WITNESS And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. —I John 4:14-15 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. —John 3:16 God our Father sent His One and only Son, Jesus, as the most precious gift that world will ever know. He is the only Savior and there is no other way to come into relationship with God except through Jesus…

OUR KING JESUS His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”—Daniel 4:34-35 Jesus is the King of kings and His dominion is forever. His kingdom will have no end and will never be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). Compared to Him all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. “The nations are like a drop in a bucket” and “they are regarded as dust…

DOING RIGHT BECAUSE OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. —I John 2:29 Doing what is right flows out of His righteousness. Those who have been born of God have the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21) and that righteousness of God will transform a person on the inside. That which is the core of a person will produce fruit from that core now that the Holy Spirit of God resides in them ( I Corinthians 6:19-20). There will be evidence in a person’s life that they have truly repented (Acts 26:20). Doing…

CONFESS NOW! If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. —I John 1:8-10 Do you presently have any known sin in your life? Why have you not confessed it already? Unconfessed sin keeps us out of fellowship with the Lord God Almighty and that is a dangerous place to be. Ask God to search your heart and…

LOOK WHAT IS AHEAD! But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. —II Peter 3:13 Think of all the wrong that exists in our world— all the unrighteousness. Sin has infected and affected every area of this world we live in. Prisons and hospitals exist because of the fallen state of this world. Wars and personal conflicts exist because of this fallen world. Our list of wrong and unrighteousness could be quite long. But let us not focus there. As followers of the Lord Jesus we are in this world, but we are not of it. “We…

DEFINITELY HIS OR NOT It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” —II Peter 2:21-22 Who are those that truly love and live for the Lord Jesus Christ? How is it possible to know who is truly a disciple? The answer is time and a changed life shown by the outward fruit produced by the inward transformation…

SELF CHECK! For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. —II Peter 1:5-9 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the…

GIFTED BY GRACE Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. —I Peter 4:10-11 What spiritual gift have you been given by God’s grace? If you are a faithful steward of that gift then you are using it— whether it is a speaking…

CHOSEN! But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. —I Peter 2:9 You, fellow follower of Jesus, have been chosen. You are part of His royal priesthood. You are in His holy nation. You are God’s special possession. Wow! As such He desires us to declare His praises. This is part of why He called us out of the “darkness and into His wonderful light.” Have we declared His praises to anyone recently? Have we praised Him lately? Ever play a pick-up game where two…

REDEEMED TO AN ETERNAL INHERITANCE! Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. —I Peter 1:3-6…