Growing in a Deeper Knowledge of Him
Ascension Presbyterian Church - Longwood, Florida
Rev. Christopher Brenyo
"Growing in a Deeper Knowledge of Him"
1 John 2:12-14Â
July 7th, 2024
Transcript
Please turn in your Bibles to the first epistle of John. I'm going to read the first 14 verses of Chapter 2.
This is God's holy and infallible Word. My little children these things write
I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the
Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world and Hereby, we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments
He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him
But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected
Hereby, know we that we are in him He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked
Brethren I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning
The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning again a new commandment
I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past And the true light now shines
He that says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now
He that loves his brother abides in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth
Because the darkness hath blinded his eyes Now our text for consideration this morning
I Write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake
I Write unto you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I Write unto you young men Because you have overcome the wicked one
I Write unto you little children because you have known the father. I Written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning
I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the
Word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one
May the Lord be pleased with the study of his word and let's ask the prayer blessing upon it now.
Oh Lord we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit that you would supply both light and heat
That you would illumine our understanding and also Set our hearts ablaze that we would have greater zeal and affection and passion for you
Christ That we'd have a greater Sense of duty and delight to accomplish your will and Oh Lord that that you would send a great mission
Ahead of us good works that we might walk in that our lives would be rich and fulfilling
As we accomplish your will and we ask all this in Jesus name Amen, please be seated
About 24 years ago. I was about to preach one of my first sermons and I went to my mentor and I said
I'm thinking about preaching 1st John 2 12 through 14 and he
Recommended I not do that because it's a little bit tricky Now I think because all these years have passed
I'm getting older. I think I can now preach 1st John chapter 2 verses 12 through 14
Today to give you an overview of really what the whole message is a thesis statement kind of a purpose of the sermon
In a very simple way. It is this the Christian in three stages of developmental maturity that's really all
I'm going to be talking about today the Christian and three stages of Developmental maturity and I can imagine from the text the first one is
Fathers in the Christian faith. There are fathers And we could add this is not specific to the male sex, but we have to confess and acknowledge
The scriptures are patriarchal. So we talk about mature fathers
We understand mature women and that same heady, but we fear not the use of the male language
This is a patriarchal book and we rejoice that it is. The second is
Young men Young men, so there's fathers and this goes in descending order fathers young men and Children fathers young men and children the
Christian life in Three stages, of course the goal for all of us is to be considered fathers
Let's consider the language to kind of have a better idea of what John is getting at We have to acknowledge as you're reading along.
This is an awkward section in terms of flow. It doesn't perfectly go
With the the cadence of that which has gone before it But it is by no means detached from it or disassociated with it
But it seems that John comes to a pause here He's been admonishing us to keep the commandments of God to walk in the light as he is in the light to love our brother in a way that is
Consistent with which the love that Christ has loved us But now it seems to be that he wants to encourage the body
So today I want every one of you to derive Encouragement and I want you to relax your shoulders a little bit because I've been coming at you with all the things you should do and today
I'm going to do that a little bit but more an air of Encouragement you have a standing in Christ You have the forgiveness of sins you have a station in Christ You have an estate in Christ and all of us should rejoice in that all of us should say amen.
Thank you Lord For putting me in the body of Christ wherever I am on the level of developmental maturity
Well, let's break down the language here a bit first. Look at verse 12
It says I write unto you John is saying
I am writing this epistle to give you direction Now sometimes when we hear scriptures
We are reading the scripture or listening to a sermon or doing our own devotions We we think maybe it doesn't perfectly apply to us in our situation
Here John is going to encapsulate the whole of the Christian Church in the first usage of little children and then he's going to talk to everyone whether they be fathers young men or children
John Seems to be Emphasizing here the directives that he gives to each according to their station.
So you need to find out today Locate yourself with some self -diagnosis. Where am
I? Am I a young child in the faith? Am I a young man in the faith or am
I a father in the faith? You and I need to look at our own spiritual maturity whether we are those
Christians who are little children in that diminutive sense the little ones the infants or Are we fathers or young men?
