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Lyall Johnston—February 12, 2021
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What would be the Apostle Peter's message be to the Church today?
Would he be shocked at the conditions in the Church?
Would he be shocked at society and the world?
or
Would he recognize the same conditions as was in his day?
I think he would clearly notice the difference in the physical world with all of its changes and developments. But what about the changes in the nature of men and women?
We can find the answers in what Peter wrote. We're going to do this by going to his second epistle or letter.
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The last series that I personally covered was in the book of 1-Peter. Since then I've been going deeper and deeper into 2-Peter and it's just absolutely amazing, the deeper you go you find that there are levels below and deeper and deeper in to the mysteries of God.
Here's Peter… Remember who Peter was. He was one of the chosen 12 apostles, chosen by Jesus Christ. Peter struggled with many, many difficulties. He could be quite carnal, and probably was, as we call it today, an 'A' type person. Peter was gung ho, whatever he did, he did with all his might. Sometimes he overstretched the mark. Christ had to rebuke him.
But for all that correction, where is Peter today? We know that he's in his place of rest, but he has left us a witness, a record for his experience and the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ.
- he was there with Jesus
- he touched Jesus
- he ate food with Jesus
- he was able to see Him every day
You've never seen Jesus or God the Father, and neither have I. When we recount the story of Thomas after the resurrection and Jesus appeared. Because Thomas wasn't there, what happened? Thomas said, 'Unless I see Him, I will not believe.'
When Christ appeared in the room, He said, 'Thomas!' and Thomas said, 'My Lord!' Christ said to Thomas, 'Come and put your hand in My wounds. I'm real.'
Actually, this is one of the problems that Peter was facing in his books of 1st & 2nd Peter, but particularly 2nd Peter: the Gnostic teachers were denying Jesus and His humanity. Peter probably began to write about this and later in the Epistles of 1st, 2nd & 3rd John, John picks up on this whole problem. We're all familiar with 1-John 4 where it says that unless w can confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh—that is God came in the flesh—we really don't know God.
1-John 4—and this is an important part of Peter's message. He has a lot to say about this that's very helpful for us today. The dating of this I'm not sure, but certainly it was after the writings of Peter because the whole problem of Gnosticism had developed some.
1-John 4:1—John writes: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits…"
- What's John talking about?
- How can we test the spirits?
- Can we see them? No!
"…whether they are from God, because many false prophets… [and false teachers] …have gone out into the world" (v 1).
We look around today, and more and more we see that this is a reality. False prophets, false teachers, came claiming to know Christ, teaching many different doctrines—which are not in the Word of God—but they're all part of the traditions of men!
That's what God has called many of us out of into what is called the Church of Firstborn! That's something we need to keep in mind every day! We have been chosen and selected personally and individually by Almighty God Who set His glory above the heavens, above the entire creation.
As Paul said, 'In Him we live, and move, and have our being!' And you can read in Jer. 23 what God says:
Jeremiah 23:23: "Am I a God Who is near,' says the LORD, 'and not a God afar off?'"
How we can see this is: 'My presence fills the entire creation; v 24: "…'Do I not fill the heavens and earth?' says the LORD."
Think about that! It doesn't matter where you go or where I go, I can move to one side or the other, but I'm moving within what God says He's a part of. God is so great, His glory is so great that we simply cannot understand it to the full. We will! And that's why we have a hope of being in the resurrection. Remember what Jesus said to Thomas: 'Thomas, you have seen Me and believed.'
This is something that you and I will have to hang onto. In other words, with all our strength, all our power, all our energy to hang onto that fact that we in the resurrection are going to see Jesus Christ and the Father face-to-face.
- How are They going receive us?
- How are They going to receive you?
Well, with open arms! I'm sure They're going to embrace each one of us in some manner, in some way. We're going to get our rewards and they're going to say, 'Well done, you good and faithful servants!'
On the other hand, what we've got is the world that is fighting against us. We've got that nature within that God has allowed to stay there, even after our repentance and baptism, the laying on of hands and receiving the Holy Spirit of God.
