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So we're finishing up 2nd Peter chapter 3 and kind of the main focus we're looking at in the name of the sermon is looking Toward the return of Jesus. So that's why we sung songs about his second coming And so notice here right at the beginning verse number one this second epistle beloved I now write on you and both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance They be mindful They may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord And Savior and so what Peter says is I'm writing this second epistle To remind you to put you in remembrance of things that you've already heard Things that you've heard preached before things that you've read in the scriptures And he's like I've already told you once in the first epistle of you know first Peter as we know it He says I'm reminding you about these things in second Peter now. There's many things we can take away from what he says But kind of the big thing I want to talk about is this that you know Peter's saying I'm saying these same things to remind You okay what I want us to realize here tonight is this that whatever a preacher focuses on Is probably going to be what the members are going to be good at? right because Peter says I said these things and I want to remind you because I want you to be good at these things and See whatever I focus on when I'm preaching is probably what we're going to be successful at for example Let's say that all I preached on was the King James bottle being King James all because we are King James only as a church And we actually have you know a couple sermons coming up in a few weeks on that topic And I talk about some but you know I don't talk about it all the time because I don't want that to be our only Focus, but there are churches that are just King James only in every single sermon is about the King James bottle now I think that's a bad balance because although it's true If that's all you talk about your members are going to be very strong in the King James Bible But they're not going to be strong on holy living you're not going to be strong on soul-winning They're not going to be strong probably on salvation You're gonna have a bunch of people that are King James only summer pens some aren't gonna have a mixed bag of things You know if you focus on money all the time because many Baptist churches What do they talk about money money money, and you know what they're successful? They get a lot of money you say why whatever you focus on is what your church is going to be good at And all they talk about is money the members are going to give a lot of money You say well What's the problem the problem is if you're not preaching on living a holy life then the members aren't going to be that godly even Though they're getting a lot of money if you're never preaching on soul-winning then the members aren't going to go so much if you're never preaching on salvation The problem is you're going to have false doctrines of salvation coming to the church, and you're going to have a divided church Now look when it comes to the preaching of God's Word It is not easy to have a proper balance on all the doctors every time And I don't think any preacher could honestly say that they have a perfect balance I don't claim to have a perfect balance. You know of course I try my best But of course there's probably some things that are going to be lacking and maybe some things I focus too much on One of the benefits of going verse by verse You know usually two out of our three sermons during a week are verse by verse And one of the main benefits of that is it forces you just to talk about whatever the verses are And it kind of forces you to be balanced because you're just talking about everything the Bible says But of course if there's a specific issue in the church you're going to focus on that think of the Church of Galatia They had an issue with salvation They're allowing false teachers coming in and making salvation confusing And so their church is getting filled with some people that are not saved some people that are saved But confused kind of like these churches where the pastor says it's by grace their faith, and you can't lose your salvation But if you don't have the works to back it up You're not saying well now you're making it very confusing right and that's how it was with the Church of Galatia You think of the Church of Corinth they had major sin in the church if we have a major sin in the church It's something that must be dealt with right so of course sometimes your focus could be on something specific because of a certain issue But in general you're going to try to give a good balance on all the things that are in the Bible You should try to and whatever you're not focusing on the church is going to be weakened and this makes common sense think about if you're raising children, and you really focus on your children saying please and thank you and You know Opal and yes, sir and yes, ma'am being really respectful your kids are probably gonna be very respectful because that's what you're focused on But if there's something you don't focus on they're probably going to be weak Now of course you cannot you only have 24 hours in a day You can only teach so much to your children right none of us are going to do a perfect job raising our kids There are any things that maybe we should have done a better job at but whatever you're teaching is what the people are going to be good at Okay, if you teach your kids to be hard workers. They're going to be hard workers, right? Whatever it is you teach the other thing you take away is this not only whatever I preach on is probably what we're going To be good at the other thing is whatever I preach on probably reveals. What's actually important to me Right as much as I try to be balanced if there's something I never talk about ever Then it's probably something you know I either don't know a whole lot about or it's just something I don't think is as important, but if there's something I talk about a lot it probably means It's important at least to me right and so for example one thing I preach on a lot is sewing you know we talk about sewing a lot We have you know so many lessons we have even on our YouTube channel We're doing so many tips, and I don't necessarily preach full sermons on sewing all the time But I'll talk about so many stories and examples because it's something that's very important to me I think it's very important for our church that that is one of our major focuses I don't think that's the only focus though if every sermon was on soul winning We would definitely be lacking in a lot of things Right so you got to have a good balance and all these things you've got to try your best And so here's the thing this is what Peter's basically saying because he says I'm trying to stir up your minds by way of remembrance Right now one thing to think about when I talk about pastors that always talk about money You know that is revealing what's inside of their hearts? I mean they're always talking about money That is what's important to them Whatever you talk about because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak it the Bible says so whatever you talk about Is what's important to you right? So it's probably not too hard to figure out the things That are important to me or that I'm trying to focus on you might have a better idea than I do Because you know I don't even necessarily realize it as I'm writing sermons Just whatever's popping into my mind or I find interesting you probably have a pretty good idea what I consider to be Pretty important right I try to preach a lot on young people working hard And the reason why I do that is because I know when I was in my early 20s You know I went to college I got a degree But I didn't take life as seriously as I needed to and you know I got a reality check with how difficult life is if You don't work hard so something I try to focus on because I don't want people to make the same mistakes I did when I was in my early 20s And then I had to work like twice as hard to catch up for not taking those first few adult years of my life very Seriously, right so that's something I try to focus on a lot. I try to focus on soul winning a lot obviously I'm very against Calvinism right if there's the one false doctrine I rip on that I really hate and that's near and dear to my heart because I have a lot of relatives that are Calvinists And so you know whatever I'm preaching on is going to reveal What's important to me and Peter saying there's certain things I want to put in remembrance to you I want to stir up your minds by way of remembrance and the book of 2nd Peter is only three chapters None of the chapters are that long so whatever he's talking about is obviously very important to Peter He says I want to stir up your minds by way of remembrance. Okay now go to Philippians chapter 3 I apologize, but could someone give me water by chance. I just got a little bit after that Thanks And this is important for us to understand because When it comes to our church, you know, most of us have been you know online listeners for a long time We've heard lots of great preaching, you know, I'm not saying in our church I'm saying online preaching for great preaching you understand salvation really? Well, many of you have been at churches where there is that fight over salvation So it's something you really learned and became grounded in stuff like that Well, what we also need to remember is that as a church as time goes by we are going to get new people coming to our church And you know what? I might preach a sermon where you already know the explanations and you even know what I'm going to say and the examples I'm going to give thanks brother, but it's important because of the fact we're going to have new people at our church and People need to get grounded in the things that the Bible teaches when our church started I started with very basic types of sermons and that was very intentional. I did the same thing in Manila I started with sermons about soul-willing and about salvation Because I really wanted to set the tone for what was important to me and what I wanted to focus on in the church Obviously we've gone into deeper stuff like the traits of psychopaths is a pretty deep topic and stuff like that But I wanted to set a firm foundation of what's important Here's the thing though if we get a few new families that a lot of this preaching is new to them and they don't know This stuff you might know all the explanations on repentance, but they need to hear that They need to hear Jonah chapter 3 verse 10 explained and just as your mind was blown when you first saw that or you first Try to preach whether it be by Pastor Anderson or myself and pastor of minutes or whomever They're going to be the same way because this stuff is new to them and we need to realize that you know what there comes A time when all of us there's a time we ought to be teachers That doesn't mean that you're going to be preaching sermons necessarily But it does mean once you become more mature in the faith You have to realize a lot of the preaching you might have already heard and you know what that's okay Because I cannot just preach to just certain people I need that I need to teach the basics to people that are new at our church and we need to be reminded Peter said I'm putting you in remembrance of things even though you've already heard them if you don't hear things They just kind of slip away. That's just the way it works Right if I preach this sermon against drinking alcohol and then I never said anything about alcohol for another 10 years Over the course of those 10 years all of us would just start thinking it's not as serious as we did when we first heard That sermon because when you first hear a sermon you hear a sermon about why you need to read the Bible You're thinking man first thing when I get home I'm reading the Bible but as time goes by it just it just kind of fades out of importance, right? This is the way our minds work for all of us. So we need to be reminded on things It's okay. If you've already heard before this is what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous But for you it is safe. So Paul says I'm writing the same things to you. I've already told you this I've already preached this Many of you have heard it a lot But you know what he said but for you it is safe meaning These are very important things and it will help keep you safe now the immediate context in verse 10 He starts talking about reprobates Beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concisions So he says beware of dogs, which are you know male sodomites or male male reprobates beware of evil workers Which are kind of like the false prophets workers of iniquity you would say Beware of a concision which he's focusing on the Jews because obviously the Jews especially during this time were a big enemy of You know the preaching of God's Word and so he says I'm reminding you about these three That's the sermon in and of itself beware of dogs evil workers a concision But Paul talked about beware of bad people you say brother Stuckey Why don't we preach a whole series on psychopaths what sounded like it was important to Paul? You say why because the Bible teaches that as we bring forth fruit the tears are going to be among us We're going to have battles on our hands, and I wish I could just preach on the love of Jesus every single week You know I wish all of us were just automatically reading the Bible with no problems No, turmoil no fights You know against maybe relatives or old friends that are against you, but it's not reality and so Paul said I'm reminding you about this is for you. It's safe because I want you to be protected Okay, back to second Peter chapter 3 second Peter 3 second Peter 3 One of the most difficult things as a preacher at least from what I found is It's not trying to find sermons to preach. I mean literally I have it on an Excel page I have a tab with literally 20 sermon series where I haven't written the sermons But I have like a lot of sermons I mean I've got hundreds of sermon ideas that are out there and as you read the Bible more common everything But then I'm looking through them. It's like okay. Well, which one should I you know write sermons on which is important? I mean so many different ones. I haven't touched on I mean the Ten Commandments You can preach a sermon series on that or the sword of the Spirit I've heard sermon series going through each end of it so many things that you can preach on so many ideas the question is well What's the most important? What should I focus on that is actually very difficult? There's lots of ideas that are out there You just it's very difficult to figure out what that balance is the Bible does say a false balance is an abomination To the Lord and so with all areas of life. We need to have a proper balance on stuff Sometimes you swing the pendulum this way you got a problem you swing it this way you got a problem, right? I mean of course we need to preach against sin and preach hard But if that's all I preached on was judgment well Then you're missing out on preaching on long-suffering and patience and joy those things need to be pretty social it's tough to get that balance, but Second Peter 3 3 knows this knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers Walking after their own lusts and so Peter says that in the last days There's going to be scoffers walking after their own loss basically Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the lusts the eyes and the pride of life now What does it mean by the last days does that mean during the end times that mean during you know? Daniel 70th week does that mean after the Antichrist revealed go to Hebrews chapter 1. Let's see what the