Sermon Tone Analysis

Don’t give up, grow up!

(insert slide: Marine Corp Boot Camp)

From the Halls of Montezuma

To the Shores of Tripoli;

We fight our country's battles

In the air, on land and sea;

First to fight for right and freedom

And to keep our honor clean;

We are proud to claim the title

of United States Marine.

(insert my story of marine corp boot camp taking diligence)

Our christian walk takes diligence and it takes diligence to develop Christian character and the graces God makes available to us.

Do you remember the story of the persistent widow, in case lead me read it briefly

Lk18:3-4

Do you want to be partakers of the divine nature of God?

If so, it takes diligence, it takes effort, but don’t worry when you became a Christian or if you chose to become one, you will be fully equipped for it, given what is needed, but you will have to apply it.

I enlisted in the Marine corp and it took lots of diligence to make it through boot camp, and the end result was I was called a United States Marine, but better yet was when I surrendered to God in obedience and became a child of God.

His divine power granted us everything, freedom from the corruption of this world (insert brief story of from slave to drugs/alcohol to freedman in Christ)

God grants us His precious and magnificent promises, so that we can become partakers of the divine nature!

(expand briefly)

Diligence takes effort and this morning I want to look at this passage in context, open your bibles to 2Pt1-5:11 and let’s look together

I. Diligence develops character (graces)

If you want to share in His divine nature you need to know it takes diligence.

Faith - our faith, beyond our saving faith, it is our growing faith that knows God has given us everything we need, through knowledge, true knowledge This is the faith we see in Heb11:1

So we have our faith and to our faith we are to add these Christian graces (characteristics)

Moral Excellence - a synonym of integrity

We need to add to our faith moral excellence, we need to be people of integrity and there is get examples in the scripture like Job

God gave Job integrity, acknowledged Job’s integrity and then Job was confident in his integrity too.

From moral excellence add knowledge - true knowledge

True knowledge as noted in

true knowledge of God’s mystery - Christ (expand)

We learn having put on the new self, by being diligent, by making effort to add true knowledge.

From knowledge add Self-control - which is to control one’s self or one’s actions

(insert brief struggle here)

we need to learn to maintain self-control; and it takes diligence to do it

and we are not left alone to our own power to do it, we are given that Holy Spirit to help us in that area and it is proved out in the fruit of the Spirit

Self-control to perseverance - steadfastness in doing something regardless of difficulty or delay in achieving success

Perseverance goes with diligence doesn’t it.

A great scripture to see the place of perseverance in the Christian character (graces)

Perseverance to godliness - God like transformation, our maturity process

(Add in that this is a process not an event) - godliness is profitable in all things

(expand on the promise now, and the promise to come)

Godliness to brotherly kindness and love - care, concern, compassion for each other; to have a heart like Jesus and to follow His command

Oh that may sound great, but in reality it takes diligence to do it doesn’t it?

But the result of these things, these things that take diligence and effort brings the Christian to maturity and beyond the elementary things

II.

Diligence has its benefits

If you are adding to this list of character traits, to the graces mentioned then you are being transformed and you are maturing and you increasing.

You will not be useless nor unfruitful because you will know the true knowledge .

2

Knowing the true knowledge is important because if there is true knowledge then there is fake knowledge just like the fake news we hear.

People who don’t have true knowledge have gone into the world.

Look at what the scripture says about them..

2Jn1:7

(expand on this you are are not for christ you are anti (against) Christ.

There have been many are are many antichrists

Again, to the Christian who is growing in these graces you will never be unfruitful (expand on fruitfulness)

III.

Lack of diligence leads to disaster

For we forget that we are purified

1Pt1:21-22

We need to remember when and how we were purified when we obeyed the truth (expand on this)

Lest we also forget we have everything we need for life and godliness

We have the same saving faith that saved countless others, 3000 on one day, wouldn’t it be great to have multiple come to saving faith because of the Christian graces here that are available to us but takes diligence to apply

Here comes the application

Be all the more diligent

Practice these things (vv.5-7)

By doing you will know you have entrance into kingdom of heaven

Marine corp graduation the result

(insert Marine Corp Graduation Picture here)

no longer thought like the world, thought like a marine

no longer a civilian but a United States Marine

It paid off then, and has its benefits now

Being a Christian has better benefits (lead into invitation)

(Insert invitation slide)