Stirred: The Church in the Last Days (Part 1) - Pastor Raymond Woodward

[Music] just a few months ago we completed a series on the book of first peter called scattered four months ago today i think we concluded and that series was titled scattered the church has left the building peter wrote that first letter of his to the strangers scattered throughout the five roman provinces of asia minor and now he follows up with a second letter to the same group not very much time has elapsed between the two letters but the situation in these churches that he's writing to has already drastically changed you see his first letter warned them about persecution that was coming from outside the church but this second letter he's got to warn them about something different and it's false teaching that's actually coming from inside the church and so the title for this series is stirred the church in the last days and we take this series from this scripture just kind of a little throwaway verse those are the kind that usually pique my curiosity the first verse of chapter 3 this second epistle beloved i now write unto you in both which i stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance somebody shout out stirred that's peter's goal for the church his goal in writing is to stir up or wake up or rise up get up stand up he wants to wake up the saints to remember what they have been taught because in peter's day there are many critical cynical voices everywhere around them and those critical cynical voices are questioning everything about apostolic doctrine and everything about apostolic lifestyle and so peter reminds them in this second letter to be prepared for our future we must be reminded of our past if we're going to be prepared for what the last days are bringing on us you want to believe we've got to have a connection in power in prayer in doctrine and lifestyle in worship in everything else to our past the challenge this time around as peter writes is that the opposition to the saints is not coming from the world the opposition to the saints is coming from those who say they are part of the church they still profess to know jesus but they've departed from the doctrine and from the godly lifestyle taught by the apostles and now these people are trying to influence others in the church to follow them in their backsliding by questioning and even attacking the teaching of the elders it is a treacherous time and that's why peter's goal in this second letter is to stir up the church to make them think to make them remember to make them fall in love with their heritage all over again now peter preached and lived at the beginning of the church age we preach and live at the end of the church age just before the coming of the lord if it was important for saints to be stirred in the first century it is exponentially more important for saints to be stirred in the 21st century never before have there been so many voices from within the church trying to divorce us from the teaching of our elders never before have there been so many people professing so much love for jesus while denying so much of what jesus actually said never before have we seen such disrespect and disregard for the plain teaching of scripture never before have we seen the ungodly attitudes and lifestyle of the world make such inroads into the lives of so-called christians it is a treacherous time and if you get weary of this you'll just have to get weary of this but i stand in the pulpit on a bible study night in this wonderful church family to say one more time i just want to with peter stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance i just want to get the church stirred a little bit because we are in the last days peter begins by saying simon peter a servant and an apostle of jesus christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ peter of course he was the disciple who received the revelation of jesus identity thou art the christ the son of the living god he was the apostle who was given the keys of the kingdom by jesus himself he was the preacher on the day of pentecost he was used of god to perform miracles multiple times in the book of acts he suffered persecution as a result and he first preached the gospel to a gentile household before anybody else in the household of cornelius and the holy ghost fell on everybody that heard his words but this same guy this same man named peter he also had a tendency especially early in his years of following jesus he had a tendency to be outspoken and overzealous and overconfident now you wouldn't know anybody like this you wouldn't be anybody like this but peter rushed ahead when he should have waited he talked when he should have listened he slept when he should have prayed he attacked when he should have let jesus handle the situation he even contradicted the lord on occasion and he even deserted and denied jesus in the master's greatest hour of need same guy so if anyone in the early church if anyone in that first century church knew the importance of staying on guard against the tactics of the enemy it was the apostle peter who had been mightily used by god but also defeated and tripped up by the enemy from time to time but peter has now learned his lesson he's an elder and now he wants to help the saints learn the same lessons in his first letter we studied it just a few months ago he talked much about the grace of god because the church was facing fiery trials and they needed the grace of god to get them through but in this letter the second time around he doesn't talk about the grace of god as much as he talks about the knowledge of god because the church is facing false teaching and when we face false teaching we need the knowledge of god from his word and we need the knowledge of