Bible says Hebrews 1 Hebrews chapter 1 And In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 the Bible reads God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past some of the fathers by the prophets so Diverse or different manners or ways so in different ways You know at different time periods God spoke through the fathers by the prophets He had different methods for how he spoke to people in today's world though. We have the Word of God Okay, we have the entire Word of God that's being preached And so you're not going to be speaking to God like you're just going to see him up in the sky and have a conversation Because it says half of these last days So these last days would indicate that I believe Paul's the one who wrote Hebrews But whoever the author is during this time period when he's writing it. It's already the last days Have in these last days spoken unto us by his son Obviously Jesus Christ who we have appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world's Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and notice this and I'm quoting all things by the word of his power When he had by himself perjure sin sat down the right hand of the majesty on high So the last days is basically talking about post resurrection of Jesus Christ Okay, and he says the word of his power and so you're making a reference to the scriptures because Right around, you know 100 AD or something around there. The Bible was completed, right? And so in today's world the way we know things is what does the Bible say? If you pray to God and you have questions the way God is going to reveal it is either the preaching of God's Word or The reading of God's Word, right? When you read in your personal time You have a question and then all of a sudden you read about some story and you're like Here's the secret to fix this problem in my life, right? This is the way God speaks to us today now says in these last days and here's the thing I don't know when Jesus is coming back However, the last days would indicate that post resurrection of Jesus is going to be less time than free Resurrection of Jesus Christ because it's the last day so that gives us what a couple thousand years in the next couple thousand years I'm going to guarantee you Jesus is coming back I don't know if it's going to come in our lifetime But it's going to be in the last days and since you know about 2,000 years have gone by it gives us a couple thousand I don't have the exact amount two thousand two thousand five hundred years left for Jesus to come back because this is the last days I think most of us would say that before 3,000 AD we would presume that Jesus would come back I guess you never know because that's everyone's always been thinking that but the last days this is just our time period we live in Now it's not saying necessarily the days of the Antichrist Okay, they go back to second Peter three second Peter three second Peter three Now I definitely think though there's going to be more Scoffers and more people walking after a bus as we get closer to the end though Because just as when it came to the flood the world was flooded because it became wicked So God laid out his judgment same thing with Sodom and Gomorrah or any of those things in the Bible So as the world gets more wicked, that's when Jesus is going to actually return Okay, when the world is so wicked it's the days of Noah It's the days of blood as the Bible says really when you talk here and see God doesn't change sometimes people get this idea Well, if it's not in the Bible and it's just in our modern world then our modern world's just completely different than the Bible but you know, it was around like 180 or something like that where this is the city of Pompeii which was a big city for Rome It was and when they dug it up in the last couple hundred years, they saw all of this Sodomy and bestiality and sexual perversion and out of nowhere a volcano came and just destroyed it It was like a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah and that took place, you know Around 180 or something like that. So God hasn't changed And here's the thing as the days of Lot as the days of Noah and that's how it's going to be at the end The world gets so wicked and God says I've had enough of it Okay second Peter 3 verse 4 What are these scoffers gonna say and say where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation And so people are going to mock the return of Jesus Christ. Where is the promise of his coming? You say you believe that he's going to come back. Well, where is he right now? I don't necessarily think that we're at that moment where there's obviously some people that mocked the return of Jesus Christ And I think it's a joke, but I think this is kind of an indication that atheism is going to be a religion that rises Atheism agnosticism and this is certainly something that's happened in the last hundred years If you look at any charts of atheists in agnostics What you're going to see is that atheism is by far the fastest growing religion And I don't care whether they think it's wrong to say it's a religion or not. It's a religion That's their belief system and it is the fastest growing by far a hundred years ago It was like point zero zero one percent of people were atheists now. It's like seven percent I mean, it's increasing, you know, five hundred fold or something I mean far far at a faster rate than Islam because Islam is considered the most Fastest growing of any major religion atheism is skyrocketing I mean, it's scary right how it's skyrocketing a rejection of God But it coincides with this world becoming very wicked Right and as the world becomes more wicked they're going to reject any authority in any rules because they don't want any authority or any rules Okay And it says this in verse five For this they willingly are ignorance. They willingly are ignorant and so it says willingly are ignorant and basically, they're Bobo on purpose is what it's basically saying right? It's not evidence that is causing them to reject Jesus. Do you see that? They're willingly ignorant. What does that mean? They don't want to believe in God They don't want to believe in a creator I mean Why is it that there's so many more atheists today than there used to be because the world's becoming sinful and when people are sinful They want to hide in the darkness They don't want to be near the light so causes people not to want to believe in Jesus It causes people not to want to believe in God. They're willingly ignorant. It's not because of logic. It's not because of intelligence It's not because of evidence. I mean what evidence is there for this earth to be billions of years old? It's laughable It's a joke They don't have any fossils that back up anything they believe It's like they talk about finding the missing link. They're missing everything. They have nothing right I mean they claim that everything started off as a bacteria or amoeba that it just evolved and then somehow Animals that were in the water found the ability to live on land. It's like that's a fairy tale. It's ridiculous It's absurd and it's not evidence that is causing them to reject God because they're willingly ignorant Meaning they do not want to believe in God So when they hear the religion of atheism, it sounds good to them because here's the thing no God No rules Just like we saw with Taoism on Sunday right or on Saturday, right? They don't believe in a creator God. Why is it that they don't want to have a creator God? Well because they don't want to have any rules. They don't want to have any authority Why is it that people become atheists? Well because they don't want to believe in God Now, of course There are people that are deceived because they're being lied to in college and I understand that But a lot of people that are becoming atheists is because they don't want to believe in God Okay They're willingly ignorant