Progressing in Maturity | Ep. 117

This episode explores how we partake of the divine nature through the promises of God and grow in spiritual maturity. We'll be delving into scriptures like 2 Peter 1:3-4, Ezekiel 36:26, 1 Corinthians 1:6-8, and Philippians 1:6, to discover how God works in us and anchors us securely in Jesus Christ. 

We'll journey deeper into faith, examining virtues such as patience, godliness, and self-control. Drawing from scripture, we'll navigate the significance of diligence in our Christian faith. Reflect on the importance of brotherly kindness that reveals the children of God, and how the testing of faith is an opportunity for God to purify us. 

Love, however, is the pinnacle of our faith journey.  Love does more than just speak—it acts! In the here and now, the peak of our faith walk is the practice of love and kindness towards one another, as laid out in the scriptures of 1 John 4:20-21 and Colossians 3:12-14. We'll also delve into how we can cooperate with God, empowered by His Spirit, to allow His will to be done in our lives and bring us to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Good afternoon, my handful of brethren. It's good to be with you again. Seeing as how we don't have as many a number as we usually do, I think it probably will fit well with kind of the format I want to do for today. I wanted to, I guess, address a topic for today would be progressing in maturity. I mean immediately. When I think of maturity, I think of children, I think of the fact that when they're born, they're beautiful, they're cute, we get to carry them, we get to hold them, even though they can't walk and they can't talk. In our eyes they're perfect, you know, in some sense. But they lack maturity and they need to grow in many different areas, not just physically, not just so they can walk, not just so they can talk, but they do have to grow physically. That's one of the areas of maturity that they have. They do have to grow emotionally, they do have to grow intellectually or cognitively and obviously they do have to grow spiritually. They are born with a spirit that was breathed into them by the Lord Himself, giving them the breath of life, and so I always kind of use that as my frame of reference when I think about growing in maturity and trying to relate that to something natural, because that's how Jesus taught. Jesus taught spiritual things that could not be understood through natural, things that people understood because they were natural, they were carnal, and he tried to use that as the springboard and the diving point to be able to move into deeper things of the Lord.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 2:24

And I guess our text for today will be in 2 Peter, chapter 1. I'm going to go through some verses and I'd like to go through them slowly. I'd like to ask you some questions, so I hope that on the spot you can give answers. I know you haven't thought about my questions, so if you don't, that's okay, but I'll just tell you off the bat. I'm going to ask some questions out loud and hopefully you might have some answers of things that the Lord has spoken to you or impressed upon your mind and heart and your life and your walk with Him. That might help give what I have as a skeleton frame some meat, but definitely the meat will be here.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 3:05

So when we start in 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3, it begins and it says as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness and when I read the word, sometimes I just have to stop there and consider things that have just been said, because that is a mouthful as His divine power, his power has given to us meaning the people of God, the saints of God, the children of God, all things that pertain to life and godliness. And I have to think about what does that exactly mean? What does that exactly entail? Is that literally that I have all things that pertain to life and godliness through His divine power? Well, what is His divine power? And I need to go look no further than Acts, chapter 1, verse 8. And I just reminded to you it said Jesus said but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 4:24

So when I read in the context as His divine power has given to me all things that pertain to life and godliness, I realize that it is because I have been blessed with His Holy Spirit, and many of you here have been blessed with His Holy Spirit. This is a word to you that you now have all things that pertain to life and godliness. You have access to all things that pertain to life and godliness. That's a lot to take in. That's a lot that we need to just sit and meditate on. The fact that it says we are saved by faith and not by works, and it's because when you come into covenant through the faith that the apostles taught and you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and you are baptized in His name, you at that moment have all things necessary for life and godliness right in that moment, just like a baby when they're born, perfect but they lack maturity in areas, but they have all that they need to be able to begin to walk and to talk and to think and to consider and to reason and to discern all of these things that we'd like to see in our adults. Yet we don't see them quite yet, but spiritually, when we're born again, according to the gospel, we have all things that pertain to life and godliness.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 6:10

And it furthermore says through the knowledge of Him, because there's really no way we would receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost had we had no knowledge of Him. I don't see any scriptural examples where you were baptized in the Holy Ghost and had no knowledge of Him. There was some knowledge. Even miniscule knowledge can get you to receive the Holy Ghost. It's a wonderful example of a man who did not know God in the more perfect way, but when Peter came he had some knowledge. Peter came before he finished. He was receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, him and his wife and his children and his whole household. They said with very limited knowledge. God blessed them and gave them power. That pertains to life and godliness. So power has to do with receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 7:11

It says through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. So there was receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, having some basic, limited knowledge, some reference point of Christ, of Jesus. We now have all that we need that pertains to life and godliness. And it says in verse 4, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these promises you may be partakers of the divine nature. So I have to stop there and I have to consider it is through the promises of God that I begin to partake of His divine nature?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:03

Well, if it's through the promises, the precious promises, the exceedingly great and precious promises, then I need to know what those promises are. So that's one of my questions to you today. I don't know if you have a question or an answer, but are there any promises that God has given to you that maybe in this moment, as you read these words and you listen to the words that are spoken, that you can hold on to and say, yes, that is a promise he gave to me that is going to allow me to partake of His divine nature? Does anybody, as you think about it, as you consider that question, have any promises that you know that you can share with us that is going to allow you to partake of His divine nature? Anyone can think of a promise that the Lord has given you, personally or through the word yes, either one, I'll take both, because I'm going to give you both Through obedience.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 8:56

Through obedience, he will sanctify you. That is a promise in His word. Through your obedience, he sanctifies you. Yes, anyone else? And if you have the Scripture and you can plot that out or find it while we continue talking, go ahead and bring that in, teresa. I was thinking Tika. I was like no, it's not Tika, it's Teresa.

Patricia Ruiz: 9:17

Yeah, I was thinking that the Lord said never forsake you and never leave you alone.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:27

You're never forsaking. Yes, she took it and that's important. That is something.

Patricia Ruiz: 9:40

I stand on baby when I fall, I fall.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 9:47

Amen. And so that causes us to be enduring, when there's a promise that we have. And, like she says, when we stumble, when we fall, when we realize, oh my God, I've been so prideful, I've been so ignorant and arrogant and I've been so rebellious and I've been so unworthy, oh, he'll never leave me or forsake me. And you know why? Because if we confess our sins, he is faithful. He is just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's a promise that I hold on to.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 10:18

I didn't even put that in the scripture, I just came to my mind. That's a promise that I hold on to as well, because when you stumble and fall, you want to know that there's a way to be redeemed, and that's a promise you want to hold on to. And that leads you into being able to partake of His divine nature. Because had you not realized that you need to be cleansed of even sins you commit after you receive the Holy Ghost? And the only way to do that is to confess it, and obviously it's to repent of it, and he cleanses you, he forgives you, he doesn't remember it against you anymore. As far as the east is from the west, so do I not remember your sins against you, promises that we need to know of.

Patricia Ruiz: 11:00

Did you have any? That was one of them and I have. That he says to those who are in the family and that the personal promises in my life and I started in the same, I was very well known and I was signing and rolling and a prophecy was given to me that he was stepping so firmly in the family and you know, we always have our ideas in the prophecy and I'm just going to tell you, but it's like being a brother and a young man and I can't remember what's going on, because if we were just talking about why do we need it, why do we need it and when is it coming back to my graduating family, so, and that word was tried and tested over and, over and over again and I feel like I feel it, but then he never leads us in the same. He has a purpose for giving in and I always think about the like.

Patricia Ruiz: 11:52

You know, like I thought that God still is there, but he said if you move down, then he's going to follow you. And then the other one is he's going to let us, he's going to let us overcome our specific needs and I feel like I can't do something. I can't do a job. You know it's too much, I can't handle it. He says he gives us an overcoming need for that and I want to overcome and we should stand on that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:24

Amen, those are good ones.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 12:25

That's why I'm glad I asked it of you, because I think it's very important that you just not superficially and skimmingly on the surface know the word. The word is very important. You have to know what His promises are. Those are the promises that will keep you anchored into the foundation, and you know that the foundation is Jesus Christ. You know that he's the chief's cornerstone, but you have to know those promises, you have to be aware of them, because that's what you hold on to, and you all testify very well of promises that God has given to you, either personally or generally for the body that these are the things that we hold on to, because these are the things that, as we hold on, he's pulling us toward Him and he brings us to that place of partaking of His divine nature. Sherry.

Patricia Ruiz: 13:13

I wonder, promises that also give you comfort, because it says, in comfort it's because we're here, amen, and that will. He's made us to do this will in His pleasure, so he is constantly working in you and keeping you so that you can do it in Him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 13:38

That's true, that's true. Do you know where that scripture is? Can you give it to us? Is in you, constantly working to will and to do His good pleasure. That's absolutely true. That's important to know. That's important to know when you're in your work and you're struggling, or when you're at home alone and you're struggling, or wherever you're at and you're struggling. He is working in you both to do to will and to do His good pleasure. Because in Ezekiel 36-26, it says I'm going to pour out my spirit on all flesh, causing you to walk in my statutes, to keep my judgment, my covenant, and to do them. He says wonderful examples yes, thank you for bringing that in, because that was one I was going to read.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 14:32

1 Corinthians 1-6-8. It says even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that you come short in no gift, eagerly awaiting for the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's not about you making sure you, it's that he said he will confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is he who enables you to stand on the day of judgment in His presence. It says in Philippians 1-6, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now those are for the body, those are general ones for the body that they're personalized. Well, if you start holding on to the promises they're not just general promises to the body, to His church, they're now for you personally he is going to bring me to completion. Even when I stumble, when I fall, when I struggle, when I doubt, when I have unbelief in certain areas of my life, when I'm ignorant in certain areas of my life, when I'm walking in darkness in certain areas of my life, it is he who will bring me to completion in the day of Christ Jesus, that it's he who will enable me to stand before Him in His presence.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:03

You know, my personal ones are stuff that I shared with you earlier and Mary took mine, and the reason why it was up there on the Mac is because this morning I had remembered that was my personal promise and it said as in Isaiah 41-10,. He told me this many years ago. He said fear not, for I am with you. Be not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I'd never forget that verse that is so imprinted on my heart. I'll never forget that verse. By the grace of God, I'll never forget that I am not to fear, I am not to be dismayed. He is my God, he will strengthen me, he will help me, he will uphold me when I can't do any of those things. And then he also promised me 42-16,.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 16:51

I will bring the blind. By the way, that they didn't know. Because when I got that verse I felt blind. I didn't know where I was going, I didn't know what I was doing with my life. But he said I will lead you in paths that you have not known. So when I go down a path that I'm not sure of, even though I may struggle and I may, I remember needing to know that I needed to move from Miami. I simply didn't know where. I waited two years to finally move, and it's because I really didn't know how to go about doing it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:21

But he took me by the hand, he led me in the way that I needed to go and whatever was dark before me. He began to make light. I began to see things that I did not see originally and those crooked places that I had in my life. He began to straighten them out, began to straighten them out. These things will I do for them and not forsake them. Those were my personal promises that I hold onto and those are the ones that you need to hold onto.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 17:51

Whatever he's spoken to you through his word, whatever you're spoken to through the voice that you hear from him, these are the things that you need to hold onto because, according to the scriptures, by which we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, and I think everybody wants that is in his body, wants to eventually partake of his divine nature, his characteristics, his humility, his meekness, his temperance, his self-control, his love, all of those things, those attributes of God that make him so godly and so awesome. We want them, not selfish for ourselves, but because we wanna be different than what we are we. I think we all acknowledge here that we are fallen and we are ashamed of what we are, and we know that God has made us to be something better than what we are presently, and so we strive for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It says having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. That is the end of verse four, and we come to verse five. But also for this very reason, for everything that we've just shared, everything that we've just spoken about, it says, for this very reason, giving all diligence.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:12

Anybody have another synonym for all diligence? Let's see what you understand all diligence to be Give all diligence. What does that mean? All that you have. All that you have. All that you know. All that you know.

Mary Hill: 19:28

Standing on this word, regardless of everything that you go through. You just stand on this word, he tells us constantly. We must repent and ask forgiveness, we must come back into him and we fall straight away. So if we didn't have his word in us, how could we do that? So you can only live what you know, and if you don't know, much, you can't live much.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 19:53

We're gonna get to that too. For this very reason all of these things we share we need to give all diligence. That means to make every effort. All diligence means you. This is what you do consistently, daily, weekly, monthly. This is your lifestyle. When it says give all diligence, this is just not something you do every once in a while. No, you are doing it consistently, constantly. When it says pray without ceasing, it doesn't mean you're doing it. It means your lifestyle is one of prayer. Your lifestyle is one of I am in constant communication with the Lord. Not that I'm speaking to him 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even in my sleep, although that can happen, because he could be speaking to you. That's prayer, that's communication. But the point is, when you're giving all diligence, all diligence, it is your lifestyle. That it then says add to your faith virtue. You're making every effort. Your lifestyle is that you are going to take the faith that you came in covenant with the Lord, with. You're gonna add to it virtue.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 21:18

Now, that's a term that we don't use very often in today's day, so we need to kinda ask ourselves what exactly does that mean Virtue? I use Vine's New Testament expository of words. So if you wanna find this for yourself, you might wanna do this, this kinda call of a word study. But you wanna kinda get more in depth Because it says the word virtue and you're like what, exactly? What does that mean? It's supposed to be a good thing, I know that, but what is exactly so? If you look in Vine's New Testament of expository words, it says here, and in the original and general sense, it seems to be blended with the impression you make on others. Virtue is about the impression you make on others. For example, renown, excellence, praise, but it's specifically referring to moral excellence. So it's used in Philippians 4-8. If we can turn there real quick, philippians 4-8 does also use the word virtue. Oh, you'll remember this. And in the context I think it gives you a better idea of virtue. But it says finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue see, there's that word again. And now that we talked about all of that, I think it gives us a better idea of what that word virtue means. It says if there be any praise, think on these things.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 23:01

So he's telling you that you need to add to your faith a reputation. You need to be building a reputation that is renown, that is excellent, that is praiseworthy, and not just to bring listen, not just to bring attention to yourself. We're not talking about that. We're talking about you building up and developing a reputation of being godly. You're a child of God. You are not your own, you are bought with a price. The reputation that you're building is not of yourself, to make yourself look good in front of all Men, but your reputation is being built before God and it is made known unto men that I am godly, that I am God theory, that I am humble, that I am a man who is principled, in other words, a man who founds his lifestyle on the word of God.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 24:16

I don't make my own opinion known a lot of the times. I'd rather it be what the say of the Lord concerning that situation. That's far different from what we see many of our political candidates today. I think of one who says you have to be open to negotiation, and you see him say this and then do this, and then you see him do this and then say this, and he's constantly flip-flopping because he doesn't seem to be principled. God, do whatever it takes, but not so for a child of God, not so for a child of God. You make your decisions. You're a principled person and your principles are the word of God. They're kingdom principles and you need to develop and build up a reputation, not only before God but amongst men.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 25:15

