Ordained Minister Ronald Louth

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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!

Ron Louth

Joel 2:28 (KJV)

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your

old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:”

The prophet Joel received this word from the Lord. How astounding it had to have been back then. The Spirit back then did not just rest on

anyone back then. You had to be set apart for that kind of power and authority. It was not a normal thing. To hear that it would be poured out on ALL FLESH, wow what a thought. Then Jesus came. After he arose from the grave, Jesus spoke with the disciples. He told them to go wait. I do not know about you, but that is the hard part. Waiting on the Lord. We have immediate gratification nowadays and waiting can feel like forever. Yet, that is what He told them. Wait until you are ENDUED with POWER from on high. To be given a quality or ability, in this case power. There is another moment mentioned in the bible where it tells us that they would have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. I do not know about you, but I would rather have power in my life. This life gives us heartaches, pain, suffering, anxiety, amongst other things. Would you rather have power over those things? Power over the enemy? The ability to be used powerfully by the Spirit? Jesus said it was very important that He left quickly so that He could send the “comforter“ to us. I am not talking about a large blanket to cuddle up in, even though He can bring you that feeling. That “comforter” gives us power! There are many misconceptions about the power and the Holy Ghost. First John four thirteen tells us that He abides in us and we abide in Him because He gave us His spirit. When you accept Christ into your life and truly repent and ask for forgiveness, I am talking completely sold out, cause that is what salvation is and does, His spirit resides in you. Our bodies are His temple, the scripture tells us that. So you can have no more or no less of His spirit living within you, however, there is a baptism of the body and a baptism of the Spirit. When we get baptized, we are showing a public display along with making a covenant with God that we are no longer ourselves, but we are dying to our flesh and living for Him. We surrender it all. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the empowerment of us to go forward in the power of God living through us. We are surrendering ourselves to God so completely that He can move through us and possess us. OH NO RON SAID POSSESSED… yep I did, but we must understand this is not demon possession. Demons do not care about their host. They are there to wreak havoc. The Holy Ghost is a gentleman. He fully allows you to maintain control or take control. You have to decide and yield. That baptism brings up from the wells of your spirit and down pours the overflowing ocean of God over your entire being. That is why we discuss speaking in tongues as the initial evidence. When anyone was baptized in the Holy Ghost in the New Testament that was the testimony of their filling. That being said, some will continue to speak in tongues and some never will again. It is a gift. We are then called to steward those gifts as the Holy Ghost uses us to complete His will. The Holy Ghost has been the agent of the miraculous through all the eons. The active presence of God. He holds the sky in place and created the mountains. He brings healing to the body. He is the miracle maker. He is the POWER of God. There is nothing to be afraid of with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is a gift to be celebrated. Too many false and fake teachers, prophets, and ministers have made the baptism into something people run from. That is where danger lies. Cause the one sin that is unforgivable is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. He is God. His actions are righteous and pure. His actions bring healing, love, and comfort. He is the agent of our peace. He takes the sacrifice of Christ and the shedding of His blood and uses it to cleanse us and make us whole in the spirit. He is our counselor that brings peace and healing in our mind. He is to be praised!, not rejected. It is through the gifts of the Spirit that the church is edified and the sinner is brought to salvation. A church without the presence of God is dead and brings no fruit. Let us strive toward power. Let us come as a church with a heart of love, mercy, and grace. Let us repent of our indifference and cling to the strength Christ has given us. Let us go boldly forth preaching the gospel of peace, healing the sick, binding and casting out the enemy, and proclaiming our God!