But before we go on there is one real surprise here. We said it shouldn’t be a surprise that false teachers arise. Jesus promised that. But we might say the surprise in this chapter is how little we find about their teaching, and how much Peter focuses on their living.

One of the ways we are assured that we will be in the eternal kingdom of Jesus is that we live now in a way that fits with that kingdom. Again, the way we live now doesn’t earn that kingdom. That comes by Jesus’s free invitation. And it’s his free invitation changes us. We become new people who are being fitted for a new world.

You know, we can’t control how other people respond. That’s not our part. That’s not our responsibility. Our responsibility has to do with ourselves, with what we’re doing. And if there is a relational rift in your life, the question you should ask is: Does this relational rift exist because of my refusal to ask for or give forgiveness?

"Finally, press into the Lord. In your sorrow, do not sin. Weep, wail, grieve, lament. Rage against this broken and cursed world and the evil powers that steal and kill and destroy. But never curse God. Don’t run from him. He is the only source of comfort. He is the God of all comfort. Press on to know him. Press hard into him. As surely as the coming of the dawn, he will respond."

The decreasing, the denying, the cost — it is real. We’re really giving up things. I’m really not playing softball. When you fast, you’re really not eating lunch. When you wake up early to pray, you are not sleeping. These are costs, they really are.

But then one day, when we look back, it won’t look like a cost, not when we see Jesus.

The greatest of God’s provisions for us is not earthly wealth — good gift as it can be. It is not money — useful as it can be for showing love to others and advancing the kingdom. It is not earthly possessions, but it is the very presence of God himself in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. God’s greatest gift is God himself. And when he is the lodestar of our soul, when that truth is fixed in our hearts, we are the freest of all people.

"The goal, however, is that God always remain in front of me. Indeed, the goal is that he’s always close to the center of my vision. Even when he’s not the direct object of my attention, he’s right there; he’s present and I never turn my back to him."

"When a delight in a legitimate pleasure spontaneously erupts, take the governor off. If your joy in your family is going to shoot through the roof, don’t reinforce the ceiling with steel. Perhaps even open the skylight so that it has a clearer shot."

One of our common emotional experiences as humans is the feeling of emptiness. No matter how rich or poor, how heathy or sick, whether in success or in failure, we all have tasted the feeling of emptiness. We wouldn’t all describe it the same terms, but we have felt that internal emotional sense of emptiness or inadequacy — that haunting, gnawing ache that I’m not what I should be, or that some highly anticipated experience didn’t live up to its billing.

"Our words come out from our heart. Underneath our words is a battle. It is a battle to try and figure out what to say and how to say it, between spirit and flesh, faith and unbelief, obedience and sin. The battle is in our hearts and it is a battle for our worship. And our words and the way they come out reflect where we are at in this battle."