Stirred: The Church in the Last Days - Part 4 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

tonight we finish a four-part series on a wonderful epistle the epistle of ii peter and we've called this series stirred in his first letter peter warned about persecution that would come from outside of the church but in this second letter he warns the people the believers about false teaching that would rise up from inside the church peter warned them that this time around spiritual opposition would actually come from those who say they are believers they still profess to know jesus but they've departed from the doctrine and from the godly lifestyle taught by the apostles and now those same people are trying to influence others in the church to follow them in their backsliding they question they even attack the teaching of the elders and it is a treacherous time in the middle of the 1st century peter wants to stir up that church to remember what they've been taught peter tells them in order to prepare the church for the future we must remember the past i am neither ashamed nor embarrassed nor intimidated by the heritage that we have been passed i am so thankful to be an apostolic pentecostal believer our elders were good and godly men and women who literally prayed us into existence and if you think we're gonna apologize that they were different or they live different or they talk different or they walk different we're not apologizing for that god help us to live the same kind of lives that our elders lived but peter lived and preached at the beginning of the church age we brothers and sisters live and preach at the end of the church age just before the coming of the lord jesus christ if it was important for saints to stay stirred up in the first century it is exponentially more important for the saints of god to stay stirred up in the 21st century and we've walked through this little epistle it's not very long in the first half of chapter 1 peter tells these believers he says make every effort give all diligence to add to your faith don't just coast don't just say i just believed and that's all i need no he said you add to your faith add virtue knowledge temperance patience add godliness brotherly kindness charity and he says if you'll do these things if you won't just sit there if you won't just coast if you'll actively add to your faith you shall never fall the greatest protection against backsliding is to dig your hands and your feet your heart and your soul deep into the word of god deep into a move of god and just stay there and that's peter's secret to living a victorious christian life continually add to your faith grow in god in the second half of chapter 1 peter turns his attention to the word of god and that is what our faith is built upon not men and women personalities denominations our faith is not built on personality cults our faith is built on the word of god and he emphasizes the importance of knowing the scriptures that is our defense against false doctrine you see false teachers can easily seduce people who don't know their bible there are tens of thousands of people all around our province that want a spiritual experience but a spiritual experience without the word of god at its root is a dangerous spiritual experience deception can come like a virus in the middle of that kind of experience god's word is the only foundation for the christian life not what you feel not what you think not your opinion or anybody else's but what the word of god says that is your foundation for your christian life last week we talked about chapter two and in chapter two peter warned that church he said you beware of counterfeit apostles you beware of carnal prophets false teachers fake saints beware of them their version of christianity is easy comfortable lenient casual accommodating popular their message gives people a good feeling but the problem is it's totally false these false teachers please hear pastor they use our vocabulary but they don't use our dictionary they say salvation but it doesn't mean the same thing as what the bible teaches they say holy spirit but it doesn't mean the same thing as what the bible talks about they talk about repentance but it's a far cry from the life-changing experience of the word of god they talk about baptism but it can be done a dozen different ways but they use our vocabulary but you've got to use this dictionary the word of god to define what the word of god is talking about immature believers hear those kind of preachers and teachers and they think because they use similar words that they're pentecostal in doctrine but sadly they're far from it and they love to flaunt their new lifestyle their new liberty and they don't even see that it's the same old bondage that they were once delivered from and they've fallen back into it it's a tragedy it's a travesty but it's a sign of the last days and now in chapter 3 peter will turn his attention to the reason all of this is so critically important the reason we must protect truth and reject error the reason the church must remain stirred the reason do you know why because jesus is coming soon that's why peter says this second epistle brethren beloved i'm writing it to you in both which i stir up somebody shall stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance why that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the lord and savior how can you avoid the lethargy and the apathy of the end times how can you overcome the carnal appetites of our culture and the cunning attacks of the devil how can you stay stirred in your spirit here's how you have to live your life every single day being mindful of the word of god it is very easy folks to become accustomed to