1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,800 My name is Connor and I oversee a couple things here. 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,200 Young adults and our Calvary communities, I hope oversee the 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,000 leaders of of those communities. And I have the joy of getting to 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,280 share from the word this morning. 5 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,840 And I hope that you guys are doing well today and I also hope 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,240 that your March Madness brackets are going well. 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,840 I know many of you are probably tuning in this afternoon today, 8 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,520 making sure the Sweet 16 is as close as possible to yours. 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,480 And I remember the first time that I got to experience March 10 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:35,120 Madness in my memory in a way that is like the way I 11 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,440 experienced it today. And that was in high school. 12 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:42,120 District 70 in Colorado had the bright idea one year, I don't 13 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,440 know when, to give every student a MacBook Air. 14 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,320 And it was great. It helped us learn. 15 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,200 It taught us how to use computers, and it was really 16 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,680 great. The first or the last Thursday 17 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,880 before spring break, that was the Thursday that March Madness 18 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,240 started up. And every kid in school, every 19 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,960 student had a MacBook, and every student's MacBook was tuned into 20 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,720 the games. And it was a day of watching all 21 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,480 the games that were on your computer, also the computers of 22 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,520 your classmates in front of you. And if you were lucky enough to 23 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,680 have a teacher who understood the importance of March Madness, 24 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,320 you'd also be watching the game on the whiteboard through his 25 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:21,520 projector. And March Madness, if you're 26 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,120 familiar with it, is very fun. Mainly, basketball's great 27 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,680 tournaments are great, but it's fun because it's because it is 28 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,000 madness. It's chaos. 29 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,320 It's hard to predict who is going to win and who's going to 30 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:33,800 do well. And so whether you've watched 31 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,760 every basketball game all year or whether you couldn't even 32 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,640 tell me who Duke is, you can actually do really poorly in the 33 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:44,600 tournament and picking the teams that you want. 34 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,640 There's no rhyme or reason to who wins most of the time. 35 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,920 And so it's kind of chaotic. It's madness. 36 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,400 And I bring it up this morning because I think that if we were 37 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,920 to be honest with ourselves and with each other, we would say 38 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,560 that out of all sports, out of all tournaments, that might be 39 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,560 the metaphor that some of us would choose to describe the 40 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,400 spiritual journey with. Maybe you felt this before, that 41 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:14,880 life with God and progressing towards the godliness feels more 42 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,920 like chaotic March Madness with no clear way of deciding who is 43 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:20,600 good and who is bad and Who Will Win. 44 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,360 Feels more like that than like a clear path to growth and to 45 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,960 godliness and to success. And if you're honest and that 46 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:30,840 you say that, yeah, that is me. I do feel that. 47 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:32,840 I have felt that. Thank you for your honesty. 48 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:34,680 And I'd love for you to know that you're not alone. 49 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:36,840 I've felt it. And I'm willing to guess that 50 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,440 every one of us in this room who have undertaken the the journey 51 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,800 with God has felt something like that. 52 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,840 Has felt it's chaotic, it's hard. 53 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,000 How do I get from point A to point B all the way to point Z 54 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,440 along with the spiritual journey to the day that I get called 55 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,240 heavenward? And it's a question that I think 56 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,840 is not vague in the in the Scriptures. 57 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,320 It's not vague as you look at the life of the church and the 58 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,440 life of Jesus, but it's vague because we don't always talk 59 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,320 about it. And today we have the joy of 60 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,320 getting to open Paul's words to Timothy and talk about how we 61 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,840 train for godliness, how we can actually find success in the 62 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,960 spiritual life. So if you open with me to First 63 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,320 Timothy chapter 4, we will pick up Paul's instructions to 64 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,400 Timothy and the church in Ephesus in verse 6. 65 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,560 And this is what Paul says that Timothy says, if you instruct 66 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,840 the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of 67 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:29,760 Jesus Christ. And so here we have it, Paul 68 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,640 says if you want to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, here 69 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:35,400 it is. And that word minister, don't be 70 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,840 confused by it. It's not Paul simply saying 71 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,360 Timothy, this is instruction for you as the pastor or elder or 72 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,040 church leader. The word minister does mean that 73 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,160 for Timothy, he is the leader of the community. 74 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:48,240 He is one of the leaders of the community. 75 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,800 But the word literally is the same word that we've studied for 76 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,800 the last couple weeks as we talked about deacons. 77 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,880 The word here is diakonos. It just means servants. 78 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,360 He says, Timothy, if you want to be a good servant, or in other 79 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:05,240 words a successful servant, here is how you do it. 80 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:11,240 He says, First off, instruct the brethren in these things, these 81 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,360 things being that which nourished, he says, in the words 82 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,880 of faith and the good doctrine which you have carefully 83 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,640 followed. So the first thing, the first 84 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,560 way we train for godliness is through our diet, Through our 85 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,240 diet, he says, nourished by the words. 86 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,520 So we have to have the right diet, as any athlete will tell 87 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,520 you, any person trying to get from the couch to the 5K, the 88 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,520 spring will tell you the first thing that needs to be fixed is 89 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,280 the diet. And Paul gives some specific 90 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,440 instructions to Timothy about the diet that him and the church 91 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,040 should have. First off, he says that you must 92 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,560 instruct the brethren in these things, these things being for 93 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:52,080 Timothy and the church, the things that Paul has previously 94 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,120 written in this letter. So saying Timothy, if you want 95 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,120 to be faithful, you want to be a good minister, read what I've 96 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,080 written to you in this letter and put it into action. 97 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,120 Find godly people to oversee and be elders in the church. 98 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,600 Find godly people to serve as deacons, as servants in the 99 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,080 church. Deal with him and Eeus and 100 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,720 Alexander and others who would come in with false doctrine that 101 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,560 would be threatening to shipwreck their faith and 102 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:17,360 others. Deal with them the way that I've 103 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,640 told you. And for us, it can be brought 104 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,880 into a bit to not just Paul's letter to Timothy, not just 105 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:27,240 Paul's letters in general, but to the whole of the Bible, the 106 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,720 whole account of God's Word written for us and to us, and 107 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,240 the word that we read week by week, day by day, the library of 108 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,600 Scripture. If we put these things into 109 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,720 action, if we begin to teach these things, live by these 110 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:44,080 things. And it must be these things, you 111 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:48,440 must have some semblance of a, a foundation for truth, which is 112 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,160 the Bible says Timothy. It's not just what you feel 113 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,320 like, It's not just what you want it to be, but you need to 114 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,120 listen to the things that that I am instructing you with. 115 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,640 And Paul would say to us, if you want to be a good minister, you 116 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,000 have to be nourished by the words of the Bible. 117 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,640 And that's the next word. Nourished is very important for 118 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,320 us because if you may come from a background or have experienced 119 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,760 the word of God being used in a way that's not nourishing, maybe 120 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,280 you've gone through a difficult time. 121 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:18,280 You've been dealing with grief, dealing with pain, dealing with 122 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:21,520 anxiety, and somebody comes to you well meaning and in love, 123 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,520 but they say, hey, I know you're anxious, but Jesus does say, 124 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,320 don't be anxious. So smile, move on. 125 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,440 It's going to be OK. To which you and your heart 126 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,440 probably respond, I know it's going to be OK. 127 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,520 I know I shouldn't be anxious, but I am. 128 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,000 That doesn't quite help. It doesn't quite nourish me. 129 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,200 It doesn't quite take me from point A to point B in a way that 130 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,800 creates life. And maybe some of us have grown 131 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,160 up in a religious background that used the word, knew the 132 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,120 word, love the Word, use verses like this to say we need to 133 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,520 teach the Word and nothing but the Word. 134 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,800 And it was all about Scripture. It may be a beautiful tradition, 135 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:00,760 but it also may have been wielded in a way that was 136 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,120 hurtful. Somebody taking scripture out of 137 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,480 context and using it not as a way to nourish you, not as a way 138 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,120 to build you up, but as a tool to hurt you, to bludgeon you, to 139 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,920 tear you away from the faith or from what you feel like God is 140 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:18,120 calling you too. So we need to teach, we need to 141 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,000 look at, we need to read. We need to be instructed by the 142 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,960 words of Scripture and we have to do so in a way that nourishes 143 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,040 not only ourselves but those who we are sharing with. 144 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,360 And Paul drives his point home by saying and of the good 145 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,680 doctrine, the good doctrine. And we've made note of this a 146 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,440 couple times as we've gone through this letter, that when 147 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,120 Paul says good doctrine, he doesn't just mean right 148 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,080 doctrine. He's not just saying know the 149 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,240 right things about God, although he's is saying that. 150 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,760 He's certainly not saying less, but he is saying more good 151 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,880 doctrine being healthy doctrine. So not only is it correct, but 152 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,920 it actually can be used to bring health and life to people's 153 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:03,000 bodies and souls and families. So a good check to see if am I 154 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,560 using the word of God right is, are our lives more healthy 155 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,160 because of the things we've believed in? 156 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,320 Are other people's lives more healthy because of the things we 157 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,640 share with them? Or the is the way we're sharing 158 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,480 of the things we we're sharing actually not doctrinally sound 159 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,440 or not being shared in a attritious way? 160 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:24,960 Because we're doing so not in the manner of which Christ did 161 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,440 or the new Justin authors did, but we're doing so not in 162 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,120 accordance with healthy doctrine, but with accordance to 163 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,559 the doctrine of myself and what I think should be the way that 164 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:40,640 all people do all things. And Paul begins to drive it home 165 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,280 even more. Not just the good doctrine, 166 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:47,240 healthy doctrine, not just doctrine, but doctrine which you 167 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,240 have carefully followed. This is an important note for 168 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,480 us, especially after last week. Maybe some of you left hearing 169 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,520 about those who have become lying hypocrites and you 170 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,440 wondered how did they get there and why? 171 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,120 And how do I help myself to not get there? 172 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,200 Why? Why do people go that route? 173 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,880 And Paul's instructions to Timothy, I think, are to help 174 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,600 protect him from becoming a hypocritical liar. 175 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:14,760 He's saying, Timothy, the sound doctrine which you teach in a 176 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:19,880 way that nourishes others, must be also lived by you. 177 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,600 You cannot be a teacher, a pastor or a leader who does not 178 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,640 live out what you are preaching. And we can all think of the ways 179 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,880 in which that has been mishandled and miss done in our 180 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,400 time and place and world. And we can all think of broad 181 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:35,360 examples. But my guess is we can all think 182 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:40,040 of examples of our own lives where we we have said things to 183 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:41,800 people. We believe things are right and 184 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:43,640 true. And yet when we examine our 185 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,320 lives, we know the thing that I taught that person and the thing 186 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,440 that I've believed, I've not actually, not actually lived. 187 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,560 It's a it's a way in which we have to come again and again to 188 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:58,480 obedience to the good doctrine and to say, you know what, I'm 189 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,760 growing in this. I'm not quite perfect in this. 190 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,120 And Timothy being instructed by Paul to live out, to grow, to 191 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,360 get better at living out the things in which he's instructing 192 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:11,880 the church. And so we had that first 193 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,960 metaphor of a diet as people who want to be successful 194 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,880 Christians, people who want to grow in our faith, we need to be 195 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,200 people who have a good diet, a healthy diet. 196 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,560 Then Paul goes on to give the other obvious thing that every 197 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:27,280 athlete will tell you. Not only do you need a good 198 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,280 diet, but he says you also need to exercise. 199 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:36,960 He says an exercise in yourself toward godliness for bodily 200 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,560 exercise. In verse 8, he says profits a 201 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:43,280 little, but godliness is profitable for all things, 202 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:48,080 having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to 203 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:51,200 come. So he starts off by telling 204 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,600 Timothy that the bottle of the exercise that he may pursue may 205 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:55,960 be healthy. And it's been interesting as 206 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,640 I've prepared for today and read up on some different 207 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:00,720 commentaries. One thing that often gets noted 208 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,920 is that in Ephesus there were actually gyms. 209 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,080 There are gymnasiums that people would go and work out at. 210 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,520 And so in my mind, I'm imagining maybe Paul dropped off Timothy 211 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,800 and said, Timothy, please pastor this church. 212 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,720 And maybe they spent some time in their in their week there 213 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:19,920 hanging out at the axiom of Ephesus and taking some laps in 214 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,040 the pool, doing some bench press, maybe ending in the 215 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:24,480 sauna. And so when Paul is telling 216 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:29,000 Timothy, hey, bodily exercise is good, Timothy may be 217 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,520 participating in bodily exercise. 218 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,040 And it's true. Taking care of our bodies is 219 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,720 profitable, is meaningful. Last week we talked about how 220 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:38,520 all things that are created are good. 221 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,360 So the human body in and of itself is not evil. 222 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,160 God created it, it's good, we should take care of it. 223 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,520 Is it corrupted by sin? Yes. 224 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:48,480 Will we receive new ones and eternity? 