Growing Into a Full Experience of Salvation - Steve Henry

1 (2s): Morning, 2 (4s): Welcome to harvest courage. Let's all stand together for Lord. We invite you here. Lord. Be with us. Lord. We commit this time to you honor and worship you. Jesus. 1 (42s): We, 0 (1m 23s): You do not 1 (1m 53s): The, I hope our, you can't the, you give, give hope you restore every that's shop in, in our, so we pour 0 (5m 9s): Pour out 1 (5m 11s): Your, in our 0 (5m 14s): Love. 1 (5m 16s): So we pour to you, you. 1 (6m 17s): So we put 0 (6m 20s): To 1 (6m 22s): It's pours. So all the earth will, our hearts will cry. 1 (7m 11s): These bones will sing. 0 (8m 4s): It's 3 (9m 26s): Praise God, creatures the praise. 3 (10m 21s): Now God praise, praise. 0 (11m 22s): Praise 3 (11m 23s): Him. Soul 0 (11m 31s): Praise, 3 (11m 34s): Praise the all our God. Praise God. Praise, praise the praise. The spirit praise brave God. 3 (12m 27s): One, the one who died. Big jewelry. Now for the, the, where the spirit now with 0 (13m 17s): Us 3 (13m 21s): All our days, God, praise God. Praise, praise you. Praise you. Praise spirit now. And our days, God praise God, praise God, praise God, praise, praise God, praise, blessing. 3 (14m 35s): Praise him, heavenly son 0 (14m 50s): And holy 5 (15m 25s): Feel free. 4 (15m 46s): Lord. We just thank you, Lord that you stood before pilot Lord silent for us not speaking so that we might be given a voice to speak. Lord, Lord, you lay down your life that we might have life. You empty yourself that we might be filled. 0 (16m 11s): Yes. 4 (16m 13s): Thank you Lord, for your sacrifice. So now I will say this Lord, as the word says, let the poor say I am rich. Let the blind say I can see. Let the weak say I 1 (17m 58s): About history. The, the spring in season from I'm standing. I, I see the, you 0 (19m 17s): Always 1 (19m 40s): All over because of you. 1 (20m 21s): The 0 (20m 48s): I, yes. 0 (21m 51s): Dance is here. 7 (22m 2s): Thank you, Lord. That your, your goodness is abounding Lord. Yes, but that we witness the evidence of your goodness every every day. Lord, thank you for the evidence of your presence right now. Lord, I think the evidence of your word written to us, Lord, thank you for the evidence of the fellowship of the brother and the saints. Lord your people. Lord, your body and action, Lord God. 0 (22m 31s): Thank 7 (22m 31s): You for this morning, Lord Jesus. Name me. Pray. Amen. Well, good morning, everyone. Take a seat. I'm gonna welcome up breaker, cuz breaker's gonna be helping with announcements. Welcome. Welcome. Brager forgot 8 (22m 46s): To give you my microphone earlier. 7 (22m 48s): Well you did just, you disappeared. I was right. 8 (22m 51s): I was right 7 (22m 51s): Back there. Okay. All right. Here's back there. Well, good morning and welcome everyone. Welcome to harvest church. My name's Jeremy. I'm the youth and family pastor. And this is 8 (22m 59s): I'm burger Wade. The more handsome Curtis as we designated last week, 7 (23m 5s): He's he's gonna call you on that when he gets back, which is this week. So watch out Well, Hey, so glad to see you guys. You know, each week I seem to see new faces or faces. I haven't said hello to or met. We, we like, we wanna know if you're here and if you're joining us. So we'd love if you made your way back to the info center. If you're, if you're, if you're like, this is my home church, we wanna be able to put you on a newsletter. Keep communicating with you, find out more about you. So the info center's the best place. Fill out a communication card so we can know a little bit more about you and get you plugged in as well as you there's other options. You can go online. You can hit the connect through our website and there's even an app. 7 (23m 45s): We have an app. Do you have the app on your phone? 8 (23m 48s): No. Oh 7 (23m 49s): No. He's he's gonna do that in between services. Not right now. Your phone should be off, but we're after this, you're gonna, 8 (23m 55s): Okay. I'll do that. 7 (23m 56s): What else is happening? Greger? 8 (23m 57s): Also, we have our fall life groups kicking off the September. So we've already started our college group that has started off. Great. But we also have men's women's couples groups. We've got home groups. We've got groups for pretty much everyone. If you wanna join one, we have all the information back on the info center. Very helpful. And also we have M six coming up on September 12th, but to it'll be a special M six because it will be an M and w six for the men and wives. 7 (24m 27s): Yes, men and wives. And that's when? September 12th, 8 (24m 30s): September 12th. Okay. 7 (24m 32s): 6 30, 6 36, 6, 6, 6 M six, M six, M six starts at six. Yes. I should remember that starts at six and there's a great dinner. It is a, it is a fundraiser. So they're trying to raise support. It'll go towards the dinners that they have each, each year or each, each month as well as 17 strong, I believe. Yes. Another. So there's a fundraiser. It's $150 per couple. So with that, I think that's the last of our announcements, right? That is. So we're gonna practice a mingle time right now. We're about ready to release you to mingle time. Breer my name's Jeremy. My name's Greger. Oh, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Breer what's your, how long have you come to church here? 8 (25m 14s): Three years. Three years. Okay. I think two years, actually. What's 7 (25m 17s): Your favorite verse? 8 (25m 18s): My favorite 7 (25m 18s): Verse. Yes. On the spot. This was not 8 (25m 20s): Practice Ecclesiastes. Nine 11. 7 (25m 22s): Okay. And 8 (25m 24s): Oh, I'll have to think about it for 7 (25m 27s): A second please. Yes. Nine 11. Okay. Thanks. All right. Well say, say hello to someone around you and we're so glad you're here. God bless. 0 (25m 45s): Hello. Oh God, God will. 0 (26m 36s): God, God up. 9 (27m 22s): Yes, my God. It it 3 (27m 36s): Right 0 (27m 36s): Now. 3 (27m 40s): He's working right 0 (27m 42s): Now. 3 (27m 45s): He's working right 0 (27m 47s): Now. 3 (27m 50s): He's working right 0 (27m 52s): Now. 3 (27m 55s): He's working right 0 (27m 57s): Now. 3 (28m 0s): He's working right 0 (28m 2s): Now. 3 (28m 4s): I know it. I know it. He's working right now. I believe his 0 (28m 12s): God 9 (28m 13s): Is working now. 0 (28m 28s): Oh God is working. 