Seven Key Ingredients

Well, let's go back to last week. This is a continuation of that. You might remember, if you were here last week, we went back to 2 Peter 1, Verse 5 through 7. And today's title is, The 7 Key Ingredients. The 7 Key Ingredients for a Holy Spiritually Guided Person. I brought out a bowl, which my wife uses to make cakes, because I wanted everyone to try to relate to. The ingredients that go into a cake are necessary. I mean, I've never made a cake in my life.

I got some of that ingredients to make a cake from you guys last week. Then I went and relayed that to 2 Peter 1, Verse 5 through 7. And I had these cards made up of the seven ingredients from that time. And I put them in this bowl, as there were different ingredients. Because it said, or it says in 1 Peter 1, Verse 5, Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, perseverance, godliness, to brotherly kindness, and we ended with our ingredients of agape.

Put them in a bowl. Now, I'd like you to think about that today, because it lists those ingredients for a saint, a holy person of God. Now, we talked about a cake, and there's been more than a few made in this bowl. And we looked at the ingredients, and you said flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and then some said water, some said milk, some said another vanilla, or some type of flavoring.

But I got a cake this week we're going to eat afterwards. It doesn't look very healthy. It's called sea salt caramel cream cake, and it does look disgustingly good. You're trying to lose weight as I am. But I looked at the ingredients, and would you believe on here? There's not four or five ingredients. This whole thing down here. So small, I'd need glasses or hold it out to here. But it does say sugar, bleach, white flour, soybean oil, eggs, food starch, and some other stuff we probably don't need to be putting in our bodies.

But it's got probably 25 or 30 different ingredients in here. But they're not all necessary to bake a cake. But I want you to think about that cake of the four to five to six ingredients that are key. Now, being most of you, I would say, how many people in here have made a cake? Whoa! Okay, there's more I thought. I'm just a lost soul when it comes to making cakes.

Guess that comes from having someone who will do it for me. But any of those that have never made a cake, almost everybody in here has eaten a cake, are part of it. So I ask you, those who have made and those who have eaten, if you had to leave out one of those four ingredients, which one would you leave out?

Flour? Sugar? Okay. What if you had to leave out two of those ingredients? Would it, chances are, be a pretty terrible cake? Right? If you just left out one or two of those ingredients, would it really be a cake that you would want to serve someone or to eat?

Probably not. So I ask you that question today, because how about of those seven ingredients we talked about, those key ingredients for a saint, a person of God? We had virtue, right? Knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness. Wow! Agape, brotherly kindness. If you leave out one of those, which would it be? What about two? What if you left out two of those? Would someone still be called a holy, called, sanctified child of God?

Because I don't mean just leave out a little bit. I want you to look at those seven ingredients. But if you left out, you were left out totally, you had none of it. Not even an element of one of those seven, or two of those seven.

And you had a choice to choose which one would you leave out, like a cake. And then if you left that out, those ingredients that made up the child of God, would you still be considered a child of God?

Would people recognize you by their fruits? You shall know them? Would your mate recognize? You were totally void of, say, what? Knowledge. Remember knowledge? Convert you knowledge. Knowledge self-control. But let's just go with knowledge. You are totally void of any knowledge of God, of His way, of what He asks. And you know nothing. I think you could still be considered a child of God. Knowledge is probably a pretty important ingredient, wouldn't you say? What about self-control? I've heard about that in the sermon. What about a person who's just void of self-control? Not only probably would it ruin your life, definitely wouldn't set a good example.

I take this cake, say, I want you to look at it, because that's how you're going to get it. I'm going to eat it all. I'm going to sit and eat it in front of me, because I have no self-control. But you know, that's not bad when it comes to cake, as bad as it is in other aspects of our life. Right? There's no self-control. I had the opportunity yesterday to be down in the Miami courtroom.

And as I was sitting there waiting for while I was there, I need some water. My mouth is getting dry. I had the opportunity to try to help a young man yesterday. So I went down to talk to a judge to help an individual. He's been here a few times. But when he stopped coming, there's a reason why he's in trouble again. But besides that, I got an opportunity to sit for about 40 minutes.

In Miami, I'd actually had this back in Tennessee, but like I say, everything's different in Miami. So I had the opportunity to sit in on it. In a courtroom with a judge. And I got to see what lack of self-control in people's lives brought them. And it would be very good for anyone who has kids to take them down to the court sometime. So they can actually see what lack of self-control and being impulsive and hanging around the wrong people where it's going to take you.

