Grow Up!

[00:00:00] Alright, let's take our Bible and turn to the book of second Peter. [00:00:05] Second Peter. [00:00:11] We're actually going to look at second Peter as well as one Peter, two Peter, chapter three and one Peter, chapter two. I'd like you to get both passages because I want to look at them kind of together at least to start second Peter, chapter three and one Peter, chapter two, verse number 14. In two Peter chapter three. [00:00:51] So what we'll do is we'll start here, we'll go back to first Peter, and then we'll come back to chapter three of two Peter, but two Peter, chapter three, verse number 14. The Bible says, wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. Now you'll note in verse number 16, as we pass by here, Peter calls Paul's epistles scriptures. You notice that this is one of the few times where in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, when the inspiration of the scripture it actually names, it declares these things are scripture. Okay, verse number 17. [00:02:13] Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. [00:02:36] To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray together. [00:02:43] Our Lord, we first of all thank you that you have saved us, that you have provided salvation by the blood that you shed upon the cross for us. Thank you for not just giving us a good start, not just telling us the way that we should go. [00:03:02] But Lord, you became our savior and you died to save us. Thank you for that, Lord. Thank you, Lord, our heart, our very soul is resting in what you did. [00:03:16] And Lord, as we look at these things here, Lord, we want to be growing christians. We want to be people who are following you and increasing and getting closer to you. [00:03:30] And so, Lord, I pray that this morning you would be the teacher, that you would speak through the words that I say, especially through your word, that I would speak as the oracles of God, as you said in your word, and that the scriptures would truly give us the things that we need, Lord, because you alone know the hearts of all men. You know what each person here needs, what the spiritual needs are. And, Lord, I just pray that you would fill those needs. [00:03:57] And please meet with us in Jesus name. Amen. [00:04:02] This morning, I want to talk to you about, basically, I want to take from verse number 18 the command in verse number 18, which is grow in grace. So I want to tell you, look, grow up. [00:04:16] Grow up. That's what the Lord says. Does he not say that in verse number 18, but grow in grace? That's in the imperative voice, grow up. And when I read that, the thing that kind of stuck out to me about that particular verse, although it's a verse that all of you are probably, probably familiar with, is the fact that it's a command. How many of you have ever said to your children, obviously in jest, we tell our kids to grow up. I know I have probably this week said to one of my kids to grow up. But when we say that, we're just saying, act more mature. But this is not what the Lord is saying here. He's not just saying, put it on. Act a certain way. No. The Lord is commanding us to grow. Have any of you ever told your kids to grow? [00:05:02] No. [00:05:03] Have you? How many of you have planted flowers this year in your yard? Oh, come on. One, two. Okay, there we go. Got some hands here. Did you give your flowers commands to grow? No. It's kind of a. Kind of an obvious thing we expect to happen in the natural world, right? We expect a child to grow. We expect a tree to grow. We expect our flowers to grow. Then why then does God command us to grow? [00:05:32] How are we to grow? [00:05:35] How are we to obey the command that God gives us to grow? [00:05:40] Here's what this command in verse number 18. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. What that command does tell us and teach us is that it is not okay with the Lord for us to remain static. It is not okay for us to remain as we are. One thing we know about things that grow, things that grow get bigger, right? [00:06:07] Anything that grows gets bigger. Whether it's a tree, whether it's a flower or a child, it grows. And in growing, it enlarges, it increases. And the Lord says here, he tells us to grow because he does not want us to stay the same. Now, I'm not talking about the church as a whole. As far as the numbers of the church, of course we, like, we want to see that grow, but I'm talking about you. I'm talking about me. I'm talking about our walk with God, our relationship to the Lord, our fellowship with God, where we are at spiritually. The Lord does not want us to stay where we are. [00:06:48] He's pushing us forward. And so if we look back at ourselves and we think, well, I'm pretty much the same as I always was, well, we're not then. We're not obeying this command, because the Lord tells us to grow. But then the question comes to my mind immediately is, how? [00:07:06] How do you grow? [00:07:09] It's such an unusual command. [00:07:12] It