Well before we get started I always get the privilege
to announce whenever there's a new baby born
in our church and I'll be making these announcements
more regularly apparently in the spring as a
there's more and more more babies getting Born
which I love to see that happening But in December
Caleb and Lizzie Friginal had their baby Colin
the baby Colin was born in December. Yeah and
Yeah, we can clap for that. And then just a few
days ago on the 31st, Mazie and Mathias O had
their baby, baby Hazel was born. So yeah, exciting
times in our church whenever there's new babies
born into our church. It speaks to the life of
our church and the use of our church as well
and excited for them to have their children.
And if you see them encourage them in that way
and you can also send them a text and Congratulate
them as well So I want to let you guys know that
well if you have your Bible Let's turn to a second
Peter this morning second Peter chapter 3 this
Sunday is kind of a kickoff Sunday into 2026
and Kind of a time to like I said start thinking
about School tomorrow for some of you some of
your parents are like good my kids go back to
school tomorrow. I'm excited about that Others
you're like bummer got to go back to school tomorrow
You guys are thinking about the year and whatnot
and I just thought it'd be a good idea for us
to just consider and To think about and meditate
on how it is that you want to grow spiritually
this year and encourage you and remind you of
the blessed opportunity that you have and even
command of scripture to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. last week
thankful for Jonah and his Preparation and teaching
last week as he really gave us the motivation
behind spiritual growth the motivation Behind
it and the driving factors of the Apostle Paul
what he had Going into his desire for for Christ
likeness and if you were here last week, then
you remember him talking about the love of God
controlling us talking about the hope of a future
resurrection and these driving factors to cause
us to think about why we should pursue Christ
and become more like him. Well this morning I
want to put some practical pieces to that and
and even just to help us even practically Put
in place a plan. How is it that I will grow in
2026? Maybe you've already done this. It's already
What is it? July 4th? So maybe you're three days
into your new year's resolution Maybe some of
you are thought I'm just not gonna do that this
year and I'm just gonna See how it goes. And
we'll work with that as well. And some of you
are thinking, hey, this afternoon's gonna be
a good time. I'm gonna put a plan in place. I'm
gonna really consider how it is that I'm gonna
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. And I hope that that is
your desire, that you wanna grow and become more
like Christ in 2026. So if you have your Bible,
let's look at 2nd Peter 3 verse 14 down to verse
18 Together and I'll pray for us and then we'll
jump in and see all that it has for us verse
14 therefore beloved Since you are waiting for
these be diligent To be found by him without
spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience
of our Lord as salvation Just as our beloved
brother Paul also wrote to you according to the
wisdom given him as He does in all his letters
when he speaks in them of these matters There
are some things in them that are hard to understand
which the ignorant and unstable twist to their
own destruction as they do the other scriptures
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. Verse 18. But grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and to the day of
eternity. Amen. Lord, thank you for this time
we have in your word. Lord, would you inspire
us and motivate us. To be able to obey this charge
and this command that you've given to us to grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ May we be able even to look back
on on this year and see the grace that you've
given to us To grow and mature in the things
of the Lord Lord in all we want to be transformed
to become more like Christ Would you help us
to do that in Jesus name? Amen One of the traditions
that our family has around the Christmas time
is to one night during December we go down to
Bell Square down here and we shop and we go to
dinner together and then what has happened after
that is we've taken a picture of our children
since seven years ago. We've taken a picture
of them and each year we've been able to take
another picture and another picture and another
picture and another picture and it It was just
one of those things that was like, hey, we took
a picture last year. Let's take a picture again.
And then it was, oh, remember we took a picture
last year. We've taken it again. Well, now on
your phone, it comes up as these memories of
the picture of what happened the year before
and the year before and the year before. And
what you can see very clearly is you can see
physical growth that is happening with my kids.
In fact, If you know them, you know that all
of them have grown substantially over the last
seven years. And they have passed me up as far
as height. And I'm finding out that I'm shrinking
and no longer growing up, but growing out. And
I'm working on that and trying to handle that
myself. But you can see this clear physical growth
that has happened year over year with my children.
It is something that is real. It is something
that you can see. It's something that is right
in front of you. It's easy to measure, it's evident,
and it's obvious the physical growth that you
can see year over year. But as you know, physical
growth reaches a peak. At some point, you stop
growing. In fact, maybe you start going backwards,
but my point is you stop growing physically.
For some of you, you reach that peak in the fifth
grade. You're like, that is it. My fifth grade
was as tall as I got and everybody else passed
me up by then. For others of you, you grew later
on and into college. But unlike physical growth
where there's a definite vertical ending where
you stop growing, spiritually, there is no end
to the growth that you can have. You never stop
growing in the things of the Lord. You never
stop maturing in the things of the Lord there
There is never a moment for the believer where
they have arrived spiritually and can now kick
it into a Autopilot or can now say I've reached
a level of righteousness that I can just coast
now in the Christian life This process of growing,
theologians call it the sanctification process.
And once you are saved, where you are declared
righteous, your justification, you are now on
a path called sanctification, which is just another
way to say the process of becoming more like
Jesus Christ. And that process continues on and
on and on, day after day after day, week after
week after week, month after month, year after
year, until you reach glorification, which is
a time when you pass from this world and enter
into eternity. The Bible speaks often about spiritual
growth. The Bible speaks of its importance to
the believer. The more mature you are in Christ,
the greater your enjoyment will be of this life.
The more mature you are in Christ, the greater
you will be able to handle suffering and hardship
in this life. The more mature you are in Christ
and the more you are like Christ, then you will
receive and understand what peace and joy and
happiness and the fruits of the spirit are in
this life. To say it another way, it's this.
All things get spiritually better for the believer
as they mature in Christ. All things. When it
comes to spiritual growth, the Bible then says
things like this in 1 Timothy 6 -11, that we
should be pursuing righteousness. In Romans 12
-1, we are being transformed. In 2 Corinthians
7 -11, we are perfecting holiness. In Philippians
4 -13, we're pressing on towards the goal and
Colossians 2 7 were being built up in the faith.
This is a continual process for the believer
over and over and over again. We are continually
growing, continually maturing in the faith because
no one has spiritually arrived. No one has reached
sainthood, priesthood, where you are considered
fully mature. And the great thing about this
is, in God's providence, is this. The church
is always in this process together, and so it
actually is a unifying effect for the church.
Because we can look around to our left and to
our right, and in front of us and behind us,
and go, yeah, that person, just like me, is battling
and growing in the things of the Lord always.
and continually into this life. And it unifies
the church. Nobody says, hey, I'm a part of the
church, but I actually don't need to grow in
the Lord anymore. In fact, I'm the mature one
in the church. And the rest of you need to go
to Bible study. Not me. I've been saved for a
number of years and my spiritual progress is
outpacing the rest of you. Good luck with how
that's going. No, nobody's in that boat. We're
all in this together, growing and maturing in
the things of the Lord. As we come to this passage
this morning and kind of parachute here into
2 Peter, there is this admonition in verse 18
that we are to grow in the grace and the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is
coming down to his final writings that he has
for the church. This encouraging letter, this
exhortive letter, this letter that ends with
this command, and I always find this fascinating
whenever I jump back and think about these letters
that Peter wrote, is that he came to the end
of his life, And he does not come to the end
of his life and say to us, hey guys, this is
my final thing to say to you, and it is this,
don't deny Jesus Christ like I did. Don't go
there. Or he doesn't come down to the end and
say, hey, be somebody who gives people second
chances because I got a second chance in life.
Of all the things Peter could have said about
his own life and his own experience, He doesn't
say any of those things. He comes down to the
end of this book and he exhorts us with this.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you to continue
to grow in grace. Believer, continue to grow
in knowledge and do it all to the glory of God
until we all reach that day where we are in eternity
with him. Peter understood because he himself
was not always buttoned up when it came to the
Christian life. He understood that there is a
pursuit. He understood that we are going to fail.
He understood that we're gonna wake up and we're
not going to desire God on certain days. We're
gonna wake up and we're not gonna wanna grab
our Bible on certain days. We're gonna wake up
on Sunday morning and we're not gonna wanna go
to church on certain Sundays. He understands
all of that. But he comes down to the end and
he says, here's what I want you to do. My final
sentence that I'm going to write, the final thought
I want to place in your head, it is this, continue
to grow in grace and knowledge. Keep the faith.
Keep going. Continue to pursue Christ. Continue
to mature. Now the context by which he has this
final saying, there's a lot in chapter one, chapter
two, and chapter three, and it is concerning
salvation, suffering, sanctification, and then
a whole chapter, chapter two, he warns us about
false teachers. That false teachers are out there,
and they are coming in with swift destruction.
to destroy and derail your faith. But he says
here, I want you to grow. Continue to grow. Continue
to go back to the basics of Christianity. Go
back to the basics of what you already know.
