Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
Lord we glorify you, we bless you, Lord God. We honor you, Lord God. We praise you, Lord Jesus. We glorify your Holy Name, Lord God, as we glorify you on our instruments, Lord God. As we praise you, Lord Jesus Christ, with our voices, Lord, we bring glory to your name. We bring honor to Your Name, Lord God. We want to make a sound of glory, Lord Jesus Christ, for what you have done over our lives, for what you have done over our sins, for what you have done for our future, for what you have done, Lord God, with our past, for what you have done, Lord God, with all that you did on the cross, all that you poured out from Heaven, Lord God, by giving your blood, Lord Jesus Christ, to cover us and to bring us into the family of God.
Lord, we want to bring glory to you. We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ. We bless you, Lord. There's No One Like You, Lord God, there's no one like you, Jesus. We bless you, Lord, and we will glorify your name alone, Lord God. Lord, we ask you, Lord God, would you come with your Holy Spirit to teach our hearts, to teach our minds today, Lord God? We ask you, Lord God, would you lead us into your word that the eyes of our heart may be able to see? Father, I pray that you animate through me, Lord God, by your Holy Spirit, that every intention that is of my heart, every word, Lord God, that comes from me, may fall to the ground. But I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit may speak to our hearts what our hearts need to hear and receive from heaven today. Lord, we are solely dependent on you. Lord, you need to minister unto us, Lord God, for without you, Lord, we cannot understand this book, we cannot understand your spirit, Lord, we cannot do a thing. Lord Jesus, you said apart from me you can do nothing. Lord, we ask you, would you come and would you fill our hearts? Would you teach our minds? And would you change us from glory to glory for your honor, for the blessing unto your name, and for Hope, Lord God, that hope may arise in this city, that hope may arise in our nation, Lord, in one name and one name alone, Lord God, the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we bless you in your name, we pray, amen.
We're going to get into the word today. The title of what the Lord has given me for you is this: "I thought you should know." I want to invite everyone that is with us online, we value you, we appreciate you. Feel free to reach out to us through the website if the Lord has spoken to your heart, if you have any prayer requests or praise reports. You're a valued part of this congregation and we love to celebrate with you but also to bear burdens with you in the difficult seasons of life. So please reach out to us if there's anything at all that makes you more and more a part of this congregation.
I want to invite you all to open your Bibles and to join me in the book of Second Peter. We're going to start off in Second Peter chapter 1. I thought you should know chapter one, we're going to start in verse three: "As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Right here Peter is telling us this incredible concept that if you have believed on Jesus Christ, his Spirit has come to live in your heart. You've experienced God take the load of guilt and sin off of you and he has forgiven you by the blood of Jesus Christ. Peter says, "Now that you are of the faith, now that you have been saved by grace through Jesus Christ, now he starts to give a list of what looks like work stuff, Christian work stuff but still work stuff." And he says, "Well, faith, great, that's your starting position. Now I would like for you to add to this."
All of these things are really things that, for example, our Tuesday and Friday services are designed for, each person to be able to obey these scriptures. You can come and you can add to the faith that you already have: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, brotherly love, kindness, love. All these things you're able to add to the faith that you are already walking out through everything the Lord has been telling us to build here. So, you can obey these scriptures, and there's a reason, because he says this incredible thing: "For if these things are yours and abound, and they are plentiful in your life, you add them constantly to your life, you're constantly making spiritual priority decisions so you can add to your faith all the time," he says, "If they abound, they are plenty in your life, this is the promise: You will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you're not going to be childless, you're actually going to see people become born again through your life, that's what he says."
"You have believed on Jesus, if you begin to prioritize spiritual stuff in your life and you begin to add these things to your life and they abound, you will never find yourself in a position where you say, 'Well, this year I don't really know of anyone that has become saved and born again through my life.' The word says that'll never happen to you. You will not be barren, you will not see no one become born again through your life, and you will not be without fruit. Imagine standing before the Father, he gave you the opportunity to believe on Jesus Christ, he gave you his word that if you add to that faith these things, these spiritual priority kind of things, and you add them, then he told you you're not going to stay alone, you're going to be the firstborn among many brethren, that's just what's going to happen if you prioritize what I speak over your life."
