2 Peter 1:5-11

Dear Brethren:

As a Christian, it should be your desire to grow and become stronger every day. By growing stronger in your faith, you will be able to continue serving the Lord, overcoming daily temptations. This growth will come through faithfulness and diligence.

In order to grow as a Christian, you must grow in individual areas, as illustrated in 2 Peter 1:5-11. In 2 Peter 1:5-11, Peter reveals seven graces or attributes that Christians must add to their faith. Consider the following list:

• Add virtue to your faith.
• Add knowledge to your virtue.
• Add self-control to your knowledge.
  
• Add perseverance to your self-control.
• Add godliness to your perseverance.
• Add brotherly kindness to your godliness.
• Add love to your brotherly kindness.
  

According to the inspired words of Peter, "if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." If you will work diligently to "make your call and election sure," if you will "do these things," then you "will never stumble." Let us all do our best to work daily to make these improvements within our lives as Christians.

Here is 2 Peter 1:5-11 presented for your consideration.

2 Peter 1:5-11

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,

6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In Love,

John Duvall

Psalms 34:11-14

Dear Brethren:

You and I should have a willingness to learn, a willingness to listen to truth about the Lord. We should not close our minds to the opportunities to learn about the fear of the Lord. We must always be willing to learn more and more about our Lord and Savior.

As we open our minds to learning of the Lord, we will learn about loving life and seeing good days. We will learn that if we keep our "tongue from evil" and our "lips from speaking deceit," that we will have those good days of life. If we will "depart from evil and do good," if we will "seek peace and pursue it," then we will be able to love "many days" and see good.

Quite often, it is the little lessons which benefit us the most. Let us, as children of God, be willing to listen to God and to fear the Lord. Here is Psalms 34:11-14 presented for your consideration.

Psalms 34:11-14

11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.

14 Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

In Love,

John Duvall

John 14:1-6

Dear Brethren:

To be lost can be a very unnerving feeling. Both young people and old people can become scared if they are lost. Consider a young child separated from his parents in a department store. Even adults, lost in the woods, can become scared.

There are many people who are lost in sin. These lost people are separated from God and cannot find their way to Him. As Christians, we must do our best to bring these lost people to Jesus Christ. We must show them that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for the faithful. We must show the lost that Jesus will return and receive the faithful. We must show them that Jesus is the "way, the truth, and the life."

As you go about your day, look for those people who are lost in sin and offer to lead them to Jesus Christ. Here is John 14:1-6 presented for your consideration.

John 14:1-6

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

In Love,

John Duvall

Luke 9:23-26

Dear Brethren,

When a person chooses to follow Jesus, he is choosing a new life filled with changes. As a follower of Jesus, a person must be willing to remove sinful behavior from his life. If he learns from the Bible that a certain deed is wrong, then he must remove the deed from his life.

Changes within a Christian's life also include the adoption of good deeds and righteous living. As a Christian, a person will begin to worship God every week, study God's word as often as he can, begin to help others, try to teach those who are lost, etc.

There will be times within a Christian's life when removing certain sinful deeds or adopting certain acts of obedience will require a greater effort. There may even be times when a Christian must make certain sacrifices, give up things important to him, in order to follow Jesus Christ. A Christian must be willing to "deny himself, and take up his cross daily," and follow Jesus. A Christian must be willing to lose his life for Jesus's sake in order to save his life.

Here is Luke 9:23-26 presented for your consideration.

Luke 9:23-26

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

In Love,

John Duvall