Grow in Faith | Pastor Daniel Floyd

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Good morning, Gateway family. Are we ready to pray for you today? [MUSIC] >> I have felt the hands that bear the scars reach down and rescue me. I have known the love of the father's heart, a protocol now redeemed. From where I was to where I'm now, it's all the way. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

Even though I don't deserve it, you did it Even though I couldn't earn it, you'd give it Who am I that you keep me on, oh my God I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you In all my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Holy, holy, if there's only one I give you glory, from all you've done Even though I don't deserve it, you did it, take you more Even though I couldn't earn it, you'd give it Who am I that you keep me on, oh my God I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you In all my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Who am I, who am I that you keep me on, oh my God I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you In all my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Thank you Lord, thank you Lord We thank you Jesus In time I'm lifted both of my hands 'Cause you gave me chance after chance In time I'm giving all the land 'Cause you gave me chance after chance After chance In time I'm lifted both of my hands 'Cause you gave me chance after chance

After chance In time I'm giving all the land 'Cause you gave me chance after chance After chance So who am I that you keep me on, oh my God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you In all my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Who am I, who am I that you keep me on, oh my God I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you In all my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you And I'm here to testify, God, I'm just grateful for you God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, you'd be right here by my side God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Thank you Lord Come on, let's give it praise Yes, we give you praise Lord We give you praise Korna Psalms 9 1, it says, "I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done" and thank Him with our mouths? Let's fill our minds with gratitude, fill our hearts with gratitude to Him. Come on, can we just say thank you Lord? God we thank You. God we praise You but You deserve it. You deserve it because You deserve it. Yeah come on again let's just say thank You Lord. Thank You Jesus. Yes we thank You Jesus. We thank You for all that You've done. Thank You for all You've done. So with every breath that's in my lungs my heart cries out to You belongs the glory. Through every loss of victory my soul will rise to

You only breathe You glory. With every breath to with every breath in. Come on we lift it up. My heart cries out to You belongs the glory. Through every loss of victory my soul will rise to You only breathe You glory. With every breath is every blessing in my lungs my heart cries out to You belongs the glory. Through every loss of victory my soul will rise to You only breathe You glory. With every breath is every blessing in My soul will rise to You only breathe in the highest place. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. There's every breath that's in my lungs my heart cries out to You glory. With every loss of victory my soul will rise to You only breathe You glory. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. Come on let's sing. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. Yes you deserve it all. We say we give you the highest. You deserve it all. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. We give you the highest place. We give you the highest place. We give you the highest place. You deserve it all. and take communion with us. Here at Gateway, we practice what we call open communion, which means this, if you're a believer of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ and you put your faith in Him, then you're welcome to take communion with us today. Communion is a Christian sacrament, really one of the two most widely known Christian sacraments, the other being baptism. And what's interesting about sacraments is that they really are just this. They're a physical act of something spiritual. So when you're baptized, you physically get into water to represent something spiritual that's been happening or has happened in your life. We don't have people come down to the front and pray for them to be baptized. We don't just by faith believe they're baptized.

No, you actually get your body into water and you physically experience what it means to be born to new life in Jesus. And sometimes we forget that communion is also a sacrament where there's something physical representing something spiritual. And so what I'd like to do today is go ahead and take this piece of bread out. And I want you to just hold it in your hand because this is a physical act of a spiritual reality. And I want you to just become present for a moment physically. The kingdom of God is here on earth, not fully consummated, but He's here on this earth in a physical way. God is. So we're gonna read this scripture as you hold this in verse Corinthians 11. The Apostle Paul says this, "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. "The Lord Jesus on the night He was betrayed took bread." And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body," which you're holding a representation in your hand, "which is given for you. "Do this in remembrance of me." And then it says in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying, "This cup is the cup of a new covenant in my blood. "Do this whenever you drink in remembrance of me." And then hold on to this part of the scripture.

"For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, "you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." So Jesus tells us to remember the sacrifice. So I want you to think about this as you hold this bread. It's flimsy. It's frail. When we put it in our mouth, it's dry. There's not much to it. It doesn't taste good. And remember your life before Christ. You might've felt dry. You might've felt like there's not a lot of flavor in my life. I'm kind of a broken mess. So as we take this bread physically as you consume it, remind yourself of the fact that Christ paid the ultimate price by the breaking of his body so that your life, though it was broken and frail, could have meaning. Let's take this together. Now it's said that in the same way he took the cup. And if you remember what we just read at the end of that scripture, he said, "We're proclaiming His death until He comes." The beautiful thing about communion is that we look backwards to what Jesus did while we're here in the present. But you know what we also do? We look forward to His coming. And this juice is sweet for a reason. At a Jewish table, the juice in that cup that Jesus raised

was a sweet wine. And it was to remind them that God brings sweet things out of dry and broken places. And so as we take this communion, we're not just remembering what Jesus did, we're actually remembering that there is a day coming that will be very sweet, that He will redeem us, He will redeem mankind. And as we partake in this juice and as the sweetness of it hits your tongue, I want you to remember there is a good hope for you in your future. There is a good plan for you in your future. There is a recovery of addiction. There is a setting free of bondage as you take this. Let's take the cup together. Well, Lord, as we go back into this set of worship, we just thank you. We proclaim your death as a church, joining with the global body of Christ that's saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." We await that day and we are thankful for all you've done and the sweetness of your redemption in Jesus name. Let's worship. ♪ Yes, we thank you for the cross ♪ ♪ We thank you for the blood ♪ ♪ What can wash away my sin ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can make me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ No other found son of nothing but the blood of Jesus

Thank you Jesus Thank you Jesus Mm-hmm Everything changed It's getting harder to recognize The person I was Before I encountered Christ I don't want black or used I don't want black or used I've been lost from inside I've been lost from inside Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Your blood I cannot explain But nothing's more real than this In the presence of God Oh when my heart experienced When my shame hit the way sound And my sin met the most high I was washed from the inside I was washed from the inside Hallelujah

Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood The blood Thank you, Jesus Thank you, Jesus Hallelujah The blood It's never about the force of the French It's just like a floor except It's never about you It's only about the blood It's never about you It's only about the blood It's never about you It's never about you It's only about the blood It's never about you It's just like a floor It's only about the blood It's never about you It's just like a floor It's just like a floor Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah Hallelujah I know it was the blood It's always the blood Hallelujah I know it was the blood It's never about you It's never about the blood It's just like a floor It's just like a floor It's just like a floor It's just like a floor It's just like a floor There's anybody you wanna be worthy Will give, and chance are forever new Let me tell you, you're so lonely, mama There's anybody you wanna be worthy Rise up, pure and foreign, as far as Let me tell you, you're so lonely Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh This ain't gonna be one of your words But you and I, it's just a far and even There is hell you, it's only one of your words I'm lonely, I'm lonely, yeah I'm lonely, but I'm too lonely Let me tell you, you're so lonely I'm lonely, but I'm too, yeah I'm lonely, but I'm too, yeah

I'm lonely, but I'm too, yeah Could've fallen down, but I'm too lonely Yeah, I'm lonely, but I'm too lonely Hello, Jesus today, let's give the Lord one more shout And we get proud of the Lord, thank you Thank you for your blood, Jesus Shit for us You know, if you haven't been to church Or maybe you haven't been to church in a while I just want to acknowledge it's a little bit strange To hear a bunch of people singing about blood Just is But here's the reason why we who come to church every weekend Sing about the blood of Jesus and what it's done for us Because in the Bible, in the book of Ephesians It says this, once you were far away from God And you might be here today and you feel far away from God Maybe you don't even know who God is But then it says this, you were brought near to God By the blood of Christ So however you're feeling this morning If you're feeling God is a million miles away We're here to tell you and to worship together and say The blood of Christ brings us near to God He paid a debt that we couldn't pay He fixed a problem that we couldn't fix He removed a stain that we couldn't get out of us By His blood So we're grateful today Are you grateful for the blood of Jesus? Amen

Well it's so good worshiping with you all the day If you are here for the first time or the first time in a long time Or maybe you're joining us online for the first time in a long time We just want to say welcome to Gateway Church We're so glad you're here And there's a way that you can connect with us Very simply There's a little tap disc on the seat in front of you You can tap that disc And then you can just have something pull up on your phone And say hey, I'm new And I'd love to connect with somebody at the church We'd love to connect with you So we're so grateful for you being here in church Pastor Daniel's about to continue our series This Is Us So turn around and say hi to somebody you haven't seen in a while Welcome to Gateway [Music] [Music] You are the salt of the earth You are the light of the world You are a hilltop city that cannot be hidden [Music] [Music] Hey, well welcome to church everybody We're glad that you're here today Everybody good, you good? Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus at every location What a great morning in church

I tell you, I was here Thursday night The women showed up Any ladies that women say? I pulled in at 6.30 and I don't know that there was a parking spot available And I think we ended up parking people on the grass It was a time for night We have to figure that out next year Make more space But what a great night that's coming on October the 24th. Everybody say the 24th. October the 24th, we're doing something that we haven't done in this way before. And it's called Serve My City. And here's the heart is that we would mobilize our entire church, adults, young adults, students, children for one day to go out and live on mission for Jesus and make a difference in the communities around us. And so our team has worked very hard to put together tons of projects, hundreds of projects and opportunities where you can go and you can make a difference in someone's life. And here's the thing, the Bible says that we're supposed to give a cup of cold water, but we're supposed to give it in Jesus' name. And have you know that someone may not listen to what you say until they know that you actually care about them. And so I wanna encourage you to do that.

They're family friendly, my family, all six of us. Well, I wouldn't want to be home all five of us. We'll be on a project that day. You can give an hour, right? You can sign up for an hour time slot. And there's all kinds of opportunities. Let me share with you a couple that we're doing. One, we're partnering with a long time partner, Embrace Grace. And we're gonna be packing love boxes for women facing unexpected pregnancies with just some things in there. Let them know their value, their loved, and they have another choice. They can choose life for their baby. We're gonna be partnering with an organization called Our Calling. We're gonna help in the kitchen prepare meals. We're gonna serve and guest services to provide resources and clean showers. We're gonna help them process donations in their warehouse. We're gonna pack hygiene kits for inmates. So you can assemble hygiene kits that go to our area prisons. We're gonna have a project that is seniors, veterans, and first responders. So we're gonna be visiting nursing homes, VFWs, fire stations, police departments, just to say you're not forgotten and that God sees you. And so there's gonna be really,

there's thousands and thousands of opportunities. And so many people have already signed up this morning. So here's what I want you to do. You tap the disc on the seat back in front of you. And at the very top of what that pulls up, you'll see where you can sign up. You can see all the projects. Go ahead and plan out your day. And then once you sign up, you go into the four year campus and there is a serve by city t-shirt, nice red t-shirt, and you can't get a t-shirt unless you serve. So if you want a t-shirt, you gotta serve. But how about this everybody? Just picture this with me for one day, red shirts all over the DFW in Wyoming, just making Jesus famous. How about that, all right? (audience applauding) So make sure you get signed up for that. Of course, over the next few weeks, you'll have opportunity to do that as well. Well, we're in this series called This Is Us and we've been talking about what is God's design for his church, what is his purpose for it? How does that inform our future as a church? So we're gonna continue in that before we do. Let's pray real quick. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. And so we say, Holy Spirit, speak to us.

We believe your word can change us, challenge us, encourage us, grow us today. We wanna be better because we came to your house and we pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said a big amen. Amen, so quick recap. If you ever been watching someone Netflix, you know, they go recap of the previous episode. Here's the quick recap is that here's God's ultimate desire for his church is that we're disciple makers. The great commission says, go and make disciples, not go and make conferences, not go and make events. All those are wonderful, I like them. But he said, primarily, our number one mission is to go and make disciples. Everything else should be a vehicle to do that one thing. And so we said a disciple is this, this is just an easy definition. It's someone who is moving. So not stationary, it's a lifelong movement to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and to the thing he's building which is his church. He's building his church. We're so grateful for all the non-profits that serve people and we're gonna partner with them. But the thing that Jesus is building, I'll build my church and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. So we wanna help move people and we know people move in steps.

If you've been walking with Jesus any amount of time, you know you got there a step at a time. And sometimes it was three steps forward and sometimes two steps backwards. Can I get an amen? And then sometimes five steps forward, but it was a step at a time. And so we wanna help people take steps. We want to help them. We don't wanna see them saved. God wants everybody to know, come to salvation. Then they need to be pastored because just 'cause you accepted Christ doesn't mean you've dealt with some of the things that you gotta deal with. And then everybody needs to be developed because you were made on purpose for a purpose and then you need to be mobilized to go make a difference. Matter of fact, serve my city as an opportunity for you to live out part of our purpose and that is live on mission and go make a difference in the world around you. And so we just decided to say it this way. I didn't come up with this language. A lot of people in the church did and we saying it this way. We lead people to know God personally, that is saved to grow in faith, that is pastored.

and that's mobilized, and that's all throughout the scripture, and I went into detail in week one, so go watch if you missed it. So today I wanna talk to you about this idea of grow in faith, that middle phrase in our purpose statement. What does it mean to grow in faith? How many of you know that growth is natural and growth is expected? Even in your life, right? I mean, whenever you have a baby, they're born, you expect that baby to grow, do you not? You get concerned if it's not. At some point, if the baby's not growing, you go to the pediatrician and say, "Hey, something's wrong here. "We need to address this." Why? Because growth is expected and growth is natural. Can I tell you the same thing is true in your relationship with Jesus. Growth is expected and growth is natural. Matter of fact, Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter five, verse 48, he said, "Be perfect therefore, "as your heavenly Father is perfect." And some of you, if you're honest, you're like closing the notebook. I'm already losing on this one, right? But the word perfect there, a better translation, it's the Greek word, if you're new to the scripture, the original text was written in Greek in the New Testament