raises the question of how? How do I grow? Look back at first Peter, chapter two, verse one. [00:07:19] First Peter, chapter two, verse one. And this provides the answer. [00:07:30] First Peter, chapter two, verse one. The Bible says this, wherefore laying aside all malice. [00:07:39] Now malice is anger and hatred toward another. [00:07:44] Notice it says, all malice. [00:07:49] Now we're talking about a. You'll see in just a minute. We're talking about the people of God, the children of God. This is written to those that believe in Christ, who are God's people. The Lord says, lay aside all malice. Do you have any malice toward anyone? [00:08:05] If you are God's child, you should not have any malice toward any living soul. [00:08:12] That doesn't mean you've forgotten what they've done to you. But there should be no hatred or anger toward them. [00:08:19] This is not the example our Lord left us when he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Those people where the Lord. Those people about whom the Lord is speaking, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They did not believe in him. In fact, I think probably most of those people around the cross probably went to hell as they were jeering the Lord Jesus. They were not forgiven, ultimately. But it does reveal something about our Lord's heart toward them, does it not? He held no malice toward those very people who were crucifying him. [00:08:52] And so when we've been hurt, when we've been harmed, we cannot bear malice toward them lest we be wrong ourselves with God. It says this, not only that, and all guile, deception, all guile. Big, small, all kinds and hypocrisies. Being a fake, lay it aside. Envies. We know what envy is. We talked about that when we're studying on Wednesday night. The Ten Commandments and all evil speakings. That's gossiping. Now, the Lord says, you got all this. So all of these things at verse one are going to hinder you as a believer growing. They're going to hinder you growing, they're going to stunt your growth. [00:09:38] You're going to have to lay those things aside. The Lord is not okay with us living and acting just any old way. He says he puts his finger on these things. These, there's, let's see, 12345, things that are mentioned, probably some of the most common vices that the children of God carry. And the Lord says, if you want to grow, you're going to have to come face to face with that and lay those things aside. Confess those things, get those things right with God. You might have to go to somebody that you've offended, and you might have to ask their forgiveness and confess what you've done and make restitution. That might be what's necessary. You might have to acknowledge that you were deceptive or that you have been gossiping. [00:10:27] Whatever the case might be, if you want to grow, these things are going to hinder your growth. [00:10:35] And so it says in verse two, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. You see that? So what that tells us is this is the how to two. Peter 318. The Lord says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. But how do you grow? [00:11:03] The way that you grow is by desiring the sincere milk of the word. So there's a connection made between growth as a child of God and the word of God. Now, we're going to see a lot more about that in just a minute. [00:11:24] But your relationship to God's word, and it's not the sum total of it, don't. Please do not go away from here thinking. I'm saying you read your chapter a day or your verse a day. You know what they call it? The one daily was it. [00:11:38] The thing was going around a long time. It's like my daily verse or something. That's. You read it. You read that one line of scripture and you're good for the day. Listen, what I'm not talking about is you reading your chapter for the day and you going throughout your day. Well, that's not what we're talking about. That by itself is not gonna be enough to grow. And you'll see what I mean in just a minute because there are other things like verse one that I just read that affect our growth. [00:12:04] But the Lord does want us to grow, and our growth is connected to our relationship to God in his word. [00:12:14] Our relationship to God in his word. So I just want to ask you this to start what at this moment, what kind of relationship do you have with God's word, the Bible. [00:12:28] What kind of relationship do you have with God's word? Notice what it says in verse two, desire. [00:12:35] It doesn't say, as newborn babes, read your Bible every day, that you may grow thereby, although that's included, obviously. Again, we'll see more of this in a minute. But it says here, desire, the sincere milk of the word. [00:12:51] Now, a child, as it says here, a babe, naturally desires to eat. And I would say that if you are a child of God, if you're a babe, if you're a baby, you will have, by virtue of the fact that God is in you and you have a renewed nature. Right? God has made you brand new. That's what