Greetings Everyone!! It's Sunday again! Praise the Lord! I hope that this message blesses you as much as it blessed me while writing it. And, as always, May God richly bless you today!! H Trent!!
“What Does Our Future Really Hold?”
Scripture: 2 Peter 3:1-9
Introduction:
Did you know that it is the end of the world as we know it? You see, in the spectrum of world faiths the Bible gives a unique appreciation of the future; the passage of time is meaningful and directed, we are going somewhere. The Christian message is not just about having Jesus in your heart, or even a message about going to heaven when you die. It is a message about a new heaven and a new earth which in one shattering future event will replace this old and corrupt world we are in now. When people say, “What is the world coming too?” I like to respond that the world as we know it is coming to and end my friends. If you have your Bible, please turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3 starting at verse 1 and let’s find out what our future really holds:
1. The Relationship Between God and History (v5-6).
Here Peter refers to Noah’s flood. Folks, God does act in History. He is not someone who has set the whole show in motion and then has retired like some kind of cosmic clock maker. God is passionately concerned about the world He has made, and He is concerned with our place within it. Yes, He meets us daily with blessings, causing the sun to shine on the just and the unjust, but He will also meet us in judicial discipline just as He did in Noah’s day. Friends, if we ignore our Creator and live our own selfish lives, like some of us do, God will eventually hand us over to the logical consequences of ignoring Him as our society is starting to show us today. Take a look around us and you will see most folks wrapped up in selfish and political ambitions. When you say good-bye to God, you can say good-bye to social stability. If God is working in history then it makes perfect sense that He will guide it to one grand conclusion with one final and climactic scene before the curtain comes down. Will He come again? You can bet your life on it!
2. The Relationship between God and Time (v8).
Time can only be measured in an arena where change can take place. Our bodies grow old, our cars wear out, our buildings fall down. But what if we lived in eternity? What would our time look like from that perspective? Such a being would see everything within one moment, the end from the beginning. Nothing would take Him by surprise. God is not thwarted by anything we might do. God is the Eternal One! So, whether or not it is five seconds or five millennia, from the standpoint of His plans it is all the same to Him. Does two thousand years seem like a long time to you? Well, it is a mere blink in the eye of eternity as far as God is concerned. Don’t be fooled into falsely thinking that just because Jesus has not returned yet that He will never return. As Peter states in verse 10, the day will come like a thief in the night. Jesus’ coming is imminent, it could happen at any moment. God expects us to be ready to meet Him at anytime.
3. God’s Relationship With Us (v9).
How do I know that God passionately loves us and does not want us to perish? For the Bible tells me so! When we have offended God by the sins we have committed, our spirit, our conscience tells us that. How do I know? Some two thousand years ago the God of history came into history as a baby. The God Who is so passionately committed to us became one of us, going to a lonely cross, and taking upon Himself the judgment which is rightly yours and mine. So, He the Judge was judged in your place and mine. He took the punishment which was yours and mine. And then He was raised from the dead, and He now reigns in the glory of heaven, and He is going to come back and claim the world and His people for His own.
Conclusion:
Either we live in a cold impersonal universe with no meaning, or what the Bible teaches us is true: the universe is the work of a glorious, loving Author, whose signature is written in the heavens He has made. This Divine Author--this Word--has declared that we matter and that the whole history is moving toward a dramatic climax. Are you ready? Do you long for meaning and direction in your life? Do you desperately desire to get back in touch with the One who made you, who loves you, and who is patient with you? Well, you can, you know. And the way you do it is to come to Christ turning away from sin and the things of this world, confessing and repenting and receiving from Him, the gift of life.
Pastor Harold Trent.
“What Does Our Future Really Hold?”
Scripture: 2 Peter 3:1-9
Introduction:
Did you know that it is the end of the world as we know it? You see, in the spectrum of world faiths the Bible gives a unique appreciation of the future; the passage of time is meaningful and directed, we are going somewhere. The Christian message is not just about having Jesus in your heart, or even a message about going to heaven when you die. It is a message about a new heaven and a new earth which in one shattering future event will replace this old and corrupt world we are in now. When people say, “What is the world coming too?” I like to respond that the world as we know it is coming to and end my friends. If you have your Bible, please turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3 starting at verse 1 and let’s find out what our future really holds:
1. The Relationship Between God and History (v5-6).
Here Peter refers to Noah’s flood. Folks, God does act in History. He is not someone who has set the whole show in motion and then has retired like some kind of cosmic clock maker. God is passionately concerned about the world He has made, and He is concerned with our place within it. Yes, He meets us daily with blessings, causing the sun to shine on the just and the unjust, but He will also meet us in judicial discipline just as He did in Noah’s day. Friends, if we ignore our Creator and live our own selfish lives, like some of us do, God will eventually hand us over to the logical consequences of ignoring Him as our society is starting to show us today. Take a look around us and you will see most folks wrapped up in selfish and political ambitions. When you say good-bye to God, you can say good-bye to social stability. If God is working in history then it makes perfect sense that He will guide it to one grand conclusion with one final and climactic scene before the curtain comes down. Will He come again? You can bet your life on it!
2. The Relationship between God and Time (v8).
Time can only be measured in an arena where change can take place. Our bodies grow old, our cars wear out, our buildings fall down. But what if we lived in eternity? What would our time look like from that perspective? Such a being would see everything within one moment, the end from the beginning. Nothing would take Him by surprise. God is not thwarted by anything we might do. God is the Eternal One! So, whether or not it is five seconds or five millennia, from the standpoint of His plans it is all the same to Him. Does two thousand years seem like a long time to you? Well, it is a mere blink in the eye of eternity as far as God is concerned. Don’t be fooled into falsely thinking that just because Jesus has not returned yet that He will never return. As Peter states in verse 10, the day will come like a thief in the night. Jesus’ coming is imminent, it could happen at any moment. God expects us to be ready to meet Him at anytime.
3. God’s Relationship With Us (v9).
How do I know that God passionately loves us and does not want us to perish? For the Bible tells me so! When we have offended God by the sins we have committed, our spirit, our conscience tells us that. How do I know? Some two thousand years ago the God of history came into history as a baby. The God Who is so passionately committed to us became one of us, going to a lonely cross, and taking upon Himself the judgment which is rightly yours and mine. So, He the Judge was judged in your place and mine. He took the punishment which was yours and mine. And then He was raised from the dead, and He now reigns in the glory of heaven, and He is going to come back and claim the world and His people for His own.
Conclusion:
Either we live in a cold impersonal universe with no meaning, or what the Bible teaches us is true: the universe is the work of a glorious, loving Author, whose signature is written in the heavens He has made. This Divine Author--this Word--has declared that we matter and that the whole history is moving toward a dramatic climax. Are you ready? Do you long for meaning and direction in your life? Do you desperately desire to get back in touch with the One who made you, who loves you, and who is patient with you? Well, you can, you know. And the way you do it is to come to Christ turning away from sin and the things of this world, confessing and repenting and receiving from Him, the gift of life.
Pastor Harold Trent.
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