You know how you get tempered together? You know how oftentimes a team comes together? You know how a community oftentimes comes together is when there's tragedy, there's hardship, there's forest fires, there's something and everybody starts working together. Where I grew up, there was flooding and they called for people doing sandbagging and stuff to try to save the community. Communities come together. There's a forging process. And God tempers believers together as we go through the fires together. We honor the Lord as you go through struggles and trials in your life, and we group, the believers come together. And these fathers here, you have known, you have known the Father. And you think about this, I write in your fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning. This word known is not just to intellectually know about, it's actually to experientially have influence with, and the fact is that I've experienced that God answers our prayers, that God is faithful, that God is there for me. He's talking to these mature believers, and I remember when I was a younger man, I was there in university and even sometimes in high school, and I remember my godly grandmother, and she would talk to me about ungodly secular music. She'd talk to me, don't drink. She'd talk to me, and the other mentors would warn me, abstain from physical contact with the lady before you're married. And when I was in university studying at this, and I was at a very large church, emergent church, thousands of people, and I thought I knew better. My grandmother didn't have, wasn't very well educated, so I thought, ah, Grandma, you're just old. You don't know what you're talking about. The music at this church was hip. The messages were funny and challenging to the intellect. And I thought I knew better than my non-academically steep grandmother. There were things that my grandmother taught me that God did in my life. I had to learn some lessons the hard way. I wish I would have listened a little bit better to grandma. The product of that church that I was in It led to a carnality and a sinful living that minimized holiness. It minimized separating from ungodly things. The messages would teach one thing, but the living was quite contrary. Live however it pleases you. It watered down lines between Christianity and secularism, wherein so much you would say, oh, you're a Christian? I didn't know you're a Christian. You don't act any different than the world. Christians ought to be known by how we talk by I mean by the language that we speak the Vulgarity that comes out of Christians mouths is God hates it. It ought not to be And these fathers here these mature believers that couldn't the father's here is just mature believers and They've known God. They love God. Why would I ever want to blaspheme God's name by saying O-M and then you put the letter G there? Why would I ever want to blaspheme the one that I supposedly love? I love what one church, as I think about these older faithful believers, you've seen newest and greatest fads come and go. And you realize that these trends will eventually fade and people become disenchanted. When it's no longer exciting. When church just becomes humdrum. It's just another entertainment session. You see, God's ways are not trendy, but they're timeless. In Proverbs 22, 28, would you turn with me here? There is something about the power of living the Christian life. There's a power in preaching God's word that nothing can parallel with. In Proverbs 22, 28, for those of you, you've been saved for many years, you've probably seen certain fads come and go in Christianity. And you've seen the fruit of it, and oftentimes the result of these particular fads, they fade out, and what fades out is oftentimes people become disillusioned. The Bible calls us, stick to the old paths. Stick to the landmarks that your fathers have set. Proverbs 22 28 there's nothing the greatest gift my grandmother ever gave me as I knew grandma would every day be at her kitchen table Bible open notebook there writing down and she had little three by five cards. She'd memorized scriptures on and Then at night she was on her knees praying for me by name their grandchildren her children by name and I heard her and She gave me and the other third thing grandma gave me is whenever those church doors were open, grandma was there and she was serving. Man, she was there on Thursday, they had Thursday nights, rather than Wednesday night, but they had Thursday night, they'd do a meal before they'd come to church, and people would rotate and bring food, and it was just a time of fellowship, and grandma, and then the young couples that were getting married, I remember my grandmother, she'd say, do this in marriage, and love your husband, and respect your wife, and love your wife, and man, my grandma, she'd get in, she'd just encourage these young believers, these young couples that they're looking forward to marriage, and all the awe of that. Proverbs 22, 28, remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. There are some things that have been set that God has established, and oftentimes in the name of trying to be relevant, we try to move what God has firmly established. This is the way it ought to be. The ancient landmark. For generations, believers have just said the Bible is our authority. Now we're coming to a day and age that people are moving towards, my experience is this, and this is what it means to me. And if we go with this whimsical, very soft type of belief, not what does God say, but this is what I've experienced, and this is what I believe, and you believe, and there's all of this confusion, where is truth to be found? The ancient landmark, if you have property and someone says, oh, I just want to move your marker over a little bit. You said, no, you don't. This is my land. You're not moving it. There's oftentimes land disputes. And sometimes a land dispute can be just over a couple inches. Someone put their fence just a couple inches more than they should have. and thousands of dollars later, and lawyers get all their money, and then finally a dispute is settled, and there's one party that's happy and another party not so happy. Look with me at Psalm 12, verses 6 and 7. I'm talking about this idea of those, they've stood the test of time, and they say God can be trusted. They're just faithful. They're not up and down and here and emotionally all over, they're just Faithful. I remember as a young kid growing up, one of my Sunday school teachers was a godly man. He was a behind-the-scenes man. He never wanted to be up front. But man, when he worked with the kids, he and his wife, I still see him. If I go back to that church, I still see him, and he's still there, still reaching kids. They're just faithful. They've known that God can be trusted. They've known that God has given them gifts, and they're using it. I remember he would challenge me. He'd ask me Bible questions, and as he asked me Bible questions, if I answered it right, he'd give me a piece of gum, or he'd ask me a Bible verse, and if I could memorize it, there was things that he did to challenge me to grow to know Jesus better. I'm thankful for those people. You may not be the most academically, you may not be the smartest person, but you're just faithful. In Psalm 12, verses six and seven, the words of the Lord are pure words. Silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. These are individuals that say God's word is eternal and I'll follow it. You know what the draw of a large church is? There's no accountability. I can live however I want. I can do whatever I want, and no one's ever gonna ask me, hey, how are you doing? No one's gonna ever make me feel guilty for the way I'm living, for the decisions I'm making. But it's also, I remember being in this church, and I remember one time I saw the pastor. He was like a celebrity. You know, you couldn't really talk to him. And I said hello to him, and he just kind of gave me a head nod, and that's all he did, and he carried on. I said hello to his wife one time and she totally ignored. And just this idea of a celebrity that somehow you're a different tier. I still put my socks on the way you do. I still put on my clothes as you do. We're the same. We serve the Lord. We're serving together. People are made to feel good. 2 Timothy 4, 3 talks about this. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. That word doctrine just means teaching. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and you'll get a pastor that might make you feel good, but never challenge you about how you're living and the choices you're making. You know what it was? It was sometimes the smaller churches I would have a pastor that would personally invest in me, spent time with me. If I was struggling, I could sit down and meet with this pastor. You know what, the truths of Scripture and holy, mature Christian living, they stand as a threat against the secularism of the day. I'd like you to look with me at another passage of Scripture, and this is what these believers have understood. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. I am so thankful for older believers. Older believers will never become irrelevant. Nor will younger believers become irrelevant. It's not an age issue. It ought to be all ages working and serving Christ together. And that's what God's called us to do. That's what God calls the church to do. Sometimes there's all this division of, this is the older group, and this is the younger group, and the teen group, and this. And I'm nothing wrong with that in theory. But in practice, it becomes, well, we can't talk to them. And as a young kid, as a young teenager, I was at a smaller church and I got involved. I served in VBS as a teenager. I worked with the kids. I worked with the older kids. I worked with the adults. It was fun. It was exciting to serve the Lord. And God calls a church, all ages to come together. And I'm thankful for all ages that we have here. 1 Corinthians 1.18 for the preaching of the cross. is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved is the power of God. I trust and I hope and my prayer is that the preaching here at this church is not just some good message, but man, it does something to us. It does something inside to draw me that I want to be more like Jesus. That's my goal. The preaching of the cross, people might say, why would you go to church? Don't you know? It's just organized religion. And you can say as these fathers, these mature believers, you don't know him like I do. You don't know Jesus. You don't know when I'm there in the worst of moments and I'm in the horrible pits of life that I look unto Christ. that I come to church and if I need to pray with someone, they'll pray with me. They'll encourage me. You don't know what God does in my life, that He is my life. I