Gaining Ground | A life that keeps growing | Drew Sherman

Let's lean in as we lift our voices to Jesus. All authority, all authority, all authority. I pray over my heart and mind. I'm healed by your stripes, your blood. Declare that I am free. In the mighty name of Jesus. I pray. Calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim every weapon formed against me. It must be in the mighty name of Jesus. Yeah. I draw a permanent boundary line. And he has no right to come near my family. No. No sin could ever undo God's plan. No matter the circumstance. The cross has sealed my destiny. In the mighty name of Jesus. I pray. Calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim every weapon formed against me. It must be in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. Oh, I know of the power of fear and darkness. It must close every key to every fatal wound. I hold in the mighty name of Jesus. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. The dark frame of my life.

Is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. Protected on all sides. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. The dark frame of my life. Is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. Protected on all sides. By the blood of Jesus Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus. Come on. I will not fear. I will not fear. Oh, in the mighty name of Jesus. There's an army of angels here. Protected on all sides. No one knows. The power of your Spirit. Every key to every victory. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. Come on, can we put our hands together for our Lord? Father God, we trust in your mighty name.

And we worship you this morning. Oh, yes. We trust you. We trust you. He's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough. He will never fail. Perfect salvation. And all is at rest. I know the offer of tomorrow's order, my sin. This is my story. This is my song. I'm praising my risen King and Savior all the day long. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. And he heard and he answered It was like every time they sang it It just got louder and louder so loud that it was louder than the microphones and the speakers and the guitars that were plugged in they were just out singing everything and I felt the presence of God in that moment like I've never felt before

And it's because those men had sought the Lord in a dark and difficult time and he heard and he answered And So they just sang it with all their hearts. I Sought the Lord and he heard and he answered That's why I trust him and I wonder I wonder if you have sought the Lord in your life before I wonder if you've had a moment of deep loss of deep sorrow a moment of depression a moment of loneliness or all you've known to do is to cry out to the God of the universe to seek the Lord and Then to find out that he hears and he answers our prayers And I think it's because of those moments that we worship When we come together as the church because of those moments that we sing With all of our heart that we lift our hands that we respond to God And so I just want to give you a moment this morning To ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of those moments in your life So you just close your eyes take a big deep breath and just say Holy Spirit. Would you remind me? I Don't want to just sing it I want to be reminded of the time that I sought you and you heard and you answered my prayers And then with that in mind, we'll continue to worship together today Of exaltation and I was born You hear the melody of all creation There's a song Well No Oh God Yeah There is no one Circle K only you Jesus. Who else is worth it?

Who else is worth. There is no one only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one only you, Jesus. In Philippians chapter 2 it says that every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. So let's join with all of creation and sing this out to him today. Hail, Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Christ, one and just To prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Holy, holy Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come ♪ He is on the throne above ♪ Holy, holy ♪ Christ is one, Jesus

♪ True to us, the fathers love ♪ Jesus Christ, we lift it up ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ There is no one ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ There is no one ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ There is no one ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ There is no one ♪ Only you, Jesus ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ Sing with me ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ And all will see ♪ How great ♪ How great ♪ Is our God Come on church, sing that out, how great. ♪ How great ♪ Is our God Sing it. ♪ Sing with me ♪ How great ♪ Is our God

♪ And all will see ♪ How great ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ You are worthy of all praise ♪ Oh, my heart will sing ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ Sing with me ♪ How great ♪ Is our God ♪ And all will see ♪ How great ♪ How great ♪ Is our God Come on, let's give Him our praise today. Let's sing with Him. Hey, welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. My name is Drew and so glad that you're worshiping with us today. We would love to connect with you. Right after the message, in guest gathering, if you're a guest, we would love to put a name to a face. We have a gift for you. We'd love to connect with you. So please come see us just after this message.