that by the Word of God The heavens were holds the Bible says that by the Word of God that heavens were of old. So Go back to Genesis chapter 1 and I know these are famous verses But it's good to be reminded of these things Genesis chapter 1 Genesis 1 The Bible says that this world was created by the Word of God, okay And notice what it says here in Genesis chapter 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light Notice how God just speaks the light into existence God said let there be light and there was light. It wasn't some force or some Magical big bang theory that just created everything God just spoke it into existence And he decided let there be light and there was light right before the Sun was created God created light Right, and so God just spoke it into existence. Look it's by the Word of God and this was taking place Now the other thing to understand go to John chapter 1 John chapter 1 Is that Jesus Christ in the Word of God are essentially the same thing, right? And this is actually a terminology that's used of Jesus Christ when he's called the Word and When you're really thinking about the person of the Godhead of the Trinity that is responsible for creating the world You would say it was the Word of God. You'd say it was Jesus Christ I believe that God the Father created the world through Jesus Christ and obviously I would say all three persons had a part in it But if you're looking at one person that created this world one of those three, it was Jesus Christ It was the Word of God. The Bible says in John 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the Word So the Word Jesus Christ was here at the beginning. Okay. He wasn't created later on He was here at the very beginning. The Trinity has always existed and always will. That's the very nature of God In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God Indicating the Trinity the multiple persons of the Godhead and the Word was God So the very beginning the Word was with God indicating that there was more than one person in the Godhead at the very beginning Okay The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him Well made by who? Made by the Word of God and without him was not anything made that was made And so if the Word of God made all things then that means that the Word of God was not made himself Okay, some religions try to tell you that they're Christian and then they also tell you that Jesus was created Right. Well the Bible says that in the Word was here at the very beginning Right. It's very clear in the Bible. Now what they do in some of these versions is they change the wording a little bit They add words. They remove words. In the Jehovah's Witness translation it takes John 1 one and it says that the Word was a God and That's what they do at the end of the New World Translation They say the Word was a God. So now all of a sudden Jesus is a God So if you talk to Jehovah's Witnesses, they'll say well, yeah, you know, Jesus is a God, but he's not You know the almighty God right and there's one verse that they can't get around. They'll say well Jesus is the mighty God, but he's not the almighty God Are you serious? Right? And so look Jesus created all things about us. Now go to 2nd Peter 3 2nd Peter 3 You say why why is it the Bible says that they're willingly ignorant? Because this is the only thing that logically makes sense The only thing that logically makes sense is that God created everything. I Mean if there is no God Nothing makes any science. I mean this is supposed to be scientific about the big bang theory doesn't make any sense at all So I think mathematical and Scientific explain to me how nothing creates everything. There's no explanation You know It actually does make logical sense that God created everything because if we're the creation we're not going to be able to understand the Creator Okay Obviously, we're not as smart as God We're not Mormons that think that we can reach the level of being God and become God, right? We're humans and our knowledge is very limited and there are many things that we can know about God We can't know everything about God. There are many deep mysteries that you know what we're never going to be able to fully answer Okay, I tell my son all the time about God. I'll tell him you know that God created you God created this guy God created the Sun one of these days. He's gonna ask me who created God or where did God come from? Right now I remember asking that to my I don't know if I remember asking my parents but my parents told me you know I asked that when I was young because you know the kids were like, where did God come from? Of course the answer is God's always been here. Hey what I remember hearing that It's just like well, you know, I believed it because I knew God was real that's built inside of you But I you know, I also realized that a young age. I'm never going to fully comprehend this It's not a bathroom you take it by faith, but honestly this makes sense What does not make sense is saying that there is no God because how are we here? Right. I mean you can look at anything you say brother stuck. This is a nice pulpit How'd you guys get it? I Mean there's an explosion Is that what happened brother Ed? Right? How'd you make this pulpit right here? It's just an explosion at brother Ed's house Like there we go You would say that's retarded and yet this pulpit is so simple compared to just one cell in our body It's absurd to say there is no God. I mean when you stop and think about it as a bible-believing Christian You're just like this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard to say that there is no God and this earth is billions of years old But people believe that but what's not because of evidence. They just don't want to believe in God. They're willingly ignorant in Bible sex And then it says in the earth standing out of the water and in the water see that the the earth itself bears record That there was a flood you can look at the geologic table and that bears record that there was a flood Right because when you look at the geologic table and you look at the order of the animals It's in the order. I'd expect if there's a worldwide flood you'd expect the birds to be toward the top Say why because birds start out at the top they fly around and they're the last ones to run out of energy So you'd expect you know animals that dwell at the bottom of the ocean to be at the very bottom of the geologic table And guess what you find we see animals that dwell in the ocean are lower Why because they started lower when the flood took place and you're going to see birds and you're going to see humans More toward the top and this makes sense if there's a flood if you look at the actual order they have It's like that is the exact order. I'd expect if there's a flood Obviously a bird is going to be higher than like a whale that's way down in the ocean Because the fact they start higher so if there's a flood They're probably not going all the way to the bottom Right and there's obviously exception to this because they'll see some animals that are outside of their table They don't really know how to answer it. They come with whatever I'm just saying the earth bears record that there was a flood and everything makes makes sense when you look at it, okay? It's not really that complicated. It's just people have been brainwashed They don't want to believe in God. Verse 6 where by the world that then was being overflowed with water Perish per se but the heavens and the earth which are now, so it says the heavens and the earth Which are now and what is indicating is that there's going to be another heaven and another earth and see the Bible speaks about this Talks about a new heaven and a new earth the heavens and the earth which are now now go to Hebrews chapter 1 real quickly Hebrews 1 1 Hebrews chapter 1 let me show you verse 10 And now the Lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish Thou remainest and they all shall wax old as gothic garment and as the vesture shall not hold them up and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail See what the Bible says is that the earth we now live in the heavens and the earth are going to basically wax old And then God's going to take what's destroyed and then he's going to make it It's not 100% brand new but he's going to take what's burned up and destroyed and he's going to make it new It'd be like for example a computer that just gets, you know damaged broken It's not working and then you assemble it back together and then you make it new as if you know, it's brand new It's as if you just created it. And so this what the Bible says is going to take place What's interesting in Hebrews 1 is it talks about the earth? Waxing oldest off the garment, right? So if you have a shirt Eventually shirts fake, right? This is one of my favorite shirts. I'm sure you realize that cuz I wear this shirt a lot It's my only red shirt and when you wear something a lot a garment is going to eventually get old, right? I'm sure we all had those moments where we had a shirt all of us husbands had that moment We had a shirt we loved and then our wives throughout that shirt Throughout those old shoes because they're so old the socks that have holes in them. It's like man. I just broke this in I have the holes in right in the right places with the socks and everything and then our wives throw that away because it's all Right, they get us new ones because eventually when you wear clothing it gets old It's actually one of the miracles with Moses how they were able to wear the clothing and the sandals and they didn't wax all you're traveling around things are going to get Old right? Well, the Bible says this earth is going to get old now You know What I believe is that the earth is going to bear a record that it's getting old as time goes by And what that means is that as time goes by the earth is decaying according to Hebrews chapter 1 I personally believe because you'll hear a lot of people talk about in the news how there's an increase in earthquakes and increase in volcanoes I actually think that fits with the Bible that the earth is actually waxing over and there's going to be more problems like Pollution and stuff like that. I think there's a shred of truth to the environmentalists now Here's the thing though. We know the earth is going to be destroyed by sin. So I'm not worried about that I I'm a clean person. I don't throw trash in the ground and stuff like that I'm not worried about this because we understand at the end of the day. It's sin that's going to destroy this world Right, but there is a shred of truth to what they're saying I believe because I do think that you're seeing signs of decay happening there if there are changes taking place and What scientists are doing is they're looking at what's taking place and they're saying if this continues You know for another Thousand years this world's going to be destroyed. Well, here's the thing. They're right about that, but it's probably not going to last another thousand years Okay, but the reason why it's going to be destroyed is because of sin So there's a shred of truth to what they're saying. The problem is they don't get the big picture So I agree. Yes, there's more pollution on the rise earthquakes volcanoes I've seen a pattern of that when you actually if you ever study like natural disasters There seems to be an increase and the weather's becoming more strange as time goes by and stuff like that So there are there is a shred of truth to what they're saying The thing is the Earth's not lasting for another million years But what doesn't make sense is this they think this earth is four and a half million years old And then they think it's going to be destroyed by us in the next 20 years due to pollution I mean, that's absurd Four and a half billion years old it lasted and we have the ability to destroy it in 20 years But you know, it doesn't make sense that the earth is only six thousand years old. You know what? Hundred years 200 years a lot of time decay can really happen think of the human body Which is a comparison of the earth and the Bible and you know what as time goes by Your body breaks down the Bible speaks about that right when you're young You know, you're feeling you know, I remember when I was 25 years old I play sports play basketball wake up the next day. I feel great Now if I play basketball just for you know an hour You know back when I drove in the US and try to turn around you're like, oh my back Right as time goes by the body breaks down Just like the earth is going to break down and there's gonna be more problems with the earth as time goes by But at the end of the day doesn't have to concern us as Bible believing Christians because of the fact it's gonna be sin that actually Destroys the earth and go back to second Peter three second Peter three I've had a hurry for sake of time. I'm spending a lot of time in these verses second Peter three Second Peter three And said the heavens and the earth which are now in verse seven by the same word are kept in store Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and tradition of ungodly men but beloved be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years and A thousand years is one day now people like to take verse eight to try to claim that the earth is billions of years old Because they will wait a minute. It's called the day age theory where one day with the Lord says a thousand years And a thousand years is one day. Okay, I'm not going to talk about it too much here today because actually we're starting Genesis Next Tuesday, we're starting a short book Genesis that I don't have to keep deciding every five weeks. We're starting a long book Okay So we'll talk about the creation the first couple weeks and everything like that but you know a Major problem with this is that plants were created before the Sun so the day is representing a long period of time How could a plant last for a thousand years about the Sun writing to die doesn't make sense Now the Jehovah's Witnesses they actually take this verse and Jehovah's Witnesses teach the earth is about twelve thousand years old Because they take teach that each day of the creation was a thousand years And so they say well six thousand years went by in the first six days and then 6300 or whatever since then and say believe the earth is like 12,000 This is ridiculous because I don't see how you can take this verse and try to apply that to the creation when you look at Genesis one which we'll look at next week It's just very plain and simple how everything was created and when you add up the years throughout Bible It's less than seven thousand years old is what you're seeing Okay, but some people try to take this verse to say well, maybe the day represents this time period now Of course, you know something can represent a time period in the Bible But the big problem with this is that in Genesis one is very clear. Okay, we'll talk about that more next week But verse 9 the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some in count slackness But as long suffered to us were not willing that he should perish but that all should come to repentance So the Bible says the Lord is not willing that any should perish Meaning it is not his will that anybody perishes meaning going to hell Okay, the second death he called it will come a time. He's not willing that any should perish But that all should come to repentance and what he's saying by repentance is not quitting drinking It's not quitting smoking. It's changing your mind about what you believe So basically change your mind about believing this and then believe on me put your faith on Jesus Christ Right and see God wants everybody to be saved this smashes Calvinism Because in Calvinism they teach that God does not want