9 (28m 31s): Come on. Just 3 (28m 32s): Sing it one more time. Sing it out. 0 (28m 34s): God 9 (28m 36s): Is working 0 (28m 37s): Now. 10 (28m 39s): Alrighty, come on back. Come on back. Did everybody get communion elements? Did everybody get some elements? These are our COVID friendly elements. So if raise your hand, if you didn't get those. Cause I think they're going around with them right now. Where's dab. Does she take off? Oh, Paul's got 'em in the back. Raise your hand really high. If you, if you didn't get your elements, cause we're gonna be taking communion today. Sherry's got those as well. Welcome. Welcome, welcome 11 (29m 13s): Gasket sealer and a gasket. Hmm. The gasket sealer and a gasket with it. 10 (29m 19s): Gasket, sealer and gasket. It's not a gasket sealer and gasket. Doug. It's very, very much the, the, the elements that we will take hecklers in the crowd. I love it. It does kind of taste like a gasket. So when you take the elements, you want to get some saliva ready and cuz you really, it will get stuck otherwise. So Hey, we're gonna be in first Peter chapter two verse, we're only gonna cover three verses today. First Peter chapter two versus one through three, we're talking about growing into a full experience of salvation and you know, this really touches deeply the DNA of who we are as believers. 10 (30m 11s): What, what are we counting on as believers? I've been thinking about this a little bit differently this morning, even since I wrote the message these last few days. I mean thinking about, cause I I've been feeling like, okay, there's a block spiritually. Have you ever felt like man, there's just something blocking my, my fellowship with the Lord. I, I grabbed a chair and sat in the closet over here as, and I just had my head down as I'm just thinking, okay, what is happening, Lord? Just trying to figure out what was blocking it. It didn't really occur to me until I was worshiping. And then, then the Lord highlighted a conversation that I had with another pastor in town, I don't know, a week or so ago we were talking about church stuff and, and I, I made a comment that was arrogant and I didn't even really think about it at the time. 10 (31m 1s): Although I, it kind of grabbed me a little bit, like maybe I should shouldn't have said that, you know, when you say something and you think I probably didn't need to say that, but I said something that was kind of arrogant and about what about the church or something like that. And, and as I was worshiping this morning, it occurred to me that, so I, as I thought about what I said, I thought, why did I say it? Why did I need to say that to this person? What was happening in inside of me? I thought, you know, there's something in me that is validated by what I do. And I think that's maybe true for all of us and that's okay to be fine fulfillment in what we do as believers when we're doing ministry and that sort of thing. 10 (31m 47s): But what we really, I, I think the more fulfilling and a mature way to think about who we are in Christ is that I am complete in him because of what he's done, not because of what I have done now, what we do as we're empowered and given spiritual gifts to use within those are all very important things. But I don't think we can attach our value to those things. Years ago, I heard a buddy of mine say, who was a Christian leader? He said, you know, I feel like I could walk away from all of this and just be totally fine. And he was a Christian actor on, on big screen. And that sort of thing. He said, I could, I could just walk cuz I don't find my value in that. 10 (32m 28s): I thought, oh, that's an interesting thought. I never really thought about that. Last year, a friend of mine who was pastoring in the north county AF after like 35 or 40 years, he resigned and somebody asked him, was it hard for you to walk away from this ministry that you've been leading for 35 or 40 years? And he said, no, I never really felt like I owned it or that it was mine. I just felt like I was here for a season. And so he was able to walk away from it and not have it impact his sense of self worth. It didn't matter to him because his self worth was founding Christ in Christ alone. 10 (33m 9s): So sometimes we find ourself worth in external things that can really trip us up in hinder us. So I know I'm here for a season, but when I walk away, I, I don't want my self worth to be impacted. I wanted to know that my self worth is solely found in Jesus. Amen. In Jesus. You know, that, that has very little to do with what I'm doing, although that those are all important things. God's, you know, we talk about this all the time that God has called us and equipped us for such a time as this, that he's given us gifts to be used within the kingdom of God, to expand the kingdom, to glorify God, to point people to him. And so those are all wonderful things, but at the end of the day, our value should be found solely in Jesus. 10 (33m 51s): And so if something happens and we're no longer able to do the things that we've always been doing for Jesus, we're still in Jesus and experiencing intimacy with him and closeness with him because that's the proper foundation that we just build our lives on Jesus. So as we talk about growing into a full experience of salvation, we gotta start there. The very basics that we find our life in Jesus and in him alone, sometimes we get saved and we get real busy. We start doing all kinds of stuff and that becomes the substitute, but we need to just find our full experience of salvation in Christ and live out of that and be obedient out of that. 10 (34m 38s): Sometimes we're doing the stuff that we're doing to please people or to look good or to whatever the foundation of growing in a full, into a full experience of salvation begins with just you and Jesus. What did Jesus save you out of? What did Jesus rescue you from? What has Jesus done to give you new life? We're gonna be celebrating communion today, remembering what Jesus did 2000 years ago, so that we could experience have a full experience of salvation maybe to put it in simple term. But what, what does that mean to have a full experience of salvation? Well, if you ever been to an amusement park, most of us had been to an amusement park. I remember when I was just a little guy, my mom took me to an amusement park magic mountain. 10 (35m 24s): We went to magic mountain and I don't know if you're older. I don't even know if they still have the rev is the magic mountain still even open anyway, the revolution, remember that ride that takes you upside down. So I was scared to death of that ride. I was like, I I'll go on pretty much even the Colossus. I was fine with the Colossus, but the revolution. No thanks. So my mom just kind of talks me into it. She's like, Hey, you're gonna be okay and you're gonna be fine. And so we get on the revolution and I'm scared to death, but we do it and I get off and I'm like, can we do it again? You know, like it was so much fun sometimes. I think we're afraid to have a full experience of salvation because we've never done it before. 