Every Word Counts - 2 Peter 1:1-2 - October 24, 2021

 2 Peter 1:1-2 Every Word Counts

Good morning!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Since every word of Scripture is breathed out by God Himself every word of Scripture counts, every word is God’s Word.

With this in mind we are going to look at just a few words, the few words found in 2 Peter 1:1-2, page 1018 in the pew Bibles. 

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Let’s pray.

So, as you may remember from last week, and as I hope is clear from a plain reading of the text, that the author of this letter is Peter, the Apostle Peter, originally named “Simon,” or, “Simeon,” but renamed Peter by the Lord Jesus after his confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

The Catholic Church teaches that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus was going to build His church as the first Pope, the reality of course that it is the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God that His church is built on.

It’s certainly not that Peter isn’t important, he truly is, but the things he writes in these two verses share a little bit more of the reality of Peter’s standing and ours.

Peter calls himself, “a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

This phrase, used by Peter and also Paul, “servant and apostle,” was one of both humility and dignity.

The Greek word, doulos, translated servant, means slave, one compelled to serve, someone who was completely subservient to someone else. Peter recognized his relation to Christ and his total dependence on Him.

The word for Apostle, means a special messenger, one who is sent. This term was not limited to the Twelve Apostles as we call them but also applied to Paul and Barnabas and other people in the church sent out to proclaim the gospel and plant churches. Peter’s mention of this office was a reminder of the dignity that was his as an eye witness and one who was sent to proclaim the gospel by Jesus Himself.

I tend to give Peter a hard time, especially when I read the accounts of his early life in the Gospels, mostly because he made it pretty easy, he was a numbskull. But after the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost he became the kind of man that we can all look up to and emulate. He boldly preached the gospel without fear, even across cultural boundary lines, and wrote these wonderful letters to remind us of all that we have in Christ.

And it’s important for us to remember how important Peter was in the life of the early church so that his next statement can have its full effect.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Simon Peter, THE Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, one of the originals, witnessed the transfiguration, walked on water, was there at the empty tomb Easter morning, saw Jesus ascend to the Father, preached at Pentecost, brought the gospel to the Gentiles, THE Peter!

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of out God and Savior Jesus Christ…

Obtained a faith of equal standing with ours… equal standing!

First of all, the word that Peter used that is translated, “obtained,” is a grace-oriented word. It excludes any kind of work or merit, it’s related to divine favor, by grace independent of man’s control.

We, like Peter, have received faith by the grace of God. We don’t deserve it and neither did Peter.

That faith that Peter obtained, that the original recipients of this letter obtained, that we obtained, is the truth of Christian doctrine, the ability to believe and trust Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness, justification, sanctification, and future glorification, is given by God’s grace alone.

Ephesians 2:8-9, says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Peter could have boasted, look at all he did, think about all he saw! But here he clearly states that all believers for all time, by God’s grace, have a faith of equal standing with his and all the other Apostles as well.

The simple truth is that no matter how much we like to elevate other people and hold them up as higher or better or more loved by God than us, in God’s sight, by faith, we are all the same. Peter, Paul, James, John, Calvin, Luther, Billy Graham, Joel Brown, me and you, by faith we stand equal.

Billy Graham said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

Paul said in Galatians 3:28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

John Calvin said, “All possess by faith the same Christ with His righteousness and the same salvation.”

Their faith, our faith, Peter’s faith, is all equally precious in the sight of God. There are no secret circles, there are no higher levels, no separate classes, we are all one by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

His righteousness is what is important, not who we are, but who He is!

Jesus satisfied the justice of God which demands the death of the sinner. He did so Himself by paying a sufficient ransom for all mankind, he gave His own perfect, sinless, and holy life for ours. 

Romans 3:22-26 says,

For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says,

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

By faith in Jesus Christ, we, along with Peter and countless others, have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, its value added to our accounts. When God looks at us, He sees only Jesus.

And what is Peter’s wish for those of us who have obtained a faith of equal standing with his own?

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

It’s been said that knowledge is the vehicle of the multiplication of grace and peace.

