March 13, 2020 EVERYTHING WE NEED
2 Peter 1:2-3 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and to godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificence promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
Do you know God’s calling? Have you been drawn to Him and have you trusted Him for your salvation? If you have-and I hope you have-then these verses speaks volumes to you and to myself. There are six key words in this passage of scripture that we must not overlook, and they are “through the true knowledge of Him.” Just as in the days of Paul, there are those who teach and promote a false gospel; 2 Peter 2:1 warns us that there will be false teachers among us who bring destructive heresies. Some of the false teaching we hear today sounds good and appeals to our emotions, but nonetheless it is not the gospel of God. That’s not the main point for today however-just be aware of the need for us to have a true knowledge of Him. Today, let us be reminded that we are not lacking or incomplete when it comes to life-and to our relationship with our Father. We hear a lot from well-meaning people that we need to do this or do that if we are to be spiritually healthy and be right with God. No doubt that there are some good disciplines that we should be about-but that’s not the point. Peter prayed that “grace and peace” would be multiplied to us “in the knowledge of God”. Having a true knowledge God is what it is all about. One awesome blessing of knowing God is that He has granted to us everything that pertains to life and godliness! God has made every provision for you and me to live life according to His design-life to the fullest. Again, we are continually bombarded with the lies of the culture in which we live. The lies we hear, often very subtle lies, puts the emphasis on man, telling us that in order to be ‘right with God’ or to be ‘spiritual’ we must do certain things such as pray more, read the bible more, have routine quite times, etc. Here is the deal-here is the lie of the culture exposed: these things just mentioned are good things, BUT these, and other things we do as believers, COME AS A RESULT OF who we are in Christ, our true identity as sons and daughters of God-not to gain God’s approval. When we have a true knowledge of God, we naturally want to do things that please Him-the emphasis shifts from us to Him and what we do is based on love and our relationship with our Father. An important note: the verse above tells us that through the promises of God, we may become PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE! How awesome is that? Think about the implications of that. We become changed at our very core-we get a NEW nature, and out of this new nature we do the things that please Him. Note the words “you may become.” We have a part to play in the process; we must know and believe the promises of God and we must put off the old man (the old nature) and put on the new man (the new nature), and make the choice to walk by the Spirit. Ephesians 4:24, Galatians 5:16-18. So, it is critical that through our study of the scriptures, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we come to a true knowledge of Him.
Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Blessings,
Buddy
2 Peter 1:2-3 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and to godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificence promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
Do you know God’s calling? Have you been drawn to Him and have you trusted Him for your salvation? If you have-and I hope you have-then these verses speaks volumes to you and to myself. There are six key words in this passage of scripture that we must not overlook, and they are “through the true knowledge of Him.” Just as in the days of Paul, there are those who teach and promote a false gospel; 2 Peter 2:1 warns us that there will be false teachers among us who bring destructive heresies. Some of the false teaching we hear today sounds good and appeals to our emotions, but nonetheless it is not the gospel of God. That’s not the main point for today however-just be aware of the need for us to have a true knowledge of Him. Today, let us be reminded that we are not lacking or incomplete when it comes to life-and to our relationship with our Father. We hear a lot from well-meaning people that we need to do this or do that if we are to be spiritually healthy and be right with God. No doubt that there are some good disciplines that we should be about-but that’s not the point. Peter prayed that “grace and peace” would be multiplied to us “in the knowledge of God”. Having a true knowledge God is what it is all about. One awesome blessing of knowing God is that He has granted to us everything that pertains to life and godliness! God has made every provision for you and me to live life according to His design-life to the fullest. Again, we are continually bombarded with the lies of the culture in which we live. The lies we hear, often very subtle lies, puts the emphasis on man, telling us that in order to be ‘right with God’ or to be ‘spiritual’ we must do certain things such as pray more, read the bible more, have routine quite times, etc. Here is the deal-here is the lie of the culture exposed: these things just mentioned are good things, BUT these, and other things we do as believers, COME AS A RESULT OF who we are in Christ, our true identity as sons and daughters of God-not to gain God’s approval. When we have a true knowledge of God, we naturally want to do things that please Him-the emphasis shifts from us to Him and what we do is based on love and our relationship with our Father. An important note: the verse above tells us that through the promises of God, we may become PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE! How awesome is that? Think about the implications of that. We become changed at our very core-we get a NEW nature, and out of this new nature we do the things that please Him. Note the words “you may become.” We have a part to play in the process; we must know and believe the promises of God and we must put off the old man (the old nature) and put on the new man (the new nature), and make the choice to walk by the Spirit. Ephesians 4:24, Galatians 5:16-18. So, it is critical that through our study of the scriptures, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we come to a true knowledge of Him.
Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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