The Marks of Maturity

By Pastor Greg Byman
June 3, 2018
St Joe Community Church

We all want maturity, but how do you know you're actually making progress? This week, Pastor Greg Byman takes a look at 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and Hebrews 10:24 to glean an understanding of how we might define maturity, and then take stock of how demonstrably experience it.

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But we are going to go through first US alone eons Chapter one Verse three we're going to look at first house alone in Chapter one Verse three and just as the band said if you want to take your focus off of me and look at the notes there on the back wall. But I think we're going to be fine with that that you don't have to look back you don't want to there's also a clock back there and I don't want you looking at that all the time. Yeah this is never right and I never. Look at it too long it crashes to the ground it did that one Sunday too didn't and so. Someday time will be no more. And every preacher will say amen and. That's wrong and it's wrong. Today's message I want to title it marks of maturity. Marks of maturity how we mark how we are mature there are many ways there are many apps avenues and I was thinking about a charge to our graduates and I was I was thinking about ways in which we as believers whether we're graduating from college high school graduating from a retirement graduating into a new decade of birthday life happy birthday gene. John wanted to make sure I said something even in his dying words of so he says he's like sick with the crowd he wanted to make sure that we yet Yeah so you can go home and thank him. Please give him some soup and don't poison it OK so. He loves you and so do we. Wherever we are in our life today is the first day of the rest of your life you've probably heard that said before today is the first day of the rest of your life today is the day when you can start over today is the day when you can begin again today is the day when you and I have opportunity. To move in a forward direction spiritually. And I don't care where you've been now care what you've done you are not chained to your past. God's grace is sufficient to handle whatever has been going on in your life in the past and he is sufficient to help you move through find the healing find the hope find the encouragement find the strength to move into the life that is called you to live in spite of what you chose to do against his will in the past. He has more plans and excitement for what he wants to do in and through you to bring himself glory than you could even imagine. This is not self-help hot. Happy talk and positive thinking I'm saying that God expects your growth and he has given you all the ingredients to grow He's given you himself. So that you know how to grow you have the power to grow and you have the grace to grow and it's given us a pathway to know what that growth means how many in your house have a growth chart that you have inadvertently started marking on some wall or some hallway door somewhere the growth of your children anybody have that you know we've we've hit missed on that a few times so as they start getting taller than me I quit. All kidding aside we all have to take measures and we measure things for the way they are we look at our plants now in the garden and we say is the plant are they getting taller or are they getting smaller Are they not growing at all we just planted some grass seed out here in the yard and every week I go and say Did it work. Is it getting better or is it going to get greener Is it going to get nicer because we've done that growth is something we're looking for everywhere and we're always looking for how things are maturing where whether it be an ant. Plants or whether it be our Are our paths and especially our children. Are they growing up and making wise choices outside of our presence are they doing things we want them to do even when we're not there to tell them to do it. When they do worse highly satisfied and when they don't we go all that's a mark of immaturity and we know that's not happening the way we would want it to happen. Well this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit given to us not just a letter to this church but was and Tesla and I could but given to all the churches for all ages for all time to come all time past is a letter that is actually very positive. Thessalonians were really doing well spiritually their maturity was evident and Paul wrote kind of with a cheery note not quite like he wrote collations that God inspired him to be a little more careful in his words kind of a little curt in the way he said things he was just a little tougher on them and he has in fact the first part of the letter in Galatians he kind of he didn't he can't right to the chase I am so upset that you've decided to do this I'm paraphrasing Betty but you can see like just the first paragraph the second paragraph into his letter he starts going after him and most of his letters he write something very positive and he said Write something very flowing and and God inspired him to do things a little more carefully and lovingly and what but in this is that example that God told the sessile and I can see through Paul that they were doing a good job that they were at they were the marks of maturity were evident in their lives and God was was was trying to was encouraging them through this letter so this encourage man is also a measuring stick for us to say are we living up to what God would expect of us as believers are we destroyed demonstrating that we are trusting in Jesus Christ and that we have the marks of maturity. And as you students go off into your new journey of life as you move into another school setting one setting might be as Christian as it can possibly be but I've discovered that you can find all kinds of wrong things in Christian settings and I've things I've seen that at living at Ball State myself you could find wrong things for sure there but you could also think find right things and right people to be around. And so it doesn't matter where you're going that's where you are and that's where Satan wants to attack and push you in Prague you into not living up to what. He has started God has started in your life and so I hope that you'll use these as markers thoughts of moving and growing in my faith not just today but in an ongoing life. For the Lord Jesus Christ I want to read this alone Ian's and let's again if you wouldn't mind this is just to honor the word of the Lord let's stand one more time and I was going to read. This first several verses in chapter one of first US alone eons. And I just start with verse one so we can kind of get a feel for this the way that God gave it to the church when it first came from from Paul to them. Paul's of Ennius intent at the two that these are the people that Paul was representing to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Grace to you and peace but I just think God for all of you remembering you constantly in our prayers we recall in the presence of our God and Father your work of faith labor of love and in durance of hope and our Lord Jesus Christ we're going to use that as our base text verse three but I'm going to continue knowing your election brothers loved by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance you know what kind of man we were among you for your benefit and you became imitators of us and of the Lord when in spite of severe persecution you welcome the message with the joy from the Holy Spirit as a result you became an example to all the believers of Macedonia K.-A for the Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and it but in every place that your faith in God has gone out so we don't need to say anything for they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had from you how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath. You may be seated. I want to see in verse three three marks of maturity. And if you're writing down these notes on the back of your bulletin I'm going to talk about the work of faith the labor of love and the endurance of hope the work of faith the work of fair. A. In verse nine Paul shows he demonstrates or he explains what he meant by that by saying you turned from idols to serve the living God. You turn from dead idols to turn to a living God who created you when someone has faith you know James that we've heard this said and I'll say to you that maybe not of work faith without works is dead if if there is not a demonstration that you have put your faith in Christ that you are not outwardly expressing what is in really taken place have you really do you really have faith repentance turning from of those things which are asking Jesus to save you from when you're feel guilty about something when you know that something is wrong and you don't repent and then you ask God to forgive you for it but you're unwilling to repent from it what are you saying. You're saying I want healing even as I'm destroying myself I want you to take care of the wounds that the sin is creating in my life but I don't want to stop the sin I enjoy being stabbed over and over again with this sin and I enjoy the the damage that it's occurring all around me all these people that are going to be affected by my sin but Jesus forgive me I'm wrong I'm wrong I know I'm wrong I'm just a dirty Center said by grace. And what Paul is saying is the demonstration the work of faith you actually showed the world that you were living for Christ when you turn from those dead idols and it was with severe persecution that you did it this wasn't something you did in the comfort of a great crusade down at the Coliseum when Billy Graham son can't grandson came or even when Billy Graham came or even when somebody came in and served in a big way and you came to the it wasn't even in a comfort of a church where nobody was going to arrest you for your faith that you just came and did this knowing they were doing this even in spite of the fact that when they did this they could have lost their jobs and may have they could have been said you are insurrectionist you don't you're not you're not toeing the party line in Rome we're Don't you know that the person in charge of us is has declared himself to be God and you're saying that he's dad and he is worth has no value for your salvation you're saying the very security of our nation is not good enough for you you've got to trust something I or that we don't even understand and we don't believe in anything you're saying you're crazy you're nuts you must be persecuted for that which I would say this is going to happen more and more and more of something does not happen in our nation. That more and more and more there are going to be good people. In the Lord Jesus Christ who are living their faith out carefully not trying to cause a ripple in terms of saying I'm trying to overthrow the government I'm in no way I'm trying to create some sort of a militant state against the United States I'm in no way trying to tell this university that they must. I'm just trying to live out my life for Jesus Christ and even that will be considered insurrection and wrong students have been persecuted in the classroom because they've written papers that have have come up against the politically correct way of thinking. Our lifestyle is not dictated by our feelings or by culture it's dictated by the Word of God and whatever we decide to say the word of God is more important than what the world has to say we're at odds with everything else that's going on around us that's alone Ian's knew that. And the marks of their maturity was they were choosing to stand in faith and repent of the things they had come from and to live for Almighty God I have no idea what that was but I pray that it made the point. That. All I got to say about that. And by not awake you are now he'd do that again Graham. Just signal it yeah OK now he has no idea. This work of faith begins with God's election in calling. You know we don't come to him unless he's calling us and he's calling us you know for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth him will not perish but have everlasting life he came to us and if you're sensing the warm call of God on your life to trust in Him That is God himself not me. Not this place not the warm fuzzy as you might be getting in the feeling of friendship around