Section 13 – 2 Peter 3:11-13
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (NIV)
Questions
● (v11) Look back at verse10. What will be destroyed? How will it be destroyed? In light of this coming destruction, how should we live out our lives as Christians? What does a holy and godly life look like? How might we achieve this goal of living holy and godly lives?
● (v12) Should this prophecy of the destruction of the heavens and the earth by fire cause fear and anxiety in our lives or hope and motivation? Why? What should Christians be motivated to do as we look forward to the day of God?
● (v13) Can we trust God’s promises? Why? What has God promised that we can look forward to? What dwells in the new heaven and new earth? What does that mean?
● What is something from our passage or study you are challenged to ponder further this week?
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Suggested Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I trust your promise that you are coming back and the present heavens and earth will be destroyed by fire. Help me to live a holy and godly life as I earnestly look forward to your second coming. I also pray that I can look expectantly to the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Amen
Passages for reference:
Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
1 John 3:1-3
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Matthew 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Romans 11:24-25
24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
Isaiah 65:17
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
Revelation 21:1
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
The Brotherhood Mission Statement:
“Discipling men of all ages in their pursuit of loving God
with all their hearts, all their lives.”