the new birth, born again means. God has made you new. That new nature, that inward man that has been created in righteousness and true holiness, it automatically desires the sincere milk of the word. [00:13:29] It wants God's word. So I think that's a good place to pause and just say, hold on a second. [00:13:35] Do I want to read the Bible? [00:13:38] Do I have that? Because, listen, that is an evidence of a person who has truly been converted. Is that inward desire for God's word? I remember when I got saved in. When I was 17, I was already going to church, maybe, you know, I was already going to church. I was already reading my Bible. And I was, you know, I had my little Bible, little plan. I read and all that kind of thing. [00:14:04] But. But immediately after I trusted in Jesus, immediately after I was saved, the word of God absolutely came alive to me. Do you know why? It's the same page, same words on the same pages. But the difference is that the author was in me and my nature had been renewed. I was a newborn babe. And so the word of God was something that I craved. I craved. There's been a few times in my life when I haven't been able to. [00:14:41] One time I went to some training in the marines in Missouri, and I had forgot to take my Bible. [00:14:49] And, you know, that was a very unhappy time until I was able to get my hands on a Bible. But it was in me. I just bear witness that there was in me a craving for the scripture. This is not Adam Wood. This is not some. I'm some different than anybody else. No, no, no, no. This is God in every one of his children. [00:15:13] This is God in every one of his children. In this verse, in verse two, he says, desire it. [00:15:19] Desire it. Do you desire God's word? I think it's a good question, a probing question to ask ourselves, because it's something that only God sees. [00:15:31] Many, many people who name the name of Christ go weeks, months, even with no thought of the Bible. [00:15:46] And if that person is a child of God, they are not growing. [00:15:54] He is not growing. She is not growing. On the authority of the scripture, they are the same. [00:16:04] Because the word of God is necessary to grow. So the Lord says, but grow in grace. How Lord? [00:16:13] The word of God. But notice in verse two, notice this before you can grow. [00:16:20] Verse two. As newborn babes, you see that? [00:16:26] As newborn babes. [00:16:30] You know what that tells us? [00:16:33] That tells us that things, things that grow are things that are alive. [00:16:40] Things that grow are things that are alive. Nothing grows unless it is alive. [00:16:47] You look at some of the pictures they've sent back from Mars or from the moon. How many of you have seen a moon rock? You've been to the air and space museum in Washington. You've seen that they have a moon rock, one of the rocks from the moon. You know all of those rocks they brought back in the late sixties and seventies, those rocks are the same size as they always were when they brought them back. You know that they brought back recently some material from an asteroid, I think Japan did. Those rocks are not going to get any bigger as the time passes. You know why they're not going to increase? Because they're not alive. You see this verse says, as newborn babes. That's a baby. [00:17:23] That's a child who's just been, just been born. But the fact that it's been born means that it is alive. [00:17:30] Is alive. You cannot grow in the way I'm referring to here. Spiritually grow until you're first alive. And so listen, I'm thinking now of church members, church members, what we call the visible church. That's what they call it, the visible church. Everybody whose name's on the roll. But having your name on the roll doesn't mean that you're alive spiritually. [00:17:56] That is not equal. Listen, our church is not so important that God's looking on our role to determine who goes to heaven. That's not how it works. [00:18:06] You could put the name on the world. You can join, you can do whatever like that, whatever church you want. But listen, that doesn't make you alive. [00:18:16] That doesn't make you alive. You have to have true spiritual life. And what you'll find is there's many people in churches, and I'm not just talking about those churches, I'm talking about all churches that fill churches, but they don't grow at all. [00:18:34] You know why? Because they're not alive yet. They've not been born again. [00:18:39] They've gotten baptized and they joined the church, and they're a member in good standing and all of those things. But Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. God, that has nothing to do with the water behind me. It has nothing to do with the role, a church role. It has to do with our personal trust in Jesus for our eternal life, for our salvation. [00:19:06] And that is. Listen, that is the point at which new life begins. That's where you get to the baby part in verse two. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The idea behind that is being recreated like a baby, a new person, a new individual. [00:19:26] And once that baby is born, now we're talking about growth. [00:19:30] But see, I believe that there are many people that haven't grown at all. I mean, their name's been on the church roll for 30 years, but they haven't grown at all because there's no life to grow. [00:19:44] Instead of being a baby, they're like a rock, like a moon rock. [00:19:49] No desire for the word, no relationship with the word. Listen, I'm just telling you, this is what the Lord's talking about. When he gave the parable of the wheat and the tares, they're mixed up all together. [00:20:03] You can't tell one from the other. [00:20:05] And the Lord says, just wait until the end, and the harvest is the end of the world, and we'll separate them out at that point. But listen. But you can examine your own self. [00:20:16] I don't want you to be just a church member. [00:20:20] I don't want you to just be a church member. [00:20:24] Not this church or any other church. I want you to be alive. [00:20:28] And by alive, I don't mean excited. I'm not talking about. I lie. No, I'm not talking about exuberance. I'm talking about you having true spiritual life, the real thing, right? Being alive unto God. It's just another way of saying you're saved. You're born again. Because outside of that, there is no growth. Growth can't happen if there's no life. [00:20:54] As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. By what? By the word. All right, go back to chapter three of two, Peter, where we started. [00:21:06] Second Peter, chapter three. [00:21:11] Notice in verse number 18, the Bible says this, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Now, notice that there's two categories of growth, or two areas of growth. It says, this grow in grace. That's number one. And in knowledge. Okay, but you gotta understand in this verse, it's not just saying grow in grace and grow in knowledge. Both of those terms in the verse are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what it says. But grow in grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and grow in knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Do you see that? That phrase of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ is connected to both grace and knowledge? Now here's what you have to understand. [00:22:03] Here's what you have to understand about grace. [00:22:06] You see, we were just talking about being born again by the gospel that happened by the grace of God. So from the very beginning, from in God's mind and heart, before there ever was a world, there was the grace of God. Right? [00:22:22] And the grace of God is what set the Lord Jesus Jesus from heaven down to earth to be the savior. And the grace of God is what sent the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross. [00:22:36] And by the grace of God, Jesus rose again for our justification, the grace of God. You know what? When we as an individual come to that same savior and we trust in him and we in faith call out to him for our salvation as a child, as a hopeless sinner, when we call out to him, you know what God responds with? He responds with grace. He is inclined toward us. That's why he responds. [00:23:06] He does not turn a deaf ear to the cry of the sinner who cries for the Lord Jesus to save him. He does not turn a deaf ear. You know why? He's inclined to us. That's what grace is all about. [00:23:19] So our salvation started with grace. [00:23:24] Romans 324 says, this being justified. That's at the moment you trusted in Jesus. Justified. God declared you to be righteous, being justified freely by his what? [00:23:37] Grace. [00:23:39] But don't forget this, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You see, it's all built upon the cross. That's grace. Jesus coming was grace. The moment you got saved was grace. [00:23:53] So it all started. Our faith began in the grace of Christ. But here's the thing. The grace of God is something that it brought us to salvation. But you know what? The grace of God continues after. And so the Lord says, grow in that grace. Not just grace, just as a general virtue, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:24:16] I want you to look at a couple of verses here. [00:24:19] Look at first Corinthians, chapter one, first Corinthians, chapter one, first Corinthians, one. Four says this on the subject of the grace of Christ and what it means to grow in the grace of Christ. [00:24:51] Verse four says, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Now, if you stop there, you miss the point. What does it mean to grow in the grace of Jesus Christ? [00:25:12] That in everything ye are enriched by him. You see that in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. And we're going to see it again. The short version is this. [00:25:31] When you grow in the grace of Christ, that means that God's grace in you is actively working and increasing in its influence and power in your life. And that