I tend to like to put my sermons on. The computer says, you know. And he had this little tablet. He would walk around with this message, here's this man in the seventies is so technologically.
On top of it. But he's talking with this little tablet. And I said to him, Do you ever use a PC. He goes? Yeah, well, I used to, but then it scared people. So I don't know if you're scared. I don't know. But anyway, so I'm gonna use one.
We'll see how that goes. Here.
So today I wanted to speak on second chapter one. If you can turn their second Peter. Chapter one.
I've got to type in my password here, so I don't even remember the password. So.
Here we go!
I'm Ray and Eni, one of the elders here at Wbc. In case you don't know that.
And this is the title of my sermon. Do you have a growing face? Second Peter, chapter one versus one, through 11.
And let's read this portion together. But 1st let's open with a word of prayer.
Our Father. We come before you in Jesus' name, and we're grateful, so grateful.
You have.
Taken us out of the kingdom of darkness, and placed us into the kingdom of light. You have adopted us as sons and daughters. You have given us so much in Christ Jesus, and we're joint errors with, and these are things that take a lifetime. If ever, to comprehend.
And we're so grateful. Lord, we are grateful for a good Lord Supper where we can worship you. We're grateful for time of fellowship in between, and also for the family Bible, or we see young people singing songs in hymns.
To praise you and worship you are.
We're grateful for the Word of God, and let us always be apprentices to the Word of God, learning and growing and.
Desiring you, Ward, and we give you things in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're looking at second Peter. Chapter one. I've got the new King James.
I'm going to put my glasses on.
Second Peter, chapter one.
And let's read these verses together.
Simon Peter, a bond and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Verse 2, grace and peace be multiplied to you, and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
As His divine power is given to us all things that pertain to life.
And godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.
Verse 4, by which I'm sorry, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious.
That through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Verse 5, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence. Add to your faith.
And the virtue, knowledge, verse to knowledge, self control to self-control, perseverance.
To perseverance, godliness.
Verse 7. To godliness, brotherly kindness.
And to brotherly kindness, love.
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 9, for he who lacks these things is short sighted even to blindness.
And has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call an election sure, where, if you do these things, you will never stumble.
For sean entrance will be supplied to you abundantly.
Into the everlasting kingdom.
Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Here we find Peter continuing with his practical advice, he starts, and 1st Peter.
The epistle first, st Peter giving practical advice he's talking to, and also new believers in the diaspora. They've been spread out, and they're suffering persecution, and that persecution is only going to get worse and worse.
Under different Roman governments, but he wants to arm them and prepare them for the Christian life, that they would not depart from Christ. When the pressures begin to build.
And so Peter has plenty of practical advice concerning the basics of the Christian faith.
He acknowledges the need for us to take initiative here it is to build our faith.
And you know the the Christian life is a life of faith, isn't it? The Bible says in Romans one but just shall live by faith. Those who are just in God's eyes live by faith.
They lived from the 1st moment they place faith in Christ Jesus to the last breath, that they draw step by step, living by faith.
The Christian life begins. My faith, it continues by faith and by faith we are raptured up in the air to meet him.
Where we will be with the Lord forever. Actually Luke talked about that in the Lord's separate.
Second, Peter is a very interesting book.
In the opening of the book, Peter describes our faith as follows, verse one, he says, we have a like precious faith.
That is a faith that's centered in Christ's person, and his work versus one and 2.
We also have a faith that relies on power for you Greek fans. That's dunamus, the word there that he has given to us divine power that he's given to us. Peter says, we have a faith that rests on the promises of God. Verse 4. And Peter also says that our faith is given to us with exceeding great and precious promises.
And it is a faith that makes us get this partakers of the divine nature.
That through that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through us.
How many of you have gone up to the rise up conferences ever go to one of those, rise up and build, rise up, and occupy.
I remember going to one of those. I think it was Rise and Bill. I think it was in Indianapolis, and Jake Nicholson who is doing the Wednesday night.
You know, videos they were doing. He's just an excellent.
He did one of the side electives, and he spoke on second. And this is the 1st time I think, I ever heard the phrase.
God has given to us.
I'm sorry God has given to us.
Precious promises, so that we can be partakers of the divine nature. I remember just perking up and listening to it, and it's really a dramatic and incredible phrase, partakers of the divine nature. And of course this is sanctification, isn't it? As we're growing and growing as we're conformed into the image of Christ Jesus believers, or we wouldn't be saved. But the question is, do we have a faith that is growing.
Versus one through 4. Second Peter. Talk about real faith.