That that's the type of person you are, very much like Cornelius. He was known before men. He feared God, he gave alms to the poor, he was generous, he was a kind person. He's one that helped others out. That's the kind of reputation that we need to be developing and adding to our faith. Our faith should be leading us in that direction, but sometimes we are stagnant in our maturing growth process because we simply don't know the knowledge that we need to know and realize that it wasn't just simply that I know that the Lord died for me and rose from the dead and saved me from my sins. It's a lot more than that. I have become an instrument, a holy vessel in his hands to do a kingdom work in the earth, because he ascended and he left his body on the earth to continue his ministry. So now that we've talked about virtue, it's developing and building up a godly reputation. It says to virtue.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:20

Now, when you've developed that godly reputation, you need to add knowledge. And so there's that knowledge coming into play, because with very limited knowledge you can build a godly reputation. I mean you get born again. That's a very significant, spiritual, powerful event in your life that with just that you can be preaching to other people. But you need to add knowledge, and the knowledge here is especially of spiritual truth. It's not just basic science, knowledge of matter and atoms and this and that and the other.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 26:57

No, we're talking about knowledge of the kingdom of God, knowledge of the word of God, knowledge of God, knowledge of the glory of God, the knowledge of Christ Jesus, the knowledge of salvation. How do you become born again? How do you become saved? What do you need to do? All of that needs to be built and incorporated as you continue maturing and growing and when you have developed and you continue to develop and again, see, it's like repentance.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 27:33

Repentance is not a one time event in your life. Repentance for the child of God has become a lifestyle, a lifestyle of daily. I'm gonna walk in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord and contrary to the world, because that's the way I formally walked. It's not a one time event, you're doing that as a lifestyle. So when you have added knowledge and you continue adding knowledge of the spiritual truth that the Lord has for you, he then says add to knowledge self control.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 28:08

Another word is temperance and in this particular context, self control is man's response to that knowledge that he's building. Because if all you do is build up in knowledge of the word of God, what did he say? Knowledge does? It puffs up. So it's not a mirror, it's not becoming a storehouse of knowledge, but the self control is realizing wow, I have all of this power, I have all of this freedom and I need to do, I need to practice this knowledge in such a way that I don't think build up myself, I'm building up those around me. I am responsible with the freedom that God has given me, because God has set me free not to sin, but to be an example, an example for others to walk in, so that they can find the light, as you and I found the light. So what we learn, what we learn spiritually, we need to put it into practice. Otherwise we are gonna become one of those religious, judgmental, legalistic people that we have all run into at some point in our life. It has to be put into practice, because we don't wanna be a hypocrite, we wanna practice what we're preaching. We wanna preach what we're practicing. They need to be in unison together.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 29:47

We continue reading that when we add to a knowledge self control, then it says you need to add to your self control perseverance. No matter how bad or desirous we are of something to happen or something to take place, that desire of ours for what we want to happen, that we know is true, that we know is good, cannot take precedence over God's timing. That's perseverance, that's endurance. That word of perseverance or patience is abiding under. It's that kind of I abide under the shadow of your wings. I don't get too fast and run out from the shadow and run ahead of you. I'm not too slow where you're dragging me all over the place. I am just resting in the comfort of the shade that you have provided for me, in the comfort of your grace that you've provided for me. And when you move, I move. When you stay, I stay. When you speak, I speak. When you do, I do. Just as the Israelites, the church in the wilderness, did. They moved when the Lord, god moved. They did not move on their own and when they did, they got whipped for it. But as long as they remain under the glory cloud, as long as they followed the fire by night and stopped and waited, they always had light.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 31:16

Whether it be day or night, patience perfects a Christian character. If you turn to James, one through four, it says let patience have her perfect work. I've taught in times past about the agent of perfection being love, and yet here, patience is an agent that produces a perfect work that you may be perfect, in other words complete and entire, wanting nothing. In other words, you would lack nothing. But it comes through patience. It comes through a resting, abiding under the shadow of his wings. As Sister Sherry said, he is working in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. Philippians 2.13. It says in 2 Timothy if we endure, if we are patient, what will we do? We shall also reign with him. You will not be able to reign with him if you are not a Christian who endures.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 32:50

