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Fill them with your spirit, let them preach boldly and clear the Lord, and give us ears to hear, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, we're in Proverbs chapter 22, look down at your Bibles at verse 29. It says, See, is thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. The title of this sermon this evening is Staying Above Average, Staying Above Average. And I'm getting it from this verse here, where the man who is diligent, he's consistent, he's faithful in his business, whether that be spiritual business, whether it's his job, or whatever it may be. He will stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. What that's basically referring to is he's going to be a person who's above average. He's going to be a person who basically keeps company with people who are above average. Now, the average is basically the central or typical value in a set of data. And we could say that this is what's basically commonplace. This is what's generally, or excuse me, it's what generally what people do, right? Now, there's actually nothing wrong with the Christian being an average Christian, okay? You know, for a person to just be an average Christian who goes to church and does that which is just average, there's actually absolutely nothing wrong with that. But with that being said, there's actually nothing wrong with aspiring and attempting to be above average. We never want to just say, well, everyone, it's okay for everyone to be average, just be average, just do the bare minimum, just do whatever you can. That's great, but you know what? We should also aspire and seek to attain to something greater than that. And there's people within churches who want to. You know, they get saved and they want to do great things for God. And in fact, God actually lays out a plan in order for you to be able to do that. Now, go with me if you went to 2 Peter chapter number 1. That's where we're going to spend the majority of the sermon is in 2 Peter chapter 1. Now let me say this is that if the Christian life were based on a scale of grades, like let's say you go to school, high school, elementary or whatever, you know, I would say that we can kind of apply the same grade scale to the Christian life. Now this isn't something set in stone, you know, this is not something that I am 100% convinced about, just something that I kind of made up, okay? And so take it with a grain of salt, don't try to scrutinize this too bad and like, oh, I don't know about that one, you know. I just want to use this to basically help us to understand where we would be on a grade scale, okay? And by the way, this is at the exclusion of salvation, all right? So not including salvation, we're talking about people who are already saved because salvation takes no effort on our part, right? All it takes is faith in Christ and that's it. But thereafter, then it requires our, you know, own effort and the work that we put in to be able to gain, you know, rewards and do what God wants us to do. So the lowest grade obviously that you can get is what? It's an F, right? F is for failure. So who is, no, don't raise your hand by the way, that's me right there. Who would be an F in the Christian life? Well, this is someone who gets saved but they never get baptized, they never come to church, they never grow and they just live a sinful life. We would say that Christian is a failure, right? Because they're not aspiring to enjoin themselves to a church, get baptized, start growing in their faith, read their Bible, pray and do all these things. The Bible says, hey, you know what? That's an F right there. And you know what, someone who gets saved out there and so many and they don't come to church, you know, they can believe some weird stuff. And in fact, the Bible specifically says in 2 Peter 1 verse 8, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye should neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and that's forgotten that he was purged from his old sins, the Bible says. So you know what, someone who's out there and they get saved but they never start serving God, they never come to church, you know, thank God that they got saved. But you know what, if they don't come to church, they don't start growing in their knowledge of God's word, that's all they're going to have and in fact when they come, when it comes to eternal life or going to heaven, going into the millennial reign, they're not going to really have much. And in fact, they're going to be the least in the kingdom of God, right. So that's a person who gets an F, alright, just a failure of a Christian, alright. Like oh man, that sounds kind of bad, you know, well no consolation prizes here, okay. This is the Christian life. And you know what, salvation is 100% free but there's things that God expects for us to do thereafter and if you choose not to do it, then you have failed as a Christian, okay. Not failed in your salvation because obviously that has nothing to do with us. The next grade is a what? D, okay. This will be considered below average. Now if I were to surmise what this person is, this person may or may not get baptized, okay. Seldom comes to church or only attends when they feel like it or when something goes horribly wrong in their life, right. This is a person that shows up every couple of months or something like that and you know, this is the person who's like oh man, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be here and look, they have good intentions but here's the thing, good intentions are just not enough. What do they get? D, below average because they're not even fulfilling just the minimal requirement of what God says to do. The easy stuff. Getting baptized is easy. Getting baptized, you know, when it's 111 degrees outside in a cold tub, that's pretty easy. You know, people aspire to do that and we have two baptisms today, you know. People are very, very motivated to get baptized today. I think I re-baptized some people, no, I'm just kidding. The Bible says in Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, you know, Paul's like, he has some people in mind, he's like as the manner of some is, you know, there's some people out there that do forsake the assembling of God's people and that is their manner but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. So this is a person who's just below average, still saved, still going to heaven, may or may not have gotten baptized, comes to church every once in a while, can't even fulfill the just the basics, okay. And look, it doesn't take much to come to church either, right. It's like, oh, so much work to come. Oh yeah, so much work for you to sit there and just listen for 50 minutes, you know. Yeah, but pastor, it's so hot though. Yeah, it's actually hotter for me up here, okay, you know, with the lights and