The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. For whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. the children of your elect sister greet you. Before Jesus was crucified and risen, he warned his disciples of what would happen after he ascended to heaven. He said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And it didn't take long for that prophecy to come true. In less than 60 years after Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, the apostles wrote letters to protect believers and their churches from false teaching and false teachers. That's what 2 and 3 John are. 2 and 3 John are short personal notes from the beloved disciple, the apostle John. the one who had a very close relationship with the Lord Jesus. He calls himself the elder in verse one, indicating to us that not only is he qualified to be an elder, biblically speaking, but he's also the last surviving apostle. It will not be long from this point on, after he wrote these letters, that he will be arrested and imprisoned on the island of Patmos, and there he will receive the vision that we know of as the book of the revelation. and he will then pen that book before the Lord takes him home. He is the elder writing to an unnamed woman referred to as the elect lady and her children. This is a believing lady, one who was chosen before the foundation of the world, and she knows Christ, and she is now going to dispense this letter to those that she has influence over. and God is gonna use this letter of warning to his people. So John writes, 2 John, as a warning. 3 John is more of an encouragement to practice hospitality. So you might look at it this way, that 2 John is about who you should close your door to, and 3 John is who you should open your door to. 2 John is about keeping your door closed keeping out false teaching. Third John is about opening your home and your heart and your church to those who are faithful to preach God's word. Both letters exhort us to walk in truth and love, and so that's why we're keeping these two books together, 2 and 3 John. We want to learn what it means to walk in both truth and love. As we talked about a few weeks ago, we want to avoid the two imbalances that of only being committed to truth and not showing the love of Christ, and being committed to what the world might call love, which doesn't have any definition. as biblically defined by truth. So we want to avoid those two extremes and stay in the middle road, so to speak, in regard to balance, biblical balance. Why do we wanna do this? Because John 1 says that Jesus was full of grace and truth. So what that means is, the more that we grow in Christ, the more we grow to maturity in Christ, the more balanced we will be in truth and love, both working together, interconnected in our ministry. Sometimes when we, early on when we get saved, especially like me, you get saved out of a false religion, and you become extremely zealous about the truth, truth, truth, truth, truth, and then it takes a little while for the love part to catch up. And maybe that's where you're at. Maybe you're on the other side. Maybe you're just gushing with love all the time, but you need more discernment. You need to understand biblically how to discern teachings that you are hearing. So 2 John continues some of the key themes that we saw in the book of 1 John, that of one being that we are born of God, that believers are those who are born of God. Being a true Christian is to be born of God. That is, that the Holy Spirit has begun a good work in us via the gospel, that there is a work of transformation that has begun in us by the power of God. God, and that will continue. So if you're new to Cornerstone or you just want to revisit the five months we spent in 1 John, all of those sermons are available online. But we're seeing here in 2 John that one of the fruits of the inner transformation of the spirit of God in our lives through the gospel is that we will be growing in love. And this love will be defined then by truth. John's letter here is about both love and truth. Truth and love are inseparably united in the nature of God. They are to be inseparably united in our lives as followers of Christ. We see this repeatedly in the first six verses, just by way of reminder. Notice verse one, the elder to the elect lady and her children whom I love in truth. I love in truth. So truth is the pasture in which biblical love operates, functions. Notice verse two, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. The truth of God is in us. How is that possible? We have become partakers of the divine nature according to Peter because of the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us by means of the word of God, by means of the gospel. Notice then verse three, that the work of the Father and the Son is a work that is in truth and love. that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, who is truth. Truth and love are functioning together. Notice verse four, John rejoices that some of these woman's children are walking in the truth. And then verse five, reminding him of the new commandment that Jesus gave to us, which actually is not a new commandment, but an old commandment remade and made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. So we see this marriage of truth and love. Now John continues his warning, and he gets a little bit more specific in verses 7 through 13, where he essentially says, I want you to watch out. I want you to watch out for deceivers, which brings us then to this morning's big idea. Since false teachers are a constant threat to Christ's church, you must be on guard for yourself and the souls of others. Because Jesus warned us that false teachers would arise among us, because the apostles repeatedly warned New Testament believers to watch out for false teachers, we need to understand that this is a constant threat. This is not