And then versus 5 through 11, speak of a growing faith. That's our focus today. So if you were to outline the portion on number one is Peter. 7 ingredients to grow your faith versus through 7.
The second part is 2 reasons for growing our faith versus 8, 9.
And then finally, 3 results of growing our faith versus 10 and 11. That's the outline for today. Let's take a look at the 1st part of this outline.
Here. Peter wants us to have a genuine faith, but a growing faith. Here's the key.
A real face should lead to a growing faith that demands diligence.
And effort on our part. So in the beginning, Peter talks about the things that God has done for us, and then He shifts it to human responsibility. We are to cooperate in this process of sanctification. Here's a very famous verse, Philippians 2, verse 12. It says, this.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only.
But now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And what does Paul mean by this.
Notice that he says, Work out, not work, for we are all working out what we've already been given. The idea is that of a mathematical equation that has worked out to its conclusion.
This is doable. This is something that the Lord has for us.
And it is work for us to do. And the idea is, you start with a problem. You work it out to completion. And the key to this message is this what God has worked in.
We have an obligation to be eager to work out in our daily lives.
This is the idea of growing fruitful and vital.
I think a growing faith will demand, as mentioned, diligence and effort at our parts. We need to work out what God has put in.
Let's go back to Philippians. 2. Paul goes on to say in verse 13, for it is God who works in you both to will, and to do for His good pleasure. So it's a mystery how this works, but God is giving us the will, the desire.
Remember, one of the great commentaries on Romans, says, this.
The flesh is incredibly powerful and corrupt, and I don't think there's enough teaching that talks about this. This is why people get tripped up in the Christian life. They forget how corrupt the flesh is.
And the new man is created. But the new man is powerless unless the Holy Spirit works with that new man to replicate the life of Christ Jesus. If we're cooperating and listening to the Scriptures and letting the Holy Spirit work, we can grow in our faith. And this is what Peter is talking about. So Peter notes the how, how can we do this?
How can we have a growing faith? Let's read verses 5 through 7. Once again.
He says, this second Peter, one versus 5, through 7, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence here it is. Add to your faith.
Virtue to virtue, knowledge.
To knowledge, self control.
To self-control, perseverance.
To perseverance, godliness.
To God, bring us brotherly kindness.
And finally to brotherly kindness love. So it starts with faith, and it ends with love.
If someone has done anything with the arts or been involved in Christian causes, you know that sponsorship, or having someone who can contribute to the ongoing work is very important to a snippet by Simon Cow. The guy who does Britain's got talent whatever, and the interviewer kind of teased him and said, You know what a great idea on your show would be, and that would be Roman gladiators. Just kind of going at it.
And Simon Powell thought for a moment.
Yes, but with sponsorship. Yes, with the thing is, sponsorship is very important, and some sponsors or donors, let's say, to political causes, or whatever they can pour a lot of money and time into an effort, and it can have a great effect. I'm always amazed at my Jewish clients will spend enormous amounts of money on upkeep of the synagogue.
Schools or Jewish causes. They spend a lot of time.
Pushing these Jewish causes.
In sports, tiger, wood.
In an interview I read in Sports illustrated, hit as many as 1,400 golfs a day.
He's serious about golf.
Everything is oriented about golf, and I'm not saying you should go out and be better at golf. I'm just saying this is the diligence, and the effort that is applied.
The same case, the same thing as the case with working out our salvation, we are to make a costly commitment, to diligently add to our faith that it might grow. This is not, I'm saved. I'm okay. I'm covered, or I'll endure sermon and then live like I please.
Now Peter is saying that now that we have a real faith, make every effort to lavishly add to that faith, and what do I do, and what do I add? So outline in this 1st section here in the outline, ingredient number one.
Tip faith, add virtue is moral excellence, courage to do what is right in an unholy, hostile world.
So the time to be committed is before your tempting. And this is just something that everybody has to learn. I mean.
Another scandal just recently of a well-known Bible expositor. We got caught.
In a pretty serious sin, and the issue here is that we always have to be alert in the Christian life. We can never let our guard down.
It doesn't matter how much you know in the Scriptures you have to diligently so. The time to be committed is before your tempted Daniel was like this.
When he was taken to Babylon, he was determined. He and his friends were determined not to be defiled by eating the king's food, and thus they flourished.
The key is to purpose in your mind that you will not be defiled. 103. Verse 3 says this, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. This is moral courage.
As the hymn writer noted, though none go with me, I will follow. That's a virtue.
Joshua said, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and I see that sometimes in believers. As for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. It's a great great verse to have.
So we add to faith, virtue, and an ingredient. Number 2. It's knowledge. The Greek word here is gnosis or practical knowledge.
This is a personal relationship with God, so that I know him.
This brings wisdom for life, the skillful use of knowledge. It's not just knowledge, it's the skillful use of it. Christians actually know God. We're friends with him.
He is with us all the time, the more that.
Draw near to the Lord, the more that we understand that presence awareness, is huge in the Christian life. I have an accountability, partner.
Just tremendous knowledge of the Scriptures, and he says that awareness is key in the Christian life. Away, sinner, he says.
Awake and and realize what we have in Christ Jesus. It's never too late to do that.
Wake up from ruts and all sorts of things that can get caught up, as it says, in the easily entangled us. Wake up.
And that's what the Scriptures are calling us to do.
Also, knowledge brings a reverence for the Lord. Proverbs 1, 7, says, this fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You want to be knowledgeable, start fearing the Lord. Finally, it's understanding the Word of God in marriage, in work, in life, in the use of our time.
The knowledge of God is contained in His Word. All we need for life is in the Bible. Here's Dave Macleod.
Longtime teacher at A. C. Rota, one of the amazes on Hebrews, which is very good.
And he used this formula for growth.
Time multiplied by Bible knowledge, by growth.
I'm sorry. Time multiplied by Bible knowledge multiplied by application, believing word equals growth, and, as you know, in multiplication. If any one of those is 0. The whole thing goes to 0.
So the formula is.
Time, time walking with Lord Bible knowledge, but then application and that equals growth. Sometimes it's time, and then we get stuck with a lot of Bible knowledge. But there's not a lot of application.
Dallas theological, for instance, and the 1st thing they say to seminary students, and this is almost every single class. They say this.
Guys, you're gonna learn a lot of stuff about the Scriptures.
But you've got to apply it.
You've got to apply it. You cannot go into your congregations and hit someone over the head with a verse you have to have compassion.
You have to apply it in your own life, and the closer you get to Christ, the more that you realize how sinful you are, and that develops compassion.
Empathy for people.
So, and they say this almost every single class, even to upperclassmen.
We have to apply this in our lives. So here again, Peter is interested in the question of, Is your faith growing.
We have a 3rd ingredient. We're adding to knowledge, self control so defined as temperance in the King James. This is self-restraint.
The dependence on God to take control of mind, spirit, and emotion. Charles Swindall says this, it's saying no to the second helping, and no, to the second look.
You know, at the Iowa youth rally. We went down there in Cedar Falls, Joel and I, or chaperones, and one of the electives.
That was built for the Israelites, and inside the temple it was adorned with many things palm trees, card flowers.
Cherubim Edenic pictures of where the Lord wants to take Israel, there will be a glorious kingdom for them, and then, of course, Gentiles also. But the point of the matter is, we need to adorn our minds with the Word of God.
Guys if you have trouble and you need. And you're looking at things that you shouldn't.
One of the great things is to just start throwing the Word of God in your mind. Get it in.
Get it in, and that will push it out.
The. This is what the brother's called the explosive effect of a new affection. Your new affection for Christes out things, and this is hard work.
This is really hard work.
If there are people that struggle with anxiety, or they struggle with evil or gossip, whatever it is.
We have to diligently apply the word of God to get over these things. Let's adorn our minds with the word of God. Ephesians tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and consider the Holy Spirit who dwells in us as an investment in seeing this happen.
And then to self-control. Ingredient number 4 is patience.
While self-control relates to the pleasures of life, patience relates to the pressures and problems of life.
The idea is steadfast endurance or stickuitness. That would be a great way of saying it. Looking to God in the hard times.
This is how one keeps putting one foot in front of the other. It's patience.
Peter is saying to add this to your faith. But then a problem arises, doesn't it? We begin to worry about tomorrow before tomorrow actually comes.
The ears the new living translation. This is Matthew, 6, verse 34. Listen to this.
So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow we'll bring its own worries.
Today's trouble is enough for today.
Sufficient until the day is the evil thereof. King James.
Let us enjoy our days one at a time, or you can be like Mark Twain, who said, I worried about so many things in life, 95% of which never happened.
That's Mark Twain.
The point of the matter is, let's just worry about today or be concerned about today. Putting one step in front of the other in the Bible was gathered for the day.
Not for a year, so that we can come back to God a year later and ask for more. The idea is daily dependence on him to keep you going.
