People of Grace: Why is Discipleship so Difficult - June 22, 2025

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6.19, Pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me, so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

Well, this morning, we're going to continue in our sermon series.

Why is discipleship so difficult? Or since we're talking about grace and being

people of grace, really what it comes down to is why are there challenges to God's grace?

And what are some of those challenges and how can we meet them?

First, I want to read the scripture of this morning from Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2:44–47

verses 44 through 47. And I'd ask if you're able to and willing,

would you stand for the reading of God's word again this morning?

Acts chapter 2, verses 44 through 47. All the believers were together and had everything in common.

Acts 2:44–47

They sold their property and possessions to give to anyone who was in need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Father bless your word today May it impact our hearts and life God may it impact

our church Our congregation As we see how your plan,

Is to be for each and every one of us To grow in grace together Lord to encourage

one another When discipleship gets difficult,

When grace gets challenged Father be with us today we pray In Jesus name amen,

You can be seated thank you.

Well, it is that time of year. It is summer. Might not feel like it right now,

but it did about a week ago, didn't it?

And it's the summertime when all the kids get out of school,

when the college kids are home or working, and when life just seems to take

on a little bit different rhythm.

And I thought back to even before the summer began, as the school year was winding

down, and Melanie and the girls working out there at the Greenleaf Friends Academy,

me and how all the teachers, they get to leave for the summer.

But it's the child care center workers that are there the whole time. They're the stalwarts.

But yet the cry of my wife's heart still rings out. I need a beach trip.

I need to go to the ocean. And this is no surprise. We've talked about this,

trying to make it happen.

And, you know, it's a little different when the kids

were small and we were in central california boy where we lived was was the

prime spot because it was two hours to go up to the mountains to go up to yosemite

or or king's canyon national park sequoia national park or it's two hours to

get over to the coast and and to go over there and

when it was 115 in the valley where we lived boy it was barely 60 70 degrees

over where we like to go in Cayucos, California.

Now, I know some of you know where that's at. Some of you know exactly where

that's at in the quaint little town.

I love that place. My Aunt Vivian had a coast house there, and so when we would

leave Boise and go to visit California,

we'd always get at least a few days over at the Pacific Ocean there in Cayucos,

and while her coast house wasn't exactly right on the beach.

It was only a block down a flight of stairs. And there you were.

And you could walk all the way down to the pier.

I mean, it was beautiful. It was lovely.

And it was during one of those times. If you don't know this about me, I'm not a water guy.

I'm not a guy that can swim very well, if at all. I've got lead in my backside,

and so I tend to sink more than I do to swim.

And my cousins had this bright idea that we should go out and let's go surfing.

And I said, no, that's not.

He said, well, I know you're from Idaho. You don't have any water up there.

I said, yeah, we have water. It's just not this kind of water.

We don't have sharks in our water.

He said, well, just try this boogie board. I said, okay. And so I went out and

we tried it for a little bit and I kind of got used to the boogie board. We didn't go that far.

The little five-year-old kid was out farther than I was on the waves riding

them back in. And so then I got up the nerve, okay, let me try the surfboard.

Well, that didn't go over well.

Remember what I said about lead being in my backside? Well, that came into play

trying to stand up on a surfboard as the little tiny waves were coming in.

But there's something my cousins taught me in that whole charade of the summer and the fun.

They said, you got to watch out for one thing. And I said, oh,

yeah, what's that? Sharks? No, besides sharks.

I said, oh, great. What is worse than sharks? He said, Riptide. I said, Riptide?

Like the show that was on TV in the 80s, that Riptide?

No, dummy, not that. I'm talking about the Riptide waves. And they showed me

how you could look at the waves. And if they were coming in a certain way,

that you could tell that the riptide is what would pull you out from safety far out to sea.

And they said, if you ever get caught in one, what you're supposed to do is

to swim parallel to the shore.

So you keep your bearings and you swim out of the drift that's happening or

the pull that is happening from that riptide.

I said, well, I appreciate you sharing that, but I'm never going to be out there

swimming as far as you think I'm going to be. to get caught up in a riptide

and sucked out to see where the sharks can have me as their buffet dinner.

That's not going to happen.

But I got to thinking about that story and my wife's desire to go to the beach

and just to have clam chowder and all that. That's Sarah's favorite thing.

And I got to thinking about our culture and.

There's some riptides that challenge God's grace, that challenge us trying to

be Christ's disciples, trying to step out in faith and grow in grace and serve

others in faith and bring others into the family.

I've listed them in the bulletin. They're challenging.

