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My favorite Bible software “died” this last month. The news came via email on June 1 that “As of June 15, Bibleworks will cease operation as a provider of Bible software tools.” I’m disappointed as I use Bibleworks nearly every day. It is the number one tool I use in sermon preparation. I suspect that Bibleworks’ downfall was related to my biggest frustration with the software… it never went mobile. The slogan, “Change or Die,” came to mind when I saw the news about Bibleworks. This slogan is frequently championed in literature and training materials for organizational leadership. The idea behind the slogan is that the world and culture around us is constantly changing and, if your organization is not changing with “the times,” it will die. Remember Blockbuster? Borders? The same is true for any number of “big box” retail stores affected by the internet. Or Bibleworks. ... Keep Reading

This is part ten in a multi-part series on Peter’s “road map” he gives for gospel growth in 2 Peter 1. Like many of you, I long to be effective and fruitful, especially in my spiritual life. Peter promises in the midst of this chapter, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful…” My interest is peaked. Let’s discover together Peter’s path of gospel growth.... Keep Reading

This is part nine in a multi-part series on Peter’s “road map” he gives for gospel growth in 2 Peter 1. Like many of you, I long to be effective and fruitful, especially in my spiritual life. Peter promises in the midst of this chapter, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful…” My interest is peaked. Let’s discover together Peter’s path of gospel growth. We’re coming to the end of our study of Peter’s roadmap for gospel growth. Like other New Testament writers, Peter calls this early church to be diligent in their spiritual growth. Growth is not optional. We have called it gospel growth, because Peter emphasizes that the strength, motivation, tools, and means of growth have all been provided for us through God’s gracious gift. ... Keep Reading

This is part eight in a multi-part series on Peter’s “road map” he gives for gospel growth in 2 Peter 1. Like many of you, I long to be effective and fruitful, especially in my spiritual life. Peter promises in the midst of this chapter, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful…” My interest is peaked. Let’s discover together Peter’s path of gospel growth. Peter really likes his list of eight virtues or qualities. Faith. Virtue. Knowledge. Self-control. Sdfastness. Godliness. Brotherly affection. Love. He has already said, “Make every effort” to add these qualities to your life with Christ (v. 5). And hetea said that if we are increasing in these qualities we will be effective and fruitful “in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). He doesn’t stop there. He makes two more statements about these eight qualities. ... Keep Reading

This is part seven in a multi-part series on Peter’s “road map” he gives for gospel growth in 2 Peter 1. Like many of you, I long to be effective and fruitful, especially in my spiritual life. Peter promises in the midst of this chapter, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful…” My interest is peaked. Let’s discover together Peter’s path of gospel growth. Now that we have taken time to carefully consider each of the eight qualities listed by Peter, let’s look closely at verse 8: “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have already discussed what having these qualities and increasing in them looks like. What does it look like to be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of Christ?... Keep Reading

Alright! Alright! Perhaps some can accuse me of “beating around the bush” and delaying this moment. The heart of Peter’s roadmap of Gospel growth is the list of virtues in verses 5-7. This is the list of qualities of which he says, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). Help us know how to increase in these qualities!... Keep Reading

We finally come to consider the list of virtues in 2 Peter 1:5-7. I want to take a couple of weeks to look at this list. This week, let’s give this list some context, or framework, for how to interpret and apply the eight virtues.... Keep Reading

The center-piece of Peter’s roadmap for gospel growth is the list of virtues in verses 5-7. It’s of these qualities that Peter states, “They keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 8). If you’re anything like me, you want to dive into that list and understand how they might be “yours and increasing.” I want to be effective and fruitful. But I want us to consider the opening words of verse 5 before we dig into the list.... Keep Reading

This is part two in a multi-part series on Peter’s “road map” he gives for gospel growth in 2 Peter 1. Like many of you, I long to be effective and fruitful, especially in my spiritual life. Peter promises in the midst of this chapter, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful…” My interest is peaked. Let’s discover together Peter’s path of gospel growth. A few weeks ago, I introduced this new series by giving a brief overview of what I called Peter’s roadmap for gospel growth. We find in 2 Peter 1 that there is a path toward spiritual maturity which includes a starting point, an end point or goal, and specific means to make progress on that path. In the middle of this passage, Peter lists various qualities that are essential to gospel growth. Before we look closely at those qualities in the weeks to come, I want to focus on one more preliminary matter in this passage. The significance of “knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” The Greek word for knowledge, epignosis, is used three times in this passage (the “knowledge” mentioned in verses 5 and 6 is a different Greek word; we’ll discuss that knowledge when we work through the list of qualities). Let’s consider each of these uses. ... Keep Reading

The Church as the Body of Christ One of the aspects of Paul’s writings that has fascinated me over the last few months is his writing on the body of Christ as being just that, a body. I’m sure this is a concept of Paul’s writing that many of us are familiar with, right? Each one of us is like a body part. Without a hand a body cannot function up to its peak ability. Or with a hand but without the rest of the arm a body simply has a hand attached to a shoulder (assuming the shoulder’s still intact) and that is certainly not the most ideal way to go about living. Paul uses this analogy to talk about the equal importance of each person in the church ... Keep Reading