want to tell you the preaching of the cross, man, the preaching does something. It hits something on the inside that nothing can hit. Can I tell you a local church is strengthened by a mature generation of committed Christians who mentor those younger in their faith. They mentor younger families, young couples, young men and women. There's an emphasis on discipling others to be followers of Christ. Why is it we have our Wednesday night studies the way we do? We have it where we have tables out there and food and snacks. Why do we do that? Man, I want people to love Jesus and know why we believe what we believe, not just, oh, that's what the pastor says he believes, and that's what the church believes, but that's what I believe. Because it's not just something for us to just have up an intellectual mind, but it's something for us to be convinced that God said it. Can I also tell you Hebrews chapter 10? Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 and 25. It is this mature believer that understands the value of the church and our responsibility. I had someone recently, even last night, calling me. I don't know what my purpose in life is. I told this person, they were pretty discouraged. I said, man, God's got a great plan for your life. This one particular individual is great with kids, has an unbelievable personality, and kids are drawn to the magnetism of this one individual. I said, God can use you. I said, don't let Satan discourage you. God's given you a gift. And I want to tell you something. God wants to use you. Whether you're older or younger, we are still always relevant to being used by God. In Hebrews 10, verse 24. Verse 23, let's read that, just a little bit of context here to finish off the sentence. Hebrews 10, 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Can I tell you, the fathers, they don't waver. The mothers, they don't waver. These strong believers, I don't waver. I know what my Bible says and I'm going to follow Jesus. For he is faithful to promise. I know that God, if he promises, I can take it to a bank. If it was like a check and it was a big check and I took it to the bank, I know that check would be deposited. There'd be funds to make the transfer. Have you ever taken a check and you brought it in and insufficient funds? I've done it before when I was, I remember in the military, I gave a check and unfortunately I hadn't been, lost track of where I was on my budgeting and the church came back and I was like, oh, I was humiliated. I was like, oh man. So I had to, I paid him what I had on the check and then I also paid for the check to bounce. I was like, oh, never again. Verse 24. Let us consider one another to love, to provoke unto love and to good works. That's what God calls us to do. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. I'm thankful for you. There's an exhorting. There's an encouragement. There's every one of you. Man, you encourage my heart. I think about it every Sunday. But also, we think about that when I come to church, there's those, man, there's sometimes people are discouraged and God allows, you know, God just gives a word to encourage. And other times, someone gives me an encouragement. I'm like, thank you, Lord, I needed that. But we can't do that without assembling. You see, it's the faithful, mature believer, committed, mature, devout, and godly believers. They're the church's anchor and strength. It is those who look out, they want to know this Bible, and they look out for those who might come in trying to teach things that would lead people down a wrong way. Why am I so emphatic upon doctrine and teaching? Because what we believe is leading to a destination, and the goal is, I want a destination that leads me closer to Christ. Not a destination that's leading us closer to religion. Because religion leads to bondage. Christ leads to liberty and peace. And if I'm believing wrong things, it's leading me away from the true source of my hope. In fact, it says in James 5, verse 19, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. He's talking to brethren, but he's saying, if there's another believer, can I tell you in my own personal life, when I was back in the military, I had at the church, I had a couple older men. They were significantly older than me. And they would take me under their wings. Hey, Chris, where were you at church? I hated the phone calls at the time. But I'm thankful. Because not only did they call me about church, they also called me and said, hey, can I have you over? Or if I really got in a pickle, if I really needed help, I could call one of them. Or sometimes after church, I would just sit and I'd chat with them about some struggles I was going through. You know, there was an accountability, but these believers, they invested themselves of their life into my life. When I started going astray, they began to be, God would work in their hearts to reach out to me. There were times when I was doing wrong, and I'd get a phone call, and I'm like, I'm not answering it, because I was under severe conviction. I was like, how do they know I'm in sin right now? And I'd get that phone call. Man, I'm thankful for these believers that know God. The first need is of a group of people for whom Christ is preeminent, and it's for these mature believers. Fathers, you have known him that is from the beginning. and they serve the Lord through the local church. They're givers and not