Reading from 2 Peter chapter 3. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of your apostles of the Savior, Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for this privilege of coming to the table week in and week out. May we not take it for granted, and may you prepare our hearts and our minds and our souls to receive it with profit. And do bless the explanation of your word here, that you would keep my mouth from human wisdom, so called, and keep it to your pure and eternal truth. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. I should clarify, I misspoke there. If you're following with me from the New King James, the last part of the second verse, it says, and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Apologize for that. Well, I believe in this two verses, the reason I chose it was one particular word caught my attention, and it is in the New King James translated mindful. I believe ESV and some other translations have remember, it's a more common word there. So if you're looking for the key word of this passage, you know, Pastor Kaiser's been giving us key words, key verses for whole books. You may think it's kind of an over or an understatement, but a key word in these two verses is that word mindful and the clause there that contains it. But I want to look at just a bit of the context of those two verses and then focus in on that key word and how it can be important to us as we come to the table. So I think the meaning here is pretty clear, pretty simple, to remember to be mindful, but we really need to think of what and to what end. So I want to make three points related to that key point that we're to be mindful of God's Word, both the Old and New Testaments. First, it's not the only time we're told to be mindful of this truth. Second, that the words of the Apostles and the Prophets, that is the Old and the New Testaments, agree. And the third, to pay a close attention to these words. That's what mindful means. So, those three things quickly. Most importantly, the third. But beginning at the first, verse 1a, Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your minds, etc. So, basically a purpose statement by Peter, as we all are mindful to do in our writing or letters, is to state our purpose for communicating this. It's always handy to give a purpose statement. Peter admits that this is the second time he's written, and he's kind of saying the same thing. He's also alluding to the fact that other people have said the same thing. This is not new information. Now, we could be offended by this. The readers there could have been offended, thinking, what, Peter, do you think I wasn't paying attention? Do you think I'm not taking you seriously? Did I overlook or misunderstand your message as it was transmitted to us previously? But we don't need to be offended. right? When a parent or a friend lovingly reminds you of something they've already told you before and it's for your good, you can be thankful. You don't have to be offended by it. We can be thankful that the Lord, by the pen of His prophets here and apostles, is careful to continue to transmit to us here in writing and by word The things that are really important so that we wouldn't forget them, that we could remember them. He is patient, he is kind, he is tender to restate, to repeat, to refresh our memory, to make sure that these eternal truths are always before us because they are truly important things, and important things bear repeating. So, basic thing in lesson one here, we learn that God is patient, he is kind, to instruct us on the things that we need to know. and not forget, which is to say, remember, which is where we're headed. Second point in verse two, the second part of verse two, the words of the apostles and prophets agree. So he says, you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, that's referring to Old Testament scriptures, and of the commandments of the apostles of the Lord and Savior. So that's referring to the people who wrote the New Testament. So Peter notes that some of those things, or I'm sorry, it's a few verses down, when he's referring to Paul's writings, he does admit that oftentimes those things are difficult to understand. Not all things are plainly evident, but whether they're easy to understand or hard to understand, whether they're written centuries ago or from our perspective thousands of years ago or written relatively recently, either way they agree they are inspired, they are holy scripture. Neither is to be ignored, Nothing more is needed, note that too, so we're not to add to, we're not to take away from the writings of the prophets or the apostles. They speak with one voice, that is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures. I have to draw attention to the fact that the immediate context, the reason he's making this point, is to zero on one specific common thread throughout all the scriptures. And that is begun in verse 3 where he says, knowing this first, the scoffers will come in the last days, etc. So the reason why he's mentioning the ongoing continuous and consistent authority of the scriptures is to make his point about the last days. But the basis for him making that last day point is the eternal truth that all the scriptures agree, they are consistent, etc. So we have to have that foundation principle in order for him to apply that to the last days. So it's that foundation principle that continues to be relevant. and is important for us to remember. Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are consistent. They agree. They do not clash. They are both inspired. So when the New Testament writers speak of really any topic, when they speak of creation, they agree with Genesis. When they speak of the incarnation of Jesus, they agree with Isaiah. When they speak of coming judgment, they agree with all sorts of prophets, Jeremiah, for example. When they speak of practical wisdom, they agree with the Proverbs. So all that to say, the apostles and the prophets, speaking of Old and New Testament scriptures, they agree God's word is one. So third, knowing this truth that Peter has written previously, it's not the first time this has been stated, and that all the scriptures agree, what are we to do with that? Just thumbs up, move on, shake our heads, yeah I knew that, let's talk about something more new and interesting. Well, yes and no. Yes, we are to agree with it, the proverbial thumbs up. Yes, we are to nod our heads at it, but let us not dismiss it. And that is really the import of his word there in verse two, translated in this translation as mindful. Be mindful. To remember, as I noted other translations say. I think today, mindful or mindfulness, you might have heard, is a bit of a buzzword. I've heard people out on the street when we're doing some evangelism, say, oh, I'm a mindful person. I'm like, of what? If you just take the definition of that word, it's like, yeah, I'm glad you remember your name. You're mindful of what? We're mindful of lots of different things. But that is a buzzword, if you know that jargon, to say, I'm a real purposeful person. And usually it might allude to some kind of Eastern spirituality. threads in their thinking. But all mindful really means is to remember, to continue to have your attention focused upon it. And so for us here, God has said it. We want to learn it and remember what we learn. Let me try and insert a little story this morning. I think I often in other occasions have tried to suggest you ways to put a passage I'm explaining to you into like a little brief form as like a retort to somebody in a conversation or maybe a condensed way you can put it into a tract. And this morning as I was reviewing this that I'd prepared this past week, I think to keep my children busy, my wife, I don't know how children this game started, they were playing street evangelist and they were like handing out slips of paper to each other and several of them came into my room where I was on my computer And they were handing to me slips of paper that said, you know, Jesus loves us, or one of the little ones just said Jesus. So they were saying, excuse me, sir, can I give you this? And this is what these tracts said. And so as they did that, you know, mimicking their father. And I was really proud, I have to admit, that's why I'm telling you this story. But I came to mind, we need a tract that says, what are you mindful of, or what is your mindfulness, that kind of thing. So that's a way you can take this home with you. But the substance of that tract would draw the attention, what are we to be mindful of, right? Everybody is mindful of something, whether it is foolish or wise, the thing that they devote their attention to. And we obviously are to be mindful to devote our attention to, to not forget, to remember important truths. Peter here applies it to the truths of the last days, but really it's the truth of all of God's word. And let me just pull out a few examples of how this same word is used throughout the New Testament. It's not just us, God's people, that are mindful. God himself is mindful. It's the same word used in Hebrews 2.6 where the writer there quotes Psalm 8 in saying, what is man that you, that is God, are mindful of him? So God is mindful of us, which is to say, and this is from Hebrews 10.17, again the same word, God will remember, so God is going to be mindful no more of our sins and lawless deeds. So God is mindful to forget. He's non-mindful of our sins and deeds. It's also the same word that Zechariah uses recorded in Luke chapter 1 in speaking of God remembering, so God is mindful of, His holy covenant. And so the disciples, and this is mentioned several times in John and throughout the epistles, the disciples, or sorry, throughout the Gospels, that the disciples remembered, so they were mindful of the things Jesus had told them after he was resurrected. Another place it says after he was glorified. So Jesus had said all these things, didn't really sink in, didn't come to their attention, but later they remembered. They were mindful of these things that Jesus had taught them. So that's the same word. Point there to be made. God is mindful of important things. We are to be mindful of very important things. and Peter is calling our attention to us. He said, I've told you this before. Other people have told you this before. Other people long, long ago have told you this before. Don't forget it. It is important. So friends, ask ourselves, what are we mindful of? Ask your friends and neighbors, what are you mindful of? But may we, as we come to Lord's table this morning, be mindful of God's eternal promises of His kindness and His covenant keeping towards us for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we are humbled to contemplate the fact that you are mindful of us and keep your covenant toward us, that you are faithful to put away and to, humanly speaking, forget our sins and trespasses for Christ's sake. May we not forget your goodness towards us. May we not forget the perfect righteousness of Christ in fulfilling your law and his sacrifice and taking our sins from us. We thank you that you give us minds and hearts to be careful of these truths. Pray in Jesus name. Amen.