being a church member to be a cause become accustomed to coming to church services to become accustomed to a little bit of worship and a little bit of praise and a little bit of prayer and a little bit of word but we need more than that eutychus fell asleep and fell out a window listening to the great apostle paul preaching but i got one worse than that spiritually speaking an entire generation right now is basically asleep and complacent but in the middle of a sleepy complacent last days generation that is far from god and messed up so badly there is a church whose desire is to stay stirred up in the holy ghost every single day and to stay mindful of the word paul said this he said knowing the time that now it is high time to awake and asleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed if i could i love to come down there and just get a hold of some of you and just shake you a little bit but you have to do that yourself spiritually you have to every once in a while wake up wake up it's too close to the end for you to doze off spiritually jesus is coming too soon for you to just kind of fall asleep at the wheel of your life every once in a while you've got to grab yourself by your lapels and say wake up it's time to be serious about living for god peter said this not everybody is interested in staying stirred you know he said knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers they will walk after their own lust and here's what the scoffers will say in the last days where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers the elders fell asleep since the elders died all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation the elders preached about the coming of the lord the elders preached about the rapture the elders preached about the end times and the last days but we buried the elders and since they fell asleep it's all just the same so why should we be concerned why should we have any kind of special anxiety about the times in which we live one of the major themes that runs through the word of god is this phrase the day of the lord the day of the lord is that time at the end of time when our god will right wrongs judge sin reward righteousness and set up his eternal kingdom it's not just the old testament prophets who talk about the day of the lord the new testament apostles did too including peter in fact one out of every 30 verses in the new testament mentions the subject of the end of time or of the coming of jesus back to this earth it has never been more important more critical more crucial more central to be ready for jesus return there are many signs given in the bible to let us know we are living in the last days in matthew chapter 24 jesus pinpointed a generation that wouldn't be any different than any other generation except for this they would live in a time when they witnessed a rapid series of astounding events that would culminate in his second coming jesus warned us of false prophets and religious leaders who would deceive masses of people while calling themselves christians jesus warned of wars and threats of war jesus warned about ethnos shall rise against ethnos nation against nation or we would say ethnicity against ethnicity jesus warned about increasing rates of famine and disease and earthquakes in many many places he said jesus said believers you you will be hated persecuted and some will even be killed for their faith jesus said offense and betrayal will cause many people to lose their faith and because there would be such open iniquity jesus even said that the love of many will wax cold it'll be like a candle with a hot flame but when it gets blown out the wax just begins to cool and harden not only does the word of god predict his coming but the word of god also predicts the appearance of scoffers who will deny that word their very presence in our generation every late-night comedian who mocks the bible and christianity and men and women of god they are a sign of the end times their presence the scoffers in our generation that's just one more sign that jesus is coming soon a scoffer is someone who treats lightly what should be taken seriously they scoff at the bible they scoff at heaven or hell they scoff at the very existence of god and they scoff most of all at the idea of his coming back judgment the rapture and why do they scoff the bible tells us in peter's words because they want to continue walking after their own lusts they scoff because they want to continue living in sin and what is their argument against the coming of the lord here's their argument well it hasn't happened yet so it can't be real where is the promise of his coming anyway what about all those passionate sermons preached years ago about the rapture every one of those preachers is dead and gone and jesus still hasn't returned so they must have been wrong life just goes on as usual the world didn't end nothing has changed all things continue as they were but if he could that day of pentecost preacher named peter would rise up speak up from his grave and he would make his case and here's what he would say for this they are willingly ignorant of they're not innocently ignorant they're willingly ignorant that by the word of god the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water peris that's the flood in noah's day but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of godly men well thank you pastor that's a king james tongue twister well let me help you with that peter declares these scoffers are willingly ignorant they don't understand because they don't want to understand they want to ignore anything and everything that convicts them and their argument is that the world has always been this way human history is stable it's