And we're back with
"Books of the Book."
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We're studying our
last Chapter in 2 Peter.
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Dr. Shepherd, wasn't
there more in verse 15?
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Yes. Would you read
verse 15 again for us?
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"And consider
that the longsuffering
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of our Lord is salvation,
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as also our
beloved brother Paul,
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according to the
wisdom given to him,
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has written to you."
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Okay. So the first part
of this, we already said,
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kind of quickly
but we stated that,
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we are supposed to
count the patience of God.
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Remember this is
His slowness to anger.
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He's patiently
waiting for people to repent.
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He says, count the patience
of our Lord as salvation.
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If you repent you
will be saved, you see.
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And so his patience waiting
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is his opening of the
door for us to be saved.
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Some people wait too long,
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you know, they wait too
long until it's too late.
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Now the Apostle Paul says,
"Today is the day of salvation."
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Don't wait to give
your life to Jesus.
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It's never too late
as long as there's life,
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there's hope but
it's never too early
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to make things right with God.
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So he goes on after that
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he says, "Just our
beloved brother Paul
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also wrote to you according
to the wisdom given to him."
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Now the main reason that
he inserts Paul's name here,
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you know, he puts Paul in here
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he's going to answer a problem
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and that's he's
gonna come to in verse 16.
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And why does he
mention Paul after all?
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Yeah, after all
why mentioned Paul,
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why not just,
you know keep going?
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Well, maybe we should
read verse 16 as well.
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Verse 16? Yeah.
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"As also in all his epistles,
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speaking in them of these things
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in which are some
things hard to understood,
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which untaught
and unstable people
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twist to their own destruction
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as they do also the
rest of the scriptures."
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All right.
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Now let's just
think for a moment
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as to the reason
God gave the scriptures.
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We've studied this before really
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how all the
scriptures are inspired
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and the
prophesies or the soak word
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they're the
foundation for our faith.
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They are the light
that guides us on the path
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and they give
us hope and solve--
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they are the promises
the precious promises of God
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wherein we find the promises
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that point to the
building of character.
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It's so kind like book ends,
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you know, he's been
talking about the scriptures.
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Talks about
them in the beginning
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and he talks
about them at the end.
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And the scriptures
are meant to grow us.
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They're meant to grow us.
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It's really sad when people
fight over the scriptures.
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You know, when they
use them to jab somebody,
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to make a point
or they use them to,
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you know, clap it
somebody over the head
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or they use them
to keep people away.
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There's any variety of ways
that people misuse the Bible
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and the Apostle Peter
here you know, wants is to know
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that we're not
supposed to misuse them
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like they did the
Apostle Paul's writings.
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Now some people
like to suggest here
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that Peter himself had
difficulty understanding
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what Paul wrote.
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Well, I dare say, that
the man who wrote 1 Peter,
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that we have seen
as, as profound theology
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as the Apostle Paul.
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I don't know that he
had difficulty understanding
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what Paul was writing.
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Instead he likely
penned these lines
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because there were some people
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who were misrepresenting Paul
and twisting what he had to say.
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And he says the twist the rest
of these scriptures as well.
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Okay, so he is writing
to those who twist Paul
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and maybe those who
find Paul challenging.
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Well, that might
be any number of us
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who read him and wonder,
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you know,
exactly what did he mean.
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But Peter here
refers to two groups people.
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He says, he calls them
the unlearned and unstable.
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Kind of I said terminology,
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my version says the
ignorant and unstable.
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Well, if you turn
over to Chapter 2 verse 14,
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would you read 2:14 for us?
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"Having eyes full of adultery,
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that cannot cease from
sin, enticing unstable souls.
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They have heart trained
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in covetous practices
in our cursed children."
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All right. Now these are--
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This is the work
of the false teachers
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but you notice that we
had there unstable souls,
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is not what you're sinned.
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Mind says unstable souls.
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Unstable souls,
is right. Unstable.
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Yeah, this is the same people,
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the people who are likely to be
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let us stray by
the false teachers.
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This could be people
young in a faith or others.
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It might have trails of life
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that just lead
them to be unstable
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and of course
like a good Shepherd,
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you're supposed to God
and protect these people.
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All right.
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And so that leads us
then to verses 17 and 18.
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Let's read this one more time.
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"You therefore, beloved,
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since you know this beforehand,
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beware lest you also fall
from your own steadfastness,
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being led away with
the error of the wicked,
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but grow in the grace
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and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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To Him be the glory
both now and forever. Amen."
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All right, in contrast
to what he's talked about
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before verses 17
and 18, refer to Peters,
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closing desire for the
Christian to whom he writes,
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he gives them two commands.
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The first one is, the word God
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and the other one is
the word grow, God and grow.
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Okay, so the word God is
a term that is often used
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a protecting or
keeping something
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even like keeping
the commandments of God.
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All right.
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But interestingly enough here
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in this passage
it has no object.
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He would say, keep,
keep the commandments,
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God the
commandments or God something
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but here there is no object list
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and so it's more likely that
the meaning is like beyond God.
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Stand like a sentry, okay.
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Clearly referring to watch
enough for the false teachers.
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So be on God,
these false teachers
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will want to mislead
you and you need to be sober
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and keep your wits about you.
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The guarding has the affect
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to protect them
from being deceived.
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So it is to keep there
firmness of commitment,
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ready and strong, okay.
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God, what you've been trusted
and stay strong and firm.
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He actually uses
the word firmness here
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that you're won't
fall from your firmness.
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And that is the
opposite of the verse 16
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where it talks about
being unstable and weak.
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We're actually
related terms in Greek.
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So firmness versus
weakness or this thing out.
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I remember, I told you
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that I go to the
YMCA and lift weights,
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I don't know, if
you can tell. Okay.
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I enjoyed a lot.
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Actually it
helps my cello playing
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so I do better because
the muscle tone is stronger.
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And if you've
never done weightlifting
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you need to try it.
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But the lifting of the weights,
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remember I saw
this shirt that said,
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pain is weakness
leaving the body.
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So no pain, no gain, you lift
these weights and it hurts them.
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But it has
wonderful effect on it.
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He wants you to be firm on
God like a good bodybuilder
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who has been working out, okay.
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And then the next
word is the word to grow.
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And there are two
fore say of the grow.
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Two things just
supposed to focus on, okay.
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The first one is he
mentions grace and knowledge.
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Grow and grace
and in the knowledge
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of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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He's used to go hand in
hand in Christian experience.
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This is all in the recent
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of where Peter
began in Chapter 2.
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2 Peter 1:1-11, regarding
growing the Christian life,
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where you're
ascending that ladder
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those wonderful
virtues that he is giving.
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The guarding is focused outward.
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So you're guarding against
the false teachers he's saying.
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And the growing
is focused inward
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towards stain
and touch with Jesus
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and becoming like Him.
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So Peter ends with the doxology
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were he praises Jesus, now
and to the day of eternity.
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So we've come to
conclusion. Yeah. Let's have.
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And in the conclusion we
can probably be good for us
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to review just a
little bit about the theology
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of these two beautiful books.
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What are the main concepts
in the Book of the 1 Peter
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and main the concepts
in the Book of 2 Peter.
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Here's just a few
ideas to ponder, okay.
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First of all in 1 Peter.
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God is focused on as
our-- God is focused,
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He's focused on
our spiritual growth
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and connection
with Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ is both
the Savior of our life
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and the great
example for us to follow.
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You remember
that central chapter 2
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and how it focused on
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the example of
Jesus and following Him.
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Salvation is
the gift of the God,
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it is the new birth
that He gives to you.
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And it has
consequences of our life,
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holiness and submission.
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We are upward
facing and outward engaged
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to draw others to our
Lord by our life of holiness.
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Our life is not to be
wasted in pagan passion.
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Number 4, suffering is
real, but it is not forever.
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It is a privilege to
be linked with Christ,
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suffering has He did.
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5th Christian
leadership, is about service.
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Entered willingly
carried out faithfully,
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focused on
following Christ example.
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Those are some of the key
ideas in the Book of 1 Peter,
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when we come to 2 Peter,
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we find again
that God has provided
00:11:16.63\00:11:19.38
all we need for successful
and growing Christian life.
00:11:19.41\00:11:24.34
And the best
protection against evil
00:11:24.37\00:11:27.47
is to focus on what is good.
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You focus on those growing
elements of Christian faith
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and he says, you'll never
fall, you'll faultier, you know.
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The false teacher will be
like just bouncing off of you
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because you're
strong and firm in Christ.
00:11:41.72\00:11:44.69
And once the evil is real
00:11:44.72\00:11:47.39
and must not be
minimize or underestimated.
00:11:47.42\00:11:50.97
Its power can
ruin people's lives.
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We must not lets such treats
go on recognize or unrebuked.
00:11:54.09\00:11:59.59
Number 4, Jesus
is coming back soon.
00:11:59.62\00:12:04.72
His coming isn't delayed,
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God is just giving
you time to get ready.
00:12:06.18\00:12:09.77
And number 5, And light
of the beginning and end
00:12:09.80\00:12:13.31
we must live
Holy and godly lives
00:12:13.34\00:12:16.47
and help others to get
ready for our Lord soon return.
00:12:16.50\00:12:20.14
My friends, we've been talking
00:12:20.17\00:12:21.54
quite a while
about from 2 Peter,
00:12:21.57\00:12:22.94
I hope you enjoyed the studies
00:12:22.97\00:12:25.34
and I hoped that the messages
00:12:25.37\00:12:26.90
that we have
shared with you here,
00:12:26.93\00:12:30.01
are not simply
something for your mind,
00:12:30.04\00:12:33.04
not simply ideas for your head
00:12:33.07\00:12:36.06
but they also
spoken to you heart.
00:12:36.09\00:12:39.87
And that is you've
heard these messages
00:12:39.90\00:12:42.47
it warmed your heart
to turn towards Jesus
00:12:42.50\00:12:45.34
to be more faithful to Him,
00:12:45.37\00:12:47.09
maybe to help somebody
else to come to know our Lord.
00:12:47.12\00:12:50.67
I thank you, for participating
and opening your Bible with us
00:12:50.70\00:12:54.63
and I hope that you'll
continue to open it everyday
00:12:54.66\00:12:57.76
and that God will
richly bless your life.
00:12:57.79\00:13:01.42
And Dr. Shepherd, I
also want to thank you
00:13:01.45\00:13:03.03
for coming all the way
from the Andrews University
00:13:03.06\00:13:05.85
and helping us
here with 1 and 2 Peter.
00:13:05.88\00:13:08.36
My privilege. I
have been blessed
00:13:08.39\00:13:10.61
and it has encouraged
me also to search the Bible
00:13:10.64\00:13:14.45
and also search it
thoroughly with even the Greek.
00:13:14.48\00:13:18.99
Yes.
00:13:19.02\00:13:20.39
And we also want
to thank our viewers
00:13:20.42\00:13:21.83
and our listening
audience who have been joined us
00:13:21.86\00:13:24.05
all this time
studying 1 and 2 Peter.
00:13:24.08\00:13:27.56
I'm sure you too
have been blessed.
00:13:27.59\00:13:29.24
And we leave you
with the words of Peter,
00:13:29.27\00:13:31.05
"May you also grow in
the knowledge and grace
00:13:31.08\00:13:34.10
of our Savior Jesus Christ."
00:13:34.13\00:13:35.92
Till next time.
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