You
you
Good evening. Good evening. Welcome the first works baptist church going to please stand with me turn the song number
164 praise him praise him
164 praise him
164 praise him praise him on the first praise him praise him
Jesus our blessed
Redeemer sing Oh
There's wonderful love proclaim
Hail him hail him
Highest our
glory
Like a shepherd
Carries them all day long
Him
Oh
Jesus
Bob
Greatness
Joyful song laughs praise him
Santa's ring
Prophet
Oh
Let's pray well, thank you for this wonderful and beautiful day father
I just pray for the preacher and the message come forth. I pray for the singing leading up to that
We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Go ahead and be seated turn into song number 260. He is able to deliver thee
Song number 260 he is able to deliver thee
Song number 260 on the first
Tis the grandest thing that the ages wrong tis the grandest thing for a mortal
tongue this the grandest thing
World there song our God is able to deliver thee
He is
able to deliver thee
He is able
to deliver thee
Though my sin
Go to him for rest our God is able to deliver thee
This the grandest thing in the earth or me this the grandest thing
For a mortal strain this the grandest thing tell the world
again our God is able to deliver
me he is
Able to deliver me he is able
to deliver me
For I said, oh, let's go to him for rest our God is able to deliver thee
This the grandest thing let the tidings roll to the guilty heart
The sinful soul look to God in faith
He will make the whole our God is able to deliver thee
He is able
to deliver thee
He is
Able to deliver thee
Though my sin Paul press go to him for rest our God is able to deliver thee
Great singing
Alright great singing. Thank you for being here this evening
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song which will be
188 the love of God song number 188 if you want to get that ready in your song books
Just a few announcements our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock
You see the so many times and teams and the list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer
And then the important reminders there at the bottom
Thank you for all of those who participated and miss Tanya leaves baby shower
That was today after the service and so I heard it was great
And then the Monday Sony is of course tomorrow at 1130 here at the church building. You can see brother Elise's for more
Brother Elise's Hernandez for more details and then the end of school picnic is on Tuesday May 30th
That'll be at eucalyptus park at 1230 and you could either talk to my wife or brother Elise's if you need more details about
That hope to see you there and then lastly on Saturday, June 3rd 3rd is the ladies prayer breakfast, mr
Noggin's Alice is the one who heads that up and so you can talk to her for more information about that
You see the regular reminders there at the bottom
Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service
Let's take some so many numbers from this past week's salvation from Monday to Thursday any salvation from Monday to Thursday
How about Friday and Saturday?
Salvations for Friday and Saturday one and then this afternoon salvations for this afternoon one one for brother hikes team
Two for brother Marcus's team two for brother Glenn's team anybody else going once twice thrice. Okay, keep up the great work
Let's go to sing our next song
188 the love of God
Song number 188 the love of God song number 188 the love of God on the first verse
the love of God
is greater far
than tongue or pen
Can ever tell it goes beyond the highest star
and reaches to
the lowest hell
the guilty pair
bow down with care
God gave his son
to
him
He reconciled
Imparted from his sin
whole love of God
How rich and pure
How measure less
and strong
It shall forevermore
endure
the saints and angels
song
when hoary time shall pass away
and earthly thrones
and kingdoms long
when man who
refused to pray
on rocks and hills
and mountains calm
God's love so sure
shall still endure
all measure less
and strong
redeeming grace to Adam's race
the saints and angels
song
whole love of God
How rich and pure
How measure less
and strong
It shall forevermore
endure
saints and angels
song
the last verse nice and strong
Could we
with big
the ocean fill
and were the skies
of parchment
made
where every star
honored the quill
and every man
ascribed by
trade
of God
above would
drain the ocean
dry
nor could the
scroll contain the
hopeful stretch
from sky to
sky
God of God
How rich and pure
How measure less
and strong
It shall forevermore
endure
the saints
and angels
song
piano
Good evening, tonight we're in 2 Peter chapter 1
and the Bible reads
Simon Peter
a sermon of an apostle of Jesus Christ
to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our savior Jesus Christ
grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord. According as his
divine power hath given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises that by these
you might be partakers of the divine nature
having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust
and beside this giving all diligence
add to your faith virtue and to virtue
knowledge and to knowledge temperance
and to temperance patience and to patience
godliness and to godliness brotherly
kindness and to brotherly
kindness charity for if these
things be in you and abound they make you
that you shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
but he that lacketh
these things is blind and cannot see
afar off and hath forgotten that he was
purged from his old sins
wherefore the rather brethren give diligence
to make your calling the election sure
for if you do these things you shall never
fall for so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of God of our Lord
and savior Jesus Christ
wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always
in remembrance of these things
though ye know them and be established
in the present truth
yea I think it meet as long as I am in
this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you
in remembrance knowing that shortly
I must put off this my tabernacle
even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
showed me moreover I will
endeavor that ye may be able
after my decease to have these things always
in remembrance for we have
not followed kindly devised
fables when we may known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
but were eyewitnesses of his majesty
for he received from God the father
honor and glory when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory
this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased and this voice
which came from heaven we heard
when we were with him in
the holy mount we have also
a more sure word of prophecy
where until you do well that you take heed as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts
knowing this first that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation
for the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
let's pray dear Lord God thank you for the
King James Bible Lord and your word Lord and
thank you for this church and we thank you for pastor
we pray that you bless him right now and fill him with the spirit as he
preaches your word Lord and that us in the congregation
can be attentive to the
preaching of your word and be edified by it Lord
we pray this in Jesus name Amen
Amen
Okay we're in 2 Peter chapter number 1
and look down at your Bibles at verse number 8
it says for if these things be in you
and abound they make you
that ye shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ
but he that lacketh these things is blind
and cannot see afar off and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins
and the time of my sermon this evening
is avoiding sterile knowledge
avoiding sterile knowledge
and of course I'm referring to verse number 8
that states
they make you referring to what we're going to look at tonight
that ye shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ you see all
Christians obviously we have access to the truth
we have the word of God we have access
to preaching we have access to biblical
content and the knowledge of
Jesus Christ and the Bible even tells us to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ but the reality is
this is that an active faith
requires
our knowledge in order for our knowledge to be
fruitful it requires an active faith
it's about what we know
but we need to put what we know into practice as well
and according to the Bible
if you don't put into practice that what you're learning
that what you're reading that what you're
hearing if you're not a doer of the
word and simply only a hearer
according to the Bible you're going to be barren
you're going to be sterile you're going to be an unfruitful
Christian and in fact you're going to
end up deceiving yourself because you think to yourself
well I have all this knowledge of the
Bible therefore I'm a good Christian
I have all this knowledge of
doctrine and systematic
theology and I can defend the faith
and I know what the Bible says about certain things
but you know God is interested in you actually
putting into practice that what you've learned as well
he wants you to live a godly
life he wants you to live a Christian life
and that comes as you put into practice
the knowledge that you
have obtained he doesn't want you to be a barren
Christian an unfruitful
sterile Christian now look at verse
number 3 it says here in
2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 3
according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that
pertain to life and godliness through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue so according to the
Bible the Bible tells us that the word
of God has everything that we need
that pertains to life and godliness that's why we say
