Growing Spiritually in an Age of Uncertainty

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. It's a delight to be able to meet together with you. I know we've been in a lot of church services this past week, or ten days, and yet that's what we do on the Sabbath, and we're always thankful to be able to do that. I was very thankful for this very restful day. This was fabulous to be able to get back and to be a little bit relieved, and perhaps you are as well. I know that I mentioned up in Fulton this morning that it was really very easy on me. I know Mr. Hudson had a 12-hour drive to get back yesterday, and so I know it took a lot longer than it took me.

I only drove four hours from Branson back home, and that's pretty simple if you're doing that in the afternoon, because you didn't go anywhere early. By the time I got back, and within an hour, or probably two hours at least, I had all the stuff unloaded. I had all the stuff put back in place, and my toothbrush in this drawer, and my razor in that drawer, had most of my clothes thrown down in the basement where the washing machine is, and other stuff hung up where it usually goes, and I was kind of back to normal.

That felt good. That felt good to kind of get things, you know, living out of a suitcase, or doing the type of traveling that we do. It's a little out of the ordinary, and it's not quite as comfortable as when we get back home, and we feel like we're kind of back into our routine. I think that's good that we get back, and we're able to get into a routine, and get into a regular way of living our lives. And yet, as I mentioned that, just because the things that we study, the things that we were learning about the coming Kingdom of God, the things that we were focused on by Christ returning, and establishing His Kingdom, and all of us being allowed to serve with Him.

We want to grow in our desire, in our ability to serve with Jesus Christ as He sets up the Kingdom of God here on earth. We want that. We were encouraged to do that. We were admonished to do that in a number of ways. We had different sermons that were focused on different aspects of the type of growth, the type of closeness. Mr. Hudson mentioned this being mentioned initially up in Colorado.

The type of closeness that we definitely need to have on an individual basis with Jesus Christ, and with God our Father. That's not something someone can do for you. That's something you have to do yourself. And we've been encouraged to do that. And yet, we also were told, looking into this next year, what are we looking at? We're almost looking in, as it would appear right now, we're looking into a year of great uncertainty. We've seen more things happen this past year than I've hardly ever seen. As far as things that we kind of know are going to come about, as far as some of the changes that are going to take place in the world, the decline of the influence of the United States around the world, the growth and the development that is taking place in Europe, the chaos that we watch every day out of the Middle East.

If you saw television at all yesterday, you saw what's going on in Libya, the Qadhafi having been captured and then killed and then paraded before the entirety of the group around where he was found and then killed. That type of conflict, that type of agitation is something that we're going to see increase, that we already see increase. It's not only there in Libya. I know this transition that is now taking place to transition. Whether it's any better than what they had, I don't have any idea.

But you have that same type of agitation in Iran and in Iraq and in the other areas right around Israel over in Pakistan. You have unrest everywhere and we have this oppression. The Occupy Wall Street up in New York, which is also extending out to other places around the United States, even around the world. People are thinking that's a good idea. I'm not sure exactly whether they have any idea of what they're protesting. They're protesting that things are bad for me, I guess.

That's probably what they're protesting. Yet, what is this next year going to bring? I think we're really looking at a year of uncertainty. It points out even more so the things that we had emphasized to us during the feast. As we come back, and as I was mentioning, come back and kind of getting things back to somewhat normal and getting back into a regular routine, we don't want to forget. I mean, things can become comfortable. We get back and are settled once again. We don't want to be too settled.

Here in Matthew 5, I want to just point this out. This is not something that you are unaware of, but I was impressed by numerous statements that were made throughout this past week about how it is that we could be encouraged, how it is that we could be growing, how it is that we could be benefited from just looking at different scriptures and then being able to strive to live up to those standards. But here in Matthew 5, one of the Beatitudes in verse 6 says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

See, now I recall a mention, and of course, we always do this whenever we are at the festival. We're praying, and we do here. I think we did earlier, Mr. Beyer did. Whenever we pray, you know, that God would inspire our services, that He would use in whatever way He can, the speakers, to be able to give us words that would be beneficial and helpful.

And that's certainly the case. And I know that when we go to the feast, we've got dozens of speakers, or at least about a dozen speakers that we listen to, and we all are praying that, you know, that God will work through them to give us what we need.

And yet, on the flip side of that, not only that we pray for that, but that we pray that God will cause me, He will cause me individually to have a hunger and thirst for the spiritual nourishment that He provides. And see, that's something that I think all of us should pray. I should pray that. I should pray that every day as I attend a church service, that God would, in whatever way, feed me spiritually. And that, of course, is what I want to encourage all of you to think about. As we come back and get back into our regular routine, we don't want to neglect to request that God will cause us to have a great hunger, a great thirst for His Word and for His direction in our lives. And I know, say physically, I think I probably ate and drank more than I usually do in a week, this past week, just because of the nature of the festival that we go to.

But we don't want to neglect, and we don't want to forget the request that we should make of God that He would cause us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and hunger and thirst that He would live and work in us. So, we ought to pray for a yearning for spiritual growth. And that's really what, I think, in many ways we find that messages we're focused on.

We all need to grow spiritually. We need to draw closer to God.

One of the things that was mentioned in particular is in John 6.

Dr. Ward mentioned this, and he said it is very important. It should be a memory verse.

John 6, now I'm sure some of you could pick out other verses in John 6 that you're familiar with.

I was thinking, okay, now I know John 6.44. I know what that says. I know what verse 65 says, because both of them say basically the same thing. But I also know what verse 63 says, and this is what he said. It ought to be a memory verse. It ought to be something that we are continually yearning for, because as Jesus was speaking to His disciples here in verse 62, or let's go on down to verse 63, it says, It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

The words that I am speaking to you are that I have spoken to you. They are spirit, and they are life.

See, in a sense, the first part of that verse, it is the Spirit that gives life. The Spirit of God is what gives us life. And that is very similar to what we read over in Romans, where it talks in chapter 8, verse 5 and 6, where it tells us to be spiritually minded.

It is life and peace. But to be fleshly minded, or carnally minded, as it says here, the flesh profits nothing. To be carnally minded is simply death. And so for us to be excited, for us to be up, for us to be thrilled, for us to be filled to the very most that we can, we are going to need to yearn for spiritual growth. We are going to need to have the Spirit of God guiding and directing us and giving us understanding. And so I want to encourage us to do that as we look into the next months ahead of us. I would like for us to go over to 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians chapter 2 actually is, I think, a very important concept to keep in mind in connection with what we had explained to us even at this past feast.

See, it was mentioned that the book of 1 Corinthians has everything to do with division. It has everything to do with why division is wrong. Everything to do about why being divided is wrong. And of course, unfortunately, we've gone through some of that.

And yet, as was pointed out, the whole book points out how important it is. And I certainly think that we did a good job and we were very, I think, cognizant of the fact that we want to be united. We want to be pulling in the same direction. We want to have peace and harmony and cooperation.

And the way to do that is, of course, to look to God, to lead, to look to God, to guide, to look to Him to direct us. But as we realize, and of course was mentioned 1 Corinthians 1.13, you know, it's just a kind of a discussion of the theme, is Christ divided? Has Christ been divided?

And, you know, it points out how wrong that is. It points out how despicable that is.

But as it was also explained, in many ways division does very clearly point out motivation.

Very clearly points out what type of motivation individuals have. But here in chapter 2, I think in this same context, you have this topic of being divided and not united. Here, in the first few chapters, very clearly, chapter 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, they talk about how wonderful it is, how peaceful it is, how uplifting it is to be together, how pleasant that is, and to be doing a job that we've been given to do. But here in verse 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he says in verse 6, yet among them mature, we want to speak this wisdom. So Paul has been mentioning about how it is that this congregation there in Corinth, how they were struggling, how they were in distress, how they were in many ways divided. They weren't pulling together like they should. But he says in verse 6, among them mature, we want to speak wisdom. Though it is not a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age who are doomed to perish, but we speak the wisdom of God. Wisdom that is secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages of our glory.

None of the rulers of this age understand this. But they did, and they wouldn't have crucified Jesus Christ. See, he was pointing out how that, you know, this is a special understanding, a special blessing. To be able to be mature and spiritually minded, to know that, well, this wisdom comes from God, and it's not really simply available to the bulk of the world. It says in verse 9, as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart is conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him. See, understanding what God has prepared for the future, understanding what God is going to do, understanding what He's preparing us for, understanding how it is that we can be a part of a divine family, how it is that we can grow in a divine nature. That's a fabulous blessing. It goes on to say in verse 10, these things God has revealed to us. He says, eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and it even hasn't even been conceived in the heart of man, what God has prepared. But, He says in verse 10, these things God has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit, through the Spirit of God. The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. So He goes on to describe this in verse 11, for what human being knows what is truly human, except the human spirit that is within Him.

So this is talking about a spirit in man, a man that causes humans to be far different than animals. And we have a lot of beautiful animals here on this planet. Some of them are pretty wild, and unfortunately we've had an incident that probably you've seen on television, where we've had a lot of pretty wild and exotic animals having to be killed over in Ohio, because at this time they don't have the nature that's described in Isaiah 11.

You know, they are ferocious. They are potentially dead deadly to human beings.

And unfortunately, many of these animals had to be put down because of the possible threat that they were, would be, could be, to people in general. And yet, this is speaking of a big difference, a big difference that human beings have. He says in verse 11, what man knows what is truly of man except from the spirit in man that is within Him. See, God has blessed us with a spirit that enables us to be far different than animals. You know, we are and have been designed and created in an image of God. We've been created in an image to have some very close similarities to God. And clearly, we've been given a spirit that enables us to think and reason, to be able to make plans, to be able to make decisions. Far different. You know, it's not just a memorization thing like it is with certain animals. So they can, you know, your dog probably does what you tell him or doesn't, you know, one or the other. You probably like to have your dog do what you tell him.

And some of you are able to train horses. I would, I never could train a horse. I can tell you that.

But animals are far different than human beings. Human beings have a spirit in man.

So it goes on in verse 11 to say, so also no one comprehends what is truly God's except through the Spirit of God. The Spirit that God has made available. The Spirit that he makes available through a process that we read about in the early part of the book of Acts, where Jesus said, or Peter said directly that what all of you need to do who just killed Jesus, you need to repent. And you need to be baptized. And you need to be then a recipient of the Holy Spirit, which God can give as a gift. And whenever we receive the Holy Spirit, he says in verse 12, we've received not the spirit of this world, but a spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit of God, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Verse 14, those who are not spiritual or unspiritual, the natural man do not receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit for their foolishness to them, and they're unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. But those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or as to instruct Him, or so as to instruct Him? See, we're learning what it is to be like Jesus Christ, to have the mind of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, by us yielding to our Father, by us submitting ourselves to our Father, by growing in humility and meekness, which are qualities that He wants us to thrive on. And He ends the chapter here in verse 16 that says, "...but we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ." So that enables us to have a perception of spiritual understanding that empowers not only understanding a certain amount of knowledge, but it empowers a relationship, a relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's a fabulous, wonderful thing to know, but it's not enough just to know it. It needs to be exercised. It needs to be thriving. And so that's what I encourage you to do. As we think about spiritual growth and looking forward here in the months ahead, we all want to spiritually grow. We were admonished by in the feast film that I know all of us saw that Mr. Leuchar mentioned that we all need to grow in love and in service and in prayer. Those were specific things that he mentioned toward the end of that video that all of us saw. And that, of course, is what he was pointing out. He is giving us direct and correct information out of the Word of God about how we can thrive, how we can thrive in our relationship to God. I'd like to look at just each of these regarding prayer. Maybe we could look at... There are a lot of scriptures you could go to that would talk about prayer. And yet, I think prayer is something that no one would disagree that we need to do. We all need to do that. We need to have an active and growing prayer life.

Now, are we supposed to pray 24 hours a day? Well, doubtful that any of us do that.