10 (36m 5s): We don't know what to expect. We're not sure how it will turn out. But when we decide to do it, throwing caution to the win, we decide just to go for it in Christ and just have fun with Jesus doing what he's called us to do, living the way that he's called us to live. We can't get enough of it. There's something powerful about it. It's like, can you imagine going to the grand canyon and never really stopping to look at the grand canyon? I mean, imagine driving by and so somebody can ask will ask you, Hey, I've been, have you been to the grand canyon? You're like, yeah, I've been to the grand canyon, but you haven't really been to the grand canyon because all you've done is drive by you. Haven't been to the grand canyon until you're looking over the edge into the vast beauty of the grand canyon until you've hiked in the grand canyon until you've suffered along those many miles of trails and trying to climb back out. 10 (36m 57s): I mean, you haven't really had the full experience until you've had the full experience. And so you can say, yeah, I've been to the grand canyon, but you haven't really experienced the grand canyon. Some of us say that, Hey, we're, I'm a Christian, but we haven't really experienced the fullness of what it means, the full experience of salvation. And so today we're gonna be talking about the full growing into a full experience of salvation. Cause I, I think some of us are just kind of scratching the surface. I'm a Christian, but you know, somebody asked what faith, most Americans, even now we'll say I'm a Christian, but do most Christians really know what that means? 10 (37m 38s): Are we having as a nation, a full experience of salvation, let's just see what Peter has to say about it. Because Peter he's lived his life with, in a full expression of salvation. He understood what it meant to follow Jesus when things were good, Jesus is working miracles and doing supernatural things, but he also understands what it means when Jesus is arrested and crucified and buried. And in that moment of a crisis of faith, he's trying to figure out what does it mean? And then God gets a hold of his heart and truth is revealed to him. And then after the resurrection Peters filled with the holy spirit and he preaches to the multitudes and his life has forever changed. 10 (38m 22s): He is, he's a leader in the early church. He writes these books for us, these letters to us so that we might understand what a full expression of our faith is really all about full experience of our salvation is all about. So first Peter chapter two versus one through three, the first word in this first verse is the word. So, so why, so why does Peter begin with this word? So maybe your Bible says, so then, or therefore, or where for, why does Peter begin this verse, this chapter with this word Peter's about to give he he's beginning with this word, because he's about to give some pretty straightforward instruction and he wants us to reflect on what he's already said. 10 (39m 17s): So therefore, therefore, so because reflecting, reminding us of what he's already said all through chapter one, he's prepared us for chapter two, by writing chapter one, Peter's asking us, he's challenging us. He's leading us down the path of sanctification, this path of sanctification, what he calls a full experience of salvation. So the salvation is wonderful in that we've got new life in Jesus, but it's just the beginning of a new life that God has given to us. We're given salvation, but we're then called and filled and equipped to do wonderful and supernatural things. 10 (40m 2s): But then also live out the course of our lives, through all of the ups and downs, the Hills and valleys through all of the challenges and victories we're called to trust Jesus. And so if we don't have that full experience of salvation, then we're gonna waffle, we're gonna backslide. We're gonna slip back. We're into our old ways and we're gonna miss out on the very best that God has for. So Peter's asking us, he's challenging us. He's leading us out of his own experience. Like I've watched myself. Peter could say, I've watched myself vacillate and waffle and backslide because of a lack of the full experience. But then as the holy spirit works on on him and sanctification takes place and over the course of his life, wonderful and supernatural things, Peter's at the end of his life here. 10 (40m 48s): And he's writing to the church. He's writing to us to encourage us. I, I love that this is what we read about Peter. This is what Peter wrote at the end of his life. When you're getting to the end of your life, you, you get very serious about all kinds of things you begin to think differently about your life and how to finish well. And Peter wanted to finish well. So he's asking us, challenging us, leading us down the path of sanctification, a full experience of salvation. So with all of that, are we having a full experience of salvation? I mean, does God like have our attention 24 7 or does he just have our attention on Sunday morning or when we take five minutes to crack the Bible, what are we having a full experience or are we having kind of a spotty kind of, you know, you know, just kind of weird experience with God. 10 (41m 44s): That's not the full experience. The apostle Paul describes this experience this way. This is kind of what he would would prescribe for us. Ephesians 4 23 and 24 says instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. This is the process of sanctification, the steps toward full experience of what it means to be saved. And so let your spirit renew your thoughts, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes put on your new nature created by to be like God, truly righteous. And holy, I love what he wrote in Ephesians four 30. 10 (42m 27s): He said, and do not bring sorrow to God's holy spirit, by the way you live. Wow. Do not bring sorrow to God's holy spirit, by the way that you live. So God is calling us, he's raising the bar in our lives saying, Hey, the I've got more for you out of this intimacy that I desire to have with you. Remember he has identified you as his own. So that's who you are. He has put a seal on you, his seal on you guaranteeing that you'll be saved on that day of redemption. So what's the, so therefore what is the, so therefore I'm actually gonna give you 16 reasons for the so, and it's all found in first Peter chapter one. 10 (43m 11s): So actually Peter is gonna give you a 16 reasons actually to be perfectly clear, the holy spirit who's inspired. This word is gonna give you 16 reasons for the, so why is the, so there we have to take serious what the word of God says. Sometimes we might just gloss over the, so what, I don't know why it's there. If you go back and look at the context of the word of God, then we begin to understand why the, so is there. So all from first Peter chapter one. So because you are, God's chosen people and all, all I did was go through chapter one and just make notes of all of the reasons that were called into this full experience of salvation, because you're, God's chosen people. 10 (43m 57s): Number one, number two, because the heavenly father knew you and chose you. Number three, because his spirit has made you holy number four, because you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Number five, because you've been born again, number six, because we live with great expectation in Christ. We, we should live with great expectation. Why? Because we serve a great God with great power and great capacity and, and great there's great possibilities for us in Christ Jesus, because we live with great expectation because we have a priceless inheritance with the Lord because God is protecting you by his power. 10 (44m 41s): Speaking of his connection to you and his, his plan to watch over you and his purpose in using you in the earth, got us protecting you by his power because there's wonderful. Joy ahead. So because of these reasons, now Peter goes on to say, even though you have to endure many trials. So we talk about the joy that is ahead. He also understands that the many trials, but he says these trials will show that your faith is genuine. So praise God for the trials. Like we don't pray for trials. Like if you're foolish, you'd pray for trials. But if you're wise, you don't pray for trials. You just know that they're coming. 10 (45m 21s): But when the trials come, we begin to understand that they prove the genuineness of our faith when we're able to hold firm and still believe and not give up to continue to trust and to continue to move forward as a follower of the Lord. Jesus, there's joy. Great joy ahead. In spite of the trials, the trials should be seen as part of God's plan to enrich your life and to strengthen you and to give you the full experience of salvation. Because if, if trials derail your faith, then you're not having the full experience of salvation. There's a deeper work that needs to be taking place in your life. 10 (46m 1s): What else? What your faith is more precious than mere gold? Oh, this is in first Peter chapter one. You love him, even though you've never seen him. So speaking of our faith, we love God, even though we've never anybody ever seen God, we love him. Even though we've never seen him though, you do not see him. Now, you trust him. The reward of, for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. Number 14, because you have placed your faith and hope in God. Number 15, because you are cleansed from your sins. Number 16 because your new life will last forever. So that's the, so because of all of this truth, that Peter records in chapter one, because of this reason we can press on and have the full experience of salvation. 10 (46m 53s): So these 16 reasons are why Peter began with the word. So because of all of these reasons, Peter challenges, the believers, because of everything that he wrote in chapter one, we can have confidence and move forward as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So we have 16 reasons listed in one chapter covering 25 verses. So there's a, a lot crammed into, I'm trying to make a point. There's a lot crammed into one little ver chapter and with 25 verses, there's a lot of chapters in the Bible there's hundred and 89 chapters in the Bible. 10 (47m 34s): So a lot has been crammed into this one chapter, all of the reasons that we should need, but then if, if we were to go through and unpack all of the scripture, like read all of the old and the new Testament, we'd find, I don't know, maybe hundreds of reasons to press in and to have a full experience of salvation to, to want to be fully sanctified as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when this one chapter there's 25 verses throughout the whole context of scripture, there's actually, I wrote it down here, 31,102 verses with 23,000, 145 verses in the old Testament and 29, 2,957 in the new Testament. 10 (48m 23s): You know, there's like over three quarters of a million words in the Bible, over 783,000 words in the Bible. There's a lot there for us. And we find all of these. We find 16 reasons to, to have a full experience of salvation in just one small chapter in one small book of the Bible, all that to just kind of hopefully encourage you to open it up. The word is full of promises and truth that will help us and will educate us and encourage us as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So let's take a look of what it means, kind of experiencing the full experience of salvation. 10 (49m 10s): Growing into a full experience of salvation requires actually commitment. Like, first of all, you, you, you get saved by grace through faith, but then you just need to open up the word and do maybe what I did today. Just really look at it and really evaluate it and really take it in and really soak it up and see what God will do. So let's take a look at what part of this commitment looks like. We see it in verse one. So there's the, so, so why is this? So there go back and reach one. So get rid of all evil behavior, ah, be done with all deceits, hypocrisy, jealousy and all unkind speech. Who's Peter talking to the church then, and now he's talking to us. 10 (49m 57s): Why? Because we obviously have a problem here. There's obviously something going on within the body of Christ that needs to be addressed. So he said, get rid of it. In first, Peter, two, one in the contemporary English version, it says, stop being hateful. I just stop being hateful, quit trying to fool people and start being sincere. Don't be jealous or say cruel things about others. What, what do we, we do with that? How, I mean, how do we understand what we're to do? Well, first of all, we need to understand what those words mean. 10 (50m 38s): One of the main principles in hermeneutics, which is a study of the general principles of Bible interpretation, is that we need to understand what words mean. I mean, does that make sense? Like if we're gonna understand any given text, especially the Bible, we need to understand what words mean. We need to understand a little bit about Bible interpretation. So the first thing we need to know is what do these words mean? So I would encourage you to get a Greek and English or Hebrew English lexicon. Lexicon is basically just like a dictionary for Bible study. So get it, or, or you can get on blue, how many use blue letter Bible, it's a great resource. 