Leading Growth - Sunday Sermon

All right. If you're new here, my name

is Mati Scaring. I'm the preaching and

teaching pastor. And uh we'd love to get

to know you better. If you're looking

for a way if you're looking for a way to

get connected uh to the church, uh the

welcome cards are a great way. Um that

will put you on our email subscriber

list for our e- bulletin, which only

goes out about every other month or when

there's an event or something just to

inform people about what's going on. Um,

we also use those as prayer requests,

gathering cards, and we pray for those

every single week. So, if you turn those

in, just know that our prayer team,

which is open to the public, anybody can

come to our prayer time, which is at

7:00 a.m. here in the prayer room. Uh,

or on Zoom. You can join on Zoom. Just

go to Wednesday prayer on our uh web

page. Um, you will want to check, there

are rare times where we're Zoom only

where you wouldn't want to be showing up

in person, but you can just check the

website. that'll be posted under Zoom

prayer or a Wednesday prayer as well.

Um, but you we really do pray for those

prayer requests and we see really

powerful answers as well. So, go ahead

and write a prayer request down if you'd

like to. Um, I don't think I've got any

other announcements. Uh, there will be

some upcoming announce announcements

regarding things uh that the uh elders

have been praying about and feel led to

work on in our church. And one thing

that we've already um decided on is that

we wanted to begin a mentor ministry.

And so right now we're in the training

phase of that. And I see enough new

faces that I thought I would do just a

short um introduction to how we've set

ourselves up as a church according to

God's word. Uh we believe that the

mission of the church is to be and make

disciples. Uh there's plenty of sermons

that have been um where I work out more

of that and show that from scripture.

But in being and making disciples, we

don't just mean evangelism, but we also

mean being trained up towards maturity.

And uh that happens in a lot of

different ways. Preaching is one of the

ways that Jesus did it, even preaching

to large groups. Another way is in small

groups where he spent time with those

disciples. And um so we've developed

Bible studies we call disciplehip

communities and those meet in homes

every single Wednesday at 6 uh p.m. We

eat together. We we really just copying

not because it's prescriptive to do so

from Acts 2. Uh but because uh it's what

the early church devoted itself to uh

the apostles teaching, the breaking of

bread, the prayers and uh and generosity

towards one another as well. And so we

eat together every Wednesday and then we

study God's word and then we pray. And

the way we're set up to do that is we're

usually in book studies almost all the

time. There are rare occasions where

there's a little break and either a

topical sermon or um a sermon on some

kind of training thing that we're

wanting to do to build out a ministry in

the church. And that's what's happening

today. But uh you if you showed up to

those DC groups, you'd be studying the

passage that we're about to hear on

Sunday in advance and you can go under

disciplehip on our uh website and scroll

all the way to the bottom and you're

going to find questions that are like a

guided study through that passage. So

you do your homework, you do those

questions, you do maybe about 35 minutes

of Bible study would be enough to

complete it. You can obviously go deeper

than that. You bring those questions

with you to the Bible study that we call

disciplehip communities and they're

discussed together and they're led by uh

DC leaders who have been trained how to

facilitate Bible studies to allow people

to process out loud what they're

learning together. And that's a type of

disciplehip that Jesus definitely uh

engaged in, but he also engaged in

one-on-one or one-on-one or one-on-ree

disciplehip, even more focused. We're

calling that mentorship style

disciplehip, mentorship for short. And

um we're wanting to develop mentors that

like official Boons Fairy mentors that

can take on mentees uh in a more focused

kind of way. And again, what we're

really doing is just copying the way

that Jesus uh discipled people. And uh

beyond that, we don't really have a plan

other than just continue to fan those

things into flame. That's our basic plan

as a church and how to be and make

disciples. Obviously, we're we're having

plans to build out evangelistic ministry

and ministry to the poor because those

are also things that Jesus um uh modeled

us doing in our mission to be and make

disciples. Um but everything in his time

and place and right now it seems that

God is leading us to to have the uh

mentors trained up in that way. I don't

know exactly when we'll have our first

generation of mentors ready, but we're

working in that direction. And one way

to do that is to uh start teaching about

what mentorship actually looks like. And

so we have a playlist now with I think

three or four, this may be the fourth or

fifth um sermon on on mentorship. And

you might think, well, I don't know if

I'm going to be a mentor. I don't know

if this sermon is relatable to me. Any

one of these sermons is just preaching

through God's word. And I have found

plenty of people, including kids,

saying, "This is really valuable stuff,

whether you want to be a mentor or not."

So, they're not designed to be focused

only at mentors to leaving out um anyone

else wherever you are at your faith. Um

but they are designed to for those

mentors to consider how they would use

that um as a mentor. So, I hope that's

enough to give you kind of some context

of why we're doing this. And if you have

more questions about why we're set up as

a church like that, I love meeting with

people and talking about those things.

It's my life's calling to build up the

church. So, it's one of my very favorite

things to talk about in in all of life.

Um, so with that said, I'll get started.

Just in terms of um introduction, I got

to tell you my my power went out

probably like 4:00 a.m. or something

like that. And uh so I pro I think I

remember telling you guys how uh the

freezer that I bought, the used freezer

that I bought went out and then deer

meat started thawing, you know, and so

I'm starting to see a pattern here. Now

the power went out. I had gotten a

replacement or like basically borrowing

a freezer for a time and now the power

went out. So that freezer too, even

though there's nothing wrong with it is

no longer freezing meat. And I talked

about this I think last week in the

context of things that cause you

anxiety. When you care about things and

those things are threatened in some way

or you fear a future outcome that's not

good regarding those things you care

about, then you experience anxiety. And

and anxiety is just a tiny portion of

what we're talking about today. Um, I'll

tell you in a moment what we're talking

about, but again, I was experiencing it

especially because it seems like God is

designing these little trials in moving

into this new house in such a way to

just make absolutely certain I have no

control over doing anything about them.

Cuz Sunday mornings are set apart for me

to run through the things I've already

written out and planned to say in the

sermon. uh dial things in, memorize

little statements and quotes may that

have come up with and just review what

I'm going to say. They're not time to

deal with any kind of crisis. And so I

just decided to keep that side that that

um that time set apart for that and to

not do anything about it. Um I wasn't

even going to open the freezer. I wasn't

even sure what we could do about it. Um,

but at one point my mind drifted and so

I did actually start looking at diesel

generators, like 20 kowatt diesel

generators and and I realized, yeah, I

can't I can't solve this problem. Those

are too expensive. I'm going to have to

wait to maybe get one used or something

like that. Maybe I could buy a gas uh

powered one, but with the way things are

going, God will just have those go out

so the deer meat's threatened as well.

Because I think there there's plenty of

times and this is a normative way for

God to operate where he tests us. And

when he tests us, he's exposing certain

areas that are weak, but also

encouraging in us in areas when we when

we um by faith um either ace or do well

on that test, showing us, yeah, you've

you've grown in that way. And we need

both. We need to know where are we at in

terms of faith. And so in this case, I

actually really did have a victory. I

thought, you know what? Well, I don't

need to look up generators right now.

Back to the sermon. And then I'm walking

out the door and I just said, God,

it's you gave me the deer meat. You gave

me the money to pay for a butcher. Uh

you you gave me friends that mentored me

in hunting. You gave me all of this

stuff. It's yours anyway. Uh if it's

going to go bad by rethawing again or to

some degree again, then that's your

deal. And as I'm walking out the door,

power comes back on. It was very cool.

And it doesn't always work. That that's

kind of one of those God timing like

undeniable like I just let it go. I'm

like walking out the door. I need to be

focused on the sermon. I can't be

thinking about this. I can't even do

anything about it. So it's all yours. Do

with it what you want. Power goes on

just like that. Pretty cool thing. And

uh so so that's just going back to one

kind of trial that our spirit can be

under. Um God will test your spirit. He

will put it under load. He will place

trials in your life. And his goal is not

for you to fail those, although he knows

if you're going to or not. Uh the

enemy's goal is for you to get to fail

those. We call that temptation. God

never tempts, but God will test. And

there's a reason for that. And I want to

talk about that in relationship to

mentors and mentees, but also just

anybody Christian. um if there was one

thing that I'm hoping mentors and

everybody else hears today that then

they apply in their um goals of taking

some responsibility for some time for

the spiritual growth of another person.

I'll say that again. That's one of my

definitions of mentorship and it's been

one that I have thought about carefully.

Uh taking some responsibility for some

time for the spiritual growth of another

person. It's obviously not enough

because this is Christian mentorship,

not just any kind of mentorship. It's

not any kind of spiritual mentorship. Uh

but but at least for Christians in that

context, I think it's good. Some

responsibility for some time for the

spiritual spiritual growth of another

person. And if you're in a place where

you feel like God is calling you to be

that kind of mentor and and grow grow in

the ways that would make you ready for

that, be trained up and developed so

you'd know how to do that within a

church context, especially this local

church. Then if you learn this, and

here's our main point if we can put it

up. Growing in grace means continuing to

exhibit the fruit of the spirit under

trial. Growing in grace means continuing

to exhibit the fruit of spir of the

spirit under trial. I want to prove

every part of that main point to you

from scripture as always. And um if you

understand what's really being said and

I'll be using illustrations, metaphors,

personal examples of this and I know you

guys can understand it. It's not a

matter of intelligence or even

competence. It's a matter of spiritual

understanding which God gives to anyone

who's willing to learn. Uh so it's not

just for mentors, not just for mentees,

not just for anyone. It's also for

children. It's a very powerful thing

that we need to learn about growing in

grace. Now I want to go to the passage

first. This isn't the main one we're

going to be looking at, but that

actually talks about growing in the

grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This is uh third second Peter chapter 3

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

starting in verse 17. It's it's the very

end of his letter. And here's what he

says.

I don't think I prayed. Let me stop

right there and pray before we get in

the word here. Heavenly Father, thank

you for prompting me to pray. It's an

active way that we can uh depend on you.

I'm not sufficient within myself to

preach your word. And we're not

sufficient within ourselves to hear it

and understand it and apply it. And so

we just want to admit that to you and

ask for you to help us, help me uh

preach your word faithfully and in a way

that applies and uh helps the body grow,

helps individuals understand what you

require of them and how that works and

require of me as well. And help us to

also hear what you're actually saying by

your spirit to our church. I pray these

things in Jesus name. Amen. Second Peter

2 Peter 3:1

3:1 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing

this beforehand, take care that you are

not carried away with the error of

lawless people, and lose your own

stability, but grow in the grace and

knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ. To him be glory both now and in

the day of eternity. Amen. So, really,

this is a one-two punch sermon, a

two-part sermon, and this is the first

part, and we're going to be focusing on

the concept of growing in the grace. Um

but there's also growing in the

knowledge and those are uh concepts that

have quite a bit of integration but

they're also somewhat separate. I I'm

going to be defining a lot about what I

mean uh about growing in the grace

character development. Um the way you

relate to God in love and to others in

love and how you're surrendering to the

spirit is going to be a lot of the

content here. And it's not as though the

knowledge of scripture isn't also about

grace. But I'm differentiating the these

two into character development versus

doctrinal development. Like I said,

there's a lot of integration. You can't

really grow up in your character if you

don't understand certain doctrines in

scripture. Doctrine just means teaching.

And so when I say doctrine, I mean the

full council of God's word. Um and so

we're going to be talking about in the

next sermon on mentorship, which

probably be 3 to four weeks from now. um

on the idea of what it looks like for a

mentor to be doctrinally developing and

already well founded in that and then

help their mentees, the people that

they're discipling oneonone or 102 to

develop doctrally as well. That's really

important. Um and we'll be talking about

that. But today we're focusing more on

the concept of character development,

which is not absent of doctrine, but

there are some differences in in the two

categories of of ways to grow. And so

you hear him say here, but grow in the

grace and knowledge. So let's we're

focusing on growing in the grace. And

he's telling the church to do that while

they're already under trial. Um it's not

too different than what's happening in

Galatians. Although there's always

nuances, but uh there there are false

teachers that have come in that are

tempting people to believe things that

are um that are wrong. Most often some

kind of form of legalism or some denial

of who God is or whatever it is. it's

against the gospel and it puts the

church in in a certain trial a trial of

are they going to give into the

deception or not. He also talks about

the trials that the um uh that

Christians are under as a result of

persecution. In this case in first Peter

and in second Peter the persecution

seems to be primarily verbal maybe legal

societal. It's not even necessarily yet

physical, which I always remember when

we went through first and second Peter

was like, what's happening in America

now, you know, bakers just for standing

there on their convictions regarding

marriage and what marriage is uh will

get embroiled in legal trials and sued

and and I I don't even remember exactly

what the result is. I think the result

was favorable in terms of the baker, but

there's legal persecution in America.

There's verbal persecution. And so

persecution is a type of trial that you

can go through. It's one type of trial,

a particularly fiery one I would say,

especially once it starts breaking out

to be physical and people are getting

harmed or even losing their lives. But

any version of persecution is the type

of trial. And that's one of the major

things Peter's talking about. However,

in context, if we just go back to

chapter 1 of second Peter, he says

something very similar that we're about

to approach in Galatians today and next

Sunday. I I figured I had this sense

that one Sunday in uh the fruit of the

spirit passage, which is just kind of

climactic in Galatians was not enough

that it's that important that we should

revisit it uh visit it more than once

and spend time in it more than one

Sunday. So, we will be doing that. But

to read second Peter chapter 1 3 through

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

about nine, I think. Yeah, nine. Um,

you're going to hear he's saying very

similar things to what Paul talks about

at the fruit of the spirit. Uh, so let

me let me read this to you. His divine

power has granted to us all things that

pertain to life and godliness through

the knowledge of him who called us to

his own glory and excellence by which he

has granted to us his precious and very

great promises. so that through him you

may become partakers in the divine

nature having escaped from the

corruption that is in the world because

of sinful desire. Corruption may be

differentiated from persecution is

another kind of uh trial that your your

spirit can be stressed by under pressure

by um you you there's a conforming power

that the world has. Paul talks about

that as well in Romans 12. And we're

we're not to be sometimes people think,

"Oh, don't be conformed, be

nonconformed." That's not what he says.

He says, "Don't be conformed, be

transformed." Turns out nonconformity is

just another version of conformity. The

nonconformist is following a pattern

that's not new in the world. I'm just a

non-conformist, but there's

transformation that's needed. And God is

saying here Peter uh God through Peter

is saying that God has given us

everything we need for life and

godliness in advance through his word

through his great and precious promises

uh so that we can be partakers in the

divine nature become godly and grow in

godliness escaping the opposite

possibility in the world. And for this

very reason, since God has given us

everything in his sovereign power, since

there's nothing we're lacking in his

word to grow in the way that pleases

him, for that reason, it says, "Make

every effort to supplement your faith

with virtue and virt virtue with

knowledge and knowledge with

self-control, self-control with

steadfastness." Self-control is

literally a fruit of the spirit in that

list in Galatians 5. I will say before I

go on, I don't believe that Paul was

mentioning fruit. The word karpass in

Greek also means results. It's like the

result of the spirit. Fruit is the

result uh of the spirit's work in your

life. The outcome, the outworking, the

things the character attributes that are

exhibited as a result of the life that's

surrendered to the spirit. I think we

understand that. And uh he's he's

mentioning very similar character

qualities and characteristics of people

here that he that he's calling them to

grow in. And so I don't think that we

ought to say, well, these are the only

fruit of the spirit. There are other

ways that the spirit brings about good

godly character results in our lives,

thoughts and actions as well. So let's

continue here. And knowledge with

self-control, and self-control with

steadfastness, and steadfastness with

godliness, and godliness with brotherly

affection, and brotherly affection with

love. For if these qualities are yours

and are increasing, they keep you from

being ineffective or unfruitful in the

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Whoever lacks these qualities is so

nearsighted that he's blind, having

forgotten that he was cleansed from his

former sins. Peter's talking to

Christians. Christians that some are

become are growing and being effective

and fruitful and others that have sort

of stalled out, but he's talking about

people that are actually cleansed from

their former sins. And so it can happen

to Christians. You can be growing for a

time and then stall out. Um I'll show

you how that that is there's no neutral

ground. You're not when you stall out,

you are backsliding. You don't keep what

you've gained if you just discontin

um it's that kind of similar to losing

your power. It's why it's why I said

that the Holy Spirit when he will never

leave you or forsake you. You're you're

guaranteed salvation to him when he

dwell indwells you. He's the he's the

seal of our redemption as well. But

um when you grieve him or when you

quench his work in your life, uh my dad

always taught me over and over again

faithfully, it's like a a circuit that's

not connected, power is not on, right?

Or it's like a water, he said this so

many times, and it took a lot of times

to really have it sink in. What he

means, it's like a water heater. Pilot

light stains on, but the water isn't

heating. You know, when you turn that

water heater on, if you listen closely,

it's like there's there's heat coming

into it. That's what it's like with the

spirit when you are living with

unconfessed sin. You've grieved him.

You're not really surrendering to him.

He doesn't force that surrender in the

Christian life. And he helps you. He

helps you surrender. You can't really

surrender without him, but he doesn't

force it. And so, uh, what happens when

you're living with your own agenda or

when you're living and not confessing

sin and not actually apologizing, ask

for forgiveness. As first John says, uh,

if you confess your sin, God is faithful

and just to forgive us of sin and to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That should not just be a w wash, rinse,

repeat kind of rhythm in our lives, but

it ought to be um something that happens

regularly every time you know you're out

of step with the spirit. Getting back in

step is just admitting how you did

wrong. Need grace for that and asking

him to strengthen you to do that. Um,

and so when when you you I think we

probably know Christians that are either

extremely apathetic about their faith.

Um, or uh kind of just wandering kind of

in the wild country, that might be an

extreme example, or just living for

themselves, not putting God's kingdom

and his righteousness first. Um, but

rather putting their own agenda and

their own life first. And they're not

walking in power. They're not keeping a

step with the spirit. and therefore

they're not developing in these kinds of

results that come from him. I see some

people nodding. I think you're

understanding and won't belabor the

point, but it is possible for both

Christians and um to Christians to

experience seasons of growth where

they're growing in effectual and

fruitful uh ministry. And it's it's

possible to backslide for Christians as

well. And I want to show you that from

from Paul. I want to go to uh Galatians

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 now. And we're not going to

spend the same kind of time in Galatians

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 16- 26 because next week I'm

going through it expositionally verse by

verse. But I want to show you something

um that Paul's talking about here that

relates to this idea of being under

trial. Going back to the main point,

growing in grace means continuing to

exhibit the fruit of the spirit under

trial. If you've been with us for

Galatia for the uh letter to the

Galatians walkthrough or our our our

Sunday preaching series on it, you know

that the Galatian church was under heavy

trial and in this case false teachers

and also social pressure. Um it the the

kind of false gospel that the Judaizers

were preaching necessarily separates

Jews and Gentiles. And that's not where

it ends. The enemy wants to just wreak

the most possible destruction, division,

and dissension. And Paul even mentions

it here in this passage as a work of the

flesh. So let me read this to you.

Here's Galatians

uh 5:1 16- 26. But I say walk by the

spirit and you will not gratify the

desires of the flesh. For the desires of

the flesh are against the spirit and the

desires of the spirit against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other to

keep you from doing the things that you

want to do. We'll go into more detail

next Sunday about this. But just really

quickly for mentors, mentees, and any

Christian and any of any age, uh just

because you're saved does not mean you

don't still have a fleshly nature,

right? No one ought to claim that even

though they're saved, they're now

without sin. You make God out to be a

liar. That s comes from somewhere. Um,

the only time you're going to completely

be rid of your fleshly nature is, uh,

either the moment Jesus returns and

glorifies us, which would not

necessarily require you to die, or when

you die and go to heaven. Um, and that

would happen even before you got a

resurrection body. You would be

perfected in spirit at least, and the

flesh will be gone. In this life,

however, according to Paul, we're to put

to death the misdeeds of the flesh by

the spirit, the misdeeds of the body by

the spirit. That's in a fancy

theological term called mortification,

the death of our flesh. And it's

continual thing. So, we ought not to

claim that it's not there. And we ought

not to claim that Christians can't do

things that are actually of the flesh.

That's when you're not surrendering to

the spirit. However, the spirit's at war

with our flesh. How? But he's he's not

at war in such a way where he'll just

kill it without our permission. There's

a surrender that has to happen. And so

long as flesh has not been surrendered,

even though the flesh is nowhere near as

powerful as the spirit, there's a

deadlock there until the spirit sees you

surrender that desire to continue the in

the work of the flesh. I see people

nodding again. You understand what

Paul's saying? And also obviously the

Holy Spirit helps you surrender to that.

uh the problem the flesh can't surrender

all by itself. It needs God's help. And

so that's what we mean by faith. Uh if

even faith that uh God would help us to

mortify the flesh by the spirit. Uh it's

not like we're doing it in our own

power. We're relinquishing and

surrendering to him. Faith is an arrow

pointing to God away from us always.

Okay? I think you I've said that so many

times. I know you understand it. So

that's what Paul's talking about here.

The thing that breaks the deadlock from

the human perspective is you

surrendering to the spirit. from God's

perspective, it's God that did it in

you, you know. So, let's go to um verse

18 now. But if you're led by the spirit,

you're not under the law. You've been

This is probably getting a little bit

too much into it. I'll save it more for

next week. But there's a realm change.

When you come to faith and are

justified, you're changed from the realm

of uh the the sin mastery that has you

that where the law rightly condemns you,

the law is not wrong, you're wrong, and

the law rightly condemns you. You're

changed from that realm to the realm of

the law of the spirit. The spirit now

lives in you. The law has been written

on your heart. You've been given the

power to actually desire what God wants

and accomplish it by the power of the

spirit. You know, it's no longer

wretched man that I am. But there is now

no condemnation for those who are in

Christ Jesus. And you have this the God

living in you who can help you actually

be transformed. And the new creation

that's built in you grows. Okay? and the

and the flesh withers as you continue to

surrender. Now listen to uh what Paul

says about the works of the flesh. He's

not comparing the fruit of the flesh to

the fruit of the spirit. He's comparing

the works of the flesh to the fruit of

the spirit. Important in the context of

Galatians because Galatians uh the false

teachers were all talking about works

and works and works and if you don't do

these works, you're not saved. And Paul

is saying no, it's by faith alone. No

works involved in your justification.

It's God that does it exclusively. you

trust in him that justifies you. Uh so

um works of the flesh is an interesting

way to put it in our context versus

fruit of the spirit. One is the result

of something coming from you. The other

one is the result of something coming

from God. Works of the flesh are

evident. Sexual immorality, impurity,

sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, emnity,

strife, jealousy, fits of anger,

rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,

drunkenness, orgies, and things like

these. I warn you, as I've warned you

before, that those who do such things

will not inherit the kingdom of God. I

wanted to have you notice something,

especially for you that have been

students of the Bible for a lot longer.

There there are lots of lists in

scripture, many of them by Paul, where

he says, "Here's these characteristics

of people. If that defines you, you

won't inherit the kingdom of God." That

does really mean that if that defines

you, without repentance, you will not be

saved. Uh usually however the the list

isn't as relatable to to Christians that

have not actually engaged in those to to

me they they are because as you know

from my history um uh I was a criminal.

I was a liar. I was just wild country

prodigal in every way. A rebellious

person towards God. And so when I read

those, I'm like, I've done almost all of

those things and I cannot believe I'm to

inherit the kingdom of God and I to do

nothing for it. Uh but in this case, um

sexual immorality, you might not think,

oh well, that's a regular thing. And if

it's not a regular thing in your life,

even in the mind, that is a wonderful

thing. That means your spirit is

stronger than maybe when it was

happening in your life. But impurity is

not just related only to uh sexual

thoughts. It's it's just thoughts that

are impure. Uh you could put in that

category the idea of having revenge

fantasies. You ever find yourself maybe

even towards a friend of me, someone

that was a friend but really bothered

you and um you're [clears throat]

thinking of a little revenge fantasy?

That's an impure thought. Um as funny as

that can be, it's also a really dark

thing. So that's an impure thought. Um

and also sensuality. Uh, I think what

Paul is talking about here is something

that's probably to some degree rel

related to sexual things, but like

indulging way too much in food and drink

and like binge watching Netflix. Like

these are these are the area of the

sensual and and you're getting way too

into them. Uh, I don't I don't know

anybody that doesn't sometimes get stuck

on uh entertaining themselves too much

and distracted in that way. Uh,

divisions. Remember I talked about

divisions as a result of the works of

the flesh and the preaching of

legalists. Envy,

envy, covetousness. Who's who's not ever

experienced at least testing or

temptation in relationship to envy?

Drunkenness. Um obviously a work of the

of the flesh and it's you can see in

other writing of Paul, it's directly

opposed to the filling of the spirit. Do

not be drunk on wine, but be filled with

the spirit. Orgies. Now, you might say,

"Well, I've never done that, and I'm not

really into sorcery." But you just

continue. Emnity, strife, jealousy, fits

of anger, rivalries, dissensions, envy.

I I skipped a line. I see. Envy,

drunkenness, orgies. Um,

for those of you who are married,

you've never had a fit of anger towards

your husband or towards your wife, like

you, even if you didn't express it out

loud, have you never been like seething

towards them for what they said? or if

you're young and you have kids. Come on.

They will do everything they can to make

sure that you're [laughter] tested uh to

respond in the flesh. Like the children

are can just be really diff. I love

them. They're not a curse. They're a

blessing. But man, they everything has

to be repeated so many times. Um when

you have six of them, it's like you

better put some rules in where not

everyone needs to be told the same

thing. If you have to tell your children

twice and you have six, that's 12 times.

If I tell them three times, my math

ability runs out right there. But the

the point is it's just it's it's it's

trying. Raising a family is trying.

Being married to another sinner, you

both are. Being married to sinners is

not some kind of honeymoon long term.

