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Category Archives: The Gospel

Our Salvation

Our Salvation

In going through Peter’s first letter, my last post was about the once and for all victory of Christ. Today I want to continue that thought.

The Scripture is clear that there was a purpose for His death on the cross. Christ died in order that He might lead us toward God. But even though His flesh was killed, the Lord was resurrected by the Spirit.

That brought Him to a new place of ministry.

This is a very interesting portion of Scripture. I believe it’s talking about what Christ was doing while His body was in the grave for three days. He wasn’t just “sleeping.”

While the Lord was in the Spirit, He was actually preaching. It literally says that He was proclaiming something, but it wasn’t the Good News. There are important truths here that we need to see.

Christ was preaching to those who were willfully disobedient during the days of Noah. During that time, God was looking with expectation, as the ark was being prepared. It was the means of physical salvation for that generation.

This is what Peter is really trying to get us to think about. It’s how you view your salvation and baptism. Why did you come to Christ and receive the sacrament of baptism in water?

It was obviously not the laying aside of dirt from the flesh. What it really is, is a demand, a craving for, a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Along with that is the knowledge that all of creation is in obedience to Him.

Because of this, you can successfully face the trials of life. When you crave a good conscience toward God, then your expectation is in the Lord.

With that attitude, we must expect the move of God in our lives and situations.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 18, 2025 in Spiritual Walk, The Gospel

 

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Once For All Victory

Once For All Victory

We’re continuing our study through 1 Peter. The apostle has been talking about suffering because you’re living righteously. He gives us the conclusion.

Now he goes on to give us the example of Christ.

I love that phrase, “once for all.” Let me explain. I live in the Boston area. I have to admit that I was excited when the New England Patriots won the Superbowl year after year. That probably doesn’t sound very spiritual.

Actually, there’s a truth here that we need to understand. It hurts me to tell you this, but once the Superbowl is over, every team is tied for last place.

When you look at the world of sports, the game gets reset every year. What you did last season doesn’t mean anything during the next season.

From this point on it’s all about winning next year. In our society, championships are a temporary thing. You can be a world champion today and scraping the bottom the next season.

I’m glad Jesus wasn’t this kind of champion. The victory that He won was once and for all. There will be no rematch, no do overs, and no replays. It is finished.

Under the Old Covenant it was much different. The death of a bull or goat today had no power to help you a year later. The sacrifices had to be repeated over and over again.

The work that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross will never lose its effectiveness. It will never fade or wear out. The Lord is eternally victorious.

But there’s more to the story. Christ has passed this victory on to all who will trust in Him.

As I said before – I’m glad for the Patriots past victories. The problem is that their victory didn’t do anything for me. After the Superbowl, my health, finances, and attitudes were the same as they were before. They got the glory, and I got to watch.

Christ, on the other hand, allowed me to share in His victory. Even though there was nothing I could to do to help, I benefit from all that He did. All I had to do was to trust in Him as my Lord and Savior.

In one decisive act, Jesus Christ accomplished freedom, salvation, healing, and restoration for all. We just need to get in on it by faith in Him.

Spend some time with the Lord today. Let His victory spill over into your life. Don’t walk around as if you’re defeated, hoping to win the next round. You can walk in his freedom right now.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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A Good Conscience

A Good Conscience

We’re currently going through Peter’s first epistle. In my last post, I talked about how to be prepared to answer those who ask about the hope driving your actions.

Continuing with that thought, there’s an assumption that you’re watching your attitude. When we deal with the unsaved, we need to keep our emotions in check. We must not operate in an arrogant or condemning manner.

When we act in a “holier than thou” way, we actually push people away from the Gospel. They need to understand that we had issues as well. The only difference between them and us is Christ.

Most importantly, we must hold on to a good conscience. We need to guard our conscience from anything that would stain it. What does this mean?

The Greek word for conscience, literally means seeing together. It’s how we view the totality of our life and actions. It’s not about just one incident that happened 3 years ago.

