SPEAKER_01: I'm Alina.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the pastor of Next Steps and I like rules.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if anybody can relate to that.
SPEAKER_01: I know not everybody can, but I like rules because they make me feel safe and secure.
SPEAKER_01: They give me the perception that I'm doing the right thing, even though that's not always true.
SPEAKER_01: Um, thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I know it's not true that everybody likes to follow rules because I married somebody that likes to break rules.
SPEAKER_01: He would like me to make rules that he can break.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so it's really good that we got we're together because otherwise I'd be tempted to just have a lot of rules.
SPEAKER_01: Let's um get back to my notes.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I'll go on rabbit trails.
SPEAKER_01: I, a little background, I grew up in a Christian home.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot remember a time where I did not know God loved me.
SPEAKER_01: And that is something the older I get, that I am so thankful for.
SPEAKER_01: Like I feel so spoiled by that fact.
SPEAKER_01: Like there were times where I felt lonely, but that wasn't true because I knew God was with me.
SPEAKER_01: I knew he loved me.
SPEAKER_01: And when I was in first grade, I put my trust in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And as much as I could comprehend what that meant, I made him the leader of my life and the forgiver of my sins.
SPEAKER_01: And as I got older, once I reached like fusion age, the students that just left, I started reading the Bible on my own.
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to like, I wanted to do what it said.
SPEAKER_01: I had heard all these cool Bible stories.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted God to use me like that.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do things.
SPEAKER_01: I like, I'm like, I like to do.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I would read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I would read about is modesty.
SPEAKER_01: And as somebody who likes rules and wants to do some something, it was like, yeah, sure, I'll dress modest.
SPEAKER_01: God loves me, I'll do that.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would create rules of what was modest and what wasn't modest.
SPEAKER_01: And that is, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: It can be, it can be a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: But the problem was is I would apply those rules to other Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And if they weren't following my rules on what was uh modest, I would be tempted to judge them.
SPEAKER_01: Which would then lead to this kind of pride.
SPEAKER_01: Like, wow, I'm doing really well in this area.
SPEAKER_01: And God's gotta be pretty glad that I am.
SPEAKER_01: And then I started realizing there were other denominations of Christians that were, they had more rules about clothes and modesty than I did.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, wait a minute, like I want to wear jeans.
SPEAKER_01: They they they think jeans are inmodest.
SPEAKER_01: Like it was getting a little overwhelming.
SPEAKER_01: And that's when I realized no amount of rules could change me the way grace can.
SPEAKER_01: No amount of rules could change me the way grace can.
SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, we should read the Bible and try to do what it says, but we should do it because we realize God saved us and then he grows us, which is our bottom line.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna repeat it a lot.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves us, and then God's grace grows us.
SPEAKER_01: But grace cannot grow us until we have been saved by Him.
SPEAKER_01: And once I let that sink in to my love for rules, I don't get so tightly wound up with that because I'm realizing God's growing everybody and might be in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: And so God's grace saves us and then it grows us.
SPEAKER_01: But I think if you're tempted to be like me and like rules, we might not always think that he needs to grow us in certain ways.
SPEAKER_01: We might be tempted, like, for example, I think we could all agree that everybody who, you know, if you want to get to heaven, you need to put your faith in Jesus and ask him to be the forgiver of our sins.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know if we think everybody needs to be made new, if we all need to grow.
SPEAKER_01: For example, I think culturally we tend to put people in different boxes too.
SPEAKER_01: I think we have like the good people, the good people that are responsible, you know, they they like pay their taxes.
SPEAKER_01: They might even be religious.
SPEAKER_01: But the thing is about the good people, they still have sin.
SPEAKER_01: It's just less visible.
SPEAKER_01: So for them, it might be like lust or selfishness or pride or like anger, but they keep it inside, right?
SPEAKER_01: Impatience.
SPEAKER_01: It's just not as visible.
SPEAKER_01: And then we have the people that we need to pray for.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we that's how we'll like word it, but really we need to pray for everybody, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um, they're the stuff where maybe they have anger issues that are out in public, maybe they have addictions that they can't kick.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and we tend to think like God needs to save them and change them, but we don't tend to realize we all need to be made new.
SPEAKER_01: We all need that.
SPEAKER_01: If what happens when we don't focus on the grace and how that can grow us is we start um we start to fall for the FCF, which if you're wondering what that is, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01: The fallen condition focus, where we confuse outward decency or religious busyness with inward transformation.
SPEAKER_01: So where we try to look godly instead of letting Jesus make us godly.
SPEAKER_01: Where we we're busy for God, but we're not changed by God, where we're performing but not being transformed.
SPEAKER_01: Sin isn't just doing the obvious bad stuff, it's choosing our way over God's way.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah says, Isaiah says, we all like cheat sheep have gone astray.
SPEAKER_01: Each of us has turned to our own way.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity isn't about about making good kids better or just making bad kids good, it's about making us brand new in him.
SPEAKER_01: Romans says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, we're all on level ground.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we have the our youth group is called that level ground.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_01: It says, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves you, and then God's grace grows you.
SPEAKER_01: A couple years ago, my brother calls up and he's like, We're coming over.
SPEAKER_01: And he has four kids.
SPEAKER_01: It was a Friday night, neither one of us had plans.
SPEAKER_01: Sounded awesome.
SPEAKER_01: So they come over.
SPEAKER_01: We walk over to Grays Lake Central Park, where they have a sledding hill, a running hill, a hill that you can just stare at, depending on where you're at.
SPEAKER_01: And I was talking to my sister-in-law, the kids were running up and down, up and down.
SPEAKER_01: And after a while, my nephew at the time, who was like two, comes over.
SPEAKER_01: I think his dad like is walking him over, and he's dirty, head to toe, a mess.
SPEAKER_01: And his mom, my sister-in-law, is standing there and she goes, Well, I guess it's time to go home now, because he needs to get washed off.
SPEAKER_01: And I give you that visual because we're all dirty from head to toe in sin.
SPEAKER_01: We all need to go home to the Father and get washed off so that we can be made new and live out his plan for us.
SPEAKER_01: Second Peter is our text that we're gonna be diving into.
SPEAKER_01: And it was the last book that Peter wrote.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing he knew like because he knew this was probably gonna be his last book, he was summing up things he wanted us to know.
SPEAKER_01: And he wanted us to know yes, we're called to change, but it's because of grace.
SPEAKER_01: So let's check it out.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Peter 1, 1 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of God, our uh righteousness of God our and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in knowledge of our God and Jesus our Lord, his divine power, can somebody say power, has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
SPEAKER_01: For this, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement with your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
SPEAKER_01: For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being ineffective and or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: For lacks, forever who lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves you, and then God's grace grows you.
SPEAKER_01: Justification, sanctification.
SPEAKER_01: Justification is what Jesus did that accomplished on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And when we put our faith in him, it's our access to God.
SPEAKER_01: It's our our ticket to heaven, it's our reset button.
SPEAKER_01: And then sanctification is what we get to live out this side of heaven through the power of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's how we are living out our identity as his kid.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna talk about three uh three things, three truths about grace-powered growth.
SPEAKER_01: And the first is growth is necessary and powered by God.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 8, it said, For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You may be tempted to think that change and growth is just for the super religious, but it's for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a good thing because as we are growing, we're getting to live out the plan God had for us originally.
SPEAKER_01: Character change isn't optional for followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Change follows grace.
SPEAKER_01: I like to look at it like kicking a ball.
SPEAKER_01: If you kick a soccer ball, it moves.
SPEAKER_01: When you put your faith in Jesus, change happens.
SPEAKER_01: Looks different for everybody, but there is change that goes on.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not the change that we're earning our ticket, it's the grace that follows that that comes first and the change that goes after.
SPEAKER_01: But we're not doing this in our own strength.
SPEAKER_01: Verse three is probably my favorite out of all of this, where it says, His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Um, a couple months ago, my son, who was three at the time, was praying.
SPEAKER_01: And it was an unlike we weren't telling him what to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And at one point he's praying and he goes, and please give us lots of power.
SPEAKER_01: We're really into superheroes, he's really into superheroes.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm really into superheroes.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, and my husband and I looked at each other and we were like, fair, like we should probably pray for that.
SPEAKER_01: And so it has become a common thing that we pray for God's power in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And you might be tempted to think, yeah, Lena, I know God's powerful, but like I've tried to be patient with my kids.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you've thought, like, I've tried to kick this addiction and I just can't.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to just remind you, what I have to remind myself, is what we are called to do as Christians is not stare in the mirror of our problems, but we're called to go to God's word of what he says and the truth about who he is and rely on his help to walk away from that addiction or or to go on his strength to be patient.