And usually it's behind bars. And so I got to experience some of those stories yesterday. And it made me appreciate my life and my calling and my understanding and my knowledge and the other things that God gives us as his gifts and to have them in our lives. There were some sad stories, not only of 19 and 20 year olds, but even a 60 year old woman that was dealing with long-time incarceration. On 57, I would hate to think that I have... she was probably my age, near 60.

I would hate to think that's how I'm going to spend the last 10 years of my life incarcerated. It was a blessing to be able to see the blessing that I have and so many of you have who are sitting out there right now. And by the grace of God, there go I. And I guess that's why I have passion to help this young man, because his heart's good.

But I want to go back to this. Without the slightest bit of godliness, God's Holy Spirit, would you be a saint? You look at what the Scriptures say. We'll go into that next week. But what about virtue? Perseverance. You know, these seven key ingredients. They're so similar to the fruits of the Spirit that you see in Galatians 5.22. Why? Because they are what the Spirit produces. That's why they call them fruits. They're what you see. They're what people can count on. If God says or defines us as being holy, because that's what the temple of God is to be, we will see next week, then people should be able to see in us what we produce. Because I got a chance to see what a guy produced.

When he had all these problems and ended up with an armed robbery charge.

And where that's going to lead his life.

So, because we are the fruits of God's very essence, God's Spirit, we should show these fruits. They should be out there. So, God can possibly bring somebody by and say, wow, they're not like all the people in Miami. And I had the opportunity to listen while I was waiting on that to happen in this room, where I had the experience of being probably the only person in a 20 or 30 people room that was not an attorney. And I am thankful I am not an attorney.

Because they do not show very good fruits themselves. All I was was just a bystander in a suit. So, I guess they thought I was one of them.

But how they talked, what they produced, not very godly. And they're supposed to be at a higher level than the people they're representing, but it made me wonder.

You know what you produce. You ever sit and think about what people see when they meet you of the fruits of God's Spirit, but of more of these key ingredients that are supposed to be in us that Peter is talking about?

Wouldn't it be nuts? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could wake up one day and have all the seven ingredients by fiat?

Wake up!

There's virtue. There's knowledge. Self-control. Brethren, kindness. Wow! All these things.

Wouldn't it be nice if they could be divinely instilled in us?

Might be awful with that. I think that's a good plan. But you see, God doesn't care what I think. He's the boss. He's the master on the slate.

Said that when I got baptized.

But wouldn't it be nice if we could just have those implanted in us?

And so all these ingredients that make up this would just be in us. And they would stay in us. Wouldn't that be great?

And I thought, that's a good point. But then, last week, in this very room, somebody gave me a better idea.

He said, wouldn't it be nice if you could get a prescription and you could take a pill?

You took plenty of pills. So I, in my magnificent wonder, came up with some pills. There's knowledge.

Godliness. Wouldn't that be nice? Agape. On our agape pill? Maybe some of you need it more than others. Maybe you need more than just one. And then we have a brotherly kindness pill.

Now, that's not one of the perseverants. You may need some of that.

Self-control.

And finally, virtue. Virtue.

Pills. Prescription.

What do you need? Which would you want?

Appy?

All of them? Well, yeah, but that's a lot of pills to take.

Take a pill.

Open it up. Take a pill.

Take one. You trust me?

Okay.

You feel smarter yet? See? Okay, you want to go through the seven seals and the seven trumpets and tribe and pro-part white folks?

You should look at these. Think about that.

Think about it. This is real. Wouldn't it be?

You can take one and pass it around, especially if you have a mate that you think needs that. Right? Oh, we're all brothers and sisters here, so you may find somebody or one of your brothers or sisters you think really needs. I didn't give him the right one.

Well, you may want Neil to have a little bit of all of those.

If it could be so simple.

If it could be that easy.

But you know, in this world today, in the world in which we live in and Annie and Faith can definitely tell you being nurses, sometimes people just go looking for a pill. A pill to get well. Right? But wouldn't you like to pop an agape pill?

But even though you may take one of those mints, you may take one of those chocolates in these pills.

It's just a placebo, so don't think you're going to increase in knowledge.

I'm sorry, but there's no free lunch.

There is no magic pill.

You know, but people still believe that there is.

There's one of the top pills you can order today. I found this online. I haven't ordered. And it's selling by the millions in this country, and it's called hydroxycut. Oh, no, I'm not going to have you raise your hand.

Because with this hydroxycut pill, it actually says that you will just lose weight. And that with only 10 minutes of exercise plus the pill, you're going to have sculpture abs. You're going to look like an amazing person. And people believe it.

Except for those, when you go down at the very end, who ordered quite a few boxes and boxes of it, and then they spent all this money and it didn't work, and they're shocked.

Brother and I want to look at those seven ingredients today. And the time we have left, get my watch. I want to look at virtue.

Somebody has a virtue prescription bottle now.

I want to throw you out a couple words that define virtue. Because I don't want to go into long. I've got seven of these to do, so I want to do them rather quickly. But I want to talk about virtue.

It can also be defined as purity. Purity, righteousness, morality. Purity. Do you need more purity? I do. I do.

My mind's not as pure as I want it to be.

Go with me to Philippians 4, verse 8. Philippians 4 and verse 8 said, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue.

And if there's anything praiseworthy, do what?

Think on these things. Meditate on these things.

You want virtue? He's telling you how. Set your mind on good things, on positive things, not bad things, not negative things, not things that are not pure. That's what it comes down to.

You don't need a pill. Because you see, virtue is not inherent in us at birth. I haven't met any. We go to a gym here. You fit. And you have people that have abs the opposite of mine.

Washboard stomachs.

You know, if I go to one of those guys, they say, man, how do you get back? You know what he's going to tell me? Hard work! I'm in here. I'm in here doing this all the time.

You want virtue? You want purity? It says, set your mind on these things. Whatever things appear, whatever things are noble. You know how much that impure stuff, stuff goes in my mind either from the radio or from billboards or from a television set or anything else or from people? Second ingredient, knowledge. Abby wanted... Abby. What am I saying, Abby? Ampey. What was an Abby I dealt with this week? I can't remember. Ampey wants no more knowledge. I want more knowledge. The more I study the Bible, the more I know less. I know this sounds crazy because there's certain parts of the Bible as we went through it before. I own. I know those. And boy, you know, when I studied those and I knew those books, but then when I started getting into Zephaniah and Zechariah and Obadiah and all the Ias, and I started having this, I'm forgetting some of the books that I own. This thing is so big, right? Knowledge is so big. I can't do it on my own. It's not going to happen unless I use the Spirit. Because I don't know how many times things have popped into my head that I'm like, where did that come from? I knew where it came from. You've done that too. Well, you needed the Scripture. Knowledge, actually, I'll put it in a word. It means to understand and understand it. A comprehension like you go with me to Romans 3.

What's important? Romans 3 and verse 20. You should know it. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in a sight. We know that. For by the law is there knowledge of what? Sin. Because I study this book, I do know what sin is. By that knowledge. That's the kind of knowledge I need. Would I like to have a PhD in theology? Yes. But I'd rather have a PhD in His Holy Spirit to where it's teaching me. It's moving me, giving me understanding.

Because the Ten Commandments are not inherent in us at birth, are they?

And you know, when you think about it, we're a child. We're a baby. We're, in a way, we're little miniature terrorists. Because we get what we want. Because we'll do whatever it takes to get someone's attention. We want food. We squawk!

Because we know we're going to get attention. Now, wouldn't it be interesting if a parent gave you food when you shut up? Totally different, right? When some go, boy, that sounds pretty good. It works. He's done it. You raise little terrorists, too.

But you have to teach them what? You don't steal. That's not yours. Take your hand. My parents love to slap my hand. Don't touch. Don't even touch that. Don't pick it up. You don't even touch it. It's not yours. And they didn't say that in a nice way. Because they'd said it in a nice way 10 times before that time. Okay? I'm not the only one. But that's how we learn. And our parents hopefully teach us, but as I saw yesterday in court, many kids were not taught. And it's a sad situation. Because their parents had an opportunity to raise them, and they did not, and discipline them, now it's left up to a judge and a judicial system. That's not always fair. If they get to court, somebody doesn't get to them. If they get to court, somebody doesn't get to them.

It is important that this is knowledge that Peter's talking about.

Self-control! Boy, don't we all need some of that.

Actually, a word to define that is discipline. Restraint.

Restraint is something my parents tried to teach me. And it's something self-control and restraint is something I need every day. How about you? Am I the only one? No. I need self-control every day. It needs to be brought to my attention every morning when I get up. I need some self-control.

One person actually put it, as he called, self-control the ability to control one's emotion and behavior. Not just one, both. Your emotion and your behavior. That's self-control.

I read an article not long ago about Pat Riley, who is the coach of the Miami Heat.

And these players were complaining because of his discipline. Because he not only disciplines them, he teaches them self-control at all times. And he lets them know that if you do not practice this self-control on the court and off the court, you will be fined until I can take all your money and then I will fire you. Fire you.

And Shaquille O'Neal, who actually played for him, said, I despised him. I hated him so badly. He would come in every day and there was a guy there. As soon as you walked for practice, you had a set of scales. You wouldn't know what you weighed, and it wasn't good enough. They had these calibers that set on here to find out what your body weight, your fat weight, was every day. And that determined how long you would be after practice.

