Sister Brenda Wednesday Evening 8/27/14

Sister Brenda Wednesday Evening 8/27/14

We need to be steadfast.  We don’t know what will happen to us; we are living in perilous times.  When things like this go on in our world, we must have it settled that we will not bend or bow but be faithful to the death. 

He that endures to the end will be saved.  We must be saved.  I want to make it to heaven.  Whatever it may cost in my lifetime, I want to make it to heaven.

We don’t want to love our lives to where we would forsake God for anything.  We want to endure to the end and be faithful.  We will do this by living close to God, being sold out, and having the things of God real in our heart.

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

We know what the enemy uses on us or tries to take advantage of in our lives to try to divert us or try to get us to not do our best in our lives.  We want to not let anything turn us from our steadfastness.  There is not any that cannot fall. 

We have been here long enough to know what it takes to be steadfast and we want to take heed.  We don’t want to fall from our steadfastness.

Know these things before:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

A scoffer is a derider, a false teacher, and a mocker.  We see people that do this all the time.  They mock the standard; they mock the way that we believe that we must live holy. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

We know that God is not slack concerning His promises.  There are a lot of good promises that we enjoy and cling to.  There are also promises that are scary, that bring the wrath of God on people.  If people don’t get saved and obey the word of God then they will reap what they sow.

2Pe 3:10  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.

This is something we know.  The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  Jesus is going to come when people least expect it.  It will be like a thief in the night.  We must be ready and be prepared.  We know these things; we must be on guard and be ready.

If there is a bad attitude or an icky feeling toward your brother or sister, then you should take care of it tonight.  If you said something that you shouldn’t have said, then you need to take care of it.  We don’t want to get used to letting things go uncared for.

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

‘Holy conversation’ is blameless behavior.  We should act holy.  We should be able to stamp, “Holiness unto the Lord” on everything that we do.

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

We anticipate, await, and expect the coming day of God.  Are we looking for it?  We have four unsaved children and unsaved friends and family that keep us from looking for that day.  But in our own lives, we don’t want anything that will keep us from hasting and looking for that day.

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

We are looking for His coming.  To be diligent is to be careful, thorough, to make effort, (It doesn’t just happen, it is not automatic or just a part of life.)  Be diligent that you may be found without spot.  To be diligent is to be prompt, or earnest, to labor, and to study.

We want to be found of him in peace.  We want to labor to have the peace of God in our lives.  Not everything will be peaceful around us, but we want to be peaceable and peacemakers.

Without spot and blameless:  We want to take heed to the things of God.

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

You also:  this means that others have.  You also can be led away with the error of the wicked.  We don’t want any to be led away.

Fall: to drop away, to be led out of one’s course, to lose, to be inefficient.  Are we useful for God, in His kingdom, and His work?  We want to be faithful in the work of God.

1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

This is a really good scripture.  Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.  This is a good scripture to memorize.  Our labors for God are not in vain in the Lord.  Anything we do in labor for God is good for us. 

The corner stone is unmovable.  When we build on it we are just as unmovable.  It is steadfast. 

Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

If you know that you got saved, don’t let the devil take your salvation from you.  If you are going through accusations and you know that you paid the price and have not sinned since you got saved, then you can know that you are saved and hold your confidence.

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

God help us to endure to the end.  Hold fast your confidence steadfast to the end.

Pray more; this is how we live steadfast: living closer to God and drawing more on His strength and help in every situation.