Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / May 6 - 2 Peter 2

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May 6 - 2 Peter 2 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday, it's the 6th of
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  May Hope you're going well. And I reckon your day might, you
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  may have to get a little bit better because today, I'm not
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  sure if you realise, but the 6th of May is actually you're ready
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  International No diet day. This is the day that I don't
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  know who came up with this, but for a number of years now it's
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  been celebrated to say, look, we spent so much time worrying
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  about our weights and eating the right thing.
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  Let's just have a day where we just let our hair down and just
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  eat the food that's in front of us and focus on something else.
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  Focus on the intrinsic things that we value in the people
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  around us rather than the surface things.
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  Now, I sincerely hope that you are not listening to this as you
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  lie in bed after a day of food deprivation.
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  Oh dear, that would be sad. But I'll let you decide just how
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  you would like to celebrate today.
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  But celebrate No, Diet day or not, we still get to read
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  another chapter of God's Word together, friends, which this is
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  the diet that we have come. This is the diet of God's Word
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  every day to shape our thoughts and our minds and our lives
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  around the living God and His Word for us.
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  Oh, how good is that? And that's what we'll do today.
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  And Peter dives head first into his reason for writing this
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  letter today where he talks about the danger of these false
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  teachings that we mentioned yesterday.
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  So why don't we read it together here?
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  Paul's argument as he argues for us and the Truth in Second
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  Peter, chapter 2. But there are also false
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  prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers
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  among you. They will cleverly teach
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  destructive heresies and even the master who bought them.
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  In this way they will bring sudden destruction on
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  themselves. Many will follow their evil
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  teaching and shameful immorality.
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  And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be
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  slandered in their greed. They will make up clever lies to
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  get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago,
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  and their destruction will not be delayed.
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  For God did not spare even the angels who sinned.
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  He threw them into hell in gloomy pits of darkness, where
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  they are being held until the day of judgement.
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  And God did not spare the ancient world, except for Noah
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  and the seven others in his family.
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  Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgement.
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  So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly
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  people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities
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  of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes.
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  He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.
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  But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous
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  man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people
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  around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who
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  was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day
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  after day. So you see, the Lord knows how
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  to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping
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  the wicked under punishment until the day of final
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  judgement. He is especially hard on those
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  who follow their own twisted sexual desire and who despise
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  authority. These people are proud and
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  arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without
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  so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far
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  greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the
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  Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural
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  beings. These false teachers are like
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  unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and
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  destroyed. They scoff at things they do not
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  understand and like animals, they will be destroyed.
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  Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have
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  done. They love to indulge in evil
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  pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain
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  among you. They delight in deception even
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  as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.
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  They commit adultery with their eyes and the desire for sin is
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  never satisfied. They lure unstable people into
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  sin and they are well trained in greed.
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  They live under God's curse. They have wandered off the right
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  road and followed the footsteps of Balaam, son of Beor, who
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  loved to earn money by doing wrong.
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  But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey
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  rebuked him with a human voice. These people are as useless as
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  dried up springs or as mist blown away by the wind.
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  They are doomed to blackest darkness.
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  They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting, with an
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  appeal of twisted sexual desires.
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  They lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a
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  lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they
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  themselves are slaves of sin and corruption.
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  For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
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  And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by
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  knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and then get
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  tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than
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  before. It would be better if they had
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  never known the way to righteousness than to know it
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  and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.
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  They prove the truth of this proverb.
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  A dog returns to its vomit and another says a washed pig
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  returns to the mud. Ah, Lord, you know only too well
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  the temptations that knock on the door of our heart, the
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  temptations for greed, for selfishness, for all sorts of
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  things that are not part of your plan for us.
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  So, Jesus, today we recommit ourselves to you.
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  Help us to live in your spirit, transforming our hearts to want
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  the things of your Kingdom, to want closer fellowship with you
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  and with each other, to be able to learn, to forgive, to share
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  your grace, to walk encouragingly with each other
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  side by side in this life. My Lord, we want to be your
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  people, people who live with the surefire knowledge that we are
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  saved and loved and secure in our identity in you and your
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  family and everything else. Lord, everything else is just
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  trimming, trimming around the edge of the plate that you are.
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  The steak, the main meal, the tofu, whatever it is that that's
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  going to bring us the sustenance, Lord, that's you.
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  And we love you and we thank you for giving us everything that we
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  need, transform us and draw us ever closer to you.
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  And we pray all of this standing at the foot of your throne, our
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  great and wonderful God, our loving and gentle Saviour,
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  that's you, Jesus, We pray this in your name, Amen.