that the word of God is our final authority
for all faith and practice right
anything that we do
our world view anything
the way we live the way we
work the way we have our families
the way we behave our
conduct it's all based upon the Bible
right and the Bible says there that it's through
the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue so
we have no excuse okay
obviously people in times past
even in the New Testament for example
you know they didn't necessarily have
the complete canonized word
of God the revelation of God's word
was not yet complete so essentially
they still saw through a glass darkly
and you go back even further than that
the people of the Old Testament really saw
through a glass darkly they only had
the first five books of the Bible to work with
and other instances maybe the Psalms
and then later on the major
and minor prophets but we
today in 2023 we have the
entire Bible right and therefore
we don't necessarily have an excuse
as to why we don't know certain things
why we're not acting out our
faith the Bible says here we have everything
that pertains to life and
godliness it says in verse number four
whereby are given to us exceeding great
and precious promises
that by these you might be partakers of the
divine nature having escaped the corruption
that is in the world
through lust so one thing that
I want you to notice this evening is that
part of God's plan for
your life part of God's will for your
life is that you become a partaker
of his divine nature what does that mean you become
like unto the Lord you become a
good what Christian right
and the way we obtain that
is by fulfilling
reaching unto the promises of God
so God says do this
we need the faith to do it to
to reach the result of becoming
more like Christ becoming more godly
pleasing the Lord and
in this particular chapter he gives
a really systematic way of doing that
I don't know about you but I like
points one two three and four
and five on how to be successful
in the Christian life right like I like systematic
doctrine I like sermons that
are very systematic it's like point A
or point one
letter A under that point number two
point number three here are your five steps
here's the five things you got to do
here's ten things you got to do
and I like it especially when it comes
to theology but it's even better
when it comes to Christian living right like it's like
how do I become a good Christian how
do I make sure that I don't
become just an unfruitful
Christian well luckily
we have a seven step program right here
in second Peter chapter number one
and that's what we're going to look at this evening
now the first thing I want you to notice
in verse number five it says
beside this giving
all diligence what does that mean
well the next couple
words the next couple of virtues that
we're going to look at in steps are pretty much
meaningless if you don't have
diligence
in other words this stuff does not come
by osmosis right
you're not going to get these things just by coming
to our church or just by claiming
that you're a Christian or even by just
getting saved right you're not going to
automatically obtain
these promises just
by doing so the Bible says that it requires
diligence on our part what does that mean
be consistent
you don't get anything in a Christian life other
than salvation
without some diligence okay
being consistent you don't reach any
type of spiritual success
without any type of diligence
diligence in your Bible reading
diligence in your church attendance
diligence in godly living and prayer life
and sowing and all these
matters of the Christian faith it requires
some form of consistency
and you know what I've learned over the last
16 years of me being saved
is that a lot of times people
fail in the Christian life or they don't
obtain the promises set before them
only because they quit too early
you know they quit before they can see
the results
the results are promised the results are there
the program has been made for you
god has these points laid out for you
but what happens is people grow weary
they grow tiresome
they get involved in sin
they end up kind of becoming discouraged
and disillusioned you know what happens
they lose diligence whereas what the
Bible is teaching us is that you need to become
consistent in the Christian life regardless
of whatever circumstances surround you
at that time
be consistent have the character
to do what you're supposed to do
when you're supposed to do it whether you feel
like it or not
and obviously you know new Christians
have a hard time with that sometimes
new Christians are very much
emotionally driven
they go to church if they feel like it
or they read their Bible if they really feel like it
they live a
godly life if it you know kind of fits
them at that moment if they feel like
doing those things those are characteristics
of a newborn Christian
but the longer you're a Christian the more
you realize that hey I need diligence
in my Christian life if I'm going to
produce any type of godly results
that essentially produces
god's blessing in my life
but on god's blessing I need to be consistent
in these things in order for me
to see success in the long term
okay and I'll be honest with you
you know like I mentioned I've been saved for about 16
years there's certain results that I
didn't see for years on end there's certain
results that I'm barely seeing now
of things that I was consistent with
10 years ago put it that way
there's things that I learned
10 years ago that someone told
me be consistent in this area
and I'm barely seeing results now
16
year 16 of
being saved 10 years later
of whenever I was given a certain
promise I was taught a certain
principle I'm barely seeing results now
and I'm learning things now
that guess what I'm not going to see the results in
for another 20
years I'm not going to see the results
in for another 30 years
and you think to yourself well hold on a second
you know I
I was kind of hoping to see results next week
I was kind of hoping to see
results like at the end of this service
I was I was like
you know I thought we we taught immanency here
when it came to god's blessing or something like that
but you know obviously there's there's there's
immediate blessings but then there's
long term blessings that come as
you become diligent in the Christian life
and the reality is this is that certain blessings
are only designated for people who can
who are mature enough to receive it anyways
you know so sometimes it's just like
god wants to bless you with
particular things in the Christian life
but you're not really capable of even like
dealing with that blessing you
you wouldn't even know how to handle that blessing right
so it's just like god has to build your character
he has to build you as a Christian
he has to build you as a person
so that when he gives you that blessing
10 years down the road you're actually
capable, fortified to actually handle it
okay because the reality is this is
sometimes Christians aren't mature enough to handle
blessings and so
we have to realize that diligence is
the key to Christian growth
and here's the next
thing I want you to notice verse number 5 says
beside all this giving all diligence
I want you to notice this phrase here
your faith virtue
okay now what's so significant
about adding to your faith
well you know in order to add to your faith
there has to be faith there
so if you never add to your faith
it just means that faith is alone
it means it still exists
so the point
that I'm trying to get across here
is that obviously when it comes to salvation
all we need is our faith in Christ
you don't need to do all these things
that we're going to look at tonight to be
or stay saved or progress
in your salvation or something like that
this has to do with people who are
already saved people who need to
add to your faith this could be very much
likened unto James
chapter 2 right add to your faith
works making sure
that you're living out your Christian faith and so
we obviously have to be saved in order
for these things to work right
and it's important for us to realize that
yes we're saved
yes we know that salvation can never be lost
yes it's by faith alone in Jesus Christ
but you know thereafter it's time to put in some work
it's time to start building upon
our most holy faith
build upon that foundation
which is Jesus Christ in order
to see some significant eternal results
in the long term
so tonight I want to look at these
virtues here
and see what these
specifically mean how we can
describe and define them as
but before we get into that look at verse number 9
you say well you know what if
I just don't want to do it
well I don't feel like it
okay then don't do it
no skin on my back if you don't do it
okay
I'm going to do it because I want to see results in my personal life
I want to do it because I want to see
results in my family's life
I want to do it because hey I'm already saved
and you know there's so many ways to
earn rewards there's so many blessings in the
Christian life it's like it's kind of like
why not do it
I mean if I were to kind of compare
what I would be doing
instead of obeying
God and keeping his commandments and doing these things
you know the alternative sucks
the alternative is living for the world
the alternative is that which
is carnal it doesn't produce anything
but sin and the wages
of sin and death and things
that are just unfruitful okay
but you say what if I just choose
not to become
fruitful in this area I know
that I'm saved I know what the Bible says
about these things but I don't really want to live out these things
what happens well look at it says in verse number 9
it says he that lacketh these things
referring to the virtues we're going to look at
is blind and
cannot see afar off and
has forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins the Bible says
so in other words if a person
chooses not to add to their faith they just want
to be the most basic of Christian
of the fact that they know that they're saved
they know they're on the way
to heaven but they don't want to add to their faith
okay then you could just be blind
for the rest of your life then
and what does that mean it means you can't really see
afar off you don't have a vision for your life
you can't really see
past tomorrow you see when you
grow in grace and in the knowledge
it's basically you looking into the
eternal it's you
thinking about the millennial reign
it's you thinking about the new heaven and new earth
it's you thinking 10, 20, 30
40, 50 years down the road
and what's going to take place in those moments
you know the life that you're going to
produce for your children the life you're going to have in your
marriage the ministry
you're going to be a part of whatever it is
you're looking into the future but if you choose not
to do those things then you're blind and you can't
really see afar off you can't see past
tomorrow and one of
the greatest challenges for a pastor
listen to me one of the
greatest challenges that I've learned within these
last couple of years of pastoring
is this I have a hard time
getting people seen past tomorrow
it's hard
because sometimes I try to cast vision
to people and say hey you know
don't make this decision it's going to
affect you in the long run hey
make this decision it'll be good for you
in the long run but sometimes people can't see past
lunch time
I have a hard time getting people to see past this sermon
some people can't even see because they're falling
asleep they're just like
you know drowsiness
has clothed them you know
they can't see past tomorrow
but even from a spiritual perspective
they have a hard time seeing the
consequences of their actions
and I can't make that happen
for anybody you know what I mean
I can preach hard
I can pray I can
beg I can beseech
I can shake the pulpit
I can do everything I possibly can
humanly speaking but I can't get
you to see past tomorrow you have to do that
and it's heartbreaking for a pastor
to have to cast vision and
someone who's just barren and unproof
they can't see a far off
and they forgot that they were
purged from their old sins
you see when you see a far off
when you know where you've been you know where you're
going right
and it's just like you know I've been saved for 16 years
but you know what I think about the day that I got
saved I was thinking about it all the way over here
just thinking about it all the way over here
just thinking about the fact you know I'm so thankful
that I got saved I'm so thankful
that the Lord saved me I'm so thankful
that I came into an independent fundamental
Baptist church and I learned about the right way
of salvation and my sins are
forgiven I'm on my way to heaven
and it makes me think about the future
it makes me think about the results
it makes me think about the future to come
and part of that is me
making sure that I'm not being barren nor
unfruitful in my knowledge
and so
and so he says there
if you lack these things
you're blind you can't see a far off
you forgot that you were purged from your old sins
this would be considered like a backsliding
Christian and that's where it starts right
with you becoming unfruitful
barren not choosing to add to your faith
and what happens is you know
you become what is it near
sighted is when something's far away right
you can't see far away is that correct
yeah you become near sighted
because it's just like you can't really see it far off so you're only
seeing the first couple steps you know there's times in the
Christian life when that doesn't happen though right
where you're going through such a difficult time
that it's like you can only see the first couple steps in front of you
but we can't live there
you know after a while
you better see a little further down
the road okay we can't live
just looking three four steps ahead
we need to be able we're to be Christian
visionaries here and the Bible says
where there is no
vision listen to this the people perish
but he that keepeth the
law happy as he
okay now I preach
sermons from that many times and I've heard many
sermons on that and people often think to themselves
like oh vision like just get a vision
for your life or you know like
vision for your job vision for your family vision
for this vision for that but really the vision
that it's referring to is the vision from God's word it's
the law of God okay
so when you have the law of God in front of you
when you have God's word in front of you when you're walking with God
on a daily basis you're not going to perish
you're not going to be barren you're not going to be
unfruitful you're not going to be blind you're not
going to forget that you were purged from your old sins
you're going to be successful in your Christian life
okay
and so let's look at a couple of these
things that
the apostle Peter talks about he says
add to your faith virtue
now this is pretty interesting
because the first thing he brings up is virtue
he's like alright first thing
to do when you're a Christian
is add virtue
now what is virtue? virtue is moral
excellence virtue is righteousness
in its most simplest
terms it's just righteous living
now that's kind of interesting isn't it
because you would think well shouldn't people know
what the Bible says first
shouldn't people know doctrine first
shouldn't people
know what the Bible says first and then
act out some of those things or then
clean up their lives no I'm not according to the Bible
according to the Bible
one of the most important things for you to do first
is to add virtue to your
faith in other words as soon as you
get saved you start making some changes in
your life you start
immediately making changes
in your life go to James chapter 4
hold your place there in 2 Peter
go to James chapter 4
and you know what I love it
I love it when people first get saved when they
come to church they get saved
and then they start changing the way they look
start changing the way they dress
they start changing their behavior
like almost immediately
not perfectly
sometimes they come in with some funky clothing
but they're doing their best
they just dress a little different
but they're trying their best to kind of like
clean up their life they want to look different
they want to act different that's actually an important aspect
of the Christian life did you know that
because it's essentially showing God
I want something to change
I want to add virtue
I want to add righteousness
I want to add moral excellence to my life
and it's not just in regards to clothing obviously
obviously it's just in regards to moral excellence
as far as behavior is concerned
you repent
from certain sins
if you're a person who is given over to
alcohol and marijuana
recreational drugs
or whatever
put those things away from you
when you get right with God
put out the weed and throw it in the trash
and pour out the
the bottles of liquor
and beer
or whatever drugs
that you might be involved in
throw them in the trash
you know you got yourself
a girlfriend
or a boyfriend that's not a Christian
and they're not saved and want nothing to do
with the things of God
kick them to the curb
be like see ya
wouldn't want to be with ya
and you know that's one of the
biggest deals sometimes for young people
is to
separate from certain relationships
that you know in the long term
are not good for you
and the Bible specifically says
be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers
what does that mean?
when you're coupled with a person
who is not a Christian who's not saved
God says don't be together
Christians are not supposed to be with non-Christians
you say well what's the problem with that?
if they love each other
and they're in love and all these things
well I'll tell you what's the problem with that
those people get married
you get a Christian and a non-Christian they get married
there's all kinds of problems in marriage
one of them being that person
doesn't believe in your God
and you know what?
you're going to have problems with church attendance
you're going to have problems with changing
things in the home, you're going to have problems with
child rearing, you're going to have problems with
the direction of your home and standards
there's all kinds of issues that arise
when you get married to someone
who's just not a Christian whatsoever
and here's the thing
well I'll just get them saved
and amen
and sometimes that works
I've seen it work where you get them saved
and then they start coming to church
and then they
start living for God
and now Jesus Christ becomes their conviction
and now they're coming to church
because they want to grow
and they love the Lord
we've had stories like that in our church
however
sometimes it's just like you get them saved
or
they claim to get saved or something
and then they're just like
you know what? but I'm not into it like you are
they're not into
the whole church thing
and God forbid if you bring them to a new IFB
church
these extreme
these religious zealots or whatever
and the things that they believe
it creates all kinds of conflict
but let's just talk about just unsaved though
if they're unsaved you're going to have a lot of issues
in marriage because of it
you're going to have a lot of conflict
because of the fact that you both have different gods
that's just the bottom line
and people in our church have also suffered
through that as well
and I'm sure many can give testimonies to that
but here's the thing folks
it's important that once you get saved
you just start changing your life a little bit
making changes, getting rid of
slices in your life, maybe getting rid of some friends
in your life, right?
maybe you have some toxic friends
some people who are not
necessarily a good influence on you
especially the ones that are still involved
in the habits that you're trying to kick
it's never good to keep friends around
who still have and play with
the same habits that you're trying to get rid of
like well you know I have willpower
you know what I mean? that's true we all
have willpower but it's very
small percentage though
you know willpower in our lives
is only supposed to be used incrementally
it's like you know
the fire extinguisher you know the ones
with the glass and stuff is like only break it for
emergencies
you know what I mean? if there's other fires
use something else but for really big emergencies
then you hit that thing and you know that's how
your willpower is that's only for
emergencies when you have to get yourself
out of a bad situation but you don't use the
fire extinguisher every single week
you're going to run out
and you're going to try to win your friends
over all your pot smoking
buddies and alcohol
become a fornicator
you will eventually become a pot smoker
you will eventually do the things that
they do because willpower can only
take you so far so it's important
to have the right associations
the right friends the right associations
what am I talking about? talk about virtue
and you know what? having virtue is also
being around virtuous people
not virtual people
like I have some
good virtuous people they're all on
social media
all my virtuous friends are on social media
not virtual people not virtual
friends you need some actual
friends I know
Facebook calls it friends
ok but let's just be honest
here they're not really friends ok they might be
nice people and you know
I have a lot of friends on Facebook but I'll be honest
with you probably like 80%
of them I have no idea who they are
because they follow me and I just follow back
I'm just like follow follow follow follow
you say why? because I just want them to
get my content you know what I mean
I just put out content and hopefully
it recommends it to them and
you know you have that Facebook messenger
right? well I never
go on there because if I did
I would have to answer 50 Africans
who are like asking for like donations
hello beloved brother
holy kisses unto you
it's just like
dude you lost me at
hello holy brother
who talks like that
but here's the thing we're friends on Facebook though
but are we really friends?
no we're not
virtual friends don't count you need virtuous friends
and the best place to find virtuous friends
are here in church
and here's the thing man the church is
such a wonderful tool
to use to establish
good long term
significant
relationships
it's a great place to do that it's a safe
place to do that it's not the safest
because we live in a corruptible world
but you know you're likely to find some pretty
good friends in church some friends
that will surpass the relationship
of being a friend and becoming almost
like family right?
that's what people need and so that's part of virtue
you know putting away your bad friends
getting some good friends
maybe even staying away from certain toxic
family members
I mean that's a big thing right?
and I can say even in my personal life
I've had to get rid of both
you know family and friends
certain family members that as much
as I love because they're my blood
and I grew up with them and I love them
you know they blaspheme
the name of the Lord and you know what
I want nothing to do with people like that
my loyalty is to Jesus Christ
my loyalty is to the Bible
and you know if you want to disrespect my God
and disrespect my Savior and my presence
then you know we ain't hanging out
I don't want nothing to do with you
and if you want to bring these
revilers and despisers of them that are good
around when I'm around then I'm not going to be around
because
our loyalty is to Jesus Christ
this is what's called virtue okay
virtue is referring to the fact
that you are seeking to have
moral excellence in your life
and obviously you can only go so far
without knowledge though right
but you know what let's just be honest
all of us when we first got saved
we knew there was something we had to get rid of
right
it's like there's this innate
belief within us it's just like alright
I got to get rid of this person
alright I got to stop doing this
it's like innately we just know
and maybe you're not around bad people
maybe you don't have bad friendships
or whatever but maybe innately you know
I need to get my butt in church
or I need to start reading the Bible
or I need to start
you know doing X, Y, and Z whatever
you know but there's something that everyone innately
knows alright I need to add this to my life
or subtract it from my life
right
and so that's what it means to add to your faith
virtue it's like you're taking your
first steps into living
a righteous life
and you think to yourself well I'm not a newborn I already did that
pastor
I'm morally excellent
I'm already righteous
you know the Bible says
keep adding though
because we never arrive this side of eternity
and never get to a point where you think
to yourself well I've been saved for so many years
and I pretty much
I have it down pat like you know
I'm built like that
you know what I mean I've already built
myself like that you know reference
today this morning's sermon for that
you little narcissist okay
the Bible says
in James 4-7
submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil
and he will flee from you
draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you
cleanse your hands
you sinners and purify your
hearts you double minded so notice
cleansing your hands is first
purifying your hearts is second
you would think well you got to get your hearts right before the Lord
well sometimes you got to clean your hands first
and then the purifying of the hearts comes after
cleaning your hands
and doing the outward cleaning first
will often clean that which is on the inside
second okay
and so add to your faith virtue
the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7
you don't have to turn there verse 11
go with me if you would to Colossians
chapter number 2
Colossians chapter 2
and then we're going to go to Ephesians 4
2 Corinthians 7
11 says for behold the self same thing
that ye sorrowed after a godly sort
what carefulness it wrought in you
ye what clearing of yourselves
ye what indignation
ye what fear what beheman desire
ye what zeal
ye what revenge and all
these things you have approved yourselves
to be clear in this
matter and look
people who first get saved or they start getting
plugged into the Christian life you know
they're not always going to struggle with the same things
you might get involved in the
Christian life and you're married already you have kids
well the message to you is hey
start loving your wife as Christ also loved the church
start taking your wife on
dates again
like you used to
you know start reverencing and respecting
and obeying your husband and submitting to
your husband these are things that
would be considered virtuous things to do
in the Christian life okay
so I don't want to belabor
that point so add to your faith virtue
and then it goes on to say add to virtue
knowledge okay
now here's the thing folks is
that people can
often err or they can go to
two extremes
one extreme is just like
it's all about virtue
it's all about moral excellence
it's all about living righteously
and they don't really care what the Bible says
but you know what the Bible tells
us is that we need to care about what the
Bible says like we need to
add to our faith we need to add to virtue
knowledge in other words
as we're living righteously
crack open the Bible and actually
read it and learn it
don't get caught up in this
crowd that says
oh read the Bible for
inspiration not information
wrong
you read the Bible for both
you get inspiration
because it quickens you
but you also get information because
God wants you to learn the Bible
okay don't
think oh you know
yeah but you know the book of Leviticus is just
not that interesting it's pretty interesting
actually especially
you're living in 2023
you're gonna be like oh
okay
I know who that's talking about
oh
privy members cut off can't enter into the
into the house of God if they have their privy
members cut off oh that's like today
no wonder pastor doesn't allow
trannies into the church
oh and
you start seeing all these things it's just like now you're learning God's word
you see Christians
if they're not careful they're like whoa that's you're
just going down deep you're just learning
all this information and that's
not useful wrong wrong
because folks the Bible
doesn't say learn this because
it's useful sometimes God just wants you to learn the
Bible why because he wrote it
that's why
God wrote the Bible
and it's kind of disrespectful
to say
well there's certain parts of the Bible that
just are not really that important
wrong the entire Bible's
important and it's just
like well yeah but you know
we should really focus on
the gospel
we should really focus on the family
we should really focus on these
particular areas wrong
we gotta focus on everything because if
God only wanted us to focus on those things only
those things would be talked about in the Bible
and I know there's parts
of the Bible that maybe are not very interesting
but you know what sorry
you and I did not write the Bible
and God put it there for a reason therefore he wants
us to learn it no I'm not saying you gotta
learn it by next week you have a
lifetime to learn it but the Bible says
add to virtue knowledge
so we never want to be just these
Christians who are just like well
you know brother we just don't want to be
pharisaical you know
these progressive Christians out there
where you read one Bible verse and they're just like well
kind of extreme you know
you start quoting the Bible it's like whoa
buddy easy there little Pharisee
you know when really they're the
Pharisees because the Pharisees didn't like the
Bible they didn't obey the Bible they didn't even know
what the word of God really said
and so we need knowledge in our life
