Learning to Persevere Until the Day of the Lord

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. ¹⁵And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
– 2 Peter 3:14-18

Sermon points:

I. Persevering by Maintaining Holiness v. 14b

II. Persevering by Developing a Heart for the Lost v.15a

”For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office [missionary]. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

– David Livingstone (1813-73)

III. Persevering by Understanding Scriptures vv 15b-16

A. Inspired & Authoritative

B. Easy to Misuse

C. Difficult at Times

D. Eternal Consequences

IV. Persevering by Growing in the Grace & Knowledge of the Lord vv 17-18

If you would like to give specifically towards ongoing work for the Ukraine, here are some options we recommend.
https://www.om.org/fi/ukraina-kriisiapu
or
https://ucclife.fi/give (please don’t use a reference code but write “Ukraine” in the message field)

Christmas Service: December 15th at 10:30

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