Sunday 03.01.2026

Thanks for listening to the audio of 717

Church.

This is a place where we continually strive

to worship Jesus as the King with our

lives, wreck our personal kingdoms to build His

kingdom, and live out God's Word in the

way that we interact with others.

For more information please visit 717.church. Hey,

good morning church family.

We are the Harmons.

My name is Luke.

This is my wife Allison.

Eliana is our youngest.

She is downstairs in children's ministry actually watching

over our grandson, Grayson, as well.

This is my son, Caden, and this is

my daughter, Aaliyah, who's going to be reading

2 Peter chapter 3, 8 through 13.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,

that with the Lord one day is as

a thousand years, and a thousand years is

one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His

promise, as some count slowness, but is patient

toward you, not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come

like a thief, and then the heavens will

pass away with a roar, and the heavenly

bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and

the earth and the works that are done

on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be

dissolved, what sort of people ought you to

be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting

for and hastening the coming of the day

of God, because of which the heavens will

be set on fire and dissolved, and the

heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to His promise, we are waiting

for new heavens and a new earth in

which righteousness dwells.

All right.

Thank you, guys.

Okay, so this is going to be a

real encouraging message today, burning up of heavens

and all that kind of stuff, right?

Okay, first off, my encouragement to all of

us, right, is bring your Bible to church.

We love you.

We want you to bring your Bible.

We want you to write some notes.

We want you to mark in your Bible.

If you're not sure about that, that's okay.

We can talk through that, but I think

it's important, okay?

Okay, over the last couple months, as we're

going to get into God's Word together, we

have been walking through doctrine.

Doctrine is simply beliefs that change the entirety

of our lives, and with that, we've walked

through a whole bunch of them.

And so up here on the screen, you're

going to see a whole list of things,

and with that list, you're going to go,

man, that's a lot.

You could have spent, you know, all this

kind of stuff, but we believe this is

what is important for us because it shapes

the entirety of our lives.

Can we put that doctrine up once, or

the whole list up there for me?

That'd be great.

With that, we've kind of worked through all

kinds of different moments, including just the last

time we were together, we were reminded that

God is persevering in grace until our glorification,

and where we're going to be finally and

fully redeemed.

That was the last time we were together.

This week, we're going to remind ourselves that

we're going to continue to step into that

God displays his perfect justice and his immeasurable

mercy for all of eternity.

And so my question every time we're together

is, do we believe that?

Because if that's true, we're going to get

into Peter, 2nd Peter chapter 3, and you

can turn there in your Bibles, because Peter

is going to remind us what our worship

response should be.

We should be reminded that God is patient

with us.

Anybody need patience?

Nah.

We're all grown and perfect, right?

Patience that offers the opportunity to surrender to

his love, his grace, and his mercy.

That's his patience.

His patience allows all people the opportunity to

experience him.

And that patience is backed by just judgment,

because he will come and judge all things

and set all things right against, right again.

His patience and justice brings hope and purpose,

not fear and trembling.

Hear that.

God's patience and justice bring hope and purpose,

not fear and trembling.

So our worship revolves around his patience for

us as a grace that changes our daily

actions.

And so my hope today is that we

just walk through this line by line, because

this is a tough portion of Scripture.

And so I'm asking you, it's going to

take some work.

We're going to have to walk through this

together.

We're going to have to move around maybe

a little bit, maybe shift, because there's a

lot of concepts in here, but it's important

for us to get together and work through

this together.

Okay?

Ready?

Oh, wow.

All right.

Good.

Okay.

This is gonna be great.

All right.

We're starting in in verse 8, but we're

going to look backwards.

Verse 8.

Do you believe that?

Do you think God set eternity in your

heart?

You go, I don't really think about eternity

very often.

I have too many things to take care

of right here.

But not just people that claim Jesus, but

all people.

All people have a natural inkling for the

eternal.

And you go, Jer, I barely made it

through this week.

But I'm going to try to point to

it a little bit so we start to

understand what that craving in us is.

And we see that, like, eternal pull every

time we go through some kind of disappointment.

Ever bought something or got something and you

go, yeah, this is gonna fulfill.

This is gonna fill the bucket.

You've seen the person that goes through a

midlife crisis and buys the ridiculous car and

they're still not happy.

That disappointment can only be filled by the

eternal.

That's where we're supposed to be.

We're supposed to be with God.

And so that smallest of disappointment that we

go through often because we go, oh, that

didn't actually fill.

You know what?

I'm gonna look to the next thing.

That's scripture though.

Scripture would say that longing is for the

Creator and to be with Him.

And so as believers, this is why scripture

is constantly trying to lift our heads.

Get our heads down, not down, but instead

pointed up to our Savior to get our

eyes on Him, not what's going on in

front of us.

And so our passage today, Peter is doing

exactly what we're doing today.

He's reminding the early church that their lives

are to lived in the light of eternity.

Especially for those early believers, Peter's writing to,

they started to allow people into their midst

that started to try to shift what truth

was.

And so let me show you.

2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 1 and 2.

So we're gonna go back to the beginning

of the chapter.

This is now the second letter that I'm

writing to you, beloved.

In both of them, I'm stirring up your

sincere mind by the way of reminder.

Verse 2, that you should remember the predictions

of the holy prophets and the commandment of

the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Hear this, verse 2.

We, if we claim Jesus, we must always

go back to scripture.

Not to Jer, we must go back to

scripture.

To be reminded of truth.

To be reminded of what we're supposed to

be looking for.

To be reminded of the way we should

be acted.

To be reminded.

Almost the whole New Testament is reminders to

believers, hey, you got to turn here.

Are we any different?

No.

We need this same reminder, right?

And so verse 2, Peter reminds us that

we should be looking to the holy prophets

and the commandment of the Lord and Savior

through the apostles.

And so the next couple verses, verses 3

to 6, this whole world, all things of

this world seek to get our eyes off

of the eternal.

Everything in this world has some value that

seeks to get our eyes on that instead

of the eternal.

We probably don't do it knowingly.

You ever walk down a rabbit trail on

YouTube and you go, how did I end

up here?

Not, no, just me.

Okay.

Maybe you stream shows and you go, how

did I end up ten shows and I

didn't move for an hour and a half?

I don't know, right?

But in verse 7, Peter reminds those first

believers that the same word that was spoken

by the prophets of the coming King is

holding this earth for the day of the

judgment.

You say, Jer, that's a lot.

But I think it's important because now when

we start our reading at verse 8, God

teaches us about what a day means, what

this perspective means.

Verse 8 again, Peter calls us, verse 8,

but not overlook this one fact, beloved, that

with the Lord one day is a thousand

years and a thousand years is one day.

Peter calls us the beloved.

We who claim Jesus, we're the beloved.

We're tied together by his love for us.

And reminds us that God is outside of

time.

So it's a really big thought, but God

is outside of time.

Anybody else think like, man, God's just following

along the timeline, but instead God is outside

of it.

He is the one that is bigger than

it.

He's the one that's created time.

And so in order for us to understand,

even how we go, oh, I got to

seek God's will.

God is outside of time.

And so all things that are going on

in our lives are linear.

He is outside of that.

That is how he can work all things

together for good.

Right?

And so we must constantly be reminded of

ourselves that God is bigger than time.

We go, God, it's time to act.

Let's go.

Get on your horse.

You got to do what you're supposed to

do.

Take care of business, right?

He's bigger.

And he's outside of time.

And in addressing the scoffers of verse three,

he is reminding them how much God is

bigger.

Anybody want God to prove himself at this

very moment?

And you go, come on, God, strike them

dead.

Maybe that's just me.

But we reminded, like, God's at work accomplishing

his purpose for his glory.

Man, if I was God, most of y

'all be dead.

I'm kidding.

Gosh, I just want to see if you're

awake.

All right?

So to the one who created time, his

time and timing is far higher than we

can begin to imagine.

Amen?

His time and timing is far higher than

we can begin to imagine.

For many of us, this can be a

source of frustration that we can't dictate how

and when he responds.

Or this truth that God is bigger than

time can be a source of peace and

worship, because as we continually remind ourselves over

and over, God is bigger.

What you carried in this week, what you've

been carrying for the last month, what you've

been carrying for the last year, God is

bigger.

And so we could stand up and sing

songs for hours on end just to remind

ourselves God is bigger, and he is outside

of time, and he is at work.

Amen?

But that truth should shape all of our

lives, because we can either fight him on

our timeline, or surrender and follow his timeline.

Do you know what I mean by that?

Do you know how many times I've gone

in my prayers and going, God, you've got

to move right now.

God, you've got to do something right now.

And yes, it might be true, but here's

what I'm saying to you.

God's timeline is not ours.

Does that drive me to worship him, or

does it drive me to fight him?

And so I white-knuckle it.

All right, God, I'm going faster.

I'm going.

It's often frustrating to me that I cannot

dictate or move God in the normal ways

that I can try to get things done

here.

Do you know what I mean by that?

I'm often frustrated at God because God won't

do what I can get everybody else to

do.

Yeah?

The people in your life, you know how

you try to dictate the circumstances?

You force your will on them?

I am frustrated often at God that I

can't make him do what I want.

God, don't you see what's going on?

We can either fight him on our timeline

or surrender and follow his.

So why does God hold back his return?

Let's turn to verse 9.

If you underline your Bible, I think this

is a really good one.

All scriptures should be underlined, just so we're

clear.

Listen, this is important.

I need all your eyeballs.

All of them.

He desires all to turn to him in

repentance.

That's what he wants.

He wants all people with him.

Don't fall for the lies of this world.

God wants all people with him to turn

through repentance.

If you hear nothing else today, God gives

grace daily in that he is withholding his

just judgment that all have a chance to

repent.

God being slow and not taking us out,

God being slow is actually a grace for

all of us because we want others to

come with us.

Amen?

And so if you hear nothing today, if

we go, man, God's just judgment, and we

go, how could he send people to hell?

My question is, if that is a stress

for you, who are you telling about his

forgiveness?

We're gonna get into that.

What we often view as slow, you know,

that like, God, why are you not getting

us out of here?

I've probably said it 42 times last week.

God, take me now.

God, don't you see what's going on in

this world?

Right?

God, don't you, like, why are you not

taking us out?

It's a call for those who do not

yet believe to turn to him and for

each of us to speak his name in

the places that we're at.

God's patience is so that you can be

a tool for his glory right where you're

at.

Amen?

All of this life has purpose because what

he woke us up to, life with him,

what he woke us up to, what he

woke us up to is our sin, life

with him, and our need of a savior.

Now we are instruments for his plan to

reach the nations.

You have purpose.

You do not go to work on Monday.

You're an instrument of God's glory on Monday.

Even to those people you're already thinking about,

oh, I'm gonna need a hammer.

Thank you.

One of you is honest.

I often view God's plan based on my

comfort, not in the direction of eternity.

He may be using your circumstance right now

for his glory in a hundred years.

What you're working through, what you're carrying, the

people you're invested in, all of it, he

might be using it for his glory a

hundred, a thousand, who knows years from now.

Your days have purpose because God is patient

and has not taken us out.

Instead he is using you as an instrument

to help us turn towards him.

Amen?

And so this, this is why one of

our values at 717 is to wreck our

kingdom to build his.

The more that I build walls around my

house, the more that I make my house

as only for me, the more that I

make my life about me, the less I

can actually be used as an instrument of

his glory.

I want to use his patience for ministry.

And so his patience does not end.

This is important.

God's patience never ends in that it runs

out.

Instead, instead he has set a moment that

everything will change.

So let's read a little bit further.

But the day of the Lord, you're going

to want to underline that, will come like

a thief and then the heavens will pass

away with a roar and the heavenly bodies

will be burned up and dissolved and the

earth and the works that are done on

it will be exposed.

So this is a hard shift, but a

vital one.

If we're going to grasp the doctrine of

eternity, his patient filled grace requires justice.

We already talked about this, right?

Justification.

He has made us right.

He has justified us.

He is the one, but it requires justice.

And Peter reminds his readers that despite what

the other people are saying, God is still

right and he's still at work and he

requires justice.

In doing some research, the day of the

Lord, gospel coalition defined it like this in

an article, God's prophets and apostles identify the

day of the Lord as the climactic event

when God establishes his sovereignty, eradicates all evil,

and brings lasting peace on a universal scale.

And according to scripture, this means the burning

up of all things.

All things will be exposed.

That word exposed is all things will be

found by God.

Not that he doesn't know, but they'll all

be brought out.

And then we'll see in verse 11, he

takes it even a step further with the

use of the word dissolved again.

So let me pause here.

There's a host of questions that we think

about or start to think about with judgment.

We could spend days and days and days

thinking about why would God do this?

Well, what is that going to mean?

When's it going to come?

What's going to happen?

All this kind of stuff.

And those are all good questions and vital.

You know, the first one came to mind

like, okay, God's going to be just, you

know, I know I'm saved.

Do you think I'll look better in eternity?

Like, does this get better?

Do I get taller?

Can I eat what I want in eternity?

Often we go on with questions about eternity

that don't actually help us in our daily.

And so I don't want to skip over,

but I want us to hear the clear

point.

There is a moment of justice coming.

I don't know when.

I can't predict that.

But we don't want to get lost in

questions that don't actually affect our Monday.

If we follow scripture, there's a lot of

fun things that we can talk about.

Often churches get stuck in stuff that are

not essential to the faith in discussions.

We try to predict things that maybe aren't

ours to predict, but the day of the

Lord has to stay in front of us.

Not for guilt.

Hear me.

God is not a God of guilt.

He is a God of conviction and seeks

for all to return to him because our

guilt when we claim Jesus has been paid.

Instead for believers, the day of the Lord

can give us a holy fire in our

bellies to speak the name of Jesus as

often as we can.

As Christians, sometimes we can be accused of

using salvation as a get out of hell

free card.

The day of the Lord, when we ponder

it, begs the question, who am I okay

with going to hell?

If you believe scripture, if you believe that

the day of the Lord is coming, if

you believe that, then who might you be

okay with going to hell?

Because we often act that way towards those

around us.

Some of us might think somebody across the

political aisle.

Some of us are so caught in situations

that we go, man, let them burn.

And so I ask you, who are you

okay with?

Not as guilt, but I want us to

understand the day of the Lord means, man,

something's coming.

May not be in our lifetime, but are

we using salvation as a get out of

hell free card or are we letting that

fuel our faith for every interaction for tomorrow?

Every interaction with my kids, I need to

understand that eternity is in front of me.

Every interaction with the people that I love,

eternity is in front of me.

My family, my Baltimore family, do I care

enough?

I can't turn their hearts.

It's not your job.

It's not my job, but I can speak

Jesus into the situations that God puts in

front of me.

The day of the Lord is vital for

the justice of God to be fully realized.

Many of us struggle with judgment for a

variety of reasons.

Verse 9, we see his patience.

Verse 10, we see his justice.

And in verse 11, Peter lays out for

believers, for those that claim Jesus, how we

should respond.

And so will you read verse 11 with

me?

Since all these things are thus to be

dissolved, what sort of people ought you to

be in lives of holiness and godliness?

That since, at the beginning of the verse,

it means because of this, because of the

day of the Lord, because all things will

be exposed, since all of this is going

to happen, what sort of people ought you

to be?

The day of the Lord calls us to

live differently.

I want to give you a couple words.

First one, holiness.

That means to be of God with distinction.

Godliness, piety, reverence towards God.

We are to be of God distinctively, set

apart by reverence towards him.

If the coming day of the Lord calls

our actions to look more like God, I

want to give you some factors that might

be hindering us.

This is just a couple thoughts that we

go, okay, if the day of the Lord

is kind of way out there, we're not

really pressing into it, we're not really thinking

about it, there's some things that maybe you

and I might be working through.

Number one, the stuff that stays here.

The stuff that stays here, which is everything,

often trips us up because we put weight

and value in that.

Not that they're bad, but they start to

own us.

I know a large majority of you.

Most of you don't have idols of certain

things, but we all have sneaky things that

kind of rear their head every once in

a while of what we're chasing.

Amen?

I do.

The value we place on things that will

not be the same often ties us to

a short view of what God is and

can do.

Do you see how that like correlates?

If we put a lot of time and

effort into the things that stay here, or

we start chasing things, going after things isn't

necessarily bad.

I believe step into your calling, step what

God has for you, go after it.

But we have to be on guard that

things that stay here stop grabbing us and

go, I better sit down for a while

and fill in the blank.

And so what happens is we go, I

need to put some more focus on this

value, and we start short viewing God and

what he can do.

The stuff that stays here, number one.

Number two, lack of celebration of what Jesus

has done.

We at 717 want to continue to grow

in celebration.

When you take a step of faith, which

all of you, I am so proud of

you, we are taking steps of faith all

over the place.

We're stepping in, we're seeing people in the

room, we're encouraging each other, we're opening up

and connect groups.

We are taking steps of faith.

We're getting baptized in a couple weeks.

We are taking steps of faith.

You are stepping.

Let's celebrate.

Amen?

We should be having confetti cannons every time

we walk in the door.

I'm not cleaning them up.

But look, we have to get okay with

celebrating.

When you hear one of your brothers and

sisters taking a step of faith, we got

to not think, oh, why?

Or, oh, what?

We got to go, let's go.

Right?

Rodney, when he was up here taking a

step of faith, him and Gene are stepping

into this calling in this moment.

Y'all were like, I'm messing with you.

But you understand what I'm saying?

Man, we can encourage each other by celebrating

a whole lot more.

I am so dang proud of you.

Men and women, we are standing, we are

working and growing, not because we're good at

this, but because God is at work through

us.

Amen?

Let's step into holiness and godliness.

Instead of settling for the normal response of

this world, we can celebrate because we have

let eternity be our direction.

Let's go.

When you don't respond like the rest of

the world is, let's go.

Remind yourself that's God at work in you.

If you're not sure what the response of

the world is, just log on Facebook.

Do the opposite of that.

You'll be fine.

We need Jesus.