then the, you know, the heat rises and all that and I'm moving around. All you got to do is sit there, pick a spot under the AC units right here. And you're good to go. It's not hard, right. So you got an F, not you, but I'm saying we got an F and this is a failure of a Christian, a person who gets saved just does nothing else, still saved. Then you have a D, this is a Christian who is just below average, may or may not have gotten baptized, seldom comes to church, whatever, you know. Next letter, what's the next letter? C. This is your what? Average Christian. They get baptized, they come to church, they tithe, they love the church. They love the fellowship and you know what, there's actually nothing wrong with being a C. There's actually nothing wrong and the majority of churches are filled with average Christians that just do the average and you know what, there's nothing in the Bible that says that this is wrong. In fact, it's great. Now in school, a C is just like, okay, you just barely made it by the skin of your teeth, right. Isn't that what it means? It's just like you just barely got there, you know. But you know, in the Christian life, it's not necessarily you got there by the skin of your teeth. It's just like actually you're fulfilling that which is just common to do. God tells you to go to church, you go to church. God tells you to fellowship, you fellowship. God tells you to, you know, you get baptized, you get baptized. You just fulfill that which God has called you to do, the very average and that's exactly what you do. And this is great. I prefer an average over a below average and in fact, like I mentioned, the majority of churches are filled with this letter right here and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. You can spend your entire life as an average Christian, get a ton of rewards, still be blessed by God, still be used by God greatly and it'll be A-OK, amen. So this isn't bad at all. What's the next letter after that? B. Now by the way, this is at the exclusion of a B minus or a B plus, right? We're forgetting those, right? You can add your own to that. So B Christian is the Christian who is above average. I would say that this is the Christian who puts in the effort to read their Bible throughout the year, right? Because that requires quite a bit of effort to say, you know what, I'm going to read my Bible once throughout this year or I'm going to read my Bible twice throughout this year. I'm going to make an effort to actually open up the Word of God, not just on Sundays, not just on the midweek service, but I want to open it up Monday all the way up until Sunday. I want to be able to finish my Bible, read it from cover to cover. This is a B level Christian. Not only that, but this is also a Christian who goes sowing because it's above average. Now God commands us all to go sowing, but let's just be honest, the average Christian does not go sowing. So it requires a Christian who's actually above average to put in the effort to go sowing once a week, to go out there for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, or an hour, whatever it is, to go out there and preach the gospel, see people saved. That's okay. That's great. This is a person who is above average, great church members. But this is the one I want to talk about this evening. So what's the next letter? A. Now this I will add a plus too. So the F Christian is the failure of a Christian who gets saved. I know that sounds bad, huh? You failure of a Christian. But I'm not talking to you guys because you guys are actually in church. So we got the C level here and maybe some above, maybe some even an A. And what the sermon is all about is to help you, to motivate you to become an A plus Christian. Now if you say, well I'm content with being a C level Christian, that's great. But you know what? God has laid out a plan if you don't want to remain there. The A, or excuse me, let's go through them. So F is failure. D is below average. C is just your average Christian. B is those who do, you know, a little bit more than that. They read their Bibles. They go soul winning. A. This is the Christian who rises above average and is diligently adding to their faith. What does that mean? They're constantly growing. They're constantly changing. They're constantly renewing their minds. These are the people who when they first come to church they're one person, but the longer they stay they begin to change for the better. You know if you could look at yourself a year from now or a year ago and say, yeah I'm actually a lot different a year ago than I was today, then you're probably like an A level Christian. A plus. Because it requires a lot of effort and in fact more specifically it requires what? It requires intelligence to be able to put in the effort to add to your faith. It's easy to come to church, hear a sermon on Joe Biden, say amen, and then just go back to living just exactly the way you lived before. Not cleaning up your life, not adding to your faith, not learning, not growing. It requires an A plus Christian to actually rise above the average and say, you know what? I want to stand out. I want to be an A plus Christian. I don't want to stand by with mean men average. I don't want to be an average man or an average woman. I want to be, I want to rise above that. This is the Christian that is constantly growing in their faith. So that's what I want to talk about this evening. How to rise above average. And look, even if you go from, first of all if you're an F or a D, let's work up our way to a C. Amen? If you're a D, then come up to a C. If you're a C today, the goal should be, well let's get to a B. You know, well I'm a C, I come to church, but you know what, I don't really read my Bible as much. Okay, let's start being a C kind of Christian. Read your Bible every single day. Read a proverb every day. Start off with that for an entire month and then start working on everything else the month thereafter, right? You know, if you are a C Christian, you should work on coming to every service, right? If you're a D level Christian or a C level Christian, you want to be a C plus, you want to add to that C, okay, then don't, you know, don't be a Sunday morning glory. Be a Sunday night Christian, a Thursday night Christian. Add more services to your repertoire, your Christian repertoire, okay? If you are a B level Christian, okay, that's great. How about adding to that a little more and start growing, start changing, start maturing. And we're going to look how to do that. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 4, how to rise above the average. Look at verse number 4, it says, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So first and foremost, in order for us to change, in order for us to get better, you know, we don't need a self-help book necessarily. This is what we need right here. So self-help books and, you know, how-to manuals and videos, they're very essential at some points of our lives whether, you know, we're involved in business, in the secular realm or even in the Christian realm. But the book that you need the most is the Word of God, right? These are the exceeding great and precious promises that God has given to us and it's going to help us to change and to become better. So here's some couple things here. Look at number 1, first and foremost, look at verse 5, it says, And beside this, giving all diligence. So the first thing you need to do to rise above the average is be a diligent person. It doesn't say talented person. It doesn't say a gifted person because it doesn't take much to be a gifted or a talented person. These are things that God has given to you, right? Talents and gifts, the ability to play an instrument, the ability to sing well, the ability to do X, Y, and Z, those are things that God has given to you. It doesn't require that much work for you to improve upon those things. But here's the thing, diligence is that which is a quality that a Christian has to be consistent in the Christian life. Faithful, okay? The constant and earnest effort to accomplish a task or a goal. And look folks, I prefer to be diligent than to be talented. It's an important quality because the Bible says a faithful man shall abound with blessing. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man, who can find? Diligent men are actually scarce today in 2020. And this is why it's important that we give all diligence in the Christian life because if we're to succeed in a Christian life, if we're to succeed to add to our faith, we need to consistently do even things that we don't feel like doing. So it says beside this, giving all diligence. Now go with me if you will, hold your place there and go to Proverbs chapter 20. Actually, I'm sorry, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. You know, one of the reasons why Christians fail is simply because they lack diligence in the Christian life. You know, often what they do is they just pile upon themselves these insurmountable goals of Bible reading. They're like, well man, I'm going to start this week off and I'm going to read 20 chapters of the Bible. But you know what? Monday you may be able to do that, Tuesday rolls around, it's 15 chapters, Wednesday rolls around, it's 5 chapters. By the time Friday comes around, you're reading barely like a couple of verses of one chapter. God would rather have you just be consistent in reading one chapter a day than making these goals that are insurmountable that you can't keep up with and then you end up failing in the long run. God just wants us to be diligent in that which is least. Look what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 7, therefore as He abounded everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence as in your love to us, see the abound and disgrace also. So what is God telling us? He wants us to abound and He wants us to grow in this matter of being consistent and faithful. The Christian life can be summed up like this, just be faithful in everything that you do. Be faithful in church attendance. Be faithful in your Bible reading. Be faithful in that which is least so God can give you dominion over that which is much. Consistency is the key to be able to succeed and be an A-plus Christian. And I guarantee you, you come back to this church 10 years from now and if you run into the same people that were here 10 years before, one of the main qualities that they had was diligence. They were just consistent. They were consistently working on their marriage. They were consistently working on the discipline of their children. They were consistently working on being a hard worker at their job. They were consistently reading their Bibles. They were consistently coming to church. They were just consistent in their Christian life. Don't be an inconsistent Christian. And let me say this, most people who are inconsistent in their Christian lives are emotional Christians. Why is that? Because of the fact that if a Christian is inconsistent, that means they only do what they are supposed to do when they what? Feel like doing it. Which is an emotion. And look, God gave us emotions, nothing wrong with emotions, but our emotions should not dictate our decisions, you understand? We ought to do what we're supposed to do even if we don't feel like doing it. And look, the difference between the boys and the men is that the men are diligent, the boys only do what they want to do, what they're supposed to do when they feel like doing it. You understand? Therefore, what do they need? They need to read, they need to add to their faith diligence, they need to give all diligence to that which they are doing. Be consistent in your Christian life. You know, you should be someone that people can count on, right? Don't be like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. People should be able to count on you. Hey, those of you who are on teams, your team leader should be able to count on you. Your team leader should be able to say, I know that this person is going to be where they need to be, right where they need to be at, what time they need to be there. They are a diligent, consistent Christian. The ones who are not consistent are like the broken tooth. And by the way, you said, why does it use that analogy, the broken tooth? How many of you have ever actually had a broken tooth? The nerve is exposed, it's just painful, and it's what? Annoying. So what is he saying? A person who is inconsistent, they're not faithful, it's kind of annoying. It's like, brother, we meet here at this time, at this place, every single time, be faithful, be consistent. This is the only way you're going to succeed and be an A-plus Christian is if you have this as your basis to be consistent and diligent in what you do. Go back to 2 Peter, chapter 1. So then, all right, you have diligence. Now what? Well, now you've got to add to your faith moral excellence, which is virtue, okay? What does that mean? You've got to start cleaning up your life. And don't undermine this point. Isn't it interesting that this is the one that he says first right after diligence? He doesn't say knowledge, he doesn't say brotherly kindness, he doesn't say temperance. What does he say? You need to make sure that you add to your faith virtue, which is moral excellence. What does that mean? He wants you to begin to change your actions. So in other words, examine your life, see what's in your life that God will not approve of and stop doing it. It's called repenting, right? Begin to repent of your sins. Begin to clean up your life. This is virtue, okay? God is very much concerned over the virtue of a Christian when a Christian does, right? The Bible says in Proverbs 28, go to James