Celebration of Spiritual Growth ( Philippians 1:6-11 John Lasken)

And I'm gonna start with a proverb and that is not in the New Testament folks that is in the

Old Testament So I should turn that way So as you read through The scriptures you do devotion certain certain things stand out

When you read this stood out to me this week when I was reading it says this in Proverbs 12 verses 17 and 18

He who speaks truth tells what is right? but a false witness deceit

There is one who speaks rashly like the thrust of a sword But the tongue of the wise brings healing

So that's something to think about this week as we think about how we use our tongues And how are we going to speak to other folks and are we going to use our tongues to praise the

Lord? I hope we do Now tonight there's going to be prayer meeting here at 6 o 'clock

So if anyone is interested, we will be the doors will be open. So come on in And you know, by the way, we also sing hymns

Acapella if that's an interest to someone too, so we really enjoy a Sunday night prayer The men's

Monday or the men's movie night this is on 7 -7 which

I think is a Friday. I Might not get that right. But anyway, that's gonna be the end of this week

And the last day for sign up is to be today if you want to do that site.

It's a sign up online there's a link in the pastor Graham that went out on Thursday, but there's also a link on the church app calendar if you're interested in that and Bob Nichols is the one who's heading that up.

So he's right back there at the door There's also a dinner before that if you'd like to take part of that and that's gonna be a

TG Fridays So if you're interested guys, come on out. It'd be great Also for the men the men's breakfast has been moved to not tomorrow

Monday but the Monday after that so that's 710 July 10th, and that's early in the morning.

So make note of that guys who want to come out to the breakfast also for the men men's

Monday night group the regular group that we meet for Bible study and We're going through the

Spurgeon book right now. It's seven o 'clock on Monday night. Yes. We are meeting tomorrow A few people asked me about that.

We are meeting tomorrow. We know it's July 3rd So a lot of people have off but the men are meeting but the ladies now

The normal Tuesday morning class that the ladies have is on July 4th

So that class is canceled for this week. So July 4th no class for the ladies So please take note of that and also now for the ladies again

Monday night precept the class that Cindy Randall teaches is not going to start tomorrow

But it's going to start the week after again on the 10th of July that's seven o 'clock here at the church

They're going to go through Precept the precept study with Kay Arthur and if you're interested in that there is a book associated with that So, please see

Cindy Randall for that also We want to bring your attention to next

Sunday already It's this Sunday. We don't want to leave the moment here. But next

Sunday We're gonna have a special opportunity to be with a couple of our missionaries this is

Steve and Jan Hobson and for some of the old -timers here, they actually know Steve and Jan Hobson because They were

Pastors that Steve was pastor here way way back when But they went to be missionaries to the

Philippines. They have a lot to report the things that the Lord has been doing in the

Philippines has been absolutely incredible and They've actually had ties into doing some ministry in the

Middle East They're gonna be here and they're gonna give an update next week But they also want to stay after the second service next week to get much more in -depth

Of what the ministry is all about. They want to have a Q &A session with us They want all of us to be able to hear what's going on and they want to have an extended session

So everyone please remember that and I hope that everyone can stay and just talk to the

Hobsons next week after the second service They really are gonna enjoy seeing everyone Now with that in mind

I was gonna say there is a certain other Missionary friend of ours that has

Recently come home and I see he's actually sitting here. So Ron's good to see you. We've been praying for Ron Jacobs he went over to Malawi to visit with Hamilton Banda and work in the ministry there and Ron may give us an update next week or the week after we're not sure now because now the

Hobsons are here So we're gonna figure out what's gonna go on with that and we'll talk to you But we can't wait to hear what

Ron has to say and what's going on over there with Hamilton and Malawi It's an exciting time and the

Kamalins were here earlier today our missionaries to Portugal and And they're back and they're with us again and Ron Aaron, excuse me, and Gary Kamalin is going to be speaking soon

At one of the services we have here so there's a lot of things going on in addition to that VBS registration is

Online and through the link. It's either through our website Cornerstone sj org or it's in the pastor

Graham. So please register your children as you can Now what we'd like to do is recognize

Anybody who has graduated we want Those who are transitioning from eighth grade to high school or high school to college or anybody's graduated college any higher education

And this could be an adult too If you would stand we want to pray for you and we know

Caleb is because Caleb was here in the first service So Caleb graduated So we thank you

Caleb, but if there's any other graduates, please please stand if you could we would like to pray for you now Robert thank you for that.

I know that was reluctant, but thank you for standing up So, let's go to the

Lord in prayer and I want to pray specifically for our graduates father We thank you for what you're doing.