god from having a relationship with god the term know or knowledge is used 13 times in just this short epistle and that word knowledge doesn't mean just an intellectual understanding of the bible lots of people have that lots of tv preachers have that lots of your friends and associates have that but it's not an intellectual understanding of some verses it is a spiritual revelation and an act of participation in god's truth and so peter begins this letter by saying grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord he writes to a group of believers that have a shared apostolic heritage he said in verse 1 them that have obtained like precious faith with us so they share the same heritage and just like a bank teaches its tellers to detect counterfeit bills by handling real money constantly peter knows that the best way to teach saints to detect false doctrine is to constantly expose them to the preaching and the teaching of truth and it still works that way today you want to thank god that you attend a church where god called men and women stand up on this stage and they preach and teach the truth of the word of god because the best way to protect yourself from all the false doctrines floating around today is to know the truth intimately to know the truth consistently to know the truth personally and so peter before he identifies the false teachers which he will do he begins by describing what true christians look like verse 3 according as god's divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge there's that word again through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue now peter begins his letter with a pretty bold declaration he says all you apostolic believers you already have everything you need you have all things for spiritual life and godliness you got everything you need stop thinking there's some other dimension some higher truth some deeper experience if you've got the holy ghost there is no more holy ghost than the holy ghost you don't need more holy ghost you just need to give the holy ghost more of you that's what you need you already have everything you need and so peter is writing to these people who not only have they been assailed by trials from outside the church persecution from the world now they're being attacked by false teachers and false doctrine that has risen up within the church and so peter needs to reassure them he said for the true apostolic believer you say is it possible to consistently live in victory pastor resounding yes is it possible to never backslide absolutely yes is it possible to live a holy godly life in an unholy godless world resounding yes is it possible to do all of that oh absolutely but the power to live that kind of an overcoming life comes from a surprising source not from our faith in god not from our love for god not even from the grace of god but peter said the power to live that kind of consistent overcoming life comes through the knowledge of god it's like they say in the business world it's not what you know it's who you know do you know that works in your relationship with god it's not so much what you know you may know a thousand verses and have them committed to memory but it's not just what you know it's who you know if you know jesus the world can't knock you down if you know jesus the devil can't take you out if you know jesus your flesh can't rise up and make you backslide if you know him and so it's the knowledge of god that helps us now see peter's on the attack already you think he's being nice you think this is just the king james version way of saying hello but he's already on the attack because the false teachers of peter's day claim they had a new revelation of liberty and their new revelation of liberty superseded and replaced the teaching of the apostles but peter declares to this group of believers don't you be listening to somebody that says you need some kind of new revelation you already have all things you need for life and godliness you already have everything you are fully equipped to live for god you already have the knowledge of the one true god so don't you dare be deceived and he tells him this knowledge doesn't come from talented teachers or persuasive preachers this knowledge comes from the precious promises of the word of god oh my goodness i've lived for god a little while feel like i'm about a hundred years old in the church i'm not quite that old chronologically but i've been around for a while i've seen saints come and saints go i've seen some show up for a day or a week or a month or even a year and then you don't see them anymore i've seen preachers come and go i've seen churches come and go i've seen movements come and go i've seen doctrines come and go it's been a whole wild weird kind of a ride but it's not just me you have to and guess what devil we're still here by the grace of god we're still here by the power of the holy ghost we're still here trusting in and proclaiming the name of jesus because the knowledge we have of god doesn't come from the oratory of the pastor it comes from the precious promises of the word of god whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises every once in a while you just need to break down your dignity and just give your bible a hug you just need to hold it close while you pray or while you cry you just need to look at a scripture for a few minutes and when it hits you and it blesses you you just need to give god's word a little hug and say thank you jesus for the exceeding great and precious promises of your word peter said it's by these promises not by your ability not by your great strength not by your know-how it is by these promises that you are partakers of the divine nature and you have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust i don't want to get graphic or grotesque or gory here but you think of the worst open oozing wound that you've ever seen or you've ever seen a picture of and that is how god sees the corruption of this world it is filthy it is vile it is oozing it is infectious but that's not how we live that's not our source our source is the great precious promises of the word of god peter loves the word precious he uses it all the time in his epistles he writes about precious faith precious promises precious blood the precious cornerstone the precious savior all of these things are precious to us because their value is beyond calculation to the people of god oh yeah we can sing a little song thank god for the blood and we get a little happy and clap and maybe jump up and down a little bit but if you really knew what the blood of jesus the precious blood of that spotless lamb if you really could see what the blood has saved you from you couldn't stop praising him consistently living according to the word of god consistently letting those exceeding great and precious promises filter into your life it has a cumulative effect over time over time as we immerse ourselves in the word of god as we claim and pray those promises and live and love those commandments peter said that's how we partake of god's divine nature you get closer to this book you get closer to jesus you obey this book you're obeying jesus you love this book you're loving jesus and so peter said that's how we partake of the divine nature we become more like jesus and getting close to this book is also the way that we escape the corrupting influences of the world's lustful nature you're either going to embrace the nature of god or you're going to embrace the nature of the world your choice somebody say my choice to know and obey the word of god every day that is vitally important because whatever nature you embrace will determine your future the nature of the world or the nature of god nature determines appetite nature determines appetite a pig eats slop a goat eats trash a dog will eat its own vomit but sheep they desire green pastures nature determines appetite nature also determines behavior that's why an eagle flies and a snake slithers and a rabbit hops and a bug crawls and a dolphin swims because nature determines behavior nature also determines your preferred environment that's why squirrels live in trees and moles live underground and fish live under the water and you live in a house nature determines environment and finally nature determines association nature determines who you hang with lions travel in prides wolves run in packs sheep gather in flocks fish swim in schools your nature determines your associations if we have god's divine nature in us then we will have an appetite for the things that are pure and holy and we will not have an appetite for the things of the world we will not want the behavior the environment or the association of the world to be part of our lives i'm not talking about being friendly i'm not talking about reaching out to others i'm talking about who you associate closely with so this means brothers and sisters that the secret to escaping the corruption of this world is cultivating your new nature the secret to living a victorious christian life is every day cultivate that new nature paul said it this way put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof ever felt thwarted frustrated in traffic because somebody cut you off anybody raise your hand if it was me on the way to church i apologize i did that to a precious senior saint in our church the other day i already apologized she said she forgave me if she told you about it she probably hasn't i'm teasing her and you and you don't know who she is if you've ever been thwarted or frustrated by somebody cutting you off in traffic then you know how it is that either you're going to cut off your flesh and make no provision for it or you're going to allow the spirit of god in you to be cut off thwarted and frustrated paul said here's the secret don't make any provision for your flesh every time your flesh tries to rear its ugly head to take you off in this direction or tempt you or tempt you with pride or lust or whatever it is you just cut your flesh off you just get in there with a scripture you get in there with a song of praise to god you just go to prayer you lift your hands in worship don't care who sees you or what it sounds like or looks like do everything you can to not make provision for the flesh cut the flesh off just interrupt the flow of the flesh interrupt the traffic of the flesh but can i tell you something don't interrupt the flow of the spirit you need to be ready had a moment's notice one of the things that i love i love i love about our elders our elder preachers and our elder saints is wherever they happen to be they're not really all that cognizant of who's watching them if they suddenly feel a little burst of the holy ghost and i got to tell you i love that that's way better than dead christianity to me i love it when somebody just feels the holy ghost and out loud without thinking they can't even help themselves they didn't premeditate it they just out loud to nobody in particular but to god almighty say thank you jesus i think that's wonderful we become sometimes so quiet and so dignified and so regulated that we don't even do that in church i wish somebody just shake yourself right now in the middle of bible study and not care who's watching or who's listening and just somehow express your personal praise to god for a minute and forget about the preacher staring at you forget about the saints sitting around you every once in a while you just need to allow the flow of the spirit that is the best way to thwart the flesh that is the