Alliance Christian Church
June 15 2025

      • 2 Corinthians 9:7GS-NETBIBLE

      • Philippians 2:1–11NIV2011

  • How Great Is Our God
  • Since Jesus Came into My Heart
  • Our God Reigns

      • 1 Peter 1:1–2NIV2011

  • A Scattered Church

    Introduction
    1 Peter 1 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even…”
    1 Peter 1:1–2 NIV
    Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
    I’m excited this morning, because we get to start a brand new sermon series on the book of 1 Peter that I’m calling “Scattered”
    As we dive into this letter that Peter wrote to the churches in Pontus, Galatia, cappadocia, Asia, and bithinya, I want us to think about the last series that we finished up last week, through the book of Jeremiah,
    And all of the events that transpired between that book and this book.
    If you were here for our study on Jeremiah, the entire book revolved around the Prophet Jeremiah warning the Jewish people to turn back to God.
    Because if they didn’t, God warned them that the empire of Babylon was going to come in, destroy the city of Jerusalem, and carry the Jewish people off into captivity.
    And in the year 586 BC, the book of Jeremiah states
    Jeremiah 52:28–30 NET 2nd ed.
    Here is the official record of the number of people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all, 4,600 people went into exile.
    Now if you read the rest of the old testament, you get a bigger picture. This number wasn’t counting women and children. 2 Kings 24 tells us that the whole number was closer to 10,000 people.
    And as the book ends, we are told that the final King, king Jeconiah, was spared, and lived prosperously.
    And he was the king from the line of David, through which the Messiah was promised to come.
    And from that moment on, from 586 BC on, the Jewish people remained a Scattered people.
    see, 70 years after the exile, some people came back and re-built the city, and tried to gather together the Jewish people. but a lot of them stayed behind in Babylon. A lot of them migrated to other places.
    And there was a paradigm shift in the way the Jewish people lived their lives, because they were no longer a united kingdom, they no longer had a home base.
    They were scattered all around the world.
    You started seeing Synagogues pop up as the common place of worship, because the Jewish people were no longer gathered together as a united people in israel.
    You started seeing all of these different groups and factions pop up, the Saducees, the Pharisees, because they were scattered around the world.
    You started seeing the Hebrew language fall out of favor, the Hebrew Bible ended up being translated into other languages as the jewish people were scattered in these little communities in Egypt, and Greece, and persia…
    but the hope, the one thing that held them all together, was the promise that one day, God would send a King from the line of David to unscatter them.
    To throw off the oppressors, to bring all of them back to Jerusalem, to once again gather together all of the people who had been scattered throughout the world.
    And he came, born in bethlehem, raised in Nazereth.
    He was executed by the roman Government at the request of the religious leaders.
    He rose from the dead.
    But all the while, the question was on everyone’s mind. When are you going to unscatter us? When are you going to bring us all back together?
    Because for over 600 years we’ve been basically in exile. The exile from Jeremiah never really ended. Because after Babylon came Persia, and after persia came Alexander the Great, and after him came antiochus from the selucid empire, and after them came the roman empire.
    Even after he rose from the dead, the first question the disciples ask him is
    Acts 1:6 NET 2nd ed.
    So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
    In other words, Jesus, now that you’ve defeated death, is now finally the time you’re going to Unscatter us?
    And Jesus says
    Acts 1:7–8 NET 2nd ed.
    He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
    Do you understand the significance of that answer? Jesus does the exact opposite of Unscattering them.
    In fact, he scatters them even more!
    And for the next 30 years after Jesus gives them this commission, his followers set out to do exactly this. To scatter all throughout the world. The preach to the Jews, to the Samaritans, to the Gentiles.
    All of a sudden this tiny group of followers in the tiny little nation of Israel turns into a world wide phenomenon. Thousands of these little groups of churches pop up in modern day turkey, and greece, all the way to the capitol city of rome.
    And it’s in this setting that the apostle peter sits down to write his letter, to all of these little churches that he describes as “scattered” throughout the regions of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
    Transition
    And the entire letter, if we could sum up the entire book of 1st peter in one sentence is the answer to the question:
    What does it look like for God’s chosen people to live as exiles, scattered throughout the world, in a place that is not their true home.
    Roadmap
    And throughout this series, we’re going to look at what the church is supposed to look like in this setting. As scattered people.
    You’re going to hear the phrase “scattered church” a lot in this series.
    And to start with today I’d like to talk about exactly what it means to be “scattered” Because that is going to set the foundation for us to be able to understand the rest of Peter’s letter.
    And what we’ll notice, is that ACC has a lot in common with these scattered churches. And I believe that this letter is going to mark a turning point for this church. A turning point where we face the reality that we, much like these churches here that peter is writing to, we are a scattered church.
    So this morning, the big Idea here, is that the churches that Peter wrote to were scattered Geographically . They were scattered Spiritually. And they were scattered emotionally.
    1 Peter 1:1 NET 2nd ed.
    From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia) who are chosen
    Point
    Statement
    Geographically.
    Explanation
    If you have a map in the back of your Bible, that’s always a great place to start. If you don’t I have one up on the screen here.
