Add To Your Faith

/ ljeanig

Sermon Text:

2 Peter 1:3-9, CEB: ‘By his divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own honor and glory. Through his honor and glory he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, that you may share the divine nature and escape from the world’s immorality that sinful craving produces. This is why you must make every effort to add moral excellence to your faith; and to moral excellence, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, endurance; and to endurance, godliness; and to godliness, affection for others; and to affection for others, love. If all these are yours and they are growing in you, they’ll keep you from becoming inactive and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever lacks these things is shortsighted and blind, forgetting that they were cleansed from their past sins. ‘

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  • Who is the text from/to?  Peter, who I like to call the Patron Saint of Putting His Foot in His Mouth
  • What’s the Point? Add to Your Faith:
    • Moral excellence – James 2 
    • Knowledge – It is dangerous[a] to have zeal[b] without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily makes poor choices. Prov. 19:2 
    • Self-control – Other translations use temperance.  Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5) Acknowledge desires; don’t obey them.  More later. 
    • Endurance – Other translations use patience; in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.  Tenacity.  Don’t Give Up! James 1 – let patience have her perfect work.  (If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to everyone liberally and doesn’t lecture about it. 
    • Godliness – Godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6  
    • Affection for others – Notice that affection for others is different from love. 
    • Love – Love is the foundation upon which everything is built. Christ said: Love God, Love your Neighbor
  • What are we to do about it?  
    • There is no delete button in the brain. 
    • When you make empty space, nature rushes in.  When you add more to the plate, it pushes other things off. 
      • Nature abhors a vacuum. 
      • Two things cannot occupy the same space. 
    • Cold is the sensation of heat leaving you. Evil is the sensation of a lack of good.
    • Believe you are capable, because the divine nature given you in Christ Jesus makes you capable. 
    • When you lack these things, you tend to forget that you have been forgiven.  We are always moving towards or away from our values. 
    • ACT model – The Happiness Trap – Russ Harris – Acknowledge your feeling, but you don’t have to obey it. 

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