best way to get close to god that is the best way to live victorious is every once in a while you just need to shake yourself and worship god every once in a while you just need to have an impromptu prayer meeting without pastor calling that prayer meeting every once in a while that interrupts the traffic of the flesh in your life that thwarts the flesh and cuts it off don't make any provision for the flesh here's the point for tonight and i'll be as quick as i can but pastor raymond i've tried to do that and i still fall and i still fail and i still stumble so i want to know why isn't my faith enough why isn't my faith enough and i will answer that from peter's writing tonight why isn't your faith enough it's because your faith was not designed to be enough by god it was not designed to be enough you remember that james said faith without works is your faith wasn't designed to be enough and now his friend peter is going to say it this way watch this and beside this giving all diligence in other words make every effort to add to your faith somebody say add somebody say add to your faith peter said your faith is wonderful it's faith that first brings us to god but now that you have a relationship with god it's time to start growing it's time to start learning it's time to start maturing it's time to start developing so take that wonderful faith that god gave you but add to it because james said faith if it's dead if it's alone it's dead if it's without works it's dead what do i add to my faith well good question here's peter's answer beside this giving all diligence add to your faith these things virtue and knowledge and temperance and patience and godliness and brotherly kindness and charity that's what you need to add to your faith now if you think you're gonna all do that in like a half hour over lunch break after you finish your peanut butter and jelly sandwich not gonna happen that way but over time as you live for god these are things you should be adding to your faith these are the symptoms of a victorious life and so this is what peter's saying first he says add to your faith virtue many of the newer bible translations if you've got a new translation of the english bible it might say add to your faith goodness or add to your faith integrity and that's an accurate way to say this add to your faith integrity out of your faith goodness because the term peter uses here depicts a goodness that lives in us it's a goodness that is with us even when nobody sees us it's a goodness that is with us when we're in the dark and nobody knows what we're doing it's something that we are long before it is ever a deed that we do this kind of goodness this kind of integrity is literally the character of god living in us peter said you need to monitor yourself you need to take your your pulse a little bit and make sure that you're adding to your faith integrity our most accurate modern word for virtue would be the word integrity integrity comes from the same root as the word integrate which means to unite together and it also comes from the same root as the word integer which is a whole number that can't be fractioned or divided when our heart's motives match our words and our actions we have integrity when our private reality matches our public reputation we have integrity when we refuse to cover secret sin and we live transparently and honestly before god and others only then do we have integrity if i could say this to you on the authority of god's word through the words of peter refuse to live with secrets refuse to live with sin refuse to live with a hidden private world that nobody knows that you are constantly losing battle after battle after battle you say i don't know why i'm struggling you're struggling because you're hiding i don't know why i keep falling down you're falling down because you're trying to do it all alone without being open and honest paul said to the romans don't be overcome of evil but overcome evil with good with virtue with integrity with honesty with goodness with openness i'll tell you how you whoop the devil i'll tell you how you get rid of besetting sin you just become an open book i'm struggling pastor i'm struggling husband i'm struggling wife i'm struggling mom or dad i'm struggling brother or sister i need somebody to pray for me i need somebody to hold me accountable because i refuse to go to hell over a secret sin while i sat in church and looked like a pentecostal i refuse add to your faith integrity add to your faith goodness and to your faith virtue that's how you keep from falling peter said after that you need to add to virtue you need to add knowledge and again he's not talking about what we need to know he's talking about who we need to know we do need to know truth somebody say truth we use that word a lot i love it truth is knowing about god some people belittle truth truth is knowing about god well it's just stuff about god don't you ever belittle that any more than you would belittle somebody for knowing their spouse's birth date or their anniversary or their spouse's food preferences you don't belittle them for knowing something about their spouse but while that is true knowing about someone is not the same as knowing them anybody can look up beverly's birth date or our anniversary probably on google and so knowing about her is not the same as knowing her you can know all kinds of truth you can debate all kinds of doctrine you can push everybody that's not of your persuasion in the corner on prophecy and on the godhead and on everything else but if you never get to know god that is wasted knowledge that is a pointless exercise because the purpose of truth is to bring us to the author of truth the purpose of truth is to shine a spotlight on us so we see the falsehoods