chapter 4, Proverbs 28 verse 13 says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Folks, too many people, listen to me, too many people have diligence and they want to skip all the way to knowledge. And they think, well, if I just have the knowledge of God's word, I know the timing of the rapture, I know end times Bible prophecy, I know the doctrines and the ins and outs of the biblical teaching, I'm going to be just fine, wrong. You need the breastplate of righteousness is what you need. Because if you don't have the breastplate of righteousness, the breastplate protects the what? The heart. And out of the heart, the Bible says, keep thine heart with all what? Diligence. For out of it are the issues of life. It's important that we keep our hearts clean. God is concerned with how clean your heart is. And so when someone gets saved, yeah, we need to make sure we get them baptized, absolutely. But you know what that person needs to do after that? Start cleaning up their lives. You know, put out the weed, put out the alcohol, put away, you know, the filth of whatever the conversation of this world, stop hanging out with their worldly friends and the friends that are going to cause them to decline, spiritually speaking, and start adding to their faith virtue. Look at James 4, verse 7, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Now how does that work? You know, a lot of people today have these phrases and terms like, you know, oh, we just got to draw nigh to the Lord. We just got to get close to God. I'm close to God. God knows me. I know God. But yet they're living this wicked lifestyle. You know, they want to pay lip service to honoring Jesus Christ while they're still out there smoking weed and drinking and fornicating and being involved with all manner of wickedness, but yet they're still close to God. Wrong, folks. Draw nigh to God. He'll draw nigh to you. Look what it says. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. This is before COVID, amen. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded, the Bible says. So it says, look, if you want to draw nigh to me, then start cleaning up your hands. Clean up your life. Add to your faith virtue. Now look, when someone gets saved, obviously they don't come with batteries included, right? There's things that they don't know. There's things that are sinful that they don't know is sinful. But I will say this. I remember when I first got saved, there were certain things that you just kind of already know. Like, all right, I got to stop doing this, or I got to stop being around these people, or I got to stop partaking in these activities. It's something you just know. It's just common sense, right? And I think this is what God expects of us is that we start cleaning up our lives in the areas that we know we need to start cleaning up our lives. Because then, you know, being in church, you start learning new things. You start learning what the sin is, the transgression of the law. You start learning that maybe some of the things that you're partaking of are not right, are not good. You know, you start adding to your faith knowledge, but first and foremost, you got to add virtue, okay? Moral excellence, right? Live a righteous life. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. Go to 1 Peter chapter 1. Raise your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. And one of the reasons why people begin to clean up their lives without really even knowing what the Bible says about certain things is because when they come to church, they're around holy people, right? They're around other Christians who are living holy lives, righteous lives, and they begin to mimic that. They begin to see that these people behave in a different manner, and they want to mimic that. You know, that begins to influence them. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13. Wherefore, grid up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. So what is he saying? You need to make sure that the way you're fashioning your Christian life is not according to your former life. So it's not like, well, I used to listen to gangster rap, but now I'm going to listen to gangster Christian rap. I'm going to listen to Lecrae. How many of you guys ever heard of Lecrae? I'm going to listen to Lecrae. I'm going to go into this Christian form of this wicked music. Folks, that's foolishness. It's nonsense. You might as well just go to the real deal. Music sucks anyways. That's what CCM is, right? It's a cheap knockoff of the real deal, of the real wickedness, and it's still wicked, because it's adding Christ on top of that. What about death metal music? Still wicked. Folks, if it's called death metal, even if, I remember years ago, before I was saved, I think it was like 12. My Pentecostal aunt took me to one of those crusades. What are those crusades called? The Great Glory? Yeah, Harvest. Harvest. Garbage. Yeah, garbage is what it is, and I remember I went there, and I was just like, what are we doing? It's like, oh, it's a concert, and there's literally a death metal band there, right? And they're all wearing black, and then all I remember is this. And I'm just like, okay? Like you didn't even understand a word the guy said. He probably said Jesus in the song, I don't know. And I'm thinking to myself like, and this is prior, you know, BC before Christ, okay? I was like, wow, this is Christian? I didn't know that. That's interesting. And I just kind of brushed it off like whatever. But folks, it's so ridiculous when Christians want to delve into that kind of nonsense. Because what are they doing? What they want to do is still have an occasion to the flesh, right? They want an occasion to the flesh, so in order to appease or to appeal to the conscience, you know, so they don't feel guilty, they want to listen to the same music but with Christ slapped on right onto it. It's nonsense. Folks, add to your faith virtue, listen to some hymns. And I'm not against special music either. I know some people are against special music. I'm not. I'm just against it being in our church. I listen to special music all the time, Christian music, okay? All the time. I listen to, you know, that blessed old book and all these other Christian groups and quartets. I love that because those are spiritual songs. I think it's great, you know? They have biblical truths and it feeds the soul. It doesn't make me want to get jiggy with it. That's the problem with a lot of like Pentecostals, right? It's like they left the cumbias and the merengue and all the salsa and then they listen to like a Christian version of it. So stupid, you know? Why? Because they want to remain fleshly, that's why. Folks, speak to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody into your heart, unto the Lord. Music should feed the spirit. It should reinforce doctrine. It should cause joy to swell up within your inner man, right? When I got saved, you know, I used to listen to a little bit of rap back in the day, okay? A little bit of hip hop back in the day. That's the kind of crowd I used to grow up in. But I got saved and I knew like, okay, this is, obviously I can't listen to this. They're saying some pretty blasphemous stuff on this stuff. But the thing is, like, someone gave me some hymns to listen to, and I was like, man, this kind of sucks, too. You know, because I didn't have an appetite for spiritual things as of yet, I was still a babe in Christ. You know, the principle of replacement, what brother Ulysses preached about, that's what needed to take place. And I remember someone gave me a CD, and I just said, you know what, I'm not going to listen to rap or hip hop anymore. I'm done with that. And so someone gave me a CD, he's like, just listen to this, and they had the song called I'm On The Winning Side. How many of you know that song, I'm On The Winning Side? And I remember I popped it in, and that song started playing, and I just hit the eject button. I was like, maybe I just won't listen to any music at all. But then I learned the principle of replacement, and I realized that my appetite just needed to change. And you know what, the more I sung the hymns, the more I listened to spiritual songs, the more my appetite grew for that type of music, the more virtue I added to my life. And it was great because the music that I was listening to was reinforcing my Bible reading. You know, especially during Christmas, I started listening to those Christmas hymns. Christmas hymns have a lot of doctrine within it, and it just makes you kind of proud to be a Christian, you know? And what does it do? It adds virtue to your life, folks. So guys, just keep in mind, hey, we're going to get to the knowledge in just a bit, but don't do the knowledge before you do the virtue. Virtue is important. Okay? To obey is better than to sacrifice. It's better for you to clean up your life, live a righteous life, live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord, and then add those other things later on. God wants you to cleanse your hands, okay? So be holy. So we see here that in order to be an A-plus Christian, we need diligence, and after diligence, we need to add to our faith virtue. The second one there is to add knowledge. So now we got to know why it is that we do the things that we do. Well, one of the ways you gain knowledge is by what? Coming to church. Obviously, you're going to get it by reading your Bible, but let's just be real honest. A brand new Christian who starts reading their Bible, they're not going to know much still. And in fact, even when they read their Bible, they're going to stumble, they're going to look at it and say, I don't know what this is saying, I don't know what it's talking about. Whereas when they come to church, they're going to get the teaching of God's Word, the explanation thereof, how they can apply it, and they're going to be able to enrich their lives because of it. So it adds substance to their life. Look, there's churches out there that want nothing to do with knowledge. They'd rather have you just be inspired than to have knowledge, right? They give the motivational speech, and they don't want you to get deep down into doctrine. So what do they do? They give you a devotional booklet instead. By Charles Haddon Spurgeon, by Paul Chappell, by, I don't know who else is the major devotional guy. Who? Oh, please, no. Yeah, by John MacArthur. They give you that so that you just have this shallow Christianity because they're just trying to help you get by. But how are you going to get by with that nonsense? So you have to add to your faith knowledge. In other words, you have to start studying the Word of God. And when you come to church, be ready to hear and to learn something. Okay? You know, we went through the Book of Revelation. We went through some pretty meaty things, amen? My wife was telling me about a testimony that someone gave in our church, and they said that basically they had come to our church a while back, like, I don't know, a couple years ago or maybe a year ago, I don't remember the timing. But they sat under the preaching. They could not digest the preaching. It was hard for them, so they left. They're like, this is too much. This is way too hard for us. The meat is too hard. They literally say it was just too meaty. So they literally left our church because of that. They weren't offended. They just couldn't handle the meat of God's Word. They went to a different church where it was more of this shallow, inspirational, motivational thing, and then they realized, we have to go back. We can't do this. And then they came and they began to digest the food that was being given to them. You know what? They're growing in knowledge now, right? So it's important that when we come to church, you know, we want to be inspired, we want to have a good laugh, we want to hear about controversial things, but folks, it's also important to just gain knowledge. And you know what? Sometimes, let's just be honest, some knowledge is mundane, isn't it? Be honest. Some information of the Bible is mundane, but guess what? It's still information that you need to learn, okay? And we need to educate ourselves in these matters because it's the Word of God. God has told us to do so. And in fact, the Bible specifically says, you know, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A lot of Christians out there just want to grow in the grace of Christ. But you know what? They don't understand and know God because they're not growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, who He really is. This is why they have the faggoty Jesus as a picture. If they had the knowledge, if they actually read the Bible, they wouldn't be doing that stupid nonsense of putting the six-foot Caucasian, you know, man bun Jesus up there. Why? Because they're only growing in grace, but they're not necessarily growing in knowledge, okay? So begin to educate yourself. And look, when Christians first get saved and they're excited, they have zeal. They're excited about the things of God, but we never want to be the kind of Christian that we have zeal, but not according to knowledge, okay? The Bible says, but Him that gloried, let Him glory in this, that He understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercised loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Folks, I'm glad that I'm part of a church where knowledge is not shunned. We can have conversations at the church about knowledge, about the deep things of God, and no one is going to look down on you. No one's going to try to shame you. Now if you do it in a prideful way, yeah, we will. But if you're sincerely wanting to learn knowledge, you want to get involved in some deep Bible