Welcome to the official podcast of the Church
of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've
tuned in for today's message. Whether you're
on your morning commute or if you're relaxing
at home, we're here to share the strength and
truth of God's Word with our community. If you're
in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in
person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather
every Sunday morning at 10 .30 a .m. and in the
afternoon at 2 .30 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays
at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together
and dive into today's sermon. This morning, I
want us to begin with the subject that we have
titled on the board, Grow in Grace and the Knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I want
to begin with this question, are you growing
as a Christian? And, you know, there's a lot
of times where we're asked questions that we
know what the obvious answer should be, but we're
not really sure, so we just, you know, well...
I don't know maybe kind of sort of we try to
find a nice gray comfortable area to slide in
to say well we're not not growing but I could
do a little bit better. Well how do we gauge
our growth? What does growth look like as a Christian?
And so this morning we're going to look at the
words of the Apostle Peter because one of the
things that we want to do this week is grow.
And so we want to grow individually, we want
to grow as a congregation, we want to make sure
that we are pursuing the right type of growth
not just coming together to you know to enjoy
great fellowship which is part of growing but
to be sure that whatever happens this week is
going to be something that's lasting and real
that's going to contribute to my spirituality
not just this week but moving on. week and our
text is going to come from 2nd Peter chapter
3 verses 17 and 18 where Peter at the close of
his second epistle says you therefore beloved
since you know this beforehand beware lest you
fall from your own steadfastness being led away
with the error of the wicked but grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ to him be glory both now and forever In
chapter 2, Peter talks about false prophets of
that day and talks about how that those false
prophets were a danger to the disciples that
he was writing to. And notice in verse number
17 he says, That's great admonition. Okay, I
don't want to fall from my own steadfastness.
I don't want to be led away with the error of
the wicked. But notice that Peter doesn't just
stop with that exhortation, but he continues
on and he says, but. And the word but there,
and I like defining little seemingly insignificant
words that really shed a lot of understanding
on a lot of the verses that we're going to look
at. The word but here is a kind of a conjunction
that's just saying, okay, Don't fall from your
own steadfastness. Don't be led away with the
error of the wicked, but do this instead. So
in other words, whenever the Bible tells us not
to do something, it generally follows by telling
us what to do. and the understanding is if we
don't do what we are told to do then the warning
that's been given to us is probably something
that we're going to fall victim to and in this
we can understand that if we're not growing as
Christians what's going to happen is we're going
to fall from our own steadfastness and we can
be led away with the error of the wicked and
so if we want to fortify our life against wickedness
and falling from our own steadfastness, we have
to make growth a priority. And when I'm talking
about growth, I'm not talking about, okay, I
want to learn about all the different false doctrines
that are out there to be sure that I'm not led
away with those and fall into those from my own.
No, we're talking about just growth as a Christian.
It includes those things, but it's not exclusive
to those things. about the total growth of the
Christian I like to use this illustration to
go along with this verse you've got a plan and
you've got a pot and what is it that Paul or
rather Peter said he said grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
well what does that mean to grow in the grace
and knowledge well that just means well I need
to be a little more gracious and I need to be
a little bit smarter well that's part of it But
that's a long way from what it means. The word
in that he uses there is a word that means a
position inside of something. And it means instrumentality,
okay? So what that means is, using our illustration,
whenever you look at... Oh good, the blazer works.
Whenever you look at this potted plant, this
plant is in that dirt. And it is this dirt that
is instrumental in making this plant grow. So
it's not just, okay, I'm a little more gracious
and I grow a little bit and I get a little bit
smarter. But what he's saying is, is that as
Christians we are to be grounded in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And that is to feed every aspect of our
life so that we grow into fruitful Christian
pleasing to God that this grace and knowledge
those aren't just the things that we focus on
growing in it's the grace and the knowledge that
is to bring about that growth to cause that growth
well then the next question is what does that
look like and I think what Peter is doing at
the very end of His second epistle is reinforcing
what he said at the very beginning. So we're
going to circle all the way back to 2 Peter 1
and we're going to look and see what it means
to grow in grace and knowledge, to be rooted
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. What's that supposed to produce
in me? What's that supposed to make me look like?
Well if you'll notice in the first four verses
of the of the text in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse
4 notice a couple of highlighted words and statements
that we have up here okay at the end he says
grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ notice a couple of things that Peter
mentioned specifically here that his divine power
has given to us He has given to us exceeding
great and precious promises. What does it mean
for God to give us and to bestow upon us? It
means He's gracious to us. That's what grace
is. It's the giving of a gift. And so at the
very beginning of this epistle, Paul says, or
rather Peter says, I want to say Paul a lot for
some reason, Peter says, God's given you something.
God's been gracious to you. from his devout power,
he's given you, he has graced you all things
that pertain to life and godliness. He has given
you, he has graced you with exceedingly great
and precious promises. And so whenever we think
about growing in the grace and knowledge, one
of the things that we're rooted in are those
things that God has given us that pertain to
life and godliness and the exceeding great and
precious promises. words all of that is to feed
our growth notice another word that he uses the
word knowledge in the knowledge of our of God
in our in Jesus our Lord He's given us this through
the knowledge of Him who has called us by glory
and virtue. So here in the very beginning of
the epistle, He's talking about the grace and
knowledge that He tells us to grow in at the
end of the epistle. And through this text, Peter
repeats some words and I think he repeats these
words for emphasis and so we want to emphasize
them so obviously we have these two statements
that are repeated denoting God's grace we have
these two words repeated denoting God's knowledge
but notice that he says his divine power has
given us all things that pertain to life and
godliness that we may be partakers of the divine
nature For something to be divine means that
it is of God. And notice the last statement,
having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. In other words, since God
has given us all of these divine things by His
grace and truth, we don't have to live in the
lust and the corruption that is here in this
world. We can escape the misery and the corruption
and the life of this world and live a life that
is fed by God's grace and His knowledge. Don't
you want to live that life? Don't you want to
look at this world and think I don't like living
here Well for right now we have to live here,
but we don't have to be of here We can be fed
daily through the enriched soil of God's grace
and knowledge and grow to be people that partake
of the divine nature. Not the corrupt nature
down here that we're all born into, but we can
partake of the divine nature. Now that doesn't
mean that we all become gods, but it means that
we become partakers in the life of Jesus, in
the life of God. In verse number five he says,
but also for this very reason giving all diligence
add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge.
We want to highlight the word add. The word add
that's used there means to supply and it's another
repeated word that Peter uses. In verse number
five he says to add to your faith and then in
verse number 11 he says for so an entrance will
be supplied to you. Now in our New King James
Version, those aren't the same words, but in
the Greek language, those are the same word.
What Peter is saying is, okay, you supply all
of these things in your faith, and you'll be
supplied with an abundant entrance into heaven.
So notice here, he's saying, you supply something,
and something will be supplied to you. In other
words, he's saying, you supply in your faith
virtue, knowledge, self -control, perseverance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, and
an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom. And that's what
growth looks like. Growing in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our faith
is being rooted in that, and then growing out
of that, We see in our life these graces as they're
referred to, these virtues as they're referred
to. And what I want us to understand that whenever
we start considering our growth, here are seven
specific places that we can look at in our life.
And we're going to break them down here in just
a moment. He says also for this very reason,
Well, what's my reason then for wanting to add
all of those things? Well, he just got through
telling me in verses one through four God has
given us all things that pertain to life and
godliness through the knowledge of him who's
called us to his glory and virtue He's given
us exceedingly great and precious promises. And
so what Peter is saying here Since God has all
done all of this for you. That is your reason
for wanting to grow. You want a reason to grow
as a Christian? The creator of the universe,
the great I am, the one who is from everlasting
to everlasting has graced your life. And he's
graced my life. And as we live in this world
of darkness, He broke through the darkness and
shined the glorious image of Jesus Christ and
manifested to us the knowledge of God and the
knowledge of life in Him. Now to sit here and
stand here this day and to hear that truth and
not want to grow in it, you better pinch yourself.
I better pinch myself Who would not want to take
advantage of such a gift and that's what Peter's
saying And then he says to give all diligence
The word diligence means to be earnest and it's
another word that's repeated in this text in
verse 5 He says giving all diligence in verse
10 as he's closing it out. He says be even more
diligent to make your call and election sure
Whenever you see the word diligent the definition
of diligent is earnestness It's earnestness It
is something that is you you you work out of
desire It's not something that you're complacent
about it's not something that all I can do it
or I cannot do it But it's something that you
give yourself to and you labor in it And you're
sharp about it. You're efficient about it. You're
good with it. And that's why Peter says, give
all diligence. Those are words that express effort.
Christianity is hard. It's hard. And we try to
make it sound as nice and comfortable as we possibly
can in order to get people into the building.
But when it comes to living the Christian life,
when it comes to growing in grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Jesus Christ, it's something
that you need to have a good reason for. And
we've already expressed that reason. And it's
something that you're going to give yourself
to and you're gonna look at that and you're gonna
say I want to be that And if you don't want to
be that if I don't want to be that Then we're
gonna be led away with the error of the wicked
we're gonna fall from our own steadfastness And
so those are the virtues that he speaks of and
we're gonna look at these briefly and I want
to notice the relationship between these. Whenever
I've heard and even given different lessons on
this, you know, how do these work? It sounds
like a stair step. Okay, we're going to do this
one and then whenever we get that one we move
to the next one. Okay, whenever we get that one
we move to the next one. Well obviously it's
not that because every day of our life we're
to be concerned with all of these things. So
it's not just a stair step where we master one
and then move to the other Or like a pyramid
Where you've got the pyramid going up? Okay,
you got to build this one and you got to build
the next one then build it Well, you know there
is some connectedness between these and we'll
show that but really that's not it also So I
want to use my illustration. I want to use a
chain illustration Whenever we look at all of
these We're going to be building a chain. And
what do we know about a chain? A chain is only
as strong as its what? Its weakest link. Its
weakest link. And in this, if there is a weak
link, you know what Satan's going to do, he's
going to expose it and we're going to fall from
our own steadfastness and be led away by the
error of the wicked. And so it's necessary for
all of us as we look at this to be sure that
we are strong in every one of these links. Because
collectively these links go together that make
a chain that guard our soul from the wickedness
of the world. And whenever we think about growth
You know, whenever we think about, well, you
know, am I growing? We think about, well, do
I read my Bible enough? Do I pray enough? Do
I go to church? And all of those things are necessary,
but if we read and pray and go to church, and
we're not doing it with a diligence and a fervency
that cultivates these in our life, then our effort
is fruitless. Well, let's look at the first link
in the chain, and there is some connectedness
to them. One does feed to the other, and hopefully
we can draw, put all of it together so that we
can see that. The first link is virtue. What
does the word virtue mean? Okay, this is the
Greek word for virtue, and it means excellence.
Some translations will say moral excellence.
Well, excellence. Well, what's excellence mean?
What do you think of whenever you think of excellence?
Whenever we begin to build this chain, it starts
with an attitude of excellence, of moral excellence.
And whenever we think of the excellence of something,
it's tied specifically to its function or purpose.
Okay, let me illustrate. The function of a knife
is to cut. If you've got a dull knife, would
you call it an excellent knife? No. Because it
doesn't fulfill its purpose. Or if it does, it
doesn't do it very well. But a knife that is
sharp and a knife that cuts razor sharp, we consider
that an excellent knife. Because it performs
its function to the best degree possible. Another
example, a horse. The function of a horse is
to run. Whenever you look at this Greek word
and looking at the history of it, these were
some of the references of how it was used back
then. The function of a horse is to run. A horse
is excellent if it runs fast. If you've got a
horse that's slow or doesn't want to run at all,
would you think that's an excellent horse? No.
You want a horse that's going to run and it's
going to run fast, so if you've got a horse and
it runs fast, it's excellent. So in other words,
excellence begins with understanding what the
function is and doing it the best it can be done.