that are within us it's no accident that peter tells us add virtue add integrity add goodness to your faith and then he tells us to add knowledge because if you just have knowledge it can bring a whole lot of spiritual pride and arrogance and the only antidote for pride is integrity to say i'm really not everything that you think i am or that i portray myself to be apart from integrity knowledge can be wielded like a weapon you can humiliate or antagonize or intimidate or ostracize other people with your knowledge of the bible your knowledge of the bible god didn't give you that gift to use as a baseball bat to hammer other people and other churches and other christians and pastors and denominations god gave you that to try to bless people and to build up people and to gently kindly lovingly lead them to truth unless knowledge is placed on a foundation of integrity we just end up being a bunch of spiritual snobs do you know why some people have no burden to win the lost it's because they feel so smug and satisfied i've got the truth i've got the truth every day they just pat themselves on the back i've got the truth and the only time they ever talk about that truth is when they tell somebody else you don't have the truth i've got the truth we've got the truth if we have truth then there's only one good reason that god invested eternal truth in a church like this and that's so people that don't have truth can be loved toward truth can be brought toward truth can be carried toward truth that's our job paul said if any man think that he knows anything he knows nothing yet as he ought to know if paul was writing he pardoned me from the mirror machine today he'd say you think you're smart you ain't that's what he'd say all you mayor machiars if you're offended i'll get to you in a minute we'll pray you through paul said here's something else you need to add to your face somebody say add see see this is where we make the mistake well i had the new birth experience and i'm part of the church and i'm saved congratulations that's a beginning not an ending it's a new birth not a graduation and so we add to our faith and here's something paul says you need to add to your faith temperance temperance is a bible word for self-control and self-control brothers and sisters is more than just keeping your instincts and your urges in check self-control has to do with your mind because self-control biblically speaking is a capacity to think clearly about what matters most self-control is being is having a disciplined attentiveness to god self-control is having a shrewd awareness of the devil's devices self-control is having a heightened uh sense of spiritual reality self-control is really about paying attention to what matters most see self-control we think well that's holding myself back long before it ever becomes about holding yourself back from sin self-control is the ability to discern things as they are and act in the light of that wisdom so you've always got your radar out there you've always got your senses and your feelers out there because you're not going to be taken advantage of by the devil you are not going to fall into his trap again in his first letter peter paired self-control with spiritual alertness because in the pressures of the end time undisciplined people can all too easily let the devil gain an advantage simply because they're careless so what should we do it's the end time i'm scared i'm going to fall no we don't panic we pray it's not about dramatics it's about discipline peter's saying get a grip on yourself calm down and pray when you're in trouble pray when you're in temptation pray when the world's pushing against you pray when you've got enemies pray he said that takes self-control to not freak out but pray he says in his first letter we read it a few months ago be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion he walketh about and he's seeking whom he may devour i refuse to be somebody that the devil devours i refuse to be somebody that the devil destroys i refuse to be somebody that the devil takes advantage of because i am going to be to the best of my ability i'm going to be temperate i'm going to be in self-control i'm going to stay calm and cool and collected and pray we are in weird times in this world we've all been talking about it for weeks and months and i am getting weary of the worriers i got to tell you because worry accomplishes exactly zero nothing nothing worry is defined as negative faith that's what worry is faith is believing for something good to happen worry is believing for something bad to happen now if you choose to have that kind of negative faith you'll just have to knock yourself out but please do it in a corner all by yourself because i don't want to have to look at it watch it listen to it i just don't want to bother i am so tired of people thinking that god is on vacation in the year 2020 or that he fell off his throne and hurt himself and he's in the hospital god is still in charge and we're going to be just fine and the church is going to be victorious i made some of the warriors uh angry right then so now they have worry and anger so they'll just have to deal with it but it's bible study it's my job to make you mad okay so here we go peter said oh this is a good one isn't it amazing how the word of god just flows here's what you need to add to your faith next we're going to say patience you need to add some patience with pastor just add some the word peter uses right here for patients is actually perseverance hypomonee patience it's not just being patient in a bank line it's not just being patient and allowing to get in a store it's it's it's a military term it describes a soldier holding his position on a battlefield he's persevering now there are two