"And you stand there and you have believed, you're wonderfully saved, heaven is opened unto you, and the Father has a conversation with you and says, 'Didn't I tell you if you add to that faith these difficult decisions that affect your life and you're going to have to prioritize a lot of stuff you maybe don't like, but if you add these things to your life, then just like someone paid the price, counted the cost, and you heard the gospel through a person and that's how you got your forgiveness of the Cross, someone proclaimed it in your life and you were born again, and you were on that their list, so to speak. They were not barren in Christ, you are on their list, and you were not willing to do that for anyone else. Now, people that would have heard about Christ through you, that were called to hear about Christ through you, if you would have just added to your faith, they're not here in heaven today. They could have been. You were called to bear that fruit. You were I called you to not be barren, and I called you to be fruitful. But here you are, alone."
He says if these things are in your life, that will never happen to you. You won't have to be an evangelist, you won't have to know how to preach, you won't have to know how to pray up a storm, you won't have to be anybody impressive. You just add these things to your faith, you pay the price, whatever it's going to cost you to add these things, you allow those things to abound, the word tells you, I promise you, God is going to cause people to become saved through your life. That's the promise, an incredible promise.
But then we read this verse 9, "For He Who lacks these things, they're not enough, they're not abounding in their life, for He Who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." Now, this may be a person that is still just in church, they still believe in Jesus, they still have faith in Jesus, but the word says they will forget that they have been cleansed from their former sins. When you were cleansed from your sins, there were about three very, very simple things that happened, they were about three things for everyone the same, you just started praying, you just started reading, and you just started telling people what God had done for you. They were very simple things. The person that lacks these things, that does not create a life that takes control over their life and creates a life where they are making spiritual decisions that allow them to constantly add to their faith so that they'll never be barren and they'll never be unfruitful, the person that lacks it, the word says you become shortsighted, you become blinded, the word starts to close up to you, clarity spiritually speaking is fading, the world is more real and the things of the world is more real to you than the things of God, his presence, all of these things, they become a little bit more distant, a little bit harder to see, harder to believe, harder to partake of. And then that fervent, passionate testimony of what Jesus did for me, it loses color, it loses fervency, it loses its flame.
And then we read verse 10, "Therefore, because of this, brethren, be even more diligent, work hard to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble." Peter is preaching works right here. He literally says if you do these things, you don't pray for these things, God won't do these things for you, the Holy Spirit won't do these things for you, these are things that are decisions, things we choose over other things, priorities we set over other things, investments we make over other ones. We're making choices, he says, if you do these things, you will never stumble.
I want to be a parent that my kids look at my life by the time that they become parents or by the time they, it's time for them to get married. I want them to have father and a mother to look back on and say, "Dad, how did you do it? How come you never stumbled? How come, Mom, you never stumbled? How can I be more like you? How can I have a life like you? Mom, how come you guys never yelled at each other at home? Mom, why did I never hear you say something to Dad that was kind of nasty? You thought I didn't hear it, but I did hear, Mom. How come you weren't stumbling? How come Dad was not stumbling?" And to tell them, "It's not because we any better than anyone else in the world, but let me tell you what happens when you trust God at His word. God begins to do something so miraculous in your life, my dear Lenie, or whoever would be asking me. God begins to do something so miraculous, He begins to hold you in His hand, and He will never drop you, and nothing will rob you out of His hand. But it does require for you to choose, 'I'm going to follow Jesus, not only believe in Him. I'm going to give my life to Jesus, make Him Lord, not only call Him my Savior.'"
And then verse 11, "For so or for in this way an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly." Again, that word abundantly, more than you need, an entrance supplied abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Church, the word speaks of it time and time again, we only know very little details about it, but we do know enough to understand there's going to be a Everlasting Kingdom that Christ will be physically a part of, where we will know Him, that we'll be with Him for eternity. But we're not only just going to be in a sanctuary where Jesus sits on the throne and we worship Him forever, the word implies there will be a kingdom, there will be jobs, there will be responsibilities. And when my children enter into that kingdom, into heaven, I want them to be entrusted with an honorable, with a meaningful job, call it a job, duty, responsibility, position for eternity. I don't want them to be saved but they never learned and they never saw a reason in Mom and Dad to add to their life and make the hard decision, they never saw it, so they didn't do it either. And now they enter in and they get to sweep the floor, if you will, and they're wonderfully saved, they're wonderfully in heaven, but they say, "I wish I would have known that if I would have laid down my life on Earth, I would have had a testimony, I would have had a kingdom position for eternity."
