FURTHERING Your FAITH-III—2Peter 1:5-11[Part 3--:6b-7(:5-7)]
Attention:
A popular adage goes something like this, “If you do what you love to do, then you’ll never have to ‘work’ a day in your life.”
?What is it that you really love to do? ?Is there some way to make a ‘Christ-honoring’ career out of that?
?Is what you really love to do, helpful to others?.....NOT self-serving, but self-giving?...NOT giving others what they WANT, But instead offering them what is helpful to them?
?What must be ‘added’ or furnished(ability, experience) in order for you to have that kind of career?....The kind of career where Christ can be honored in what you do?
?What must be ‘added’ or furnished to your life, in order for you to have a truly enjoyable & also useful career?(Specific training--Further schooling; ‘On-the-job-training’; Preparatory work doing something that you don’t plan on continuing; Learning the value of a dollar; Learning the value of humility; Learning the value of responsible leadership.)
A ‘basic’ career is a platform, to which necessities are added, so that the intended use might be well met.
Your Christian saving faith, is a ‘basic’ platform, to which Christ-honoring necessities must be added, so that God’s people might be properly equipped to produce a predictable & beneficial Christ-honoring outcome.
Need:
?Are you satisfied with your walk with Jesus?
?Are you pleased with your working relationship with the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit?
Some Christians may....
•Struggle with their calling & their giftedness.
•Struggle to ‘fit in’ with the church.
•Struggle with applying their calling & giftedness outside of a church setting....
•Struggle to bring their trust in Christ into their family situations.
•Struggle to bring their trust in Christ into their employment circ*mstances.
And those very ‘struggles’ are directly related to Furthering Your Faith!
The apostle Peter encouraged the Churches to bolster/strengthen/further support their initial faith in Christ, in order to provide an ‘abundant’ entrance to God’s kingdom.
God’s people are obligated to further their faith.
In our text, Peter answers the question:
?What does ‘Furthering Your Faith’ involve or entail?...
We are continuing to examine:
4 factors for Furthering Your Faith.
In the last few weeks, we began looking at the fact that,
Furthering Your Faith involves...
1. DUE DILIGENCE DONE(:5-7)[Parts 1-2--:5a-6a]
And Today, we’ll continue to flesh out the fact that:
(CONT...)1—Furthering Your Faith involves...
DUE DILIGENCE DONE(:5-7)[Part 3--:6b-7]
*INTRODUCTION:*
Before we address the remainder of the “additions to your faith” in :5-7, please recall the following:
1)“Faith” that saves your soul from hell, is just the ‘beginning point’ of a much more intentional & complex work of God in your life.
2)So each of these “additions” brings a ‘needed’/necessary element to your Christian “faith.”
3)Each of these “additions”, furnish you the believer, with an intensification of Christ-honoring spiritual strengths, that will bring boldness & fulfillment to your life.
4)Each element is “added” to the other, so that the Christian’s “faith” will become consistent, & overwhelmingly full & whole.
5)All these elements(“additions”) together, are characteristic of STRONG Christian “faith.”
6)Your Christian “faith” CAN become a source of encouragement for you, as well as for those who encounter your fullness of “faith”!
So far we have found that, you & I as God’s people, must put forth the effort—Do our DUE DILIGENCE(:5-7)— so as NOT to leave our ‘saving faith’ stagnant & anemic!
•Saving faith in Jesus Christ was never intended to be ‘fire-insurance’ faith!...so that you’ll ‘barely squeak by’ into the Kingdom of God, ‘by-the-skin-of-your-teeth’, or by ‘the-hair-of-your-‘chinny-chin-chin’!(cf.-1Cor. 3:11-17)
•Rather, all Christians are expected to, & must, “add to” (:5) or ‘furnish’ other elements to their “faith” in order for it to be a truly viable & life-changing Christian “faith.”
By examining our current text in verses :5-7, we’ve found that we must be individually “diligent”, to ENSURE that our personal “faith” exemplifies Christ-honoring “virtue” or moral uprightness. And to that “to virtue”, is to be “added” or furnished, “knowledge”, & “to knowledge” is to be furnished, “self-control.”
?Does your Christian “faith” exemplify Christ-honoring ‘moral uprightness/excellence’(“virtue”)?
?Does your Christian “faith” exemplify Christ-honoring “knowledge”?
?Does your Christian “faith” exemplify Christ-honoring “self control”?.....
...!It SHOULD & it CAN!
(CONT...)1—Furthering Your Faith involves...
DUE DILIGENCE DONE(:5-7)[Part 3--:6b-7]
:6b—“...to self-control perseverance,...”
Peter shows us that there is yet another characteristic that must comprise your “faith”, in order to make it Christ-honoring...
For a “faith” that’s given to Christ-honoring ‘moral excellence’(“virtue”), “knowledge”, & “self-control”, God’s intent is still further normalized, fleshed-out, manifested, bolstered, tempered, & strengthened thru & in, “perseverance.”
*“Perseverance”(or ‘endurance’) is maintaining one’s course in the Lord thru all manner of freedoms & trials...‘Thru-thick-&-thin’ as we might say. It has everything to do with continuance.
Js. 1:2-4—“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience[upomonh]. But let patience[upomonh] have its perfect work, that you may be perfect & complete, lacking nothing.”
