Faith's Frontlines

Peter's final letter wasn't written from a position of comfort, but from a Roman prison cell while awaiting execution under Emperor Nero. Yet instead of focusing on his suffering, this seasoned apostle—once a simple Galilean fisherman—pours out his remaining energy to fortify believers against both external persecution and internal deception.

The letter carries a veteran warrior's urgency. Having walked with Jesus, witnessed the Transfiguration, and endured decades of spiritual combat, Peter knows what's at stake. False teachers had infiltrated the early church, twisting grace into license and scoffing at Christ's return. His response? A powerful reminder that Christianity stands not on "cleverly devised myths" but on rock-solid eyewitness testimony and the "more sure" prophetic word of Scripture.

What makes this teaching particularly striking is Peter's assertion that the written Word carries even greater authority than his own dramatic experiences. Though he personally witnessed Jesus transfigured in glory and heard God's voice from heaven, he directs believers to Scripture as "a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns." This remarkable elevation of biblical authority above personal experience—even apostolic experience—offers crucial guidance for navigating today's subjective, feelings-driven religious landscape.

Through Peter's final dispatch, we're challenged to approach Scripture not as optional advice but as divine revelation that comes not from human will but from men "carried along by the Holy Spirit." These ancient words provide our surest foundation amid cultural hostility and spiritual deception. Like soldiers equipped for battle, we're called to advance Christ's kingdom with the confidence that the lamp of Scripture will never fail, illuminating our path until every knee bows to our King.

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Opening Prayer
• 9:28 The Lord's Prayer Breakdown
• 15:50 Peter's Context and Final Letter
• 17:24 Eyewitness vs. Myths
• 21:36 Recap of 2 Peter 1:1-11
• 25:13 Reading 2 Peter 1:12-21
• 27:29 The Prophetic Word's Certainty
• 29:48 Authority of Scripture Explained
• 34:26 The Lord's Supper

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Happy Lord's Day to you. Welcome to Christian Warrior Mission, the home church, community ministry and farm forging Christian Warriors for today's challenges. I'm hearing me through my phone in like three different places. Okay, for today's challenge here we forge disciples who will faithfully worship, work and more, until every knee bows to our King Jesus. We lock shields to protect the innocent and disciple the nations Warriors. Let us lock shields, raise our swords of the Spirit and charge into the practical front lines of 2 Peter 1 with unwavering resolve. Let's go ahead and pray. Ignite our hearts with holy resolve, sharpen our spirits by your spirit and steal our faith for every trial ahead. May your power be our strength, your wisdom, our guide and your love our motivation as we press into battle against sin and despair. Send forth your angels, embolden your people and grant to us today victories in your glory and rescue of the captives. In the triumphant name of Jesus, we declare the gates of hell will not prevail. Amen.

Speaker 1: 2:16

And for those of you who are new to the faith, if you want to know how to pray, you can go to Matthew 6, 9 through 13 for an amazing example of the Lord's Prayer, which is when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. This is how he taught them and he said and, of course, prayer is not an option. When we are sinful and when we are distant and when we are in rebellion, we flee the father. We are like Adam and Eve in the garden, hiding from God as if you could. Right? We don't want that accountability, we don't want to draw close to him, because we just feel dirtier and more like a failure and more like a traitor. That is the way we are, and it's from day one minute one of sin, right? So, since we ain't from the truth of knowledge of good and evil, we flee accountability instead of leaning into God. And I do it too, we all do it. But, brothers and sisters, prayer is not optional for the soldier of Christ, it is essential communication with our supreme commander in chief. So here is the Lord's prayer, as in Matthew 6, 9 through 13. Pray then in this way our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. All right, let's break this down for those of you who are new.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Every part of that prayer has a specific purpose. Our Father, who is in heaven, that's who you're talking to. God is our sovereign commander, ruling from his throne. Surrender your plans and trust in his leadership. Hallowed be your name. Honor your Father's holiness. Above all, live to glorify his name in every action. Your kingdom. Come.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Pray for Christ's rule to expand in our hearts and world. Pursue gospel, advance and courageous witness your will be done. Align your daily decisions with his divine strategy, not our own. Okay, this is so hard. We all want to do us. We all want to do us instead of doing what God wants us to do. Give us this day of daily bread. Depend on his provision for every need, day by day. Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. Repent swiftly, forgive others and restore unity. This is the basis of everything. How quick you are to forgive and how much grace you give is the stick that you're going to be measured by. Do not lead us in temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Seek his protection and strength against temptation and spiritual attack, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Affirm God's eternal dominion, power and victory. Claim Christ's triumph and press on with fear. All right, so let's get into this. Now.

Speaker 1: 5:27

It is the mid-60s AD. Nero sits on, you know, the emperor Nero sits on Rome's throne. The city still smells of the charred districts. He blamed the fledgling church on for the big fire in Rome and the first great wave of state-sponsored persecution is cresting In a damp cell, likely the Mamertine prison. An old Galilean fisherman awaits for the sound of iron hinges and the sentence of crucifixion.

Speaker 1: 6:02

This is Simon Peter's final dispatch to the front. Got more boops and bops going on here than I know what to do. His letter is addressed to the congregation scattered across Asia, minor Believers bruised by cultural hostility outside and stalked by false teachers on the inside. These infiltrators scoff at Christ's return, twist grace into license to sin and peddle cleverly devised myths. License to sin and peddle cleverly devised myths. Peter answers with the steel of eyewitness testimony and the granite of the prophetic scriptures.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Remember who was writing? A seasoned spiritual warrior who hauled nets on Galilee, watched Jesus blaze with the uncreated light on the holy mountain, heard God's voice, sprinted to an empty tomb and now bears the scars of decades-long combat for the gospel. Tradition places his martyrdom between 64 and 67 AD Under Nero's cruelty. The man who once sank beneath the waves as Jesus called him out of the boat when he wanted to walk on the water with Jesus now stands unshakable on the rock which is Jesus, stands unshakable on the rock, which is Jesus. Why does he put pen to parchment in these last hours? To remind the saints and reassure them of the gospel's historical certainty and to rearm them with the more sure prophetic word. These are quotes that more sure is the words he used.

Speaker 1: 8:08

Richard Baxter captured this moment's urgency when he said I preached as never, sure to preach again as a dying man to dying men. That is Peter's pulse and it must be ours. Okay, if you guys can't be quiet, you need to go. Warriors, fix your eyes on this. Veterans, farewell. The battlefield is dark, the enemy cunning, but the lamp of scripture will not fail. Grip it, hold the line until dawn.

Speaker 1: 8:46

So let's review two weeks ago, when we did 2 Peter 1-11, 2 Peter 1-11, laying the foundation Verses 1 and 2, who we are. Peter reminds us we share the same faith as the apostles. The more we know Jesus, the more grace and peace grows in our lives. Verses 3 and 4. Our gear has already been issued. God has already given us everything we need to live for him. His big promises pull us out of sin and make us more like him. That's sanctification. Stack your virtues, add to your faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, family love and love for everyone. Think of it like putting on layers of armor.

Speaker 1: 9:38

Verse 8, fruit check. When these traits keep growing, your life stays useful and productive for King Jesus. Are you useful for Jesus? Verse nine danger of forgetting. Ignore them and you will be spiritually nearsighted, forgetting what Jesus did for you and slipping back into old habits. Boy, don't we all do that. The second we get Out of our emergencies and we get comfortable. We start thinking that we did this ourselves, we did it when it's all Jesus, and that we were paid for and bought with a price. And then verses 10 and 11, secure and welcome. We're colored at these qualities. They confirm your call and give you a wide, open welcome into Jesus' eternal kingdom.

Speaker 1: 10:37

With that groundwork in place, peter now tells us why we must remember and guard the rock-solid prophetic word. Alright, I'm going to read you. 2 Peter, 1, verses 12 through 21. Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been strengthened in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by the way of reminder, knowing that laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me, and I will be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind, for we did not make known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ following cleverly devised myths, but being eyewitnesses to his majesty, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain, and we have, as more sure there's that term, more sure the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in the dark until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy or scripture comes by one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoken from God. Now, that is not very clear to a lot of people when you read that, and you can read that 20 times and not get the true meaning from it unless you do some really deep study. I'm going to go with this.

