Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
1 Peter 1:10–12
As a young preacher, I was asked to expound 1 Peter to university students who patiently endured my rookie sermons. Since then, I’ve returned countless times to 1 Peter for encouragement. Tucked away in Peter’s prologue, we find the above encouragement that preachers dare not miss.
This fisherman-turned-preacher introduces his epistle by magnifying the glories of the gospel for persecuted Christians and comforting sufferers with the benefits of our salvation. When Peter reaches verse 12, he stirs the heart of every faithful pastor with two realities: what we preach (our message), and how we preach (our muscle). We know Peter is talking to preachers by the verbs he uses to describe the preacher’s task: “announcing” and “evangelizing.”
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