I've said it many times, you can't have a double life in the kingdom of God. You either hold on to the life you have here on Earth and you want to spend it the way you want to spend it, or you lay it down and He gives you a eternal life, an eternal purpose, a kingdom purpose. Or you hold on to purposes here on Earth. This is where Peter begins to say why he gives this journey in this scripture, he gives this journey of the Dos for the Born Again believer. If you do this, then you're going to be a fruitful believer, not only born again, you're going to be a fruitful believer, you're going to have an abundant entrance, there's going to be a welcome party in heaven, the Lord himself is going to say, "Welcome home, good and faithful servant." And then he gives the reason, verse 12, "For this reason I will not be negligent." That's what he says. He says, "Well, I told you what to do, you may or may not do it." But he says, "I'm not going to be negligent, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in this present truth."
Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you. What he's saying is, "I thought you should know these things, again and again and again. I thought it good to stir you up by reminding you." He's saying, "I'm going to tell you something you've heard before. I'm going to proclaim the same thing over you time and time again. I want to put these things on your mind in case they have slipped out of your mind. I want to put them back on your mind by way of reminding you. I want to stir you up." Church, we need to learn to be men and women who rejoice with the truth. I want you to be a man that says, "I can hardly stay in my seat because of the truth." Not because I hear something new in church, not because I hear some example or revelation or whatever that I've never heard before, wow. I want you to be men and women that rejoice because of the truth. "I've heard this before, I've learned that it is truth, I love to hear the truth, I love the truth, I rejoice in the truth." Peter says, "I thought you should know that the true believer is stirred up when they are reminded of truth, that's what he says. I stir you up by reminding you of the truth. When a true believer is reminded of truth, you may have heard it a hundred times, they're stirred up, they get excited, they become praisers and worshippers of the living God." And you got to understand what we're reading here in First Peter, Second Peter, sorry, is scripture. This is in the word. This man was inspired by the Holy Spirit when this was written down. He had the mind of God when he wrote this. I want you to see this. I'll read to you verse 13 again because these are the prophetic words of the Spirit of Christ. This is not Peter speaking out of his own mind, his own idea, or his own suggestion. This is coming straight prophetically from the Holy Spirit. He says, "Yes, I think it is right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you." Church, as long as the Spirit of the living God is at work in this world and still has earthly tents to dwell in with the people of God, you are going to run into men, you are going to run into women, they'll sound the same, they'll say, "I think it is right to stir you up by reminding you of what Jesus Christ has done for you." That's why generation after generation, Sunday after Sunday, day after day, you can find places in this country, even in this city, where Christ is proclaimed, where the same things are told of all time and time again. The Spirit of God is trying to get something through to us so that we would have reason to live a lifestyle that says, "I'm going to prioritize adding all of this stuff to the faith that saved me. I'm already saved, I don't need to do this for myself. As a matter of fact, I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it because I know God made me a promise. He's going to cause other people to become born again when I follow Jesus with all of my heart."
Romans 1 starting in verse 9, we're going to read verse 9-12. Paul speaking for God, "is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if by some means now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established."
What does that mean, that we may become established? Verse 12, "that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." Paul is trying to explain something to the Romans right here that has always been a challenge, a struggle, and something the enemy tries to get into the hearts of the people in the churches, the people that seek to follow Jesus. This demonic thought that leaders have more grace, easier access to God, more favor, you name it. It can take all kinds of shapes and forms, but it ultimately states that you have a little less, and you can't help it because you're not a leader, you're just kind of stuck where you are. Paul says, "I want you to understand, I really want to come to you, I really want to add to your life spiritually, but I need you to understand that you have the same faith that I have, that you can expect your faith to produce the same things that you expect my faith are going to produce."
You and I, we can look at someone like Paul and say, "Well, it makes sense, Paul had so much faith, of course, God did great works through him, of course, he started a number of churches, of course, he wrote whole books that changed the lives of many. Of course, Paul had great faith, I could never be like Paul." We kind of put him on a pedestal like the Roman Catholic Church really had taught, "We can never be just saint." And we're not. We're common believers, and there's great believers like Paul. Paul puts an end to it. He says, "Listen, this is the establishment of the church, that I would be encouraged, that you would be encouraged by our mutual faith, both of you and me. You have the same faith as I do, you can expect God to do the same things in your life as in my life. We have the same faith, so you can expect your faith to bear the same kind of fruit that my faith bears."
Paul says, "I come to you, I'm going to end up encouraged because the faith you have is the same faith that I have. And today it is my job, Church, to stir you up by way of reminded, I thought you should know. You have the same faith as your pastor, you're not lacking anything, your faith is not too little. That's just the enemy trying to convince you. Jesus told you, you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you go ahead and tell that mountain to move, it's going to dance, it is going to move. That's what Jesus told you. The enemy says, 'No, your faith is not big enough for that, it can grow, you wait, you study, you do something, your faith is not great enough.' No, you have the same faith that Pastor has. If you have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that's all I've ever believed for God to begin to treat me like one of his children. You have that faith, you have the same salvation as your pastor, your pastor doesn't have anything more than what you have. You can expect the same things from God in your life that you expect to see as normal in your pastor's life. You have the same access as pastor does to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, because that is what the cross purchased for every single one of us. You are not a lesser faith, you are not a lesser salvation, and you don't have less access. You have a mutual faith, both you and me."
As Paul wrote to that congregation, I'm telling you today, there's nothing you are lacking. Peter said it too, we received all things that pertain to life and godliness. Become changed from glory to glory into the image of God. Let me read to you First Peter, chapter 2, verse 7, 8, 9, and 10. "Therefore, to you who believe," that's you, Church, if you have, you may struggle in every area of life, if you have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you've turned towards him with all of your heart, you've given him your life, because you believe he's Lord. "To you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed." Remember what Peter said, you'll never stumble here. He says people that have a hard time with what Jesus says it means to believe him and then to follow him, these people, they stumble. But you, verse 9, now it's about you, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
Church, because of the cross of Jesus Christ, God has chosen you to be in his presence. I thought you should know that. God chose you to be in his presence. You never chose God, you never reached out to him first. He began to tug at your heart, the Holy Spirit began to convict you of sin, you began to feel the need for a savior, and then you came running. But the Lord God Almighty chose you to be in his presence. You should never stay stuck in saying, "I so long for the presence of the Lord, it used to be so special when I was just saved, and now it's different." Or, "I haven't experienced the presence of the Lord for a long time." It's lies of Satan that has gotten into your thinking because God chose you to come into his presence. He never told you that it would feel a certain way or look a certain way. He gave you the promises that by those promises, you may be partakers of the divine nature. Are you believing him? He chose you to come into his presence, that's what he says right here in verse 9. Let me read to you verse 9 again, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood."
The priests could go into the presence of the Lord when no one else could go, others could not get in. But those that were just born into the priesthood, that didn't do anything to get there, they were born into the priesthood, they could go where others could not go, it was their birthright. Church, when you were born again, when you were born again and God made you a royal priesthood, he chose you to ever be able to come into his presence, to dwell in his presence, to be with him, to hear from him, to speak with him, to bless him, to never ever again be apart from him. God made you holy, that's what verse 9 says, a holy nation. God made you holy. You can never become more holy than the day you have believed that Jesus Christ is Lord and you've given him your life. God made you perfect and holy in Christ the moment that you gave him your life, the moment you gave him the slightest of your confidence that Christ is able to be the payment for your forgiveness. He made you holy, that's who you are. God made you royalty, a royal priesthood.
So many people that struggle with their identity or feel lesser than other Christians or other people, they don't feel like royalty. They struggle with their self-esteem, they struggle with who they really are. They live a life trying to hold on to the last name, or the things, the successes, the accomplishments that the last name of their earthly father has brought into their life, and they're trying to build their life according to that name of their earthly father. Or, they hate the name of their earthly father and they're ashamed connected to it for them, and they want to get away from it, and they don't want to be like that earthly father at all. In every case, that person is still trying to figure out who they are because they feel they are no one without someone else bringing that value, bringing that preciousness into their life. But that's not who you are. God took you out of that lineage, made you a member of the family of God, and he calls you a royal priesthood. He made you royalty, he made you a child of the kingdom.
