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Second Coming Readiness
December 2, 2024 · 54 min
Discover how to live in anticipation of Jesus's second coming. Embrace readiness & live a life worthy of His return.
Series Stay The Course December 2, 2024 · 54 min · Stay The Course
Discover how to live in anticipation of Jesus's second coming. Embrace readiness & live a life worthy of His return. ...more Show the full description Show less Discover how to live in anticipation of Jesus's second coming. Embrace readiness & live a life worthy of His return.
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
In this video 0:02 Announcements and Prayer1:15 Living in Expectation of Christ's Return18:06 Living Peacefully and Growing in Wisdom32:59 Living Faithfully and Growing in Grace
0:00 Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping with us today? So great to worship with all of you. 1 quick announcement this morning is to saveAnnouncements and Prayer 0:12 the date for our men. February first 20 25 is our warriors summit this year. Last year, we started it at over 1300 guys in here. This year, we expect it to be even greater.0:24 We've decided this year to give this a try and do 1 day instead of a Friday night and a Saturday. We got twice as much activity packed into 1 day. It's gonna be incredible. February first 200:35 25. Save the date. That's the first day of February. Okay? So next week, we'll have sign ups. We'll begin. You'll have 1 week to sign up with the lowest price after that. The price goes up. So wanna see as0:47 many guys as we can be there. Bring some of your sons, bring friends. It's gonna be an incredible, incredible day. Alright? And with that, just, thank you again for your prayers. My wife is here today at service.1:04 I know you're excited to see her. Don't hug her too hard or squeeze her because it won't feel comfortable to her. So, with that, let's continue our worship this morning as we, seek the Lord and get ready to hear his1:13 living and active word among us. Would you pray with me? Our Father, we give you glory, honor, and praise for who you are. We thank you, Lord, that we had the privilege this morning of singing praise to your name, ofLiving in Expectation of Christ's Return
1:22 gathering as your saints, and praying, and telling you how you and you alone are worthy, that your name is above every single name. And now we look forward to hearing you speak because, Lord, we as a people believe that
1:34 every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are doing the speaking. So speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord
1:44 Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen.
1:55 Amen. This morning I wanna talk to you about how to be ready for the second coming of Christ. How is it that you can be red be? There's so many things in life that we prepare for. 1 of the most important things that
2:06 you'll ever prepare for is Jesus Christ's second return. And the last time that we were in this book, we were talking about what it was like for scoffers when they hear about the fact that Jesus is going to return or
2:17 that he's gonna return soon. Oftentimes people are saying, well, where is he? Y'all have been saying it for 2000 years. He's not coming. They scoff. They mock. They say, where is he? But we know that he's coming because
2:29 his word tells us that he's coming. He himself said he was coming. Even the angels in heaven when he ascended to heaven said in the same way you see him go, so you'll see him come. So 1 of the things that you can put on
2:40 your calendar with exceptional certainty is the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth. Now with that, the question becomes how then shall you live? Live in light of his coming back? Shouldn't it make any
2:51 difference? And I find that for many believers, when it comes to his return, people don't want to think about how they live. Instead, they want to get charts and graphs and figure out exactly when it's going to be.
3:04 And while I'm in favor of studying the word of God and seeing what the scriptures may teach, I'm not so concerned about the timing of it as much as I'm concerned with the fact of it that Jesus Christ is coming back
3:16 fully, bodily, and visibly and you better be ready. And for some Christians that don't even think about those things, they live in the denial of believing falsely that, well, everybody sins and it really doesn't matter.