consumers. There is this mentality today, what can you do for me? What can the church do for me? What can you give to me? I want you to look with me at Acts chapter 20, verse 35. If we're gonna mature in our Christian life, we've gotta get away from what can you do for me to what can I do for Christ and for others. In Acts chapter 20, verse 35, If you have a Bible, if you want to turn there, Acts 20, verse 35. Can I tell you, so many Christians, they miss out on the abundant Christian life because they just never put their foot in and said, I'm going to get all in for Jesus. I'm going to get all in and serve the Lord through the local church. I'm going to get all in and give God my life. You're faithful in your secular job, praise the Lord, and I thank you for that. And you're faithful maybe at work and telling people about Jesus, praise the Lord, that's a part of the ministry God's given to you. There's also that connection that God has given us in the local church, but the local church ought to be a strengthening, it's a place where we come and encourage and desire as we have the men's breakfast coming up, and I'm looking forward to that. Encourage and pray with other brothers in the Lord. In Acts chapter 20, verse 35, the Bible tells us, and I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it's more blessed to give than to receive. And the idea is it's more blessed. Man, there's something. You know, you give something to someone, you do something, and the really nice part is that they're appreciative. If they're not appreciative, it's kind of like, ugh. Makes it a little bit harder. But God's called us to give of our lives. Jesus gave his life for us. The mature Christians, the mature believers, they're dependent on God. The local church shouldn't be about what you can do for me, but what I can do for Christ. It's a place to know that the Lord has, and plant ourselves, wherever God leads us, plant ourselves and get serving him. Sometimes people may excuse their service because of problems at home, problems here, when the turmoil in life is really a heart problem. Because I want to be served, I don't want to serve others. And God never called us to be served, but to serve others. You realize in John chapter 6 verse 66, I still haven't gotten past my introduction. I won't get there. I won't get to my main message this morning. In John chapter 6 verse 66, I'm just giving the Word of God and the heart that the Lord's put on me. I'm pulling upon my heart the message. I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't just for some faithful believers in church. They're faithful. The best man at my wedding wasn't a very wealthy man. He was an enlisted officer. I was a commissioned officer in the military. I love that man. He's with the Lord now, died of cancer here a few years ago. He had four children and wasn't very well off. But I knew after church I could talk with him if I was having a bad day. Wednesday nights we'd pray together. Can I tell you what the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus had thousands that followed him. And he began to talk about commitment and doing for the Lord and going forth. And those flocks began to leave, thousands left him. I mean, find in the last moments of Christ's life, 12, then three, then none. In John chapter six, verse 66, but everything would change after the resurrection. I'm not, John chapter six, verse 66 from verse 65. And he said, therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given to him of my father. He's talking about, From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. A mature believer says you have the words of eternal life. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil. You speak of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the 12. And as you think, so many went away, and they went down to the 12. How would you like to be Jesus? You have thousands, and then your church collapses to 12. Pretty discouraging. In fact, in Luke 5.15 it tells us, the multitudes came to hear, be healed. They wanted to see the spectacle, be healed of their infirmities, healed of their sicknesses. But they didn't want to just follow Jesus when it was hard. And it was there at the cross, in his hour of greatest need, the one who said, Lord, I'll follow you no matter what you do. I'll never deny you. And then Jesus says, get thee behind me, Satan. And in his time of greatest need, he abandoned the Lord. And then look with me at Luke chapter 22. Verse 60. I cannot imagine the heartbreak that Peter must have gone through after he denied Christ. Seeing this statement, verses 60 and 61 of Luke 22. And Peter said, man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he had spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he'd said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, wept bitterly. Can you imagine? I deny Christ. I look across the courtyard, potentially catching the eye of Christ. Of my best friend, I've just denied. And he told me I would deny him. And I said, no, it won't happen. And yet I do it just in a few hours later. the heartbreak to deny my best friend. And can I tell you, Christian, these mature believers, they're settled. They're steadfast. They're not flashy. They're not flamboyant and necessarily the most charismatic personality. They're just steady. I can go there and get a handshake, and how are you doing today? I'm doing good. No, no, no. How are you