(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so second Peter, chapter number one. So what I'm preaching about this morning is the subject of Christian maturity, right? Everybody, it's probably no secret and everybody knows that we should always be striving to become more mature, but what does that look like? What does the Bible say about that? That's a good question I have. Now, today's Super Bowl Sunday and you can bet your last dollar that there are many, many churches, Baptist, liberal, whatever you wanna call, that are probably gonna curb their services, probably shut them down or talk about the Super Bowl a lot and make that the thing. And I even heard recently that they're actually gonna have a sodomite commercial, you know? So I think just even the more reason to grow in your maturity and to put those types of things aside, right? Because now it's coming to the point to where before it was like, okay, maybe you're a little immature, maybe you're just not grown yet and you watch the Super Bowl. Now they're making it to the point where you have to endorse that, right? Then now knowing that, people that know that and sit down and wanna partake of that, that's a problem, you know? That's Lot style Christianity. We don't want anything to do with that, right? So I'm preaching about maturity, what the Bible says. This is an excellent chapter to talk about those things. Now, before we get started, I just wanna make some introductory statements about First, or I'm sorry, Second Peter, because there's a teaching out there that'll say, okay, well, First Peter was written for the Jews and Second Peter was written for the church, okay? This is a common thing. So if you wanna keep your place there, but go to First Peter chapter one real quick and I'll show you why they say this. So First Peter chapter one, look at the first verse. It says, in First Peter chapter one verse one, it says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. And they'll take that statement there in verse one and say, see, to the strangers, that's to the Jews that are scattered throughout the world. So hermeneutically speaking, First Peter is only to the Jews and Second Peter is your book for the church. You know, completely false teaching. Go back to Second Peter and I'll just show you why here real quick. It's important because that type of teaching, that type of culture in a church, all it does is set people up for discouragement. All it does is stunt your growth. All it does is make it so that you cannot mature, cannot grow as a Bible-believing Christian, right? And you need to know as God's people how to dispel these things. So real quick, just to dispel that, Second Peter, look at chapter number three. Go to Second Peter chapter three and look at verse one. Second Peter chapter three, verse one says this. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. So he says this second epistle, beloved. Well, who's he talking to in the second epistle? Yeah, look back at chapter one, verse one. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. It's to the saved. So that proves right there that the first book of Peter is to the saved and so is the second. Case closed, okay, done deal. I just had to get that off my chest and get that out there because you would be surprised at how many people really believe that. And it's not true. All of this is for you, all of this is for us. And think about it, the Jew today, he doesn't believe the Bible to begin with, okay? Well, this is for the Jew because they're gonna all just miraculously get saved in an instant, right? Yeah, right, wake up, grow up and let's get some charity. So thank God that nobody in here believes that, but I just wanted to, like I said, get that off my chest. So back to second Peter chapter one, look at verse number three. He says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. So by that statement there, we understand that we're called to glory and virtue. So it's not just this idea, you get saved, you're automatically fully grown, you're good to go. Now you're good to go as far as your eternal destination's concerned, right? And amen and praise God for that. But God wants more out of us, okay? And he says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. So we understand that all things to make us more mature come from his word. And you're gonna see that over and over and over and over and over again as we study this out. Look at verse four, he says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these he might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So he's saying, hey, look, you've escaped the corruption of the world. You have the new man. And he's saying, look, I want you to be partakers of this divine nature. And he's saying, hey, you have the ability to achieve that. But only through knowledge, only through virtue, only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse number five, he says, and beside this, giving all diligent, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. And so we're just gonna get our points this morning from this passage here. So wherever we have you turn, like I said, just keep your place in 2 Peter cause we're gonna keep coming back to it. But this is a place in the Bible where you might think like, add to faith? What are you talking about? Well, you don't add to faith to get people saved. You don't add works. We're past that point, we understand that. But you know, after you get saved, you should add to your faith. You should seek to build upon that foundation that you have. Why? So that you can bear fruit, so that you won't be barren, like we just read in the chapter, amen. So first point is this. After salvation, it's time to add to your faith. You say, well, what are we gonna add? We're going to add virtue, right? So we're gonna spend a few minutes here talking about the word virtue. So you study this word out and the Bible doesn't appear a lot. In fact, go to Mark chapter number five. Go to Mark chapter five real quick. Virtue is basically a moral, spiritual maturity. You like virtuous woman, right? Proverbs chapter 31. I'm sure everybody in here has read Proverbs chapter 31. All those attributes and those things that are listed there, that would describe a virtuous woman. Another example would be Ruth. You don't have to turn there, but Ruth chapter three verse 11 says this. And now my daughter, fear not, I will do thee all that thou requirest for all the city of my people, doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. You say, I'm a guy and I'm trying to find a virtuous woman. Well, you know, the only virtuous woman that's listed in the Bible is Ruth, right? The way that she behaved herself amongst God's people was a great testimony to where they're like, hey, you weren't born in this land, but yet you're obviously saved, you're obviously a great, spiritually mature woman in the way you're handling your situation after the death of your husband and all these things that have happened to you. And the whole nation knew that. So virtue is very important. And in the characteristics that we read about here in 2 Peter, it's very interesting that the first thing that he mentions to add to your faith, to add to your character is virtue. So this is important, we need to understand this. Now, there's other times in the Bible where it's listed as virtue coming out of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're gonna take a look at that. Let's see, Mark chapter number five. So we're gonna start here in verse 25. So this is the story about the certain woman, right? And it says a certain woman, she had this issue of blood going on about 12 years. Well, it's interesting here because the Bible's gonna say that virtue came out of Jesus and healed her. So let's just take a look at this here. Look at verse 25. It says, and a certain woman which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse. It reminds me of today's medical community, right? Big pharma and all that stuff. You go to the doctor for things and they just can't help you a lot of times. You know, and there's an agenda. And I'm not saying you shouldn't ever go to the doctor. You know, that's your business. You know, there've been times where we've had to go and stuff, you know, whatever. You just gotta be careful and realize they don't have the answer for everything, you know? Especially things like depression, you know, mental disorders, you know, because their agenda is to make money, right? Through pills, vaccines, unclean means. And basically, there's nothing new under the sun. Sounds like they didn't have it figured out back then either but that's just a little big pharma commercial break. Let's go on here. Verse 26, or 27 rather. When she had heard of Jesus, I'm sorry, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment for she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Verse 30, don't miss this. And Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? Obviously, he knows who touched his clothes. The Bible's recording this because there's a lesson being taught here that we need to pay attention to and we need to understand, right? And also understand there's a lot of people here. There's a lot of people surrounding Jesus, right? Probably hoping to be healed, probably hoping to see something, probably thinking within themselves, if I get healed of my infirmity, if I get healed of my disease, then I'll believe. Right, but what you need to understand, she had the faith first, right? And it says, Jesus said, hey, I perceive that virtue has come out of me. Well, what does that mean, that his moral character came out and healed her? Well, it's power that came out. It's the goodness and the mercy and the love and the charity that came out of him to heal her, to which there's no end, right? So when that virtue came out, he's not saying like, oh, now my levels have dropped, right? It doesn't work like that with God. It's infinite, okay? And so we need to understand. Now look at verse 31. And his disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging me, and sayest thou, who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing, trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. Verse 34, and he said unto her, daughter, thy faith hath made the whole go in peace and be whole of thy plague. So what's the lesson here? You gotta have the faith first, then the virtue can be added to it, right? Not everybody that was in that crowd that day got virtue, got power, right? You say, well, how does this apply today? We can't touch the hem of Jesus' garment and get healed. But you can come to the word, which is Jesus Christ, and you can get healed of your infirmities, of your immaturity, or whatever it is that you're struggling with, right? It's the word of God that will give you that virtue. So you get saved, you get saved by the word of God, and you add to that with the word of God, right? That's the application there. Now go to Philippians chapter number four. Philippians chapter number four. So this virtue here is power. It's power that can change your life if you let it, right, if you let it, if you go to the source. What's the source? It's Jesus Christ, it's his word. It's his virtue, it's his power. That's what he's saying. Now with all that in mind, we're gonna read this passage here of Philippians chapter four, verse eight, and it's gonna better describe this word here. So Philippians chapter four, verse eight, he says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, right? So think about all of those things and look at this next statement after the semicolon. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. So the first thing that we need to realize if we wanna add virtue to our faith is we need to get our minds right, right? We need to get our minds right. This is a big deal, right? In fact, Peter, in second Peter chapter, yeah, second Peter chapter one, what does he say towards the end of the chapter? He says, hey, you need to be reminded of these things often because the darts and the attacks of the world, they don't stop coming. They never cease, they never slow down, they never stop. So you have to get your mind right. You have to be willing to sanctify yourself and separate yourself from the world because the more you subject your mind, your eyeballs and your ears to the things of the world, the less you'll be thinking about these things and the less virtue you will get, right? So virtue starts in the mind. You say, I want to be more mature, I want to add to my faith. Well, you're gonna do that by getting your mind right, right? Look, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, just, these things are virtuous things, is what he's saying. Right, these are the things that we need to think about. You need to read the Bible every single day. In fact, there's a Bible reading chart back there for the whole year that Ms. Rachel printed out. I would recommend everybody get that and at least do that. What is it, four chapters a day? Four chapters a day? Yeah, so I mean, that gives you enough time. I was talking with brother Mike before the service, that gives you enough time to read those chapters. And even take notes, right? See, with the New Testament challenge, I don't know about you, but I was just worried about reading, you know? I'm like, I've got to finish this, cause I got sermons right, I got it. You're working 12 hours a day, all this stuff. You know, we're all busy, right? I'm not the only one here that struggles, you know? You guys are all busy, you know, working, you have kids, all this stuff, right? It's a hard thing, right? But that chart there, I mean, that can really add to your faith. That can provide you a lot of virtue. Cause now you can start, you know, in Genesis, read one through four, you can read it, you can listen to it audibly, and you can even take notes. Look, you want to add to your maturity, that would do it. I mean, think about it. Take your situation now, cause everybody's different, right? Not everybody's on the same level, and that's okay. That's why we're here. That's what this church is for, right? So with that being said, you as the individual, right? Think about how you are now, and where you want to be a year from now, right? And then just do that. I mean, it's laid out for you, it's a plan. You don't have to be like, well, what plan am I going to do? How am I going to get through this? It's all laid out for you. Take that, go with it, and then I guarantee you, look, in a year, you're going to be so much more better off than you are even now, right? And then what's going to be the result? More fruit, you know, just more godliness, right? More of a testimony, more of a witness for this area, and beyond, because we have desires to even go beyond here, right? For so many marathons, you know, we want to go to other countries. There's a lot of stuff that we want to do, you know? And I feel like right now, this church is like on the verge of being able to do that, right? But let's keep that, and let's push forward and strengthen the things which remain, man. So let's go on there. You guys turn to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. So the verse on our bulletin this morning is Psalm 119, 59, which says, I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. So when you decide, you know what, I'm going to get my mind right. I'm going to read the Bible, I'm going to meditate on these things, right, because these things are good, they're honest, they're true, they're pure. They're all the things that we read about in Philippians chapter four, right? And once you do that, the natural step after that is that you're going to turn your ways to God's testimonies, right? Maybe that's more soul winning, or maybe that's beginning soul winning, maybe that's more church, maybe that's more prayer, or maybe that's more edification, maybe that's more help to your brethren. Whatever the case may be, all of those things are going to come as a result of getting your mind right, right? Nobody, you're not just going to will it, okay? You have to be willing to get your mind right in order to add virtue to your faith. And this is a good thing. And he says, in the Bible, it says very clearly, we can add to our faith, because the word faith in this context is just being used to describe your Christianity, right? Your walk with God, your ability to be able to walk in the new man, okay? So, 1 Corinthians 13, 11, you don't have to turn there, but it says this, when I was a child, I spake 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 that's the goal. We need babes in Christ in church. That's a healthy church. That's a healthy church, because that means we're going out and we're reaching people and we're bringing them in and we're teaching them, right? So that's a good thing. But the goal, the idea, the motivation should be to progress and mature as a believer. Because if we don't mature, we're going to wind up going the ways of the churches in Asia, which basically wound up having their candlestick or their congregations completely removed from them, okay? 2 Corinthians chapter 10, look at verse five. Casting down imaginations. The Bible has a lot to say about the thoughts, about the mind, about imaginations, the same thing, right? Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So when you say, you know what? I'm going to get my mind right. I'm going to add virtue to my faith. The result is you're going to be able to defend the faith better, right? You're going to be able to cast down the imaginations of the world, which attack our faith, right? That's what he means here when he says every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. And look, it's no secret. There are tons of things out there that exalt itself, right, against God, right? You're 100% sure you're saved and going to heaven? Yeah, why? Because I follow the Bible and I'm a good person. Okay, can I give you a verse? Sure, you know, for by grace you say, through faith and that, not of yourselves the gift of God, not of works, thus any mention of else. Oh yeah, I believe that's all by faith, you know? There's a perfect example, right? Somebody with a wicked imagination taught them that both things are required for salvation, right? That's key, that's our big thing, that's our big battle right now out there, is deciphering that. Turn to Acts chapter 24, Acts chapter 24. And you know what? Reading Proverbs chapter 31 and understanding the adjective of virtue, which is virtuous, you know what you're going to find out? That virtue is more valuable than money. It's more valuable than materialistic goods and services. Far more valuable. Because the Bible says, I'm just going to read for you Proverbs 31, 10, which says, who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies? Well, you know what? A virtuous man would be the same thing, right? You take all the people in the world, you know, what did Jesus say? Most of them aren't saved. Now you take all the people that aren't saved, how many of them go to church and are serious and actually want to mature as a Bible-believing Christian? It's even fewer, right? Look, and just by the way, just growing up in church doesn't make you spiritually mature. Because I've seen this throughout my life where people are, and even out in soul winning, right? Oh, I've been going to church my whole life, I'm good, I don't need you, go away, get out of here, I know it all, don't need any help. Yeah, right. Why are you going to the pursuit? Why are you going to Stonehenge? You know what I mean? It doesn't make any sense. Unless it is that you're just deceiving yourself and you're not spiritually mature, you're weak, and you're, if you're even saved, to be honest with you, right? So you see the importance here. You gotta get that mind right. You gotta be willing to set the good things in front of you. You gotta have the word of God in you more than the things of the world. Now obviously we're in the world, we have to work with the heathen and stuff. But when you're coming to church, you're reading these things, it's not gonna affect you. You're gonna hear things, you're gonna see things. You know, I mean, think about it. When God sent the children of Israel, if you read about this in Numbers, I think it's chapter 53, when he's telling them, hey, you know, you're gonna go destroy the Canaanites. And when you get there, you're gonna destroy their pictures, you're gonna destroy their images. Think about this. They actually had to see those things as they were destroying them. So you say, well, didn't that affect them? No, because at that time they were following the statutes, the judgments, the commandments of God, right? So just realize that. You go, you may see something, you may hear something, you know, that's obviously not wholesome. You don't have to just run because you're holier than thou. I can't hear these words that you're saying right now. Oh, you're watching a Disney show, I must leave and come back when this is holy. No, that's not how it works. It's not gonna affect you because you've added to your faith virtue and you've got your mind right. That's the key. All right, now next. So the first thing is this, adding virtue, right? That's the first step. Now the second point is this, after virtue and knowledge is temperance and patience. And by the way, I basically just broke these up into like three groups. Okay, we're not gonna talk about it. We've done a lot of studies about knowledge. And why does he mention knowledge after virtue? Because with no knowledge, you're not gonna be able to sustain the virtue and you're not gonna be able to get the temperance and the patience and the brotherly kindness and the godliness and all the things that are listed here after, right? So you look, we realize we need to continuously add knowledge and by doing so we'll get wisdom. Now the next point is this, after virtue and knowledge is temperance and patience. That's what Peter lists for us, right? So I wanna show you here in Acts chapter 24 the power of temperance. You say, what does temperance mean? Temperance is self-restraint. It's the ability to say, you know what? I'm having a war this morning. I'm having a war today. Do I hit the alarm clock? Do I go to church? Do I go, you know, do I make the right decision here and listen to this or whatever the case is? Or do I have some restraint, right? Do I have some self-control? Am I disciplined? Am I disciplined enough to say, you know what? I'm not gonna hit that snooze button. I'm actually gonna get up and I'm gonna go to church or I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna go to someone or I'm gonna do the right thing. I'm gonna read my Bible instead of watching whatever. That's temperance, self-restraint. Somebody says something that maybe you don't agree with. You have a different opinion, you know? Well, temperance in that situation could save your friendship, right? Because we don't always need to be right in every manner of conversation. We need to be givers and takers and we need to find balance in that scenario. Does that make sense? So what I wanna do now is I wanna show you Acts chapter 24 verse 25. So the context here, Paul is basically preaching the gospel to Felix and his wife, Jerusalem. And we're gonna see him use temperance. I'm gonna show you how this is gonna benefit you not only in your life but also in soul winning. So look down here at verse number 25. It says, and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. So I just had that verse there to show you the result of having this characteristic here. Obviously Paul had faith, obviously he had virtue, obviously he had temperance because it mentions it here. You say, what does that mean? How does this apply to my life right now? Well, you gotta understand, the Bible's just recording the situation but there was a lot of dialogue going back and forth that we're probably not privy to here, okay? Maybe they were asking questions, maybe they were saying things that are unorthodox. You know, who's ever gone soul winning and people just say some of the goofiest things and you're just like, what in the world? You know, or they're like, you know, you get them saved maybe or get them close and like, oh, you know, I'm gonna go watch, you know, this movie and you know that's wrong. A temperate person would not even address that because that's not the issue. We're not out to try to get people to live righteously when we're soul winning. We're trying to get them saved, right? We're not out there trying to be like, okay, I need to come in your house, I got my clipboard, throw that out, get rid of this, you know, all this. No, that's not what we do. That's what the street preachers do, right? Because they teach you gotta repent of your sins and be saved. They don't have temperance because they don't have virtue and they really don't even have faith in most cases. Right, because they're not saved, you understand that. So it says that he reasoned of righteousness. So when you're reasoning with people, when you're explaining the gospel, be patient with them. Restrain your words. Always try to get that conversation back in line with the gospel getting them saved, okay? This is how temperance can benefit you. But you know what? You're really only gonna get to that point when you were willing to get your mind right and when you add that virtue, right? That's why it's listed in order. Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness. It's in that order for a reason, not just so that I can preach a sermon with all these points in line, but I do appreciate it. You know, it made my job a whole lot easier. So you get the point there, right? And look at the result here. Now Felix and Drusilla didn't say that they got saved. We, you know, we don't know, probably not, but you can see that they trembled, right? So a mature Bible-believing Christian willing and able to show temperance, right, to show this godly attitude, that makes people tremble because they can see the difference. They're like, wait a minute, you're not like everybody else I've talked to that's just harping on me about everything. You know, and they can tell you actually care about my eternal destination, and that makes them tremble. It makes them think. See, it's not just the words that come out of your mouth soul-willing that's gonna win the person. It's also gonna be your attitude and how you speak to that person. Are you sensitive to what they're saying? Somebody's like, you know, I'm really struggling. I do, or maybe I just moved here. You know, you gotta be willing to be sensitive to those things and be willing to come back and readdress those issues for them. Why? So that they really know you care about them and you're not just trying to get them to pray a prayer, right? That, because that doesn't do us any good. We wanna get to the heart. We wanna make sure that they fully believe and understand what we're showing them. And temperance, self-restraint in conversation is greatly beneficial. It's beneficial in every area of your life, right? Like, even at work, you know, people say the dumbest things, or maybe they, you know, accuse you of something, and you need to be able to have the discernment to be like, you know what, this isn't a battle that I really wanna fight right now, and have some temperance and not just pop off at the mouth at every single thing they say. Because all you're gonna do is just stir up strife and trouble, and it's just gonna make your life miserable and hard to deal with, right? But when you have this temperate attitude, you know, these problems just tend to bounce off you and just go away. You know, and it also shows that you're humble. You know, because I can think of numerous times in my past where I've been like, I'm on my way to work, and I'm like, if this person says this, I'm gonna say this, and it's going down, and it went exactly like I thought in my head, you know what I mean? And then I'm living with a constant, you remember when you said this in that meeting, man, that was great, and I'm like, no, don't bring that up, because that's not conduct of becoming a pastor, you know? Things like that, okay? So turn to Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. And while you're turning, I'm gonna read for you Galatians chapter five, verse 23, which says, meekness, temperance against such, there is no law, and this is in the context here of Galatians five is Paul exhorting the Galatians. He's saying, hey, I'm about done with a letter, you know, and I just want you guys to understand, you know, kicking these people out there trying to preach you a false gospel is a good thing, and you being meek and listening to me, right, and understanding what I'm trying to tell you, and having temperance, there's no law against that. There's no law about us saying, you know what, I'm just not gonna address you right now. I'm not gonna pop off, I'm not gonna, you know, yell and scream at you right now. I'm gonna have some restraint and see what happens, and see if there could be any restoration or what have you. You know, because I've been strolling before, you know, I remember I knocked on this lady's door, and man, she was so excited. This was a great salvation story here. I mean, I knock on her door, you know, she's crying already. I was with Kylen and Kenley, and I'm like, ah, man, why do I always get the criers? But, you know, I had some temperance there, just a little bit, and I was able to give her the gospel. But the whole time I'm giving her the gospel, she was like stopping me, and just telling me about all her problems. You know, now in my carnality, I wanted to say, you know what, you need to shut up or you're gonna go to hell if I don't get this message out to you right now. You know, but I was able to get it through, and just not address those things, until the end, after she got saved. Because she was so excited, like, it was a weird situation. Like, earlier that day, she was at Walmart, and she ran into some Christian missionary that basically walked up to her and tried to give her some Ray Comfort track, and told her to repent of her sins. And she's like, well, I can't because I'm living with my boyfriend and this and that, you know. And she was so excited, the message I had to tell her, she was like, okay, I wanna get saved right now and pray, and I'm like, well, I'm at Revelation 21, I can't, just hold on, okay, let's keep going. You know, by the time I get to John 3, 16, I get it, it's a free gift, it's forever, you can't lose, I'm like, please, okay. Just hold on. I gotta show you a couple more things, just to make sure for you, okay. Okay, you know, so that's one of the situations in my life where I can remember using temperance, because I wanted so bad to just say, shut up and just listen to what I have to say to you, right. But that wouldn't have been beneficial and I might have lost her, okay. So just having that self restraint, not telling her what I wanted to, I believe made the difference in the conversation she wound up getting saved, you know, and it was a great story there. But Paul tells the Galatians, hey, you know, there's no law against temperance. You don't have to fight every single verbal battle that comes your way. Now, some of them we do, right. There's a balance in everything, and some of them we do, but not everything. And he's saying, you know what, don't be so hard on yourselves, you know, because sometimes, you know, somebody will say something to you and you'll want to say it, but you won't, and you'll beat yourself up later and be like, man, I should have told that guy off, man, I should have said this and let it eat at you. You know, there's no law against what you did, it's okay. You'll live to see another day, you're not gonna die. You're gonna be better off for it, because maybe that person goes away and thinks, okay, I didn't get the rise out of them that I wanted to. Maybe something's wrong with me. Maybe I need to change, okay. Now, what I want to do now is we're gonna go over some verses here in Romans chapter seven, and these basically describe the hindrance that we have to temperance, but not only temperance, but just to the entire Christian life, right, because we have this war inside of us between the old man and the new man. So let's pick it up here in verse 14. Paul says this, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, which is a slap in the face to Paul Washer and all of his cronies, because they say there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Here you have the chief Christian. Paul was a better Christian than anybody who's ever lived, I believe. And he says, I am present tense, carnal, sold under sin. Verse 15, for that which I do, I allow not for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. Now, let's stop right there. What does that mean? It means we all come short. We all make mistakes. Look, this holier than thou attitude, this coming to church, because there's people, you know, that I've noticed they grow up in church or they come into church, you know, they'll sit down and be like, I'm just so much better than you. You don't even know. They don't say it verbally, but their actions, which speak louder than words, do provide that persona, right? And Paul's like, hey, look, I'm messed up, okay? Right, what I see here is the maturity, the virtue, the temperance, the patience, the godliness of a full-grown, mature, Bible-believing Christian. You see, because you go talk to this guy that holds a sign out here on Colin Fairview, right? I guarantee you, he's gonna be like, I don't sin anymore. Joe, go ask him. I haven't done it yet, but that's how those people are. That bozo that came in here a month ago, Paul, he said he was just as righteous as Joe. That's what he told brother Jeff. Guess what? He is not a mature Christian. And to take the matter further, he's not even a Christian. He's not saved, right? When you come in here and say, the Mormons believe the same things as the Christians, you're wrong, man. You need to get a flight out of here, right? But we display temperance physically in that situation and did not commence. Verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consented to the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And so now he's beginning to explain the two natures. Right, see the heathen, the person who's not saved, they can't say that, because all they have is the old man, right? Verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Verse 19, for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not do, or I'm sorry, which I would not, that I do. So he's like, more often than not, when somebody cuts me off in traffic, I have a bad thought, I'm ready to scrap. You know, he's basically saying, I preach these things, but when no one is looking, I'm ready to go ham on somebody. And look, we all struggle with these things. And understanding that and realizing that, it really helps you not to look at a brother or sister and be like, you know what, you're just a piece of junk. You know what I mean? Because you just haven't got it yet. Now there are some people that need correction, right, in every church, and things need to be preached against, and that's okay, we have the authority to do that, we're supposed to reprove or be instant in season, you know, with all long suffering, all of that stuff is good, amen. But on an individual basis, you know, I've noticed it, and I'm not saying this is here, but I've seen it before in churches where people just think they're so high speed, man. It just pours out of them. And everybody knows, and they're just like, oh, here comes so and so again, you know. Just like, it's what, I read the Bible 15 times last night, you know. Got 8,000 people saved yesterday. They even sang hymns at three o'clock in the morning, went and fed people at the homeless shelter, and you suck. So you know, there's people out there. They are definitely out there. Or there's the guy that's always attacking women, right, on Facebook, you know, this is another one I've seen. You know, somebody, oh, you know, I don't wanna hear any woman's opinion. You know, there's people out there, and for some reason, they like to flock to our type of churches, and again, I'm not saying anybody hears like that, but you know, they'll come in, and they'll start being rude to the women, and it's like, what is your problem? You know, there's a reason why you're single. Why? The Bible says let every man have his own wife. Don't let every man have his own wife and authority over other people's wives. You know, these women are very smart, and if they could preach, they'd put a lot of us to shame, okay. Don't remember that, they're a help meetin' to you guys. You know, there's nothing wrong in the world at all, you know, with teaching your wife, and getting her thoughts on a passage, or asking an opinion, or I probably do that to Jessica all the time, you know, because she's observant, women are very observant. You would do well, guys, to listen, and ask them questions. Hey, what do you think about this? Right? Jessica's like, you are a liar. But the things which I do. All right, verse 20. That's as much trouble as I'm gonna give away, okay. Now, verse 20 says, now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Right? So, let's say you get somebody saved, you follow up with them from a year, you know, a year from now, they're really, I mean, maybe they remember this, they're glad, but they have no interest in comin' to church. You know, you're gonna be temporary, you're gonna be virtuous, you're gonna try to exhort them, but I've got more respect for somebody like that than somebody who makes a commitment to do an office in church, or to have a position and then just dips out, right? Or somebody who comes to church faithfully, but has just got this attitude problem in a piece of junk. I got more respect for that guy that never comes to church that's saved than I do for somebody like that. That person's more mature than the person that comes here and causes trouble. Or the person that goes and back bites. The person that says, you know, I don't really believe in tithing, I don't really believe in eternal security, I don't really believe in this, you know, yea hath God said. That's satanic, guys. That's not right. That is wrong behavior. And every church of ours, you know, of our sort, has people like that. From time to time, you will see people come in here and basically do stuff like that. Now look at verse 20, I'm sorry, yeah, verse 22 again, he says, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But the thing is, when somebody's really saved, after the inward man, they're gonna delight in that law. So, you know, I got this guy saved a long time ago at work, it was a few years ago. You know, never came to church, you know, he'd play the game, you know, every once in a while, yeah, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna get baptized, and then, oh, I got this dirt bike thing on Sunday, you know, but whenever I'd show him something in the Bible, he would receive it. And he would be joyful, why? Because he now has the inward man, and the opportunity presents itself, and he's like, you know what, after the inward man, when I hear this stuff, then I'm excited, then I rejoice, then I'm like, yeah, amen, right? But then, two days later, when I'm not there, he's doing this till he's out the door, mentally, right? And so we just need to be aware of that, just understand, that's how we are, and that's why we need sermons like this constantly to remind us and to keep exhorting us to go the right direction, right? To add to our faith that which is right. So, verse 23, but I see another law of my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. This is that struggle that we all have, old man versus new man, right? And it's, where's the battle taking place here? In the mind, in the mind. You gotta just basically reach down your throat and grab some intestinal fortitude and say, I'm gonna read the Bible, I'm gonna meditate, I'm gonna think on these things. And by doing so, you're gonna turn your steps towards the Lord's testimonies over time. It will happen. Verse 24, oh wretched man that I was. Oh wait, oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And so that's the struggle, that's the battle that we have to deal with today. Go back to Second Peter chapter one real quick. Second Peter chapter one. So, while you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you Second Peter one six, which says, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness. So we've spent a lot of time talking about temperance. Temperance builds patience. If you don't have self-restraint, you're never gonna be patient, right? That's why I just lumped all these together. And the result is godliness. That's the result. Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, in that order. So all of these things, when you just decide, in the mind, virtue, think on these things, I'm gonna do it, guess what? The result is gonna be the virtue, the knowledge, the temperance, the patience, and the godliness, right? You have to have some level of patience if you wanna be a soul winner. If you wanna be a disciple, you wanna be able to edify somebody in conversation after church. There's a lot of edification that takes place in this church before, after church, and even during the week. On the phone, in person, right? Because we all have struggles. And who are you gonna go to? You're not gonna go to your heathen coworker. They're not gonna help you. And we all know that, right? So the edification must be done amongst God's people. And if you wanna be a good edifier, man, you gotta have some patience. Because you're gonna give advice, and people may or may not take it. And you know you don't wanna be like, well, I'm just gonna mock you now, you suck. You didn't do what I said, no. You're gonna be patient and show that brother some love and some joy, right? Because that's what's gonna make the difference in the end, actions speak louder than words. So, number three is brotherly kindness. Look down there at verse number seven. Second Peter one, verse seven says this. And to godliness, right? So we're building here, we're adding, it says, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. Charity is a love in action, right? That's what it is. So somebody's down on their luck, you know, we give them some money, right? Help a brother out. Guess what, that's a charitable action. I heard a King James only preacher one time say, the word charity really has no business being in the Bible. You know, because in the Greek, the word is agape, and it means love. So they mistranslate it here, they're just trying to. And he literally implied that it was in here because we should be a type of people, or not that we should be, but he was saying that the translators had an agenda to use these passages to talk about money, like charity, like giving. How many charities were around in 1611? Does anybody know? I don't know. I didn't look at it, it just came to mind. I don't know. But look, these things are in the Bible for a reason. There is a difference between love and charity. You could say I love this all day long, but if your actions don't show it, then do you really love it? Right, that's the issue here. But he says, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, meaning to your brothers and sisters in Christ, we're all that we have, right? A lot of us have unsaved family members. They're not gonna be with us for an eternity. So we might as well rejoice in the family that we have now and be willing to edify one another and help each other out. Because if we don't, we're gonna self-destruct from the inside. And this is why some people have to be ran out, right? Because they won't subscribe to the Christian character that God has laid out for us. This is why people leave churches all the time. This is one of the reasons, selfishness, right? We don't want to be like that. Somebody needs help, we need to be willing to help them out, right? Brotherly kindness, the Bible has a lot to say. In fact, this is, you know, I've got some stuff in here about this, but this is really a sermon in and of itself. You know, we should always be ready, willing and able to help a brother or a sister out in need. Whether that's in conversation, whether that's in some kind of a physical deed, we should always be willing to do that, okay? Turn to Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter number 12. So Romans chapter 12, I'm gonna look at verse number nine. Romans 12, nine says this, "'Let love be without dissimulation. "'Abore that which is evil, "'cleave to that which is good.'" Verse 10, "'Be kindly affectioned one to another "'with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another.'" This isn't just a, hey, this is something we should do. This is actually, if you read it, this is a commandment. You know, you read, for example, Matthew chapter 18, you know, how Jesus said that a brother, the two brothers that are at odds with each other should handle a situation, you know? It's very clear that he does not like it when we're constantly fighting one another in the church. Now, when somebody departs and they say, you know what, I don't want anything to do with you, you know, whatever, then that's on them. You know, that's, they're gone. I'm not gonna go placate people like that, right? But to those of us that are serving together, working together, we should be willing to prefer one another before ourselves. So let's say you're in conversation with somebody and somebody's got a different way of raising kids or a different way of, you know, changing a gasket on a, you know, an oil pan or something like that. You know, we shouldn't be like, well, my way's better. I'm better, no, right? We should be willing to prefer one another, meaning be temperate, be respectful to other people's opinions and ideas, right? And there's a way you can disagree without coming to blows and just being argumentative all the time. And I'm not saying we have this issue. It's just something that, you know, I've been in leadership a long time and I've seen these things, okay? And so that's why I brought this up here. But he says, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. This is the will of God. This is how we should be. And this, when you're doing this, this is a sign, hey, you're in the right place. You're going the right direction. You're maturing as a believer. You say, you know what, I wanna help out. I wanna be there. I'm gonna make a commitment to help something in the church and I'm gonna follow through with it, right? When you say, you know what, I'm gonna dip out, then that just shows your true character that you're not mature. So turn to Romans chapter 14. And when you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you Psalm 133 one, which says this. This is a Psalm of David. It says, behold, how good and how pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity, right? So even David understood the importance of the brethren. Right, you read the Old Testament, like these guys that fought together, I mean, they were best friends a lot of time. Think about David and Jonathan. You know, think about David's mighty man when he said, you remember when David said, you know, I would basically give eight, I'm paraphrasing, but I would basically give anything to get a drink of water right now. And the mighty man, what do they do? They go break forth through the Philistines just to get him a drink of water, and he pours it out, you know? And that's a sign there of humility. But that's a sign there of how much he loved his people, how much he loved the brethren, that they were willing to risk their own lives just to get him a glass of water, right? Think about it, it's a very important subject. And so he writes this, he says under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Look, many of you remember your days in the old IFB or in other churches. What's the culture like? After service, boom, you're gone, right? And you have clicks, and they click hard, right? And who knows how you get into half of them. You know, some of them, you gotta have the right car. Others, you gotta have the right clothing. Others, you gotta be a queer, right? That's what it is, right? But David's saying, hey, it's a pleasant thing when you can come and assemble yourselves as God's people, right, and be in unity. Believe the same doctrines. Not running around saying, you know what, I don't really agree with that. Did pastor really say that? Does he really mean that? That's not a brother willing to dwell in unity, is it? No, that's a problem, is what that is. He goes on to say this. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Herman, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore, right? It is a great thing to have unity amongst the brethren, to be able to fellowship. This, you know, my favorite times are when I'm around the people of this church, talking, you know, sowing, just sharing things. I mean, it's a great feeling. It's edifying, right? Because look, you go to work and you're dealing with all these people, I mean, that midweek service is just a blessing. It's just a great break from all that, you know? It's like, wow, I can actually be around some normal people for a change, you know? And I feel like now I got the strength to make it the rest of the week, right? So, where'd I have you turn, Romans 14? All right, look at verse 10. It says, but why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He's basically saying, hey, don't think of yourselves as, oh, I'm so much better than you, okay? I go to church three times a week, I'm better than you, because you don't, right? No, the idea is, okay, I need to check myself and realize, you know what? I'm gonna stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The better option as a brother, as a sister, is just to be able to edify, help, encourage. You know, I had an old IFB pastor, he said, hey, you know, a good way to get people that are new to church to come to the Sunday evening service is to take them out to dinner. But after the evening service, yeah, you show them that kindness and it gets them hooked. And we would often try that. And I think it worked with that one family, didn't it? Yeah, it worked. We would try that with people. And obviously, we have people that travel, it's a different story, okay? There's, look, when we were going to Vancouver and we were driving two and a half hours each way for a year, we couldn't make the midweek service. We did a couple times, but you know, I don't know if you know about, Tacoma, Seattle traffic is a nightmare, okay? It's not like here. But nobody was ever like, oh, I'm better than you because I live here, you know what I mean? That would have hurt. That wouldn't have edified me. That wouldn't have gave me the motivation to keep going. But people were kind there and like, hey, you know, we're just glad you're here. You know, praise God, right? And we were able to grow as a result of that. So let's move on here, verse 11. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God, so then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. So we need to remember that, right? Now, you're not gonna stand before God. He's not gonna have the whiteboard. Oh, remember on, you know, February 2nd, you thought this while pastor was preaching. No, no, you're forgiven for your sins, right? But our works that we do in the body, they're gonna manifest themselves, right? Wood, hay, and stubble. Now, I always say this, but we need to have more gold and precious stones in our rewards than the wood, hay, and stubble, okay? So that's the goal. That's the goal here. So turn back to 2 Peter chapter one. And while you're turning the memory for you, Luke 17, three, which says this. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. This is key. A lot of people miss this and say, well, we were supposed to be full of brotherly kindness and brotherly love. Don't ever say anything that would offend a brother. Don't you ever mention anything that would offend somebody. What does this say? Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. You know what a rebuke is? Telling somebody they wrong. Now, guess what, dude? You're wrong. You know what? And you need to get right. Your behavior is destructive. It's harming. It's not right. You need to get it right. There's a way to rebuke people harshly sometimes, but in love. There's such a thing as tough love, right? There is such a thing as tough love and that is rebuke. And he says, and if he repent, forgive him. If he's like, you know what, nuts to you. Well then remain in your sins then. I'm not forgiving you. I don't have the power to impute or take away your sins. But if you don't want to get right and fall in line with God's word, then bye-bye. Very clear. One more time. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. If he repent, forgive him. If, if, if. If. A lot of Christians today would like to erase this verse out of the Bible. So now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a look at the result of applying these things to your life. Right, these building blocks. Virtue, getting your minds right. All the things we talked about. Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. All of these things. Here's the result. Look at verse eight. He says, for if these things be in you, right, if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's saying, hey, we don't want to be barren. We don't want to be empty. We don't want to be plain. We don't want to be void of knowledge that comes from God, of his word, right? Because if you're void of this knowledge, you're never gonna be able to edify somebody and you're never gonna be able to get anybody saved. You're never gonna be able to succeed or mature as a Christian. Verse nine, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. This is talking about people that are saved. Read that verse again, but he that lacketh these things. Who in here knows somebody who lacks these things? I can think of about 20 of them right now, right? But he that lacketh these things is blind. Yea, hath God said. I don't really think we need to separate ourselves from the world. I don't really think we need to do this. I don't really think we need to do that. I think it's all subjective. When you hear that and when you see that from people, guess what? You're dealing with somebody who is blind. You're dealing with a believer that is blind. This is not the goal. This is not the will of God for our lives. But if he lacketh these things, he is blind and cannot see afar off. He can't tell that he's gonna spend more time in eternity than he ever will here on this earth. And that is a sad, look, that is a problem. It doesn't have to be like that, man. You have the opportunity right now to live in eternity with the most glory that God is willing to give you. You can have that righteous body and all the rewards. You can have that. It's up to you. I can't do it for you. No one else is gonna do it for you. It's up to you. You have to make the choice. You have to do what's right. Verse 10, wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things ye shall never fall. This is the key, to never fall. To never backslide, oh, okay, we're all gonna backslide, but to never backslide out, right? To backslide out of church, out of the will of God, and just right back into the heart of the world. That's what we're trying to avoid here. That's what we don't wanna see. That's what he's saying here. But he says the way you're gonna do it is to give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Look, if you're saved, you're called and you're elect. It's that simple. He's not saying that God chose you before the world began, just you and not him, no. He's just basically saying, hey, look, you're saved, you've been called, and you need to make your election, sure, meaning complete. You need to do some work after you're saved to make sure of that. That's all he's saying there. Now listen to this. Here's a quick tip to ensure you're calling an election. You guys turned to Leviticus 26. I'm gonna read for you a couple verses here. First Thessalonians 5, 20 says this. Despise not prophesying. So Paul tells the Thessalonians this. Despise not prophesying. What does that mean? Don't despise preaching. Here's what that means. When it steps on your toes, don't get mad. Don't get mad at me. Look, if you've got a problem, then you can always come to me and say something. It's cool. I get excited up here, I get mad, I do whatever, but you know afterwards I'm not necessarily gonna be like that. Right? Unless people wanna puff up and get attitude or something, that's a different story. Right, but when it comes to things of God, I'll do whatever I can to help you out and talk with you and you say, well, I got all these sins. Okay, cool. We all do, man. Let's