We thank you father for this opportunity. We have this morning celebrate communion Celebrate Lord the work that you're doing overseas and and within our midst as the gospel goes forth in Malawi In the

Philippines Lord in the Middle East Father and in Portugal, we thank you so much for those who are serving you with a whole heart

We thank you father for the worship team and all that you're doing here With this service that your name would be honored and glorified.

We lift up your holy name this morning and father for our Graduates, we are so grateful father for the homes that they have

We are grateful for the parents that they have that are raising them in a in a very difficult generation father

But they're standing firm on you firm on the Word of God And we pray father as I saw

Robert and Caleb stand here, there's probably many many more I didn't see any other stand right now, but we pray

Lord that you would be with those who are transitioning from one School to another or one grade to another or have graduated in some sense

Maybe higher education that we that maybe aren't here today father, but he would continue the work that you have begun in their hearts father not just gaining a

Just a secular education father, but growing them in you Lord as they father

Just work hard and they're endeavoring Lord to improve their minds their souls their bodies

That you would help them father along their path father and we thank you Lord for the hard work They've put in we thank you for helping them get to this point of graduation

Lord, and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen Let's all stand together

You are You are

Father once again, let me come before you Lord We're so thankful that you give us this opportunity to come in here and worship you

Lord and and thank you Lord for who you are Help us to always be mindful of that You came here the word make flesh.

We love you. Thank you so much for what you did Seek to praise and honor you

Lord and help that to instill in us a life that pursues your will We turn

Oh Give us

Oh My Jesus Oh Oh What Father Not praise

God He's got

Good morning church morning

So we celebrate communion the first Sunday of every month And we're coming up to July 4th

And what that makes me think about is how we celebrate freedom We celebrate the freedoms that are enshrined in our

Bill of Rights the freedom of speech religion assembly And we are blessed to live in a country where we can worship freely, amen

We just hope that it remains free for us to celebrate and to worship freely

We celebrate this table and what Jesus did by granting us freedom from sin

His sacrifice paid for our freedom as long as we believe and put our trust and faith in him

This is an amazing gift eternal freedom to worship Christ in heaven forever

I'm reminded of Philip the evangelist as we we like to call him here and he led

An evangelism class on Monday nights. We took a break from the apologetics men's ministry and did a churchwide evangelism class and It was a fantastic class if you missed it

But it was a fantastic class and we talked about being bold enough to share

The news of this amazing gift that Christ has done for us And it's become a verb sort of in our in our family

I know that my mother -in -law my my wife talked about rate comforting someone because it was all around rate comfort and the the way that he

You know shared the gospel with pretty much everybody he came across and I pray that we could be as bold as well to to share the

The the good news of the gift that Christ You know gave us in in dying on the cross

Jesus tells us to practice this ordinance to remember his sacrifice in this gift

He established it so we would never forget what he did and the cost of his sacrifice and the gift of salvation

Jesus also warns us though not to take this ordinance lightly Jesus tells us to examine ourselves and repent of our sins

It says in 1st Corinthians 11 27 through 29 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the

Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord Let a person examine himself

Then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body

Eats and drinks judgment on himself So clearly the Lord's table is meant to be taken seriously

Each of us should examine ourselves. We should repent of our sins And we should thank him for his sacrifice

The grace and mercy he has shown us Cost was very costly

Freeing us from the bondage of sin was very costly There should be a time of reflection and communion with our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ So why don't we take a moment to do just that? Lord God, I just I thank you so much for sending your son to die on the cross.

I thank you for your sacrifice to provide us with a way to be reconciled to you a way to be freed from the bondage of sin a

Way to spend eternity Worshiping you in heaven God, I just pray that we come to this this table with pure hearts as the

Song we sang said Lord. I just pray that We would remember the sacrifice that we would

Understand how much it cost Lord And that we would be forever grateful of the gift that you've given us.

I pray this in Christ's name. Amen So it says in 1st Corinthians 11 23 through 24

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks

He broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me And then continuing in 25 and 26.

It says in the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my blood

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes So I asked the men to come forward The Lord said this is my body do this in remembrance of me

The Lord Jesus said this is my blood This is the new covenant my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me

Lord God, we thank you so much for this precious gift Your sacrifice on the cross that freed us from the bondage of sin

I pray that you would give us the boldness to share the news of this precious gift with as many as cross our path

God and I pray that you would Use us to spread the good news of your gospel

Throughout the earth. I pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen Good morning

Pastor Jeff is I Pray enjoying and being refreshed on on his sabbatical one of the things that he had designed to do

Was to take various hikes while he was on sabbatical I don't know if he's gonna take his kids with them

But one of the hikes that he had on his radar scope was Mount Washington.

