He forgives all my sins. He crowns my head with mercy and love. He satisfies my life with good things. The Lord is so gracious to me. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless his holy name, and forget not all his benefits. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless the Lord. As a father with his child, so does he have compassion on me. As high as the heavens above. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless His holy name, and forget not all His benefits. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless His holy name, and forget not all its benefits. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless the Lord. Just before I introduce our speaker, I would like Tabitha Rogers to stand. Tabitha had a wonderful day yesterday, and I would like her to share just a brief word of testimony with how God used her in the life of another. I have a friend, Holly, that's been coming to church sometimes. I met her in 2002 when I was involved in Miss Agriculture USA, which is a computer psychology. There was something about her that day. I told her, I don't mean to sound weird, but I have to keep in touch with you. Since 2022, we try to meet up once a month for breakfast, and I started inviting her to church. She said, I'll try to come once a month, and she came with me to the ladies' luncheon yesterday. I have just become so burdened for her, and I have been praying for her for a long time. Wednesday night's message, touched me to the core. And I was just sitting there when Brother Green was talking about our hardest field, and I was like, this is it. And I had been praying that God would give me the perfect time to witness that. And every time we'd get together, something would happen. And it was like God was like, not now. And I would wait. But I got up from the altar Wednesday night, and we were supposed to have coffee on Saturday morning. And I texted her from my church pew, and I said, The Lord needs me to speak to you about making sure you're safe and that you're going to heaven. Can I do that when we meet?" We were in the parking lot and she already replied, I think I'd like that. On Saturday, I met with her. I was just getting started and she started weeping and she said, this is her words, it's really hard for me to sit here and realize that everything I was told in the Lutheran church, I was baptized as a baby, I did my catechism classes, and I'm not okay, and I thought I was okay. So, at the end of going through the plan of her, she received Christ, and it was so wonderful, and the Hymn of the Gospels have been great with me, as well as Martha and Shirley, And then she gave her a tract of Jordan's testimony months ago. And I knew that. And one day when I met with her, I said, have you read that? Oh, no, I haven't. I still haven't. And yesterday I said, did you ever read that? She said, I did, and I've been carrying it with me. And she pulled it out of her purse. So all that to say, don't give up. Don't give up. Even that tract, she held on to that. And I shared with the pastor yesterday, Amen, amen, amen, amen. Isn't that a wonderful testimony to bring into the service this morning that Jesus still saves souls. And some of you are working with others and you're praying and you're planting and God's working the harvest fields, isn't he? And so we can depend upon that. And this week we have passed out a couple of things to you. One is the brochure about the conference list of our missionaries and schedule and so on. And then we've also passed out a bulletin on giving, on grace giving, and that is our opportunity to give above and beyond our ties. two missions and we do that in our church through faith promise giving at the end of the service after Brother Sharp preaches we will pass out slips today and hopefully you have been praying about what the Lord would have you to give to reach the world. As I talked about the other night Jesus became poor that we might be made rich and as our opportunity to give above and beyond our tithe to missions so that others can be made rich like we have been made rich in Christ in having eternal life and so we will collect those slips not just today but over the next month for you to be able to turn them in to an offering plate somehow but if you know what God's laid on your heart to give you can record that today on the slip at the end of the service. We'll collect those slips at the end of the service and we believe that God gets glory by us giving from a willing heart. And so we're not giving the missions because a pastor is twisting our arm or missionaries twisting our arm. We give the missions out of a heart of gratitude that God sent somebody our way. to witness to us and other people should have that same opportunity across the world. And so we'll be collecting those slips at the end of the service this morning. But Gene Sharp is one of our missionaries, has been for quite a long time. Brother Sharp has been through the ups and downs of life. Many of you know he lost his first wife. a number of years ago, and God had brought him through that. When I talk to people that go through grief on that level, I see God's grace all over them. And I saw that in Gene's life. And then for God to provide him another wife, and we've gotten to meet Tara this week and get to know her, and have known the family, the kids, for many, many years. And he has always been a blessing as a friend to me growing up together, and just a dear friend, faithful friend over these years. But he's also powerful in the word of God. And God's using him all over this world to get the gospel out. And we have him here with us this week. So Brother Sharp, you come and preach to us the good word of God this morning. Well, phone calls were made. They talked to some of their best supported missionaries here, knowing that this conference was coming. They talked to mission boards. They had a call in to BIMI and other mission boards. And everybody was busy. Pastor Chris ran into me in the Dollar General in the bargain aisle and said, hey, can you preach Sunday morning? So that's what you guys are stuck with. I apologize ahead of time. But we're here this morning. You got what you got. But God gets all the glory for this wonderful conference. Thank you to everyone. The Peters have been such great hosts. We've enjoyed the fellowship. Wilson is in the stage of his childhood that tractors are like the most important thing on planet Earth. And this harvest that's going on here and everything, he's been enjoying every moment of that. Also, thank you to Pastor Todd. What a blessing he's been. And I know for some of us, you know, you're busy with life and kids and schooling and travel and work, and you roll in, oh yeah, missions conferences this week. Well, there's been months and months of preparation on the part of the staff here, and they've been eating and breathing and thinking this conference. And the only reason I know that is because about every five minutes I get an email from Pastor Todd. talking about these moments. And really, really appreciate all that organization and all the preparation and anticipation and what a blessing it is to be here. And again, our hearts are full of thanksgiving for your prayers for our family, for your support for our family. And we do not, do not, do not take that for granted. We're very, very thankful and undeserving, but very, very, very grateful for that. Also to the Wilbur family, sometimes life seems like it keeps marching on and you're going through maybe what's tantamount to the greatest loss in your life, but we assure all those going through loss this week, I know there's multiple families going through that, that we remember and we rejoice that we don't have to sorrow as those who have no hope. And I have several memories with the Wilbur family. And I think I was a teenager. Somehow, we were going to Fairhaven. Remember that? And Brother Wilbur was driving. And we had CBs. It was craziness. And we had all kinds of fun. And I'm like, what is this guy with the CBs? But I was, like, loving every minute of it. Like, radios, we get to talk to each other. Lots of great memories, and, you know, if you're looking for a good example, right, he was in the choir on Sunday, right, and in heaven just the next day. You know, that's a good example, and you don't, you don't, That doesn't happen by accident. For those of us who are here today, and it's up to us as the living to ponder the important things when these things happen. And the important things is, you've got to be ready like Brother Wilbur was ready. And you've got to live a certain way, and think a certain way, and behave a certain way. But most importantly, you've got to trust a certain way. You've got to trust in the Son of God. to give you that peace and that grace to go in that manner. And what a blessing it is that we get to rejoice in this week. You guys get to take some time to grieve and to think and to rejoice in a life well lived. So what a blessing that we get to speak of those things this morning. And you may be here today, and you're not sure. There's a lot of talk this morning. There's some buzzwords we have, right? In Christianity, we use some words like, well, I was saved. And you may be here today and say, what in the world are you talking about? You were like, slip, and somebody grabbed you? What does that mean? And we use some, we use some phraseology here, but don't be intimidated by those phrases. If you're here, and you're not sure what all that means, it really does apply to all mankind, and that includes you, and it includes me. And you don't have to be in a club, you don't have to know all the phraseology to benefit by what Jesus Christ has done for you. And you might know him as a historical figure, perhaps you learned about him from a grandparent, but to know him as your personal savior is a completely different dynamic in your life, and it will change your life. And we say that not out of a heart of condescension. Sometimes people feel that, like, oh, Well, you're saved and I'm not saved, and so I wish I was as good as you. It's not that at all. It's one more of sharing the best deal you've ever got, right? The best thing that's ever happened to you, I want it to happen to everybody. And that's what this whole idea of being born again and saved is all about. But this morning, we're wrapping up what we're calling the Missions Conference. And that's where we take a concentrated moment of time in history right here this week. And we think not just about ourselves, but we think about a mission that was given to his church and the believers in the early church to go. into all the world and to share the good news of the gospel. And as we have this idea coming to the end of it here today, we're going to be looking in 1 Peter, if you will, in your Bible, 1 Peter chapter number 1. And because I'm half a century old, I have to put these glasses on and off. I'm not really good at that transition yet. So if I'm fumbling up, if I drop them, I'm done. We're just going to pray and go home because I can't. Is this water for me? It doesn't matter, I'm drinking it anyway. It says Brother Hess on it, but he has been sick, so, oh boy, that was probably a mistake. But in your Bibles, we'll read a couple verses, but let's start and just read verse 1 of 2 Peter chapter number 1. Go ahead and stand in honor of the Word of God this morning, 2 Peter chapter 1. Here the Bible, God's Word tells us, 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, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Let's skip down to also verse 12. Verse 12, 2 Peter 1, verse 12. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think and meet, as long as I'm in this tabernacle, 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." Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this morning. It's a privilege to have the freedom to be here, to have the right and the ability to assemble. Thank you for this beautiful building. Thank you for friendly faces. We thank you, Lord, for the word of God that we looked into already. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Lord, I pray that you would meet the needs, Lord, beyond the scope of our imagination. Lord, we may have prepared to say or do one thing, but we're praying that the needs of the people here would be met this morning. If people need to be born again, I pray that they would be saved today. If people need to be challenged to remember certain things that might help us live a better Christian life, I pray that we would remember on purpose these things today. And Lord, in all of that, I pray that You'd forgive and cleanse and fill and use me, and that You, Lord, would get all the glory, that You would receive the glory and honor that's due Your name. We pray that You'd meet with us now. We pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. By the way, we are the Sharps. I do have my lovely wife, Tara, with me. Wilson's in the nursery. I take no responsibility for what he's doing right now. And Lacey, raise your hand, Lacey. Yeah, she's a short little girl there. And then we've got Wade. He came in on the short bus this morning. We're glad that he's here today. Glad to be with you. We really, really do appreciate that. But as we finish up this missions conference, I was looking through this passage of Scripture, and there's some things that Peter said We've got to remember. He said, I want to remind you of some things. And who is he talking to in this passage of Scripture? The first verse we read indicates who he's speaking to. He's talking to a certain group of people. He says, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. So that's who's talking. That's who God is using to pen this portion of the Scriptures. Simon Peter's being used by the Holy Spirit. And he's talking to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. In a very real way, it all ends and begins and ends today with the concept of salvation, being born again, being saved, as we referred to by that great testimony of somebody who loved somebody else enough to share with them the good news of the gospel. Now, good news is really only good news in the context of bad news. Yeah, you've got to have some bad news first. The bad news is we are sinners and we're headed to hell. Now, you've got to kind of have that understanding this morning, and you've got to kind of accept that if you can get any benefit from the good news. It's kind of like you've got to admit that you're not feeling well to get to the doctor. You've got to admit that, okay, my leg is bleeding. It's broken. It's hanging there by a thread. I probably need to go to the emergency room. And that's probably where we get before we go there. But you've got to admit that you've got this problem before you seek help to your problem. And we are all in it together. And that doesn't mean we enjoy and we just frolic in the cesspool of our sin. That means we have a commonality, though. The commonality is we are all sons and daughters of Adam, who was a sinner. Adam and Eve chose to sin. And we have their DNA. We have the curse of sin in our life. We are sinners by birth. If you've been involved in child care at any level, you know that sinners, we're sinners from birth. It didn't take Wilson very long at all to start pulling his sister's hair and doing all kinds of sinful things, even as an infant. We are sinners by nature. And then, here comes the kicker where we need to realize we're sinners by choice. We choose to tell that lie. We choose to look the wrong direction. We choose to think the wrong way. And we can talk about being a product of our environment all we want, but we know in our heart of hearts we are sinners. And being in this boat together isn't really one of comfort, it's the boat's going down. We need a life preserver. We need a Savior to save us from our sin because the wages of sin is death. And we're not just talking about physically growing older and dying. We're talking about the lake of fire, which is the second death. That is eternal separation from creation and the creator in that place called hell. If you're a little bit concerned about that this morning, that's the Holy Spirit working in here. If you're a little bit bothered by that this morning, that's probably the Holy Spirit. Don't run away from that. Run to it and say, listen, this is bothering me. The nerve endings in my heart are saying to me, there's something wrong. Well, we call it the good news, simply because of the reason. You don't have to suffer and endure the place of punishment for your sin, because Jesus Christ has paid the price. You've heard the story, perhaps, Christmastime, right? Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. He was the Son of God. He came and lived 33 and a half years, sinless, performing miracles. And in the ultimate display of his divinity, he arose from the dead, after he was crucified, after he bore our sin, he became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now the good news comes in this, we don't have to help little old ladies across the street. Now I'm sure Brother Wilbur probably helped little old ladies across the street, but that's not why he's in heaven today. He's in heaven today because he said, I don't want my sin anymore, I believe on Jesus Christ. And at that moment, It's called being born again. At that moment, you are born again. At that moment, your inside that was dead to sin becomes alive to Him. At that moment, God's Holy Spirit comes in and dwells in you, takes away your sin, takes away the punishment for your sin, and you are born anew, you are a child of God, and your destination for eternity has changed in that moment of time. Now, you still wanna help little ladies across the street, but it's not in what we've done, but it's in what He's done on the cross for us, And He said, you don't need to do anymore because on the cross He said, it is finished. The price has been paid. And Peter this morning is writing to those who have like precious faith. If you're here today and you've been born again, you have that precious faith, that saving faith. But if you're here today and it's no accident that you stumbled in here today, it's no accident that somebody invited you, it's no accident that you are here under the sound of the preaching of the Word of God today, it's a divine appointment. And if you've never been born again, that's what this day is all about. That's what this week is all about. And I would urge you to today, take time to constantly, don't just say, well, you know, I was around everybody and I kind of feel good, you know, I kind of know a little bit more about that and it's good, we're good. No, you're not good until you've made that decision. until you have signed that line with God and said, listen, God, I believe what the Bible says about my sin. I believe what the Bible says about your son, and I want Jesus as my savior today. When you enter into that relationship with him, you'll be born again, and you'll be headed to heaven. Your sins will be forgiven. You won't have to have the guilt anymore. It's hard to describe it enough and in enough different ways. I'm just telling you today, as somebody who's been born again, I would like to recommend that you trust Jesus Christ. We'll have a time when we call an altar call, and there'll be people here that could help you and maybe explain a little bit more, but you can trust Jesus Christ today. And that's who Peter's talking to today. He's talking to people that have been born again, people that have obtained like precious faith. And he says in our text, verse 12, he goes, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance. He has a pledge of diligence here. He says, I'm not going to be found negligent. I'm going to always remind you of some things. Peter says, I kind of feel under the burden to remind you of some things. You know, mothers are like that, right? They kind of do that to us. Don't forget to take out the trash. There are some things that mothers feel that they have to remind us of. Brush your teeth. And since I moved out of the house, I haven't really taken out the trash or brushed my teeth because mom's not been there to remind me. Peter has a pledge of diligence this morning. The pledge of diligence is basically, he said, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the truth. He says, I'm not intimidated by the fact that you already know these things. I'm gonna remind you anyway. And if you've been here at Mount Zion any amount of time, what we're talking about this morning, these aren't new things. But Peter says, I want to remind you about them. These are things you already know. You may be sitting there today, it's like, oh, not another sermon on whatever you're gonna talk about, Brother Sharp, or I've already read 1 Peter or 2 Peter, I've actually memorized a good portion of this passage of Scripture, here we go again. He's gonna talk about, it doesn't matter if you know it, doesn't matter if you think you know it, you need to be reminded of it this morning. And this is what Peter's saying, he's like, I'm gonna pledge to be, I'm not gonna be negligent, You can do what you want, you can say what you want, but here comes a reminder, and it's not a reminder that's casual. He says, I'm going to, I want you to always remember these things. So there's some important things he wants to remind us of this morning. And he doesn't just say it once. Verse 12, he goes, I'm not going to be negligent to put you always in remembrance. Verse 13, yea, I think it me. He goes, let me continue talking to you about this. He says, yea, I think it me. As long as I'm in this tabernacle, he's not talking about a tent. He's talking about his body. He says, as long as I'm in this tabernacle, I think it's meet. I think it's appropriate. I think it's right that while I'm here, I want to stir you up. by putting you in remembrance. Boy, there's a lot of things you could kind of liken that on to, stir you up. I think of, we like to have fires out behind the house, and you know, as the fire