Ordained Minister Ronald Louth
The Power of Prayer
Sermonettes
I’m Saved! Now what?
Written by Ron Louth
2 Peter 1: 5-11
Imagine, you’re on a ship sailing with a group of five sailors towards London, England from Delaware. Eight days later a large storm comes and the waves are becoming higher than your ship. The crew is running around the deck like mad men trying to get rid of water, secure the sails, and survive. You hear a large crack in the sky and a lightning bolt strikes the ship and the boat catches fire. The crew, at this point, is trying to prepare for losing the ship and there’s a small lifeboat that they drop into the sea. The storm begins to calm, but the ship is ablaze! The mast loses its integrity and falls. The rest of the crew is killed. You lower yourself from the rope ladder down to the life boat as the ladder catches fire. You jump into the life boat just in time as the ladder falls to the ocean below. The wind calms. The waves follow suit. Yay! You’re saved! You look around at the ocean around you vast and empty. So, now what?
So many now days believe if you repeated a repeat after me prayer you’re saved. The preacher told me I was! Yay I’m Saved! You go home nothing has changed.
God’s mercy is simple and His grace is free, but repentance and surrender are personal and require someone to do some real soul searching. Having genuine faith that Jesus is real and fully giving ourselves over to Him. The Holy Spirit then comes in, cleans our souls, and guides us into righteousness. That’s when “the rubber meets the road” as they say. So now what?
Peter tells us in the text, “Giving all diligence, adding to your faith virtue” First steps are giving full attention to living a virtuous life. You are a new creation, but you’re not in a new body sitting in heaven yet. You have been cleansed and have a new resident to help you live right, but your flesh is still alive and active. We have to get control of it. God gives us the tools.
Paul tells us to take captive every thought bringing it into submission. This is how we go from Faith to adding Virtue. Peter then goes on to say, “and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” We go from virtue to knowledge by reading the Word of God.
The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me, I stand alone on the Word of God. Those in the church growing up would remember that song. God gave us His word to guide us with the knowledge, He has given us. We must ensure that we have a regular daily organized prayer life. We need to incorporate also the reading and studying of God’s word. It is indispensable to the Christian. We need the guidance of the spirit to show us the truth and give us the knowledge of God. Speak to Him every day; you must know that your relationship with Christ is vital, cause the enemy roams about like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. We need to have our wits about us.
Knowledge to temperance, the term temperance guides an understanding to moderation, self-control, and balance. Understanding that God has given us good things, but they are good within the safety of God’s law. Great example is physical intimacy within the confines of a loving marriage shared between a man and woman it is a gift. Beyond those boundaries it brings great emotional and physical suffering, pain, and death. On the opposite end of the spectrum of the demonic it can usher great judgement and debauchery.
Temperance to patience, this is a tough one. In a world like we currently live in, instant gratification is consistent and the expectation. We have a generation that has grown up in a world with social media, cellphones, living rooms connected to everything you own including your electricity, tv, media units; a vast readily available internet, robots, self-driving vehicles, and even AI. Things growing up in Generation X, we never seen coming. Here we are. Living in the prophecy of Daniel 12. That alone will bring us into frustration and anxiety. Noting also that once you’re a seasoned Christian, laugh or not, we “know” better than to pray for patience cause that’s a gift you will earn. We work toward patience while praying that we’re not led into temptation and delivered from the evil one and his schemes.
Patience to godliness, in the 90’s WWJD went, what we call today, viral. WWJD became our mantra. It’s a good way to live, but it requires bible reading and study. W.hat W.ould J.esus D.o? That’s the essence of godliness, WWJD? Jesus showed reverence and obedience to the Father, even to death on the cross. This is where we truly grow in the fear of the Lord. I’ve heard others bring up that it’s hard for them to see fearing Jesus cause He’s a God of grace, mercy, and love and He loved us so much He suffered the death and torture of the cross. We however must examine that He is creator. How big is our God? Look around you, look at the nature around you, look at the cosmos, and examine in your mind that He had the days he planned for you already appointed and anointed before you were even two splitting cells. Now imagine walking up a flight of stairs in the brightest light you could imagine to the presence of this eternal, all powerful, unlimited, all seeing, purely holy God realizing your sin and you’re made of dirt. The word tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge. Yet this same God gave His only son born 100% flesh and blood, but also infused with the very essence of God to die as a sacrifice for the wrong YOU committed. We sometimes don’t give as much emphasis on the torture Jesus suffered on the way to the cross. He didn’t just give His life, He took the ridicule, the beatings, the mockery, the pain before He was even hung up to die. He suffered ALL of our punishment for sin. He bore it all. Could you do the same? That’s a tough question. Yet, to be godly that’s the standard. The apostles all suffered the same ridicule and many were martyred themselves. Obedience also requires us to hear God speak. That requires we have a relationship and conversations with God. That requires prayer and adhering to the word. Prayer and engulfing yourself in the word are our greatest strengths and also what lead to our greatest joy and peace.
Godliness to brotherly kindness; brotherly kindness to Charity (Love), we can fully comprehend in our present day what the bible meant when it says, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12 Wickedness brings foolishness and lack of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Take a drive. It used to be how many of us relaxed. Now, it takes prayer while driving not to go into a rage. Selfishness is the world motto more than ever. Therapists outside of the realm of Christianity teaches you come first. Forgive yourself. What is your definition of things? Be at peace with yourself. This doesn’t fix morality it creates selfishness. It’s a counterfeit to godly love, peace, and joy. If you’re in a good relationship you both will come to terms with each other’s wills and if not go on to the next relationship. This sets humanity up for failure. It doesn’t correct the condition. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Only Jesus can forgive sins. Dealing with selfishness leads to ridicule and suffering for those who love correctly and ultimately death for those being selfish. Jesus was asked, “36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matt. 22: 36-40 (ESV) We are set free from the law by the Spirit with the cross, but we are still to live it. If you look at the 10 commandments, Jesus says, you can live fully following them with these two commandments love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself -brotherly kindness. Servant leaders and children of the love of the Father, that is who we are to be. Jesus prayed to the Father that we as His children would be united as He and the Father was. If we were, the world would be much different and so would our country. It’s hard enough to get Christians in unison as much as the Disciples were in the upper room. We are stronger together.
Charity. My father used to tell us growing up charity was love in action. It was stronger than just love. We see the word love in the bible, charity in the KJV, and we don’t sometimes get the full understanding of the text. In the original Greek ἀγάπη ah-GAH-pay, is not merely love, it denotes godly love that is given to us by the Spirit that flows through us in a holy self-giving disposition -holy love in action. The kind of love that was exemplified through the life of Jesus Christ.
Our faith doesn’t stop at believing Jesus is real. It doesn’t stop at redemption. On the contrary, it is literally only the beginning. It is the gift of Grace that cleanses us to be able to journey towards the life Jesus lived. A holy and pure way of living without sin. We are no longer bound to the wraith of God as the fallen angels are. We are set free to be able to achieve our God given destinies of sonship and daughterhood as the royal children of God in His kingdom that is an everlasting kingdom. You were born to be a part of the finale!
