The apostle Peter’s final message reminds believers to hold on to the core truths of their faith. Living for God means growing daily in good character and trusting in His constant love.
2 Peter is a letter of reminders, written as Peter faced martyrdom, and its focus is not Peter but Jesus. Above all, we're called to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Key points
We've received the same faith, so walk in it. Salvation is all Jesus' work, but once it's ours, our words should flow from our faith, not our circumstances.
Don't stop at salvation. God has given us everything we need for a godly life. So we add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love, let go of our past and confirm our calling.
The same voice over Jesus is over you. In the valley or on the mountain, the Father's voice stays the same, giving us security of identity.
Wholesome thinking matters because life is short. What we allow in is what we think about, and a lifetime is but a dot on the line of eternity.
Key scriptures
2 Peter 1:1: a faith as precious as the apostles'
2 Peter 1:3–11: divine power, precious promises and qualities to add to our faith
2 Peter 1:16–18 and Matthew 17:1–5: the voice from heaven on the mountain
Philippians 4:8: think about whatever is true, noble, right and pure
Psalm 90:12: teach us to number our days
2 Peter 3:18: grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus
Takeaways
Listen to your words this week, and let them flow from your faith.
Hand your past to Jesus and walk in the freedom He has already paid for.
Guard what you allow into your mind, and use your time wisely.
The big idea
Near the end of his life, knowing he would soon be martyred, Peter poured his last energy into reminding believers of what matters most. 2 Peter is a letter of reminders, and its focus is not Peter himself but Jesus.
"No, don't remember me. Remember him."
Four of Peter's reminders stand out: we have received the same precious faith as the apostles, so we must walk in it; we mustn't stop at salvation but keep growing; the Father's voice over Jesus is the same voice over us; and wholesome thinking matters because life is short. Above all of these sits Peter's final instruction: grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Key scriptures
2 Peter 1:12–15: Peter's determination to keep reminding believers, even after his death
2 Peter 1:1: a faith as precious as the apostles'
2 Peter 1:3–11: God's divine power, His promises, and the qualities we add to our faith
Galatians 5:1: it is for freedom that Christ has set us free
2 Peter 1:16–18: Peter as an eyewitness who heard the voice from heaven
Matthew 17:1–5: the transfiguration on the mountain
Matthew 3:13–17: Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River
2 Peter 3:1: reminders to stimulate wholesome thinking
Philippians 4:8: think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable
2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4, 10, 12: a thousand years like a day; teach us to number our days
2 Peter 3:18: grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus
We've received the same faith, so walk in it
Peter greets his readers as those who have received "a faith as precious as ours". We have received exactly the same faith as Peter, John and all the other disciples. Salvation is all Jesus' work; we can only receive it. But once it's ours, we need to walk in it.
Facing crucifixion upside down, Peter speaks blessing, not cursing. Yet when Jesus was crucified, the same Peter denied Him, called down curses and swore. He had received the faith but wasn't walking in it.
"Your language is not circumstantial. Your language is based on your faith."
When we walk in the faith we've received, we speak blessing. When we walk in our own strength, our language changes.
Don't stop at salvation
God's divine power, the Holy Spirit, has given us everything we need for a godly life, along with great and precious promises: salvation, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, and the promise that we will never be alone. Nothing can snatch us out of His hand, and a cloud of witnesses always surrounds us. Through these promises we participate in the divine nature, walking in the Spirit and escaping the corruption caused by evil desires.
Add to your faith
We can't do anything to receive our faith, but we can walk in it. It's not hard work; it's a natural flow:
Goodness: simply live the good news
Knowledge: living the gospel, we come to know and trust God
Self-control: we put our desires and passions under His control
Perseverance: when tempted to take them back, we leave them with Christ
Godliness: we become more like Jesus
Mutual affection: like Jesus, we care about people
Love: last, because sacrificial love isn't easy
Eugene has seen many couples say they "fell out of love", when really they forgot the good news and what they had been forgiven of.
"Marriage is not there to keep us happy, friends. We are happy. It's there to make us holy."
Young people are urged not to move in together, not as condemnation, but to protect themselves.
Don't let your past hold you
Without these qualities we become ineffective and unproductive, forgetting we've been cleansed from past sins. Jesus paid the price and gave us freedom, so we shouldn't be enslaved again. Let it go.
Confirm your calling
Confirming our calling means that if we say we follow Jesus, we live like it, like a commissioner of oaths checking that the copy matches the ID. Others should be able to say, "I could have guessed that."
Salvation is like the starting gun in athletics: someone else fires it, and we respond and get out of the blocks. Then we run the race, hurdle by hurdle.
"Salvation is like a gunshot. It just gets us going."
The same voice over Jesus is over you
Peter didn't follow clever stories; he heard the voice from heaven on the mountain. As he talked about building shelters, the Father interrupted to point him to His Son: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Those same words were spoken at Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, the lowest river on earth. At the lowest place and on the high mountain, the message was the same.
"Doesn't matter whether you're in the valley or whether you're on the high mountain, the voice stays the same."
That gives us security of identity. When we hear hard news, even from a doctor, we can let the voice from heaven interrupt our thoughts.
"Receive the voice from heaven and silence the voices from this earth."
Wholesome thinking: life is short
Peter wrote his letters to stimulate wholesome thinking. Philippians 4:8 describes it: think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Sometimes, even with politics and elections filling our minds, we must take our thoughts captive and put them under God's control.
"What we allow in is what we think about."
Psalm 90 says a thousand years are like a watch in the night, three to four hours. Doing the maths, a 70-year life is but 12 minutes and 36 seconds, a dot on the line of eternity. That is how we gain a heart of wisdom.
"Life is short. Don't waste it."
Takeaways
Listen to your words this week, and let them flow from your faith rather than your circumstances.
Pick one quality from 2 Peter 1:5–7 to grow in, putting your desires under God's control.
Hand your past to Jesus and walk in the freedom He has already paid for.
When other voices speak over you, return to what the Father says about you.
Guard what you allow into your mind, and use your time wisely.
Reflect and discuss
Have you ever said something and wondered where it came from? What does that reveal about walking in faith?
Which "hurdle" from 2 Peter 1:5–7 do you find hardest right now, and why?
Where is your past holding you back from being effective and productive for Christ?
What voices are loudest in your life at the moment, and how can you let the voice from heaven interrupt them?
If your life is but a dot on the line of eternity, what would using your time wisely look like this week?
A written record of the teaching. Search it with your browser’s find (⌘F / Ctrl+F).
Wow. Am I on? There you go. How you doing, 3Ci? Yeah, it's such a privilege to be with you this morning.
You know, a couple of weeks ago a guy ran into me at Checkers, and he looked at me and he said, "Gee, I know you from somewhere." Hello. I said, "Yeah, sir, I know you from somewhere as well." And we're speaking and I'm trying… Were you in the army together? Were you in school together? Where were you? After a while he says, "Ah, now I remember, 3Ci." I said, "Yes." He says, "You are Wendy's husband." I said, "Yes, I've made it. I've made it."
So lovey, it is such a privilege to be your husband.
Oh, friends, do you know what a joy it is to be in community, eh? What a joy it is. If you're joining us online, welcome. If you're joining us from Smallville or the moms group or the Cube, welcome. Hentie and Paulie in Zambia with the friends that's watching online, welcome. Aris and Anik in New Zealand, welcome. Riaan and Estelle in Belgium, welcome. The farmer on the farm, the Smith family on the farm, Philip Smith, ex-Springbok rugby player, with his family online, welcome. Thank you for buying the time out to be with us.
Friends, this is God's word, eh? So, if you've got God's word, take it in your hand. Let's pray. Father God, not our words, not by might, not by power, but by your strength. Make your word alive within us today in Jesus' name. And everybody says, "Amen." Amen.
Sjoe, friends. One of the greatest things that I think that we can enjoy as a community together is life groups, is smaller groups. We have seen over the years, Wendy and I, married for 26 years, and we've seen over the years how God moves in small groups. And you know what? One day I was speaking, I don't know if he's here this morning, John Dunn. We were speaking at life group.
How many of us know that life group's not there to meet my needs? Life group's there to take me closer, to let me learn more about Jesus. So, we won't always agree in life group. That's not why we're there. But it's to, you know, take all the sharp edges off so we can get to know Jesus a bit better.
So, John Dunn and I, speaking one day at life group last year, and he said to me, "Ag, Eugene, you know what? I feel you've got to write a letter." I said, "A letter?" "Yeah," he says, "just start writing a letter and write it to your children, and what you want them to remember." I thought, "Geez." And he started telling me how he's doing things. And I walked away from there and I thought, "How am I going to do this?"
And I went to 2 Peter. We're going to go through the book of 2 Peter this morning, but I went to 2 Peter and I just saw picture after picture after picture after picture of what Peter wants us to remember. And you know what's the most significant thing? When we attend memorial services, we speak so much about the guy and we honour the person or the lady, but Peter says, "No, don't remember me. Remember him."
So, I'm going to share with you some things Peter says that, way after I'm gone, I want you to remember them. And we're going to look at some of those this morning. Is that all right?
2 Peter 1. And 2 Peter, these were the last books that Peter wrote just before his death. He knew he was going to be persecuted. Now, remember Peter, he was a fisherman, he was called by Christ, he walked with Christ, he saw the first miracle. I mean, he was there when the Holy Spirit came down like fire on people. He denied Christ, he got filled with the Spirit, he preached, 3,000 got saved, and he penned down things today so through the years, thousands upon thousands of people's lives can change. Even you and I this morning.
So, I want to ask you, don't listen to my voice, although you're going to hear it for the next 25 minutes or so, but listen to what the Holy Spirit says about what Peter wrote. And I think if we had an open line to heaven today, which we have, but if we could speak directly to Peter and he would speak to us, I think he'll probably say to us, "You know what, Eugene? I wrote the book. I went through this life and I'm transitioned into the next life. I'm with Christ. You can believe it. It's true. It's true. Every word I wrote there is true. Remember it, my boy."
So, we're going to read 2 Peter 1:12. "So I will always remind you…" Say remind. "I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory…" He says, you're a couple of doofuses, I need to remind you. "…as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things."
Always. It's like Peter's saying, "Listen, boys. I'm pulling out all the stops. I'm going to throw my last breath, my last energy into this because I want you to remember it. These things are significant."
So, what does Peter want us to remember? Let's look at some of these things. We're only going to look at four this morning. You're going to look at the book of 1 and 2 Peter here and you're going to get hundreds of things that he reminds us of. So, we're only going to look at four this morning.
So, let's start at verse 1. What does he remind us of? 2 Peter 1:1: "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith…" Talking about salvation. "…have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." What a greeting.
So, the situation here, Peter was about the first persecution, and we all know the scholars tell us that Peter was about to be crucified. Not like Jesus; he didn't count himself worthy to be crucified like Jesus. He was crucified upside down. And in that he speaks blessing and not cursing.
Do you remember when Jesus got crucified? What did Peter do? He didn't only deny Christ. It says he called down curses and he swore. Jeez. The Peter that walked with Jesus, yes. The Peter that received the faith, yes. How on earth did the words come out of his mouth? See, he didn't walk in his faith. We can receive the faith, friends. But do we walk in it? Do we walk in it?
Peter shows us he hasn't only received the faith. He's walking in the faith. So, the first reminder that I think Peter wants us to remember: when you walk with Christ, your language changes. Because your language is not circumstantial. Your language is based on your faith.
