Encore - 993 - Increasing in Knowledge - 2 Peter 1:5-6

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr., and our goal is to help you to be a full-time minister in your regular job. We've been going through a series on 2 Peter chapter 1, and today, we want to talk a little bit about adding knowledge to moral excellence. We're in verses 5 and 6. "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..." I stated before that I see this as a circular progression.  It begins with faith as we spoke about in the last episode, and the first thing we add to our faith is this moral excellence. This commitment to doing what's best to choosing- to live a life that's morally excellent; that lines up with God. Our choice to obey is the key first step. What we add to our faith is our choices to obey, and then God gives us more.  He gives us more intelligence. He gives us more opportunities. He gives us this knowledge, and that's why I believe knowledge is second. We obey our way into knowing Jesus, we don't simply study our way into knowing Jesus. Our truth of knowledge, our growing up in Christ, comes first from obedience, and that opens the door to knowledge. But we have to work on our knowledge. And then when we learn new things, we can't unsee them. We can't unlearn them. So then we must begin to control ourselves to live according to the knowledge that we've gained. Knowledge and self control go together.  This whole series that we began on 2 Peter verses 2 through 8, it was motivated by my own goal to focus on self-control. So please know that I'm speaking to myself as I often say. This is my time to remind me what needs to happen in my life today too. Self-control is the ability to dictate to ourselves what we're going to do. And in my case, I tend to give myself a pass. We'll talk about this more tomorrow, because what follows self-control is perseverance, and we'll still be in verse 6 tomorrow. Today, I want us to concentrate on adding knowledge, studying about Jesus.  Do you read the Bible every day? And then do you let that Bible reading transform you? Take a few minutes every day, and read a little bit of the Bible. You can read a proverb, you can read just a few passages of scripture. Many daily reading plans are only a verse or two or three long. I would encourage you to get more of the Bible in, if you can, to grow your knowledge, to take in more.  There are places in the Bible that require some work, and there are other places in the Bible that may call for memorization. Let's focus on knowing Jesus. Let's obey Him and study Him, and the way we know Him is we obey Him and we study Him some more. The knowledge and the obedience go together. Add to your moral excellence knowledge, and then to your knowledge, self-control. Today, let's read the Bible. Let's ask God to show us Himself through our scriptures, and then let's look for opportunities to obey what we read today at work. Watch how often Jesus will use what you read this morning in your workplace today. It will surprise you.  Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people that you work with every day. We are excited to live our faith, and I hope that we help you live your faith on a daily basis. That way we can enjoy our relationship with Jesus and glorify Him as we do our daily job and as we do the things that we enjoy. Also, if you'd like to learn more about our community, check us out at community.followerofone.org, where you can sign up to become a member, take part in our community, and even go on the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Thanks very much.