Encore - 995 Perseverance Precedes Godliness - 2 Peter 1:6

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. We're continuing our series through 2 Peter.   Today, we're in chapter 1, verse 6. Let me read 5, 6, 7, and 8. "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   We have this process that's going on in our life that begins with faith, and then we bring moral excellence and knowledge and self control. And today, in addition to our self control, we want to bring perseverance. And then to perseverance, we will bring godliness. Perseverance is necessary because if you're like me, persevering is one of those things that requires energy.   Just because I can make myself be operating under self-control today, doesn't mean I'll do it again tomorrow. Perseverance takes time. It's difficult for us to tame ourselves and train ourselves in self control, and therefore we must persevere. Perseverance is the natural next step. Just because we begin self-control today, doesn't mean we will persist in it. Persisting in it requires this perseverance, and so we must bring perseverance. It's important because we will not achieve godliness. Godliness is being like God, doing the things that God would have us do. We want to be God-like.   Our goal is to be like Jesus Christ, to model Jesus Christ in our lives and to our friends. That requires that we are godly people, that we become like God, that we do the things that God would have us do. It's interesting because this word's clearly translated godliness. I believe that's the natural result of this process.   We stepped through from moral excellence to knowledge to self control. When we persevere in our self control, the result that we produce is godliness. We become like God. We do the things that He would do.  Today. I want to challenge us. Let's persevere. Let's chase after God hard. Let's keep going. Whatever one more day, one more hour, I'm speaking again to myself. I chose this entire passage because it's talking to me.  We need to prepare ourselves and grow up in our faith, and this process, we step through these different qualities. We iterate through this process, and we grow as followers of Jesus Christ. And He puts us to work in more and more opportunities with our friends and the people that we work with. Today let's grow. Let's keep growing. Let's persevere. Hang on, go one more time. Do another lap. Exercise for another few minutes. Let's persevere so that we move on into godliness to being like God, so that we can make Him visible in our world every day.  I want to challenge you today. Pray. Ask God to help you persevere. Ask Him to help you remain present with the people that you interact with. Ask Him to help you make a difference in the lives of every person that you interact with today. You will become more like God as you do that, as you listen to Him. You ask Him for guidance and listen to Him, and then do what He says.And so that's what we want to do today.  Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for spending your energy and trying to grow up in your faith so that you will glorify God. That's what we try and do in Follower of One. I'd like to invite you to become a part of our online community. Join us at https://community.followerofone.org. You can join our online community for free, take part in a Marketplace Mission Trip, and begin to practice these traits in your life and grow up in your faith. Thanks very much.