Sermon last Sunday was on 'God's exceeding great and precious promises'.
However, due to a lack of sleep the night before (and some medication), I kinda doze off during the better part of the sermon. There were some pretty good references to the promises of God, which I didn't note down. So I'll veer off abit more than usual for this post :P

We covered 2 Peter 1:1-4, but I shall cover till the 8th verse as I feel it's still relevant.



Writing to his Christian brethren, Simon Peter wishes them grace and peace. However, the grace and peace he speaks of is only obtainable through the knowledge of God. The world we live in is an everchanging one. If we only rely on the circumstances around us, the grace and peace we can obtain is only temporal. It is only a matter of time before the fabricated security around us collapses. Friends and family will come and go, money and possessions will only grant false security, our mental and physical states will deteriorate with time. Only if we rely on an unchanging God, and align our will to His, will we find salvation - true grace and peace.

True grace and peace also stems from how we conduct ourselves. To have glory and virtue means to be able to hold steadfast in a changing world, resisting temptations and sin. I find it really helpful that the bible teaches a person how to lead his life. Filial piety, honesty, diligence and charity are just some of the virtues the bible teaches. And if we try our best to live up to these virtues, God will grant us grace and we'll eventually find ourselves in eternal glory.


So the promise by God to Christians mentioned is that if we lead our life in the knowledge of Christ, we will find grace and peace, glory and virtue, and free ourselves from the corruption of the world - a renewed life.


And thus as Christians we should learn live a life guided by these principles.
1) Faith - for faith is the basic criteria to turn our eyes toward God, and live by His commandants.
2) Virtue - through faith we exercise virtue, to lead a morally upright life in this world.
3) Knowledge - without knowledge of God's word we cannot learn to live the best Christian life we can. Faith and Virtue without knowledge is to be without direction.
4) Temperance - with knowledge comes pride, to exercise restraint or temperance is to learn to hold your tongue, sword or pen. Not to take advantage of others less fortunate. It also means to have self-control and not to give in to temptations and sins.
5) Patience - patience is a key to many accomplishments, for hastily guided work may not end in fruitation. There can be no patience without temperance.
6) Godliness - with patience we can then achieve godliness, for almost all of God's work requires time to mature.
7) Brotherly kindness - From godliness we should aim to be kind towards all men, friend or foe. The bible endorses treating enmity with kindness, and praying for your enemy.Treat Christian brethren well, and edify one another. 
8) Charity - charity is another term for love, which we should show towards all of God's children and to God himself. Jesus first died on the cross because of his love for us, shouldn't we love Him back?

From,"The Christian's Daily Rememberancer"