And this morning really what I'm gonna give to
you and. Say to you and how I'm going to encourage
you a lot of it will not be brand new information
some of it will be in fact most of it will be
reminders just basic reminders I Feel like I'm
in good company doing that because turn back
with me in first or in second Peter chapter 2
or second Peter chapter 1 in verse 12 Even Peter
understands this and writing this letter. He
says therefore I intend always to what? to remind
you of these qualities. Though you know them
and establish them in the truth that you have,
I think it's right, as long as I'm in this body,
to what? To stir you up by way of reminder. I
wanna encourage you church family just by way
of reminder. He goes on, he says, I make every
effort, verse 15, so that after my departure,
you may be able to what? at any time to recall
these things. I just wanna remind you of things
you already know. In chapter three and verse
one he says, this is now the second time that
I'm writing you, beloved. In them, in both of
them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way
of reminder. Sometimes we just need to be reminded
of the basics. We just need to recall what it
is that causes growth within our life And he
says it in verse 17 of the passage we just read
in chapter 3 says you therefore beloved knowing
this Beforehand you already know these things
So you're saying yourself great is this a pastor
Joe telling me to read my Bible Is this pastor
joe telling me to pray is this pastor joe telling
me to serve? Is this pastor joe telling me? Yes.
Yes. Yes and yes It is all those things. This
is that sermon this morning I want to just remind
you of these things Okay, so here's four four
action items towards spiritual maturity in 2026
Okay, four things that I want to give to you
this morning Number one is this Get motivated
for holy living get motivated Get motivated for
holy living look at verse 14 therefore beloved
Since you are waiting for these be Diligent underline
it circle it highlight it with your favorite
color be Diligent to be found by him without
spot or blemish and at peace he says therefore
beloved. What are you saying therefore? Well
the context here is this, he has just said in
verse 10 that the day of the Lord is coming like
a thief in the night. He's saying this, at any
moment Jesus Christ will return. At any moment
our Lord and Savior will come back to redeem
his people. We don't know when that is going
to be, but we know it's going to happen. It even
says that he is being patient. He is awaiting.
Verse nine he is the Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise as some count slowest But is patient
towards you not wishing that any should perish
But that all should reach repentance and the
patience of the Lord is going on right now But
that patience will end and he will come back
And so he says for the believer, therefore beloved,
since you are awaiting these things, you are
awaiting for Christ to return, this is what I
need you to do. I need you to be motivated to
live the Christian life. I need you to be diligent.
And he says this with a pastoral heart, therefore
beloved, those I love, since you're waiting.
Be diligent to be found by him without spot or
blemish and at peace You're looking for Christ
return while you're looking towards his return
have this thought in your mind Be diligent some
of your Bibles may say make every effort Make
every effort. It's the same word that that Peter
uses even in this letter chapter 1 in verse 10
He says therefore brothers be all the more diligent
to confirm your calling and election make every
effort The command here is this it it stresses
our personal duty and our responsibility To be
motivated and to be active The word here it has
the idea of zealous persistence, zealous persistence.
Make every effort that you can, muster up all
the ability that you can to be found in Him with
peace, spotless and blameless. This is not the
mindset of, hey, I'm just going to let go and
let God. Just let go, church, and let God. No,
church, don't let go. Make every effort that
you can to be spotless. Make every effort that
you can to be more diligent, to be found by Him
without spot and without blemish. Don't let go,
rather do all that you can to pursue holiness.
We have a responsibility. This verb is in the
active voice. There's a desire here. There's
a motivation here to get moving spiritually Just
recently I in the last few months I decided probably
a good idea to start thinking about my own health
and So I got a gym membership and decided I'm
just gonna pay for the whole year that way it
was much cheaper to do that and Was like okay.
It's already paid for I better go and use this
thing And so I started going to the gym and I
looked at a treadmill and I thought to myself,
I wonder how that thing works, huh? I wonder
what you do with that. It's like, oh, you hit
the go button and it starts moving and I better
too or I'll fall off. And started getting on
a treadmill and looking over at the weights and
thought, hey, I should probably lift those things
too and see what happens if I do that. And started
just trying to be more active and take. take
some initiative when it comes to physical health
and been going now and trying to stay in this
routine. But there's been times where I've been
to the gym, and I see people there who have made
the effort to get to the gym, but then they do
absolutely nothing while they're there. And I'm
just thinking to myself, why'd you even come?
Like it's way more comfortable on the couch in
your outfit Than it is to actually be end of
the gym Sitting there looking at the person on
the treadmill. I Mean you're almost there like
you're so close like you did the hard part You
walked in Okay, you're there Now, what does it
take to get you motivated to hop on the thing?
and not just look at everybody else doing everything.
Look at that person now, they're really working
hard over there. No wonder they're in shape.
Look at that person over there, yeah. I'm just
gonna enjoy my latte I grabbed at Starbucks on
the way to the gym. Watch everybody else go to
work. This motivation just stops at some point.
Like you know what's right to do, but it just
hits a wall. And Peter's saying here that you
need to be diligent, you need to be motivated,
you need to remind yourself Jesus is going to
come back, how will he find me? Will he find
me to be someone that was in him without spot
or blemish doing what I can to... to pursue holiness
in this life. It was in me to say, God, I'm doing
what I can to pursue Christ. I want to be inspired.
I want to be disciplined for holy living. And
we know this church, there are no shortcuts to
sanctification. And our world loves shortcuts.
We love the fact that we can order Online and
it come was in seven to ten days and Some of
your eyes like no, I don't like that. I Want
it tomorrow? Amazon in fact, I only buy it if
you can get it to me in the next six to ten hours
Okay, we love shortcuts We're built to get things
now and so when it comes to the Christian life
We want to read our Bible and we want to believe
that all of a sudden I read it once I deserve
the change in that moment. I read it once and
That's not how the Christian life works There's
no drive -through customized Drink that we can
drink called immediate sanctification There's
no double shot of that drink We have to keep
pursuing. We have to be motivated. We have to
keep striving to present ourselves approved of
God as workmen who are not ashamed as it says
in 2nd Timothy 2 15 and and some of you are thinking
wow pastor like You're just telling me. I just
need to try harder and try harder. In fact, I
feel like you're maybe even calling me a bum
right now because of this. I wanna tell you this,
I've been there before, where you're like, I
really wanna do this, but I keep running into
that wall. I'm with you, I've been there before.
And the fundamental change that you need to make,
you ready? You ready? Well, write this down.
The fundamental change that you need to make
is this. You need to wake up tomorrow morning
and you need to admit that you can't do it. Wake
up tomorrow morning and go, God, I can't pursue
you without your grace. Wake up tomorrow morning
and go, I can't get into work tomorrow and live
the Christian life apart from your grace. And
I'm going to live my life grace infused tomorrow.
Entirely dependent on your grace to pursue holiness.
Instead of saying, I'm just gonna pull up my
bootstraps and I'm just gonna get it done. No,
you're gonna wake up and go, I can't get it done,
Lord. I need you, I need your grace. I don't
want to read my Bible, but by grace would you
give me a desire to read my Bible today? By grace
would you give me a desire to pray today? By
grace would you give me a desire to serve today?
And when you do that, you then begin to be motivated
no longer by your effort, but you get to be motivated
by the grace of God in your life. And we keep
pursuing Christ by the grace of God. By grace,
I can defeat sin. By my own power, I cannot.
I need your grace today. Ephesians 6 -10. Be
strong in the Lord and in the strength of His
might. Let me give you another. Moving on here.
Let me give you another. Action item for 2026
is this number two guard against false teachers
Guard against false teachers and there's a lot
of them out there church And we need to be reminded
of this. There's a lot of false teaching going
on out there Verse 15 talks about the patience
of our Lord is salvation. It talks about Paul
how he wrote and Peter's talking about the things
that Paul wrote and how it is inspired word of
God and then He says in verse 16, he says, there
are some things in them that are hard to understand,
to which we say, yeah, there are. I've read the
book of Romans. There's some things that are
hard to understand that Paul wrote. He says this,
the ignorant and the unstable twist to their
own destruction as they do other scriptures.
He's talking about the way that false teachers
twist and distort scripture because they don't
know the meaning of the text. He's saying there
are those who are out there That want to act
as if they know what the Bible says Yet, they
are ignorant and they're unstable and they twist
scripture For their own well -being And what
this means is here, the word there, you can see
it in your Bible, it says ignorant. The word
ignorant simply means they're untaught, they're
unlearned, they have no education, they're ignorant.
It points not so much to their lack of knowledge,
but more to their lack of training. They have
not been trained to be able to interpret scripture
and provide an accurate understanding of what
it says, and an accurate understanding of what
it says would then lead to a practical understanding
of that truth. They have undisciplined habits
in their mind. They're they're ignorant of fundamental
principles of hermeneutics They have little appreciation
for actual Bible study They disregard the importance
of context and an accurate interpretation of
the Word of God And because of that, they're
unstable, meaning they have these faulty convictions
in their life. They're unsteady, unsettled in
their mind. Their habits have not been fully
trained to come to biblical convictions, accurate
biblical convictions. And it says there, you
therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand,
take care that you are not carried away with
the air of lawlessness. of lawless people and
lose your own stability. These untaught, unstable
people are leading people astray and they're
swiping the feet out from underneath them. And
they're doing this by distorting scripture. Which
means to put a wrench in it, to torment. entirely
twisted to their own liking. In church, more
than ever before, can anybody grab a microphone
in a room, call it a podcast, and start broadcasting
this stuff? Church, don't be ignorant of this.
There are so many people out there who are twisting
scripture for their own liking. People who are
listening to podcasts and and watching reels
over and over again and going wow, that's really
good stuff. It's trash It's not really good stuff
These are untrained uneducated people with a
microphone And we have to be careful we have
to be on guard you will lose your footing Being
trained by someone who is untrained. Being trained
by people who have no idea what they're talking
about spiritually. Say, Joe, you're passionate
about this. Yes, I recently listened to one for
like five minutes. I was like, you've got to
be kidding me. People like this stuff? People
think this is good? They can get a dose of this
every day? Find good trained men and women to
sit under who understand hermeneutics and how
to interpret the word of God and are willing
to give you the meat of scripture. Not just another
sounding point. Guard yourself from this error.
It is so dangerous for your soul. It stunts your
spiritual growth. I don't think Peter here is
just talking about those who claim to be pastors
or shepherds or educators. I think even Peter
is talking about those who are your friends.
Those who are your influences. He's talking about
anybody who claims to have some sort of authority
on the things of the Word of God that are simply
ignorant, they're unstable and they twist to
their own destruction. Church, who do you listen
to? What are you reading? Is it healthy? In 2026,
what have you decided to do as far as what will
influence your heart and your mind this year?
And I have no idea what it is that you listen
to online. I have no idea if you're a radio guy
or a podcast person. I don't know if you listen.
Learn better by listening or learn better by
reading but my challenge to you and my exhortation
and reminder to you is this That there are ignorant
and unstable people who would love your mind
They would love your mind and You have to be
on guard you have to be oh so careful Spiritually
mature people are attracted to spiritually mature
people Spiritually mature people are attracted
to spiritually mature authors. Spiritually mature
people are attracted to spiritually mature messages
and teachings and music. Immature people are
still attracted to immature people. What's going
on in your mind and in your heart by way of what
you listen to and what you read and just be reminded
of Paul, or of Peter. and what he says here.
Let me give you a third thing. Number three.
It's this. Grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus.
Grow in grace. Grow in knowledge. We must be
always in the process of growing. This is a present
imperative, a command to continually be passionate
in your pursuit. Peter starts this whole letter
and in second Peter in verse 2 of chapter 1 He
says may grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God of Jesus our Lord said
a little bit differently but the principle is
the same it's it's bookended here continually
be growing in the things of the Lord and here's
why he gives it he gives it to us very clearly
why verse 17 take care that you are not carried
away by the air of lawless people lose your own
stability verse 18 but what but grow and the
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ if you are not growing you are in
danger of being carried away by the air of those
who are spiritually unstable and immature and
you will lose effectiveness you say it another
way is this the way to not lose your grip and
and be spiritual discerning is by growing in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ or to say it another way the antidote
to deception and destruction is growth in grace
in the knowledge of God That's the antidote.