10 (51m 24s): It's a free resource and you can get on there. And the blue letter Bible will help you define words, figure out what the Greek or the Hebrew meaning is. It will help you understand what the Bible's saying when we read the Bible. So as we read the scripture, the old Testament was mainly written to a Hebrew audience. And so there's Hebrew information and understanding that we need to have, that we can get from these study resources. Now they, new Testament was mainly written to a Graco Roman culture. And so our cultures are different than the Hebrew and the Graco Roman culture. And so we need to have some understanding, you know, most English translations are very thorough and if we read what they write, we can usually take it to the bank, but to get some greater understanding about what we're reading, it's helpful just to do some more digging. 10 (52m 13s): So if you're trying to understand what a word means within the Bible, it's helpful to just read other translations. And so, you know, we, I typically read out of the new living translation, but if I'm struggling with what a word means, I'm be able to look at the king James or the NASB or theb and see how those translators translated that word so that I can fully understand what the writer is saying, because it doesn't really help us if we don't understand. And so how do we understand? We just begin to employ these Herman tactics so that we can understand what the scripture is all about. So the first rule of Bible interpretation is the rule of definition. What does the word mean? 10 (52m 53s): I think it makes total sense. What does the word mean? So let's check it out and see what the word means. So get rid of all evil behavior, be done with all deceit hypocrisy, jealousy and unkind speech. So what I did is I just simply opened up the blue letter Bible, write that down because it's very helpful in your Bible study, blue letter and Bible, and the first kind of word there is evil behavior. Get rid of all evil behavior. 10 (53m 35s): The king James version says this way, where for laying aside all malice and all Gail and hypocrisy, the word for evil behavior in the king James version is malice. And as you dig deeper, you can see that it means evil and wickedness. And so there's malice, there's evil and wickedness being communicated in being it's happening within the body of Christ. And so in acts 8 22, we see that same Greek word being used here. And it says repent. Therefore of this like wickedness, that Greek word for malice is, or evil behavior is wickedness. 10 (54m 18s): It's malice it's. So what is God telling us to do? We said, get rid of all of that wickedness, evil behavior, malice, wickedness. What? So we look at our lives and say, what Lord is there anything in my life that's wicked. You can only answer that. You gotta listen. If we're not availing ourselves to the truth of the word of God, then we're not fully experiencing salvation. The way that God, we're not having the full experience of salvation, we're not being sanctified the way that God would have us be sanctified. So if we're looking at so way to look at the word is like a mirror. So you read it and you say, I'm reading about wickedness, malice, all this kind of stuff. 10 (54m 58s): Is there wickedness in my life. I keep dealing with couples who are dealing with hard things in infidelity, lying. Boy, the list goes on and on and on. I think how can people sit in the church and be dealing with, you know, be allowing these kinds of things in their lives, addictions and infidelity and lying and cheating and stealing. And it's because we haven't taken serious. The word of God to eliminate from our lives, all wickedness. We, we just kind of give ourselves a pass or something. I don't know, but we're not paying attention to the scripture. 10 (55m 42s): Cuz the full experience of salvation requires that we do some house cleaning that we get rid of some junk out of our lives that we do it quickly, that we have short accounts with the Lord. And so if you've got addictions or inappropriate relationships, those things just have to stop by God's grace evil behavior. What about the word deceit? That word means Gil subtlety, secretly craft or craftiness in mark 14 one in the king James version for context. So we understand what's being said here. It says this after two days was the feast of the Passover and of unle bread and the chief priest and the scribe sought how he might sought how they might take him by craft and put him to death. 10 (56m 36s): So they're the religious leaders of the day are trying to figure out how to trick with trickery, get Jesus, get him arrested and have them crucified and put to death. So deceit, Gail trickery subtlety, there it's a manipulation. It's it's just an unhealthy way of living life. And so Peter says, get rid of it all deceit and Gail, then they use the word hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is actually the word used for a stage actor, someone who's on a platform, pretending, acting out a role. 10 (57m 21s): It's someone who is looking like one person, but is actually not that person. We, we do that in church. All the, we do that really well in church. Like we show up like, Hey, everything's good, everything's good. Everything's great. It's not great. It's not great for everyone. And so not that we need to share all of our junk with everybody, but we need to share some of our junk with somebody. We need to get it out to somebody who's safe and we'll pray and walk you through with good godly counsel. But there's hypocrisy going on in, in Matthew 23, 28 and the king James version that says, so you also hourly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 10 (58m 12s): Whew. So Jesus called the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. He called them whitewashed tombs with dead men's bones inside. Why did Jesus say that? Cuz he's mean no, because he knew of their hypocrisy. They looked good on the outside. They were all whitewashed and looking pretty, but dead men inside. So Jesus called out their hypocrisy to bring about conviction, but also to bring about life change. And so when the scripture or when a preacher, when somebody calls out your hypocrisy or our hypocrisy, we need to be humble and say, yeah, you're absolutely right. I've been play acting. I've been pretending. 