to be saved But here it says that he's not willing that any should perish now When you're talking to people about religion It's like you try to talk to them and it goes so over their head and it's just like what aren't you understanding? When you talk to Calvinists about this and you show them well, he's not willing that any should perish And then they're like, well, then why do people go to hell? Because we have free will right they try to use this to prove Calvinism like well, he's not willing that any should perish It's like what aren't you understanding? It's not his will or desire that anybody perishes But he doesn't force his will upon us because here's the thing if God did force his will upon us and it wasn't our free Well, that means all of us would go to heaven because it's not willing that any should perish But we have free will Yeah, when you try to show this to a Calvinist it goes way over there The logic just goes way over there and they don't get it right but God does not want anybody to go to hell He wants everybody to change their mind when they believe and believe on Jesus Christ Okay Now first number 10 the Bible says but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens Shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat The earth also the works that are therein shall be burned up So the Bible says the Lord will come as a thief in the night Turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 1st Thessalonians 5 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 I believe the reason why Peter is focusing on the end times is not so much about the end times itself But the fact that you know The theme that's been in 1st and 2nd Peter is that at the rapture we get the glorified body and what he's going to talk About in this chapter is live your life for spiritual things because this Earth's going to pass away So he's trying to use the end times to kind of impress upon our mind Hey this world that is now is going to be destroyed. So why are you so focused on something that's going to be gone? Right focus on spiritual things focus on heavenly things things that are going to last forever Says in 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 1 one of the times in the seasons brethren You have no need that I write on you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so common as a thief of the night And see the Bible says here in verses 1 and 2 that we don't have it We don't need to have anybody writing this to us because we already know this very well We know this perfectly that the day of the Lord so common as a thief of the night because he's already taught this to them We are aware that is coming as a thief of the night now What is saying is coming as the thief of the night the wrong application would just be well We can just wake up or blank and then we're gone right. That's not what I say What is saying is it's like you know a thief is going to enter your house And you're aware of it instead of being on this most people aren't aware. What if these coming right? You're not expecting somebody to break into your house in the middle of the night But here's the thing the Bible saying that you know what it's not going to overtake us as a thief in the night because We are actually going to be ready for it. We're going to be aware, so basically be like knowing hey at 10 p.m. Somebody's going to break into my house right and you're just sitting there with a gun Baseball bat or whatever. It's like all right 30 seconds. Let me stretch all right ten nine eight seven six five four three Two one they open right now I don't know about here But in the u.s.. You have to let him into the house first because if you shoot them while they're breaking in you can be arrested So I actually One of my mom's friend's husband he got arrested He got sued by the person who tried to break in because the guy when he was breaking in God, I don't think I shot or whatever at the door, but the guy hadn't broken in yet You have to let them break in first bizarre Okay in the u.s.. If somebody breaks in your house you got to dismiss a job for children because otherwise you can get scooped That's the reality the way the law works. I don't know about here, but that's that's the way it works, but anyways It's like for example knowing a thief is coming and being ready and you have the lights on and you're prepared just ready But see here's the thing most people aren't going to be aware when a thief comes in the middle of the night And it's the same thing with the return of Jesus Christ most people Aren't going to be ready for most people aren't going to be aware because it says for when they shall say peace and safety So peace and safety I go to bed at night everything is good You know just a good get a good nice rest Then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape But ye brethren are not in darkness Meaning that you're in light you're aware of it that that day should overtake you as a thief So it's like a thief breaking in and we have the lights on and we're prepared Whereas most people in this world they're in darkness They're they're asleep. They're not expecting it and then somebody breaks in and the night steals everything, right? But we're not going to be in darkness when it says as a thief in the night go back to the second Peter three second Peter three I've never watched that that movie slash documentary theme guys. Anyone ever seen that? You watch that I haven't watched it so I should watch this before I say it but they can make that a lot more entertaining They did it my way, right? Somebody's trying to break in and then they get shot and killed and everything But that famous YouTube video thief in the night that they show at Baptist churches where there's like this missionary sort of guy who got paid to just show his documentary slash movie and I've seen like the first couple minutes, you know, I've seen this like snippets of it But just how Jesus can come as a thief in the night not gonna be ready for it What I understand it was worse than left behind like really low budget. But anyway, second Peter three verse 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved in verse 11 11 what manner of persons I can be in all holy conversation that God is and so What he says in second Peter 3 11 is know that this is going to take place What that kind of teaches you is that you should be living a holy in a godly life. So Here's the thing This is linked with the timing of the rapture and the Bible is teaching that if we understand What's going to take place the end times it actually teaches us we should live a godly life We should live a holy life and I'll tell you what if people believe in a preacher rapture We're aware that you know what? It's not gonna be that simple. It's actually gonna be a real battle It would actually teach them man. I need to really prepare myself. I need to be godly I need to focus on the heavenly things But unfortunately, that's not what we're being taught being lied to first of all Looking for a tasting on to the coming of the day of God Where in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with firm heat And so it says we should be looking for and hasting on to the coming of the day of God Now some people try to look at phrases like this in the Bible and say well, you know if you're you're looking for it Then you know, it's it's it's They try to use this to use as like a preacher verse. They really don't have great verses But I was just saying we know this is coming one day We know the signs and the seasons that are going to take place before we get to that day We should be looking for a tasting on to that day and we should be excited about this thing. That's coming You say why because the fact we're going to get the glorified body got good Romans 8 real quickly Well, they're Romans 8 didn't go back to second Peter 3 finish up Romans 8 Romans 8 And one of the