And Shaquille actually said he dreaded and hated him until they won the championship. And he realized what it was, and so did the other players. Because they were not going to have enough discipline or self-control to do it themselves. And you know, God knows that with us. That's why the Holy Spirit helps us have that self-control. That's why it's so important. So that it can guide us, because frankly, there's times I don't have that self-control, and I have to pray for God to give it to me. Because there are things in our lives, every one of our lives, that we cannot handle on our own.

And we have to realize it. And that's why we turn to a higher power.

Let's go to 2 Timothy with me. 2 Timothy 3. You all know this. A verse I've read many times. 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and holy, unloving, unforgiving. Slanders. And then what? Without self-control.

Without self-control.

Can you in this world live without self-control?

Yes, you can. You just have to have enough money and a good lawyer. Right? Because then you can learn to skirt the law. You have a good attorney and a good accountant. Okay? And then you didn't worry about your self-control. But God says, guess what? When you stand before the judgment seat, you can't carry your attorney and you can't carry your accountant. It's me and you.

We have the opportunity to ask for and to practice self-control. Because self-control is against the flesh. The flesh wants no self-control. It doesn't want anybody telling it what it did. It just wants to rule itself. Run itself. Oh, yeah, I want that. I'm going to get it. Oh, I want to eat that. I'm going to eat it. Drink that. I'm going to drink it.

Because I'm just amazed at some people getting all upset over a certain law or what somebody says here about God saying what you can eat and what you can't eat. And they'll get mad about it. Why would you be mad about it? There's something there.

Don't want anybody telling you what you can and can't do.

And the world is becoming more and more and more controlled by those people. And it will be.

Next one, perseverance.

Which means tenacity sometimes, steadfastness. That's not natural to persevere, right? To have the tenacity to be able to not give up. It's natural for the flesh to want to give up.

Where I'm going through this, I just want to give up. I don't want to do this anymore.

My father used to do that on the farm. It's by noon out in a hot hay field. I'm like, man, this is crazy. Who in the world wants to do this? Burning up, scratchy, itchy. It's just humid, hot. And he's all going to grab lunch because then we're going to go back and hit it for another five hours.

I didn't want to. I had to be made to do it because it was against my flesh. Like me, no. We grew up, there wasn't air conditioning in the house. Amazing. As soon as I moved out in 19, they got air conditioning. Same with color TV. We couldn't afford it while you were still around.

But just give me in front of a fan, right? But you learn to persevere. You fight through it and you realize that you can do it and you set your mind on it.

Romans 5. Romans 5. Romans 5.

Verse 3. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations.

Knowing that tribulation produces what? Perseverance. And perseverance produces character.

Pretty soon I realized I could work all day and half evening in the hot sun when I was 15 years old. Because I persevered. Because I was taught to. I was told to. I didn't have an option.

God says you're going to have to go through some things in this life.

Persevere. You're going to need to see it through. And not just, oh, one trouble. I'm sorry. I'm done. God, I got this problem at work. You were supposed to take care of that. You didn't do it. I quit.

I quit you, God.

No. It's not that simple. It's not that easy. And nobody, much less, God, wants an employee that just quits any time things get hard. We've all worked with those people, right?

I hope you're not going to raise any kids that way. And I hope you're not that kind of employee.

Godliness. The next one, godliness. Definition is being devout, pious, of a divine nature. That's not natural. But it is something that God puts in us. And it's a type of character that we can nurture and bring out. 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4.

1 Timothy 4. Verse 7. But reject profane and old wives tales, and exercise yourself rather to godliness. Exercise yourself rather to godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little. It does. But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is and that which is to come. It's going to last eternity. Godliness. Something you can take to your grave, you might even say. But are we that way? Do we have religious character?

Do people look into that a righteous woman? That is a godly man. These things are fruits that should be showing in our lives. They may not agree with us, but guess what? They want the truth. You're going to tell them the truth.

They want to know what the Bible says. You're not going to make it up on the fly.

Brotherly kindness, which comes from Adepthos, is not agape, but is actually known as love shared and shown between brothers and sisters. Do you remember on Matthew 12, I think, 40s, 50 something, 46 through 50, Jesus Christ is there giving a message. And the people are like, Ah, ah, ah! Your mother and your brothers, they're here to see you.

And he said, Who are my mother and my brothers?

But all of you.