Even though we love Him with all our heart, mind and soul, our beings and all our strength, that nature remains. We shouldn't look upon that as a curse, because God has left that there. That is the means, and when we can overcome that nature within what is the reward?
- if we live until Christ returns
- if we're martyred in the coming years ahead
- if we just simply die a natural death or perhaps with a sickness or disease
Our hope and salvation is secure, and we wait for the rest of the saints! All the saints clear back to Abel when we all come up in that incredible resurrection. The Church of the Firstborn! We are a part of that now! What does God say? He says through John:
1-John 3:1: "Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!…."
- When?
- When Christ returns? No! Right here and now!
- How can that be?
It can be because God has placed a part of Himself within our mind and heart!
Remember what Paul said in 1-Cor. 6: We were purchased with a price! We were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ! That blood doesn't ever pass away. The effects of that blood, when we accept it, is there for all eternity. We don't know what that means beyond the Last Great Day, but it is an eternal witness to the love of God toward each one of us and to all of those men and women who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, learn to obey His laws and commandments. That promise is there.
"…For this very reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him" (v 1).
There are many people today claiming the name of Christ, but what does Jesus say to them? They don't keep His commandments. They can become very fervent, religious, pious, but because they have rejected Law of God… Maybe that's a rejection because they have been misled by false teachers, false prophets, and all those teachers who reject the Word of God.
God had the heart to chose you and me and the rest of His Family right now! He knows that we were able to read His Word, to see that we had broken His laws and commandment, to see that God wants us to be a part of His Family, to keep His laws and commandments. To obey His voice!
In doing so the rewards, you will begin to see in Peter, are absolutely incredible!
"…For this very reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is manifested… [at the resurrection] …we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is" (vs 1-2).
We're going to be exactly like Christ with spirit bodies.
- no more sore joints
- no more weak hearts
- no more viruses
- no more mental difficulties or problems
- no longer having to wear glasses
- having a full set of teeth, perhaps
some of us have some missing
- all the hair that's falling out is restored
Let's do a quick survey of what we covered in 1-Peter. We know that Peter wrote from Babylon. That was not Rome; Peter was never in Rome. How do we know that? Because we didn't identify Babylon with Rome until the book of Revelation!
We also know from where Peter was writing. When he sent the letter from Babylon, as he gave directions to where it was going, it was sent from the east to the west (1-Pet. 1).
There's a very important factor about Peter and his epistles. When we look at the general epistles—James, Peter, John and Jude—the original order as you know is not the way it is most Bibles today.
Where did the Roman Catholic Church—when they chopped up and separated the various books and put them in place that they thought—put the Epistles of James, Peter and John and Jude, the brother of Christ? They placed them after the Epistles of Paul!
- What did that mean? That meant that after the book of Acts everything goes to Romans!
- Where was the Church of Rome?
- Where were the people that Paul was writing his epistle to? To the people of Rome; the Christians, the members of the Body of Christ in Rome!
Never even mentioned Peter!
The important factor about this is that immediately after the book of Acts, you will find in The Holy Bible in It's Original Order, A Faithful Version James, Peter, John and Jude. What does that teach us? If we're reading through the Gospels, the life of Christ, that we follow chronologically to the book of Acts!
- What did James write about? Faith!
- What did Peter write about? Hope!
- What did John write about? Love!
Three foundational doctrines of the Church and of the teachings that Jesus gave to us!
Sidebar: 2-Peter and Jude are synonymous in writing; they're basically covering the same subject. In looking at 2-Peter 2 & 3, that was very similar to the book of Jude.
You will find that if you go to a library and look for a commentary, you'll find that the Epistles of Peter plus Jude are in the one body of commentary.
Here we have that background, and Peter, of course, is writing to the ten tribes of Israel, as they were scattered through Northwestern Asia Minor, which is today the nation of Turkey.
2-Peter 1—there's a very important statement that Peter makes, and most of the apostles make a similar statement. This has to do with the Word of God. Peter, James, John and all the apostles who wrote were eyewitnesses to Jesus Christ. They heard everything He had to say. The important things He said, which Christ wanted recorded, they wrote down the words that Jesus spoke.