going to go away until Jesus returns. There will always be a threat from false teaching and false teachers, and most often they will arise from within professing Christianity. Sometimes we as believers get so upset about what's happening in the world, and I'm not saying we shouldn't be, but we need to understand that most of the attacks that end up really destroying churches begin on the inside, not on the outside. And so John is really warning us here to be aware of the teachers that we put ourselves under, the voices that we listen to. Listen to some of the warnings that the Apostle Paul gave to the young pastor Timothy. First Timothy chapter one. He says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. Then he goes on to say, certain persons by swerving from these, swerving from what? Swerving away from apostolic doctrines, they have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they're saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Paul says, watch out for these spiritual teachers who actually are clueless as to what they're talking about. They're going to make all kinds of confident assertions. They're going to say, this is the way, follow in it, but it won't be according to God's word. Later on, that same chapter, verse Timothy 1, Paul says, this charge, I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, that is, Timothy was his child in the faith, that is, God used the preaching of the apostle Paul to reach the heart of Timothy. I trust these things to you, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, that is by rejecting the faith, some have made a shipwreck of their faith. excuse me, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. We don't know specifically what these two guys were up to in the church at Ephesus, but they were causing trouble through their teachings. And they were making a shipwreck of their own faith And unfortunately, when a church leader makes a shipwreck of his own faith, there will be many casualties that follow. And so Paul... thought it worthy to warn Timothy about these two guys. Later on then, in 2 Timothy, he says, Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm, the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. So we don't have the specifics about what these two guys were teaching, or how they, one in particular, harmed the apostle, but we do understand that there were threats in the church at Ephesus, and Paul warned Timothy about them. Faithful church elders, take these kinds of threats seriously. As Hebrews 13 exhorts you and us as elders by implication when the writer says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. It's a heavy responsibility to serve as a pastor, to serve as an elder, to understand that we have a responsibility to keep watch over your souls. And we are actually gonna stand before God someday and give an account for that. And so that's why the elders here at Cornerstone strive to maintain consistency with the word of God. So again, the big idea this morning. Since false teachers are a constant threat to Christ's church, you must be on guard for yourself and for the souls of others. This admonition then implies four responsibilities. Number one, be aware of the prevalence of false teachers. Verse seven. In other words, don't be naive. Don't be naive to think that everyone who says that they are a preacher for Jesus Christ are faithful to the word of God. Not everyone is. There are deceivers, as John says clearly there in verse seven. For many deceivers, he doesn't even say, oh, there's one or two here and there. Many deceivers have gone out into the world. And specifically, they are those, in his case, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. We saw this in 1 John, just by way of review, why don't you turn back there. Notice how important it was to John, and obviously then to the Holy Spirit who inspired his writing, that a person's teaching be accurate in regard to Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has done, his person, and his work. Because these deceivers, according to John in his first letter, they were tweaking the biblical doctrine of Christ. Instead of teaching Christ, they were tweaking Christ. They were altering the biblical doctrine of who Jesus is. He is the eternal Son of God who broke into the human history that he created in order to become the Lamb of God who would take away our sins. But the false teachers in John's day were influenced by Gnosticism, which believed that the spirit is good and the body is bad, and therefore it's impossible that the son of God could inhabit a physical body. And so they were denying that Jesus Christ is the God man. Why is that a significant denial? Because if you lose that doctrine, then you have no salvation. If you don't have a savior who is both God and man, then you don't have an acceptable sacrifice in the place of your sin, in the place of my sin. Because God's righteousness requires a sinless sacrifice. Well, there's no human being who could ever become that sacrifice. And so God, the son, became a human being so that he could fulfill the law perfectly. And then he would take his obedient life to the cross and offer it as a sacrifice for our sin. So with that kind of backdrop as to the importance of the doctrine, look at what John says in verse John two. Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. So these false teachers who were once a part of the fellowship ended up, because their doctrine was exposed, they left, skirted out the back door to go try and deceive somebody else. But you, verse 20, you have been anointed by the Holy Spirit, the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. Remember what we said a long time ago when we looked at this passage? You all have knowledge, but John's not saying you have all knowledge. There's a difference. But every genuine believer has the Holy Spirit living within him, and so we have the ability to understand and apply and rightly interpret God's word. I write to you, verse 21, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. In other words, you cannot deny the doctrine of Jesus Christ and be a Christian at the same time. You must believe what the Bible says about who Jesus is. So let what you've heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father, and this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. I'm writing these things to you, John says, because there are people who are trying to deceive you. some intentionally, some unintentionally, through their own ignorance. But either way, the deception is there. Chapter four, verse one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. So clearly, what is John saying to us here then? Back in 2 John verse seven, he's saying be aware of the prevalence of false teachers. Don't be walking around naive as a believer. Discern the teachings that you hear, whether they are in a church or a Sunday school or a small group or on the radio or blogs or things that you read in printed form. However, you are receiving voices of spiritual teaching into the ears and the eyes of your heart, discern them. Test them according to scripture. Because there are many deceivers. And so we must watch out. There's a second responsibility we see in the passage. And that is pay attention to yourself in the light of eternal reward. Look at verse eight, watch yourselves. So not only watch out for deceivers, but watch yourself. Be careful you're evaluating yourself. Be careful you are discerning yourself in light of the eternal reward. What does that mean? Is John saying watch yourself because you might lose your salvation? No, that's not what he's saying. Because through the whole first letter, he makes it clear how we attain, you might say, or gain assurance of our salvation if we know Christ. But he's talking about rewards here. But you may win a full reward. What does that mean? Well, let's let Peter help us interpret that, 2 Peter chapter one. Remember, one of the things we do is we use scripture to interpret scripture so that we are coming to an understanding of what the Spirit of God has recorded for us. Second Peter chapter one, the context here is that we have been given the divine nature. We have become partakers of the divine nature. And we talked a lot about in 1 John what that means, is that is when the Holy Spirit breathes new life into us through the gospel, we receive a new nature from God, the divine nature. We receive a new heart. This is then the beginning of God's good work in us. This happens at the moment of conversion. And so, because that transformation now is possible, there perhaps was a temptation on the part of some believers to kick back and kick their feet up on their spiritual recliner and say, well, you know, God started it, God's gonna finish it, so I'll just let him do that. And they perhaps became passive. in their approach to godliness. But he says, no, no, no, you have to make every effort, verse five, to supplement your faith with virtue. In other words, you need to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You need to put forth the cooperative effort with the Holy Spirit to become godly, to become like Christ. Ultimately, the transformation that happens in us is an inner transformation, which only happens by the power of the Holy Spirit. But then it works itself out in a new way of living. And so he lists all of these qualities that we should be pursuing to put on in our life. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, gentleness, brotherly affection, and love. But notice what he says in verse 8. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, In other words, if you are seeing progress in your life, remember what we learned during those five months in 1 John, assurance of salvation does not come from being able to look backward at a moment in time in which you prayed a prayer or walked an aisle or did something to gain salvation. Assurance of salvation comes from us seeing what is God doing in my life now? Are these qualities mine and are they increasing? In other words, do I see progress? Do I see that I'm not the same person internally that I always was before I came to know Jesus? Is Jesus changing me? by the power of the Spirit of God. So if these are yours and they're increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is what leads to a fruitful Christian life. But notice what else Peter says, for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind. having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these things, you will never fall." So in other words, we grow in our assurance of salvation as we see the Spirit of God progressively remaking us into the image of Christ. Now look where rewards comes in, verse 11. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You won't get in by the skin of your teeth. You will have a grand entrance into the kingdom of God because your works will follow you. Your works don't go before you, Your works follow you, just as Ephesians 2 10 teaches us. That salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, but then there are works that follow because, why? Because salvation is transformation. It's not merely saying a prayer and getting a free ticket to heaven that you put in your back pocket and then you go on living however you please until you die. It's the beginning of something totally new. And so as we make progress in Christ's likeness, we are gaining eternal rewards. This is one of the things that we learn from other portions of scripture. For example, 1 Corinthians 3. For no one, Paul says, can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. So the question then, believer, is what kind of an entrance do you want into the kingdom of God? Do you want to get in by the skin of your teeth because you have