Dwelling Place

Announcer: Today, on the Dwelling Place.

Al Pittman: Paul, the apostle, talked about Philippians 4:13. Many of you know it. I can do all things through Christ who what? Strengthens me. I can do all things through the power of God. But when you're disconnected, you can grunt all you want. There's no power.

Announcer: Thank you for tuning into the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman and Al Pittman Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We hope today's message is a blessing to you. If you like to partner with us financially, you can go to al Pittman ministries.com, give directly on the One Place app, or mail in a check to 501 Castle Road, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80904. We appreciate your generosity to help us spread the gospel. Today, we start a new series titled Counteracting Counterfeits in Second Peter. We as Christians need to be able to identify false teachers and teachings not only in the world, but also in the church.

Pastor Al's son, Pastor Nathan, will be teaching this series with him. Now, here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: I've entitled this series of messages Counteracting Counterfeits. Amen. As we will get into the word, you'll see why. In the book of First Peter, First Peter, it's spent a lot of time trying to comfort the uh believers in Asia Minor, in ancient Asia Minor, uh back in that time who were under tremendous trials and persecution uh from the world. And Second Peter, however, he spends a lot of time and his primary purpose for writing the letter was to address false teachers that have sort of weaseled their way into the churches there in Asia Minor. So, as we journey through this book, this short book, this short epistle, this letter from the apostle Peter, it is my prayer that we will be equipped to discern between that which is clean and unclean.

What do I mean by that? Well, in the Old Testament, the book of Ezekiel, God rebuked the priests of Israel because they were not teaching their people the word of God that they might be able to discern between that which is clean, approved of God, and that which is unclean, disapproved by God. And I pray that God would equip us to know the difference that we might be established in our faith in Christ, rather than established by the corrosive smooth tongues of false teachers. We're living in a time of false teachers. Jesus said, watch and pray so that you're not deceived.

We're living in a day of great deception and great delusion. Delusion because people have rejected the love of God, rejected Jesus rejected Jesus Christ. And in the church, there is a lot of deception uh because the church has strayed away today from the word of God. Paul, the apostle, said in Romans chapter 16 verses 17 and 18, Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. Don't go to lunch with them. Don't buy them coffee. Don't hang out with them. Avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

God doesn't want us to be simple. He wants us to grow and to abound in the knowledge of Christ. And Peter addresses that here uh within our text today. We're looking at verses 1 to 9. Verse 1 Peter opens this letter by introducing himself and also identifying his audience. Simon Peter, verse 1 says, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Nathan Pittman: Amen.

Al Pittman: Uh Peter describes himself first. He says, I am a bondservant. Comes from the Greek word doulos. It simply means that a person is a slave or a bondman or a man of servile condition. That word servile is is an interesting word. It means having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others. And in Peter's case, he had an excessive willingness to please God, calling himself a bondservant. And so it is really with us when you think about it. We are all bondservants of Jesus Christ. We are slaves of Christ uh to serve for God's good pleasure and uh according to his will.

That's what we are as Christians. Sometimes we we we get it twisted. Amen. And somehow God is our errand boy. But we are bondservants and uh of the Lord Jesus Christ. And uh to be willing a willing bondservant of Christ uh should mean that our motivation is to please God. Our motivation is not to be recognized. A lot of people don't want to serve unless they're recognized. My name didn't make it in the bulletin, you know. Uh they never called me up to the front. Amen. And all of that. Uh some people serve for validation.

And let me just say if you're serving the Lord to be validated by other people, you're going to have a miserable life. Because one day you're a hero, the next day you are a zero in the eyes of men. But the Lord never changes. Our validation comes from Jesus Christ, not from other people. And if we're serving for the rewards of men, oh that I can get that plaque or you know, have my name put on the back of a pew or something, you know, because I've given so much or I've had perfect attendance, you know, that's a mistake as well.

The reason we served is very simple. It's because of this very simple fact. We do not belong to ourselves.

Nathan Pittman: Yes, sir.

Al Pittman: Do you know that? And that comes as a shock to some some people in the church that we don't belong to ourselves. Wait, is is my body, is my life, is my thing, I do what I want to do. Amen. But in Christ, it's not your thing, it's his thing. It all belongs to him. That we belong to him. It's not about ourselves. Because we've been redeemed, we've been purchased by him. The Bible tells us in First Corinthians chapters uh 6 verse 20, For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit that is your attitude which are God's.

Wow. Glorify God because you do not belong to yourself. Be a excessive willing bondservant of the Lord because you understand my life is not my own. It belongs to Jesus. In verse 1 Peter also identifies his audience. He says to those who have obtained In other words, to those who have obtained salvation through like precious faith in Christ. He's not trying to be seeker friendly here. He's addressing the church. This is a word for uh the believers. And he identifies them, those of like precious faith. You know, the faith that we have in Jesus is not a pluralistic faith.

