building our faith

Let's go to the word of the Lord, my brothers, I am going to continue elaborating more or less in this line of theme. I have been talking about how we can grow more, become more entrenched in our relationship with Jesus, how we can get to know him more, how we can become more developed in our life of faith. And today I have a person who suggested a text to me by email.

Listen, let me make a parenthesis, by the way, I'm going to dare to do this. Because there are times when I get into a mental block and it seems like I don't get a topic to preach. I'm making a confession here. Look, you are going to say, how are you going to be a pastor, it is supposed to flow... No, no, it flows, but there are times when you know how it flows for me? When people tell me about biblical texts that they have been reading, studying, reflecting on. Or life situations that often share it, these can be capsules that can help me to be able to continue developing this line of messages. So I tell you, don't feel bad if at some point you tell me, listen pastor, I've been reflecting on this text, I'm going to suggest it to you to see, so it becomes my weekly meditation, so to speak.

So today's message was suggested by one person and it's in Second Peter, chapter 1. Let's go to that book, Second Peter, chapter 1, and I've titled this message, “Building Up Our Faith.” How can we build our faith, how can we build what we have believed in, that obviously we are talking about our relationship in the Lord Jesus, that when we declare with our mouths, with our hearts, look, Lord, you are my savior, You are my Lord, I give my life, I want to live for you, you are the one who will direct my steps from now on, you are the one who will be, as they say, you are going to govern my life. When we do that there is a sense of faith that allows us to move in that direction.

And look how it says Second Peter, the second letter of Peter, in chapter 1, I'm going to start reading in verse 3. It says:

“…As all things pertaining to life and godliness have been given to us by his divine power…” – and there is a lot of word here that is going to sound Sunday good, so to speak, so I am going to break it down little by little .

"... have been given to us by his divine power through the knowledge of him, this is Jesus, who called us by his glory and excellence, through which he has given us precious and great promises..."

We have promises in our life “…. So that through them we become partakers of nature, the divine reality of God, having fled from everything in the world because of concupiscence..."

And this is where the crux of things comes in, in verse 5. “…therefore you too, give all diligence to this very thing. Add to their faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control patience, to patience mercy, to mercy brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love..."

Let me read this in another version that I really like, the version God speaks today. I don't know how many of you know the version God has spoken today, but I'm going to read it to you. Look how he says:

“…and for this you must strive…” – I like that word even more, “…. You must strive to add to your faith good conduct, to good conduct understanding, to understanding self-control, to self-control patience, to patience devotion, and to devotion brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love..."

Look, I want you to imagine that I have a very large blackboard here in front of me and that I am going to paint on this blackboard, I am going to make some steps on this blackboard. And I am going to start with the first step that this text is telling us, which is faith. Faith in what? We are talking, as I was saying right now, we are talking about faith in the Lord Jesus, in the things that he has done, the things that he has initiated in each one of us.

I dare to say, I dare to put my head in a chopstick, that if you are here tonight it is because in some hidden place in your mind, in your spirit, in your heart, you know that there is a God. And you have faith in that God. Maybe you are not a very devoted person to come to church every Sunday, or things like that, or you come to church but the church does not enter you, but you know somewhere in your heart, that there is a God, and that there is a God who is acting, working in the midst of society, of the world in which we live. And we have faith in this. That faith is the beginning of all things, it is the beginning of a new life in Christ Jesus and that faith leads us to the end to which all of us are heading, which is love.

And here I will explain it. We have our first step which is faith. The second step that tells us what it is? In the version that you have it says virtue, but virtue in the original language in which this is written, virtue here means good conduct, which is what I was reading in this other version, means good conduct. What does this refer to as good conduct? It means excellence of moral life, a moral life that is exemplary, a moral life that rises above others. In other words, it is living according to the example of Christ Jesus himself, it is living according to the example that Jesus set for us. That Jesus who, at the end of his life, told the same people that we are going to follow you throughout your life, they themselves were spitting on him and saying barbaric things and they took him to the cross, and later they repented of all their faults.

But that same Jesus who remained faithful to those who ate, slept with him but also denied him, that is the moral life, good conduct. If I say it in more street language, it is like transmitting good vibes with people,…. with the people . Do people feel that you have a good time when you are with them? People can say that about you, that when they talk to you they say, oh, Clarisa is really cool. I like to talk to her. Or else, there with Gladys, and they see Gladys, ah, Gladys is a very good person. Or else Mauricio, ah, Mauricio, that's the smile, it just makes me laugh now. It's cool.

