Walk in Truth

You have your copy of God's Word going to make your way to the

book of second John. Second John.

We're going to finish what we started when we open the Bible

to 1st John. I've been walking our way

through this New Testament letter and I'm going to also

include Second and Third John over the next couple 3 weeks

before we move into the series preparing our hearts for

Christmas and the coming of Christ.

Second John is one of the shortest books in the New

Testament. If you blink, you'll miss it,

but hopefully you found First John enough by now.

The second. John is not a problem there.

Second John is being called first John in concise form.

And if you remember, we called first John the name of our

series, the vitals of our faith, because what John does in this

little New Testament letter is talk to us about the basics in

the bottom line. The essentials are the

foundational elements, these things that are vitals and vital

signs of our life in Christ that are vital for us to know.

And really we just put it in the question of how do you know

John's writing that we would these things and answering

questions like how do you know Christianity is true?

And how do you know that you're a true Christian?

And how do you know what's dangerous to you as a Christian?

And how do you know how to live in the last days?

And how do you know how to live ready for Jesus's return?

And how do you live towards one another?

And how do you know what teaching is true and how do you

know that Jesus is true? And on and on.

John answers these how do you know questions that are vitals,

vital essentials of our faith. But what if John, what if John

in a concise form of first, John called second, John could only

tell us three things, 3 essentials.

What would he say? What would he mention?

Well, I believe this is essentially the way you could

think about this New Testament letter.

If he's boiling down everything down to three things he would

say to you and to me, I think he includes them in this letter.

I'm going to give you all three over the course of the next few

weeks. Only one today, actually, and

then two next Sunday. But before I give you the first

one of the three, I want to give you a statement in your notes

that'll help you summarize all three in one statement.

It's simply this John wants you and me to hear and to know and

to do. According to this statement or

this truth out of second John, he wants you to walk and stay in

love and in truth he wants you as a Christian to walk.

That is to live and to stay. That's to remain in love and in

truth. Walk and stay in love and truth.

That's what we're going to learn from this little New Testament

letter. But the first thing that we're

going to hear out of that is this incredible this this call,

this command. It's clear that as we walk and

stay in love in truth, what that should look like.

And I'm going to wait to read the text and then tell you what

that first one is in your notes that we'll unpack today.

Listen to the word of God. Here's what it says beginning in

verse one of second John the elder to the elect lady and her

children whom I love in truth. And not only I, but also all who

know the truth because of the truth that abides in US and will

be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be

with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father,

Son in truth and love. Verse 4I rejoiced greatly to

find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we

were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady,

not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one

we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.

This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the

beginning, so that you should walk in it.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not

confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.

Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked

for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and

does not abide, that is, does not remain in the teachings of

Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching

has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does

not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or

give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in

his wicked works. Though I have much to write to

you, I would rather not use paper and ink.

Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that

our joy may be complete. The children of your elect

sister greet you. Everything that we just read can

be summarized in this truth that John wants us to walk and to

stay as Christians in love and in truth.

But before we jump into the meet of unpacking these three things

that are summarized in that one sentence that I just gave you, I

want to unpack some of these first verses out of first John.

This introductory stuff that he writes here.

First John calls himself the elder.

Now, in case you weren't with us through the series in first John

or still wondering about who John is.

This the author of this New Testament letter, first John,

Third John, the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of

John as well. John is one of Jesus's original

12 disciples called an apostle that Jesus called to follow him.

John was not a preacher, he wasn't a pastor, he wasn't a

prophet. He was a fisherman.

His brother was James. They were both the sons of

Zebedee and Jesus nicknamed him the Sons of Thunder Man.

Wouldn't you love to have that nickname?

No, I'd love to know their personalities.

Right, so John's an ordinary guy called to follow Jesus.

All right. And they do.

And Jesus pours his life into these men for three years before

his death, preparing them to take the good news of the gospel

of his salvation to the ends of the earth.

And Jesus walks through his crucifixion, his death, and his

resurrection and sends back to the Father, and then sends the

Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as he promised to do.

The apostles and the other believers are filled with the

Holy Spirit, and they're set on fire to go out and do what Jesus

has called them to do, to go and make disciples of all nations.

Every one of the disciples but John gives their lives.

For standing and for sharing Jesus Christ, they're martyred

for their faith. John is the only one that's not,

and he, for his faithfulness to Jesus, is eventually exiled to

the island of Patmos under the Emperor Dimitian.

After the emperor dies, John is released and brought back and

inhabited the area of Ephesus as an older man until he dies about

the year 100 AD, where he ministers among these churches

and writes these letters that we have in his final years.

The word elder is obviously appropriate because he is an

elderly man at this point, all right.

But also that title is appropriate because that word in

the Bible is. Used.

Synonymously with the word for pastor.

So you can use the word elder, you can use the word pastor, you

can use the word shepherd or overseer.

These words speak to that pastoral office in leadership in

a local church. And no doubt John had influence

not just perhaps in a singular local church there, but

obviously in multiple churches in that area as he toward his

life and final years into the believers there around the area

of Ephesus. So it'd be like saying Pastor

John to the elect lady and her children, which brings up next,

who are who is the elect lady and her children?

Well, there are some Bible scholars that believe that this

is an actual individual lady and her kids or her physical

offspring. I actually don't ascribe to that

viewpoint. I don't I think that can be

legitimate. I just don't think that's what's

going on here. I think rather that John is

using language metaphorically to speak to a local church, a bride

of Christ, a a local church there in Ephesus whom he loves

and her children. And he's often referred to

Christians as my little children.

In first John, the letter John is an elderly man.

He's invested in the next generation coming up and

referring to them as his children or those of his that

are disciples of his. So again, I could point out lots

of evidence for why I believe elect lady is a church.

I'll just give you a little bit. Number one, verse 5 says.

John says, And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were

writing to you a new command, but when we've had from the

beginning that we love one another.

I think that just be slightly awkward if that's an actual

lady. Maybe that's just me.

I think he's talking to a church all right.

And furthermore, lady would be an appropriate title or word to

use because church in Greek, the word for assembly is feminine.

Thus lady could be a metaphorical way to refer to a

church. And again, the church is

referred to by John in earlier writings as the bride of Christ

hints lady referring to the bride of Christ.

And then verse 13 says the children of your elect sister

greet. You know, unless John is passing

on family greetings, which I guess he obviously could do, I

think that's probably not the case.

And he's referring to another local church sending her

greetings from her church members to another church, just

like you have often in Paul's letters where one church or

other churches send greetings to this particular church.

So I think it's pretty obvious John is writing.

To a local. Church here, he says.

Here this word, the elect lady, and then in verse 13 and your

elect sister, what in the world does he mean by the word elect?

Elect is simply a biblical word that means chosen.

To be saved is to be chosen by God in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the elect. 1 The chosen one of God, the one and

only Savior of the world, and those that are in Christ by fate

have been chosen in Him. Let me give you another place in

Scripture. This is clear Ephesians 1, three

through 4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in

heavenly places, even as He watched this chose us in Him

before the foundation of the world.

To be in Christ, to be saved is to be part of the elect, part of

those chosen Christ as the chosen 1 and we as those chosen

in Christ, those that have chosen to trust Jesus Christ as

Lord and as Savior. You say Kyle?

That can bring up a lot of other questions and conversations that

sure can. Let me just try to make it

simple for the time we have here.

God knew you would be saved before you knew you would be

saved. Let me tell you what my pastor

told me. He said call.

When you approach heaven from the outside, you can think of it

like this on the outside it'll say whosoever will may come and

you get in on the inside and you turn back and look at the same

sign and it's going to say chosen from the foundation of

the world. Now they say Kyle explain that.

Well, I can't fully. They've tried for 2000 years and

we could argue about it, but we don't have to.

You don't have to e-mail me. You may stand on different

places on that. I'm just telling if you're in

Christ, you're part of the elect.

And if you hadn't trusted Christ, guess whosoever will may

trust him today if you'll believe on him for salvation.

And this is how John speaks. So here we have John next refer

in these next few verses here. He says, but all who know the

truth and listen, how many times he mentions the truth because of

the truth that abides in US and will be with us forever.

We get this idea pretty quick here that John's bringing up the

truth because truth is kind of an important thing.

Do you remember what even Pilate asked Jesus moments before Jesus

was crucified? The prefect, the Roman prefect,

looked at Jesus and asked a question.

You remember what he asked? What is truth?

I mean, that's the question people have been asking for a

long time. That's really the essence of the

question of life. Your answer to that question

will determine your life and eternity.

How you answer that question? What is truth?

It's too bad Pilate didn't hear Jesus say earlier in John 14,

six, I am the way and I am the and I am the life and no one

comes to the Father, Jesus says, except through me.

John also wrote in chapter 1 verse 17 in his Gospel for the

law that is the Old covenant. What was given through Moses,

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

What does that mean? That means yes, the Old

Testament was true in every word, but the full manifestation

of truth through the person of Christ wasn't fully revealed and

manifested until the incarnation of Christ when He took on human

flesh and revealed the glory and grace of God to us for us to

behold face to face. John goes on to say in John 832,

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

What is truth? Truth is things as they really

are. Truth is reality as it really

is. Truth, you see, is not just a

principle or a precept, but truth is a person, the person

who spoke all of reality into existence and who upholds it

right now by the word of His power.

His name is Jesus. Truth is ultimately a person,

ladies and gentlemen, who is the way the truth?

And the life, John says, church, I love you in truth, meaning I

love you in Jesus. I love you and my love is rooted

for you in the revelation of God through his Son Jesus Christ.

Who's the truth. And the other churches love you

in Jesus, and it's in Jesus whom we are in now and whom we will

be with forever. What is truth?

Have you answered that question with the name of Jesus?

Finally, one more statement before the heart of the letter,

verse 3. Notice what He says.

Your grace, mercy, and peace will be with us.

What 3 greater things could one give then grace, mercy and

peace? If you're here this morning and

you're not a Christian or wondering really what is a

Christian or not sure you're a Christian, let me just talk to

you about three things that we as Christians have discovered.

And experience for ourselves through Jesus, these three

things, grace, mercy, and peace. What is grace?

Grace is God's unmerited favor toward you.

What does unmerited mean? It means unearned, undeserved.

You can't work for it. You can never be worthy of it.

The greatest acronym I've heard explaining it with the word

grace is God's riches at Christ expense.

It's all God's unmerited favor and goodness and blessings and

riches paid for by Christ that we could never earn or ever

deserve. That's what God's grace is.

It's everything God wants to give us as promised to his Son

that we will never be worthy of. That's what grace is.

And we've received grace through Jesus Christ who did for us on

the cross, paying for our sin, living a sinless life, defeating

death itself that we could never do ourselves.

And then we've not just experienced grace, we've

experienced mercy. You know what mercy is?

Mercy is really two way. It's God not giving you and me

what we deserve, and it's God giving us what we don't deserve.

Can I just be real honest with you this morning?

Can I put it in a way that I hope will make sense that is

unmistakable? You're ready.

Kyle Walker deserves hell. You can say Amen to that because

I hope you believe that Kyle Walker deserves hell.

I've sinned against a holy God. I've offended one who's never

ever sinned, who knows no sin and dwells in perfect

righteousness. I forever deserve for my

rebellion against Almighty God, to be eternally separated and

under the just judgment of the wrath of God forever.

That's what I deserve. But that's not what God has

given me because of his say with me mercy God has given me.

Withheld from me what I do deserve.

And God has given me what I do deserve, what I don't deserve

rather, which is forgiveness of sin and eternal life in His Son

Jesus Christ. Not because of anything I have

done, but because of what Jesus has done on my behalf.

Living a sinless life for me. Dying on the cross for my sin

and defeating the enemy of death by walking out of the grave

alive. And there came a time in my life

as a nine year old boy when I said, Jesus, will you be my Lord

and Savior and forgive me of my sin?

I can't save myself. Will you save me?

You pray from your heart of hearts and call and confess

Jesus this word and ask him for to do for you what you can't do

for yourself. And that's the moment you place

your faith in Jesus and are saved.

If you're not saved, you need to call on Jesus to save you today.

Grace, mercy and peace. Peace.

I'm not even to the real sermon yet.

This is all introductory. All right, Peace.

This is about to Peace is a right relationship with God.

Peace is a no one is born in a right relationship with God.

You don't inherit a right relationship with God from your

mother or your father. It's not going to be in their

will. They can't give it to you.

It's on you, by faith with Jesus or not, to decide if you want to

receive His grace and mercy and be brought into a right

relationship with Him. Where I've been cleansed by the

blood of Jesus. And though Kyle Walker deserves

hell, I know because of Jesus when I breathe my last breath,

I'm going to experience heaven forever, Grace, mercy and peace.

If you don't have those three, you need to call on the name of

Jesus. I pray that you have, and if you

have, John's going to talk to you as a Christian and he's

going to tell you to walk and stay in love and in truth.

All right? And there's going to be 3 things

they're going to come out of that.

And I'm just going to talk about the first one in verse 4 today.

And I'm going to give a little explanation.

And then the remainder of my sermon is not going to be

explanation of verse 4. It's going to be application of

verse 4. All right?

And I'm going to speed up because I've spent a lot of time

already. But verse 4 says this.

I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the

truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

What is the first thing out of the three things?

John wants you to notice the vital of your faith here.

It is true faith. True faith walks in the truth.

True faith walks in the. Truth, John is saying to us all

right. Now, obviously John has heard

some news about this church, whether someone has come from

visiting or whether he sent someone to visit.

He's heard news. He's heard a report of this

church. And by the way, he's heard some

good news. Not all the news he's heard is

good. We're going to get to that later

on next Sunday. But John does what most of us do

by starting in his response, by responding to the good news that

he's heard. And some of the good news he's

heard is that some of these church members note, not all,

but some are what walking in the you say, Kyle, what is walking

in the truth? It's when, of course, that's

what God has commanded us to do. Those who claim to have believed

the truth, walking in the truth is when your faith is not just

talked, it is walked. When it's not just proclaimed or

claimed, it is demonstrated. When it's not just worded, but

when it is actioned, when it is who you are in private or in

public truth. Faith walks in the truth, y'all.

This is what John spent an incredible amount of time in

First John trying to convince us of right.

Let me just give you a few reminders.

He says in First John 16, If we say we have fellowship with him

while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the

truth. He says in first John 2/3

through 6. And by this we know that we've

come to know him if we keep his commandments.

And whoever says I know him but doesn't keep his commandments as

a liar. And the truth is not in him, but

whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is

perfected. And by this we know that we are

in him. Whoever says he abides in him

all to walk in the same way in which he walked.

True faith again, hear it clearly.

True faith, John says, walks in the truth.

Which begs the question then, how do we walk in the truth?

I as I was processing and praying about how God would have

me explain this, I felt like the Lord just burdened my heart to

share with us as a church, something I've already shared

with a lot of the men in our church.

Because you realize that we as men gather in the spring and

fall on Tuesday mornings at 6:00 AM, we typically call it Better

Man, where we dive into what being a biblical man is all

about. In 2026, we're changing things

up a little bit and not focusing on exclusively biblical man

content, but really content from the.

Scripture for what every Christian ought to embrace.

I got asked by a lady, hey, because I titled these 10 things

I'm about to share with you that we're going to cover one per

month for men at 6:00 AM once a month, the second Tuesday of

every month. Registration will go live about

the second week in December. Men, I want to invite you to

come. It's once a month, 6:00 AM, and

we're going to take each one of these 10 at a time.

I'm about to share these ten. I've shared them at the men's

breakfast. I'm going to give them to you.

Now. I had one lady say college,

they're going to be a top 10 for women like there is for men.

And I'm about to say yes because I'm giving it to all of us right

now. The process.

All right, and ladies, you may not be here Tuesday at 6:00 AM,

but we're going to post all the teaching videos from this time

with me and you can follow along if you'd like to actually be

challenged and encouraged to implement.

Walking the truth out in your life like I'm about to share you

can you can stay with us. These 10 things I'm about to

share with you are not how to get into heaven.

These 10s I'm 10 things I'm about to share with you are not

ways to make God love you more, OK?