Like Job endured the testing of his faith, like so many of the other saints endured the testing of their faith, god is in the business of testing the faith of his children. Whether you like it or not, if you come into the knowledge of God, you will embrace that knowledge and say, like it says test me, know my thoughts, search me in the inward parts, see if there'd be any wicked way in me, because if you embrace that that is what he is doing, then he is gonna. You're allowing him to Purify the impurities from you, to remove the things that are not pleasing to him, because it's right. It's not that he needs to know what's there, is that you need to know what's there so that you can relinquish it, so that you can repent of it, so that you give it up, realizing that the kingdom of God, the things above, are more important than the things on earth. It says. When you add to yourself control, perseverance, to your perseverance you are to add godliness. And if you look into the vines definition, it denotes that piety which is characterized by a godward attitude. It does that which is pleasing to him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 34:16

Godliness, is you walking in a lifestyle where you are constantly wanting to never Disappoint him? I Mean, I just keep thinking of it like a family with his children, a child with their father. I want my children to walk in a way that they love me so much. They don't want to do things that disappoint me. They want to want to do things that are gonna make me proud of them, and I think that should be our attitude. Our lifestyle is every day. I want to do things that make you proud. I want to do things that that Because I mean I I'm in a state of I want to pay you back and I can never pay you back. I'm so indebted to you, lord, that it is just my reasonable service to do that which pleases you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:09

Today, all day long, do I fall? Absolutely? I Say my apologies more often than not because I get in the flesh. I do, and Yet he's still with me, he hasn't left me, he hasn't forsaken me, and we just have to be humble about it. We have to recognize that, that we sometimes are either overstepper bound or just too insensitive or too inconsiderate, and we need to rectify with him and then rectify with those parties that we've offended. But we have to have a desire, a Daily lifestyle desire that I want to do things that please him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 35:51

And if I found everything before this point of godliness, if I find, if it's founded in my Perseverance, where I'm trying to remain under the shadow of his wings, and it's founded Underneath self-control, where I'm gonna hold myself in this place, I'm not gonna run too fast and I'm not gonna go too, so I'm gonna stay right here and I'm gonna just be quiet and wait for him to show me. And if I'm gonna found that in knowledge, the knowledge of the spiritual truths that I need to have, and then that's gonna just be, and then that's gonna just feed into the, the reputation that I'm building, not simply for myself, but because I want everyone to know that I'm a child of god and I love him and I do things to please him. And then it's built upon the faith, the faith that founded me in the covenant. These, to me, are our. This is how we progress, step by step, in our maturation process. Then we come almost to the pinnacle of it all. We come to brotherly kindness. Add To your person, to your godliness, brotherly kindness.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 37:08

And I just want to read from first John, because I think he just I mean, he nails this on the head Very well in first John, 3, verse 10. He said in this the children of god are revealed. The children of god are manifest in this, and the children of devil are also manifested or revealed in this. Whoever do it not, righteousness is not of god. But he also said neither he that loveth not his brother. So if we just vice versa that and turn that around, those that are the children of god Do righteousness. Those that are the children of god love their brethren. This is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain. Cain is an example of the child of the devil. He slew his own brother. And why did he slew him? Because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous. Marvel, not my brother.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:14

And if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death Until life because we love the brethren. See, that's a part of that building that reputation, that that that's an attribute, that is a characteristic of the children of god, that they are loving their brethren. He that loveth not his brother abides in death. In other words, you're not under the shadow of his protection or his wing, you're in the shadow of death. Whoever hated this brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 38:54

Hereby we perceive the love of god, because he laid down his life for us. This is how we know the love of god. He laid down his life for us. I don't see how a child of god could come into covenant with the lord and not have an appreciation for the sacrifice that he made in order to redeem us. But he says just as Jesus laid down his life for the brethren, for us, the body, he said, we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So that is a lifestyle, that is a trademark, that is a characteristic that we, as children of god, need to be walking it, that we would be willing, even willing, even necessary, even by action, be willing to lay down our life for our brother. But who so hath this world's good and the good of the world, who so hath this world's good and see if his brother hath need and shut it up as bowels of compassion from him? How dwelleth the love of god in him? My little children, let us not love and word, neither in tongue but in deed and in truth. That's heavy in the love of the brethren. That's heavy in how important, how significant it is in the lifestyle of a child of god.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 40:10

He also says in the next chapter, 1st John, 4, 20 and 21, if someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar For he who does not love his brother. Whom? For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. So to me that is a sign. That is that is where you can wave the red flag and say there's something wrong in that brother's life. Or you can wave a green flag and say he's on the right track. Look at how much he cares for his brethren, look at how much he sacrifices for his brethren. And sometimes your brethren is your neighbor, sometimes the brethren is your family, sometimes the brethren is those that are in the church. How is he treating his fellow man? Because we're all sons of men. He even says pray for your enemies, pray for those that persecute you. Those are your brethren, whether you like it or not. Is he not here to save them? Yeah, he is here to save them.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 41:25

And this progressing in maturity continues on Up into its pinnacle. Love, add to your brotherly kindness. Love, it says in Ephesians 319, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. You see, knowledge kind of was in the beginning maybe the third one. Remember that right faith, virtue, virtue, knowledge. Yeah, knowledge was the third one. It said, love surpasses it, love is so far beyond it. If you would walk in the love of God, in the love of Christ, and begin to know that Everything else is almost not even necessary. But because we're fallen, we walk through those stages of grace, those stages of maturity. But when we come to meet and face to face, and he does all of his completed work, we will be walking in the epitome of love, because God is love. It says which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. To know the love of Christ is to be filled with the fullness of God. So we consider some other scriptures, like Colossians 312-14, and we kind of understand.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 42:51

If this is our, if this is how we progress in our maturity, then we understand why he wrote in his letter to the Colossians, 3, verse 12. He says Therefore elect of God, body of Christ, saints and brethren beloved, put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness and put on long suffering, bear with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against one another. Hey, just as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. But above all these things, above all these things, all of these things were the first few steps of maturation. But what does it end with? Love? Because, above all these things put on love, it is the bond, it is the glue, it is the agent of your perfection. This is the end result of what God is going to do in your life.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 43:52

So we see even Jesus, during the days of his flesh, he said this is my commandment. I give you one. What is my commandment? That you love one another as as who, as what. What are the compared to? Your love should be for your brother. As I have loved you as the example that I have given you and my love toward you, so should you love your brother. And we talked about it a lot today the, the, the appreciation for speaking into one's life, the truth, even if it's correction, but also building them up and encouraging them. Do we not see Jesus doing that?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 44:30

If any one of us read the scriptures, did you ever think, oh, he's such a happy go lucky kind of guy? He doesn't. He doesn't give off that vibe. That is not the way that he's depicted in the scriptures, he seems to be like a no nonce business. I'm all business. I'm about my father's business. It's not to say that he never laughed. It's not to say that he never chuckled. I don't know, but the scriptures have a reason why they have portrayed him in such a way to us, and he's got. He's an example unto us.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 45:04

Look at how he treated his disciples, because that is the love that he shared with them. That is the love that we need to share with our brother. He said greater love is no one than this, than the land, that, than to lay down one's life for his friends. And although they seem to be serving him, they seem to be called as disciples, meaning his followers. What did he say? What did he call them? He said you are my friends. He didn't say you're my servants, you're my slaves, you're my this, and that we might say that All the apostles said that I'm a, I'm the bond servant of the Lord. We might have that, because we realize we owe him so much. But how did he treat us? You're my friend, you're my friend. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my father I have made known unto you. This is all in John, chapter 15, 12 through 17. He said you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and do what they're fruit and that your fruit should remain. And whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give you these things. I command you that you do what, that you love one another. That's when he's going to answer all your prayers and whatever you ask in his name is going to give it to you Because you're walking in a lifestyle of love towards your brother.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 46:39

I read these scriptures and I'm sharing them with you and I just I want to be able to be transformed by this love that I keep talking about, that I keep sharing, because I read first Corinthians 13 and I and it says love suffers long. Love is kind, love does not envy, it doesn't parade itself, it's not puffed up. All the things that he has been progressing in his maturity in first Peter three. That's all there in love. Love doesn't behave rudely, it doesn't seek its own, it's not easily, it's not provoked. It's not easily provoked. It doesn't think no evil, it doesn't rejoice in iniquity but it rejoices in the truth. I want to be that it bears all things. I want to be that it believes all things. I want to be that it hopes all things and endures all things. I want to be that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 47:35

And it says love never fails. And that's hard for us to understand because we think that everything in life at some point fails. But God's word said that love never fails. And maybe, maybe the person receiving the love has failed, but the love never fails. So whether there be prophecies, they will fail. Whether there be tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will all vanish away. All that other stuff that comes before pales pales in comparison to love.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 48:10

Love is to me the most important thing. It is the most important attribute that a child of God should have in his life. Because we see in a mirror dimly. It says in verse 12,. But there's going to come a time we're going to see face to face and right now we only know in part, right now we understand with limited basis. But there's going to come a time that it says but then I shall know, just as also I am known Well, I am known by my father inside and out. He knows the hairs of my head. He probably knows all the blood vessels I haven't Not. Probably he knows all the blood vessels I have in my body. He knows every bone, ligament, cartilage, every. He knows how many heartbeats I've been since the day I was conceived in my mother's womb to the day that I die. He knows it all. And he says that as I am known, so shall I also know him. I can't fathom that I'm going to know him as much as he knows me. I just can't imagine. I'm so limited. But I want to know it, because if God says it, that settles it. I want to know it. He says and now, abide, faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. So we come full circle.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 49:30

We come back to second Peter, chapter one, verse eight. We talked about all of these steps, these progressing stages in our maturity. He says if these things are yours all that I've just discussed today and if they are bound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no way that you will be able to say that I don't really know him. If you do all of these things, you are going. He has given you the path. He has given us the path and the steps that will take us directly into the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will have no excuse. You will know him.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 50:17

But they who lack these things is short-sighted. They who lack these things, dare I say, is even blind, even to blindness, because he's the type of person that has forgotten that he was cleansed from all of his old sins. See, the faith, when you recognize what Jesus has done for you, leads you into wanting to know him in every possible way. But the one that forgets, even though he may have started right, the one that forgets, is the one that will not walk this path of maturity. He will not walk through these steps. He will not give all diligence to all of this. And so it says here because he has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins, he doesn't appreciate it as much as he may have used to. He's forgotten how valuable the gift of God that was given to him. Therefore, brethren, and so I conclude, be even more diligent, give all diligence. No, he says be even more diligent.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 51:25

This is how important it is. If you've tried your best, try harder, he says, give more than your reasonable effort. You do above and beyond the call of duty and, working towards making your calling an election short, make sure you're in the right place under his banner. For if you do these things, if you commit yourself to these things, you will never stop. So I wanted to. I don't know why.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 51:56

I feel like they've already taught this in this church. I think we've already discussed these scriptures, but for some reason he felt like I guess maybe I'm the one that needed to do it again, and maybe some of you did too. So I pray that there's something here that you can receive, that you can refer back to, that maybe challenge you to progress in an area of your life, of your walk with him, that you know is weak, that you've got to change, that you've got to do better so that you would allow him to work in those areas of your life, because without our cooperation with him, he will not force himself upon you, he will not rape you, he will not. He won't force you to do things you don't want, but if you are willing, he will empower you to do things that you don't believe you can ever do so. Through Christ, I can do all things, but I have to cooperate. We have to cooperate with him.

Patricia Ruiz: 52:53

Amen.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 52:55

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