Do You Need to Grow Spiritually? (Part 2)

Thank you, Richard. Good job.

You know that everything that has life in it grows.

It just happens.

Plants, animals, and people.

If we see something, anything, that doesn't grow,

and by that I mean changes, matures,

if we see that something never does that,

we know that something's wrong.

It's diseased or even dead.

Well, Christian growth, change, becoming mature.

That's a normal expression of the Christian life.

We don't just stay the same.

And Paul shows us in Philippians 3

that really the closer you get to the Lord,

the more you know Him and love Him

and walk with Him through life,

the more you get close to Him,

the more you become aware of your own sinfulness,

your own need to grow and mature and change.

I want you to look at the same passage we looked at last week,

how he describes his desire to keep on growing spiritually,

specifically in verses 12 through 14.

Let's look at it.

Philippians 3, beginning in verse 12.

Not that I have already obtained this,

or am already perfect,

but I press on to make it my own,

because Christ Jesus has made me His own.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

Look at it.

He's emphasizing this twice.

Paul is the, you know,

he's sort of a rock star of the early church.

I mean, he is the brilliant theologian,

the evangelist, the church planter.

But he wants everybody to understand,

repeating it, 12 and 13.

I've not arrived.

I'm not where I need to be.

I know that.

And he's just driving that point home.

And if Paul knows that about himself,

so should we.

Verse 13.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own,

but one thing I do,

forgetting what lies behind

and straining forward to what lies ahead.

I press on toward the goal for the prize

of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We're using Paul, his testimony here,

to help us see how vital it is

that we put forth the effort

to cooperate with God

as He works in us to enable us to grow spiritually.

Let's start by reviewing some of what we looked at last week,

but we're also going to add to this point number one.

Look at it.

The way to know if you need to grow spiritually.

Paul tells us how he knew

that he had not arrived,

that he still needed to grow spiritually.

First, he'd not met his spiritual goals.

That's what he's talking about in verse 12,

that phrase,

not that I've already obtained this.

We saw last week that he was,

the this is referring to what he said

in verses 10 and 11.

He's not attained or achieved those goals.

Now, if you look at verses 10 and 11,

Jesus is the focal point of each one of his goals,

but he really describes his number one desire,

number one goal is to know Christ.

Look at it, verse 10,

that I may know Him.

That's the foundation.

And we know that's the foundation

because that is a shorthand version

of what he just said two verses prior.

Look in verse eight.

This goal is the absolute most important thing in his life.

He says,

Indeed, I count everything as loss

because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Everything he counted as a loss,

those were his credentials

in his world as a Pharisee leader,

one of the leading teachers of the Jewish people.

I mean, Paul had a very impressive resume

as a Jewish rabbi.

But when God opened his eyes

to the truth about who Jesus was,

he put his trust in Jesus.

He was born again.

Everything changed.

And all that was impressive

for a Jewish leader in that day,

he said, it's just like,

I'm ready to flush it.

It's like dung, we said last week.

It means nothing

now that I have come

or in the process of knowing Christ.

Now, knowing Christ means more

than just knowing some things about him.

But that's important.

You've probably heard somebody say,

read,

well, we emphasize,

or don't go too far in this,

in our relationship with the Lord,

and just emphasize head knowledge,

factual information.

Well, we need to know

factual information is very important.

You've got to know who it is

that Jesus is in order

for him to save you,

to come to him,

to warn him to save you.

We need to know facts.

Jesus is the son of God

who left the glory of heaven

and came into this world

to ultimately go to a cross

and die for our sins.

That's the information

that we need to know.

That's the Jesus

that we need to put our faith

and trust

and have confidence in.

But,

knowing Christ means more than,

far more than,

just knowing about him.

Knowing Christ means

knowing him personally

by experience.

We're talking about a relationship.

Paul described how Jesus

had initiated

their relationship

that we looked at

in a little more detail

last week

at the latter part

of verse 12.