look at Colossians 2 verse 1 it says for I would
that ye knew what great conflict I had
for you and for them at Laodicea
and for as many as have not seen my face
my face in the flesh that their hearts
might be comforted being knit together in love
and into all riches of the full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ and whom are hid
all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge
now let me explain something okay
because if Christians
aren't careful they
accredit
their relationship
with God to emotion
to like
this anecdotal
experience that they have right
where it's just like I feel the presence of
God I know Jesus is real
because I feel his presence
or something you know
whereas God doesn't want us to
base what we believe
off of our emotions
and feelings because our emotions and feelings
are like this especially
if you're a girl if you're a woman
you know it's just like
it's like a six flags
roller coaster okay
men you know we can
but we pretty much
stay like right here you know what I mean
it's just like a really boring roller coaster right
a woman is just like it's like Goliath
it's like Superman
so you can go all over the place
I don't care if you give me those looks either
it's true I'm not
backing down on that okay
I say it without apology
so
what's important folks is that we learn
the Bible so we know who Jesus
really is according to the Bible
we don't learn who
Jesus is based upon our
anecdotal experiences
we learn about Jesus Christ based upon
what God says he is
you understand because when you start
basing who Jesus Christ is
off of your experience off of your
emotions off of your dreams
or something you know
you're going to come up with a lot of heresy
and you're making yourself the final authority
to interpret who Jesus
Christ really is so God wants
us to add to our virtue
knowledge because of the fact that he wants us
to have some substance to our Christian life
he wants us to base what we
believe about Jesus Christ
about God based upon the Bible
and I'm not saying you can't be emotional because
God wants us to be emotional regarding him right
the Bible says to love the Lord your God
with all your heart soul
mind and strength it should be some emotion when
you love the Lord but it should never
supersede the knowledge
of the word of God okay
it should never surpass the
boundaries of God's word which is why
the Bible says to cast down imaginations
and every high thing that
exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and bring into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ
we all have thoughts and
ideas that are contrary to God's word
which is important that we have to fill our minds
with the Bible with the knowledge of the Bible
to kind of center us give us
a little buoyancy right to say you know
what this isn't a proper thought this is
what the Bible says and I'm gonna go with the word of God on this
but it only happens if you have knowledge
don't be don't be spiritually stupid
don't be a simpleton
spiritually speaking God wants us to have
the knowledge of him know who he is
because if not then you're gonna start thinking like
Jesus had long hair and then he wore a dress
and he was white and all this stuff and
you know or how about today it's just like
no Jesus is black or something
this is like a huge thing right
now where people are like
David's black King David is black
even though the Bible says
he was ruddy
and someone made a post
and they put
Bathsheba and David
that they're black
and I put
this is inaccurate and it's stupid
he was not black
I was like the Bible says he was ruddy which means like red
right like a reddish color
and they're like he wasn't white
who said anything about white
I said ruddy
and they're like
man you're so dumb he was never white
I'm just like
I never said white
I said he was ruddy
and if you want me to get specific he's like middle eastern
color
you know but this is the whole
woke movement and
trying to black wash everything
or even Cleopatra is black
now apparently
you know what I'm talking about you know Cleopatra was Greek
do you guys know
history Cleopatra
was not a black woman she was
Greek oh you're being racist
why cause they say the word black
cause they say someone's not black
folks I mean the black people
in our church agree with me I mean they better agree with me
if they don't then they're wrong
they're just like no I thought
you know
but you know these people are
just like Aaron
and his sister
who were mad at Moses for marrying an
Ethiopian woman and you know what she was black
and so what happens
when you don't actually know what the
bible says you come up with all kinds of weird
stupid ideas
so we need to make sure
that after we have moral excellence
after we clean up our lives
you know you go to your bible
and you're like
alright now I gotta start reading this thing
oh man I didn't know that
make sure you get your doctrine from the bible
and not from the chosen
okay
you know make sure you're getting
your knowledge
from the word of God and not from
some stupid Mormon series
known as the chosen
that tries to fill in the blanks for you
with heresy
obviously
and look you're like you're exaggerating
I know people personally
that watch the chosen
or gain their doctrine from the chosen
it's embarrassing my friends
okay
it's stupid it's
nonsensical but it exists today
and in fact there was a pastor
who would get on his wife
because his wife would espouse
doctrines while she was online
that were from Christian novels
and he would tell her like hey you know
you can't read those anymore because
it's affecting your doctrine
you're starting to say stuff that's not doctrinal
okay
and so you need to stick to the bible
and they'd be like well you know
the bible doesn't really say this but you know
it would make sense if that's what happened or whatever
it's like it's from these Christian novelists who are not even saved
it's basically
the chosen in book form
or something
and here's what they excuse
they say well we're just really trying to fill in the blanks
of some of the things that took place
Judas didn't have a sister
okay
you're going a little overboard on that one
Judas did not start off
in a ministry with good intentions
you're going a little too far on that one
okay
you know I don't know what multiverse you're in
it's like
it's like this is Judas from the multiverse
you know Judas no way home
or something you know what I mean
he treats himself from like a different world or something like that
where he actually had
good intentions
that's basically what it is
and if you're getting mad at this it's only because you watch the chosen
and you don't read the bible
okay
Gio
Gio are you watching the chosen?
you got to be ashamed of yourself
what a weenie no I'm just kidding
knowledge my friends
and look when you have biblical knowledge
there's a lot of things that frustrate you
on this world
the things that so called Christians put forth
you're like inaccurate not right
why are you saying this this is blasphemous
this is wicked
but this is what happens and look
good well meaning people
do that though
they're saved
and you know what I've known people
that have moral excellence
that are righteous people
but their knowledge
is like down the drain
and they're allowing the things
they're allowing the world to narrate
the bible for them
it's not right my friends we need to add
to our virtue knowledge
now we don't need to be perfect in knowledge
we have a lifetime to learn the bible
but we need to make sure we
esteem the knowledge of god
and not undermine it and think well
you know those are for like the theologians
or something or that's for the
people who they just they only love doctrine
or something as if doctrine is like a bad thing
and so what do I have in return
look at Ephesians 4 verse 11
it says and he gave some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints
for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ
till we all come in unity of the faith
and of the knowledge
of the son of god
unto a perfect man
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
so according to the bible you cannot truly be
complete in Christ
perfect as the bible says it
you cannot have the knowledge of Jesus Christ
and you cannot have the knowledge of Jesus Christ
without the bible
you know search the scriptures for in them
you think you have eternal life and they are
which testify of me that's what Jesus Christ said
so don't separate that
in order for you to have perfection
to have maturity you need the knowledge
of the son of god which in turn comes
from the word of god itself
the bible says you don't have to turn there
in Romans 10 verse 2
for I bear them record that they have a zeal of god
but not according to knowledge
and we definitely don't want to be Christians
who are zealous for the things of god
but it's not based upon
biblical doctrine, biblical principles
we need to know what the bible says about certain things
verse 14 says that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of men in cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive
and look if you're tired of me talking about the chosen
I'm going to talk about it again when season 4 comes out
because they got to
I mean they're going to go through the whole gospel
so I'm going to tear that thing apart
because they're teaching false doctrine on that
it's made by Catholics, funded by Mormons
and listened to by really dumb Christians
pretty sad
alright
go back to 2 Peter chapter 1
let me read to you from 2 Corinthians 11
back on that point about knowledge
it says here
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus
whom we have not preached
or if ye receive another spirit which ye have not received
or another gospel which ye have not accepted
ye might well bear with him
so he's like
you lack so much knowledge
that if someone came with a different Jesus Christ
a different gospel, a different spirit
you might be like ok cool
it's a cool show
alright let's move on here
so he says add to your faith virtue
moral excellence, right
to virtue knowledge
and then he says to knowledge temperance
now what is temperance?
