COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

Sermons on 2 Peter

MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

I believe that the church in America as a whole is misunderstanding the importance of being witnesses of God’s faithfulness. We may be involved in evangelism, involved in church activities, involved in Bible studies, or involved in preaching and teaching. While all such activities are good in general, they are no prove that we are witnesses of God’s faithfulness.
We live in spiritual and physical dangerous times. This world is changing with lightning speed not to the better, but to the worse. Once again, the Lord “sees that wickedness of man is great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil all the day.” (Genesis 6:5)
So, how should we live as followers of Jesus Christ? Is there any hope? Can the church in America be turned around? Can the society in America be changed?
The answer to all these questions depends on THE WITNESSES OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AND THE RESPONSE OF THE PEOPLE.
God spoke to those who are witnesses of His faithfulness through His Word, that was written down by men MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. Everything you and I need to know that pertains to life and godliness is revealed in His word. Notice that we are hearing what God speaks to us because WE KNOW HIM. And because we know Him, we take His word for what it says. We can hear God speak to us through His word.
Warning: A witness hears God speak and as accepted a FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH:
God’s way is better than my way;
God’s truth is better than my truth;
God’s promises are better than my promises;
God’s word is better than my ideas.
We have plenty of examples in the Bible alone of witnesses whose confidence in God and His promises was unshakable.
These witnesses:
• Refused to be deceived by their 5 senses. Their confidence was not in what they could see, taste, touch, hear or smell.
• Refused to put any confidence in the latest news reports.
• Refused to give up when the promises of God did not come to pass immediately for they knew God is faithful.
Moved by the Holy Spirit, they believed that God is 100% trustworthy. His timing is always perfect. In other words; seeing is not believing. This is a lie from the enemy of our soul.
During Noah’s time nearly all people were drugged one the fumes of their egos. Wickedness has become the number one, all-consuming human addiction. So, Noah was listening to God. Noah also had an unshakable confidence in what he heard from God. Noah’s faith in God was uncontaminated. But such faith needs to be tested. And surely, Noah’s faith, Noah’s confidence in God’s Promises would soon be challenged. By whom? By God!
Noah’s acceptance of this mission proved one thing beyond a shadow of doubt. This man had an unshakable confidence in God.
This was not a weekend project, or something he worked on in his spare time or in the evenings. No one to hire, no power tools, no chainsaws, no sawmills, no cranes, no Menard’s or Lowe’s. It took 120 YEARS to build. He did not give up. What a witness of God’s faithfulness.
Are you fully convinced of the faithfulness of the promises of God for your life? Remember, the promises of God are just as faithful, just as powerful, just as reliable and just as true as they were in the days of Noah or the days of Peter. If you have heard him speak to you today and have an unshakable confidence in God you are a witness of God’s faithfulness, moved by the Holy Spirit to bring glory and honor to God alone.

Equipped and Trained

Everything pertaining to life and godliness, all the power we need to live a life that glorifies God has been given to us. All the power we need to overcome the corruption of this world, to overcome the deceptive power of self-help, to overcome the destructive power of false religion, has been supplied by our Lord.
As a soldier of Christ, we don’t have the luxury to fall asleep on our job. The battle is raging and is intense. Everything we need to win the battles has been supplied to us. Now it is our job to get properly equipped.
Moses saw for a few seconds the back of God and immediately Moses’ face began to reflect the divine glory that just walked by him. In other words, God’s glory was bounding off the skin of Moses. However, each passing day this glory on Moses’ face started to fade, because it was only a reflected glory.
Not so on the mount of transfiguration. JESUS CHRIST NEVER REFLECTED GOD’S GLORY, BUT AS JOHN WROTE LATER: WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.
This is what Peter is pointing out in his second Epistle, they have seen His glory and heard the voice of God audibly.In other words, they did not tell people about legends and myths or what others were saying about Jesus. PETER, JAMES and JOHN witnessed the glory of God Almighty in JESUS CHRIST.
Today, too many Christians lack of sense of the greatness and awesomeness of God Almighty, which I believe is directly linked to the church’s ignorance of the Old Testament.
We cannot really understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. Peter says that we must obey the prophetic word and regard it as a LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.
At the Diet of Worms, when Luther was called to recant, he said: “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant, because my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other; God help me.”

The Day of The Lord

Last week during my sermon I mentioned briefly that God Almighty is in the remodeling business and that the earth will not be entirely burned up as is commonly taught in churches here in America. I am familiar with many of these teachings and yet, the more I study the Bible in its contextual format as well as studying the meaning of the original language, I have found way too many verses in the Bible that challenge such teachings.
The context of 2 Peter chapter 2 deals with the fact that the Word of God is always trustworthy, if we understand and apply the truth that SCRIPTURE MUST BE INTERPRETED WITH SCRIPTURE.
The Day of the Lord, the time when Jesus Christ will come back to this earth, which will be A TIME OF RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS. I don’t think Peter is contradicting himself, period. Acts 3:20-21 and 2 Peter 3:10 must be interpreted in the same context.
Listen, it was no accident that Jesus was a carpenter. Carpenters make things and fix things. The Carpenter from Nazareth MADE THE UNIVERSE, and He is going TO FIX IT. God is the ultimate salvage artist. And what He restores will be far better than the ORIGINAL.

What About That Pre-Text

To accept reformation means to admit the need for correction. All the pre-text messages that lead millions of souls astray must be deleted from our mind and instead, we must embrace the Word of God by OBEYING IT.
It is then when we experience a personal revival that will make us to be a living example of the joy and victory that is ours in Jesus Christ alone.
“So great is the human capacity for self-deception that we can be blind even to our own insincerity.” Dave Hunt
English dictionary : “A pretext is an excuse to do something or say something that is not accurate. Pretexts may be based on a half-truth or developed in the context of a misleading fabrication. Pretexts have been used to conceal the true purpose or rationale behind actions and words.”

When Does the End of The World Arrive?

Why is there so much knowledge available to mankind, yet so much ignorance of the truth of the answers to life’s BIG questions? The answer to these questions and many others concerning the end of the world are not found in the writings of Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, or any other self-professed psychic. They can only be found in the Bible. The Book of Genesis teaches that God created the earth and everything in it to be perfect. However, the nature of the earth changed when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This act prompted God to place a curse on the earth, and it radically transformed the nature of the earth itself.
Those who worry about the end of the world or live in fear of a great worldwide catastrophe are not living their lives in accordance with God. For God tells us to live boldly and without fear of the things of this world:
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
“Do not fear anything except the Lord Almighty. He alone is the Holy One. If you fear him, you need fear nothing else.” Isaiah 8:13 (NLT)