The Second Step: Growth – Dr. Charles Stanley

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You cannot grow physically without being fed properly.
You cannot. And today, we’ve got all kinds of things about about how much people eat, this, that, and the other.
You know what? The most important thing is what do I feed my soul, my spirit?
Whatever you feed it is what you’re gonna be part of.
Today on in touch, the 2nd step, growth.
When a child is born, you expect that child to grow.
And after a few weeks maybe or a few months and you think something’s wrong, this child’s not growing because it’s natural for them to grow.
When you were born again as a child of god, you became just that a child of god.
And likewise, you and I are expected to grow.
Now being born again means that god has forgiven us of our sins and he’s brought us into a personal relationship with him.
That’s salvation that’s being born again.
So being born again, we as believers, if we don’t grow, there’s something wrong with us, because god intends for us to grow and to grow and to grow till the day we die with the growth spiritually.
And it’s interesting in 1st John, those 5 chapters 13 times John identifies the Christians believers as my little children.
And so god sees us as that. And then we’re saved, and we walk years years years with him.
We become adults. Always a child in our spirit, yielding to him and recognizing him as our father.
But to grow, And I wonder if you feel today that you’re growing in your Christian life.
Oh, would you be one of those persons who said, well, You know, I grew for a while, but then I thought I’ve grown enough.
I know a little bit about the Bible I quote some scripture, I know where, uh, Exodus is.
I know where Leviticus is. And if you know where that is, you know where everything is.
And so, uh, you know, I’m I think I’m okay. No, you’re not. You’re not okay.
What it says is it’s your backsliding. You say, I don’t drink, and I don’t do this. Listen.
He says we’re to grow. Grow in the knowledge of the lord Jesus Christ.
And if you’re not growing in your Christian life, there’s something wrong. You say, well, how will I know?
If you listen carefully to this message, you’re gonna find out how the judge yourself test yourself, gauge yourself as to if you’re growing as a Christian, or if you’re stagnating, well, somebody says, well, maybe I’m just stagnating.
I’m staying where I am. No. If you stagnate, you don’t stay there.
If you drift further and further and further away from god, if you are not growing.
And I wanna show you the warnings that he tells us here in, Second Peter.
So if you’ll turn there for just a moment and, uh, in the first chapter, he begins by reminding, uh, his readers that god has given every, yes, everything we need to be the persons he wants us to be.
The second chapter, he reminds us of the false doctrine that’s floating around causing people not to grow and leading them astray.
Then when he comes to this 3rd chapter, he helps us, but all the things that are happening and will happen and he comes to, uh, this, uh, last verse, and I will just, uh, read just a few verses here.
Let’s go to 17th verse.
You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, that is the difficult times of coming, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard.
So that you are not carried away by the era of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.
And then he makes this statement is where I’m coming to.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity Amen. Now look at that verse.
He says, but grow that’s an imperative, and it happens to be in a great tense that says this, grow and keep on growing and keep on growing and keep on growing, not just grow to a point but just keep on growing in your Christian life.
And that’s what he’s saying to us here.
So When we think about that, uh, we think about, um, why we should grow and think about, uh, what does it mean to grow in his grace?
Well, his grace, of course, is his love and his undeserved love in favor toward us, and we need to be growing in that continually.
So we wanna answer the question.
First of all, why should we endeavor to grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior Jesus Christ?
Why should we do it? And so there are three reasons primarily.
The first one is that he has predestined predetermined before you were saved.
Before you were saved, he predetermined that you would grow. That’s the will of god.
That’s the will of god and plan for your life.
So he says in Romans chapter 8, that 29th first, that he predetermined or he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son.
If I’m if I’m becoming more and more in the likeness of his son, I am changing in my conversation, my conduct, my character, I’m growing.
Somebody says, well, I think I’ve, I’m sixty five years of age, and I think It is time for me to return, though, you may quit your job, but you can’t quit growing.
If you quit growing, you’re not just stagnating, you’re going further and further and further away from god, and you’re finding more and more excuses for not serving him, for not obeying him.
And so he says he predetermined before you were saved, that you would grow into Christ likeness, and so that’s that’s part of his will.
Now, you probably like myself, nobody uh, told me that when I was first saved, they just said, you’d be a good boy and, uh, one of these days you’re done, go to heaven.
That is if you’re a good boy. So I didn’t know what a good boy meant in those days.
But, um, that’s not the issue at all.
That is we have been predetermined by god He wants us to grow up.
He said, he said, you don’t know my will.
My will is you’d become more and more like my son till the day I called you home.
So ask yourself the question, is that happening in your life, or is it not?
A second reason he wants us to grow is in order to protect us, to protect us from false ideas, false prophets, as he said, So I wanna give you a few verses of scripture that sound just like our society today.
And he says, one of the reasons you need to keep growing is to protect you in this kind of environment.
So their environment was sort of like ours.
So let’s look if you will in that, um, look in the second chapter beginning in the first verse.
He said, but false prophets also arose among the people just as there will be false, teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heiruses, even denying the master that is Jesus, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned.
And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle.
And their destruction is not sleep.
In the 14th verse, he says, having eyes full of adultery, that never ceased from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, and he says, uh, uh, cursed children.
The 18th verse, he says, of 17th verse, these are springs without water.
Mistaken by a storm for whom the black darkness has been reserved for speaking out arrogant words vanity they entice by fleshly desires and by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption.
For by what a man has overcome, Look at that, uh, what a man is overcome, that he is enslaved.
One of the reasons we’re to keep growing is if we’re not growing, we’re going to be misled because there are many ideologies, many religions, and many ideas and concepts, and so forth.
And false doctrines floating around everywhere. Everywhere you turn, somebody’s got something new.
And when you bring up the Bible, they despise the word of god.
And they decide right now, you know, I don’t want to talk about the Bible.
I want to talk about something new I’ve discovered. Well, if something new, you’ve discovered contradicts the word of god.
Whatever you’ve discovered is not good. It’s erroneous, and it will lead you away from god.
And so this is what he’s doing. He’s saying, uh, this is this is what you’re up against.
So one of the reasons we keep growing is because God wants us to keep protected from that.
And I think about all these children who grew up today and parents who don’t teach them anything word of god that didn’t have a Bible in their home.
I think about, uh, people who say, well, you know, I send my children to son to school.
That’s not what the Bible says. And I sent them to church and it’s their job to teach them.
No, dad. It’s your job to teach them. And mom, if dad’s not there, it’s your job to teach them.
And you teach them by, first of all, by experience, by living before them a godly life.
And god intends for parents to hand it down to their children that you live a godly life.
And when that does not happen, the children suffer.
They don’t even know why they’re suffering because they’ve not been taught and there’s no example before them in their home, the kind of person they ought to be.
He says he’s predestined us to be confirmed the likeness of his son and he wants to protect us in the society in which you now live.
And the third reason he says, our love for Jesus and our knowledge of him.
And so god is very, very interested in our relationship to him.
And his will is that you and I are growing.
Now nobody knows what you’re growing, but yourself, but probably the other people who watch you, they can tell by your conversation, by your attitude, by what you do, by what you talk about.
All of these things, it indicates that somebody’s either growing or not, they’re not growing.
And if you look at your life and you say, well, 10 years ago, where was I?
And you say, well, I’m better where I was then than you’ve been backsliding for 10 years.
You say, well, I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t commit adultery. I don’t do all these things.
We’re not talking about what you don’t do. We’re talking about who you are as a person.
Growing and likeness to Jesus Christ, you say, but he was absolutely senseless as he was.
And that doesn’t mean that you are not gonna reach a stage of being senseless But he says he predestined us.
Listen, to be he predestined us to become like his son.
Conform to him that is as much likeness as we can possibly be.
And in a few moments, when I give you a list of things, it doesn’t mean that every single one of these things is gonna be true of you and that you have to do every single one of these things to be growing because we all come from different backgrounds.
We were saved early and later in life, We all have different responsibilities, and that we grew up with different attitudes.
But in this list, you’re gonna be able to discover whether you personally are growing or not.
And if you’re not growing more than likely, listen carefully, there’s something you’re holding on to that you shouldn’t be holding on to.
People do not become born again by the grace of god changed, had name written in the lambs of book of life, sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise who lives within them and one who does not draw unless that person is holding on to something in their life that’s keeping them from growing.
So I’d ask you a question. What just came to your mind as soon as I mentioned that?
Because it did.
That was if if you’re not growing, and you’re living in sin, and and you say, well, I’m not living in sin.
I got a few sins, but listen, if I am continually being conformed to his likeness, You know what I’m doing?
I’m con I’m continually being sanctified, cleaning up anything. Think about this.