carried on for millennia so it's nothing to be alarmed about all these signs of the times it's nothing to be alarmed about a global pandemic that shuts down borders and air travel in the hotel industry and keeps people in and kills over a million people oh that's nothing to be concerned about it's just ordinary human history unfolding and peter counters their faulty thinking and he just does it by saying one thing he reminds them of what god did in the past god created this world by his word and you read the genesis account he brought the ground that you walk on the ground that your house sits on he brought that ground he brought the earth out of the water that's what peter said peter said yeah and after god did that human life remains stable for many years but when wickedness engulfed the world in the time of noah that same god by that same word allowed water to overflow the earth once again and judge humanity just because a flood had never happened just because it had never rained on the earth before that didn't mean god would not intervene in judgment he did it in the day of noah when the world was overflowed with water and perished now our world today you can listen to all the talking heads if you want to our world today is not being held together by human power or human ingenuity or human brilliance our word is being helped world is being held together today by that very same word of god that spoke this world into existence and the god who spoke this world into existence and the god who is holding everything together he reserves the right to judge the world once again he promised in genesis 9 11 he would never again send the flood that would cover the whole earth but he declared that the next judgment on the whole earth will be by fire that's never happened before i say to you what peter said to them just because it has never happened before does not mean that god will not intervene in judgment he did it in the past and he says he will do it again the day of the lord is inevitable the day of the lord is coming at this planet like a freight train roaring in their ears but they can't even see it because they don't want to see it but beloved don't be ignorant of one thing that one day is with the lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day our god the lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men would accuse him of being slack but he is long suffering toward us he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance see what peter just did there is he anticipated their next objection their first objection was well everything kind of continues on like it was so he he tackles that and then he anticipates their next objection well if god reserves the right to judge the world then why the delay why is it taking god so long and once again he exposes their ignorance not only are they ignorant of what god has done in the past in his judgments they are also ignorant of something much more important they are ignorant of what god is like they don't know him when it looks like god is delaying his judgment on this world you remember two things when it looks like what the elders preached to us didn't come true you remember two things number one god is eternal and number two god is merciful some of us have felt his mercy some of us desperately needed his mercy some of us are here tonight because of his mercy so the next time somebody accuses your god of being so powerless that he can't judge the world it's just fiction you remember two things god's eternal he's not working on your timetable and god is merciful you see man men and women we're immortal we have a beginning but we don't have an ending you are an eternal soul you are not a human being having a spiritual experience you are a spiritual being that's going to live forever somewhere and right now for 60 or 70 or 80 or 90 years you're having a physical experience but you are going to live forever somewhere man woman human beings have an a beginning but not an ending but we dwell in time someday when god wraps up time we are going to exist forever in either heaven or hell but our god he is not limited by time like you are he has neither beginning nor ending he dwells in eternity no eternity is not just endless boring time eternity is existence apart from time it is existence that is totally different from time and as a result of him living in eternity god has a completely different perspective than you and i do with him one day is as a thousand years so our god is never in a hurry but he's never late either some of you that have answered prayers you know that you said he's not in a hurry you prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed but he wasn't late god this god our god he waited for one pharaoh to die and another pharaoh to succeed him just so he could put israel into slavery and then pay them back wages for 430 years on the night they spoiled the egyptians when they were delivered from slavery he did that he waited this god our god he promised them a land flowing with milk and honey but then he held up israel's journey for 40 years in the wilderness you know why just so he could work out a few character flaws in the people you wonder why it's taken so long you may be telling on yourself this god our god he rejected king saul and he anointed young david to be king but then he just stood back and watched for the next dozen to 15 years as saul clung to his throne and hunted david like a fugitive and nearly killed him you know why god did that oh just so he could build a man after god's own heart that's why he let him walk through that i get emails and phone calls and text messages and oh my goodness i wish there were a few less ways to get a hold of a pastor in the year