reason together here. Right, let's talk. But despise not prophesying. Don't get mad at the preaching. And there's a lot of different sermons that I have to preach. There's sermons where we expose false prophets, false doctrine. And then there's sermons like this where we have to exhort and edify the brethren. There's other sermons where there's a problem or something going on in the church and I have to preach against it because why? I wanted to contaminate the people that are here. You see, I'm pretty new at this, right? This month is gonna make my one year mark as a pastor. And one thing I've learned is different. When I used to go to church, I didn't see all the different things that went on. But now I do. Now I have to look out there and I hear and I see things and I'm like, okay, that's dangerous. I'm not gonna necessarily approach the person but I'm just gonna preach on it in hopes that they'll get it right, in hopes it'll sink down to their head, in hopes we can just reform it and restore and change. Right? Some people take that and they're like, that's me, you got me, yep. And I love that. I love people like that. And then there's others that are like, how dare you? How dare you say that about me? You know who I am? You know how mature I am? Don't you know how I grew up in church? Right? That's the wrong attitude, my friend. That's the hallmark of somebody who's blind and cannot see a far off. Proverbs 1, seven says this, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. You get both from every sermon because every sermon we use the word of God and it's full of knowledge and full of wisdom to help you change your life. Despise, not prophesying. Look, if you could just do that, you're going places. If you could just not get offended at the preaching, not get offended at God's word, you will do well. Trust, you'll do well. You see, you talked about a lot this morning and I did. If you could just remember this, despise, not prophesying, you will do very well. You will be blessed. Look, you got it made. Despise, not prophesying. If you remember one thing from the sermon, that's the thing to remember, okay? Leviticus 26, 14. Leviticus 26, look at verse 14. God's telling them the result of not hearkening to his commandments. He says this, but if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments and if you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgment so that you will not do all my commandments but that ye break my covenant, I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption and the burning aug that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart and ye shall sow your seed in vain and your enemies shall eat it. Look, you say, well, we're not under the old covenant. I know that. I realize that. This is God's attitude and he's the same today, yesterday and forever, he doesn't change. This is his attitude about people that want to despise prophesying. Despise the preaching and say it offends me, I don't like it. Go away. No, no, no, no, no. You'll get destroyed. I'm just trying to warn you this morning. You will get destroyed. And we've all seen that. Yeah. And it ain't gonna be the last time. Yeah. Look at verse 17. And I will set my face against you and ye shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you and ye shall flee when none pursue with you. The scaredy cat Christian, the person who says I'm gonna despise the prophesying. God says, I'm gonna make you afraid of everything. And look, you talk to people that get offended at preaching. Think about this. What are they always afraid of? Being offended. They're fearful of being offended. They're fearful of all sorts of things. All sorts of things. Where does that come from? It comes from God. That's his judgment upon that believer. Giving you, we're not called to fear. Fear is this, look, Bible says that fear is a snare and a trap. Right. Not edifying, it's bondage. It's broken hearted, it's sorrowful. It's not the will of God for his people. Turn to First Thessalonians five. We're getting close to being done. First Thessalonians chapter number five. First Thessalonians five, verse 12. So we're talking about not despising preaching. Don't despise prophesying. Because by this, by that is a great avenue for us to grow. First Thessalonians five, 12, look at this, it says, and we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves. So when the person says, you know what? I know that these people go out, they labor in the word, they're preaching, they're doing the right thing. You know, we're not supposed to attack them. We're not supposed to be having private meetings saying, yea hath God said. That is wrong. And it doesn't matter who you want to call and cry to. They know it too. It's not right. But he's saying, hey, look, don't do this. You need to pay attention to the people at labor and have some respect, have some maturity, have some brotherly kindness, have some temperance and patience. Look at verse 14. Now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. Well, here's an example of different sermons that you might hear, right? He says, now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly. So when you hear, when I hear people that may be unruly in various, various ways, you know, I say, well, maybe that's something I need to preach about. I'm gonna preach these sermons. And then there's two kinds of people in the world, the quick and the dead. The quick say, you know what? I got it, make the change. Others say, you know what? I'm gonna bounce, I'm dead. It offends me, it bothers me, I'm out, you know? And that's wrong. Look at verse 15. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Then he says, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, meaning you ignore these. You despise the prophesying, you quench the spirit. And the result is just terror. It's a life of terror and judgment. Go back to second Peter chapter one. Second Peter chapter one, look at verse 11. He says, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Verse 12, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth. So he's saying, hey, I know you know these things. I know you're established in them right now. But if I don't bring it up from time to time, I'm being negligent and that's negative. That is bad. That is not okay. That hinders the cause of Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. So sermons like this often have to be preached. Despise not prophesying and you will do well. You will advance as a Christian. You will become mature. Everybody understand that? Pretty simple concept, right? Look at verse 12 again. I'm sorry, not verse 12. Look at verse 13. He says, yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle. Talking about his body. He says, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. Look, these things, guys, are super, super important. Now understand this. We just got done doing the book of John, right? And we're in Acts chapter four tonight. What are we seeing about Peter? He's advanced. Look, look what he's teaching now. He's teaching you how to be mature. He's teaching us how to add to our faith. I think he knows a thing or two about it, right? I mean, he went from trying to cut Malchus's head off to this. To saying, you know what? I now get it. I got it. I understand how to really mature in Christ and it's not just by filling a seat in church, right? So keep these things in remembrance, look, and you will do well. And the crowd that I'm looking at here right now is doing very well, very well. Amen? So let's keep it that way. You're in this truth at this present time. Let's make it sure. Let's make it safe and let's make it ongoing. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for these truths in the Bible, Lord. I pray you would just continue to bless our church, Lord. Help us to grow and help us to be mature, Lord, and just to get better every single day, Lord, and to keep edifying one another. We thank you for all these things and just the endless wealth, Lord, of knowledge and examples and the stories in the Bible that we can pull from and learn from. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.