Thank you so much, it is my pleasure. My name is Arthur Miracle, almost a miracle, but close enough to keep Brother Rogers happy and he needs a miracle from time to time and he'll call me and I'll do my best to lighten the load a little bit. In fact, he talked about some people you may wanna have in whatever book you're writing and I feel so badly, I was gonna include your pastor in the back of my book, just a special section related to Pastor Mike Rogers, but then it didn't work out. I had my appendix removed, and so was not able to have him included in that undertaking. But hey, it's a pleasure to be with you here today. My beloved wife, Laura, is right here. If you'll wave at me, honey. There's Laura right there. And we've been together a while. And if you include fooling around as a couple of strange teenagers, it goes back half a century. But as far as being husband and wife, it's 48 years we've been together in marital bliss. And I'm so grateful for a wife who chooses to see it that way. If you knew the kind of, living conditions I've put her through through the years. There aren't too many women who would have stuck it out. And not only does she brave it, brave it all the way through, but she looks back and all she can remember are all the wonderful, the good things that God gave us along the way. She's chosen not to fixate on the disappointments, and the inadequacies and the times when it was a real struggle, living conditions, health, other issues, times that we had a few disasters in our lives. And those are not the things that she chooses to focus on, but rather the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. That's where her mind is. And as a result, man, we're able to still enjoy, after all these years, great, great fellowship together and love each other so very, very deeply and so very much. and I'm gonna give you a scripture in just a moment, but one of the things I enjoy doing is I love making a record of the places I've been and the people God's allowed me to serve, and in turn, I have a monthly newsletter I put out. Now, the brother spoke about the two-page missionary prayer letter you received, and now, mine are not the best newsletters among Bible-believing Christians. It's not the best, but it is the longest, guaranteed. We're talking about I do, I'll do things 20, 30, 40, 50 pages. But, before you pass out, let me just say, most of it is pictures. of places like this where God's allowed us to go, and I'll give a little bit of commentary, a lot of pictures. I figure that Christians, especially other pastors, enjoying seeing what's happening, what God's doing around different areas, and especially churches either they've never heard of before or that they've heard of but they're not familiar with, as well as kind of taking a peek on the guys they do know, kind of like wondering how's it going there in these different places. And so the pictures are the main thing. And then toward the end. I will include some fun stuff encountered along the way and so forth. I love the California novelty license plates. Just on the way here, we saw this little car going along, and it was that license plate is I space R-U-L-E, I rule. And so obviously, this is not a person who's dealing with low self-esteem. And there's so many that are just like that. So having said that, let me just kind of around the auditorium real quick. I just wanna record the moment. So if you will, this is gonna be three, two, and you have such a beautiful auditorium. This is very impressive. I'm gonna get the American flag on this one. All right, marvelous, thank you for that. I was in a church recently, and there's a lady from a third world country who now is in that church, and to this day, she cannot stand having her picture taken. So every time I go to that church, oh, I'm gonna take your picture real quick, and she ducks down, you know, behind a chair. So I always feel badly about that. But it is a very precious thing to get to remember you guys. and to think back about this day we spent together. And I wanted to say real quick, if you're interested, do you get my quotes, stuff I send out? Is it okay for your church? Would it be okay for your church? I should have asked you not live in front of everybody. Your church family, I'm gonna give you my cell phone number if you're interested. I'll tell you why the cell phone number before I give it. Every morning at eight o'clock, roughly, give or take, I send out a quote of encouragement for Christians. Sometimes just a sentence, especially on Sundays, just a sentence to encourage you along the way. sometimes much more substantial, maybe a few paragraphs. It might take you a good five minutes plus to read through it, but when you get those, at some point in your day, if you'll take a few minutes to just go back and read it, I know that we're all busy, different things are happening in our lives, but if you'll go, even if it's later in the day, just go back and read it, it'll be a blessing to you. And along with that, in the afternoons, those who are serving in local church ministry, I also do a quote of edification, something to help with those that are bearing the heavy load of ministry. So if you indicate to me in some way that you're involved in ministry, I'll include you with that. Otherwise, quote of encouragement, Saturdays I send out something, often it's something more substantive, that I have written, something much longer, more like a booklet or pamphlet size item. For example, I did a 12th chapter plus, you might call it a 13th chapter, but an introductory chapter plus 12 following chapters on discipleship. and I sent those out one chapter at a time to those who were receiving my stuff, and then right now I'm working on a book on marriage, and I'm seven chapters in, and the guys that receive these things, they've gotten all seven chapters, so that sort of thing. So if you're interested, and let's see, what do I do on Sundays? I don't remember what I do on Sundays. Anyway, so if you're interested in that, here's my phone number, and what I need from you is your first and last name, And of course, when you text me, I'll have your phone number, but I'd also like to have your email address for the Saturday bonus material. So here it is, 707-338-4328. 707-338-4328. That is not for counsel. Go to your pastor and his wife for your counsel. But if he was to ask me to get involved, that's one thing. Ask Bible questions, get counsel from him, but just to get a little bit of encouragement along the way, 707-338-4328. Now would you please take your Bible and turn, please, to 2 Timothy chapter three. You may remain seated as you turn to 2 Timothy chapter three. You know, your pastors may have alluded to this in the course of the service, and also it came up between us yesterday. as we were together for the marriage seminar. And whenever we communicate, because I know he's a veteran, he's a patriot, it's evidenced by the American flags we see around the auditorium, this man loves our country. And I love our country, I love our heritage. And we're seeing the country being systematically dismantled. And it begins, strangely enough, it begins with things philosophic. It begins with education. All you gotta do is just not teach young people their history. And can I say, if you're an American, I don't care your ethnicity or where your people originally were from when you ended up here in this country. My heritage is Netherlands, it's Dutch. But you know what, as an American citizen, The founding fathers are as much my founding fathers for a people that did not arrive in this country until the early 1900s as it is for anyone who came over here from England in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s. Those are my founding fathers. That is my Constitution. That's my Declaration of Independence. Those are my presidents, those early presidents. I don't claim all the latter ones, but I do claim all the early ones. I'm just saying that's my history. even for times before our people arrived on this continent, that now I am an American. And I loved growing up, the advantage I had was I grew up in a state that actually believed in teaching something. I'm talking about the classic hours, the reading, writing, and arithmetic was what we got in the Midwest. My poor youngest sister, and I know I must say something's gonna be quasi, offensive, I don't mean it to be, but I'm just talking fact. My youngest sister, unfortunately, her education was in California, because she's quite a bit younger than me, and you can tell the radical difference. She was robbed so much. We learned English grammar. And how God would use that as a, later he wanted me to be a preacher, I didn't know that at the time, but how God has used that, the ability to speak, to write, to know how the English language is put together, to appreciate and love the English language is such an advantage. And with our children, they were homeschooled or Christian schooled their whole time. And my philosophy has been, if you'll teach a child to read and to think, they can accomplish anything in this country. Now you rob them of either one of those skills, and they're handicapped forever. And that's what we're seeing happening, California particularly, but all across the country, being robbed of their heritage as Americans, and then false ideas being put in their place. So the foundations now are being eroded, and things are being turned on their head. It's interesting that it seems like right now there's two different systems of justice. If you're on one side of the political spectrum, it's entirely different than if you're on the other side of the political spectrum. So for example, some people show up from, some Christian people show up to denounce abortion at a baby killing clinic, and they just got up to 12 years imprisonment. for daring to take, for exercising their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, a young man torches a pro-life pregnancy center and he gets a little slap on the wrist and he's sent on his merry way. I'm just saying we're seeing this, and that's just a microcosm of what's happening all the way through the highest echelons of government. I'm just saying that these are difficult times in which we live. It's very interesting, and I know I'm gonna bump up against some things. I can't go too far. I'm not your pastor. I have to be careful what I say in his pulpit. But I'll say that just a few years ago, I was thinking, how can America go, ally itself with the Antichrist in the last days, during the Tribulation. Because America suddenly was making a turn, when we even just barely tipped our hat to God, and acknowledged Him, and honored Him, and went back to some of our foundational principles, the country returned to flourishing. And for a couple years it was just like, man, how can Americans be deceived and deluded into following the Antichrist? Then the pandemic came, and we found out what sheeple we really are. And things changed so radically. Now for these last three years, now I'm wondering how can America not ally itself with the Antichrist? You know, that's exactly the direction that we're going. Things are rapidly unraveling. What we're seeing happening, of course, in