Are we supposed to pray 15 minutes a day? Are we supposed to pray a half hour a day? Are we supposed to pray an hour a day? I'm sure we've tried to answer all those questions in the past.

There's another scripture that tells us to pray without ceasing.

And I don't think we can just pray 24 hours a day. We're going to sleep some of that time. We're going to be awake a certain section of that time. But it does tell us, and of course, Jesus' example and Daniel's example and David's example, was to pray intermittently throughout the day. And of course, that's what praying without ceasing means, is to be instant in prayer, to be able to call upon God for help at any time. That we see that we need help. And it's great to be able to do that, especially when you see that you're driving into some crisis. You know, you're in some situation that is not good. You're glad to be able to ask Father to protect me, or whatever you might directly be saying. But, you know, prayer is, it should be something we grow in. We start off, I think, in many ways praying in a certain way. And yet, hopefully, that communication line improves. It improves as we become more comfortable with talking to our Father, with understanding how much He loves us, how mercifully He is toward us, how fabulous He is as the designer and the creator of each of us. How He's created us as human beings, and we have the ability to make some decisions, make some choices. But, see, I want to choose to be close to God. I want to choose to submit to God. And in many ways, that's going to be reflected in our prayer life, the connection that we have. Over in Philippians 2, I want to just tie this verse in with this. It's not directly talking about prayer.

But it is talking about an attitude that we will have if we are drawing close to God in prayer.

Because as we draw close to God, as we ask God for Him to lead us and to guide us, then we're going to take on an outlook that's expressed here in Philippians 2.

It says in verse 19, now this is actually Paul talking about one of his trainees.

Paul talking about a young man that he dearly loved. Paul speaking about Timothy.

And he says in verse 1, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. He wanted Timothy to go and see how they were doing and bringing back some good news. And that was what he was asking Timothy to do. He wanted to find out how the church is doing. If the church is thriving, if the church is drawing close to God in prayer, if they are achieving the work that they've been given to do on their knees, then they are going to be successful. But he says about Timothy, I hope in the Lord to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may know of news of you. But he says in a sense, verse 20, kind of, in a sense, sadly, I don't have anyone like him. Of course, he was commending Timothy. He was saying, Timothy, he's really doing a great job, and he is doing what I know God would expect of him. I have no one like Timothy who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

See, he said, Timothy's got the right idea. He's not simply looking out for himself.

He's looking out genuinely for your welfare. And the only way he could do that is by God helping him to be able to see beyond the selfishness that all of us have initially.

We hope that we can overcome much of that, and yet, he was saying, Timothy, he's doing quite a bit better than many other folks. He says, I don't have anyone like him who's genuinely concerned about your welfare. All of them are seeking their own interest. See, that's unfortunate, but he could say, well, it doesn't seem like anyone else is really pursuing God and pursuing a prayer life that is close to God like Timothy. He says, others are seeking their own interests, not the interests of Jesus Christ. See, what is Jesus Christ interested in? Well, he's interested in other people. He's interested in us loving other people. He's interested in us serving other people. He's interested in us praying for other people. And as we do that, then we're going to be drawing closer to God. We're going to be wanting spiritual nourishment. We're going to be asking for that. In verse 22, but Timothy, Timothy's worth, you know, how like a son with a father has served with me in the work of the gospel. He said, you know how valuable Timothy's been to me. You know how he's been to you. And you know he has your interests at heart.

He's not just thinking about Timothy. Timothy, Timothy, Timothy. He's not just thinking about, how's it affecting me? He's wondering, you know, how can I help you? So, Timothy's worth, you know, how he's been working with me and serving and helping. And I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I trust in the Lord that I will also be able to come and see you as well. See, now, I have to say that, you know, I'm sure that many of the people, many of the brethren that we shared this past last 10 days with have been praying and asking for God's blessing and guidance and direction because they displayed a level of selflessness, a level of concern for other people, a level of love for other people that is just extraordinary. So, I hope that we can all strive to become like Timothy and have the interest of Jesus Christ at heart, the interest that he places on our concern for others, you know, rather simply than ourselves. Also, let's take a look in Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, you've got a very clear example of, and this is certainly the contrast that we have been studying over the past couple of weeks, about how Jesus Christ is going to bring to the earth a righteous government.

How he's going to come and how he's going to set up a kingdom that will be led by his law. It will be led by him. It will be, you know, resurrecting David, and David will have a role in that government. Others of the apostles will have roles and responsibilities in that government. At least, these are ones that are directly pointed out to us. And yet, here in Matthew chapter 20, when we get down to about verse 20, actually on down to verse 24, because the disciples were there with Jesus and they were arguing among themselves. They were wanting to know or they were wanting to ask, well, you know, will you give me a high position, high role in the kingdom of God?

You know, didn't they learn anything? Being with him, you would think that they would, but it appears that they didn't, or at least they didn't catch certain things. They probably caught other things, but Jesus continually worked with them. He continually taught them. He continually showed them by example, well, this is what I want you to do. This is how I want you to grow.

This is what you ought to yearn for in your life. In verse 24, it says, now James and John were the two who had asked for a particular position in the kingdom. And in verse 24, when the ten heard it, they were angry with James and John. Now, like that, I guess, would be expected. You know, what are they trying to do? Trying to horn in on a high position in the kingdom of God. They want to be with Jesus, which is good. You know, that's clearly something they ought to want to be. But they didn't have any business asking for a given role because he said, that's not mine to give. That is not what I want you to be trying to do. You know, trying to climb over somebody else to get on top, which is what, as we know, this world thrives on. You know, it's what you have to really almost be really good at to be greatly successful. And yet, in verse 25, Jesus called them to him and said, you know, you know, the rulers of the world or the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. See, that's pretty much what we see around the world.

We see leaders who are in roles and responsibility and positions of authority, but, you know, they're not ruling those people out of love. They're not ruling them out of a desire to serve them.

They are trying to implement their own ideas and their own ways, instead of installing God's ways, which is what we're going to be encouraged to do in the future. You know, we're going to be encouraging that. But he says in verse 26, you know, this is the way the Gentiles are. This is the way they lord over each other, and yet it's not to be so among you. It can't be. It can't be because I'm here leading you. I'm here showing you, and that's not what I'm doing. I'm not lording over you.

And we see in other Scriptures we could look at. The ministry in different places are told, don't be thinking you're lording over other people, because you're not. Everybody needs to have a close relationship with God, that they are intimately maintaining and developing, and that should be encouraged. They should be served. And so, it's not to be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave or servant again, just as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. That's why Jesus came to the earth. He didn't come to simply be installed as the King. He clearly deserved to be installed as the King. There was no doubt that he would have deserved that. But he didn't come to do that. Not when he came before. He's coming again, and he will be installed as the King. But he came as a human being. He came as a servant. And it says he humbled himself, and even to the point to where he gave his life. He gave his life for our benefit, so that we would have a way out, so that we could be redeemed. And so, thankfully, we have him pulling for us, and he's showing us the way that he wants us to live toward each other. And that's a way, as I mentioned, not only praying, not only developing a close relationship and concern for the welfare of others, but also have a desire to serve each other. And, of course, he was a brilliant example of that. He did that in John 13, as we're familiar with numerous other places you find, where that's the type of service Jesus provided, even to the point of dying, even to the point of death. He was willing to do that for all of us. So we want to serve out of love. It's not, again, a matter just simply, you know, how much do we serve?

It's a matter of service and being of service out of love, out of love and concern for others. And so the last thing I mentioned here, I mentioned prayer, I mentioned service, and the last thing I mentioned is simply love. Philippians, or excuse me, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 sums up how it is that the church should be, how it is that we're expected, what we're expected to live up to. And it tells us that, well, you know, it's a wonderful blessing to have been invited to be a part of the church of God. And it says in verse 1 of chapter 4 of Ephesians, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, and Paul is stating this, I beg you to lead a life worthy of a calling to which you've been called, with all humility and gentleness and with patience and bearing with one another in love and making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I mean, you could go over and over and over that, and you know, that's what we're trying to live by. That's what we're trying to live up to. That's what we want to fit in to.