and it's the word telios, which really means mature. It means wholeness, it means to be fully complete. So what is really saying there is that God's expectation of you is that you would mature, that you would grow, that you wouldn't stay at an infant stage and we all start an infancy in our journey of faith, but it's not that you would stay there but that you would mature and that you would grow into everything that God wants you to become. And whenever we grow, then we become more like Christ. If you're with me, say amen. Let me show you another, Paul said this in first Corinthians, he's writing to the Corinthian church and they've got a lot of issues, he's trying to correct, but he says, "Brothers and sisters, "I could not treat you or address you "as people who live by the Spirit "because you're still worldly, mere infants in Christ." So he's not saying that you don't know Jesus. He's just saying you're still infants. The implication is we should be further along by now, but he says you're mere infants in Christ. He said, "So I gave you milk, not solid food, "for you're not ready for it. "Indeed, you're still not ready. "You're still worldly. "For since there is," now look how he describes worldliness. You're jealous of each other. You can't get along. Are you not worldly?

Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another says, "I follow a Paulus," are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is a Paulus? What is Paul only servants through whom you came to believe? They were doing the assignment or the task God gave them. Here all Paul is saying is I'm not the point, a Paulus isn't the point, Christ is the point. In other words, Paul is saying some of you, you're coming to church and being like, "Oh, he's not preaching, I don't know if I'm not coming. "Oh, she's not preaching. "Oh, oh, he's not leading worship." Are y'all with me? Where's the regular guy? Paul's like, "What are you talking about? "It's not a Paulus, it's not Paul. "They're just doing the assignment God gave them. "It's all about you knowing Christ." And he says this, he goes, "I planted the seed, "a Paulus watered it, but God has been making it grow." So neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters is, I love this, anything. He says, "But only God who makes things grow." How many of you are grateful today that if you lean into God, God's gonna lean in with you? Can I tell you something God expects you to grow and desires you to grow,

but you have a part to play as well. Growth isn't automatic. Maturity isn't automatic, right? Come on, you're like, yeah, I'll work for somebody. Maturity is not. Let me illustrate this to you. I'm gonna have a friend of mine bring me out something. Paul said, "I wanted to give you milk." I gave you milk, but I really wanted to give you brisket. That's how I... (congregation laughing) Read the text. How many of you remember, or maybe you have a cousin or a niece or a nephew or something, how many of you remember when you first had your little baby or family member and they were ready for the bottle, right? And you're holding them and you hold the bottle? Do you know what nobody remembers this? Y'all do it different in Texas. (congregation laughing) I remember you're like trying to multitask, so you got the bottle with your chin. You're like holding it with your chin. Got your phone over here, right? (congregation laughing) And then all of a sudden at some point they're little fingers, grab it. So they, and then it ends up on their chest. But then, are y'all following me?

And then they end up being able to do it themselves. And then eventually you, then you move to the high chair and you're feeding them the gross baby food. (congregation laughing) The puree to all that, right. And then eventually they start eating what you're eating. And then eventually they get out of the high chair. This is what God expects for you. Could it be that some of us have been coming to church for a long time, but we're still. (congregation laughing) Because we've been here a long time, but we still are rude to people. We've been around church, but we're still better. I'm even though attendance doesn't equal maturity. Time in doesn't equal growth. Paul says you're still on the milk. When what I really wanted to give you was hutchins. (congregation laughing) Talk amongst yourselves. (congregation laughing) What I really wanted to do is bring you to maturity. What I really wanted to do was get you out of the high chair. What I really wanted to see for you was not just time in, but I'm actually growing in this thing where I can take a steadier diet because here's the reality. If all you ever do is the milk, you'll never get all the nutrients you need to grow. Just like the natural body could not live off of this. You may have really strong bones,

but everything else would be messed up, right? (congregation laughing) The same is true. And so I want to talk about three questions today about growing, and then we'll land the plane with how are we going to help everyone do that here at Gateway. If you're with me, say amen. If you want barbecue, say amen. Okay, stop. (congregation laughing) That was a louder amen on the barbecue. (congregation laughing) Okay. Question number one, why grow? Why is this important? And the answer is this, because God isn't finished with you. I don't care how long you've been walking with Jesus or how short or if you're not even sure about Him yet, can I just tell you God isn't finished with you? God's not done with you. Paul said this to the church in Thessalonica. He said, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you, mature you, through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body." This is a whole other message for another day, but you are a tricotomy, you know that right. You're made up of three parts, your body, that's your flesh, your spirit, that becomes awakened when you accept Christ, your soul, which is your mind, will, and emotions, and you need to be sanctified in all three areas.

Are you all with me? You need your spirit and your soul sanctified so your body acts the way you want it to should act so that your mouth behaves according, okay, you're all with me? Okay, be blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Paul said this in Philippians 1-6, he says being confident of this, that he who began the good work in you will what? Carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Here's what the Scripture is telling us, is that you have a part to play in your growth and God plays the part in your growth. He said, Apollus watered, I planted the seed, but it's God who gave the harvest on the seed. So here's what I'm trying to tell you, is that you can't just like be stationary and expect to mature in your faith. You have a part to play. You draw close to God, God draws close to you. You lean in to growth. So here, maturity isn't about flawlessness, maturity is about the posture of your heart. It's about the lean in of your heart. It's about you've been able to say, I haven't arrived. I haven't reached the pinnacle. I'm still on this journey of faith. I still have room to grow and God's not done with me yet. I still have some steps to take and we all have steps to take.

But I'm concerned sometimes in church, we can go. I've done it. I come to church, check that box. I used to serve, check that box, done that. I went to a small group once, check that box. When did this become boxes, we check? I thought this was a lifelong journey. I thought this was a lifelong journey of knowing God personally. I never arrived on that. I thought this was a lifelong journey of growing in my faith. I thought this was a lifelong journey of living on the mission of Jesus. One time, He wants me to live a life of impact, of living on mission, a life of growing in faith, a life of knowing Him more deeply and deeply and deeply just as we grow. It's our job to lean in. Did you know you can't will or strive yourself to be taller? I mean, if we could, I would have. I always wanted to be a little over six foot. Just wasn't in the jeans. Did you know you can starve yourself shorter, that you can starve your body where it doesn't get the nutrients and you don't reach the full potential of what you should be? Same thing in your growing in faith. You can't strive your way more Christlike. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in you. But you can starve yourself spiritually to become less Christlike.

We have to have a posture of lean in. You have to go sow the seed. Paul said there was a sowing, there was a watering, but it was God who gave the increase. When I was 13 and-- the summers of '13 and '14, I worked on a tobacco farm. Some of you are like, oh, wow. I just-- it's my cousins, all right? I needed a paycheck. And I think my parents wanted me to learn a work ethic. So every morning, 5.30 AM, the truck would come pick me up. I'd go and I worked the barns. And I don't know if you've ever been around this type of agriculture. But the dew in the morning and the North Carolina sand on the leaves, they bring that in, then you have to hang them in the barn above you. So sand and the dew and all that is coming down your head and your eyes. I mean, you just-- it's the devil's work, everybody, OK? [LAUGHTER] But here's what I do know is that my cousin couldn't just stand in the field and be like, I hope we get a harvest. No, he had to teal the soil. He had to plant the seed. He had to do what he could do. He couldn't control the rain. He couldn't control the sunshine. He couldn't control the climate. What he could control was planting seeds.

What he could control was watering and nurturing, irrigating. Are y'all following me? What he could control? And you have to control what you can control in your growth. And when you do, God will bring the increase. All right, question number two. Question number two is this, what does growth look like? Here's the answer. It looks like maturity, not just information. Let me say it this way. Information doesn't lead to transformation. Information is needed and helpful, but information you can't assume leads to transformation. Let me give you an example. We know more about anxiety than we've ever known as a culture-- more writings, more research, more papers published. But yet, we have the highest anxiety rates that we've ever had in America. Because more information about it doesn't lead to transformation from it. Can I tell you the same thing is true in our faith? Just because we have information, just because we know we have knowledge, we have Bible knowledge, doesn't mean that it's got into our spirit and soul, where it has changed the way that we live. So it's not just about information. It's about transformations, about maturity of our heart. And so what does maturity look like?

And this isn't an exhaustive list, obviously. But let me show you in 1 Peter. He shows us kind of some stair steps. He says this for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, add what? Goodness and to goodness, knowledge. So knowledge is a part to knowledge self-controlled and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, mutual affection and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities, look at this in increasing measure. They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if you increasingly grow in these, then you won't be unproductive in knowing God personally. So let me give you just a few examples. How about this? Here's a sign of maturity. You treat people well. Amen. We can raise our hands on Sunday and cuss somebody on a Monday. That's in maturity. Is this too much? Can you go back to the brisket, the bottle? OK. And what are signs of worldliness? You're jealous of each other. You fight among each other.