It's difficult. You will sin against

each other. You'll be tempted to respond

in the flesh. Strife. I don't If a

married couple says they have no strife,

I just tend to not believe them unless

they're unbelievably mature. I do know

I've had some mentored married couples

where I'm like yeah that is unusually

powerful marriage. So I don't mean some

kind of blind like you're lying. I'm

just saying like there's strife in

marriage, right? And there are character

attributes and fruit of the spirit that

oppose each one of these that are really

almost the opposite. Let's go to those.

Um actually I want to say here regarding

it does not inherit the kingdom of God.

Obviously, Paul is not saying that if

you've ever done one of these things,

you just lose your salvation. That would

be right back to the legalist who's

saying, "No, you got to do these things

to keep your salvation." That's not what

he's saying. He's saying if these uh uh

basically encompass your entire life

without repentance, that's you're not

going to inherit the kingdom of God.

That ought to be a warning Christians in

a sense just how serious is to engage in

them. They're not signs of salvation to

engage in them. You know, they're not

evidence of redemption to engage in

them. They're they're very serious.

Every one of them. Some will have more

destructive power on earth than others,

but they're very serious. We ought to

take them seriously. Like if you're

causing strife in your marriage, whether

your husband or wife is also, that's a

work of the flesh. And the flesh is

lethal. There's no reason to diminish

it. There's no reason to say it's not

that big of a deal. Now, here's what

Paul says. But the fruit of the spirit,

Karpas, result of the spirit is love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self-control. And I don't believe this

is an exhaustive list, but those are the

ones we're going to focus on today.

Against such things, there is no law.

And those who belong to Christ have

crucified the flesh with its passions

and desires. If we live by the spirit,

let let us also keep in step by the

spirit or with the spirit. Let us not

become conceited, provoking one another,

envying one another. Okay, that's the

passage. Mostly we're going to focus on

the concepts in chapter uh 5 22- 23 that

are well known as the fruit of the

spirit. And again going back to the main

point, growing in grace means continuing

to exhibit the fruit of the spirit under

trial. I want to explain what that

means. And I it's really interesting.

Sometimes it's a real slog to come up

with illustrations and metaphors. I have

too many to know what to do with in this

one. and they're all quite fun. Uh, how

many of you guys have heard of the uh

Biosphere 2 in Arizona? Uh, yeah, I see

some people raising their hands. I don't

even need a raise of hands, but just

think about it. Have you heard of it?

You know what it is? Um, it it is

exactly what it sounds like. It's a

biome of of different plants. I don't

think they have animals. They might have

animals, but they have created this big

dome that would have the ideal

conditions. Plenty of sun, plenty of

water, just perfect conditions for plant

growth. And they put trees in there. And

you've probably heard of this before,

maybe even as a metaphor I've used. I

think I used it almost a decade ago. So

hopefully I'm not boring you with

repetitive stories, but the the point is

the trees would flop over flop over at

the top and then fall over and they

couldn't figure out what it was. It

reminds me of um was it KO in SeaWorld?

Like when when orcas get captured, their

is it their dorsal fin? Whatever large

fin on their back just flops over.

Something's not right. Something's not

right with these trees. Well, I'll fast

forward to what they found out. Found

out it was wind, the lack of wind. And

wind stresses a tree. And the tree's

response is to begin to harden its core

wood. Its core word gets tougher. It

doesn't become inflexible, but it

becomes a little bit stronger uh as the

and and the roots grow deeper as well.

The the trees were not growing enough

root deep enough roots and that's where

they fall over and they'd bend over the

top because they they were just like

there was no stress. Okay. Um, if you if

if you're kind of love biology, you

know, like maybe that's the metaphor to

think about you. So when I say when our

spirit grows, that means the corewood of

our spirit is getting stronger. You know

exactly what I mean. Jesus grew in

spirit. We need to grow in spirit. And

when I say corewood, I think you

understand the idea. Another one, if you

are, let's it's the new year, so there's

probably a lot of people that have

certain health based uh New Year's

resolutions and you might be working

out. You guys have ever heard of

progressive overload?

kind of a fancy sports science term, but

everyone kind of knows what it is.

You're lifting your bicep muscle and

you're doing 20 pounds and you're doing

it for reps of 10 and maybe three sets

and you're real sore the next day or

especially the second day and then two

weeks go by and all of a sudden uh 20

pounds doesn't make you sore again. What

do you got to do? You got you got to

increase the weight, right? Because your

your muscle needs to continue to be

stressed to be stimulated to grow. It's

true with every kind of exercise. If

you're doing uh cardiovascular exercise

and you want to continue to grow in your

lug capacity and get in better shape

cardiovascularly, you can't just keep

doing the exact same type of cardio. It

has to be intensified a little bit.

That's what progressive overload is.

Well, it's very very similar uh with

your spirit. Um, you know, decades ago,

you might have been tempted by

relatively minor temptations

and relatively minor tests by God uh to

be very unkind when someone says

something mean. But in the meantime,

your spirit has grown. The corewood has

grown. There's been progressive

overload. The spirit has been under

trial enough times, under testing, under

pressure, under stress. You have uh by

the grace of God grown and now it's it

you actually are not responding to evil

input with evil responses as as easily.

Okay. Um, but it turns out God will test

you at where the measure of your faith

actually is. And so the tests do get

more difficult. Uh, they don't always,

it wouldn't really be a test if he

wasn't testing the current measure of

your faith. Where do I get that concept

from? Let's go to Romans 12.

And, uh, I I gave the team 3 through

just chapter 3. Chapter 12:3, but I'm

going to read verse 1 through two. uh

because this living sacrifice is a very

similar thing like keeping the flesh

sacrificed. I appeal to you therefore

brothers by the mercies of God present

your bodies as a living sacrifice holy

and acceptable to God which is your

spiritual worship. Do not be conformed

to this world but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind that by testing you

may discern what the will of God. What

is the will of God? What is good and

acceptable and perfect? And here's the

verse about the measure of faith. For by

the grace given to me, I say to everyone

among you, not to think of himself more

highly than he ought to think, but to

think with sober judgment, each

according to the measure of faith that

God has assigned. Okay, for you hunters

out there, or anybody that enjoys

wildlife, I saw deer on my property for

the first time. Very exciting. Have you

ever heard of a deer in velvet? Do you

know what that is? Um, a deer in velvet

is a buck. Actually, I found out there

are antler uh dough as well. The that's

wild to me. Uh look up antler dough. You

know, I don't think it was AI. I

actually researched a little bit and I

it really seems to exist and I conferred

with other hunters, especially in white

tail. However, usually buck male deer

and they're growing their antlers and

they have what I would a furry layer of

skin almost very vascular a lot of blood

running to it and it starts as cartilage

and becomes hardened in bone but it

grows at the tips and if there's not

enough blood supply or if they get

harmed you'll get very irregular growth.

They can be kind of cool looking buck

but it's something happened that went

wrong. Uh the horns are you know

genetically designed by God to grow a

certain way and when they're growing way

off in that something happened from the

outside but they grow at the tip at the

bleeding edge. Okay. So when I say

bleeding edge of your faith that's like

the area where where God's testing you

at. You have you know this much human

patience. He's wanting to grow beyond

just what humans can ex uh can can

exhibit in terms of patience. He's wants

you to growing into surrender up into

surrender to the to the patience that's

called the fruit of the spirit. And it

doesn't have a limit like human uh uh

patience has has a limit. That area

right there where okay if he stresses

you like this like if he for the second

time threatens your deer meat. You're

going to you're going to get real

impatient with other people. That's the

bleeding edge. That's the corewood under

stress.

What was the second one? Yeah, I think

you guys already know that. Uh, if you

say it, I'll remember it and bring it.

Oh, progressive overload. That's the

stimulus that causes the muscle to grow,

but it's with your spirit. Okay? So,

think about this. How would you even

know that you're growing in the in

exhibiting the fruit of the spirit? Um,

unless there's some kind of test because

non-Christians can be kind. You press

them hard enough, the kindness runs out.

However, Christians actually have the

power by the spirit to respond kindly to

someone being really, really mean,

viciously mean. Even you have the power

to be patient in in trials that the

flesh that the that that the human

ability, capacity just runs out. Did you

know you have the power by the spirit to

be joyful while suffering?

Joyful while suffering. Well, that

doesn't make any sense. Those seem to be

the ex how can you be joyful while

suffering? I've talked to non-Christian

friends. They think that's basically

nonsense. They might be more less

intending to be offensive. So instead

was like it it just it sounds like a

contradiction. I don't know what to tell

you. You know that sounds like a

contradiction because the joy you're

experiencing there is not subject to

circumstance. It's beyond human capacity

to exhibit.

you know, speaking of the word, um, like

God's word, uh, Psalm 19 talks about how

he, um, the psalmist compares it to a

strong man running his race with joy.

And I was thinking about that verse

running. And I'm like, it's I've never

experienced joy while running. I'm a

tank, you know, but evidently I'm weak

because a strong man runs his race with

joy, you know. So, uh, I was thinking

about the that happens all the time.

something that nobody in their right

mind would say the the it's not a

normative human response to be anxious

or fearful about if you're on the front

lines as a Navy Seal. Um the honest ones

say yeah it's it it's terrifying.

Courage means overcoming that terror and

moving towards the battle lines but they

have fear. So there are certain inputs

where it would be wrong to say that the

response shouldn't be fear there. There

should be. But when does it become

something that's not exhibiting the

fruit of the spirit? Well, when you

don't relinquish it to the Lord, you can

have peace under actual enemy fire by

the spirit. It's supernatural. It

doesn't make sense. But that's where the

line is. Okay? If it can be produced

just from human origin, that's not the

fruit of the spirit. If it takes God's

power and to surrender to God's power,

to surrender to the spirit, that's where

the fruit of the spirit begins. So when

I say that bleeding edge, I think I like

that one best thinking about that. Uh

not even because it's hunting, but just

it requires a cross. It is the bleeding

edge. Um how do you know you're growing

when you're not under stress?

How do you know a child's learning

anything if they don't take quizzes and

tests?

How do you know? And so when I talked

about this evaluating your faith like

with sober judgment, um it's painful. I

think the things that I'm going to ask

you to think about now if if you're

willing to be honest and and let God say

to you and and let yourself hear what he

really say to his word. I'm not trying

to discourage anybody. I think there's

great hope here. But whenever I'm

letting God scan me, so to speak, test

me and and find out where I'm actually

at in my faith, it's painful to find

out. Okay. So, let's just go along the

lines of some of the fruit of the spirit

and consider where's that bleeding edge

for you. Um, where's that space where

God wants to supply the velvet with more

blood and then grow the tip of the horn?

Where's that place where he's trying to

strengthen the corewood? Where is the

progressive overload needing to be

increased in your spirit and then you

show surrender again? Anyway, are we I

don't mean to patronize at all, but are

we understanding that? Like, am I making

sense? I I find usually the fault is in

me when Christians like you guys don't

understand. So, I just want to make sure

it's it's hitting home. Um, so let's say

regarding love,

I mean you, especially as married

couples, you made a lifetime commitment

till death do us part to your husband.

Oh, but man, if he sins enough against

you and vice versa, there are times

where you don't even feel like you love

him anymore. Hollywood love is like,

"Yeah, I fell out of love with them."

That's not the kind of love that we were

called to in covenant marriage, though,

was it? Where it's just based purely on

feelings. Those feelings matter. There's

something wrong when your feelings are

consistently uh feeling unloving towards

a person or feeling unloved. That's not

something good. But there's there's a

commitment that goes beyond that in our

covenant marriages with your children.

Like have you ever

I was going to stop sort of saying it,

but it's let's get gritty. Have you ever

experienced contempt for your children

cuz you're just so frustrated with how

they're acting?

Let's not pretend like Christians don't

sometimes experience temptations towards

having contempt towards our children.

And let's not pretend like they never

give in to those temptations.

So when when those things happen, are

you well contempt's pretty much the

opposite of love, right? Sometimes you

don't even feel like loving your husband

again. What would be a symptom of that?

You don't want to forgive him for

something.

I'm trying to balance back and forth

because both partners are sinners. But

your h as a husband, you don't even feel

like forgiving your wife anymore. And

you find yourself at a at an impass.

You're stuck like, well, I don't love

her anymore. I don't love him anymore. I

don't feel like even like my children.

And my friends, they're all betrayers.

You You can be in the pit like that and

experiencing all of those things. And

you will run out of your human capacity

to love people quick. God will help you

find that bleeding edge, won't he over

and over and over again. And why? Just

because he wants to point out how sinful

you are? Well, yes, but because he wants

you to grow up and into his kingdom and

grow in righteousness. All this stuff's

lethal. Having a life that's going in

this direction is lethal. If God loves

you, and he does, he wants you to grow

towards life.

And if you just take the fruit of joy,

wouldn't it be nice to experience an

abiding joy even when you come up

against trial?

Well, joy that's not tested by trial

could just be human joy. We're talking

about joy that transcends circumstance.

Peace that s transcends circumstance.

Peace that surpasses understanding. I

don't mean to add to scripture or modify

it, but in a lot of ways, the concept of

experiencing joy under serious painful

sorrow or suffering or affliction, um,

well, it seems to surpass understanding

as well in that similar way, doesn't it?

So, that's what we're talking about when

when I talk about the bleeding edge,

when I talk about mentors, that's an

edge you need to be growing on. And we

need to be soberly evaluating our faith.

If I come to patience, I'll use myself

in his example here and ask God, how do

I grade out? That's a football term. We

get graded out on plays when we played

and grading being graded out unless you

just had an unbelievably stellar game is

never fun. You know, I I think I've said

this before, but it one of the funniest

comments I got. Um, the coach wrote

under one play where instead of stepping

left, I stepped right. Then the play

reversed. I step left and I was wrong

again. Like every single thing I did was

wrong. He wrote PA the tick on there and

I didn't know if it was negative or

positive. Um, and I thought I didn't do

very good on that play, but I ended up

recovering and going and getting kind of

in the pile of the tack and everything.

So, I thought, well, I'll probably get

at least a zero there. Not a minus, not

a plus, because those first steps is the

dtackle is important. Anyway, PA the

tick. And and I said, what does that

mean, coach? He goes, spell it out like

slowly. And I said, "Pathetic."

[laughter]

They loved they I think they thought

hard about how they could slam the

football players, especially me. And I

attitudinally probably deserved it. But

anyway,

patience.

I forget why I even told that little

football story now. Um, your your

patience when I'm evaluating my own

patience. Oh, grading out. There we go.

when I'm when I'm asking God to grade

out my patience, um my flesh will play

this trick on me. So, if you say in in

in relationships that stress that that

where there's stress involved, there's

always stress involved in marriage,

especially when you're moving or some

other big life event or stress towards

the the kids or stress in relationship

to to friends, close friends. So, the

relationships you care about, but you're

not always agreeing and you're trying to

work out a conflict. And let's say you

think whoever you're relating to is

being like outrageous in their claims

and their attitude, totally unjustified,

you know, and let's say you've been

patient for a good long time with it and

your patient runs out and you just snap.

My flesh will do this thing. It's like,

I made it pretty far. Made it pretty

far. I seems like my patient's growing.

But that was so ridiculous how it got

treated. Anybody would snap. That's you

running out of your human capacity.

Fruit of spirit hasn't even begun at

that point. Fruit of spirit begins when

you run out of your human capacity to

act loving, patient, peaceful,

self-controlled.

It's like an F is what you get when your

patient runs out and you snap. Did did

the did the spirit lack any power in

that moment? No matter how outrageous

the input is from another person

to help you experience patience and

self-control and kindness in relation.

No, he doesn't like any power to do

that. It's just a surrender away. So I'm

like, yeah, no, I'm not. I have too many

times where I my patience breaks. I

fold, the top of the tree bends, I back

off from the bleeding edge. I don't want

to lift any more weight.

I don't know if you're looking at your

life, if you're looking at self-control,

you're looking at these things, it's

easy to be like, "Yeah, I think I'm

going doing better. Did better than last

time. Lasted five more minutes." What

does that mean? It's all just human

capacity.

It's not even hard when you're surrening

to the spirit to be patient. Have you

ever experienced it? There's unlim. It's

impossible to do it in your own power

and it's infinite power when you're

doing it in his.

I I will have sometimes even Christians

even in church I'm not thinking about a

recent example at all but just sometimes

Christians will say relatively vicious

things towards leaders and it's painful

to hear especially when you've really

grown to love know and love the person

you have a deep relationship and you

basically think well if you think that

of me leaving the church probably next

and so you hear vicious things and

sometimes people will overhear them like

they'll say it in the foyer as they

storm out that one was a long time ago

but um

to be honest I can't even remember the

face. So, let's not even try to think

about it. The point is I've experienced

these things. They're wounding. And

other people will see how I respond. I'm

not I'm not saying I always respond

rightly. But when I'm operating the

spirit, I'll respond in ways of people

like I have no idea how you were that

kind back to such mean. That was so mean

what they said. And I just thought to

myself, yeah, I don't uh I I can't say I

have no idea because I know it's the

spirit, but it's not coming from me.

It's coming from the spirit. And it

wasn't hard. Have you ever had someone

be just really mean to you, but you're

filled with the spirit, your love isn't

diminished, your patient isn't at its

end, your self-control isn't threatened,

and and you just respond with a kind

word, and you watch their angry

countenance melt. It happens with

strangers, like upset that you park too

close, and you're like, "I'm so sorry. I

didn't realize I was that close. Let me

back up." And all of a sudden their

countenance changes because you you they

had a hard start up a mean it's like all

this pressure coming towards you but you

respond with the spirit and there's such

power in that. Again you're

participating in the divine nature. All

the heavy lifting is being done for you.

But that's the bleeding eds. That's

where you're growing. Growing in the

grace means continuing to exhibit the

fruit of spirit under trial, under load,

under pressure, under difficulty when

the winds are high.

And that we need to know that as

mentors. We need to know that as people

who are wanting to be mentees or grow.

We need to know that as children. Um,

honor your father and mother when it's

easy and they're being super nice and

reasonable or when they're being totally

unreasonable. You don't understand why

the rules being put in. You don't

understand why they're angry. You feel

like they're angry at you when really

it's just being angry at some other kids

and you're getting swept. Whatever it

is,

honoring your father and mother wasn't

ever be meant to be done in your own

power. You need God for that. And God's

going to be looking at your ability,

isn't as a young kid, to honor your

father and mother along the bleeding

edge. What happens when I test them?

What happens when they're under

pressure? Are they really surrendering

to me? So, you look at the patterns of

your life. We can just keep going

through these verses. Kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

gentleness. Let's go to that one. Are

you gentle with your words in response

to forceful words coming at you?

You you can probably be for a time like

I I've convinced myself at times that

I'm responding to someone in the fruit

of the spirit, but it's just uh last

week's stale bread, if you know what I

mean. It's not really God. It's just

I've kind of learned how to put on a

happy face. It's not the same thing. One

reason I know is because I'll go home

and I'll have lingering negative

feelings towards that person.

You know it can when it comes to the

spiritual fruit of love it can happen in

relationship to God to people as well.

Work of the flesh is not loving God.

Does your love for God ever get put

under trial?

My goodness. What else is the book of

Job about?

How? Well, you really wanted God to help

you, heal you, save you, do something

for you, and the consequences of him not

doing it in your timing or at all are

devastating.

Someone dies of a disease that you

loved, that's dev, that's affliction,

that's suffering, that's sorrow, that's

grievous, and you beg God to heal them,

and it wouldn't happen. I'm using that.

That's an example that happens all the

time. So, I should probably couldn't not

call it extreme, but I'm using an

example that's like pretty high.

on how difficult it is. Pretty low in

terms of the sorrow and the pit that you

go in. And uh

in in that moment, the enemy too is

tempting you not to love God. Your flesh

doesn't want to love him. And you want

to say something like, "If you loved me,

you would have healed whoever it is I

loved so much."

Or, "You would have healed me." So all

these terrible consequences are

happening as a result of this disease.

and and you look at that and you get the

whole Bible backwards by the time you're

thinking like that. Why do I say that?

Well, what's the ultimate purpose of

everything God does? It's his own glory.

Ultimate purpose of God is to glorify

himself. It's what scripture says. So,

what if God chose to put you under

trial, put you under test, put you in

affliction, put you in a place of

suffering? Because if you surrender to

him in that which he'll help you to do,

you will exhibit

the fruit of the spirit in a way the

world has no no category for. It

glorifies him.

When Jesus

was faced by hardened soldiers nailing

him to the cross, hypocrites screaming

crucify him. Rather have a murderer

freed than the Lord of glory. What does

it say? When he was reviled, he did not

revile in return.

Scorgged, lacerated,

spit on, beat in the face, beard pulled

out.

Nothing that bad's ever happened to me.

He did not revile in return. And

remember, Jesus is a human being. He is

God. But he faced those trials as an

example, as an author and perfector, as

a trailblazer of our faith. He faced

them in the power of the spirit as a

human being.

So can you

what about Steven being stoned to death

praying for the forgiveness of the

stoners

of the people stoning him? You can pray

for forgiveness for stoners too.

[clears throat]

So you got to think about that.

Is is Steven just some kind of saint you

could never attain to it? Or is he just

another human being whose spirit whose

corewood has grown strong under trial

over time and he knows how to surrender

to the spirit? It's the exact same way

to overcome lusts. God will give you

he's not tempting you but he will allow

or even bring times where you are being

tempted by the enemy. He led his own son

uh into tempta well into the desert for

testing, but it was temptation that

would be happening there. Again, I

stopped short of ever saying God leads

us into temptation. He doesn't. But we

have to pray that we're not led into a

situation we're being tempted. Lead us

not into temptation, but deliver us. So,

think about though, he's going to test

you. If you want to find out how much

self-control, how much gentleness, how

much faithfulness, how much goodness you

have, you got to look at the bleeding

edge every time. And so as mentors,

we're looking at the bleeding edge of

the mentees as well, where they need to

grow in grace.

I want you to think about that. I want

to go to Isaiah 40:30

Isaiah 40:30–31

through31. And we're closing. So we're

done with the content of the sermon. But

Isaiah says this. This is my baptismal

verse. The baptism I chose when I was 12

in Germany being baptized. Uh chapter uh

40 verse of Isaiah 30-31. Even youth

shall faint and be weary. Young men

shall fall exhausted, but they who wait

for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like

eagles, and they shall run and not be

weary. They shall walk and not faint.

The strength of the spirit to help you

walk and keep in step with the spirit.

There is no trial too great that even

mildly exhausts his power for you to

exhibit that fruit. You really do. We

really do have everything we need for

life and godliness. Uh but we have to

evaluate our faith soberly and take

seriously. Uh

is every time I'm threatened by a

negative future outcome, I'm just so

anxious. What does that display to my

husband? What does that display or to my

wife? What does that display to my

children? Am I showing them how worthy

of trust God is with my anxieties? Or am

I just operating in human power? You

know, as the power went out, let's leave

you with this picture. I started

laughing. It happened to me so many

times. I, you know, there's there's

three levels in the house. You walk on

the first and uh I was looking for pants

again and I go downstairs and I try to

flip the light switch on. I know the

power is out. Like, why isn't it

working?

Go upstairs. I'm trying to go to the

bathroom. uh and brush my teeth and it's

pitch black and there's no windows in

this bathroom. I'm I'm searching for the

the switches. Can't find the switches.

Hit the switches. Nothing's happening.

I'm like, how am I keep forgetting?

Within a short period of time, like 20

minutes, the power's out.

[laughter] I just keep doing it forever.

And and finally, you know, I'm having to

leave. And I realized as I was driving

here today, we do the exact same thing

in relationship to the fruit of the

spirit. Power's out. You haven't

confessed the sin. There's something

wrong in your relationship to the Lord

and a relationship with someone else.

You've done something wrong. You haven't

admitted. You haven't asked for

forgiveness. And so that that there's a

disconnect. Power's out. And oh, how

many times we'll try to turn the power

in our own. And it's not like you don't

know from God's word that you cannot.

You have to surrender again. Admit I was

wrong. Forgive me again.

And for that the amount of years,

months, days, and moments you have in

life, God has all the grace you need for

all the bleeding edge growth he wants

you to attain. And it's by his power and

through your surrender. And so today,

when you come to to communion, you're

thinking about, man, I just keep doing

the same thing over and over again. Am I

ever going to change? Am I going to stop

hurting my wife or vice versa? Am I

going to learn to forgive quicker? Am I

going to remain hard-hearted? Am I going

to ever be self-controlled? Am I going

to overcome these issues?

Jesus died so that the bleeding edge

could continue growing.

It wasn't just for our justification,

but also for our sanctification, for our

continued growth in Christ likeness that

he died. Communion is that maybe today

you come back to communion and

connect back to power and start growing

again in those areas.

But it's going to take admitting what's

wrong. And there's no other way. And so

I'm going to pray for you because I

don't know what's wrong. I don't have

insight into that like God does. But as

our worship leaders come back up and as

uh as we prepare our hearts for

communion through worship and by

listening to the spirit especially in

what's been said to us by the word

through the word today consider that

consider it's it's you know don't be

discouraged. It's so hopeful the moment

you confess that sin relinquish the

power of the spirit comes back and you

have the power to behave differently

when the next trial comes. And then when

you do, the horns grow, the muscles

strengthen, the corewood can withstand

the next trial. Let me pray. Father,

thank you for your word. I pray that you

would help mentors apply this idea when

they're [music] taking some

responsibility for some time for the

spiritual growth of another person. Just

how dependent we are to abide in the

vine. how dependent we are on your

spirit for anything good, for anything

[music] spiritually valuable and

eternally valuable, for any character

change that's real and lasting. I pray

also for those who are wanting to grow,

whether they're [music] thinking of

helping other people grow or just

wanting to grow themselves, that

whatever it is, whatever sins are just

stuck and stubborn and dogged in our

hearts, that we'd relinquish them, that

we'd [music] experience the power of the

spirit, and that the very the very next

trial might come out the moment we walk

out the door of this church. And Lord,

that is the bleeding edge. That's where

he wants to strengthen us. and [music]

all we have to do is surrender and the

spirit takes over. That's what I pray

for everyone that that would happen at

least in the next trial but also become

a pattern in our lives that's

strengthened [music]

in Jesus name. Amen.