I Don't know if any of you have ever hiked up Mount Washington, but it is a journey

It's a fairly decent elevation It's not a technical climb that you would need the various ropes and stuff, but it is an arduous climb

There are ways that you can go wrong while you're walking up Mount Washington, I have a fear of heights and There there are three ways to ascend three major ways to ascend

And it has to do with this feature called Tuckerman's notch it's a large swath of the mountain that has been washed away for whatever reason and One goes below it and up around the side fairly

Precipitous hike along a ridgeline another goes this way and up and around it

That's the way that my friend and I chose at one point in time There was a about an eight -foot boulder

That we had to get up over and there was no way around it You had to get up and over this boulder.

I could do that with my eyes closed almost Except for the fact that below the boulder was the path which was only about four feet wide

And next to that path was Tuckerman's notch. I Was frozen

Okay, my point is Jeff has got this climb that he would like to do and it's a journey and it's not a journey.

He can stop halfway once he leaves the Ranger station at the bottom the next stop is the lookout house up on top

There are paths that he has to follow there are places he could fall There are lots of things.

He has a journey ahead of him Last week we started in the book of Philippians and I talked to you and Philippians about being partners in the gospel

Today's message continues on our our Christian journey and we're going to talk about spiritual growth

Now I'm going to backtrack a half a second. And as we get into this, I'll actually tie into it.

I Gave you some information last week about what happened in Fullerton a couple of weeks ago and last week

I spoke predominantly about the spiritual aspects of the time.

We were there and things that occurred. I Referred to first Peter to where it says that God owns me and he owns his church

It's not my church. It's his church There's a definitional truth that's involved with that We talked about some of the things that transpired but then we concluded that thought with we know in the end

God wins and then I gave some challenges that said things like We are called by God.

We are his children. We are his church. These are definitional We have the

Holy Spirit. This is promise We are given the Great Commission This is our marching orders and we must keep our eyes focused on him and on his glory

This is the way we are to be because in Matthew 5 18 it says let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and Praise your father who is in heaven and this is our ultimate motivation is

God Want to give you just a couple of more facts about what's going on what went on so that you as church are aware

Remember, this is God's church. This is not our church. We are part of the Church of God in greater context

But some of the things that did happen and I want to clear up some thoughts and set some thoughts very straight

Pastor Jeff was not defrocked. If there are any Impressions that pastor

Jeff was defrocked lost his ordination that did not happen After the

Questions and answers and testimonies were given the the vote was taken by all of the delegates that were there

Pastor Jeff's ordination is placed in trust They desired that he

Retract and repent and correct his course from things and ways that he had proceeded

Pastor Jeff is not compromising. He did not compromise. He is not

Backing down to the culture of the world pastor. Jeff is standing strong.

Amen Both pastor and Jeff remain fully credentialed in the

EFCA There's no fear that we have lost our credentialing but there are decisions that need to be made

Jeff levied some thoughts that must be considered seriously by the

EFCA And he let they put them out there very clearly the EFCA now needs to decide what they're going to do with these

Exhortations that pastor Jeff gave Pastor Jeff needs to decide how he is going to respond to the

EFCA pastors and delegates who made this vote saying Jeff We would like you to recant.

We would like you to restore. We would like whatever it is. You want you to do As pastor

Jeff, and I were leaving Fullerton And he was going to be leaving for his six -week sabbatical.

I Said Jeff, I don't want you to make a decision What I am asking is that you spend the next eight weeks praying

Don't make a decision based on emotions let the Holy Spirit tell you what decision needs to be made and I promised for myself and for you

Jeff if you decide to go this way We got your back Jeff if you decide to go that way We got your back because it's the

Holy Spirit who's going to tell you where to go Now if things go down a path and I want to make very clear

Some people were teasing me about this after first service No decision has been made

I'm going to say it in different words in case you didn't catch what I just said. No decision has been made

But if if things go and the EFCA says we we stand by what we said and if for God's Sovereign will if for his sovereign will we as a church follow behind Jeff and Choose that the

FCA is not the right place for us. No Decision has been made do not leave here saying pastor

John said Unless you say no decision has been made if this happens

A couple of things will happen off of that. First of all, both Jeff and I will pursue ordination as independent pastors and then once that has been completed and we have submitted our

Paperwork to become an independent church or whatever both Jeff and I would have to surrender our credentials

To the EFCA. Let me say one more time. No decision Has been made

But I want you as our brothers and sisters to know where we are I Want to encourage you that what has happened what will happen is all under the sovereign will of God We rest there

For Jeff for the EFCA for all of us we're on a journey None of us are where we eventually will be

God has said that But we are on a spiritual journey There are decisions that are in front of us.