frustrating things to us as believers is the fact that we have the simple flesh That we're going to fight until the day we die It's really frustrating because you know what when you're in church and you're hearing the preaching of God's Word You have the right mindset You're thinking man. I want to read the Bible. I want to do right I want to make changes in my life, but the Spirit is willing the flesh to me for all of us I mean every single week goes by and we're just thinking man. How is it that I didn't do more for God? Why did I waste so much time? Anyway, I'm no different than you are I I battle the sinful flesh as well You know adjustment follow, you know seven times in the rise at the end. That's all of us We got to do that fight. We can't just throw in the towel You know, we're all gonna fall we're all gonna think every single day. We're gonna sin and do wrong I wish it was very easy to live for God Well, I mean the way the Calvinists talk to you about how man once you get saved You're just automatically gonna be live for God. I wish it were that easy Wouldn't that be great if once you got saved, it's just automatic. You want to read the Bible. It's automatic You want to pray actually, it's very difficult to do these things. You've got to make that decision That's why one one thing I like to focus on preaching is trying to motivate us to do a lot for God, right? Because it is difficult and the Bible speaks about this in Romans 8 verse 22 for we know that the whole creation growneth and travailed and pain together until now now the whole creation is not just us as safe people but Everybody because everybody is feeling the effects of the fact that they're gonna die one day and the earth's getting old And then by the sweat of your brow, you're gonna you know, bring forth bread Everybody's dealing with this verse 23 and not only they so not just everybody not just unsaved people But ourselves also we deal with this right which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves Waiting for the adoption to win the redemption of our body So the Bible says we wait for this day the adoption the redemption of our body. That's the glorified body Why don't we wait for this? Because of the fact this sinful flesh is annoying Right so many times our flesh causes us to do wrong And we want to do right and the things that we want I mean Paul spoke about this the things that I want to do I don't do Things that I don't want to do I do Right, and this is the truth for all of us things that we want to do Sometimes we don't find ourselves doing I think all of us want to spend a lot of time reading the Bible every day You know what the things we want to do sometimes we don't do because we'll get distracted by the world and his sinful flesh is Gonna battle us until the day we die It's reality. I Wish I wish I could just tell you it's going to be very easy to live for God, but it's not it's hard It's very easy to throw in the towel. You know, this is what you find is that many people along the way It just gets too difficult. They say, you know, I just can't do it anymore We are we gotta fight our sinful flesh until the day we die We've got to do it because here's the thing. Nobody else is winning souls. I Mean it literally let's say our church stopped going so winning in this area That's pretty much spamming everybody in Hong Kong at least around this area to help right because there's not a lot of people going so Many it's reality. Right? I mean if we don't do it who's gonna do it. That's the reality Right first 24 for we are saved by hope hope is something that well For we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not home for what a man see it Why don't you get hopeful and see hope is not something that's seen it's something that you know for sure But you don't really have physical or empirical proof of that Right when we get saved Nothing changes, right? You don't get taller Right, you know your hair color doesn't change your eye color doesn't change There's no physical manifestation of the glorified body when you get saved None, okay, and the glorified body is something we wait for Okay, we're saved by hope and what that means is this well, we know we're on our way to heaven It's a guarantee. I put my faith in Jesus, but I don't have any proof of that So if someone says well, how do you know you're saying and then people respond? Because you know, I used to drink and I don't drink wait a minute we're saved by hope meaning there's no physical manifestation of proof Faith is the evidence the Bible says and the reason why we know we're saved is because we believe Right. I can't give somebody a proof like here's my proof. I'm saying I can't prove to you. I know I'm saved If you're saved, you know, you're saved but there's not a physical proof that says here's why I'm right This is why you should convert mr. Hindu because notice the change that took place in me, that's not what converts people It's the testimony of the word boxes in John chapter 3 Says in verse 25, but if if we hope for that we see not Then do it with patience wait So this is something we know is going to take place because with patience we wait for so it's something We're patiently waiting for because we know it's going to take place, but it's not something that we actually have the manifestation But why should we look for this day? because We will no longer sin We'll do right We'll have the glorified body will no longer just toil and labor and just fail and fail and fail every single day But you know, we're going to live in the Lord forever right go back to second Peter chapter 3 second Peter 3 And second Peter 3 verse 14 We'll just quickly go through these last verses Verse 14 wherefore beloved seeing that you look for such things. This is something we know is going to take place We look for we wait for be diligent They may be found of him in peace without spot in blameless Now Some people think blameless means like sinless, but that's not what it means in the Bible blameless means you're basically without spot Meaning of course all of us should read the Bible more than we are But if you're reading the Bible every day and you're finishing the cover to cover every single year You would be blameless in the category of reading the Bible because nobody could say you don't read the Bible now Of course, you could read it more But it's not like you have this major sin that just stands out every time right or somebody, you know For example, the Bible preaches against being worldly, but all of us are worldly at least to some degree There's areas of our life. We're too focused on the things of the world But if you're you're doing a good job fighting against being worldly, you could be labeled as blameless In fact, the Bible says one of the requirements to be a pastor is to be blameless That doesn't mean sinless, right? I mean we all sin but There is a difference between somebody who's going out and committing adultery on his wife and then somebody who's not now, of course Every guy is guilty of sometimes in his eye He's guilty of looking at something that he shouldn't or having the wrong thought the Bible says that's adultery of the heart We see adultery of the heart is different than actual adultery. Now. It's still wrong. It's still bad It's still sinful, but that's different than actual adultery though, right? And so when it's saying blameless it means that there's no major area of our life where it's just like boom Look at this major sin. Boom. You killed someone, right? We're not blameless if you murdered someone Right, the Bible says we should be blameless meaning we should be really be striving to in all areas of our life Be above reproach where no one can look at us and say look at how bad you are in this area of your life An account of the long suffering and reward is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to wisdom given on them hath written unto you as Also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood Which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures on their own destruction So the Bible says there are some things that are hard to be understood. There are deep things in the Bible You look at books like Zachariah It's a confusing book you look at Ezekiel deep things, right? There are a lot of deep things in the Bible The Bible says that basically bad people will arrest like wrestle But it says rest like the wrestle or fight or twist basically is what it's saying The scriptures as they do also the other scriptures so bad people are going to twist all scriptures But I believe it's focusing in on the deep and hard things to be understood because those are the things where bad people Can teach something false and trick people that are even saved because it's a deep thing where you can be confused on it Right. There's plenty of verses in the book of Ezekiel or Zachariah or Isaiah. We're here to ask me brother stuck to you What is this talking about? I'd be like well, I don't know So those are the verses that bad people can twist Right because of the fact it's not something that's just very obvious it's something that takes something that takes deep study And we're never going to figure out everything in the Bible Okay We're 17 he therefore beloved seeing you know these things before Beware lest he also be led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness So Peter saying it is possible for a safe person to be led away by a wicked person and fall from their own steadfastness Now, of course when I say fall from your own steadfastness It's not saying losing your salvation Because you cannot lose your salvation But bad people can twist scriptures and they can destroy your life by getting you to go down that road And then basically you end up out of church and you end up just not serving God the boxes beware of bad Teaching you something folks Okay Now I'll tell you this my personal perspective on this because I love to listen to online priests when I get a chance as well But I obviously I don't listen to books if I don't understand it like at all I don't understand the chapters at all. I'm like, I want to study this out a little bit first Because otherwise, I'm just like, you know, that doesn't mean that I think the person's a bad person But it just means I can't really know whether it's true or not. I'm gonna believe whatever they say problem Right because I don't necessarily know what the verses so, you know, whenever I listen to online preaching or verse by verse I always pick chapters or books that I already feel like I understand the chapter Decently or I've studied it out a little bit because I want to make sure that when I hear something I can tell whether or not That's true. I have an idea of that. Otherwise, you can just easily believe whatever you hear right now I'm not saying you have to do that But I would even suggest doing that with I think any like-minded pastor say the same thing. It's like, you know, if you're studying for a math test Study it out on your own a little bit before you get a tutor because if you just go to the tutor You're not going to remember it for one and you couldn't know whether they're lying to you or not, honestly Right, so study it out a little bit on your own get a firm setting on it kind of have an understanding and then we actually Hear it's gonna ring true or ring false or you know something you might have to keep searching out Okay Verse 18 but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now forever Amen, so it mentions growing in two different areas that says in grace and in knowledge now Both of these areas are very important both areas Race and knowledge so knowledge is basically your knowledge of what the Bible says knowledge of scriptures and chapters and verses like that and grace I would like you to do your Attitude your characteristics The Bible says to grow in both of these areas and you know What what often happens when people listen to a lot of online preaching is their knowledge skyrockets? But the grace doesn't skyrocket that actually takes time for basically, you know, you're you learn to be a better person You learn to be patient Learn to be long-suffering and these things like that can actually be a dangerous thing if you just get inundated It's like taking steroids when you're lifting weights, right if you do that you're going to gain muscle very quickly, but It's very bad in the long term It's better to just actually study it and just slowly grow with grace and knowledge You know one thing that that's sad that I've seen in my I don't know 17 years being an independent Baptist or whatever and then I guess 10 years in this sort of movement or whatever is That there's some people that have learned a lot they listen to a lot of scriptures But it's just like their their personality their characteristics. It's like man. They need to change a lot Right and I think part of it is this because many people that listen to the online preaching It's because they're on YouTube for hours and hours every day Just like you know kind of wasting their time then it come across great preaching. Praise the Lord They found the great preaching that doesn't mean that all their areas of their life are already figured out Right, but I'll tell you this, you know, it's sad though because we as we as fundamental Baptist We as Bible believe in Christians in all areas. We should be blameless and above approach We should be kind people long suffering have the right attitude be patient Right not letting any corrupt communication come out of our mouth and you what there are people that are unsaved people But they're doing a good job raising their kids and their hard workers and their patience and they have all these characteristics down But you know, it's sad when an unsaved person has more grace in the same person That is a sad thing, right? We should all work on having grace in our lives Especially if we have young kids work very hard not just to teach your kids doctrine of actually making sure that they're a good person Right, they learn to work hard. They have the right attitude You know what it one example I like to get because I like to kind of brag on my parents a little bit is in my parents Didn't smoke Didn't drink and I can say that I have never heard either of my parents ever say ever That's a pretty rare thing now It didn't feel like a rare thing to be growing up because I just kind of assumed it was normal My parents never cussed never heard my dad say customer never heard my mom say a customer and so I never cuss you say why well because my parents never cuss and You know Honestly, it's like sometimes you see people that are like, you know fundamental and then but they cuss like a sailor my man You make changes. I make sure there's no corrupt communication Coming out of your mouth and it's just like you know when I was growing up my parents weren't safe But you know what? They're raising me really well You know what? There's unsaved people that are doing a great job raising their kids as saved people We need to make sure that we're not just focused on this is what you should believe but making sure that Our kids are growing up and learning how to be hard workers and be good people and have the right attitudes Obviously my kids are young. I'm not standing up here saying it's easy or I have it all figured out I do know that my parents gave me a great example Well, because I never smoked a cigarette because I've never seen my parents smoke. I didn't drink because my parents didn't drink I don't curse because my parents didn't curse and you have honestly your kids are going to follow your actions We need to grow not just in knowledge, but also in grace as well. Let's go to work for your Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your work this topic and help us understanding the end times to