situations where a soldier on a battlefield would be tempted to abandon his post first of all when nothing's happening and they're bored out of their mind that's when they're tempted to abandon their post and it's the same with you when it's one endless week after another after another and the trial won't let up and the opposition won't let up and the attack won't let up and you just think i i don't know it just seems like it never ends or it's just like nothing's happened you've prayed no answer you prayed no miracle you prayed no deliverance and you just think i'm just going through the motions that's the time when you're tempted to check out when nothing's happening but there's another time when you're tempted to abandon your post that's when everything happens all at once and all hell breaks loose in one afternoon and you just don't know which way to turn and you just feel like i i can't do this anymore can i tell you what peter would tell you it's too soon to quit it's too soon to turn around it's too soon to go back to the world in fact any time is too soon to quit any time is too soon to turn around and any time is too soon to go back to the world peter mentioned suffering 17 times in the first letter he wrote to these people but the persecution they had endured it was coming from the roman empire around them because they were christians think about this if they had just quit i'll stop being a christian the persecution the opposition would have vanished overnight all they had to do was say i quit and they would have been fine and sometimes you felt like that you don't have to raise your hand or admit it sometimes you felt like if i just quit nobody would even care if i just quit nobody would even notice if i just quit it would get easier when you feel that feeling what you need is to add to your faith some perseverance you just need to add to your faith a little stick-to-itiveness you just need to add to your faith a little bit of squaring your shoulders and straightening your backbone and staying in the fight the devil said just say i never knew him everyone will leave you alone you'll be fine i'm not a christian i don't follow jesus i never knew him it'd be so easy wouldn't it peter peter would say no i was already there i remember the night when i said i never knew him thank god jesus forgave me and jesus redeemed me and jesus taught me something peter had been made wise through his own failings through his own fall and that's why he's so adamant on this point trust me i've been through this already i've backslid already i messed up already so please hear me don't quit whatever you do it's not worth it i was there almost fell off the precipice but jesus pulled me back it's not worth it don't quit stay in it the writer of hebrews he said this therefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses there's a lot of people in heaven that made it through trials worse than mine there's a lot of people in heaven that survive sickness worse than mine there's a lot of people in heaven that had opposition far worse than mine and they made it and they are now gathered in a great cloud of witnesses and if you could see through the heavens and see that crowd cloud of witnesses what you'd be seeing is a group of people they'd almost be in a chant up there saying don't quit keep going don't quit keep going don't quit it's not worth it don't quit keep going there is a great cloud of witnesses and so the writer says so because we know they made it let's get up let's stand up let's toughen up let's lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us get rid of that lay that down deal with that and run with perseverance run with patience the race that is set before us somebody say patience somebody say persevere that's what we need to do peter said something else you need to add to your faith is godliness and the greek word here is sometimes translated holiness one of the reasons a lot of people fail in living for god they don't survive is because they didn't think holiness was all that important godliness was all that important to their living for god and so they mess it up because what they don't understand is that holiness puts a fence a boundary a wall a shield a protection between us and the world and so this word describes a heart that is set on god a heart that is focused on his commandments this word literally godliness it means god-centeredness and godliness begins in the heart don't let anybody ever tell you different it has to start in your heart but it doesn't stay in your heart if you've got true godliness and holiness in your heart it can't help but show itself to others godliness requires not just a change in your belief godliness requires a change in your behavior godly people live in such a way that they arouse curiosity and they provoke questions people start to wonder about godly people because they're different they're peculiar even and the godly don't get offended by that they are prepared to tell anyone who asked them about the hope that they have in jesus they don't conceal it they don't compromise it but neither do they answer an arrogance the bible says peter said this in his first letter he said you sanctify you make holy the lord god in your heart but also let it come out let it be seen be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you and do it with meekness and fear do it with humility and do it with a reverence for them add to your faith godliness holiness this isn't a test this isn't a list you have to memorize but there's a principle here that peter's given us if you think it's enough just to believe in jesus and then set everything on autopilot you're not going to survive the end times you're not going to survive the last days because the last days will not