Isaiah 19: 23-25 that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
This will only be accomplished by God Almighty
THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! TRUE PEACE!
In this chapter, Peter is winding down his second letter. He reminds his flock of his letters and how and what his intentions are, which are, “to inspire you to a sincere and pure way of thinking by reminding you of what you already know.”
He stressed to his flock to be on guard against scoffers and mockers whose goal is to divide the church. Peter said these scoffers and mockers will use a long and old belief that Jesus and Christianity is doomed and that Christianity would never succeed because the return of Christ has been talked about for years, and still there is no sign of His coming.
But Peter knew just how to respond. He quotes the very words of God, Himself. “A day to the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.” God delays the Lord’s coming because He wants no one to perish and He wants all to come to know Jesus, to be saved.
No one, but the Father, knows the day or hour when Jesus will return.
But just as it was in the times when Peter wrote this letter, things today “seem” to look pretty bad to the world but remember as believers, we see things not as falling apart, but as falling into place. All things are working together according to God’s ultimate purpose and superior wisdom and according to God’s time-table.
To those who do not believe, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
But as believers, we are warned by Peter to live holy and godly lives, as we look forward to that day. If we do this, that day will not come to “us’ like a thief in the night.
1 The 5:2-42 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
I’m Pastor Wayne Gardner, co-founder with my wife Pastor Sandra, of a ministry called Connections Christian Ministries.
Our slogan is “The Church That Comes To You!
My wife and I have been married 34 years and have been in ministry for over 40 years each. We have 3 kids and 3 grandkids.
Some of the highlights of our multi-faceted ministry over that time period consists of: ministry for the homeless, prison ministry, local church ministry, street ministry, music ministry, a ministry to hospitals and seniors homes, residential ministries, and transportation ministries.
In addition, we have conducted pastoral care visits, spiritual counseling, baptisms, weddings and funerals. Specifically for children, we have held children vacation bible clubs, as well as, a clown ministry.
One of our most memorable ministries is when we lived in Ottawa, Ontario. We started what we called the Halfway Church. It was a setting designed for young offenders who were leaving prison to come and partake in a very low-keyed, informal church service. The purpose of this ministry was to build a bridge between local churches and young offenders personal lives. It was our hope that they would move on from the Halfway Church and find a gospel- preaching church where they would be accepted and encouraged to grow in Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of the communities that we pastored in are: Kelowna, B.C.; Ottawa, ON; Corner Brook, NL; Port-Aux-Basques, NL; LaPoile, NL; Burnt Islands, NL; and Rose Blanch, NL.
We are currently ministering in Halifax and surrounding areas, in Nova Scotia.
Over the years, we also served God in several denominations such as Anglican, Baptist, Salvation Army, Wesleyan, as well as, several non-denominational churches. Our desire is to serve God to the best of our abilities, by planting seeds of the Good News of Salvation that God has offered to all mankind through His Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, rose again, ascended into heaven, and will return again to earth someday, to bring his children, all believers, home to heaven.
We do this with the understanding that we are only the seed planters, and it is God who waters and causes the seed to grow. We also recognize that no one can come to the Lord unless first called by God and that calling can only occur when the individual is willing to have an open heart and mind towards the discovering knowledge of God Almighty, His Son Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things.
In this chapter, Peter again changes his topic. His focus is now on “false teachers” and Peter pulls no punches.
Although Peter mentions and warns about false prophets in reference to both Old and New Testament times, he seems to focus more on false teachers being a greater threat. This could be because false teachers were more plentiful than false prophets at that time.
Now, one might ask, “What is the difference between a false prophet and false teacher?”
Let’s take a closer look at the definition of a prophet and a teacher. A true prophet is one who utters divinely inspired revelations. In other words, he or she is a person who speaks for God, about the truth of what lies ahead. A false prophet is one who also claims to speak for God about things yet to come, however, the prophecy spoken from a false prophet is not from God, but are lies.
A true teacher is a person who speaks of such things as the character of God, or His divine word and doctrine. However, a false teacher is one who teaches made up information that is not inspired by God and therefore are also lies.
The difference between a prophet and a teacher is, a prophet is one through whom revelation is given while a teacher is one who explains revelation and God’s word.
Looking at Acts 13:1 we find that there were both prophets and teachers ministering at Antioch.
Acts 13:1Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
Now, take note of what Paul writes in 1 Cor 12:28-29 “And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?”
It is clear here that Paul is making a distinction between a prophet and a teacher and those with other kinds of gifts.
In conclusion, Peter does not hold back when explaining the truth about the two types of teachers – true teachers of God’s word and false teachers.
In his second letter, Peter’s thoughts have gone in a different direction compared to his first letter.
Letter one focused a lot on suffering for believing in Christ. His second letter is focused on our relationship with God. We are told that holding to the knowledge of God will lead us to salvation. So true!
Once we gain knowledge of God and spend time with God in prayer and in reading His Word, the closer we get to Him.
Peter then goes on to share what we need to do in order to keep on experiencing the joy of our salvation. Or has he puts it, “to receive God’s promises in order to escape the corruption of worldly desires and share in the divine nature.”
We must first and foremost have faith. And to our faith we must add virtue; to virtue we add knowledge; to knowledge we add discipline; to discipline we add endurance; to endurance we add godliness; to godliness we add mutual affection; and to mutual affection, we add love.
Peter then shares that having these qualities will ensure us that we will always be productive and effective in our relationship with Christ.
But, not possessing these qualities will weaken our judgment, and we will question our salvation and forget that our past sins have been forgiven, as well as, our future sins.
Having the knowledge that our sins have been paid for is the first step in living out the joy of our salvation.
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
This song is about two guys grew up together. They were best friends. They went their separate ways. One got married and had 3 kids. He was called by God to serve the Lord in ministry, The other stayed single. One day while out walking they both met. This song is written in a way where the single guy is telling us what happened during their meeting.
God can call you at anytime and in a way you do not expect
In this chapter, Peter seems to focus more on words of encouragement towards those who suffer because of their faith in Christ and less on suffering itself. He wants us to know how important it is that suffering is a part of God’s divine plan. He uses such phrases as, “Even when suffering, continue to do good and trust your future to the judgment and mercy of a faithful God; show hospitality to each other without complaining; use the gifts God has given you for the good of one another.”
Then suddenly, Peter has a change of thought. He goes from talking about “encouragement” to talking about difficult times ahead, “warning” his listeners to stand firm. He speaks about how “we are coming to the end of all times.” But he still encourages the people to pray more forcefully. And in verses 17 to 18 he refers to the time of judgment and how it begins with believers and then with the non-believers.
It seems to me that in chapter 4, Peter touches on the most important points when it comes to suffering for Christ.
Paul also wrote to the church at Rome about why we suffer.
Roman’s 5:3-5 Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