you God himself is calling you to himself to be saved by the faith in Jesus Christ and it continues on as you hear the Word of God where it says that Jesus died to pay for your sins and that you trust in Him alone to save you from your sense. And you repent you you say you admit to God I'm a sinner and I turn from that thing that was destroying my life and I'm wrong for that and I'm willing to trust you Jesus and put you in my life and let you be in authority over my life and as we repent the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us and enables us to do that which we never could have done had we not turned from the things that we turned from Jesus start to work on us. His grip doesn't slip and he's there to guide us and direct us towards himself in a fresh way through his power and his strength what we can never have done on our own he does for us and through us. And that work becomes evident as a mark of maturity in our life. But it goes on he goes on to say the labor of love. What he's saying about this this is the joyful attitude that they were expressing in spite of the persecution for our gospel do not come to you in word only but also empowered by the Holy Spirit with much of servants you know what kind of men we were among you. You became imitators verse six of us and in the Lord when in spite of severe persecution you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit verse six he's saying look there's something that happened in you you labored to love this way this isn't something that just that just will you know I love you and hope all works out this was an action this was a decision this was a deliberate dependence on the Holy Spirit to find joy to find peace to find strength to love in spite of the fact that they were in a hostile circumstance that was encouraging them not to love in that way Paul was a marked man and if you associated with that man you would be associated with somebody that the government was out to destroy and eventually as long as we believe history tells chopped off his head there are men and women in our culture today that are standing up for what is true right good and pure. And some of them have taken a hit for what they believe in they have lost their jobs politically and lost their jobs in high official positions in their Loftus is because they took a stand for what the Bible said instead of what the culture said and the body of Christ needs to say you know what are we going to stand up and be alongside of these individuals or yes they're all there marked man I don't know that I really want to be associated with them the labor of love says we persevere and love and we receive people who are trusting in God even in difficult times and we say we wrap our arms around them they are us and we are them I shared last week that things are going on in our city that are just. As some terrible things going on and I want to highlight one particular thing that we have an opportunity to join in and let other churches know we're with them in this struggle and battle right now. True love Baptist Church on a Saturday a week ago experienced a drive by shooting during a funeral how many saw that newspaper. Through a Baptist church as pastor by Dr Robert Bell he's a friend of mine. Dr Robert Bell at a pastor's luncheon explained to the entire crowd that it was that they don't know how and why but it wasn't the person at the funeral they weren't there they were the one they were moralizing it wasn't the family it wasn't him it was outside the church it was somebody walking by the church we don't know all the details but that one person it seems is probably the target not anybody in the church but it shot up the hearse had to go get a new hearse. That shot up the sign nobody was hurt praise God. Well when I heard that it was him and when I heard actually when I heard that it happened and then I figured out it was him and I was friends with him I said that's wrong and if somebody's shooting at his church they're shooting at our church. And we need to do something about that and I need to call a meeting or I need to call these pastors together and I just I just I said and who am I because I'm not a leader of these guys I'm not trying to even exalt myself in front of them I just said I think they just need to know that we care and that we stand with them in this journey of loving one another and loving this city in spite of the violence that's taking place in different pockets of the city. But guess what. Michael Griffin and many of you know Dr Michael Griffin pastor Griffin of Divine Providence Baptist Church he actually performed a wedding right here last Sunday afternoon they use our building on Tuesday nights he's a sister there a sister church of ours he had texted me a handful of weeks ago and said hey can we use your building on Monday night which is this coming Monday night to have a pastors United pastors gathering United pastors of Fort Wayne we have our per meeting and we have been three of them and we'd like to use st joe Community Church is building on Monday night while I was like I think so and I'd be fine Sure OK Oh by the way you guys are invited to what he does a lot of things this building and he always says you're invited to knowing think a thing about it I was it was super I can and usually it's something they're doing that we're not doing and we just kind of go are different ways but guess what Dr Robert bell's going to be here tomorrow night with his church family and all the other pastors that are an anxious about the situation situation are going to be here as well with their church families and I want to invite you to that if you know spur of the moment but Monday evening at six o'clock. But one o'clock I think it is six o'clock six to seven pm It's going to be right here in this building the very meaning that I thought Lord and God prompted me site Tuesday morning I'm praying and I'm reading through my scriptures and it just hit me I need to call him and let him know what that's not right what happened over there and we need to go alongside him and let him know that he's not alone in this city. And lo and behold God already planned it long before I have that angsty that he gave it to me and he put the meeting that I wanted to form right in this room and I want even the one that had to bring it together somebody else brought it together and I want to invite you all to join me as I come tomorrow night to let pastors across our city know that St Joe stands with them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for His glory and His glory alone that we might see this city know that we're not letting anything happen in this city to stop our love for one another and to stop the work that he wants to do in and through us for his namesake for the kingdom what this city needs is a big dose of revival this city needs a big dose of awakening revival is means that God's people need to get right with God. Starts in the house of God starts with us in this house and we've talked about that some in our elders meeting that we need to stay right and get right with God. Each church needs to deal with their own issues in their own sin and their own problems and we need to get right with God and when the when the city sees that God works through his church in that way I believe a great awakening can occur and when all those people that need Jesus get Jesus they'll have a place to go to that's ready to receive them. But if a bunch of people got saved right now is the Church ready to receive him are we right with God enough to receive those people that need Jesus. I'm just saying look the Lord stirring something big in our city right now and it is a labor of love it's a choice to love it's a choice to love across the city you may not even live in the neighborhood where most of the crime in the shootings are taking place I rest assure to you that if we don't understand and recognize and stand with those that are struggling with the violence in their lives there it's common to all of us. That's the end of my rabbit trail on that. But I believe lore is doing some pretty cool in our city right now and I believe the Lord wants is rising up people to address the issues and I pray that we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to know what it is and to follow his leadership as we move in a labor of love. We got to love each other in spite of circumstances. You know this right this practice is right down to loving one another in difficult circumstances in our relationships with one another. You know the easiest person to. Not love. And just to just forget about it is the people that are closest to you. Your spouses your kids and I think about how I try to speak truth and encouragement into all of these students but I had to think to myself Am I speaking truth and encourage it into my own kids at least as good as I'm doing other kids. Am I going home and treating my wife with high respect and loving care and my putting her needs ahead of mine just as much as I put your needs ahead of mine when I'm serving you as a pastor. I get a lot of attaboys when I do it here I get a lot of boys at home too but do we forget that sometimes. We got to do the labor of love that's a mark of maturity when we're choosing love even when it's hard and finally the last mark of maturity is the end Durance of hope the end Durance of hope verse ten. Basically saying you're looking forward to our final rescue from this world through our faith in Jesus Christ we're looking forward to our future resurrection we're keeping our eyes on eternity we're not focused on today's job although we do want to keep our jobs if we got one we're not focusing on our mortgage payments although we probably ought to keep paying them because the bank will come and take the house from us if we don't we aren't focused on this we're focused on eternity and that everything we do is in light of eternity it is for the sake of eternity our hope is in Christ and in the resurrection of our bodies from the dead that someday I say I want to rental casket I don't want something I'm going to keep forever because I'm not going to get it forever I don't want to say that everything I did died when I died that what I did matters for eternity and that is that I invested that God allowed me to invest in people and best in his word invest in things that mattered for eternity some of the greatest engineers some of the greatest scientists some of the greatest discoverers of things that we now take for granted to be truth that we know about in our world today were people who were driven by their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when the biggest prize was the past sure that what he. He meant discover penicillin. Heap he discovered a cure that for centuries since has changed lives but it was God working through him for him to see it through the creative I love God to see that God was the Creator of All Things and that God unlocked that thought for him and he was able to find that and be a blessing to the world students as you go off to study you're going to study some pretty cool stuff you're going to learn about some pretty cool things you're going to learn you know Joe was multivariable calculus I've never used that never will I do whatever that is get that word right but you know he's in some really interesting tough classes in colleges last past year God bless him. Better him than me but the only way that's going to make sense for anything in eternity is he says Lord I'm doing all this but what how do you want me to use it for your honor and for your glory What place is going to employ me where I know that's my platform to share Jesus with people around me. As I become a scientist as I go into biology as I go into therapy as I go into Mission work where is it and how is it that I'm to be a blessing to the Lord Jesus Christ so that I don't just carve out a great career that people say wow did you do a good job and you got a nice little nest egg for retirement but what you did mattered forever not just for a moment in time. Hour in durance of hope means that when we make decisions it's based on the fact that we know that this world is not our home. We just saying that didn't we Greg when you read you wrote that song we just sang and it was about the scars I'm careful here but it's about healing from the scars but knowing that the real healing comes and have been a real healing is when