Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Merry Christmas. What a great day to be in the Bible. New Testament readers, we finish books

22 and 23, and whole Bible readers, we finish books 61 and 62. and whole Bible readers we finished books 61 and 62,

only four more books left. The two books we read today, both deal with leaders in the church

who are trying to squash the lies of some false teachers. In both situations, the teachers are

slandering the apostles, denying the truth of the gospel, and telling people that God is

okay with you doing whatever you want because, hey, Grace, he's not going to judge your sin. And in both books, the authors prove the false

teachers wrong by giving multiple examples of times when God did bring judgment for sin and rebellion.

Let's look at Peter's letter first. As a refresher, Peter is living in Rome under the rule of

Governor Nero, a renowned persecutor

of Christians. Peter knows he's going to die soon. He writes this letter to churches in modern

Turkey and wants them to pass it around now and even in the generations to come, to remind people

to hold tightly to the truth. In the midst of such great persecution, he reminds his leaders

that God in his great power

has given them everything they need for life and godliness.

Because they have access to holy power the general population doesn't,

their lives should look different than their culture.

He lists out seven traits he wants to see them growing in.

Faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection,

and love. He says, if those are on the increase, you'll be fruitful and effective in your knowledge

of God. On the other hand, if those things aren't on the increase, you might be living a lie.

The false teachers were accusing them of lying, the apostles and the leaders of the early

...