For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail.

For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.

because I know that the removal of my bodily tent will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, has shown me.

And I will make every effort to see that you will always remember these things after I am gone.

Therefore we regard the message of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp that is shining in a gloomy place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Now there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned.

In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not delayed.

These people, like irrational animals, are mere creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. They insult what they don't understand, and like animals they, too, will be destroyed,

suffering harm as punishment for their wrongdoing. They take pleasure in wild parties in broad daylight. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceitful pleasures while they eat with you.

First of all you must understand this: In the last days mockers will come and, following their own desires, will ridicule us

Now by that same word, the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire and are being kept for the day when ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, think of the kind of holy and godly people you ought to be

as you look forward to and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire.