From Faith to Fellowship: Cultivating Our Connection with God

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast

where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to

this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen

you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has

for us here today.

For most of you, you're experiencing some snow and some cold

weather and I hope that you're staying warm.

I hope that you're staying safe.

And thank you for tuning in.

I know that we'll have various people tuning in at various moments

through the live stream here this morning, but what I'd like to

do is just welcome you all here today to Middletown Baptist

Church in a different setting.

Sometimes I'd like to come to you from the actual facility there,

but today we're going to be streaming from from my house.

So I'm going to go ahead and open up with a word of prayer and

share a few thoughts here this morning with you.

Certainly won't be as long as our normal worship service in the

mornings, but I do want to speak to you about the word of God

here today.

So let's open up with a word of prayer and we will get started.

Lord, we do thank you for this time that you've given us today to

come together on the live stream to study your word, Lord,

to worship you through the op, the openings and the opportunities

to follow your word and to grow in the truth of scripture.

Lord, I pray that you be with everybody today that might be experiencing

this snowy weather.

Lord, I pray that you keep anyone safe that might need to get

on the roads.

And I pray that through all of us today that we can have fellowship

over the Internet today.

We know it's not ideal, Lord, but this is an opportunity for us

to continue on in your away and in your word.

So we just ask that you bless us in this time.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Well, again, thank you.

If you're joining us, we're going to continue on in our sermon

series looking at up in and out.

Last week we talked about the.

The theme for our church.

And it's more than a theme.

It's really what we desire to be the rhythm of our church culture.

Our church culture can look many different ways depending on

what we focus on.

But if our focus is our relationship with God first and foremost,

that up relationship that.

That relationship in which we see a growth in not only our knowledge

of who he is, but also in our personal walk with him, and if that

relationship's where it needs to be and we're walking in tune with

His Word and His will, then we're able to interact with other

believers within the church.

And so that's the in idea, the, the inward focus that we can

look to one another as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and

encourage one another, edify one another, exhort one another,

even in some cases, educate one another in the truths of the

Word of God.

And then lastly, we looked at that out rhythm, the, the, the rhythm

of going out into the world and sharing of the gospel, as the

Bible says, sharing the gospel with every creature.

And, and we see that in the Great Commission in Matthew chapter

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

28 and in many other places in the New Testament, that importance

of sharing the Word with other people.

But today, what we were going to look at if we met in person is

the rhythm of our relationship with God and the importance of walking

with him and, and how we can focus on him in the passage of Scripture.

I'd like us to, I'll start with here this morning, if you can

follow along with me.

Is Colossians chapter three.

Colossians chapter three tells us the position of the believer.

As a believer, we are renewed, we are redeemed, we are, we are given

gifts of grace so that we can walk in newness of life, so that

we can stand strong in the truth of God.

And over and over again in Scripture, it reminds us to be identified

in Christ to, to walk in that new truth.

And so In Colossians chapter 3, verse 1, it says, if ye then be

Colossians 3:1

risen with Christ.

And so it's a question if you're risen with Christ, if you're

identify with Christ, if you're a believer, see those things

which are above.

And so the idea here in this passage is that as a Christian, as

a believer, we're to be seeking, striving, chasing after

the things which are above.

Now what does that mean, things which are above?

Well, speaking of things of eternal perspective, it's speaking

of things that are not of the here and now, the material world,

the, the selfish, fleshly focus, but to invest into the kingdom

of God, to walk with the things that are important with the

Lord.

And that means for us to think about those things that God has called

us to do and in the personal relationship with God, the, the up

relationship with God.

He's called us to fellowship with Him.

He's called us to, to walk with Him.

He's called us to get into an intimate relationship with Him.

And so part of that would be Studying His Word.

Part of that would be walking in a life of prayer to be strengthened

in his truths and then ultimately to fellowship and to serve

him and to walk alongside of, not only walk alongside of him, but

walk in his will, as the Bible says.

And so says, if ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which

are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

And so this speaks of our relationship with the Father, it

speaks with our relationship to the Son.

And we even know that in First John, chapter two, the Bible says

that Jesus is our advocate.

He's the one that's fighting for us.

He's the one who is, is the one who is positioning himself to

intercede for us.

And so he says, how do we seek those things which are above?

Well, verse 2 of Colossians 3 says this, set your affection, set

your heart, set your desires on things above, not on things on

the earth.

And so the picture that we see here is he says, instead of desiring

the things of this world, instead of loving the things of this

world, instead of spending all of our time on the things of this

world, instead of just investing everything into the here

and now, he says, set your affection, set your heart, set your

passions on the things that are going to matter for eternity.

We know in other places the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

And, and so when we're looking at the Christian life and we're looking

at that rhythm of up, our up relationship with God, we think about

putting our priorities in, in check.

What, what's our priority in life?

What's our focus in life?

What's our ultimate goal in what we're trying to accomplish within

the church and in our personal lives.

And so what we can ultimately see at the end of the day is that

the Bible says, don't get hung up on the distractions of this world.

Set your affection, set your time, set a specific place, set a

specific time, set a specific schedule to the place where we say,

you know what?

I'm not going to allow the things of this world to pull me away

from the things of God.

So he says in verse 3, for ye are dead and your life is hid with

Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, verse four, and I love that phrase,

when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall he also

appear with him in glory.

You know, you hear a lot of people say things like, you know,

this, this sport is my life, or my job is my life, or this hobby

is my life, or, or even my family.

Is my life.

And, and we all know what that means.

It means that it's my everything.

It's my.

It's my complete focus in.

In the majority of my life.

And so what this passage here is saying is that we as Christians

have to understand that Christ is our life now.

He.

He is our.

Our goal.

He is everything to us.

He's the focus of our affections.

And so how do we do that?

How.

How do we live that Life?

As Colossians3 has stated to to be setting our affections on the

things of God.

To be setting our focus on the things of God.

Well, I want to take you to a few other passages of Scripture here

this morning that speak to those.

Those specific things.

And so one passage of Scripture that I think would be very

appropriate to turn to is, Is the book of.

Of Psalms.

And we're going to go to Psalms 55, 17.

Now we're going to look at a few passages here in the Psalms.

And I think that this can give us a description of what that life

fully committed to the Lord looks like.

And so if you go to Psalm 55 and you look at verse number 17,

this is the Psalmist here describing his commitment to God.

He's describing what it means to be setting his affections on the

Lord.

And in this case, it's talking about communication.

We all know that in a relationship, communication is key.

Within the context of marriage, which within the context

of friendship, within the context of a workplace environment,

communication is key.

And so the way that we communicate to God is a life of prayer,

communicating to him not only our needs, even though that's part

of prayer, bringing our requests to God, bringing our petitions

to God and our needs to God, but also prayer comes worship.

I'm also in prayer comes thanksgiving.

And we could go to passage after passage looking at those.

But I think this is a good passage of Scripture speaking of

the frequency that we should go to the Lord in with our prayer

life.

And it says in verse 17 of Psalm 55, evening and morning, and

at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice.

This speaks of the frequency evening, morning and at noon.

There's other passages of Scripture, obviously in the New Testament

and first Thessalonians that speak of praying without ceasing.

And this doesn't mean that we pray 247 constantly.

And we can't focus on anything else in our lives.

What this means is to be in a constant state of communication with

the Lord, to be in a constant state of prayer, to be always ready

to Go before Him with our needs and with our praises and with

our thanksgiving.

And there's a lot of things that we could talk about when it

comes to the format of prayer.

But the best example is what we find in Matthew and in the book

of Matthew.

Jesus is speaking and he gives the teaching on prayer.

And many folks call this the Lord's Prayer.

And certainly that would be an appropriate term.

I like to call this the model prayer.

In Matthew chapter 6, going down all the way from 5 to verse

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

15.

He.

He speaks of this, this type of prayer that we should have.

And I think a good model that we can look at in the prayer life

is I call it the Acts model Acts.

There's adoration, first and foremost, just adoring God, praising

God for who he is, praising him for his glory, praising him for

his power, praising God for His provisions, praising God for

everything that he is to us in even the greatest way, that he's

our Savior.

But then we look at the sea there in this confession.

The Bible says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just

to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And so one aspect of prayer is confessing our sins before God.

It doesn't mean that we keep getting re saved over and over and

over again.

But what it does mean is that we're restoring that relationship,

we're restoring that fellowship with him when we're walking

outside of his will.

And so we have a C T T is thanksgiving.

Another passage of scripture that you could jot down maybe in

your notes when it comes to the idea of prayer would be Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

Philippians, chapter 4, verse 6.

Philippians 4:6

Be careful or anxious for nothing.

But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known unto God.

So the Bible says that one element of prayer is giving thanks

to the Lord for the things that he provides for us in our lives.

And so that's communication with Him.

And then lastly the s there is supplication asking God for things.

And maybe it's physical things.

And certainly it's appropriate to ask God for physical healing.

And we know that that is certainly appropriate.

In the book of James, it says for us to come and bring forth those

that are sick and pray for them.

But then also I think it's supplication in areas of our spiritual

life, right?

There's things that we might be struggling with when it comes

to a temptation or trial or whatever it might be, doubts that

we have in the spiritual, a life that we can bring to him and

give him where we're at and ultimately ask him for that victory

that he brings us.

And so over and over again in scripture, it calls us to live a

life of prayer, and that's part of the up relationship.

And so one very practical challenge that I like to give all

of us, including myself here this morning, is that that we can

come in our life and say, lord, I want to grow in my lifestyle

of prayer.

I want to grow not just in, hey, hey.

I want to pray once a day before my meal, but I want to live

that life of prayer.

And so that's one element of that up relationship.

But another element of our up relationship would be the Word of

God to be studying in the Word of God.

And there's verse after verse that speak to the importance of the

Bible in our life, one that certainly many of you know, if you

follow Middletown Baptist Church, either on the live stream

or in you're coming in person that I quote quite frequently.

Second Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16.

2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable

for doctrine, that's teaching, for reproof, that telling us where

we're wrong for, for correction, how to fix that, for

instruction in righteousness, how to.

How to stay in the path of that the man of God, that the person

of God may be perfect, that's mature, thoroughly furnished unto

all good works.

And so that's one passage of scripture that challenges us to understand

the benefit of walking in the Word of God to, to obey the Word

of God, not just know the Word of God, but to walk in the Word of

God, to obey the Word of God and make that a part of our lives.

Another wonderful chapter of the Bible that I think that all of

us could go to and study and really learn a lot about how we should

interact with the Word of God is Psalm 119.

Most of you know that Psalm 119 is a very, very long chapter,

but in that chapter, there's so many verses that specifically

deal with our relationship with the Word of God.

And, and if you look at Psalm 119 and, and you go to.

Well, we could go to a lot of verses, but I, I think verse number

16 is, is a good one.

Says, I will delight myself in thy statutes.

I will not forget thy word.

If you go all the way back to verse number five, it says, oh, that

my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.

And so this is this idea of allowing the Word of God to direct

our steps.

You could even go down to verse number nine.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto

unto the word of thy word.

And so there's verse after verse about walking in the statutes

of God and the blessings of that and the importance of walking

in his truth.

You go on to Psalm 119105.

It says, Thy word, ha.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

So you could break down, really, if we had time, we could

break down all of Psalm 119, and we could look at the importance

of allowing the Word of God to guide our lives.

But I think the summary of all of that would be found in Psalm 119,

105.

Thy word, those scriptures are a lamp unto my feet.

Now, we're walking in a really dark world today.

We know that.

We know that there's sin all around us, there's temptations and

trials all around us.

And the way to light our path is by following the Word of God.

And so it's not, though, just an opportunity for us to avoid bad

things, even though that is a benefit of the Word of God.

One of the benefits of the Word of God is that it guides us

into truth.

John 17:17 says, Sanctify them through thy truth.

John 17:17

Thy Word is truth.

So it brings us the truth.

An amazing thing, but also one element of Bible study would be this,

that I love God so much that.

That.

That he is my Savior, but He's also My Father, and I want to know

everything that he tells me.

And so it's a growth not only in the practical application of learning

the Word of God that's.

That's great, but also it's a growth in loving God so much that

we want to know His Word, that we want to spend time with Him.

And there's verse after verse in the Old Testament and the New

Testament that speak of the importance of walking and meditating

on the Word.

A passage of Scripture that maybe some of you are familiar with

is in Joshua, chapter one.

Joshua, chapter one, verse eight says this.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou

shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to

do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt

have good success.

And so the Bible reminds us that it's not just important to read

the Word, even though reading the Word is so important, because

we can't meditate upon it in our life if we don't read it.

So reading it is good, but also it's meditating on.

Meditating on it.

And meditating on the Word of God means to dwell in it and on it

and, and learning not only just what it says, but the application

and the meaning behind it.

And many of you have heard me use the analogy of how an animal

chews the grass and gets all the nutrients and regurgitates that

and chews it again and pulls every nutrient that it can out from

the food.

That's exactly what the Bible says for us to do when it comes to

the Word of God, to meditate on it, to chew on it, to, to absorb

it into our lives.

And the Bible says it's when we do that, when we, when we read

it, when we know it, when we meditate upon it, when we walk in

it, that's when we those blessings of knowing God and understanding

him.

And there's verse after verse that speaks about walking in the

precepts or the word of God.

Psalm chapter 1 speaks of being a Christian planted by the

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

rivers of water.

It says in verse 2 of Psalm 1.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth

he meditate day and night.

And so I think what we've looked at so far when it comes to

having this up relationship with God is first and foremost, it

starts with faith.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

That's Romans.

And so the Bible says that if we trust in the Lord in faith, the

result of that is going to be desiring to know him more and to

walk in his truth.

And so what does it mean to have an up relationship with God?

Well, it starts with faith.

It's supported by a life of prayer and a life of Bible study

and, and then in tune, it's then perceiving what God has for

us in His Word and following the Spirit, obeying the Spirit as

the Spirit guides us and leads us into that truth.

The Bible says in the Book of John that the Holy Spirit guides

us or leads us into all truth.

He's the great teacher.

And so as we pray and as we study the Word of God, we are more

equipped to discern the guidance of the Spirit as we follow

God.

And so I want to go back to our original text here this morning.

We only have a few more minutes.

I don't want to keep you a long time here today, but if we go

back to Colossians chapter three, this is where we began.

And if you are just joining us, we read those first four verses.

If ye Then be risen with Christ.

Seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth.

On the right hand of God.

Set your affection of the things above, not of the things of

this earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also

appear with him in glory.

So he says, that is the start of it.

The start of it is that initiation of I am now a child of

God, I now setting my affections on him.

But then what does the guidance of the Spirit, the discernment

of the Spirit, lead us to?

Well, verse number five.

Mortify.

Kill therefore your members which are upon the earth.

And so we die to the flesh.

We turn away from the things that gave us pleasure before.

And he lists some of those things, he says, a fornication, uncleanness,

inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which

is idolatry.

And so he lists all these things.

And then he says later on in verse eight, put these things away

from me.

But now ye also put off all these things.

Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out

of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put

off the old man with his knees.

And so what he's essentially saying is, is that now, when we're

walking in a life of prayer, in a life of Bible study, in the

life guided by the Spirit, we put off the old.

And then we put on something, verse 12.

Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, as believers, holy

and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of

mind, meekness and long suffering, forbearing one another

and forgiving one another, even if any man have a quarrel against

you, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond

of perfectness.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also

you are called in one body, and be ye thankful.

And then verse 16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

in all wisdom.

And so you see that the product of that right relationship

with God is a lifestyle that then seeks those things which God

wants us to live in, dying to the flesh, yielding to the Spirit,

walking in the Spirit.

And then, as you can see, as transition for next week, we see

that there is that overflow of how we deal with others.

Remember, back in verse number 12, he says, put on as the elect

of God.

Later on he says, forbear one another, forgive one another, don't,

don't quarrel anymore.

Don't fight anymore, have this type of love, this type of charity,

and that bond of unity, that bond of peace, one body.

We see that Colossians chapter three is a.

Is a parallel passage to what we've been studying with church culture

in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4 has the same principle of putting on the

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

new man and putting off the old.

And that's why we walk with God.

It's not just so that we can be good people.

It's so that we can follow him and be walking in newness of life

as he has called us to walk.

And so when we're thinking about that model of up, in and out,

I think of it as a triangle, right?

We don't have at the top.

We have that relationship with God.

And if that relationship with God is not right, we're not able

to have the type of relationships with others in a proper

manner that he has called us to have.

And so what I would encourage you to do before you think about

how I treat other people, how I'm witnessing, even though those

are great things and those are necessities within the Christian

life, what I would say is that first and foremost, stop, pause,

and say, am I, as the psalmist says, being still and knowing that

he is God, and am I walking in fellowship with him, or am I trying

to get ahead of the game?

Am I trying to do all the things that he's called me to do

without walking with him and fellowshipping with Him?

And as the book of Colossians says, seeking those things which

are above.

I mean, there's verse after verse that we could go to when it

comes to that new perspective that we are to have.

But I think that it would be appropriate to end in another passage

in the book of Psalms, because obviously, you know, the book of

Psalms, though, it's a book of praises as, As a.

As a.

As a book of songs, basically, it is a book of worship, and it is

a book of prayer.

And it is something that we can learn from as the psalmist guides

us through his walk in worship.

But in a passage of Scripture that we see in Psalm 63, this is.

This is speaking of a thirst for God.

And the Bible says that words of hunger, thirst after righteousness.

And so to hunger, thirst and thirst after righteousness is to

hunger and thirst after God because He is righteousness.

So often we try to remove God from the equation of our Christian

life.

And that is completely crazy, because if we're thinking about walking

as a Christian and we try to remove God from the Equation.

We're walking in a fleshly manner.

So to want to grow in our Christian walk means to grow in our

relationship with God, with our Heavenly Father.

And so Psalm 63 says this.

O God, Thou art my God.

It's a recognition of this.

You aren't just a friend, even though God is a friend.

He's not just a helper, even though God is a helper.

He is our God.

He is our everything.

Nothing comes close.

Nothing compares.

Oh, God, Thou art my God.

Early will I seek thee.

Meaning this.

I'm going to seek you before anything else steals my attention.

I'm going to seek you before anything else pulls me aside.

Early will I seek thee.

My soul thirsteth for thee.

I don't know about you, but there's been times in my life that

I'm just so thirsty that there's nothing else I can think

about other than getting some water.

Not soda, not coffee.

Even though I enjoy drinking soda and coffee at certain points

for.

For.

For other reasons, obviously.

But when you're thirsty, it's that I want water.

That's the only thing that will satisfy.

That's the only thing that's going to bring me some type of sustaining

hydration.

And that's what he says here in this passage.

My soul, it doesn't thirst for anything else.

It thirsts for you.

It thirsts for your living water.

And we even know that Jesus in the New Testament, the woman at the

well says, I am living water.

He says, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land.

And, boy, do we live in a dry and thirsty land.

We live in a land that is hopeless because they've turned to

sin and emptiness.

But he says, even though I live in a dry and thirsty land and

there's no water around me, says, where no water is, I will look

to you, he says, to see thy power and Thy glory.

So as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Because thy loving kindness is better than life.

My lips shall praise thee.

Thus will I bless thee while I live.

I will lift up my hands in thy name.

And so he says, I'm going to worship you because of who you are

and what you have done.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.

And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember

thee upon my bed and meditate on Thee in the night watches.

And so he says here, from morning till night, I going to meditate

upon your truth.

We should desire God.

We should want to know him more.

We should want to be around him more.

We should want to be around those that love him as well.

And I think that one of the passages of Scripture that I love,

and I know I said the Psalm 63 would be the last one, but I think

another one that came to mind here, as I close is, is First Peter,

chapter two, verse two.

He says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word

that he may grow thereby.

You know, many of you have had experiences with babies, and you

know that when they're hungry, they want the milk, right?

There's nothing else that would satisfy them.

And that's exactly what Peter is saying here in First Peter.

He says, as a Christian, we should be so hungry for the Word

of God, because why that it's the only thing that's going to bring

us growth.

It's going to be the only thing that brings us satisfaction

here in this earth other than obviously knowing God personally.

But the only way that we can get to know God in a personal level

is to know what he has told us, and so to communicate with him

through prayer.

But to receive the Word of God and to meditate therein.

And so First Peter, chapter two, verse two, is a great testimony

for all of us that we should desire the sincere milk of the Word.

And so if we could summarize in any way when we're talking about

the up relationship, the up relationship really is this, Number

one.

It starts with faith.

I have to believe that God is who he says he is.

I have to believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, that he

lived a perfect life, that he died on the cross for my sins, that

he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day to conquer

death.

And then he offers that gift of grace to all of us.

And so if we trust in him, if we put our faith in him, that's when

we are entered into a relationship with God.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

And so we're entered into a relationship as a child of God.

And in that we find salvation, in that we find everlasting life,

in that we find forgiveness.

And so all of us that are watching here this morning, I encourage

you to think about that first step of walking in the truth of God.

The first step of walking in truth is taking that step of faith

to believe in God, to believe that he is our Savior.

And if you do that, then the relationship starts.

But we all know that just when we're introduced to someone.

When I got married to my wife, our marriage wasn't the end.

The day of our wedding was just the beginning.

And now it's that growth process of getting to know our Savior,

to talk with him, to pray to him, to pray for others, to lift

our requests to him, and then ultimately to worship him through

obedience and worship him through a life of prayer and singing.

In the book of Colossians, it says, yes, be in his word, but also

sing praises to Him.

And so these are all things that I encourage you to think about

when it comes to that upward relationship.

Some of those practical things would be to get a prayer journal

to track your prayers, to be able to organize your prayers, or

to find a Bible reading plan, or to find a Bible study or a small

group at the church that we can find more ways to intake the

word of God, to know it, to heed it, to believe it, to meditate

upon it, and to grow in it and apply it to our lives.

And so that's the up relationship.

And in John 15:5, Jesus says, Without me, you can do nothing.

John 15:5

And so I think that that's what we have to rely on.

We have to rely on the fact that God I want to see truth.

I want to see growth.

I want to see souls saved.

I want to see things happening in my life.

I want to see you glorified in worship.

And the way that we do that is by living in him and longing for

him and desiring everything about Him.

And so may we seek those things which are above, not those

things which take up our time here on this earth.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and close in a word of prayer after

I'm done praying.

What I'd like to do is just kind of go through a few announcements

with you and then we'll be done.

But if you are asking questions about maybe something we've

talked about today, or maybe you haven't started that relationship

with Christ through faith, you would feel free to message us either

on our YouTube, you could comment or message us on Facebook,

or you can check out our website and you can find ways to

contact the church, and we would encourage you to do so.

But if you are walking with Jesus Christ and you are a member

of Middletown Baptist Church, even so, there's still areas of growth.

And if there's something that you would like to have help on or

to grow in or to know more about, please feel free to reach

out to me.

And I would love to be a blessing to you in your life by not

being a blessing and how good I am, but to show you how good our

Savior is and how wonderful His Word is in our life.

So let's pray and then I'll have a few announcements and then

we'll be done here this morning.

Lord, I do thank you for this time that you've given us to look

into the model of up, in and out and here this morning.

Just thinking about how you as our Heavenly Father have allowed

us to have a relationship with you.

What an amazing thing that is, Lord.

May we understand the importance of that relationship and

would help us to grow in our love for you and our knowledge of

you and our worship to you.

Pray that we can before we go anywhere else in our life, whether

relationships with friends, family, co workers, the unsaved Lord,

that we start our relationship with you, Lord, and to be able to

walk in fellowship with you so that we can grow to desire your Word

like the baby desires the milk.

And so Lord, I pray that you bless us here today.

Help us to meditate upon your word day and night.

Help us to be in prayer day and night and help us to be those

that display our love for you by the way that we obey.

And so we just thank you for your love and grace.

Pray that you keep everybody safe in this season of weather and

I pray that you return us back safely at the appointed time.

In Jesus name I pray.

Amen.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church

Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church

or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org

or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh [email protected].

if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.