really doing? I hated that question. Because I knew they saw something. And it bothered me. But it allowed me to open up and talk about what I was really going through. It's these mature believers. It's not denying Christ. And sure, these mature fathers, these mature believers, they might have, like all of us, they waffled, they kind of went up and down in their faith, and I don't know about God, and all of these things that we grow, but they discovered that God's word is true, and that Christ is sufficient for all their needs. Our theme this year is Christ is enough, that God is enough, and I'm happy with the life that God gave me serving Him. And God is looking for a steadfast believer to whom Christ is sufficient for all of your life. Don't look back. Look forward to serving Christ until the day he calls you home. If you've never been saved, you need to be saved. If you've never been scripturally baptized, you need to be baptized and join the church and get faithful to God and live right and do right. If you've never joined a church, man, join a church, get on board. I'm gonna serve Jesus till the day I breathe my last breath or he hopefully takes us home. My final illustration and I'm done. That was my introduction. King Duncan tells the story of two men from Chicago who had never been out of the Windy City. They decided they had enough of city living with traffic pollution and crime, so these two bought a ranch down in Texas. They decided to live off the land just like their ancestors. First thing they felt they needed to run the ranch was a mule. So they went to a neighbor rancher and asked him if he might have a mule for sale. The rancher replied, no, I'm afraid not. The men were disappointed, but they thought they would at least visit with the rancher for a few moments. One of them saw some watermelons stacked against the barn and asked the rancher, what are those? The rancher, seeing that these were hopeless city slickers, decided to have some fun. He replied, oh, those things are mule eggs. The two city refugees were enthralled. They asked mule eggs, the rancher said. Yep, those are mule eggs. In fact, you can take one of those eggs home with you and wait for it to hatch and then you'll have your very own mule. These guys from Chicago were thrilled and they offered to buy one of those mule eggs. So they agreed on a fair price, but put one of those watermelons in the back of their pickup truck and headed down the bumpy road to their ranch. Suddenly they hit a huge bump in the road. The watermelon bounce off the truck, hit the road and burst open. Looking in his rearview mirror, the driver saw what happened, turned around the truck and drove back to retrieve his mule egg. Meanwhile, a big old Texas jackrabbit was hopping by and saw this broken watermelon on the road and hopped over to it. Standing in the middle of the watermelon, he began to eat. As he was eating, the two city boys from Chicago approached their mule leg. It was all busted open. There was a long-eared creature in the middle of it. One of them shouted, our mule has hatched. Seeing the two men approaching it, the jackrabbit took off, hopping with the two fellows in hot pursuit. The rabbit ran in circles for a few minutes with the men giving everything they had to catch it, but to no avail. He finally gave up, being totally exhausted and out of breath, while the jackrabbit hopped off into the sunset. One of the men said to the other, well, I guess we lost our mule. The other man nodded grimly, yes, but you know what? I'm not sure I wanted to plow that fast anyway, man. Let me ask, when it comes to serving the Lord, do you really want to plow or do you want to work for him? In Luke 9, verse 62, the words of Jesus said, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. God wants us to mature in Christ and serve him. These mature believers, they said, I'm going to serve Jesus until the day I breathe my last. Jesus is true. The Bible is true. I know it. I've lived it. I've proved it. And I'm going to serve Jesus. What is keeping you back this morning from doing more for the Lord? What is keeping you back from just being a steady, steadfast believer? Or continuing to keep you, if you are, keeping you in that. Whatever it is, God calls us to serve the Lord with a settled faith and a contentment in God's leading and provision. As I think on these truths this morning, I just, again, challenge you, what are you gonna do? Who will you be? Do you aspire to be that mature believer? that's experienced that God is true, the Word of God is true, the Word of God can be trusted, and then I'll stay steadfast. I'm gonna do more for Christ until God calls me home. If you've never been saved, I encourage you, the greatest thing you can ever do is to make a decision, trust Jesus as your Savior. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and be your Savior. And you know what, my friend? If you'll do that, you'll be saved. We're gonna have an invitation follow, it's number 280 in your blue hymn book, moment by moment. But I just wanna give you a time to pray and talk with the Lord. With heads bowed and eyes closed, if you have any questions after the service, love to meet with you, love to chat with you. And man, what are we gonna do for Jesus? What will you do? What will your commitment be to do more for Jesus till he calls you home? As the music plays, I pray you just take some time to talk with the Lord.