well I would define temperance as this
the ability to rule over your own spirit
I think that's a pretty good definition
it's the ability
to rule over
your own spirit
go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9
and then we're going to go to the book of Proverbs chapter 16
the ability to rule over your own spirit
so God says
get some more excellence about yourself
once you get that more excellence
start working on gaining knowledge
how do you gain knowledge?
by reading the Bible
after you gain that knowledge
and you're learning the Bible
you're reading the Bible
now learn how to rule over your own spirit
don't allow your body to rule over you
don't allow your emotions to rule over you
you need to be the
the Capitan of your
of your body
to tell your body what to do
don't allow yourself to flare up
control your emotions
make sure that you are a tempered person
is what the Bible is saying
now
let's read a couple verses here
look at 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24
it says, knowing not that they which run and erase run all
but one receiveth the prize
so run that ye may obtain
and every man that striveth for the mastery
in all things
now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown
but we an incorruptible
I therefore so run not as uncertainly
so fight I not as one of the beat of the air
but I keep under my body
and bring it into subjection
lest by any means when I have preached to others
I myself should be a cast the way the Bible says
so you kind of see how important
this matter of temperance is
ruling over your own spirit
in order for us to gain
the eternal prize
we have to make ourselves do certain things
we have to make sure that we are disciplined
in the Christian life
but also that we are able to rule over our own spirit
now what do I mean by ruling over your own spirit
go to Proverbs chapter 16
it means you essentially determine
whether you are walking in the spirit
or you are walking in the flesh
you see
you can't use this excuse
of like, oh man
sin made me do it or something
my sinful flesh
you live in your sinful flesh though
you can't
I mean I know Paul said for me
that is in my flesh there is no good thing
but he is still taking full responsibility for his sin
you understand what I am saying
you know it's not like sin in us
just possesses us and we are just like, oh no
you know
and then you know, hey look let me just say this
I am going to confess my sins before you right now
and I have already confessed it
to many of you already
and the reason I am confessing it now
is because I am realizing that all of us are involved in sin
together, we are in this together
I have been eating McDonalds
judge not, be not judged
for what judgment you judge
you shall be judged
what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again
I used to hate McDonalds
and then reason
look, I know I just said you can't blame
I am going to blame my wife though
because she just had the baby
and when women have babies like their hormones are
and somehow that affects me, the pheromones come into my nose
you will get it
later on, you understand what I am talking about
and one day I was just like
man a double cheeseburger sounds really good
and I was like you know what
I am going to eat a double cheeseburger
and I know it's not going to taste good
and I am just going to put it away from me
so I did not have temperance
and I went and got it
and the freaking thing tasted really good
I was like dang it
but then I thought to myself
well I ate it and then tomorrow I lift
and I know it's going to affect me negatively in my lift
so that's going to motivate me to like
not eat it thereafter
but unfortunately it helped my lift
I felt great
I was like man what's going on
so I started experimenting
so then I ate it again
I was like well it's not going to
help my bench for sure
but then man I was like
I mean it's been going really well
so then I am just like
well I am going to keep this to myself
I will probably tell a couple of people
I told Marcos, I told Ulysses
because they are wicked sinners too
they eat McDonalds as well
but then I started finding out there are a lot of people
in our church that eat McDonalds
like a lot
and then I started opening up because we had
a little intervention
and then people were like oh yeah this is really good
and this is really good
so then it made it really hard to like
not eat it because then everyone else is sinning
you know what I mean
so I followed a multitude
to do evil
but you know what I can't blame
anybody but myself
and so
the reason I even brought that up
the reason I brought that up
because I am trying to illustrate something here
and by the way McDonalds after church
I am just kidding
the reason I brought that up, don't tell Pastor Anderson
although he is probably not going to watch this, don't tell
because then he is going to be like
you know
he is not going to let me hear the end of it
after
but the reason I bring that up is because
they didn't possess me
my wife's hormones didn't possess me
I am just like oh no what am I doing
I just like started going to town
I did it to myself
you know sin that dwells
in me took control
of my members but I allowed myself to do it
what I am saying here
is that obviously in the Christian life
look let's just talk about
how about when emotions flare
how about let's talk about
anger
how about anger
and
you know depression
or anxiety
or things that are just how about fear
these are things that can kind of
come out during certain circumstances
in your life and you know some people are controlled
by those things
some people if they get angry they can't help but just like
blow up on someone
that's someone who has no control
rule over their own spirit
yeah but he made me mad I mean a lot of people
make me mad I don't go around
knocking everyone out that makes me mad
you know it's called
ruling over your own
spirit just because you're upset
just because you're anxious just because
you feel a sense of fear
doesn't mean that you need to be controlled
by those things you need to learn some temperance
about yourself okay
to be temperate and you know for the men
let's just talk to the men for a little bit
that's important when it comes to anger
because men have a tendency to kind of
just blow up when they're angry
I know women do too sometimes but men probably more so
than women where
you know they just kind of
snap they snap
at their wives they snap at their children
they snap at a brother and sister in Christ
they just can't contain
their emotions that
is immaturity my friends
we need to learn some temperance okay
but let's just
put anger aside how about just
blurting out just stupid things out of your mouth
you need some temperance
amen
you know just blurting out the most
nonsensical thing and
saying the most dumbest thing just offending people left
and right you know you need some temperance about
yourself you need to control your mouth
okay it's important for you
to practice
temperance to add to your
to knowledge temperance so that you're not
going around discrediting yourself as a
Christian because of the words that come out of
your mouth you understand
like yeah but people need my knowledge though
you know because
I added to my faith virtue to my
virtue knowledge so
now I want to tell everyone the knowledge that
I have doesn't work that way my friends
okay we need to make
sure look at Proverbs 16
that we control ourselves back to the subject of anger
it says in verse 32 he that is slow
to anger is better than
the mighty now it doesn't say he that is
never angry right
it doesn't say he that is never angry because
anger is a good thing sometimes
and I would have a problem with a man
who never gets angry over anything
because when sin
arises iniquity abounds
and they're not angry about those things
something's wrong with that dude
he needs some testosterone
you know his estrogen levels are a little too high then
if he's not getting angry about the
abominations of this world
you know there's a problem if men aren't getting
angry throughout the month of June
there's a problem when Christians aren't getting angry over those things
and actually speaking out against it
God wants us to be angry about those things
now the Bible says be angry and sin not though
so that anger
is not like well I'm going to actually go be violent or something
no that's wrong that's ungodly
that's not what the Lord wants
for us it's just like well you know
and by the way stop coming up with these stupid
hypothetical scenarios
where it's just like what if this
sodomite comes and does this to me
do I have every right to just chop off their heads
or something it's not going to happen so
stop bringing up that stupid scenario
stop trying to fantasize
about violence
because that's exactly what it is
you know people always come up with these really dumb
scenarios that will never happen
and it's almost as if like
you believe in the power of positive
negative thinking or it's just like I just hope it comes to pass
you just want it to be
a self-fulfilling prophecy or something like that
okay we should not love
violence my friends
and don't get your hatred for the reprobates
mixed up with your responsibility
to like carry out violence
against anybody and by the way none of our
church members have ever been guilty of that
I'm just saying because I know there's
a tendency and people who are a little
overly due to their faith virtue but they forgot the knowledge
part
and the temperance part
to start thinking whoa what if this happens
do I have every right to just
merc them all or something like that it's just like
no you don't that's wicked
that's a wicked thing to do that's a
wicked thing to think
the thought of foolishness is sin
okay
and don't smile about that it's not funny
it's not funny to take someone else's life
especially as a Christian that's
forbidden for us as Christians to do my friends
so wipe that stupid look off your face
and recognize folks
we're not to be violent and you know what
we never want to be characterized as a church
that you know oh man
I hope they come here and I
hope because I'm going to do this and that
wrong attitude to have
learn some temperance
temperance is
important my friends look it says here slow to anger
so what does
slow to anger mean it means it takes a
lot for you to get really upset
okay doesn't mean you never get upset
it just means it takes a lot for you
to actually reach that point
and God says if you're slow to
anger you're better than some
of the mightiest people in this world
he says and he that ruleth the spirit
than he that taketh a city
if you're able to rule your own spirit
and have temperance
in your life you're better than an entire
army who can invade a city
according to God's word I mean that's pretty amazing
right
and so temperance is so important the Bible says
he that hath no rule over his own
spirit is like a city that is
broken down and without walls
so why does the Bible describe it like that
he says he that hath no
rule over his own spirit is like a city that is
broken down and without walls
what does that mean well you think of a city
that has walls it has walls
to protect them right
but if those walls are broken down who can enter
in just anything any enemy
so if a person has no rule over their own
spirit they have a breach in their
spirit that means they can get all kinds of
satanic attacks on their life
you see why it's important to have temperance
in your life to have self control
to have temperance to
keep your anger at bay
to not just react
by the way respond don't react
okay
someone disrespects you or someone
slaps you across the face
someone does something to you
the immediate reaction should not be
clap clap clap clap clap you know
just stab and clap
or whatever you know the reaction should be
I don't want violence
and I'm not saying to be a pacifist because look
folks and look
let me clarify something okay
I'm not saying if someone attacks your family
you don't do anything about it
if someone obviously attacks
my wife or my kids it's on
it's on
okay oh what about the temperance
part well the temperance part tells me to do something
about it
you say why is that because God holds me responsible
for my family so I'm gonna
protect my wife I'm gonna protect my children
but when it comes to the violence
for me on the other hand
the Bible says that I should yield
which also requires temperance
requires for me to have self control
to not give into that
and to be slow to anger
and again I'll be honest with you
these are things that I've had to learn a lot
because there's been times in my personal life
where I've allowed my temper to flare
upon an individual
and it's just human nature
but this is why we have to add
these things to our
particular faith okay
are we still good or what
no one's offended right
I
guess they are
alright
go to Hebrews if you would
Hebrew chapter 10
so what are we talking about here we're talking about adding to our faith
virtue
knowledge, knowledge temperance
and then he says to temperance patience
and I'm not gonna belabor this point
because I've talked about this a couple weeks ago
you know it's important for us to have
patience which means endurance
it's important to have endurance in the Christian life
so what good is it if you have
virtue and you have knowledge
and you have temperance but you
just fizzle out
you just quit
you just don't hack it right
what good is it to just clean up your life
and have all this knowledge for like
three months and then you're out of here
right what good is it
to have all this knowledge and all this temperance
but then you're out of church in six months
you know you gotta learn you gotta learn some endurance
you gotta learn some patience
I was talking to brother Matt Lieb
earlier and Matt Lieb he's a
personal trainer
he trains a lot of people
and he was saying it's hard
for me to get people
to really understand that they're gonna see
results in the long term
and he's like
people just want immediate results
he was kinda
he's basically saying that you know a lot of people
struggle you know they want to do the
you know you know the
struggle with that
one thing that you know
I'm not saying that Gio struggles with it
but I'm just saying he knows what I'm talking about
I'm joking he doesn't mess with that I'm just saying
you know that people have that temptation
to want to go that
route because they want immediate results
whereas the results that they
really want if they want it naturally
takes years and years
to reach that type of physique
okay it takes a lot of
discipline a lot of training a lot of
consistency good dieting
training it just takes
a lot of character to get to that point
and you know it sounds like
what he's basically saying is like people just lack
endurance because they just give up
too easily you understand
and so it's but it's the same thing in the Christian
life right because
there's certain things that the Christian life promises
and there's certain things that we want to see but
we need patience we need endurance
hey young man you want to get married
have some patience
have some endurance
young lady you want to get married
you want to find that knight in shining armor
well he's not here so you know
I'm just kidding
your expectations are way too high no I'm just kidding
I'm just kidding
you know it takes some patience
it takes some endurance
it takes a lot of endurance
it takes a lot of patience you know
you want to raise godly children it takes endurance
it takes patience hey if you want to have a godly marriage
a successful marriage it takes endurance
it takes patience
it takes hardships
so a lot of the things in the Christian life we don't
we can't it's not a microwave system
it's not a drive through system
you can't just phone it in
it's not what's that called
mobile order
you know you can't mobile order
a Christian life
it comes when it comes
typically it's long term
so it's important that you learn this virtue right here
you're like I got
I got virtue I'm cleaning up my life
I'm learning the Bible
I'm learning some temperance what's next
well now you got to learn some endurance
and the way you learn endurance is by going through difficult times
the way your marriage learns
endurance is by going through a really difficult time in marriage
the way you learn
endurance individually is by just
experiencing very hard
difficult tumultuous
times in your life
you say well how does that help me
you just don't quit
on the Lord and on church
excuse me on the things of God while you're going through it
you understand
you have to learn endurance you have to learn patience
if you're going to succeed
I had to turn to Hebrews
but
let's go to 1 Timothy chapter 4
at least you know where Hebrews is at amen
hey at least I know you can find Hebrews
some of you are like man I'm glad because I couldn't find it
alright and then he says
add to patience godliness
ok
now how would we define godliness
you know aren't we talking about godliness
isn't this all essentially encapsulating
what godliness is
well godliness can be defined as the pursuit
of simply godly living right
or to live a life characterized
by biblical standards
a life that is built on
the word of God it's a life that is
built on the Bible
and godliness in its final form
can be really explained as being
a life that is centered around
Jesus Christ and the Bible
and you think to yourself well
yeah that sounds about right you know what I mean
but I don't think people understand how important
this is because what that means is like
when you go home you're a Christian still
you know when you're at home
with your wife and kids
the Bible is still the center of your attention
when you're at work
guess what you're still a Christian
when you're by yourself
you're still living a godly life
like oh whoa whoa whoa
hey you know
I'm willing to do all that while I'm here
you know what I mean
wear the suits and sing the praises
and amen and all that
what I do out there is what I do out there
okay then you just don't have godliness
because godliness is essentially when you live out
the Christian life in all
different aspects of your life
not just here at church
it's basically you don't compartmentalize the Lord
you're being a good Christian
with your parents you know you go back to
your unsafe parents
it could be a challenge
to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
when your parents don't have
those standards they don't believe those things
and maybe they're a little loose with you
maybe they kind of let you do whatever it is that you want
you know you need some godliness in your life
like Joseph who was
willing to serve the Lord even when he was
in a foreign land away from his parents
that's what godliness is
it's essentially having a proper fear of God
and living out
the principles of the word of God
no matter what circumstance you're in
or what geographical location
you find yourself in as well
and so it's important for us
to learn godliness
because of the fact that it really makes
Christianity realistic to us
we realize you know what
I'm not just a Christian when I'm here at church
I need to be a good Christian
when I'm at home too
I need to make sure that I'm a good Christian
to my wife, to my husband
to my children
I need to be a good Christian at work
I need to be a good testimony
and when I'm out in public no matter where I'm at
I'm a Christian no matter what
godliness is basically inserting biblical principles
in all areas of your life
not compartmentalizing the Lord
to only one specific aspect
does everyone understand that?
1 Timothy 4 verse 7 says
but refuse profane and old wise fables
and exercise thyself
rather unto godliness
for bodily exercise profiteth little
but godliness is profitable unto all things
having the promise of the life which now is
and of that which is to come
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all
go to 2 Timothy chapter 2
2 Timothy chapter 2 if you would
we're almost done
2 Timothy chapter 2
says in verse 22
flee also youthful lusts
but follow
righteousness, faith
charity, peace
with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart
that's a good definition of godliness
is that what you pursue?
it's following after righteousness and the things
of righteousness, the things of the kingdom of God
it's when you essentially focus on that
which is Christ like and eternal
in all aspects
and you're like man that's kind of hard
well not really because as the Bible puts it
the Bible has everything that pertains to life and godliness
so you essentially Christianize
whatever
facet of your life there is
you know like when you're at work
you don't have to sing praises unto the Lord
when you're at work, just do what the Bible says
you have to do as a Christian worker
you understand?
be honest, be on time, be a hard worker
be loyal to your boss
exercise Christian principles
and that's fear of your life
when you're around your family
guess what? It doesn't mean
you're preaching
you're not preaching to your mom
you're not preaching to your dad
what are you supposed to do?
you live out your god given role
in your home to your parents
that's called godliness
and I can give a bunch of other examples
but you guys kind of get the point
right?
last one here
godliness, brotherly kindness
so after you've added all these things
he says now add some brotherly kindness
to your life
now what does that mean?
you need to start cultivating a love for the brethren
and
what this is basically
implying here is that
you got to kind of change your
appetite in your associations
right?
because you know when you first get saved
or I mean maybe you've already been saved
for quite some time but you haven't lived out these things
maybe you have an appetite
for a certain group of people
a certain group of people you're around and god says
no you need to have some brotherly kindness
you need to be around the brethren
and have Christian friends and
associations because
obviously those are just good influences on your life
okay? it says in
1 Thessalonians 4 9 but it's touching brotherly love
you need not that I write unto you
for you yourselves are taught of god to
love one another
and then lastly here
he says to brotherly kindness
charity and why is
charity the last thing that he says you need
to add to your faith?
well because charity, what's another word for
charity? love
and the Bible says in Colossians 3 10
that love is the what? the bond
of perfectness
so when you learn charity
and that unconditional love
all of it just kind of comes together
because when you love the Lord
and you love others
you fulfill all the law and the prophets
basically and so this
obviously needs to be the driving force
of everything that we do right?
you develop a love for the Lord
it's kind of weird you know why would love be
last? I thought that's the first thing
you have to learn
well some people need these previous steps in order
to get them to that point though
and let me say this
this isn't a 7 step program
where it's like alright virtue
got it I'm already righteous
knowledge
in the bag
temperance, check
these are things you have to continuously
learn
and look even me going through some of these
I need to work on this specific one here
like I'm just like what do you mean yeah
what's that supposed to mean?
alright brotherly
kindness I'll be kind
I'll exercise some temperance right now
I'm just kidding
as I'm going through this I'm just like you know what
I need to kind of revive this
particular aspect of my Christian life
because I feel like I maybe failed in this area
I need to work on this a little more
and so it's just a balancing act
to a certain extent where as you go through this list
you make sure you're kind of fulfilling them
and look as long as you're focusing
on these things the Bible says you'll never be
unfruitful or barren
in your knowledge of Jesus Christ
don't be a sterile Christian
when it comes to knowledge
don't be an unfruitful, barren Christian
spiritually speaking by
making sure that you implement
all these things
knowledge is good but you got to make sure
you have all the six other virtues as well
Amen? Alright let's pray
Father we thank you so much for your word
and thank you so much for being gracious
to us and merciful when we fall short
Lord and help us not to be
barren nor unfruitful Lord
we don't want to be blind and not be able to see a far off
Lord I pray that you'd help us
to get back on track when we
fall off Lord and
become carnal
and fleshly minded
I pray that you'd help us to get back on track
and sometimes we need sermons like this
even as I preach it I know that I need a
sermon like this to remind me
of the areas that I need to work on
and thank you so much
for the fact that the mercies of God are new every day
that you show us kindness
and grace Lord and I pray
the Lord that you bless us as we go on our way
bless the week to follow in Jesus name
Amen
Turn with me to Psalm
number 227
saved by the blood
Psalm number 227
Psalm
number 227 saved by the blood
on the first
saved by the blood of the crucified
one now
ransomed from sin and a new
word begun sing praise
to the father and praise
to the son saved by
the blood of the crucified
one glory I'm
saved glory I'm
saved my sins are all
part and my guilt is all gone
glory I'm saved
saved by the blood of the
crucified one
saved by the blood of
the crucified one
the angels rejoicing
because it is done
a child of the father
joining with the son
saved by the blood of
the crucified one
glory I'm saved
my sins are all part and my
guilt is all gone
glory I'm saved
I'm saved
by the blood of the
crucified one on the third
saved by the blood of the
crucified one
the father he spake and his
will it was done
great prize to my part in his
own precious son
saved by the blood of the
crucified one
glory I'm saved
my sins are all part and my
guilt is all gone
glory I'm saved
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified
one the last saved
by the blood of the
crucified one all hail
to the father all hail
to the son all hail
to the spirit the great
one saved by the blood
of the crucified
one glory I'm
saved glory I'm
saved my sins are all
part and my guilt is all
gone glory I'm
saved glory I'm
saved
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified
one