That was an interesting factor that came out at the conference earlier this week, and this was made very clear. Back at Mt. Sinai when God gave His Law to the people of Israel, He gave it through Moses and everyone calls it the Law of Moses! But it was actually the words that God Himself spoke; the One Who became Jesus Christ spoke these words. What did Moses do with them? He wrote them down!
Here are these fishermen from Galilee, uneducated; but look at what they wrote, look a the inspiration they had. Why? Because Christ was guiding them and they heard Him speak. Many of the words they wrote they heard from His own lips. God in the flesh! Not only that, after that Jesus said to them: the things that I've spoken to you, when you receive the Spirit I will bring them back to your remembrance!
The risen Jesus Christ had the power to do that. Look at John in the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ took John up in a vision and gave him every word. What does it say at the beginning, but before we go there I'll read:
2-Peter 1:12: "Therefore, I will not neglect to make you always mindful of these things… [referring to everything in 1-Pet. 1:1; that's why he wrote] …although you already know them and have been established in the present Truth."
Does that mean we know it all and we don't have to worry about reading all this. I remember one church I was in and the minister came visiting and he stood up in the pulpit and said:
When I was here before I spoke everything, so I'm going to be repeating myself.
But it was in a --- and in one sense it was a statement that was against the Lordship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's one of the subjects that Peter addresses, the Lordship of Jesus Christ! That is such an important issue because that's what Peter is addressing with the Gnosticism that was coming into the Church.
Although you already know them, Peter says, 'I'm not be neglectful to remind you.' Here we are in the Church of the Firstborn today, and every Sabbath—particularly Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Atonement, Trumpets, Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day—what do we hear? The same messages over and over again! Why? "…I will not neglect to make you always mindful of these things…"
- Have you notice that every year that there's additional information added?
- That we have greater and deeper understanding?
Going over, often times, the same Scriptures! The Word of God is living! When an elder or minister is before the people of God and preaching the Word of God, it's not just the words of men, human understanding. But when God's Spirit is there, and the Word is being preached, that's a living Word. The Holy Spirit is taking those words that have already been written for us, and writing them in our mind and heart; I like the term inscribing them!
Think of your mind and you think of a sharp chisel chiseling away the Word of God into the fleshly heart and mind.
Once it's in there with God's Spirit, as long as we're feeding and nurturing that Word is going to stay there. When our physical bodies die, as Peter says in 1-Pet. 4), what we find is that our bodies die, but the Word of God that is within us united with the spirit of man within us, that remains. That's a very important chapter and statement.
Often times we hear sermons on the same subject by different elders, but always we find that God is adding information to us through His Word that has been preached week after week and Feast Day after Feast Day. In that, as we take that Word on board as we have it written in our heart, we're actually growing because we're learning the things that we need to do to be pleasing to God and have Him say to us in that resurrection, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'
Verse 13: "For I consider it my duty, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by causing you to remember these things."
That's pone of the reasons why we have the preaching and the teaching. It's because its all necessary. The human psyche just wants to close down and do everything but follow. We struggle against that; we fight against that. The more we fight against it, perhaps at times the easier it becomes. Every fight, every struggle for the Truth of God is more than worth it; even the trials that we go through.
Rom 8—the things that we have to put up with and endure now are not worthy to b compared to what is going to be revealed in us at the time of the resurrection. It is so great and so vast. And even thought we have momentary suffering, as both Peter and Paul say. That's one of the reason for 2-Peter, but you'll notice that when we go back to the first verse:
2-Peter 1:1: "Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ…"
Notice that he puts his office as servant before apostle. What does the term apostle mean? Simply, one who is sent, specifically by Jesus Christ!
Again, what Peter is doing is putting himself on a level playing field with the Christians to whom he sending this letter, which includes you and me.
"...a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained the same precious faith as ours…" (v 1).
What Peter is saying is that through the preaching of the apostles who have received the Truth of God. The exact same Truth, the exact same faith that the apostles had. So, Peter is not putting himself above the people. What he's doing is saying that
- we're all in this together
- we're here to help and support each other
- we're here because God has called us together
"…by the righteousness…" (v 1). In other words, we've obtained the same precious faith by the righteousness of our God!