They saw what I say, it is that sense of conduct that you have an exemplary life, so to speak. And of course, look at how this passage is saying it, that it is suggesting to us, that these are things that we have to constantly work on adding to our lives. Obviously, because none of us even comes close to the example of Christ Jesus, that's why we have to work on adding to it, on working on it, on how I see the example of Christ's conduct, and how I'm working and then I can say, ok, I'm missing, I have to keep working, I have to keep adding.

But that sense of faith, that I have a relationship with Christ Jesus and if I want to follow his example, I have to imitate that good behavior and I have to do everything possible to add what that good behavior needs.

To that good behavior, what is added later? Knowledge, understanding. Understanding of what? algebra, understanding interpersonal relationships, understanding how to solve the stock market problem, or something like that? no, we are talking about understanding of the word, but above all things understanding of what the will of God is. It is seeking to understand what God's will is not only in our lives, but also in those around us. Finding what God wants to do, which is what God is up to, is to live with a constant genuine desire to be there every time I get up, it's like, ok, God, what's new today? Tell me. What's new today, God? In other words, that you have yourself in your hand? What are you up to today? What is there that you know that I don't know but that I have to be aware of in order to know what it is that you want?

And look, this can happen in many ways, my brothers, because on the one hand God can speak to you regarding what God's will is that he has for you, but through you how he can fulfill his will also in the lives of others. Understand that, what is the will of God.

And then that knowledge must be added to what? own domain. How many of you can say that you know how to control yourself well? How many of you can control your impulses, your thoughts, your emotions well, that if I pinch you, you don't see how to hit me back? That is not the proper domain referred to here.

Look at this, it's very interesting, this self-control refers to the fact that if I understand what God's will is, what self-control implies is that I recognize that work of God through His Holy Spirit in me. life, and then I submit to that treatment of God. That is where the self-control of which this word is speaking is well marked. That God is doing an action and I do not rebel against God's action but I submit, I control my impulse to reject that, but I submit to what God is doing and I resist it, I put up with it, I I live, I swallow it, although sometimes it can be a bitter medicine, but I swallow it. Because in some way or another, how many of you here can confirm that sometimes the worst medicines that they give us are the ones that cure us the fastest, right? So often is God. There are times when it gives you a medicine with a cherry or grape flavor, but there are times when it gives you a medicine that tastes like aloe vera, let's leave it there.

Look, but he's very intelligent, I add this self-control, another thing: do you know what this self-control also refers to? It is very interesting and I began to think about this. Self-control regarding our pride. Because if we are thinking that we know everything and if I consider myself to be a know-it-all, do you know what the biggest temptation is? From me start looking at another person over my shoulder. I know more than you. You want advice, come to me. I am going to give you advice on everything you want, if I know it. I know what God's will is for your life. There has to be a sense of self-control in that sense too, that I then believe myself to be a know-it-all.

Who is the perfect biblical example of this? Jesus is the know-it-all, that one can be blamed for knowing them all. But a person in the Bible who had that problem of believing that he knew everything, due to the magnificence of the revelations that God gave him, moreover, God gave him a sting. Who is that person? Pablo. That man had to practice a lot of self-control not to believe that he was the great pope, but to be able to say, ah, I have to think of myself sanely. There is a sense of self-control, of being able to control that human sense of wanting to feel that I am greater than or superior to another person, and then keep myself at a level where I can see that person equally to me, but at the same time to recognize that what God is doing in him or her is particular to that person, and what God is doing in me is something else. They follow me where I'm going

Knowledge, self-control, and to self-control you have to add what? everyone's favourite. Say it in chorus. Patience. Let's say it in English. Patience. Let's say it in Chinese. In Italian? Patience. How do you say in Cape Verdean? Pass. Is that how you say it in Portuguese too? We practice it another day.

Look, patience, patience for what? I ask myself this question, patience for what? On the one hand, that patience has to do with a sense of perseverance, it is not necessarily patience that I have to be patient with so-and-so or so-and-so, but rather patience in the sense of perseverance. Because? because this work of God takes time. Tell the person next to you: this takes time. It takes time. So, be patient. Be patient. Take it easy on yourself, on yourself. Tell the person: take it easy.

That is what this word means, one has to be patient. You know what? There are times when one sees that one is not living as they say, up to what God wants, one like that, and when is this going to work out for me? When am I going to do this? When am I going to speak the way I have to speak? When am I going to act the way I have to act? Why do I keep fighting with the same pages all the time?

Look, take it easy. I mean, don't rest on your laurels either. That does not mean that, but that one can understand how, look, there is a work that God is doing in me, and as Paul says again, the one who started the good work, he will complete it. It's not me, look how he says, he's going to complete it. It's not me, it's not you, don't try to fix me, I mean, you can try to collaborate with God but you're not going to fix me, God is the one who's going to fix me. You can plant the seed, you can water the seed, but who gives the growth? God.