But the word that Peter used for knowledge means more than to just know something or someone, that word is gnosis. The word Peter used is epignosis, to know fully.

Paul expressed this idea beautifully when speaking of the return of Christ in 1 Corinthians 13:12,

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Now we know the Father in part, we know Jesus in part, when He returns we will know Him fully as He knows us fully. 

And though we only know Him in part, that part can increase, getting to know Him better through the way that He has chosen to reveal Himself to us: by studying His Word, and our perception of His grace and peace increases as our knowledge of Him grows.

If you want God to speak, read His Word, if you want Him to speak audibly, read it out loud!

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

2 Peter Introduction - October 17, 2021

 2 Peter Introduction

Good morning! We are beginning a new study this morning! 

It has been our pattern for the last eight years or so to study the books of one author in the order in which they were originally delivered. We went all through the letters of the Apostle Paul which are not arranged in chronological order in the New Testament, but rather by length, which can be kind of confusing. 

We’ve now moved on to the works of the Apostle Peter, beginning with the Gospel of Mark which the scholars believe was Peter’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus and, of course, last week we wrapped up 1 Peter.

That must mean that we are on to 2 Peter! And we are!

So let’s pray so we can jump in.

Again, it is our pattern to consider the original author, the original audience, and the original author’s intent before getting too far into our study of any particular text. 

We know that the original author is Peter because his name is the first two words of the letter.

Just as a point of interest, you’ll see as we read this letter together that Peter uses the name Simeon Peter as opposed to just the name Peter as he did in his last letter. Simeon is the direct transliteration of his name, “Simon,” from Hebrew, a nod to his original audience of primarily Jewish Christians, though Gentile believers were included as well.

Chapter three, verse one tells us who the original audience was, who the original recipients of this letter were: it was the exact same audience as his last letter, the elect exiles of the dispersion. 

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved.

Who are the “elect exiles of the dispersion”? This is a reference to Jewish believers, those who had been dispersed, scattered from their homeland and now living as exiles in Northern Turkey. Peter is often referred to as the Apostle to the Jews just as Paul was referred to as the Apostle to the Gentiles. That doesn’t mean that Gentile believers are not included in the instruction and encouragement included in this letter, by the time this letter was written Jewish and Gentile believers were together in one holy church.

Peter wrote this letter in AD 67-68, shortly before his death, a year or two after his first letter.

Lastly, we have the original author’s intent. What was Peter trying to accomplish by writing this letter?

The crazy thing about this letter is that it could have been written yesterday. I listened to a sermon on 2 Peter from Ray Steadman and he talked about how applicable this letter was to that day and how it dealt with so much that the church was facing and that sermon was delivered in 1968. It still holds up!

Peter was trying to guard the church against error, specifically error brought into the church by false teachers and he did this by encouraging the church to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

I said a few weeks ago that counterfeit bills are obvious to those who study the genuine article. Knowledge of the truth is the great solution to error.

AR Fausset wrote, “The grand antidote is ‘the full knowledge of our Lord and Savior,’ through which we know God the Father, partake of His nature, escape from the pollutions of the world, and have entrance into Christ’s kingdom.”

We are faced with all the same difficulties that Peter’s original audience faced and the solution to their problems is the solution to ours, the full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’ve put some references up on the screen for you to look up on your own. Peter mentions several different Biblical accounts and I thought it would be helpful to you to have those references so that when we get to those texts in the coming weeks you can be more familiar with what he was talking about.

So enough from me, let’s hear from the Lord through the pen of the Apostle Peter.

Read the text of 2 Peter.

May the Lord Himself act as our interpreter and apply His truth to our lives.

Amen.

Conclusion- Grace, Love, and Peace - 1 Peter 5:12-14 - October 10, 2021

 1 Peter 5:12-14 Conclusion- Grace, Love, and Peace

Good morning! We are continuing our study in 1 Peter this morning with chapter five, verses twelve through fourteen, page 1017 in the pew Bibles.

