1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,720 As we come to this part of our service this morning, I'd like to ask those who are on 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,600 the left ends of the aisles to reach underneath your chairs. 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:17,240 You should find there a stack of booklets called, 50 Days to Open My Home to Christ. 4 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,760 If they're not there, then I don't know what happened to them. 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,240 Perhaps someone in the last session walked off with them, but they were to put them back 6 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:26,400 underneath your chair. 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:32,960 Now, would you look around and be sure that everyone has at least one to two persons. 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,160 We can do it one to three. 9 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:37,080 It's a little more difficult that way. 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:38,080 Thanks for your help. 11 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,000 We'll be referring to these a little later in the service, so you need not take time 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,160 to read through it now. 13 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:51,320 Our subject for today is the cycle of spiritual growth. 14 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:57,160 Seeing things grow and change, and it's fun to observe them do that. 15 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:04,960 This past summer while I was on vacation with my family, the family farm in Kansas, I collected 16 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:07,760 two wasp nests. 17 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:13,400 One nest was that of a mud dauber, which is a solitary wasp. 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:20,300 That is, it makes its own nest out of mud with several compartments. 19 00:01:20,300 --> 00:01:27,240 In the compartments, it keeps its own larvae as well as food for its young. 20 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:37,720 Then I collected another kind of nest, that of a polystyse or social wasp, which is paper-like. 21 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:43,640 It's the normal nest that you think of with a wasp, the comb, as sometimes we call it, 22 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,000 really made out of masticated fibers. 23 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,520 Inside these little compartments, once again, the larvae are kept. 24 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:58,680 As I tore into the nest, it was interesting to me to observe the larvae and the pupa, 25 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,960 observed in their various stages of development. 26 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:08,280 Now frankly, I did this to make it an educational experience for my children. 27 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:14,680 I might have tried something else more successfully, but it was at least educational to me. 28 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:19,880 I enjoyed seeing the stages of growth that were involved in these insects. 29 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:25,600 Whether it's insects we're talking about, or plants, or animals, or human beings, whatever 30 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,360 is alive grows and changes. 31 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:37,440 That growth may be slow and imperceptible, like that of a redwood, or it may be incredibly 32 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:46,600 quick, like some species of bamboo in tropical areas, which grows up to two feet in one day. 33 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:54,000 The principle is the same, that living things grow, as that is true in the realm of nature, 34 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,040 so it is true also in the realm of the spirit. 35 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,840 Whatever is alive grows and changes. 36 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:09,800 We who have been made alive in Jesus Christ through the regenerating power of the Holy 37 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,300 Spirit grow and change. 38 00:03:13,300 --> 00:03:19,120 Sometimes the growth is slow, sometimes it is quick, but thank God He is not finished 39 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:20,840 with us yet. 40 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:26,440 What we are going to be, we are in the process of now becoming. 41 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:33,560 We are in the developmental stages to become what God intends for us to be one day. 42 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:35,800 We are all growing. 43 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:41,680 In our text today we observe what seems to have been amazing growth on the part of the 44 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,200 Thessalonian converts. 45 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:53,640 Paul seems to express almost a surprised delight at the growth that he had heard about in them. 46 00:03:53,640 --> 00:04:04,080 Would you turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 2, where we begin to read. 47 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:10,320 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly 48 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:17,120 bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord 49 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:22,120 Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. 50 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:29,240 Young brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you, for our gospel did not come to you 51 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:36,560 in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just 52 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:41,320 as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. 53 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:48,200 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation 54 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:54,240 with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in 55 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,880 Macedonia and Achaia. 56 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,760 And now turn over a couple of pages to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 57 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,860 We will read verses 3 and 4. 58 00:05:07,860 --> 00:05:13,200 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because 59 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:20,280 your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows 60 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:22,840 even greater. 61 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:28,660 Therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance 62 00:05:28,660 --> 00:05:36,960 and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 63 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:46,480 My theme this morning is this, that spiritual growth has a cycle or rhythm to it. 64 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:51,480 That is something we all experience, and I think it may be helpful for us to consider 65 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,620 it more closely. 66 00:05:54,620 --> 00:05:59,720 Our text today gives us several pieces of information regarding spiritual growth. 67 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,280 I'd like for you to note them. 68 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:08,760 In the first place we observe from our text that spiritual growth is definable. 69 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:16,160 It is not something that cannot be defined, but rather it is able to be defined in terms 70 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:22,480 of certain spiritual graces that will be in the life of the person who is a Christian 71 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:24,340 and growing. 72 00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:31,600 We see them back in our first text, 1 Thessalonians 1, very clearly, where the Apostle talks about 73 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,320 their work of faith, their labor of love, and steadfastness of hope. 74 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,360 Faith, love, and hope. 75 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:48,000 These spiritual graces define for us, at least in part, what spiritual growth is all about. 76 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,760 The presence of faith, love, and hope indicate growth and maturity. 77 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,800 It would be good to define these terms that we are quite used to hearing. 78 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,320 Faith may be defined as an attitude of dependence. 79 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,960 That's where it begins, with an attitude. 80 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:18,360 An attitude of dependence, producing an act of obedience to God based upon His Word. 81 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,140 I think that is a sufficient definition of faith. 82 00:07:22,140 --> 00:07:27,560 It is an attitude of dependence producing an act of obedience to God, which is based 83 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,320 upon His Word. 84 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:39,800 Love is defined as an action of sacrifice for the welfare of another. 85 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:46,920 Love cannot be defined merely in terms of romanticism. 86 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:52,960 Love is not merely a sentiment that we have, but love is action. 87 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:53,960 Love is a deed. 88 00:07:53,960 --> 00:08:01,920 It goes beyond the words to produce an action of sacrifice for the welfare of another, whatever 89 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:02,920 the response. 90 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,680 And those last two words are key. 91 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:11,080 Agape love, God's love, does not expect anything in return. 92 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:17,080 It gives simply for the welfare of that which is loved. 93 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:24,400 The natural man is incapable of knowing and expressing agape. 94 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:31,720 For the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the agape of God when we are saved, and then 95 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:38,040 enables us by the production of His fruit in our lives to be filled with love, as well 96 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:42,120 as joy, peace, longsuffering, and so on. 97 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,480 Agape love is God's love. 98 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:49,320 It is an action of sacrifice on our part for the welfare of another, whatever the response 99 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,240 may be. 100 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:57,760 Hope then may be defined as the confident expectation of the future. 101 00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,760 We Christians may have our blue days. 102 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:01,280 We may go through periods of depression. 103 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,840 That is a normal part of our humanity. 104 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:13,440 But down beneath all of that, and undergirding it and supporting it, is hope. 105 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,760 Hope that is a confidence in God. 106 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:24,040 A hope that expects good in the future because that is what God has said. 107 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,840 Faith, love, and hope. 108 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:36,040 I believe these are the marks of a Christian and will be observed in a growing Christian. 109 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:42,560 That brings me to the second of the pieces of information that we gain from our text 110 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:44,320 regarding spiritual growth. 111 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:52,180 It is not only definable in terms of certain spiritual graces, but it is observable. 112 00:09:52,180 --> 00:09:56,120 Each of these graces produces results in the life. 113 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:01,360 Notice he talks here about the work of faith. 114 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,560 Faith wasn't something they just talked about. 115 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,960 Faith wasn't something they prayed for. 116 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:09,720 Faith was that which controlled them. 117 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,880 It caused them to work. 118 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:19,780 It was an attitude of dependence that produced in their lives actions of obedience to God. 119 00:10:19,780 --> 00:10:24,520 There was the work of faith observable. 120 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,680 Regarding love, he mentions its labor. 