is dwindling, you kind of take that stick and you kind of stir it up, boom, and the flame kindles up again, and you blow on it, and there it is, it's as hot as ever. And boy, the fire's been burning a while, but now the fire's hot again. Because I want to stir you up about these things. I think also to stir could mean to awaken. How many of you guys love to be awakened? Isn't it the best? It's the best. I love the sound of my alarm in the morning. No. Some difficult things. Peter's saying, I want to stir you up. I want to wake you up. For what? in remembrance. He goes, there's some things you've got to remember. So he said it once. He said, listen, I'm not going to be negligent. I'm going to remind you of some things. And he goes, I think it's meat. As long as I'm breathing, I'm going to put you in remembrance. And if that wasn't enough, he says it one more time. Verse 15, moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. He's kind of talking end-of-life type stuff. He's like, as long as I'm here, I'm going to work so that even after I'm gone, you remember. And he's fill in the blank. He's got something to say. And these things, he's talking, and we're going to get to those things in just a moment. But it's almost like it's his last will of testament. He's like, listen, always remember, these are important things. We have people, we use this phrase sometimes, always remember, look both ways before crossing the street. Always remember, brush your teeth. Always remember, Ohio State is the best. I mean, there's things that we have in life that, did I get an amen there anywhere? Come on, guys. Help me out here a little bit. There are things that we have to remember always. Those things, there's often a sense of duty to try and remember them, and there's a sense of familiarity that can actually hide the meaning of those things. And this morning, I wanna stir us up just a little bit about these things that he wrote, and these things happened before, right here. So it happened between verse one and verse 12. He goes, I want you to remember these things. Hey, I'm gonna, as long as I am in this tabernacle, I'm gonna make sure you remember these things. What is he telling us to remember? Verse two, grace and peace be multiplied unto you, Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, trying to alliterate, we remember His peace this morning. Grace and peace are multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In our lives, we need grace and peace. But I think as we remember the what, it's important to remember the how. Peace doesn't come through transcendental meditation. Peace doesn't come through essential oils. Peace doesn't come through everybody agreeing with you on family vacation or at Thanksgiving. Peace comes through what? The knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. If you want peace, if you want grace, which is the power and the desire to do God's will, if you want those things in your life, they come via the vehicle of the knowledge of God and our Savior. Getting to know Him is how we get peace. And these are the things that Peter's saying, like, hey, before I die, I want you to remember, if you want peace, you better get to know the Prince of Peace. You can look in all the psychological annuals where they write down how they try and help people psychologically. You can look online for all the self-helps. You can play all those nice sounds that are quiet in your headphones at night, trying to get some peace, but there will be no true, lasting peace and grace outside of a relationship with God. Now, when we're talking about the knowledge of God, I'm not talking about a brush with Him, you know. Oh, I know God. Yeah, God, He's the, right, He's the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, yeah. And you may have known Him in an academic fashion. To illustrate this, I know some people that have met President Trump. He's shaking his hand in a very casual manner. They've been in the same room, been introduced perhaps, and had some very, and they could say, yeah, I know Pastor, or Pastor Trump. I know, I know President Trump. We know he'd be kicked out of this church if he was a member here. But, but, you know, listen, they know him, but kind of, right? But I also know a young man who is his videographer. and travels with him everywhere. Now, he knows President Trump because of time spent. He knows President Trump because when you're around somebody like that, you have to conform. You don't say, well, Mr. Trump, we do this like this around here. Now, that doesn't happen with a guy like that, right? You conform to his schedule. You conform to his desires and his whims. And then you get the benefit of being in somebody's presence like that. And how much more this is happening with God. You may know God today. You may even be, he's writing to people who know him, right? People who have the like precious faith. You may have had that brush with him. You may say, look, he saved my soul. I've been born again. But do you really have grace and peace? Only if you're spending time with him. Only if you get to know him. I want to remind you of that this morning. This is Missions Conference. We're talking about the things we need to remember. And number one, we need to remember his peace. Not just, it's not really just a blessing that's pronounced on you, a peace be unto you. It's not really just like a, well, shazam, it happens. No, it's a formula. God really, he's like, listen, you need peace, you need grace, and here's how it happens. It comes through the knowledge of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Pretty simple. Is there any wonder why we struggle with getting to know him? Where does the devil fight us? We're talking to Christians, those who have obtained the like precious faith. Where does the devil fight us? In our walk with God. He knows if we get to know him, it'll change who we are. You cannot spend time getting to know the Savior and in his august presence without it affecting you. You cannot. If you spend time with God, it will affect you, it will change you, it will bless you, it will give you grace, and it will give you peace. Don't forget that in your life. You may get busy, life may happen, grief may come, joy may come, sorrow may come, busyness may come, but don't forget, peace will never come outside of knowing Jesus Christ. Getting to know him in a deeper way. And we've got the living word who became the written word. We've got it all right here. We want to get to know him. We've got to spend some time there. I urge you this morning not to forget it. It's Peter's dying wish. He says, if you remember anything, I'm about to go. But I'm going to endeavor that you can always remember his peace comes by knowing him. not only his peace this morning, but secondly in verse three, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue, his divine power, not only are we to remember his peace, let's remember this morning his power. It's not just a comforting thing that comes from knowing God and knowing him in a deeper way, it's a powerful thing. I hear people say in the work of Christ a lot, because I'm always trying to spend their money, we could never. What in the world? You could never what? You could never do that? I thought you were plugged into God who said all power is given unto me. What do you mean you could never? If the government says you owe this fee, somehow we could ever. Christian, all power is given unto me, and he tells us to go. And he's the one that says, I'll never leave thee or forsake thee. He's the one that says, listen, his divine power hath given unto us just a few things that pertain unto life and God. Wait, no, no, it doesn't say that. His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, how? Well, because you're just a really good guy and, you know, study a lot. No. Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Here's that knowledge again. You get to know him, you get to know his power. And if you have his power, you have all you need. It's not just a song, it's not just a poem. You have everything you need that pertains to life and godliness. In this life, every single thing you need, can come to you via the resurrection power of God because it's available to you through the knowledge of Him. There's so much in this passage of Scripture. It's just a short number of like nine or 10 verses, but so much is packed in here. If you're wondering, if you have power, if you're feeling weak today, the power can be yours by knowing Him and knowing who He is. Peter said last, I want you to remember His power. all of our needs completely met for life and godliness. So in other words, not just what we do in the day-to-day, but also being right with Him. How can I please Him? How can I be more like Him? How can I be godly? That power comes to you via knowing who Jesus Christ is. Remember this morning his peace, if you will. Remember his power. Remember thirdly this morning his promises, whereby are giving unto us, so he's talking about these are connected, this idea of the knowledge of him and his power and his peace is all connected, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Again, not just how he can bless us and give us blessing of peace, not how he can just enable us by giving us power, but he can give us some precepts and some precious promises that will deliver us from a lot of the problems of this world. We can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. We can have a different life than our fathers had. We can escape the pitfalls. We're not doomed to repeat the mistakes of our family heritage. We don't have to. And it's good news. You know, we go to a lot of these places. You go to these places sometimes around the world like India or Papua New Guinea or Africa. You see a lot of mistakes made by people in the past. You see a lot of cultural things. Well, we just do it this way. And you're like, actually, that's horrible. And that's horrible for you, that's horrible for your family. They're not doomed to repeat those inside of Christ. They can break free from a heritage. Maybe your dad was a liar, maybe your grandpa was a drunk. You don't have to be. Not because Jesus Christ can save you. His precious promises. I'm talking, we need to not, well, Brother Sharp, I know. I know the promises, I got the little book, the Bible promises book, and I know, and at school I had to memorize them, but you've forgotten. And today I'm here to remind you, you need to go back to those promises. Those promises are what you need. Those are precious promises. He'll never leave you or forsake you. Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There are so many promises in the Word of God, and you could know about them, but they could be foreign to you, and you could not have the benefit of these promises. I'm here to remind you today of His peace. I'm here to remind you this morning of His power. I'm here to remind you this morning of His promises. And fourthly, this morning, one of the things that Peter wanted to remind us of, as we go through life, on his deathbed, he wants us to know these things, and beside all this, verse five, giving all diligence, and he's like, you know, beside the peace, beside the power, beside the promises, beside all of this, giving all diligence, he said, you can't do this casually, you can't just, you know, through osmosis do these things. Sometimes our Christian life after kind of the initial idea of faith is kind of osmosis. Well, I just kind of like, you know, I just kind of morph into what I should be because I'm around Pastor Chris. And I come to the men's meeting and I, okay, I got my hair, you know, everybody's kind of doing the bald thing, so I'm gonna do the bald thing. And people are kind of, they're wearing suits, so I'll put a suit coat on. And I, you know, I'm kind of, just kind of molding and going with the flow. No, no, that's not what Peter said. He goes, I want to remind you, it's going to take some diligence for you to decide all this. Here's what you've got to do. You've got to add, remember that faith we talked about? Your faith could be all by itself. But he says, I don't want it to be by itself. I want you to add to your faith. What does he say? Add to your faith virtue. and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things, Christian still, he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off. And he's even forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, here's that word again, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom. of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There are some good things that can happen if you'll do these things. If you'll add to your faith virtue, that goodness, that moral excellence. If you add that to your faith and to virtue, what are we going to add? We're going to add knowledge. And to knowledge, let's see, here we go. Here we go. Knowledge, temperance. And to temperance, patience. And to patience, godliness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity. We can go through all of this. One of those things is temperance. It's self-control. Are you adding these things diligently to your life? That may mean you may have to take a little bit of inventory when you see yourself have a failure and say, hmm, I was not very patient with my spouse. I need to add patience to my life. Boy, I was kind of out of control. By the way, this is a, a public service announcement. We're going to eat after this. Then Pastor Chris is going to teach on fasting, so pig out. This is your last chance. Then you're going to feel bad when you pig out, because he's like, you've got to fast, or the country's, you know, this is just for you guys who like to eat. This is your chance. But temperance, wait a second, I should have, uh, self-control. You should add those things to your life. And if it's not quite there, diligently add these things to your life. Why? Well, so you can be a polished Christian, so everybody can say, wow, look how good of a Christian Brother Geary is. I mean, the guy, he's just got it all going for him. He's a witness, he's got temperance, he's got patience, he's added to his faith, he's got that peace, he's got that power, he's got those precious promises. Wow, no, that's not why. We don't add for our glory, we add for his glory. But here's the thing, he gives us some benefits. All of those things, his peace, his power, his promises, his plan to add to your faith, virtue and temperance and patience and brotherly, oh boy, brotherly kindness may mean you have to give up that pew that's your favorite pew or that favorite parking spot. You may have to give deference to somebody who is in a business meeting, has an idea that's different than yours. You may have to have some brotherly kindness. This week would be a good week to show some brotherly kindness as people grieve. That's something that's done on purpose in response to his precious promises, which are in response to knowing him and his power, which are in response to knowing him and his peace. It's all connected, and Peter said, listen, I want to remind you of these things because these things will make you that you're no longer barren. He says, you'll be fruitful. You won't be un... Can you look in your life and see some fruit? And fruit could mean another Christian who's coming along with you on the way to heaven. Fruit could mean the fruit of the Spirit. That love, joy, peace, long-suffering. Is that evident in your life? If not, we should diligently add some of these things so we have fruitfulness. So we have, how many want to be successful? Listen, if you do these things, you shall never fall. How many people want to go to heaven by the skin of their teeth? Or you really want to go to heaven? You wanna lay hold on eternal life. You wanna go to heaven saying, I'm glad I'm here. I'm singing in the choir yesterday and I'm in heaven singing today. If you wanna go to heaven that way, you gotta do some things in your life because an entrance can be administered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom. It's not a matter of if you're going to heaven. You're already going to heaven if you've been born again. You've got that like precious faith. But how are you going to heaven? Boy, some people go to heaven differently. Some people get out of church. Some people forget that they were even purged from their old sins. Some people live like they have never been born again. And they go to heaven differently than somebody who's going to heaven, shouting the victory, living for God, and claiming his promises, and trying to be right with God. There's a different way to go to heaven. His plan. There are things to add additionally. And I wonder, and this is kind of where the rubber meets the road for us. Missions Conference, Brother Sharp, where does that fit in these concepts? These are kind of talking about a lot of things that are personal to you. You having diligence, you adding to your faith, Working on I haven't been patient God. I want to add this patience God. I haven't been very temperate here I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna say no to my flesh right over here just because you want me to be able to be in control of it and the Holy Spirit to be in control of my life and You're working out these things and boy man praise God the power of God that gives me victory in these areas praise God the peace of God I needed his comfort today and this week. I needed his grace. I'm gonna study. I'm gonna get to know him I'm gonna get close to him because all these things are helping me but as you grow and you Beside all this add to your faith The last two things that you add to your faith, they involve others, and this is where missions comes in. Add to your faith, what does it say? It talks about loving a brother, and he says, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, here it is, charity. Well, it's a lot of things to get to that mark of charity. That's the last thing named, and we like to skip to that sometimes without having the other stuff. But if you have a true charity, A true love for God and a love for people, it's the culmination of the Christian faith. Now, it's not really what happens naturally. And so, if we're thinking of missions, I like a good picture. I like to do photography and videography a little bit, and boy, I like that picture that really shows you that person. That only gets you so far, though. Because you could forget that this next week. Boy, that good testimony, that good sermon, that only gets you so far. That challenge of, oh man, I know Brother so-and-so, I know he gives this much, I better give this much. Or that ability to say, you know what, Pastor Chris is probably watching and he probably sees that I didn't put anything in the plate. That's only gonna get you so far in this idea of world evangelization and caring for others and ministering to others and having charity for others. Only true charity will get you to the finish line, friend. Only true charity will get you to that place of fruitfulness and really laying hold on eternal life and having something to cast at his feet. Only true charity. And charity's the last thing. Before charity, you have brotherly kindness. And that's built on godliness. And that's built on patience. And that's built on temperance. And that's built on knowledge. And that's built on virtue. And that's built on faith. And it's all wrapped up in his precious promises and his power and his peace. And it all stems from that idea, this is what Peter's saying, of knowing Him. When we finish up this morning, let's look in, hang on here, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Remember all these things that kind of, the key to all of them is the knowledge of God. The key to all of them is knowing God. And I think this kind of ties it together for us this morning. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 34. Awake to righteousness. Remember, we're going to stir you up. Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. That's what Missions Conference is all about. We get to struggle with these ideas in our own life. I want to implement, boy, I need to know God. I need to walk with God. You know there's some people that don't even know who God is. I need to work on my patience. I need to work on my temperance. Boy, I need to add these things to my faith. Well, people can't have faith if they don't know who to have faith in. The fact that that still exists in 2024, are you kidding me? I speak this to your shame, Paul says. Everybody should know. Now whether or not they believe that's between them and God, that's between them and the Holy Spirit, but they should know, and what's the vehicle for them to know? God didn't choose to write it on the moon. He chose to send those who do know to those who don't know, and that's what this week is all about, and we won't do it unless we care. And we won't care unless we've added those things to our life. Unless we've exercised all that is the benefit of knowing Him, we'll never make sure others know Him. And it's so important. Peter said, listen, to my dying day, I want to make sure you always remember these things. Christian, these aren't new things. You already know them. You're established in the present truth. But listen, I want you to be reminded this morning, in light of Missions Conference, in light of eternity, people need to know him, and we need to make sure we love them enough to send the gospel to them. That may mean you going. That may mean you telling, and it may mean you giving. I'm not sure, but it won't happen without you loving. And that won't happen without us getting to know Him better. Father in Heaven, thank You for this day. Thank You for Your Word this morning. We thank You for those gathered here today, so many faithful people, so many people who know about giving, so many people who know about sharing their faith. But Lord, You've stirred me this morning to continually remember You and the knowledge of You, and to go back to You for everything. I want to be fruitful. I want