- What's he saying there? God is righteous, but God's also merciful! A righteous God is going to punish sin!
- How does He do that? It's an automatic event!
We sin and the penalty is automatic! Hence the need for us to repent as soon as we have been taken by Satan. As soon as we have allowed him, or the world, or lust within us—the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the presumptuous pride that is within us—and we get down and cry out to God to apply the precious blood of Jesus Christ so that we can stand before Him again and we can continue in our pursuit in the way of God. So, God is righteous, but He's also merciful.
Jer. 9 says that God really glories in His loving kindness. God is a God of loving kindness. He also said that what glories in is justice! In other words, when we sin there's justice, but also righteousness. With His righteousness, in order to cover the sin, His loving kindness has provided the blood of Jesus Christ to cover your sins, and to cover mine so that we can continue on our walk in the way of Jesus Christ.
- putting on the mind of Jesus Christ
- casting off the strongholds that are in our mind and heart
Coming up to the Passover we really do need to examine our mind and heart to ensure that we are right before God. That simply means that we have repented before God, that we have humbled ourselves before God. Even with fasting and prayer and asking God:
Look, if there's anything in my mind or heart that is contrary to Your Spirit, that's contrary to Your Word, that's contrary to You, Father, that's contrary to Jesus Christ, show me! Then, Father, once I see it I'll confess it and then I will need more of Your Holy Spirit, and I'll need Your Word to endeavor to not go back and repeat those evils or sins, or the attitudes that I have that are not of the mind of Christ.
We want to cast off everything, and that's a lifetime task. It's not something we're going to be fully accomplishing. But every Passover we grow a little more.
Peter gives us the keys of how we can do this (2-Peter 1). That's Peter's form of the fruits of the Spirit, as Paul gives us in Galatians.
"…the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (v 1).
Do you see what Peter is saying there? He's calling Jesus Christ God! This is one of the problems that Peter is addressing, the beginning of Gnosticism, and this is 65-66A.D. I believe is the date of 2-Peter. 1-Peter was 64-65, so this is just about a year after that. Then of course, we can read about that more specifically in 1st, 2nd, & 3rd John. I'm not sure that that was toward the end of the book of Revelation, but that is when it was tied together and put into the canon of the Bible.
Let me come back to a point I made earlier, I'm not sure I said this. In order to understand the writings of Paul, as Peter himself said, they are more difficult, and there are those who wrestle with the writings of Paul, primarily on the basis of the faith and the Law, and the works of the Law.
If you read Peter, James, John and Jude first, you're actually laying a platform for the more difficult Scriptures that Paul writes. That's why in the original Greek testament that they are replaced immediately after the book of Acts, not after the Epistles of Paul! That's a gross error that the Catholic Church can take credit for. And they can also take the punishment from God for moving the order that was set by the Apostle John and those that helped him to canonize the New Testament.
So, remember that here Peter is calling Jesus Christ our Savior God! The Gnostics were saying that Jesus didn't come in the flesh. That is an outright lie! We understand and know that (1-John 4).
Then Peter continues, and often as the apostles do in their writings… and this is not just a throw away comment; they really love and had concern for the brethren then and now, for you and me:
Verse 2: "Grace and peace be multiplied to you…"
We're living in an age, or toward the end of the age, where there are many problems and trials. Some people are already experiencing those. But we can see, as we look at the news—which is not usually from the normal media—and do a little bit of research and we begin to look into the background, we see how Satan is influencing the whole world!(1-John 5:19) He has the whole world in his hands, under his sway! There are many people who can't see that! They can't see what's going on behind the scenes.
If God were to strip away the blindness that we have, or the vision that we don't have to see the spirit realm, what would we see? We would see the air probably teeming with demons running around doing their business, sneering and being critical and trying to sway people into sin! What else would we see?
What did Elisha do when he prayed to God and said, 'God, please open the eyes of my servants so they can see the heavenly hosts'? The servant had his eyes opened and around the hills; what did they see? The hills absolutely laden with the chariots and God's Holy and righteous angels! We know that there more angels and power from God on our side, that God has placed there, than there are demons.