Christ Jesus

has made me his own.

You have a relationship

with the Lord Jesus

this morning

if you have one

because he called you

to himself.

You responded in faith,

but he initiated,

he called you.

He opened your eyes

to see the truth

about who he is

and your need for salvation

and he called you

to that faith

that you have in him now

as your Lord and Savior.

Well,

ever since then,

Paul has been growing

in his relationship

with Christ.

He's been getting

to know Jesus better.

And as he gets

to know him better,

he loves him more.

And as he knows

and loves Jesus

who gave his life

for him,

he wants to give his life

in service to the Lord.

That's a part of what's

involved in knowing Christ.

But think of this,

as he gets to know,

has this relationship

with the Lord Jesus,

he experiences

the Lord's presence

in his life,

the Lord's love,

the Lord's affirmation.

That's what,

that's a major part

of every Christian's

relationship with the Lord.

We get to know him,

we love him,

we want to serve him,

we experience his presence,

his power,

his love in our lives.

Just like every relationship

that you have right now,

from your marriage

to your children

to your parents

to good friends,

you get to know a person,

you get involved with them,

but they also get involved

with you.

There's give and take

in every healthy,

good relationship.

That's the case

in our relationship

with the Lord.

Now as Paul writes this,

Bible scholars tell us

that it's probably been

30 years

since his conversion.

Paul began his relationship

with the Lord

30 years prior

to writing this.

But that relationship

has not grown stale.

It's not boring.

Knowing Christ

is still his number one priority.

Now the second reason

Paul gives for why

he needs to grow,

look at this,

he was not perfect.

He says,

not that I've already

obtained this

or am already perfect.

And we looked at that

in a little bit more detail

last week as well.

All I want us to see here

is the Apostle Paul,

most mature Christian

that we could ever imagine.

He knew that he was not perfect.

He knew that there was still

sin in his life

that he needed to overcome.

He needed to learn,

he needed to do a better job

of battling some temptations.

He needed to become

more like Jesus,

which is God's goal for us.

We'll look at it in a moment.

What Paul said about himself,

I've not arrived.

I'm not perfect.

Well, that's true about us.

And I stressed last week

that we know that.

Everyone here knows

I've not arrived.

I'm not perfect as a Christian

or in any way.

But here's the question

that we need to really think about.

What matters the most?

Do you care

that you're not perfect?

Do you care as a Christian

that there's still sin

in your life

that's whipping you some days?

There's still temptations

that just sometimes

it just seems to overwhelm you.

And you say that,

you do that.

Does it bother you?

And then,

do you have a desire

to overcome those things?

Do you have a desire

to grow spiritually?

I want to think about it

in two ways.

First,

do you desire

to know Jesus better

and have,

actually enjoy

a closer relationship

with Him?

I mean,

all of us in this room,

we have all kinds of desires.

You have desires

about relationships

with people.

You have desires

about, you know,

having enough income

to provide for yourself.

You have desires

for, you know,

lots of things

that are good,

normal.

If,

before we looked

at this passage

this morning

or even last week,

if you were given

a sheet of paper

just out of the blue

and somebody told you,

I want you to write down

the desires

of your heart,

beginning with your

greatest desire

and just however many

you want to put

on the paper,

would you put

on that paper,

honestly,

I have a true

heartfelt desire

to know

the Lord

better,

to be closer

to Him,

for my relationship

to be

richer,

deeper.

Well,

if you have

that desire

and you're not

spending time

with the Lord

on a regular basis,

I want to ask you

right now,

make spending time

with Jesus

a priority

beginning today.

And I want you

to think about this

very specifically.

If you're not already

spending time

with the Lord

every day,

start and just

start with 15 minutes.

find 15 minutes,

you can make

like an appointment

with Him

and spend time

in prayer,

talking to Him

and reading the Bible.

As you pray,

praise the Lord

for who He is.