legitimately been saved by the grace of God in Christ, or do you want to enter the kingdom in the abundance of rewards? That's what John's talking about here. Think about how God wants to bless us with rewards. We serve him because we love him. We serve him because the spirit of God is doing something in us. But isn't it just a reflection of the goodness of God that he then rewards us for things that we can only do in his power? That just blows me away. That someday, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, any rewards that we receive will be received because the Spirit of God empowered us to even do the things that then caused us to gain those rewards. And that's why I believe Revelation gives us a picture of how these crowns, these rewards that are given, will then be taken off and cast at the feet of the Savior because He's the one who made it possible. We're not gonna be trotting around heaven with all these crowns on our head, because they will already have been thrown at the feet of Jesus, who gets all the glory, and we get none. And that's a freeing thing. If you're concerned about not getting glory, well, you need to think about that. It's all about Christ, and the glory that he will receive. through the ways that we serve Him. So John is saying, watch yourself so that you will win a full reward. This also, you know, is really consistent with the biblical picture of the Christian life being a race. where Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, Now, watch yourself. That's what John is saying. You need to mark it down. If you go astray from Christ and sound doctrine, it will be because you compromised in one of two areas, either your life or your doctrine. It will always be the case. If you compromise and are going off into sin, rebellion against God, or into false doctrine, it will be because you did not watch yourself in both life and doctrine. That's why Paul urges Timothy to pay attention to both, to the state of his own heart and to his teaching. If you'll turn to 1 Timothy chapter four, I want you to see the importance of this. Perhaps you're saying, well, this is a pastoral epistle. This applies to you, Paul, not to me. Well, turn there anyway. because then at least you can hold me accountable. But 1 Timothy chapter four, you'll see there's a spillover effect here. Yeah, it's written to pastors, it's written to church leaders, but for obvious reasons, because it impacts the whole church. It affects the whole church. Notice 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 11. Command and teach these things. What are these things? These things are gospel things that Paul's been talking about. the work of Christ, the mercy of God that comes to us through Christ. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. See, Timothy was a young pastor, and so Paul's saying, don't let anybody just excuse the way you are because you're young, and don't you excuse yourself, saying, well, I'm just a young guy, you can't really expect much out of me. Don't let anybody despise your youth. As a young man, let your life be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. In other words, don't use the excuse, I'm a young man, I can't do all that much, you know. No, take what God has given you and work it. Work the muscle of your faith. Work the spiritual gifts that you've been given so that all may see your progress. But then look at the warning. In verse 16, keep a close watch on yourself. That sounds like John, doesn't it? Watch yourself. And on your teaching, persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Paul says, Timothy, two things for the rest of your life you better lock in your focus on, your life, and your doctrine, you better keep both of them straight because if you compromise in one or the other, you're going astray and you're gonna shipwreck your faith and you're gonna shipwreck a bunch of other people's faith along with you. Other people go down when a ship goes under. That's the warning. It's a warning for all of us to pay attention to both our life and our theology. Then there's a third responsibility in the passage this morning. Go back to 2 John verses 9 to 11. That is, do not be hospitable to heretics. Perhaps that comes as a surprise to you because I've been challenging you for eight years to grow in hospitality, and now I'm saying don't. Well, grow in hospitality toward those who need the Lord. We should be a friend of sinners as Jesus was. Show hospitality to those who love Christ, to those who are faithful teachers, but don't be hospitable to heretics. Look at verse nine. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Everyone who goes on ahead, that means to go beyond the teaching of scripture. It refers to really any new theology. Beware anytime you hear someone say, this is a doctrinal perspective that no one in the history of the church has ever believed, but I just really think this is what God means by this verse. Check yourself that you're not inventing some new theology, which actually is never really new, because it's as old as the serpents whispering in the Garden of Eden Did God really say? Did God really say that, Eve? Did He really say that, Adam? Satan always leads people astray by casting doubt on God's word. So when a celebrity pastor in Texas says to a crowd of seminary students, that is future pastors, we must tether our faith to an event rather than the inspiration, infallibility, authority, and inerrancy of scripture, there are red flags that ought to go up in your mind. And you ought to understand, this is a new teaching. A new teaching that will spread. It's especially disastrous when it happens at the level of a seminary. Because that's the quickest road from a seminary becoming a cemetery. And the life of God is sucked out of that seminary because the word of God is not heeded. and revered and loved and respected. We have no way to