Now We think about knowing Jesus as the Messiah and the divine logos, which has been introduced in chapter 1
We also need to think about our fellowship with the broader church
John is saying essentially if you are united to Christ you are united to Christ himself
But also to me the the Apostle You're also
United to the broader and larger Church of Christ and all these things are our
Sources of joy and comfort to us when we consider who we are in Christ and this would follow
Some of the teaching that Mark gave in Ephesians about our identity in Christ Now If we walk in the light
It means we have no fellowship with darkness If we have the blood of Jesus Cleansing us from all of our sin
If we are those who confess our sins and are waging war against the flesh
We Should rejoice today because in the power of the Holy Spirit He calls you to keep his commandments you operate from a place of strength you operate from a place of security to keep his word to love the brethren as Christ has loved us and Of course this drumbeat that's been happening in our section up till now live as the children of light walk in his light
Now let's look at our text beginning at verse 12 and the use of little children one of the reasons
I have argued in the past that we need the preaching of the word is the word for little children in verse 12 and The word for little children in verse 13 are different words
But in our text they are translated simply Little children We've already covered this first part before and it's a very
Useful to John phrase little children. It's the word technia and it's the deeply loved ones
So even the fathers in this case are considered the deeply loved ones
The darlings of the apostle the
Christian Converts Every one of us in this room even old guys like me are
Considered by John to be little children this usage of course encompasses all believers and is frequently used by John to communicate his love and affection for The Saints it is a kindred address from teachers to their disciples
So John in this almost poetic way says I'm writing to you I'm writing unto you.
I have written unto you little children because I love you I want you to know who you are in Christ and and what you are capable of and What you are aspiring to be
It's very encouraging to me to think of the Apostle saying to all of the church
You are the beloved ones you are my darlings. I care so much for you.
It helps me to receive some of the hardness of his teaching
When they get to the idea, which is so basic, but how often do we?
Consider it a trifle to say we're forgiven of our sins Do you realize the burden that has been lifted off of you?
You are wretched beyond belief The sins that you harbored in your heart that you have performed in secret
Which would startle us as the people of God God has seen all of those sins and he has laid them upon the
Lord Jesus Christ and he has cleansed you from all of them. Oh Today to take heart and to rejoice and to give thanks and to be glad that all
Of my sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ. I can face anything
Because Christ has forgiven me my sins
Have you experienced if you shared this heart of gratitude and thanksgiving to God recently for?
The forgiveness that is in Christ alone when when
Mark declared the the absolution the declaration of Pardon did your heart rejoice within you or was it common to you now liturgy?
Let's not miss the opportunities that are presented to us both in the liturgy in this text today
Oh people of God take heart Rejoice your sins are forgiven
You've been washed You're clean in Christ and now From this place go out and make some noise for him go out and live the
Christian life Go out and be joyful and thankful go out and conquer And take some ground for him
The next thing I'd like us to consider and we think about having a Christo centric
Kind of doctrine which I hope our church has characterized our theology
Sometimes when we think about the forgiveness of sins we merely think about it
For the benefits that are conferred to us certainly appropriate for us to be
Rejoicing that our sins are forgiven, but there's an important phrase here and it says for his namesake our sins have
Been sent away reminiscent of the scapegoat Our sins have been carried as far as the
East is from the West Our sins have been laid upon Christ and they are no more as it concerns us because he has faithfully
Discharged our sin he's released us from it But all this happens really in the first case
For the glory of Christ for his namesake It's on account of Christ.
It's because because of Christ It's through Christ Christ is the author of this action
He's also the instrument of it He is the efficient cause of our sins being forgiven
It is by his love Service and intervention that our sins have been forgiven
He forgives us not only to clean us But that his name might get glory the angels of heaven
Rejoice and give glory to Christ in the repentance of a sinner because he does it
It's not the sinners ability that's so spectacular It's the name above all names, it's the name of Christ Christ saves and Forgives and this flows out of his character
It's for his fame It's for his reputation. He doesn't want to have a
Harlot wife he wants a spotless bride so he makes her clean and according to Hebrew notions
A name is inseparable for the person to whom it belongs it is something of his essence
The name of Christ accounts for his rank his authority His interests his pleasures his commands his excellencies his deeds
Think of the sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper And these we are bound
To the name of Jesus Christ We publicly declare our union with Christ and we pay homage to his dignity and his
Authority and he gets all the glory When sinners are saved they receive many benefits, but the glory belongs to the name of Jesus Christ alone
And that's where we are every Christian regardless of their development
Whether they be the newest Christian or the most seasoned saint Your sins have been forgiven for the glory the pleasure of Christ the reputation and the fame of his name
What makes me think of your name When they say
Limpki What's the world going to say about the Limpkis well
I Think they're gonna say as for me in my house. We serve the Lord.