These are 10 practical things directly from the Word of God

that God instructs us as believers as how we put what we

claim to believe into practice and how we grow in it.

OK, how we can grow spiritually, how we can put the truth into

action in our lives. I'm going to share them with you

men. Some of you have heard this

already, but I'm going to spend the rest of our time giving you

these practical things of how to walk in the truth like verse 4

says God has commanded us to do #1 is this.

Spend daily time in God's word. Preachers will say this to their

blue in the face, but the truth is the average Christian does

not spend daily time in the Word of God.

And yet this is your number one and my number one, number one,

number one spiritual need. God commands you to be in His

work. Second Timothy 316 says for all

scripture is breathed out by God, that's the word we get Thea

nustas. Literally the Greek word means

inspired, God breathed. Every word of that book has been

breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching.

For reproof for. Correction and training and

righteousness that who, the man of God, the woman of God, the

boy, the girl of God can be adequate and complete and

equipped for every good work. That is, everything God wants to

do in and through your life is going to come from you consuming

the Word of God, being guided by it and equipped by it and

strengthened by it and changed by it.

Romans 12/2 says do not be conformed to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That is through the exposure to the truth of the Word of God,

that you may discern that which is the perfect will of God, that

which is perfect, good and acceptable.

You're not going to know the will of God.

You're not going to be able to do the will of God unless you

are in the Word of God. Mark it down.

It is your number one necessity. They've done study after study.

What's the number one thing for spiritual growth?

For spiritual maturity, it is Bible.

Engagement, it is Bible engagement, you engaging your

Bible on a daily basis. Let me just say a little

timeout. I'm about to roll through these

10 things. Some I'm going to spend time on,

some I'm not. OK, you're going to feel like

you're going to drink from a fire hydrant right here.

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

Some of you, because I don't have time to give you all the

practicals out of all these, and we're going to tune in once a

month. Men, ladies, you can follow

along in 2026. But if you on your connect card

when I write down how I can contact you and you write what

number it is, you might need practical help on #1 #2 #10 or

all 10, or I don't how many I will respond to you this week.

Or a pastor will with practical things that can help you with

ones you may struggle with or need answers that you have

questions. On all right, because I'm moving

quick. I want to say that, but let me

just try to make this point from God's word again.

Proverbs 3, five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your

heart. How are you going to trust in

the Lord with all your heart if you're not in His Word?

Lean not in your own understanding.

How are you going to not lean in your own understanding if you're

not daily in God's Word? Acknowledge Him in all your

ways. How are you going to acknowledge

God in all your ways if you're not daily in His Word?

And then He will make your path straight.

How's God going to make your path straight if you're not

daily in God's Word? This is your number #1 need.

If you're going to walk in the truth, you've got to daily get

in God's word #2 is this daily fellowship with God in prayer?

Daily fellowship with God in prayer?

Jesus says in Matthew 66. But when you pray, go into your

room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret,

and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Second only to getting into the Word of God.

Every Christian has to learn the habit of daily communing with

God in conversation that we call prayer.

Let me put it like this to you. What you are when you are alone

with God in prayer is alone. What you you are, who and what

you are, when you are alone with God in prayer is alone.

Who you are. Your Enneagram number is not who

you really are. Your disk profile is not who you

really are. Your DNA is not who you really

are. Your name, even your last name,

your family history, your job, your resume, that's not who you

you know who you really are, who you are when you are alone with

God. Because guess what?

You're going to stand before Him alone one day.

And that will. Who you are in that moment will

determine your eternal destiny. Who?

You are when you're alone with God.

Now, that's scary to some of you, perhaps because maybe you

don't spend any time alone with God and there's not much there,

and that's defining. But who you are when you are

alone with God is the epicenter of your life.

No one else defines you more than God does when you are alone

with him in prayer. Based on your time alone with

God right now in prayer, who are you?

Can I tell you a story that's inspired me?

I pray will inspire you. It's about General George

Washington. It was the year of 1777, which

is one of the coldest and harshest winters they had ever

experienced. These were the days of fighting

the British for freedom, Washington and his men.

Of about 11,000 in, the Continental Army had experienced

some defeats in Philadelphia, and as the winter set in, they

needed a place to camp. They chose a place 18 miles

northwest of Philadelphia called Valley Forge, and it was really

a horrendous winter and experience.

Some of the men were freezing to death.

They were I'll equipped. They didn't have enough clothes.

Some were walking barefooted and blood trails in the snow left

behind. General George Washington and

his men chose a farm close to Valley Forge owned by a Quaker

by the name of Isaac Potts. Where George and his cabinet

really are, leaders could headquarter and he was going to

stay there indoors. But he stayed with his men in

the out of doors until all their shelters were finally finished.

George was a man from a number of witnesses and reports.

It was a man of prayer and he providentially believed.

He believed that God was with his men providentially and was

with their cause. And George would often be seen

or or or experienced or witnessed, praying, going out

into the woods, closing the door and getting the closet, getting

in the closet to get alone with God.

To pray well, one of. Those days after they had chosen

Isaac Potts's farm. Isaac, being a Quaker, was

walking through the woods early one morning and he got to a

point where he heard a voice. Didn't know who it was, but he

got closer and closer, and soon he recognized the voice before

he saw the man. But then he saw the man.

It was General George Washington in the middle of the woods by

himself and in his own words. He was knelt on the cold ground

in prayer, and he said Washington was interceding for

his men and for his cause and for his beloved country.

Now, here's the kicker. Potts was a Quaker.

And was a pacifist, which means he did not believe it right to

take up arms in any situation. He actually held the belief that

a soldier could not also be a Christian.

So he didn't believe George was a Christian man.

He believed it incompatible to be a Christian and a soldier.

Therefore he says he was quite amazed at the scene before him.

He got up after watching and witnessing George pray on his

knees in his closet if you will. And he got up and went home and

he said to his wife Hannah or Hannah rather said to him,

Isaac, these seems agitated, what's the matter?

He said, Indeed, my dear, and if I appear agitated, tis no more

than what I am. I have seen this day what I

shall never forget. Till now I thought that a

Christian and a soldier were characters incompatible.

But if George Washington be not a man of God, I am mistaken.

And still more shall I be disappointed if God does not

through him perform some great thing for this country.

And I want you to listen to what he says next.

Hannah, I heard him pray, I heard him pray out in the woods

today, and the Lord will surely hear his prayer.

He will. Hannah, thee may rest assured He

will. If someone secretly heard you

pray, who would they determine you to be?

Because that's who. You are, that's who you are.

You've got to daily get in God's Word.

You got a daily get along with God.

That's who you are, that's who you are #3 daily pray with your

spouse. I'm not going to have time to

process with this one fully, but Lord knows the number one thing

every marriage needs is what? Come on now, prayer.

I had a guy in the first service that was single, says prayer,

and I'm not even married and I know it's prayer.

And let's be honest, most Christian couples don't do what

together on a daily basis. They don't pray.

You know why we as men don't pray in front of our spouses?

Because we're scared. We're too insecure to be heard

out loud and we don't even do the number one thing with our

spouse that's needed. They did a study and said that

if couples will receive premarital counseling, which by

the way, if you didn't receive premarital counseling, make it

up afterwards with some post marital counseling.

We'll connect you. All right, Like I'm being

serious. Marriages are struggling more

than most people realize, and most of them wait too late till

the bomb goes off and there's shrapnel everywhere and there's

no picking it up. Don't wait too late.

They did a study and said if they'll do premarital

counseling, if they're committed in their local church, and if

they will pray together daily. There's one in 39,000 chance of

divorce, one in 39,000. Pray with your spouse #4 is read

God's Word with your kids. Parents, listen to me.

The Bible commands you to teach your children the Bible.

Deuteronomy 6. You can read it for yourself.

God commands you. Did you know that God does not

command me to teach the Bible to your children?

It commands you. And if it's going to happen,

guess what's going to have to happen in your home?

It's going to have to be. Heard somebody's going to have

to read it and explain it. You don't have to know

everything about it or be to answer every question about it,

but God commands you to teach His word to your children,

grandparents, to your grandkids #5 be discipled by someone.

Most Christians have never had another Christian personally

invest in their spiritual growth.

We call that being disciple. Jesus chose 12.

Most Christians have never had somebody else to say, hey, I'd

like to invest in you spiritually.

Can I do that? Would you be willing to walk

with me? I'll train you, I'll teach you.

I'll tell you what I know. Most Christians have never

experienced that. My life changed when a 10th

grade guy didn't walk up to me and say, hey, I'm going to

disciple you. That probably would have scared

me. He just basically said, hey, I'm

going to be your friend. Welcome to the youth group.

You want to hang out and my life as even I had the foundation of

parents, but now I had a peer just a couple stages ahead of me

in high school. Live out for me what living like

a Christian should look like. In junior high and high school,

my life began to change as a disciple.

My age began to sharpen me. You say, well, Kyle, no one's

ever asked me if they disciple me.

Listen, you may have to go ask somebody, say hey, don't scare

them too much. Just say, hey, can I take you to

lunch? I think you're a step ahead in

your Christian life. You're a phase ahead.

You're doing things I want to learn how to do.

Can I spend some time with you? Let someone pour into you?

You may have to ask them. Number six, share the gospel

with a lost person. God has called us to be his

ambassadors and to be his witnesses, and yet 95% of

Christians will never share the gospel with a lost person.

What are we doing? What are we doing right?

Hey, listen, if you'll start praying, God, just give me

somebody in my path that you're directing me to have a

conversation with. Just give me one person on my

heart that I can begin praying about and seeking an opportunity

to share the gospel. And God's going to give you

opportunity after opportunity, but share the gospel with a lost

person #7 disciple, someone. You can't read Matthew 2818

through 19 when Jesus says as you go.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them

to obey all that I've commanded you right?

This is the command we all have as Christians, which is to pour

into others to disciple them. Discipling someone else simply

means either introducing them to Jesus or helping them follow

Jesus more. Closely, it doesn't mean you

have everything figured out. It doesn't mean you're perfect.

It doesn't mean you have all the answers.

You can just say, hey, as I follow Jesus, you want to walk

this direction with me. I'm not perfect.

I'm going to make mistakes. But I want to encourage you,

disciple someone, ask God to show you who's in your path,

who's in your circle that you need to be investing in #8 this

one's a tough one. Tithe, Say Kyle, what is that?

Tithe is when you take 10% of what God's given you and you

give it back to Him. Now listen, I'm going to talk to

you about you say, Kyle, you're a pastor and you're talking

about money and I don't like that.

That's OK, I've got to talk to you about money.

So here's the deal. The Bible says where your money.

Is there? Your heart's going to be

awesome. So if you're not honoring God

with your money, this list really doesn't matter because

your heart's not in it. A tide.

By the way, I don't own this jacket.

I don't own these shoes. I don't own any sucks.

I can keep going, but I won't. I don't own this is all on loan,

every number in my bank account, every.

I don't even have my wallet on me.

But if I did all that's God's. Anything you have doesn't

actually belong to you. It belongs to God.

And what God does is he expects us to steward what he's given us

in a way that would honor him. And one of the primary

principles we see in Scripture of that, even before the law, I

hear this sometimes Christians argue with that was part of the

law, part of the Levitical code? No, it was pre law, this

principle of giving back a tent, a tithe to God to honor him and

entrusting to him what he's given to us.

You say, well, the New Testament Pastor Khan never says tithe.

No, it goes a lot deeper. You want me to give you a couple

examples? You may not.

The example Jesus gives to emulate.

Remember when all the rich people are walking into church

and throwing out of their surplus into the things in the

temple, and then a poor lady comes along and guess how much

she gives? 10% Which one does Jesus say

emulate The early church Acts 2. They're selling land and

possessions to meet physical needs in the body.

You think they were like, hey, let's just 10% of the land, 10%

of the possessions or do you think they were a lot more all

in is the Bible is the New Testament setting up tithing as

the floor or the ceiling? It's a starting point.

It's a principle throughout the Scripture that if we're going to

honor God with what we've got, the starting point is the tithe.

I've heard a pastor, we've got a number of pastors in our church,

retired pastors that have put it in.

One of us put it like this. They said you want 100% cursed

or 90% blessed. Charles Stanley would simply say

you can't out give God, you'll never give to God in a way that

it doesn't return. Now listen, we've let the

health, wealth, prosperity gospel people rob us of some of

the language of speaking about the blessings of giving to God

and honoring Him with our wealth.

I tithe before I was a pastor. I tithe as a pastor.

I'll tithe if there comes a day that I'm not a pastor.

I don't know who ties and I don't know who gives what.

That's not my business. That's between you and God.

But I'm telling you, if you've not learned to honor God with

what He's entrusted, you are robbing yourself a blessings I

know God would pour out in your life if you simply chose to

trust God with what He's trusted you with.

You got more questions about that?

I can talk to you about it #9 is do life with a small group of

Christians say call? What do you mean by that?

We. Have been duped by the lie as

21st century Americans that if we just show up in a public

worship service about once a week, we're going to be

spiritually healthy. By the way, the average

Christian only shows up 1.4 * a month across America.

The Bible paints a different picture.

It paints a picture of together, not just in a large group

corporate assembly, but together doing life in close fellowship

in small groups and specifically in homes.

You say, Kyle, what's the starting point of getting in a

small group here? Adult Bible fellowship.

I call it Sunday School. Or you get into a small room on

our campus and get to know other people and they know you.

Then we Start learning the Bible together and start praying

together, start fellowshipping together, start holding each

other accountable and caring for one another.

And that's the starting point. That's not the end point, but

that's a starting point, right? And yet this is we think that

showing up in the large group physically or nowadays even

remotely online is enough to keep us spiritually healthy.

And it's just not true #10 identify your spiritual gift and

serve. The Bible says that God has

gifted every single Christian with an ability by the Holy

Spirit to serve. Serve through the body, to serve

outside the body, to serve in the body.

If you don't know what your spiritual gift is, you need, you

need to discern it. You need to you need to be led

to discover what that is. So how has God gifted me to

serve? If you're not serving, you need

to find a way to serve. The God has commanded us to

serve. Christ set the example.

I didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as

a ransom. Jesus says, listen, I could name

10 other things but I don't think there's a top 10 better

than this 10 to simply say y'all, who is it out there

that's a Christian that should not implement these things in

their life to walk in the truth? Who would that be?

These things come right out of the text of Scripture.

Men, we're going to dive into them, no holds barred.

We're not going to pull any punches.

One a month we're going to take these ladies.

We're going to post the videos online.

If your husband's a part of it, great.

If not, if you're single, you can follow along as we teach.

But I can tell you, I know from the Bible, these things are

things that we can implement and chase after the obedience that

God has called us to from the clear instruction.

This is not going to make God love you more.

This is not how you get into heaven.

This is how you walk out and work out your salvation with

fear and trembling. John and praise team are about

to come. Let me talk to you for a second.

Some of you in the room and you're not ready for the 10

because you need to start with the grace and mercy and peace

that Jesus and Jesus alone offers.

I'm going to stand right here during our time of response when

we stand and sing. And the point and the purpose is

if you don't know Jesus, you can step out from where you are.

You can come say, Pastor Kyle, I need the grace, the mercy and

the peace that Jesus offers. Would you come?

You might need to write on that Connect card.

I need help with #1 #10 #5 or all of them.

I'd be glad to respond to you. You might come and just say I

need to get on my knees or I need to come stand at this altar

and listen. I'm not living those things or

some of those things out, and I know which ones.

And I want to say yes to committing to those things or

these things in my life that I know I've been avoiding, I've

not been obeying. And it's time that I make a

commitment before God today that I need to implement and I need

to walk in the truth I claim to believe.

Maybe you want to use this altar as a response point today of

saying yes to the Lord. I'm going to pray and I'm going

to ask you to respond the way the Lord is leading you.

Heavenly Father God, I want to ask today that we'd say yes to

you, that these next moments will be filled with faith,

anointed by the Holy Spirit, unashamed in our stance and

response for the name and glory of Jesus in your truth and it

being lived out in our lives. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Would you stand with me? Let's sing, let's respond.

You come as God leads you this morning.