10 (58m 53s): It's just not the way to, to live our lives. God has called us into a full experience of salvation. Whereby we are changed through the process of sanctification where God has an opportunity to manage our lives into change our lives. Then there's the word jealousy and could be, could be the word Envys could be used. And we see this in mark 15, 10 for he knew that the chief priest had delivered him for envy. The chief priest had delivered Jesus because they were jealous of him, jealous of his influence, jealous that he was drawing people away from them. 10 (59m 38s): And so out of envy, they did what they did delivering him to be crucified. So jealousy and Envy's we, we need to not allow these things to take up space in our head, in our hearts. And then there's unkind speech or evil speakings. Second Corinthians 1220 in the king. James says this for I fear Le when I come, I shall not find you such as I would in that. I shall be found unto you, such as you would not. This is why I don't read the king James version anymore. 10 (1h 0m 20s): Like so in my earlier days, that's all I had was a king James version Bible. I had a big old dates, king James version Bible, and I really knew how to read it, but I haven't really read the king James much like devotionally or in study for a long time. So I don't, it's old king James. We, we, we don't speak old king James, unless there be debates Envys rafts stripes, stripes. And, and then he uses the word instead of unkind speech or evil speaking. Use the words backstabbing or back. Bitings interesting back bitings does that happen within the church? 10 (1h 1m 4s): I don't know. Apparently it does. I mean, Peter, who was a leader in their first century church, he, he knew something, something was obviously happening and he's addressing it. There was backbiting in the early church. Is that healthy for the church? Is that healthy for a new relationship? And it's just poison, right? It's completely unhealthy. And so Peter's addressing it. Why? Because he wants the church healthy. He's addressing it because he wants the people within the church, healthy. He wants our relationships to be healthy. He wants us to be unified committed to the purposes of God, focused on doing what God has called us to do. We can't be doing all of those things if indeed there's this type of behavior within the church. 10 (1h 1m 46s): If her back biting and mean spirit and complaining and doing all of those things. So how do we, how do we move from move away from all of this? You say, man, I've, this has just been the way I've always dealt with things. I've always been a complainer, a back biter of gossip. I've always been a hypocrite. How do you get away from all that kind of stuff? Well, that's the full experience of salvation that we're talking about. It's the sanctification process that we're talking about. God saved you, but he doesn't wanna leave you the way you are because he loves you too much to leave you the way you are. So he takes you through a process. It's a lifelong process. I'm in it, you're in it, we're all in it. It's a process called sanctification. It's in that process. And through that process that we have a full experience of salvation. 10 (1h 2m 28s): If we don't go through the process, we're driving by the grand canyon, but we're not stopping. We're going to the amusement park, but we're not getting on the rollercoaster, right? We're just kind of having a disconnected experience. It's not what God's design. It's not God's design. It's kind of this religious kind of experience, but it's not God's design for our experience. So verse two helps us to understand what, what will, what we can do to, to, to move beyond this kind of way of living and kinda get delivered out of it. We just, we need to get delivered out of it, but we'll never get delivered out of this type of lifestyle until we just look at it, head on and just take serious the sin in our lives. 10 (1h 3m 13s): And so he said like newborn babies in verse two, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Try out for this nourishment. Now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. So growing into a full experience of salvation requires commitment, commitment, number one, and this will probably be a two or three or four, 10 week series. I don't know what it's gonna be, but we'll see commitment. Number one, we have to be willing to grow. Hence the title growing into a full experience of salvation. We actually gotta be willing to grow. And so maybe some of you have been in church for five years and you grew for five years, but, or maybe you've been in church for 10 years and you've grown for the first five years, but then you've just been on, on autopilot for the last five years. 10 (1h 4m 0s): It's not God's design. You gotta be growing all the days of your life. So that next year, this time you have greater understanding, greater capacity as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, greater strength, greater victory, greater ability to overcome in Jesus name, a greater ability to have joy in face of difficulties and trials, greater strength. When you're tempted, you're able to say no when maybe in the past you said yes. And so you have greater capacity in Jesus to stand firm and move forward, but you gotta be willing to grow. How do we grow? Well, verse two, again like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation cry out for this nourishment. 10 (1h 4m 42s): What happens when a, a newborn is hungry, man, right? They're screaming, right? I've got a newborn grandbaby. And when he is hungry, what is he doing? Like, you can be holding him, but if you're not mama, you can't give him what he needs. And so you hand him off, right? You're like, I can do a lot, but I cannot meet this need because he's craving milk. Right? There's a picture there that we can get a hold of because we've all been that crying baby wanting something of nourishment. So this needs to be our attitude regarding the word of God. And sometimes our attitude about the word of God is I gotta do it. I gotta read it like it's spinach or something. 10 (1h 5m 25s): Or you fill in the blank. Like it's mushrooms, mushroom first meal I had at Jolene's mom's house. You know, you're trying to put your best foot forward because your, your in-law your future in-laws plays not, I don't know. They weren't even, we hadn't. We were just dating. I show up, Margaret gives me this big old play to spaghetti. I love spaghetti. But on top of it was this black thing, this black piece of food, apparently it was food. I said, Margaret Mar I don't, I don't mean to complain. Well, what is this thing? She said, oh, it's a mushroom. I'm like, why what's what's the point? 10 (1h 6m 7s): It's fungus. It grows outta stuff. They should, we, we don't need this. Right. And so I push it aside and she thought she was doing me a favor because she loves mushrooms. Right? Reminds me of another story about this couple. Who'd been married for years and years and years. And the wife making breakfast every day for years always gave her husband the heel of the bread. Well, he hates the heel, but he never says anything. He's just kind of grumpy about it for years, you know? And so finally he's like, why are you giving me the heel? She said, oh, that's my favorite part of the bread. And I wanted you to have it. 10 (1h 6m 49s): We gotta change our perspective about things. And as we open up the word of God, we need to realize that it's life to us and grace to us and strength for us. It's what we need. Quit looking at it. Like it's a mushroom or something that we don't want, or that we dread or that we have to do. It's like newborn babies. We need to cry for it. We need to crave pure spiritual milk. What? So the word of God is pure spiritual milk. I love install 19 versus seven through 11. It just helps us. How much time do we have I'm overtime? I need more time. Here we go. Psalm 19 says the instructions of the Lord are perfect. 10 (1h 7m 31s): Reviving the soul that might change our perspective about the word of God. The instruction of the Lord are perfect. Reviving the soul. You need your soul revived. Open up the scripture. You want your life in Jesus revived. You gotta open up the scripture. It says the decrees of the Lord are trustworthy making. Why is the simple? You need some wisdom. Open up the word, man, just keep opening up the word and read it and keep reading it all the days of your life. Make it your priority. The first thing that you do, not the last thing you do when you're trying to stay awake at night, you're trying to get through a passage. 10 (1h 8m 13s): You gotta just make it your priority. It'll order your steps and give you wisdom for the day. The commandments of the Lord are right. Bringing joy to the heart. Oh, joy. You like joy. Open up the scripture and just allow the word of God to refresh you and fill you with joy. The word of God is like pure spiritual milk for us. It's what babies are crying for. It's what we should be craving as believers in Jesus Christ. Like I need the word. Like if you skip the word for some reason in the day, you should be feeling it. Like I'm craving it. Like, I can't believe I went without it. Like, if you missed breakfast or your ice cream after dinner, you like, or if you miss your coffee, there you go. 10 (1h 9m 1s): If you miss your coffee, everybody gets that one. Like, man, I wish I had my coffee, right. But if you can develop people, develop an appetite for what they're fed, right? So if you begin to feed on the word of God and drinking that stuff in, you're gonna develop an appetite for it. You're just gonna crave it. But you won't get the appetite for it until you just get after it. So get after it, the commands of the Lord are clear giving insight for living. Ah, what does God want me to do? What's the right decision. I'm gonna open up the word because I know that somehow God is going to communicate. It's a living word. 10 (1h 9m 42s): It's a living word. Reverence for the Lord is pure lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true. Each one is fair. So we can have confidence in the word, true and fair. They are more desirable than gold. Even the finest gold, they are sweeter than a honey. Even honey, dripping from the comb. They are a warning to your servant to get a great reward for those who obey them. I can't get into it. But did you know the longest book of the Bible is all about the Bible. It's pal one nineteen, a hundred seventy six verses. It's all about the Bible. So go through and read what the Psalmist wrote. 10 (1h 10m 24s): We're not sure who the Psalmist is, probably David, but go back and read what the Psalmist wrote about the word of God. There's a 176 ch verses in chapter one, 19 chapter one, 19. The Psalms that we can glean from. So Psalm 19 in Psalm one 19, read it and see what the Lord will do to refresh your soul. You, you won't have a full experience of salvation without getting into the word of God. You will be diminished in your spirit. You will be unable to stand firm. You'll be weak against temptation. You'll be prone to sin. 10 (1h 11m 3s): You will fall short, continually, and constantly apart from the word of God, it's exactly what you need. You have to eat, you have to eat my doctor. I was struggling with some stuff. And he said, and I told him, I said, I'm doing this intermittent fasting. He said, well, stop doing intermittent fasting. You might actually have some energy. So I started eating eggs in the morning. I'm like, oh yeah, kind of. I kind of feel better. You know? So if you're struggling spiritually, because you're, you've got this kind of weird intermittent fasting, like I'll open up the word, you know, one day outta three or one, you know, on Sunday morning when it's being, that's like, you're gonna be dying of starvation and you'll be powerless spiritually. 10 (1h 11m 47s): Just the way it works. God's design. We're gonna take communion. I wanna invite the worship team up. And as the worship team comes forward, I just wanna ask a question. What, not just, what have you learned, but what are you going to apply as a result of this message? And so let's go ahead and stand up and we're gonna worship and take communion. But as you stand up, what have you learned today? And then what are you going to apply? Because it doesn't, it's just an academic exercise. If we come to church and listen, but don't apply. So let's just not make this an academic exercise, but let's make it a real life changing sermon. So who do I do? 10 (1h 12m 27s): I need to call on somebody or should, should you guys just speak out? Yeah, I'll be kind until somebody doesn't speak up and then we'll, we're 13 (1h 12m 39s): Gonna apply what you we've heard from you 10 (1h 12m 42s): What's that we're 13 (1h 12m 43s): Gonna apply. We've heard from you 10 (1h 12m 45s): From the word, but what do you, what does that mean for you though? 13 (1h 12m 48s): For me, it means to stay in the, in the word every 10 (1h 12m 51s): Day. Okay. We gonna apply it. Yeah. So stay in the word and apply it. Stay in the word every day in apply it. How, how long have you been a Christian? 13 (1h 12m 58s): Since I 10 (1h 12m 59s): Was six. Six. And so now you're like 46, right? So for 20 years, so 40 years or so plus you've been a Christian. Why do you need to keep reading the Bible? Because I failed. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Remember the man and the wilderness, when the Israelites are wandering on this 40 year trip, that should've taken them 40 days, but because of their sin and wickedness and rebellion took them 40 years, what did God give him every day? Give man just enough for the day, because he wanted them to have faith that he would provide it the next day. So the word of God is like manna to our souls. 10 (1h 13m 39s): We need, we need it every day. We're gonna read it and then we'll need it the next day. Because if we rely on the mana from yesterday, what happened to the mana from yesterday to the people of Israel and the wilderness, right? It turned stinky and full of maggots right now. God's words never stinkier full of, but the idea is that we need fresh manana every day. And so every day we go back to the word of God every day. That's just, God's design for having a, a fullest experience of salvation. What else? Word of God. Oh, hold 14 (1h 14m 15s): Word of God. Every day is not your mother reaching out his hand to 15 (1h 14m 22s): You, ah, saying, 14 (1h 14m 23s): Hold onto me. 15 (1h 14m 25s): Wow. 14 (1h 14m 26s): And I will take you where you should 10 (1h 14m 28s): Go. 15 (1h 14m 28s): Yeah. 10 (1h 14m 30s): Yeah. Reading the word every day is God, your father reaching out his hand to you showing, Hey, I will show you. I, I will lead you. I will take you where you need to go, Doug. 16 (1h 14m 39s): So I just heard God saying that. He just says, who do you say I am? 0 (1h 14m 46s): Who 10 (1h 14m 46s): Am I? Yeah. 16 (1h 14m 48s): What principles have I given you to live by your salvation and me? 10 (1h 14m 55s): Hmm. 16 (1h 14m 56s): Is worth more than anything in the 15 (1h 14m 59s): World. Yeah. And 16 (1h 15m 1s): To listen to the wisdom 15 (1h 15m 3s): Yeah. 16 (1h 15m 4s): Of the word of God he's 15 (1h 15m 6s): Given us. Yeah. 10 (1h 15m 8s): Yeah. 15 (1h 15m 9s): Hmm, 10 (1h 15m 11s): Lord, we thank you for your word. And we're thankful for the opportunity just to dive a little deeper and grow a little more and get a little more serious about who we are and you, and we're thankful for the opportunity to take communion today. And it's a reminder That new life is available to us, that you died on a cross and shed your blood so that our sins could be forgiven. If you're here today and you've never accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, you, you can receive the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, by recognizing your desperate need for him. 10 (1h 15m 52s): It's not about a word formula. It's about a life change and transformation. It's about a decision that says, I'm, I'm, I'm not gonna lead my own life anymore, but I'm gonna submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I'm not gonna live the way that I've always lived, because I know that it's not been God's desire and it's not honored God. And so you're saying, Jesus, I wanna honor you. Bible says, if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised. And from the dead, then you will be safe. So there's a, a belief, a transformational belief that we're stepping into. It's a life transformation. It's a, it's a, it's a process where we're saved. 10 (1h 16m 33s): And then we go through the rest of our lives, pursuing Jesus, hungry for Jesus, doing what God has called us to do. It can't be about a formula because God's never been about formulas. It's been about relationship. And so in sanctification and transformation and new life in Jesus about being born again. So if you want to make that decision, just explain to the Lord and proclaim to the Lord, gotta I'm yours. I, I just, I don't wanna live without you. I need your grace. I need your love and your, your forgiveness come into my life. Lead me, guide me, direct me something along those lines. 10 (1h 17m 14s): And you're at the starting line of a lifelong race that Paul says that we're to run the race, to win the race with all, all of our strength, with all of our might. We just run with everything we got pursuing Jesus. Anyway. So if that's you give your life to Jesus, communion is about remembering what Jesus has done. So if you haven't given your life to Jesus don't don't yeah. Don't take communion. It's it's it's for believers who believe and are pursuing Jesus. But if you want to trust Jesus and give your life to Jesus, then do that. And then let's take communion. 10 (1h 17m 56s): Paul road. Before I passed on to you, first Corinthians 1123, before I pass on you, what I received from the Lord himself on the night, when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. Let's go ahead and take the bread. The wafer. 0 (1h 18m 30s): Thank you Lord. 10 (1h 18m 34s): So thankful God. So thankful Lord. 0 (1h 18m 39s): So, 10 (1h 18m 40s): So thankful 0 (1h 18m 40s): Lord. 10 (1h 18m 42s): In the same way, he took the cup of wine. After supper saying this cup is the, it's the new covenant between God and his people do this to remember me, as often as you drink. And for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's take the juice. Thank you, Lord. Ah, it's good to remember, Lord. It's good to rejoice. It's good to celebrate. It's good to worship God as we worship at this moment, closing out the service. 10 (1h 19m 24s): And as we make time for prayer at the end of the service, Lord, I pray that you be glorified. God help us to take serious. Your word, the application of your word. We love you. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship 3 (1h 20m 1s): Long to breathe. Pain is gone. Immersive those to look the one you glad to save me and walk with him for will a 0 (1h 20m 32s): Day, will 3 (1h 21m 13s): We sang 0 (1h 21m 36s): A day? 3 (1h 22m 10s): We join the resurrection and stand side. The heroes of the face with one boy, a thousand singy is the lamb who was save. And that day 0 (1h 22m 56s): Generations 3 (1h 22m 59s): Worthy 0 (1h 23m 24s): Save 17 (1h 23m 48s): The holy holy holy to receive all glory holy long for that day. 17 (1h 24m 38s): When we just, or saying that all the time, it's in your presence, God, how amazing is that gonna be? And Lord, I've pray that as we go out in this week, we will desire and seek that full experience of our salvation Lord. Thank you father, for your love and your amazing grace and Jesus name. Amen.