If we drop down, now this whole section, of course, talks about how the church is to be working together. It says in verse 7, Each of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

See, we've been extended great mercy and grace from God, from through Jesus Christ.

And he says that the church, the gifts in verse 11 he gave to some would be apostles and prophets and evangelists, pastors and teachers. And so he gave some to fill roles of teaching and preaching.

But the reason for that in verse 12 is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

And so it's not only to help guide us in the work that we are to do, but it goes on to say, for the building up of the body of Christ until all of us come to the unity of the faith.

Now, if we are yet to come to the unity of the faith, then we must not already be there.

That's something we're always shooting at. That's something we are always desirous of, because this does express the nature of the family of God. It expresses what Jesus is like, and what He and the Father have always been like and will always be like.

But he says the church is to be seeking that unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Jesus Christ. And he says we should not be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their own craftiness and deceitful scheming. See, this can happen, as we all now know.

And perhaps if we didn't know, then we now know again that this can happen.

But he says in verse 15, speaking the truth in love, We must all, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the Head, into Jesus Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promoting the body's growth in building itself up in love. So that's how we're expected to grow and to develop and to be toward each other and to be toward others as we reach out to this world with the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. That's our mission. That's the purpose why God would have us to be a part of His Church. And yet this whole section points out how that we want to continually, you know, be appreciating the unity that comes from looking to God, looking to Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church, and asking that He will, as He works in each of us, as He causes each of us to seek those values that are absolutely supreme values of faith and of humility and of love and of unity and of peace. As we do that, then we're going to be building up the body. We're going to be building it up in love. And so all of us, you know, as we go forward through this next year, as we have an opportunity to grow, I want to just encourage us to to yearn for spiritual development, yearn for spiritual growth. Because as it said there in Matthew 5, those who really hunger and burst for righteousness are going to be filled. It says they will be filled. They will. So it doesn't say, you know, if we ignore that, that we'll be filled. It says if we pursue that, if we seek that, if we ask for that, that God will provide. And He will fill us with the love of God. The last scripture that I want to go to is in 1 Peter 2. And yet, it simply builds on what I've been explaining here. You know, we have, I think I have very wonderful memories of this past feast and of what we've covered. I need to study more so what we went over because I haven't had time to really review everything. And as I mentioned, you know, John chapter 6 verse 63, you know, ought to be a scripture that we commit to memory. And I don't know if you happen to be like me. I can remember certain scriptures and I can usually memorize things fairly easily, but I memorize much better if I not just write down John 6 63, but if I write the whole thing out, and if I do that about a half dozen times, after a little while, it gets finally stuck in my cranium, gets stuck in my head. And that might be helpful to you. I'm not saying that that's the only way to do it, that that's the way that we can do it. And I certainly, and that's not doing that on your computer with cut and paste. I can do that too, real quickly. But if I just hand write it out, then I remember things much better. And I might encourage you to do that. But here in 2 Peter chapter 3, these were the concluding statements that Peter was making after he had written these epistles that are general in nature and directed to the church.

At that time, these were not the very final things that were written in the New Testament, because John was writing some of his things even after this. And certainly, the book of Revelation was the final revealing that Jesus gave to the church. That's what we find John recording, you know, very late in his life. But this statement toward the end of 2 Peter was a statement that Peter was making encouraging the church. And he said this is kind of a final exhortation.

Verse 14, Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, thou spotter blemish. Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. That he was closing what he had been saying, and he'd already given a great deal of instruction. And yet, he was encouraging people to draw close to God, to understand how important it is to be close to God in prayer and in service and in love. And he says in verse 17, You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. He says, I want you to be firm. I want you to be stable. I want you not to be sidetracked in any way. But as we go forward throughout this year, we want to do what it says in verse 18, where it says, But I want you to grow. I want you to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Rather, we have that as not only an opportunity, but a direction from God that as we come back home, we get settled in, back into a routine, that we keep ourselves mindful of what Matthew 5 verse 6 says, that I want to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I want to seek spiritual growth and certainly appreciate the fact that we can grow. We will grow if we're doing that. We'll grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.