    And just to give you an idea of scale, if we took that map and popped it over the united states, the area Peter is writing to is like the size of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa.
    And that’s at a time before cars, when everything was done on foot.
    This is a huge area.
    And every single one of the churches he wrote to had a different culture, a different way of looking at things.
    It truly is amazing, when you think about it, that the church was able to spread so rapidly over such a huge area, so quickly.
    And not only that, but the apostles were able to manage and communicate with all of the church over this vast territory.
    And there was no central command.
    You know what happens to a business, like a restaurant franchise, if it tries to grow too big too quickly?
    It fails. Because the command and control structure needs to keep up, if you’re going to grow that big you have to have people at the top ensuring that everything runs exactly the way it needs to
    except that’s not how the early church grew
    The early church grew organically, through tiny little churches that the apostles, a lot of times Paul, would set up in town after town
    And each little church when it came to ministry and how they were GOING TO help the poor
    And exactly how they were going to go about spreading the gospel, they acted independently
    every now and then the apostle Paul would send a letter or stop by, but by in large they were independent
    Application
    Here’s my ask
    acc is geographically scattered
    just the membership here, we have people coming from Bridgeport, and in Scott’s bluff, and angora, and here in town.
    And we have family connections that go even beyond that
    We’re not as spreadout as the churches Peter was writing to, but still, we cover a fairly large geographic foot print
    we need to start doing ministry outside the walls of this building
    We meet together every Sunday, and every Tuesday night. But as scattered as we are it’s just absolutely not feasible for all of the ministry to happen within these walls.
    And it’s a big ask, but we need to start doing more. In your homes, inviting people over for dinner, doing Bible studies with your friends and families, having small groups meet where you live, or during a time spot that works for you
    because that’s how the church Peterwrote to grew the way it did. It didn’t look like this.
    It wasfamilies, groups of 3 or 4 in a home.
    I want alliance Christian Church’s footprint to double and triple.
    And the way we’re going to do that isn’t here on a Sunday morning.
    It’s on a Wednesday night at the church that meets at… house
    Transition
    and I’m serious about this. I will set you up with bible study curriculum, with lesson plans and questions if you want. If you want videos I’ll get videos, if you want study guides, I’ll get your study guides.
    And we’re going to be the scattered church like the scattered church Peter was writing to, like the one described in the new testament. The one where on day one 3,000 people gave their lives to Christ.
    House by house, one person at a time.
    We are a scattered church geographically, and we’re going to use that to our advantage for God’s kingdom.
    Point
    Statement
    The church Peter wrote to was scattered Spiritually.
    Explanation
    and what I mean by that is that they were living in the world, faithfully awaiting the coming of Jesus. knowing that their true home was in heaven.
    And I want to be clear about this, when I say “this world is not my home”
    What I don’t want you to imagine is the image of abandoning a sinking ship.
    Illustration
    I think a lot of us, when we say things like “this world is not my home” or “my true citizenship is in heaven”
    What we really mean is “I’m just biding my time until I get to be with Jesus.
    I just can’t wait to get the heck out of here
    This ship is going down, and the lifeboat can’t come soon enough
    And that is not what it means
    and that’s not the role of christian in the world
    in fact, in Peter’s second letter, that was the attitude they had
    They were like “why hasn’t jesus come back yet?
    And peter said to them
    2 Peter 3:8–9 NET 2nd ed.
    Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
    Application
    And what we’re going to read as we work through this study of 1 Peter is that people who are spiritually scattered, living in the world but not being of the world, that produces 2 results
    1 It produces people who make it their mission to load people on the lifeboats, not scramble to get on them.
    See the difference?
    One says “this world is not my home, therefore, I don’t wantto participate in it, or interact with it, or have any interaction with the world whatsoever. I’ll just isolate
    And the other says look at all of these poor people who have no idea the ship is even sinking. I need to make it my mission to get them on the life boat.
    The second thing that happens when we are spiritually scattered, living in a world that is not our home, is that we become filled with an inexpressible, joy
    Here’s my second ask for you
    People who come in to the church on sundays need to see that joy
    when we come together to worship
    one of the things that is a huge element of health in a church is when the church comes together to worship, and you look around,
    does it look like the people in that church truly believe what it is that their saying when they worship?
    and you can tell
    you can tell when someone’s heart isn’t in it in worship
    Heck I’ve been there.
    It’s hard for me, sometimes, because we sing right before I preach
    and so my mind is other places, I’m running through my sermon, running through what I’m going to say for communion
    and then my heart isn’t on worship
    and that’s something that I need to do better at.
    You know who is really great at this by the way?
    You guys don’t see it, because a lot of times he’s in the back running the slides
    but when Stew worships
    When we sing, when we worship, I can tell thatStew truly believes what it is that he’s siinging.
    He’s got his hands up, his eyes closed