For the overwhelming pressures of temptation. God will be your strength, literally cry out to.
If you have a problem, reach out to someone, maybe more mature.
Ask for help, cry out to him in your personal prayer, time.
Remember Bill Hyebels wrote a book.
On prayer. So one of the 1st books I read on prayer most of the books and prayer, strangely enough, don't mention the Word of God a lot. I don't know why that is, but this one did, and he said he was in his closet praying, and sometimes he would grab a staff and raise it.
You know, whatever it takes, you're peeling to the Lord and crying out.
Cry out to him.
To patients. Then Peter says in greedy number 5, add godliness, this is true piety, a devotion to God. A godly person is a person who lives their life with a practical awareness of God in every aspect of their lives.
A person who brings a sanctifying presence of God into every area of life at home, and work at lunch with friends. Even the mundane things.
You know, part of what we're trying to do here at the chapel is to provide a godly atmosphere and leadership. This is one of the things that I experienced in the assembly.
Godly men who provided a godly atmosphere. This is what you want to look for, and it takes work and diligence. The idea of pursuing the Lord, making him central.
Learning, descriptions, and being committed to preaching it. The whole of God.
Try to create that godly atmosphere wherever you go. And these are words that I'm saying to myself. So I'm in the business world. It's very competitive.
These are things that I also need to apply always in my own life.
I had a friend who used to work for a company.
Yeah, I used to work for. And he was the administrator of the facility and just a godly man. And he would say, this, I bring the Lord into every aspect of my work, from unclogging toilets to waxing floors, to doing the great things of giving personal counseling to people. And that's what he did. He was just known for that, he put in the effort.
And brought Christ into everything. Great Biblical example of this is Joseph. Of course he prefigures Christ.
He's 1 of the few characters in the Bible for which there's nothing bad said about him. God is not afraid to trash his Biblical characters. Matt, Joseph.
There are no record of wrongs in.
The only time that's mentioned, where he gets somewhat close is the bragging of the dreams that he has to his father and to his brothers.
But that's pretty minor.
Another note about Joseph is that when he speaks there's a reference to God. If you're talking to godly people, the Lord should come in that conversation. That's what you know about people. If you're into the Lord, and the Lord is going to come up quite often.
Another note about Joseph is.
From prison to second in command in Egypt. It was all about God, especially when Potof's wife tempted him. Joseph replies, how then, can I do this great wickedness incident against God. Again, that awareness.
That awareness of the Lord, and then he runs, he flees. This is a recognition that we need to get out of tempting situations by running from them.
It is not an act of.
Cowardice. To run from sinful situations. We need to James in chapter 4, we need to resist the devil, but we need to flee temptation.
We need to flee from it. Just run away.
The ingredient is godliness. We're talking about.
Even when Joseph had the opportunity to take revenge on his brothers. He doesn't do that. Even after Jacob dies he assures his brothers that I'm not going to take revenge on it, because he realized.
God had good in all of the events that had occurred in Joseph's life. He understood God's wisdom.
That all of it was meant for good.
Very much like our lives.
And so we add to our faith virtue.
The knowledge, then self control.
Then perseverance, or patience and godliness. And now Peter tells us to add the 6th in greeting, which is brotherly kindness.
What is the word for brotherly kindness?
Anybody.
Philadelphia. Excellent Philadelphia! That's right.
It means brotherly love, it's treating others as your brothers and sisters. The key is that God lead us does not exist in a vacuum. 10 says this, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love.
In honor, giving preference to one another.
One of the great things that I've learned in assemblies is it doesn't cost anything to encourage someone or to build them up.
Some people think they have the gift of criticism. That's that's not a gift. We have a gift of encouragement to build people up.
One of the things that I would say is this, when it comes to brotherly love. Another thing that jade Nicholson taught me feeding on the failings of God's children is a very poor diet.
Don't bring stuff up. If the Lord is forgiven, don't bring it up.
Don't gossip about people, or talk about the behind the back. That's not.
Love is building someone up wanting to see the best in that person, and it also involves not thinking highly of yourself. Romans.
12, 3, says that in the newly translation it says, this.
About Galatians, 6.
If you think that you're too important to help people, remember, you're not that important.
In the light of the cross. You're not that important. What's important is brotherly kindness. And of course these are things I say to myself.
John Miller is a great pastor. He says, this great speaker, have you ever looked up all the one another passages in the Bible.
We are to love one another.
Forgive one another, pray for one another.
Wash each other's feet, put symbolically. Look at Jesus' feet. He knew what Judas is going to do. He washed his feet, bear one another's burdens.
