A beautiful relationship

Jun 05, 2026

A Holy Priesthood

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So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:4-5 (NET)

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So …

There’s some disagreement about the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer.

I, for one, am in the camp that every believer can also function as a new covenant priest.

Lots of metaphors in these verses, but we can see a throughline:

That we believers ought to be leading the world toward Christ. Helping to make spiritual sacrifices.

Paul mentions in Romans 12 about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship.

I think these ideas are connected.

There’s much more in here than I can handle with a short email. So let’s look at some functional takeaways:

A living sacrifice would mean dying to self and living for Christ.

Which is also exactly what Jesus talked about doing in Luke 9.

But it’s not enough to spiritually kill your old, fleshy self.

We must live for Christ -- we must follow Him.

This means loving Him … spending time with Him … obeying Him … honoring Him.

I’m sure you can think of the normal daily and weekly practices that help you do this.

What I want to do this morning is encourage you.

If you’re reading this email everyday, then you’re spending at least a little time in His Word.

I hope this is just an appetizer for you.

The main course is a daily quiet time and some prayer.

God speaks to us and we speak to Him.

A beautiful relationship.

— Ricky Ketchum

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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