Leaving Town

Since I'll be in Illinois and Michigan for 10 days, I decided to leave you with the following thoughts:

"My dear friends,this is the second letter I've written to you. In both of them I've tried to remind you of what I taught you before. I don't want you to forget what the ancient prophets predicted and what we, as apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, told you we saw with our own eyes.

"Understand that not only now, but especially in the last days, people will ridicule anything, including the word of God. They will consider only their own selfish desires. They'll make fun of Christ's return, saying, 'We've heard about His coming for years, and now our parents have died and He still hasn't come. Things will always continue to go on, as they always have.

"But what these critics ignore is that God created the heavens very long ago. Then He created the earth with its water and dry land and did so by the power of His word. During the days of Noah, He used water to destroy the earth and everything on it. This shows that God can do with this planet whatever He wants. He preserves the heavens and the earth as they are now, but He has reserved the earth to be purged by fire on the day of His judgment, when all who are ungodly will be destroyed.

"Because time has lasted this long is no indication that God has changed His mind. With God, time is not a factor--one day or a thousand years--it makes no difference in His purposes. This doesn't mean that the Lord is slow in keeping His promises, or that He does things only when He gets around to it. TIME HAS GONE ON ONLY BECAUSE OF GOD'S PATIENCE AND KINDNESS. He loves everyone, even the wicked, and He doesn't want anyone to lose out on heaven but to turn from their sins and be saved."
2 Peter 3:1-9

Verses 12-15
"As we look forward to the day of Christ, let's do everything we can to speed its coming. And when that day comes, the heavens themselves will be on fire and the surface of the earth will melt because of the intense heat. But in harmony with God's promise, we look beyond all this to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of the righteous.

"My dear friends, as you look forward to that day, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Christ. CONSIDER HIS DELAY AS EVIDENCE OF HIS GREAT PATIENCE AND LOVE AND AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND BE SAVED."