This Sunday we’ll be returning to our study in 2 Peter – reading ch 1:16-21.
There are some events that I’ve witnessed in my life that are indelibly etched into my memory. I still remember with distinct clarity watching the TV in horror as the first WTC tower went down. If someone were to come along a few years from now and claim that it never happened…I’d just smile and say, “You’re wrong, I saw it happen”.
But someone could respond “You saw an image on TV, and those can be manipulated”. I’d have to concede that possibility, but then I’d point to all the people in New York that lived through that fateful day – the multitudes of eyewitnesses – their testimony would carry a lot of weight.
By the time Peter is writing this second letter, you get the idea that people are already starting to reevaluate the timetable of Jesus’ kingdom project. This was taking a lot longer than anyone expected it to. Peter is now faced with a fresh crop of teachers, people farther removed from the original events of Jesus’ ministry who are starting to twist and question the veracity of the gospel story.
Peter’s answer to them is “You’re wrong, I saw and heard it all, I was there”.
As we read what Peter says in this text, how would you apply this to your present life? Jesus’ ministry was 2K years ago – so what personal testimony could you give in support of your faith?
Peter talks about the prophetic word, which would probably be talking about the messages we now hold to as the Old and New Testament. If someone asked you if the Bible is true – how would you answer, and what support would you provide for your answer?
These are challenging thoughts – stuff we really NEED to take the time to wrestle with. Hope you can be with us on Sunday….and bring your wrestling shoes as we grapple with some heavyweight thoughts.
WONDERWHAT 
Looking forward to it!
These are great questions to grapple with! Just thinking about them has stirred my heart and love for our King!!
I think that in response to both questions, a personal testimony supporting my faith and evidence that the bible is true, the answer is intertwined. I like how The Message put vs. 19, “the prophetic word was confirmed to us”. That’s how it has happened time and again for me since that fateful day 22 years ago when I answered an alter call and believed the good news!! Many times Jesus has been there confirming His love, faithfulness and goodness to me. There was one particular time early in my walk with the Lord that I felt absolutely overwhelmed by the weight of simply surviving in todays world, working two jobs, struggling to get by, I remember thinking I just want to get away from this all, I want to hide myself away. The next morning I woke with a hymn I hadn’t heard in some time on my heart, it went “You are my hiding place, You are my deliverer”..I knew my Jesus was wooing me to hide in Him…Another time, I had a scare with cancer. After two bad test results, I waited “alone” in the waiting room praying before a biopsy. When I went in the Dr. said let’s just do third, less invasive test instead and yes it came back negative…my deliverer had come through…then there was the time I went my own way after all of His kindness to me…I dared turn back to Him and walked into an out of town church service where the minister repeated at least 80 times how Jesus loves us giving me the courage to throw myself back into his arms again…and on and on the story goes, different circumstances but the same response, Faithful and True is He…I’m sure we all have such stories we can tell attesting to Him as our Savior…our refuge, strength, deliverer, guide and Lover of our souls. His lovingkindness is truly better than life! I bet our stories will encourage others to let Him prove Himself to them as well!!
During the message last week Rob asked if anyone has ever met anyone famous, and my mind began pondering and thinking about how many people considered famous that I had met during my career in law enforcement. I had the opportunity to meet and work for many Hollywood celebrities but the one person that had the most impact on me was Ronald Reagan I, was assigned to his protection detail, and I had a great amount of respect and admiration for him.
Of course many of those people have since passed and are only memories, but I still think about them and am reminded when I watch an old or even a new movie they may be in, these are of course are all just memories now, none the less they were real.
In about the last six years of my Law Enforcement I met the greatest of all, I met Jesus at one of the lowest points of my life, and he has been with me since and has never left my side, even when I left him at times he never gave up on me or left me. I can tell people that Jesus is just as real to me as anyone I had ever met, that Jesus is in my life everyday and that I have a personal relationship with him, I talk with him everyday, and I trust him with everything in my life, even when I get ticked off and ignore him he jerks me right back in line because he loves me.