Raising a people of purpose

NECESSARY INGREDIENTS

The Word: 2 Peter 1: 5 – 8(KJV)

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledgeAnd 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 ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dig Deeper: 2 Peter 1: 5 – 9(MESS)

5-9 So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.

Think about it

NECESSARY INGREDIENTS
In our text today Apostle Paul advises on certain things we need to add to our faith so we can be effective. The question is: Why are certain Christians much more effective than some other Christians? I believe because certain individuals have somehow understood certain necessary ingredients which needs to be added to their faith. These ingredients when missing makes our christian faith to be ordinary but when they are present it makes all the difference. Salt and seasoning are a very small part of our food. The seasoning is actually not the food itself but it add flavour to the food. Our salvation and calling is based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross and our acceptance of thesame. But these ingredients add flavour and makes our christian journey to be productive.

The KJV says:
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

So diligence is very important. Diligence is one of the key attributes of successful people. You can’t go very far in life without being diligent.
Then he says: add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

So our salvation and new found faith by itself is not enough. We need to add further supplements. Virtue or good character is important, knowledge and information makes a massive difference. In other words, the NEXT LEVEL has a spiritual dimension – God gives that as we pray and wait on him but there is also the physical dimension – principles of life, setting goals, getting trained, getting information…. Both the spiritual and the physical are needed.

The message bible puts in a beautiful way:
5-9 So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.

Our faith is the basic food. The other ingredients are the seasoning. Our basic faith is the entry ticket to make heaven but it may not be enough for effective fruitful living. We may need different ingredients in different quantities depending on who we are and what we are working towards but we all need the additional ingredient in other to be effective and fruitful.

Nuggets: 
It is my responsibility to ensure the other ingredients are added to my faith 

Our memory verse for May 2018

Ecclesaistes 3: 1

1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 2 lines:
Line 1:  To every thing there is a season,
Line 2: and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Once you say it a few times it will stick.

Prayer focus: Our next level prayers: 
Lord, help me add the necessary ingredients to my faith

On the word: Recommended book
The Bible Study Methods – Rick Warren

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