affects you. [00:25:49] It changes you. You're enriched. Things that were at one time not present in you. Virtues and godliness and righteousness and holiness and purity of thought and mind. Those things increase. You know why? Because God. Listen now. That's why the grace of God is so important for us to understand. That means that at this moment, every single day, Brother Pete, every single day. Brother Ari, Brother David, every single day. Brother McClain. God is actively working in you to grow you up, to conform you into the image of Christ, to make you more like Jesus. [00:26:33] He's actively working to remove the parts of you that displease him and are not honoring to him and add to you things that were not there previously. How many of you can look back at your life as a believer? And you can say, man, there were things in my life that absolutely were not pleasing to God when I first was a newborn babe. How many of you can say that? And now those things are gone. Is it because you're great? No. You have, and I have no ground to glory whatsoever. It is all God's grace at work in us. Look at two corinthians, chapter twelve. [00:27:14] Second corinthians, chapter twelve. [00:27:28] Suffering. [00:27:31] In God's wisdom, he gave Paul a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him. [00:27:40] Verse eight. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. He asked God to take away this thorn. Some people think, and I tend to think it was his eyesight. [00:27:53] If you disagree, that's fine. But whatever it was, Paul asked God to take it away. And God said no. [00:28:00] In fact, he said verse nine. And he said unto me, what? [00:28:03] My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. [00:28:11] You know how the grace of God was at work in Paul's life? It was at work in Paul's life because it enabled Paul, despite a handicap, something that was detrimental to him as he viewed it right enabled him to still live for God and serve God above and beyond that, despite the hindrance of that thing, God's grace held him up and carried him through it. It's referred to in parallel as strength. My strength is made perfect in weakness. You see this? That's the grace of God at work in Paul's life. Look at one Peter. We're already in two Peter. Look at one Peter. Chapter five, first Peter five, verse eight. [00:29:08] One Peter five, verse number eight says this, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace. Notice how the Lord is referred to as the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that, ye have suffered a while. Make you notice what it's saying here. Pay attention to the words. The God of all grace make you. What's the next word? [00:29:51] Perfect. You know what that is? That's a growth word. [00:29:56] That's a growth word. [00:29:59] That means mature, not lacking anything. [00:30:05] Make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle. You see that? So here's what God is doing. God didn't just wind us up and send us on our way. No. Every single day, he is actively working in the heart and in the life of every single one of his children. His influence, his grace, we might say, is overshadowing them, strengthening them, working in them, taking out the bad, putting in the good, creating virtue in them, to bring them more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And that all comes by our relationship to God's word. [00:30:46] Now look at chapter two. Peter, chapter three, verse number 18. Again, it says this, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. So again, this is not. This is the second thing, grace and knowledge. Now, this knowledge is not general knowledge of the Bible like the books of the Bible or the characters of the Bible. No, no, no. Those things are all good and fine, but this is growing in the knowledge of Christ. [00:31:20] Now, let me show you what I mean. [00:31:23] This is the influence of the knowledge of Christ in us. Look at Ephesians, chapter four. [00:31:35] Ephesians, chapter four, verse, verse number 14. [00:32:00] Ephesians, four, verse number 14 says this, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craft tennis, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Notice this verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him. You see that? [00:32:32] Which direction is our growth? [00:32:37] It is Christ's word, you see that we grow up into him. [00:32:46] So it's not just about filling our head. [00:32:48] It's not just about looking the christian part. No, no, no. All of christian growth is about your proximity and relationship to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:33:02] Knowledge. Listen, the Bible says knowledge puffeth up. If we fill our heads with knowledge, that's all fine and good. But if that knowledge is not Christ centric and goes toward the Lord Jesus Christ and our relationship is growing toward him, and we're, by his grace, becoming more like him in our character, in our attitude, in our responses, in our tones, in