And by the way, this is a message now for us There are decisions as we are on our journey, but we must in all ways accept the sovereignty of God There was a video included in last week's pastor

Graham it was a interview with Jeff and Calvin Lindstrom James Pittman There was some discussion about what are the important aspects what's happening if you have not seen it

I really encourage you to see Jeff pastor Jeff speaks very clearly and the moderator is very very good and how he he deals with this issue

There was one phrase made in that interview spiritual growth

Has been replaced by conformance with woke ideology and Unfortunately, that's too prevalent in churches today.

Let me say that one again because it is so important Spiritual growth, which is the path we are on Has been replaced by conformance with the woke ideology

Paul in his letter to the Philippians encourages spiritual growth. In fact, he celebrates

Spiritual growth that's where we are today The path that we take as we are walking from where we are today is reflective

Of where we stand in our submission to the sovereignty of God Let's pray father as we open your word.

We surrender to it As we stand before you we surrender to you and to your sovereign will as We consider decisions in front of us as we consider the path in front of us

We seek to follow you. We praise you father God that pastor Jeff stands strong to you without compromise

We pray that we your children would be likewise And we pray Lord that your word would encourage us on On the spiritual growth and on the journey that we are on amen.

I Am NOT a biologist My kids my grandkids love to talk to me about things and if it gets into the realm of physics and engineering

I can talk to him But if there were ever a question of biology, I'm not your guy

But I remembered something from school and and it intrigued me so I did some research there are seven characteristics of living people

In a biological realm and some of them include with the need to take nourishment respiration and oxygen the need to To reproduce our ability to respond to stimuli

Growth is one of the characteristics of a living being

It has been stated that if you stop growing you're dying

Now I believe again in my reading there are X number of cells in the human body that die every day

That's not a bad thing because new cells are taking their place. They're they're reproducing.

They're growing Disease has a it really makes a mess with all of that Biologically when you stop growing you start dying and I want to tell you that spiritually

When you stop growing you start dying You see God has called you from where you were

And if you go into Ephesians 2 you were dead in your trespasses and sins You followed after the course of this world the prince of the power of the air

All of these bad things in verses 1 and then it says but God Amen to that there is a transition that takes place, but when that transition takes place, it's not a complete

Accomplishing everything God places you on a journey that he wants you to take

Now it's interesting because God could have said Ray the moment you accepted the

Lord. I am making you perfectly. Holy Complete he could have done that But he doesn't

He takes you where you are and he makes you a new creation and he gives you the Holy Spirit But he's going to send you on a journey and his journey is spiritual growth

But that spiritual growth is not something that we do by ourselves

This is through the Holy Spirit and by his grace But we do play a role and that role is sometimes called spiritual discipline

There are aspects to spiritual discipline praying

Reading his word meditating on it Memorizing it having it in your mind.

So that the what -if happens his word is right there For you surrendering to him setting priorities according to him

Spending time in fellowship one with another. There's a list of spiritual disciplines that are powerful and They equip you for this spiritual journey and spiritual growth

But they're not things you'd even do those by yourself They are there, but you must be surrendering to the

Holy Spirit and following his grace If you were to go into my office upstairs at my house you will see that every night one of the last things

I do before I go to bed is I think about tomorrow and I write a list of everything.

I want to accomplish tomorrow. I'm a list guy Any list people here? If you do something that wasn't on your list, do you write it down so you can cross it out

Then you're a real list person The first thing on my list is devotion

If I wake up in the morning and go into my office and have my devotion so I can cross it off my list

It doesn't mean a thing But if I wake up in the morning and I have in my heart good morning

God And I have in my heart. I need you today so much

Who was it that said all the orphanages in England and he said I am so busy I Cannot I can't afford to not take time to pray.

That's a loose paraphrase How many hours a day did he pray? If I wake up in the morning and I say good morning

God, I need you today Let's open your word and see what you have for me today Let me meditate on a piece of your word that is spiritual discipline

Not just checking it off the list if you came here today Because it's Sunday and you can chalk check it off your list.

I went to church on Sunday. I would Come here because you're meeting with the

Lord when we spend time In the beginning of a service and we worship.

