Y'all or a They

In one paragraph

The pastor picked up the thread from the previous week in 2 Peter, working through chapter two into chapter three. He traced Peter's sharp contrast between false teachers and the believers he was writing to, and landed on the patience of God as the reason Christ has not yet returned. Peter's second chapter is a portrait of false teachers, and the pastor walked through the description in detail....

Read together

1. 2 Peter 2:10b starting point of the passage being preached through, describing bold and arrogant false teachers heaping abuse on celestial beings
2. 2 Peter 2:11 even angels do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord
3. 2 Peter 2:12 false teachers described as unreasoning animals born to be caught and destroyed
4. 2 Peter 2:13 false teachers described as blots and blemishes reveling in pleasures while feasting with believers
5. 2 Peter 2:14 eyes full of adultery, never stop sinning, seduce the unstable, experts in greed
6. 2 Peter 2:15 false teachers having left the straight way to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer who loved the wages of wickedness
7. 2 Peter 2:16 Balaam rebuked by a donkey that spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness
8. 2 Peter 2:17 false teachers described as springs without water and mists driven by a storm
9. 2 Peter 2:18 false teachers mouth empty boastful words and entice people just escaping from those who live in error
10. 2 Peter 2:19 false teachers promise freedom while themselves being slaves of depravity
11. 2 Peter 2:20 those who escape corruption through knowing Christ but become entangled again are worse off than at the beginning
12. 2 Peter 2:21 it would have been better not to have known the way of righteousness than to turn back from the sacred command
13. 2 Peter 2:22 proverb of a dog returning to its vomit and a washed sow returning to wallowing
14. 2 Peter 3:1 Peter stating this is his second letter written as a reminder to stimulate wholesome thinking
15. 2 Peter 3:2 call to recall words of the holy prophets and the command given by the Lord through the apostles
16. 2 Peter 3:3 warning that in the last days scoffers will come following their own evil desires
17. 2 Peter 3:4 scoffers asking where is the promised coming, saying everything goes on as since the beginning of creation
18. 2 Peter 3:5 scoffers deliberately forgetting that by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water
19. 2 Peter 3:6 the world of that time was deluged and destroyed by water
20. 2 Peter 3:7 the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly
21. 2 Peter 3:8 do not forget that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day
22. 2 Peter 3:9 the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise but patient, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance
23. 2 Peter 1:5 earlier in the letter Peter calls believers to add to their faith goodness and self-control
24. 2 Peter 1:12 Peter saying he will always remind them of these things even though they know them and are firmly established in the truth
25. 2 Peter 1:19 the prophetic word described as completely reliable before the warning about false teachers in chapter two
26. 2 Peter 2:5 God not sparing the ancient world but protecting Noah a preacher of righteousness and seven others when he brought the flood
27. 2 Peter 2:6 God condemning Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes as an example of what will happen to the ungodly
28. Numbers 22-24 background on Balaam referenced as the prior week's extended teaching
29. Ephesians 2:19-21 Gentiles no longer strangers but citizens with God's people, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone
30. 1 Corinthians 1:18 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those being saved
31. John 3:16 God so loved the world that whoever believes in His Son should not perish but have everlasting life, connected to God not wanting anyone to perish
32. Habakkuk 2:3 the vision is for an appointed time, it will not fail though it tarries, wait for it
33. Hebrews 10:37 in just a little while he who is coming will come and will not delay, quoting Habakkuk in the New Testament
34. Psalm 34:8 taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him, used as benediction
35. Psalm 34:10 lions may grow weak and hungry but those who seek the Lord will lack no good thing, used as benediction

Talk about it

1. The pastor described two camps, the 'y'alls' and the 'theys,' and said it is impossible to remain neutral. What does that claim mean to you personally, and where do you see people around you trying to stay in the middle?
2. Peter wrote that someone who escapes the corruption of the world through knowing Christ and then gets entangled in it again is worse off than at the beginning. Why do you think that might be true, and have you ever seen that play out in someone's life?
3. The pastor used the AA steps as an illustration of the three moves toward freedom: I can't, there is a higher power who can, and I am going to let him. How does that pattern line up with what you understand repentance to mean?
4. Peter says the scoffers deliberately forget the flood and the word of God that brought it. What does it look like today when people deliberately set aside what they already know to be true, and how should Christians respond to that?
5. The sermon closed with 2 Peter 3:9, that God is patient and not wanting anyone to perish. How does holding that truth alongside the warnings about judgment and false teachers change the way you think about people who are still outside of Christ?