It is not a coexistent faith. You've seen the bumper sticker. And if you have it on the back of your car and you call yourself a Christian, you should rip it off after this service. That bumper sticker that says coexistent where Islam and Buddhism and everything else is coexistent. Christianity, may come as a surprise to some of you, is not a coexistent faith. It is a monolithic faith. It is singular. It is indivisible faith. It's a like precious faith. In fact Paul describes it as one faith when he said in Ephesians chapter 4 that there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.

Amen. So, question. How many faiths is there?

Nathan Pittman: One.

Al Pittman: One. How many Gods? One. One baptism. One in the Lord. People say, oh no, many roads lead to God. No. Jesus was emphatic when he said in John 14:16, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me. Amen.

Nathan Pittman: Amen.

Al Pittman: And that's offensive to the world. But he proved it by rising again on the third day from the dead. Amen. No one else has ever done that. And he says that therefore through him and him alone, we have obtained this blessing in the Lord Peter is speaking about here. That word obtain is from the the Greek word lachano. It means lachano. It means to receive by divine allotment. We've been allotted blessings and benefits in Jesus Christ through faith in Christ. And right here in verses in our text verses 2 to 4 Peter reminds the church of four attributes allotted to us through faith in Christ.

I want to go over those with you today. Pray that it would be an encouragement to you. I believe he does it definitely intentionally. I believe because he's inspired by the Holy Spirit as he's writing. But he tells them that because I think he wants to remind him of what's been allotted to you in light of what these false teachers are offering to you.

Nathan Pittman: Uh-huh.

Al Pittman: And sometimes we as believers when we run into obstacles in our lives, we need to remember what's been allotted to us. What we have obtained through faith in Jesus Christ to encourage us lest we be discouraged. And the first allotted attribute that we find here that Peter mentions is grace and peace. Read verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The word knowledge epignosis, it means precise and correct knowledge. Knowledge of things which uh things excuse me ethical and divine. To know God in a precise and correct manner is to know his word.

I've run across people over the years who have said uh uh I know God. I mean I I believe in God. I know God, you know. They they they're not they're born again. They've never come to faith in Christ. They say, oh I know God. And the Bible says you do well to say you know God, but even the devil believes in God and trembles. You know the devil has more faith than you. Amen. Comes to church more than you come. Oh yeah, I know. Cuz he's dealing with people's hearts even right now. He's trying to convince you to walk out or whatever to doubt and to fear.

He comes to the church. The goats come in with the sheep. And so the enemy, you know, the devil believes more in in God. You know, he stood before God. God cast him out of heaven. He knows God is real. So, just to say that I I believe in God doesn't mean I'm going to heaven.

Nathan Pittman: All right.

Al Pittman: And then there are those who say, oh I love God. I have always said I've heard people say this. Oh I've always loved God. Oh really? We have to really be careful because if we say we know God and love God apart from the word of God, we may be creating God in our own image. And that's the God we're worshiping, which is not the God of scripture.

Nathan Pittman: Come on.

Al Pittman: There's a big difference.

Nathan Pittman: Uh-huh.

Al Pittman: We are made in his image, not he in our image.

Nathan Pittman: Yes, sir.

Al Pittman: We must be careful. The liberal theologians of our day love to seek to redefine God and inject certain questions and all about God. And maybe there are four different genders in in in the Garden of Eden and all of this kind of stuff and and pontificate upon these things and wonder about these things and attribute these things to God. But the book of Proverbs and other places warn the liberal theologians where it says in Proverbs 30 verses 5 and 6 that every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him.

Do not add to his words lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

Nathan Pittman: Right.

Al Pittman: And the scripture tells us in the book of Jude that for those liars, those false teachers who lie on God and lie on Christ that the blackness of darkness is reserved for them in hell. God ain't playing when it comes to his word. In fact, he honors his word, the Bible says, above his name. So, they try to define God the by my own interpretation of God apart from the word of God is not really the correct or precise way to know God. It should be repented of. And I want you to note here that we have peace with God as Peter says here because we have received the grace of God by placing our trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

I don't think it's a mistake that he says grace and peace because grace always precedes peace. You got to have God's grace in order to have peace. And people get it backwards. They well, I'll have peace with God and then I'll have his grace. No. Grace, amen, must come first before we have God's peace because we are saved what? By grace. Grace through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. False teachers will always want to promote something else. So, you go into a church and you say, I I think this might be a cult.

I don't know. You know, but one way to identify them, a couple of ways. One is what what they do with Jesus Christ. They'll always try to lower Christ. Well, he was one of the the the the you know, he's one of one God. He he's a God. He's he's just no, he is God. He said he was. And and and they they'll do that or they'll say, well, grace great. You've come to Jesus Christ. You have grace, but there's something else you have to do to really be saved. That's a false teacher. And you need to get out of there.

Amen. As quickly as possible. There's something else that you have to do. Oh we know you're saved, but there's just something else that you have to do. Not you're not quite there yet. Several weeks ago, we had a baptism here. We had about 50 people baptized. Praise the Lord. Amen. Oh yeah. Praise the Lord. One of the participants, gentleman who was baptized is so excited. Praising the Lord. He went back to work on the work site and some guy told him uh that he really wasn't saved. This person that told him that went to some cult church.

Basically, when he went to a church said that God loved some people, but didn't love others. That he he loves, you know, he came to save some, but the others are lost. And basically, I really believe because of this man's ethnicity that he basically said that you told the guy, you can't be saved. Even though you were baptized, uh you cannot be saved. That's what he told him. I mean the guy had received Christ as Lord. He was baptized and the guy told him, you know, oh sorry, but you're not saved. So, it was sent passed on to him some information and the fact that we're saved by grace, not through works.

Lest any man should boast. And some other information to help him to understand, you know, that those who call on whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen. Praise his name. But this man that he encountered was of a cult. Because he's saying, oh Jesus Christ did this for you, but you can't trust that. You got to you got to do this as well or or you can't even this guy just you know, you can't even be saved because you know, God doesn't love you. Kind of a thing. That's an abomination.

It's heretical. Because the Bible differs. Colossians chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 says, for in him that is in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. Did you know that you are complete in him? There's nothing you can add to or take away from your salvation because the salvation is of Christ, it's not of you. Amen. You are complete in him. And then it goes on to say that in him who is the head of all principalities and power. Praise God. Thank God we're complete in him.

Paul told the church in Corinth that all things are yours. God don't give special uh you know treatment to Pastor Al or you know, these people, ministers or missionaries, and then the rest of us, you know, we just have to squander for the you know, try to get what we can or whatever. No. All things are yours. You are complete in Jesus Christ. Praise his holy name. Amen. And notice as we grow in the Lord as we grow in our intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, grace and peace abound toward us. Oh I'm so glad that there I have more grace and peace today than I did when I was saved.

Amen. Grace and peace multiplies, not addition, multiplies towards us. Amen. You can't exhaust God's grace nor his peace. And we need grace and peace. They're the two sustaining elements of our faith. Grace. Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. The Lord Jesus appeared to Paul the apostle who was discouraged at the time and he said, my grace is sufficient. It's sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then he gives us his peace. We need his peace to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians chapter 4 verse 7, And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Amen. So, grace and peace has been allotted to you who have obtained salvation in Christ. And secondly, Peter says God's promises have been allotted to you. Verse 3, the letter of God's power, I should say, has been allotted to you. Verse 3 the the first part of verse 3 says as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Amen. So, here Peter is referring again to the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It changes your life. To truly encounter Christ is to have a life-changing experience. Jesus said, you must be born again.

It's to be born again by the spirit of God. Jesus has given us after being born again has given to us power for life and godliness. Power to live by. How do I know that? Because he promised. He said, I will not leave you as orphans, but I will send you another. I will send you the Holy Spirit, a a a helper, the Greek word paraclete, which means one who comes alongside of you to help us. And he sent us the Holy Spirit. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Acts 1:8.

And we have received every believer in here. You put your faith in Christ. You have God has given to you a helper, a personal trainer, the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you. Jesus spoke about that in John chapter 16 verses 13 and 14. In Christ, we were never meant to figure out life and godliness by ourselves. And we talk about godliness. Godliness simply refers to uh reverence and respectful behavior. Reverence and reverence, excuse me, and respectful 0 behavior uh unto the Lord and toward others. God gives us help, life for life and godliness. We have power to live by in Jesus Christ, to live life by in Jesus Christ.

The key is remaining connected to the power, staying connected in relationship with Christ. That's key. I remember hearing about a guy years ago. He's a uh a service man. He was an appliance service man. He said, man, I've gone out on so many service calls to only plug in someone's refrigerator or washing machine cuz it wouldn't work. I don't know. I'm working the knobs and I change this and I can't and he goes over there and he just plugs it into the wall. All right, that'll be $50 service call. Made so much money doing that.

They might look like an outlet. Amen. They may look like they have power, but there ain't no power. Amen. And you might be plugged in, but there ain't no power. There's no power. There's no light.

Announcer: Again, thank you for joining us today. If you were blessed by today's message, consider partnering with us financially. You can go to al Pittman ministries.com, give directly on the One Place app, or mail in a check to 501 Castle Road, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80904. We appreciate your generosity to help us spread the gospel. Also, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at info at al Pittman ministries.com if you need prayer or ask any questions you might have. If you live in or visit the Colorado Springs area, we will love for you to join us at Calvary Worship Center.

Pastor Al was the senior pastor at Calvary Worship Center for 27 years. Calvary Worship Center has services on Saturday at 6 p.m., Sunday at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., and 12 noon. If you can't make it, join us online. We stream our 10 a.m. service every Sunday. Just go to cwccs.org. Make sure you connect with Pastor Al by following him on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Just search al Pittman ministries. That's all the time we have today. May the rest of your day be richly blessed. God bless.

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