Welcome to Abide's sleep meditations.

I'm Tyler Boss, and I'm continually encouraged night after night to remain in my creator,

which in turn has helped me to grow in so many ways, even as I sleep.

And I hope you find that same encouragement as well as you listen.

And you can have full access to all our sleep stories commercial free just text the

word abide to 22433 for 25% off the abide app just text abide to 22433 now relax your mind and body

as we hear tonight's sleep story.

Hello, I'm Tyler.

Thanks for joining me tonight for Sleep Scriptures,

as we hear the first letter of Peter in the new international version.

Peter, who was known as Simon, was part of Jesus' core group of 12 disciples and a Christian leader in Jerusalem. He was eventually called to share the gospel in Rome where this letter was written.

Peter wrote the letter to persecuted Christians, calling them God's people who are chosen and exiled,

praising God that they now belong to the family of Abraham even though they are

Gentiles God is inviting all people into a new family with a new identity and a new

hope for those of us with this hope, suffering can actually deepen our faith,

making it more genuine. Peter uses the images of the Old Testament to reinforce this new

family identity. This puts his his readers suffering into a new

context that they are suffering as a witness to Jesus Peter encourages the Christian

Gentiles to submit to unjust Roman rule because violent resistance betrays the teachings of Jesus

who loved his enemies. He tells the Christian wives and slaves of the time to demonstrate

their freedom in Christ by showing love and generosity to the non-Christian

patriarch in the same way that Jesus resisted evil and Christian husbands should treat them as equals

...