225 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:50,680 Yes. But the human body is not in and 226 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:54,000 of itself bad. So taking care of it is of some 227 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,040 value. But Timothy, Paul says godliness 228 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,480 is of more training for godliness is of even more value 229 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,280 unless we be vague and we we breeze through this and say, 230 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,440 well, guys, the goal, the way that you become godly is simply 231 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,200 by training. And you're left with a vague 232 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,120 idea that I should train for godliness. 233 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:16,160 I want to share with the six ways in which I think that kind 234 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,880 of encompass a lot of the ways we train, but are in no ways 235 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,320 exhausted, but six ways that we can train and practice our 236 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,600 godliness to grow and become more and more like Jesus. 237 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,680 So the first thing now all of us who are believers have probably 238 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:34,080 participated in. So we start with an easy one. 239 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,800 It's one of the easiest ones, but also one of the most 240 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,880 powerful ones is being able to communicate your story and get 241 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,680 baptized. Now baptism, all these, all 242 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:46,960 these practices that I'll share with you are after two simple 243 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,040 goals. They're not giving you 244 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,840 salvation, but they are creating space for God and they're 245 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,400 helping us rid our lives of sin. And so when we get baptized, 246 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:00,800 when we baptize others, when we have people stand in the horse 247 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,000 through out in the West lobby, we say, please Share your story. 248 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,680 Why are you here? It's the moment where their life 249 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:10,640 is now intersecting with God's life, where their story is 250 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,880 intersecting with God's story. And we all, as followers of 251 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,840 Jesus, should have some semblance of that in our lives, 252 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,080 should be able to communicate when we came to faith in Christ 253 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,000 and why we did and what God has done since we gave our lives to 254 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,560 him. We should be able to have a day 255 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:30,000 where we publicly declared our commitment to Jesus and his ways 256 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,200 before the Church, before the world, before the rulers and 257 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:36,720 powers, seen and unseen. We should be able to be able to 258 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,800 look back on that day and say that was the day I was baptized, 259 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:43,080 that I went into the water and died to myself and came out of 260 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,640 the water risen to new life in Christ. 261 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,680 The second thing, which if you were baptized and you have 262 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:52,080 someone walking you through that process, they probably LED you 263 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,920 to understand these two simple principles. 264 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,720 Principles that are simple, yet they are the two main things 265 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,160 that help us in the spiritual life. 266 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:04,400 That is prayer in the Bible. So if you were baptized by 267 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,040 somebody, maybe they said to you, now that you've been 268 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:09,720 baptized, I want to just instruct you. 269 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,400 Read some of first read some of John and then read some of the 270 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,160 songs. Start with the book of John. 271 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,360 It's a great intro to Christianity. 272 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,280 Read some of the Psalms and these beautiful songs written by 273 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:24,960 David and other people and help you begin to understand exactly 274 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,720 what you now believe as a follower of Jesus. 275 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,880 But prayer and Bible, or they're simple, yet they take many 276 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,120 shapes and forms. Maybe prayer for you has been 277 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,480 intercession or Thanksgiving. Maybe you're growing in new 278 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,760 types of prayer. I know I've been challenged by 279 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,760 Pastor Noah in the way that he's LED our church to cultivate 280 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,280 Sabbath and taking a whole day to rest and delight and stop and 281 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,480 to slow down, to be with God and to spend time in prayer. 282 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,520 Maybe prayer for you takes this form of going away to the 283 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:59,160 mountains to pray by a river, or takes the form of praying in a 284 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,480 group of people for a specific need. 285 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,400 Whatever it is, prayer is important and should encompass 286 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,760 probably lots of those categories and then read in the 287 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,680 Bible. And there's lots of different 288 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:12,080 ways in the same way to read the Bible. 289 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,160 There's the long drawn out reading of a whole book at one 290 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,120 time. There's slowing down and reading 291 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,680 short portions. Maybe you subscribe to our 292 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,760 prayer emails every day and you read one of those devotions and 293 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,800 you read it devotionally. Maybe you love you love reading 294 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,880 the Bible and you love the ancient languages. 295 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,680 And so you get your Greek manuscripts out and you open it 296 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,080 and you read it and you study and you try to get down to the 297 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,400 the bare bones of it all that is good. 298 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,680 In whatever way the Spirit may be leading you at your place in 299 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,800 your discipleship journey, prayer and the Bible are 300 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,000 paramount. Next to that, number 3 is being 301 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,600 involved in a diverse discipleship community. 302 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:52,640 Here at Calvary, we call those Calvary communities and all they 303 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,960 are is our attempt to create what the New Testament church 304 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:01,520 had and what Jesus had a group of disciples living on mission 305 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,160 together as a family. Jesus had his 12 and within that 306 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,160 he had three to four who he was really close with. 307 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,120 Beyond that, he had the the multitude that he was with. 308 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,080 We see this in the early church where there were people meeting 309 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,600 in homes, but then they'd also gather in the Lord's Day and 310 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,320 they would worship together in places like the Solomon's 311 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,720 colonnade. And we do that as a church. 312 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,120 We gather on Sundays and we worship in in a sanctuary with a 313 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,200 few 100 people. And then we we gather in homes 314 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,160 throughout the valley. And in those homes, friendships 315 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,440 began to form and people that you're close to and three or 316 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,520 four people that you're sharing the deepest and the hardest, 317 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,000 sometimes the darkest parts of life with the best parts of life 318 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,560 with begin to be formed. And this is important for us. 319 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,480 It's not just a not just a family, although we all have 320 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,840 those. It's not just discipleship. 321 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,960 It's not just a group that is from diverse backgrounds, but 322 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,400 it's a diverse discipleship community that's living on the 323 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,960 mission of God. And it's helping all of us who 324 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:04,800 are in those become more and more like God becoming godly #4 325 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,280 on the list. And as we go, first three are 326 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,880 maybe the most obvious and maybe the most talked about. 327 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:14,079 And in some ways, they, they work best with the culture that 328 00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:16,359 we live in. And as we go, it gets a little 329 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:17,760 bit harder. So I'll just warn you. 330 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:19,680 The next couple get a little bit more pointed. 331 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:25,440 But living a life of service, we see that Jesus came, he says in 332 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,080 his own words, not to be served, but to serve. 333 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,280 And so as people are trying to become godly, trying to become 334 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,200 the type of person who is a godly person, one of the 335 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,160 characteristics of a godly person is service. 336 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,520 And this can take many different forms in the same way that 337 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:44,520 prayer in Bible can take many different forms. 338 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,160 Serving may look like serving in the church on a ministry team 339 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:49,960 that you feel so passionate about. 340 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,280 Maybe the ministry to the youth in our church with the kids may 341 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,640 ministry to those who walk in the doors, making them feel 342 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:59,160 welcome, worship ministry, the list goes on. 343 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:02,320 Maybe it's ministry outside the four walls of our church. 344 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,720 It's ministry and other organizations that you're 345 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,920 serving with local, the Boise Rescue Mission, maybe serving in 346 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,520 Twilight Hope or in the prison ministries. 347 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,040 But every one of our lives is a life of a disciple should be 348 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:19,800 characterized in some way as a person who is serving, person 349 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,520 whose life is marked by service. And then getting a little more 350 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,720 pointed. We see that in Scripture, those 351 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,560 who follow Jesus and those who were a part of the early church 352 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,240 served, but they also lived lives that were generous. 353 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,040 They were generous with their time, with their talent, with 354 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,200 their resources. So how are we as followers of 355 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,120 Jesus being generous? The early church was generous 356 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:47,920 and in three main ways, which I think is helpful for us because 357 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,040 I think sometimes we shy away from talking about generosity, 358 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,160 especially in the church because it can get uncomfy. 359 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,480 The three ways of the early church was generous #1 you see 360 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:02,720 them give to the poor. In fact, Paul talking in Second 361 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,360 Corinthians, writing in Second Corinthians, I believe it is he 362 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:11,200 he, he's talking about being people who do not neglect the 363 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,320 poor. He says I got sent out to the 364 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,040 Greek speaking believers and I got told to live on the the 365 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,960 mission of God. And while I was out they said 366 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,280 you can do this as long as you don't forget the poor. 367 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,480 To which he says I've always remembered the poor and I've 368 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,640 always cared for them. So that should be no problem. 369 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,320 And I wonder if the same is true of my life, of our lives. 370 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,200 Do we care for the poor in the same way that the early church 371 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,040 did? The same way that the life we 372 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,200 see in the life of Jesus, they cared for the poor. 373 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,200 They also cared for those who were on the on the mission of 374 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,720 God taking the gospel to new places and new people. 375 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,080 The book of third John is all about supporting missionaries 376 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:58,640 who are coming through the area. Jesus is supported by a group of 377 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,680 of wealthy patrons as he's living on the mission to bring 378 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,760 the Kingdom to earth. Paul himself talks about being 379 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,920 supported as he went to new places and and tongues. 380 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,080 And so how are we supporting the gospel mission globally and also 381 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,960 locally? And lastly you see the the local 382 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,600 believers that often give to the the local person. 383 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,040 Local people, the local families, local widows and they 384 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:24,480 would care for needs that weren't just beyond their scope, 385 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,240 but that were right around them and they would take care of the 386 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,240 local church with their with their resources. 387 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,120 I think that helps gives us a full orb idea. 388 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:35,120 Are we being generous in some way within one of those 3 389 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,040 categories or all three of those categories? 390 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,560 And then God calls different people at different times to 391 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,560 give more time, talent and resources to one or three of 392 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,760 those. And then lastly, this may sound 393 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,200 like the most obvious of them all, but when the boots hit the 394 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:54,040 ground, I think it's one of the hardest, is we have to be people 395 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,760 who are not just disciples ourselves, but who are making 396 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,720 disciples. So are we the type of church? 397 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,360 Are you the type of family? Are we the type of church family 398 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:06,960 that actually makes more disciples? 399 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:12,360 Are there people in our lives that we are praying for, that 400 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:16,360 we're intentionally talking with to have a good conversation that 401 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:18,840 hopefully leads to a gospel conversation because they don't 402 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,720 yet know Jesus? And so we're hoping and praying 403 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,400 that that person will come to church with us and we'll meet 404 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,840 the real and living God and that we get to have some real 405 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,640 conversations about the real stuff of life. 406 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,400 Do we have people maybe that are believers that are just a little 407 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,600 bit, not as far along in the journey as us that we're helping 408 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,920 take those next steps? Maybe they've been baptized, but 409 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,080 they don't know how to read the Bible, and you're teaching them 410 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:47,080 to read the Bible and to pray. We have to be people who make 411 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,120 disciples that have become disciples. 412 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:55,080 And the best way to deepen our discipleship journey is to make 413 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,720 more disciples. Most of us know that when you 414 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,280 teach something, it actually becomes even more real to you 415 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,280 and you can understand it more. You have to know it better. 416 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,400 You have to actually, as Paul instructs Timothy, you actually 417 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,120 have to do it so you're not just a hypocritical liar. 418 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,720 So making disciples is paramount to the Christian growth and the 419 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,680 growth towards godliness. Now all this brings me to 420 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,200 another favorite sport that I love that happens in March, and 421 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,800 that's the sport of baseball. Growing up, I played a lot of 422 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,640 baseball and I played in high school and I had this coach 423 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,720 freshman year of high school. His name was Coach Al and Coach 424 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,600 Al was his awesome guy. He played college baseball at 425 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,240 the local college. And one day during practice, he 426 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,240 calls us all over and he says, hey guys, I just want to tell 427 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,160 you a quick story because I'm noticing the way that you're 428 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,200 practicing. I want to help you out. 429 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,520 He says, I want to tell you the story of the second string bench 430 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,560 warmer catcher that I played with this guy. 431 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,720 He says this catcher was really weird. 432 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:52,520 He's really weird for one reason. 433 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,560 It's because he should have been the best player on the team. 434 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,800 Coach Al said this guy should have been the best. 435 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,000 And the reason because he worked the hardest. 436 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,480 He was the hardest worker on the team. 437 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,880 In fact, he probably should have been one of the best in the 438 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,840 league. He took the most extra at bats. 439 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:09,480 He was in the weight room. He ate healthy. 440 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,320 He watched film, he's always out in the bullpen with the pitchers 441 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,800 taking care of their needs. And by all accounts, this guy 442 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,880 should have been the best player on the team, at least should 443 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,720 have been on the on the starting nine. 444 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,720 But he's not. In fact, what's really weird is 445 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,520 that over the course of the four years of college, he actually 446 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,520 got worse. And Coach Al made the point to 447 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:33,520 say that training doesn't matter If you're training for the wrong 448 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:34,880 reasons. If you're training the wrong 449 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:41,360 things, as my dad would say, practice does not make perfect. 450 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,800 Perfect practice makes perfect. Practicing the right things for 451 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,920 the right reasons, that makes perfect. 452 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,400 Or as Tucker soccer coach says, practice makes permanent. 453 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:58,720 You drill in on the things that you do over and over again. 454 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,400 If they're good habits, that's great. 455 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:04,200 If they're bad habits, that's bad. 456 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,800 And so as we think about training, when you think about 457 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,240 the six things I just shared with us, if we just do the six, 458 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,960 if we just pray and read our Bible, go to church, involved in 459 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,560 a diverse discipleship community, we just do those 460 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,960 things because we feel like we should do them, then we're not 461 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,120 going to get any closer to becoming godly. 462 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,600 We're not going to have any more success in the Christian life. 463 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,360 But if we have godliness in mind, then we will. 464 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,720 This is the way Paul says it in verse 9. 465 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:40,040 He says this is a faithful sane. This is where we get our our 466 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,120 series title. This word faithful could also be 467 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,760 translated trustworthy. So he says this is trustworthy. 468 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,680 And if you look above, what's the trustworthy saying? 469 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,720 The trustworthy saying is that godliness is profitable for all 470 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,120 things. That's the trustworthy saying, 471 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:00,040 not that training is helpful, not that training is going to 472 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,040 make you more profitable. Now that training is going to 473 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,840 help, but that godliness will, he says it's profitable for all 474 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,600 things in this life. For every sphere of your life, 475 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,920 godliness is profitable. It's profitable for your 476 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,600 relationship with God, for your relationship with your family. 477 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,000 It's profitable in the workplace, it's profitable with 478 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:23,200 your neighbors. It's profitable in your church 479 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:27,680 family to be a godly person. And he says not only that 480 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:32,000 profitable in this life, but it's also profitable in the life 481 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,000 which is to come. Couple weeks ago I had a student 482 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,880 asked me he was struggling through just feelings of not 483 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,440 being able to break free of a sin. 484 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,160 And he had gone to a community and he had talked to some older 485 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,200 Christians and realized the painful truth that there were 486 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,400 older Christians who were still struggling with sin. 487 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,840 And he asked me, is it really worth it to struggle with sin my 488 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,640 entire life for the next 60 years, say, to not actually find 489 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,280 a victory in this life fully and to simply go to heaven and have 490 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:04,200 it all fixed. Like why? 491 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:05,400 Why try so hard? Why? 492 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:09,560 Why burden myself with all that? I think Paul's answer would be 493 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,440 because every step towards godliness that you make in this 494 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:17,880 life is profitable for this life, but also every step that 495 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,760 you make in this life is profitable in the life to come. 496 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,760 Now, we don't fully know what that exactly means, but we do 497 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,000 know that rewards in heaven are promised for those who are 498 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,720 faithful to God and those who follow God. 499 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,480 The least shall be the greatest, and the greatest shall be least, 500 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:38,520 and so in some way we are every step of godliness we take 501 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:44,800 becoming more equipped for heaven. 1 author puts it this 502 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,200 way that every way in which we train on earth, we are training 503 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,000 to reign with Christ for eternity, whatever that looks 504 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000 like. We're somehow as make strides 505 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,920 towards godliness, becoming more equipped to reign with Christ 506 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,560 and eternity four, he says in verse 10. 507 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,160 To this end, we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust 508 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,040 in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of 509 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,440 those who believe it's for godliness that they suffer, says 510 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:13,800 Timothy. You've suffered a lot and you 511 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:18,240 haven't suffered just to get some discipline out there in the 512 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:19,640 world. You didn't suffer just to get 513 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,160 people to serve or to give money. 514 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,800 You suffered because you believed that godliness was 515 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,920 important. You wanted to see the real and 516 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,000 living God. You trusted that he would move. 517 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,560 That's the same way. That same reason that you and I 518 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,320 practice the things we practice, the same reason we do the things 519 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,520 that we do because we want to be godly and as we close, want to 520 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,640 give just a quick definition of godliness. 521 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:46,840 Godliness is loving God, it's living like a Jesus, and it's 522 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,720 letting the Spirit lead. So a good question to ask and 523 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,320 everything we do is it is it is whatever I'm doing creating in 524 00:27:55,320 --> 00:28:00,000 me a heart that loves God. Paul says in Second Corinthians 525 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,840 that if you can't be a joyful giver, just don't give. 526 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,000 I think the reason he says that is because the reason we give is 527 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,320 to grow in our love for God. So if it doesn't cause you to 528 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,600 love God more, don't worry about it until it does. 529 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:16,520 Practicing should cause us to love God more. 530 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,400 Should also cause us to live like Jesus. 531 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:20,640 Jesus goes away to the mountains to pray often. 532 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:22,760 Maybe you'd a great prayer habit like that. 533 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,160 But if our prayer habits don't produce in us the compassion of 534 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:30,080 Christ, where he can be interrupted at a moment, even 535 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:34,400 when he's heartbroken and care for people, and instead our 536 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,880 prayer habits create pride or seclusion in our lives, maybe we 537 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:39,680 need to rethink our prayer lives. 538 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:43,800 And you have to let the Spirit lead. 539 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,600 Jesus consistently went and prayed and was led by the 540 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:48,480 Spirit. The way that he lived his life 541 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,600 showed us what it meant to be reliant on God. 542 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,200 And so do our practices pop us up in our own strength or do 543 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,640 they make us more reliant and more humble towards God? 544 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,200 And so as we close, the question that I want you to ponder as we 545 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,480 sing this last song is what might God be asking you 546 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,680 individually or us as a community to to shift or to 547 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,080 change? Maybe it's something from the 548 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:15,400 list that you need to add in or do differently. 549 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:18,880 Maybe it's something in your life that is just not profiting 550 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,040 you that you need to take out. For me, several years ago, I was 551 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,080 confronted with the fact that I'd read through the Bible 552 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,240 numerous times. I was homeschooled and as a lot 553 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,040 of homeschooled kids do, I had a lot of time in my hands. 554 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,920 So I began to read through the Bible and I became a habit that 555 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:38,960 I'd read through the Bible most years, every year. 556 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,280 And I got to college and I'd read through it several times, 557 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,600 and I got to this point where I felt like God was putting on my 558 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:50,000 heart this idea that although I could read through the Bible 559 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,920 fairly consistently, it wasn't causing me to love God more. 560 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,200 It wasn't getting into my life and causing me to live like 561 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,640 Jesus. And it certainly was not making 562 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:01,920 me reliant on the Spirit. It's just making me more reliant 563 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,000 on my biblical, biblical knowledge as I felt God asked me 564 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:11,040 just to slow down and to read Scripture slower, smaller chunks 565 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:12,720 at a time. Don't try to read through the 566 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,560 whole thing in one year and get nothing out of it, but read 567 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:17,640 through it slowly and prayerfully. 568 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,240 Read through it with me. Allow me to instruct you and 569 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,120 help you and to teach you and, and don't worry about your 570 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:26,840 performance of reading through it in a year. 571 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:30,000 And so I'm sure all of us have something like that. 572 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,120 The God just is asking us right now, even just to change, to 573 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,080 twist, to turn, maybe something really small. 574 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,080 It might be something really big, but as we close in this 575 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,720 last song before we take communion, just ask that you 576 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,240 would ponder that. God, we bring ourselves to you 577 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,960 and we ask that you would. You would speak to us and You 578 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,960 would show us how we personally and corporately can grow in 579 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,640 godliness. Lord, we want to be people who 580 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:01,160 are godly. We want to be people who who 581 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,840 know you and trust you and our lives are marked by being with 582 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,680 you and being reliant on your truth. 583 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,920 So I ask that you would help us. I pray that you'd move the 584 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:17,080 needle in our hearts and in our church towards godliness and 585 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:20,400 that we be people who are known for our love. 586 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,040 We're known for looking like you, Jesus. 587 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:24,840 We're known for being Spirit LED. 588 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:25,840 Amen.