I hope the Breno name will mean something in The future there'll be a legacy of faith the
Brenos are the people of God They walk in his ways the
Stevens The Breno 3 .0 s the 2 .0 s whatever the designations are
But that name is going to mean something the Mahars Carly's the
Clark's the Fuller's Zeno's the
Santa Cruz's the Revis's That name is now going to be associated
Through baptism through faith through the Lord Jesus Christ through the Lord's Supper for their
Vibrant membership in the local church in the church universal those names
Mean something because of their connection and union with Christ So today
I urge you to continue and to amplify That your name is going to be
Connected to the great name that your name will exist and function and thrive for his
Namesake and glory and your family will be swept up in that glory and honor
So the Clark's what will that mean in the generation What will it mean for the
Limpkis the Mahars? Will mean everything in the world if you're following and serving
Christ Well, there's another thing to consider here the next designation is the top of the maturity chain of developmental maturity is
Fathers I write unto you fathers Because you have known him who is from the beginning a father
Is one who? imparts life He's a nourisher
He's a protector He's an upholder of course this
Immediately causes us to reflect upon the person and character of the first person of the
Trinity God the Father The fathers of families and churches and society are defenders of the faith
They uphold the truth They nourish their families and the body by applying the word to those under their charge
Everyone here should aspire to this level of Responsibility and commitment
The fathers I don't know if you know this but the fathers are all about the future
Everything they do really is future oriented they build for the future and They leave both inheritances and a godly heritage
And if they're successful Their children will stand on their shoulders and they will
Take the kingdom even further they will take greater ground than their fathers
These are the elders of the church and society they're the leaders through rank and experience these
Saints have attained a degree of sanctification that enables them to lead
Conquests They are God's field generals and the reason
I'm invoking this military language and the connection to the young men You'll make it'll make more sense a little bit then
They preside Over the taking of ground for Christ and his kingdom
These are believers of a high level of maturity and wisdom
So are you a father of the faith? I was thinking about this
Illustration, I think obviously I think I'll make a little bit more sense as we continue through the next two stages
When I was first buried I Had to mow the yard myself and now
I never mow the yard really We need to mow our yard though, by the way boys
There's something that's happened If we need to do if I needed to do a yard cleanup if I've been gone for a week or several days and it's
Been raining like it has I would come home and I would have to pull all the weeds and do all the edging and mow all of the grass
But now I can put three or four bodies on the yard and The yard can be whipped into shape really fast.
It's very surprising particularly Jameson gets out there and gets excited He'll just start knocking it all out
You see there's something about fathers they they impart life and and mothers as well right in front of us these babies
They're multipliers the mature among us multiply They don't subtract they are multipliers
The kids will look in the cupboard and they'll say we need to order a pizza There's no food in the house
And then mom will come in and make a four -course meal and dessert from strange ingredients
That are in the cupboard and in the freezer This is the kind of thing that mature people do well
More on that in just a minute the fathers are Described as possessing something that is very incredible It says
I write into you fathers Because you have known him that is from the beginning, you know, the ancient of days, you know
Christ You know the Father, you know, the Son, you know the Holy Spirit and I was thinking about this it's like a young first -year seminary student or Bible college student who knows everything but nothing by experience
The spiritual fathers of the church can take the attributes of God and they can say that they have tangible experiential evidence of the reality of God and his existence and his goodness and his mercy and grace their lives
Testify to the reality of God they know him intimately through personal experience
The mature Christian knows understands and perceives Who God is?
The glory that is due that most glorious name They know and understand something of the sum of all of his
Perfections and this goes beyond which we spend so much time on here an intellectual assent
He speaks of a knowledge properly But also of a knowledge experientially, of course knowing is used of the act of marriage and it refers to the intimacy that is shared between a husband and a wife and The fathers of the faith the mothers the mature in Christ.
