Growing in Christ (Hebrews 5:11-6:12)

Amen. Children, we are ready for Children's Church at this time. You may make your way to the back.

Isn't it a blessing?

The things that we believe, the things that Scripture tells us are true of us and that will be true of our eternity.

And my goodness, what a joy it is to come together with other believers and proclaim those truths, to sing those truths, to stand on the promises of God.

I am so thankful that we are able to be here today to celebrate the good news that we have a risen Savior and that His name is Jesus.

And because of Him, we have hope.

What a joy that is.

And I'm also grateful for this church and our commitment to missions.

Evan mentioned earlier, but I just want to highlight again, I had a goal of $12,000 to go to Annie Armstrong, brought in over $21,000.

I think we need to up the goal next year.

That is an incredible opportunity, incredible heart behind those individuals in our church who see the message that we have as worthy of investing in,

not just our time, but our resources and saying, hey, we want to make sure this good news is proclaimed all over North America.

And not only did we meet and exceed our goal to Annie Armstrong, but we also earlier, we met and exceeded our goal to Lottie Moon.

So this message that we're proclaiming, this hope that we have is a hope that we want to share with everyone across this world.

And I'm so very thankful for that.

Today, we're going to be back in the book of Hebrews.

And so if you have a copy of God's Word, I want to invite you to go ahead and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

We're going to be in verses 5, 11 through 6, 12 today.

And so I want you to go ahead and make your way there.

But as you're turning there, I want you to think with me about something for just a moment.

Maybe this applies to you, or maybe it applied to you at some point in your life.

But I'm willing to guess we all know somebody that this applies to.

But how many of us in here have ever lived by, near, at one point in time or now,

or known somebody that lives near railroad tracks?

Does that apply to anybody?

Okay, most of us either have lived by railroad tracks or know somebody that has lived by some railroad tracks.

And what's amazing to me is the people who live near railroad tracks don't even hear a train anymore.

It's amazing to me.

I think part of it is because I love trains.

And so I'm like a little kid.

I hear a train.

I'm like, oh, where's the train at?

I want to see it.

I still count the cars whenever I'm stopped at a railroad track.

And I get a little bit excited when I see multiple engines on the front.

I'm like, oh, this is going to be a long one.

This is going to be a big train.

And so I like trains, but it amazes me that you can be at someone's house that has lived by railroad tracks for a long time,

and they don't even hear it anymore.

They don't even notice it anymore when a train goes by.

They've gotten so used to the trains that they don't even look up or even pay attention when a train goes by.

But it's not just trains.

For example, men can get so used to hearing a child cry that they don't even wake up for it in the middle of the night.

For some reason, women are immune to this.

They wake up every single time.

Catherine says, I just developed like a reflex.

I just had this like little nudge.

I said, sweetie, every time that I heard a child cry.

But we can get so used to these things that are around us that we become desensitized to the sights and sounds around us,

so much so that obvious things are no longer obvious.

Now, if you live beside some railroad tracks, this is a really good thing.

But when it comes to reading God's Word, this is a really bad thing.

This is a really bad thing if we get so used to God's Word that we become desensitized so that we don't even pay attention to it anymore.

The author of Hebrews has some pretty direct words concerning this for us today.

And so I want to encourage you, if you've made your way to Hebrews chapter 5, starting in verse 11, to follow along as we read these words.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

It says this,

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food.

For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature.

For those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish between good from evil.

Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,

not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards God,

and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And this we will do if God permits.

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened,

who have tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit,

and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance,

since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to content.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated,

receives a blessing from God.

But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless,

and near being cursed, and in its end is to be burned.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things,

things that belong to salvation, for God is not unjust,

so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness,

to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

so that you may not be sluggish,

but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

As we read through this,

much of these warnings sound like a father speaking to his son,

or at least like I remember my dad speaking to me.

You don't listen.

You should be doing more for yourself by now.

In fact, I don't even know if you're mine.

I'm joking about that last part,

but he said all those other things at different times.

But there are a few observations from this passage that I want to bring our attention to this morning.

We will see the problem, and we'll see the solution,

but I also want us to see a truth that is sandwiched in between the problem and the solution here.

But the first thing that I want to bring our attention to is this,

is identifying the problem,

and that is dullness of hearing.

We must identify the problem, which is dullness of hearing.