It was very tempting to just lump these verses in with our text from last week as they are just a brief conclusion of this letter, almost like Peter’s signature at the end. This few verses were most likely written by Peter’s own hand but they carry much more weight than just a signature and so I want to look at them on their own as we close our study on this book.

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. 

Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Let’s pray.

In our very first look at the letter of 1 Peter, in our introductory study, we looked at the three major factors in studying any given text, the author, the audience, and the author’s intent.

If you remember from that study we determined that the author was Peter, that’s usually how you get epistles named after you, unless you’re the Apostle Paul.

The difference between this first letter of Peter and all of Paul’s letters is the audience. Paul wrote to specific churches in specific cities as well as specific people and the letters were given the names of those cities and churches and people, Peter, however, wrote to groups of people in various places spread out over what is now northern Turkey.

The first few verses of chapter one give us this exact information.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

And though these introductory verses give us both the author and the audience, and maybe a hint at the author’s intent in writing this letter, it isn’t until we get to our text for today that Peter’s intent in writing to the elect exiles of the dispersion is made clear.

I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

Peter mentions Silvanus there in verse 12 as well. Silvanus appears elsewhere in the New Testament, you may remember Paul’s companion Silas, they are the same guy. He is mentioned several times as a leader in the church in Acts 15, 16, 17, 18. He accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey and co-authored 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Peter regarded Silvanus as a faithful brother, which is a high compliment in my opinion, and he most likely functioned as Peter’s secretary in writing this letter down as well as delivering copies himself to the churches in northern Turkey.

Peter, with the help of Silvanus, wrote this brief letter to encourage the churches to stand firm in the true grace of God.

And as I look at our text for this morning, as I often do, I can see three key words Peter used there and grace is the first, stand firm in the true grace of God.

The word grace means, “gift,” an unearned gift. In my mind the verses that best describe grace at work and the Father’s motivation for giving us grace were written by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:4-10.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

He loves us because He made us, we are his workmanship, even though we were spiritually dead because of our sin and rebellion against Him, in His grace He made us alive together with Christ, raised us up from death, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. He saved us from the consequences of our sin, not because of anything we had done to earn that saving, but He gave us salvation as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ.

So there is no boasting about being worthy of that gift, there is however, standing firm because the Father will never revoke that gift. Last week we talked about the Legionnaires standing firm, as if fastened to the ground, this grace is the foundation that we are to be fastened to.

In verse 13-14 Peter mentions the other two key words, love, and peace.

13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

Before we look at those other two key words we need to deal with “the mysterious lady,” and also Mark. 

First, the easy one, Mark is Mark. John Mark, who wrote the book of Mark, as you may remember it was really Peter’s telling of the life and ministry of Jesus and Mark wrote it down. John Mark was a cousin to Barnabas and joined he and Paul on a missionary journey but chickened out and ran home to Mama. He was later restored and became a leader in the church and obviously quite useful in gospel ministry both to Peter and to Paul, and also to us as it turns out.

“She who is at Babylon,” sounds a lot more mysterious than it actually is. Peter wrote this letter from the actual city of Babylon, the church did not start referring to Rome as Babylon until after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD you can see that in the book of Revelation which was written thirty years or so after this letter.

The mysterious lady is the church, “she who is at Babylon,” simply means the church in and around the city of Babylon. No mystery, no codes, no secret meaning, it wasn’t Peter’s wife or some other noble lady as mentioning an individual in this way is not consistent with Peter’s style of writing, not to mention the fact that he names to other specific people by name on either side of this phrase.

This testimony was to serve as an encouragement to the churches that Peter was writing to, to remind them that they were not the only churches that remained, that they were not alone in the world, that other brothers and sisters throughout the world were suffering as they were but were standing firm in the grace of God.

So verse 14 hold our other two key words and the first builds off this idea that the churches were not alone, “Greet one another with a kiss of love.”

Now before you start thinking that the Bible commands us to go around kissing everybody, “Pastor told us that we have to kiss everybody!” Don’t forget the context and the original audience.

Putting your hands on both shoulders and kissing on the cheek was a First Century oriental greeting, most commonly used by a disciple to their teacher. This is why Judas used this greeting to signal to the soldiers which man in their troupe was Jesus.

Peter exhorted everyone in the churches to greet each other in this way. As you may have figured out the church has done away with this tradition and rightly so. It was misused and abused over the centuries and by the Thirteenth Century was abandoned altogether. Hugs and handshakes, fist bumps, high fives, all will suffice to replace the kiss.

But what must not be replaced in our greetings is the love part.

Remembering, like the churches that Peter was writing to, that we do not walk alone, we do not stand alone, but are united in the love of Christ and love for one another. Our greetings and our meetings should reflect that love.

And finally, “Peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus.”

Peace is something the world truly craves, but Peter shows us here that true peace is only possible one way, and that is in Christ Jesus.

In order for anyone to be at peace, to know the peace of God, they must first experience peace with God. Paul outlined this beautifully in Romans 5:1-11.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

By means of the preaching of the gospel the church has been brought through faith in Christ to the possession and enjoyment of the grace of God, the love of God, and the peace of God.

That was Peter’s desire for the churches of the dispersion and is the Holy Spirit’s desire for the church today.

Amen. 

Lions and Legionnaires - 1 Peter 5:8-11 - October 3, 2021

 1 Peter 5:8-11 Lions and Legionnaires

Good morning! Well, it’s October, I think we can officially say that summer is over. The scenery certainly changes in October around here, the tourists are scarce, the leaves change, and every other front yard turns into a cemetery.

October brings Halloween, a very tricky season to be sure. It’s tricky because the church has had a great deal of difficulty in dealing with it over the years. Look at our history, the church has shunned it, banning trick-or-treating or any other participation in Halloween festivities, the church has ignored it, just shrugging our shoulders and turning off our porch lights so no kids will bother us for candy, the church has tried to replace it, with harvest parties and more holy activities, we all know that they’re Halloween parties we just can’t call them that.

This year, I encourage you to redeem the day, hand out candy in the Name of Jesus, good candy, love your neighbors and their kids, be welcoming and generous.

But also don’t be fooled by mischaracterizations of our very real enemy, the devil.

Halloween is the season of glorifying evil. Every channel on TV shows horror movies, every storefront feature all things scary. There’s a lot more going on than just kids getting candy, our enemy is at work.

Our passage for this morning focuses on our very real enemy and his designs and will be very helpful for us as the Lord’s church, not just on Halloween but all the time. 

1 Peter 5:8-11, page 1017 in the pew Bibles.

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Let’s pray.

There are three parties mentioned here in these four verses, who are they? The devil, the church, the Father.

The devil, the Father, and the church; the devil and the Father both want things for the church, and they could not be more different.

Peter calls the devil, “your adversary,” this is the same word as the Hebrew word, “satan,” it means a legal opponent, one who speaks against another, one who is actively and consistently hostile towards someone, our enemy.

Even the word devil means slanderer. The Bible calls him the accuser of the brethren, a murderer, and the father of lies. 

He is no one that our unwitting neighbors would invite in for candy they knew who he really was and what he really wants to do to them.

And what is it that our enemy wants to do to them, to all of us, especially God’s church? He wants to destroy us. 

The devil’s goal for the world is to turn everyone away from the Lord Jesus, to deny Him. It’s not just to get people to sin, though he is very good at that, even though we seem to be experts at it without his help, his goal is to turn people away from Jesus, away from the Father and destroy them.

Peter says that our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

I hate this picture because I love lions, but as Abraham Calov wrote, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah is mightier by far than the lion of hell.”

The lion of hell seeks our destruction, to devour us one by one until there is no one left to turn to Jesus. But the Lion of the tribe of Judah has designs for us as well and He is mightier by far!

Peter says that though the devil wants to destroy us, but God wants to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us in His eternal glory in Christ.

These four terms are all part of the same picture.

To restore means to make completely sufficient, to perfect, to be ready in every sense.

To confirm means to make more able, to impart spiritual might as opposed to weakness.

To strengthen means to make more firm, stronger.

To establish means to fasten to the ground, built up on a firm foundation.

I can’t help but imagine the picture of a Roman legion, warriors ready for battle, able, strong, fastened to the ground and immovable.

This is what God wants His church to be by His grace. So what does Peter say here that we, Christ’s church, need to do in order to be that, to get there, what do we need to do to resist the devil so that he will flee from us like it says in James 4:7?

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter gives us four tactics of Legionairres: to be sober-minded, to be watchful, to stand firm, and to stand together.

Peter just instructed the church to cast our anxieties on the Lord because He cares for us. It’s been said that anxiety will intoxicate the soul therefore we must be sober. We need to be serious and aware of the reality of the fight we are in, as Lange wrote, “we are the church militant, not yet the church triumphant.” That day is coming when the Lord Jesus return for His church but until them we are in a fight, don’t be fooled, it’s a war for souls.

Not only are we to be sober-minded and aware of the fight we’re in but we must also be watchful, vigilant, and aware of the tactics of our enemy.

Pretending that the devil doesn’t exist is one of his greatest tactics, we cannot ignore the reality that our enemy is out there seeking people to devour and destroy.

I’m not suggesting that we live in fear as if the devil is going to jump out from behind every bush but we must be aware of his tactics. He is the accuser of the brethren according to Revelation 12:10, he is a murderer and the father of lies according to John 8:44, everything he does is get people to believe lies that push us away from faith in Jesus and push us toward our own pride.

Pride says that we are either extraordinary sinners or uncommon saints, either beyond the reach of God’s grace or beyond the need of it. Believing either of these lies makes you lunch for lions. But these are the lies we are fed all the time.

I was in Home Depot this week and the cashier was telling me that their store has been the frequent target of counterfeiters. The best training to spot counterfeit bills is not to study the counterfeit bills but to study the genuine bills until the flaws in the fakes become obvious. 

The same is true for the church, we must study the truth of God’s Word so that the lies of the enemy become obvious.

Knowing God’s Word helps us with our third tactic against the enemy, to stand firm in our faith.

Verse nine says to resist the devil, firm in your faith.

Johann Gerhard wrote, “Victory over Satan lies in faith, because faith unites us to Christ the Victor. By faith the devil is driven to flight as the lion is by fire.”

“Faith,” to have faith or being a person of faith has become very nebulous in our day, there are lots of “spiritual people” around. But this loose mysticism is miles away from what Peter meant by “standing firm in your faith.”

Faith is not nebulous or mystical or spooky, it is concrete. It is absolute trust in Jesus.

It is trusting that He is the one and only, eternally existent Son of God, sent to earth by the Father and anointed by the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. He was crucified but God raised Him from the dead on the third day and He appeared to chosen witnesses who ate and drank with Him after he had risen from the dead. He commanded them to preach to the people and to testify that he is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.

That was Peter’s profession to Cornelius in Acts 10. That is the faith that we stand firm in.

But Legionnaires never stood alone. We are to be sober-minded, and watchful, standing firm in our faith, and standing together.

9 Resist [the devil], firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

I’m sure Peter hadn’t seen a lot of PBS specials on lions, he didn’t have National Geographic, but this is how lions hunt, by separating the weak from the rest of the herd.

Believing that we are alone, that no one could understand our suffering, or even worse, that we are ok alone, and that we don’t need anyone else to stand with us, is to believe a great lie from the enemy.

If you are watching this video, or listening to this podcast, because you are sick or are unable to attend services, or just live far away, this next statement is NOT for you.

But if you are watching this video, or livestream, or are listening to this podcast because you think that you do not need to go to church, that you do not need the church, or that church only exists for sermons and services, you have been deceived by the enemy and he is ready to devour you.

The church is not just a building, the church is not just services and sermons, the church is people, fellow believers, fellow legionnaires that need to stand together in order to stand against the enemy.

This will sound familiar, it’s read at every wedding, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Of course we all know that the third cord is Christ Himself, braided together with His church.

The devil wants to devour and destroy us but the Father wants to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. To Him be the might and power forever and ever.

Amen.