interpret any events in our life if we abandon the authority and the sufficiency and the inerrancy of scripture. We are left then to fend for ourselves to interpret life through our own feeble minds rather than through the lens of scripture. It is really sad when these things happen at such a popular level because for me, it saddens me because what it says to me is that this person has so departed from a belief in the power of the spirit of God to do work, he now must resort to shock factors. He has to shock people through his teaching rather than relying on the spirit of God to do the work. Why is it that religious teachers think they need to come up with something new rather than being faithful to God's word once delivered unto the apostles and recorded in scripture? Why is there a propensity in some preachers to come up with something new, something novel? I can only boil it down to one word, and that's pride, which is an enemy for all of us. And that's why we must submit our minds and hearts to scripture. Pride, I believe, prevents a man from being willing to submit mind, heart, soul to the authority of scripture. Pride is what fuels a discontent in a person to spend their whole life telling people what someone else said instead of inventing a new message. But you know, that's what I'm called to do. I am called to tell you what someone else has said. And I'm okay with that, because my words have no power, but God's words have power. The Spirit of God uses scripture to change people's lives. He did that to me in the early months of 1984, and he's doing it among you. as God's Word never goes forth and returns to him without accomplishing the purpose for which he sent it. That is what gets me in this pulpit every Sunday. Nothing else. It is knowing that the Spirit of God is going to take His Word and He's going to change me and He's going to change you. And one day, We'll be in the very presence of Christ in whose image we are being changed. And we will worship him together forever. So take these warnings seriously. John says, everyone who goes on ahead creates a new teaching and does not abide in the teaching of Christ. They do not have God. That is an extremely sobering statement. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. In other words, one of the evidences that we know Christ is that we will stay in the boundaries of His Word and not go inventing our own doctrines. What is to be our response to religious teachers who veer away from the teaching of Christ in scripture? Look at verse 10. If anyone comes to you, now remember the context we talked about a few weeks ago, itinerant preachers. This was a popular way that the gospel was being spread in these early days. And so John is saying if any of these traveling preachers comes to you and does not bring this teaching, What teaching? The teaching of Christ. The teaching of who He is. The teaching of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Do not receive Him into your house or give Him any greeting. For whoever greets Him takes part in His wicked works. We don't want to take part. in the wicked works of a false teacher. And so John says, do not be hospitable toward heretics. And there's a fourth responsibility. Protect the joy of the church. Protect the joy of the church. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. In other words, I'd rather be face-to-face with you so that our joy may be complete. Remember one of the themes we saw in 1 John is that joy is connected to truth. And what John is warning here in the context of this letter is that doctrinal error destroys the unity of the church, which ends up destroying the joy of the church. If any of you have ever been involved in a church split or a church conflict of some sort, you understand how this works. How the disunity is so destructive and is such a powerful way to kill joy. Biblical joy is a fruit of abiding in the word of God. That's what Jesus teaches us in John 15. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Lord Jesus wants us to experience the fullness of joy. The fullness of joy is found within the boundaries of biblical truth. That's where the Spirit of God most powerfully works. And one of the evidences then is the joy that we experience as a church. And I'm so thankful for that. I encourage you this time to read the book of Jude this week sometime. It's really a follow-up to what we just covered in 2 John. Maybe someday we'll go through Jude as well, but it's a strong warning book, but also ends with a great encouragement. And I want you to have this encouragement where Jude says in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves in the love of God. He commands us to remain within the circle of the love of God. And I believe that primarily means abiding in Christ, and abiding in His love, and keeping our focus where it needs to be. Keeping our focus on Jesus, on Christ, on what He has done for us. And in doing so, Jude says, you will build yourself up in your most holy faith. This is the reason why your pastors and elders work tirelessly to guard the teaching that takes place in this church from cradle to grave. Because our longing and our heart's desire is that you grow to maturity in Christ and experience the fullness of his joy. Let's pray. And so, Father, we pray as the Apostle Paul did. For this reason, we bow our knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant us to be strengthened with power through his spirit in our inner being. so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith and that we would be being rooted and grounded in love and that we may have strength to comprehend with all of the saints everywhere, all believers in Christ everywhere, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. And Lord, we know that as we remain in your word and abide in Christ, our joy will be made full. We give you the glory in Christ's name, amen.