Video Study: 2nd Peter 1

Peter's second letter begins with the now aged apostle opening his heart to remind the Church to be diligent to grow in our walk with Christ. He then speaks of being an eyewitness when Jesus was transfigured into glory on the mountain. He finishes the first chapter by saying that we have an even stronger proof of God's word and work available to us in Bible prophecy, exhorting Christians to pay attention to it "as a light that shines in a dark place."

Watch here: Walking With Jesus on YouTube

(All 3 chapters of 2 Peter are now available on YouTube)

Is Your Faith True?

Our walk with Jesus is a spiritual one. He didn’t come to bless us materially. When we love Jesus with all our heart we set our minds on things above, not things on the earth. We seek spiritual blessing: wisdom, understanding, discernment, purity, meekness, the leading of the Spirit. We want to please Him with true hearts of repentance, love, and worship of Him for who He is. We desire the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We seek to be more like our wonderful Savior, and to know Him more and more through prayer and His Word- the Bible. 

Jesus did not come and die for our sin so that we could go on sinning without regard, but that we could be forgiven of our sin and receive the power to overcome sin in our lives, more and more, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not come and die for our sin so that we could “live our best life now,” living only for enjoyment and comfort, traveling, entertainment, and excitement. Our great need is not in experiencing every great thing this world has to offer. Our great need is in the regeneration of our spirit and the renewal of our mind, not in temporary, material abundance or vanishing worldly pleasures. 100 years will come and go in the blink of an eye. Our lives on this earth are like a morning mist that blankets the hillside, but by noon, has completely evaporated. That is why Jesus said, 

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).” 

“For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:16-17).” 

We must take great care to confirm within our own hearts that we are true to the Lord. Paul said, “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified (2 Corinthians 13:5).” 

The only way to test yourself, to test your Christianity, is to compare it to the New Testament. How do your beliefs hold up against biblical truth? The book of Acts through Revelation are uniquely for the Church, and are the basis and standard of what Christianity is to actually be. Test your faith against the New Testament to see if you are in the faith, and to grow and change accordingly, as the Lord reveals to you through His Word. This isn’t optional for Christians. This is the only way to test your faith to see if it is truly biblical Christianity! 

When John and Andrew began to follow Jesus, Jesus asked them, “What do you seek (John 1).” We need to ask ourselves, “why am I following Jesus? What am I seeking from Him? Am I focused on what the Lord can do for me here and now, or am I yielding to the Spirit, seeking and searching for the truth and to know God more fully? Am I seeking to die to this life and follow Jesus wherever He sends me or am I looking for material blessings for a worldly life?” 

These may be indicators of where your heart toward God is truly at. 

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).” 

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).” 

“Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14).’" 

A person can only be saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace, not by our own good works. But saving faith produces spiritual fruit (Galatians 5). There is a renewal of our hearts and minds to the things of God (Romans 12). There is regeneration of our spirit, which was once dead to the things of Christ Jesus, but is now alive to Him (Titus 3). Is God’s Word penetrating your heart? Can you look at the fruit of your faith and see the spiritual, biblical changes? Our walk with Jesus is over a lifetime, and we will always have times that we fall. I am far from perfect, but you should have seen me before I gave my heart to Jesus! I really want to know Him! I agree with His Word. I really want to please Him. I really want to be done with this fallen nature. He really has changed me, even in light of knowing how far I still fall short of the glory of God. 

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness… (Romans 3:21-25).” 

Maybe you have lost your first love (Revelation 2), or maybe you were never born-again at all (John 3). Take this opportunity now to turn to the Lord in truth and in spirit and to fully commit your life to Jesus Christ.

"’But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father (John 6:64-65).’"

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).’”

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Romans 8:9).”

Brian Farrell is a follower of Jesus, saved by God's amazing grace through faith in Christ. Brian is a Bible teacher and the founder of Walking With Jesus Ministries. He lives with his wife Dana in Temecula, California.

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: Look To Me And Be Saved

 

In God’s Word, the Bible, He has predicted many events that have come to pass, and many that will come to pass, “having declared this from ancient time.” He has done this that we may know there is no other God besides Him, “a just God and a Savior.”

“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:22).”

The death of Christ (the Messiah) for the sin of the world was predicted, to the day, 483 years prior in Daniel 9:24-27. Dozens of specific Old Testament prophecies about the first coming of Christ were written hundreds of years before His birth in Bethlehem, and were all fulfilled by Jesus perfectly. And there are hundreds of prophecies of His second coming and the end of the age, many of which have begun to unfold before our very eyes. All of this is clearly laid out in the Bible for anyone to investigate and plainly see. Jesus is the LORD, and the LORD is the only God.

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: The End of the Age

“’teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen (Matthew 28:20).”

As followers of Christ, to know that Jesus is with us, actually present with us always throughout our entire lives, is one of the most comforting and encouraging truths that we can discover in our Christian walk. He is with us through everything and will get us through everything. As Paul said, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).”

Jesus also said, “even to the end of the age.” If we believe that Jesus is with us than we also believe there is a literal end of the age and a literal second coming of Christ. The end of the age is not a matter of if, but when.

Throughout the Bible, there are numerous places that describe what the end of the age will look like. Biblically, there is no doubt that we are now well into the days leading up to the end of the age. If a person will take the time to study the Bible, with the Holy Spirit teaching, one will discover quite quickly that the Lord’s return is very near. He is with His people now by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, until the end of this age. He will be with us bodily in the Messianic age to follow. Maranatha! Look up, the Lord’s return is near.

For more resources, visit: 
https://walkingwithjesus.net/christian-links/            

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: You Shall Forgive

 

“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him (Luke 17:3-4).” 

If there is genuine repentance, then we are to forgive, keeping in mind our own weaknesses and having mercy on others as the Lord has forgiven us. If the Lord expects this from us, how much more patient and forgiving is the Lord toward us? 

I think this is a strong rebuke for those who teach that if you struggle with sin you are not saved. The Lord makes it clear that Christians will struggle with sin at times. Repent from a sincere heart, fight against the old nature and pray for strength and victory, and the Lord will forgive you as often as you need. Thank you for your immeasurable patience and kindness toward us, Jesus. Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to live holy lives inside and out, and change these old, sinful bodies into glorious bodies like your own.

Millions to Disappear

One day, in the not too distant future, the true church of Jesus Christ will suddenly disappear from this planet. Religions, including Christianity, will remain mostly unaffected. Though some Christian churches will disappear nearly completely, most will be missing only part of their congregation. Many churches will not be missing any people, or just a few. 

Sometime following the rapture of the church, the coalescing one-world government seated in Europe will ultimately unite around one man, increasing its global over-reach throughout the seven years of great tribulation. At the end of the seven years, Jesus will return at His second coming to destroy it and establish God’s Kingdom of righteousness and peace on earth. This is what the Bible says will happen, and in numerous places it describes what these days near the end of the age will look like, including Jesus’ description of those days in Matthew 24. The Bible also describes what His Kingdom on earth will be like. 

The Lord’s Kingdom will be full of His glorified people from all of human history, along with those who belong to Him who have survived the tribulation. Most people on earth will not survive God’s judgment poured out during that seven-year period. Jesus, who Himself is the eternal God, the Creator of all things, said of that time, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:21-22).” 

Before the rapture, in our day and age, the true church of God is made up of all sorts of people from all sorts of places. The one thing they have in common is that they’ve been born again, literally born from above, (born of the Spirit of God) by faith in the only begotten son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, who died for the sins of the world and rose again to give us eternal life. 

These were the ones saying, “you can only be made right with God, forgiven of your sins and saved from eternal punishment, by faith in Jesus alone. Salvation is the free gift of God, given by His grace and accounted to us through faith in Jesus Christ. That is God’s plan, His Way, and there is no other name under Heaven by which a person must be saved but through Jesus. God will not save you from His wrath because you are a good person in your own eyes. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (read Romans 3).” 

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).’” 

Choose today to yield your life to God, to do what is right and good, to turn from your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, and you will receive the free gift of eternal life. Cry out to Jesus and avoid the wrath of God to be poured out on earth shortly. Call out to Jesus and be rescued from hell, the eternal separation from God that will come upon you at your death if you are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ by trusting in Him. God’s judgment is the just reward for a proud and wicked people who perpetually and eternally hurt and destroy while refusing God’s love and forgiveness. The true worshipers of the true and living God “will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

For more on the rapture, read The Timing and Significance of the Rapture, a free PDF.

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: Scripture Fulfilled

In the context of Matthew 26:56, Jesus is speaking of His betrayal and subsequent crucifixion for our sins and resurrection for our eternal life. He says that all of these things were predicted by the prophets (in the Hebrew Bible). We can easily verify the truth of this claim. The Old Testament was complete at that time and was exactly the same as our Old Testament today. These things were literally done (to Jesus) so that the "Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled."

Now, Matthew 26:63-64 tells us that just hours later, "...Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, 'I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!' Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.'" There are many, many more prophecies in the Old Testament about the second coming of Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth than of His first coming, of which there are hundreds. Clearly, Jesus means for us to take these prophecies of His second coming literally, as well. Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord! Your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven.