2024 Pastors Conference Session 1

“Faith for the Mission”- Mark Prater

The following is an edited transcript of the audio

Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 if you would. Thank you, Jared, for those kind words. Just so I'm beating your dad on that godly list. Ken and Beth, thank you for your story and, more importantly, your faith, which affects all of us. Pat and Dana, thank you for your sacrifices and the faith to go. It affects all of us. Pat, I should probably explain the Earl Grey tea issue. They did prepare for me what they told me was a proper Earl Grey. And I responded, “It was good.” You've got to follow some examples like when in Rome, do what Romans do. So when in Bristol, that's what I did. I drank their tea and told them it was great. I wasn't sure if Matt or Pete were saved and I thought there might be a gospel opportunity.

We began this conference on Tuesday evening with our founder C.J. Mahaney skillfully exhorting us from Philippians 3:13-14, forgetting what lies behind, including those regrets that we all have and straining forward to what lies ahead. This morning, Jeff, more than capably pointed us forward by calling us to the priority of equipping young men for ministry now so that the gospel in Sovereign Grace can continue to be declared for generations to come in Sovereign Grace.

And I want to end this conference by continuing to point us forward tonight to some of the hopes that I have and that we have for our future together. I want to end this conference by looking to our future with faith and assurance of what we hope for and a conviction for what we now not see. Now this sermon is for the pastors, wives and leaders of Sovereign Grace Churches. But to our guests, it's been my prayer that it would serve you as well. To our guests, thank you for being here. We pray that you'll come back. And, by the way, this will not be an expository sermon. I'm springing from a text so I can share some of these things that are on my heart. Hebrews 11; we're going to read the first six verses together:

“Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen for by it. The people of old receive their commendation by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible by faith. Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous. God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith though he died, he still speaks by faith. Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death and he was not found because God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he was commended at as having pleased God and without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Let's pray. “Lord, you wrote Hebrews 11:1-6, and so tonight we ask through the work of the Spirit, you would speak to us through your word and that you would deepen and strengthen our faith for what you have for us in the future. This is a work that I can't do that only you can do. So work among us tonight, Lord, in a way that we know it's your doing. And may you receive all the glory, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.”

For me, 2024 has been filled with unexpected challenges and difficulties and even injuries. Amid February, I missed the last step on a staircase heading to a meeting in our church building, I ruptured my patella tendon which required surgery and now I have a staircase named in my honor at Covenant Fellowship Church. To add insult to injury, in May we had a leaders retreat at Covenant Fellowship during which we had a limerick writing competition and the winning world Limerick went like this”

There once was a pastor named Mark,

Who took a great tumble in the dark.

He tripped on a stair, didn't see what was there

Now in handicapped spaces he parks.

Having a world champion Limerick written about me and a stair named in my honor in our church is not on my list of life goals, but there were also unexpected challenges in our extended family and unexpected ministry challenges that we didn't anticipate throughout this year and there were times that my faith began to fail.

Maybe you arrived at this conference in a similar place. You've had unexpected injuries or surgeries or family challenges and ministry difficulties. And you arrived here weary because of those, because of the challenges you faced. You now sing these words, “When I fear my faith will fail” much differently. Now maybe you came to this conference thinking I need a fresh injection of faith because without it, the future doesn't look so bright to me.

See, if that's you. I can relate. During this year when my faith began to fail, I turned to Hebrews 11 for perspective, for a fresh injection of faith for Hebrews 11 to inform my hopes about the future. See, we know that the author of Hebrews is writing to Christians who were facing their own unexpected challenges and difficulties.

Hebrews 10:32 tells us these Christians had a hard struggle with sufferings. Others faced public reproach and afflictions for their faith. These Christians, they were tired, they were weary, their faith was about to fail, which is why he writes to them in 10:36 that they have need for endurance. See, these believers, in the midst of their challenges and difficulties, they needed a fresh injection of enduring faith so that they would not shrink back but press on toward the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ, which is why the author writes these faith building words in Hebrews 10:39, “but we are not of those who shrank back.”

Did you come here tired and weary? Did you come here wanting a fresh injection of faith? Did you come here wondering what God has for you? This is what God says about you in Christ. He says this, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserved our souls. That's who we are.

See, looking to provide a fresh injection of faith to these weary believers. He then skillfully pens chapter 11 by pointing them back to Old Testament people who possessed and enduring faith in God and even though they had not seen or received what they had promised, what had been promised. And despite the challenges they faced, they did not shrink back. They pressed on. John Owen makes this wonderful observation,

“It is faith alone that takes believers out of this world while they are in it that exalts them above it while they are under its rage that enables them to live upon things future and invisible, giving such a real subsistence unto them and victorious evidence of their truth and reality as secures its possessors from fainting under all oppositions, tempt temptations and persecutions, whatever.”

That is the kind of enduring faith that we find here in Hebrews 11; a faith that has assurance of what we hope for and a conviction of things that we do not see. And even when we face oppression and temptations and challenges, we do not shrink back. We press on see brothers and sisters.

I chose this text because I believe that in Sovereign Grace we need to be possessors of this enduring faith, not only because of the current challenges you may be facing in your family or in your ministries, but also because of the future that lays before us as a family of churches. So I want to end this conference by sharing with you a few things that I hope for. I believe that we hope for the future of our churches and even though we don't see all of these things right now, I want to call us to possess an enduring faith in God that he will act for the good of our churches and the ongoing advancement of the gospel and of course for his glory despite the challenges that we will face. See, it's that kind of that the saints of old were commended for.

Do you notice how many times that word “commended” was used in our short text ? They were commended for this in Hebrews 11 and most importantly it is that kind of faith that pleases God. You saw it there in verse six, didn't you? “And without faith it is impossible to please him.” Verse six serves as a reminder of the ultimate purpose of why we exist. Sovereign Grace ultimately exists to please God. We exist to please God and bring Him glory in all that we do. It's not about us, right? It is about him and making much of him. And one of the ways that we make much of him is to be a God-centered people who possess an enduring faith that has an assurance of things hoped for and a conviction of things not seen yet in our future. That kind of faith, brothers and sisters, it pleases God.

See, I believe as we look forward, as we move forward together, I believe we need Hebrews 11 like faith. This is how I would describe in one sentence where we are at and where we are headed over the next decade or so as a family of churches:

During a time of God-given global expansion, moving from a small denomination to a mid-size denomination, we are beginning a phase of generational transfer of primary leadership of our churches in a culture that is shifting further away from God's word, making gospel ministry and gospel mission more challenging.

Now that extended sentence contains God-given blessings and it contains God-given challenges. God-ordained challenges, which reveal our need, to lead our churches with an enduring faith in God as we look to the future by the grace of God and for the glory of God. To lead our churches well, we need brothers and sisters to lead with an enduring faith in God as we do good gospel work for God, all for the purpose of pleasing God.

Now there's much that God is doing in our churches right now that give you hope, things that we see that do give you hope about our next 10 plus years. At the same time, there are challenges and vulnerabilities that we have that reveal our need to trust God for his provision and for his power and for his protection. So as we look to the future, there are three things that are on my heart, three things that I hope for that hopefully you hope for regarding our future that will require us to lead with an enduring faith.

Here's the first thing: enduring faith for a God-glorifying generational transfer of leadership. That's long. Let me repeat it. Enduring faith for a God glorifying generational transfer of leadership. Now, one of the effects of reading Hebrews 11 that it has upon you is it makes you feel small. It makes you feel small because it is written in a way that reveals God's work throughout redemptive history. And so Peter T. O'Brien makes this comment,

“It is noteworthy that in the list of Hebrews 11 attention is given not only to the faith of the OT examples but also and particularly to the salvation-historical events themselves. The examples are set in historical sequence so as to provide an outline of the redemptive purpose of God, advancing through the age of promise until at last in Jesus, faith’s ‘pioneer and perfector,’ the age of fulfilment is inaugurated.”

So we take Sovereign Grace and we lay it into redemptive history. And we are small, but we are doing our small parts of advancing God's redemptive purposes in this age of promise as we look with hope and with faith to the age of fulfillment when as we sang earlier we will see him face to face.

Hebrews 11 reminds us—and Jeff pointed this out this morning—that gospel ministry and gospel mission, it advances as one generation passes the gospel to the next generation. Now because we are a young denomination, we're only 42 years old, the first generation of Sovereign Grace pastors have an opportunity, a unique opportunity, to transition pastoral leadership to the next generation,—second and third generation pastors—so that the good gospel work can continue for what we hope generations to come in Sovereign Grace. Last year, I encouraged you at this conference to identify and recruit and evaluate and equip young men for pastoral ministry and send them to the Pastors College. That's because, Jeff pointed this out this morning, about 47%, about half of our pastors, are in their fifties and sixties, which means in 10 years, approximately half of our churches will be led by the next generation of pastors.

In 10 years, the next generation will be leading Sovereign Grace regionally, nationally, and globally. In 10 years, somebody else will be the Executive Director and the composition of our Leadership Team will be different than we have now. But I brought with me this year some new statistics to inform you of the heightened need we have and that highlights this generational transfer.

Here it is: 13 of our senior pastors are in their 60’s, and 22 of our senior pastors are in their 50’s. So that's 35 senior pastor transitions that will occur over the next 10 or 15 years. See those numbers? They reveal for us an opportunity we have over the next decade to model a biblically informed God glorifying transition of primary leadership of our churches on a local, regional, national and global level that serves our churches and allows us to continue to advance the gospel for generations to come. Now to make these transitions in a God-glorifying way, we will need enduring faith. We will need enduring faith, brothers and sisters. And I want to speak first to the first generation pastors that are here in Sovereign Grace.

We need faith, brothers, to make our transitions with joy and humility. We want to do it with encouragement that communicates our support for the next generation as they step into leadership. That will require faith because they won't do things the way we did them. The temptations that no one talks about, they will come. And so we must have this enduring faith that they might even do things better than we did them. And we must have an enduring faith that communicates to them that we are entrusting them with what God has given us and we believe that they will continue to advance the gospel through your local church. That kind of enduring faith to my first generation brothers, when you do it that way, that kind of enduring faith pleases God. It does. We also must have faith to initiate these transitions, believing that we will still bear fruit in old age (Psalm 92:14).

Ken and Beth Mellinger are still bearing fruit in their season of life because of the faith they had to make sacrifices for the good of Redemption Hill Church and because of that, for the good of our partnership in Sovereign Grace. Ken and Beth, thank you for your example.

And ladies take note. Take note, ladies, that Beth's faith was key. It was a game changer for Ken. It was key to Ken's decision to move to Austin, illustrating, yet again, the vital role pastor's wives play in gospel ministry.

Now I also want to be an example in this area and so I have been talking with the Leadership Team and with the Executive Committee about my transition out of the Executive Director role sometime in the future. You see, the Leadership Team, the Executive Committee and I, we share this common desire to do this transition in our new polity, in a way that serves our churches, and we hope leaves an example for future generations to follow a God glorifying transition like that.

It requires time and thought and planning and conversation and prayer. And so as the leadership team and I, as we talk about my transition, we are putting together, we're writing a resource that we hope is a tool that we can give you as you initiate and you begin to think through your transitions. We want to do that to serve you to my first generation brothers. Let's put your wives in there. First generation brothers and sisters, you have built sovereign grace. Well you are to be commended. Let's finish that work and let us transition it well. Amen. Amen. Lemme speak now to the second and third generation of sovereign grace pastors brothers. You must endeavor to transition into leadership, to joy and humility and an appropriate respect and appreciation for what you are being handed. Now as I talk to younger pastors in sovereign grace and we talk about the future, there is a common fear that I hear among them.

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It goes like this. You realize you're being handed something that has been built very well by the first generation and you fear that you're going to drop the ball, you fear you're going to blow it and disappoint those who went before. You see that fear must be met with an enduring faith and enduring faith that has a conviction that the same God who helped the first generation build. Sovereign grace is the same God who will help you to continue to build sovereign grace and that kind of enduring faith. Brothers that pleases God. See enduring faith in God continues for generations to do good gospel work for God, all for the purpose of pleasing God. Second thing, we need to have end during faith for I believe for our future. Number two, enduring faith for theological fidelity, which Jeff talked about today. See our statement of faith.

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There's so much appreciate what Bob did in doing that responsive reading. Thank you, that was brilliant. Our statement of faith is providing theological clarity and unity in our family of churches. New people are now coming to our churches who've never heard of sovereign grace before for many reasons, but one primary one is they like the clear theological definition that is found in our statement of faith. So this morning we gave you a gift, a sovereign grace catechism that doesn't go on your shelf. We want you to pick that up and read it. We want you to order it for your church and to give it out because our hope is that this catechism will be used by every member of every sovereign Grace Church so that our theological convictions not only deepen, but they actually function daily in our lives in a way that maintains our theological fidelity.

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In a culture as you know is moving away from God's word and given those trends, we must lead with an enduring faith by staying vigilant for how those cultural issues may subtly erode our theological fidelity. Not only now but in the future. You know the issues, gender, ideology, complementarianism, the therapeutic creep making its way into the biblical counseling world. Thank you Josh Blunt for that breakout session. Competent counsel, listen to that breakout session, things like spiritual formation. If you're not familiar with that, there's a book published in January by John Mark Comer entitled, practicing The Way Be with Jesus, become Like Him Do as He did. The book is basically about building the spiritual disciplines into the rhythm of your life so that you'll become more like Jesus and live like Jesus did. So that's wonderful. That's a good thing. The problem is that the book lacks any gospel connections.

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Now I first heard about this book from re's spring over the summer because he was aware in Australia that college students were reading this book and so I asked him to write a book review and since that time we've talked at least in our church, there are some college students that we're aware of that are reading this book, but here's what Riley wrote about this book. The book emphasizes our need to participate in our growth sanctification. What John talked about in a way that seems as if the gospel of Paul is at odds with the way of Jesus rather than as Romans six makes so clear the gospel or justification by faith is the basis of our sanctification. The unfortunate side product is that if you don't know the true gospel, well you will never encounter it in this book as anything other than a straw man truncated gospel of personal salvation.

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See, what does that erode? That erodes our justification by faith alone and because of that it would erode our doctrine of sanctification where the grace of the gospel is. John preached so well it transforms, it subtly erodes that. Now despite the cultural and evangelical challenges that we might face, there is no need to panic. No need to panic whatsoever. Rather, we are going to lead our churches with an enduring faith in God's word. That's what Jeff talked about this morning in God's word expressed in an ongoing fidelity to our theological convictions. Now because theological compromise, you know this because it happens so subtly, I want to talk about two vulnerabilities that I see for sovereign grace. The first is our global expansion and the second is an unbiblical kindness or niceness that keeps us from having hard conversations. Lemme talk first about our global expansion.

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It's wonderful in so many ways, the stories that we've heard this week and given our current rate of expansion in 10 years, we will potentially increase the number of sovereign grace partner churches from the 95 we have now to 280 by 2034. That's what we see potentially and it's hopeful, it's encouraging the current opportunities to expand globally and what that means for our future is encouraging mostly because this is God's doing, it's the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes and we have examples of faith among us. You heard this morning about the church plant in Nairobi, Kenya. Why is that happening? Because the sovereign Grace Church of Louisville elders had faith to invest into Michael Granger. That requires a lot of faith by the way they had faith to invest into Josh Pinnell and then faith to send them into another part of the world.

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And Michael and Josh had faith to go and to plant a church and to start a pastor's college. It's had two classes now. The first class, Brian, that you heard this morning on the video is now an ordained elder and Michael and Josh are sending in faith, Jonathan and Brian to Nairobi, Kenya, all for the purpose of reaching people there with the gospel brothers thank you in Louisville and Michael and Joshua and Brian and Jonathan for your faith. You heard this morning that in two to three years we hoped to plant a church in Chi Minh, Vietnam. Who would ever think the sovereign graces would plant a church in Chi Minh? I never would've thought that. Why is that happening? Because in God's goodness he helped us cross paths with Jeffrey Joe, who we learned as a brother from a different mother who shares our gospel centrality and our gospel convictions.

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And Jeffrey, as you heard last night, has a faith to invest in the young men and in faith send them and so a church will be planted in Vietnam. Jeff, thank you for your enduring faith. See, those are things that we see and they make us hopeful. But you know this, with expansion comes challenges. And if you study denominations, you find that when some expanded, when they grew over time, conservative factions and liberally progressive factions formed threatening their theological fidelity consistency and unity. And so we as a leadership team, we've seen that and we carry this burden that as sovereign grace expands, we prevent factions like that from forming in our denomination, which is why we had a big discussion about it in June at our leadership team retreat. And in typical Perian fashion, Jeff offered this thought factions occur when you see either denominational leadership that is disconnected from seminaries and or denominational leadership that goes astray theologically, very important point.

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See, as a leadership team, we must keep a close watch on our doctrine in our lives and on our team and we must continue to oversee our pastor's colleges wherever they are throughout the world, which is why we are currently working on a global certification pastor's college certification plan and basically it would be for any pastor's college outside the states that wants to call itself a sovereign grace pastor's college. There is certain criteria that are going to need to be met to be certified that we're doing that to protect our theological fidelity and consistency. Additionally, as we expand and adopt more churches, which is wonderful, we must look for ways to improve our adoption evaluation process. There are lessons we must learn from La Grange in Liberia. We've got to learn those lessons. So I've asked John Payne and Dave Taylor to work together to evaluate how we can improve our adoption process to help us better evaluate who we partner with in the future.

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The second vulnerability that I see is that we can have this unbiblical kindness or niceness choose your term that keeps us from having hard conversations. Now I'm glad sovereign grace pastors are nice guys. I'm sure your wives sitting here thinking, yeah, well he's not that nice but I like him. I think he's a nice guy. We are to be kind. It is a fruit of the spirit, isn't it? Galatians five verse 22, and as for pastors, we are to be kind to everyone and we are to correct our opponents with gentleness two Timothy two verses 24 in 25. Note what Paul's saying in that verse, though kindness characterizes the correction. Kindness doesn't remove the obligation to have the hard conversation that corrects. He's not saying that's the what he's saying. Kindness doesn't remove that kindness. Yet clear correction is necessary to protect and defend the truth so that air does not creep in and we lose our theological fidelity.

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So if a new member comes to your church and they tell you, I don't need a pastor, I need a therapist, you need to have that gracious hard conversation with them explaining that they need a pastor who can bring God's word to bear in their lives in a way a therapist is never equipped to do. And Josh Blunt's breakout will help you to do that. Have that hard conversation. If you have a college student that's reading, practicing the Way, tell 'em to put it down because it doesn't make any good gospel connections and you want them in their growth to not only be rooted in their justification by faith, but also grace that will help their efforts in growing. Now this is where the voice of a pastor's wife I think is really important. It is. You've got to help your man have faith to have these hard conversations.

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You can do that. There will be those opportunities for you because ladies, your husband may not see in the moment how this hard conversation's going to turn out and your encouragement and your prayers will build his faith so that as Owen says, he is exalted above the difficulty and trust that God will work his will for the good of that person in having that hard conversation. See, the young biblical trends in our culture will require that we expand wisely and it will require that we have hard conversations to maintain our theological fidelity. One other thing under this point, these cultural trends also also I think heighten the necessity for the partnership that we it does. Because as we face these things together, we are going to need one another more and more to stand firm in one's spirit striving side by side with an enduring faith in God as we continue to do good gospel work for God, all for the purpose of what pleasing God.

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Okay, third thing for which we need enduring faith for the future. Number three, enduring faith for church planting. Now as you would expect, faith for church planting has been expressed in sacrifice by sending our best. It's marked our churches for 42 years now. It's a wonderful part of our history and it's our hope that that sacrifice will continue as we possess and enduring faith to send our best to plant more churches in the future. Let me just remind you, why do we plant churches? We plant churches because five years ago we planted sovereign Grace Church paramatta that Riley Spring leads and there was a Filipino immigrant who moved to Australia. She was invited to that church. Her name is Lang by her cousin who is a member there. She was raised Catholic and her understanding of salvation as she knew God and she had to do good works and live a good life, she says, she says it this way, God plus good works equals salvation.

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That's how she walked into sovereign Grace Church paramatta. And she walked in with a profound emptiness because that equation, it wasn't working in her life and it was there that she heard the gospel again and again and she was born again and she was recently baptized saying Jesus is the living God who takes away the sins of the world, including mine. For the first time I understood that salvation isn't earned by my works, but rests entirely on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Wonderful testimony, right? Why? Because with enduring faith, we together and the brothers in Australia in particular planted sovereign Grace Church, Parma. I was talking with Philip Estrada, Philip and Danielle this morning. They planted Mission City fellowship in San Antonio three years ago and he said, mark, last night I got a call on my phone from a member who is wrestling through the gospel.

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And he called me and said, I just need to be baptized. I want to be baptized. Why is he feel that way and think that way? Because he's heard the gospel at Mission City Fellowship and it's there because together we have planted that church. Those stories I hope remind us of why we plant churches. We don't plant churches to grow sovereign grace, right? We plant churches to reach laying and the guy in San Antonio with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I hope those stories stir your faith to continue to plant churches in the future. Now, what is encouraging is what Joel talked about this morning, that he's given us these wonderful opportunities to plant churches throughout the world. 15 of them, 15 of them, six in the States and nine outside of the states. And you were given this card for a reason. Don't throw this away, take it home.

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Put it in a place where you pray and let us together. Let us seek God in prayer for these churches, believing that God rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11, verse six. We've got to pray, as Joel said so well this morning, these church plants, they represent God's activity. These are things that we see and they bring us hope. Even though I'm encouraged by all of those things. I believe we've got a couple of vulnerabilities that we have to be aware of so that we can continue to plant churches. The first is being too tentative to plant more churches. And the second is, how are we going to fund all these church plants? Lemme talk about being too tentative. Last year at this conference, I said it was time for us as a family of churches to take more thoughtful prayer filled risks to plant more churches.

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And since that time I've had several of you talk with me and I was actually surprised saying how much that had affected you. I was in Tucson just three weeks ago with Sovereign Grace's Church in Tucson led by Derek Overstreet and Tim Lambrose and Tom Wilkins, our pastors there. They were giving me an update on their church. They've grown in a wonderful way and because of the untimely death of a dear member, they received an estate gift and their building is now paid off. It's time to cruise right? Church has grown, building's paid off. But Derek said to me, when you called us to take risks, that really affected us. And so we are now praying and planning to plant another church in another part of Tucson where we're not at. And this is what he said. It really affected me. We would rather have two churches of 100 than one church of 200 and reach more people with the Gospel Brothers.

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We must not be complacent. We must not be tentative Pat and Dana's story, my goodness, what sacrifices they are taking, what risks that they are making for the good of the gospel and to reach more people in London with the gospel. We believe some of them will be added to Oasis International Church, which we believe will be a sovereign Grace Church in a short time as Pat leads them in that process. Again, ladies note, Dana's faith and her willingness to take risks and make sacrifices and how that affected Pat's faith for them to take this wonderful sacrificial step for the gospel together again, it illustrates the important role of pastor's wives in gospel ministry. Let's not be complacent, let's not be tentative. Rather let us seek God in prayer and take thoughtful risks to plant more churches knowing that God rewards those who seek him. I want to remind you tonight, I want to remind you that your sacrifices for the gospel, they do not go unnoticed by God for his word.

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He says to us in his word, those who sow bountifully will also reap bountifully. Two Corinthians chapter nine, verse six. So brothers and sisters let us continue to sow bountifully by sending out our best, believing we will also reap bountifully not only in this life but in the life to come, which leads to the other vulnerability that I see. How in the world are we going to pay for all these church plants? I have no idea. I don't. So with faith, we must seek God in prayer, asking that he would provide financial provision convinced we got to be convinced that he rewards those who seek him with faith. I want to call all of us to do our part giving generously to our church planting efforts. On Monday, the council of elders voted to take our church planting fund and turn into a US church plant fund and a global church plant fund so that we can spend our money more strategically.

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And those are funds that your church and your region or members of your church can give finances to and support the work of church planting in sovereign grace and to stir your faith and to give you evidence that God has already went before us and is providing for us to plant churches. Just two weeks ago, the northeast region voted unanimously in their meeting to take $100,000 out of their regional reserves and give it to the church planting fund because they want to see churches planted, whether they're planted in the northeast region or not. And so brothers in the northeast, thank you for your faith and for your generosity.

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Giving requires, doesn't it? It requires faith, but it is enduring faith in God that gives and does good gospel work for God, for what offer the purpose of pleasing God. Let me end with this there. Those are the things that are on my heart. I hope you share them with me. I hope they're on your heart too. And regardless of whether we will see them come to true full fruition or not, let us leave this conference pursuing them with an enduring faith and enduring faith in God as we go and leave this conference and go do good gospel work for God, all for this joy and ultimate purpose of pleasing God. But here I have one other hope, I have one of our hope to leave you with. It's not just the work we are about to go and continue to prepare for our future.

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It's my hope, it's my prayer that our enduring faith itself would leave a vibrant testimony for future generations to follow. William Lane says, the author of the author of Hebrews brings before his audience, a long series of exemplary witnesses to an enduring faith. The catalog shows that throughout redemptive history, attestation from God has been based upon the evidence of a living faith that acts in terms of God's promise, even when the realization of that promise is not in sight. Such a faith is able to move beyond disappointment and the sufferings of this world and to bear vibrant testimony to future generations regarding the reality of the promise blessing. And so that's my hope and my prayer for us brothers and sisters, may our enduring faith in God as we go do good gospel work for God, all for the purpose of pleasing God. May that enduring faith. May it leave a vibrant testimony for our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren and generations we will not meet. And they'll say, I want a faith like that. May God grant us that kind of enduring faith. Let's pray.

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Lord, we thank you for your word. My goodness. You have spoke to us tonight through six verses that I hardly touched. And we ask together as a family, a family of churches, grant us by your grace enduring faith, deepen our faith, strengthen our faith. For those that came here that needed an injection of faith, grant that to them Lord, so that as we return home, we do our work with an assurance of things that we hope for and a conviction of things we have not yet to see. And may we do all of that for the glory of your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sovereign Grace Churches: Pastors Conference 2024