3:28 And when I get here, I'll just ask for forgive when he gets here, I'll just ask for forgiveness so it doesn't really change the way that I view things. And And I'm here to tell you that 1 of the most motivating parts of
3:38 being a Christian is knowing that Jesus Christ is returning fully, bodily, and physically. And if you know he's coming, the scripture teaches you this then is how you should live. And
3:50 so as we've been in this series called stay the course, we spent the first 4 weeks talking about what genuine faith looked like and spent the next 2 weeks talking about false teachers that teach differently. And then we
3:59 spent these last 2 messages. We're gonna talk about the certainty of Christ coming and the readiness. This may be the most important message for you to be ready for Christ's return because I'm telling you, he's coming
4:10 and he's coming back and he will judge both the living and the dead when he arrives. Amen? So how then shall we live? And to do that this morning, we're gonna be in the book of second Peter chapter 3 verses 11 to 18 as
4:21 we finish this book. And as you're turning there to second Peter chapter 3 verse 11, I'll set it up with this hinge verse because verse 10 tells us what the day of the Lord is going to be like. He says that the day of
4:32 the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. Verse 11, since all these
4:44 things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning
4:55 and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look
5:07 for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom
5:19 given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort as they do
5:31 also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own
5:43 steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
5:55 And as he writes to us these words in this last section of this letter, he's really highlighting to us how to be ready for the second coming of Christ. I'm gonna highlight 3 truths of how you should live in light
6:06 of Jesus Christ coming back. And today's message is specifically geared for those who would call themselves believers, for those who have repented from their sin and trusted that Jesus is the Christ, who died on the
6:17 cross for their sins, who rose from the dead, and are placing their faith in him and him alone. This is how you should live. This is for you. This is what God's telling you. And the first is this, live
6:29 expectantly. Live expectantly and grow in godliness. Live expectantly and grow in godliness. Now notice the verse in verse 10 that we read. It's that the day of
6:41 the Lord will come like a thief. Well, the reason that the day of the Lord comes like a thief, the day of the Lord comes like a thief to those who aren't ready for the thief. If you're ready, when the thief comes, you're
6:51 prepared. There is no thief. You lock the doors. You prepare. He's not getting in. And if he does, he's gonna be a bad day for the thief. Right? Christians, I'm telling you, Jesus Christ is coming back. He
7:03 will not come back as a thief for the believers who love his appearing and who are eagerly awaiting his return. You're expecting that. So you live expectantly and you grow in godliness because he tells us that when he
7:14 comes, the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up. The first time God destroyed the world was through a flood. He promised us
7:24 through a covenant of the rainbow, he will never destroy the world again with water. But the world is gonna be destroyed again, and it's gonna be intense heat. So intense. We have no understanding of how intense it will
7:35 be. The the heavens and the earth will melt away and God will be able to start again from scratch. That's how intense it's gonna be. And for those of you that are saying, oh, he's just preaching all this fire and
7:44 brimstone. No. I'm just telling you the word of God. Noah had a hundred and 20 years to tell a group of people in his generation that God was gonna send a flood. They didn't believe him. Only Noah's wife, his 3 sons, and
7:55 their wives boarded the the ark along with a few animals that they were able to corral. And other than that, nobody listened. And many today are not listening either. And when God returns, when Jesus Christ returns
8:07 in all of his glory, there is no second chance. So how do you ready yourself in light of the fact that God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth? You live expectantly and you grow in
8:19 godliness. Notice verse 11. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? That's really the rhetorical question for this whole text. How should you live? What kind of people
8:30 ought you to be? What should you be doing? How should you be living? What principles should you be motivated by? How how should your focus be? What should you be doing until he gets here? Should you just be
8:42 sitting around? Should you just twiddle your thumbs? Should you just predict the future? Like, what should you do? And he's gonna answer the question. His rhetorical question is gonna come with his remarks. He says this,
8:53 what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? He says, if you really believe Jesus is coming back and you really believe that he's the holy 1 and you really believe he's judging both the living and
9:04 the dead, then you should live holy and you should have piety in your life. You should have godly practices in what you're doing and you should be growing in those. Now here's what I mean by saying this and here's
9:16 what he's saying. When he uses the word you ought to be, he he's not telling you work harder, try harder, and make commitments. How many as a believer have committed to something
9:28 that they failed at since becoming a believer? Anybody? K. Show of hands. Either you're not participating or you're a liar. Right? Because all of us even from the time that we come to Christ, we can hear a great sermon,
9:40 we can hear a good message, we can be moved in our quiet time, we can be moved during worship, and we make commitments. God, from now on I'm going to and we fill in the blank with commitment upon commitment upon
9:51 commitment, many of which won't even make it as far as our car by the time we're driving away. Your commitments are worthless. They're worthless. So ought to doesn't mean
10:02 commit more. Ought to doesn't mean write down 10 things that you're gonna commit to because you can't. That's not what it means. When he talks about living with holy behavior, when he talks about
10:14 living with godliness, here's what he's saying. It doesn't mean you you don't try harder. It means it's normative for the believer. You don't try to live godly so you'll love Christ. You love Christ and godliness becomes
10:26 in some ways automatic. Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my word. He doesn't say, if you keep my word, then I know you love me. Because what people try to do is they try to make greater and greater commitments
10:37 like if I really read my bible every day or if I read it a little bit longer or if I pray every day or if I pray a little longer or if I give or if I give a little more or if I do this and I do, then God will know that I
10:46 love him. It doesn't work that way. It works the something that changes in a believer's heart when they're born again. That's why Jesus says, you must be born again.
11:03 You can't just quote get religion. You can't just start practicing Jesus. You have to have an entire transformation, and your heart of stone needs to become a heart of flesh. You must be born
11:15 again. If you're not born again, here's how it sounds when a preacher preaches. You have to, you have to, you have to, you have to. Do more, be more. It feels horrible. If you're a new creation in Christ, there's
11:26 something that goes off inside of you when you hear the word of God that says, I want that. I want more of that. I want more of him. I wanna live more like that. How do I get that? I want that. I want more
11:38 of Jesus not less of him. He gave everything for me. How can I give more to him? And there's this desire that changes inside of you. Tithing it's not oh pastor's making me give.
11:50 Well how much do I have to? Is it 10 percent of my gross or my net? I just need to know. That that's that's legalism. Heart is he gave me everything. How can I give him that which is most important to me?
12:02 I want to give him more. I want to steward my resources. I want to grow in his word. I want to seek his face. I want to pray. And where I fail I say, man I wish I wanted more of what you
12:14 want. So even sometimes as Christians when we fail we try to commit our way out of it. Well I failed again so I'm gonna commit even harder Jesus. It won't work. I'm a living
12:25 testimony of commitment not working. Commitment doesn't change your life. If you're angry before you commit, you'll be angry after you commit. If you're unforgiving before you commit, you'll be
12:37 unforgiving after you commit. If you're immoral before you commit, you'll be immoral after you commit. Commitment doesn't mean anything. Authenticity in your prayer does. Where instead of praying these kind of false
12:47 prayers that all of us have prayed, Lord, if you get me through this, I promise you, I'll never ever ever do this again. Right? And you start praying like this, Lord, I don't deserve to have you get me through this. And
12:58 the reality is, if you get me through this, I'm gonna do it again because I actually like my sin more than I like you. But I really wish you changed me so that I like more what you like and hate more of what I'm doing.
13:07 And Lord, would you please move in my life so I can be more dependent upon you, so I can become what you call me to be? Cause I really wanna live out my identity but I don't know how to do it. That's authenticity and
13:16 that God honors. Amen? So when we're growing in godliness, we're not growing in commitment so that other people think we're godly. We're growing in dependence so that God can
13:28 make us godly. My godliness that I'm not comparing my godliness to you. I'm not telling you what I do for my devotions or how much scripture I memorize or how much I because it doesn't matter what you think. I'm
13:40 growing in my likeness to Christ. Jesus, what does it look like for me to steward things towards you? Jesus, what does it look like for me to give my life completely to you? Jesus, what does it look like for me to love
13:50 my wife? Jesus, what does it look like for me to honor you? Jesus, what's it look like for me to honor my children? Lord, what's it look like for me and how do I grow in that? Do you see the difference? 1 is religious
14:01 comparison so you'll think I'm good. The other is I know I'm not good compared to my God but I wanna be more like him, how do you change me? 1 is freeing and 1 is binding. Legalism binds.
14:13 Your commitments, while they sound really really really really good, if you had the ability to do all those things you wouldn't need Jesus. God would just save you and you'd say thank you for saving me. I got it from
14:24 here. And not 1 of us can do that and yet the devil lies to us and says that you can. Just commit harder. Just pray harder. Just read your bible more. Just give more money. Just do just do just do do do do do do do do
14:34 do. Jesus said, no. It's done. I did it and I can still save you. I'm still in the process of doing good in your life. Amen? So holiness is not what you're becoming because I think
14:46 sometimes we talk about holiness in church, we think about behaviors. Don't drink, don't chew, don't smoke, don't date girls that do that, don't play cards, don't watch movies, don't don't don't. If it's fun, don't.
14:58 And in church people are like, I hate holiness. That's not holiness, that's legalism. Holiness is God, here's who you are. You've recreated
15:10 me from the inside out. You've already told me that I'm holy. You've already told me I'm righteous. You've already told me that I'm good. Not because of me but because of you in me. Would you allow you to be more
15:21 manifest in my life so I can live out who you actually see me being? And that's where God begins to grow. That's what it means to grow in holiness. And what I find is when I pray that way God shows me certain
15:33 things about my life that he doesn't show you about yours. And I know God's talking to me about my life when my flesh responds in a way like this. How come nobody else has to do that? How come you're not talking to them
15:45 about that? Why would I be the only 1 that has Do you understand what I'm saying? Because when I'm praying, I'm asking God to change me, he changes me. And Because when I'm praying and I'm asking God to change me, he
15:51 changes me. And he wants me to grow into who he created me to be. And God sees me already through the lens of his son for what he designed me to be even though I can't even see it
16:03 myself. So God's got me on a journey where he's growing me. 1 of the great scriptures that highlights this for me is Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14 where it's almost like this dualistic statement that
16:15 the author makes. He says, for by 1 offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Through Jesus Christ's 1 death on the cross, he's perfected all those who have repented and
16:27 believed in him. So positionally, I'm already perfect. Positionally, I can stand in the presence of God because of the shed blood of Christ. However, in practice I haven't
16:39 arrived yet. And in practice, I'll never arrive until I meet Jesus Christ face to face. And so the devil lies to me and say well you're really God's God may say you're holy but let me show you
16:51 some events from your life recently that will demonstrate that you're not. And then I believe the lie. But positionally in my identity, I am holy and God's saying I want you to live holy and if you'll
17:02 live the way I want you to live you won't be bound to that sin anymore. But it's not your commitment that gets you out of it. It's your desire to let Christ live more in and through you.
17:15 Do you really want Jesus to be Lord of every area of your life? And when you begin to pray prayers of authenticity of, Lord, I'm not even sure I want that. I mean, if I'm being honest, I kind
17:27 of like my sin. If I'm being honest, I like the way I feel when I sin that sin. But if I'm also being honest, I know that it's not as enjoyable as it once was, and I see in your word you want me to
17:39 become that. Lord, would you teach me to love what you love and hate what you hate? Will you grow me? And what I find in my life over 30 plus years of walking with the Lord, the areas where I'm no longer living in my sin
17:49 have not been a result of my great commitment and my great piety. It's been a result of my great God who has rescued me from that pit. Amen? To him be the glory. Right? So as you're growing in
18:01 godliness, I'm not asking you to write down 10 things I gotta work on this week, you'll fail at all 10. Promise you. And then you get tired of church that all you do is give us a bunch of rules. I'm not giving you any
Living Peacefully and Growing in Wisdom
18:11 rules. I'm showing you a relationship with 1 who can change all that and make you who he is already called you to be. So grow in your holy conduct and your godliness. Amen?
