Welcome to Orchard. My name is Ben. I'm one of the pastors here. If you're our guest this morning, we're glad that you're here. In a moment, we're going to continue our preaching series through 1 Peter, from suffering to glory. And our passage is from 1 Peter 4, verses 7 through 11 this morning. In a moment, I'll read from that. If you don't have a Bible, there's one underneath the seat in front of you. And you can find the passage on page 1016. 2016. While you look that up, just a few announcements I'd like to make this morning. First, Sunday Nights at Orchard continues this evening at 6.30 p.m. Rick Carmichael will continue to teach us about the disciplines of the Christian life and what it looks like to actually to be formed spiritually as a follower of Jesus. If you need childcare for that you can reach out to Brian Payne and he'll make sure that there's a sitter available. Next Sunday morning we'll have our weekly monthly prayer meeting downstairs in the community room at 830 before the Lord's Supper and that's from 830 to 915. Please join us if you just have a heart and a desire to pray for local missions. It's a great time for that. And then lastly if you are Our guest, we do have a card at the back by the double doors to the left. And if you would please fill that out. Let us know about yourself. The pastor's here. We love to get to know folks and meet with you or have a phone call, a text, whatever. We're happy to do that. Of course, for members here, you can always fill that out and let us know how we can be praying for you. I gave you a little bit of a head fake. I actually do have one more announcement. On our website, if you're familiar with that, you can go and access the member directory. The password for that has changed, and I want to draw that to your attention this morning. We're going to go along with this year's theme, and that is healthy hearts. No spaces, both H's are capitalized. The first two H's, I guess, are capitalized. Healthy hearts is the password for that. All right. With that, if you are able, please stand for the reading of God's word before Paul comes to preach. And again, this is from 1 Peter 4, verses 7-11. This is the word of the Lord. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him the long glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Bow with me. Heavenly Father, we come before your word this morning and we humble our hearts. We acknowledge that it's your word that guides us and gives us direction for our lives. It's living, it's alive, it's sharper than a double-edged sword and we acknowledge our need for it to show us how to live our life following after you. To this end, we pray and we devote our time now. In Christ's name, amen. I am so excited to be up here this morning. Linda and I and our family were out on a weekend away last week, and whenever I miss a Sunday, this Sunday when I'm first back is so exciting to me, to be back with God's people. If you're just joining us this week, or for those that are listening in online, Rick spoke last week about the first six verses of chapter four. And he explained that Peter's articulating a new ethic for these first century believers to live by. In Christ, these believers were given a new identity. And in such a state, they were to stop being governed by the desires of their flesh. That is their former way of life. But they were to live their lives with a new value system. In today's text, living in the last times is loaded with meaning and connected to why Christians need to live out their new ethics to pray, love, be hospitable and serve all for the glory of God. Peter begins verse seven by saying, the end of all things is at hand. What does Peter mean by that? Well, we need to take a high level view. We need to do an overview of sorts for a few minutes to understand what Peter's talking about when he says, the end of all things is at hand. I think this will be particularly helpful for young people, people new to the faith. Quite frankly, all of us, regardless of how long we've been following Christ, it's important to see the big picture to see where we fit into it now. I had a friend one time who wanted to do a Bible study. And at my suggestion, he purchased a study Bible. Study Bibles have helpful study notes throughout that go over really every verse of the Bible. So he gets this new study Bible in the mail and I was all excited. And the next time I saw him, he was just incredulous. He says, dude, this thing is over 2000 pages. I can't read all that. Where would I even start? Well, I made a couple of suggestions for where to start, but in an attempt to encourage him and help him understand the overarching narrative in scripture, we went through a book together. The book is called The Whole Story of the Bible in 16 Verses by Chris Bruno. There's a copy downstairs on the bookshelf if you guys want to check it out and look at it. This book looks at 16 verses or short passages that show the story of salvation in Jesus that's attested to from Genesis all the way to Revelation. It was extremely helpful for my friend to understand what the Bible is all about. Understanding the big picture gives us insight into what it is that the biblical authors who lived in different times and different places and even spoke and wrote different languages were talking all about. So to better understand what Peter means, this morning I wanna summarize the overarching narrative in scripture this way. Creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. Understanding the first one, creation, is pretty straightforward. God created. He inaugurated what we presently know as the universe and all that fills it. He created everything. He created humans in his image. And when it was all complete, he said of his creation, it is very good. Second in the narrative is the fall, specifically the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. The fall of Adam and Eve meant that all of creation was brought into death through sin. This fall happened back in the Garden of Eden, the place that God had created for Adam and Eve to live in perfect union with him. They disobeyed God and were separated from him after this time. Thirdly, redemption. God has acted to redeem the fallen and rebellious image bearers that he made. This is incredible. Peter has pointed us to this many times so far when he said things like this in chapter one, verse three. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And like this in chapter two, verses nine and 10. but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Since the fall of creation into sin, God has been working to redeem. from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the nation of Israel, the Kings and the line of David, the prophets work, all of these people and events throughout the Bible were pointing to God's redeeming work and his coming Messiah. Now, Peter saw the culmination of this redeeming work when he witnessed the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. The final play in God's redemptive action was Jesus. We live during this age. God is at work to redeem those who are his. And he even uses us in this work. All are called to submit in faith to the Lordship of Christ. We proclaim his kingdom's rule and reign and the excellencies of it. Through Christ, our victory over sin and death has been achieved. Now, like Peter did, we also wait to see the final act of God, which is his restoration of creation. This is what Peter meant when he said, the end of all things is at hand. This is the next event. This is consistent with what Peter's already written in chapter one, verse 20. He, that is Jesus, was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God. The next act in God's grand story of salvation is restoration. Restoration is alluded to in first Peter one four where he says, We are born again, it says, to an inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. Revelation 21 says it this way. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And it goes on to say that the dwelling place of God is with man again. He will wipe away every tear from their eye, Death shall be no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. The one seated on the throne will say to you in person, behold, I am making all things new. So alas, we await this glorious picture of complete restoration. We are awaiting the second coming of Christ, when as Revelation has described, will be finally perfectly and without encumbrance united with Jesus. The first act really in the restoration period was pointed to in last week's text. In verse five, we learned about the judgment that will happen. Peter wrote, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Speaking of blasphemers, adulterers, those who have not put their faith in Christ. To put this judgment on the map that we just cruised through, when Jesus returns for a second time to usher in the new heavens and the new earth and this final restoration, there will be a judgment that starts that time. Those who haven't been purified from their sin by the work of Christ will be judged by a perfect, holy, and righteous God. And if they're not found in Christ, they'll be eternally damned. This is a sobering reality. It should humble every one of us. Now this new creation will be perfectly peaceful and eternally and infinitely joyful. Nothing will hinder our fellowship with Christ or with each other. No stain of sin will remain. Those who haven't placed faith in Christ cannot, they would not be happy there, since they've rejected these promises here and now. Some have taught that this statement by Peter, the end of all things is at hand, is to motivate us to a kind of frenzied living, as if we need to sneak a bunch of certain activities in now that we won't be able to later. It's a drop everything, quit your jobs, have a bunch of fun before Christ returns kind of mentality. But on the contrary, we live all of our lives devoted to King Jesus. So there's no need to drop everything. We glorify Christ by how we work and what we work on. We glorify Christ and we honor him and our families and our friendships and all that we do. I remember thinking when I was a youth, maybe some of you can relate with this. When I first started to learn this, I remember thinking, oh man, I sure hope I can get my driver's license before Jesus comes back. Now, our youth are up here. Some of our youth are up here today. I don't think today's youth really get excited about getting their license like they did back in the day. Today, maybe it's more like, I hope I can beat that video game or get that game system. This isn't the kind of living that Peter was trying to encourage. Martin Luther said, when asked what he'd do today, if he knew that Jesus were returning tomorrow, he said that he'd plant a tree and pay his taxes. He'd go about his life as he always does because he's living each day for Christ in the small things and in the big things. We are to live in every moment like Christ could return or could take us home. So we don't wait to start living for Christ and his kingdom. We start now. The most important thing that we won't do in heaven that we're invited to be doing now is proclaiming his excellencies to those who don't know Christ as their savior. We get to evangelize now. There'll be no need of that in heaven. We'll together with perfect unity enjoy our savior, everyone who's there. So I think this is what Peter means when he says, the end of all things is at hand. But why is it important? Why did Peter place this brief