Thank Him

for how He has been

and He is working

in your life.

I mean,

really focus on

praising Jesus

and your Heavenly Father.

Thank Him.

both the Father

and the Son.

Ask Him

to help you

to have a greater

desire to know Him.

Ask Him

to help you

to truly

draw closer

to Him

and really enjoy

a relationship

with Him.

Start reading

the Bible

and don't just

read randomly.

Read a book

of the New Testament.

let's just say

pick Matthew,

whatever book

you want to.

Pick Philippians

if you're not

reading it.

And don't try

to see how much

you can read.

Just read a paragraph

at a time.

Based on the time

you have available,

take a paragraph

and read it.

Think about

what the human

author is saying

and what God

is saying

through that human

author.

As you read it

or after you've

read it

and you're thinking

about it,

ask God

to help you

to understand

what He wants

you to understand

about that.

Ask Him

to help you

to believe

what He's saying.

Ask Him

to help you

obey it

and then ask Him

to help you

to share it.

Now if you

pick a passage,

you read a paragraph,

you think,

I don't have a clue

what He's talking about.

Go to the next one.

Go to the next paragraph.

Don't get bogged down.

Nobody understands

every paragraph

in the Bible.

If you say you do,

you're a liar.

You need to confess

the sin of lying

and arrogance

if you think you know

everything about the Bible.

Nobody does.

Don't be intimidated.

But there is much

in the Bible.

Many, many, many

paragraphs

that God will help us

to clearly understand

and then it becomes

a question

if we're going to

believe it

and obey it

and even think about

sharing it.

Lisa and I

are going to celebrate

our 43rd wedding

anniversary,

the 27th

of this month.

When you put in

the year that I knew her

before we got married,

we have known each other

for 44 years.

I just can't believe that.

The time has gone on

like that.

Well, we are both

looking forward

to retiring together

this summer

and having more time

just with one another.

We really are.

Now,

we may need

marriage counseling

by Christmas.

That may be true.

And I'm going to

really get concerned

if I come home

and she's playing

Ronnie Millsaps,

this could be

our last good night

together.

But I'm going to

take a chance.

We're going to

take a chance.

We're excited

about the thought

of spending

more time

together

without other

responsibilities.

Isn't that the way

it should be

in a healthy

relationship?

If you've got

a healthy marriage,

you want to

spend time together.

Certainly,

you have things

you do on your own.

That's healthy too.

Nobody needs

to be together

24-7,

that kind of thing

all the time.

But if you have

a healthy relationship,

really with people,

a real relationship,

you do want to

spend time with them,

share some of your

life with them.

And the closer you are,

the more of your life

you want to share

with them.

It's just normal

and it's healthy.

Well,

that should be true

in our relationship

with the Lord.

If it's healthy

and if it's growing.

Second thought,

do you desire

to be perfect?

Now,

we are not going

to achieve it

in this world.

We all know that,

should know that.

We don't emphasize

this enough.

I don't emphasize

it enough.

Perfection is our goal.

We are to seek

to be perfect

as our Lord

is perfect.

That is the goal

that we're not

going to meet

in this world.

But it's God's goal

for us.

Becoming like Jesus.

Look at this.

From the time

God saves us,

regenerates us.

Look at this.

For those

he before knew,

he also predestined

to be conformed

to the image

of his son.

I've said it

many times

and we need

to understand.

God has a purpose

for each of us.

It encompasses

a lot of things.

But in terms

of just who we are,

our character,

God's purpose

is that we become

over a lifetime

more and more

like Jesus.

And we're never

going to achieve

that this side

of heaven,

but it should

always be our goal,

our prayer.

It should be our goal

and our prayer

for ourselves

and for other people

in our lives

that we really care about.

I mean,

you think about

those who are closest

to you that you pray

for on a regular basis.

What all do you pray about?

Well,

probably all kinds

of things.

But on your prayer list

for your children,

your grandchildren,

for your parents,

for your close friends,

people that you really

are close to

and you care about

and you want to pray

for them,

do you pray

that they will grow

in Christian maturity,

in becoming more

like Jesus,

in becoming perfect?

Paul did.

He prayed

this kind of prayer

for his friends

in this church

at Philippi

that we're reading about

that we saw

a while back,

Philippians chapter one.

Look at this.

He said,

and it is my prayer

that your love

may abound

more and more

with knowledge

and all discernment

so that you may approve

what is excellent

and so be pure

and blameless

for the day

of Christ,

filled with the fruit

of righteousness

that comes through

Jesus Christ

to the glory

and praise of God.

I want you to think,

when he's praying

for them to be

pure and blameless

for the day of Christ

when Jesus returns,

he's praying

for their,

what the theologians

would call

sanctification,

their growth

in developing

Christ-like character

so that they will be

pure and blameless

and if you're blameless,

you're perfect.

That's the goal.

That's how Paul

is praying.

That's how we need

to think and pray

and needs to be

our goal.

Some of you set

very high goals

for yourself.

Some of you have

some very definite

financial goals

probably at certain

stages of life.

Some of you have

very high career goals,

definite goals

that are work-related.

Some of you have

retirement goals

or home-related goals.

That's good.

Very helpful.

Younger people

in this room,

you may have a goal

to play a sport

in college

and along with you,

your parents

have a goal

for you to win

a scholarship

in that sport

or academics

or however you can

to help pay

for college.

Some of you

have a goal.

You want to graduate

with honors.

Maybe even be

at the top

of your class.

Some of you

have a goal.

I just want to graduate.

I want to be

in the class.

But it's a goal.

Work for it.

We need to learn

to set challenging goals

for ourselves

in this spiritual realm.

To grow in our relationship

with our Lord Jesus.

To love Him

to the point

that we're willing

to serve Him.

not just serve ourselves

but serve Him

and serve Him

even sacrificially

at times.

Like Paul's praying there,

we need to make it a goal

that we be more like Him

in loving others,

in pleasing God,

and in developing

this pure

and blameless character.

If you want to grow spiritually,

first of all,

recognize that you've got

a long way to go.

You've not arrived,

not even close.

But then we've got

a desire to grow.

And we're going to see

in a moment

we've got to put forth

effort to grow.

But before we get to that,

I want to make

a very strong statement.

If we really want to grow,

we will.

Because God will enable us.

God wants us to.

And God will never

give up on us.

Look at this.

We saw this a long time ago.

In fact,

we actually began

the study of Philippians

with this verse.

Paul writes,

and I'm sure of this,

that he who began

a good work in you

will bring it to completion

in the day of Christ Jesus.

If God has saved you,

he is never going

to give up on you.

He's always going

to be working in you

through the good times

and bad.

Maybe disciplining you

a lot of times

to develop Christlike

character in you.

One of the ways

God brings his work

to completion

is by giving us

the desires

and the ability

to please him

as we've looked at

several times.

Philippians 2.13,

it is God who works

in you both to will

and to work

for his good pleasure.

Here's where we're

going to look next.

God gives us desires

He will give us

the ability

to succeed

but we've got

to put forth effort.

We've got to cooperate

with Him

as He works in us

to mature us

and develop us

into the image of Jesus.

Second thing we look at,

the way to respond

when you discover

that you need

to grow spiritually.

Verses 12-14,

Paul describes

the pursuit

of knowing Christ better,

becoming more like Him

in terms of

a track athlete

running a race.

The Olympics are soon,

think in terms

of an Olympic runner.

For an Olympic runner

to be successful,

there's several things

he or she's got to do.

First,

let's think about it personally.

We've got to put forth

great effort.

You've got to push yourselves.

Look at what Paul says

in these verses.

I press on

to make Him my own.

Straining forward

to what lies ahead.

I press on

toward the goal

for the prize.

Christian living

requires effort

on our part.

God gives us the desire.

He gives us the ability.

But we've got

to exert ourselves.

We've got to

put forth

great effort,

training,

disciplining

ourselves,

learning to resist

temptation,

learning to

spend time

with the Lord,

learning to act

on what we know.

We've got to put forth effort.

Secondly,

we've got to focus

on the goal

that is before us,

which we've seen

is to know Christ

and become perfect

like Him.

But look at the second part

of these phrases

we just looked at.

I press on

to make it my own.

Straining forward

to what lies ahead.

I press on

toward the goal

for the prize.

We'll look at that

in more detail

a little bit later.

We've got to put forth

effort.

You are never

going to just

drift

into becoming

a more material Christian.

You'll drift backward

but you'll never

drift forward.

You have got to

press on,

put forth effort.

You've got to

focus on the goal

before us.

I want to become

more like Jesus.

I want to develop

Christ-like character.

And number three,

we must not look back.

He says,

forgetting what lies

behind.

Now,

this obviously

means you don't

forget everything

in your life

that's behind you.

We can't do that.

We shouldn't do that.

There's a lot of things

God wants us to

remember

and let it motivate us.

For an example,

in the Old Testament,

God repeatedly

calls the people

of Israel,

His chosen people,

remember what

I've done for you.

Remember how I

delivered you

from slavery

in Egypt.

Remember how I

just sent you

into the promised land

and gave you

that land.

Remember things

I've done

in your life.

And we need

to do the same thing.

Never forget

how God has

worked in your life

and let it be

a motivation

that He's your

Heavenly Father.

He's always with you.

He is for you.

You can trust Him.

You can count on Him.

Paul's idea

of forgetting the past

I think is,

we can think about it

in two ways.

Don't allow the past

to interfere

in what you're doing now.

Don't allow your past,

good or bad,

interfere

in what is

going on

or should be

going on now.

You see,

some people do that

by dwelling

on their past

failures and sins.

All of us

in this room,

we have done

things in the past

that causes us

shame,

embarrassment,

regret,

and guilt.

You might think

to yourself,

if people in here

knew some of the

things I have

thought,

said,

and done,

you know,

it'd just blow them

away.

Well,

just about everybody

in this room

could say that.

There is no one

in this room

that has not

done things

that are shameful,

humiliating,

ungodly,

offensive to God

and other people.

Now,

if you have not

confessed those

things

and sought God's

forgiveness,

turned from them,

well,

you do need to do

that before you

can move on.

The verse of

Scripture that

should be

one of the most

comforting verses

to every Christian

is 1 John 1,

9,

if we confess

our sins,

He is faithful

and just to

forgive us

and to cleanse

us from all

unrighteousness.

No matter what

it is that

brings you

great shame

and humiliation,

no matter what

it is that so

offended God,

if you have

truly,

sincerely

admitted that

to God,

turned from it,

sought His

forgiveness.

You need to

understand,

take Him at

His word.

God forgave you.

God wiped

the slate

clean.

He'll never

bring it up

to you again.

I heard

an assistant

principal say

one time,

who was in

charge of

discipline

at the high

school level,

when He had

to suspend

someone,

He told

them,

now when you

come back

after your

three days,

you got a

clean slate.

We're going

to forget

what you've

done.

We're not

going to hold

it against

you.

When you

come back,

you have a

fresh start

and don't

come back

and worry

about it.

that's what

God gives

us,

a fresh

start.

And if

you are

the one

who's been

sinned

against

and someone

has sought

your forgiveness

and you say,

I have

forgiven you,

then you've

got to

wipe the

slate clean

and give

them a fresh

start and

never throw

it back up

in their

face.

It's

impossible to

forgive and

forget.

What that

means,

though,

is you

forgive and

not that it's

gone from your

mind.

It means you

never bring it

up to somebody

again.

If you've

truly forgiven

somebody in

your life,

don't bring

it up.

Don't remind

them.

Forget it.

Lay it

aside.

Remember it

no more

just as God

does and

give them

a fresh

start.

Now,

some people

allow their

past failures

and sins to

ever keep

them from

going forward.

But on the

other hand,

there are some

people who

allow their

past successes

and accomplishments

to interfere in

what they're

doing now.

you may have

read the Bible

from cover to

cover last

year,

but that's

not helping

you in your

relationship with

the Lord right

now.

You may have

had the most

consistent devotional

life you've ever

had in your

life the last

six months.

That was good.

But you need

to continue to

meet with the

Lord and walk

with the Lord

and seek to be

faithful to Him.

If we want to

enjoy a close

fellowship with

the Lord as a

normal part of

our lives, we've

got to stay close

to Him.

It's a day-by-day

kind of

closeness.

You know,

some Christians

reach a point in

life where they

think if they've

served God in

the past, they've

done enough.

And I don't

know, some of

you probably said

this, I don't

know, I cannot

remember somebody

saying this to

me, so I'm

not, I'm not, I'm

not jumping on

you, but if the

shoe fits, wear

it.

I'm not going to

apologize for it.

But I've heard

people say, well, I

did my time working

with children when my

children were young.

I've done my time

doing this, and I'm

not going to do it

anymore.

I've done so

forth, and I'm

just going to do

nothing, basically,

now.

We cannot do

that.

That will make

our relationship

with the Lord

stale.

That will take

all the fire,

the joy, the

enthusiasm out of

life.

We cannot ever

reach the point

where we just say,

I'm going to quit,

I've done my part,

done my time,

because from now

on, I just don't

want to be

involved.

You know, I'm

going to retire as a

full-time pastor this

summer.

But I want to make

some things very

clear about that.

I am not retiring

from my relationship

with the Lord or my

service to Him.

One of the things

that I am looking

forward to in

retirement is having

more time to spend

with the Lord in

things like prayer

and Bible study and

just reading without

having to prepare

sermons and Bible

studies.

I'm looking forward

to that.

Just having the joy

of spending time with

the Lord and not

trying to put it in a

form to communicate it

to others like this.

I love doing it.

But I also look

forward to some time

where there's no

deadline to prepare a

presentation, a sermon,

a Bible study.

I have talked to

people, I've heard

people say,

someone just very

recently, who is a

man who is retired,

what I just said,

one guy has worked

hard all of his life,

always been very busy,

and actually three

people, bits and

pieces of conversations,

they have told me I

enjoy getting up in the

morning, eating

breakfast, drinking

coffee, and having

no kind of deadline,

and maybe spending two

or three hours just

reading the Bible,

thinking about the

things of God,

praying, reading other

things, and just

enjoying fellowship with

the Lord.

I'm looking forward to

that.

I want to do that.

Now, I do plan on

continuing to preach as

the Lord gives me

opportunity.

I love to do this.

I think God called me

to this.

I don't plan to ever

quit as long as I'm

able, got the mind,

and I don't smart

aleck say, well, you

need to already quit.

You know, I know the

mind's leaving.

I do plan to preach.

I also plan to develop

a website at some

point, put sermons and

Bible studies online,

sort of give me an

outlet for studies.

I do want to be

productive, not just me

and God, but I want to

have, you know, do

something productive to

help other people.

Also, maybe some

commentaries on current

events that will probably

get my website shut

down within two weeks,

but that's okay.

I'll put forth the

effort.

What I'm trying to say

is we can't ever retire

from serving the Lord.

The way we serve Him

will change at various

times in our life, not

just at retirement, but

I want you to think

right now, if you're a

Christian, God has given

you gifts, talents, and

abilities that He wants

you to use for His glory

and other people's good.

You have that

responsibility if you're

a Christian.

You can do that in a

lot of different ways,

but one of the ways as a

member of this church is

you need to be serving

the Lord in and through

this church.

We need, we're, we're,

Christians are referred

to as the body of Christ.

We need all the body

parts to work, to be

involved, to be the

church that God calls us

to be, to be the healthy,

effective, productive

church the Lord calls us

to be.

But let's look at one

thing real quickly.

One last thing.

He says, I've always been

looking forward.

He says, straining forward

to what lies ahead.

You know, I've, I've never

run track.

I've played a lot of

different things, but

never ran track.

But I'm, I'm told that

when you're running track,

just like a baseball

player running the

baseline, you don't look

back over your shoulder.

You don't look back to

see how far the next guy

is or what's going on.

You look at the crowd.

You stay focused on your

goal.

And the closer you get

to the finish line, the

Olympic runner, the

sprinter, even the long

distance runner, they're

out front, they want to

win, they stretch way out

for their chest to break

the line, break the line,

whatever it is that's going

to be the finish line so

they can win.

Paul says, straining

forward to what lies

ahead.

Paul described what he is

training, what he is

straining forward to that

lies ahead in verse 14.

He says, I press on

toward the goal for the

prize of the upward call

of God in Christ Jesus.

He's talking about his

heavenly reward that

awaits him at the end of

his life.

Here's how I want us to

close.

We're all going to face

the end of our life one

day and we don't know

when it will be.

Everybody doesn't live to

be old.

And when the end of life

comes for you, we're

going to appear before

the judgment seat of the

Lord.

All of us.

Look at what Paul says in

2 Corinthians.

For we must all appear

before the judgment seat of

Christ so that each one

may receive what is due for

what he has done in the

body with a good or evil.

When you look at that

verse and think about it,

what comes to your mind?

Is it fear or terror?

Terror?

Uncertainty?

Or do you, as you think

about that, is there

confidence?

Even a sense of joy because

you're thinking about reward?

I want you to look at how

Paul faced that day.

It's described in 2 Timothy 3.

He says this, the time of my

departure has come.

He knows he's going to be

executed.

It's right at hand.

He's going to die.

He says, I have fought the

good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up

for me the crown of

righteousness, which the

Lord, the righteous judge,

will award to me on that day

and not only to me, but also

to all who have loved his

appearing.

The key to ending life this

way is to live our lives in

close personal fellowship with

the Lord.

Do you have that?

Do you want it if you don't?

If that is your desire of your

heart, but you know you don't

have a relationship with the

Lord, admit that to him.

Confess your sin.

Turn from your sin.

Trust Jesus as your savior.

Call upon him to save you.

You can begin that kind of

relationship now.

If you say, I know I am a

Christian, no doubt I am

trusting Christ and him alone.

I have had a close relationship

with him, but it's not like it

used to be.

It's not growing.

It's not maturing right now.

Well, if that's the case, I want

to encourage you to make Jesus

spending time with him.

Getting to know him better, your

number one priority.

Spend time with him every day.

And by God's grace, you will

grow.

Look at this again, one more

time.

And I am sure of this, that he

who began a good work in you will

bring it to completion at the day

of Jesus Christ.

You can grow.

But you've got to do it God's

way.

You've got to cooperate with him.

You've got to spend time with

him.

And final thought, if you do have

a growing relationship with the

Lord, don't ever let it

get old or be stale.

Follow Paul's example.

But one thing I do, forgetting what

lies behind and straining forward to

what lies ahead, I press on toward the

goal for the prize of the upward call of

God in Christ Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Dear God, help all of us in this room

right now to admit to you and ourselves

whether or not we desire growth,

spiritual maturity, become more like

Jesus.

Know him better and love him more.

And Father, with that truth about what we

really desire, show us how to respond.

And dear God, overwhelm us with the desire and

the ability to respond in the way that

will please you.

And in an attitude of prayer, you just

talk to the Lord, listen to the Lord, and

respond to him the way he's speaking to

you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello?

Thank you.

Thank you.