Too many believers find themselves stuck because they’re continually replaying a mistake they made years ago. You are washed by the blood of Christ if you repented of it. Stop letting the past keep you from your destiny in the Lord.

The real question is; am I living for self, or becoming like Christ? That’s what’s the important aspect of our conscience.

Paul explained the same thing to his spiritual son, Timothy. We need this to become effective in ministry.

How can you trust God if your own mind is accusing you of disobedience? In that case, your faith is being shipwrecked. If you haven’t done it yet, go before God and repent over those areas of guilt. Then move on in Christ.

These four things that Peter dealt with in chapter 3, are the bedrock for being victorious in trials. Don’t fear what the world fears, set apart Christ as Lord, be ready to explain your hope, and hold on to a good conscience.

The result of these characteristics is worth the hardship. Peter explains why in verse 16. He says that even though those in the world may publicly slander you as criminals, privately they will actually be ashamed of themselves.

By living this way, you’re giving the Holy Spirit something to work with. He can bring conviction into the hearts of those who know you. The Lord is able to “ripen” their hearts to receive the Gospel message.

Eventually, the Lord will lead someone, maybe even you, to share Christ with them. At that time, they’ll be ready and willing to bow their knee to the Lord and accept Him as their Savior.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 11, 2025 in Faith, Ministry, The Gospel

 

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Be Prepared

Be Prepared

We’re continuing our walk through 1 Peter. In my last post, I started talking about living a radically righteous life. When you live “all in” for Christ, you start to get some resistance from the world, but we don’t have to be afraid.

Now Peter continues with this thought.

The next thing Peter tells us is to revere Christ as Lord. That word, revere, actually means to set apart. In our hearts, we must set Christ apart as Lord. This is the absolute key.

Many Christians have set themselves in that position. They act as the lords of their own life. Christ is merely an advisor.

It’s like the bumper sticker I’ve seen from time to time. “God is my co-pilot.” In my opinion, if God is your co-pilot, then you have a fool for a pilot.

Much of the problem is that we have no concept of what a lord is in our culture. The lord is the supreme ruler. Saying, “No Lord,” is not an option.

We know from Scripture that at the judgment, every created being will declare the Lordship of Christ. Every knee WILL bow. So, why not acknowledge it now. Don’t wait until you have no choice but to admit it.

Your submission to Christ will be obvious to those around you. You have to be ready for it. Peter explains how we should be prepared.

We’re told to be ready at all times. But, ready to do what? Ready to give an answer. That’s a Greek word from which we get our English word, apology.

That Greek word is actually a technical judicial term. It means your final defense of  your actions. We must always beready to explain our actions. Remember, Peter is talking about doing radical goodness.

This is the basis for a powerful witness for Christ. You live a cutting edge, radically good lifestyle. That’s what gets people’s attention.

It prompts people to ask, “Why do you live like that?”

Remember what the verse says. Give an answer to everyone who asks. Sometimes our trouble is that we want to explain to those who don’t care.

When He saw the crowds of people coming towards Him to hear His words, Jesus told His disciples to look at the fields that are white for harvest. We’ve got to be looking for the white fields. Not everyone is ready to hear the good news.

They want a particular explanation. They want to understand the hope that’s driving us to do what we do. That’s especially true when we show love in a way the world never could.

So, live radically for Christ and be ready to explain God’s goodness to those around you.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2025 in Faith, Ministry, The Gospel

 

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Suffering for Doing Good

Suffering for Doing Good

We’re continuing to go through Peter’s first letter. The apostle is now going to talk about how to handle resistance from the world. It’s something we will all experience, even if we don’t live in an area with heavy persecution.

Remember, Peter’s goal is always to portray Christ to the world.

Peter asks us, who is it that will bring evil against you? He’s talking about any kind of evil, from injury to exasperation. This is especially true if you’re eager to do good.

The word he uses for eager is important for understanding this question. He’s literally saying if you become a Zealot for good. One thing we need to know is that this word, Zealot, referred to a group of Jews who were anti-Roman terrorists at that point in history.

This seems like an oxymoron. A terrorist for good. But I believe that’s from the world’s perspective.

We can see from this verse, that light terrorizes those who love darkness. That’s what happens when we live a “radically good” life. When someone acts in an evil way against us and we go out of our way to bless them.

So, Peter asks who would try to hurt you for that? Then, he thinks about his experience in this area.

What if you’re passionately burdened to do righteousness? Here’s what Peter has learned from his experiences.

First, you’re supremely blessed, well off, happy, fortunate. That’s the first and most important thing you need to know. That’s the basis for overcoming in spite of this resistance.

You had better prepare for this, just like Christ. Because we will all have to face these issues at some point.

The apostle starts by telling us to not be afraid or shaken. He lets us know that we don’t have to fear the things that frighten the world. And we’re not shaken by the things that toss them.

The world gets all upset and fearful about politics, the economy, and natural disasters. We must not give in to fear because we know who controls our life and our world.

This is one of the biggest areas we need to work on as Christians in our generation. When you see what’s taking place online and in social media, many times believers seem as stressed out as the world. We can’t be acting like people without the hope of Christ Jesus in us.

It’s time for us to start acting like Jesus is Lord and God is in control. Stop running around like the world and settle down to be accomplishing the will of the Father. Spend time in His presence to pick up His heartbeat. Then, do what you’re called to do.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Christ in the Workplace

Christ in the Workplace

As we continue through Peter’s first letter, we’ve been talking about how we relate in the workplace. In my last post, I talked about how we are to be a copy of Christ in our workplace.

But, if we’re to be an accurate copy of the Lord, we need to know how He worked. Needless to say, His workplace was the cross. Peter uses this as the prime example for us to follow.

The first thing we’re told is that there was no sin or trick in His mouth. That’s a big issue. When it comes to the workplace, how often does our tongue get us into trouble. When it does; do we try to get out of it by defensiveness or deceit?

We need to be careful of what we say and how we react.

This is one of the hardest parts of being a true copy of Christ. When He was abused, He did not reply with abuse. When He suffered, He didn’t threaten. This was true even though the Lord knew the authority of His position.

He used the proper channels. The Lord surrendered all of His rights to God the Father. He’s the only one who will give a just decision. Christ was vindicated. The proof of this was the resurrection.

So many people complain about unfair treatment in the workplace. Here we see that Christ Himself suffered the most unfair treatment in the history of the universe.

Fair would have been for me to be eternally separated from God. Instead, Jesus Christ paid for my sins. That is supremely unfair.

Think about that the next time you believe that someone is treating you poorly in a way you don’t deserve. I thank God regularly that He wasn’t fair in dealing with my sin.

Christ did this because He saw the whole picture. The Lord knew that it was the only way to purchase our salvation. I’m so glad that He did.

Here’s the bottom line for all of us in the workplace. We need to remember where we came from to where we are now. We were all lost, without hope. Now we are a part of God’s family, if we’ve accepted the gift of the Lord’s salvation.

We need to constantly be aware that our ultimate Supervisor, Shepherd, and Inspector is Christ. But He goes deeper than any earthly supervisor. The Lord oversees our soul. This means that He not only decides based upon your treatment of others, but your attitudes as well.

That speaks volumes about our place in this world. Bring Christ to your workplace!

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Workplace Submission

Workplace Submission

We’ve been looking at the teaching of the Apostle Peter in his first letter. He’s been talking about submission to authority in general. Now he gets more specific.

You may read this verse and think, “This verse doesn’t apply to us. We’re not in slavery.” That’s not exactly true. The words slave and master in this verse directly translate to household servant and binding house-husband in English.

In our society, contracts are binding. In a modern company, you’ve effectively bound yourself to your workplace. So, this slave/master relationship can directly apply to the worker – boss relationship.

We’re told here to submit to our supervisors with all respect. That word for respect is actually the word fear (phobos). If you remember from my previous posts, that this is the fear that only lasts until love is present.

That’s an important concept to know especially in this context. In talking about the world’s way of living Paul said something that applies here.

What we find is that in our society people worship and serve created things rather than the Lord. Peter tells us to respect, not worship those in authority. What we see happening in many cases is that they love money, so they worship the workplace for the money they receive.

We’re told by Peter to give respect. But who do we respect; only those who respect us? NO! We’re to respect all. That includes those who are good and appropriate, as well as those who are harsh, warped, and bent.

The fact is we must respect our boss, manager, or supervisor. Remember, it’s the position God established that you’re respecting. There’s a bonus for obeying this teaching.

The word commendable in this verse is actually the word grace. God has a grace available to you for the workplace. Why do we need this special grace?

According to Peter, it’s under the sadness of suffering unjustly. Guess what! This will happen to you no matter where you work. There will be policies put into effect over you because someone else messed up.

But the key is, you obtain this grace because you are conscious of God. That word, conscious, means that you’re seeing the whole picture all together like God does.

Of course, you could always narrow your vision and say, “That’s not fair. Poor me.” Or you can see the whole picture and take on the attitude of Christ.

That word creation is talking about all the authority structures in society. This includes your workplace. When you arrange yourself correctly under your employer you get grace. You start to see the whole picture.

It’s not just about you. Your boss and co-workers need to hear the good news. By your attitude, you can make it easier for them to hear and believe the Good News of Christ.

Be the light of the Gospel they need to see in your workplace.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2025 in Leadership, Relationships, The Gospel

 

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God’s Word – Living and Enduring

God’s Word – Living and Enduring

As we go through 1 Peter, we’re seeing the work of holiness being accomplished in us. The apostle continues on, showing us the reason for this transformation.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you know that one of my main themes concerns the Word of God. I believe that we miss it if the only way we view the Word is thinking about it as the Bible.

In many of my posts I talk about the relationship between the Word of God and the Scripture. The Bible is the written Word of God. But we also need to hear the Word from the Holy Spirit. This is where the power of God intersects with our lives.

The Bible teaches that we must correctly handle the Word of Truth. In order to do that I must be studying the Scripture – the written record of God’s Word – so that I can handle the Word I receive from God today.

The Bible uses many terms in relation to the Word of God. It uses language such as spread, increased, grew, reached and multiplied. In the above verse we’re told how. The verse says in this way. If you read through this nineteenth chapter of the Book of Acts you’ll get a taste for the effects of the Word.

We see the gifts of tongues and prophecy being manifested. There was boldness in preaching. Handkerchiefs and aprons that touched Paul were taken to the sick and they were healed.

Demonic spirits were confronted and expelled. There was widespread repentance such that a group of new believers burned the equivalent of $5,000,000 worth of satanic sorcery books.

That’s the way the Word of God is described as growing. Literally, the above verse says that the Word became a force to be reckoned with. The Word of God is alive and it grows.

The fact is that we’ve been saved by the living Word of God. That Word is a seed that’s growing inside of us. It will never decay or diminish. It’s there forever.

Peter explains to us that it’s living and enduring. It’s always alive and growing. Nothing and no one can extinguish its flame.

Somewhere along the line somebody spoke God’s Word to you. It doesn’t matter whether they used the Bible or not – you heard a Word from God that changed your life. It might have been a Bible verse, a word of prophecy, or a statement of divine truth. Either way, you received it, it grew inside of you, and eventually you accepted Jesus Christ and were born again.

That’s how the Word of God starts its work in you. The fact that you’ve established Christ as your Lord and Savior is proof that the Word has taken residence in you. Now it’s up to us what we do with that seed.

That’s why Peter is writing his letter. So that we can experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in us. That should be our goal. To walk more and more into the Lord’s holiness and righteousness.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Set Free

Set Free

I’m currently in a series of posts about 1 Peter. He has shown us not only that God wants us to walk in holiness, but how to accomplish this. Now he goes on to show why this is way we’re to live.

The incredible truth is that we have been redeemed. That’s a big word. We need to understand all that his encompasses.

Normally, when you see the word redeemed in Scripture it means to buy back or purchase something. That’s not the case here. The word that Peter uses means to loosen or set free.

What has the Lord loosened us from? It was from the empty behavior that we inherited. It’s all the emotional and lifestyle baggage we grew up with. It’s the ongoing behavior we acted out with nothing to show for it in the end.

But, according to the apostle, the valuable blood of Jesus Christ rescued us from all of that. We no longer have to live a life that amounts to nothing in the end.

We need to see that nothing takes God by surprise. God knew what was to happen even before the world was created. He didn’t have to call an emergency meeting with the Holy Spirit.

“Oh No! What are we going to do? They just killed the Messiah.”

Absolutely not! God had the plan for our redemption already in place before the world was formed.

This verse goes on to say that now, in these last days, this plan is made manifestis revealed – in us. It’s our job to reveal Christ to the world. We are God’s voice, declaring His restoring power to all those around us.

Now, because of what God did in Christ, our faith and our expectation can firmly be focused on God. This is the foundation for the walk of holiness.

So that brings up some important questions we need to be asking. Is my faith focused on God’s Word and plan for my life? Do I truly expect what God says the results should be as He responds to my faith?

As we spend time in the Scripture and in relationship with the Holy Spirit, our faith and expectation toward the Lord should be growing. That’s the maturing process. It’s how I continue to grow in the body of Christ.

Only then can I lead others to experience the same walk of holiness and righteousness. I can’t simply teach it. I must exemplify it by walking it out in front of younger believers.

This is where the Lord is desiring to bring us all up to.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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Preparation for Holiness

Preparation for Holiness

We’re now going through the New Testament book of 1 Peter. In the last few posts we were talking about the salvation we share in Christ. The apostle now gets to the heart of the matter.

Peter begins the next section with the word, therefore. That means that everything he has said so far was the groundwork for this. He is about to start talking about holiness. That’s an important message for church leaders to understand.

Let me review some of the things I’ve already taught about holiness. Holiness is one of those concepts that we have trouble grasping. A little while ago we looked at 1 Corinthians.

The word sanctified in this verse literally means made holy. It’s something that’s already been accomplished. However, Paul also says that we’re called to be holy. That’s looking toward the future.

The fact is that there are two parts of holiness. Part 1 is something only God can do. He makes you holy. When you put your trust in Him for your salvation, He sets you apart for His use. That’s Him making you holy.

But part 2 is something only you can do. You must make yourself holy. This means that you set yourself apart for God’s use. The truth is that you cannot do part 2 unless God has done part 1.

If you’re saved, then He has set you apart. But He cannot use you until you set yourself apart. In today’s post, we’ll start to look at how to do that.

Please note that Peter doesn’t use the word holy until verse 19, but we’re starting in verse 13.

The literal translation of the first part of this verse is to gird up the loins of your mind. That’s an interesting statement. But it goes right along with what Paul said in regard to our spiritual armor.

This verse literally tells us to stand firm with our loins girded all around with truth. The two apostles are obviously talking about the same thing. But the big question is; how do we gird our minds with the belt of truth?

Jesus answered that question in His prayer for us right after the Last Supper.

Jesus prayed for us in this verse. He asked God the Father to make us holy by the truth. What is that truth? It’s the truth of God’s Word. It all has to start with the Word.

That’s why God’s Word is so important. It changes my attitudes of how I see myself. I’m not my own. I have been bought with a very great price.

Make sure you start your faith journey with the Word of God. It’s the foundation for everything.

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi

 

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