conversations, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that should be expected when we go to church. I know churches where that is shunned. It's just like, oh, you need to go to Bible college. Oh, you were one of those people. Oh, you want to learn deeper things of the Bible? Go to Bible college. Pay for that deep Bible knowledge, which is as deep as a cup. It's not even deep at all. So what do we do in order to be an A-plus Christian? Well number one, we need to make sure we have diligence, or should we say introductory? We need to have diligence. We need to make sure that we have add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. Verse six says into knowledge, temperance. What is that? We need to couple our learning with self-control, okay? Now this is important, okay? Because sometimes when a Christian is new in the faith, they kind of just let everything fly off the handle, right? Like they don't have any restraint in their mouth. Like they need a muzzle sometimes, kind of what we talked about this morning. And it's important that you have temperance, self-control. You learn how to temper the body. Now understand this is that God often, you know, in the Bible tells us to abstain from certain things, right? Well, this is what's known as temperance. And you abstain from fornication. You abstain from alcohol. You abstain from sinful things, sinful habits that you know will destroy your life. How about this? Abstaining from being angry, right? You know, being able to have self-control and to control your emotions as a man or a woman is a very important quality to have. And in fact, it is a virtue according to the Bible. You're like, well, you know, I'm just a man, I'm just, you know, I could just get mad. Then what that means is that you're just an emotional man, you understand? Like I just, I just fly and I got a short fuse, then you need to grow your fuse then. Because that's not a good quality to have. When you're just not slow to anger, you just get mad at the drop of a hat, a person makes a comment, you just jump all over them. That's not Godly folks. The Bible tells us to be temperate in all things. He that is slow to anger is actually better than the mighty. And he that ruleth the spirit, that he that taketh the city. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. And the Bible says that when you find perverseness in the lips, it's a breach in the spirit. So what do we see? We see that a person who does not have temperance or self-control is often susceptible to satanic attacks, right? Satan can come and just influence you to be an angry person, to just yell at your wife or yell at your dog or kick your cat or whatever, you know? Hey, but how about this? Just having self-control and not being an emotional person where it's just like you just cry at the drop of a hat too. And I know 2020, I have to say that when it comes to guys. The estrogen levels are up, you know, the soy has been consumed, you understand? And guys get emotional to the point where it's just like they can't handle any pressure. They can't handle pressure. Hey, folks, they can't handle correction or rebuke or they just can't even handle a simple statement made by people. They just get offended at the drop of a hat. That's a lack of self-control. Because you know what, as men, things should just, you know, fall off like water off a duck's back sometimes. We should take things with a grain of salt sometimes because we have bigger fish to fry, folks. It's important that as Christians we're temperate, that we're self-controlled, hey, that you don't overanalyze what other people say, right? It's like, man, Brother High called me brother. Why did he emphasize that err so much? Does he think I'm like a reprobate or something? Does he think I'm just so I'm just weak in the faith or something? It's like good night. You're over analyzing way too much. You're not temperate. You got to temper your mind, folks. Right? Gird up the loins of your mind. Don't let your imaginations run wild. Cast down imaginations and every high theme that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Have temperance. Have self-control. And don't just imagine that everyone's against you in church or something. Like, oh, man, I just feel like all the girls are just, all the ladies are gossiping about me. You know, they keep looking at me all weird or something. Well, yeah, because you're looking at them weird. I look at people weird who look at me weird. If someone was just like, I go, right? So, you know, be happy. Be a delightful person. Don't be this person who's just constantly paranoid about others. What others think of you, first of all, who cares what people think about you? Right? Now, I'm not saying just live a careless life and just like, you know, don't brush your teeth. Don't comb your hair. Don't put on deodorant or whatever. Like, care a little bit. But what I'm saying is, hey, we need to be temperate. We need to have self-control. We need to control our emotions. And, look, if you have a problem with other people in our church, this is what you do. You go to that individual. The person who has no self-control goes home and cries at themselves to sleep at night. I don't want that person to like me. What is that? The person with no self-control just bottles everything up and does not want to just address the issue. Folks, the person with self-control addresses everything. If I think I got beef with Jordan or Jordan has beef with me, I'm confronting him about it. Why? Because he's my brother in Christ. He's a church member. I don't want there to be tension between us. Therefore, I'm going to go, Jordan, why did you say that about me? Are you like mad at me or something? Well, yeah, I'm just, I don't like your beard, you know, whatever. So I just made this comment because I'm upset the fact that, you know, X, Y, and Z, and it's just like, well, let's hash it out. Let's talk about it. That is self-control, folks. That's being tempered because you're not allowing yourself to just get overly emotional, become bitter, start imagining things. You're controlling the situation is what you're doing. By the way, confrontation is self-control. It's being able to control the situation and say, this is the issue. We need to resolve this, okay? So we need to add to knowledge temperance and to temperance what? Patience. Now, how can we define patience? Well, I would define it as maturity because, you know, a child is not able to wait for things, right? They always want everything now, whereas the mature person understands that good things come to those who wait. They're patient. When I was a child, I spanked as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. And folks, let me just tell you this, is that one of the best ways to grow in patience is just to go through trials. Trials and tribulations make you grow up. It