    and in that moment, he’s in the throne room of heaven, with all the angels gathered around the lord singing
    Holy Holy holy is the Lord
    Worthy worthy worthy of all of our praise.
    Transition
    When we gather together, when we are out in the world, when we take time to recognize the goodness of God,
    That joy and peace that we experience
    from the idea that we are scattered in the world, citizens of a glorious kingdom, that joy that we experience should be on full display so that the world sees it
    Our first point, the church is scattered geographically
    Second point the church is scattered spiritually
    Point
    Statement
    Point number 3, the church is scattered personally.
    Explanation
    by our best estimates, peter wrote this letter around the year 62 AD
    in 64 AD, 2 years after this letter was written, The emperor of rome, a guy named Nero, began the reign of official state sponsored murder and execution of Christians.
    So at the time Peter was writing this, christians were not yet being executed by the roman empire.
    Why do I mention that?
    you don’t get public support for the mass slaughter of an entire group of people overnight
    it wasn’t like Nero woke up one morning and said “you know what, today I want to persecute an entire people group”
    and the citizens of rome just went with it.
    It doesn’t work that way.
    It took years and years of a slow steady campaign of discrediting the Christians.
    Spreading rumors about them
    Creating a sense of distrust in the culture
    and so while they weren’t yet being persecuted for their faith, there was campaign to discredit them ,and create an atmosphere in the culture that would make the citizens of rome pre-disposed to want to persecute them.
    Illustration
    And the church, especially the church in the area that Peter was writing to, they felt it.
    In places like Jerusalem and Antioch, there was just enough christian presence that it was more or less tolerated in the culture.
    And as you went west, into rome, the church was full on the underground church.
    but in these regions, as the faith was spreading west, it was kind of the worst of both worlds
    Christians weren’t so rare that they hadn’t caught the attention of the locals yet, but they weren’t so common that they were generally tolerated in society
    And that made it hard to get jobs, that made it hard to do business, it made it hard to participate in society
    And there was a general attitude of wanting to quit
    Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we just kinda stopped
    If we just kind of went along to get along.
    Because they had been through a lot.
    and after facing setback after setback
    little problems coming up every single day
    every day it was something different
    people in the church started to think, you know, I’m not sure this is really worth it
    The church is down to a couple of people in a house here and there
    We’re not gaining any traction, we’re not making a difference the way we’d like to
    is it really worth it?
    Application
    Church, let me just address the elephant in the room
    We are a scattered church personally
    we have been through a lot.
    You’ve been through a lot before I came here, and we’ve been through a lot
    and I’ve been sensing a general sense that says “does it even really matter?” Are we really even making a difference? is this really even worth it?
    we have brothers and sisters who we consider to be a part of the church who aren’t with us
    people come, they worship with us for a while, and then they leave
    and what happens when you keep getting your hand smacked again and again and again, when you receive setback after setback, when you have trial after trial, we start to feel like what’s the point
    I want to just be completely honest here
    We are at a point where we either thrive or die
    where we either double down on what it means to be the church, to be a light to our community, or we die
    Conclusion
    And as long as I’m here serving you, that second option is never going to be an option we put on the table.
    Toward’s the end of his letter peter says
    1 Peter 4:7 NET 2nd ed.
    For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer.
    Pray over your neighbors, pray over this church, pray over the street you live on.
    1 Peter 4:8 NET 2nd ed.
    Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins.
    Brothers and sisters aren’t perfect, they don’t always get things right
    We fight over vision and ideas, we fight over philosophy, what we think the church should look like
    But we should always love
    1 Peter 4:9 NET 2nd ed.
    Show hospitality to one another without complaining.
    1 Peter 4:10–11 NET 2nd ed.
    Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
    We’re turning this church around. And we’re doing it today.
    We’re going to pray, we’re going to show hospitality.
    We’re going to use the gifts that God has given us to serve. Every single one of us has been given a gift of the holy spirit, and we are going to move forward and use those to serve each other, and the community around us.
    and we need every single one of you to make it happen.
    In your homes, here at the church, during worship, during VBS.
    Because we are NOT a dying church.
    We’re a scattered Church
    And that comes with it’s own set of challenges and opportunities.
    And we, as the church, are going to use the fact that we are a scattered church to serve our community, to grow God’s kingdom, and to give glory and honor, so that in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus.
    Pray

      • 1 Peter 1:1–2GS-NETBIBLE

      • Jeremiah 52:28–30GS-NETBIBLE

      • Acts 1:6GS-NETBIBLE

      • Acts 1:7–8GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Peter 1:1GS-NETBIBLE

      • 2 Peter 3:8–9GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Peter 4:7GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Peter 4:8GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Peter 4:9GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Peter 4:10–11GS-NETBIBLE

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Alliance Christian Church
churchinalliance@gmail.com
9707657196
https://www.alliancechristian.church
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