Why did he do this, why, Pastor, if this is true for my life, why did God do all of this? The word tells us that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You who used to be in love with sin, or you who used to be stuck to the earthly things that your earthly father had brought upon your life, you who used to be stuck in thinking that you could never get into the presence of God, you used to be stuck thinking that you will always feel like a lesser human being than other people, you, he chose you, he paid for you by the blood of Jesus Christ, that you may turn into something altogether different, that instead of going to hell for eternity, you may become a man or a woman that proclaims, that knows how to proclaim the praises of God Almighty, that is who he is seeking to make you, that is why he did it and left you on this earth, that someone like you, the most unlikely of vessels, would turn into someone that knows how to praise God.
The word tells us in verse 10, "who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." The Bible is telling you, you were nobody, you were not a people, you had no future, nothing about your life that you ever thought was impressive was impressive. The last name you tried to hold on to, that person, half of their lifespan, that's what the statistics say, you can have the most impressive person and half of their lifespan later, after they've died, you add half of their lifespan, most people have forgotten that they were ever there, says you were a nobody. But now you are children of the most high God, children of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one who made everything.
The word tells us, your Father made everything you'll ever see or touch, that's your father, you're a child of the kingdom. I thought you should know. And then the last part of verse 10, "who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." I love the truth because what this means for you and I is that every single sin you've ever committed, everything you've done wrong, everything you're still going to do wrong, even though you've believed on Jesus, you claim to give him your life, and you're just going to take it back for a couple of days and do what you think should be done with it, every mistake you'll ever make, this is what the word says, you will never get what you deserve for your sin. You've obtained mercy.
You did not have mercy, sins always messed up your life, they had consequences, they kept on lingering, the family couldn't get rid of them, dad had the same problems as the son did, all these things were stuck. But now that you have believed on Jesus, you've given him your life, Christ took you out of all of it, you've obtained mercy, and none of that stuff will stick to you anymore. You won't get what you deserve, God will give you what you don't deserve because of the blood of Jesus Christ, he'll give you gifts, he'll give you favor, he'll give you blessing, he'll give you his holiness, he'll give you his righteousness, he'll make you royalty. None of it you deserved, and everything you do deserve, he took to the cross so you would get away with it. Do you understand? You get away with it all, Church. You learn to praise Jesus when you realize, I got away with all of that, and instead he gave me everything I do not deserve.
I want to take you to what is possibly one of my favorite Bible verses, Isaiah 65 verse one: "I was sought by those who did not ask for me, I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that was not called by my name."
You may be with us online, you may be here in the church, you may not even feel like you're a Christian. You may say, "I'm not that passionate about Jesus, I don't see myself do a whole lot of adding to my faith. What I do is I go to church just enough to maintain my faith, but I don't live a lifestyle of adding to my faith. I don't even feel like I'm a legit Christian." You may say, "I don't even feel like I've been made holy. You say God did all of this, I haven't experienced that. I don't feel like God made me holy." I constantly have this drive, "I got to be more holy, more holy. Get things out of my life, fix myself, present myself better to God, then maybe he will hear me when I pray. If I read more, maybe then the Spirit will respond and start to explain things to me or speak to my heart. I need to be more holy, Pastor, this has not happened to me. I haven't been made holy by God."
Maybe you say, "I don't feel like I'm special to God. You say the word says you are his own special people. I don't feel that. I don't feel special in this world, let alone special to God. I don't feel like God pays attention to me, I don't feel God has time for me, I don't feel like God waits on me, that he's so humble that he seeks to spend time with me. I don't experience these things." Maybe you say, "My eternity in hell has not been replaced with proclamation of his praise. I've thought for a long time that my eternity in hell was dealt with, but now that I think of it and now that I read all these things in the word of God, I don't see that it's been replaced and that I am a man or that I've become a woman that really I can't do anything else but proclaim his praises. I'm passionate about his praises, to shout to Him, 'Glory to His holy name,' that's not something you'll see me do. I don't do that stuff. I don't know if I'm saved. I don't see that exchange happening. The Spirit doesn't cry out through me like that, the Spirit doesn't take me, that dishonorable vessel that I used to be on its way to hell. I haven't really seen the Holy Spirit take that vessel and repurpose it into a vessel that is poured out for praise all the time. It doesn't come natural to me, Pastor. I'm not really like that, that hasn't happened in my life."