statement here before going into the new ethics? Why did I spend almost a third of my time with you guys this morning talking about it? I've titled today's sermon, Last Times Living, because we need to know how to live in the age that we're in. An assessment of this kind regarding the age that we are in gives us the direction that we need to move forward, whatever our life situation, young, old, or in between. Tom Schreiner, Bible commentator, says of this little phrase, perhaps the theology of first Peter can be captured with the words, the end of all things is at hand. These words illustrate the tension that Mark Peters thought. On the one hand, the decisive work of salvation has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. What the Old Testament has promised has been fulfilled in him. On the other hand, the fulfillment has not yet been completed. The end is near, but it has not arrived." End quote. Christ's work has secured our inheritance. But not until the second coming of Christ will we be delivered from the infirmity of our flesh that we continue to struggle with. We live in a world that's at war. Literally, war and suffering mark this age. You can't go one day without opening a newspaper or a website where you don't hear of war or a massacre somewhere around the globe. Spiritually, there's war as well. The enemy of God still lurks and prowls, Peter will say later, like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So in this age that we now live in, that's between two worlds, that's the world of Eden and the world of the new creation and the new heavens, Peter tells us how to live in these last times. I'm guessing if you're being chased by a lion that wants to devour you, you run a little faster, you walk a little wiser, and you cling a little tighter to the truth that guides you through this present age. He instructs us in our passage today how to live because it really matters. There's a looming judgment and we have an enemy who's alive and seeking to destroy us. There are some here this morning who have not submitted their life to the Lordship of Christ. Perhaps if this is you, you like Christian teaching, or maybe it's the conservatism with which the Bible is often associated, or the cultural mores of a Christianized society, but you're not living your whole life for Christ. You're not living in submission to the God of the Bible. You're your own God. You're going to try your best to please the God of the universe based upon your own works, based upon your own righteousness. If this is you, your first step in these last times is to place your trust in Christ, to live your life wholly for him, understanding it's Christ's blood that's paid the penalty for your sin. If you have not placed your faith in Christ, you'll hear the rest of these verses as salvation by right ethics, which is to say salvation by your works. That's not possible. It's impossible to please God this way. So abandon that plan and put your life in Christ's hands by turning away from sin and by living your life by faith in him. If you have placed your faith in Christ, the rest of this passage gives us clear direction about how we are to strive to reveal Jesus and his excellencies. Bible commentator Karen Jobe says, the end of all things is the basis for four exhortations that flesh out in practical terms the resources needed for the Christian community to be an alternate society in which its members may take refuge from the rejection of a hostile society. In other words, this is how we are supposed to live out Christ's victory. Number one, pray. Verse seven continues, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. This is the second of three times that Peter will use the term sober-minded. In chapter one, verse 13, Peter said, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then in chapter five, verse eight, Peter says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. In our chapter for today, this is clearly a sharp contrast to the way of life that's typical of the Gentiles who live in the sensuality and passions and drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. In contrast to drunkenness and the fleshly impulses ruling a person, Peter's thinking of self-controlled, clear-headed, and poignant decision-making. He says to do this as it relates to our prayers. Prayer shouldn't be a rote memory exercise or a flippant tossing up of words and phrases until something that sounds right comes out. Neither should it be a religious sounding exercise to impress God or others. For the sake of our prayers, we're to be intentional and thoughtful. Consider it of how God's word guides us in prayer. Pray that the government would restrain evil and promote good as Peter mentioned earlier in this letter. Pray for the sanctification of believers despite the difficult times that threatened to drag them down. Pray for salvation for those who might count as your neighbor. What motivates our prayers is not fleshly impulses, but God's glory. We look to scripture and the many prayers offered therein for guidance on how we should pray. D.A. Carson says this about prayer. What we actually do reflects our highest priorities. That means we can proclaim our commitment to prayer until the cows come home, but unless we actually pray, our actions disown our words. Prayer is a hard discipline. Remembering that the end times are at hand should motivate us in our prayer. It should help us prioritize it in our lives. Don't forget, there's a lion chasing you. So I wanna go through some tips for growing in the discipline of prayer. I've cherry picked most of this from D.A. Carson's book titled Praying with Paul. He started off and he said, we must plan to pray. When is the best time to pray? Is it early? Is it midday? Is