can see the man Simon Peter in all the journey as he followed the Messiah Yeshua we saw how the Lord have first met him and calling to be a fisher of man and how the Lord restored him in this 21st chapter of the gospel of John.

Let me just make couple more remarks about Peter before we're going to move to the next thoughts of these two chapter 1 it was Peter who was the first one to minister among the believers that were in the upper room if you just turn the page after John chapter 21 and you notice in Acts chapter 1 and verse 13 when they were come it says when they were come in they went up into an upper room this is in the city of Jerusalem when we go sometime on the tours to take groups to Israel we go to the upper room in the old city of Jerusalem and there we just imagine how the disciples were

there and it says there there were Peter notice his name is the first one Peter and Jacob and Yohanan and Adu and Philip and Thomas and Barthalmai and Matityahu and Jacob and the son of Alphias and Shimon the Zealots and Judah the brother of James and there they were praying and you notice that Peter was the first one to speak among the in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and he said he was a leader he was one of the pillars of the Hebrew church even though the church was not born as yet Acts chapter 1 because the church was born in Acts chapter 2 Shimon Petrus was a pillar

among the Jewish believers in the assembly in the congregation in the fellowship there in the city of Jerusalem he was the first one to minister the word he stood up in the midst of the disciples and he said at that time notice the number of the disciples were 120 souls that's the beginning 12 apostles 120 Hebrew believers in the city of Jerusalem all gathered together in the upper room it was Shimon Petrus who stood and began to share the word to encourage the brothers and sisters there in this upper room in the city of Jerusalem now notice that another thing about Peter in Acts chapter 2 in Acts chapter 8 and in Acts chapter 10

he was used by the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit of God to open using the keys that Yeshua gave him to open the door to the body of Christ to the body of Messiah in Acts chapter 2 and verses 14 to 19 he preached a message to the Jewish brethren if you just turn the page in Acts chapter 2 notice it says in verse 14 Peter standing up with the eleven lifted his voice and he said unto them ye men of Yehudah the people of Judah he called them in Acts chapter 2 verse 22 ye men of Israel hear this the word Yeshua of Nazareth and men approve of God among you

by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourself also know he preached the message of the gospel and you know beloved brothers and sisters when Peter preached one message thousands of people came to faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah thousands of people if you just look at the same chapter at the end of this chapter you will notice the multitude of people that came to know the Lord Yeshua the Messiah remember they said to him in verse 37 at the end they said what shall we do verse 38 Peter said unto them repent be baptized everyone in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for

the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and notice that it says here in verse 40 and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourself from this unto what generation and they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day listen how many people came it said there were added unto them about three thousand souls you know the difference between first century preaching of the gospel and today the 21st century of the preaching of the gospel in first century Peter preached three thousand souls came to know the Lord today we may preach three thousand messages and we wonder even one soul would come

to know the person of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah that's different early first century preaching of the message of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was convicting souls it was done in the power of the Holy Spirit of God three thousand souls and by the way these were Jewish souls why I'm emphasizing here because today you and I who are Jewish believers we are struggling we know it from experience what happened in our own homes in our own families when we confess the Messiah the rejection the misunderstanding but first century Jewish believers one message by Shimon Petrus three thousand souls identify with the person of Yeshua the Messiah what an amazing servant of the Lord was

this Shimon Petrus now if you turn to chapter eight here he opened the door to the church to the Jewish people in chapter eight and in verse fourteen we find Shimon Petrus opening using the keys that Yeshua gave him Matthew 16 verse 18 using the keys to open to the Samaritan to the Shomronim chapter eight and verse fourteen we find now when the apostles which were in Jerusalem heard the Samaria receive the word of God they sent down who Peter and John Shimon Petrus and Yohanan and it says in verse fifteen when they were come down and they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet he this is the

Holy Spirit was not fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus they were not yet receiving the Holy Spirit of God they were not yet part of the body of the Messiah the Shomronim the Samaritan and how many times we spoke about the Samaritan today in Israel we have about what 800 Samaritans who live in Shomron in Samaria and they are not mixing with any other group today but at that time the Shomronim the Samaritan was a multitude of people living in Samaria the Samaritan and the Samaritan woman we read of her in John chapter 4 and many of the Samaritan who have accepted the word but

it was Peter Shimon Petros who had to come to use the key through the preaching of the word of God in order for the Samaritan to receive the Holy Spirit of God and to become part of the body of the Messiah turn also please to Acts chapter 10 and verse 34 it is the same Shimon Petros who now had to go to Cornelius home a Gentile goy to go to him and to show him that God has no respect of persons there is no longer limit to who can be saved or who can be part of the assembly of the body of Messiah Jewish people Samaritan 8 but the Gentiles now can receive the message

of the gospel and become part of the assembly verse 34 of Acts chapter 10 we read and Peter opened his mouth this is in the house of Cornelius and he said of the truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him the word which God sent unto the children of Israel preaching shalom by Yeshua the Messiah he is Lord of all he presented the message of the gospel to the believers at Cornelius house in Caesarea Caesarea and beloved brothers and sisters we read in the very same chapter how all the family of Cornelius have accepted the Messiah and those

guests from among the nations who were hosted by Cornelius became part of the assembly of the church of the living God when they have accepted the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and we read in this and while Peter spake in verse 44 the Holy Spirit fell on them which heard the word and here we see that the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit and became part of the body of the Messiah so it's interesting that Shimon Petros was used by Yeshua the Messiah by God to open the door to the church for the Jews Acts 2 for the Samaritan Acts 8 and for the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10 turn the page now

to the book of Galatians chapter 2 we find very interesting expression that Paul wrote about Peter Shimon Petros we learn that Peter had a specific ministry his ministry was specifically geared to the circumcision to the Jewish people we read in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 7 we have Paul speaking he says contrary wise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision this is the Gentile was committed unto me to Shaul Paul listen verse 7b as the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto Peter verse 8 for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles you know we learn that there are

two groups of people that the Lord Yeshua the Messiah raised two Hebrew men to minister the gospel in a specific way Peter was chosen to be an apostle to the circumcision Galatians 2 and verse 7 and 8 Paul Shaul was chosen to be an apostle to the uncircumcision to the Gentile Galatians chapter 2 and verses 7 and 8 and that is important to understand that Peter had a specific ministry and his ministry was to minister to Jewish people and you know sometimes we ask ourselves in our case the Lord have raised in our midst individuals they don't have to be Jewish but they have a desire to share the gospel with the Jewish people they

identify with the nation they realize the issues that prevail in the life of the nation of Israel and specifically give their ministry to the Jewish people it is not more important than what Paul did Paul was reaching out the Gentile world the pagans the moralists the educated ones the philosophers Paul ministered to them and his ministry was important to minister the gospel to the nations of the world but Peter was called to minister to the circumcision to his Hebrew brethren the Jewish people who he have identified with in his ministry well this is just an introduction about the author we are back now to 1st Peter chapter 1 Peter verse 1 an apostle of Yeshua

the Messiah a messenger a shaliach of Yeshua the Messiah he was sent by our Lord Yeshua the Messiah but now notice what it says here in verse 1b who were the one that received this letter from Peter remember Galatians 2 7 and 8 say that Peter was an apostle to the circumcision to the Jewish people and apparently beloved brothers and sisters he was writing to the Jewish believers who were scattered and who became strangers in many lands actually their homeland was Israel the capital city of their homeland was Jerusalem Yerushalayim but already in 1st century when the church was born early believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah were persecuted persecution prevailed you and I

have no idea about persecution praise God for the country that we live in praise God for the liberties that we have to gather together on Shabbat on Friday on the first day of the week to meet together around the Lord Yeshua the Messiah to study his word to worship him to praise him but do you know that first century Hebrew Christians Messianic Jewish people Jewish people who believe in Yeshua the Messiah they were persecuted they were persecuted by our own brethren and you just notice what happened they have been persecuted so they needed to be scattered abroad and notice he mentioned here throughout Pontius Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia give us a list Pontius was

a region of eastern Asia minor Galatia was a Roman province central region of Asia minor Cappadocia was a region in Asia minor west to Galatia Asia as he mentioned here was closely to present day Turkey today Asia minor Bithynia was a Roman province in Asia minor those early Hebrew believers in Yeshua the Messiah became strangers they became foreigners and if you notice it says this word strangers you will find out that in other passages in scripture they are called as well as strangers they became kind of strangers in many lands in foreign lands where they really not belong just a verse or two to point out in these verses they were scattered so just for

a moment if you turn with me for a moment to the book of Acts one more time just want to point out to these verses that I found in Acts chapter 6 look at that what happened you remember the story on Stephen how Stephen was stoned and ultimately he died in Acts 6 and verse 8 to 15 it says and Stephen and Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people and there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of Liberteans and Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of them of Cilicia and of Asia disputing with Stephen and then notice it says that in verse 14 and 15 we

have heard him say that Yeshua from Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the custom of Moses that Moses delivered unto us and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly at Stephen they saw his face as the face of an angel Stephen was the one that was already being persecuted earlier in chapter 4 and in chapter 5 the Hebrew believers were persecuted but the climax came to the time of Stephen if you turn the page from chapter 6 to chapter 7 and notice what happened verse 57 to Stephen it says then they cried with a loud voice and they stopped their ears and they ran upon him with one accord and they cast

him out of the city and they stoned him the first martyr Hebrew martyr was Stephen he was one of the Jewish people from the diaspora who became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah he was persecuted and he ultimately died he was stoned and as he was dying he says Lord lay not this sin to their charge he loved his Hebrew brethren who misunderstood the fact that he was following Yeshua the Messiah but now brothers and sisters look in chapter 8 of Acts in the first few verses we read there concerning the scattering the dispersion of these Jewish people Jewish believers Saul verse 1 was consenting unto his death this is the death of Stephen and

at the same time there was great persecution against the assembly the church and then it says which was in Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad that's where we get the word in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1 strangest which were scattered throughout the land of Esjamaino they were scattered as we have here in chapter 8 and verse 1 throughout the regions of Judea Samaria only the apostles remained in Jerusalem and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him and Saul he made havoc over the assembly entering into every house and hauling men and women committing them to prison you know early Jewish believers have suffered and because of

their persecution they end up to leave the land and to be scattered abroad and ultimately they became strangers Jews it it was not the land of their fathers the promised land was Israel was Canaan the capital city is Jerusalem that's the promised land but they were scattered abroad and so Peter was ministering unto those individuals who were scattered abroad now I want you to turn to chapter 11 of the book of Acts and I want you just to notice that in verse 19 now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen they traveled as far as to Phineas Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word to none but to the Jewish people

only that was the earlier persecution that Jewish believers have gone abroad but they presented first of all the gospel to the Jewish people later on they have also presented to the rest of the nations of the world in Asia Minor but there notice they were scattered abroad they went to Phineas and Cyprus and Antioch you know that Cyprus is today we know it is an island of the Mediterranean Antioch is the capital of Assyria and the Phoenicians area and they were preaching the word of God first of all to the Jewish brethren but also to and so beloved brothers and sisters they were strangers and here we get the word scattered that's where you get

the word diaspora dispersion do do do you know that all of us who are Jewish people today we live in the dispersion in the diaspora really the home of the Jewish people biblically is the land of Israel the land of Canaan so the Jewish people are scattered abroad throughout the land of this world and Peter was writing this letter and the recipients of this letter was Hebrew believers who were scattered abroad now go back to 1st Peter chapter 1 and I want you also to notice another thing that is very interesting where was the letter of 1st Peter written where was the letter written notice if you turn to 1st Peter chapter 5 for a

moment the letter that was written by Peter was written in Babylon in Babylon in the city of Babylon chapter 5 and verse 13 the church that is at Babylon elect together with you salute you and so does Marcus my son apparently later on Peter like other apostles have left the city of Jerusalem Jerusalem in Hebrew and have gone to Babylon now we know very well the story of Babylon Babylon is in the land of Shinar is the land to which our Jewish people have been carried already by Nebuchad Netzer if if you remember three times Nebuchad Netzer came and he took the Jewish people to Babel he burned the temple in Jerusalem destroyed the city

Jerusalem and carried many of our own people to Babylon one of the people that was carried to Babylon was Daniel and his three friends Hananiah Azariah and Mishael and three times we have Nebuchad Netzer and his armies coming to draw the people in 586 he took some in 597 BC he took others to Babylon and in 605 BC it was when he took the rest of them to Babel now what happened in Babel in Shinar Jewish community have grown and you remember a verse that we often mention Psalm 137 by the rivers of Babylon there we sat down and we wept as we remember Zion the Jewish community have become a center place in Babylon

and there are many Jewish people who remain in Babylon not all of them came to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the city under Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubabel many remain in Babylon and so there is a Jewish community so apparently what happened according to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 13 Peter went to Babylon to the land of Shinar and there he wrote this letter to the scattered Hebrew believers who were scattered abroad and the letter is not only for Hebrew believers it's for all Bible believers but specifically he's going to meet Jewish need when you write this letter now quickly one more thing I want to go on to verse 2 now we

read verse 1 by word of introduction the author is Peter the one who received the letter Jewish believers who were scattered abroad in the dispersion in the diaspora the letter was written in the land of Babylon in the city of Babel 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 13 it was written by Peter who was now situated with other Jewish people in the land of Shinar in Babel now what is the theme of the book of Peter 1 Peter you know it's a beautiful theme you remember we just read Psalm 22 Psalm 22 is one of the major Psalms that speaks about the sufferings of the Messiah this is the theme of Psalm 22 my God

my God why has thou forsaken me Yeshua Jesus our Lord and our Messiah suffered by the hand of man but he also suffered by the hand of God when he was hanging on the tree and so the theme of the book of 1 Peter is the sufferings of the Messiah and the glory that should follow Peter is reminding Jewish believers and all of us as believers that we are in some form and shape as we walk here in this world we will experience suffering which will identify us with the sufferings of our Lord Jesus the Messiah now if you want to write this down every chapter in 1 Peter chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3

chapter 4 chapter 5 every chapter the word suffering is mentioned for example in chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 we read about the sufferings of the believers it says in 1 Peter 1 verse 6 he's saying wherein he greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be he are in heaviness through manifold testing trials that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of God that's the sufferings of the believer now notice in verse 11 he's speaking about the sufferings of the Messiah in verse 11 he says searching what manner the spirit of Messiah which was in them did signify when he testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ the sufferings of

the Messiah the Mashiach that's chapter 1 notice in chapter 2 verse 19 again speaking about the suffering of the believer for this is thank worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief and suffering wrongfully that's the believer suffering and then notice now in verse 21 of the same chapter even there unto he were called because of Christ the Messiah also suffered for us again the sufferings of the believer identifying with the sufferings of the Messiah chapter 3 and verse 14 the believers are suffering but if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye the believers are suffering notice in verse 18 of the same chapter 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 18 the sufferings

of the Messiah for the Messiah also has once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God again the sufferings of the believer the sufferings of the Messiah again chapter 4 and verse 12 notice that he says beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial suffering which is come to try you as though some strange things have happened unto you notice in verse 13 he speaking about the suffering of the Messiah but rejoice as much as he are partakers of the Messiah's sufferings now turn to chapter 5 quickly in verse 10 b we find out again after that he have suffered for a while that's the sufferings of

the believer and then notice go back to verse 1 of chapter 5 the elders which is among you as I exhort you he says who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of the Messiah you notice the theme of 1 Peter the whole chapter is the sufferings of the Messiah and the believers identification with with the sufferings of the Messiah now quickly I'm going to close here with this second verse go back to 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 2 this time and I just want to conclude by way of introduction here is verse 2 here's the greetings he's writing to them and he said to them elect the believers were elect

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the spirit obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Yeshua the Messiah of Jesus Christ grace be unto you and peace be multiplied here's the greetings this greetings is connected with election you know brothers and sisters one truth that we have a hard time to grasp is the truth of election every one of us who is a believer here and I trust all of us here are believers we have been elected the word elect here simply means chosen we have been chosen elect and notice it is according to the foreknowledge of God in other words God knew and purposed this in eternity past to

have an elect company a chosen people that he will bring unto himself as a people that will be part of the redeemed company notice it is the whole persons of the Godhead are involved in the election and the bringing about of a people to himself the foreknowledge of God the Father sanctification through the Holy Spirit God the Holy Spirit and to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Yeshua the Messiah God the Son we have God the Father in eternity past fought and had displanned we have God the Holy Spirit who have walked in our lives and in due time brought us into a relationship with the Messiah we have God the Son the

Lord Jesus the Messiah who paid the price and shed his blood in order to bring a people for himself election elected God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were involved in the truth of election it was the foreknowledge of God we can talk about this Lord willing as we move along in this book of Peter but I just wanted you to grasp here the introduction who is the writer when did he write it to whom did he write it and the fact that those that have accepted the Messiah are people have been elected and chosen by God in eternity passed and in time we became part of the assembly of God

well brothers this is I going to close right now may the Lord bless these thoughts to all of us will continue as we study the book of first Peter and we go through the rest of the remaining of that epistle