And so whenever the Bible tells us to be excellent,
to be virtuous, We are to manifest our function
in a way that is excellent, as good as it can
be done. Well, what is our function? Verse Peter
2, verse number 9. Peter says, you're a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
his own special people, that you may proclaim
the praises. That word praises is the same Greek
word that means virtue. You may proclaim the
excellence the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light That's
what our that's what our function is my God That's
why we are God's chosen people We are to show
his excellence to the world. How good are you
at doing that? How good am I doing that? When
people look at me do people see a Christian who
is striving to fulfill his function in the best
way possible? Not a Christian that's willing
to compromise or a Christian that's willing to
cut corners or a Christian That's just willing
to do what he thinks is the least he can do to
get by That's not excellence our function is
for our excellence to show to the world the excellence
of of God. Oh man, that's quite a function, isn't
it? Exactly. And if you don't have that desire,
and I don't have that desire, it doesn't matter
how many links of the chain we have, it doesn't
matter how many stair steps we have, it doesn't
matter how big we make our pyramid, it ain't
gonna matter at all. You cannot be a second -rate
Christian and represent an excellent God. And
if you don't have that, if I don't have that,
I need to grow. Need to start soaking up that
grace and knowledge that that the Lord has given
me to create within me that desire I want to
be excellent for the Lord The next link in the
chain is knowledge Well, how do I do that if
I'm going to show the excellence of God if that's
my function and I'm going to do it in an excellent
manner I'm going to have to be informed about
that because I don't know how to do it. There's
nothing else in the world that can tell me how
to do it. So I've got to look for some understanding
and some wisdom and knowledge in order to be
able to effectively carry that out. And that's
why the next link in the chain is knowledge because
to live excellent you have to be informed. You
can't be ignorant of the knowledge of God and
show His excellence to the world. And so whenever
we look at knowledge it simply means understanding
and it informs our quest for moral excellence.
It provides the insight needed to navigate everyday
moral choices. It's the ability to look at difficult
situations and discern right from wrong, truth
from error, and the good from the bad. We have
to be knowledgeable in order to live excellent
because we got to know what's right wrong, what's
good bad. Proverbs 19 verse 2, also it is not
good for a soul to be without knowledge and he
sins who hastens with his feet. To hasten with
the feet means that I'm just in a hurry and I
don't take time to learn what I need to learn
and there's a lot of people that have a zeal
and a desire to try to show forth the excellency
of the Lord but they do so without knowledge
and therefore make the Lord and Christianity
look foolish. You've got to be informed. I've
got to be informed. You know in Romans 10 verse
number two Paul talking about the Jews They had
a zeal for God, but it wasn't according to knowledge
So a person that desires to be Virtuous is going
to give themselves to study and growing and an
understanding of God's Word So whenever you assess
your growth and I assess my growth Am I growing
in that knowledge? Do I have the knowledge? Am
I growing in the knowledge that I need to properly
manifest an excellent life for the Lord? The
next one is self -control. Well, I want to live
morally excellent, and I'm going to be informed
by the Word as to what's good, bad, right, wrong,
and I'm going to need some self -control. You
know why? Because there's going to be some things
that that knowledge tells me to do that I just
don't want to do. And there's going to be some
things that that knowledge is going to tell me
don't do that I'm going to want to do. And so
I have to learn self -control. I have to learn
how to be disciplined and manage my life not
according to the appetites and the desires of
my body, but by the knowledge that I gain from
the Lord. Self -control means duh, self -control.
Don't you love it when you look up the definition
of the word and they give you the word itself?
Master one's desires. You know we live in a world
today where we're always to be true to yourself,
be yourself. That's the dumbest thing you can
tell anyone because we're all fallen people.
We can't do that. We have to control our dumb
selves in order to be enlightened by the truth
of the Lord and exercise that knowledge accordingly
to show forth His virtue. Your desires are to
be governed by knowledge instead of being unrestrained.
And again, this is a Greek word that was used
to describe a chariot driver who held tight,
absolute control over wild charging horses. And
that's what we are. Whenever we just turn loose
of ourselves and we become unrestrained in our
desires and our lusts, we just charge forth like
wild charging horses. But we are to be restrained
and governed by the knowledge of God Let me ask
you this when when was the last time you were
faced with a moral decision? A decision where
you had a desire or a lust that you really wanted
to indulge But you did what the Bible said That
you had the control to say okay as much fun and
as enjoyable as pleasurable as that's gonna be
I'm not going to do it. Or on the other side,
when was the last time you were sitting at home
and you knew you needed to do something? You
knew there was a service that needed to be offered.
You knew there was studying to be done. You knew
there was prayer to be had, but you were just
so comfortable in that recliner watching the
TV. But you know that the Bible says, To be diligent
to show yourself a workman that doesn't need
to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth
And so you get your body up out of that easy
chair, and you start going and doing hard things
That's what it means to be self -controlled Self
-control is a fruit of the spirit We're not going
to control ourselves. We're not going to control
our appetites and desires That control must be
divine control. So, self -control, perseverance.
You know what? This world is hard. Trying to
do what the Bible says to do is hard. And if
anybody tells you otherwise, they're not doing
it, right? You know, that's just my opinion.
You know, I keep waiting for the Christian life
to, you know, kick into autopilot. and I don't
know about you but I ain't kicked into autopilot
yet and I doubt you have too because there's
always always that battle and you know after
a while it gets to the point to where you get
to think if I'm tired I'm tired is this really
worth it and it's in those times that we need
to be sure that we have grown in perseverance
Perseverance means to bear up under. It means
to endure. It means to be steadfast. It means
when the times are hard I'm trying to live in
a world that says indulge your lust and indulge
your desires and then over here this book tells
me don't indulge your lust, don't indulge your
desires and I'm constantly living in conflict
with the world and I'm just tired. Do I want
to keep doing this? You've got to be sure you've
grown in perseverance To endure through trial
that living by the knowledge of God's Word can
bring to our lives And it's used to describe
a soldier who stood his ground in the heat of
battle while under heavy attack You know in the
parable of the sower, Jesus talks about those
where the seed falls on stony ground, they hear
it and they receive it with joy, but it says,
but endures only for a while for when the tribulation
of persecution arises because of the word. He
immediately stumbles. Persecution because of
the word. You know, we talk about, okay, you
know, well, the Word of God brings peace and
joy and happiness to your life, but you know
what it also brings? It brings persecution. It
brings conflict. It brings difficulty. And that's
why we have to be sure we're growing in perseverance.
That the grace and the knowledge that continuing
to feed us to where we become people who endure.
And then godliness. You know, as we persevere,
one of the things that it teaches us is a greater
dependence upon God. You just get to your wits
end and you just cry out, God, I can't do this
anymore. And you're turning and you realize and
have a greater respect and understanding for
the necessity of the power of God in your life.
And then you seek to draw closer to Him and create
a godliness about your life that gives you the
strength to be able to persevere. to endure trials
develops in us a greater reliance on and respect
for God. This Greek word meant giving gods and
parents and citizens their proper duty and respect.
Paul told Timothy in 1st Timothy 4 -8, bodily
exercise profits little but godliness is profitable
for all. This is godly exercise that we exercise
ourself in our piety and in our worship and in
our devotion to God Because we realize we have
to have that to persevere and brotherly kindness
Brotherly kindness comes from the Greek word
Philadelphia, which means the love of brothers
and sisters Well, how does godliness produce
brotherly kindness brotherly love? Well look
all of us here today We all serve the same Lord
We're all going through the common hardships
and struggles in life And as I go through my
hardship and struggle and you go through your
hardship and struggle and we share our common
struggles with each other In our attempts to
persevere through in living out the knowledge
of God then we realize how much we need each
other Churches that share their struggles with
one another will be churches that will grow closer
together in the bonds of brotherly kindness.
Let your guard down with your brother. Don't
walk in here every day as if everything's okay
because it's not. It's not with me and it's not
with you. So let's be real with each other. Let's
be authentic with each other Let's encourage
one another in order to persevere and develop
a brotherly love and a camaraderie with one another
that speaks to the world of Jesus being among
us Because the world doesn't need to see how
good I am the world needs to see how good Jesus
is one of the ways that we show the world how
good Jesus is, is to be a group of people who
are real and loving and kind towards one another,
encouraging one another to persevere in this
life. As Peter said in 1st Peter 3 verse number
8, having compassion for one another. Do you
have compassion for your brother and sister?
You just look at them and you see what they're
going through. I know brothers and sisters back
home in our congregation, my heart breaks for
them for the things that they have to go through.
The things that they've experienced in their
life and through our sitting down and our talks
and our discussions about those things and my
laying out before them the things that I struggle
with and difficulties that I have there's a mutual
respect and growth that takes place. that needs
to be shared among all of us. And then finally,
love. Love is that agape love. And going through
all of that, whenever we have brotherly kindness,
which is a brotherly love, then from that grows
the greatest love. agape love, unconditional
goodwill towards everyone. We are developing
the character of God Himself because of the practice
of love among each other. We're committed to
seek the highest good of another person regardless
of the personal cost. As John said in 1 John
4, God is love. When you look at all of those
is is there one of those that are more that's
not developed in your life where you think okay
that's a place where satan can expose me maybe
you have control you know you have difficulty
controlling your desires and lust that's a place
where satan can expose you maybe you want to
give up real easy that's a place where you can
be exposed maybe you don't love your brother
That's a place that Satan can use to expose.
As we continue on real quickly in verse number
8, Peter gives us a promise. If these things
are yours and abound, you'll neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. How many of us would pay, I don't know,
$200 a ticket? If a guy comes to town and he
says, I've got the secret, if you want to serve
God, I've got the secret to being a fruitful
Christian. Well, I'd want to know what that is.
Well, we've just looked at it and you got it
for free. That's it. Virtue, knowledge, self
-control, perseverance, godliness. Brotherly
kindness love if those things are in you in you
you have grown in those in those things Abound
you're not going to be unfruitful. You're not
going to be led away with the error of the wicked
You're not going to stumble from your own steadfastness
He gives us a warning, but if you lack these
things you're short -sighted even to blindness
and have forgotten that he was cleansed from
his old sins. If you're not growing and then
you see here's the thing if you're not growing
you're dying. You don't stay neutral. Now you
know I mean you may get up today and think well
I'm about the same as I was yesterday but it's
one of those things where maybe the effects are
negligible on a small scale but you know what
one day you'll wake up or I'll wake up and I'll
wonder how did I get here? How did I get here?
And you don't want to do that. We don't want
to be short -sighted and blind. And so here's
Peter's exhortation. Be diligent. And he says,
if you make your calling and your election sure,
you do these things, you will never stumble.
You know, we talk a lot about today about our
confidence and salvation and we're going to touch
on that some this week. You know, we want confidence
and we want assurance. You want to be confident
and assured? Grow in those things, you'll never
stumble. You'll never stumble. And instead of
buying into the doctrines that we teach that
are false, but they give people comfort and assurance,
let's just take what God says very plainly and
go be diligent to do what He says to do to have
assurance. then finally an entrance will be supplied
to you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. I appreciate your attention
this morning and I hope you feel challenged by
this. I hope this gives you direction. If you've
just been, you know, you've been second rate
with your Christianity. Just doing the minimum
to get by. Just doing the minimum to satisfy
that brother or sister that keeps nagging you
every time you're not at church. You know, I
want to do enough just to keep them quiet. That's
not excellence. That's not excellence. Excellence
is doing everything that I can possibly do the
best that I can possibly do it to show the excellent
virtues of God. every day seeking to grow more
knowledgeable controlling my desires enduring
through the hard times creating a greater dependence
and reliance upon God having compassion for my
brothers and having love for them in having God's
character of love fully developed within me That's
what you should want and I challenge you as I
challenge myself use this week To address these
things if you're here this morning and you're
not a Christian We haven't talked about the gospel
in the sense that of what you need to do to be
saved But Jesus was excellent in his work. He
came to the earth and he lived an excellent life
perfect and sinless and You know what? Jesus
had to persevere. Jesus had to have self -control.
Jesus had to learn and go at a reliance upon
God. Jesus had to love his brethren and Jesus
had to love this world. You see what we've talked
about this morning is not anything that your
savior hasn't done for you. So don't you think
it's reasonable to do it for him? He died on
the cross atoning for your sins and so as you
sit there today a sinner He stands ready to receive
you and to wash you in his blood and if you are
a child of God and you look at this and you think
I'm I'm deficient and I know that all of us can
look at this and find deficiencies within us
But what I would ask you at this time is the
very first one Are you excellent in your thinking
about your Christianity? Do you want to excel?
Do you want to do all that you can to magnify
the praises of God? Or do you just want to be
a second -rate Christian? Someone who does enough
to get by? If that's you, I pray that these words
of the Lord will convict you right now and bring
you to repentance. Thank you for listening to
today's sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler
area. We hope this message encouraged you and
strengthened you in your faith this week. Don't
forget the doors always open at 1500 South Allen
L. Bean Boulevard at 1030 a .m. on Sundays, 230
p .m. on Sunday afternoons and recharge with
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blessed week and we'll see you next time.