In 1952, Florence Chadwick stepped into the icy Pacific off Catalina Island with one goal in mind, swim to mainland California. She had already become the first woman to swim the English Channel. So she knew what endurance demanded. But that morning, the fog rolled in, thick, cold, and relentless. She couldn't even see the support boat beside her. Still, she kept swimming hour after hour. For 15 hours, she swam. Eventually, she begged to be pulled out. Her mother was in the security boat, kept saying, you're close, you're close. You can make it. But Florence was exhausted in every way. She gave out, and she made the hard decision to quit. And only when she was back in the boat did she realize that the shoreline was visible just a few hundred yards away. The next day at a news conference, and said, all I could see was the fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I could have made it. We're in the final week of a series called Gaining Ground, and we've been studying 1 Timothy chapter four, namely six verses in that chapter. And Paul is writing to Timothy as a pastor to pastor kind of encouragement. And he tells him, don't quit, keep doing the good work,

even when it gets discouraging, even when the results feel slow, even when you're tempted to think nothing is changing. Because when it comes to growing our faith, most of us don't quit because we're weak. We quit because we can't see the shoreline anymore. The fog rolls in, progress feels slow, the finish line isn't visible. And if we're honest, we start asking, what's the point? I'm not seeing any movement. It doesn't feel like I'm going anywhere. And maybe that's where some of you are today, running from, not running from God, not rebelling, not walking away, just tired. Just tired of praying prayers that feel unanswered, tired of doing the right thing when the easier thing is right in front of you, tired of showing up when you don't feel anything, tired of carrying weight nobody else can see. If that's you, I want you to know you're not alone. I've been there. I've asked those same questions. I felt that same drain. Following Jesus is beautiful, but it's costly. It'll stretch you. It'll ask more of you than comfort ever will. And maybe that's the real tension for some of us because somewhere along the way, some of us were handed a version of Christianity that sounded more like a fan club than a cross to carry.

A version that just said, just believe, just show up, just be inspired. And let's be honest, we all know what it's like to be a fan. Some of you who are new to Compass Church may not know that I'm from a small town in Indiana and I'm still riding high because my Indiana Hoosiers won the national championship in football. And I know it's May, but I'm still talking about it because for years, we were basically the punchline of college football. And then two seasons later, we're on top. And that's a lot to handle as a fan. And my wife can tell you, I've watched a replay of the championship game no less than 20 times and praise Jesus, we've won every single time. And I said 10 times on Thursday night, we got home and she said, really? You watched it 10 times last week. So I think it's probably around 20 times. But here's the thing about being a fan. Fans get loud when it's exciting. Fans show up when the team is winning. Fans love the moment, not the grind. And the same thing can happen in faith. When following Jesus is convenient, comfortable and inspiring, it's easy to lean in. But the moment it costs you something, the moment it requires perseverance instead of excitement, that's where a lot of us tend to want to give up. Kyle Eidelman is a good friend of mine.

He wrote a book a few years ago called Not a Fan. And I still recommend it because he puts language to something we all feel. It's easy to be close to Jesus when everything is inspiring, when the music is good, when the message hits and life is smooth. But fans don't follow Jesus into hard places. Fans cheer when it's exciting. Followers keep walking when it's exhausting. Fans bail when it gets costly. Followers persevere because Jesus is worth it. And that's who Paul was writing to in 1 Timothy 4. If you have your Bible or the Bible app, we're gonna go to the actual theme verse of this series, finally getting to it. We've covered verses 11, 12, 13, and 14. And this week we're gonna do 15 and 16. And in the English standard version of 1 Timothy 4, verse 15, here is what we read. "'Practice these things, immerse yourself in them "'so that all may see your," what? "'Progress. "'Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. "'Persist in this, for by so doing, "'you will save both yourself and your hearers.'" In other words, don't quit. Don't stop doing what you're doing. Don't lose sight of the shoreline. And notice these words I've underlined for you, three of them, practice, immerse, persist.

Because Paul understood that spiritual growth isn't about perfection, it's about progress. Practice, immerse, persist. Those aren't fan words. Those are follower words. These are the words of someone who. wants to keep growing. And I wanna break these down for you today because each one of these words give us a picture of what a life that is truly gaining ground looks like. And Paul starts with practice these things. And by doing so, he's reminding Timothy that spiritual growth isn't built on repetition, is built on repetition, not inspiration. Practice means doing the right things over and over again, even when you don't feel like it, even when it's not exciting, even when nobody's watching. We love the idea of progress, but we don't always love the process. And when it comes to spiritual growth, we wanna see results immediately. We want spiritual growth to work just like Amazon. Lord, I prayed once, where's my package? But spiritual growth takes time. Michelle and I went to Bible college in Missouri. So we spent a lot of time in that Southwest area of Missouri. We were in Joplin and sometimes we would go to Branson and Branson is kind of a fun place. And as you come into town from like highway 44, you're going South and you come into Branson,

the first attraction on your right is this kind of this older big box theater. And it's where Yakov Smirnoff is. And he's this kind of Russian comedian. And when he first came to America, he talks about how he's so amazed by the grocery stores in America, because they weren't like the grocery stores he was accustomed to. He said, I walked down the aisle and I saw powdered milk. The package said, just add water and you get milk. And then he said, I saw powdered orange juice, just add water and you get orange juice. And then he saw baby powder and he thought, what a country. Like this is amazing, right? Like a lot of people want a just add water type of faith, but spiritual growth is not just add water. It's dig, dig up the ground, hard work, plant a seed, add fertilizer, pray for rain, weather the storm, wait and wait some more kind of growth. And for a while, it looks like nothing's happening, but under the surface roots are forming before fruit is visible. That's how spiritual formation often works. You pray and it is not immediately feel powerful. You read scripture and you do not always walk away glowing. You forgive and the pain does not instantly disappear. You practice generosity and your heart does not become selfless overnight. You serve, no one's clapping.

You resist temptation, no one's watching. The mistake we sometimes make is assuming that unseen means unchanged, but with seeds, the most important growth happens before anyone can see it. Roots come before fruit. Depth comes before visibility. Anything worth having takes time. It takes practice. I played basketball in high school growing up and my dad asked me to do what many dads in our era asked their son to do when they were playing basketball. He asked me if I would commit to hitting, not shooting, but actually hitting 100 free throws before I would come into dinner each night. 100 free throws. I'm like, no problem, pops. Now it doesn't sound like much now, but now and then it would wear on you. And there were more than a few times that I would come prancing into the house, probably just got off my bike for hours in our neighborhood, and he would say, hey son, did you get your free throws? And I would have to head right back out the door and hit those free throws because we had a deal. And as a kid, you don't wanna practice free throws. You wanna shoot the half court shot at the buzzer. I wanted to be Larry Bird hitting it from deep, you know, because there was way more fun in that. But the reality is there was less of a chance

that those were the shots I'd be taking in a game compared to free throws. And I will say this, when I had to shoot pressure free throws in a game, I would visualize my home basketball court and I would think to myself, if I ever wanna eat again, I better hit this free throw. Practice isn't glamorous. Practice isn't exciting. Practice doesn't get applause, but practice is what produces growth. And in your faith, it's the same way. You don't drift into maturity. You practice your way into it. We don't rise to the level of our disciplines. We fall to the level of our habits. For you men, this is exactly. That's exactly why we started First Wednesday on all of our campuses. And we'll be meeting this Wednesday, on May the 6th, this Wednesday, 6.30 a.m. Some of you men are like, who in their right mind gets up at 6 a.m. and goes to a 6.30 Bible study? Well, last month, almost 700 men on our four campuses got up and did that. And what I love about First Wednesday, what I've noticed is that like when I walk in there, you know, we walk in, we usually have like some breakfast tacos and coffee

and have a little worship. But then we study. And I'll tell you this, what I've noticed is there might be a man who's been a Christian for 30 years, sitting next to a guy who's been a Christian for 30 days. And I love that. And that's how you get better. That's how you get 1% better every day. You keep showing up, you keep opening up scripture. Do you remember what Greg Pruitt said a couple of weeks ago? He said, I have a chair that I go to every morning and I have a coffee and I read the Word of God and I pray and I do it every morning. Well, I too have one of those chairs and the coffee and my Bible. And every day I read something new. And you say, really Drew, is that true? Do you really do? You read something new every day? I'll give you an example. I was reading, preparing for a devotion that I was putting together for our Greece trip. We just took 14 couples to Greece and Turkey to follow the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. And so we were gonna be in Corinth and I'm reading from the book of Acts in Acts 18 about what Paul was up against in Corinth. And if you read about Corinth,

you'll know why some biblical scholars have said, it's the Las Vegas of the day. Because in Corinth, there was a lot of immorality and there was a lot of corruption. And so there's that comparison that gets made. And it was a tough place to plant a church, but that didn't stop Paul. So he's dealing with opposition among many people, among Roman occupation, among the Jewish leaders. And there was a synagogue leader in Corinth named Sosthenes, Sosthenes. And he wasn't a Christian, of course, because he was the leader of the Jewish synagogue. And so I'm looking at all that in Acts 18 and I'm trying to put together a talk because we're gonna be in Corinth, right? And so I thought, man, before I finish this talk, I should look at what were Paul's first words to the people in Corinth when he wrote to them later? And so I went to 1 Corinthians 1. And I will tell you, guys, I don't know how many times I've read that chapter. I've read 1 Corinthians a lot. I don't know. I've been reading the Bible seriously for about 50 years. I would say I've read it maybe 100, 150 times, but there it was, something I had never seen in my life. 1 Corinthians 1, verse one, Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus

and our brother, what? Sosthenes. Wait a minute, Sosthenes helped Paul write the book of... Wait a minute, he was not even a Christian. Paul leads Sosthenes to Christ, the Jewish synagogue leader. I didn't even realize that. We have no history of it, but then here it is in 1 Corinthians 1, Sosthenes obviously is a close companion to Paul because he's helping him write 1 Corinthians 1. And as a pastor, I'm thinking to myself, man, I should keep reading because there's a treasure around every corner and it's motivated me as a leader. Like I should never, ever give up on anyone. I should think of the hardest person in my community to lead to Jesus. And I should pursue that person with a passion. We need to keep reading and keep studying and keep praying and keep serving and keep obeying and keep taking small steps in the right direction because growth doesn't happen in a day. Growth happens daily. It happens daily. Practice is the repetition and the grind. It's the small intentional steps that nobody sees that result in big things that everyone wants. And I'll promise you this, if you put in the practice, you'll see God do his deepest work in the smallest things.

But remember, it wasn't just practice. It was that second word, immerse. Immerse, which means surrounded, saturated, soaked, submerged. That's all the S's I could think of. This isn't dip your toes in. This is full on cannonball faith. This is all in. It's not the kind of faith that says, I'll give God a Sunday here or there. I'll pray when I need something. I'll be generous when it's convenient. Paul is talking about the kind of commitment that says, Jesus, you have all of me. Caleb was talking about the Allred campus. This reminds me of some of the men that I've gotten to know at Allred. And they'll tell you their story and who they used to be and who they used to run with. And I will tell you, some of their stories are wild, man. and then they'll pause and say, but that was the old me. That's not how I am anymore. Because they've encountered Jesus in a way that didn't just inspire them, it changed them. And now right where they are, they're living it out and they're pouring themselves out for others. They're leading Bible studies in the prison. They're encouraging other men, they're serving, praying in a very difficult setting. Jesus said it like this in Luke 9.

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, what's it say, daily, and follow me. Paul had words similar in Romans 12, verse one. Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Offer yourself as a living sacrifice. This isn't for the one hour that I come to church on the weekend, I'll offer my ongoing 24-7 immersed. And if you wanna know someone who lived this out, look no further than Paul himself. Because after he met Jesus on that Damascus road, he did not keep Jesus at arm's length. He didn't treat faith like something he could dabble in when it was convenient, he went all in. And if anybody had a reason to say, this isn't what I signed up for, it was Paul. But instead, he becomes the voice of encouragement, writing to Timothy, and through Timothy to us, saying, don't quit, don't give up, even when the fog rolls in, keep going, keep growing. One of the highlights of our trip to Greece and Turkey was a place called Miletus. It's located about five or six miles off the western coast of Turkey, near the Aegean Sea. You can go to the ruins there today. And I had to look it up, honestly. I knew Paul had been there, I just didn't understand the significance of it.

I knew it was a port city, but I didn't really understand why it was so important. But it's very important, because it's where Paul preached his final message in Acts chapter 20. And if you study that, you'll know that he called the elders from the Ephesian church down to Miletus to spend time with him, and they ultimately prayed over him. And this was unexpected, but Brandon Beard, who is one of our pastors that was on the trip, he asked our elder chairman, Doug Howe, who was on the trip, to pray over Michelle and I in Miletus to kind of commemorate that moment with Paul and his elders, and it was very special to us. But honestly, I bring it up, not because of that, because of the fact of the significance of what Paul says in Acts 20. Because he says this, he's preaching his final message, and he says, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race, to complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. This is what it looks like to be immersed in your faith. Paul is saying, my life isn't the point Jesus is. My goal is to finish the race and complete the assignment the Lord gave me. That's what a life that keeps growing looks like. Not a perfect life, but a practice life, a life that keeps showing up and stays immersed in their faith.