They they know God Deeply and intimately he's not an idea
He's a living person and the fathers know the father
They know the son and they know the Holy Spirit They understand the messianic dignity of Christ his divinity his unending and consummate kindness and love toward us
They they understand of all the benefits that have redounded back to us because of the saving work of Christ They can plumb the depths of it.
They they know it intellectually, but they know it in their hearts. It's in their bones It's in their bowels
They know what it means to be united to Christ and To have fellowship with him.
It's important also to see that they know him
Who is from the beginning they are authorities themselves they are rulers themselves
These fathers of the faith know his kingly and magisterial rule
In the beginning was the Word And the Word was with God and the
Word was God They recognize that Christ has the first place
He has the dominion. He has the principalities. He makes the rules
The whole of creation is under his dominion and by rank title and name he is
The king he is the Lord so fathers themselves leaders are the humblest and most submissive to the will of God Sometimes we approve in this era of lack of masculinity
We we like brashness and boldness But we need to esteem humility and strength real strength.
It's humble submissive to God What takes us now?
That's the father It takes us now to the young men in the middle of verse 13.
Take a look at that He says I write to you young men
Now in the depth of meaning of this word I don't think there's much more to say than young men and if we lived in Scotland, these would be the lads
Not the little boys, but the the buddies at the pub the guys who play rugby the soldiers these are the ones who overcome
And that second word that second descriptor young men He writes to them and encourages them because they have overcome
Young men are conquerors. That's actually what overcome is meaning here.
They are victorious They prevail They subdue
They carry off the victory. I should point out to you that Depending on where you land this the little children designation probably extends to seven years old and The young man the full adulthood not mature adulthood, but full adulthood in the scripture some evidence is 20 years old
Somewhere between seven and twenty years old the young man energy and strength is developed
In the recent anniversary of D -Day
I saw that famous picture or whatever it is from time There's somebody taking a picture in the amphibious vessel and they are little boys.
They all look younger than Elijah going to storm the beaches of Normandy so that age idea helps us to get a picture of the development of them
This these designations aren't really attached to age you could be a younger man Who's a father or you could be a an old man?
Who's an infant in the faith, but this idea of young man and strong and overcoming?
guys who go and win the victory The nature of this implies a battle the young men of the
Christian faith go to battle and They emerge victorious
They take ground for the Lord and they occupy it
They are the foot soldiers in the Lord's army they conquer
They are the ones who we say we boys we got to go take that hill the boys go run and they take that hill
With wild zeal and strength and passion we need our young men to be more like that But also causes me to ask the question
The culture and the society has said that young men are slaves to their lust
But that's just the way young men are There's no accounting for a spiritual adolescence by John Young men are supposed to be conquerors
They're supposed to be able to mortify their flesh and put sin to death They're supposed to carry themselves in a way that shows the triumph of Jesus Christ young men
I urge you to be conquerors and victorious and to typify and be an example of what a young man ought to be a conqueror
Isn't just sit and play video games all day He goes out and takes hills
He conquers ground he discovers new lands. He's always on the move pushing the mission of God forward
We've been too soft on our boys It's too soft on the young people in the church
They're called to be overcomers conquerors victors subduers the young men go to Take the hill and the father's orchestrate the conquests of that hill and future hills
I was thinking about this recently As you may know the the priestly system in the
Old Covenant At 50 years old you stopped Sacrificing animals that was the retirement age your priestly service didn't stop his very physical labor
Slinging couple hundred pound animals around and doing a number of them in a day.
I Was thinking about the great wisdom of the Lord When we have that Early strength of our our teens in our 20s.
We don't have the same discipline of mind and wisdom We haven't experienced enough
To walk in the right ways we tell our children this is not the right direction
But it's hard for them to see it, but when you're 50 or 60 or 70 years old things come into sharper focus
I Remember very vividly my dad is now a smaller man because he's shrunk
He's never as big as me but I remember my uncles were trying to move this big heavy thing and and they're considerably younger than him and he's much more frail compared to them big football kind of guys and He was managing the weight very well
He did not have the strength or the force that they did But he had wisdom
He understood leverage and levers and where to be and where to put himself
Is the Lord wise? when a man's Physicality begins to diminish a little externally.
It's made up for Exponentially by his ability to think and reason and be wise and apply truths to every situation
The fathers are taking big ground for Christ because the young men are able to labor physically and spiritually and the difficulty in the harshness of The work the young man is a righteous man he has
Overcome the evil or the wicked one look again at verse 13 young men in this case
They're not struggling with lust. They're not having a hard time Controlling their emotions and their body there.
These are young men under control They're not slaves to their passions
There is no rebellious Adolescence allowed you move from infancy to young Man very quickly in the
Christian life So if you have been stagnating in your development know that that you're not putting your shoulder to the plow
You're tolerating immaturity in yourself, you're not holding yourself to the higher standard you have been called to bigger and greater things
Than you may realize And finally the last designation
Is little children look at the end of verse 13 This word is different than that overarching word of those who are all who are forgiven this really means
Infants little ones This is a child under training an immature
Christian Now what's so startling about this when we go to verse 14, which seems to be somewhat of a recapitulation of these ideas
John doesn't address the little children again. Are you spiritually mature?
Because John doesn't go back to them again. He goes back to the young man. He goes back to the fathers
Little children that is a brief window of life and time if you are a new
Convert in the Lord Jesus Christ, you better start reading your Bible coming to every meeting of the church
You better pray you better read some more Bible You better rapidly progress in the faith because there's no allowance for a long period of little childhood here, but again, he swings it back around and says
You have known the father if George and Henry were here today and We have the
Mahar girls. They there are finer points of theology. They simply don't know They have no frame of reference
But very early on and my grandson Cal I can see it very early on they
Recognize they know who their father is They know him
They don't know all that he goes through but they know that if trouble comes I'm running to him
If I need a protector or a provider or somebody strong, I'm going to him That's The assurance that even the youngest
Christian the least mature Christian among us has because They have known the father
Just like in our families. They have an early intimate acquaintance and knowledge of Their father they have a childlike trust.
It's going to serve them very well and Sadly as they get more mature, they're going to lose it
They're gonna have to recapture it in order to have be young man strong or father wise that childlike trust in the father
So we have verse 14 Now it seems to replay what we just said and we have to acknowledge that this is here for a reason
So let's go and look at verse 14 It says I have written unto you fathers
Because you have known him from the beginning. I Have written to you young men
Because you are strong There's nothing new in the first part of verse 14, but this idea of strength is related to physical strength
Endurance, I wonder how much Strength in the church is lost by young men who don't know they have work to do and Capacity for a great amount of work in the life of the church, but not only that You have a great capacity for work in the marketplace
You could have a couple of jobs and a couple side businesses because you're strong When you're in your 50s and 60s, you won't be able to do that as easily
And the idea of strong here is an Engaging combative strength
We want the elders of the church It seems the old guys of the church to fight all the battles for us, but the young men
They have the engaging Combative strength to wage the good warfare
Not only against their own sin and to to purify and unify their homes and to take a wife and build a business family
But they also have this capacity to do it in the public sphere. They should be the most zealous evangelist in the church
They should be discipling younger men because they have this strength they do it in God's power and His power stands ready to unleash itself to bring about his will through faith
The young man of faith is valiant He has the strength of soul to sustain the assaults of Satan the culture has feminized us
But it's also kept us all in boyhood Young men are strong Your ten -year -old boys.
You should be giving them 15 year old boy things to do and Let them fail but have some success
Our 50 year old boys need to be doing 20 year old men things so on does that make sense?
Young men are strong You have Overcome the wicked one
But the Word of God abides in you the most passionate readers of the scripture in my experience in the churches are older people and married women
It's not universally true Young men can squeeze in a couple of minutes for the
Lord But it seems to me with all this strength and energy.
They should be consuming volumes of the word and systematic theology and biblical theology and apologetics
It says here that the young men of the faith What's really striking is this is the rank lower than the father in development
So think about how the father has to be The young man has the Word of God abiding in him
The Word of God does not depart his mind his heart or his lips it's been a permanently established in his soul and Exerts its power within if you don't have this power and this strength
You have not been drinking from the deep wells of Christ in his word and again the closing
Admonition to the young men is you have Overcome past tense
The wicked one a present reality for the maturing Christian With an increasing manifestation of it and its practicality
I want to leave you with a couple of ideas It could be helpful
This will serve as further application of the message and we'll conclude after this
You should take some comfort today little children in the faith young ones Rejoice your sins are forgiven and you know the father
But now you got to start drinking not only some milk, but you got to have some solid food You got to start developing and growing young ladies
Don't wait until you're getting married or we don't wait for some artificial date today be the most mature godly woman you could be young men
It's time to set childish things behind you should still go out and have fun
But you are the people who have to take care of business Do the people have to conquer hills the old men don't conquer the hills anymore
They orchestrate the conquering of hills you have to be the ones To accomplish this work take comfort today in your station
Fulfill your duties and your obligations according to that station wherever you are with a view toward mastery and taking on greater responsibility and This is coupled with a burning aspirational desire to grow up to full maturity the full maturity of spiritual fatherhood
Here are six things you need if you're taking notes. This would be helpful first If you are not personally growing in godliness, you're gonna have little impact in your marriage your family with the church or the society these
Strong people they train and they train in the word They're disciplined in the word if you're not growing spiritually if you're not
Rabidly pursuing Christ and more and more knowledge of him to grow in godliness
You're gonna be rendered less effective for all this great kingdom work the next thing you need to do is you need to take a wife or if you're a wife to be taken as a wife and establish a home and then you need to be engaged in the nurture and admonition of physical and Spiritual children we say well you're the young moms and young families.
You got your hands full with nurturing Physical children. It seems to me that you also still have to nurture spiritual children
Don't wait until you're 40 to start discipling other ladies or other men Need to grow in your competency and skill and your vocations and callings if you're a farmer
You better become really good at planting corn and Animal husbandry whatever your vocation and calling is become better at it with greater competency and skill
So that you'll have more influence more resources more responsibility
That's what you want. You want to take on more and more and more Responsibility this next one is very important We need the employment of your gifts and building up the church
Every Christian from the youngest person here today. Jonathan was the greeter
Whatever it is the job that you can do We need every Christian in the church every member to have a ministry in the church
Ryan takes care of all the bulletin stuff DJ selects psalms and music
Alyssa helps us with the music and selecting psalms that go with the proper tunes that we can sing together
Caleb and Alex print the bulletins the Carly's do all the things that they do Every person needs to have a list of things they do in service to the church.
They have to have jobs We need you to take on a job create a job. There isn't a job to put to work
In the life of the church in Particular as we embark on this grand ambitious mission to change
Longwood We need the employment of your gifts talents and wisdom in the church But also to be at work and building a
Christian culture that glorifies Christ wherever you are if you're a child and You're above 12 years old
If you're a child in the faith you are now behind You to be on the young lads side of things so start moving in that direction if You're a young man in the faith.
You better start taking some hills You better be asking the Lord to give you great wisdom that you might be a spiritual father someday
But you today have to accomplish the mission and if you're the father in the faith, you have to multiply labor
In the family the home the church The public sphere that's what the fathers
Of the faith have to do It's amazing that our
God Gives us all these gifts and Then his kindness and his mercy really speaking to us being created in his image and Created with these wills and volition and ambitions.
He has provided a place for us to thrive and flourish Individually in our private devotion in families in the church in our business life and in the community
Let's take up our responsibility and move the needle forward Competency where we are with a view to greater maturity and responsibility for the future.
Amen Let's pray together Oh Lord Wherever we be and I pray that you would allow us to see where we are on this maturity scale
I Pray that you would cause us to give thanks for where we are But that we would have holy ambition to move beyond where we are.
Oh Lord, I pray that you would quadruple and 10x and 100x my abilities to study and to preach and to pray to be a pastor.
I Pray that you would grant that to everyone here that today would be a force multiplier and the power of your spirit
Whatever we are That there would be an enlargement of our gifts and our talents and our labor and our diligence
For your glory Oh Lord help us to see that these things make a difference now, but they have a tremendous impact on The future help us to labor today for a greater harvest tomorrow.
I Pray that all this would bring glory to the name above all names the name of Jesus Christ our