He says,

You see, up to this point, the author has described the problem and described the remedy for the problem over and over again,

but he hasn't come right out and said it.

We've seen him describe it, and we've seen some things we must do.

In chapter 2, he's told us that we are to make sure that we pay attention,

or pay much closer attention to what he's telling us.

In chapter 3, he tells us we must consider Jesus.

And again there, he tells us,

Don't harden your heart.

And in verse 14,

The last time we were in this,

we were told to hold fast to our confession.

We must hold fast to what we believe.

Now he diagnoses the problem.

He says,

You have become dull of hearing.

In the previous verse,

the author has just begun to talk about Jesus,

and our great and perfect high priest that he is.

He's a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

And so understanding that,

we realize that he is both a priest and a king.

He is a king forever.

He's a priest forever.

And he stops himself before he returns to this later.

And next week we'll get into that more.

But he stops himself,

and he says,

About this,

we have much to say,

and it's hard to explain,

because you have become dull of hearing.

So why is this hard to explain?

Is it because his readers aren't very smart?

Is it because the concept he's trying to communicate

are so deep and so complex

that they just go right over their head?

No.

It's because these Christians that he is speaking to

aren't listening.

They may be hearing the words.

They may be hearing it,

but they're just going in one ear

and out the order they're hearing,

but they're not listening.

What we have to remember is that

the author is writing to a group of believers.

At one time they were growing and maturing,

and they were doing all of these things,

but they have become dull of hearing.

The word dull here means sluggish or lethargic.

And so basically the author is calling them lazy.

Basically he's saying,

Look, you've become lazy.

You've stopped growing in your faith.

You've stopped listening to these things.

You've just become lazy.

And in fact, this is how the Christian Standard Bible translates.

It says,

You have become too lazy to understand.

And so what we see as the root cause

of their spiritual immaturity

is that they have become too lazy.

Now I know all of you during your high school

and college days were all just incredibly wonderful students.

That you were always on top of everything.

That nothing was ever late or anything like that.

For me, that was not always the case.

I like to procrastinate a little bit.

And then I would come up with excuses

and these clever little sayings

to kind of make it funny

while I was procrastinating.

I'll say,

You know,

Well, I just do my best work under pressure.

And so it's not procrastinating.

It's just overachieving that I'm waiting till the end.

But when all of those things,

even if you're procrastinating,

all of those things have a due date, right?

Even if you procrastinate with the paper that is due,

even if you wait till the last minute,

there is a due date.

And so if you're going to succeed in school,

you're going to have to make sure

that if you do it ahead of time

or at the last minute,

that it gets done.

There's always a date for that test to take place.

There's always a time when this must happen.

But oftentimes,

when it comes to our faith,

we don't see the same sense of urgency.

And we procrastinate.

And we say that at some point in the future,

we'll begin this.

At some point later down the road,

I'll begin to become more disciplined.

It's just I've got so much going on in my life right now

that that's going to have to wait for another day.

The problem is for many of us,

that day doesn't come.

And we've become like the Hebrews here,

we've become dull of hearing

and lazy in our spiritual walk.

We know it's important.

We know we should be growing,

but we put it off for another day.

And this is the root of the problem

that the author is,

he's treated the symptoms

and now he identifies the disease.

Piper says it like this.

He says,

this is what is behind

all of those exhortations up to this point.

Where he says,

pay close attention,

consider Jesus,

don't harden your heart,

fear, be diligent, hold fast.

These are doctor's prescriptions

for the disease of dullness of hearing.

And so it's important for us to take steps

in order to assess our current condition.

That we honestly ask ourselves,

are we just dull of hearing

or is there a bigger problem

that is at stake here?

Have we just become dull of hearing

or is there a much bigger problem

that we must deal with?

The issue of whether or not

we are actually true believers.

And so before we get into

the remedy of our condition,

before we get into the fix,

the solution for our condition

of being dull listeners,

I want us to jump down

to the end of the passage

that we read for just a moment

and consider the truth

that faith in Christ

produces faithfulness to Christ.

Faith in Christ

always produces faithfulness to Christ.

The section of Scripture

that I am about to read for us again

is probably some of the most difficult verses

that you will find in the New Testament

to wrap our minds around.

And so I want you to listen

as we read a portion

of chapter 6, verses 4 through 12.

