SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to ask Jesus if there's one thing in your life right now that only Jesus could give you, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and ask him for that.
SPEAKER_01: Just be present.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, right now I need this from you, from your word, from your people, from your church.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, come.
SPEAKER_01: The power of your spirit, Spirit, and the presence of your Son overwhelm us once again with your goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Would you move us from being unexpecting to expecting people who are waiting and ready to hear a word from you?
SPEAKER_01: Would you be the lifter of our heads?
SPEAKER_01: Would you rejoice over us with loud singing?
SPEAKER_01: Would you quiet us with your love?
SPEAKER_01: And we confess our hearts are restless until they are at rest in thee.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning, church.
SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Chris Brooks.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Neil got to introduce me earlier.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn them to 2 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we'll be hunkering down in this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, while you're turning there, just by way of information, uh, have a beautiful wife and four children, ages 11 to 3.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so life is full, uh, which means I'm usually tired and stressed out sometimes and uh just overwhelmed with my inadequacy as a husband and a father most days, which makes me an incredible grace addict.
SPEAKER_01: But just real quick, the uh Lord just kind of spoke to me uh after the first service, uh, went back to Neil's office and FaceTimed my uh family real quick just to tell them, hey, first service went great, keep praying for us during our time together, and they send their love and their blessing and their prayers uh for us during this time.
SPEAKER_01: And so I got to speak to my wife, and she's walking down the hallway of our house and turns into the family room uh where Christopher's in his PJs uh watching Rabbit's Invasion, which that should drives me crazy, but that's beside the point.
SPEAKER_01: Um and she just says, Hey Christopher, Daddy's on the phone, and immediately turns and runs straight towards the phone, and he just starts dancing a little bit and starts just throwing some jabs like this, he's dancing around a little bit like this, starts throwing some jabs.
SPEAKER_01: And Audrey just goes, What are you doing, Christopher?
SPEAKER_01: He's just smiling the whole time, dancing a little bit, throwing some more jabs.
SPEAKER_01: Never seen him do this.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, Are you dancing?
SPEAKER_01: Are you boxing?
SPEAKER_01: Are you doing both?
SPEAKER_01: Is God calling you to be Billy Blanks in the next typo?
SPEAKER_01: I really don't know what's happening here right now.
SPEAKER_01: But it just brought such deep joy to my heart that the second he heard my name, and then the second he saw my face, he started dancing.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna open up God's word, and it's just my prayer for your heart and your soul that the second you see your father's face, there's a little pep in your step.
SPEAKER_01: And for some of you who have forgotten how to fight, your strength renewed this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because you get to see your father's face.
SPEAKER_01: So let's read with me, 2 Peter chapter 1, um, and we're gonna read verses 1 through 11.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want you to be listening in here for what the key to growing in God is.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like when we're growing as Christians?
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like?
SPEAKER_01: How can we go?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I I know that I came to faith by grace, in faith, in Jesus, and that's the message of the gospel, that I could never do anything to merit God's love, but while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me, and that beauty's overwhelmed and captured my soul, and I'm gonna live my life in response to that.
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Am I actually doing that well?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be legalistic, I'm just asking, hey, am I being effective as a Christ follower?
SPEAKER_01: And how do I know that?
SPEAKER_01: Because the answer isn't no standards.
SPEAKER_01: And the answer isn't creating some legalistic system where we all become religious Pharisees and hypocrites and know it all jerks.
SPEAKER_01: There has to be something in the middle where we can go, yeah, all right.
SPEAKER_01: Um I think I'm on track, and I think uh I am partnering with God in becoming the man or the woman that he's intended me to be.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's some of the obstacles I think when we get into this text that you'll discover when it comes to growing in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We usually do three things.
SPEAKER_01: Um we overcomplicate it, and so this creates a system that we can control and we can go, oh, this is really complex.
SPEAKER_01: Here's this diagram, here's these 90 things that I'm working on, and we feel like we exert a sense of control in our own spiritual development and we lose risk and faith and doubt, despair, and the glorious, messy journey that it is.
SPEAKER_01: We think once we've wrestled it and we've got it down to our own system, then somehow we can control uh the outcome of it.
