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2 Peter 2

5/13/2012

2 Peter 2 In this chapter Peter shares the dangers of knowing Christ Jesus and then making our sinful desires fit into living a holy life. These people have heard the Good News about Jesus and believe it yet they feel it is alright to live anyway they please because they are secure in their belief. A commentary I read in a Nelson study Bible put it this way. “The heretical teachers clearly were implying that once the soul is saved, what is done in the body is of no importance.” This is a dangerous way to think and Peter stresses this throughout his second letter. In chapter 2 verses 19-21 I believe Peter shines a bright light on this lukewarm way of thinking. “They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of this world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”

The commentary stresses that verse 21 (“It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness…”) means knowledge without obedience is dangerous.” We can’t be satisfied with knowing Christ we must be willing to change our lives to be like Him. God loves us so much He gave us everything we need to know to choose life and our actions can’t change that love but our actions can change our final destination.

I am so excited that God put these words into Peter to share. In 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 17-18 it says, “I am writing you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever!” God is so great and deserves our best efforts to show our love to Him. I say let’s work hard to show Him how thankful we are by dying to our desires and living to do His will. Amen

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2 Peter 1

5/10/2012

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2 Peter 1:3-4 “By His Devine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His Devine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desire.”

This is so important to realize as we work on our understanding of what we should do as fully devoted followers of Jesus. As we come to know Him by reading and prayer we will grow and our lives will change to be more like His. Just because we know all the promises He has given us it doesn’t mean we can do nothing, we must still come to Him and receive the power from the Holy Spirit so our lives actually change.

Verse 5 says, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, (it doesn’t say in view of all this, God will change you because you know His Son) verses 6-7 continues with “and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”

God has given us the tools but He is expecting us to use them and make an effort to be the “Christians” we are called to be. Verse 8 says, “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are called to action and we are called to develop our faith. God has given us the tools, how are we using them?

We have the free will to choose action and constantly develop and mature or we can fall back on knowing Jesus will be enough and I’m a sinner if I can’t change He is ok with that. We must remember that repentance is not repentance if there is no change in our heart and mind and our lives. Verse 9 says, “But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

We can’t be satisfied because we have been baptized, that is not the end of our work we must constantly grow and work to know more so we stand strong when we are attacked by the devil and the worldly desires that we have lurking in us. I want to end with verses 10-11 which say, “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Let’s accept His love and show ours by living a new life in Christ. Amen

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2 Peter 1:10

9/1/2009

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2 Peter 1:10 “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things and you will never fall away.”

I love whenever we are told to “work hard,” it is so important for us to understand everything that God has done so we can be an example for everyone. Open God’s word and study it, asking God to reveal everything you need to live an unselfish life full of love.

In verse 11 Peter says, “Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

There is so much to gain by truly putting God first and surrendering your life for living the life Christ did. In the book “The Beautiful Fight” by Gary Thomas he says, “If we don’t stress experience as well as reason people will never encounter the reality of our faith, because they simply cannot read our minds.” Are we learning all we can so we can just live it? The world is going to happen and if we aren’t filling ourselves with God’s word we will be filled by the evil desires of this world. Greed, sex, drunkenness, and jealousy, all things that we feel make living fun.

As Peter states in chapter 2 verse 18, “They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.”

Don’t be lazy and think you will be able to slide by not working because you said you accepted Christ. These false teachings can be dangerous.

Verses 19-21 says, “They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a Holy Life.”

Satan will work hard to get you back, are you willing to work even harder to stand firm and do all God requires. Remember we have died to our old self and live transformed by Christ. Amen

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2 Peter 1:2

8/31/2009

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2 Peter 1:2 “May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.”

As we grow in our knowledge, we will be given more grace and peace. Why not read God’s word and continue to grow? This growth should and can continue forever. God’s word is always there to instruct and teach us every time we open it. It will help us where we are at and we will be able to use it to help others.

Verse 4 says; “and because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

By spending time every day with God, we fill our hearts with good and we learn more and more how to be like Jesus. It says “…these are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

If we are in the world every day, seeing and being filled with what it offers, how much more do we have to fill ourselves with God. I love that Peter goes and shows us what happens when we make the effort to learn and fill ourselves with wisdom and knowledge.

In verses 5 and 7 it says, “in view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self control, and self control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”

You can’t do this if you are not spending time in God’s word or having a relationship with God to understand all His promises. Peter continues to share with us how important it is to never stop growing.

In verse 8 he says, “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I say what goes in will eventually come out.

In verse 9 he warns us, “But those who fail to develop in this way are short sided or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

Are you struggling with the same stuff time after time? Check your walk and what you are filling your day with. Make sure you have a healthy time with God. Amen.

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2 Peter 2

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