We have to be patient, my brothers. We have to be patient with ourselves. Look, don't take it hard. God goes one step with you. Your job is to know God's will at what pace he is going with you so that you can walk at the same pace with God in your life.

To patience you have to add what? Piety. Do you know how that word is translated? The word in the original Greek is eusebia. You know around there I had seen brother Miguel Eusebio. How many of you here are called Eusebio or Eusebia? I have some Eusebia here. You don't want to say it because it doesn't sound as good. But in Greek it is a beautiful name. It looks poetic. Do you know what the word eusebia means? It means devotion, and in this sense it means devotion to God. A person who is pious is a person who has a sense of devotion to God.

And devotion what it means is connection you to you, you and me. That sense of devotion to God is a person who does not need to be in this temple to know that he is in communion with God. It is a person who, cutting the tomatoes on top of the kitchen counter, knows that he is already there aware of the presence of God. What's more, by cutting that tomato, you may be saying, I'm touching something that God made. And there is already a sense of devotion, of me recognizing that there is someone older than me at that moment.

The mere fact that when you drink a glass of water, I am talking about things as simple and simple as that, the Creator of that water, imagine that you are drinking God, because there is something of God in that water. There is an element, there is some atom of God in the particles that make up that water. And you are swallowing God. And how delicious it tastes when it has ice on such a hot day!

The mere fact that when you are talking to another person, you can recognize that there is something of God in that other person. There is your devotion. That you're going through some ailment in life, your back hurts because you have a herniated disc or something, and you get up in the morning and it's like the least this is going to do is remind you of God. Or it can remind you of a God who can heal your back, straighten it up again and you are aware, you have a sense of devotion. And there your devotion becomes, oh God, please take away that pain! There your devotion is very well marked.

But there is that sense of devotion. Look how that sense of faith is growing. We are seeing this progression. To my sense of faith, of knowing the Lord, the Lord asks that I be able to have a good conduct. In the midst of that good behavior I can add to that the knowledge of what God's will is, how God wants me to live that behavior, how God wants me to live it with others. And to that knowledge add a sense of self-control, of not believing the great popeia or the last Coca Cola in the desert, but being able to say, Lord, there is a work that you are doing in me and I want to submit to that, subject my will, I apply that self-control to what you are doing in my life. I can do this self-control, Lord, give me patience, give me perseverance, because I know that there are times that it will be difficult, there are times that the trials of life will want to distract me, they will want to take my focus off of you, I know Something or someone will appear to me that will want to take my focus elsewhere, but give me patience, give me perseverance. Help me to wait on you, what you are doing, what you started, you will complete it. And if I fall, Lord, help me get up again and keep going.

And to that patience we then add the meaning of what? Of mercy, of devotion. Look at the mere fact that I prayed like this, devotion is already shown there. The devotion of me being able to say, Lord, my life is yours, my life belongs to you, I recognize you in everything, look, I'm going to meet the doctor, Lord, when I see that doctor's face, I want to see you . Sir, I'm in traffic and I'm there waiting at the toll and someone dropped the money, and they're forming a line, and you have to wait for the person to get up and pick up the money, piece by piece, so that they can give it to the person, and one waiting there in the heat, Lord, help me to recognize that even in the midst of this, you are there. There is my devotion to God.

Oh, I come here to the church and I stop, Lord, Hallelujah! Devotion to God is very well demonstrated there, but that is not all. When you get home, you go to get ready to go to sleep, you are getting ready, taking off your flip flops, ah, Lord, you take off your glasses, you put them on the table, Lord, thank you and you fall asleep like that. That is your devotion to God. You start speaking in tongues in your dream and there you demonstrate your devotion to God.

And to devotion to God what should be added? I'm missing two more ingredients to finish this sancocho. Add what? Brotherly affection. Agape. Brotherly affection I have to connect with love, it is the final ingredient. In love all things are enclosed, did you know this? I teach this a lot in my level 4 discipleship class. I start with this and end with this: if you want to know where the fruit of the spirit is contained, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, everything is contained in love, everything is for love, and for love. And when I say, for love, I mean for God and by God. Everything is enclosed there.

Look, if you give someone a glass of water on the street, but you give it without love, and you give it reluctantly, it's useless. If you approach someone here and want to give them advice, look, give them the advice, but if you don't give it with a sense of love, meaning, give it with a sense that it makes sense to the other person and that that other person can see the work of God in him or her. But if there's no love there, it's not going to help.

And that love obviously has to be shown through brotherly affection. Look, do you want to know what God's will is for many of us? We can take you with the people we have around us. And this is one of the most difficult parts of our Christian life, I forgot something I was going to do...

I was going to start with that question. I was going to start doing an interview and I got so embroiled… I was going to start asking, what is the most difficult part of your Christian life? Because I'm sure most of you would have said, having to relate to someone else. That's just statistically, most people say that one of the hardest parts of their Christian life is having to have a genuine relationship with another person, whether it's in ministry or church or wherever. There are many other things, but, anyway, I ran out of time to do that.

But the thing is, my brothers, that part of brotherly affection is key. That agape love of us can truly show that affection, that enthusiasm to see the life of the other person come to fulfill the purpose that God has for him or her, that is what God wants. Are they some of the commandments that Jesus himself taught us? Perhaps he told us that you will love your God with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your heart and with all your strength. And then what does it tell us? You love your neighbor as yourself.

Look at the person next to you, that is your neighbor. And maybe you're going to tell me, oh yes, loving that person next to me is easy. I know him, I know her. Hey, loving that person is the sweetest thing there is, it's like a trip, cherrie pie, this person is really cool, I can love that person. But you know what? Jesus himself says, hey, if you love that person what is it worth. If those who don't know me show the same love for each other, here the fire really burns when you can show that love for the people who want to step on your corns. That is where one can truly demonstrate that love of God working in one. And that is where one of the greatest challenges for each of us as Christians lies. Do you know why, my brothers?

Look at what this text says, I am already finishing, verse 8 says:

“..if you possess all these things and develop them, neither will your life be useless, nor will you have known the Lord Jesus Christ in vain, but the one who does not possess them is like a blind or near-sighted man, he has forgotten that his sins were cleansed past. Therefore, brothers, since God has called you chosen, make sure that this takes root in you, because by doing so, you will never fall..."

I was reading from the version God speaks today. Look at this, it's important, my brothers, these ingredients that we've talked about are going to make your sancocho taste so, so good, that when you eat it, you're going to say, this sancocho can revive a dead person and literally make it can do. You have heard that expression right? When one of your mothers or grandmothers makes a soup, what do they say? Ah, this is that revives a dead person! TRUE? If you are sick, what do they prepare for you? Don't you prepare a plate of rice and beans with a chop? They make him a chicken broth to revive him or something.

Well, this sancocho, which God is giving us through the Apostle Peter, can revive precisely that. Literally dead in spirit, people who are blinded because they have failed to understand what the purpose of God's will is in their life. When we practice this, even if it is hard for us, even if it is difficult for us, but if we practice it, we live it and continue to develop it and communicate it, and we express it to others as God intends, look, that life that is in you, is he is going to hit another or another, in some way or another.

It may be that it sticks through you or it may also be that you plant the seed and that another person has to water it and God in due course will allow that seed to grow and bear fruit. But the call that we have, my brothers, is to build our faith. Take that with you tonight: build your faith.

To your faith add your good conduct. To that good behavior add what? Knowledge, know the will of God in your life. To that knowledge add that self-control, submit, hold on to what God is doing in you. Add to that that sense of perseverance, know that you are not going to define it or solve everything in one fell swoop, take time, take blows, take hair pulls, take sitting with another person who can correct you even if you don't like it, but tell you. Take time, take time.

To patience add that sense of devotion to God, rejoice in what God is doing in you, in all the moments of your life. Add to that the brotherly affection. Look, don't let these moments go unnoticed. Look for the opportunity to meet with your brothers, sisters, share, laugh, enjoy, cry.

An unpaid advertisement, this Saturday we are going to go bike riding, if you want to go bike riding, talk to me at the end of the service so you have a good time there. Okay? I close the parenthesis.

To brotherly affection add love. With these ingredients, my brothers, I know that our Christian life is going to be more fruitful, full and complete, not only for us but also for others around us.

We are going to stand up and we are going to pray. Thank my Lord. Thanks God. Father, I thank you for your word. Thank you because your word is alive, your word is effective, your word Lord, fills our being. And my God, I beg you that these things that have been spoken tonight, may they persevere in our hearts, Jesus, let this word bring a sense of life, bring a sense of direction, bring a sense of truth to us to know how to align ourselves more and more with you, Lord, and get closer and closer to you, Father.

I ask that you bless each one of my brothers and sisters tonight as they prepare to leave and return to their homes. Father, that they can leave here with a very clear sense of your presence in the midst of their hearts, that sense of pity, of devotion to you, Lord, of sensitivity to your spirit, be very clear and well attenuated in them. And Father, may we rejoice with one another.

I ask your blessing on each of us that you give us a deep, restful sleep tonight and that tomorrow, if you allow it, give us the opportunity to practice precisely these things of which we have spoken today. We give all the glory and all the honor only to you because you deserve it. Through your Son Jesus we pray and thank you. Amen and amen. Thank my Lord. Thanks God.