Speaker 1: 12:58

What Peter is talking about here is the authority of Scripture. He's going to talk about the authority of Scripture. Is this book true or is it not true? Is it trustworthy or is it not? And if it's not, then all of us are living a lie and we might as well all go be hedonists and just do whatever we want and degenerate into sin and misery because none of nothing matters. But if it is true, then it holds us to an account on how we should live. So let's go through this line by line and I will help to explain what this is really saying. So verse 12, therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been strengthened in the truth which is present in you. Peter promises to keep reminding the church, even if they already know the truth, because steady repetition turns doctrine into reflex, like practicing a drill, until it's second nature.

Speaker 1: 14:13

Verse 13, and I consider it right as long as I am in this earthly dwelling and the term earthly dwelling there is actually the Greek word for tent to stir you up by way of reminder. Our bodies are only temporary tents as long as Peter is still in this tent that's the term he used by way of reminder. Our bodies are only temporary tents as long as Peter is still in this tent that's the term he used. He's determined to keep shaking us awake, like a drill sergeant, ripping off your blankets at 0500 and shouting move out. Peter is calling them to wake up and get up. Verse 14, so here we go. Jesus had already told Peter that he would soon die. Laying aside the tent the term there means folding up his earthly body like a soldier breaking camp. The hour has come and Peter meets it with calm readiness. Verse 15, legacy. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to recall, to call these things into mind. Peter is working hard now so that after he's gone, believers can still reload on truth, like leaving behind loaded magazines or ammo crates for the next squad behind you.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Verse 16, no myths. This is so important and so Christianity stands on this, whereas no other religion does. For we did not make known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ following cleverly devised myths, but by being eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter says we didn't pass along clever stories like Odin and Thor and Zeus and Apollo and all these crazy things out there. We saw Jesus's power with our own eyes. Christianity isn't fantasy, it is built on facts of solid eyewitnesses.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Spurgeon said the apostles did not preach dreams, they witnessed facts. We too often and I used to do this when I was an atheist encounter people who want to assail our faith. You'll, you know, on YouTube or on Instagram or on Facebook or on TikTok or just friends you have, who are faithless, miserable wretches. They'll find out you're a Christian a guy used to do and they will come after you and try to shake your faith. Come after you and try to shake your faith. Now we have a faith that is based on facts that the world is catching up to.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Science are saying they found Sodom and Gomorrah and guess what it's covered in. Oh, what's that called Brimstone? And what's sulfur? Sulfur that's only found in one place ever there. The whole world used to laugh at all of science, used to laugh at the idea of a great flood. Now it's pretty much becoming the universal hell belief that there was a giant great flood, more and more people leaving the farce of evolution, as we have not one drop of evidence of it being witnessed anywhere. Micro evolution is the flu virus evolving every year. Macroevolution is the flu virus turning into a whale or a chicken becoming a goat or a fish becoming a dog.

Speaker 1: 18:27

We have zero fossil evidence throughout the history of the world of anything caught in any state. Fossil evidence throughout the history of the world of anything caught in any state. We have one-cell organisms and we all supposedly evolved from one-cell organisms. We don't have a single two-cell or three-cell organism on the face of the planet, just only one, and then us and the other thing in more complex things, dna is code. These are all facts of a creator. Jesus Christ lived factually. There's more evidence of Jesus living than Julius Caesar, than anyone historically living in the ancient world ever.

Speaker 1: 19:21

You are not following fantasy and we must arm our believers so that their faith is not shaken, to know that they stand on something entirely more probable than atheism, which is impossible. The fact that people can have enough faith to believe that nothing created everything is insane to me, and I laugh at myself that I used to think that nothing, by definition, created everything. That is a magic trick. That just does not exist. So we don't believe in myths. We don't believe in myths.

Speaker 1: 20:12

No man would devise this. We'd all try to write something way cooler. You want a man-devised religion? No, you'd probably pick one that gave you 77 virgins when you died and got to heaven, like some people in this world. Or like Valhalla, where it's battle every day and only the brave go to heaven and all that stuff. Right, those are the things that Jason would create.

Speaker 1: 20:58

It wouldn't be what God has done here. I wouldn't have chosen Abraham. I wouldn't have chosen David. I wouldn't have chosen Jacob. I wouldn't have chosen any of those guys. I would have chosen Goliath. I would have chosen Scandinavians and Vikings to be God's people, not the pathetic Jews of the time, the weakest. But God always finds strength in weakness. He chooses the weakest. He chooses the weakest so that he is the one who gets the glory and that people don't think that they did it.

Speaker 1: 21:48

Look at Saul, king Saul. A lot of you guys are watching that new series, david or whatever it's called. It's really good, I enjoy it. But you see, saul forget that he was a donkey farmer and God made him a king and then he thought he did everything when God did it. All you know all the different other Jonah and the whale all of these things you must have an answer for or else you will be shaken. You will be shaken. There are answers for all of them, multiple answers and multiple theories out there, and I've talked about them at length so I don't want to go down too many roads here.

Speaker 1: 22:51

But the age of the earth the Bible does not say how old the age of the earth is, and if you want to believe in seven days of creation, you can be a Christian and believe in seven 24-hour days of creation. You can believe in 7,000-year creation as well and still be a Christian. You can believe in 7 billion trillion gajillion years as a Christian and still be a Christian. It doesn't say it here and we're going to get into that part in the authority of scripture which is coming up Verses 17 and 18, and there's only 21 verses For when he received honor and glory from God the Father. This is Jesus. Such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory they heard from heaven. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Peter, james and John watched Jesus shine with heavenly glory. He glowed on the mountaintop and heard the father's voice thunder. They heard God's voice. This is my beloved son. I am pleased with him. They didn't dream it, I saw it. Ears heard, ears heard it.

Speaker 1: 24:19

Proverbs 14.5 reminds us a trustworthy witness will not lie. Now here is something that we this is amazing and we have, and we have as more sure right there's that term, more sure, the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Peter says the written word right. This Bible is more trustworthy than what he even saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears on the mountain, peter is saying that experience bows to the written word. Treat scripture like a lantern that cuts through the night until Jesus, the morning star, returns. John Calvin said the testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. This book has been making fools of scientists for a very, very, very long time Verse 20. And this is something we're dealing with even to this day. False teachers in the church from day one to now.

Speaker 1: 25:42

But know this first of all, that no prophecy or scripture has come by one's own interpretation. What does that mean? No part of scripture came from a prophet's own ideas and none of it can be rewritten to fit ours. The author is the Holy Spirit and the best way to explain any verse is with the rest of the Bible. You can pull one sentence out of the Bible and make it almost mean anything, almost make it mean anything. There are billions of religions of one who have picked one life verse and then the rest of it they ignore, because this verse gives them license to do whatever they want outside of you know that one sin they don't like to do, all the sins they want to do. Okay, the only way you know scripture is by reading from the front to the back and making it and referencing itself throughout the entire word.

Speaker 1: 26:43

Scripture verifies Scripture. It's why sola scriptura is so important. Feelings change. The words that are written in this book are thousands and thousands of years old and they haven't changed. This is how we stay true to God, not by somebody who's got a new spin on it, not someone who's like, oh, you can sin as much as you want. Now there's a new way. No, no, there's nothing new under the heavens.

Speaker 1: 27:24

The Bible says so. We don't get to live the way we want. We got to live the way this tells us to live. Either Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, or you might as well just go do whatever you want. Drink yourself into a hole. Go do whatever you want. Drink yourself into a hole. Go do whatever self-destructive sin, whatever, because if you're just kind of doing it, you're not doing it. You're not doing it. God knows your heart. You think you're going to get to heaven and you're going to be able to con God. He's going to know. He's going to know if he was your priority or not. He's going to know if you followed his word, if you pursued him.

Speaker 1: 28:12

I don't read my Bible enough people. I don't, I don't. There are seasons where I struggle to get through a single word and I'm a traitor because I do it and I hate myself when I do that. Okay, you know I was talking to a friend who is a sin minimizer, a hyper-grace Christian, who you know we were debating something on God. I say God's primary attribute is holy, holy, holy. And he, you know I said something to him.

Speaker 1: 28:46

We're commenting on a Paul Washer video on are you useful to God or not, which just happened to be the teaching two weeks ago, and he's like well, who wants a father like that? I'm like who wants a father like that? Do we create God or did God create us? We don't get to pick and choose. The potter made us and we're either a bowl or a plate or a cup, because he made us all different to do some function. A cup doesn't get to be a sledgehammer, a plate makes a terrible strainer and a horrible bowl. No, we must always test everything with the word, and I have made plenty of mistakes and the word is what corrects me.

Speaker 1: 29:55

So now 21, the last one, for no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but by men being moved by. The Holy Spirit spoke from God. The Holy Spirit steered the Bible's authors like winds. Fill a sail. The words are human, the message is God's.

Speaker 1: 30:17

St Augustine said what scripture says God says. So you've got to know this book or else you don't know what God says, and if you just count on your own will, you are screwed. So what do we do with this? Warriors of King Jesus, the darkness is real, but it is doomed. The same word that called light out of chaos is now marching through history, subduing rebels like me and you and remaking cultures, and remaking cultures. Christ already reigns. His kingdom is expanding like leaven in bread and will fill the whole loaf of creation. So here's our objectives Advance, just don't hold. Carry the lamp of scripture and your relationship with God into every sphere Home, classroom, council, chamber, marketplace. Work, expecting darkness to retreat. You will win.

Speaker 1: 31:35

Disciple the nations, build covenant families, break generational curses, plant doctrinally sound churches, found Christ-honoring schools and shape just laws that confess his lordship. The Great Commission ends when nations taught to obey everything he commanded. How are we going to know what he commanded unless we read this? Proclaim total victory. Speak, counsel and evangelize with the unshakable confidence that the gospel is the power of God and will not fail. Work generationally, lay foundations for your grandchildren and they will fortify the kingdom, growing seed by seed, season by season, until every knee bows. The difference between post-mill and pre-mill is pre-mill thinks they're going to be out of here any minute and we plan for generations to keep moving the kingdom for Christ, to set up my kids for better than what I received and them for what they received, and on and on and on.

Speaker 1: 33:03

Fight with joy. The roar of the Lion of Judah is already echoing across the battlefield. Therefore, labor knowing that your toil in the Lord is never in vain, your suffering is never in vain and your work is never in vain. Stand firm, surge and press the advance until Christ's light floods every realm and every knee bows. So now we're going to do the Lord's Supper 1 Corinthians 11, 28.

Speaker 1: 33:36

But a man must test himself, and in doing so he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So this is only for baptized believers. Okay. So before we partake, let us quietly bow before the King of glory. Let each man, woman and young warrior here search his or her own heart, confessing sin and laying down burdens, preparing to eat and drink in a manner worthy of the Lord. Don't bring your filth to the table. Get rid of it now, confess it to the Lord and come pure as the driven snow, white as the driven snow.

Speaker 1: 34:45

Let's pray before we go into this. Almighty God, sovereign, lord and Host. We approach your table today not because we are worthy, but because Jesus Christ is worthy. We come not trusting in our own righteousness, but clinging to the righteousness of Christ alone. We come not trusting in our own righteousness, but clinging to the righteousness of Christ alone. We remember his body broken, his blood poured out for the new covenant. We bow in humble gratitude, we lift our hearts in reverent awe. Sanctify this bread and this cup and sanctify us, your people, as we proclaim the death, resurrection and coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in his mighty name, in Matul's name, amen.

Speaker 1: 35:28

So the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember this symbolizes his body, pierced, beaten and sacrificed for you. Let us partake in this bread together in remembrance of Jesus Christ's body broken for us.

Speaker 1: 35:54

Go ahead and eat. And in the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Remember this symbolizes his blood, the blood that purchased our forgiveness and sealed the everlasting covenant. Let us partake of the cup together in remembrance of christ's blood poured out for us. Go ahead, and his blood, the blood that purchased our forgiveness and sealed the everlasting covenant. Let us partake of the cup together in remembrance of Christ's blood poured out for us. Go ahead and drink, for as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. By this eating and drinking, we publicly proclaim Christ has died, christ has risen, christ will come again. We are soldiers in his everlasting kingdom. Let us pray.

Speaker 1: 36:52

Brothers and sisters, now go forth from this place as soldiers of Christ, armored with faith, wrapped in hope, blazing with love. May the Lord of hosts go before you to lead you, beside you to guard you, beneath you, to sustain you and with you to strengthen you. May your shield of faith never falter, may your sword of the Spirit never grow dull, may your feet never stray from the path of righteousness and may the roar of the Lion of Judah echo behind you as you advance his kingdom. Wherever your feet tread, stand firm warriors. Lock shields, fight the good fight, finish the race. Keep the faith Until we stand before the king himself, crowned by his grace, and hear those blessed words. Well done, good and faithful servant in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, god bless you guys. See you next week.