This is in maturity. Just because I have a tendence somewhere doesn't mean I'm growing. I have to keep growing. So how do I treat people? Here's a great diagnostic question. Maybe you ask your spouse. Not right now. I don't want to cause fights in church. Am I easier to live with today than I was a year ago? Just a good test. Moving along. Do you discern well? Look what Hebrews says. I love this verse. It says, "But solid food is for the mature," you know, connection back to what Paul said about milk and meat, "who by constant use." In other words, they're constantly in the word, constant use, have what? Train themselves to distinguish good from evil. So sign of maturity is that you can discern what is right and what's wrong. You have a discernment for what is good and what is evil. How about this one? Sign of maturity is that you stand well, that you're not tossed around. That's what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church. He said, "You'll no longer be infants because infants are tossed around. They're tossed by every wave and blown here and there by every reel and post. I mean, every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people on Facebook and TikTok and their deceitful scheming. Instead, this is the contrast, speak the truth in love and we'll grow to become in every respect the mature, the telly-aw, same Greek word in Matthew chapter 5, "Body of him who is the head that is Christ."

Can you stand well? Are you easily influenced by lies and heresy and scheming of the enemy? Can you mark a maturity is that you stand well? How about this one? We don't like to talk about this in church, but do you suffer well? I don't have a theology that says God sends suffering, but I think if we'll let him, he can use it. Romans 8 says he works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That means the good and the bad. Hear me. I believe God's blessing and favor. I believe in all that, but I also believe we live in a fallen world with broken people that cause hurt to each other sometimes. So how well do we suffer? March, I'm going to do a whole series on Romans 8. We're going to take a whole Sunday on it. We're going to just be ready. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds," because you know that the testing of your faith, it's doing something, it's producing perseverance and let perseverance finish its work so that you may be telling us. You know what Paul is saying? Trials are part of the curriculum. Tough times are part of what is maturing you. And if you've talked to anybody that has walked through something in their life, they will tell you, "I would not want to repeat it, but I would not trade it," because how I know God now is so much deeper. So how do you suffer? Yeah, if we're going to clap, let's all do it. Do you suffer well?

Mark of maturity, mark that you're growing. It's not how high you raise your hands. It's not how loud you sing. It's not how many years you've been in church. Are you growing? Are you maturing? And some of you are looking at even that short list, which is not exhaustive in any way in thinking. Yeah, there's no hope for me, but I want to encourage you with the words of the Apostle Paul. He says this, "Not that I have already obtained all this," man, how good is that? The guy that could have said kind of figured it out, y'all, I mean, wrote over half the New Testament, planted so many churches, great impact, still his name is synonymous with Christianity. I mean, he could have said, "I've arrived," but here's what he said. He said, "I haven't obtained all this," or, "I haven't already -- I'm not already at my goal," but here's what I do. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, I forget what is behind, I'm straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the price for which Christ has called me heavenward in Christ. In other words, God took a hold of my heart and I want everything that God has for me is what Paul is saying. should take such view on things. What is the view he's talking about? The view is this, if a spark of maturity is realizing I haven't yet arrived. He said everybody should take this view. What is the view that I haven't obtained it, that I haven't reached the goal yet, but I'm pressing on.

I got to lean in in my spirit. I'm more hungry for God than I've ever been. I want to know him better than I've ever known him. I want to be more like him than I ever have been. I want to shine his light to the world around me, like I never had before. Paul goes, I've done a lot, but I haven't obtained it all. And I'm pressing in. This is why maturity is less about perfection and more about posture. It's about what is the posture of your heart? And I'm wanting to activate something inside of your heart today, stir something in you. If you've been like just kind of coasting along and kind of like, yeah, I know the verse. I know the thing, I do the prayer. Now, no, let's something reignite in you that goes, I'm not there yet, but man, God, I want more of you. I want everything that you have for me. I'm pressing in towards the goal of the upper call of God in Christ. So God's not finished. Maturity isn't just knowledge. It's a transformation of your life. So then question number three, we've got to ask is, so how do we grow? And here's how we grow. We grow together. That's how we grow. It's how God designed it.

We grow together. We grow together. In other words, the whole way God made this is that you need each other to get where God wants to take you. I didn't set it up that way. You're like, well, I'm introverted, I don't like that. Well, God knew your personality and he made the church like this anyways. He made it where we grow together. We need each other. Iron sharpens iron. We make each other better. There's some things in your growth, right? That you can do alone. You can have your own time in the word. You can have your own time in prayer. You can have your own time in worship. You can fast. You can have solitude. You can do all these spiritual disciplines. But there's some areas of growth that you can never do alone. So here's the deal. You can isolate and do solo Christianity, but you'll never mature to brisket. Some of you, that motivated you right there. You're just like, okay, okay. Because there's some things that can only happen together. There's some things in the freedom God wants to give you that can only happen in community.

So I want to show you something about freedom real quick. If you're with, are y'all still with me? You writing this down? I want you to understand this. And this is, I'm gonna get to where this happens in community, but follow my train of thought. Number one, you've got to know this. Your past is forgiven as it relates to freedom. So this is positional. The theological term is justification. And the easy way to define that and think about it is just as if you'd never sin. That's how I remember learning it as a kid. He's justified because of Jesus and his blood. We've celebrated communion today. That blood has made it just as if I never sinned. This is the way the Bible says it. That as far as the east is from the west, your transgressions have been removed from you. So that's positional. That's in the courtroom of heaven. Your past is forgiven. Number two though, your past no longer defines you. This is about identity. You are not your worst day. You are not your lowest moment and you are not your worst sin. You are who Christ says you are and that is forgiven, loved, accepted, valued with a purpose, for a purpose. That is who you are, that's your identity. And Paul is reminding the church and Corinth,

which they had some crazy things happening. People that were in their church, the life they used to live. He says, and that's what some of you were. That's not who you are anymore, but that's who you were. Well, who were they? Sexually immoral, orgies, drunkenness. I mean, just some crazy sexual sin going on in Corinth. And Paul goes, that's who you were. Aren't you grateful that the grace of God can cover any sin? There's no one that's outside the reach of his grace. Can I just say that to you today? I don't know what you walked in with and thank God could never forgive me. Well, go talk to the people in Corinth because they were in some wild stuff and God rescued them 'cause that's what he does. But he said, that's who you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God. So every time the enemy reminds you of your worst day, you can say, "I've been washed, I've been sanctified, "I've been justified by the Lord Jesus Christ." That made me who I was, and it made me something I did, but it is not who I am. I am a child of the Most High God. That is my identity. (congregation applauding) I am not what I wrestle with. I am who God says that I am.

But here's the best part. You're passing no longer controls you. And this is the part that you can't do alone. God does this, God does this. You have to walk this out. Galatians 5-1 says this, "It is for freedom that Christ set us free." So stand firm. You've got to stay in your freedom and don't let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. A yoke is the piece of wood and the things that, I don't know if I have to scribe it. That whole two oxen plowing in the same direction. And what happens is his yoke is burdening his light. His burden is light. So what Christ did whenever he saved you is he took the yoke off you. But Paul is telling the church in Galatia that some of you have got back under the yoke. And you don't have to. It's like someone who's been set free from prison but keeps walking back into sale because it's comfortable and familiar. And some of you do that spiritually. Christ has set you free, but you find yourself re-yoked because you don't know how to walk it out in freedom every day. And it's because you can only do it together in community.

It's why James tells us in James 5-16 that you have to confess your sins to each other and pray for one another so you can get healed. Well, I confess them to God, great. 'Cause first John 1-9 says that he's faithful and just forgive you and to cleanse you from all in righteousness. But you've got to talk to another believer to find freedom. And that's how you grow as you grow together. You've got to have a place where you take the mask off. And we are so good, so good at putting the facade on. The family's great, the kids are wonderful. I'm doing wonderful, it's great. God bless you. Great, smile, walk in, shake a hand. The outfit looks nice, everything's put together. On brand, on point, fit check is good, it's great. But you know you don't even sleep in the same room anymore because you're so at odds in your marriage. And you're not going to find freedom till you find a place to get the mask off and go, "Here's what's really happening behind closed doors." And you know that when your wife goes to bed, you get on your phone and you're looking at porn and it's destroying your intimacy. And you're bound and you hate it in the shame of it, kills you, but you can't get free from it because there's some things you can't get free from alone. (gentle music)

And you're building the business and you're working 12 hour days and then you get home and you're on edge 'cause of the stress and you're frustrated with kids and so you lash out in anger and you hate that about yourself but you seem to repeat that pattern because there's some things you can't get free from by yourself. You need community. And you will only grow so far in your walk with God sitting in here on the weekends. And I want you here, I want you to bring people with you but you've got to take a step beyond this and get together with people. And so what are we going to do to help you do that? Something we've been doing but we're going to give even more energy to it and it's this, create small groups where people can experience community, where you find people you connect with, well, what if I go to a group and they're weird and go to another one? What if I go and I don't like them? Well, then don't go back, find one you do like or maybe some of you have been walking with Jesus for so long, start a group, lead one, start pouring back out, you've received enough. Okay, just a, okay. And here's why, because groups are the biblical model. They're not gateway's idea, they're God's idea.

Acts chapter two, go read it. Number two, because life change happens best in relationships. We learn some things in rows but we get transformed in circles. you. Maybe. But I bet you can name a whole list of people that have really impacted you. I think about Pastor Rob Morgan who took me under his wing and he was a writer so that he let me go to the library and do research and then we would talk about it and change my life. I think about my own dad watching him as an intercessor pray two hours every morning change my life. I think about the professor that told me week one how to live in the tension, that you live in the center of biblical tension. He's also the professor that took me to lunch and said, "Daniel, God's hand is on you. He's going to use you in a powerful way, but you're so arrogant he can't use you." That hard truth changed my life. I wouldn't be here today if he hadn't taken the time because freedom happens one on one in relationship. So life change happens there and then finally because people need to be known. Everybody we've got to get this big church to fill a whole lot smaller. Is it when we stop getting big? No. We've got to keep reaching people and helping them know God personally but at the same time we've got to help them be known. I know your name, I know what you're going through and I miss you when you're not here. Everybody needs that. Everybody needs that. So longevity doesn't equal maturity and God doesn't want you to stay here. He wants you to keep growing.

He wants you to know God personally and wants you to grow in faith and I hope you never get this image out of your mind. Do you receive the word today? Is that helpful? Let's pray together. Every head valve, every eye closed. Maybe you're here today and you've never taken this first step in the journey of what it means to grow in faith and that is to meet Jesus. That's to surrender your life to him, to say he's the Lord, he's the one in control. Maybe you've never taken that step or maybe you're with us today and there was a time in your life where you were really walking with the Lord but you know in your heart he feels a million miles away right now. Can I tell you you don't have to live that way? You don't have to walk through life wondering does God accept me, does God love me? I'm going to tell you something God so loves you that he gave his only son Jesus to die for you. He so loves you and I just want you to know today there's nothing you have done or ever will do that is outside the reach of his grace into your life. So if you say pastor that's me today I need a fresh start with God. The Bible says that if you're in Christ you're a new creation, all the old passes away and everything becomes new. So maybe today you need a fresh start and just a moment we're going to pray together and that prayer is simply us helping you express to God the desire of your heart but it's about the motive of your heart and your faith. So before we pray I just want to know who I'm praying with, no one's going to come to you or point you out but I just want to know who I'm praying with myself, the campus pastor at your location but if you say pastor that's me I need a fresh start in God and when I count to three I just want you to shoot your hand up high enough long enough for myself or the pastor at your location to see that we're going to pray together but if that's you God speaking to you you shoot your hand up high and boldly all right one two three

you just lift it up high all over the room God bless you all over the room keep it up keep it up incredible so many hands church beautiful. All of heaven is rejoicing over you right now you need to know that you can put them down church will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up just say Jesus I need you I ask you to forgive me of all my sin I believe you died for me I believe God raised you from the dead today I make you my Lord and Savior thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus name amen amen and amen come on let's celebrate those who made that decision amen we're so proud of you if you made that decision today to follow Jesus and really quick there's just a couple of ways that we can you can let us know that you made that decision the most important decision you've ever made and just as pastor Daniel said in the message we want you to connect with us so that you can grow in community so if you just made a decision to put your faith in Jesus for the first time or rededicate your life to him there is a disc on the seat in front of you you can tap come down front in just a moment when our prayer team comes down front when we all stand or you can go in the back and connect central right on the other side of the balcony here we can meet with us there but we would love to know if you raise your hand to receive Jesus today for the first time and we'd also love to pray with you so just here in a few seconds we're gonna stand together and our prayer team is gonna come down front and I just want to encourage you if you have a prayer need of any kind or if there was something in that message that was speaking to you come down front and receive prayer or again tap the disc on the seat in front of you and take a next step maybe the Lord was stirring something in you about seeing a counselor for your marriage or leading a group or joining a group right there in the seat in front of you as a way that you can make that next step decision so we're gonna stand up all over the auditorium here in a minute and the last thing I want to remind you of is as you're on your way out we have our serve my city booth in the back sign up for the serve opportunities they're already almost halfway filled so sign up as soon as you can because there's some unique opportunities where you and your family could serve and you can also tap the disc on the seat in front of you to do

that or you can go out into the lobby get your t-shirt but we want to see our cities transform for Jesus so let's all stand I'm gonna pray our prayer team's gonna come down front and if you need prayer for any reason please come down to see our prayer team let's pray together Lord we're so thankful for the work that you're doing thank you for the word that was sewn in through Pastor Daniel's message we receive it today and we ask you Holy Spirit to water that word and give us the courage and the wisdom to take the next step that you're leading us in you to continue to grow in our faith in Jesus mighty name amen have a good week everyone [Music] I want to spend eternity with you.