Faith and Fitness, Part 3: Live a Godly Life, Part 1

By Pastor Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
January 20, 2019

​As the calendar turns to 2019, millions of Americans will resolve to be better, and probably for millions of motivations. Too many Christians, however, are unwittingly making New Year's resolutions to earn God's love. Today, Pastor Greg Byman dives into Ephesians 4:15 to learn how to Live a Godly Life.

Pastors Notes

Transcript

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Transcription 
Spiritual fitness in our lives and how many. Plop the money down for a brand in order to track anybody here one of those you know anybody get a new treadmill anybody in about 3 months they'll be some for sale I imagine. If you wait 3 months they'll be plenty of parking at the Y.M.C.A.. The small thing I want to talk about live a godly life the last 2 Sundays we've been talking about laying off trying to do something to earn the favor of God and we talked about how you cannot earn or be good enough to get into God's favor he had to favor you 1st and he sent his Son to die on the cross for your sins that you might know how much he loved you he loved you this much and he wants to wrap his spiritual arms around you and help you and encourage you to grow in your faith he fixes your want to buy that as we're going to see this morning he fixes the want to but we've got to act on the want to in order for us to grow in efficiency Chapter 4 verse 15 right in the middle of what Pastor David Mitchell preach read to us is a verse that says but speaking the truth in love let us grow in every way into him who is ahead Christ let us grow we need to grow it is unnatural for a child over time to wear diapers and we know that when an adult is wearing diapers or a young child is wearing diapers that's beyond those toddler stages we know that there is usually a deficiency in that person's life a handicap of some kind and it's just an unusual thing for that to be true. And while we know that some people who who become a follower of Christ they're not put into the environment that encourages them to grow spiritually and they become stunted in their spiritual. Flourishing and while they may have the Spirit of Christ in them and that seed of the gospel has been planted in the seal of the Holy Spirit upon their lives they may have a circumstance in which they may not necessarily grow naturally in Christ but that is unnatural and it is unusual to imagine that someone would stay the same way as a Christian the day they were born into the kingdom of God spiritually that they would remain the same we're supposed to grow and just like we grow as physically we grow spiritually and we're going to actually look at Ephesians chapter 4 and the rest of the passage a little bit more in the Lex next few weeks the idea that it's not just that we're to have a part of that but we're a big part of that that we're all in this together and that we need a community in fact we're going to talk about some things that cause us to grow and help us to grow they're called spiritual habits and spiritual habits really equal spiritual growth that I began to I can't I can't change my character so much as I need to change my behavior I need to change what I do I need to change some traits of things that of things that I do that it will start to look my character will start to change because of what I invest in my character my attitudes my mind will begin to be different because of what I choose to invest in we know that when someone continues computers we know this from way back when when we actually learned code when they realize now that that's not even important anymore and they say garbage in equals garbage out. That you don't blame a computer for giving you the wrong answer you blame the person the put the input of the information into the computer because computers are neutral and I want to tell you that we as a Christian need to add to our lives those things which will cause us to grow spiritually Are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ if you're a follower of Christ that's what you are you're a disciple and a disciple is disciplined so that word means to be disciplined I'm under the authority of Jesus Christ I'm not under my own authority I don't belong to me anymore I belong to God the Lord as best I know how I give you my life to do it as you please until tomorrow no period and it is unnatural for a Christian adult to be going around eating their diaper changed by Although the Christians around them kind of smelly and I've been in churches I've visited churches I've done revival in churches revival meetings or protracted with all night all week long meetings in the evening time and I've been these churches and and all they want to do is fight over the things that they were their petty arguments and situations that they were dealing with and they were more concerned about how soon we were going to be done than how much they were going to hear from God and just a bunch of adults wearing diapers and that's nasty and you know what it needs to look nasty in our minds so that we go but by the grace of God I'm not going to do that I'm not going to cause a stink for other people or for myself or I'm not going to stink up the glory of God in my life I'm a star growing in my faith in Luke Chapter 9 Jesus said to His disciples and he said to all those who are listening. If anyone wants to follow after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me if anyone wants to follow after me let him deny himself and take his cross up daily I thought when you got on the cross you died and that was it I think what Jesus was saying is you're going to have to keep dying to yourself every single day every morning you gotta wake up and go God I'm dead to my old self and I'm alive to my new self I am willing to die to that which is not honorable and good for you and to your glory and to the people around me I'm dead to being the husband I was yesterday I'm alive to being the husband God wants me to be today I'm dead to being a carnal Dad I'm alive to being the kind of dad God wants me to be for my kids not just for the one kid you like but all of them I mean you like them all not just the kids you get along with the most not just a kid that seems to be just doing fine because there's no my prime and that kid's not going to do and so fine but all alone God help me be the kind of dad be the husband be the mom be the wife be the friend be the church member that God wants me to be God help me I don't want to be what I was yesterday I want to be a new guy today you know it's interesting that sometimes people in the church they've been in the church for many years and for some reason it's just by human nature we get in our minds that they should have some kind of a special influence but if they haven't grown spiritually they should have less influence and I've known people that have been a Christian for 5 years that are stronger than people who have claimed to be Christians for 20 years and it's pathetic. And I've actually had to sit people down and say look your voice has meaning and you can't go around acting that way because people actually think you're mature and you're not acting mature and you need to grow up that's not a fun conversation but it's one we all have with each other if we really love each other in Christ because we don't want to leave people really are we want to see them grow you know we're one church that's come as you are community church down the street from us in fact just take Anthony if you don't like our church by the way you go all the way down to the other side the south side of town just behind Southside mall the old furrows building and they've got a church called Come As You Are community church but I do know for a fact that they don't want you to leave they want you to leave changed you don't stay that way the pastor Anthony Payton didn't say Come As You Are and stay that way stay sick in your sin stay messed up stay full of shame and guilt no he wants you to grow up in Crete clean up and become who God intended you to be and he says anything different let me know. But I know him well enough to know that he's a man of integrity and he believes in the Word of God and God's word says we're to grow spiritually when we become a Christian and 1st Timothy Chapter 4 verse 7 you see just snippets of it up on the screen Chapter 4 verse 7 as says but have nothing to do with pointless and silly myths rather train yourself in godliness you know what many people do they take all kinds of good sayings that they hear around them and I think well that sounds good I'll live my life that way and I'm not saying that women who don't have good things to say it's just that he's not God OK I mean I love you a little flower and I don't love it but I then I'm very interesting on Facebook Twitter and Instagram. I prefer the highlights of the Fosset of things that people say on there rather than all the negative things but the reality is if it's not from the Word of God we've got to test everything against the Word of God and you're going to live your life based on a bunch of silly myths if you don't put the word of God in your life and match what you're listening to with what God's word says so let's be careful that we're investing more in the things that cause us to grow or I mean some may say why don't have time to read the Bible and for any of you who are actually constantly on Instagram or any kind of of of social media of any kind or maybe you're a business person is while have time for that but you're constantly looking your e-mails which isn't always the most productive thing to do you ought to have a sectioned time of your life during the day to look at e-mails and with the phone you always have with you and that little blinkers going off all the time blink or be I have to look at the blinker I have to clear him my wife's got 5000 blinkers of notifications and I go have you looked at any of those. I can't do that I don't look at him I have to turn off all the notifications because I don't want to know it because I look at him so I turn him off I only turn the only critical ones on like my text messages and a voice mail in that's pretty much it nothing else gets through and then I have to go find if there's something odd a time that I'm supposed to I'm getting better at myself but we have a lot of time to do what we want to do people do what people want to do and if you've got time to read what somebody had to say about something you've got enough time hear what God has a say and if you know enough time or God has say you might want to cut out the things that aren't nearly as important as what he has to say about how to live our life otherwise you're going to be running after silly myths and all kinds of things that don't really make sense or matter they might be good things but do you know for sure only when you know what God says 1st. So spiritual habits I'm a highlight 3 this morning we're going to continue next week with a few more I will tell you that next week's is about giving in tithing Oh well don't tell anybody who wasn't here we're going to talk about money next week or it's about giving yourself and giving giving what you have and giving who you are and those are 2 things we're talking about next week. And we'll probably can't all know who you are a little bit more and next week we're going to hear from a ministry call I think it's Safe Families for Children are here next week is that right Chris next week yeah and and then the week after that young life is coming back and we're going to you hear about a ministry called young lives which actually meets right here and it's about it's a ministry to Northside high school teenagers who have had a baby they've got children and they come and use our building on Thursday nights once or twice a month and they use our nursery and preschool room they have all kinds of volunteers that come in and they have a young life meeting that's geared for teenage moms it's really cool and you think teenage mom they all look like grown up and I think now they're teenagers and they all have kiddie teenage games out in the middle of what I've been there just a little bit I don't want to interfere with what they're doing the old guy walking around what that's creepy don't get out of here and so but but but but they're said they're having their fun and I go and they go there have been fun just like they would have their youth group but they can't go to use the group they could but they generally don't feel comfortable and so they can come to this and kind of let their guard down and hear the Word of God get some actual practical help to give them food and feed them and they're going to hear about that in a couple weeks and they'll be some other ministers Big Brothers Big Sisters this common know you're going to want to hear what God's doing in that ministry so there's some good stuff because you can give yourself away not just to our church ministries and we're going to highlight those on the 3rd of February also but you give yourself away to whatever the Lord wants you to do out in the country and community that God's given us to be a light for his sake Well the 1st discipline I want to talk about is fellowship and join the family of God. In Hebrews Chapter 10 vs 243258 says this let's say it out loud on the together and let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching what an appropriate verse for Sunday morning right after a snowstorm don't for say the gathering of yourselves and tweet that all your friends that are in here right now know whether weather has a way of taking away and we understand that we totally understand that the general rhythm of our lives is that we need to be in the community of faith with each other this is an illegal list to put your name on a list and check it off as that we are perfect you know Sumter you know I say and let us provoke each other to not like each other no I didn't say that provoke love and provoke good works I was thinking provoking like I tease my sisters when I was a kid I still tease him it's like you're poking fun or something provoke no let's provoke the right things with each other the world is provoking all the bad things out of you it we at work and it's cool the world is spoken at you and sometimes the world right in our house provoking at us we need to get around some people that will help us to grow spiritually and to do the right thing with each other around here we have a phrase A says we must grow larger and smaller at the same time which means that we grow larger and smaller. Larger as in we continue to see people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ give their lives to Christ and belong to the Body of Christ and we are gathering in worship on Sundays and we're praying about a 2nd worship service on the in the fall of this year of and say next year but it's coming up this year we're in $1000.00 now and we're praying and strategizing how we can maximize our space more carefully by having a 2nd worship service because we know that the lid of of at least the practical live there's their spiritual lives and there's reasons why people don't come and there's things that we always continue to be a healthier congregation and be more authentic and we're working on that as well and we want to keep working that we're praying about that our elders actually talked about that in our meeting last week about how we need to figure out some things to be a better stronger congregation how Sunday morning might look differently over time now because it doesn't need to stay the same and it might not be as engaging in his carefully worshipful for everybody that comes we need to kind of see what that looks like but we also know practically there's only so many parking spots out here and according to fire code or according to the way you would actually Courtenay this building could actually only handle about 16175 and after that people are just going to brand new people are going to say I'm going to find a place wrong park my car we have more seats in here than we but we don't have enough parking around us and it's just I've been in this ministry ministry for 20 years and people have been a mystery 50 years it is always a factor sitting in parking our problem. For congregations that want to grow they had to figure out new ways to figure that out and one of the ways is to ask members and leaders that are here regularly to park on the streets we've asked people to do that don't know if you've noticed that or not but certain people continually park on the streets. My wife and I we drive 2 cars because I come earlier more usually than she does and the rest the family and we park out and on Anthony Boulevard not got here yet we might who knows that usually they try cars are pretty good about that but but it is parking out there on a street just to make sure there's enough room in the parking lot for newcomers and Rogers the old grocery store the snow grass lot there's a parking space out there and on Easter we sometimes go there I'm kind of belaboring the point the fact is that we've got to figure out a way to invite and be welcoming to more people and these are some practical tips doesn't change the fact you gotta learn how to be warm and friendly and had to start growing spiritually better and be stronger as a body of Christ but this isn't practical things that we're talking about because we want to grow larger not because we want to say we're the biggest town church in town it's that 80000 people live within 5 miles of this of this very location 80000 people of which maybe 20 percent actually attend a local church body anywhere anywhere there's a lot of fish out there a lot of people that don't have that connection to the Body of Christ they don't have the Spirit of God speaking into the lives through the life of a church family that wrecks me I don't I don't get I don't get over that thought that thousands of people are not yet in a warm loving congregation and this not ours needs to be somebody else but I won't take a stab at that at that pond and try to do what I can and I and by you to join me as we try to pursue. Those who do not have a relationship with Christ and are headed into a crisis eternity and those that may have Christ but they don't have a spiritual family to belong to and to grow in but we also also grow smaller larger and smaller what I mean by that it means that we've got to continue to break up into smaller groups connection groups ministry teams we're going to be talking about that in the coming days but but literally we've got to continue to be meeting in circles they have prayer meeting that usually sits here or sometimes in the prayer room and it's a circle of getting to know one another and hearing each other and pursuing prayer in the name of Jesus Christ together you've got to get in circles we've got to get together and have conversation beyond just Sunday morning you're not going to find a friend on Sunday morning like you're gonna find a friend in your connection groups and then prayer talking with revelations 320 Jesus says See I stand at the door and I knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me you want to you want to get our dog in a frenzy go to another room and knock on the door ring the doorbell do something who's here who's here what she goes running off like a chameleon we laugh you know and she may never get over I don't know but I'll tell you what she is just so excited about who's at the door when you thought that Jesus was out the door when you imagine we'd fling the door open to let a man you think who's here I live down Long Lane as a kid and it took us you know 3 minutes to figure out where somebody's come in grab all the stuff and not defaming my mother but we are going to clean the house quick we got 5 minutes to get the front part pointing and close the door for the back part. In our house they just pull in you know they're here welcome to the mass here we are we're just a family you know it's exciting when people come to the door sometimes now you know you know somebody there who are those people but we get excited if you Jesus is at the door knocking he wants to come in and have time with you spend time with you and what's the universal language of love food I want to eat with you I want to spend I want to hang out Jesus wants to hang out with you in prayer that's good enough good enough for me I would think and yet why is it that I don't always want to hang out with him why is that why is it that even me the pastor once in a while ago. I haven't really spent personal time praying with God been kind of shotgun present call it just shooting prayers in the air and those are good too but if I spent quality time to spend time with God if I spent as much time quality time with my wife the day with God she'd yell at me that day as you and yell at me but just when be as warm to one another and I wonder why spiritually we're not getting it we're not spending time with the one who's asking to spend time with us you know that Jesus was fully God and fully man and yet even he spent volumes of time alone with his Heavenly Father I'm going to be like Jesus OK get alone with God and what we say last Sunday pray to your cross-eyed we need to pray and keep talking to God in such a way that we keep remembering how much he's covered our sins and how much our sinful life can continue to be empowered by the Holy Spirit through the power of Jesus Christ we can get over whatever it is we're dealing with sinfully. We're going to pray until the cross of Jesus Christ is so prominent our lives that it absolutely envelops all that we are and all that we have and all that we say and all that we do we absolutely let him overwhelm us and to get our focus on Jesus and then the last habit I want to talk about this morning is Bible study listening to God so many times we talk about prayer we go to prayer and we and we talk to God But have we listen to him and 2nd Timothy Let's read this out together as also as well all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching for rebuking for correcting for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete he quipped for every good work all scriptures inspired by God it's all his it's all profitable it's all useful for any area of our life it has a place it's interesting this week went to a Bible study Friday morning and the director of Life Line was there and cross winds and he spoke on the concept of having a daily time of reading the Word of God and how early on in his life he did not have that habit and he realized that if he was then to actually grow somebody actually came into his life and begin to mentor him an older couple in his church and be able to talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that were there in a relationship with God and that we're listening to God and that we're talking with God about the things that are that we can mutually talk about but we inform our prayer life by our Bible study time that's what he wants to talk about so we've got to listen to him and hear what he has to say. And I want to give you an acronym called Soap S O A P And I want you to take your Bolton right now in the back and I want you to write these words down the side of it not just the 1st half actually asks the Oh A P Just write it down on the side of your bulletin I want to do that some I might need to go back and get a bulletin you can share with somebody I guess I don't know anyway and I want you to put scripture written up their own thing go ahead observe apply and pray if you don't have a way in which to digest the Word of God I suggest to you that you use soap to clean up your life let's clean up our our Bible study by using SOAP scripture Well Pastor what do I start at well Proverbs is a great place to start one of the Gospels Matthew Mark Luke or John if you have not started reading this year one of those bible books would be a great book Proverbs has $31.00 so today's the 20th you could start on Proverbs 20 the 212223 go all the through it start in February and to get to chat to February the 19th and if you've read one chapter a day you've read the whole and the whole book of the Bible the proverbs Well oh and then when you're reading Scripture maybe read one verse maybe read a paragraph maybe read a whole chapter for reverberations reading you've got plenty of time that day maybe read a small book of the Bible 1st John is a great book might write that down 1st John's great little book one small or not read Jude there's all kinds of options to start with and Mark on Friday morning said he brought something else up and he said how many of you ever thought the Bible was boring. You know and they said I did and he thought that maybe lightning this strike that old man because he thought the Bible was boring and God would just knock him straight straight to the ground reality is sometimes it does get laboriously gets Whoa the begats the begats and this person is that mountain and what does that have do with this and that the reality is it is not a simple book but it is a thorough book and you'll get something if you start somewhere but you'll get nothing if you start no where you've got to start so you've got that on your Bible on your little paper now so let's go back one slide David to. For a 2nd Timothy Oh it's already there scuse me I'd forgot to put on the same one that's perfect so 2nd Timothy I want you look at that scripture all Scripture is inspired by God in this profitable for teaching rebuking correcting training in righteousness so the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work find a word or phrase or a particular thing or maybe a whole chapter and the whole book Letter verse and come up I've got a I've got a problem with that in a way you knew that I want you to take one word out of that phrase and put that on next to Scripture the scripture what is the what do you observe some observe something the scripture is the passage 2nd sympathy 31617 What did you observe what is one word that struck you when when I read that what is one phrase maybe 2 words 3 words that really hits you that that just like yeah but whom God spoke to me just now what is one thing that you heard observe it you write that down you write the word you write the for in your own words but God's word corrects me all. God's word trains me for righteousness I don't have to guess how to be right in front of God and with other people heat the Word of God trains me how to do that oh all labs are that now after you've observed something apply it what am I going to do about it I'm going to ignore it because I don't want to be right I don't want to be corrected no you're going to say OK God if that's true then I need to spend more time studying what you have to say about life. If all scripture is useful then even the parts that are boring might even be useful I was reading this is not on boring this is actually exciting material is E.Q. Lately I've been going through Z. Kewl and God is using is equal to speak prophecy against the pagan nations around him you know I noticed something interesting I observed in his E.Q. where God gave Babylon Egypt what he said you're going to go destroy Egypt make quick and you're going to get all the spoils of Egypt it's all going to be in your in your warehouse and storehouse and you're going to get it all you can have all their wealth you're going to get all their stuff because I'm rewarding you for how you came against this other pagan nation and it took you a long time to destroy this nation that was blaspheming my name and because you were faithful to and you were doing the work that I had prophesied for you to do over here I'm giving you this nation quickly as a reward