Grow in Grace in 2026

Well before we get started I always get the privilege

to announce whenever there's a new baby born

in our church and I'll be making these announcements

more regularly apparently in the spring as a

there's more and more more babies getting Born

which I love to see that happening But in December

Caleb and Lizzie Friginal had their baby Colin

the baby Colin was born in December. Yeah and

Yeah, we can clap for that. And then just a few

days ago on the 31st, Mazie and Mathias O had

their baby, baby Hazel was born. So yeah, exciting

times in our church whenever there's new babies

born into our church. It speaks to the life of

our church and the use of our church as well

and excited for them to have their children.

And if you see them encourage them in that way

and you can also send them a text and Congratulate

them as well So I want to let you guys know that

well if you have your Bible Let's turn to a second

Peter this morning second Peter chapter 3 this

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Sunday is kind of a kickoff Sunday into 2026

and Kind of a time to like I said start thinking

about School tomorrow for some of you some of

your parents are like good my kids go back to

school tomorrow. I'm excited about that Others

you're like bummer got to go back to school tomorrow

You guys are thinking about the year and whatnot

and I just thought it'd be a good idea for us

to just consider and To think about and meditate

on how it is that you want to grow spiritually

this year and encourage you and remind you of

the blessed opportunity that you have and even

command of scripture to grow in the grace and

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. last week

thankful for Jonah and his Preparation and teaching

last week as he really gave us the motivation

behind spiritual growth the motivation Behind

it and the driving factors of the Apostle Paul

what he had Going into his desire for for Christ

likeness and if you were here last week, then

you remember him talking about the love of God

controlling us talking about the hope of a future

resurrection and these driving factors to cause

us to think about why we should pursue Christ

and become more like him. Well this morning I

want to put some practical pieces to that and

and even just to help us even practically Put

in place a plan. How is it that I will grow in

2026? Maybe you've already done this. It's already

What is it? July 4th? So maybe you're three days

into your new year's resolution Maybe some of

you are thought I'm just not gonna do that this

year and I'm just gonna See how it goes. And

we'll work with that as well. And some of you

are thinking, hey, this afternoon's gonna be

a good time. I'm gonna put a plan in place. I'm

gonna really consider how it is that I'm gonna

grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ. And I hope that that is

your desire, that you wanna grow and become more

like Christ in 2026. So if you have your Bible,

let's look at 2nd Peter 3 verse 14 down to verse

18 Together and I'll pray for us and then we'll

jump in and see all that it has for us verse

14 therefore beloved Since you are waiting for

these be diligent To be found by him without

spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience

of our Lord as salvation Just as our beloved

brother Paul also wrote to you according to the

wisdom given him as He does in all his letters

when he speaks in them of these matters There

are some things in them that are hard to understand

which the ignorant and unstable twist to their

own destruction as they do the other scriptures

You therefore beloved knowing this beforehand

take care that you are not carried away with

the error of lawless people and lose your own

stability. Verse 18. But grow in the grace and

knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of

eternity. Amen. Lord, thank you for this time

we have in your word. Lord, would you inspire

us and motivate us. To be able to obey this charge

and this command that you've given to us to grow

in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ May we be able even to look back

on on this year and see the grace that you've

given to us To grow and mature in the things

of the Lord Lord in all we want to be transformed

to become more like Christ Would you help us

to do that in Jesus name? Amen One of the traditions

that our family has around the Christmas time

is to one night during December we go down to

Bell Square down here and we shop and we go to

dinner together and then what has happened after

that is we've taken a picture of our children

since seven years ago. We've taken a picture

of them and each year we've been able to take

another picture and another picture and another

picture and another picture and it It was just

one of those things that was like, hey, we took

a picture last year. Let's take a picture again.

And then it was, oh, remember we took a picture

last year. We've taken it again. Well, now on

your phone, it comes up as these memories of

the picture of what happened the year before

and the year before and the year before. And

what you can see very clearly is you can see

physical growth that is happening with my kids.

In fact, If you know them, you know that all

of them have grown substantially over the last

seven years. And they have passed me up as far

as height. And I'm finding out that I'm shrinking

and no longer growing up, but growing out. And

I'm working on that and trying to handle that

myself. But you can see this clear physical growth

that has happened year over year with my children.

It is something that is real. It is something

that you can see. It's something that is right

in front of you. It's easy to measure, it's evident,

and it's obvious the physical growth that you

can see year over year. But as you know, physical

growth reaches a peak. At some point, you stop

growing. In fact, maybe you start going backwards,

but my point is you stop growing physically.

For some of you, you reach that peak in the fifth

grade. You're like, that is it. My fifth grade

was as tall as I got and everybody else passed

me up by then. For others of you, you grew later

on and into college. But unlike physical growth

where there's a definite vertical ending where

you stop growing, spiritually, there is no end

to the growth that you can have. You never stop

growing in the things of the Lord. You never

stop maturing in the things of the Lord there

There is never a moment for the believer where

they have arrived spiritually and can now kick

it into a Autopilot or can now say I've reached

a level of righteousness that I can just coast

now in the Christian life This process of growing,

theologians call it the sanctification process.

And once you are saved, where you are declared

righteous, your justification, you are now on

a path called sanctification, which is just another

way to say the process of becoming more like

Jesus Christ. And that process continues on and

on and on, day after day after day, week after

week after week, month after month, year after

year, until you reach glorification, which is

a time when you pass from this world and enter

into eternity. The Bible speaks often about spiritual

growth. The Bible speaks of its importance to

the believer. The more mature you are in Christ,

the greater your enjoyment will be of this life.

The more mature you are in Christ, the greater

you will be able to handle suffering and hardship

in this life. The more mature you are in Christ

and the more you are like Christ, then you will

receive and understand what peace and joy and

happiness and the fruits of the spirit are in

this life. To say it another way, it's this.

All things get spiritually better for the believer

as they mature in Christ. All things. When it

comes to spiritual growth, the Bible then says

things like this in 1 Timothy 6 -11, that we

should be pursuing righteousness. In Romans 12

-1, we are being transformed. In 2 Corinthians

7 -11, we are perfecting holiness. In Philippians

4 -13, we're pressing on towards the goal and

Colossians 2 7 were being built up in the faith.

This is a continual process for the believer

over and over and over again. We are continually

growing, continually maturing in the faith because

no one has spiritually arrived. No one has reached

sainthood, priesthood, where you are considered

fully mature. And the great thing about this

is, in God's providence, is this. The church

is always in this process together, and so it

actually is a unifying effect for the church.

Because we can look around to our left and to

our right, and in front of us and behind us,

and go, yeah, that person, just like me, is battling

and growing in the things of the Lord always.

and continually into this life. And it unifies

the church. Nobody says, hey, I'm a part of the

church, but I actually don't need to grow in

the Lord anymore. In fact, I'm the mature one

in the church. And the rest of you need to go

to Bible study. Not me. I've been saved for a

number of years and my spiritual progress is

outpacing the rest of you. Good luck with how

that's going. No, nobody's in that boat. We're

all in this together, growing and maturing in

the things of the Lord. As we come to this passage

this morning and kind of parachute here into

2 Peter, there is this admonition in verse 18

that we are to grow in the grace and the knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is

coming down to his final writings that he has

for the church. This encouraging letter, this

exhortive letter, this letter that ends with

this command, and I always find this fascinating

whenever I jump back and think about these letters

that Peter wrote, is that he came to the end

of his life, And he does not come to the end

of his life and say to us, hey guys, this is

my final thing to say to you, and it is this,

don't deny Jesus Christ like I did. Don't go

there. Or he doesn't come down to the end and

say, hey, be somebody who gives people second

chances because I got a second chance in life.

Of all the things Peter could have said about

his own life and his own experience, He doesn't

say any of those things. He comes down to the

end of this book and he exhorts us with this.

Here's what I want you to do. I want you to continue

to grow in grace. Believer, continue to grow

in knowledge and do it all to the glory of God

until we all reach that day where we are in eternity

with him. Peter understood because he himself

was not always buttoned up when it came to the

Christian life. He understood that there is a

pursuit. He understood that we are going to fail.

He understood that we're gonna wake up and we're

not going to desire God on certain days. We're

gonna wake up and we're not gonna wanna grab

our Bible on certain days. We're gonna wake up

on Sunday morning and we're not gonna wanna go

to church on certain Sundays. He understands

all of that. But he comes down to the end and

he says, here's what I want you to do. My final

sentence that I'm going to write, the final thought

I want to place in your head, it is this, continue

to grow in grace and knowledge. Keep the faith.

Keep going. Continue to pursue Christ. Continue

to mature. Now the context by which he has this

final saying, there's a lot in chapter one, chapter

two, and chapter three, and it is concerning

salvation, suffering, sanctification, and then

a whole chapter, chapter two, he warns us about

false teachers. That false teachers are out there,

and they are coming in with swift destruction.

to destroy and derail your faith. But he says

here, I want you to grow. Continue to grow. Continue

to go back to the basics of Christianity. Go

back to the basics of what you already know.

And this morning really what I'm gonna give to

you and. Say to you and how I'm going to encourage

you a lot of it will not be brand new information

some of it will be in fact most of it will be

reminders just basic reminders I Feel like I'm

in good company doing that because turn back

with me in first or in second Peter chapter 2

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

or second Peter chapter 1 in verse 12 Even Peter

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

understands this and writing this letter. He

says therefore I intend always to what? to remind

you of these qualities. Though you know them

and establish them in the truth that you have,

I think it's right, as long as I'm in this body,

to what? To stir you up by way of reminder. I

wanna encourage you church family just by way

of reminder. He goes on, he says, I make every

effort, verse 15, so that after my departure,

you may be able to what? at any time to recall

these things. I just wanna remind you of things

you already know. In chapter three and verse

one he says, this is now the second time that

I'm writing you, beloved. In them, in both of

them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way

of reminder. Sometimes we just need to be reminded

of the basics. We just need to recall what it

is that causes growth within our life And he

says it in verse 17 of the passage we just read

in chapter 3 says you therefore beloved knowing

this Beforehand you already know these things

So you're saying yourself great is this a pastor

Joe telling me to read my Bible Is this pastor

joe telling me to pray is this pastor joe telling

me to serve? Is this pastor joe telling me? Yes.

Yes. Yes and yes It is all those things. This

is that sermon this morning I want to just remind

you of these things Okay, so here's four four

action items towards spiritual maturity in 2026

Okay, four things that I want to give to you

this morning Number one is this Get motivated

for holy living get motivated Get motivated for

holy living look at verse 14 therefore beloved

Since you are waiting for these be Diligent underline

it circle it highlight it with your favorite

color be Diligent to be found by him without

spot or blemish and at peace he says therefore

beloved. What are you saying therefore? Well

the context here is this, he has just said in

verse 10 that the day of the Lord is coming like

a thief in the night. He's saying this, at any

moment Jesus Christ will return. At any moment

our Lord and Savior will come back to redeem

his people. We don't know when that is going

to be, but we know it's going to happen. It even

says that he is being patient. He is awaiting.

Verse nine he is the Lord is not slow to fulfill

his promise as some count slowest But is patient

towards you not wishing that any should perish

But that all should reach repentance and the

patience of the Lord is going on right now But

that patience will end and he will come back

And so he says for the believer, therefore beloved,

since you are awaiting these things, you are

awaiting for Christ to return, this is what I

need you to do. I need you to be motivated to

live the Christian life. I need you to be diligent.

And he says this with a pastoral heart, therefore

beloved, those I love, since you're waiting.

Be diligent to be found by him without spot or

blemish and at peace You're looking for Christ

return while you're looking towards his return

have this thought in your mind Be diligent some

of your Bibles may say make every effort Make

every effort. It's the same word that that Peter

uses even in this letter chapter 1 in verse 10

He says therefore brothers be all the more diligent

to confirm your calling and election make every

effort The command here is this it it stresses

our personal duty and our responsibility To be

motivated and to be active The word here it has

the idea of zealous persistence, zealous persistence.

Make every effort that you can, muster up all

the ability that you can to be found in Him with

peace, spotless and blameless. This is not the

mindset of, hey, I'm just going to let go and

let God. Just let go, church, and let God. No,

church, don't let go. Make every effort that

you can to be spotless. Make every effort that

you can to be more diligent, to be found by Him

without spot and without blemish. Don't let go,

rather do all that you can to pursue holiness.

We have a responsibility. This verb is in the

active voice. There's a desire here. There's

a motivation here to get moving spiritually Just

recently I in the last few months I decided probably

a good idea to start thinking about my own health

and So I got a gym membership and decided I'm

just gonna pay for the whole year that way it

was much cheaper to do that and Was like okay.

It's already paid for I better go and use this

thing And so I started going to the gym and I

looked at a treadmill and I thought to myself,

I wonder how that thing works, huh? I wonder

what you do with that. It's like, oh, you hit

the go button and it starts moving and I better

too or I'll fall off. And started getting on

a treadmill and looking over at the weights and

thought, hey, I should probably lift those things

too and see what happens if I do that. And started

just trying to be more active and take. take

some initiative when it comes to physical health

and been going now and trying to stay in this

routine. But there's been times where I've been

to the gym, and I see people there who have made

the effort to get to the gym, but then they do

absolutely nothing while they're there. And I'm

just thinking to myself, why'd you even come?

Like it's way more comfortable on the couch in

your outfit Than it is to actually be end of

the gym Sitting there looking at the person on

the treadmill. I Mean you're almost there like

you're so close like you did the hard part You

walked in Okay, you're there Now, what does it

take to get you motivated to hop on the thing?

and not just look at everybody else doing everything.

Look at that person now, they're really working

hard over there. No wonder they're in shape.

Look at that person over there, yeah. I'm just

gonna enjoy my latte I grabbed at Starbucks on

the way to the gym. Watch everybody else go to

work. This motivation just stops at some point.

Like you know what's right to do, but it just

hits a wall. And Peter's saying here that you

need to be diligent, you need to be motivated,

you need to remind yourself Jesus is going to

come back, how will he find me? Will he find

me to be someone that was in him without spot

or blemish doing what I can to... to pursue holiness

in this life. It was in me to say, God, I'm doing

what I can to pursue Christ. I want to be inspired.

I want to be disciplined for holy living. And

we know this church, there are no shortcuts to

sanctification. And our world loves shortcuts.

We love the fact that we can order Online and

it come was in seven to ten days and Some of

your eyes like no, I don't like that. I Want

it tomorrow? Amazon in fact, I only buy it if

you can get it to me in the next six to ten hours

Okay, we love shortcuts We're built to get things

now and so when it comes to the Christian life

We want to read our Bible and we want to believe

that all of a sudden I read it once I deserve

the change in that moment. I read it once and

That's not how the Christian life works There's

no drive -through customized Drink that we can

drink called immediate sanctification There's

no double shot of that drink We have to keep

pursuing. We have to be motivated. We have to

keep striving to present ourselves approved of

God as workmen who are not ashamed as it says

in 2nd Timothy 2 15 and and some of you are thinking

wow pastor like You're just telling me. I just

need to try harder and try harder. In fact, I

feel like you're maybe even calling me a bum

right now because of this. I wanna tell you this,

I've been there before, where you're like, I

really wanna do this, but I keep running into

that wall. I'm with you, I've been there before.

And the fundamental change that you need to make,

you ready? You ready? Well, write this down.

The fundamental change that you need to make

is this. You need to wake up tomorrow morning

and you need to admit that you can't do it. Wake

up tomorrow morning and go, God, I can't pursue

you without your grace. Wake up tomorrow morning

and go, I can't get into work tomorrow and live

the Christian life apart from your grace. And

I'm going to live my life grace infused tomorrow.

Entirely dependent on your grace to pursue holiness.

Instead of saying, I'm just gonna pull up my

bootstraps and I'm just gonna get it done. No,

you're gonna wake up and go, I can't get it done,

Lord. I need you, I need your grace. I don't

want to read my Bible, but by grace would you

give me a desire to read my Bible today? By grace

would you give me a desire to pray today? By

grace would you give me a desire to serve today?

And when you do that, you then begin to be motivated

no longer by your effort, but you get to be motivated

by the grace of God in your life. And we keep

pursuing Christ by the grace of God. By grace,

I can defeat sin. By my own power, I cannot.

I need your grace today. Ephesians 6 -10. Be

strong in the Lord and in the strength of His

might. Let me give you another. Moving on here.

Let me give you another. Action item for 2026

is this number two guard against false teachers

Guard against false teachers and there's a lot

of them out there church And we need to be reminded

of this. There's a lot of false teaching going

on out there Verse 15 talks about the patience

of our Lord is salvation. It talks about Paul

how he wrote and Peter's talking about the things

that Paul wrote and how it is inspired word of

God and then He says in verse 16, he says, there

are some things in them that are hard to understand,

to which we say, yeah, there are. I've read the

book of Romans. There's some things that are

hard to understand that Paul wrote. He says this,

the ignorant and the unstable twist to their

own destruction as they do other scriptures.

He's talking about the way that false teachers

twist and distort scripture because they don't

know the meaning of the text. He's saying there

are those who are out there That want to act

as if they know what the Bible says Yet, they

are ignorant and they're unstable and they twist

scripture For their own well -being And what

this means is here, the word there, you can see

it in your Bible, it says ignorant. The word

ignorant simply means they're untaught, they're

unlearned, they have no education, they're ignorant.

It points not so much to their lack of knowledge,

but more to their lack of training. They have

not been trained to be able to interpret scripture

and provide an accurate understanding of what

it says, and an accurate understanding of what

it says would then lead to a practical understanding

of that truth. They have undisciplined habits

in their mind. They're they're ignorant of fundamental

principles of hermeneutics They have little appreciation

for actual Bible study They disregard the importance

of context and an accurate interpretation of

the Word of God And because of that, they're

unstable, meaning they have these faulty convictions

in their life. They're unsteady, unsettled in

their mind. Their habits have not been fully

trained to come to biblical convictions, accurate

biblical convictions. And it says there, you

therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand,

take care that you are not carried away with

the air of lawlessness. of lawless people and

lose your own stability. These untaught, unstable

people are leading people astray and they're

swiping the feet out from underneath them. And

they're doing this by distorting scripture. Which

means to put a wrench in it, to torment. entirely

twisted to their own liking. In church, more

than ever before, can anybody grab a microphone

in a room, call it a podcast, and start broadcasting

this stuff? Church, don't be ignorant of this.

There are so many people out there who are twisting

scripture for their own liking. People who are

listening to podcasts and and watching reels

over and over again and going wow, that's really

good stuff. It's trash It's not really good stuff

These are untrained uneducated people with a

microphone And we have to be careful we have

to be on guard you will lose your footing Being

trained by someone who is untrained. Being trained

by people who have no idea what they're talking

about spiritually. Say, Joe, you're passionate

about this. Yes, I recently listened to one for

like five minutes. I was like, you've got to

be kidding me. People like this stuff? People

think this is good? They can get a dose of this

every day? Find good trained men and women to

sit under who understand hermeneutics and how

to interpret the word of God and are willing

to give you the meat of scripture. Not just another

sounding point. Guard yourself from this error.

It is so dangerous for your soul. It stunts your

spiritual growth. I don't think Peter here is

just talking about those who claim to be pastors

or shepherds or educators. I think even Peter

is talking about those who are your friends.

Those who are your influences. He's talking about

anybody who claims to have some sort of authority

on the things of the Word of God that are simply

ignorant, they're unstable and they twist to

their own destruction. Church, who do you listen

to? What are you reading? Is it healthy? In 2026,

what have you decided to do as far as what will

influence your heart and your mind this year?

And I have no idea what it is that you listen

to online. I have no idea if you're a radio guy

or a podcast person. I don't know if you listen.

Learn better by listening or learn better by

reading but my challenge to you and my exhortation

and reminder to you is this That there are ignorant

and unstable people who would love your mind

They would love your mind and You have to be

on guard you have to be oh so careful Spiritually

mature people are attracted to spiritually mature

people Spiritually mature people are attracted

to spiritually mature authors. Spiritually mature

people are attracted to spiritually mature messages

and teachings and music. Immature people are

still attracted to immature people. What's going

on in your mind and in your heart by way of what

you listen to and what you read and just be reminded

of Paul, or of Peter. and what he says here.

Let me give you a third thing. Number three.

It's this. Grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus.

Grow in grace. Grow in knowledge. We must be

always in the process of growing. This is a present

imperative, a command to continually be passionate

in your pursuit. Peter starts this whole letter

and in second Peter in verse 2 of chapter 1 He

says may grace and peace be multiplied to you

in the knowledge of God of Jesus our Lord said

a little bit differently but the principle is

the same it's it's bookended here continually

be growing in the things of the Lord and here's

why he gives it he gives it to us very clearly

why verse 17 take care that you are not carried

away by the air of lawless people lose your own

stability verse 18 but what but grow and the

grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ if you are not growing you are in

danger of being carried away by the air of those

who are spiritually unstable and immature and

you will lose effectiveness you say it another

way is this the way to not lose your grip and

and be spiritual discerning is by growing in

the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ or to say it another way the antidote

to deception and destruction is growth in grace

in the knowledge of God That's the antidote.

We must be continually growing so that we are

not carried away, so that we don't lose our spiritual

footing. And church, we cannot live off of bread

that we have eaten five and ten years ago. We

can't live Off of spiritual truths that you learned

15 years ago 10 years ago We've got to be back

in the truth We've got to be back in the word

growing and learning with a new freshness those

truths that you did learn 20 30, 15 years ago,

are they brought a fresh in your mind and a newness

that is causing growth in your mind, not just

a reminder of what you learned, but it is changing

and transforming your heart. Are there new principles

that you're holding onto? May we not be Christians

who had an era of our life where we matured greatly,

and ever since then, we've just feeding off of

that maturity. But we're constantly growing,

constantly learning. Yes, you're gonna have moments

where you're gonna grow faster than others in

different eras of your life. Maybe it's because

of the surroundings of people that have been

encouraging you, or a small group, or Bible study,

or maybe it's even suffering where you just grew

more in an era, but don't allow that to be the

only era of your life. Continually grow, continually

learn. He says to grow in grace Thomas Schreiner

says grace is the foundation of the lives of

believers and is entirely God's gift And yet

believers are exhorted to grow in it to be nurtured

in it to be strengthened by it Grace is not a

static reality believers are to grow in it until

the day they die Otherwise, they might be carried

away by the lawlessness of the false teachers

We say what is this grace this grace is the favor

of God for sure, but grace throughout the Bible

also speaks of beauty. You always hear this saying,

that person is so graceful. You say, oh, that

person's really graceful. There's just this infusion

of grace into the heart that changes somebody

where their heart is just like God's heart. This

isn't just moral change, this is an internal

heart change. Where you see the image of God

on their life You see it decorated on their life

it's like that Christmas tree that we just all

decorated or Seen around where there's the tree

which has life within itself, but the the ornaments

on top of it make the tree glisten and shine

bright. That's how it is for the believer. It

is God that brings life to the believer, but

it is the grace, the ornaments upon it that bring

it shine and glisten and glow in the Christian's

life. That's a graceful person. The grace of

God gives us patience. The grace of God allows

us to forgive. The grace of God is internal,

but is Surely displayed externally I think of

first Peter 3 3 to 5 this is don't be concerned

about the outward beauty that depends on fancy

hairstyles expensive jewelry beautiful clothes

You should be known for the beauty that comes

from within the unfading beauty of a gentle and

quiet spirit Which is so precious to God The

internal And we need to grow in this grace The

grace of God truly becomes the strength of a

man and a woman because it's not his strength,

it's God's strength. It also says there that

we need to grow not only in grace, but we need

to grow in what? In knowledge. There is a premium

on knowledge in the Bible that we are filled

with truth, continually growing in our understanding.

Listen, your ability to grow in grace depends

on your understanding of truth. More truth that

is taught the more knowledge that is taught the

more graceful one can be so we grow in knowledge

And we grow in grace. Let me give you some steps

for how to do that I've got 11 will be here till

1 o 'clock I've got some here for you up on the

screen. I Think I've got them we got we got steps

for them number one ask God to give you a desire

for him number one Start there. I don't have

a desire. Okay, you got to ask for it. I can't

give you a desire I really want to if you can't

tell I really want to but I can't only God can

give you a desire for him Number two recognize

that you can't grow apart from the grace of God

God causes growth Number three remove any hindrances

and repent of any sin What hindrances are keeping

you from growing Remove any hindrances and then

repent of any sin. What sin is causing you? To

not desire the things of the Lord Read your Bible

You knew it was gonna be in that list, right?

Read your Bible you gotta read your Bible You

gotta pray. And pray. And keep praying. And pray

when you don't want to pray. Serve in the church.

Find a way to serve in the church. Serve others.

Give generously of your resources. Take communion.

Be baptized. Share your faith with unbelievers

Practice the one another's there's the obedience

factor there And then think less of self and

more of Jesus I actually had 12 I Keep adding

to these lists and I keep forgetting how many

I've added Think less of self and more of others

you say Joe. I know these things. I know you

know these things This isn't a matter of knowledge.

This is a matter of practice And may God by his

grace motivate us in 2026 inspire us To grow

in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ. The last major point is this because

I told you there's four It is this glorify God

for any growth That's verse End of verse 18 to

him be the glory right to him be the glory. Let

me just say this about your sanctification Maybe

this will be helpful Okay, your sanctification

is more about the glory of God than it is about

you It's more about the glory of God than it

is about you So your sanctification is actually

not So much about you as it is about what God

and his glory? He gets all the glory for your

growth. He's the one that caused the growth He's

the one that matured the growth and therefore

he gets all the glory for the growth therefore

This is actually about God and his glory in your

life Lord, thank you for our time in your word

and Hopefully this was an encouragement Lord.

I know these messages can often feel like we're

never doing enough and feel like more discouraging

than encouraging, and I hope that's not the case.

I hope there's a recognition in our own life

of where we're falling short, a recognition of

where we do need to change some habits, we do

need to repent of sin, we do need to just get

more discipline, and hopefully in this message

there's a reminder that all of this depends on

the grace of God. We cannot move forward apart

from your grace, and we lean on that grace each

and every day. Lord Jesus, would you help us

to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ And may we give you all

the glory We pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen