Living In The Meantime

So this may feel like the never-ending sermon series. I'm going to take you back to the New Testament Book of First Peter, chapter 4, verses 7 through 11 today. And Lord willing, we're going to finish this series next Sunday. We won't be able to hit all of the remaining verses in the book of First Peter, but we're going to start a new series in the month of February about the “one-anothers” of scripture, how that God calls us to care for one another. But today I want to bring a message entitled, “Living in the Meantime.”

Several years ago, I led my church in Jacksonville on a mission trip to Cuiaba, Brazil. We were there for the second time to plant a church, to start a church. But what stands out in my mind today is not so much the awesome week we had helping this brand new church get off the ground, but it was the trip home. We had a layover in a small town in Brazil. A few more people boarded the plane and then we took off down the runway for our next stop, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

But as we were rushing down the runway, suddenly and unexpectedly, the plane just slammed on brakes and everybody was thrust forward because the pilot performed an emergency stop. And in that moment, you know, you're just, your life is flashing before your eyes thinking, what is going on? We taxied back to the airport, we deboarded the plane, and then about an hour later we were allowed to get back on the plane. Because we don't speak Portuguese, our team was wondering what happened because half of the Brazilians did not get back on that plane. And we're thinking, what do they know that we don't know?

And so finally we were able to ask someone and they said, “Oh, no worry. It was just a little light, just a little light in the cockpit, but everything is fine; just a technical glitch, you're all fine.” But I don't mind telling you, as we took off, you start thinking about what if? What if the end is near?

And in that moment, it's almost like a wake-up call. I remember in that emergency stop, I wasn't thinking about cars or houses or how much money is in the bank. I was thinking about my wife and my kids and the people on this plane that I love, and God.

Have you ever had a wake-up call like that? Maybe for you, it was a medical emergency that was a wake-up call. Maybe it was a near-fatal accident on the interstate that was a wake-up call to you. Maybe it was being deployed during a time of war that served as a wake-up call for you to say, “What's really important in my life? Have I been living my life on purpose? Have I been living for what really matters?”

Sometimes we need that kind of a wake-up call. We can get distracted with all the cares and pleasures of the world and if we're not careful, we will waste our days. We will spend our days and nights not really on mission for God and living for Him. Now we all know instinctively that life ought to be lived with two major goals. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. We know the Bible verses and we say amen to them. But can I confess to you, even as your pastor, there are times, that gets lost in the hustle and bustle of my life. God kind of gets pushed aside and I don't always love others like I should. And in that wake-up call, I realized that day on the airstrip in a little town called Campo Grande, that I need to be more intentional about how I live my life.Because one day the end will be near!

That's what the apostle Peter is concerned about. Peter is concerned about these Christians to whom he is writing who have been scattered by persecution throughout the Roman Empire, that they're not living with a laser focus as they should. And he wants to remind them that the end of all things is near and how living with the end in mind shapes how you live in the meantime.

He is very blunt when he begins this section of his letter. “The end of all things is near.” And rather than frightening his readers, he wants to focus his readers. Because the end of all things is near you need to live in the meantime laser-focused on God and other people. Now, I don't want you to take my word for that.

I want you to hear how he puts it in 1 Peter 4:7-11. I'm going to read from the English Standard Version and then I want to go back and walk through these verses together. The apostle Peter gives us four practical ways of how living with the end in mind shapes how we live in the meantime. Listen to how he puts it in 1 Peter 4:7-11:

“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, as 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 belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:7–11, ESV)

May God bless the reading of his Holy Word.

Did you hear that startling statement that Peter writes in verse 7? “The end of all things is at hand.” And as you read that, you may think that Peter was trying to set a date for the end of human history, the date for when Jesus was going to return.

And if you're a scoffer, if you're a skeptic, you may say, “See, there's an error in the Bible. The Apostle Peter, all those centuries ago, said the end of all things is at hand, and yet here we still are.

So he was wrong.” Is that the case? No, it's actually not the case that Peter was wrong. The word that he uses for the end is the Greek word telos. T E L O S. Telos.

It doesn't mean a date. It means the culmination of a purpose, the goal being achieved. And it's Peter's way of saying that with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with his death on the cross for our sin, with his resurrection from the grave three days later, with his ascension back to the right hand of God the Father, the end of God's redemptive purposes has begun. And it's near.

Nothing is standing in the way except God's own sovereign will. For when the end comes, it's at hand. There's nothing to hold it back except God's will on timing and we need to be ready. Did Peter and that first generation of Christians live in anticipation that Christ could come at any moment? Absolutely.

And should you live in anticipation that Christ could come at any moment? Absolutely! In fact, it is the same Apostle Peter who said, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV)

I don't know all the reasons Christ has not returned in these 21 centuries, but I know one of the reasons. It is that God is giving us more time to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to more people so that more can come to faith in Jesus Christ.

But if all that time has passed, do you think we should let our guard down now and stop living for God now? No. We're closer than ever before before. We're closer to the second coming of Jesus than any Christian generation in history. Now is the time for us to live with a laser focus on loving God, loving others, and living a purposeful life.

Yet I've met some people over my pastoral ministry who get enthralled with eschatology, the study of the last things and the last times. And by the way, there is nothing wrong with that. We are told if we read and study the book of Revelation there is a blessing for us. But I have met some people who were so heavenly-minded, that they are no earthly good. They can quote the verses and they've read the dispensations of what they think it is going to look like in the end times. And yet they're not living for God and they're not loving other people. I think you've missed the point.

If you truly believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ, it will shape how you live in the meantime. And that's what Peter's going to do for us. He's going to give us some handles to hold onto in practical ways to let living in the end times shape how we live in the meantime.

I. Think Clearly For God’s Glory. (1 Peter 4:7)

If you're taking notes today, let me give you the first of four. First of all, I think Peter would say, think clearly for God's glory. If you recognize you're living in the end times, it ought to shape how you live in the meantime. And how you live until Christ returns is you are to think clearly for God's glory. Did you catch that in verse seven, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” (1 Peter 4:7)

A. Self-Controlled

To be self-controlled means that you're not being pushed and pulled by the whims of life and by the events and the vicissitudes of life. You're not being challenged and changed by the problems of life or the pleasures of life.

No, you are under the influence and the control of the Holy Spirit. You're not letting your emotions drive you and your desires drive you. The compelling focus of your mind is God and His Word and His will for your life. For some people, they need to be self-controlled. They watch the news and they let all of that influence how they view life and do life. And I've met too many Christians who live in woe is me or they're afraid of their own shadow, or they're afraid if the election doesn't go my way, oh no, what's going to happen.

But we need to be self-controlled. We need to say, I take captive every thought to the Spirit of Christ and to the Word of Christ and I will not live in fear because my God is still on the throne.

I was watching one of the news reports about the devastating and tragic fires in Los Angeles and how the firefighters who go in either to seek to control the spread of the flames or to put them out have to remain serious, and thoughtful. They cannot give in to panic. They can't give in to their emotions that say run away. They have to be prepared, plan the work, and then work the plan.

B. Sober-minded

He says you need to think clearly by being sober-minded. Of course, originally in the Greek language, to be sober meant to be not under the influence of intoxicating beverage. And when the apostle Peter writes, be sober minded, you're probably thinking, so far so good today.

But what Peter is referring to is not being under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. He's saying you need to think soberly so that you're not letting the outside influences of the world pressurize you and change the way you think about God and His purpose for your life. Be sober, be serious-minded about the things of God, and be self-controlled.

And people need to be sober-minded. It is time to get serious about the things of God. Church cannot be a trivial pursuit. The Christian faith cannot be a hobby. The Christian faith can't be a Sunday-only religion. We need to give everything we have to God.