Somebody says, well, I think I’m doing pretty good. Okay, sir?
If you had on an absolute white suit, beautifully white suit, ma’am, you had on a beautiful white wedding dress, and we said, well, we’re going down into this coal mine.
You think he’s gonna come out white? No. Because it’s gonna rub off on you.
We are living in a society where sin whether it’s through the television, where people go, what they buy, what they look at, what they see, what they do.
Our lives are easily unclean if we’re not careful.
And the Bible talks about sanctification or sanctified life and watch this a sanctified life is a life that is continually growing and holiness, righteousness, and obedience to god.
It doesn’t mean that you’ll not sin, but for here’s what it means.
If you’re growing in him, you deal with it right then.
And when people say, well, you know, nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s got their sin, not necessarily so.
It may be to have some people have this weakness or that weakness of the but that doesn’t mean they have this, and they may be battling with it.
They may be struggling to give up with it.
And to lay it aside, which is what we ought to be doing if there’s something in our life that’s not right.
And so god has intended that you grow and you were saved to grow and to live in righteousness.
And so you and I live in a world that doesn’t doesn’t give much attention to that whatsoever, and the world defends itself by, you know, what you Christians think everybody’s gotta be perfect.
We’d never said that. You Christians have your own set of ideas? No. We don’t.
We only have the word of god. And think about this.
God is not someone who’s just trying to deprive us of having fun or enjoying life and not be able to do to experience the best things in life.
We don’t want to experience those things that ultimately destroy a person’s life.
And if you think we’re just straight, think whatever you wanna think, but listen, when the truth is really told you remember this.
Whoever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re involved in, remember this. There is a principle you cannot change.
No matter what you think you cannot change it, you are not an exception to this rule.
This is god’s rule. You reap what you sow more than you sow later than you sow, but reap you will.
It is the will of god that you and I walk holy and righteously before him.
And if we do not, we suffer the consequences.
And you think about all the eels that people suffer today and all the stuff that’s going on, just horrible things that are going on.
Most of it people bring upon themselves. God is a good god.
He’s a god of loving kindness, forgiveness. And desires the best for us.
It does not mean that we’ll not have any trouble’s heartaches or burdens because we’re saved, but I’ll show you in a few moments how you know when those things come whether you’re growing or not.
So let’s just think about it for a moment. Why do we fail to grow spiritually?
And then I’m gonna tell you how we can tell whether we are or not.
So how why do we fail, uh, to grow spiritually?
Well, first of all, we get some people get no instruction whatsoever.
I remember when I was saved, nobody told me to read the Bible that took it for granted.
Nobody told me to read the Bible to pray to come to church. I came anyway.
Nobody told me I should share my faith. I did that. Nobody told me to do it.
And when I think about how little people learn and many people walk churchhiles, whatever it may be, and ever had they join the church, often times they get no instruction.
Secondly, when you neglect to read the Bible and you neglect to pray and you neglect a 10 church, under the teaching of the word of god, you’re not gonna grow because the word of god is like your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
And so you don’t eat right, you won’t be healthy. You won’t grow right.
Then there’s a negative influence of others.
And just last week, 2 weeks ago, this person said to me, well, here’s here’s here’s what I think I’m gonna do and they were doing something.
They were absolutely right at what they were doing and living a godly life.
And they looked at what some other folks were doing.
And the next thing I know, that young man is in deep, deep trouble.
He was going to church.
He was doing the right thing, but somebody told him what a good time they were having over here and and how much fun they were having and they ought to join this fraternity or that and they ought to do all of these things and what happens down, he went.
Doesn’t take long to go down.
If you start listening to other people and they and neglect the word of god.
So I would say to you, who are parents, it’s your responsibility, to train up your children as the Bible says in a way should you should go, but if you’re gonna do that, you’ve gotta be an example You can send them to church, send them to Sunday school, send them to this camp, send them to that camp.
It’s it’s a matter of your example to them.
They’re gonna be what you are unless you teach them to be something else, and you can’t if you’re not that something else.
And so this is the reason people get into sin and get out of the will of god.
Then, of course, people not sure of what they believe.
If you’re not sure what you believe, listen, you know what? You’re open to all kinds of false doctrine.
All kinds of false ideas. The world is full of it. And it this is watch this carefully.
Listen. Your belief system is that your your your belief system is the compass of your life.
In other words, how do you how do you make decisions on the basis of what you believe?
What do you believe? What you’ve been taught what you’ve seen, what you’ve picked up, what you’ve imitated.
And so as a result of that, people wreck and ruin their lives because they watch and look to other people instead of getting their mind in the word of god because he here’s what happens.
This this is just me at this point.
Many people, uh, play the Bible and they listen to the lord of god and so forth, which is fantastic.
I’m all for that. For me personally, I think you missed something.
There’s a difference in hearing it and seeing it with your eye.
Seeing it with your eye for god so loved the world because I can sit for god so loved the world that he gave is one of the that who have, I believe, is an empty not perish, but have everlasting life.
And you take the same verse of scripture and read it.
The words, here’s what happens because whatever you see photographs on your mind, good or evil, photographs on your mind.
If you’ll think for a moment, isn’t it true that once in a while something will come to your mind?
You’ll think about that happen years years years ago, you may have been a teenager.
I can think of things that just pop up once in a while and not good or bad, but it says that our brain registers what we see, what we hear, and what we do.
And so There’s something very important about reading the word of god, getting it in your sight, in your brain, in your mind.
Then it becomes a part of you and a deeper part of you than you’re just hearing it.
So I would say the lure of the world system Look what’s around us.
Everywhere you turn, you’ll find it. There is alcoholism. The drugs, 2 killers.
There are all kinds of immorality, different kinds of immorality, drugs of all kinds, unity of all kinds, profanity of all kinds, violence, all kinds of acceptable sins.
That’s the world we live in. And it’s not the best picture.
And when you think about it, if you if you watch the television, you have to be careful what keep off.
You can pull up your computer.
Sometimes I’m working on a message and I’ll look up to to define a word or something and comes a whole strip of things over here that they want me to buy this, that, and the other, and so forth.
And I’m thinking that has nothing to do with what I’m looking at.
So you have to be careful to guard your mind and guard your eyes.
All the devil will step right in there to do it. Then what happens is you begin to doubt god.
When people begin to doubt god, here’s what happens.
No matter how strong you are, when you begin to doubt god down you go.
Because what happens is you take over your life. You begin to make decisions.
You decide what’s good, bad, and indifferent. You decide what you’re gonna do.
And when you start disobeying god, you digress in your Christian life You don’t stagnate and stay there.
You get further and further away from him, and that’s one of the primary reasons.
And then, of course, Many people are defeated in a given area of temptation.
It could be finances. It could be sex. It could be relationships. It could be most anything.
And so you have to ask yourself the question.
God, is there anything in my life I’m holding on to that you do not want in my life?
Because listen, you know what that’s like?
That’s like a £1000 over here and you trying to pull away from it.
If you don’t cut the cord, you’re gonna still be there.
And trusting god and repenting of sin is the way you get rid of it.
A minute people say, well, you know, I go to church and I give and I do this and I do that.
That doesn’t make you grow. It can, but if you’re holding on to some sin in your life, you listen, you are not growing and you have not staying in one place, you’re moving further and further and further away from god.
Now one of these days, we are gonna die. It’s gonna ask you a question.
Do you wanna die facing the lord? Knowing that you’ve given it your best.
Uh, do you wanna die facing the lord And let’s just say you live to be sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years of age or whatever it might be.
And you got saved when you were a teenager or maybe your twenties or thirties.
And you went to church, you got baptized, you even started giving god some money.
And, after a while, for some reason, you can’t put your finger on.
You just sort of drifted away. And then the last 30 years, you’ve just been doing it your way.
You don’t wanna meet Jesus like that.
When he went to the cross, the savior, does that mean you’re gonna be lost? No. You lose reward.
Well, but think about it. You you just don’t want to be that kind of person.
He said, grow. It’s a command.
Grow in the grace and knowledge that is his undeserved love and favor and growing your knowledge of him.
And my goal every single week is to teach the word of god in such a fashion that you have one more reason to walk a little closer, that you learn something else and look at something else a little different so you understand how important your relationship to Jesus Christ is.
And so what I’d like to do is I’d like to give you a list of things that are evidences that you’re growing in the lord.
Or evidences that you’re not. And I think you’ll agree with every one of them.
You may not like them, but you’ll have to agree that if I’m growing, the following things are true.
So are you ready to say amen? Alright. Number 1.
If I’m growing in the lord, I’m becoming increasingly aware of my sinfulness and my weaknesses.
I’m increasingly aware as I grow, I understand more.