And whoever does the will of my father, it wasn't about his brothers. They thought he was a joke. He was an embarrassment to the family because the religious leaders thought he was a kook. So they thought he was a kook, too. Even his mother wanted to pull him off stage because it's kind of embarrassing to have this guy and have thousands of people follow him.

But he said, No, that's not. I can tell you my brothers and sisters are in here because it's that spirit that bonds us.

I have uncles and aunts and all in Indiana, Tennessee. I can tell you I have closer relatives of that down in the Caribbean. My brothers and my sisters down there. They deserve my family because we're bonded by the Holy Spirit, not by color, ethnicity, or anything else. That's what it's about.

That's what this is about. Turn with me to Romans, which we begin to wrap this up now.

Romans 12. I know you're thinking, I'm going to go to verse 1, which is one of my favorite, 1 and 2, but I'm not. I want to go to verse 10. Romans 12 and verse 10 said, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. What did we go through Bible study last weekend? Remember what we did? It's about this room. It's about the people here. Giving honor. Brotherly kindness. Look over something if somebody will. I'm just upset about this. Get over yourselves. It's about us.

We all have the same elderly brother and we all have the same spiritual father. That's what it's about. And he's saying, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.

It's a spiritual kinship. And finally, number seven. The prescription pill out there that everybody needs is agape. Not just love, but it's agape love. It's a selfless, sacrificial, unconditional, highest form of love that there is. It's godly love.

And, brethren, it's the icing on the cake.

It's the icing on the spiritual cake. Like you turn with me to 1 John. 1 John. 1 John 4.

And verse 8.

He who does not agape does not know God. For what?

For God is agape. It's not all he is, but it's what his focus is. His motivating center is about love. Are we that way?

Verse 18. There is no fear in love, right, Maurice? And verse 18. There is no fear in agape, but perfect agape casts out fear. Well, you're not worried that somebody's going to get over on you. You're not worried because somebody doesn't like you.

Doesn't exist! Agape doesn't matter. You're still going to love that person, even if they stab you in the back.

You're going to be smart enough next time to stand sideways.

But it doesn't mean that you don't have this selfless love. Because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in agape. That's for us.

So, I described these seven today. Which of these seven, because he said, add this to faith, because faith is a totally of given many sermons on faith, which of these seven are you blessed to have?

All of them? I wish. I wish I was full of all seven.

Which of the seven do you need more? What do you need more? Character is not just produced by fear.

We have to build character.

People are not successful most of the time, unless there's hard work involved.

We have to focus on these things, if we want them. And if we will focus and we will do our part, God does this. He's guaranteed it and he cannot lie.

These are words from Peter, who was definitely a hard-headed, independent... He had issues. Go into those next week.

But this hard-headed individual had such a zeal and an energy, and eventually devotion to Christ. And what he said was he wanted everyone. He wanted everyone to experience this. He wanted everyone to listen to his words that he had learned, because when he wrote this in 2 Peter, he's about to be put to death. He knows that. He's in prison. He's about to be killed any day. Could have been the next day. We don't know.

They thought he was 60, 70 years old.

He was going to be put to death. But he wanted to pass this on to us.

This amazing, married fisherman named Simon, nicknamed Peter by Christ, who was the son and son of Jonah from Beth-ed.

As we approach the Feast of Pentecost, we have one week before we get into the time of Pentecost, which was headlined way back when the New Testament church started, headlined by Peter and the Holy Spirit.

I'd like for you to study this week the writings, 1 and 2 Peter, so that when we go into that next Sabbath, you'll know this brother who is going to be in the kingdom of God. You're going to see he had as many or just as many flaws as he would as any of you sitting out here today. But he was gifted. And so these are the final words I'd like to relieve with you, because they're Peter's words to us today sitting here in Miramar.

Like you'd turn with me to 2 Peter.

2 Peter 1, verse 5 through 15.

2 Peter 1, verse 5, But also for this very reason giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness agape. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful. You're going to be producing. 3 Peter 1, verse 6 In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. We don't have to live the way we used to live.

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never... Get that? ... stumble. Well, he said, well, wait a minute. I stumbled over this.

No, God was there to catch you. He put him in there.

God makes the best handrail you can ever have coming up and down a stairway of life.

For 11, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So listen up, Miramar. Therefore, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent or this body, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off this tent. I'm going to be killed, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my death. And he gave them to us, because he wants us there. And as you can read on down in verse 16 through 20, it's so important because he knows Christ is coming back, and he wants us to be there by his side. But there's resurrection, so we can see our Savior, our Lord, in the glorified state, because we will be in that state ourselves.

If I can say one thing, amen to what Peter says. Peter's advice of the seven ingredients of being truly a child of God.