Set Apart | Week 1 | Elect Exiles - Audio

On Sunday, Pastor Jake kicked off our “Set Apart” series, which will be a verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 Peter. This study will take us the entire Summer to complete. The goal of this first message was to anchor the entire series to the purpose of 1 Peter. Pastor Jake talked about his experience in China and how he constantly felt like he didn’t belong (because he didn’t) and yet he knew he was called to be there. A tension existed between those two truths – I don’t belong and yet I’m called. In the opening verses of Peter’s letter, he calls his recipients “elect exiles”. To most Jewish Christ-followers reading this, this phrase would read as an oxymoron. “Elect” and “exiles” are opposites. How can one be chosen by God and yet also exiled by Him (since the people of Israel were exiled as punishment for their disobedience)?