All we have to do is turn to God the Father and Jesus Christ and they will send angels. What did Jesus say to those who came to arrest Him? I can pray to My Father and He will send 12 legions of angels and rescue Me out of your hands, if that's what I desire! But we know that He didn't desire that. He knew what His goal was.
"…in the knowledge of God…" (v 2).
The word knowledge here is interesting. I think we are all familiar with the term 'esoteric' common in the English language. But there's something added to this word, and it's prefix: 'epi'—epignosis. You can turn to a Lexicon and you will find that what that means is not just knowledge. Of course, a lot of the knowledge that James, Peter and John were talking about is the knowledge of the Gnostics, which elevated them above everyone else. We are the esoteric. We know what you don't know!'
Have you ever had somebody do that to you? To make you feel inferior? That's not the Spirit of Christ! That's the spirit of Satan or demons. So, beware of that.
But this knowledge, this word 'epignosis' means full knowledge "…of God and of Jesus our Lord."
Verse 2: "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
So, in v 1 Peter is talking about God and Savior, together, meaning Jesus Christ. In v 2 he's talking about God—referring to God the Father and Jesus our Lord. So, Peter is giving that additional information, bringing God the Father into this whole equation of the Christian living.
Verse 3: "According as His Divine power has given to us…"
- What is the Divine power? God's Spirit!
- What is God's Spirit? The very mind, character and power of God Himself!
"…has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness…" (v 3).
What does Peter mean by "…life and Godliness…"? Eternal life!
Verse 4: "…He has given to us the greatest and most precious promises…"
That's given to you and me "…has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness…" (v 3).
How do we describe Godliness? The mind and life of Jesus Christ; everything about Jesus Christ!
Not that we go around and say to a mountain, 'Be you up and dumped into the sea?' Or 'I want my bank account to be increased by $100,000!'
No! that's not what it's talking about. It's talking about the Spirit of God and eternal life. Once we die, God takes back to Himself awaiting for the resurrection where it can put everything that Godly within us, everything that He has built within us and He will resurrect us. What a day that's going to be!
We're taking some time going through Peter, but I would like you to—and I highly recommend the General Epistles that are on our website—truthofGod.org—and have them sent to you and study them. They are just powerful and there's so much information in them.
I'm not necessarily trying to follow them, but just going through 1st & 2nd Peter, but you'll get a lot more from those books where it goes into a lot more subjects. A lot of sermons have been given on these books. A lot of depth and knowledge and understanding. You will find that if you go through these books and study them, and go through the Scriptures, that will increase your ability to understand the more difficult writings of the Apostle Paul and of other parts of the Bible. Just absolutely fantastic. They're a powerful series of books.
"…through the knowledge... [epignosis, full knowledge] …of Him Who called us by His own glory and virtue" (v3).
1-Corinthians 2:9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'"
Do you love God? What Paul is saying is that you're seeing things that doesn't enter into the heart of every man and woman! This is a special thing, this is part of the full knowledge. This is how we gain the full knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ:
- the mind of Christ
- the thinking of Christ
- the Godliness of Christ
- the attitudes of Christ
Verse 10: "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God."
Where are we going to get knowledge of the deep things, the full knowledge, the inner knowledge? It's not that we're going to be esoteric about it! We're going to want to share it!
Once we have that knowledge of God… John Gunether has shared knowledge of by-gone days. That they went about joyously spreading the Word of God. How many of us, when we first came into the Church, did the same thing and we had many 'put backs' on that basis. We were filled with zeal because of what God had revealed to us. There were some lessons that we had to learn.
Verse 10: "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God. For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man, which is in him?…." (vs 10-11).
God gave the spirit of man so he could understand the physical world, so that we could live our lives in this world. But it doesn't give us understanding of the spiritual things, which is in him.
"…In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. Now, we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God" (vs 11-12).
- Isn't that something that we can thank God for? When we come before Him to sing His praises with great joy and celebration, praising and thanking Him for the riches of His mercy!
- Where do we find the riches of His mercy? They're all written down and recorded for us!
The spoken words; the words that God spoke.
- What did Moses do with them? He wrote them down!
- What happened to the words that God gave to the Prophets? They wrote them down!
- The words that God spoke to His apostles, what did they do with them? They wrote them down!
So, when we read the words of the Bible
- What are we reading? We're actually hearing—even though we're reading—God is speaking to us, we're hearing the voice of God as we read the written words!
It's the Holy Spirit that translates those words—black on white, words on a page—this spirit. The Holy Spirit transfers those, translates that into our mind and heart by all the power that God has given so that we can have that understanding. This is the way we get the full knowledge of God!
As I said earlier, I believe that the apostles took that one word gnosis, but they used the word 'epignosis' to give a meaning of what God will reveal to us in our mind and heart by the Holy Spirit. They took that word full knowledge in the English and they gave it and raised it like Jesus magnified the Law of God. Through His Spirit, God has raised this knowledge.
The Bible to most people is understood by gnosis, the things known by man. But unless we have the Spirit of God we can't have the full understanding that God has placed in those words by His Spirit. Isn't that incredible what God has done for us?
Verse 13: "Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…" (vs 13-14).
This helps us to explain why people—when we're trying to explain the Truth to them—it's like a myth to them; like a strange story. We say, 'Look, this is the Truth, I understand it.'
Why can't they understand it? Because God hasn't called them! Maybe the things that you have said, even though they don't receive it at the time, never forget that you have planted a seed. You have planted the Gospel or a part of the Gospel into the mind of that individual, or individuals. In the future God will work on the words that you sowed in their mind, so it will eventually enter into their heart and they will repent and come a part of Body of Christ or a part of His Kingdom.
Verse 13: "Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means."
We need to think on that, pray about it, because it's just a statement at the surface level, but we need the Spirit of God to help that to sink into our mind and heart to understand exactly what God is doing.
Verse 14: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him…"
I think we've all experienced that, and we know and we've learned. We may approach the subject to somebody, or are asked: 'What church do you belong to?' I think a good answer there is what we've already said. I belong to the Church of the Firstborn.' That sort of keeps us away from arguments between you. We belong to the spiritual body of the Firstborn Church of the Living God.
"…and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (v 14).
Because you have God's Spirit, you can understand these things. At the same time, Peter says, 'I'm going to remind you of these things.'
Verse 15: "However, the one who is spiritual… [Are you spiritual?] …discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who shall instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ (vs 15-16).
That's a privilege by the God Who has placed His glory above the heavens and the earth. He's called you and me at this time to be His children. We have many difficulties ahead of us to face us, but 1-Peter gives a lot of instruction on what happens to us when we go through trials.
Peter says that the trials that we go through are to test us! Remember Abraham: Okay, I blessed you with a son, but now I want you to kill him! Abraham raised the knife and was about to kill Isaac. What was that? Obedience to the voice of God! He was already dead in Abraham's mind, but he had the faith that God would raise his son from the dead, even if he killed him.
What did God do? God says, STOP, Abraham, now I know that you will always obey Me! Probably one of the most severe trials in Abraham's life. But God says, 'Now I know you will always obey Me.'
That's how God looks at us when we go through tests and trials. What God wants us to do is endure!
I would like to add one word to endurance. It's not just gritting your teeth and saying, 'I've got to endure through this trial.' NO! The Bible teaches that because God is there with all power and strength we are to endure it with patience!
Make that a note, patient endurance during all your trials and temptations, all your difficulties and problems. Even the problems that the world is going to bring on us and is beginning to bring on us now.
Let us make sure that in the power of God and in the power of His Word, with the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit, that we endure all our trials, tribulations and troubles patiently!
Scriptural References:
- 1 John 4:1
- Jeremiah 23:23-24
- 1 John 3:1
- 2 Peter 1:12-13, 1-4, 3
- 1 Corinthians 2:9-14, 13-16
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 1 Corinthians 6
- 1 Peter 3; 4
- Romans 8
- Jeremiah 9
- 1 John 5:19
Also referenced, by Fred R. Coulter:
- In-Depth Study: The General Epistles
- Book: The Seven General Epistles
LJ:bo
Transcribed: 7/29/21