of our lord 2020. and you try to keep up with it all sometimes all the windows pop open at once there used to be a program i can't remember what it was called it on on the computer some of you probably still have it uh ding you've got mail it doesn't sound like that anymore is that aol it doesn't sound like that anymore it sounds like ding ding ding ding ding you've got mails you get so many so many mails so many emails so many texts so many letters and sometimes buried under those letters those emails those texts is the question why pastor why i don't understand i'm a good person i have faith in god prayed over my kids tried to serve god try to be a giver and buried under if you could dig far enough buried under that is why and i got to tell you i don't have any good answers i don't know why i try to give them all the right things and say pastor what pastors are supposed to say but i don't know why but when i read what peter writes here that we serve a god with whom one day is as a thousand years it gives me just a little glimpse into something that you don't know what god's up to because he's not operating on your timetable i want to spring you out of that sickness tonight i want your kids to come back to god this weekend i want them to pray through right now i want it all to be over yesterday but i don't control that but with our god one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day here's what i can tell you this is all i can tell you it's not even a good answer but our god knows he understands he is with you you don't have to be afraid and when he has tried me i shall come forth as gold that's all i got but that's enough when you trust this god that we serve oh i need somebody to lift up your hands and just thank god for a moment we serve a god who is in control we serve a god who loves us we serve a god who is with us i wish some intercessors would just take about 30 seconds and just lift up that cry in prayer just lift up that push in the supernatural jesus is here on a bible study night jesus is here he's walking with you you can't see him you might not be able to feel him you might not know what he's doing but he is with you fear not i am with you yes yes yes yes the spirit of the lord is here i can feel him in the atmosphere tonight not only is our god eternal but he is merciful if he has delayed his coming prophetically i'm not a scholar on that i don't know if it's possible for him to delay his coming i'm not sure i don't think so but i'm not sure but if he has delayed his coming i do know why it's not because he's unable to wrap everything up it's not because he's unwilling to bring judgment and right wrongs if he has delayed his coming if it is possible for him to delay his coming it's only for one reason because he's merciful because he's long suffering and if you think i don't want my kids to be lost god doesn't want your kids to be lost i don't want my grandkids to be away from god when he comes god doesn't want your grandkids to be away from him when he comes if he has delayed his coming it's only for one reason he is merciful [Applause] he's long suffering god doesn't want anyone to spend eternity in hell he wants all sinners to come to repentance when peter uses that phrase come to repentance it literally means this he wants all sinners to make room for repentance he wants stuff to happen in their lives he's orchestrating things behind the scenes so their heart will open up and make room for repentance to get in there even the scoffers who right now mock his mercy god doesn't want them to go to hell either this isn't in the notes but i got to say it if you secretly kind of grin inside thinking that someday some perverted person some evil sinister person somebody that hates god and you and church and righteousness if somewhere inside of you there's this little smug smirk that someday they're gonna get what's coming to them because god's going to throw them in hell that's not the spirit of jesus that is not the spirit of jesus he doesn't want anybody to go to hell i don't care how warped and messed up and perverted they are he doesn't want them to go to hell he created them and if you want them to go to hell you need to pray because you are in danger of even people who mock him and mock church and mock righteousness they lie they don't love truth but god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent people need to repent god doesn't need to repent he hasn't done sin hath god said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good if god said it he's going to do it so now having refuted the scoffers attacks peter now reaffirms the certainty of the day of the lord when one more time before we get out of here the world will be judged when will it come peter no one knows because it will come as a thief in the night but the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up jesus used the image of a thief in matthew 24 and so did the apostle paul in first thessalonians 5. and here's what they said when the world is feeling secure like they've got it all under control that everything's just going to keep going on then god's judgment will fall the thief doesn't warn his victims that he's coming we don't know when it will happen but we know that it will happen paul said for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them has travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape but you brethren not you you're not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief you have the light of god in you you have the word of god in you you've been baptized with the holy ghost you've been baptized in jesus name you repented at an altar not you if anybody should be living with the coming of the lord in mind it's you not you it shouldn't be coming as a thief to you you should be expecting it any day i look around we've got these fine bible college students here tonight some young people we've got a room full of young people in there you've got precious children with you tonight some of these young people they're not going to get to have a career they're not going to get to have children and grandchildren they're not going to get to have a retirement because jesus is coming and he's going to interrupt somebody's life one of these days and they're not going to grow old and gray-headed and we're not going to have their funeral they're going to go from a pew to the streets of gold they're going to go from their living room to gates of pearl because jesus is coming i feel the anointing of the holy ghost but my pastor tells me and i believe him that every once in a while you feel the anointing the mantle of some old elders that just rests on you for a little while and i believe him when he says that i feel the anointing of some elders that were behind me they came ahead of me in this area they preached in this city in 1920 in a tenth and we are only here because they preach to us they preach to our parents and grandparents that jesus is coming and i feel a little bit of their mantle tonight because if he was coming in 1920 he's coming in 2020. i know people don't like it when preachers yell i'm so sorry to offend you but i feel the anointing of some elders that didn't even have a pa system they grew up yelling they yelled you need to repent they yelled you need to be baptized they yelled you get to receive the holy ghost and i feel a little bit of their unction on me tonight because we got to stay stirred because jesus is coming [Applause] oh let your voice out like a cry like like a cry just let your voice out and pray church [Music] oh yes yes yes thank god you're in the church thank god you're in bible study tonight thank god you're feeling the holy ghost tonight thank god you're still able to lift up your hands and pray thank god jesus is moving in your life thank god you're on this side of the rapture you can get anything right in your life right now you can get anything forgiven right now you can put your past in the past right now thank god we're still here oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus anytime you mention the coming of the lord of the end times of the last days somebody goes off on some extreme or some tangent or gets up on some soapbox the purpose of prophecy is not speculation and fighting and arguing about all the little details of prophecy the purpose of prophecy is not speculation the purpose purpose of prophecy is motivation to get us ready for the coming of the lord i don't care if you think he's coming right now or seven years from now or three and a half years from now i don't care i just want you to be ready at all times because here's what i know jesus is coming we don't need to figure out exactly when he's coming we just need to be ready for his coming at all times peter wants us to be stirred up about it nothing oh nothing in this world matters except what you do for god's kingdom everything here is temporary and will be destroyed except the human soul which in you is eternal and it's going to exist somewhere forever either heaven or hell nothing else matters except your soul cindy and tammy a precious old elder in our church got down in that far stairwell in the lower auditorium when we had prayer down there and every time we had prayer meeting before church you'd hear ab mccoy praying over family and loved ones and he'd say over and over what about their soul god what about their soul god what about their the only thing that you're taking out of here with you is your soul and you get to direct where it spends eternity there's nothing more important don't forfeit your soul i i don't want to turn this into a two-hour bible study but just just an hour before church i got a note from one of our superintendents in america and and he said could you tell me something i'm preaching tonight on godliness with contentment is great gain and he said could you tell me just a little bit about benny and teresa the merchant he said i heard this about them can you verify that i said oh yeah i can verify that because i stayed i had the honor and the privilege of staying in their humble little home in manaus brazil they had nothing they gave it all to the work of god his filing cabinets were full of airplane parts and papers for the church his computer was ancient they had nothing when theresa de merchant came home after his death and moved in with her kids in the u.s she came home in seven or eight suitcases and about half of them were her pots and pans that she didn't want to part with you could have picked them up for 30 bucks at walmart but they were hers she wanted them so they brought them home nothing they gave everything and when i stayed in their home in a humble little bedroom there was a their furniture wouldn't have fetched dollars at a yard sale on the mirror in the bedroom on the dresser was a little piece of paper taped in the corner with the scripture on it daniel 12 and three they that turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever that was them they didn't leave anything but they took their souls and they took thousands of souls to heaven i'm not trying to be melancholy i'm trying to stir you up in jesus name because even on a wednesday night on the last day of september 2020 i got to remind you jesus is coming and he could come before next month yes october 1st he could come before october 1st gets here peter said seeing them that all these things look at your purse look at your clothes look at your car look at your house all these things shall be just dissolved seeing that all it's all going to disappear what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of god wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved in the elements shall melt with fervent heat your lifestyle should be different than the world if you know that jesus is coming his coming is our motivation for living a holy lifestyle peter said it's our motivation for living a prayerful lifestyle and an evangelistic lifestyle we are looking for and hasting unto the coming of the lord that literally means we're not only expecting it see a lot of people they have enough church background to kind of think oh jesus is coming we're not only expecting his coming we're excited about his coming jesus is coming he's going to right every wrong your trials will be over your pain will be passed and you're going to get to be with him forever and ever we're not only expecting his coming we're excited about his coming oh my goodness you talk about shouting the victory you talk about dancing in the spirit you talk about joy you talk about worship and praise one second after jesus gets back here there's gonna be a party in the air on route to the big party on the streets of gold jesus is coming we're not only expecting it we're excited about it i wish you'd clap your hands unto the lord not for me unto the lord and give him a shout of praise expectant praise jesus is coming brother larry if you don't get healed down here you're going to get healed on your way up there you're not going to need those you're not going to need that chair jesus is coming jesus is coming [Music] our hope is not in this world our hope is in heaven we not only know that he's coming with our head we love that he's coming with our heart we can hardly wait ah peter said i got a lot of bad news we got false prophets and fake christians and we got false apostles and counterfeit everything but we nevertheless we according to his promise we're looking for something different it's not even down here we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness wherefore beloved seeing that you are looking for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless that refers to your everyday outward life living for god that's spots without without spots and blameless because we are looking for the coming of the lord we are motivated to live diligent lives peter's used this term before in this very same letter chapter one giving all diligence add to your faith chapter one give diligence to make your calling and election sure he's already told us you need to be diligent but nowhere is it more important to be diligent than when you're talking about being ready for the coming of the lord verse 15 an account that the long-suffering of our lord is salvation god's only waiting on this because he's trying to get more people saved even as our beloved brother paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you so paul also wrote to some of these people as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things paul talked about the coming of the lord paul talked about false prophets paul talked about living a godly holy righteous life he talked about all these things in which are some things hard to be understood peter's not taking a slap at paul but he's just saying something that everybody knew was true it would be like me talking about our general superintendent david bernard who trained as a lawyer and has 75 degrees after his name he's just smart okay he's smart well peter just said you know this paul he's smart and the way paul writes it is eloquent and he's brilliant and he writes this beautiful flowing flowery theology and it's so profound and he said because he's smart there are some things in his letters that are hard to understand which they that are unlearned and unstable they rest them wrestle they twist them as they do also the other scriptures but they do it unto their own destruction again peter stresses that if jesus has delayed his coming if it is only because he wants sinners to find salvation and since peter has just told us to live godly holy peaceful spotless blameless lives he now refers to paul who has written the very same things in his epistles but the false teachers this is important the false teachers have twisted paul's teaching because paul was known just about above everything else for teaching that we are saved by grace and the false teachers have twisted his teaching that we are saved by grace and said well since we're saved by grace it makes no difference how we live now paul would have said god forbid which he said ten times alone in the book of romans and peter said this because these false teachers are unlearned they don't know the scripture and they're unstable their lives are chaos they rest they the the greek word is stroblu it means to torture or distort or pervert paul's words and they do it to their own destruction be careful of people that are always telling you you don't have to when the word of god says you should be careful of people that disregard and discount and disrespect the teaching of good godly elders that you know they knew jesus and you know they had the touch of god on their life and some kid comes along and says well they didn't know anything let me tell you it's like go sit down verse 17. ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before you already know this stuff beware beware beware ccc beware lest ye also that they could get in your ear they could get in your face they could get in your spirit beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked that you you might fall from your own steadfastness but here's what you got to do you got to keep adding to your faith don't be stagnant don't just sit there live for god with all your heart and your mind and your soul and your strength grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ to him be glory both now and forever amen peter wrote this letter to warn us against breaking down the walls of separation that must stand between true believers and false teachers he says there can be no fellowship between truth and error he cautions us don't be led away with the error of the wicked now you think the word wicked means a terribly bad person it doesn't the word means lawless a wicked person in god's sight is somebody who disregards his commandments or throws them away they live outside of what god has commanded them to do and god says they're wicked you wouldn't say they're wicked you'd say they're a nice neighbor they're a church member they're they're really polite but god says no they're wicked because they're outside of my commandments they're lawless and here's how you can tell most of the time they speak evil of those who preach and teach god's law and they despise spiritual authority peter has already told us in this book those false teachers promise their new converts you're going to have a new freedom but it turns out to be the same old bondage and they prey on young weak believers who have only recently escaped the pollutions of the world and ultimately they abort their life with god and they lead them right back into sin and darkness now peter loved these believers he's writing to and i love all of you four times in chapter three he used a term of endearment to get his point across beloved please be mindful beloved please don't be ignorant beloved please be diligent beloved please beware the false teachers in peter's day were leading many people away from apostolic doctrine and apostolic lifestyle and that's why he implores don't let it be you it may be them and we'll be sad to see them go and we'll grieve over them walking away and we'll cry tears and pray that god brings them back and that's a tragedy but don't let it be you because you can't pray to get them back if you go don't let it be you and since false teachers in our day are doing the very same thing i plead with you like peter plead with them don't let it be you guard your little family guard your marriage and your kids and your grandkids guard each other don't be led astray don't fall not this close to the coming of the lord don't fall continue to grow in grace and grow in knowledge make sure you're anchored to the word of god and i would end with one more term of endearment and i would say beloved please stay stirred in your spirit it's so easy to get complacent and lazy it is so easy to just kind of doze off spiritually it is so easy to just come to church and not let church kind of get inside of you until it almost irks your flesh and and you just think i've either got to just kind of lay back and and let my flesh take control or i just got to put the flesh down and i've got to give vent to the spirit you need that kind of church you need that kind of prayer you need that kind of preaching you need that kind of living because you've got to stay stirred up because jesus isn't coming back for people that are sound asleep spiritually the parable of the foolish virgins tells us that and so we finish our little study our little tour of the book of ii peter but i hope something in this series nags at you until it just about irritates you to death because jesus is coming i joined the host of the elders who said to my parents and those that preceded them in faith jesus is coming yeah those preachers are dead and gone and buried i saw them put them in the ground all you saw was a herald of the gospel message go into the ground the gospel didn't go into the ground the gospel came out of the ground on easter sunday morning the gospel is still living and active and powerful and so is the word that says in an hour that you think not son of man cometh and it's all over isn't that scary pastor oh no that's not scary that's absolutely thrilling no more junk and trash and garbage and sin and perversion and brokenness and addiction and bondage no more broken homes and broken minds and broken people and broken hearts jesus is coming we're not only expecting it we're excited about it there is just something about that far under the surface of this service that would love to break out before we go home and so i'm just gonna give you permission to just let it out let it out through your hands lifted let it out through your words raised let it out through your voice shout it let it out through your tears flowing let it out through your vocabulary let it out through your response but there's something in this room that would just like to break out and flow like a river because if we could ever take this home if we could ever live this every day if we could ever take this to work if we could ever take this to our neighborhood jesus is coming we'd live different we talked different we'd act different jesus is coming i'm not talking about a slumber party here in prayer i'm talking about some fervent apostolic holy ghost lifted up intercessory prayer i'm talking about a prayer warrior that you've already been feeling this in your spirit coronavirus didn't scare you coronavirus motivated you if it's this bad around the world jesus must be coming if this many people have died jesus must be coming if the governments are confused and fearful jesus must be coming if nobody knows what the answer is jesus must be coming

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 8,018

Rating: 4.9574466 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: PgBcVXvwQnA

Length: 55min 44sec (3344 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020