121 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:36,680 The word refers to the fatigue and exhaustion that comes with hard work. 122 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,060 Love doesn't merely observe the need. 123 00:10:39,060 --> 00:10:43,840 It doesn't just talk about it, but love gets in there with its sleeves rolled up and 124 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,560 does something. 125 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:47,560 It labors. 126 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:50,960 It is observable in the life. 127 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:59,880 Thirdly, he mentions hope, which produces patience, the steadfastness, the patience 128 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:03,920 of hope. 129 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:08,200 Spiritual growth cannot be hidden. 130 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:14,880 By its very nature, spiritual growth demands exposure in the life. 131 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,380 Where there is faith, it will work. 132 00:11:17,380 --> 00:11:19,440 Where there is love, it will labor. 133 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,940 Where there is hope, it will produce patience. 134 00:11:22,940 --> 00:11:28,600 It is observable in the life. 135 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:33,960 The third thing that I think we learn from our text regarding spiritual growth is actually 136 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:40,840 found most clearly in chapter 1 of 2 Thessalonians, in the text we read there, the third verse. 137 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:46,760 For he mentions that their faith is greatly enlarged and their love toward one another 138 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:51,800 grows even greater. 139 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:57,760 I observe from this that spiritual growth is measurable. 140 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:06,100 By that I mean the progress or the increase of our growth can be determined. 141 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:10,880 We can know that we are growing, and others can know that we are growing. 142 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:19,160 To Timothy, the apostle Paul said, Let your spiritual progress be made known to all men. 143 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,360 Spiritual growth is measurable. 144 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:27,840 Paul says, whereas one time their faith was here, it is now greatly enlarged. 145 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,880 He was able to measure it on some scale. 146 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,480 He says at one point your love could be observed this way. 147 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,080 Now it is growing even greater than it was before. 148 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:37,080 It is measurable. 149 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:43,600 Now it is important, and please hear me, it is important to understand what the proper 150 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,100 measuring device is. 151 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:56,120 The measurement of spiritual growth is not found in man-made rules and regulation. 152 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,560 That is only legalism. 153 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:05,600 Legalism and spiritual growth are antithetical. 154 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:13,220 One can live up to a certain list of rules that man lays down and be a pygmy spiritually 155 00:13:13,220 --> 00:13:16,840 and never grow. 156 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,820 We find the proper measuring scale in the Word of God. 157 00:13:21,820 --> 00:13:26,280 This is the measuring scale that tells us how much we are growing. 158 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,760 It is our measuring standard. 159 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,160 A fourth thing that I see in our text is that spiritual growth is predictable. 160 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:41,460 Paul seems to say that here in the fourth verse in 2 Thessalonians 1. 161 00:13:41,460 --> 00:13:43,480 I think it is predictable in two respects. 162 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:51,160 In the first place, spiritual growth is always present in a true believer. 163 00:13:51,160 --> 00:14:00,760 As I said before, it may be achingly slow at certain points, or it may be very rapid 164 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:03,600 at another point. 165 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:09,320 But that which is alive grows, and a person who is genuinely saved will grow. 166 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:10,480 It is predictable. 167 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,000 He just will do it. 168 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:18,040 Paul says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. 169 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,960 What gave him that assurance that they were truly God's children because of the work 170 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,360 of faith, the labor of love, the patience of hope? 171 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:31,480 Spiritual growth is predictable in the life of one who is truly one of God's own. 172 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,160 But I think it is predictable in another respect as well. 173 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:39,040 That is that pressure tends to produce growth. 174 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,720 We can almost always predict that. 175 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:47,920 When there is pressure in a person's life, it will produce growth. 176 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:56,600 That may be an external kind of pressure, like the Thessalonians were facing with persecution 177 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,080 illustrated today in modern China. 178 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:04,140 When the missionaries left in 49, there were about 1 million Christians today. 179 00:15:04,140 --> 00:15:10,400 The estimates range widely, but the minimum you usually hear is 50 million up to 100 million 180 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,680 Christians in China. 181 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:23,400 In the midst of persecution, you see that external pressure produce growth in them. 182 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,680 The pressure can also come internally. 183 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,160 It can come from the inside of us. 184 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:33,600 I would call this internal pressure discipline. 185 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:38,480 That is, we can discipline ourselves so that we grow spiritually. 186 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,840 There are certain steps we can take in our lives that we can predict will produce spiritual 187 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:44,840 growth. 188 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,840 So I say spiritual growth is predictable. 189 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:51,520 Finally, I would like to point out that it is also cyclical. 190 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,240 That is, it runs in cycles. 191 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,640 There is a natural rhythm to it. 192 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:05,600 Spurts of growth are followed by periods of testing, proving, assimilating, and incorporating. 193 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,080 It is that point that I want to focus on this morning. 194 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:17,680 I want to talk about the fact that spiritual growth has normal cycles to it. 195 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:23,480 Cycles are built into the very fabric of life. 196 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:30,040 Solomon seems to say this in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, where he says, there is time 197 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,440 for every event under heaven. 198 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,320 A time to give birth, a time to die. 199 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:43,680 A time to plant, a time to uproot, to heal, to tear down, to build up, to weep, to laugh, 200 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:50,360 to mourn, to dance, to throw stones together, to embrace, to shun embracing, to search, 201 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:57,000 to give up as lost, to keep, to throw away, to tear apart, to sew together, to be silent, 202 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,240 to speak, to love, to hate. 203 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,640 A time for war, a time for peace. 204 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,120 What is Solomon saying? 205 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:09,560 He is saying that life has its periods, its cycles, its own rhythms that are built into 206 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:10,560 it by God. 207 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,040 That is the way that life is. 208 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:22,760 As that is true in the natural realm of life, so it is true in the realm of spiritual things. 209 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,200 It will help some of us if we can get our hands on that. 210 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,240 Let me illustrate it. 211 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:37,080 We would all desire to feel close to the Lord and sense His presence all the time. 212 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,400 But the fact is that we don't. 213 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,960 None of us do. 214 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:49,800 At least we don't sense it always in the same way or in the same intensity. 215 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:56,080 There are normal ups and downs in our Christian experience. 216 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,560 There are times when we sense the Lord's presence, there are times when He seems far 217 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,760 removed from our situation. 218 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:08,200 I was talking to a dear brother pastor in another state a few days ago. 219 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,320 He is going through one of those down periods. 220 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,320 He says that it seems as though God has removed Himself. 221 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:20,680 Now, He knows God hasn't, just like you and I know that. 222 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,520 But there are times it seems that way. 223 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:31,520 That is simply a natural flow, a natural part of the cycle of our Christian experience. 224 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,480 There are periods of growth that are followed by rest. 225 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,200 We should not feel guilty when we experience these. 226 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,720 They are natural, they are normal to our spiritual experience. 227 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:50,400 There are some of us who think we have to be up on a spiritual high all the time, intense. 228 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:51,400 We can't be. 229 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,320 We are not made to be that way. 230 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,760 Our humanity cannot take that. 231 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:01,800 Jesus took His three closest disciples up to the mountaintop and was with them for a 232 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,880 few short minutes and was transfigured. 233 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,480 Some of them couldn't even handle it at all, and those three could only handle it 234 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,560 briefly because of their humanity. 235 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,240 They had to come back down from that mountaintop. 236 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,840 We are the same way. 237 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:26,080 Spurts of growth are usually of limited duration, whereas they are followed by longer periods, 238 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:33,720 usually of reflection and enjoyment, of learning to live out in our daily routine in the valley 239 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,040 what we gained while we were on the mountaintop. 240 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:46,680 I think that this idea of cycles, of rhythm in our spiritual experience, is suggested 241 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:52,120 even in the setting up of the annual feast days in ancient Israel, as recorded in Leviticus 242 00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:54,040 23. 243 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,760 As you read about those feast days, and there were certain periods, you will recall, when 244 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,320 Israel was to come together and worship the Lord. 245 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:05,600 They were to observe certain festivals. 