There are things that we know about that we've seen, but it's these riptides,

these rip currents that you've got to watch out for in today's culture.

The first one is secularization, and that's just the church losing its place

as the influencer and shaper of life in the wider social order.

You know, it's not a new thing.

It's something we in the church as people of faith decry that God is no longer

welcome in the government and the marketplace.

Although I find it very fascinating last night when President Trump came out

to talk about what had happened over in Iran, that he did appeal to God for

peace and safety, but also I believe he wants to be on the right side of that.

And, you know, we go back even in the founding of this nation.

Those of you that took the biblical citizenship class last year,

you know that faith was all over the founding of this nation.

In the original documents, in the original passions of the people that escaped

the religious persecution to come to this nation, to found this nation.

And the secularization, making sure that we keep God out of everything that's

public is still the prevailing attitude with much of our culture,

but it doesn't have to be.

And folks, I want to let you know, you don't have to let it be.

You stand up and you take the stand and you proclaim your faith as God gives you the opportunity.

But secularization, making everything secular, so there's no mention of God,

no mention of religion in anything, that's something that we fight against,

and there's a strong pull to fall in line with that.

There's a strong pull to say, hey, forget God, compromise, and let's go this way.

Well, that's one of the things that we fight against in our growth and grace as people of grace.

Now, the second thing is privatization.

We experienced this during COVID, I think. I don't know about so much down here,

but I know there was pressure up in the hills where I was.

That, okay, you can have God in your faith, just keep it to yourself.

Well, we know from growing up in the church that that doesn't work.

Because we sang a little song. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine.

We're supposed to let the light shine. How can we do that in private?

Because the song goes on to say, hide it under a bushel. No,

I'm going to let it shine.

We think about just the simple things. We've got a message to share.

We've got the truth to share. How can we keep it private, keep it to ourselves?

Now, some of you, I won't mention names. As soon as you get a piece of gospel,

I mean, good news, you got to share it. You can keep it to yourself.

I'm not saying it goes out on the prayer line because it doesn't.

We've got a very good prayer line operator, distributor of the prayer request.

But in some churches I've been in, the prayer request time in public,

boy, it's in the gossip line.

You hear all the good stuff going on around town.

Praise God, that's not at this church.

But when we think about the good news that we have to share,

really the good stuff, not the gossipy stuff. But when we hear the good news,

we can't help but want to share that with somebody else.

When you have what the world needs, you can't help but share with the world

what they really need, whether or not they know that at the time or they realize that.

The third rip current that we fight against that wants to pull us away from

our mission, pull us into the deep chaos, is this thing we call pluralization or pluralism.

Pluralism is kind of the idea that whatever you believe, it's okay.

It's kind of the idea that, well, each religion has different names for God,

but they all lead to the same place. And we know that's not true.

We know that all things are not equal. All things don't lead to the same place.

All religions don't lead to the same place.

We think about what pluralism or pluralization is.

It's saying that Christianity is just one of many things in this buffet of beliefs that you can have.

And everything is equal. Well, no, not really.

Not everything is equal. If I believe that kneeling down and praying to this

plant will be my way to God, is that really equivalent to say I need to accept

Jesus Christ as my Savior, lay down my life to follow him?

Pluralism says, yeah, it's okay, because whatever you believe is fine.

That all roads lead to him. So my praying to this fake plant here,

if I really believe it, if it's my faith, then it's okay.

Then that will lead me to a God, some kind of God. Well, that's just stupid.

Right. It's a nice plant, but it's not going to do anything for me.

I mean, it's having all these different beliefs all lined up and say,

it doesn't matter. Believe what you want.

It's watering down of what's true, watering down of what is right.

And these are the poles of our

culture today that want to get us off mission, that want to silence us.

We go back to privatization. Remember, a lot of churches, they said,

we're going to close down, but you just have church in your home. Keep it to yourself.

And how a lot of problems were caused because of that.

Well, when we think about this idea, and I love Acts chapter two because it

gives us a pattern for how the church is going to be.

There's three principles that I want to share with you today that you really

need if you're going to live as a person of grace, if you're going to challenge

these three rip currents.

That the world throws out and says, hey, this is what is really true.

But no, these are the things that's really true.

Number one, maintain the priority between your primary and secondary culture.

What are you talking about culture? What's that all about? Well,

if you think about what culture is, culture is the beliefs,

the social norms or forms, the shared values and attitudes that we all have

together as a people living, working together in the same area.

They can be goals that we have or things that we do. I mean,

even a church, a local church has a culture within it.

The kind of songs that we sing, the kind of preaching that you hear,

the kind of studies that we have, the kind of fellowship activities,

that all adds to the culture of a church.

When we think of the broader culture, when we think of where we live at,

the United States of America, and the great state of Idaho, there's a culture there.

We have a culture. People know we're from Idaho. by the way that we talk,

by what we do, by how many guns we have, by the things that we go out and shoot and hunt and fish.

That's how you know you're in Idaho.

Our primary culture, though, is not where we're at.

Our primary culture is just not this building that we're in,

per se, but our primary culture is that of the community of faith,

the Christian community of faith, because we proclaim Christ as our Savior.

That's our first culture. And it's not just this congregation,

but we join together with other congregations who have the same beliefs,

who believe in the Scripture.

So that's your first culture. That's where your allegiance lies first and foremost.

That's where your priority is.

Of course, the secondary culture is where the church is placed, is where we're at.

We're over here in southwest Idaho, a beautiful place to be,

a wonderful place to shine the bright light of Christ forth.

This is where we're at. You each have your ID or your license.

Boy, that shows where you're at. That shows where God has planted you.

And that is the secondary culture, the world in which we live.

Remember what Matthew 6.33 says? I read it earlier today.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

Kind of my paraphrase is all these other things are going to fall into place.

But what do you do? Where's your priority? First, it has to be with the kingdom of God.

It has to be with God. And we celebrate that together when we gather,

especially on Sunday mornings, to worship, to give of ourself,

to fellowship with one another.

Acts 2, 44 through 47, listed a lot of different things that the early church

did. Did you catch those? Just to go over it again.

All the believers were together and had all things in common.

Oh, what do I love about district assembly is that we get to gather all together

and be in one place. Those that are able to be there.

General assembly is the same way. When we go to a Christian conference and there's

different denominations, different people, but we all claim Christ as Lord.

Well, it's a beautiful, on this side of eternity, on this side of heaven,

a beautiful picture of what God wants for all different peoples from all walks of life,

from all ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, to gather together,

to be together and have everything in common.

It says they sold what they had, their possessions, they gave to anyone who

had need. Well, they were giving sacrificially of themselves.

We see that every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

Boy, when we see each other in Albertsons, when we bump into each other at Costco

or Walmart or wherever we go, well, we have a little church service there,

a little fellowship going on.

We have things in common and we get to share about Jesus together.

When we think about the other things in the scripture passage,

we saw that they broke bread together in their homes. They ate with glad and sincere hearts.

Where they weren't afraid to be close, to have that intimate relationship with

one another, so much so that they invited one another over for meals.

Not just meals, but really sharing in the intimate fellowship to say,

hey, you have a need, let's pray together.

You're looking for counsel or guidance, let's come together on this.

Well, we see that they praised God, they enjoyed the favor of all people,

and here's what God did. He added to their number daily.

Daily, those were being saved. Oh, don't you want that kind of church?

Don't you want to be involved in that kind of thing? It's exciting when we set

up the baptistry here and we get to baptize 10 people, 15 people,

16, whatever, as we go along. That's exciting.

But the part the scripture's talking about is the part that comes before the

baptism, that's seeing people accept Christ as their Savior.

And it's more than just this one pastor can do. It takes us all just living

life, living as God made us to be out in the world and sharing when we have

an opportunity, praying for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with others.

Jesus said it. I didn't make it up, but he said, look, the fields are white unto harvest.

The fields are ready to be harvested, not fields of wheat or corn or any kind of grain.

But we're talking fields that are souls, people's souls, eternal souls.

People are ready to receive Christ.

Are we going to be the harvesters out there sharing the good news to bring them before the Father?

Boy, our priority has to be fixed. It's not just the world that you live in.

It's not just the job that you do. It's not just your family.

But first and foremost, we do what Jesus said to do. Seek first the kingdom

of God and his righteousness.

And then the other priorities fall into place. Your spouse, your children,

your job, your church, and everything else down the line. God will line that

up if you first align yourself with him That's the first principle.

I hope we really get that Don't let the world knock us off course with what

our priorities to be I appreciate you being here today It was a commitment for

you to come today to gather together with god's people It's something you did not take for granted.

And so I commend you for that Thank you for making this a priority Because if

you don't encourage anyone else you encourage this guy up here because I know

there's a lot going on. I know y'all are some busy people.

I know y'all got a lot of irons in the fire, a lot of things happening.

But today you sought first God's kingdom.