I become more and more sensitive to things in my life that are not right.
As we come along in life, things we don’t think about.
But the more you grow into Christ likeness, Watch this.
He gives you the spiritual insight to see that that doesn’t fit who you are.
And so One of the reasons we know that we are growing is we become more and more sensitive to sin in our life, even little things, for example, used to put up with.
Maybe words you used to say, things you used to look at, whatever it might be.
You become more and more sensitive And here’s what happens. The sensitivity is that doesn’t fit me.
That doesn’t indicate that I’m being conformed to the likeness of Christ. A second thing is this.
Our response to sin in our life is quick involving genuine repentance.
That is Repentance means I am sorry for what happened. I turn away from that.
I don’t want that in my life. Listen. You don’t think it’ll grow.
From 9 o’clock in the morning till 11 o’clock at night, yes, it will.
The time to deal with sin is immediately. Lord, I wanna ask you to forgive me for that.
I’m ashamed of myself. And, uh, so I I wanna handle it right now.
If you’re growing in your Christian life, you don’t wait.
Number 3, Um, our spiritual battles are becoming more and more intense, and yet we’re still rejoicing.
Now if you’re growing in your Christian life, here’s what happens.
You begin to realize that spiritual battles listen, uh, uh, are difficult, and they’re hard, but they’re opportunities.
That would you you you realize, for example, this is bothering me today, and 3 months months from now, the same thing happens.
And you know what? You said, thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, dear lord for sending that in my life because you’re showing me now I can love you and I can forgive them with no problem whatsoever.
So you can measure that. Then, of course, we begin to see trials and temptations as opportunities for growth.
Now with God, I wanna thank you for how you’re gonna deal with this in my life.
I’m gonna trust you. I don’t know exactly what to do at this moment, but I know you will show me how and I’m gonna deal with it, and you bring me through it.
Then, of course, we began to view service to him as a high honor, not a burden.
And I think how often people say, well, you know, I I go to church and and, I I just don’t have time to to serve in the church.
You don’t have time. Oh god could give you time, but taking away your job and everything else.
But in other words, Here’s the thing about it.
You have to find out what does god want you to do.
We’re not saying that everybody ought to preach and teach and sing and acquire or lead the music or do anything else we do.
But the truth is you and I have time. You have time to visit somebody who’s sick.
You have time to witness to somebody who just opens the door wide open for you to share your faith, you and I have times to serve god in many, many, many ways, and we don’t see it as a burden.
For example, suppose I saw, uh, sermon preparation, which is, uh, uh, a task for sure, every week, not once in a while, but every week, because every sermon I want to be the best I can do.
Suppose I saw that as a burden, No. It’s one more awesome opportunity. Listen.
For me, you know, who grows the most? I do. God discovered things. I’d never discovered it before.
See things in scripture. I’d never paid attention to. Here’s the thing about it. Watch this.
God is gonna stir you up enough and plow up your ground enough that when something new comes along, you think, how did I miss that lord?
The Christian life is a wonderful, exciting, journey because you’re growing into Christ likeness.
You you know what you’re doing? You’re putting yourself in a position for god to really bless you.
Look, He says, my willingness to conform you to the lightness of my son.
And so when you think about whether you’re growing or not, See if that’s the truth.
Now the next one is one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned.
We’re able to view everything is coming from him.
That is probably one of the moat, not probably, that is one of the top lessons I’ve ever learned in the Christian life.
You said, wait a minute, everything doesn’t come from him. I didn’t say that.
I said we learn to see everything is coming from him.
In one of the toughest battles of my life when I had lots and lots of enemies who wanted to get rid of me.
And did everything possible? And in the prayer room one day, it’s like the lord said to me, you wanna win this battle?
Do exactly what I tell you. You see everything is coming from me, not them.
No matter what they say, what they do, how they treat you, you see that is coming from me.
Because I could stop it, but I’m allowing it, and I’m allowing it for a reason.
So if you will see that is coming from me, you won’t get angry, You won’t get bitter.
You won’t get resentful. You won’t get hostile.
They won’t even figure out what in the world’s going on that they can do all of those things and you’re just happy about the whole situation.
It is a powerful lesson because it is the truth.
Nobody can do anything to a child of God unless he allows it.
If we’re gonna grow in our Christian life, we have to lift our vision.
Lord, no matter what they say, I’m gonna say that’s coming from you.
