Join us as we explore the final chapter of 1 Peter with Alan J. Huth, who shares powerful excerpts from his own life that align with the teachings of humility, faith, and resistance to adversity. Through the lens of his family’s trials and triumphs, Huth illustrates how the Bible not only guides us through suffering but also builds a foundation for a stronger relationship with God. This episode is a testimony to the transformative power of faith and resilience.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we finish off 1 Peter. Chapter 5 is the end of 1 Peter. It has 14 verses. We’ll listen to our guest reader, Howard Copeland, finish off 1 Peter. 1 Peter 5
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So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God will have you. not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She, who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
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In 1990, I finished off 1 Peter 5 with this journal entry. Referring to verse 6, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. Verse 7, cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. Verse 10, God will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Verse 12, stand firm. Next I want to cover 2010 when I was 55 years old and then go back to the year 2000. So in 2010 I wrote concerning 1 Peter 5, Be humble leaders, stay humble. Satan seeks people to devour. We must resist him. Firm in your faith. Stand firm in the truth. Now back to the year 2000, the year of my parents’ golden anniversary, and in the midst of that, the attempt of my daughter to take her life. I wrote after a few days of processing when I read verse Peter chapter 5 on this day, Before I wrote what I read, I wrote this. More comes out about Shannon. Started smoking at 12, drinking and doing marijuana about the same time. Through high school, had done all the hard drugs except heroin. Drew her friends into the drug scene. Often hates herself. Satan has done his doing with her to lie, kill, and destroy. He almost got her the other night. Where is God the Father of all good things? What about the prayers of a righteous man availeth much? Why are we as Christian parents who tried hard to do it right at this place now? After that, I wrote my prayer in my journal. Help for Shannon, Jason, Kendra, Ryan, Nicole, Terry, me. Give us a break from the onslaught of hell so we can regroup, gain strength, win some ground back, please. I bless your name in all the earth. Restore joy and peace in all of us. For my extended family, all touched by this event. Yes, in the midst of my parents’ golden anniversary celebration, Satan jumped into our family with both feet. Obviously, I was angry. I was hurt. I questioned. several things regarding my relationship with God. But I also held on to my faith in Him. That was 18 years ago. My daughter is fine. She’s a wonderful, loving daughter. My relationship with her and my relationship with the Lord have been strengthened. I wrote in my journal back in 2000, after I read 1 Peter chapter 5, Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Today, yes, the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith. But, and then I put a parenthesis, love the buts in scripture. But may the God of all grace, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Yes, yes, I wrote in capital letters with an explanation point. The Bible, even 1 Peter, gives us the power to fight, to persevere through the trials of life. The Word of God reminds us, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. I thought I was a good parent. I thought I was a spiritual father. I thought somehow I was going to be exempt from the problems my daughter was going through. I’m not sure it was pride. I’m not sure if it was a lack of humility. I’m not sure what it was. I just believed that I tried to do everything right raising my family and that God would somehow steer me away from these kind of problems. It didn’t happen for me. it may not be happening for you. But my strength came from the Word of God and my relationship with Jesus. Chapter 5 continues in verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him. Because he cares for you. Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith. Knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while. The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Yes, Satan does roam this earth seeking whom he may devour. He almost got my daughter 18 years ago, but he didn’t. Praise God. If he’s after you right now, resist him. Firm in your faith. Fight back. Persevere. So that you too, after you suffer a little while, will be restored by Jesus himself. to him be the dominion forever and ever. When we started 1 Peter, we said the theme of 1 Peter is to encourage the readers to endure sufferings and persecution by giving themselves entirely to God. The model was Jesus himself, who suffered, was persecuted, then entered glory. I had no idea when I picked 1 Peter that I would have the incident of Shannon to deal with in this podcast. God gave us a life example of persecution, fiery trials, and suffering that I didn’t even know about when I started 1 Peter. I hope you’ve been encouraged through the words of Peter, Jesus’ friend. He saw the sufferings of Jesus. He himself suffered for Jesus. And in my personal examples through my own journals, I too have shared my own experience of suffering in Christ. I hope the Word of God encourages you, though you may be suffering, to fight on, to resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Cast all your anxieties on him. because He truly does care for you. He is the only one who will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you once again. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Thanks for listening to Add Bible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father’s car. We could steal his father’s car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war. So he was never home. So we took the car that day. Neither one of us with a driver’s license, and we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour, and he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car, 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don’t know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car, and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down, and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up, and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it’s a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you’re alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day’s activities. And I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn’t the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn’t in control. But God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I’m going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there’s a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God’s Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I began to read God’s Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that’s a good plan. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time, at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that’s what Christians did, was read their Bibles every day. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. I was sitting outside an ice cream store with my wife and a pastor and his wife and children in our hometown. A couple walked by and overheard our conversation and asked if I was a pastor. I said no. But the pastor I was with asked them what church they attended. They named their church, and he said, I know he speaks there every first Sunday of the year. They looked me over, and the woman said to her husband, he’s the Bible guy. She turned to me and said, because of your message, he started reading his Bible this year. So to pastors listening, that’s what will happen if you invite us to come and share in your church. More of your people will read the Bible. If you want that, contact us at EzraProject.net. We know only about 10% of your people are daily Bible readers. After an Ezra Project message, about two-thirds commit to daily Bible reading. Reach out to us at EzraProject.net and let’s talk about increasing Bible reading in your church.