let you live on autopilot as a christian you're going to have to pray you're going to have to be faithful you're going to have to have some holiness to protect you you're going to have to have some self-control you're going to have to have some of these things so i'm not even saying peter's given us an exhaustive checklist he's just given us a principle that it's not enough to just say well i believed in jesus 40 years ago i was baptized 30 years ago i received the holy ghost 20 years ago and so now i'm just kind of floating through until the rapture you better not be floating through there are enough undercurrents to pull you totally off course in the last days but if the church can get stirred up about god and stirred up about holiness and stirred up about prayer in the last days we're not just going to survive it we're going to thrive in it and we're going to have revival in the midst of it but the thing is peter wants us to be stirred up somebody say stirred he said you need to add a couple more things to your faith and i'll hasten he said you need to add brotherly kindness to your faith here peter uses the word that's become the name of a famous city philadelphia that's a greek word and philadelphia is more than just a kind act that you do at a distance with a degree of detachment anybody can write a check and mail it off but philadelphia brotherly kindness it is something that is close up and hands on and face to face when we're unwilling to put up with the inconveniences created by other people look at somebody else and say you're really different don't enjoy it too much they are they're really different than you are some of you husbands and wives are really into this because you were saying that in other tones before you came to church they are really different and people that are different than us they inconvenience us and they sometimes irritate us and if you are unwilling to negotiate that all you really can muster up is kindness but that's not philadelphia that's not brotherly kindness brotherly kindness gets personal and brotherly kindness gets practical philadelphia brotherly kindness is to love what god loves god loves your brother and god loves your sister in peter's day the term philadelphia described an exclusive relationship that existed between brothers it was an exclusive relationship philadelphia was the ancient way of saying blood is thicker than water but the new testament church they were so amazing they took this term that was meant to be exclusive and keep everybody out we're brothers it's philadelphia you can't get in the new testament church took that term which was meant to be exclusive and they turned it inside out backwards and upside down and they made it a term that meant inclusive because now a brother or sister was anybody who had been washed in the blood of jesus so a term that used to be used to keep other people out now got used as a term to welcome people in and god help us in the last days church we've got to be a church of brotherly kindness there shouldn't be fractures and fissures and frustrations left to fester between you and your brothers and sisters in the church every once in a while you just need to turn the water of the word of god on yourself and let it wash all that junk out of your heart because that should not be named among us especially in the last days racing the rapture it's too dangerous to have that in your heart so we need brotherly kindness john said if a man says i love god but he hates his brother let me give you the evaluation of his relationship with god he is a liar and liars go to hell not heaven for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he say he loves god whom he hath not seen away with the notion that you can hate somebody and then you can come and you can worship and love god god doesn't receive that worship god doesn't receive that prayer the first prayer you need to pray is not oh thank you jesus or oh i love you god the first prayer you need to pray is forgive me jesus a prayer of repentance and then this god is so wonderful and loving he'll forgive you and then he'll let you pray those other prayers somebody say brotherly kindness i thank god for our church we have such a wonderful group of people here and that's because of you you are those people and i don't know of any situations i'm not preaching about any particular thing or to any particular person i'm just grateful we have the unity that we have to love and to worship god together but i'm smart enough to know that the devil doesn't work in the altar and on the platform and out in public where he can be seen he whispers he gossips he slanders he talks in secret and in private and under the cloak of darkness we've got to be careful in the last of the last days because the devil would love to bring a fracture to any great church like this church but peter said i just want to stir you up so that you're watching for that i want to stir you up so you're on guard against that and i join him tonight finally there's one more thing peter said i want you to add this to your faith i want you to add charity to your faith the word peter uses here is famous it's agape we often define agape as unconditional love and that's accurate but agape is way more stubborn than that agape is love even in the face of fierce resistance agape chooses to love in spite of opposition agape chooses to love even in the face of betrayal and rejection agape just exists without any specific reason agape shows up unannounced and unexpected and undeserved agape pursues us even if we run from it that's how jesus found you he pursued you with an unconditional love that you didn't deserve you cannot fall into agape love you can't fall out of agape love because agape is a choice this is the way god