to enter into eternity, Lord, with an abundance. and not lacking. I want to live a life that glorifies you. And Lord, I pray that you'd help all of us this morning. If there's anyone here that's never had that like, precious faith, they've never been born again, Lord, may they come. May they not use any excuse. May they not be embarrassed. May they just come this morning and trust Christ as their Savior being born again. If there's any Christian here this morning who needed this reminder and need to seal it with maybe a quick prayer at the altar, I pray that you would work as only you can. As the musicians play, the altars are open. If you've been born again here, that means you've been saved. That means you've taken Jesus as your Savior at a moment in time. Then you would testify it's a precious faith. It's a precious faith because of the one that saved us, who's Jesus. I'd like to ask you a question this morning, those of you that are gathered here, those of you joining us by way of livestream. If you were to stand at the gate of heaven after death and God were to say, sir, ma'am, young person, why should I let you into my heaven? I wonder what your answer would be to that question. Because the only acceptable answer is that I have by faith and repentance taken Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've taken your son, God. That's the only way I deserve to go to heaven is what Jesus did for me. And my friend, if you've never, never, never, ever in your life come to Christ and been saved, born again, meaning a new birth, then on this Missions Conference Sunday for our church, it would be a glorious, glorious decision for you to come to Christ. and be saved. I wonder if you're here and you say, preacher, I've never, to my knowledge, I have never chosen Christ as my personal savior. I've never been saved that I can remember in my life. I need to be saved today. I need Christ to save me as the lady did yesterday with one of our ladies. I need to be saved. Would you raise your hand in this building if you're like that? you raise your hand just say preacher i'm just raising my hand to let you know i i would like to be saved this day this day right here in this church service i'd like to come to christ would you raise your hand in this building ask you another question on that front say preacher i'm not sure if i'm saved I'm troubled by the fact that I'm uncertain whether or not I'm saved. Would you raise your hand, preacher? I don't know if I'm saved. Is there one like that in this building this morning? Oh, you could get assurance of salvation today. If you don't have answers to that particular area of your life, that is the biggest area of your life right now, is to know that you know Jesus Christ. I speak to believers, His peace, His power, His promises, His plan, ending with love, love for others. How many of you would say, preacher, there's something in the message that the Spirit connected to my heart? Maybe it's knowing God better. Maybe it's spending more time with God. Maybe it's relishing in His promises. Maybe it's adding something to your faith. You would say, preacher, God spoke to me about personal growth in my life today. Would you raise your hand in this building? Preacher, God spoke to me about personal growth in my life. There is something in my life that God wants to develop. He wants to shape me. Would you raise your hand with many others across the building this morning? Would you raise your hand? Let me put your hands down. I wonder if you came into Faith Promise Sunday, hmm, burdened. It's that time again. I gotta give. But this morning the message was to shape the motive in your heart. And the motive is I don't have to. The motive is I love God and I love his plan to reach the world. And let love be my motivation. As I write down a figure today, or as I pray and write down a figure over the next couple of weeks, let love be my motive. How many of you would say, preacher, God just brought that into my living room in this morning's message. Love has to be the motive. I wonder if you're like that. And you would say, preacher, God just reminded me of my motivation in giving this morning. Would you raise your hand in this building if you're like that? God drew me back to the love principle. Folks, we're in church. We have good old-fashioned altar calls, and we deal with things in our lives at altars. And God, by evidence of raised hands today, has dealt with people's lives. In a moment, I'm going to pray, and I want to invite you to come to an altar. If God's dealt with your life, man, that is the presence of God. That is God wanting to change something. That is God wanting you to respond this morning. I want to give you that opportunity. Father, we thank you for the preached Word of God. Lord, you're dealing with people's hearts in this service or maybe dealing with some by way of live stream this morning. Lord, you want a tender response. You want a prompt response. You want an immediate, Lord, obedient response. You want a yielded response from especially your people and those that are lost today. I pray in this invitation, Lord, that we would have the proper response that pleases you. In Jesus' name, amen. Your heads are bowed, your eyes are closed. As we play the piano quietly, would you stand with me together this morning, heads bowed, eyes closed. I want to invite you to an altar. If God's spoken to your heart right now, I want to invite you to an altar. If God's put something specific, He's dealt with something specific in your heart, I want to invite you to an altar this morning. Altar time's not wasted time. Altar time's precious time. You respond to God. God's looking for your heart response in this service this morning, in regards to what He dealt with you about. May I invite you to come. So, I love you. your songbooks, if you would, turn to hymn number 482. Hymn number 482, More About Jesus. We'll sing the first verse. As we do, just before we do, we will have ushers that will be distributing faith promise slips. And so as we're singing ushers, if you can have the faith promise slips distributed to the congregation, and we'll pray over them, and then give you a chance to fill them out and collect them this morning. Sing with me on hymn number 482, More About Jesus. Jesus, Lord, I come All this grace to others show Are you saving for the sin? Or of His love, would I for me? You may be seated this morning. I'll explain the slip to you. The slip has no name on it because this is a voluntary offering between you and the Lord. So nobody's really to know what you're giving in this area of missions. There's a place for an amount that you can put for each week. or each month, or maybe a one-time gift. You can fill it out however you're led in your heart to do that. There's a reminder part that you can tear off and keep. We want you to be able to keep it so you can remember what you pledged to give or promised to give to Faith Promise in the coming year. This commitment does not start until the first Sunday in January, and it carries through to the end the last Sunday in December of 2025. So you're not committing to start tomorrow, but you are committing that amount by faith that God would bring it in, and you'd be able to give it to missions. It is not our tithe. It is above our tithe. It is an offering. And by doing this, it helps us to be able to budget and plan for missionaries to support all over the world. Brethren, Paul said this, I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Giving is directly reflected in what abounds to our account. Someday, in glory, if it's done out of the right motive, it will abound to our account. The converts in Iran, the converts from the Liberia station, the converts over in Ukraine, in Wattsburg, Go all around the world with our missionaries. This is our vote, so to speak. This is saying, man, I'm all in on this thing. God, your plan to reach the world. I'm not going to be stingy. God, I'm going to be liberal because I love you and I love souls. That being said, I'll have a time of prayer. We ought to do this in prayer and then we'll have the men come up and collect the slips. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, we We love you, God, and you love us. And Lord, you love us. We could not love you unless you first loved us. And Lord, you love the world. Your word says, for God so loved the world. Lord, you gave your only son. Lord, we get to give so that that message can be announced, proclaimed, preached, spread around the world. Lord, we're thankful today for your salvation. We're thankful for your blessings. Lord, may we abound in this grace also. Lord, the grace of giving. Lord, let us do it with a free heart. Let us do it with a joyful heart. Let us do it, Lord, because, Lord, you gave everything for us. In Jesus' name, amen. If you're filling out a slip, would you take the time to fill out the slip? If you do not have that figure from the Lord yet, then what I would encourage you is to hold the slip and pray and make sure that you have time to talk to the Lord about that. But if you're filling out a slip, would you go ahead and fill out that slip right now? And I'll have our ushers come, if you will. What we would like to do is have you fold the slip if you're filling it out, and then we'll have prayer, and then you can drop them in the offering plate today. In the next number of weeks, we'll have opportunities for you to place them in the offering. If you don't have it filled out today, that's okay. But we want to, this time of year, vote in this way for the work of the Lord all over the world. Let's pray one more time. And Brother Garland, would you stand and just pray over this time? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you just for giving us the opportunity to have a part in this worldwide sharing of the gospel and guide us and direct us as to what you would have us to do. Amen, it's been a wonderful conference and we appreciate our missionaries and their families being able to be with us this week and So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. I know Brother Hess you've got to get going and so what I like to do is I'd like to dismiss our missionaries back to the back Brother Hess, we know you're getting on the road right now. So we'll be praying for your safety and as you drive, and so thank you again, missionaries, for being with us for a great conference. Just one note, also, as you're praying about those faith promise slips, if you didn't turn one in, just as pastor said, over the next two, three, maybe four weeks, we'd like to get those in, and what we do with those, then, is we, of course, it's all anonymous, it's between you and the Lord, but we take those totals And we build a missions budget. So there's the church's budget, the general fund, and all of the other building fund and all of that. We build a separate missions fund, and that tells us what we can do in 2025 for missions. And so we build a whole budget off of that. And so as you're reminded to turn those slips in, it is important. And so you'd be praying about that over the next week or a couple weeks and get those slips in. Choir, no choir. Hey, praise the Lord, no choir. Now remember, we're gonna go down and have lunch. You brought your lunch. We're gonna go down to the annex and have lunch there. And then we will be back here at 1.30 for the afternoon service. And so we'll enjoy a time of fellowship together. And then back here for the 1.30 service. Deacons, there's a meeting. this Wednesday night, but also deacons, Jerry needs to meet with you basically at the end of lunch before the 1.30 service, okay? So Jerry needs to meet with the deacons at the end of lunch, but before the 1.30 service, and you can do that down in the annex. And of course this week you can see everything in the bulletin. This coming Saturday is light on purpose, so that's 9.30 down The annex so please don't forget about that a couple things on missions, and we will pray and be dismissed Don't forget the fries and the box in the back the little box if you want to send miss Gina a card of encouragement or Christmas card There's a box back on the ushers Station for those November 3rd will be the last time to collect for that and then also the on the back bulletin board We just got this email from the Hendersons, and Mrs. Henderson writes that it was two years ago on October 29th that he had his massive heart attack. Now he's been having a few health issues, and she emailed out and said, hey, would anybody like to just write an email of encouragement? Be praying for Bill Henderson as he's going through the health issues, but would you pray for him specifically between now and on Tuesday, and then send him a quick email of encouragement, okay? and the email address is back on the back bulletin board, and that would be a nice thing to do for the Hendersons. Hey, it's missions, just encouraging them on missions. Bible assembly tomorrow night, regular time, all right? Bible assembly tomorrow night, thank you for that. All right, stand with me if you would. Are there any other last minute announcements before we're dismissed? All right, been a great conference. So what I'd like you to do is, let me see, I don't know, We're gonna pick on Jared Dirk, Pastor Jared. Pray for Tony Hess as he drives and pray for our lunch as we go down to enjoy our lunch. Thank you for joining us by way of the internet today. We're so glad that you were able to be with us and we pray that the service was a blessing to your heart. Even though the sermon is over, our service is not over. At the end of our service, we give an opportunity for people to respond and come to an altar and pray over what God dealt with them about. Sometimes people come to call upon Christ and to be saved. Others come to make a decision for Christ regarding their Christian lives. Others come to call out to the Lord about special needs and situations in their lives. Maybe God has dealt with you today about some specific area of your life. I invite you to make an altar right there in your home, a quiet time before the Lord where you pray to Him and respond to Him about what He has spoken to you about. If you made a decision for the Lord today, we would be glad to hear about that decision and or answer any questions you have today about the message that was preached. You can contact us by way of email at info at mountziononline.org or by way of phone at 717-927-9227. Again, we thank you for joining us today and we look forward to you joining us again for our live stream. weekly on Sundays at 1045 a.m. and on Sunday evenings at 645 p.m. If we can meet a need in your life, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you and God bless you.