it late? If your plan is only to spontaneously pray, just whenever you think of stuff, which is great by the way, if you do that, but if that's the only time you're planning to pray, it might be a pitfall. Prayer might get squeezed out by busyness and the full and unpredictable nature of life under the sun. So make a plan to pray. What do you plan to pray when you pray? I've been extremely edified in my own prayer time by using a portion of scripture to begin my prayer time. It's inspirational. It's an excellent way to thoughtfully pray. Donald Whitney wrote an excellent book on this topic, it's called Praying the Bible, where you literally use portions of scripture to spur you into prayer. Now a big first step in being self-controlled and sober-minded in our prayers is to know what God would want us to pray. Certainly our whole life we're gonna grow in this, but using scripture's prayers as an example is a great way to start. Vocalize your prayers. This might help you impede mental drift. Mental drift goes something like this. Lord, help those missionaries to do well and bless them. Oh man, I've got such a busy day. Did I make my lunch yet? Oh, I mean, help those missionaries to do well at proclaiming Christ to the nations. I wonder if I'm gonna be late for work. I better get going. So on and so forth. Vocalizing your prayers might help you stay focused. Journaling, actually writing out your prayers can be helpful too. I've done this at certain times and it's a rich way to capture your time with the Lord. And it might also help impede the mental distraction. Sometimes remembering what to pray and having some organization for your prayer time might be helpful. There's different apps you can get for your phone or tablet that can help you organize what you'd like to pray. I use an app called Prayer Mate. It's free and full disclosure, I make no money off of it. You can organize the things you wanna pray for. You can make lists, you can make categories, reminders, schedules, and you can set it up when you open it for about how long you have to commit to that devoted time of prayer. And if you have more time, you can just start it again and they'll give you a different list. If you are privy to non-electronic versions, a good old notebook is a great way to do it. Make a page with different topics on that page and just flip through it. Pray for one thing off each page or two things, whatever you have time for. Prayer partners can be helpful. Meet to pray with someone or maybe with a small group. With the end of all things at hand, A thoughtful, intentional, and regular prayer should mark the life of the believer. Number two, love. Peter says in verse eight, above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Above all, above anything else, we are to make a priority of our love for one another. Not to the neglect of other things, but above all things, we're to be guided by love. just as Christ was, a self-sacrificing, others first kind of love. Peter also said something like this in chapter one, verse 22. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. We love because he has shown us how to love. He's been our example. It's likely that Peter's drawing upon the Old Testament from Proverbs here. Proverbs 10, 12 says, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Peter says that we are to love above all, because when we do this, it covers a multitude of sins. Now this does not mean that our love for one another covers sins like Christ's loving sacrifice does. This does not mean that we cover up sin either in the sense that we enable it or we allow for it to continue. We've been given clear biblical prescription for dealing with believers who are unrepentant about their sin. Peter isn't saying your love should cover up or gloss over that sin. That falls into a different category. In fact, in love, Paul said, Jesus said, we shouldn't cover those sins unless there has been repentance. Peter's thinking of sins that are repented from. He's thinking of the person battling against and struggling with sin, not the one who's embracing sin as their way of life. Now, if there are legal implications or relational implications, Even when someone does repent, sin ought to be brought into the light appropriately and dealt with. But in our ongoing fellowship with that person, we're to be generous in our loving and in our forgiveness. Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18, 21, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I did not say to you seven times, but 70 times seven. Peter is teaching what Jesus taught him. Our love is to continue to forgive the one who is striving for godliness, even though imperfectly. As we live in this infirmity of our flesh, we struggle to not sin against one another. Until Christ returns, we'll need to continue to battle our flesh and fight against our proclivity to sin, against God and against others. This love is to cover wrongs that threaten the community, and we need to have a charitable spirit toward one another in this way. Peter is saying, if you're going to stand against the schemes of the enemy, if you're going to get through this in-between Eden and heaven time, You'll need to love each other more than you're offended by one another's sins. Jesus shared a warning with Peter about not allowing love to grow cold in Matthew chapter 24 verse 12. Jesus warned of signs of the end times when he said, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Losing love for one another is a serious threat to the church. If our love grows cold and is self-seeking and defensive, it isn't motivated by Christian, Christ-like love. And we need to be aware of this, lest it destroy us. Number three, be hospitable. Peter continues in verse nine, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. These are the end times and we need to be hospitable to one another with a joyful attitude if we're going to endure and glorify God. The placement of this command right behind the command to love one another shows the strong connection between love and hospitality. One way we show love to one another is by opening our homes and inviting brothers and sisters in Christ into them. Now, this is not easy. People are stinky, messy. Sometimes they don't take their shoes off. They leave the toilet seat up maybe. Inviting them into your home messes up your rhythm and your routine. It costs you money. It costs you energy. It costs you time. Today, in now's day and age, we have a hospitality industry. My wife, Linda, used to work in that industry, and guess what I learned? I learned that people like hospitality so much that they make loads of money, not necessarily that Linda did, when they provide a service or a meal for others that others enjoy. For Christians, living in this way that is hospitable is not an option. We need this as Christians. We need to practice this to build one another up and also to know one another. to let the light of Christ shine into one another's lives. This is important. There's great encouragement for all of us when we share fellowship with one another inside of our homes. There are two times when I think you can refuse hospitality in relationship to false teachers and apostate believers. If someone's under church discipline and been excommunicated from fellowship with the body so that they turn from their sin and come back, It's appropriate to not invite them into your home. Now just as with prayer, without a plan to practice hospitality, it's gonna be tough to actually do. Here's some ways that perhaps you might consider practicing this in your life. See also a really good book by our brother Alex Strauch on this called The Hospitality Commands. Number one, actually plan ahead. Put these things on the calendar. Just like if we don't plan to pray, life's busy nowadays. It's gonna get squeezed out if we don't plan for it. Number two, make a list of people that you'd enjoy to host. And if you can't host for whatever reason, make a list of people whose house you wanna go to. This is a great way to get your plan started, is just start making lists like this. Remember, the holidays are a great time to invite people into your home. They're those who don't have family close by and cannot travel for whatever reason. Inviting them into your home as an extension of your family is a tremendous way to show Christ's love and to bless them. Now, maybe what hinders you from hospitality is you're a bad cook. At least that's what you think. I'm a bad cook. Well, then have them over for tea. All you gotta do is get hot water and put the teabag in it. Or make some coffee. It's really simple. And honestly, the recipe thing, if you're a bad cook, just get some simple recipes. I eat at the firehouse two days a week, trust me. If they can do it, you can do it. Number five, one of the specific things that Peter likely had in mind when he gave this command was hospitality for himself and the other traveling evangelists and apostles. Now, there are missionaries or ministry workers who sometimes need places to stay. Maybe they're here on furlough, or they're just in for a weekend, or a week, a short time. Get your name on the list of how to host those people. Now, some of you are thinking, I don't have a good house for hospitality, or I'm a bad cook, I'm introverted, I really don't like to spend that much time with people. I don't have the money to host. Some of these things are totally honest and real. Well, let me mention a few other ways. You're not off the hook. Offer to help with hospitality things inside our church. We have many things that you could do to bless those who come here on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or any other day of the week. We have a welcome team on Sundays. We have ushers. We have coffee and donuts to prepare and serve in between services. Tuesday mornings, the ladies have Bible study and then enjoy a time of fellowship and snacks. Wednesday, we have a meal together before Awana. They could always use helpers. Just coming to visit during that meal is always an option. Just come. Even if you don't have kids, even if they're not in a one or whatever, just come. Enjoy the fellowship, enjoy the time. We've got a big Easter service that'll be coming up in a couple months. We do two breakfasts, and there's so many visitors. We love to welcome people and answer any questions they have. We have occasional church fellowship lunches after church. In the summer, we venture down the street to the park to have a big picnic. Get in on planning and helping with those. Welcoming people, making them feel at home in our church is important as well. And if you can't do it in your home, we'd love for you to practice that here. Number four, serve one another. On the heels of Peter's command to be hospitable comes another synergistic command to serve one another. Hospitality creates a fertile soil where we can share our gifts with one another. Loving, being hospitable, and serving one another all fit together very well and work together to create an environment in the body of Christ that protects us, sustains us, and inspires us as we go through life on this side of heaven. This is what Peter's driving us towards. Peter continues in verse 10. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. As good stewards of God's varied grace, whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies. Peter says to be good stewards of God's varied grace. We've been given different gifts and we are to be a steward of them, to be a steward of what he's given us. We are to use it knowing that it's not really ours. We've been given it to use for God's glory, for the blessing of other people. Whatever gift or gifts you have received, use it for the benefit of others. First Corinthians chapter four, Paul says, what do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Paul's speaking to a different audience, but this is getting at Peter's point. We've been given spiritual gifts, and every person who is born again in Christ is gifted in ways that will edify the body of Christ and the fellowship of believers, and we're to practice them for the benefit of the group. In Mark chapter 10, John and James came to Jesus and asked to sit at the right and left of him. Jesus continued to show them that the manner in which they would be called to follow him was in service to others, not lording it over others. In this way, we have a strength together as a body that we wouldn't if we didn't practice these things. Practicing these gifts is not a privilege either. It's a responsibility that each of us bears that follows Christ. Now, Peter mentions this varied grace of God. Getting spiritual gifts is an example of God's grace to us, and the fact that we get different gifts is the varied part. Peter continues and splits the grouping of gifts into two categories, speaking gifts and serving gifts. Those with speaking gifts are to take very seriously the words that they say. Teachers and preachers and anyone who's speaking as if to explain what God's word says should be doing so with reverence. Peter says to do these things as if speaking God's words. Now, this does not mean that the words that I'm saying this morning are on par with the Bible's words, but the preacher is opening up God's word, and this is no small thing. It should be done with thoughtfulness and a thoroughness befitting the task of one who speaks the oracles of God. Some of you are thinking, well, I'm not a preacher. This must not apply to me. Well, on the contrary, everyone at some level must do this, even if only to yourself. You need to speak God's word to yourself. You read it, you need to study it, you need to understand it. Or perhaps you only really do this in Bible study, or at home group, or with another friend. Again, the approach is the same. This is God's word. We approach it with a holy reverence and awe, and we seek to handle it with integrity and with skill. The second group of gifts Peter mentions is serving gifts. Serving gifts are a myriad, and no place in scripture lists every potential gift that could be used spiritually for the edification of the body. There are many ways to serve the family of believers with gifts of service. Some practical guidance for those asking the question, well, what are my gifts? And how would I use them when I figure out what they are to bless others? Honestly, get busy serving and you'll learn. What are you passionate about? Some diagnostic questions. What are you passionate about? Follow that a little bit, be careful, but follow your passion. Maybe it's because you're good at that. What are you good at? What are you drawn to? Start there with these questions in action and ask these questions out loud with other people who know you well, quite frankly, I think that'd be super helpful. Any of the pastors here at Orchard would love to talk through areas that you might be gifted and that you can serve and bless other people. We'd love to connect you to places that you can serve in the church. As a pastor here and as a member of God's people here, I can tell you that one of the things that blesses me on a weekly basis is when I see God's people using their gifts for others. It sustains me, it inspires me when I'm down, it lifts me up. If we are to continue until Christ returns or calls us home, we need to encourage one another by using our gifts in this way. Well, this is the moment you've all been waiting for. We've come to the end. The end of our passage and the end of the second major section in 1 Peter. Peter ends verse 11 by saying, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. We do all these things that we've talked about today for his glory. The purpose for all our effort connects back to where we started. Living in the last times in this way is how we glorify God and proclaim his excellencies. Christ has redeemed us and now we await his second coming with a hopeful longing. We live now in a temporary home. Live like your hope is out of this world. To those struggling, remember that all glory and power are Christ's. He will hold you secure. Remember the gospel and don't forget where your identity comes from. We persevere through trial and temptation for his glory and for his fame. We suffer long, we stay alert and steadfast. We love, we join together in hospitality. We use our gift to serve others so that Jesus would be revealed in our midst, that his kingdom would be proclaimed, that the good news of the gospel would be at the center place of our lives and of this church. It's all about Jesus. because God sent his son to be the savior of the world, to redeem and one day restore creation. This is how God is glorified among us. Practice these things, promote these things in one another's lives. Please stand with me as we close in prayer. Father, as we live in these last times, we long to see Jesus. We long to see a second coming, to be delivered from the infirmity of our flesh, from the season of war that we live in now. I pray that you'd lead us now in our alertness and sober-mindedness in our prayers and in loving one another and being hospitable. Help us to use our gifts well in an effective way to bless your body, the church, and in so doing, Lord, that we would bring you glory. We pray these things in the name of Jesus, amen. You're dismissed.