18:24 And then he says this in verse 12, Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. Now, we've talked about
18:35 some of these scriptures where it talks about, you know, the the sun going dark and the moon turning to blood and the stars falling from the sky. Jesus promised that. They promised that in the new testament. We're gonna
18:44 see all that. That that that day's coming, but he also says the elements will always also be burned up. What are the elements? Well, the elements are simply this. It's it's earth, fire, wind, and air. I mean, it's it's
18:56 the it's the elements. Earth, fire, wind, and water is what I'm trying to say. The celestial body like, everything's gonna be burned up. Everything that you think is so precious. The outfit you have, the trophies you've
19:06 won, the watch you wear, the house you it's all gone someday because there's nothing worthy of being taken into the new heavens and the new earth. So it's okay to have things as long as
19:18 things don't have you. But if you have things that are like, oh, it's so priceless. It's not priceless. It's a thing. This picture, it's a great picture. It's not making it into the new heavens and the
19:30 new earth. Your home is not gonna come. It'd be a dump in the new heavens and the new earth. Do you understand what I'm saying? And yet the enemy tries to get us to hold on to this world because this is so great and this
19:40 is so important. What's coming is even better. What coming is so good you won't look back on what's here. Right? So live expectantly. He's coming. And when he
19:52 gets here, friends, I'm telling you it's good. It's really really good. It's really good. Now personally, my theology, you've heard me teach through the book of Revelation, I don't believe Jesus Christ is coming back
20:03 today. I don't believe that. If you do, that's great. And I've never been more ready to be so wrong in my entire life. I don't believe that. I do believe there are things that will take place. I do believe that 1
20:14 generation of church will see the Antichrist. I believe 1 generation of the church will see a massive falling away unlike ever before. I do believe 1 generation of church will see the sun turn black and the moon turn to
20:24 blood and stars fall from the sky. And when you see that you don't know the day or the hour but the time's coming. That's that's what I believe. Now you don't have to believe any of that and I don't care if I'm right or
20:33 wrong on the timing of that. Here's what I care about. Jesus Christ is coming back to establish his kingdom and that's what I'm talking about. Amen? And I live my life in such a way
20:45 that I'm yearning for that. Some people say, well, if you don't believe you can come back today, I mean, that's just gonna cause you to sin. No, it's not. Have you ever seen an engaged couple before talk about their
20:54 wedding day when it's a ways off? Like you'll ask them, have you set a date? No. Have you set a date? No. Have you set a date? Yeah. When is it? It's June fifteenth 20 25. But you talk to him in a couple months. You ask
21:06 him, how long till you get married? Yeah. It's, like, 73 and a half days. Because there's such anticipation for what's coming that you start counting down days, and then you start counting on
21:18 hours, and then you start counting down minutes, and the closer you get the more you want it to come. So regardless of what you believe about the timing, I'm here to tell you on the authority of God's word, it's
21:30 soon and it's sooner than most of you think. And the more you walk with Jesus the more excited you should be about his return. I'm pumped about it. There's nothing I have planned or looking forward to in my
21:42 life that I'm more excited about. If I get 50 yard line tickets to the Super Bowl this year and Jesus decides to come back 5 minutes before it starts, I'm cool with that. I wanna see my children get
21:54 married and have kids, but if on the day of 1 of my children's weddings or 1 of the day when they're gonna deliver, Jesus comes back, fine. You're not interrupting anything. Yes, it's okay to look forward to things and
22:04 yes, it's okay to enjoy things that God gives with an open hand and call it a blessing and enjoy it to the full. But don't let anything stand in the way of saying, well, I just hope he doesn't come back. I wanna get
22:13 married first and I wanna have kids. I get all that from an earthly perspective, but I'm here to tell you Jesus Christ coming back is way better than anything you have on your calendar or way more important than anything
22:23 you look forward to. Amen? So live expectantly for that. Live expectantly. And while you're living expectantly, grow in God's grace. You know the Apostle Paul talked about this when he said in second Timothy
22:35 chapter 4, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith. Then he says to young Timothy, which is also true to us. He says, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the
22:46 righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not only to me but to all who have loved his appearing. What's the crown of life for? When Jesus gets back, are you excited he's here? Do you love
22:58 his appearing? Or like, why'd you come today? I finally had a good day and you show up right now and blow it. That that's not who heaven's for. And here's another part about heaven. Here's why his second coming
23:10 is so important. Listen. Listen. If heaven is all about the presence of Jesus and that's what you're looking forward to, then why don't you want it now?
23:23 There's so many people like I wanna go to heaven, I wanna go to heaven, but their view of heaven is just their own view view of bliss. Like I can eat whatever I want and not get fat. I can be lazy. I can sit around. I
23:32 can fish. I can watch football. It's gonna be so awesome. Well, what about Jesus? Well, if he comes that's fine too, I guess. That's not salvation just so you know. If you really are looking forward to his return, you'll
23:43 look forward to his presence now because his presence now is the appetizer or wetting your appetite for what's to come. If I get to heaven and Jesus isn't there, I don't wanna go. The only reason I wanna be in heaven
23:55 is because I wanna be in the presence of my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He is my life. Amen? Amen. So when I talk to people, I say, did I pray the right prayer? Did I do the right thing? I'm like, hey, let me ask you a
24:06 question. Are you looking forward to spending time with Jesus? No. I don't want Jesus. I don't want Okay. Well that shares where your heart is. Why would you ever want to go to heaven? See hell is geared for people that
24:16 say, I don't want Jesus now and I don't want him ever. So Lord make sure that when you come back you send me to a place where you'll never be. That's hell for those who didn't want it. Right? It's
24:27 a heart posture. If you're looking forward to Jesus, you live expectantly and you grow in godliness. And notice this, this is probably the 1 that blew me away this week when I was reading this was, verse 12, looking for.
24:39 That means we're anticipating and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, the elements will melt with intense heat. So we get the idea of looking forward to but
24:50 hastening. I'm studying that word all week. I'm like, it can't mean that. It can't mean that. It means that. Hastening doesn't mean preparing. Hastening means that you as a Christian, not only are trying to get
25:02 ready, but you can advance or make it come quicker based upon how you live. How about that? That's what it means to hasten. Wait. Wait. Wait. God's sovereign. He's already picked the day. Yes, he has. And this will not
25:12 affect God's sovereignty. Your godly choices do not affect his sovereignty. But apparently according to the word of God, it's also true that the more you pray and the more you evangelize and the more you're serious about
25:22 the things of God, the sooner he's gonna get here. Well, why is that? Well, because when the last person gets saved that wants to get saved, there is no point of Jesus not being here anymore. He's gonna be here. Listen,
25:33 I love the next generation coming up. If you're in middle school, high school, college, you're a young adult, I love you because I see an intensity in you that's been lacking in the church for a long time. You can help
25:43 hasten the day of the Lord. You can get Jesus to come faster. Now if you're sitting there saying, well, I don't want him to come faster because I wanna live my life. You're missing the point. If you love Jesus, I promise
25:54 you when he gets here it's better than anything you have planned for yourself. And the more intense you are in your prayer, the more you want Jesus and the more you want to see him move in this world, the sooner he's
26:03 gonna get here. And the reality is the longer you live, the sooner you're gonna see him. Because I know almost 54, I know I'm either gonna die or he's coming back in my
26:15 lifetime. Either way, it's happening soon. So what do I wanna do? I wanna live by praying, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus, get here. Jesus, we need you.
26:27 And until you get here, I wanna grow in godliness. I wanna be more like you. I wanna be consumed by you. I wanna grow every single day with you. I want to be transformed by you because I can't wait till I see you face to
26:37 face and you present me faultless before my father in heaven. I can't wait. And that's how we all should live. And when the church does that, guess what? You hasten the return of Jesus.
26:49 You bring him back sooner. Notice verse 13, but according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Can I just tell you this? What's to come is so
27:00 much greater than anything we can fix here. Let me say it again. What's to come is so much greater than anything we can fix here. I wanna leave the world a better place than when I got here. Okay. Great. It's still a
27:10 mess because of sin. The new heavens and new earth that I'm talking about are perfect. There's no sin. Everybody gets along. Jesus Christ, the righteous 1, is there. Everyone that's there with
27:22 him is righteous. Everyone there loves 1 another, cares for 1 another, builds 1 another. Everyone there supports 1 another. I mean, you can't make that happen here. Yes, I think it's important that you vote. Yes, voting
27:33 has consequences to how you vote. Yes, policies do make a difference, but the only 1 that can transform an entire culture from sinner into saint is the Lord
27:45 Jesus Christ. The only 1 that can make a culture righteous is the Lord Jesus Christ. The only 1 that can create a new heavens and a new earth is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's okay if you hold on to politics a little bit,
27:57 but that shouldn't be what you hold on to ultimately. You should be holding on to the fact that what's coming is a utopia that no human being other than the Lord Jesus Christ can create. Amen and amen to God be the
28:07 glory. Right? So this is what he's telling us. And in the book of Isaiah, I'll just give you a couple verses like Isaiah chapter 65 verse 17. He says it like this, for behold I create new
28:19 heavens and a new earth and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. What former thing? The things you're thinking about now that are so important. They won't even get a
28:31 thought for what's coming. They won't even come to mind. Revelation 21 and verse 1 says the exact same thing. New earth for the first heaven and the first first earth passed away and there is no longer any see. Friends,
28:41 what's coming? It will blow us away. No eye has seen, no ears heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. It is
28:55 so good that if we could see it, we wouldn't wanna be here anymore. We would be praying and begging Jesus, come back now. That's how good it is. And friends, it's on the calendar of every single believer. And I'm
29:07 here to give you the good news. He's coming and he's coming soon. Amen? So live expectantly and grow in godliness. Second is this, live peacefully and grow in wisdom. Live peacefully and grow in wisdom. Notice verse
29:18 14. He says, therefore, beloved now, I love this word beloved because he's talking to saints. When I say you are loved, I'm telling you the truth that everybody that God creates, every human being he creates, he creates
29:30 in his image. You're the image of God. You're the Imago Dei. So even if you're the most pagan God hater in the world, you have redeeming value because you were created by our God and he loves you. But if you've repented
29:42 and believed there's a love that's lavished upon you unlike any other love that's unconditional, that can't be taken away. God loves you beyond love. There's nothing you can do to make God love you anymore. There's
29:52 nothing you can do to make God love you any less. Less. You are loved, loved, loved. You're beloved. And that's what Peter's saying because he's addressing the saints. That's why I would tell you who are born again,
30:00 you're beloved and nothing can change that position. Amen? Therefore beloved since you look for these things, since you're looking for the return of Christ, be diligent, that means eager, to be found by him in peace,
30:13 spotless and blameless. Find it found in him in what? Peace. How do you live in peace? Because you live in Christ, and he is what? He's the prince of peace. John 14 27, Jesus said, my peace
30:25 I leave with you. Who could who could enjoy a little more peace in their life? See, so often when trials and tribulations come, what do we pray for? We pray for our circumstances to change. God, take them out of our
30:35 life. God, take that out of my life. God, heal this in my life. God, heal that in my life. And we wonder why doesn't he do that? Because he's the 1 that's authored the things he's brought into your life. And how should
30:45 you pray? Lord, give me peace in the middle of all this because this is so troubling to me and I don't know what to do, and I need you. And what I find is in the middle of the storm, Jesus can be your peace.
30:58 I mean, isn't that cool when I mean, even Jesus metaphorically on the boat with his disciples in the middle of a storm in this little rickety boat, what's he doing? Sleeping. Not getting seasick, not vomiting over the
31:10 side. I mean, sleeping. Disciple, don't you care if we drown? Do you not see our circumstances? Do you not see how bad it is? And Jesus stands up and said, peace be still. Calms the winds in the way. Like,
31:22 I got control over everything. And what I've noticed in my life and the life of people that really love Jesus, no matter what you go through, if Jesus is your peace in the middle of what you go through, he will take you
31:33 through whatever you go through and you can have peace in him even if your circumstances are absolutely lousy. And by the way, you're gonna go through seasons in your life where your circumstances are absolutely lousy,
31:45 where you could question, why is this happening to me and why is God is so good? Am I going Because he loves you so much. He wants you to experience peace in the middle of the lousy. Because 1 day when he gets here,
31:55 there is no more lousy. It's only good every single day for the rest of your life, and that's where your hope should be in the blessed hope of Jesus. Amen? That's what he's talking about. So he's telling them that when
32:06 it comes to these things about Christ's second coming, we need to live peacefully. And the only place you can get peace in this world is in Jesus. You can't get it anywhere else. You can't get it
32:18 on social media. You can't get it in politics. You can't find it in education. You can't get it in a relationship or in a marriage or with your kids or with your parent. You can't find it anywhere, but you can find it in
32:28 Jesus. And if Jesus is the center of your life you can have peace. My peace I give to you. I don't give peace as the world gives. I have peace that passes all understanding. I can guard your heart and your mind in
32:40 Christ Jesus. Amen? And notice how he says, if you have this peace, you can live spotless and blameless. And I I love this. It means you're focused on his presence and not on his
32:52 perfection. Focus on presence, not being perfect. If if I'm spotless, if if I'm living God's way, I realize there's gonna be times in my life I don't measure up. I realize there's times in my life people couldShow more
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