We must be continually growing so that we are
not carried away, so that we don't lose our spiritual
footing. And church, we cannot live off of bread
that we have eaten five and ten years ago. We
can't live Off of spiritual truths that you learned
15 years ago 10 years ago We've got to be back
in the truth We've got to be back in the word
growing and learning with a new freshness those
truths that you did learn 20 30, 15 years ago,
are they brought a fresh in your mind and a newness
that is causing growth in your mind, not just
a reminder of what you learned, but it is changing
and transforming your heart. Are there new principles
that you're holding onto? May we not be Christians
who had an era of our life where we matured greatly,
and ever since then, we've just feeding off of
that maturity. But we're constantly growing,
constantly learning. Yes, you're gonna have moments
where you're gonna grow faster than others in
different eras of your life. Maybe it's because
of the surroundings of people that have been
encouraging you, or a small group, or Bible study,
or maybe it's even suffering where you just grew
more in an era, but don't allow that to be the
only era of your life. Continually grow, continually
learn. He says to grow in grace Thomas Schreiner
says grace is the foundation of the lives of
believers and is entirely God's gift And yet
believers are exhorted to grow in it to be nurtured
in it to be strengthened by it Grace is not a
static reality believers are to grow in it until
the day they die Otherwise, they might be carried
away by the lawlessness of the false teachers
We say what is this grace this grace is the favor
of God for sure, but grace throughout the Bible
also speaks of beauty. You always hear this saying,
that person is so graceful. You say, oh, that
person's really graceful. There's just this infusion
of grace into the heart that changes somebody
where their heart is just like God's heart. This
isn't just moral change, this is an internal
heart change. Where you see the image of God
on their life You see it decorated on their life
it's like that Christmas tree that we just all
decorated or Seen around where there's the tree
which has life within itself, but the the ornaments
on top of it make the tree glisten and shine
bright. That's how it is for the believer. It
is God that brings life to the believer, but
it is the grace, the ornaments upon it that bring
it shine and glisten and glow in the Christian's
life. That's a graceful person. The grace of
God gives us patience. The grace of God allows
us to forgive. The grace of God is internal,
but is Surely displayed externally I think of
first Peter 3 3 to 5 this is don't be concerned
about the outward beauty that depends on fancy
hairstyles expensive jewelry beautiful clothes
You should be known for the beauty that comes
from within the unfading beauty of a gentle and
quiet spirit Which is so precious to God The
internal And we need to grow in this grace The
grace of God truly becomes the strength of a
man and a woman because it's not his strength,
it's God's strength. It also says there that
we need to grow not only in grace, but we need
to grow in what? In knowledge. There is a premium
on knowledge in the Bible that we are filled
with truth, continually growing in our understanding.
Listen, your ability to grow in grace depends
on your understanding of truth. More truth that
is taught the more knowledge that is taught the
more graceful one can be so we grow in knowledge
And we grow in grace. Let me give you some steps
for how to do that I've got 11 will be here till
1 o 'clock I've got some here for you up on the
screen. I Think I've got them we got we got steps
for them number one ask God to give you a desire
for him number one Start there. I don't have
a desire. Okay, you got to ask for it. I can't
give you a desire I really want to if you can't
tell I really want to but I can't only God can
give you a desire for him Number two recognize
that you can't grow apart from the grace of God
God causes growth Number three remove any hindrances
and repent of any sin What hindrances are keeping
you from growing Remove any hindrances and then
repent of any sin. What sin is causing you? To
not desire the things of the Lord Read your Bible
You knew it was gonna be in that list, right?
Read your Bible you gotta read your Bible You
gotta pray. And pray. And keep praying. And pray
when you don't want to pray. Serve in the church.
Find a way to serve in the church. Serve others.
Give generously of your resources. Take communion.
Be baptized. Share your faith with unbelievers
Practice the one another's there's the obedience
factor there And then think less of self and
more of Jesus I actually had 12 I Keep adding
to these lists and I keep forgetting how many
I've added Think less of self and more of others
you say Joe. I know these things. I know you
know these things This isn't a matter of knowledge.
This is a matter of practice And may God by his
grace motivate us in 2026 inspire us To grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. The last major point is this because
I told you there's four It is this glorify God
for any growth That's verse End of verse 18 to
him be the glory right to him be the glory. Let
me just say this about your sanctification Maybe
this will be helpful Okay, your sanctification
is more about the glory of God than it is about
you It's more about the glory of God than it
is about you So your sanctification is actually
not So much about you as it is about what God
and his glory? He gets all the glory for your
growth. He's the one that caused the growth He's
the one that matured the growth and therefore
he gets all the glory for the growth therefore
This is actually about God and his glory in your
life Lord, thank you for our time in your word
and Hopefully this was an encouragement Lord.
I know these messages can often feel like we're
never doing enough and feel like more discouraging
than encouraging, and I hope that's not the case.
I hope there's a recognition in our own life
of where we're falling short, a recognition of
where we do need to change some habits, we do
need to repent of sin, we do need to just get
more discipline, and hopefully in this message
there's a reminder that all of this depends on
the grace of God. We cannot move forward apart
from your grace, and we lean on that grace each
and every day. Lord Jesus, would you help us
to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ And may we give you all
the glory We pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen