Christian- Is your soul lifted up with thanks to God within your soul when you consider that He has forgiven for all of your sins because of the cross of Christ- The Lord Jesus Christ on the bloody cross of Golgotha....Hear the groans and cries of the Son of Man as He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him It was for my sins that He cried- -My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me- -Not one of us knows what it's like to be completely forsaken by God- To be in a place of NO MORE opportunities to be saved- NO MORE grace, NO MORE mercy, and NO possibility of ever being forgiven for your sins-..... If you're a believer today, it was on that cross that the Son of Man paid for the wages of your sins.

Many of us have never been in a war in this world, but if you're a child of God, you have been called into a spiritual war, to STAND AGAINST and TO RESIST an INVISIBLE and VERY REAL ADVERSARY - ENEMY. Satan- -He declared war on your soul after God saved-delivered you from his kingdom and translated or conveyed you into the Kingdom of Christ. If you would be at peace with God, no longer an enemy of God and estranged from God look to the cross of Christ by faith. See the Son of Man's victory over the wicked one on that bloody tree- See the serpent defeated- his head crushed by resurrected Son of Man- ...Turn from your sins and believe that your sins were paid for in full by His blood-.. -Colossians 1-13, Acts 26-18, Revelation 6-1-2, ..Luke 11-20-23 ... 1 Peter 5-8,,, 1 Peter 5-9 ...James 4-6-10 ... Ephesians 6-10-18 ... 1 John 4-4.. John 10-27-30, Ephesians 2-1-5..2 Corinthians 4-3-4 ...John 14-27, 16-33, Philippians 4-6-7, Colossians 3-12-15, Isaiah 26-3, Romans 14-17 ...Isaiah 57-21 ...Colossians 1-13, 20-23, Romans 5-1-2 .. Be encouraged child of God, YOU cannot be recaptured by the wicked one-

To stir up literally means to arouse and awaken- Peter's design here is to stir up and awaken the truths of God, which may have settled into the forgotten recesses of our minds- truths that we heard and learned and believed from the Holy Scriptures- But understand that truth believed must be truth recalled, stirred up, and aroused- if we believed it yesterday, we must believe it today- One of the reasons that it is very important for you to have this truth stirred up in your minds is because there will be many scoffers in the last days who will deny the 2nd coming of Christ------2 Peter 3-5-- Luke 12-35-37, 40 ---2 Peter 3-13-14, 17, 1 Thessalonians 4-18 --- Genesis 6-5-8 --- Genesis 7-6-22--- Matthew 24-36-39--- 2 Peter 2-5- ---1 Peter 3-20- --- 2 Peter 3-9--- Hebrews 10-37---

The reason the Lord had not returned in Peter's day, and the reason that the Lord has not yet returned in our day is the same reason- because He is longsuffering.-If God was not longsuffering, none of us would be saved- but He is longsuffering, meaning, He is long-spirited and long-patient- it means that He forbears and suffers our ill manners and our sins and our wickedness to accomplish His good pleasure, and what He has decreed from eternity. --------Isaiah 57-15---Psalm 90-4---Hebrews 10-36-37---2 Peter 3-9 ---- Numbers 23-19,--- 1 Samuel 15-29, ---Titus 1-1-2---Isaiah 55-8-9, 25-1---Matthew 24-36---Exodus 12-40-42, ---Genesis 15-13-14. ---John 10-27-29 ---Acts 13-38-39,-- John 6-37, --Matthew 11-28,-- Isaiah 55-6-7.--God will turn no sinner away who comes to Him in repentance and faith in Christ. YOU SAY, but what about election- Turn from your sins to Christ- -James Downing

-As the tree is known by its fruit, so our heart is known by the words that we speak. If our words are consistently full of sin and arrogance- if we often speak idle words, meaning useless and foolish words, we have a critical heart problem.----Matthew 12-35-37,---Proverbs 23-7,---Ephesians 5-4,---Proverbs 15-28,---Colossians 3-16,--- Romans 12-2,---Proverbs 14-29, 29-20 ,---Nehemiah 2-1-5, 5-1-8,------Proverbs 10-19, 15-2, 16-20-24, 29-11, ---Colossians 4-6, 1 Peter 3-15 ,---Ecclesiastes 10-12-14 ,--- Psalm 19-14- -Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer-

