May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness

As we by faith are seeking the Lord in steadfastness, at some point we arrive at a point where we recognize that we are more than just people pursuing moral purity, we are reaching up to feel the depth of joy in worship of the Lord.  Godliness is the pursuit of God in all things.  In every aspect of our lives, in every relationship we’re seeking God to be glorified.

If virtue includes acting in such as a way as God would act in a situation, Godliness extends to the motivations of our heart.  We are pursuing not just a moral life, but a life of worship in joy.

The pastor of my church, Matt Chandler, has given this example a few times – Even a non-Christian can enjoy a steak, and enjoy a good glass of wine, but for the Christian, there is always more joy to be found.  For us, we see that every good thing is a gift of God, and so not only are we delighting in the taste of the steak and wine, but we are rejoicing in the Giver, who designed our taste buds so that we could enjoy these things, we are rejoicing in God who has provided the meal, and we are looking forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb in eternity, the more perfect meal that awaits us in glory.  The capacity of a Christian for joy far exceeds the non-Christian.

So it is with Godliness.  We seek to bring God to the forefront of our work, our marriages, our friendships, our finances, so that in all things we are seeking the glory of God with joy.

My encouragement to you today, is to begin to practice Godliness.  I say begin, because for many Christians, this is not already a pattern of your life.  Bring God into situations as often as possible, with your greater intimacy and joy with Him as a goal in view.  In so doing, you will strengthen your own faith, not out of compulsion, but joy.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

2 Peter 1 2-6 – “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness”

When God speaks of steadfastness here, it is right in the middle of the list of virtues for Christian growth.  I don’t think that is an accident.  If I could have one hope for myself and my brothers and sisters in Christ who are following after God today, it would be that their life would be marked by steadfastness.

Steadfastness is birthed out of faith, and a mind’s robust understanding and knowledge of God.  It is the ability of a heart’s affections and desires to be unmovable when life circumstances are difficult or when you are confronted with challenges to your faith.  It includes being able to return to Christ in repentance amidst your failures rather than running away from Him, because your heart is rooted in the promises of God in the gospel.

How do we do this?  If we believe that God is true, and that we are saved through Jesus, then we look first to what God has revealed to us.  Every day, bring your questions and brokenness to God, and read your Bible asking God to give you understanding and help.  Where you read in your Bible doesn’t matter nearly as much as simply coming to God in faith, asking Him to speak to you, and looking to His Word for Him to do it.  “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3/Matt 4:4)

Beyond this, God encourages our steadfastness with His people.  We seek out other Christians who know God’s Word, are submitting their lives to Him from it, and who can encourage us in the knowledge of God.  Ephesians 4:9-12 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! ¹¹ Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? ¹² And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”  Don’t try to cultivate deep relationships with 10 people.  I can’t, you can’t.  Relationships take time and vulnerability.  This can’t happen with a large group, but it can with 2 or 3.  Make that a priority, and exercise judgment in who those people are – believing that these people are a gift of God, that He will use to sustain your faith.  

Stay encouraged, we never run this race alone, but God is with us and for us.  Look to Christ daily, and you will find your rest in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

2 Peter 1:2-6 – “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control” 

How does self control connected to your knowledge of God?  Underneath every sin is a heart that desires something.  Why does the heart desire something?  Because the mind believes something to be true about that thing.  What happens when we believe on Jesus and seek the knowledge of the Lord is that the Truth of God’s word begins to invade those spaces of our mind where unbelief, false belief, and distorted desires have shaped our heart to desire sin rather than God.

Let me flesh this out with an actual example.  Let’s say that I have found myself in a pattern of sin of overeating.  The outward sin may be that my daily pattern includes sitting in bed watching movies finishing off a tub of Blue Bell ice cream.  Underneath that sin includes beliefs that are driving the desire to eat the Blue Bell.  These might include my belief that God does not love me and so I’m turning to Blue Bell for comfort.  It may include pride that I control my own life and body, rejecting God’s call to steward well the body He’s given me.  It may be that I fear being vulnerable in my sorrows with others, so I am hiding in my room with my Blue Bell.  It’s important as Christians, that when we see a pattern of sin in our life, we spend the time to introspectively look at what beliefs are driving our behavior.  This is where the knowledge of God (building on faith) enters in.

Hebrews 4:15-16 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Jesus is our comforter, and He loves me even to the point of death on a cross for me.  Our bodies are a Holy Temple of God, where the Holy Spirit Dwells.  There is no condemnation in Him, no fear of judgment – He bore my judgment.  This is the knowledge of God over Blue Bell.  I’m using a light-hearted example here, but in reality, there is nothing light-hearted about sin.  It robs us of joy, and it leads to our destruction.  We must be killing sin, or it will be killing us.  

What does God say about our beliefs and desires?  Self control is just the next step.  Self control is more than just saying no to eating Blue Bell.  Self-control is saying no to the wrong beliefs, the wrong desires of our heart, and attacking that with the knowledge of God and the gospel.  This was eye opening for me when I first considered it – if you have never spent extended time with God, asking Him to help you understand your own beliefs and desires and where they are not in line with His Truth, that is a great way to spend a few hours.  Stay encouraged wherever you are today.  You are joined by countless other sons and daughters of God, as we are seeking to put to death what is sinful in us, and bring to life the righteousness of God.  

Grace and Peace,

Adam

2 Peter 1:3-5 – “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge”

Last time we discussed how our faith necessarily leads to moral excellence (virtue).  In faith, we believe that our sin was put on Christ, that He bore the wrath for God, and that we through faith we have been credited with the righteousness of God.  That heart belief overflows into a life that pursues moral excellence as we identify with and follow our Lord and Savior Jesus.  We have been ransomed by Jesus’s blood from the kingdom of darkness and sin, to the kingdom of light and righteousness.  So our faith leads to virtue.

If the last message sought to show how virtue and faith were interconnected, we’re now moving on to show how that heart posture of faith and moral excellence leads to knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge.  The heart that feels the weight of the gospel, to be freed from bondage to sin, rejoices.  The heart that once was held captive by sin and set only for destruction, but has been freed and secured an inheritance for eternity with God, sits in joyous awe of this gospel, this good news.  Having received this good news, we are not left alone – God has given us His Word, and teachers to reveal more of Himself to us for our joy.

We go to God for knowledge without a fear of judgment.  The condemnation was put on Christ, and we are already holy in Christ.  Therefore, we look to knowledge of God in His Word – What are His promises to us, what depths of His love can we explore, how can we sit in awe at the power of our Heavenly Father, what is the heart of God that we can follow, and what are the glories of Jesus to be enjoyed now and in eternity?  All of this knowledge flows from a heart of faith, that is pursuing virtue (by grace not merit), and seeking a greater fellowship with our Savior, King, and Father.

Put another way – a lack of pursuit of the knowledge of God stems from a lack of faith in Who God is, His sovereignty and love for us, and a lack of intimacy with Him.  We go to God in faith, asking for Him to reveal more of Himself to us, to capture the affections of our heart, to give us the life and peace that can only be found in Him.  My exhortation in today’s message is from George Muller, the 19th century evangelist who dedicated his life to serving over 10,000 orphans in England – amidst such a great task and ministry, he said – “The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.”  We seek the knowledge of Lord.  We seek the putting off of the old self and sin, and the putting on of the righteousness of Jesus for our good and God’s glory.  James 1:21 – “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” 

Grace and Peace,

Adam

2 Peter 1:2-5 “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  ³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue”

What do we mean when we say we have faith?  Hebrews 11:1 gives us a definition – “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  The rest of Hebrews 11 is examples of persons of faith doing the works of God from an overflow of their faith in God.  The book of James is largely written to show how true faith overflows into actions.  Put another way – over the long term, if you look at the manner of life of a person you can tell what they believe – where they place their hopes and assurance of joy.

As Christians, we do not simply have faith in Jesus.  That is to say, our faith is more that Jesus is the Son of God, died for sins, buried, and rose from the dead.  It is not less than that, but if it is not more than that, then we are no different from satan or his demons.  James 2:19 illustrates this  – “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”  So our faith is more than just intellectual knowledge of who God is, or even what He has done.  What separates us from the demons in our faith, is the affectional nature of our faith, and our submission to God as our Savior King.  1 Corinthians 12:3 – “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 10:9 – ‘if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

What does your heart say about Jesus?  What do you know about His goodness, His kindness, His forgiveness, His patience, His hatred of sin, His love, His righteousness, and all of His perfections?  What does your heart say about the gospel?  Do you believe that the gospel is simply a get out of jail free card for sin?  Or do you see the beauty of God through Jesus, rescuing us from the trappings of sin, to have joy in God – bearing His image as we were created to do, in His righteousness?  2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  

Brothers and sisters, our virtue, the moral excellence that our lives demonstrate will tell us what our heart has faith in.  We do not have a sin problem, we have a faith problem.  Sin is simply unbelief in Jesus and the gospel.  Psalm 16:11  – “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  This is the Word of God – we were made by our Creator to walk in righteousness as His sons and daughters, in His presence, with a fullness of joy.  The question today is do we believe Him?  How does our life’s actions align with our belief that Jesus is King, supreme, all loving, all sufficient for infinite joy, and our helper as we walk through life.  Virtue is the overflow of a heart that believes God and is believing in His promises to us through Jesus.  This is where we enter in.  Next time we’ll push forward to the pursuit from virtue to greater knowledge.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

What does an active faith look like?  How can we keep ourselves from falling away from our faith, and rest in the assurance of our salvation?  I love the passage of scripture below because God gives us an answer.

2 Peter 1:5-11 – “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

These are seven virtues of a Christian life that are interconnected.  Faith is the foundation, and love is the end.  In between there are a number of marks that we can look for in our own life to determine whether or not we are moving forward or backwards in our walk with Christ.  (You are always moving forward or backwards – a coasting Christian is moving backwards)  The goal of this passage of scripture is your joy in assurance of your salvation and eternal inheritance in Jesus (vs 10&11).

In each of the following messages we’re going to take one virtue at a time and walk through how they are interconnected, and what God wants us to pursue for our joy in relationship with Him.  Today, my exhortation is to focus on the foundation, our faith in Jesus.  Each of us are imperfect sinners, but we have a perfect God who loves us, and desires our eternal good.  Romans 5:8 – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  When God reveals the shortcomings of our heart in scripture, do not be discouraged – that is the love of God overflowing to you, because where we are weak, God is strong.  So we can run to God and ask Him to grow our hearts closer to him, knowing He will surely do it.  Hebrews 4:14-16 – “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Grace and Peace,

Adam

I’m taking a detour from 2 Peter momentarily to press into the purposes of God.  It’s something that God has been pressing into my own heart lately, and so I feel like God has a message for us all.  There are some harsh realities that once settled in your heart I believe can actually be freeing to you as a Christian.  Often times, when life does not go as we had hoped, we take solace in Romans 8:28 – that all things work together for good for those who are called according to his (God’s) purpose.

When suffering comes; when we experience disappointment for a variety of reasons, when we have loss in our lives, we can rest in knowing that God is in control, and He is good.  What we don’t often do enough of, is remind ourselves that our joy (and God’s purpose) is not rooted in what measure of happiness that we can have in this world, but in eternity.  If we continue into Romans 8:29-30 we see God’s purpose for us and how he is able to work “all things together for good” – “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

The good news of the gospel is that we get God for eternity.  The gospel does not promise us an easy life – Jesus Himself actually says the opposite in John 16:33 – “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus overcame the world, and that by faith, we share in His victory.  When we look at bad things in our lives, maybe even things we would “regret”, we can know that God has purposed everything for the good purpose of securing our own faith, growing our hearts closer to His, and making us more like Him in holiness. I don’t mean to minimize the joy in God’s blessings on this side of eternity, but my hope is that the joy of our hearts, our greatest hopes and affections, would be rooted not in this world or anything it can offer, but in our Creator, who loves us, has saved us, and who has infinite joy awaiting us in eternity.

My hope is that your hearts would always be full of joy in God, but I know there will be days for all of us when that is a struggle.  Stay encouraged – our eternity, our next million, billion, trillion years are so beyond what we could ever hope for – and Jesus will never let you go.  Romans 8:18 – the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Do we believe at a heart level that God is all we need?  Before we say “yes’ and move on, I think if we’re honest with ourselves, it’s a struggle for all of us who are pursuing intimacy with God.  We like the approval of others.  We like the affirmation from a partner.  We don’t like disease and sickness.  We don’t like suffering loss.  There are a great many wants in our hearts that are not bad, but if we allow them priority and supremacy over our hearts, they can be a be a barrier to intimacy with God, leading us away from Him, His joy, and His peace.

2 Peter 1:2-4 – “² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

What do you need for this life?  God.  You’re going to stumble at times in your pursuit of God, what help does he afford?  Grace upon grace.  What is the desire of your heart?  Peace and joy.  How is it obtained?  The knowledge of God and His promises.

It is in the Word of God that we come to know that God is faithful, trustworthy, forgiving, and eager for our joy in relationship with Him.  If you do not root these truths of God into your heart, then understanding His promises will mean nothing to you.  If I tell you that I’m going to pick you up at the airport, but the previous 3 times you’ve asked me I did not show up – you will have little faith to believe I will show up this time.  God is always faithful, and so we can hope in His promises to us, knowing both that He has all power to secure them, and that he is faithful to do all that He has said.

What is the promise of God?  That we who have been called in love to Jesus, to believe on Him for our salvation, have be washed, adopted into the family of God, and are covered in the righteousness of Jesus.  More, that as adopted sons and daughters of God, we have become partakers of the divine nature – the Spirit of God dwells inside us, and we are no longer in bondage to our sinful desires, but having our eyes opened to both the destructiveness of sin and the glory of God, we press on towards holiness – in so doing declaring to our own soul and the world that we belong to our Heavenly Father.

Ephesians 1:3-7 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”

My exhortation to us all today is to refresh your soul continually with the knowledge of God and His promises.  He is faithful, and we can rest in Him.  Even when we are not faithful, God is faithful, and His desire is no longer to condemn, but for your joy in freedom from sin and relationship with Him.  The condemnation was put on Jesus, grace, forgiveness, and joy is ours in Christ.

I can say that in my own life, a great number of years were wasted trying to make others think I was a “better person” than I was in my heart.  I didn’t want to share my sin struggles because I worried about being judged by others.  That is foolishness.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and He died not for the “self-righteous”, but for sinners.  The knowledge of God and the gospel is the answer to every heart.  There is no guilt in Jesus.  There is no shame in Jesus.  We all are imperfectly pursuing God, but as we do, we rest in the promises of the finished work of Jesus.  My encouragement is to as quickly as possible surround yourself with Christians who will hear your heart struggles without judgment, but with a heart to remind you of the grace of God and His promises to you.  No one becomes “holy” through willpower – we become holy because we see God as better, a greater source of joy than our sin.  God truly is all we need, and our hearts will find rest in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

1 Peter 5:8-10 – “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

We have three enemies as Christians, the world, our flesh, and satan.  We live in a fallen world, broken by sin, and populated by sinners.  When confronted by temptation from the world, we’re called to flee.  Although conquered in Christ, we have indwelling sin in our flesh, that we must battle daily to put to death by the Spirit through the Word of God.  When confronted by temptation from our flesh, we’re called to deny it.  Lastly, we have an enemy in satan and his demons who want to see the name of God profaned and His children led astray and destroyed.  We’re called to resist satan.

I wanted to explain how we have three enemies as Christians, because too often some are prone to blame everything on satan and his demons.  satan is but one of our enemies we face.  At the same time I do not want to minimize his influence either, because God has allowed him to exercise a great deal of power in the current times, and his desire is for our destruction.

What does it look like to resist satan?  If we go back to Genesis 3, and Matthew 4, we can see that satan often likes to attack by denying or twisting the word of God.  When we resist satan, and are standing firm in our faith, it means at least 2 things – we are secure in the knowledge of the truth of God’s word and the gospel, and we are able to recognize truth and falsehood from God’s word.

For example, often times we will be told that as Christians we are not to judge because in Matthew 7:1-2 it says “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”  People will say this means that Christians should not judge what is right and wrong, and further that Christians should not imply that someone may not be a Christian who is openly practicing sin without repentance.  The problem there is that in the same chapter Jesus says explicitly that we are to make such judgments about professing Christians in Matthew 7:16-23 – “Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.  ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Christians are never to judge in anger, but with a spirit of love and reconciliation in hope that those who are apart from God would be reconciled to Him.  This is but one example of how satan has sought to twist scripture to normalize sin and lead people away from God.

Another common scheme satan wants to use is to accuse people because of their sin and declare that God would never accept them or want them.  He may even try to use scripture to do this by having someone say from 1 Corinthians 6:9 – “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  This is is where as Christians we need to be secure in the gospel.  As Christians, we are no longer bound to those sins, and seek to put them to death, but our salvation is secure in our faith in Jesus.  1 Corinthians 15:3-4 – “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”  The price has been paid, our sins have been atoned for, and we are righteous in Christ.  The battle we fight now is not for acceptance by God, but in joy we struggle ahead to make much of our God and seek out others to be reconciled to Him with the same love that we have been loved in Christ.  

My encouragement today, is to recognize that satan is real, powerful, crafty, and our enemy.  To resist him, we need to be people of the Word, entrusting our lives to the Truth of God revealed to us there.  Just like someone who starts working out will not instantly be an Olympic athlete in a day, neither will we instantly become rocks for Christ.  We simply need to start and know that God will be with us along the way.

I hope each of you remains steadfast in the hope of God for you.  He loves you, more than you know.

Grace and Peace,

Adam