You must have known that I needed that, lord. You’re testing my patience. You’re testing my morals. You’re testing this.
Testing that. So I must need that praise. God, send them on.
And and and what happens is you’re able to see where you are in life.
Oh, it may be that you’re saying, oh, uh, not another one of those. Please, please, please, please, lord.
You know what he’ll say? Well, you didn’t learn the first time. Here we go again.
That’s what I feel sometimes. Oh, Jesus, I thought I’d learn that lesson.
But if you’re growing in the lord, you’re gonna see a difference in your life.
Then of course, uh, we’ll sense when our face growing stronger.
You’ll be able to tell when you’re growing stronger because things that used to bother you won’t bother you.
Uh, places you used to go, you won’t go anymore.
Uh, things you used to want, you don’t want anymore, things you used to see, you don’t see anymore, uh, people’s words and they’re hurt, they don’t hurt you anymore.
You just say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you dear lord.
And you thank him seeing it as from him and you’ll find your faith growing stronger.
Then of course, uh, if we are growing in the lord, we’re gonna spend more time in worshiping him and praising him.
This is why people I don’t I don’t understand people who don’t go to church regularly.
Now you may you may be in one of those areas this country that’s not a church within fifty miles.
I do realize there’s some places a long ways away or maybe somebody in your home, they can’t be left alone.
I’m sure there are exceptions, but forget about the exceptions. Why don’t you go to church?
You say I can live a Christian life without it.
Well, tell me what you’re doing for Jesus.
Tell me about tell me about how much time you’re spending in prayer and worship.
I’m not saying that people can’t I’m just saying the simple this.
He says for sake, not the assembling of yourselves together as some do, You know why god puts us together?
He puts us together, for example, to worship him, to praise him.
Now, I can worship the lord and praise god singularly uh, in my house by myself, I can shout or sing, I can praise the lord, or whatever it might be, but it’s a whole lot more powerful when I hear you sing and while we all praise the lord, and we are all reading the scripture.
We’re just having a good time praising god. He wants us to praise him. And you know what’ll happen?
When you’re growing in the lord, you want to be a part of a fellowship.
You want to grow in the lord. You want to be in his word.
You wanna hear somebody explain the word of god. You want to grow.
You wanna see every single time an opportunity.
And I remember when I was uh going to seminary, the pastor that I wanted to hear was uh in Dallas now that we were in Fort Worth and then that was a long time.
I mean, a long way is not long anymore. I couldn’t wait to go here this pastor.
He was a he was elderly. Uh, well speaking of elderly.
Well, that just depends on how you act, but that is.
And, um, he he was not nearly as old as as I am.
And, uh, but I but he he had some age on him, but uh, I couldn’t wait to hear him.
Every opportunity I got, I went to Dallas, Texas, went to the 1st bed of his church to hear AA CRISwell.
Just something about him. The first time I ever heard him preach.
I slipped over there with a friend of mine and, sad on the 3rd row and, uh, he walked out and, uh, just preach and he stepped up to the, uh, podium and he said, My text tonight is this grace wherein we stand.
He’s preaching the book of Romans.
And for the first time in my life, I heard somebody that I could say Now that’s what I call preaching the gospel.
Because I’ve heard a lot of stuff in those days was real liberal, and you know, sermonettes and not much of anything at all really, and I won’t look back and wonder how anybody ever grew in any of that There are a lot of those churches still here today, but when he spoke, I listened to every word.
I didn’t want to mimic anybody There was something about him that I knew the spirit of god was on this man.
And so we choose what we wanna hear. We choose whether we wanna grow or not.
Then our desire to obey him is becoming more and more intense and sin is less and less attractive.
The more you and I live like Jesus, the less and less we’re gonna put up with the sin in our life.
And god wants us to live a sanctified life.
Now listen to this, a sanctified life is a life that has been set apart by god through the Holy Spirit to live a godly life.
It doesn’t mean that we’re senseless, but sanctified means I’ve been set apart by him.
Uh, you have, if you save, you set apart by him to live a godly life.
And so when that’s true, you have less and less interest. Here’s what’ll happen.
You’ll spend less and less time on foolish things. Less and less money on foolish things.
Less and less time listening to foolish stuff, less and less time wasting your time when you could be filling your mind with godly thoughts and filling your mind with truth that that builds you up, strengthens you, and and and empowers you to defend your faith.
And we need that in this day and time.
Then of course, we’ll be more and more eager to share what Christ is doing in our life.
As you grow in your Christian life, you wanna tell it. You can’t keep it to yourself.
And as I said before, you know, when I go to a restaurant, something, the first thing I’m doing is looking for an opportunity to say something to whoever is waiting on me that’ll open the door for me to not tell him who am and only want to know who am.
I just want him to know, uh, who Jesus is. And I don’t say, have you ever been born again?
No. I don’t say if you ever been saved. No.
You can just say, well, uh, you have a lovely smile. Disarmed just like that.
Where are you from? And you can just take it easy. You may not say any more than that.
Next time you go back, you ask another question before long. They want you to talk to them.
And so you can tell by your growing whether you have laid down all that.
Well, you know what I may say the wrong thing and god knows your heart you know what it means to trust Jesus as you save you.
You know what it means to walk in the spirit of god.
You know the difference between sin and righteousness. So Think about that part. Then we listen.
We are experiencing an ever increasing awareness of his presence.
I think personally for me, that word presence is number 1.
Walking in his presence, sleep in his presence, You wrestle with difficulties in his presence.
And the more godly you become and the more Christ like you become, In the more obedient you become, listen, there’s some things you absolutely would not say if Jesus were sitting here or would not do.
Well, he is here. And when you see the the stronger you become as a believer, what happens is the more aware of his presence you are and some things you don’t tolerate in your life because you’re a follower of Jesus Christ.
Then, of course, you jealously guard your private devotions and your prayer.
And I say one thing about this. Listen carefully.
If you do not set a time and I say a place, when it comes to over and over and over again.
If you don’t set a time and a place where you Read the word of god and pray I’m telling you is not going to heaven.
Because you can always think of something else you’ve got to do.
And once on a while I’ll decide, um, I do it all the time, but Once and while I’ll decide, I will I’m I’m gonna spend the next part of this morning just praying talking to god.
Next thing I know the telephone rings Well, the next thing I know here’s something else to do, but I finally wised up anything I decide that I’m gonna do for Jesus Watch out because the devil will do something to distract you and listen to me.
You cannot grow physically without being fed properly. You cannot.
And today, we’ve got all kinds of things about about how much people eat and they’re sitting there.
You know what the most important thing is, what do I feed my soul, my spirit?
Whatever you feed it is what you’re going to be a part of.
And for example, if you ate nothing, but, uh, fatty foods, for example, all the time, just ice cream, and chocolate, and cake, and all the good things you think, you know what?
You’d be in fell shape after a while.
If you neglect the word of god and read other magazines and all the chunk and stuff of that, you can’t grow and be like Jesus in doing that.
You know that’s important. Then, of course, You’ll know how well you’re growing when you just love to spend time alone with god.
You’ll know when you’re growing, when you covet the time you spend along with him.
God, I just wanna be alone with you.
It has nothing to do how long it depends on what’s going on.
But when you think of who god is and that he loves you, and he’s willing to spend as much time with you as you’re willing to spend with him.
He listen. You’ll be growing in your Christian life when you’re saying, Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. I’m gonna have this time just along with you.
And somebody said that to me this week.
She said, You know, I’m so excited about, uh, what’s going on in my life because now I’m gonna be able to spend more time alone with the lord.
And less time I have to work. You have to make time.
I guarantee you the devil’s gotta list this long for every one of us.
You need to do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and when you finish doing all that, you don’t have nothing to show for it.
It’s a choice we make, and I don’t know how to tell you any clearer.
It’s a choice we make, how much time we spend with them.
Then, of course, Uh, one of the things that’s so important when you’re growing, the more you grow in the lord, the more you’re gonna want to give.
Yeah, you know, and it’s just That’s just what happens. Why? Because you’re becoming more like him.
He says he’s conformed us to the likeness of his son.
And so god’s always given to us we’re gonna wanna give more to others and to the lord’s work, whatever it might be.
And then there’s gonna be a continuous growing hunger in your heart for god. Can’t get enough.
Now watch this. If you’re really hungry and you go to a restaurant, and you got plenty of money buying anything you want.
What do you do? You look on that and think, oh, this is what I think I want.
You spend your money on it. It may satisfy you. It may not.
I can tell you this. You’re always satisfied.
When you spend time with him, he’ll see to that because you’re growing into Christ likeness.
You’re honoring him, and he’s gonna honor you. And one last thing I’d say.
If you’re growing, you’re gonna feel god’s love. You’re really growing.
You’re gonna feel he loves you. Listen. I can give you a testimony. It’ll make it short.
There was a time in my life, and I’ve been a pastor for a number of years.
If you ask me if god love me, I’d tell you yes.
If you asked me, do you feel it? I didn’t feel it.
I didn’t feel like I was worthy of it.
And I was preaching to other people about the love of god, but when I went back to look at my sermons, I only had one.
And it was not worth listening to. You can’t preach something. You don’t practice.
And so when I think about growing in the Christian life, when you are able to experience and sense and feel the love of god in your life.
Now watch this, Satan will say, what about this? What about this? What about this? What about this?
What about this? You just ignore that.
We’re talking about god’s god’s love for you doesn’t change whether you sin or not.
His love doesn’t change.
You suffer the consequences of disciplines, but he loves you just the same.
Now, You probably had thought about all those things already, but let me ask you a question.
Do you want to live your life productively, fruitfully, joyfully, happily, successfully.
Do you want god to answer your prayer to take you through the storms and the heartaches and the pain and the suffering and the persecution.
And do you wanna one day stand before him and at least think in your heart?
Or you come to the end of life before you ever meet him.
You come to the end of life, and they’ve already bought your casket.
You know, you don’t have very long. Wanna be a fantastic feeling to know God.
I didn’t do it very well, but I did the best I knew.
You know, depending on him to save you, you already know you’re saved.
Lord, I didn’t do too well in some points, but I did the best I knew.
At least I tried to grow in my relationship to you.
Imagine being on your deathbed, And for the last 30 years of your life, you’ve just had it your way.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your savior, number 1.
You ask him to forgive you of your sins based on what he did at the cross.
Surrender your life to him and ask him to help you grow as a believer as a follower of Jesus and be true to him.
And watch what an awesome thing he does in your life.
So I would simply ask the question this morning that nobody’s business but yours.
Would you say on the basis of what you’ve heard that you are growing in your Christian life and you’re excited about Jesus, how would you have to say?
I thought I was.
Then if you just thought you were, what are you willing to do about it?
You’re willing to ask god to forgive you that you’re not growing like you ought to be growing?
You wanna repent of your sin and you wanna ask him, god, what am I holding on to in my life that I should not be holding on to that’s keeping me from growing the way you want me to grow.
God, I’ll let it go. Amen.
And father, we thank you for your forgiveness and your cleansing.
Thank you that you’re right here 24 hours a day, 60 minutes, in every hour 60 seconds in every minute in your presence.
Willing to aid us help to grow and to Christ’s likeness.
We pray this one that you’ll speak to somebody, father who’s unsaved.
And to realize what a tragic life they’re living.
They may have all the money, all the popularity, all the prestige, All the glory, all the position, all of that without you is 0.
Open their eyes dear god to help them see.
They need to be forgiven of their sins. They need to repent of their sins.
They need to surrender themselves to you.
And really began living for the first time in their life in Jesus name. Amen.
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Living for Christ is the best way to live.
And though in the short term, it may not seem like the easiest way, We’ll face troubles, we’ll meet people who don’t understand us, and we’ll make enemies somewhere along the way.
But remember this, Jesus said in John 15, If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.
So how does god want us to respond to opposition?
How can we appeal to our opponents for the message of grace?
Let’s look at an email that speaks about this subject.
What have you found is the best way to respond to people who make fun of you for believing in Christ?
Well, my first response is this. Be grateful. You say, why be grateful. Just be grateful.
Remain quiet and listen carefully. Don’t argue with them. And when they finish, what they have to say.
You just say thank you very much. They’re gonna see something different in your life.
They expect you to argue back. It opens a door to explain why you believe what you believe.
So if an opportunity of personal testimony comes, give it. If not, remember what Paul said to the young Timothy.
Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
But don’t allow it to discourage you. Satan will do his best to do that.
Remember, Jesus said in John 15 20, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Then I think about what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount of chapter 5 of Matthew.
He said Blessed of those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blesser to you when people insult you and prosecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad for your reward is in heaven, and it’s great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
So when you find yourself in that position, remember what Jesus said.
Be pleased that your life is making a difference. And be ready to share Christ.
Listen to what Peter said in that first epistle chapter 3 verse 15.
Always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.
Well, thank you for joining us for this broadcast today.
And whenever you face challenges, let that adversity be a bridge to a deeper relationship with almighty god.
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