You've heard the saying -out of sight, out of mind-- Well, how about out of mind - out of practice- Out of mind, nothing for faith to take hold of and believe- If we are going to walk by faith, we need to be making daily and substantial deposits of God's Word into our hearts and minds- truths that we are able to recall and retrieve at a moment's notice. When questions and doubts arise in our hearts- or when we are afraid and full of fear- or when we hear scoffers mocking the promises of God or false teachers teaching things which they ought not, we need to be able to answer, -IT IS WRITTEN-----------Matthew 4----2 Peter 3-1-9--------. 2 Peter 1-8-9, 12-13----Luke 12-35-40. ----- Colossians 3-1-2,---- Psalm 119-9-11, ----Proverbs 2-1-5, 10-17----Hebrews 2-1----Matthew 13-52 ---1 John 2-18,--- Hebrews 1-1-2,--- 1 Peter 1-20, ---2 Timothy 3-1. ---2 Peter 3-4, ---Isaiah 5-18-19,--- Ezekiel 12-21-25--- 1 Thessalonians 4-13-5-6---

The doctrine of Balaam is one of Satan's most effective tools used against the church today- it's bad enough when members of the church bring worldliness into the church, but it's far worse when the preacher brings it into the church and preaches it - influences the people to sin from the pulpit.--b. The doctrine of Balaam seeks to turn the godly society of the church to a godless one, and to turn the people of God away from love to Christ to the love of the world. False teachers teach their followers to set their affections on things in the world, and not on things above, .....2 Peter 2-15-22---Numbers 22-23-24---2 Peter 2-15-16, Jude 11, Revelation 2-12-14---Numbers 31-15-16---. 1 John 5-19-21-----Jude 12-13. ---2 Peter 2-18, ---2 Peter 2-19, ---Romans 6-16--- Luke 9-62, Psalm 78-8-9---, Luke 8-13-14 --- 1 Peter 1-3-5,--- Jude 1, 24, ---John 10-27-29---2 Peter 2-19C-22----. Luke 11-24-26-----Hebrews 6-4-6----Hebrews 10-26-29 ---1 Timothy 1-15, John 3-16-17----Sinner, turn this day from your sins to Christ---Seek ye the LORD while He may be found.

As we continue our study in 2 Peter 2, we must remember the words of the Lord Jesus in the sermon on the mount- .....Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ravening wolves- ....but also, from Matthew 24-11 when He said- And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many..........it is imperative for you KNOW the truth of God's Word for yourself so that you don't end up among the deceived. You will find that most of their followers are biblically illiterate- they can't tell you what they believe because they don't know what they believe, they're just bewitched by their false teacher.

One of the things that we must contend with as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in our day is false prophets and teachers. ----Since the fall of man into sin, Satan tirelessly dispatches false prophets-religious liars into the world to deceive souls, lie to them about the truth of God, tell them that sin is not so bad, and that it's ok to love the world and desire the world.--Satan is busy -right now- sowing tares among the wheat. You and I better know how to identify these deceivers of souls.-These men and women are destroyers of souls- ---- But a true preacher of the Word is always going to point those under his ministry to Christ and away from himself. .......2 Peter 1-16-21.....--Matthew 24-11, .....Acts 20-29-30, .......2 Corinthians 11-13-15......--2 Timothy 4-1-4........Jude 4.....--1 Timothy 6-1-2,.... Titus 2-9-10, .....1 Peter 2-18.....--John 17-2. ......--1 Peter 1-18-19 .......--1 Timothy 4-12........--Matthew 7-13-23,........ Revelation 12-13-17 .........--Romans 2-21-24........--Psalm 51-3, 21-22, ........Ecclesiastes 8-11, ........Isaiah 42-13-14 ........--2 Peter 2-9

One of the greatest dangers that we are faced with, in our day -as Christians- is heresy being introduced into the church in false teaching by false prophets. Preachers who would subvert and undermine your faith - corrupt your mind from the truth of the gospel of Christ.--False prophets preach from the Word of God just like I do- but they misrepresent the scriptures and twist the truth of God's Word and secretly introduce damnable heresies into the church. - James Downing----------2 Peter 1-8-10-----Acts 20-27-32-----2 Timothy 2-15-18 ----1 Corinthians 11-18-19---2 Peter 1-16-21---2 Peter 3-3-4---2 Peter 1-19-21---Genesis 3-14-15---2 Corinthians 11-1-3.---Deut. 13-1-5, Jeremiah 23-9-33, Matthew 7-15, 1 John 4-1-6---Titus 1-9-11 ---Galatians 1-6-9---2 Corinthians 11-1-4, 2 Timothy 4-1-5---Acts 20-29-30- ---Titus 1-15-16, 2 Timothy 3-5---Deuteronomy 32-4-6, Exodus 15-16