That's what it means to be self-controlled and sober-minded. It means you get serious about God. It means you get serious about His Word. It means you get serious about thinking the thoughts of God as revealed in Scripture and letting God's Word shape your life.

And as Christians, there are going to be ups and downs and difficulties in life. Peter's writing to Christians who have been scattered around all over the Roman Empire, not by their own choice, but because they've been forced out by persecution for one reason, their faith in Jesus. And he's telling them, in spite of all the pain and the problems and the suffering and the turmoil and the chaos, in spite of what's going on on the political scene, keep your mind focused on Jesus, keep your mind on the Word of God and be serious about living for him even in this new situation in which you find yourself.

And he says if you'll do that, it'll be “for the sake of your prayers.”

I find that an interesting phrase, “for the sake of your prayers” in verse seven. You might think Peter would encourage these Christians to think soberly and to be self-controlled so that they can be ready to answer a hostile culture. Well, there's a time and place for that. But here Peter is concerned more about what you say to God than what you say to other people. He said the reason you ought to be self-controlled, not be driven by all the passions and the fears of your life, and the reason you ought to be sober-minded, serious about the things of God, under the influence of the Word of God and the spirit of God is for the sake of your prayers.

If you're not going to be serious about living for God, why should God be serious about listening to your prayers? If you're not willing to live for God, why should God be willing to help you live a life that is opposed to his will? No, as someone rightly said, “You can do a lot after you've prayed, but you can't do much before.” And Peter says it's time we get serious so that our prayers aren't hindered. So that God knows that we're not just using him as a get-out-of-jail-free card, and then once we don't need him anymore, we put him on the sidelines. No, we are serious about living for God and we want to think like he wants us to think so that we can live like He wants us to live.

How can you think more clearly for God's glory in whatever situation you find yourself in?

I know one thing that's helped me over the years is what we call the Lord's Prayer. We call it the Lord's Prayer, but actually, it's the disciple's prayer. The Lord gave it to us, but He could never pray it. Because part of the Lord's Prayer is, “...forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” But Jesus never had to pray that prayer. No. He never sinned. His disciples asked, “Teach us to pray.” And he says, “Okay when you pray, pray in this manner…” And sometimes I have to remind myself of that prayer when I start feeling fearful or when I start getting distracted by the pleasures of the world and I want to live my life my way. I have to be reminded, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (SEE Matthew 6:9-13)

And there's just something about that prayer that recenters my thoughts. Now I'm not saying that will work for you, but I think it might be something helpful for us from time to time to be reminded to think clearly for God's glory. The first practical way to live in the meantime is to think clearly. The second practical way to live in the meantime is to love continually for God's glory. We want to think clearly, but we also want to love continually while we wait for Christ's return.

II. Love Continually For God’s Glory. (1 Peter 4:8)

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8, ESV)

He puts it this way in verse 8. “Above all,” in other words, the most important thing. “Above all,” number one priority. “Keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins,”

Notice this is not a suggestion from Peter. It is a command. Above all, keep loving one another. It's an imperative. We are called and we are commanded to love one another. Remember Jesus in John 13:34, 35 said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:34–35, ESV)

And Peter picks up on that and he says, in this end time, in the meantime, before it's all said and done, you need to love continually. It's gonna be easy under the pressurized life you're living to take that pressure out on each other. But don't do that. Keep loving each other.

A. Love Persistently

And he says we're to love persistently.

“Keep on loving one another.” He's assuming they already love each other. He's just saying, don't quit now. Keep loving one another. And you say, “Come on, Pastor, we love each other. Why do you have to spend this time preaching this to us? I mean, this is given as Christians.”

Oh, oh. But love is not just an emotion. Love is an action.

First Corinthians 13. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not arrogant. Love is not rude. Love doesn't seek its own. Love does not keep a record of wrongs. You've read that chapter, are we loving each other like that? So before we quickly say, oh, we love each other, do we love each other like that? Are we patient? Are we kind? Are we tender-hearted? Are we forgiving? Are we helpful?

And Peter says, love persistently, keep loving one another. This is not a one-time act. This is an ongoing commitment that you have. I remember years ago, when I was a kid at Corinth Baptist Church in Lake Park, our pastor, Stanley Luke was preaching on love. And during the middle of the sermon, his uncle, we called him Mr. Dollar, and he stood up in the sermon and he said, “Brother Stanley, I told my wife when I married her, I loved her, and if I ever changed my mind, I'd let her know that, too.”

Well, maybe, maybe that's good. Maybe you just need to know. But Peter says, don't ever change your mind about loving each other. Love persistently.

B. Love Earnestly

And love earnestly. It says earnestly. Now, the word Peter is using here for earnestly in the Greek is not so much about an emotional intensity as it is about sincerity. This isn't so much about the emotion. It's about the fact that your love is genuine.

You love each other earnestly. You love each other for real. This is not feigned love. This is not fake love. This is not a smile on your face when they're in front of you, but then you talk behind their back when they're gone. No, this is a true, genuine kind of love.

And he tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. Peter is likely referring to Proverbs 10:12 that says, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” It's probably what Peter has in mind when he writes love covers a multitude of sins. Hatred goes around just stirring up problems, looking for disagreements, looking for ways to be offended, looking for ways to lash out and hurt people.

I don't need to illustrate hatred. Turn on the news when you go home today. I don't need to illustrate hatred. You've seen it in your own relationships. Hatred stirs up strife.

But love covers a multitude of sins. Love covers all offenses. There are gonna be times that love says, “I'm gonna let that go. I've been hurt, I've been wronged, I've been slighted, I’ve been offended, but I'm gonna let it go because I love that person. And I know they're not perfect, and neither am I.”

Now, do not hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that if someone has done you wrong, that means you never confront them, or that it means you never deal with it. This is not about sweeping things under the rug. This is certainly not about churches, pastors, or priests, saying to an abused person, “Well, you just need to let that go.”

No, if you've been abused, you need to stand up and it needs to be dealt with. Even if it's a criminal case, it needs to be dealt with. (Too many religious people have used a verse like this to cover up child-sex abuse or sexual harassment.) That's not what Peter's writing about. Peter's just talking about those interpersonal slights that are going to inevitably happen. We mess up and say something we shouldn't have said. Or sometimes we do something we shouldn't have done, or leave undone something we should have done. And we're going to hurt each other. And in those moments, love says, “I'm going to cover that. I could stir this up. I could say, they hurt me, I'm going to hurt them.” But love says, “I've been forgiven much. I'm going to forgive much. I'm going to let that go.”

There's no perfect church. There's no perfect pastor. Don't say Amen there. I'm glad you didn't. But there's a perfect Savior who has loved you and me persistently. And he has loved us earnestly. Aren't you grateful for the Bible verse that tells us that God's mercies are new every morning his compassions fail? (Lamentations 3:22-23) Now this morning, you did not need to wake up wondering if God loves you. Even after what you did yesterday, even after what you left undone yesterday, you don't have to wonder this morning, “Does God love me?” He loves you with an everlasting love. And we as his followers, who have been loved by him, ought to love like him.

And one of the things that will destroy a church and its witness to a watching world is disunity among the people of God.

There is so much more I could say here, but I want to give you a third practical way to live in the meantime. So we've seen first, Think clearly. Second, love continually.

III. Show Hospitality For God’s Glory. (1 Peter 4:9)

The third practical way to live in the meantime is to show hospitality. Show hospitality for God's glory. Did you catch that in verse 9? “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:9)

A. Our Open Hearts and Homes

Hospitality was a valued quality among the Greeks, and among the early Christian church, and among the Jewish people. We have a rich stream of hospitality that flows into who we are today. Hospitality is the opposite of xenophobia, which means a hatred or fear of strangers or people who are different. No, the word hospitality that Peter uses is the word philoxenoi, and it means the love of strangers. But when he's writing about hospitality, he's not just talking about anyone and everyone. That's appropriate. We ought to show hospitality whenever we can. Sometimes people say the church ought to be doing this and the church ought to be doing that. You're right. Why don't you start? Show hospitality to a neighbor. Minister in a practical way to a stranger. Open your heart and your home to people you don't know.

But Peter says, show hospitality to one another. He's talking to the Christian community. He's talking to these house churches. For the first 300 years, churches didn't have buildings like this. They were meeting in homes. And if you were in a time of persecution, to host a church in your home was to invite more persecution from the community around you. And Peter says, show hospitality anyway. Open your heart to the family of God. Open your home to the family of God.

Show hospitality without grumbling. Sometimes we like to have people over, but we don't want them to stay too long, right? What's that old Italian proverb? It says guests are like fish. They begin to stink after three days. Maybe we sometimes grumble because, you know, they're taking advantage of our hospitality or we have to do it.

And Peter says, no, no, no. Don't use this as an opportunity to grumble against each other. And the word grumble means to talk behind the back. You know, it's to talk in the shadows. He said, don't do that.

Open your heart and home to people and just do it without grumbling. Count it as a privilege that you get to be in relationship with other believers. One of the reasons our church is thrilled that we're growing in our worship attendance. That's wonderful. We average 200 people more every week than we did two and a half years ago. I'm grateful for that. But you will get lost in the crowd if you're only a Sunday morning worship service participant. We have small groups because we want to be able to show hospitality to one another, to open our hearts and homes and lives to each other, to sit down at meals for one another, to be there when someone is going through a difficult time, or to be with them when they're going through a great time. We want to be a family showing hospitality. And to a watching world that is so easily divided over politics, and skin color, and personal preferences, we will stand in stark contrast as we love each other and show hospitality to one another in spite of our differences.

B. God’s Open Heart and Home

And we're grateful that that's what Jesus has done for us. I was able to share with a family this past week of one of our departed church members as we had her funeral service, that it's no coincidence that the Lord is my shepherd of the 23rd Psalm who prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. This is the same shepherd who the psalmist is able to say with confidence, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell where in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23)

God opened his heart and his home to us. It's no coincidence that he is the same shepherd of John, chapter 10, where Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, ESV) I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay it down willingly. I have power to give up my life. I have power to take my life again. No one takes it from me. (SEE John 10:17-18)

That is the shepherd we serve, who opened his heart and his home to us. In John 14:1-6, he said to his disciples, ““Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1–6, ESV)

Aren't you grateful for a Savior who opened his heart and his home to you and to me? How much more should we do that for each other as his children?

So what have we seen living in the meantime mean? First, we're going to think clearly. Second, we are going to love continually. Third, we're going to show hospitality. And number four, we're going to serve faithfully for God’s Glory.

IV. Serve Faithfully For God’s Glory (1 Peter 4:10-11)

You'll see that in verses 10 and 11.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as 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 belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10–11, ESV)

Peter says, don't just sit and wait for Jesus to come back. That's what some people think it means to expect Jesus to return, that we're just all gonna sell everything. We're gonna get rid of all of our clothes except white robes, and we're all gonna go sit down on a mountainside. Maybe in the spring, not now, not today. Jesus don't go back today. But in the spring when things warm up we're just gonna wait for Jesus to come back. And we laugh about that. But there have been Christian communities throughout the centuries who have done just that. So convinced Jesus could come at any time, they become no earthly good. And Peter says, no, no, no, no, no, you don't understand.

If you really believe you're living in the end times, you are gonna serve faithfully for God's glory.