You get the point, we must be kind to one another and forgiving another.
Now we reached the 7th ingredient to add to our faith, and that is love, the Greek word agape.
So add to your brotherly kindness, or add to the Philadelphia type agape love, and this ends.
These 7 ingredients. 5 tells us that agape is God's love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It was given to us.
And this is done so that we can have assurance of our hope, and to help others think of this God so agopied the world that he gave his only son. That's how it's used there. God loved. He demonstrated the love, and He gave from His very best. He gave the very best that he had in Isaiah. It predicted, 800 years before the event occurred, the suffering that the Christ would go through.
And by his stripes, by the very whipping.
We have been healed. The contrast.
All that was done to Christ, so that we might have abandoned life, and we might be free.
Incredible agape is God's love for the unlovely.
When God did love us, it was when we were unlovely. This is what it says in Romans 3 verses 10, through 18. We were not looking for him. We did not want him. We did not conceive of a salvation.
We were all doing what was right in our own eyes, and that's the time that Christ died.
For the unlovely, much in the same. We were to love the unlovely in the world, even to those who persecute us beyond the bonds of Christian fellowship.
Romans 3, says this.
Oh, no! On anything except to love one another, for he who loves another is fulfilled. The law. This is the burden that we have.
Loving one another.
He wants us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. The law.
Because if we love others, we're doing God's will.
Even when we love others, we are not doing these things. And so what he's saying is that this is how it fulfills the law. If we're loving people, we're not stealing from them.
We're not doing violence to them. We're not gossiping about them.
Because we love them. That's why what is produced by the Holy Spirit, the regulations, and the law. The law's problem is that it got bogged down with people who couldn't keep the law. It gave us regulations, but it didn't give us any power to carry out those regulations. It condemned people. It was hard, it was rigid.
Grace has our best in mind, and gives us the power to do these things. And how can a person do all these things? I think that Peter may have wanted those in the church and us to examine those ingredients that may be lacking, and to work on those. Frankly. As I was reviewing this message this week.
I'm lacking in all 7 of them.
Honestly, nobody reaches perfection, but we keep working at it diligently, working and working and working.
Maybe it's knowledge. Maybe finding the time to read and meditate on God's word is difficult or has been neglected. Maybe it's virtue.
Maybe finding the moral courage to deal with a temptation life or getting help when needed. Maybe it's brotherly love. Maybe you're hard finding it hard to love Othello believer, or perhaps forgiving a brother's sister in the Assembly or elsewhere. So I'm glad that Peter mentions in verse 3. We have God's power, and then in verse 4, God's promises to be able to activate these 7 virtues in our lives.
Let's go to section 2 reasons for growing our faith versus 8 and 9.
If we make these things ours, and they abound or increase, as Peter, to specific benefits, will follow.
Number one, they'll keep us from being barren wants to be barren. Our Christian life to be barren is to be useless or idle.
The best defense against such a use in life is an active offense.
If we are actively following Jesus Christ as Lord.
And our diligent, and adding to our faith, we will never be barren in the Christian life.
The second benefit. It'll keep us from being fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're reading Ephesians 3. What you find out is there's 4 dimensions of Christ, love.
There is the height, there's the depth.
There's the length, and there's the width. What he's saying is that the more that we know about Christ Jesus, the more that we understand how much he loves us.
How much of investment he has made.
We want to increase in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and apply those things in our own lives.
And if these things are.
Peter encouraged us to follow Jesus aggressively, adding to our faith with all diligence, then we will never be unfruitful, and then we can be used by the master.
If these things are not ours, Peter says we'll reap 2 negative results.
Again we follow the Biblical reaping. What we sow. The person who lacks these things faces 2 big dilemmas.
Number one. He'll be blind or shorts even to blindness.
In other words, this is the kind of blindness which prevents us from seeing ahead.
Such blindness is one of the expressions of the deceitfulness of sins us. We're resisting the Holy Spirit after a while, not able to hear him.
It blinds us and prevents us from seeing things as they really are. We have deviated off course. We're not able to see that because we're not applying the Word of God, which will bring us back in line.
In James 4. He talks about that the different steps of sin, and he talks about morning over sin. But don't stay there. Get right back in line.
Said this, if you're looking at something that you shouldn't be looking at in the computer.
Put it away, confess your sin, and then get right back in line.
Stay separated from the Lord or distant from him. Come back! That's what he wants.