for destroying a wicked nation over here you're going to destroy this wicked nation because they're wicked but you're going to get it quickly because you destroyed that way and now here's the deal Babylon was wicked they were not the people of God God blessed a wicked nation and I begin to observe God You do what you want to do them out or who they are. And now I applied that I thought you know God I'm not God I don't have a prophecy I'm not right about this or wrong about this I'm observing I'm thinking about it I'm trying to apply it you know it doesn't seem like America seems to be listening to God lately in a lot of ways they just seem to be moving farther and farther away from what God's word has to say when you can't even be attending as a politician's wife and working in a Christian school and you're being blasted him for that by the news media we've got problems in America I got to thinkin God still blesses America and I wonder I don't know if I'm right or right or wrong I wonder if because we chose to enter into the war too and we released people who were going through the Holocaust and God used us as a pivotal nation pivotal net national power to set free people who were being oppressed by a wicked dictator and leader called Hitler and we went against the Japanese empire that were wicked in their ways that maybe God is still blessing us for what we did not for what we're doing the residual effect of his blessing is still on our nation because of us acting and do it now where we perfect and all those things no war is horrible and there's just witnessed if that happens in war and I'm not I'm not for that I grew up in a pacifistic church for crying out loud I can I can talk to you all day about those kinds of conversations but I just wonder if maybe because we stood for what was right at one point he's still blessing us for that even though we don't deserve a blessing I don't know so Observateur that my plight and I said God Heaven help me to ever be in a position where I'm just getting the blessing because over here but not because I'm with you God and then I prayed. And when we're done when you're done listening to God and observing what he had to say in a specific way you apply it to your life and then you pray and say God what you want me do about it God help me to make good on what you've told me to do this morning in my prayer time or in my night time whatever day time it is and he just sort of apply it so clean up your life with the Word of God Now I'm going to give you before we leave today a suggestion of a daily time with God It's my pattern I've had for many years and I just want to give it to you real quick and this will be online somebody says well I didn't get that I don't have a computer I'll give you my notes OK I don't care I just want you to start doing something in a specific way just like you would court that person that you're trying to win their favor and marry someday or just the way you would continue develop relationship with your spouse or just the same way that you would develop a friendship with somebody and you want to get to know your neighbor better even more so the God of the universe is knocking on the door inviting us to let him into our lives in a specific way this morning so that we can actually be with him and him with us and we have fellowship with one another and we enjoy its other and we love our time together and we grow and become more like Jesus in the process and I just want to consider you to consider if you don't have a way of doing it here's a way it's basic and in part it's based on Isaiah 6 and that you don't even know that this morning the 1st of all we praise God Praise Him not for what he's done for you but for who he is God thank You that your faith prays you that you're faithful that you're always right but you're never wrong praise you that you created the world the universe me in your image praise you for who you are your all powerful all knowing. You are God Most High and you know what happens when we start getting close to God we start realizing that we've still got a ways to go to be like God to be godly and so we have to confess sin and we confess it and we say God thank you for dying on the cross for my sins and I am I just come to you knowing that that this is what I did yesterday I spoke out of turn over here I did this over there be specific you want to specific blessing and healing be specific in your confession you want to general healing or blessing then just be gentle God forgive me for all my sins I don't remember what they are but I'm sure I did something wrong today I ask I suggest to you that you ask him what it is you did wrong that day and in an hour later if you're still awake enough to hear him you're right ask him forgiveness I hope you don't have that bad of a life but I'm just saying God has never failed me when I said Is there anything I did that offended you oh my and sometimes I have to write down a name of a person I got a call back the next day and say that I was out of turn I spoke in ways that maybe was not kind to you and I don't say maybe I did in my mind I did You may not have received it that way but you know what I was and sin will you forgive me for that it gives me a To Do list for the next day confess your sins and then thank him because I can't think of a better way to finish up that terrible time of how bad I am to say Thank You God for giving me and then thank you God that I have a family thank you God for my and just go over the things that you're thankful for if you run out of time you say why I have all so many things you think before well just say thank God for this subject in my life my family tomorrow think God that I live in a free country and all the things that affords me the opportunity to live the way I live Thank god tomorrow or the next day for and Eunice name whatever those are. And then pray for yourself yeah pray for me God help me God I I've got stuff going on God I've got a pain in my side God I've got things happening got I'm distracted by this over here or I'm not get along with so and so over there ARE GOD tell my what I know that's about your wife you know that's later God help me to be the husband I'm supposed to be then you pray about other people get yourself right 1st then talk to God about other people many talk about your wife to see what God says about that and then read the Bible that's when I say that's when I do the soap after I'm done cleaning up getting cleaned up in front of God thanking him get the right spirit right attitude now I'm ready to receive a word from God God what do you have to say about things and then when you're done you commit your life in a fresh way say God I'm going out in the trenches reporting for duty here I am Jesus I'm a soldier in the Lord's army Yes sir that's a little Bible strong that I learned when I was a kid just a suggestion if you've got another one you've been doing keep doing it but they don't have one say what is that you really like that I actually I do like that it's one of my favorite ways to get with God and the rhythm of my life has been in a journal about half the time sometimes it's just I've got that outline in my brain but for many times I had it written down so that I would have to go through it with the outline but now it's just the rhythm of my life and I'm going to tell you I'm OK today but I need God tomorrow more so than I need him today I'm not arrived and neither of you and I'm praising God for who I am now but I know who I'm not or still I have a long way to go here's a confession. When some of you say you pray daily for my kids I go. That I pray yesterday for my kids is that awful my the only parent in town the sun that some of your more faithful to pray for my kids sometimes and I I'm I'm ashamed to say that out loud but you know not ashamed in Christ he covered that sin but I'm working on that I hope you'll still let me be your pastor tomorrow I'm just saying I'm not there yet neither are you let's keep growing for God So let's live a godly life how are you going to make these habits a reality fellowship prayer Bible study how you can do it what are you going to do with what you've learned this morning if this isn't from God and you're all fine then yeah how lujah you did need today like I did but if maybe this morning you realize that this week out of 7 days of the week let's just give you 5 how many of you at least spent 3 of the 5 days not counting the weekends listening to the Word of God at least one time so why don't read very well I got a little Bible app called you version and it actually talks to you and reads the Bible how a lujah for those of you that say you can't read I hope all of those trade manuals and everything else that you have that you look at for work have the same thing since you can't read but did you need to read the Word of God or listen to the Word of God get in your life how you going to spend time with God's people were not Lone Ranger's they don't just dip our foot in the water and walk back out we need to jump in and have a swim with each other spiritually and get to know one another and grow and swap stories about what Gods do in our lives hang out connection groups are part of that Sunday mornings part of that. Let's get with God let's get with God's people what are you going to do this week that's different than last week that will make what we've talked about a reality in your life I want you to write that down what am I going to do different this week but I did not do last week so that I can start growing spiritually the way God wants me to stand our feet were going to say let's just say one more song together as the Body of Christ let's celebrate who he is let's celebrate our time together and let's let the the team just lead us in a way that will help us to just make good on what we know we need to do and what he's told us to do this morning Father God thank you for accepting me right where I am and thank you Heavenly Father for disciplining me and convicting me yes thank you for the gift of conviction and the gift of repentance that you don't have to give me but you choose to thanks for waking me up even when I don't want to wake up spiritually alone I pray that you'll help me to not just preach about this and tell other people what to do but lord may I be walking along with them on that journey to be stronger my own life but I commit myself in a fresh way to being more for you and to living more in the end to make good on the want to that you fixed in my life and to start living up to the things that I said I would do when I became a Christian so that you can start really growing me spiritually him so that I can really be a reflection of Jesus it said start a fire and me when we 1st started this time son this morning start a fire me we are the light we are the where the fire are the ones that other people can hear and know that Jesus you are the lord of lords and the King of Kings but God made the fire burn bright because we're choosing to walk close to you the fire and we're asking you to warm us up this morning in this week in a fresh way and I pray this and she.