As I was studying this, I thought about Tim Grover's book, Winning. And Tim Grover was the trainer for Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. And two of the most relentless competitors, I think, to ever play the game. And he talks about, he says, what separated them was not talent. It was not hype. It wasn't even passion. It was mindset. They practiced when no one was watching. They watched film when everyone else went home. They obsessed over detail. They immersed themselves in the work. They never settled. They never coasted. They never said, that's good enough. He says this in his book, they didn't train to be good. They trained to be unstoppable. And that's the picture Paul is giving us spiritually, that when it comes to a life that is gaining ground, we need a faith that doesn't quit, but a faith that persists, which is a good segue for that final word, persist. Persistence. Because when it comes to our walk as Christ followers, it's not always smooth sailing. You ever noticed that? Sometimes really hard things happen in life

and they kind of lock you up. It's hard. Jesus talked about this. He said, I've told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have trouble. Why? Why is that? Because there's evil in the world, right? But take heart. I have overcome the world. Jesus didn't hide the reality of trouble. He didn't sugarcoat the cost of following him or even. He didn't pretend that the path would be easy, but he did promise his presence, his peace, and most of all, and we forget this sometimes, y'all, he promised victory. We're not persisting for victory. We're persisting from victory. There's a difference. That's why Paul could say, my only aim is to finish the race. And when everything in this life said, stop, his mindset was, I'm gonna keep fighting the fight. I'm gonna keep running the race. I'm not gonna lose the faith. But let's be honest for a minute. The art of persistence takes work and time and diligence. It's like the gym in February.

January's packed, but by February, it's just the diehards and the people that forgot to cancel their membership. And spiritually, the same thing happens. We start strong, we make commitments, we feel inspired. This is my year. And then life hits and the fog rolls in and the excitement wears off and we're tempted to quit. I mean, it's May. How's that Bible reading plan going? Paul says, persist in this. Not persist when it's easy, not persist when you feel spiritual, not persist when you see progress, just persist. Because perseverance is a difference between a movement and a moment. It's a difference between a spark and a fire. It's a difference between a fan and a follower. That was Paul. Once Jesus got ahold of him, he was on mission and nothing was gonna get in his way. Shipwrecked, still preaching. Beaten, still working. Thrown in prison, he starts a worship night. Snake bites him, shakes it off like a mosquito. People try to kill him, he plants another church. Paul lived in this holy stubbornness, this spiritual grit that says, I'm not quitting even when the fog rolls in. And I think he sums it up so good in Galatians chapter six.

He says this, let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. This theme runs throughout Paul's letters, that word persistence. And it's what Paul is calling Timothy to, but it's what he's calling us to as well because spiritual growth isn't about perfection, it's about perseverance, which is why I wanna go back to Miletus. And I wanna go back to that final moment. My only, here's what he says, here's what he says. My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. He says this, my only aim is to finish the race, not win the race, you notice that? He didn't say win, just finish. Not be the fastest, just finish. Not be the most impressive, just finish. I wanna say something I hope is freeing for someone here. God is not asking you to be the most impressive Christian, but he is asking you to be a faithful one, to keep going, to not quit, to not drift, because finishing well is not about intensity, it's about persistence, which is why the final words that Paul says in Miletus are pretty amazing. He says four words that are the key to being faithful. Here's what he says,

if you don't hear anything else, hear this. He says this, keep watch over yourselves. I think that's interesting. Keep watch over yourselves, I love that. Not fix everyone else, not control everything, watch your own heart, guard your own life, because the greatest threat to your calling and your faithfulness, it's not out there, it's in here. It's in here, watch yourselves. Friend, watch yourself because someone else is watching you. And here's the part we sometimes forget, perseverance doesn't always look like Paul's story. It doesn't always look dramatic and heroic, and it doesn't always look like shipwrecks and miracles and prison worship nights. Most of the time, most of the time, following Jesus doesn't get the headline. Most of the time, it's. It looks like simple, steady faithfulness, everyday moments of life, getting 1% closer to Jesus every day. And there's a man in scripture who embodies that, I think almost better than anyone else. And what's ironic is the Bible spends an entire one sentence summing up his whole life. Genesis five, verse 24, talks about a man named Enoch in the middle of a long list of names and lifespans. It's the kind of chapter most of us skim through, but there's one line that kind of stops me in my tracks. It says this, Enoch walked faithfully with God,

and then he was no more because God took him away. And you're like, pastor, what does that mean? I have no idea, but it's awesome. I don't know, God just took him away. Enoch walked faithfully to God and then he was no more because God took him away. That's it, that's the miracle. No mountains, no dramatic stories, no headlines, just a man who walked with God daily, quietly, faithfully, persistently. I once knew a man like that. He was my friend, Mark Wortley. Some of you know Mark. Mark's been walking with God for almost three years. This August will be three years. Mark was a career leader at Dallas Christian College, but for us, he was a compass elder, a teaching pastor for a season, and for me, just a faithful friend. Mark used to wait for me every Thursday. He would come on Thursday nights and sit in the back and he would wait for me. I used to come out this way to go out to guest gathering and I would come out there and he would wait for me in that back row and he'd go, man, that's the best sermon you've ever preached. He said that every Thursday, every Thursday. It was like better than last Thursday, yes. I remember standing at his bedside in his final days. I honestly, I think it was the day before he died

and I just remember looking at him. He was barely conscious and I just admired so deeply this man who had never chased a platform, never seeked applause, never relished the spotlight, just a man who walked with God every day in the midst of the ordinary, in the unseen, small things, in the quiet places, in the moments nobody else noticed. And I remember thinking, that's it, that's the life I want. That's the legacy I want. That's the kind of man I wanna be. Not perfect, not polished, not impressive. I think I'm doing so well right now on that. Faithful, because at the end of your life, nobody's going to remember how many Bible plans you started. They're gonna remember that you walked with God. Your kids won't even remember how many verses you posted. They'll remember you walked with God. Your friends, your coworkers, your church, they don't remember the moments you felt spiritual. They'll remember the life you lived and the steps you took and the faith you practiced and the devotion you immersed yourself in and the perseverance you showed when the fog rolls in. And maybe today God is inviting you back into that simple, steady, faithful walk. Not flashy, not perfect, not dramatic, just like Enoch, just like Paul, just like my friend Mark Worley, just like Florence Chadwick, remember her? Two months after her failure to swim to Catalina,

two months later, she went back, same distance, same cold water, same fog, but this time she held a clear picture of the shoreline in her mind the entire way and she made it with ease. She had practiced, immersed and persisted and she made it to the finish line. I think the one thing I want you to carry out of this series because this is the last message, just take one faithful step, just one. I know most of you will walk out of here and you won't do it, but I'm hopeful. Just take one step, Ben, read your Bible for the first time, say a prayer, say a prayer, shock your spouse tomorrow morning, shock them and say, honey, can I pray for you before you leave for work? Forgive someone, confess some sin, go to starting point. We tell you seven times a weekend, for God's sake, go. I'm so tired of talking about it. Give a generous gift. Be baptized. Some of you, baptism weekend was here and you were like, oh, I want to go. I don't know if I can do it. You can do it. I don't know if I have the courage. You got the courage. You can do it.

Sign up, sign up to serve. Join a community group. Get consistent. This afternoon at 4.15, there's gonna be a number of things I could be doing. I'm gonna be sitting with 10 couples in my house studying the Word of God. Am I gonna have the energy? Probably not. Am I gonna be tired? I will. I work on Sunday. But I'm gonna do it. Why? Because it matters. Because they want to get better. Because they want to grow in their faith. Join a community group. Get involved. Get engaged. Men, for heaven's sake, go to First Wednesday. Go to Next Steps if you're not sure. Just go to Next Steps. It's over in the corner in the lobby. And just walk up there and just say, I don't know why I'm here. Pastor Drew just said to come. So what do you think I should do? Just do that. Because spiritual growth isn't about perfection.

It's about perseverance. It's about presence. It's about progress. It's about walking with God one faithful step at a time, gaining ground in your faith 1% better every day. Let me pray over you. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for all the incredible, faithful models that have gone before us. Help us to walk with you every day faithfully, gaining ground in our faith and being more like Jesus every day. Amen. Hey, thanks. I love you guys.