loves us and this is how he wants his church to love each other philadelphia is brotherly kindness philadelphia is loving what god loved your brother but agape is loving as god loves that's unconditionally this church is a welcoming place this church welcomes people who have messed up this church welcomes people who have made horrible mistakes and committed terrible sin this church welcomes people who have attacked us and maligned us fought against us preached about us this church welcomes everybody we're not here to keep people out of heaven we're here to get as many people to heaven as we possibly can so guess what we love unconditionally we love even if the love isn't returned to us we love even if there's opposition against us we just love because we are the people of god beloved if god so loved us we ought to love one another so i'll conclude make every effort peter said give all diligence to add to your faith this is peter's secret brothers and sisters he said if you want to live an overcoming christian life you've got to add to your faith you're constantly going to struggle if you only try to just maintain your faith you've got to grow in your faith and that growing only happens if you look after it on a daily basis so many people are stagnated in their spiritual life and they don't realize how serious the situation is if you're not moving forward in god there's only one other direction and the bible calls it backsliding if you're not moving forward you're backsliding peter says if all of these things that i just listed if all of these things are added to your faith if they're in you and they abound here's what it'll do for you it'll make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ but if you lack these things if you don't add these things to your faith if you just kind of maintain and just kind of hang in there and hope for the best he that lacks these things you don't understand you're blind you can't see afar off you've forgotten that you were purged from your old sins i state emphatically tonight that the reason there are so many depressed discouraged defeated christians is that they have never added anything to their faith their lives bear no fruit for god's kingdom and over time they totally lose their spiritual sight and their sensitivity to god and their lives end up reflecting the world they were once delivered from more than they reflect the god who delivered them that is tragic but the good news is that doesn't have to be you that doesn't have to be us that doesn't have to be here that doesn't have to be this church peter said wherefore the rather brethren give diligence make your calling and election sure because if you do these things if you'll listen to me if i can stir you up enough that you say yeah i got to get more discipline i need to add that to my faith i need integrity added to my faith i need brotherly kindness added to my faith if you can do that you'll make your calling and your election sure if you do these things here's quite a guarantee you shall never fall you'll be backslide proof you will be sin proof you will be hell proof for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ if you do these things you won't fall you won't fail that's a pretty good guarantee from the word of god kathy come on back christians who are consistently growing christians who are consistently adding to their faith they are secure in their salvation they are stable in their walk with god and they are abundantly blessed not only here on earth but in heaven as two of history's greatest apostles said goodbye to those that they loved in the last letters they would ever write they both said the same thing they both wanted to keep the church stirred peter said i want to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance and paul said i want to stir up the gift of god which is in you by the putting on of my hands the message of those two apostles two of history's greatest their message is insistent and passionate they have no time to waste and their voices are still ringing loudly two thousand years later their words from an ancient book are more relevant than ever before if you could listen they're saying stay stirred don't get comfortable don't get lethargic don't become apathetic stay stirred up don't forget that you have an adversary don't forget that your flesh can trip you up don't forget that the world is not your friend don't forget you are living in the last days don't forget we got lost people to reach and don't forget that jesus is coming soon church don't forget to stir it up don't forget to stay stirred in your spirit i just feel like praying in tongues for a minute before we go would you just lift up your voice and like a war cry would you just begin to pray in the spirit everybody in this room i'm after you tonight pastors after you tonight to stir you up i know it's bible study but we can stir it on bible study we can be stirred up in the midweek we can be stirred up when we're studying scripture we can be stirred we have to be stirred it's the last days and if we can stay stirred up we're going to get all the way to heaven and we're going to take a lot of people with us stir it up church stir up the gift that is in you stir up your pure mind by way of remembrance stay stirred [Music] i'm not going to hold you but i just want you to pray for a minute i really wish some tongue talkers would exercise that gift that power that god-given ability that heavenly language there's a loosing there's a stirring when you pray like that [Music]

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 25,620

Rating: 4.8769231 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching

Id: nFGWrf5-o6s

Length: 61min 3sec (3663 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020