A. The Gifts of Grace

That's why he writes in verse 10. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.” And he's not saying if each one of you. No, he's writing, saying, yes, each one of you, just as you who are Christians have received a spiritual gift from God for the building up of the body of Christ, use that in serving one another.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are a true Christian, God has enabled you with at least one spiritual gift not for your benefit, but for the benefit of the body of Christ. Every Christian has at least one gift. No Christian has all the gifts. Do you know why you don't have all the spiritual gifts? Because if you had them all, you would not need anyone else!

But God has placed you in the body with a special enablement, that is merely by His Grace, not your merit, to build up the body of Christ. It's a gift. And you have been given this gift as a good steward. In other words, God wants to live his life and show his grace and his mercy and his help and his hope through you. It's not what you have to offer, it's what God wants to offer through you.

And as a steward, you don't own these gifts and privileges and opportunities. You are a manager of what God has entrusted to you. And you've been given a great privilege to exercise that gift in the name of God and for his glory. And he kind of narrows down the list of spiritual gifts to two categories. You can look in Romans, chapter 12, and you'll see Paul has a more extensive list. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 4, and 1 Corinthians 12.

But Peter just boils it down to two categories of spiritual gifts. These gifts are speaking gifts and serving gifts. Did you hear that?

Speaking Gifts

“Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God.” So if God's given you the ability and the opportunity to speak on his behalf, make sure you are true to the Word of God. Whether you're standing behind a pulpit or a lectern or sitting across a table in counsel with someone else, if you dare take the authority of God's Word, you better be faithful to it. People need to hear God's Word. And so if you're speaking, speak as one who speaks oracles of God. We're not the apostles. We're not coming up with new scripture. We're staying true to these scriptures once and for all, revealed.

Serving Gifts

And then he goes to that second category. “Whoever serves…” If you're a deacon in our church, this is where your name comes from. In the Greek, it's diakonos. It means a servant, means one who waits on tables. But here, he's not referring to the office of deacon. Here he's talking about all people who have been given the gift of serving and meeting the needs of other people. “Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies.” don't serve in your own strength. Serve in the strength that God supplies.

Don't teach in the nursery, don't teach a Sunday school class, on't help a neighbor in your own strength, because you're going to run out. You serve out of the strength of God that He provides so that only he gets the glory.

B. The Glory of God

And that's what Peter means when he closes that thought “in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” In our Thinking in our loving, in our showing hospitality, in our serving, in everything God may be glorified.

It's for the purpose of bringing glory to God, making God known, making it more about God's name and less about my name, showing the world the character of our God. That's what it means to bring him glory. And that's how we live in the meantime.

Conclusion

Church, my prayer is that each one of us will look at our hearts and say, “God, I want to think clearly in these last days. I want to know you and your word more than ever. I want to get serious about you and God in these last days. I want to love, truly love like I have been loved by you. And I can't do that, God. You're going to have to do that through me. And God, I want to show hospitality. I want to open my heart and even my home to people in the family of God. They may be different than me. They may be older, maybe younger, maybe of a different nationality or language from a different background than me, but we're a part of the family of God. And I want to open my heart in my home to them.”

(That's why I'm so grateful for those home groups that are now starting. One day we'll run out of room on this seven and a half acres, but as long as you got a house, we got room to grow in our small groups. Thank you for being willing to open your home.)

“And God, I want to make sure that I am not only thinking and loving and showing hospitality, but I am serving faithfully. God, you've given me an opportunity and a gift to do something for the body of Christ. I want to be found faithful to do that.”

Have you ever heard me say, as people join our church and we present them back to you because we're a congregational church and so you have to welcome people into the congregation. And you heard me use the phrase introducing these new people, “We are going to be a better church because God brought you here. And we want to be a church that will make your life better.” Have you ever heard me say something like that? This is why I say it. This is the scriptural foundation of what I mean when I say that we're the family of God living in the meantime until Christ returns. It means living in the end-times shapes how we live in the meantime.

Let's pray together.

END

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