NO FEAR: The Fear of Failure

Jesus is Returning One Day: You Can Take it to the Bank!

2 Peter 3:1-10: This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.

3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

"World Ends Tomorrow; Congress Approves Term Limits, and School Prayer."

I hope you enjoyed the little funny above, but one day it will not be as funny as many people think!

I mentioned during my sermon that many think the world that we are now living in is the only world there ever was or ever will be. These people are wrong twice. Here is why: 

1-The Bible gives much proof that the world before the flood of Noah's day was existent until God could not find many people that wanted to live for Him and He ended that world with a great flood.

You can do some great study of this world ending flood at:

http://www.ldolphin.org/flood.shtml

2- The Bible gives a great promise of a new heaven and a new earth coming down out of heaven one day to make everything perfect, back to the way God had in mind to start with. This world will be for those that are believers and followers of His Son, Jesus Christ.

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."

So, the points that were made yesterday were why we can take it to the bank that Jesus Christ will come back one day to this world and make things right:

I. Because of the promise of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:1-2)

II. Because of the Ignorance of the Scoffers (v. 3= scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.)

III. Because of the PATIENCE of the Savior! (v. 9=The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.)

In closing: 

ILLUST: I heard the story of an atheist who stood before a congregation and said, "If there is a God, I dare him to strike me dead within sixty seconds." He then took his pocket watch in his hand and began to count off the seconds. Some people fainted. Others thought that surely within sixty seconds the man would be dead.

They were convinced that God would not put up with such foolishness. Well, when the allotted time was up, the atheist said, "You see, I told you there is no God." A sweet little Christian lady stood up in the back of that group and said, "You fool, you cannot exhaust the patience of an infinite God in sixty seconds."

God loves you and so do we!!!