God's going to bless you for that. Second point, second principle,

remind yourselves that our true citizenship is in heaven.

We have a dual citizenship. I love that. I've got a friend. Some of you may

know her. She's up, she's related to the Ryan, Sylvia Ryan.

She's Steve's wife. Chuck's brother, Steve. Chuck's sister-in-law is Sylvia.

She always brags, I've got dual citizenship.

I said, yeah, but it's Canada. Oh, I've got dual citizenship.

I said, yeah, that's cool. Go get your health care or whatever.

But I like to tease her that way when we were up there.

But it's kind of nice to have dual citizenship.

You got the benefits of where you are, the benefits of another place.

And when we think about it spiritually, we are dual citizens.

Philippians 3.20 says, but our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await

a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where is your primary citizenship? It's got to be in heaven.

If you have faith in Christ, if you believe in Jesus, if you've trusted him

and are trusting him for your salvation, well, that's where your citizenship is at.

You don't have to worry about botched votes or anything like that in the kingdom

of heaven. There is one king, and his name is Jesus.

You don't have to vote on that or not. He's king whether you believe him or not.

But you got to understand that's first and foremost where your citizenship lies.

Now you have probably a driver's license, an ID card that says state of Idaho,

or if you're California, you haven't got it changed over yet, get it changed over.

Change your plates as quick as you can.

Just because you have that, just because you're a citizen of the state of Idaho,

United States of America, you got to understand that more importantly,

that is what Revelation 13, 8 says.

And that is that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

That's the citizenship role for heaven, that you've given your heart to Christ.

You've given your life to him.

That eternal life began at the moment that you accepted Christ as your savior.

Well, you can't beat that. We think about our citizenship in heaven.

You can't have both at the same time, but you know where your loyalty is.

See, we live and we work and we play as citizens of one state,

citizens of this earth, but we never lose sight that we're citizens of the world

beyond, that this is not our final home, that we keep touch with the homeland.

We keep touch with our Heavenly Father, that we don't lose sight of that.

1 Corinthians 7.31 warns us that we can use the things of the world,

but we should not become engrossed in them for this world in its present form is passing away.

And maybe you see this. I see Christians, they get all tied up in stuff.

They got storage places for their storage places for their storage places.

They cram their RV full of stuff. And then they cram that RV full of stuff into

a storage unit to use it maybe twice a year.

And they're so concerned about it.

We got people that are worried about buying land and houses and gold and silver and all of these things.

But the scripture says that's all temporary. Hey, use them. Be good stewards

of what God's gifted you with.

But that's not all what your life is about.

Some of you got some great jobs and you do everything you can to make that job

better, to help train people along.

But your job and what you do is not all of who you are.

You're a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. That job eventually is going to go away.

I know we ask for volunteers all the time. We ask for concert volunteers today.

And while that's just a temporary thing, we know it does yield eternal results.

What you do for God always yields

an eternal dividend as you're making the investment of that time now.

Don't lose sight of that because, boy, serving in the church,

serving the Lord, sometimes it can be hard.

Sometimes it can feel thankless, although we're very much appreciative of what you do.

And while you may not see any fruit right now, well, you're storing up that treasure in heaven.

Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.

When you're serving, when you're loving on others, when you're sharing the gospel,

the good news with others, store up that treasure in heaven where thieves don't

break in and steal, where it doesn't rot away and moths don't get to it.

I mean, you can't beat that.

But wouldn't you like to be able just to check the balance now and again and

kind of see how that's doing?

Well, I think there's a way, and that way is, what is your heart like inside?

Are you feeling that love, that joy, that peace, that patience,

that kindness, that gentleness, that self-control?

Are you seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life now, and what God's doing now?

Because that's kind of an evidence of what you're storing up in heaven.

That's another sermon for another time, so I'll move on from that.

So, so far, we know we've got to maintain the priority between our primary and

secondary cultures where we're at.

We know that our true citizenship is in heaven. And the third principle I want

you to know this morning is this.

Live as a counterculture. Or another way to put it is live counterculturally.

Sometimes, even in our own nation, there's things that we need to stand up against.

Our nation stands for freedom, and we praise God for that. Our nation stands

for a free speech, and we stand up for that.

We've got men and women in this room that have fought to protect those rights

and those freedoms that we have, and I thank you for that.

But not all the freedoms are exercised in our nation in a way that would,

shall we say, glorify God.

There are some things that are said that, boy, we'll never ever think of saying some of those words.

Some of the ways in which damage is inflicted just from the words that are spoken.

I'll never imagine some of the things that people use and the freedom that they

have to do it, but that are ungodly things.

Even in our own economy, the way that other people are taken advantage of for no good reason.

I'm not bashing capitalism or any of that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong here.

But what I'm saying is, sometimes we need to live counter-culturally.

When I was a kid growing up, there was a nice Christian t-shirt.

And on that t-shirt, if you can imagine the scene, it was a whole bunch of different

kinds of fish going in one direction, like a school of fish going up river.

But then, right in the middle, there was a little Jesus fish,

you know, the little ikthus. Have you seen that before? Just that little drawing.

And it was pointed going the other way. It wasn't big and flashy.

It was just a little black and white drawing.

But it was going against the grain. It was going against the school.

Sometimes we might feel like that.

Sometimes we might feel like, well, to make a stand here, boy,

it's not going to make me popular, but I know it's right.

And so I'm going to make that stand. I'm going to go in that direction.

I'm going to make that choice.

I'm going to perform this action that glorifies God, even if culture says,

that's kind of weird. You want to be a weirdo?

Well, yeah, for Jesus. You see, the idea is that you cannot withdraw from society as a believer.

You can't just say, okay, Mountain View Church, we're going to fence off the

compound, and this is going to be our new home.

We're going to plant food. We're going to grow animals.

I mean, that sounds like a cult for one thing, right?

But you can't withdraw. I mean, what good is salt when Jesus says to go and

be salt if you're not out in the world to make it flavorful?

What good is light if the light never goes out into darkness to point the way

to where there's more light?

We can't just sequester ourselves and say, hey, the best way for us to be like

Jesus is just to live together in harmony and sing kumbaya and that kind of thing.

We can't withdraw and accept or perform a monastic lifestyle.

We have got to make sure that we do what Jesus says in John 17.

Listen to this, John 17, 15. My prayer is that he was praying to the Father,

Jesus praying to the Father.

My prayer is that you take them out of this world, not that you take them out

of this world, but that you protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. truth as you sent me into the

world, I have sent them into the world.

Yeah, if you ever feel like you don't belong in this world, you don't because

you have a heavenly citizenship, but you have responsibilities while you're in this world.

You have things that God wants you to do. Jesus sends his disciples out into the world.

As people of grace, we are his disciples. And so we go out and we live and we

work, we recreate, we do everything in the midst of other people that aren't

all Christians for a good reason.

That reason is what we have written up here. We're seeking out those who are

lost, seeking out those who need to come to Christ so they too can be citizens

of heaven, so they too can have the blessings and the benefits that Christ brings to us.

You see, Jesus calls us to be salt. He calls us to be light.

He calls us to be the yeast that goes into bread and that makes it rise.

It requires us to challenge the incorrect beliefs and the corrupt practices of this day and age.

There's a lot that we witness, that we don't approve of, that we aren't in favor

of, and we speak out against those things. We say, no, this is not right.

I appreciate the Grizzlies for good books and the stand they take to educate

parents and grandparents and

the public on different things that come through the state legislature.

Culture that many of us are too busy to think about because we're just trying

to earn a living, trying to go about and raise our families.

But this group brings in people so parents and teachers and everyone can be

educated about some of the things

you got to watch out for, the wolves in cheap clothing, so to speak.

See, we can't just simply condemn culture.

No, I can't just say, well, I can. Abortion is wrong because it's murder,

which it is. I can't just say that the homosexual lifestyle isn't a lifestyle that glorifies God.

I can't just say a man and a woman should be a man and a woman.

I can't just say marriage is between one man and one woman, and that divorce is a sin.

I can't say all that without saying God has a better way. There's a better way.

There's a better alternative.

And there's grace in all of that. And all of those things I mentioned,

don't get me wrong, there is grace.

There are reasons beyond our control why those things happen.

But I've got to make a stand and say what's right.

And also say, but here's the grace of God.

But here's what God can do. Here's God's original plan for you and for your life.

Christians, we just can't stand up and say everything that we're against.

Got to say everything that we're for. We're for strong marriages.

We're for healthy babies. We're for the family.

We're for a lot of different things, but a lot of people in the culture,

they just know what we're against.

Got to make the stand to say, hey, yeah, this is wrong, but this is what God

has for you, a better way to go, a better way to live.

Jesus said the thief comes only to kill, to steal, and to destroy.

But Jesus said, I have come to give you life and to give it to you most abundantly.

And I think that's what we want, life in its fullest abundance.

And we know that life cannot be complete and fulfilling without God and His plan.

So many counterfeits out there we've got to watch out for. What we need to do,

believers, you and I, is we need to walk what we talk.

We need to walk the truth that we say we believe in in our personal lives.

We need to walk the talk in our homes, in front of our kids,

in front of our grandkids, in front of your nieces and nephews,

so they see that you really believe what you're saying that you believe.

We need to walk the talk in our churches, not just be a Sunday-only Christian,

but to be a Christian when you leave the church campus and you're traveling home.

Does what you say and what you do continue to portray who you were here while you're at church?

These are the things that we as believers are called to, to live counter-culturally,

not to put on a mask and we're one way one time and another way another time.

But we need to show the world how a life that God has redeemed can be put back

together and then can live in abundance.

Folks, we've got a responsibility to help reconnect God to people who don't even care about him.

And a lot of the ways this happens when we're being salt and when we're being

light is by just how we're living. Now, you got to say some words too.

It's not just, I'm going to preach the gospel and use words if I need.

No, that's not how the gospel goes.

Yes, live a godly life.

But it's by the words that you say that you confess Christ.

It's by inviting people to accept Christ, to know of his love and his grace and his mercy.

We've got to make sure living counter-culturally isn't being private with our faith.

It's not being pluralistic where we say, oh, yeah, you can be that and you can be that.

And I'll be this. No, it's not living in a secular world to say,

yeah, I guess it's okay not to talk about God here.

We can't really do that if we've committed in our heart to say,

seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

If God is the priority, he's going to saturate all of our life.

We can't have this split personality anymore.

People of grace, just let the grace flow.

And folks, I just want us to understand that what we're doing now isn't just

for us and who's in this building, but it's for the generations to come.

Because we pass on what we believe, our faith.

It's transmitted not just through giving someone a Bible, but it's transmitted

through teaching them how to live as a disciple of Jesus,

how to have the Bible that you give them, but how to study to show themselves

approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed,

to where they can understand and instead of feeding them from the Bible,

they begin to feed themselves and to really grow from the word of God.

When we think about what it means, it means that we've got to live as heavenly

citizens all the time, not taking a time out, not taking a break.

And if we're trying too hard, then we've got to ask ourselves,

Lord, do I really got what you want me to have?

Because it should come natural after a while as you're growing.

I mean, think about a baby.

Once they learn to eat, well, they've got it down.

They know where to go back and get the food from. They can still be 23 years

old and still know where the fridge is.

They still might call mommy out to come make the food for them.

But they know where the food's at. They learn how to grow.

When a little child is learning how to crawl, and then they learn how to stand

up, and then they learn how to run and walk. I walk and then run, I should say.

It comes natural to them. When we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ, it might be hard at first, just like when you were learning to

crawl, just like when you were

learning to stand up, just like you're learning to walk and then to run.

But after a while, it becomes who you are.

But the key in it is you've got to do the hard stuff first.

You've got to be about the discipline. And so I just want to encourage you in

that. Be a person of grace.

And a person of grace doesn't keep it to themselves, but they share that grace

freely. Have you experienced God's grace today?

Have you experienced that grace that saves you?

That grace that sanctifies you, that sets you apart so that you know you're with God.

That grace that empowers you to use your personality, your talents,

your gifts to reach out and serve others and to share with others the good news of Jesus.

Boy, if not, I pray before you leave today, you come talk to me.

I want to show you how you can know who Jesus is. I want to show you how you

can take that step of commitment.

If you already know who Jesus is, to grow and really be the person that Jesus wants you to be.

It's possible. It's not impossible.

What kind of God would he be if he didn't make it possible for you to do what he says to you?

Be his disciple, to share his word, to share his grace. Well,

he makes it possible, and you can be who God wants you to be.

So would you take that next step of faith? Let me pray with you,

and then we'll close with our song and our benediction.

Father, thank you for today. Lord, thank you for the grace the congregation has showed me today.

Lord, by listening and hearing your word, God, by responding now to your word in their own hearts.

Father, I pray that your spirit would speak to each and every one of us.

Is there something in our practice, in our living out of faith that we need

to correct or that we need just to take a stand on?

Well, we don't take a stand on social issues because we're arrogant.

We don't take a stand on things that are right because we're prideful.

Lord, it's in humility that we know where we used to be. We know how you've

saved us. And God, we want to share your grace and the truth with others.

Lord, so much that there can be a life change within those people who don't know you.

God, we pray that you would draw all men unto you, as the Scripture says.

And Lord, we pray even this morning that you would speak to hearts.

Lord, speak to us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outlined from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.