If any of those things for you online or here feel like maybe, just maybe, they may apply to you, I thought you should know that you are not in trouble and that you are not a problem case. What does the Bible say? God is found by those who did not seek him. He's not a fair God, he's a God of grace and mercy. He doesn't give people what they deserve, he gives people what he would love to give to his children. He persuades people that are on the edge of trusting him, he doesn't blame them for not trusting him enough. He sends giftings, he sends blessings, he sends everything he can send to persuade people and say, "No, but I love you and I want to be found by you, even when you don't seek me, I reach out to you, even when you don't want me, I long for you, you are on my mind." God is found by those who do not seek him and those that don't belong to God, God's people. The word says, "The nation that does not belong to God, that is not called by his name, those that are not saved, those are not the people of God." God speaks to those people and says to them, that's what the word says, He says, "Here I am, here I am. I paid for you, I made a way for you, I want the cross to raise over your life and pour every blessing that I have onto you. You are redeemed by Jesus Christ. I thought you should know that I have paid for you before you ever asked or wanted. I thought you should know that I'm reaching out to you even though you do not seek me. You are not in trouble, Church. God has good news for you, and I thought you should know. Hallelujah."
See, the Holy Spirit seeks to help our hearts and our minds understand, and that if we allow his love to move our decisions, the difference between allowing his love to minister to you and walking away the same, between allowing his love to minister to you and walking away changed, that extra step, but the word that connects the two is called trust. If you allow him to love on you through the cross of Jesus Christ and then you trust him enough to say, "Lord, I give you my life so that you can begin to add to my life. I give you my schedule so that you can begin to add to my life. I'm going to give you my time so you can begin to add to my life. God, I'm going to give you my future, I'm going to give you my life, I'm going to trust you." God says, "You'll never be unfruitful, you'll never be barren, you'll never stumble."
Can you imagine, Church, finishing this race with your kids watching or your friends or your brother and sister watching and them going, "I never really knew why I would give my life to Jesus, but you don't stumble. What do you have, because I stumble all the time, I fall all the time." To be able to tell someone, "God is holding me 'cause I placed my life in his hands, to become a demonstration of what the Holy Spirit will do with an unhonorable vessel, he will turn you into a man or a woman that knows how to proclaim the praises of God, how to glorify him, how to honor him, how to bless him." Peter said, "By I want to stir you up by way of reminder, by putting new things on your mind, by putting the truth that you've known back on your mind." Says when that happens, you're going to re-evaluate and you're going to be able to start back at the beginning and say, "You know what, I need to add these things to my faith so that I may end up at that journey where people become born again. I'm not even doing much, where people can see that my life bears fruit and people are amazed 'cause I'm not stumbling and they, I'm not even looking for them, they come to me to ask about my Jesus, and when they do, I give them a reason for the hope that is inside of me, Church, that is the normal Christian life when you've placed your life all in his hand and you've made him Lord, he will do the work, you simply make the room, you simply say, 'Lord, I'm willing.'"
If you believe tonight, whether you're with us online or right here, if you believe that the Spirit of God is willing to put the truth on your mind, to truly remind you, to take other things out and to put the truth one more time or for the very first time in your life, for the Spirit to put it on your mind so that he may stir you up, that you may be a stirred up believer that knows how to proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, and if you just want to say to the Lord tonight, "Lord, Lord, go ahead, I'm willing. Lord, I believe that you are willing. Lord, go ahead, I'm willing for you to change my mind, I'm willing for you to remind me with the things that I need to rejoice. Lord, I am willing." If you believe the Holy Spirit will do that for you and you are willing, I want to invite you to come to the front. The prayer team will be available to pray for you as I pray over you. Please join us at the front if you believe that the Spirit of God will do this for you and you're willing to let the Spirit minister unto your mind.
-Pastor Stan Mons