The first part of that,

starting in verse 4, says this,

For it is impossible

in the case of those

who have once been enlightened,

who have tasted the heavenly gift

and have shared in the Holy Spirit

and have tasted the goodness

of the Word of God

and the powers of the age to come

and then have fallen away

to restore them again to repentance,

since they are crucifying once again

the Son of God

to their own harm

and holding Him up to contempt.

Now, I'm not going to spend

a great deal of time

in this section

because we've already discussed

on two other occasions

much of these same themes,

but I also don't want us to skip

such a strong warning

that we have in this passage.

Now, we've already addressed this

a couple of times,

so we're not going to go

into incredible detail here,

but I also don't want us

to just bypass over this

because this is a very strong warning.

Now, I've said this multiple times before,

but I think it bears repeating again.

When it comes to difficult passages,

when it comes to passages

that are hard to understand,

it's best not to interpret them

in isolation.

It's best not to just interpret them

in isolation,

and what we do is we let Scripture

interpret Scripture.

In other words,

we let clear passages

shed light on less clear passages.

And so when we think about that

as we come to this,

there's a couple options,

two main options

that people will come to

when they come to this passage.

One option is that people

will explain this this way,

that these people being talked about

here in this passage

are genuine believers.

They have truly repented of their sins,

were united with Christ,

and were active in the body of believers,

and then they fell away.

If this is true,

then this is a frightful warning

for many genuine Christians

will fall away from the faith.

They will lose their salvation.

Scripture, however,

rules out this interpretation.

The Bible repeatedly tells us

that God keeps us.

The Bible repeatedly tells us,

Paul over and over again

in many of his letters,

tells us that God who began the good work,

and you will see it through to completion.

In 1 John 2.19,

and really much of the rest of 1 John,

John tells us that these people

in leaving the faith

showed that they were never truly

a part of the faith to begin with.

And so the other option

that I want us to consider

is the one that I think

is most true to this text

and Scripture as a whole,

is that this passage is,

it really is a warning,

but it's not a warning

to the true believer.

Rather, it is a caution

for individuals

who have seen the gospel,

understood the gospel,

but not truly believed.

For those individuals

who may have grown up in the church,

they've heard this message

their whole life,

they understand it,

they may even know

that there's a need for it

in their lives,

but they've never given

their life to Jesus.

And so may we be honest

with ourselves

that this may never be said of us,

that we have heard,

that we understand,

that we knew we needed

to give our life to Christ,

but we never did.

You see, perseverance

is the test of true faith.

Jesus made the point

in the parable of the sower

when He indicated

that some seed

immediately sprang up.

It looked like

it was going to grow,

but it didn't last

because it had no depth of soil.

The author over and over again

is giving us

a sobering warning

in the book of Hebrews

not to scare us,

not to cause us

to live in fear

that we can lose our salvation,

but to honestly ask ourselves,

is Jesus truly

our Lord and Savior?

You see, responding to Jesus

means not only hearing Him,

but trusting and following Him.

It is believing

that He is the only one

that can save you

from your sins,

take you from death to life,

and in response to that belief,

choosing to walk in obedience

to His commands.

This is what a disciple does.

This is what a follower of Jesus does.

Because you see,

faith in Christ

always produces faithfulness to Christ.

A saving relationship with Jesus

is always going to change us.

A life-changing experience

of placing your faith

and trust in Jesus

is always going to lead to life change.

And the question we must

honestly ask ourselves is this.

If I'm not growing

in my relationship with God,

is it because

I'm dull of hearing

or is it because

I've never placed

my faith in Christ?

But here's the thing,

I've got good news

no matter how you answer

that question.

You can place your faith

in Jesus today.

And you can begin

growing today.

And so this brings us

to the solution

to the problem

found in this process.

Remember,

the problem is

that they have become

dull of hearing,

that they've become lazy

in their spiritual walk,

but here's the solution.

And this is earth-shattering news

right here, alright?

The solution

is growth in Christ.

It's just to begin growing.

Let's go back

to the end of chapter 5

and the beginning

of chapter 6,

verses 5-12-6-3.

For though by this time

you ought to be teachers,

you need someone

to teach you again

the basic principles

of the oracles of God.

You need milk,

not solid food.

For everyone who lives

on milk is unskilled

in the word of righteousness

since he is a child.

But solid food

is for the mature,

for those who have

their powers of discernment

trained by constant practice

to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore,

let us leave

the elementary doctrine

of Christ

and go on to maturity,

not laying again

a foundation of repentance

from dead works

and faith toward God

and of instruction

about washings,

laying on of hands,

the resurrection of dead

and eternal judgment.

And this we will do

if God permits.

You see,

most of us

can understand

this passage pretty well.

These believers

are being

ineffective

for Christ

due to a lack

of maturity.

These believers,

they should be

teaching others

and not just talking

about teaching others

from a preaching standpoint

or even a

Sunday school standpoint,

a small group standpoint,

but they should be

teaching others.

They should be sharing

their faith with others.

This is something

that should be evident

of all believers.

They should be

teaching others.

They should be sharing

with others,

their faith,

and yet they're not.

And it's due to

this ineffectiveness

because they're not growing.

They're not growing.

And because they aren't growing,

they aren't fit

to do what God

has called them to do.

The author says,

because you aren't growing,

we have to revisit everything.

We have to continue

to go back over this

over and over again.

It's kind of like

he's saying,

all we're doing

is treading water here.

He's not saying

you aren't busy.

He's not saying

that we're not doing things.

He's saying

that you aren't maturing.

You see,

treading water,

I don't know

if you've ever done

this before or not,

but treading water

is a lot of work.

And guess where you go?

Nowhere.

He's not saying

you're not doing things.

He's saying

you're not growing

in your faith.

We can be busy

with church,

but not growing.

You see,

I'm convinced

that there are lots of people

in churches

all over the world

that are busy

working in churches

where everything looks good

on the outside,

but they minimize

their effectiveness

for the Lord

because of a lack of growth.

On the outside,

they look busy.

They're constantly doing things

over and over again,

but yet they're trivializing

their effectiveness for God

because of a lack of growth.

They're doing good things,

but those good things

are getting in the way

of the best

that God has for them.

Those good things

are keeping them

from the best

that God has for him.

I agree with several commentators

that verse 14

is kind of the key verse

for us understanding

our solution

to the problem

of being dull of hearing

or being lazy

in our walk with Christ.

Verse 14 says,

But solid food

is for the mature,

for those who have

their powers of discernment

trained by constant practice

to distinguish good from evil.

If solid food

is for the mature,

then how do you become mature?

If solid food

is for the mature,

then the question becomes,

how do you get to that point?

And the way that you get

to that point

is a healthy

and consistent

and constant dose

of milk.

You see,

it's okay for a baby

to drink milk

because they're growing.

They need this.

And so,

how do we get to the point

of being able

to eat solid food?

It's by consistently

consuming that milk.

Piper,

he notes it this way.

He says,

This is how you grow

from a baby Christian

to a mature Christian.

From the milk of the word

to the muscle of faith

to acts of righteousness.

We grow in our knowledge

of God,

which leads to grow

in trust and faith,

which leads to grow

in action.

We grow in all

of these things.

After having three kids,

one of the things

that I've noticed

is they grow up

too quickly.

Anybody want to agree

with that?

You know,

it's so many times

you think

that everybody tells you,

Oh,

these are the best days

when they're little

and all you can think

about when they're little

is I can't wait

for them to get out

of diapers.

I can't wait

till they can get

a shower by themselves.

I can't wait

till they can do

these things.

And then guess what?

The problems

just get bigger

and they get more expensive

and all kinds

of other things.

But in those moments,

it just goes so quickly.

It seems like just yesterday

that Catherine and I

were moving down here

from North Carolina

and Jacob was one years old.

It seems like just yesterday.

Well,

turns out 14 years ago

seems like yesterday.

And from talking

with many of you

who have kids

older than our kids,

it doesn't slow down.

It just seems to go

faster and faster.

And so I remember

a couple of years ago

after a pretty severe

thunder and lightning storm,

I walked up

to Charlotte's room

to wake her up

the next morning.

And the first thing

that she said to me

was,

Daddy,

did you hear that thunder?

Daddy,

did you hear that?

And I was trying

to downplay it

to let her know

that there was nothing

to worry about.

And I said,

I did hear it.

I like listening to thunder.

And she thought about that

for a minute

and could tell

that her wheels

were turning in her mind.

She goes,

me too.

When I was little,

I was scared of thunder,

but now I'm a big girl.

And this was several years ago

that she's saying this.

And so it was

one of those

bittersweet moments

for me as a parent.

My baby is getting bigger.

You miss the fact

that they aren't a baby anymore,

but at the same time,

you're excited for them

because they're doing

exactly what they're

supposed to do.

They're growing.

They're maturing.

In fact,

if they weren't growing

and maturing,

that would be a sign

that something was wrong.

You know,

when you take your kids

to their doctor's appointments

when they're young,

the first thing that they do

is they check their height

and weight.

Because it's a good thing

if your kids

are growing taller

and heavier.

I miss those days.

Now the doctor

doesn't want me

to get heavier.

But as a child,

this is a sign

that things are going

in a good direction.

This is a sign

that they're growing,

that everything is

as it should be.

The point is

growth is vital.

It's a part

of being a mature Christian.

Just the,

not too long ago,

I was looking at some research

that was done

by the Barna Group

and this research

is a little bit older now.

It's probably seven

or eight years old

at this point.

But I'm going to go out

on a limb

and just guess

that the research,

that the things

have not gotten

any better.

In the research,

it showed that

almost 30%

of professing Christians,

now again,

this is professing Christians,

this is not just 30%

of the general population,

but 30%

of professing Christians

believe that

all people pray

to the same God

or spirit

no matter what name

they use

for that spiritual being.

30%

of professing Christians

believe that.

in that same study,

more than a quarter

of professing Christians

believe that meaning

and purpose

come from being one

with all that is.

Meaning and purpose

come from being one

with all that is out there.

I'm not even sure

what that means.

I'm not even sure

what that means,

but I can promise you

that meaning and purpose

come from God

who created you

for the purpose

of worshiping Him.

If we are not growing

in our relationship

with God,

then we are sliding

further away

from maturity.

If we're not growing

in our relationship

with Him,

then we're sliding

further away.

If we aren't growing

in truth,

then it becomes

really easy

for us to believe

the lies

that anybody

will tell us.

If we aren't growing

in truth,

then it becomes easy

to believe a lie.

If you and I

want to grow

in spiritual maturity,

and remember,

this is crucial

to our relationship

with God,

this is the solution

to the problem

of dullness of hearing

or being lethargic

or lazy

in our growth

in our relationship

with Christ,

then we must

daily follow Jesus.

We must daily

grow in our relationship

with Him.

We do this

by growing

in our knowledge

of who He is

by reading His Word.

This is the greatest

way that we can grow

in our relationship

with God.

If you want to grow

and mature

in your relationship

with the Lord,

then read His Word.

Develop a habit

of that.

Not just reading it

for completion.

You know,

it's great if you want

to set a goal,

read it through

in a year,

but I would just rather

you just pick it up

and read it

and follow along

with what God

is telling us.

We do this

by growing

in our relationship

with Him

by reading His Word,

which causes us

to trust Him more.

And as we realize

that He always

keeps His promises,

that He is worthy

of our trust

more than anybody else,

He's worthy

of our trust,

then we freely

and willingly say,

Lord,

here's my life.

Take it

and use it

because I realize

that You are worthy

of trust.

You see,

as we grow

in our knowledge

of who God is,

if we're actually

growing,

then we realize

that He and He alone

is worthy

of our trust.

He and He alone

is the one

that we can give

our life to

and we give

our life to Him

and say,

Lord,

here's my life.

Take it

and use it.

I'd rather follow You

and where You have me go

even if it means

that I move

somewhere different.

Even if it moves

that I do something

different in my life,

I would rather

follow You

because I realize

that You are far

more trustworthy

than the lies

that other people

may be telling me.

And so we grow

in our knowledge

of who He is

which allows us

to trust Him more,

which allows us

to give our lives

to Him and say,

Lord,

here's my life.

Take it

and use it.

This is what it means

to follow Jesus.

And as we do this

day after day,

year after year,

we grow

by leaps

and bounds

and begin

to see God

more clearly.

I love how

C.S. Lewis

describes this

in the Narnia series.

And this is probably

one of my favorite

conversations,

one of my favorite

parts of the whole series

is when Aslan

is having this conversation

with Lucy

after a long absence.

And Aslan said,

Lucy,

this is how it begins.

Aslan said,

Lucy,

you're bigger.

This is because

you're older,

little one,

he answered.

Not because you are,

said Lucy.

I am not.

But every year

you grow,

you will find me

bigger.

May that be

our desire.

That as we grow

in our relationship

with God,

that we see Him

more clearly.

That He becomes

bigger in our lives.

Not because He is bigger.

He's always been

that big.

But because

we understand Him

more,

we're growing

in that faith,

we're trusting Him

more,

and because of that

we see Him

more and more

clearly

for who He

truly is.

And so may we

honestly come

to this passage.

May we honestly

come to this passage

and ask some

questions of ourselves.

You see,

here's the thing,

we can lie to ourselves,

we can lie to

everybody else

around us,

but we can't lie

to God.

And so I want

to encourage you

to honestly come

to this passage

and ask these

questions.

Have I become

dull of hearing?

Have I become

dull of hearing

in my relationship

with God?

Have I become

lazy in my

relationship with

God?

And then ask

yourself,

is it that

I'm dull of hearing?

Or is it because

I've never trusted

in Jesus?

Am I not growing

because I've become

dull of hearing,

or am I not growing

because I don't

have the relationship

to begin with?

And so I want

to encourage you,

if you're here

today and you've

never placed your

faith and your

trust in Jesus,

then this is

something that you

can do today.

You can go from

death to life.

If you've never

placed your faith

and trust in Jesus,

where you understand

Jesus as your only

hope in this life,

where you understand

that He's the one

who left the glory

of heaven,

lived the perfect

life that you

and I couldn't

live,

died the death

that we deserve,

and then three

days later was

raised from the

grave because it

was not possible

for death to

hold Him,

if you've never

placed your faith

and your trust

in Him,

then let me

encourage you,

let that be

where you start

today.

Because that is

the beginning

of a relationship

with Him.

It's the beginning

of a relationship

that we're all

called to grow

for the rest

of our lives,

to grow deeper

into,

to grow deeper

in our understanding

of Him.

And then the final

thing is this,

are we going to

commit,

all of us,

to grow so that

we can be better

used by God?

Have we become

dull of hearing?

Have we placed

our faith in Jesus?

And are we going

to commit to grow

so that we can be

better used by Him?

In just a moment,

we're going to

stand together

and we're going

to sing a song

of invitation.

And I want to

encourage you

to be honest

with yourself

in these things.

Maybe this morning

you need to come

forward and pray

to receive Christ.

Well, praise the Lord.

But maybe you just

need to sit right

where you are

and be honest

with yourself

as everybody else

stands up and

begins to sing

and you need to pray.

You say,

Lord, I've been lazy.

I've become dull

of hearing

and I want that

to change.

I want to commit

to growing

in my relationship

with you.

You may want

to do that right there.

You may want

to come down.

There's nothing special

about the front

of this stage

but that may be

a way of committing

saying,

I'm serious about this.

Maybe you want

to come down here

and pray.

Maybe you want

to come pray with me.

I'd love to pray.

I'd love to pray

with you.

But I want to

encourage you

to respond

however it is

that God

is leading

this morning.

Let's go to the Lord

in prayer.

Father, thank you

so very much.

For Jesus, Lord,

we thank you

for the relationship

that you give us

in him.

Lord, we thank you

that by placing

our faith

and our trust

in him,

we can go

from death

to life.

That we can go

from being

an enemy

to a child.

And so, Lord,

I pray that there's

someone here today

that has never

done that.

Let today be the day

that they go

from death

to life.

But, Lord,

I also pray

that for many

of us

as we think

about our

relationship

with you,

a genuine

and true

relationship

with you,

Lord,

may we honestly

ask ourselves

in what ways

have we become

dull of hearing?

In what ways

have we become

lazy in our

walk with you?

In what ways

have we diminished

our usefulness

to you

because of our

laziness?

And so, Lord,

let us repent

of that.

Let us commit

ourselves

to growing

in our relationship

with you

so that we

can be better

used by you.

Lord,

I pray that

as we dive

into your word

that our eyes

would be open

to see you

for who you are.

That we grow

in not only

our knowledge

of who you are

but in our trust

of who you are.

And as we learn

to trust you more,

Lord,

I pray

that we get

to the point

where we say,

Lord,

here's my life.

Take it

and use it.

I want to follow

you more

than I want

to follow me.

I want

to follow you

more than I want

to follow anybody

else that's telling

me what I need

to do with my life.

Lord,

may we get

to that point

so that we

can be used

by you

for your honor

and your glory.

And we ask

all this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want to invite

you to stand.

We're going to sing

a song of invitation

that the Lord

is speaking.

Won't you respond

as we stand

together and sing?

who have

who have

who have

who have

!

!

!

!