SPEAKER_01: I get that.
SPEAKER_01: I have three little kids, four, two and a half, nine months.
SPEAKER_01: Love them.
SPEAKER_01: They're the best.
SPEAKER_01: They have revealed to me that sometimes I can be very impatient.
SPEAKER_01: And in those moments, they literally hear me say, Jesus, help, because I want to like yell at them.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I do.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I do in those moments?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I try to do is, and I said this in my last message, you'll probably just keep hearing it, is I apologize to them, like I should not have done that.
SPEAKER_01: But I recognize Jesus did not die on the cross for me to walk around being like, I am an impatient mom.
SPEAKER_01: No, I am a mom that is a child of God that's trying to grow in my patience.
SPEAKER_01: And my kids are giving me lots of opportunities to continue to grow in that.
SPEAKER_01: We do not do this on our own power, we do this with God's.
SPEAKER_01: And just a reminder: God's power is not wimpy power.
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn a lesson again from my son praying.
SPEAKER_01: We were praying for a friend of ours who's sick, and she and my son was praying.
SPEAKER_01: First, you need to know there's a difference of well, you need to know about a cartoon called Paw Patrol.
SPEAKER_01: If you haven't heard about Paw Patrol, it's these cute little dogs that go and save the day.
SPEAKER_01: And he also likes Paw Patrols, but he likes superheroes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so he's praying for our friend, and he says, and please don't give her chase power, which is a Paw Patrol, cute little dog.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, please don't give her chase power, give her Hulk power.
SPEAKER_01: And again, fair that there's a difference between some of these powers.
SPEAKER_01: And as he will learn as he gets older, God's power is even mightier than any superhero he likes.
SPEAKER_01: Because God's power can't even be held by death.
SPEAKER_01: Like he can do, he can part the Red Sea, he can shut the mouths of lions, he can do whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and that's the power that he can work in yours truly, and being patient with my kids, and he can work in your lives.
SPEAKER_01: We do not have to do this on our own.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you're a teenager and you feel like, yeah, I'm a Christian, but like nobody else at school is.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you live out godliness.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're single and you're like, I'm a Christian, but I feel so isolated.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you live in community by sharing God's love.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you in your marriage.
SPEAKER_01: You do not do this on your own.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you be faithful, can help you be steady, can help you be patient and loving.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you as a parent.
SPEAKER_01: You might feel like, yeah, I know God's powerful, but I don't know how to parent teenagers with iPhones.
SPEAKER_01: God's power can help you.
SPEAKER_01: You go to his word for that knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: And just to give you like a super real one, as I know that happens with our lovely internet, God's power can help you when your kids are like, they found pornography again, and you're like, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: You go to God's power, you show them to the cross what repentance looks like.
SPEAKER_01: If you run away from lust and you help them keep going, you just keep getting in the battlefield of that by God's power, not your own.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves you, and then God's grace grows you.
SPEAKER_01: And growth growth is necessary and it's powered by God.
SPEAKER_01: And growth is gradual.
SPEAKER_01: So everybody take a deep breath.
SPEAKER_01: It's gradual.
SPEAKER_01: We're not mature Christians overnight.
SPEAKER_01: God takes our time with us.
SPEAKER_01: In verse uh four of 2 Peter 1, it talked about how we have escaped from the corruption that is in this world.
SPEAKER_01: And as I was reading, watching videos about this um section, one of them zoomed in on that word escaped.
SPEAKER_01: And it was saying how it's both an event and a journey, how Jesus saved us and we get to live for him.
SPEAKER_01: Justification, sanctification.
SPEAKER_01: Sanctification does not get us to heaven, but what Jesus did does.
SPEAKER_01: And then we get to live like his kid.
SPEAKER_01: So what's this journey all about?
SPEAKER_01: Like adoption.
SPEAKER_01: If you are adopted into a new family, you are that family.
SPEAKER_01: Your name is changed, you have a new identity.
SPEAKER_01: But it takes time for you to know how this family works and the cultural norms.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what happened when you happens when you become God's kid.
SPEAKER_01: There's always more, you know this, there's always more to learn about your family.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's the journey of it.
SPEAKER_01: You could also compare it to like being a new employee.
