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May 5 - 2 Peter 1 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, It's shown here. It's Monday, it's the 5th of
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  May. It's the start of a new week.
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  And to celebrate this new week, we've got a new book to read.
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  This is the second book written by our impetuous mate Peter
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  Jesus, close friend and disciple.
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  And you'll remember in the first book he wrote to the early
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  Christians spread all around the world, urging them to hold true
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  to their faith in the midst of communities that didn't
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  understand them. And in the second letter you
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  find in your Bible from Peter, we have got Peter writing into a
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  different circumstance here. You have got these teachers who
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  are spreading this teaching around the early church, which
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  is basically saying you guys have got it all wrong.
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  Christians, get your head out of the sand.
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  Have a look around. Jesus has not come back.
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  That first generation of apostles, they have died and
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  Jesus didn't come back. In fact, God does not intervene
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  dramatically in our world. That's not the way this works.
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  And so Peter's saying, do not listen to these teachings.
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  Hold firm to what the Scriptures say.
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  Our God is a God who steps into the story of the world to be
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  heard, to be felt, and to make a difference.
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  So that is the argument that you will hear in these three pithy
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  little chapters which make up the book of Second Peter.
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  And this is probably a fantastic message for us to hear in the
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  midst of our postmodern world where every different truth is
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  equally valid. So why don't we buckle in and
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  hear what our friend Peter has to say as we read together
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  Second Peter chapter 1. This letter is from Simon Peter,
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  a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.
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  I'm writing to you who share the same precious faith we have.
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  This faith was given to you because of the justice and
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  fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.
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  May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in
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  your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
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  By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for
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  living a godly life. We have received all of this by
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  coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of
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  His marvellous glory and excellence.
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  And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us
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  great and precious promises. These are the promises that
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  enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world's
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  corruption caused by human desires.
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  In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's
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  promises. Supplement your faith with a
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  generous provision of moral excellence and moral excellence
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  with knowledge, and knowledge with self control, and self
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  control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with
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  godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and
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  brotherly affection with love for everyone.
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  The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you
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  will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  But those who failed to develop in this way are short sighted or
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  blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old
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  sins. So, dear brothers and sisters,
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  work hard to prove that you really are among those God has
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  called and chosen. Do these things and you will
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  never fall the way. Then God will give you a grand
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  entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
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  Jesus Christ. Therefore, I will always remind
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  you about these things, even though you already know them and
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  are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.
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  And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as
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  long as I live, for our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I
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  must soon leave this earthly life.
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  So I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things
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  after I'm gone. For we were not making up clever
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  stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord
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  Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendour
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  with our own eyes when he received honour and glory from
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  God the Father. The voice from the majestic
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  glory of God said to him, This is my dearly loved Son, who
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  brings me great joy. We ourselves heard that voice
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  from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
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  Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in
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  the message proclaimed by the prophets.
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  You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words
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  are like a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns
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  and Christ, the morning star, shines in your hearts.
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  Above all you must realise that no prophecy in scripture ever
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  came from the prophets own understanding or from human
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  initiative. No, those prophets were moved by
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  the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God.
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  Lord, thank you for this encouragement, this
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  encouragement to hold firm to what we know to be true in you
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  and to all your promises and as well as the grace from you that
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  floods our life in every way. We take this encouragement, this
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  encouragement to spend our days pursuing moral excellence and
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  knowledge and self control and patient endurance and godliness
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  and affection for each other. Our Lord, if we can be these
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  people, these people who patiently endure, who love one
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  another, who strive to live morally excellent lives with
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  knowledge and self control, ah Lord, the transformation that
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  this would make not only in our lives, but in the lives of our
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  communities. And that would certainly 'cause
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  people to do a double take and say, wow, there is something
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  different about those people. So, Lord, transform us, May the
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  fruits of your Spirit grow and blossom and bubble over so that
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  we can be your transformed people bringing about your
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  Kingdom in our lives. And we pray all of this in your
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  saving name, Jesus, Amen.