I go home and I'm just passing through this place this difficult place. And I know you had people in mind it was that that was the video we did isn't it where we were involved. That's the other one thank you and get them to mixed up but your heart beat has been for the wounded. And it comes through in so many of your songs. And it points us not to a temporary solution but the permanent release in heaven. That's the endurance of hope and someone that doesn't have that in their life that's an immature person walking on this earth but the more mature you become in the Lord the more you're aware of that what you're living for. Is for eternity not for the temporary but how do we mark out our work of faith labor of love and and Durrance of hope. Well here's some help I want to give you on the journey and then we're going to close this morning. First of all. God's Word is our guiding force God's word is our final authority for Faith and Practice and he's given us His word to stand for eternity pastor eternity come God's Word will last forever heaven on earth will pass away but my words will never pass away Jesus said and in second time at the three verses sixteen and seventeen the Bible says 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 fully equipped for every good work that second Timothy three sixteen and seventeen if you want to write that down I mean just how do you know that you're going to get these marks of maturity in your life how how do you make sure that faith love and hope are growing in your life. God's word enables us to know whether that's true. All Scripture is inspired by God not just some of it all of it. And there are two philosophies in this world that have always been true and will always be true you either put yourself under the authority of God's word and you let it speak to your life and correct you and whenever you disagree with the word you don't change the word you let the word change you or you put yourself over the Word of God and you decide and this isn't blasphemous it's just this way it is this is the book by the way and you say I will do what I want to do and I will press the word into making it say what I want to say to justify my lifestyle to justify my attitude to justify the way I live my life thank you very much they are archaic words misinformed and I don't believe that they apply to me today I think this word I like this word I don't like and I have a better understanding and intellectual way of knowing what to do with God's word than God's word has to do with the TELL ME WHAT TO DO Those are the two decisions that we have to make and I want you to know as my elders that work with me and as this church family and all of us my brothers and sisters in Christ I want to make sure that the Bible is always here. That God gave us His word. As the final authority for how I live my life and what I ought to believe and not believe and. Come What May with this culture come up May with with the with the then partners into nominations and any kind of mission work or missionaries or things that are gone around me as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and we're going to let God's Word be the Word of God instead of trying to change it to fit what is politically correct that's the debate that's going on in our culture right now and there is no middle ground to that. There is no middle ground you can't have it both ways you either believe God and you let him define and change our intellect or we say I'm going to change God's word with my intellect and I'll be an authority over it there is no middle ground and there will be no reconciliation between the two camps of people there never has been and there never will be and students as you go to college you just you know that's the facts and whatever side you go on you just know that that's the side you've gone on don't play games in your mind about whether or not you're doing it that's why I'm bringing this up. And I can just tell you going through a secular university for four years. How many times I was attacked on and on again it wasn't like I was I lost jobs and I didn't I didn't go to jail obviously not. But your belittled your put down you have a whole roomful of people in your class that just think you're an idiot because you believe in Jesus. I heard in my psychology class I was and I heard someone say Well you just can't love everybody you can only love the people that that you can love and you don't need to love everybody. And I just said. First of all I don't believe that. And second of all I know that's not true God's word says we're to love everybody and love is and I defined it more carefully than that I just said that's Ike and that the Lord just I finally had had enough and I said you're compartmentalizing your love and I feel sad for your inability to think through but it's really God's power and strength in me and my faith in Christ Jesus loves the world and he said he lives in me and I know that that power enables me to love the world even when it's on lovely and I said I just don't agree with that and a course. Jesus freak you know. And. It that's going to happen. It happened in one thousand. Eighty seven eighty eight eighty nine ninety one it happened way back when and it's going to happen in the future and it's happening now just be aware of it you don't have to be hostile towards it just be aware of it and know that God's got this when you trust him and he'll give you the words you need he gives us His word and he gives us his church. And Hebrews ten twenty four and let us not be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works not staying away from our meetings as some habits really do but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day drawing near That's in Hebrews ten twenty four twenty five and in Acts twenty two forty forty six as in every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex and broke bread from house to house that's why we believe there is a large gathering and small gathering there is large worship weekly worship regular worship there is so we have per meeting last night and you all come kind of a kind of an attitude of every It comes together but then we have connection groups where we connect together and we form groups so that we can build relationships with one of those so that we can grow in our fate. Together in the Lord Jesus Christ he uses Word and he uses his church and then he also uses certain people in our lives and what do you mean by certain people and I want to say that there are people we can come into this large gathering but who also following God follow people who follow God even in your small group some people are struggling to follow God get along silent courage him but find that one or two person people that are really following God and get alongside of them and encourage be encouraged by their lives because in Proverbs I want to go through some proverbs real quick again if you have the power point you have seen some of these you didn't. Put these on the website and you'll be able to see them were done in Proverbs eleven verse fourteen the Bible says without guidance people fall but with many counsellors there is deliverance and proverbs fifteen verse twenty two fifteen verse twenty two plans fail when there is no counsel but with many advisors they succeed and in Proverbs twenty four five and six more carefully directed towards those that are going into battle and believe it or not every one of us today as we leave this place are going into spiritual battle listen to the Word of God A wise warrior is better than a strong one and a man of knowledge than one of strength for you should wage war with sound guidance victory comes with many counselors you want to be victorious in your spiritual life good people around you that love God love the Word of God and are living for the God and living out the principles of the Word of God put them in your life get them around you help them guide you make them your chief adviser's ask for help and counsel women you need to find some ladies in your life man you need to find some men in your life you need to find some people around you that will encourage you help you admonish you and hold you accountable for your life people that are examples in word and action people who hold you accountable to what you do who will be encouraging to you when you're struggling and will support you in your time of need. Young people find some people find that church home find those people that will surround you with the counsel that you need to make wise decisions don't think you know it all. And men and women my age and older don't think you know it all some of the worst flat tires blowouts train wrecks you call it happens at middle age that I just say I was middle age some of the worst things happen in a man's life when they're about my age between forty five and fifty five. And sometimes I think people that are living for God and spiritually strong and trying to grow towards God in a fresh way that Satan is doing everything he can to take them out so that their later years beyond the fifties and into their sixty's seventy's eighty's and maybe the ninety's at the Lord gives them that but they won't be as influential as wise counselors to the young men it just I'm just seeing it I'm seeing it denominational in our church history I see it happening around me I see it in our city I just heard of a guy who's little bit older and I am passionate church was doing a good job he's selling insurance now I'm not throwing a rock at that guy I'm just telling you it's a tough time to live for Jesus and you say I don't I don't know that I grew Al you just try to live for Geez this week see what happens and I'm not trying to throw something at you to say that you're should be scared because I'm not asking I'm not telling you that I'm just saying put people around you that will help you move in a direction that you know God wants you to move. And if you're wavering about that put people around you to pray for you so that you'll be able to figure it out he said Pastor I don't even know if I understand what God's word completely myself I'm not I'm still trying to figure out if I believe in the Word of God put people around you that will pray for you and encourage you not talk you into anything and by all means don't ever think I'm trying to talk anything because anything I talk into some of the talk out of and I'm not nearly as smart and wise as some of the people out there that are trying to talk us out of living for Jesus I love being as ignorant as I am because it makes Jesus even more powerful looking through me. The reality is we've got to put people in our life we've got to put the word of God in our life we've got to let the family of God envelop us sit when you're about to put the marquee charity in your life the question right now I want to ask you. Is where you at where you at in your height for Jesus. How far has God grown you. I mean ask how old you are. Especially women and ask me how. I'm asking you how old are you spiritually. How much of you let Jesus come in your life and start working on moving in your life how much of Hugh surrendered to what God wants for you in your life. How much are you just in it because. Feels good. And that that seems like a safer club to belong to than other clubs in town are you serious about living the way Jesus wants you to live. Where you now. And as you move forward where are you planning to be I pray that your marks of maturity will be evident as you grow older and your faith in Jesus Christ. And as people look back on your life to the glory of God They will say we see that God is working in you and you have mature as a man or a woman of God. A lot I look forward to how God's going to work in and through you Sydney I look forward to how God is going to work in through you Grant I look forward to how God is going to work in through you and for those that aren't here Stephen I look forward to how that young man is going to live for God wherever he goes and however he serves. David and Jamie they're going to be with us for a while serving on our staff as youth leaders I look forward to how God is going to work in David and Jamie's life the marks of maturity that will be encouraging to my own kids and to our students and to Northside high school and to the surrounding community that there are young people that want to live for Jesus Christ to the glory of God.