And I'm not talking about faith of healing, I'm talking about salvation. It's all Jesus' works. It's all what he did. I just received it, like Rory so eloquently explained to us the other day. We can only receive Christ. And what do I do? Now that I've received it, it's mine and I walk in it.
So, I think we received exactly the same faith as Peter, John and all the other disciples. It's reminder number one. When we walk in the faith that we receive, we speak blessing. When we walk in our own strength, our language changes. Have you ever said something and you thought, "Oh, sjoe, where did that come from?" Just see if we're walking in our faith. Walk with Christ.
Secondly, 2 Peter 1:3. Is this okay, guys? 2 Peter 1:3. Second reminder. So, the first one is just walk in what you received. Second one: "His divine power…" which is the Holy Spirit, "…has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises…"
So, God has given us everything we need, but he's also given us promises. So, if I think of the promises of God, I think of words of God over my life, and I think of prophecies over my life. Yes, and that's not wrong. But the promises the Bible gives us is the promise of salvation. Is the promise of eternal life. Is the promise of the Holy Spirit. Is the promise that I'll never be alone.
Nothing will snatch me out of his hand. Neither depth nor height, neither demons nor angels, neither the present nor the past, nor the future, nothing will snatch me out of his hand. That's a promise. And then there's another promise. There's always a cloud of witnesses around me. Am I alone? Never. Never. I am never alone, even though I'm the only one standing there at that moment. I'm not alone. There's a cloud of witnesses.
So, he says all these promises, "…so that through them you may participate in the divine nature…" What's that divine nature? Divine power is the Holy Spirit. Divine nature is walking in the Holy Spirit. "…having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort…"
Now, everything, guys, everything, corruption, theft, whatever, it comes back to evil desires, correct? So Peter says to us here, he says, "Stay away from evil desires." So, how do you stay away from evil desires? Let me give you some tools. He says, "…add to your faith…" Remember, we can't do anything to receive our faith, but now we've got our faith. Now we need to walk in it.
How do we walk in it? He says, "Add goodness." How do I add goodness? I just live the good news. Simple. I just live the good news. Why? The gospel is good news. The gospel is what saved me. I just live the gospel. I just live the good news.
And as I live the good news, it says, "Add knowledge." As I live the good news, I gain more knowledge of Christ. I gain more knowledge of God. Why? Because God is the author of my faith. I learn to trust him. And as I learn to trust him, I add self-control.
And what do I do with self-control? It says my desires and my passions, because I trust him, because I've got knowledge of him, I put them under his control. So, I reserve the right not to take hold of my own desires. I take it and I exercise self-control and I give it to him.
And then I add perseverance. Why? Because as I walk this road, I get tempted and I want to take my passions and my desires back, and perseverance is, I leave it with Christ. See, guys, it's not hard work. As we walk with God, it's a natural flow. We must just make sure we add the flow. We walk in the flow.
We add perseverance. And as I persevere and I leave things with God, under God's control, it says add godliness. As I leave it with him, I become more like Jesus. That's godliness. I just become more like Jesus. And what did Jesus do? Jesus cared about people.
So the next one is add mutual affection. We just care about people. Why? Because Jesus cared about people, and I become more like him: godliness. And then it says add love. Mutual affection and then add love. Why love? Why last?
You know what, friends? That love, not easy, eh? Not easy. Because that love is sacrificial love. That love is, I lay my life down for you like Jesus laid his life down. I had many couples walking into my office say, "Listen, Eugene, we fell out of love." You didn't fall out of love. You just forgot your faith. Forgot the good news. You forgot what you've been saved of, what you've been forgiven of. That's why you don't forgive.
That's why my wife and I become more like Jesus. Marriage is not there to keep us happy, friends. We are happy. It's there to make us holy. These things protect our marriages.
Young people, take it from us. Don't move in together. I'm not putting condemnation on you this morning. I've seen too many brokenness. Protect yourself. Protect yourself. Sacrificial love. Put our desires, our passions under God's control. Okay?
Verse 8: "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Don't need to go to Bible school, friends. We just need to read the Bible.
"But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins." How many times do we let our past, and we're all human, friends, how many times do we let our past kind of determine our future? We're being ineffective and unproductive as far as the things of Christ are concerned, because we allow our past to hold us.
Put our past under Jesus. He paid the price, friends. He won the battle. Let it go. Galatians 5 said it's for freedom that Christ has set you free. Now, don't get enslaved again to those things before you got saved. You see, Jesus paid the price already. He's given us the freedom. We just don't walk in it. Let it go. Let it go, friends.
Where are we, lovey? Okay. "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election." So, what does that mean? It just says, when I'm saying I'm a Jesus follower, live like it. It's like a commissioner of oaths. It says, show me the ID. Show me the copy. Okay, the ID looks exactly the same as the copy. Doef, stamp. Confirmed.
It's like when I meet Dennis this morning. Dennis, your life, I've seen your house, I've been in your house, I've prayed with your wife, I've listened to your wife. She spoke about you, how blessed she is to have you as a husband. And there's something of Christ in you. And when I see Jesus, and I say, "What do you believe?" He says, "I believe in Christ." I can say, "I could have guessed that." I could have guessed that. That's confirming, friends. That's confirming.
So, confirm your election. "For if you do these things, you will never stumble." Sjoe. So, if we do stumble, just go back to these words of Peter. John Dunn, there I see you sitting there. Thank you for telling me to write a letter to my boy. This preach came from your sharing in a life group setting. Thank you.
So, our second reminder is don't stop at salvation, friends. God has given us everything we need. Grow in it. Just grow in it.
What I want to say about salvation: everybody knows athletics. So, who pulls the trigger? Does the athlete pull the trigger? No. Somebody else loads the gun. Somebody else pulls the trigger. What does the athlete do? The moment that sound goes, the athlete receives the sound, he hears the sound, and that sound affects his whole body, his emotions, his strength, his spirit, everything. When that shot goes, he's out of the blocks.
That's what salvation does. Now we're in the race. First hurdle, goodness. Second hurdle, knowledge. Third hurdle, what is it? Self-control. Fourth hurdle, perseverance. Fifth hurdle, godliness. Next hurdle, mutual affection. Next hurdle, love. Winning line. Hey? We just walk in that, guys. Salvation is like a gunshot. It just gets us going. Okay, that was the second reminder.
Third reminder, 2 Peter 1:16–18: "For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice…" See that word voice? "…when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain."
So, Peter wastes no time to remind us of the voice of heaven. You know, Peter here, he quotes Matthew 17. What does Matthew 17 say? Matthew 17:1: "After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves." For time's sake, let's jump to verse 5. "While he was still speaking…" That's Peter.
You see, they go up this mountain, Moses appears, Elijah appears, Peter says, "God, this is a good place. Let's put up some shelters." And while he was still speaking, it's like this voice just interrupts and says, "Hey, Peter. You're worried about shelters? I want to tell you about my Son." You see what is here, Peter? Let me show you what you don't see.
So, while Peter was still speaking, interrupting Peter, "…a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" This morning, when you got baptised, "This is my son whom I love, in whom I'm well pleased." That is the words exactly in Matthew 3, where we read it for the first time, when Jesus got baptised.
Where did Jesus get baptised, Dennis? In the Jordan River. Okay. Do you know where's the Jordan? Israel. Okay, let me give you something that you may not know. You may know this. Matthew 3 says, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John." And verse 17: "And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"
The Jordan River: if you go into Siri and you say, "Hey Siri, what is the lowest river on this planet?" what will Siri say? Jordan River. So, at the lowest place, where Jesus got baptised, under the water, as he came out: "This is my son whom I love, with him I'm well pleased." On the high mountain: "This is my son whom I love, in him I'm well pleased."
And everything in between: "This is my son whom I love, with him I'm well pleased." Doesn't matter whether you're in the valley or whether you're on the high mountain, the voice stays the same, the words stay the same, the message doesn't change, the God doesn't change. Amen. If that doesn't give you security of identity, I don't know what will. Sjoe. I don't know what will.
Maybe you heard that you've got cancer. Maybe you've heard that… I don't know. Let the voice from heaven interrupt your thoughts. Let the voice from heaven interrupt what the doctor has said. And look at the Son. Because he said, "You're my son whom I love, in you I'm well pleased."
That's reminder number three. The voice over Jesus is the same voice over you and I. Receive the voice from heaven and silence the voices from this earth. We can't trust the voices from the earth more than we trust the voice from heaven, friends. We need to allow God's interruptions.
Fourthly, last point, I jump to 2 Peter 3:1. So, if you read 2 Peter 2, it speaks about false prophets that's coming and all those things, and how God's dealing with that and what God shows us. But for the sake of time, I'm going to jump to 2 Peter 3:1: "Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking."
What is wholesome thinking? You see, Peter regards it important that we understand salvation, that we walk in our faith, that we understand the voice from heaven, and that we have wholesome thinking. So many people, and I include myself in this, friends, sometimes I have to take my thoughts captive.
I mean, we've got our mouths full, nights full of political ideas and who's going to win the election and who's not. No, let's take it… Our minds, yeah, the brain's a strong thing, eh? Put it under God's control, friends.
What's wholesome thinking? So, I can go to Webster, I can go to Google, but I think scripture explains scripture. So, Philippians 4 says this, 4:8: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Wow.
Paul writing in Philippians, Peter writing, and they say the same thing. Wholesome thinking, friends. What we allow in is what we think about. Let's take our thoughts captive. Let's exercise self-control and put it under God's control. Whether good or bad, put it under God's control. Put it under God's control.
Then he carries on, verse 8: "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Peter quotes Psalm 90 here, and you remember Rory explained it, eh? You remember those? So, let me be like Peter, and just remind you again.
Psalm 90 says this, Psalm 90:4, if you didn't hear it before. If you have, just be reminded. "A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." So, Moses wrote Psalm 90. Moses says here a thousand years is like a day. No, it's actually a little bit shorter. It's like a watch in the night. The watch in the night is three to four hours.
Then it says in verse 10, "Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty…" We just celebrated Anita's 80th two weeks ago. "…if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away." Verse 12 says this: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
Now, how do I gain a heart of wisdom? It speaks about number, speaks about days, speaks about a thousand years, speaks about a watch in the night. How do we gain wisdom? We just do the maths. If we do the maths properly, friends, in light of a watch in the night, which is three to four hours, if I live 70 years, my time on earth is but 12 minutes and 36 seconds. On the line of eternity, it's but a dot.
What Peter's saying: life is short. Don't waste it. Wholesome thinking, use your time wisely. Use the space that you're in wisely, friends. Don't waste it. Reminder number four, wholesome thinking. Life is short. Don't waste it.
Friends, if these are the last words that Peter has spoken before he got persecuted, and before he went to be with the Lord Jesus, and he wants us to remember it, I think it's important. I think it's important.
And then, if that's not enough, Peter says this in 2 Peter 3:18. He says, now I have told you all these things. I shared it all with you. But then it says in verse 18, the last verse, it says, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever! Amen." Amen.
So, it's actually, Eugene, if I told you all these things in these two books, but if you don't remember any of them, just remember this thing: grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Just to remind us. Reminder one: we receive exactly the same faith as Peter, John and all the other disciples. Reminder two: don't stop at salvation. Reminder three: the same voice over Jesus, the same voice over you and I. Reminder four: wholesome thinking. Life is short. Don't waste it. God bless you, friends.