our words, in our lifestyle, in our motives. If all of those things are not, if that's not the direction of our growth, our growth is not true growth because the growth sends us in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. It makes us more like him. Look what it says. Verse 16. [00:33:47] From whom? From Christ. Now the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual, working in the measure of every part. Maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Notice the growth words here. Notice the growth words. [00:34:16] Verse 14. [00:34:17] That ye be no more children. You see that verse number 15 may grow up into him. [00:34:29] Verse 16, it says, maketh increase. That's a growth word. And if you go back to the beginning, the earlier part of the chapter, verse seven. But unto every one of us is given grace. Where's that grace again? That's not grace when you got saved. That's grace. Now, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, if you keep reading about this grace, this grace is manifested by the gifts that God has given us. Notice what it says here in verse number eleven. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. That's the word, perfecting. That's a growth word. That means mature, not lacking anything for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God. Unto a what? [00:35:29] Unto a what man. [00:35:31] Perfect man. [00:35:33] Notice what does perfection look like unto the measure of the stature. That's a growth word that refers to the height of someone, of the fullness of Christ. So here's what you have. You start as a baby, and then God's grace and God's knowledge by his words start to work in your life and God grows you up. [00:35:55] But do you know, do you know where he's trying to get you? Where he is going to get you? But you know what he's trying to get? Where? He's trying to get you. He's trying to get you up to this. The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. You've seen these little kids. One day, daddy, I'm going to be as tall as you are. That's what we're talking about here. Now my kids have never had that problem. [00:36:17] Neither girls nor boys. [00:36:20] It doesn't take much to measure up to the stature of the fullness of their dad. [00:36:25] But this is what the Lord is doing. He's bringing us up, growing us up until we are more and more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a simple test. Listen. [00:36:38] If your words, actions, works, deeds, tones, attitudes, responses are unlike the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a gap in your growth. [00:36:56] Don't excuse it, don't talk yourself out of it. [00:37:01] That is a place where you have not come to the measure of the stature of Christ because that is where the Lord is taking us. [00:37:17] Now we, there's a couple more things I want to show you. [00:37:23] Verse 16. [00:37:25] I've been talking this whole time about individual growth. Whether you as an individual are growing, whether you're increasing in the grace of Christ and the knowledge of Christ. You're growing close to him, learning more about him, seeing his work in your life, experiencing his work in your life. You are being changed by the Lord. [00:37:48] His knowledge is changing the way you think is influencing your decisions, influencing your worldview, influencing what you do, how you think, what your values are. This is all part and parcel. It goes down to the very core, the very nuts and bolts of every part of who you are. This is what, this is God's work. In one of his children he says this from whom? Verse 16, the whole body. Now notice in verse 16 we're talking about not the individual but the body. [00:38:23] The whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual. Working in the measure of every part effects your working. Listen now. [00:38:37] So brother Ben, God's working in you. [00:38:40] He's changing you. Your mind, your heart, your motives, your actions, right? [00:38:46] God's working. Sister Lynn. God's working in you. And each one of you are different parts of the body, right? [00:38:55] But the Lord is working in each part, the effectual, working in the measure of every part. So you have this. The individual and the corporate. [00:39:11] The individual's growth. [00:39:14] The body's growth. You see, this maketh increase of the body. Here's the problem. You all have seen people that have various kind of deformities. Where one part of them grows. [00:39:29] And disproportionately with the other part of the body. That's not what's supposed to happen. You see, Brother Darrell, you're supposed to be growing the same as I'm supposed to be growing. [00:39:41] Brother Vernon, you're supposed to be growing the same as I'm supposed to be growing. Sister Beverly, you're supposed to be growing the same. In other words, we're all supposed to be growing together. [00:39:50] And if there is a part of us that is withering. Whether it be the hand or whatever. There's a problem with the growth. [00:40:00] Maybe that part of the body's not getting nutrients. Whatever the case might be. But here's the thing. The body should be growing together. And as the individuals, as you and I, as individuals. Grow in our relationship to the Lord. And our faith in the grace and knowledge of Christ. [00:40:22] So the whole body grows in the grace and knowledge of Christ. [00:40:31] So the body's growth is actually just a function of each individual's growth. [00:40:40] So the Lord wants not only you as an individual. To glorify him. To be. To that measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. He wants this church to be that also. [00:40:52] To be that also for our character as a church. To be the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:41:05] Now, one more verse and I'll be done. [00:41:07] First Timothy, chapter four. [00:41:12] How do you grow? [00:41:17] How do you grow? [00:41:19] Whether it be the individual, whether it be the body. How do you grow? [00:41:23] Somebody give me an answer who's been listening? [00:41:27] What's necessary. [00:41:29] Okay? And what is that? [00:41:33] The word of God. Right. [00:41:35] Desire to sense your milk of the word. That you may grow thereby. Look at first Timothy, 413. [00:41:43] Paul speaking to Timothy. Now remember, Timothy is a pastor, so pastors aren't exempt. [00:41:53] Look at verse 13, short verse, till I come. [00:41:57] Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. [00:42:06] See that attendance. This is not attendance to the church service. [00:42:12] This is not what we're talking about here. [00:42:14] Give attendance means the action or condition. Of applying one's mind or observant faculties to something. Attention. That's all it means. [00:42:27] When the Lord's saying, give attendance to reading. You know what he's saying? He's saying, you need to be reading the Bible. [00:42:36] You know, I thought about at the time, the scripture was written. You know, we didn't have printed bibles like this. And I mentioned this before, and it occurred to me, we read, as we've gone through the book of acts, we've seen the times, the various times where the church met every day, right? [00:42:50] Was it that they met every day? Because that's where they would hear the word of God every day? [00:42:55] In other words, that was their Bible reading every day at 530 or six or whatever, before they went out to the field to work, they went to the church where the church was meeting, and somebody would read a few chapters of the Bible. [00:43:09] Like we get up in the morning, we read our Bible according to our Bible plan. Listen, that's biblical. This is what we're talking about here. If you want to grow as a Christian, as an individual, which then is the body, you have to give attendance to reading your Bible. That means you should be reading the scripture methodically and systematically every day. [00:43:37] Are you doing that? Not only that, look what it says. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation. You know what that is? [00:43:47] That's what we're doing right now. [00:43:52] That is why. That's one of the reasons that the church service is so important. [00:43:57] Our church services around here are not centered around a concert. [00:44:03] It's not centered around music. Although we like music. [00:44:06] Our church services are centered around the word of God. And that's on purpose because this is how we grow. It's not just you reading your Bible, but it's you hearing the word of God explain and being challenged by what it says. That is what church is about. [00:44:23] That's why it's so important for you to be here, because it will help you grow. [00:44:33] And to doctrine, teaching, teaching. [00:44:40] You know, you might, if we wanted to be technical, you might could compare that to Sunday school, but I won't take it that far. But the idea is that you're hearing someone instruct you about what the Bible teaches. In all three of those, you know, what is the center, the scripture, because that is the key to growth. [00:45:03] That is the key to growth. And listen, when you are hit and miss with your Bible, you read it, you know, Tuesday, this week, two weeks later, read a day or two. You're not going to grow like that. [00:45:16] You need to be in the Bible daily, give your attention to it. And if you know, for church it's hit and miss. [00:45:26] Sometimes here, sometimes not. When you're here, you may be half here, half not listen, that will not help you to grow. That's why it's important for you to be here every time we have church because you hear the word more and more and more. Listen, it's not about numbers. It's about you growing, and it's about the church then, therefore growing spiritually. [00:45:55] So the question is, are you and am I obeying the Lord when he says, grow in grace? [00:46:04] Are you growing up? [00:46:06] Are you giving attendance to the word of God to allow you to grow, to give you the nourishment that you need to increase? [00:46:16] Let's pray.