Make no mistake, it feels a little like the end of the world out there, if you do get out. I was out driving at 1:30 am Sunday night and during a twenty-minute stretch on the most traveled road around here, Pacific Coast Highway, better known as PCH, or Hwy 1, I saw a total of three cars out driving. And I’m sure many of you have encountered the scene in the picture above which is the paper towel and toilet paper aisle in the local supermarket just last night. “Closed” signs are everywhere. Twenty-four-hour stores are now only twelve-hour-stores, and whatever restaurants are still open have taken out half their tables. It’s the Grand Canyon between you and the next table.

That’s why I have chosen for our first Wednesday night International Online Video Conferencing Bible Study, 1 Peter 4:7-11 which begins: “The end of all things is near. Therefore …” I figured whatever follows that statement would most likely be particularly applicable to what is going on today since it seems so much like the end of the world.

Peter was very much focused on the end of the world. In his second letter he wrote, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare,” and here we have another “Therefore …”: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” (2 Peter 3:10-11)

Peter’s focus therefore was not on the end of the world, but on the implications the knowledge of the coming end of the world placed on how we live now. In the 2 Peter passage, he writes, “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”

So join us tonight and find out what the “Therefore” in 1 Peter 4:7 is there for. You may be surprised.

See you in a few hours for our first Wednesday night International Online Video Conferencing Bible Study tonight at 6 pm PDT.

Now it’s even easier to join us. It’s simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Go to https://zoom.us/j/619558169
2. Click on “Start” with Browser
3. Enter your name and click “Join”