246 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,280 As you read about them in that chapter and in other places where regulations were laid 247 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:16,880 down, you are impressed by the fact that some of these festivals, these feast days, were 248 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:26,040 somber, meditative, deeply spiritual times. 249 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:30,920 Others however were celebrative, exuberant, and festive. 250 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:35,080 They were not all of the same intensity. 251 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:40,760 You see, God planned that into the very calendar of ancient Israel. 252 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:41,800 Sometimes they were quiet. 253 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,560 They were to be repentant. 254 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:48,680 They were to think about God, meditate upon Him. 255 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:56,960 At other times they were waving palm branches and joyous and festive in their mood. 256 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:05,860 God seems to have built in a definite rhythm to our spiritual growth as well. 257 00:21:05,860 --> 00:21:11,040 We who are in Grace Church Roseville are on the threshold of an exciting opportunity for 258 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,600 all of us. 259 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:14,960 I would term it this way. 260 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:22,440 It's a time of corporate, accelerated spiritual growth. 261 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,520 We've been calling it our fall adventure. 262 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:30,240 It is opening our homes to Jesus Christ. 263 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:37,720 It is for 50 days of intensive, concentrated discipline on our part to gain measurable 264 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,120 spiritual growth. 265 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:45,760 Now I must say at this point that we're going to have a break halfway into this thing for 266 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:47,720 our missions festival. 267 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:53,080 For five Sundays beginning September 21, we're going to emphasize certain themes in conjunction 268 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,080 with this. 269 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,880 Then we'll have two Sundays of break for missions. 270 00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:59,720 That festival is always a high for us. 271 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,040 That's one of our celebration times. 272 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:08,000 And then we're going to go back to this theme for three more Sundays concluding on Thanksgiving 273 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,200 Sunday, November 23. 274 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,920 So it won't be exactly 50 days for us. 275 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:19,880 But we're going to emphasize during these weeks opening our homes to Jesus Christ. 276 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,800 We are doing this in conjunction with the Chapel of the Air radio broadcast that some 277 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:25,920 of you listen to. 278 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,800 In the booklet it talks about listening to the broadcast because they will plan to talk 279 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,680 about certain themes as we study them. 280 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,720 However, that will be next spring. 281 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:43,240 You see we are one of 11 pilot churches in the United States doing it this fall. 282 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,200 Now it's to our benefit we're doing it first because then in the spring we can personally, 283 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:52,280 if we wish, go back through it when thousands of other churches will do it. 284 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:58,080 Right now there are 11 churches from coast to coast doing this, only 11. 285 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:03,360 And we have the opportunity to do it first and then to give feedback to the Wheaton office 286 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:10,320 of this broadcast so that they can better prepare materials, etc., to help those thousands 287 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:11,920 of churches next spring. 288 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:17,120 So in a way we're able to serve thousands and thousands of Christians all across the 289 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:18,120 United States. 290 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:22,920 And I think that in itself is an exciting aspect of this whole adventure. 291 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:28,080 But what a tremendous fall this is going to be. 292 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:34,640 On the one hand we recognize, of course, that all that God does in maturing us and in sanctifying 293 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,720 us is by grace. 294 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,840 Paul said of the Philippians, that is God who works in you, both the willing and doing 295 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:43,220 of His good pleasure. 296 00:23:43,220 --> 00:23:46,800 We recognize that, would never deny that. 297 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:55,440 But on the other hand, we are exhorted to discipline ourselves unto godliness, too. 298 00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:00,960 We are instructed in the Word of God to make particular effort in the direction of our 299 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:05,680 own godliness and growth. 300 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,160 Now we have an opportunity as a church to do that together. 301 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,200 You say, well how are we going to do it? 302 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:19,840 We'll open up to page three in the adventure journal that you have available to you, where 303 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:24,480 we have listed the first of five disciplines. 304 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:31,860 How are we going to have a time of accelerated spiritual growth together? 305 00:24:31,860 --> 00:24:41,000 By sharing together in one, two, three, or maybe even all five of these disciplines. 306 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:46,280 The first discipline says, go on a daily God hunt. 307 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:51,680 To put it briefly, what this involves is actively looking for and recording a way in which the 308 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:57,080 king has acted on our behalf in the course of a day. 309 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:03,760 In other words, for these days we are going to make it a point of disciplining ourselves 310 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:09,740 to look for at least one way in which our king, the Lord Jesus Christ, has intervened 311 00:25:09,740 --> 00:25:16,800 on our behalf, either through specific answer to prayer or some peculiar unusual timing 312 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:22,680 that only he could bring about in our circumstances, or in any way that we see it, we are going 313 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,320 to be looking for the king. 314 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,800 It's called a daily God hunt. 315 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,520 Some of you are familiar with this already. 316 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,560 That's one discipline. 317 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:42,280 The second one is found on the next page, face crises with the help of God's Word. 318 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:47,120 We do this by daily allowing our king to counsel us through his Word. 319 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:51,760 If you look back further in the journal, you will notice that there is a spot for daily 320 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,800 recording of certain things, and in each of those spots there is a daily scripture reading 321 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:02,680 along with just a sentence or two to provoke us to think about it. 322 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:07,000 Every day there will be some passage from the Word of God that all of us together who 323 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,200 are participating in this will be reading. 324 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:15,960 We will be asking our king to give us direction, allowing him to counsel us so that as we face 325 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:23,440 the crises of our days and we have them every day, we have his Word to give us direction. 326 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:25,720 What a great discipline that is. 327 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,760 Some of us are already doing that personally in our times with God. 328 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,760 Here's an opportunity for us just to shift gears a little bit if we've been doing it 329 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,560 already and to do it with everybody else. 330 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,040 Number three is on page six. 331 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:47,600 To personalize the prayer of ownership by daily praying the ownership prayer, recognizing 332 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,960 His Majesty's rights to our possessions. 333 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,640 That's the prayer that I read earlier in the service. 334 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,080 Boy, that's meaningful. 335 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:03,160 As we pray that every day for 50 plus days in our case, as we pray that prayer, God is 336 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:09,480 going to cause those words to sink into our hearts and become a part of us by the end 337 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,200 of these seven weeks. 338 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:16,120 That's another discipline I would encourage you to consider. 339 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:17,600 Number four is found on page seven. 340 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,080 To speak words of affirmation. 341 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:21,320 How? 342 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:29,800 By at least once a week verbally encouraging at least four people remembering our King's 343 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,800 presence in all of our relationships. 344 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,920 There's a place in the journal for you to write down the names of these people and to 345 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:42,360 record each time during the process of these weeks that you speak an affirming, encouraging 346 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,720 word to these people. 347 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:46,720 It may be your family. 348 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,320 It may be your roommates. 349 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:55,920 Because you see even if you're a student or you're a single career person, you can 350 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,320 join in this adventure. 351 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:02,200 There's application for you to get involved. 352 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaking words of affirmation. 353 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:15,240 So often aren't our words to one another neutral, tending toward negative, being critical, 354 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,200 biting, etc. 355 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,920 Here's an opportunity for us to learn some new habits in this discipline. 356 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:28,560 Then discipline number five is to make Sunday the high point of your week by specific steps 357 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:34,560 of preparation and then reflection that will focus on that Sunday and its particular emphasis. 358 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,320 The theme is this theme on the front. 359 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:42,560 But each Sunday for eight weeks beginning September 21 with two weeks out, there's 360 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:49,520 going to be a particular emphasis that we'll be talking about in connection with this theme. 361 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,960 We want to learn to make Sunday the high point of the week. 362 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:58,320 In the middle of the journal, the very center of it, you will find a revised calendar for 363 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:00,640 50 days. 364 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,920 You will notice that Sunday is put at the center of the week at the high point and then 365 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:10,360 following the Sunday there's a place for you to write down an answer to this sentence. 366 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:15,200 Jesus, here's what I'll carry in my heart from this last Sunday. 367 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,480 In other words, we reflect on the theme from Sunday. 368 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,400 And then in the last part of the week we prepare for the next Lord's Day by saying I'll 369 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:30,460 make this coming Sunday special for you, Jesus, by… and then we write in our answer. 370 00:29:30,460 --> 00:29:34,280 We do not want to become legalistic Sabbath observers. 371 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,400 If we did, we'd have to start meeting on Saturday anyway. 372 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,440 But I'll tell you one thing I've observed. 373 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:46,400 That is that many of us don't consider Sunday special enough. 374 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:53,600 We've really not considered carefully what rights our King has to this particular day 375 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:59,720 of the week and how we ought to be preparing for it and then reflecting upon it. 376 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:04,260 Now if those five disciplines or any one of them, any combination of them is not sufficient 377 00:30:04,260 --> 00:30:09,760 for you, on page 9 there are some alternative disciplines that you may want to consider. 378 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,200 But my point is this. 379 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,800 How are we going to grow together in an accelerated way? 380 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,880 Well part of the answer is that we will be observing these disciplines, whichever ones 381 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:25,480 we desire to put into our lives, perhaps even all five of them I would hope, we'll be 382 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:30,120 working on these together and then sharing together and encouraging one another during 383 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:35,080 these weeks about what God is doing to help us to grow. 384 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,880 Now I can hear someone say, well what if I can't participate? 385 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,800 And I recognize that could well be a response. 386 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:42,800 What if I can't participate? 387 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:51,840 May I suggest first of all that you see if your reason is really valid for not participating. 388 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:56,360 If in fact it is, I want you to know that there is no pressure that we've placed upon 389 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,880 you to be a part of it. 390 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:04,200 You will still benefit by coming here and weekly worshiping with us. 391 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:08,560 But there will be no pressure on you to become an adventurer. 392 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:13,840 But I hope rather your question would be how do I get involved as an adventurer? 393 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,680 What do I have to do to sign up? 394 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:23,600 Well how we're going to do it is by investing just two dollars in one of these journals. 395 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:25,760 Now I can't let you do that this morning. 396 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,200 In fact I want you to pass them in before the end of the service to the person on the 397 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:31,360 left end of the aisle. 398 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,320 I'd like to put them back under the chair again. 399 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,240 I can't give them to you today. 400 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,480 But beginning tonight they will be available in the bookstore and you can get a personal 401 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:41,480 copy. 402 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:46,720 Now two dollars shouldn't be too much of a handicap for us. 403 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,200 That's only the price of a Big Mac and a drink. 404 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:55,560 And you know if we can't spend that much on a tool to help us grow spiritually then 405 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,040 we've got deeper problems than we know. 406 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,840 That's right. 407 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,680 So the cost of the journal is but two dollars. 408 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:08,080 We would encourage you to get one for each adult in your family and each junior high 409 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,320 age person on up. 410 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:15,760 For these booklets are suitable for all of those age groups. 411 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,080 One per individual will undoubtedly be necessary. 412 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:26,560 By the way for those children in grades three, four, five, and six there are children's 413 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:27,560 journals being printed. 414 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:32,480 Now they're not off the press yet because of course we're early in this whole process 415 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,920 with Chapel of the Air as a pilot church. 416 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:41,580 But we hope to have them here by the time of our first Adventure Sunday, September 21. 417 00:32:41,580 --> 00:32:46,880 So children in grades three through six will also be able to have a journal and work with 418 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,240 us in this process. 419 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,040 I hope that you will prayerfully consider being involved. 420 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,000 I'll have more to say about this next Sunday. 421 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:04,600 But I want to ask you, are you ready for a time of spiritual growth, of intensive effort 422 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:12,360 on your part, of discipline so that you can see accelerated spiritual growth in your own 423 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,960 walk with God? 424 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,960 Now there may be some of you that have just come through a time of intensive growth. 425 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,660 I want to encourage you to take 24 hours to get your breath and then decide to be a part 426 00:33:23,660 --> 00:33:25,560 of this one too. 427 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:30,080 It may be that you haven't grown for years. 428 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:37,160 I hope that you will ask God to make these next months a time, a meaningful, special, 429 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:44,320 significant time in your life when you will be able to see measurable, observable, definite 430 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,720 spiritual growth in your life. 431 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:56,720 Seeing things grow and change, unless there is something that interrupts the growth process. 432 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,760 Last summer I interrupted those larvae. 433 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,960 They are not going to grow up because I killed their nest. 434 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:12,280 I sent them to their great reward with great delight too, I might say. 435 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:18,960 You know in our own spiritual development there are things that can hinder us, namely, 436 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:19,960 sin. 437 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,480 Sin precludes spiritual growth. 438 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:29,360 We cannot grow if there is sin that is unconfessed or un-dealt with in our lives. 439 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:35,000 So before we really can get to the point of growing spiritually through this effort, we 440 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:42,760 need to examine our hearts to make sure that sin has been adequately dealt with. 441 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,760 Before we can tell the King that we are ready to take the steps of discipline, whatever 442 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:53,920 ones we may wish to take, we have to be able to go to the King and make sure our lives 443 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,900 are clean and right with Him. 444 00:34:57,900 --> 00:35:00,280 Is that your case this morning? 445 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:06,400 Is He really Lord of your life today? 446 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,480 Growth will only come if Jesus is Lord. 447 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:16,080 And if today there is something that would choke off, that would preclude your being 448 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:23,440 a part of this adventure, I beg with you, child of God, to deal with that. 449 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,520 And it may be that you are not a Christian at all, you have never been saved. 450 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,960 You have to have life before you can grow. 451 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:37,280 A baby has to be conceived and born before he can grow up to be a child and adult. 452 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:42,080 You are born into God's family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 453 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:47,440 We want to give you an opportunity this morning to make that life-transforming decision to 454 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,920 be born into His family. 455 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:55,960 Let's bow together in prayer. 456 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,080 Since we sit here this morning and many of us have heard about the spiritual adventure 457 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:05,080 somewhat already, others of us maybe have heard about it the first time in this message. 458 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,480 But I want to ask you a question. 459 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:14,200 Are you at the point right now that you are willing to say, yes, I want to join that adventure? 460 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:15,200 That's for me. 461 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,520 Now I recognize some of you cannot do it. 462 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:19,520 That's fine. 463 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:25,200 But if you say, yes, I can do it and I will do it by the grace of God, I want this to 464 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,080 be a time of accelerated spiritual growth in my life. 465 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,080 Would you lift your hand and put it down? 466 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,480 I'm asking this for practical reasons as well as for other. 467 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:34,480 Thank you. 468 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,480 God bless you. 469 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,760 Now if you couldn't lift your hand then, could I at least ask you to pray about it, 470 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:41,760 consider it? 471 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,240 You don't have to be a member of our church. 472 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:51,880 All you have to do is be coming here and sharing with us what God is doing in your life. 473 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,840 But would you at least pray about it? 474 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,880 Would God give you direction? 475 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,280 Maybe there are some decisions in your life that have to be made before you can say, yes, 476 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,880 I want to join. 477 00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:09,840 Maybe you need to be saved or perhaps you need to get sin dealt with in your life. 478 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:14,640 Father, I pray that you will work with us. 479 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,600 I pray that you will bring us to that point of knowing what your will is for each of us 480 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,880 in the adventure this fall. 481 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,520 And if today, right now, you are dealing with us regarding areas of our life that are not 482 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:35,740 under your kingship, where your majesty is not being observed, then give us the courage 483 00:37:35,740 --> 00:37:43,280 to make the decisions and the changes that need to be made right now so that we can grow. 484 00:37:43,280 --> 00:38:02,400 In Jesus' name, amen.