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Check our website for upcoming events and over 500 past teachings on many different topics.

Those who KNOW GOD are empowered and expected to be GROWING to spiritual maturity. Discover a practical picture of what that looks like in real life.

God has been faithful with what He has promised in the past, and He will be faithful with what He has promised in the future. The only question is…will WE remain faithful to the promise we made to Him?

Note the link between Jesus Christ (Christ = “Messiah”) and God. It is through KNOWING God the Father and Jesus - God the Son - that you and I can have grace and peace.

Peter refers to Jesus as “our Savior”, “our Lord” and...”Our God”

James White (Greek scholar) notes 2 Peter 1:1 and 2 Peter 1:11 have the same grammatical structure in the Greek text. See Video

According to the “Granville Sharp Rule”, the Greek structure in both verses links the 2 terms to 1 person.

• Lord and Savior is linked to Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11)
• God and Savior is linked to Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1)
• Simon Peter, the one who said to Jesus “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), tells his audience that Jesus is not only Lord and Savior…Jesus is also our God!

Verse 2 shows another incredible claim: those receiving this letter have received a faith as precious as ours. 

It’s easy to think of the apostles faith as being so much more significant than ours, since they walked and talked with Jesus. Yet Simon Peter says that those who have never heard nor seen Jesus have received a faith as precious as their faith. The Greek word translated as “precious” (NIV, NET, NLT) means “equal in value/honor.”*

* Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005).

Thomas says Jesus is not only Lord (master/boss), but also calls Jesus his God!

David Helm writes: “These are the fountainhead gifts that all followers of Jesus have in their possession—the knowledge and promises of God.” [David R. Helm, 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: Sharing Christ’s Sufferings, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 193.]

How do we  live a godly life and escape the corruption in the world? We seek to grow in our knowledge of God and trust His precious promises. He has been FAITHFUL to do what He promised to do in the past, and He will be faithful to do what He has promised in the future.

Knowing God and and trusting God’s promises enables us to live Godly lives and this is how we participate in the divine nature.

Goodness: We must grow so that our behavior matches what we say we believe. Our faith in God should lead us to lives full of goodness instead of sin. The NET translates this term as “excellence” and the NAS and NLT both translate it as “moral excellence”. Is THAT what our Christian lives are looking like?

Knowledge: Christians must grow in knowledge of God, knowledge of the Scriptures, and knowledge of why they believe what they believe. Read and learn from the Scriptures and from others. Ask your questions. Dig deeper. Become a student who grows in knowledge. Pursue knowledge of who God is and what God says!

Self-Control & Perseverance: 

• Self Control is an evidence of maturing faith: trusting God, knowing what He says, and keeping ourselves from doing things we shouldn’t. 
• John MacArthur This term for “self-control” was used of athletes who disciplined themselves to “abstain from rich foods, wine, and sexual activity in order to focus all their strength and attention on their training regimen.” * [John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Peter and Jude, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2005), 41.]

When we practice self-control often enough, this will help us grow in...

• Perseverance is the willingness to keep pressing on and trusting God even when the immediate results don’t match your desire.

Godliness: 

• Michael Green defines godliness as “a very practical awareness of God in every aspect of life”.
• This is exactly how Jesus lived, a human being practicing the Presence of God every minute of His life on earth. How might that impact your thoughts, attitudes, & actions this week?.
• What are YOU doing to train yourself to be aware of God in every aspect of your life? Paul wrote Timothy, “Train yourself in godliness” (1 Tim 4:7)

Mutual Affection [philadelphia - brotherly affection] & Love [philadelphia - unselfish love]: 

Jesus treated those who obeyed God as family with brotherly affection (Mark 3:35). Further, Jesus modeled the ultimate picture of unselfish, sacrificial love, as the ultimate servant gave His life as a ransom for others (Mark 10:42–45). HE is the example of what He expects of us.

Those who possess these qualities will be effective and productive both in knowing Jesus personally and making Him known to others. People who live in this way have an assurance of forgiveness. They have been forgiven and changed…and it’s obvious.

But…those who do not possess these qualities are living as if they’ve never SEEN the truth. They are living as if they are forgetting what has been accomplished by Jesus to cleanse them from their past sins. 

• Many who claim to be Christians have no real assurance of forgiveness because they don’t demonstrate EVIDENCE that they are forgiven.

What’s it meant to make every effort to confirm your calling and election? Check to make sure you have a room in the King’s eternal home before you leave your earthly home. 

• Take real look at your life to see if there is EVIDENCE of your REPENTANCE.

Paul writes something similar: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV)

• Have you ever really examined and tested yourself to see if you really ARE a follower of Jesus?

2 things Peter is NOT saying

1. No one makes it into the King of Jesus by their own good works. We make it into the Kingdom by turning from our sin and turning to the ONE who did the good works or a) living without sin b) gave His life to pay for our sin. That Christians do these things is evidence that Jesus lives in and through them.
2. When Peter writes “if you do these things, you will never stumble” - this doesn’t mean you’ll never sin or struggle again. After all, Peter denied Jesus 3 times and mistreated Gentile Christians in Galatians 2). 

James 3:2 (NET) For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well.

Simon Peter is not claiming that Christians live in sinless perfection, as he wasn’t able to do it, but that those who live to please Jesus and follow His example will never stumble into doubt, despair, nor stumble and fall short of receiving a rich welcome when they enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• Until that day, those who KNOW GOD are empowered and expected to GROW to spiritual maturity. 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

• Do you love Jesus with your life?
• Are you livin’ forgiven?
• Are you trusting God’s future promises because He’s been faithful in the past promises?
• Are you adding to your to your faith…goodness, knowledge, self-control, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection; and to unselfish love?

Take some time to discuss these questions with your family, friends, or group.

1. What challenged/encouraged you most from today’s teaching? Explain why.
2. Read 2 Peter 1:1-2. How did learning that the Greek structure in both verses links the 2 terms (God and Savior) to 1 person (Jesus) help you to appreciate the reality of who Jesus is? How does restructuring the Jewish phrase “Son of God” to “God the Son” help an American audience better understand the Trinity (tri-unity) of God (ONE GOD in 3 persons - Father, Son, Spirit)?
3. If you were asked to defend the Trinity from the Bible, where would you take others to read? (One passage we saw on Sunday is Jn 20:26-29.)
4. Read 2 Peter 1:3-4. What are some of the past promises God fulfilled in the Scriptures? What are some of the future promises that are yet to be fulfilled? [Leaders Note: You might write out a list of fulfilled promises on one side of a piece of paper (or whiteboard). Then write out the yet-do-be fulfilled promises.]
5. How does remembering God’s faithfulness in the past help you to trust Him with the future?
6. Read 2 Peter 1:5-7 and discuss each of these characteristics. What do they mean and how they are attained? Which of these is most lacking in your life and what can you do to grow in this area? [Leader’s Note: You might need to kick this off and humbly share where you need to grow. Hopefully, this will lead to conversations where brothers & sisters can help each other in these areas.]
7. Read 2 Peter 1:8-9 and name some reasons why the person who possesses these qualities (2 Peter 1:5-7) will likely sense the assurance of their salvation, while the person who does not possess the qualities will likely struggle to trust that they have been forgiven.
8. Read 2 Peter 1:10-11 and 2 Cor 13:5. Why is it good to examine your soul and see if you really belong to Jesus? What would you say to the person who consistently questions whether he/she belongs to Jesus?
9. Share prayer needs. Continue to pray for the Supreme Court decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade