Nov. 2nd 6 Roads to the END III The Cultural Norms
At the time of this recording election time draws nye. It is a time where there is more fervor at polls than there is in the churches bc someone in power promises you a better life.
Is this pursuit paying off?
Let’s ask Ever consider how difficult we the people have become in the last ten years? Riots, random violence, and even the difficulty of making friends just seem to have escalated.
2 Peter 3 gives us ideas as to why this is.
2 Timothy 3 also gives us ideas as to why, but Peter details something that is not as obvious to see necessarily from the start.
2 Peter 3:3 “Above all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
The world is waiting for a savior. Due to a few conditions there is now hesitation to many that he is coming soon. That does not stop the inner desire of mankind to want a savior. PRAY
Mark 13:21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.
The true Savior calls it out.
The problem is I am not certain if we who long for the Savior would recognize him once he appears. The church in the United States has shifted in its emphasis from seeking the Spirit to being seeker-sensitive; from being taught that hardship comes because the Lord Chastain those he loves (Hebrews 12:6-7, New International Version). Shifting to God, loves us and serves us because we are special and it is his job to serve us. That is a lie. He has served us. But it is not because of anything we have done, not because of anything we become of ourselves.
What is the Savior to you?
Are your hopes that Jesus comes to save the world or that he delivers you from the trouble in yours? There is a drive for world peace by some, yet many of us simply want our lives to have total peace.
Apostle Peter continues from verse four, They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)
Isn’t this the cultural norm?
Nothing seems to change for the good. Do you think this is the first time things have been this wicked? Notice verse four is similar to what Jesus declared about his return in relation to the days of Noah which we have preached on quite a bit the last few weeks. Life will continue as normal, there will be no notification on your cell phone that he is about ready to return and make yourself ready. You will not have time to prepare, repent be sincere about your love of and appreciation for what Jesus has done and who he is.
The audience he is referring to is not ignorant of the prophecies, not ignorant to who Jesus is, nor are they unaware of the significance of his role in history; yet they now scoff because of their impatience and lack of faith.
Let’s be honest, if we are at a stop light that does not change for three minutes, we often lose faith that it will change at all. We have a choice, stay, wait in the hope that it will eventually without warning turn green, or we can find another manner to get to where we want to go, no longer having hope in the light, but in ourselves, which means we lost faith in the light.
This has cost the church seeing God in everyday life and how his fingerprints are all over who we are and what we do and that being patient in waiting upon the Lord teaches us perseverance, to wait on him and eventually see that in the end, we will live forever in a world free of all the evil, ruled with an iron fist by the One who is just.
That is what the Savior provides!
It is the difference between waiting for the Savior or for some comic Santa Claus to show up in our lives. Sadly, this could be a byproduct of the church. Much of our disharmony comes from the inability to be patient. who rarely teaches on this subject in the area of interpretation and hermeneutics.[1] Author Jacob Goodson warns of this in his book, ‘Narrative theology and the hermeneutical virtues: humility, patience, prudence.’ His stance is that the three need to be given priority in the hermeneutical task.[2] You may ask what that is? What is hermeneutics?
The science of interpretation and explanation; exegesis; esp., that branch of theology which defines the laws whereby the meaning of the Scriptures is to be ascertained)
Peter continues in verse nine, “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.
Sometimes we are waiting for the Lord to show up in our circumstances but not in our world. Let us not lose sight of the fact that even as the world gets more and more difficult to live in the mission of Christ has not changed, John 3:16 still says the locational context in need of being saved is the world. Jesus is not just our Savior; he is the Savior of the world.
Don’t give up waiting for the light to change your here and now. Understand that the fulfillment of prophecy is not something we should fear as children of God, it should fill us with eager anticipation that his promise for the church will not change.
The world is waiting for a savior. Are you waiting for the right one?