makes a man out of you, you understand? And look, every single individual in this church will go through trials and tribulations that are just going to try you and push you to your limits. And if you stick it out, it'll make a man out of you. If you don't, then you need to grow up. You're going to go back to square one. You need to mature. The Bible says in James, go to James chapter one, let me read to you from Romans chapter five, hold your place in second Peter one. We're talking about being an A plus Christian. And look, if you're satisfied with being an average Christian, that's great. Keep doing what you're doing. You still get rewarded. God is pleased with your life. I don't know about you, but I want to rise above that. If God has given us a formula to be able to rise above that which is average, why not take advantage of that, right? But it takes patience. Let me read to you from Romans five verse one, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God and through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Look at James one, verse one or verse two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Why? Because you're about to experience a growth spurt. The times that we grow the most are the times when we go through difficult situations. It's not necessarily when you're succeeding. It's when you're going through a really hard time. Count it all joy knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. Don't run away from difficulties. If anything, run towards the difficulty. It'll help you to grow up. It'll help you to mature. And you will be an A plus Christian when you just stick it out. And look, when you're going through a hard time, weep, pray, express grief, mourn, but don't quit. Wear your emotions on your sleeves at that point if you want, but just don't quit. See, I'm not saying never be emotional. The problem is when guys are just constantly emotional, it's like every single day. There's times when we can grieve and mourn and weep and we're going through a difficult time, but just don't quit. Let patience have her perfect work. Go back to 2 Peter chapter 1, we're talking about being an A plus Christian. Learn to be a patient person. And patience is often seen in a person when they're going through a difficult time and they're just like, you know, I'm just going to wait till the end comes of the situation. I'm not going to try to force it. Obviously, I can't do anything about it. I'm just going to grow through this. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to be consistent. It's in God's hands. I'm going to let this thing run its course. That takes patience. It takes maturity, especially if you don't know like when the end is or how everything's going to turn out. You know those times of uncertainty, you just don't know what's going to happen, but you know that God's in control. That's important. Well, no, I just want this now. I want this to end now. I want this to start now. You lack patience. Wait upon the Lord. Serve God. Read your Bible. Do what you know you're supposed to do now and wait. So what do we add to our patience? Godliness. This is talking about doing right when your life is basically characterized by Christianity itself. Right? So you think of a person who is godly. This is a person who basically Christianity just permeates every aspect of their life. This is an individual that does not compartmentalize Christianity. What does that mean? It's like, well, I'm a Christian when I come to church, but when I go home, all bets are off. Go back to my worldly lifestyle. My job is just worldly. You know, with my family, it's a different story. It's only really when I come to church that I wear the dresses. You know, the dress is, you know, when the Bible talks about modesty, it's just talking about being modest at church. Wrong. We're supposed to add to our faith godliness. Godliness is when our entire life is characterized by these things. That means when you're home, when you're with your parents, or when it's just you and God, you just, you're still a Christian, folks. So the skirts, you know, the pants don't just come on as soon as, like, there's no eyes there. I remember one time, we're at a, this is at a different church, and we were like, I forgot, I think it was at the mall or something, we were Christmas shopping, and I think it was either with Marcos or, I don't remember who it was, but we saw a member of the church, and I was like, hey, sister so-and-so, and she was behind this, like, this rack, and she was like, hey, she's like, good to see ya, and I was just like, what is she doing? Why is she squatting like that? And she's all, I can't talk, okay, and she was like, I was like, that was weird. What happened? I was like, what just happened right now? And then, I don't know if it was Marcos or someone else, but they were like, oh, it's because she's wearing pants. I was like, wow, I was like, she would have just done better just coming up and just, you know, instead of doing all that show, but you know what that shows me? It shows me that that person knew it wasn't right to wear pants, basically, but she was right, and folks, let me just remind us, okay, because I know some people tend to get a little loose when it comes to this. Pants are for men, not for women. That is a man's garment. You say, well, I don't agree with that. Then just say you don't agree with the Bible, because that's what the Bible says. Breaches are for men, not for women, okay, and if you feel a little guilty wearing pants outside of church, then that probably shows that you know, and you know what the Bible says to him? To know what to do good and do what to not, to him it is sin. Godliness is when Christianity permeates every aspect of our life. It permeates the way we dress, the way we talk, the way we raise our children, the way we interact with other individuals. It's just who we are. See, before godliness, Christianity is just something we do, but when godliness is added, Christianity is just something that we are. It's just part of our life. It's basically when you don't say, should I come to church today? It's not even a question. Now ask that question to yourself if you're like throwing up and projectile vomiting. Yes, ask that question. Should I go to church today? The answer should be no, okay, but just on a regular basis, you know, you have to convince me not to come to church. You have to try to convince me not to read my Bible, right, because that's just part of who we are, you understand? So godliness is when your life is just characterized by these things and we ought to exercise ourselves rather than to godliness according to the Bible. Look at verse number seven. So we're talking about being an A-plus Christian. What will help you be an A-plus Christian? Add into your faith godliness. When you start recognizing I can't compartmentalize God and just act like a Christian when I go to First Works Baptist Church or when I'm around the brethren, this is something who I'm supposed to be 24-7. But then we add to godliness what? Brotherly kindness. The Bible says in Romans 12 verse 10, be kindly affectioned one toward another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. So what is this characterized by? Preferring one another. This happens when you develop relationships within the church, okay? So this happens when church not only becomes a place where you come on Sundays or on Thursdays but it almost becomes like a family and then you start developing a genuine love for the brethren where you actually prefer them, you understand? And look folks, this is a different level of church attendance right here. Some people come to church and they come and they just come for the preaching. They come because they know they're supposed to not forsake the assembly. But there's a different level. There's an A plus Christian who actually when they come, they come because they also love the brethren. They have an affection towards the brethren. It's like family to them. That's a good way to grow. But here's the thing. It takes you being a little vulnerable though, right? It takes you actually going out of your way to go talk to Eric. Not just Eric, I'm just using an example. You know what I mean. Or to Jason or Adam, how about that, okay? Or John, wait I'm picking all these bad guys, no I'm just kidding. It takes you just going out of your way to getting to know the people in our church. Hey ladies, right? Time to go out of your way and go talk to some of the other ladies in our church. And the ladies do that in our church. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. But this is basically preferring one another. And let me say this. Hey, maturity says that when new people come to our church, you go talk to them, you greet them, you make them feel welcome, you check on their salvation, you check to see if they got baptized, you invite them out to eat, you take them to? That's a man who has added godly, no I'm just kidding. He's added to his faith knowledge, okay? You prefer one another. You actually grow in your love for the people in the church and say, man, I want to be with these people. These are the people I want to be with. Hey, these are the people I want to grow old with, amen? These are my brothers, I want to grow old with these people, I want our children to grow up together, I prefer them, okay? Brotherly kindness. Some people don't like that because they just feel too vulnerable, like, oh man, what if they find out who I really am? What if they find out that I'm actually lazy or something? What if they find out that I am emotional, my estrogen levels are high or something, you know? Well, you know, brotherly kindness will do that and it'll help you so that you raise up your testosterone, amen? It'll help you to make you a better person, okay? Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And here we're at our last one here, so we got to add godliness. After godliness, we need to add brotherly kindness and then ultimately to brotherly kindness, what? Charity. Now charity is basically love, right? Go to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3. Now why is charity the last one? Why is it that it's the last on this entire list here? Well, look what it says in Colossians chapter 3 verse 13. Forbearing one another, forgiving one another, if any men have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is what? The bond of perfectness, the Bible says. So what does charity do? It actually brings all this together. It's basically the glue that keeps all these things together. So look, if you're struggling with any one of these, just make sure you have charity at least. Because charity can be defined as this, loving God and loving others. If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we're going to fulfill all these areas. Because love is the fulfillment of the law, the Bible says. So this is why it's the last one, because really it brings everything together. I don't know you, but I prefer to strive to be an A-plus Christian. If it's there, why not? And look, I'm talking to those who are either C and above here, because you're here on a Sunday night in this crazy weather. Miss Ariel brought the Texas weather over here, okay? It's like 111 degrees outside, good night in the morning, but you're here. So I'm speaking to those who are C and up, right? But you know what? If you are a C, I would encourage you, strive to get to a B. And if you're a B, look, you're only one more grade from an A. Why settle for just being a B Christian? Move up to an A. Keep growing in your faith, add to your faith virtue. I will say this, if you're an F, if you're just completely failing at the Christian life, skip D and just go to C at least, because D's pretty bad too. Both D's, I mean, when you came home and you brought home a D, was that really any different than an F? Right? It's like, well, at least it's not an F. It's still a D though. D is still, you're basically failing. You're just not all the way there yet, but you're basically there, okay? So if you're an F, you should strive to say, well, I need to get to a C. I need to become at least an average Christian where I'm being consistent and faithful and that which God has called me to do. But if you're already there, if you've been a C for a while, then strive for a B. Go soloing. I have the goal to say, I'm going to start reading my Bible every single day. Don't go 10 chapters either, just go for a chapter. But if you're already at a B and you know you're at a B, okay, then I will tell you, you should strive to be an A, because you're almost there. You just got to add to your faith. Rise above the average, amen? Inspire heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. It's the instructional sermon tonight, but it's very valuable to us. I know it's valuable to me. I'm constantly reminded of these virtues and these characteristics, these attributes that you want us to have. Help us, Lord, to continue to add to our faith. And Lord, I'm thankful for all the C Christians, and that's not a bad thing to be. But Lord, if you've given us more to aim for, more to strive for, I pray that you'd help us to do so and help us to accomplish those areas and to influence others to do this same. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless our church, continue to help us to grow, to add to our faith, to clean up our lives, to add to our faith, knowledge, temperance, brotherly kindness and godliness, Lord, and charity, and just keep growing in our Christian lives, Lord, so that we don't look back. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to continue to strive for more. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please do your song.