And then, of course, this is the blinding and grinding of this is what Brad, talk about the blinding and grinding of sin. This is Sampson who is, who has his eyes put out because of his own sin. He was a Nazarete. He refused to follow these prescriptions in the law firm Nazareth. He's been blinded by the Philistines, and he's there grinding out.
The grain, grinding out the grain and grinding. That's what sin does.
And so the Philistines, it says in the Bible. The Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought it down to Gaza.
They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. He had forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
How tragic it is to live our Sims forgiven by our Lord, and then forget that forgiveness, and live once again in our trespasses and sins, or our own lifestyle. That's the point that Peter is making.
Finally, the last part of our outline, 3 results of growing our faith.
Let's read verses 10 and 11 again.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call an election.
For if you do these things, you'll never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So number 1. First, st the 1st result of growing faith is assurance.
God wants you to have assurance.
Make sure that you're safe. The most important thing that we can address today is whether you know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior. Do you know Christ is your Savior today? If you don't, please talk to one of the elders about it, place your faith in Him, and you can enter into eternal life.
Do you know Jesus Christ is your Savior today? And this is blessed assurance. Think of the Him. Blessed Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory! Divine air of salvation! Purchase of God!
Board of his spirit washed in his blood. This is my story. This is my.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story. Huh?
This is my song. Don't let the world steal your song.
Don't let it steal your son.
Praising my Savior all day long.
So when you have a growing faith, it brings you an assurance number 2. It brings stability, verse 10, for if you do these things you'll never stumble. It doesn't mean that we're never going to sin. It means that we will never fully backslide. We'll always have believing loyalty. You may falter, you may stumble. Even the prodigal son came back to his senses and came home.
Keep praying for these. By the way, God can answer these prayers.
So a growing faith brings assurance, and finally a triumphal entry.
The future for the Christian, who diligently is very bright.
He will be welcomedly, or receive a rich welcome. And Iv. Says this.
Into an eternal kingdom, he will not barely make it into the kingdom, or be saved only as one escaping through the flames.
But he will receive his Lord's commendation. Well done, good and faithful.
There's a Bible teacher that I like a great deal, and he was talking about this section. He says you don't want to get to heaven.
Get your canoe on shore, and there's nobody waiting for you.
You want to get there and see people that you have invested your lives in, and that you can have a great and wonderful triumphal entry. Now this is just speculation, but the point of the matter is.
You know. In a sense you're paying it forward. You're investing in life. You're pursuing the Lord. You're getting to know them, so that when you get to heaven it'll be richer and brighter.
Don't we want that? We want that? We want to know the Lord in this life.
And then ultimately spend eternity with him.
The ultima reward of a growing Christ. Honoring life is the personal welcome by the saber into his kingdom, experienced it in Act 7. He was getting stoned, and he saw the Christ standing by the right hand of the throne. The only time Christ is standing.
Paul knew it. It was eminent for him, and second Timothy's writing. He knew that his life was coming to an end. Peter writes in, Peter one. And let me just read this here in verse 12. If we go there. Peter talks about his tent being taken down.
Second, Peter, one.
Look at what he says here in chapter one, verse 12.
For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things. That's his home ministry. He's come. His death is coming rather than work on these.
Lengthy history books, trying to rewrite history about your legacy. Peter was concerned as a shepherd to remind us.
To write these things down, though, you know, and are established in the present. Yes, I think it's right. As long as I'm in this tent to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent now whether he's referring to John 20, or he's told toward the end of his life, that.
He is going to be taken by people against his control, and he's going to die of violent death, whatever it is. Or maybe the Lord reveal this to him privately. He knew his life was coming to an end, and so what was on his mind to write these things down, and to remind us of the promises we have in Christ.
And every believer will experience such a welcome when he enters the Lord's presence, and have Danco has experienced that.
1st thing I thought of when I heard that he had passed away. No more bills, no more medicare prescriptions, no more aching body.
But you're free.
Free with the Lord.
Forever. It just doesn't matter anymore for him.
He's with the Lord, and he loved the Lord.
The entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be supplied with richness. It will be a wonderful welcome home.
Here's the final application we want to hear from Jesus.
Well done, good and faithful.
I pray this for all of us.
That's great!
Our Father. We just give you thanks and praise once again, as we dig into the Scriptures, and extract.
Mine from it all of the truths that you have for us.
Let us be enthusiastic.
About the Christian life. Let us.
Honor you, and be diligent and be aggressive in our pursuit of you. We thank you for this congregation.
We thank you, Lord, for everything that you've given to us in Christ, and we give you thanks.
In your son's precious name.
Amen!
Yes, we're