Can you put that slide up guys when we come here and we sing songs This is not a concert

This is not a Sing -along if you went to camps and had a sing -along.

This is not a sing -along Worship It's worship

We just prayed these words and and I emphasize the fact that we didn't sing these words

Because this is worship. We prayed these words give us clean hands These are the

Evidence of the activities that we take and the decisions we make during the day

The things that we choose the things that we take hold of the the way that we impact People give us clean hands

Give us pure hearts. It's that It's that side that that peace inside of us that can have this relationship with God Give us pure hearts where the

Okay, don't mean to offend anybody or put anybody on the spot But in a few months the the

Eagles will be playing again Which is more important on Sunday an

Eagles game or coming into the fellowship and worshiping. I Want you to I want you to say we just prayed give us pure hearts

Let us not lift our souls to another That's that is the path that are that's our footsteps

That's our marching orders in this spiritual life You see if we think that we can control this even the spiritual disciplines.

Let me take you to Jeremiah 179 the heart is more deceitful than all else and Desperately sick who can understand it if you're going to be making this based on your hearts inclinations

That's not going to get it done and if you think that I can be clever enough and smart enough and intuit enough

I'm going to take you to Proverbs 3 where it says lean not on your own understanding Submit to God That's our spiritual journey

The things of spiritual discipline are things that you ought to be aware of And you should be practicing the spiritual disciplines

But did you know that Satan counterfeits every single one of them and The way that you know, you are doing spiritual disciplines as opposed to the counterfeit is what's your motivation?

Where's your heart? What's your focus? What is important to you? There was a video a pastor by the name of Mark Driscoll.

Now, I understand he has certain baggages but this particular sermon

Is so powerful it is so powerful And in it he says

That Satan's Counterfeit to being born again is woke

Let's paraphrase but that's what he said Satan's counterfeit to being born again is woke what that means is if you are born again

You are a new creation. Your heart has been made new you you have you have what you need now to be on this journey and so if those truths are

Uncompromised in your life so that when you're making this journey when pastor Jeff walks up Washington he's got to stay on the path.

He can't go off And when he goes up on that path He cannot take his eyes off of where he is or there is a rock that is going to give him all kinds of trouble

If You are born again, and you're following after the Holy Spirit and you're letting

God guide your path You are on a journey and you are growing Spiritually, but if you are woke you are dead that's a

Satan's counterfeit a parent a grandchild's

Thrill is to see their children grow spiritually, isn't it? To have to have that those moments you as a parent provide things you provide

Limits and you provide discipline you provide love food security instruction you provide an example every step that is taken

In the right path. It's a source of rejoicing for a parent I've got to believe that when

God looks down at you my brothers and sisters And he sees you make those choices and go up that path and You're walking and you're growing spiritually.

It brings joy to his heart. I gotta believe it Philippians 1 6 to 11 is our is our text today.

I am sure of this That he who began a good work in you will complete it will bring it to completion at the day of Christ It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart we are all partakers with me of grace both in my

Imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel for God is my witness how

I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and Discernment so that you may approve what is excellent

And so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness That comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God We're going to look at the assurance of God's work

Confidence in one another on this journey Involvement with one another on this journey and evidence of spiritual growth as it occurs in each other the assurance of God's work

And I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion

At the day of Christ Christ God had began this You did not achieve perfection and come to Christ There was a song back in the late 60s

Kind of a tongue -in -cheek title. He's filling up heaven with sinners Think about that for a minute if you think that you are righteous

Is that like the That kind of like the spiritual leaders of the day they thought they were righteous

But if you're like that man who stood at the back of the temple Bowed down and he said

Lord have mercy on me the chief of all sinners That's who he's calling. He's not calling the righteous ones.

He's calling those who admit I I Fall short. I'm the sinner, but you you sent your son to the cross

If you've never prayed that prayer, you need to pray that prayer now. I'm a sinner. You sent your son to the cross

I confess and repent of my sins I accept without condition your blood and he starts the journey.

He begins the good work in you. You see back in Genesis On the sixth day he created man and he said it's good.

It's very good Then he created woman bought him to man and it was a perfect union and he instituted marriage and it was absolutely perfect They walked in the cool of the day with God until that horrible day

Satan comes and deceives and sin is entered and Death enters spiritually into the heart of man, but you see there's some promises

Ezekiel 11 talks about I'm gonna put in you a new heart To give you a new heart

That's his work within you in 2nd Corinthians 5 17 is you're a new creation old things passed away

All things become new he starts the journey for you When you accept his word it says in 1st

Thessalonians 2 that word performs work in you and so the journey goes on because of his power

And Hebrews 13 tells us he equips us for every good work through Jesus Christ.

And so the journey begins Again God could have made you perfect, but he decided not to so that as you walk in this world as you make these decisions as you're on this journey and Then you make a mistake and we know you will first John says he who says he is without sin is a fool and he deceives

Himself, but if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you of all sins

Cleanse you in righteousness So as you're on this journey and you make a mistake and you come back to him

What a joy that can bring to your heart and it says there that he is faithful to bring it to completion

He promised these things that are going to be abundant by his goodness And in fact in Romans 8 28, he said that all things work together for good

He doesn't say that you're now a believer all things are going to be nice and easy for you

They're going to be for your good because he's going to be there every step of the way John 10 10 says

I've come that you can have life and have it to the full this journey This journey is going to be experiencing life in a way that the world cannot counterfeit

This Satan can make you think that if you make this choice, you're gonna have a lot of fun.

Maybe you will for a moment But if you follow Christ, maybe you're going to skip out on that quote -unquote fun thing but boy, you're gonna sleep better at night and Your sense of fulfillment is going to be so much greater.

He comes that we can have life to the full In Jeremiah 29 11,

I know that it speaks to the nation of Israel and what he plans for them But it applies so much to each of us.

I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare and not evil to give you a future and A hope so we go on this journey

Knowing that as we're on this journey, he is the one that's going to take us to the end He is the one that's going to bring it there.

But do you know what it says? We don't even know what we're gonna be yet And I love the phrase you ain't seen nothing yet If you think

God is giving you such blessings and and you can see you ain't seen nothing yet Cuz he's gonna make it better and better and better It's talking with Gary Camlin between services and we were talking about some of the trials now that even pastor

Jeff is going on It says in the Beatitudes blessed are those who are persecuted Persecuted blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake for yours is the kingdom of heaven

But in the same way, they also persecuted the prophets who are before you Even in those moments where the world or whatever is standing up against you

Counted joy because it teaches us in in James the trials eventually lead to perfection

This is the journey that he allows us to Go on it's this gonna be a lifelong journey

I've had the privilege of taking some hikes of my own and the younger day. I did a lot of whitewater rafting my brother and I We could take on the big rivers.

We didn't need to have a scout or a guide we had Those of us who knew our way we did the

Grand Canyon twice Down the Colorado River and so when you'd approach a huge rapid all the rafts would pull aside and you would march up to a lookout point

Because the water changes every day a little bit. Where's the hole? Where's the path? What you're gonna go right you're gonna go left here

But even getting from where the the rafts went in to where the lookout point required

Knowledge of how to get from here to there. It was my first time. I didn't know where to go Fortunately the other guys did so I followed their lead

We had to walk the path, but I had to watch out that I didn't stumble my brothers and sisters.

You're on a path and You got to do that you got to do the work you got to walk there and it says at Galatians 5 16 walk in the

Spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh Satan is doing everything he can to give you

Encouragement to walk in a way other than the Spirit's guide Don't do it

Romans 4 says you're baptized him. So walk in the newness of life. You aren't your old self anymore

You are not a slave to sin anymore you get to walk the path of righteousness and then

Romans 12 is going to encourage you Don't conform to the world be transformed in your mind accept who you are and go on that journey

We could be confident in the Philippians that they are now being led and given insight helped by God and Paul is but he's also

Confident And Justified in who they are

Starting on 7 it is right for me to feel this way about you Because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and then a defense and Confirmation of the gospel.

This is one and others. This is it right there I talked last week about his desire to have partners in the gospel

This is one another's Paul says I have you in my heart. This is a gap a love

This is not love that is influenced or impacted by anything that goes on.

This is a gap a love This is love that puts the other person in preference over you

This is love that would have you lay down your life for somebody else John 3 18 first John 3 18.

This is love indeed and in truth not just in word This is love that is so genuine that when

I speak this to my brother and sister there is genuine reality behind that not superficial

It's not the hey, how you doing today type of a comment. This is how are you doing today?

Because I've been praying for you And I really want to have an update on that thing

So I know how to pray for you because I love you You know that it says that we are one body all members

Then if one body suffers all the members suffer And so we proclaim a heart -deep relationship unlimited

Unchanging never -ending. We are partners in life We are co -partners of the grace

What we are called and what we are equipped to do Comes from God and is empowered by God his

Holy Spirit with his grace And so the love we have it says we are all partakers with me of grace

Second Titus 2 is going to teach things about grace. It's the keystone to spiritual growth

It leads us to salvation it instructs us to deny those things that we should not be accepting

That's what the Holy Spirit does and that's with grace and it instructs us to righteous living so that we are on That path

Jeff wants to get to the top of Mount Washington, and he he picks that path. He better stay on it You want to walk this

Christian life? You better stay on it. God's grace his Holy Spirit Also gives us hope

I don't care how long the journey may be and I don't care how many stones are in the way We know who wins

God wins and he's taken us right there along with him Paul says that I have this confidence in you because we share experiences

He's in jail But he says I have confidence in you we share experiences

That one body when everybody is together Knowing that any trial eventually works out to God's glory

If they took a pot of silver and they wanted to purify it they would put it over heat over a fire and it would melt and at the top of the the top of the molten silver would be impurities dross and They would scrape those off and then they would do it again

And there'd be more dross and they would scrape it off and they would do it again Until eventually there was no more dross and they could look in the surface of that silver like a perfect mirror

That is your spiritual walk That is spiritual growth Who here is perfect, thank you, nobody raised their hand

Who here is excited that God has a plan for you? And he knows how to get you there what you have seen you don't even know how good it's gonna be

But who holds to that promise and he who began a good work and you will complete it in the day of Christ.

Amen to that We are nothing more than mere mortal men

But God chooses to use us For the furtherance of his gospel.

Isn't that an amazing thing? The angels in heaven look and wonder now what's going on down here.

I Have absolutely no right to stand up here and expose The gospel message to you none whatsoever

But the Holy Spirit has chosen me a weak vessel to do this today

And anything I say to you that comes from my own inclinations don't listen to But if it's something that I think the

Holy Spirit has given to me it is the power the gospel It's the power of God to salvation

To everyone who believes that Great Commission is to all of us

Jews spoke earlier during the announcements about Philip the Evangelist our brother Phil DeMoss and how he helped us understand

The process of speaking out truth to somebody As a young lady,

I did not get her name We were on the plane coming back from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.

She sat next to me I Was able to share with her that Jeff was sitting in front of me.

We had been to a pastor's convention We're both pastors. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, do you go to church?

She said no, I'm a Jew. I Said okay. Do you go to synagogue? Yeah, I do and The conversation kind of died right there.

But later I said I want you to do something if you would she said what's that? I said open your prophet

Isaiah and read chapter 53 And when you read that thing, who is this talking about?

There are ways that God gives us and then when that door is open take it Especially if you're sitting next to somebody on a plane for five hours, they can't go anywhere

We are on this Great Commission together and Paul knows that he has confidence in these people because they're working in this gospel ministry

Together so he's confident in their spiritual growth because they're doing this together

Having that confidence then he talks about Being involved with their brothers.

He says for God is my witness how I yearn For you all with the affection of Christ Jesus it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment in all aspects of the

Philippian Saints life's Paul is driven to pray for them and for their growth

I Tried to embarrass Antoinette this morning.

I guess I didn't succeed. I said no names, but her initials are Antoinette She's part of our small group and we have to stop over the summer because quite frankly,

I'm gonna be gone I've got one more Sunday here and then I'm gone for the summer up in Cooperstown pray for me

I'm on a mission field 12 year old baseball with other umpires Great Commission But Antoinette was was uncomfortable so she said she sent me an email

She said can I get everybody to send me updates to their prayer requests? So that I can send out a weekly prayer list to our community group and I said amen to that Having this heart desire to just pray for one another

When God calls you when he calls us to hold a fellow saint up in prayer

He brings us closer into fellowship with our brother and sister and with him

This is spiritual growth. And so Paul prays with a deep yearning He knows their faith.

He's already said that but he now continues that their growth will never stop

Never be impeded will continue. I pray I pray for you. And so his prayer is threefold

Prayers for spiritual growth to be manifested in love that abounds more and more more and more

Isn't it exciting when you have a brother and sister that you know, they love you and brotherly love

Agape love and they got your back and they're praying for you. I'm not there yet.

We're not there yet. You're not there yet But we can pray first Thessalonians 3 that the

Lord may cause us to increase The Lord cause us to increase

May our love for each other never be superficial that evidence

That our love has for each other is evidence of a changed and growing heart

He wants their spiritual growth to be manifested in knowledge. Now. This is not just knowledge for knowledge sake

My grandchildren are visiting this week. They love to get me aside and ask me questions about things

We've been all sorts of places Yesterday we spent better part of an hour talking about asteroids

Meteors and comets Dwarf planets

I threw into that mixed satellites Eventually that got us into weaponry and missiles and stuff like that And we had a good time because they they just love to hear this information

But the thing this weekend yesterday that just touched my heart beyond all other things

My one grandson said grandpa, we're in the scriptures doesn't say that God is all -powerful.

Oh man Where stands it written? He wants to know information then they challenged me on that but he wanted to know what does the

Bible have to say about this? You see Paul is praying that their knowledge it's not knowledge about astronomy or Physics whatever it's knowledge about God knowing knowing

God Darkness cannot comprehend Natural man cannot comprehend

But we have a God who takes care of all of those problems. I am the way the truth in the life

I'm going to give you a new heart So the things of God we can understand

The Holy Spirit comes to help us through it, but then he says I want them also to have discernment

This is the what -if Ability what if such -and -such happens, what do

I do? What do I say? How do I decide? Now when you're equipped with the

Word of God and when you're in tune to God and when you're praying to God and your prayer is Not for this to happen if thine will

Praying in his will Not my will done, but thine psalm 137 is going to tell you where can

I go from the presence of God? Now there is a way to read that and it's an appropriate way to read that that says

I don't dare Deviate from righteousness because I can't hide it from God.

He sees it. He sees everything If I think I can sin and nobody saw it guess what

God saw it that's definitely a legitimate way to read this this sound But here's another way.

It's a psalm of assurance Whatever happens in my life

God is there He is sovereign he is always with me he promised to Joshua don't be afraid

I'm gonna go with you in a battle Don't be afraid he's with you in the battle You're trying to climb

Mount Washington and you're at an eight -foot boulder and Tuckerman's notches right behind you don't be afraid

I'm with you I'm with you in all situations

And at all times Psalm 32 8 says I will instruct you Teach you in the way you should go

I will counsel you with my eye Upon you we are so cared for Then it's the evidence

So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God as a proud parent

Paul just loved the fact that the Saints at Philippi are growing and they're demonstrating and they're showing

Spiritual growth and good works He wants us to examine things

He wants us to approve things He wants us to find things worthy because your heart is so taught by God He wants you to be that person that can be relied on he wants you to remain pure and blameless

Give us clean hands we prayed Do I have a temptation to cut corners on something give me clean hands we prayed

Give me a pure heart we prayed Don't let us be turned to another we prayed

The one who abides in Christ has the father and if you abide in Christ you will bear fruit

But this fruit as he prays here The fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God as We have spiritual growth on the spiritual journey.

And as we experience things of God it is for his glory not for yours now

If somebody comes down from the pulpit Jeff comes down hope with the guys who are teaching Whatever it might be and somebody says man.

That was a great sermon. That will be a heart lift But it's got to be to God's glory because I tell you

I don't deserve to be here But the Holy Spirit has chosen me and hopefully he is speaking.

It's his glory. All things are his glory We cannot be self promoting and self focused 2nd

Corinthians 4 7 but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us

If you want to be filled with righteousness you have a vessel so to speak and that vessel is 80 % filled and so you're gonna fill it with righteousness.

Okay But 20 % of that doesn't belong there bad stuff

You want to be filled with righteousness? Empty all the bad stuff out of that Vessel fill it with all righteousness.

This is the definition of spiritual growth Again God could have cleansed you completely but he doesn't and so he allows you to go on this journey

And every time the Holy Spirit says you got this piece of dirt and that vessel

Confess it repent of it get it out that leaves room for more righteousness That's our walk

That's spiritual growth, so where do we take this? Those here and I pray that it's every one of you who have bowed the knee and if you haven't today's the day

It's a changed life You're gonna go from spiritual death to spiritual life

You're going to go from meaningless works to works that have eternal value and glory for God You're gonna go from despair into hope

This is our journey The victory has been won

And our life is blessed through Christ And what we now have is a life in the present and a life in the future

That is defined by God is to live in Christ God is going to encourage us spiritual growth is a process

Don't be discouraged by that path that's ahead But get excited about the journey that's ahead

There are gonna be mountains that you're gonna have to cross there's going to be deserts You're gonna have to survive and there will even be beautiful fields that you're gonna be tempted to stop

But don't Do the journey? God's got a plan for you believing in him

He's always gonna be there. We know that from 1st Corinthians 10 13, even when you're tempted

He's gonna give you the way out of it to run a path

Celebrate Jesus Be with one another Follow God have that hope he began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

Amen I So teach my song

I Oh Colossians 3 let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful But the

Word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with Thankfulness in your hearts to God Whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the

Lord Jesus Giving thanks to God the Father through him go in peace.