SPEAKER_01: You're a new employee, they you you work there, you're starting to get paychecks, but it takes time to learn the lingos and the rhythms of how things go on.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why God called us to the Great Commission when He called us to make disciples and teach them what the Word says and obey it.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted it to be in relationship context.
SPEAKER_01: He wanted it to be in relationship context, and he wanted to help people grow.
SPEAKER_01: At first John, John was writing and he he kind of has three different stages here of growth.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna take some hints from him.
SPEAKER_01: He writes, I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
SPEAKER_01: I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: So we have children, we have young men, and we have fathers to have a little fun with it.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do baby Christians, teenagers, Christians, and maturing Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And what baby Christians have going on is there's like a lot of them, they have this excitement about God.
SPEAKER_01: And it is really a breath of fresh air for the church to have that in there.
SPEAKER_01: It's like Jesus is the answer.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, yeah, you're you're right, Jesus is the answer.
SPEAKER_01: And they're they're clinging to God.
SPEAKER_01: They might not always have like outward excitement, they might be a little hesitant, but they're gonna they're gonna cling to God.
SPEAKER_01: I have a nine-month-old, I am so famous to her.
SPEAKER_01: Like she loves me, and there could be Taylor Swift could walk in the room and she would still want meat because I'm her mom.
SPEAKER_01: And that's there's this innocence that baby Christians bring that honestly we should just always have, um, where they they're just always gonna go to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: But as they're growing, what they find is their excitement can wear off.
SPEAKER_01: And why, as we have to build relationships and have the church be helping them grow is helping them know that those that feeling is not what saved them.
SPEAKER_01: It's what Jesus did on the cross and it's God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes when they reach the teenage stage, they're gonna hit parts of their life that get harder, and the comforts, the baby comforts, are gonna be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: And you, as the church, get to keep helping them know what's true.
SPEAKER_01: We go to Jesus for this.
SPEAKER_01: This is what God's word says, even if you don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_01: And that is where we help them learn how to live out God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Like what I was trying to do at the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: The problem was when I was trying to add, when I was adding rules to modesty, is I was just making everybody have to do that.
SPEAKER_01: But God's growing everybody differently.
SPEAKER_01: And we can help people in that way in relationships, in discipleships relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And um, one of the ways that we at Fierce try to help people grow is have kinet classes, not to earn their salvation, but to help them live out who they're meant to be.
SPEAKER_01: And so we have kinet classes, so we can help them learn about what the church is about, help them meet people.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a culture where it can be hard to meet people, so we have to create programs to do that.
SPEAKER_01: It's a big reason why we have lunch, because when you're sitting with people and you have something to do, it's just easier to be yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so if we have kinet classes, why we have level ground for teenagers and small groups throughout the week, because we want to go to God's word and apply it to our life.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we encourage people to read, do the Bible recap where you're reading the Bible and you're learning it in context.
SPEAKER_01: But we help them do that because they've been saved by grace and we want to help them grow in grace.
SPEAKER_01: And then we got mature Christians, which I would say maturing Christians, because as long as we're on the side of heaven, there's more to learn.
SPEAKER_01: Just like if you're playing a sport, Michael Jordan, did he practice less when he got good?
SPEAKER_01: No, or should I say LeBron James, whichever you know you prefer.
SPEAKER_01: The best of the best continue to practice, and they would find you figure out what their weakness was so they could get better at it.
SPEAKER_01: As Christians, we want to have that kind of openness, like, okay, Lord, I know I got more to work on.
SPEAKER_01: Give it to me.
SPEAKER_01: Christians, spiritually mature maturing Christians, understand that life with Jesus comes in different seasons.
SPEAKER_01: Some exciting, some slow, and some hard.
SPEAKER_01: And they try with God's power to respond with steadiness, trust, and wisdom instead of panic or impatience.
SPEAKER_01: Their deep-rooted character helps them stay grounded in the chaos, humbly recognizing that they haven't arrived yet.
SPEAKER_01: And that Jesus is still trying to shape them in every season.
SPEAKER_01: And so maturing Christians have an open heart to what God wants them to do.
SPEAKER_01: And they're reading scripture, trying to grow into the new person God made for them.
SPEAKER_01: Because they recognize that Jesus cleaned them off and made them new.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're looking for ways to grow in, like what Peter said in virtue and wisdom and self-control and steadfastness, like perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, brotherly kindness and love.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, but and like I said before, I think God created the family as a straight training zone in these areas.
SPEAKER_01: Not just as a mom, but I grew up, I had three younger brothers.
SPEAKER_01: And I again liked rules.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes I would point out the rules that they weren't following.
SPEAKER_01: And I might have been right in what I was doing, but I was wrong, like in the sense that I was impatient, I was judgmental, I uh yelled at them.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: It was there was a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01: Like I I've I've talked to my brothers about this, we've moved on, but there's things I regret in how I handled it.
SPEAKER_01: And as I was in high school, I started getting involved in church more.
SPEAKER_01: And then in college and right after college, started working here.
SPEAKER_01: And there were times where I started to realize I could be so busy at church doing all this Christian stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But if my own brothers don't see Jesus in me, or if I'm just like gone all the time and I'm not investing in them, why would they want to know about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, my sister works at church, but like she doesn't really know me.
SPEAKER_01: She's never gone to my basketball games.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: When she's there, she's just telling me, like, turn the light off, you know?
SPEAKER_01: And so I consciously was trying to be aware of, okay, Lord, grow me in this area.
SPEAKER_01: I I want my brothers to know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Also, all the kids at youth group that I was working with, but like I want them to.
SPEAKER_01: And and so it was again a wake-up call in not just changing a to-do list, but who I was in that.
SPEAKER_01: And like maturing Christians as we hope to be, there's times where I've still called my brothers as grown, we're all grown adults.
SPEAKER_01: And I love hanging out with them, but there's still things I say because I'm like comfortable around them.
SPEAKER_01: And then I like say something like, I shouldn't have said that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so then God's power continues to change me through his grace, and he can do the same thing for you.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves you, and then God's grace grows you.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace, God's growth is necessary and it's powered by God.
SPEAKER_01: We're not doing this on our own.
SPEAKER_01: Growth is gradual, it's gradual, and growth is organic.
SPEAKER_01: As we intentionally follow Jesus day by day, our character organically grows and begins to reflect Him.
SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 8, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The qualities we mentioned: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.
SPEAKER_01: Those are where God wants to grow in us and more as we read God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: We've got the fruit of the Spirit, um, there's the the love is, all of those things.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to grow us in those as we remain tight with Him, not a buckle down and just try harder.
SPEAKER_01: We do it through His power.
SPEAKER_01: In John, it says that Jesus said in John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches.
SPEAKER_01: If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Apart from me, you can do nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Now, take a visual for a second.
SPEAKER_01: If I let's pretend I brought a plant, I was really prepared.
SPEAKER_01: I brought a plant.
SPEAKER_01: And um, I brought it here.
SPEAKER_01: We had a table, I took the plant, I took it out of its pot, and I put it on the table.
SPEAKER_01: It would look alive while you guys were here.
SPEAKER_01: It would look great.
SPEAKER_01: But after a couple days, it would start to die.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because its roots were not intact, it wasn't growing.
SPEAKER_01: And also, Brandon would be like, Pastor Brandon would be like, Are you gonna get rid of that plant?
SPEAKER_01: Um, in the same way, we cannot grow unless we are rooted in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: We are rooted in God's grace, we are rooted in the church and have people surround us, mentoring us, helping us, and we're mentoring other people.
SPEAKER_01: We're unable to grow organically in the way that God wants us to, because God has a story for each one of us.
SPEAKER_01: The only way we can do that is when we're tight with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This God's grace saves us and then God's grace grows us.
SPEAKER_01: But what does this mean?
SPEAKER_01: I've said a lot of this, but like tangibly, what does this mean on a Monday?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I would suggest, because this is this was my first thought as I was working on this message.
SPEAKER_01: Well, think about like the movies you're watching and the music you're listening to and the influencers.
SPEAKER_01: Like, are they helping you follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Are they helping you live out godliness?
SPEAKER_01: But again, and that's good, you should do that.
SPEAKER_01: But that's how I'm wired, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to do.
SPEAKER_01: And also, maybe think about where you could be more patient, where you can be more loving, where God wants to grow you in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would just ask pray about it.
SPEAKER_01: Just be like, Lord, show me one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Because Elena said you're we can do this gradually.
SPEAKER_01: No, your word, your word.
SPEAKER_01: Show me one thing that you want to change in me.
SPEAKER_01: And if I don't want to do it, help me want to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll do it with you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Like, just keep it that simple and throughout maybe find somebody that you can tell, a friend.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a friend that tells some find somebody after service, like, can I tell you where I want to go?
SPEAKER_01: And and pray for each other in that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's just an idea.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to do it.
SPEAKER_01: But like, we're not meant to do this alone.
SPEAKER_01: And and as we do that, we get to live in the freedom that comes through Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Which I do think that people that like to break rules enjoy a little more than me.
SPEAKER_01: So good for you guys.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saves you, and God's grace grows you.
SPEAKER_01: Growth is necessary and it's powered by God.
SPEAKER_01: Growth is or gradual and growth is organic.
SPEAKER_01: And the only real example that we have of somebody living out virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love perfectly, the only one who did this perfectly was Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In 2 Corinthians, it says, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus left earth, lived a perfect life, and yet died a sinner's life, a sinner's punishment, because he wanted to pay the price for you in your sin, because he loved you.
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes I have to just God loves Elena.
SPEAKER_01: God loves Elena, God loves Chris, like God loves the all each one of you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And there's people in here I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I need to meet you afterwards.
SPEAKER_01: God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we get to change.
SPEAKER_01: Because God wants us to help help us live out being his kid, not so we can just have a bunch of rules.
SPEAKER_01: That would be that would be annoying.
SPEAKER_01: We get to change and be new for him, not defined by past mistakes, but defined by him.
SPEAKER_01: And when we do that, we're doing that because we get to reflect him.
SPEAKER_01: We when we live out the plan that God has for us, we're doing it so we can reflect him.
SPEAKER_01: And when people look at us like, what's different about you?
SPEAKER_01: We say Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then we say we mess up.
SPEAKER_01: We say we just need Jesus' help.
SPEAKER_01: Like we just always bring it back to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Church, I think that I know this is the kind of church we want to be.
SPEAKER_01: But I hope that as we're talking about this, we can let it sink in a little bit more what God could do if we do this.
SPEAKER_01: And as I was working on this message this week, I thought of a story of a girl named Erin who used to co-host a podcast that I would listen to, the Strong Women Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: And she, at the end of season three, she um got too busy and wasn't doing it anymore.
SPEAKER_01: But at the last episode, they interviewed her and her story.
SPEAKER_01: And I knew a little bit of her story because through the podcast they would talk about that.
SPEAKER_01: But specifically in this one, um, she shared her story.
SPEAKER_01: And I loved how it was a church that showed her Jesus that helped her grow when she really needed it.
SPEAKER_01: Not just helped her grow, helped her like put her faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna close out with this story of Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: Erin grew up in a Christian home in Southern California, and she would have said she was a Christian, um, but she did not have a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: She had not put her faith in Jesus and made him the leader of her life and the forgiver of her sins.
SPEAKER_01: She was more focused on school and friends and everything but God.
SPEAKER_01: And then senior year hit, and she was getting ready for college, she had big plans, she was hanging out with her friends, she had a steady boyfriend, and she suddenly realized she might be pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: So during a rehearsal for a school musical, she told a friend that she missed her period and she was afraid she might be pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: And one of her friends, we'll call this guy Josh, overheard.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Hey, there's a lady from my church, and she helps teen moms.
SPEAKER_01: She could help you.
SPEAKER_01: And this was back in the day where they didn't have cell phones, so he got her out, got her on a landline on the phone, and she talked to Susie.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we'll call her.
SPEAKER_01: Susie from the church.
SPEAKER_01: And Aaron's talking to Susie, and she said Susie says, You need to go to this pregnancy center.
SPEAKER_01: They will have a pregnancy test for you, and it's more accurate than what you can buy.
SPEAKER_01: And if you find out you're pregnant, call me and I will help you.
SPEAKER_01: And so Aaron shows up, makes an appointment, shows up at the center, takes a pregnancy test, and the nurse confirms that she's definitely pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: And her first thought.
SPEAKER_01: Is I'm all alone.
SPEAKER_01: Like I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01: But Aaron wasn't alone.
SPEAKER_01: Aaron continued to go to that center because they provided teen classes, teen mom classes that equipped her for what was coming and shared the gospel with her.
SPEAKER_01: But she also started to go to that little church that Susie went to and that her friend Josh went to and Josh told her about.
SPEAKER_01: For the first time, the message of God's grace made sense to her.
SPEAKER_01: Her heart was softened and she put her faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: God's grace saved her then, and God's grace changed her life.
SPEAKER_01: She was a new person.
SPEAKER_01: And as a very pregnant 17-year-old girl, she would show up at that little church and they loved her.
SPEAKER_01: They welcomed her.
SPEAKER_01: They made her feel like she belonged.
SPEAKER_01: The church is a place where people actually want to do what's right and not just look like good Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Doing what's right means facing the reality of what's going on in your life and living open-handedly like Aaron did.
SPEAKER_01: It gets messy when we're real, but it's with God that but that's when God can reveal to us where we need to change.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I love about Aaron's story is that there was a random guy, like, I mean, it was her friend, but this guy knew that there was a girl, a woman from his church that loves serving teen moms.
SPEAKER_01: And that he spoke up about it.
SPEAKER_01: He could have been like, well, this would be weird and awkward.
SPEAKER_01: No, he was like, stepping into the awkward.
SPEAKER_01: I got help.
SPEAKER_01: I know somebody who can help you, Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: And that Susie like followed through, didn't just answer the phone, but followed through.
SPEAKER_01: And because of that, the whole church loved Aaron the way that Jesus did and gave her a place to belong.
SPEAKER_01: And also, I want to know her family did too, but this is about the church and and how God used the church.
SPEAKER_01: Because oftentimes you'll find you can tell your kids something over and over again, and then somebody else will tell your kid the same thing, and they're like, wow, they're a genius.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why you should bring your kids to church.
SPEAKER_01: Um, or have them go to your friend's church.
SPEAKER_01: But that's what that's what happened with this.
SPEAKER_01: God used this church, like Peter was saying, to show Aaron faithfulness, to be loyal to her, and to show her Christ's love.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened?
SPEAKER_01: What Peter said, this church was fruitful and effective.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we as a that's what we as a church get to live out.
SPEAKER_01: We get to live out God's love as we grasp God's grace deeper and deeper with necessity, with God's power, gradually, as God works within us and organically.
SPEAKER_01: It's unique to each one of us.
SPEAKER_01: Grace will help us live out that.
SPEAKER_01: Hold, let me let me rewind.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be fooled like I was to think that rules was what was making me a good Christian.
SPEAKER_01: No, it was his grace that saved me, and that that was what was pretty great.
SPEAKER_01: And it was grace that will help us live out the love of Jesus that he wants us to share.
SPEAKER_01: And when other people see that, when they see that love of Jesus, what they'll be like is, well, I'm curious about that.
SPEAKER_01: And if they show up, what they will see is real people with real problems that a real God can handle.
SPEAKER_01: And what the real God will do with his power is help heal us, help change us, and make us new.
SPEAKER_01: And what they'll see is it's just all about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's the only one.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we figured out.
SPEAKER_01: That's what this church is all about.
SPEAKER_01: Figuring out that Jesus is the only one that can do that.
SPEAKER_01: Because what they'll see is that God's grace saves us and then God's grace grows us.
SPEAKER_01: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you would help us all continue to live out the new identity that you called us to.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you would help us, if we like rules, to surrender that to you and be like, Lord, where do you want to change our heart?
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, if we like to break rules, I pray that you would help us to just get rebellious for you.
SPEAKER_01: Like, just understand that you, your plan really is the best.
SPEAKER_01: Pray that you would soften our heart in the ways that we feel like we've hardened because we just feel like you can't, nothing can change it.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that we just have childlike faith in recognizing the power that you have and what you can do, that what you can do through us, Lord, it's you.
SPEAKER_01: Help us just make us less about us and much, much more about you.
SPEAKER_01: In your name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody said amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, folks, that's all the time we have, but thank you so much for listening to this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you got a lot out of this, feel free to share this with somebody who might need it.
SPEAKER_00: Also, there's a ton more content on our website, on our YouTube channel, on our Instagram channel, on our TikTok channel.
SPEAKER_00: Feel free to check all that kind of a thing out.
SPEAKER_00: Also, if you're interested in leadership type stuff, go ahead and check out another podcast or any other blogs or videos or anything over at BibleLeadership.com.
SPEAKER_00: And whatever else you do, make sure that you believe God for something big today.