the Middle East right now. I'm one of those who, and please, don't get up and walk out till you hear the next two minutes, all right? I am now one of those who espouses from the river to the sea. But the other side means that everything from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea belongs to this false nation called Palestinians that have never existed, never been a country. And when they did have the land, it was a shoddy land. And that all the Jews need to be eradicated and chased out of Israel, and all that land become Palestine from the river to the sea. I also say from the river to the sea. My river is Euphrates. And I say everything from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean belongs, it's been given by God to his people, to the Jewish people, and during the millennial reign of Christ, those trespassers will be removed forcibly if necessary. It will all become greater Israel. I'm just saying that right now we're seeing what's happening with the October 7th attack upon Southern Israel by her enemies, Hamas. We're seeing what's happening in the war. I mean, the first European war since World War II between two of the most corrupt nations on earth, Russia and Ukraine. And I don't know which side you can claim is the good guys on that one, despite all the way here in the media. It's a little bit like when I go back in history, when I watch Germany invade Russia in World War II, I cheer for both sides. Just eradicate each other. The Nazis and the communists, just destroy each other. And I don't care which one loses, I don't care which one wins, just destroy each other. But now we're back to that too corrupt, probably the most corrupt European nations at war with each other. And all across the globe, we're seeing conflicts. And we are, the United States of America now under threat from some little tin hat little dictator in North Korea, who because of a former presidential administration in our country, he has the technology to hit our West Coast with nuclear weapons. We have sent the finances for Iran to spread terrorism, not just in the Middle East, but around the world, including our own shores, and open up our borders so the terrorists can come through freely. We're watching stuff, and beloved, your pastor has well said that America is now under judgment. And if you wanna put that to a test, besides today's news or this week's news, go to the book of Jeremiah and see how God deals with the people who once said they were of him and then turn against him. and see where that goes. Yes, we are under, it's not that, you know, America's gonna be careful, we're gonna come under God's judgment. We're under God's judgment. It is so evident. These are difficult times in which we live, but they were. foretold in the Bible. None of this should take us off guard. None of this should be alarming. I mean, most of us in this room, and I know after all these years, now there's some who are very young here, but most of us experienced the attacks on our nation, the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001 by Islamic terrorists. But you know, we were all shocked by that. And yet, in many ways, there's no reason for us to be discouraged. I've said that I can be disappointed, but I refuse to be discouraged. I am not gonna lose my courage. I can be disappointed but I refuse to be, you get to be discouraged and you're right on the doorstep of despair where you're just kind of existing and just waiting for the end and you're not gonna accomplish anything for the Lord, any good for yourself and your family and those around you. So disappointed, and how is that? Because the Lord told us exactly what to expect in the last days. I know in one sense, the last days began with the ascension of Jesus Christ back into heaven, way back in the book of Acts, but surely we look at now, we see the last days of the last days. and all the things that the Lord told us to expect before his second coming, I realize that there will be a seven-year tribulation prior to the second coming, but I would not negate what the Lord said because I would imagine then that we would already be seeing much of what he said to expect at the second coming would be actively happening that seven years before, in other words, while we're still on this earth, we can expect to see many of the things happening that he told us were gonna happen just before his second coming, and none of them are good. They're all pretty bad. But we're told to expect that, because we're seeing 2 Timothy 3 verse one. Know this also, that in the last days, what are the next two words? perilous times shall come. And it's gonna be a peril, P-E-I-R-L, peril, dangerous, threatening time. I have a pastor's son, he took over our work in Santa Rosa. These last couple of years, he and his family went into a Oakland, because my wife is one quarter Korean, so she has very strong ties to her Korean heritage. And there's a little Koreatown there in Oakland, they go there periodically. And the car's sitting there, the family SUV's sitting there, window busted, luggage stolen. And the only good that came out of it was knowing that the luggage was filled with their dirty laundry from their recent trip. That's the only good that came out of it. They'd been in San Francisco, had their window busted and things stolen from their vehicle. On another occasion, they were at Stowe Lake in the middle of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Hundreds of people in a given moment around Stowe Lake. and they're there and the family goes for a walk, but my, at that time, 18-year-old grandson is studying. He had things to catch up on. He's studying in the car. The guy walks up, busts the window, grabs his mother, my daughter-in-law, grabs her purse, and my grandson grabs it from him, and there's a tug of war. The guy pulls my grandson through the window, cutting him on the remaining glass. And I'm just saying that it's becoming more and more blatant, the lawlessness, the immorality. And we're told it's perilous times, and they shall come. Paul described to Timothy the Christian life and ministry as it needs to be engaged even in these last times. Look at verse 10, please. 2 Timothy 3, 10, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. This verse reveals seven great blessings of living for Jesus. Verse 10, but thou hast known my, what's the first thing? Doctrine, doctrine is what we are to believe. Verse 10, but thou hast fully known my, what comes after doctrine? Manner of life is how we are to live. Verse 10, thou hast fully known my what's next. Purpose, purpose is why we strive. Why we refuse to give up. We're not gonna throw in the towel. We're not gonna lower our flag nor raise the white flag of surrender. We're gonna continue on for Jesus Christ despite it all because we have a purpose. There are people that need to be saved from hell. We have Christians that need to be encouraged and that need your support. We have a purpose, and in verse 10, we see, but thou hast fully known my, what's after purpose? Faith is for whom we strive. As Paul reassured the members of one church, ye know that your labor is not in vain, it's not pointless, it's not empty, your labor is not in vain, in the Lord. Now a lot of what you've done was vain. Going, you know, kind of like, you know, Ecclesiastes. It was vanity and vexation. But if it was for the Lord, it's not in vain. I don't care if nobody shows up at your event. I don't care if no one seems to care. I don't care if no one ever acknowledges you. The Lord sees it. He is the ultimate accountant. He keeps perfect books. He knows what you did, and I'm so glad my Lord honors and he rewards effort, not necessarily results. Verse number 10, but thou hast fully known my what comes after faith. Long-suffering. Hey, there's a Christian life for ya. You gotta be prepared to suffer long. Long-suffering is the strength to help others live for Christ, even if those people are difficult to live with. Long-suffering will get you through your marriage. Long-suffering help you raise your kids even through their teen years. And I got news for you. My wife says that for her, the most challenging time of our children in our home was not their teen years, it was in their early 20s. Now they've got a solid education. They've been in a great church, heard marvelous preaching their whole lives. They know everything. Having never lived life, they know how it ought to be lived. Having never been married, they know what it takes to have a perfect marriage. Having never had a child, they know exactly what it takes to raise a child. And they're highly critical of anyone who doesn't do it the way they think it should be done, including their own parents. So it takes long suffering to put up with those, as Rush Limbaugh, a local hero, would have said, those empty brains of mush. And so long suffering. But here in the local church, you're not gonna make it without some long suffering. I used to have, in a former church, a brother who was a postal worker, and he's a good man in the church. He'd come up to me every once in a while. He'd go, Miracle, I love you in the Lord. He says, I hate you in the flesh, but I love you in the Lord. And isn't it true, though, that across this auditorium, there are people here, number one, you probably never would have met outside the church, and number two, you'd rather not have anyway. And here you're in the same church family. How are you gonna put up with each other? You've got to have that long suffering. Long-suffering with that bonehead, long-suffering with that guy with this dry sense of humor, long-suffering with the person who fails to show up and they promise to help you with that ministry, long-suffering with someone who leaves you high and dry, long-suffering with someone who takes and takes and takes and never gives and then never says thank you. Long-suffering with the person who dresses different, acts different, behaves differently. Long-suffering with the person who never quite seems to get it as far as what it means to be a Baptist or an independent Baptist or an independent fundamental Baptist. Doesn't get any of that stuff. But by God's grace, they're here. And I'd rather they be here than not be here. But you have to have long-suffering with them. They're not gonna do things like we think they should be done. And that's okay. We still want them here. Verse number 10, after long suffering says, thou hast fully known my what? Charity, I love the word charity. It's superior than just plain old love. Don't take 1 Corinthians 13, make it the love chapter. It is, has been, always will be the charity chapter. Because charity is love in action, even with people you may have never met before. Love is an emotion, charity is an action. It's the means whereby you can help others continue to serve the Lord. And then in verse number 10, but thou hast fully known my, what comes next? Patience, patience is the ability to continue serving the Lord despite persecutions and afflictions that are gonna come if you're gonna decide to serve the Lord. Because with all that positive comes a counterbalancing negative. Verse number 10, But thou hast fully known my, now verse 11, you've fully known my persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. The two negative factors with which all Christians must contend are persecutions, that's outer pressures. It's the reality of living for Christ in this present world, because we're told in verse 12, yea, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Mark it down, it's coming. I know some Christians who cave in if they get so much as being defriended by somebody on Facebook. Or getting that thumbs down symbol on something that they posted. And all of a sudden the whole world falls apart. Man, I'll tell you what, compared to our brethren in India, Evangelists who sleep in ditches, there are no Motel 6s for them, and they're sleeping in ditches at night. They feel it's a blessing if they get a bicycle to get from village to village. And in any given village, be it Hindu, or an animist, or Muslim, they know that the next day could be their last. And that little wife and those kids back in the hut that they call home may not have a husband and father providing for them the next 24 hours, but they keep going on for Christ. I'm so grateful for, I got hold of a book I gave to my wife, several chapters of people who've gone on living for God despite terrible persecution. And in one case, it's the ongoing story I'd first heard about a number of years ago, where a couple left their home church in Australia to become missionaries to India. And while they were there serving, they're going through a village, a Hindu village, I'm talking about the husband and her two sons. The wife was at home, and the car was surrounded. They poured gas on the car, lit the car on fire, and burned her husband and her two sons to death. And the story in that chapter of that book is how she has, in these intervening years, I read about that story years ago, she's gone on to live for the Lord with great rejoicing. And I just gotta, except the outer pressures of persecution, but also in verse 11, besides persecution, there is afflictions. Those are inner pressures, feeling afflicted by any number, and I know more and more Christians now, there's the matter of panic attacks, and I do not slight a person going through that in the least. I understand that's now a reality even we have to deal with, and is it any great surprise, considering what's going on around us and going on, what's happening to us? I do like to think that the Lord can make it possible for us to have victory over those things, but I don't discount the fact that it's a reality that some have to deal with. It's because of those persecutions and afflictions that you need the patience that Paul referenced at the end of verse 10. As we are encouraged in another New Testament passage, cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul, And if that ideal is gonna be realized, of not drawing back, but pressing on for Christ, you have need of patience to endure those times of persecution and afflictions. We learn that with the positive comes the negative, but we must also understand that with the negative comes more positive, that God sends to offset the negative. Notice again in verse 11, what persecutions I endured, but notice, but out of them all, the Lord delivered me. Now we know that delivered you, really Paul? I'm like shipwreck, beatings, scourgings, I mean, times when they're out to kill you, Paul's stonings, but he means is, I was able to get up and keep going for Christ. They left me dead, and I saw heavenly visions, and I got back up, went right back into the same town, and then only after did I go out and continue taking the gospel to yet more places, and he just refused to quit. I so appreciate an Apostle Paul who can say to Timothy while he's in the Mamertine prison facing his execution, hey, Timothy, buddy, do me a favor. I need some books to read, because I'm gonna improve my mind until the last moment. Oh, and by the way, bring some parchments. I know sometimes we think that's referring to scriptures. I think Paul was like, hey, I got time to burn. I'm gonna do some more writing. I'm gonna help some more of my fellow preachers and Christians. As long as there's breath, as long as there's life, I'm gonna continue serving God. If I can't serve any other way, and by the way, he did, he was effective in leading guards to Christ. Even up through Nero's household, people were getting saved. The emperor's household. but I think he was also writing, writing, writing. This is how the Lord balances the Christian life. He gives you positive, it's offset by some negative, for which he gives you more positive. The situation, yes, is bad now, but it's only gonna get worse and worse and worse until Jesus returns. Look at verse 12, it says, yea, all that live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Knowing these realities, how then are we to live? Verse 14 says, but, what's the next two words? Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of. Continue thou, don't quit on God. Don't waver in your convictions and standards. Don't waver on the traditions of your church. You say, I thought traditions were bad things. Traditions are bad when they supersede scripture. Traditions are good when they provide a means whereby you can honor God's word. I'm talking about traditions like Sunday school. Nothing says we have to have Sunday school. It's a tradition. Honor it. I'm talking about midweek service, prayer meeting. Nothing says we have to have that. But it's a tradition of your church. Honor it. I'm talking about however your church supports missions. Be part of it. Honor it. Be part of that tradition. Don't retreat from your commitments. Continue that. Now, I'm about to inflict a massive consternation across a congregation. As I announce, that was my introduction. It's 1158, I'll have to be 1159. I'm gonna pray, and then I'm gonna go quickly through the balance of the message. Believe me, service is at six o'clock? I got five hours, man, we're gonna have a great time. No, actually, I do have a 1.30 service I'm heading off to after this. Let's pray. I'm gonna go quickly through the bountiful message. Father, please bless us now. Help us to know how we can continue, even in such a time as this, facing persecutions and afflictions and all the challenges of just being faithful. "'among our brethren in the local church. "'Please help us now, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.'" Notice in 2 Timothy 3, verse number 14, it says, "'But continue thou in the things "'which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, "'and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, "'which are able to make thee wise unto salvation "'through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'" Paul's exhortation to Timothy was, continue thou. He didn't want his younger protege to quit believing, quit preaching, quit doing that which is right. The Holy Spirit's exhortation to you as it was to Timothy is, continue thou. He doesn't want you. as a son of God, to quit believing in Christ and his word, to quit speaking the truth, to quit doing that which is right. How then are we to continue? I have for you seven areas in your life in which you need to continue. Number one, learn the Bible from trusted sources. Back to verse 14, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. you're gonna get your most trustworthy source of biblical instruction right here with your pastor and in your church. And if you're gonna look for some resources, like you don't get enough here, Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, then I'll tell you where to go wherever he directs you. Well, I just want a really good website. I want a really good devotional. All right, let him tell you some good places to go. Beloved, it is crazy out there now in this internet age. You cannot trust your soul to these charlatans that are out there. You let him direct you. Number two, read the Bible for yourself. Verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is what? It's profitable. So take advantage of that profit. Read the Bible for yourself. And if you're literally at a stage where either you've never learned to read or you're in advanced years, then you get the King James Bible, have it read to you. I read the Bible constantly, but I also listen to it, audible versions as well, because I just want the word of God coming in, coming in constantly. Number three, learn Bible doctrine. know what you believe, learn what the Bible says about it, discern the practical reasons for it, and train yourself to be able to explain it to others. For verse 16 says, all scripture is given to the ministration of God and is profitable for God. Doctrine, you need to learn Bible doctrine. It's not dusty, old, moldy stuff. It's critical. Your actions are based on what you believe, and what you believe is based on your doctrine. Number four, be open to reproof. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine and for reproof. Reproof is being told you are wrong. And we are such independent, independent Baptists and Americans, we don't want anybody telling us where we're blowing it. But you need that, you need to be open to reproof, reproof is being told you are wrong. Number five, allow yourself to be corrected. Because all scripture is profitable for correction, is being told how to do something right, or how to do it better. So it should be okay for someone who knows of that which they speak to come along and not just tell you you're doing something wrong, but show you how to do it better. Let people have that entree into your mind and your thinking. Number six, never stop learning spiritual truth. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God, it's profitable for, going further into that verse, instruction in righteousness. Instructional righteousness, not just knowing what is right, but doing it. It's the doing it. You know, Jesus talked about building your house upon a rock, or building your house upon the sand, and in both cases, those men heard the word of God, and one did it, and built his house upon rock. The other one knew the same things, he knew it all, he just didn't do it. and his house was built on sand, and great was the fall of it. Number seven, continue growing in your capacity to serve the Lord, because we're given that inspiration, it's profitable. Verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Now I know this word perfect can be a little bit confusing to us, but it refers to maturity. And the mark of maturity is reproduction. I am a perfect man in the sense that I was able to reproduce four times over, and we would have had more, but my wife's heart, they told us, was not handling more, so we stopped it at the fourth. But I was able to reproduce myself. In that sense, though in many other ways I'm lacking, I'm a perfect man. I did what I was made to do. But spiritually, you are mature as you reproduce. It's fruit bearing that is the mark of maturity. Good works are the evidence of enhanced perfection, and I'm saying to you that seeing people who come to Christ as a result of your efforts, that's the mark of maturity. Every Christian needs to be a part of a local church. Within the context of that church, under the leadership of your pastor, every church member needs to be involved in two aspects of ministry at least. One is outreach, somehow, someway, getting the gospel out those doors. And if you can no longer go door-to-door soul wedding or be active in visitation, then you let your pastor know that a pastor will be praying for you, supporting you, and you grab some gospel tracts, and everywhere you go, you leave a trail of tracts. And give them to people. And you can still be used of the Lord, even if you physically can no longer go out door to door. But also, not just a ministry of outreach, every Christian in a local church needs a ministry of in-reach. Be involved in some ministry that takes the gospel out and be involved in some ministry that cares for the family within, the church family. Something you do that helps the church. Be it ever so simple, but somebody's gotta straighten the chairs, every service. Someone's gotta make sure there's hymnals. set out, someone's gotta make sure that everything's vacuumed and clean. Someone's gotta make sure the toilets have been cleaned and the restrooms are tidy. Someone's gotta take care of the foyer. Someone's gotta take care of the yard. Someone's gotta take care, you know, every time there's some kind of a dinner or potluck, someone's gotta contribute. Just jump in and be part of what God's doing here. In this wicked age, you must decide to serve the Lord on purpose. but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of. Number one, continue to learn the Bible within the, not limited to the church, but with the church as your primary vehicle for that teaching and preaching. Number two, continue to read the Bible for yourself. and just keep consuming the Word of God. Even the parts you don't like, even the parts you don't understand, even the parts that are boring, just keep devouring the Word. I wish I had time to launch into some of my personal beliefs and theories about what the Bible does within the brain and for you, but just trust me in this. You need to read the Bible. Even if you don't like it, just do it. Number three. Continue to learn Bible doctrine, what you believe and why you believe it and how it's practical and how you can teach it to others. Number four, continue to respond properly to reproof. It's okay to let people tell you you're wrong. And I always say consider the source. And if they're wrong about you being wrong, don't lambast them. If anything, you should say thank you so much for caring enough to point that out to me. There have been many times I've had people tell me stuff, thank you so much, and I turn around and I immediately forget it. Because I knew it was totally wrong. But there have been many times when what those people had to say was that they helped me see a blind spot that otherwise I would have been ignorant of, and they helped me tremendously. One great preacher, last generation, one of his many messages that I retain to this day was he spent an entire sermon thanking his enemies because they were the ones who showed him things about himself, glaring discrepancies that his friends and loved ones didn't want to tell him about, but they were there. His enemies were more than happy to tell him where he was wrong, but that's what really helped him. Number five, continue to allow yourself to be corrected, to be shown how to do something even better. Number six, continue to learn spiritual truths. Over and above doctrine itself, learn things that are, so many applications, so many things that today are needed. and learn spiritual truths. And number seven, continue growing in your capacity to serve the Lord. Man, there ought to be more you can do now than you've ever been able to do before, even despite advanced years, even despite certain limitations. Good heavens, what, I know the devil's having a field day with social media and the internet and all that, What potential there is out there to do good. Man, if you were to, you know, there are some very, very humble people in this room that know more than college professors know in the UC system, the University of California. And I'm telling you, the world needs what you have. There are pastors in third world countries that have had virtually no Bible training. I'm just saying that you'd be amazed how much you know that others need. And if you're totally perplexed by computers, you still remember like pen and paper, envelopes and stamps. I'm just saying you've got grandkids and great grandkids. If every day you made it a point, one card, one letter goes out to somebody every day. Maybe you don't know social media, and by the way, I personally am a Facebook dropout. I got so disgusted by saying, among the brethren, I couldn't keep a sweet spirit. I was either gonna, you know, the one or two times, it's like, I can't let that go. And I'd try to put out that, you know, that little reproof. Oh, mama, whew. You know, just like, it's like bricks came falling down upon my head. And I just thought, you know what? To keep a sweet spirit, I can't do this anymore. I'm not gonna have it be assumed, silence is consent, and either I've gotta take a stand and just make a bunch of enemies among people I love, or I just can't do this. And I opted out. So maybe you're not onto all that stuff, and it's okay, but how about just a good old-fashioned every day a phone call? Every day a note, a card, a letter. And your postman, he's gonna lose his job pretty soon if you don't get busy. Because man, it's all going to social media. And so just for his sake, if no other reason, just keep writing those letters. But there's so much you could do, put your mind to it, whatever your stage of life.