SPEAKER_01: Some of it for us in here, it's procrastination.
SPEAKER_01: It seems too complicated, it seems too dangerous, and you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'll get around to that tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Best I can do is show up for church today, but seriously, don't ask me to take ownership in my relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, I'll just I'll I'll show up next week.
SPEAKER_01: I'm barely hanging on.
SPEAKER_01: Just give me a little something, something that makes me feel better about myself, and I'll I'll put off actually taking ownership from my relationship with Jesus till next week or things get worse.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I I think uh another obstacle for us when we overcomplicate this process, it's because uh we're narcissists.
SPEAKER_01: If we can create a program that we dominate, we just want to celebrate ourselves all day long.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying celebration is a bad thing, I'm not saying God doesn't do that over us, but I think sometimes we want to create a system and structure and where we put the things that we value in God's eyes above everything else and go, look, I'm awesome at these things.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, let's start a small group and I'm gonna talk to you about the things I'm awesome at.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna worship God, but secretly we're gonna worship me in the process, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So let me just let's just talk about all the things that I feel like I'm I'm good at, and we're really gonna focus on those.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think any of those things are the right answer.
SPEAKER_01: And I think Peter's gonna speak uh directly to it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so would you pray with me as we enter into this text?
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, would you give us eyes to see and ears to hear?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, go before us and make a way.
SPEAKER_01: Speak, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Your servants are listening.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Second Peter chapter 1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who the righteousness of our God, through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, have received a faith as precious as ours.
SPEAKER_01: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you just walked in here this morning just to hear that.
SPEAKER_01: His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
SPEAKER_01: So here it comes.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's just devastated us with the glory and goodness and beauty of the gospel and outlined God's redemptive plans for humanity.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna break it down and give us some great application about how to grow spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: For this reason, make every effort.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: Every effort?
SPEAKER_01: Every effort, that's how you translate that from the Greek, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: To add to your faith goodness, to your goodness knowledge, to your knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love.
SPEAKER_01: For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But if anyone does not have them, he's nearsighted and blind, and he's forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you'll never fail, never fall.
SPEAKER_01: And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God for the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch it?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_01: Does anyone walk in here this morning and go, if I'm honest with myself right now, I'm in a season of life where I feel ineffective and unproductive as a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody walk into here and go, I I can point to plenty of other people in the room that I look up to as spiritual giants, but when it comes to me, it's like kind of groaning.
SPEAKER_01: Making some progress, I guess.
SPEAKER_01: Feels like more setbacks than anything else.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder what it would look like for the gospel to cover us this morning and for God to get close up in our face and smile and be the lifter of our head and renew our strength to become effective and purposeful disciples that make disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I was reminded of this text.
SPEAKER_01: Um I I love books, and what I'd love for you to think is that I actually read a lot of books, but um, truth be told, I listen to more books than I read.
SPEAKER_01: Um I actually feel the pang conviction of the Holy Spirit when I start having conversations about certain books with people who are like, hey, did you read that book?
SPEAKER_01: And like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Just a second, I listen to that book.
SPEAKER_01: If that changes your opinion of me, so be it.
SPEAKER_01: But um anybody old school, anybody else listen to books, audiobooks, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um I I first got turned on to that when I was in my young 20s and traveling all over the place, and I'd stop at Cracker Barrel, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is yeah, thank you, old people.
SPEAKER_01: Um of which I am quickly coming into your company.
SPEAKER_01: Um you stop at Cracker Barrel and you go straight to that little section.
SPEAKER_01: You it's like a landmine of crap that you have to navigate through to actually get to it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, half of which is probably produced in my hometown of Nashville.
SPEAKER_01: But you get there and you turn around and you're like, ooh, what book can I get?
SPEAKER_01: Um and you just kind of look at the cover and you get like 19,000 cassette tapes, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you put them in, you don't know which side is the right side.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I started getting uh addicted to audible books.
SPEAKER_01: Well, then they the digital formation, we had CDs, and then all of a sudden the internet comes along and you can get MP3s and it's great.
SPEAKER_01: And I find uh a website called audible.com.
SPEAKER_01: Pay a monthly subscription, you get two credits, two books every month.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, sweet! So whenever I travel, man, I love narratives.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I was telling the first service, uh, the Lord was reminding me that that came from my grandmother who used to read to me as a kid.
SPEAKER_01: Uh she'd read Tom and Jerry, and just her voice was full of grace and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and those old little books, uh, those golden spine books, those hardback ones.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just I didn't know this at the time, but the Lord was showing me what the weight and gravity of a life consistently lived following Jesus felt like when you got next to it.
SPEAKER_01: She would pray over me in the King James Version, and I just remember uh just seeing that this incredible maternal love of Christ in her that made me feel so safe, so welcomed uh and so loved.
SPEAKER_01: Um so one of the things I attached to that was stories.
SPEAKER_01: So uh I I have audible subscription, get about two books every month.
SPEAKER_01: I've got one getting uh for our travel time here.
SPEAKER_01: But about six or seven years ago, with the iPhone comes up, they have an app, and usually there's an app for that or whatever, and I'm just like, whatever, I don't have time to keep up with all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else figure it out, make it easy, and help grandpa here figure out how the TV works.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I get the app and I download it, and I'm like, well, if that saved me some time to transfer, I uh I open it up, I start scrolling through it, it's great.
SPEAKER_01: Connects, fully loads all of my libraries digitally of all the books I've ever purchased.
SPEAKER_01: It's got them hanging out in there, and I'm going through and it's got a neat clock counter.
SPEAKER_01: I'll show you a picture, a screenshot uh of my phone.
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, so that's that's audible.
SPEAKER_01: You click on there and it's like keeping track of the book, where you're at, how many hours you've been listening to.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: I kind of get to know where I'm going.
SPEAKER_01: And I scroll through, they got some badges and some icons.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just basically like ocular candy.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, okay, I want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
SPEAKER_01: Well then I get to the next screen, um, and it's got this kind of ranking system.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh.
SPEAKER_01: Now I don't consider myself, like, I like to make fun of you ambitious overachievers and kind of Jesus juke you and tell you, hey, I just I'm I'm happy in who God has made me to be.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have anything to prove.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna measure up to your standards, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But then when you put a standard in front of me that I think I'm actually good at, I'm like, oh, I think I'm gonna dominate that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so you're gonna you're gonna try to label me.
SPEAKER_01: Uh you got an app newbie for uh Audible?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Novice.
SPEAKER_01: I know some novices out there.
SPEAKER_01: Professional.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that sounds kind of cool.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to be called a professional.
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
SPEAKER_01: Then it says scholar.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yes, Lord, speak.
SPEAKER_01: I will receive that title.
SPEAKER_01: And then master, why why not?
SPEAKER_01: I I'm not gonna say it about myself, but if you'd like to label me that, go right ahead.
SPEAKER_01: Now that that is now, I think, four years after I've had this app, and you'll notice underneath it it all says achieved.
SPEAKER_01: When I first downloaded the app, um, it had uh every single the only thing that was highlighted in yellow was newbie and it said achieved, and then the other ones just said uh not yet accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh heck now.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you know who I am.
SPEAKER_01: I got so angry that it was not ranking me appropriately or recognizing who I was.
SPEAKER_01: I got so upset that my identity was being threatened by this application that I got out, like literally pencil and paper, and I did math and research.
SPEAKER_01: And I take open my laptop, I go to my library, and I start jotting things down.
SPEAKER_01: This is rough math, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't even want to do exact math because it'll make me even more self-righteous.
SPEAKER_01: I have about 300 book titles in my library, of which I've listened to all of them.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just say the average book is eight hours, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't even count like Pillars of the Earth, Harry Potter series, all these epic ones that are like 24 hours just to listen to.
SPEAKER_01: Eight hours average, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Eight hours average, that puts me at roughly over 2,000, 3,000 hours, which roughly translates to 90 days I have sat and listened to Audible books, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And you're calling me a newbie.
SPEAKER_01: I'm almost to the point where I'm looking for a customer service number and go, the app's broken.
SPEAKER_01: Because you are failing to recognize the history I have.
SPEAKER_01: I've been a member for 10 years, I've listened to every book, and all of a sudden I'm trying to assert my rights and prove my righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: But what I come to realize is that is no reflection on my history or my experience with those books or the fact that I've listened to all of them.
SPEAKER_01: All that's simply saying is you have all that knowledge and experience, Chris.
SPEAKER_01: It just has not been run through this application.
SPEAKER_01: I think what the Bible wants to say to us this morning is that a lot of us may have a lot of knowledge and experience when it comes to God and Jesus and the church and life with him.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter's gonna say, have you run it through the right application?
SPEAKER_01: So that you can be effective and productive as a child of God and know that you possess these qualities in increasing measure.
SPEAKER_01: So let's walk through this text this morning and see which one has your name on it.
SPEAKER_01: Um first he says, for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith knowledge, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, let's talk about faith.
SPEAKER_01: This just so we're clear, just so we we know, we're here to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Gospel means good news.
SPEAKER_01: Gospel means uh why you were dead in your transgressions and sin.
SPEAKER_01: Christ died for you.
SPEAKER_01: Gospel means we are born into this broken world, that our hearts are inclined towards evil, and that given the chance, we will look out for only ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: That given the chance, we will steal, kill, and destroy anyone who gets in our way.
SPEAKER_01: We may dress it up or make it look nice, it may have a morality facade, but without Jesus, we're doomed to a life of eternal destruction.
SPEAKER_01: And we understand that God is coming back to earth in the form of Jesus, and he's gonna make all things right and all things new, and he's gonna establish his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven, and it is for those people who have decided to follow after Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I love how Dallas Willard puts it.
SPEAKER_01: God will let anyone into heaven who can stand it, because it's gonna be the hottest place you've ever been, because his glory is gonna be so hot.
SPEAKER_01: And for those of us who have decided, go ahead and start transforming me from one degree of glory to the next, so that I can bear your image and your glory, and I want to be ready to live and reign and rule with you for all eternity.
SPEAKER_01: That's what this uh human history is moving towards.
SPEAKER_01: That's the story that we're here to celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: That's the story that we're here to remember.
SPEAKER_01: And so we have faith and trust and hope that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, that he knows the fundamental realities of the universe, and that the with life God is actually possible, and that the human soul can flourish when it lives in accordance with God's plans and purposes, all because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's good news.
SPEAKER_01: That God not only loves us, he likes us, and he wants a relationship with us, and he wants to expand his family.
SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And we have faith, and we believe that that is true.
SPEAKER_01: Through the revealed word of God, through his revelation and creation, and through the revelation of his other people.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make sure that the goal is not just to come to faith, but to grow in it.
SPEAKER_01: So add to your faith what?
SPEAKER_01: Knowledge?
SPEAKER_01: Is that what it says?
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it says add to your faith goodness.
SPEAKER_01: If I was writing this, which I didn't, I think I would have gone first thing after faith, let's add knowledge, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because people need to understand.
SPEAKER_01: They need to know the word.
SPEAKER_01: We need to understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_01: But the first thing Peter decides to do is say, hey, add to your faith goodness.
SPEAKER_01: And he's echoing what he talked about earlier on the verse.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, he's given that God's giving us these great and precious promises for his glory and his goodness.
SPEAKER_01: For Peter, you gotta understand, God's glory and goodness are two things that are absolutely tied together.
SPEAKER_01: That God is good.
SPEAKER_01: When he creates creation, he just gets done and gets like, boom, it's good.
SPEAKER_01: Boom, it's good.
SPEAKER_01: Light, good, awesome, plants, good, animals, good.
SPEAKER_01: Creates male and female in his own image, and creation goes from good to very good.
SPEAKER_01: God's fundamental desire is to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: And we have to understand that if we want to receive and represent our Father, we have to understand He wants to bless us so that He can bless the whole world through us.
SPEAKER_01: That we become stewards of God's divine blessing.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how I look at it, church.
SPEAKER_01: I I want this is your language, just to put the kingdom down in front of people.
SPEAKER_01: That the kingdom gets manifested right in front of people.
SPEAKER_01: The way I would say you can tell this is happening, especially uh among non-religious people, is a lot of times they'll shake their heads and go, mmm, my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Mmm, what was that?
SPEAKER_01: People just scratch their heads and go, what what what just happened right there?
SPEAKER_01: Why did you do that?
SPEAKER_01: I would love for Grand Parkway to continue to grow in reputation and community as the my goodness church.
SPEAKER_01: My goodness, what's wrong with those people?
SPEAKER_01: They care more about others than themselves.
SPEAKER_01: My goodness, what's going on on Sunday morning that they are so dangerously generous and sacrificial?
SPEAKER_01: So uh I was reminded of a story.
SPEAKER_01: Um we just uh got a new minivan.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, you're welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
SPEAKER_01: Give my depravity a minute that wants to be cool.
SPEAKER_01: That is It's no longer.
SPEAKER_01: So minivans, I call them the Sherman tanks of uh suburban families.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it just you go to war and those things.
SPEAKER_01: I I literally have a video on my phone I can show it to you later.
SPEAKER_01: When we get done um a road trip, I rip out all the seats and I take a leaf blower and I send my son in there and go clean it out.
SPEAKER_01: Have both doors open.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm not picking that junk up.
SPEAKER_01: Um those things are just we do we do battle in that place.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so our the one that we had was kind of breaking down, and you know, cool uh radiator busts out, we replace it, and then something else happens, and Audrey looks at me and goes, I don't trust that vehicle anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Okay, that means it's time to replace it.
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh we're getting ready to clean it up, sell it, and try to figure out what we can work out financially uh to get a new one.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord just reminded me as I'm shaming that minivan in front of all of you, he just says, Hey, do you remember my goodness and glory that was shown and why you have that in the first place?
SPEAKER_01: And uh at the time we we were uh at a church and there's uh a doctor in the church who loved minivans.
SPEAKER_01: Like his kids made fun of him because he's he's single with four grown kids and he's the doctor loaded and drives around used Honda minivans.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Chris, the gas mileage is great.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone makes fun of it until they get in and ride it, and it's incredible, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, sir, it is.
SPEAKER_01: Um gosh, no wonder the Lord has trusted you with riches because you actually have good character.
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh uh he knows I'm getting ready.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I think we're gonna jump in the minivan pool one day, just telling him that.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, get the Honda, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And he calls me back and says, uh, hey Chris, what's your budget?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, we got a suburban, I think you can get about$5,000 for it.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, All right, why don't you sell that suburban, bring that check to me, and uh we'll go ahead and call it even for my minivan.
SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, his minivan's selling at like$20,000.
SPEAKER_01: That's not at all anywhere close, which, by the way, is just the greatest dignity and grace gift you can give somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what can you get for this?
SPEAKER_01: Good, bring that here, and I'm just gonna bless you.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so that's how we got our first minivan.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we became converts, and so we're getting ready to sell it.
SPEAKER_01: So I called Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Carlson.
SPEAKER_01: We're in Tennessee now, moved from that church, and I just said, Hey, the Lord want to remind me about his goodness through you.
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, We're getting ready to sell that minivan, and oh, what a grace gift it was for us.
SPEAKER_01: It was so helpful.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much.
SPEAKER_01: We're probably getting another one, so congratulations.
SPEAKER_01: You've proselytized more people into your minivan cult.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I drink your Kool-Aid.
SPEAKER_01: Here's to you.
SPEAKER_01: Um and he just said, Oh, that's great, Chris.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Uh, how much do you think you can get for that minivan?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Don't do it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not why I called.
SPEAKER_01: I called to thank you.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I know.
SPEAKER_01: How much can you get for it?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, probably about$5,000.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Well, I got one and then I'm ready to give to you again.
SPEAKER_01: And so, praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's what my wife said.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then it's nice, man.
SPEAKER_01: And so we do the we do the same thing that night, we get an email from uh one of the former students in our ministry, uh, great kid, uh, walked into my office freshman year, just a wreck, family life a wreck, father abandoned him, same-sex attracted, uh, and just goes, Chris, what do I do?
SPEAKER_01: How do I follow Jesus in the midst of all this?
SPEAKER_01: And so we began a discipline relationship, praying for him, praying for hope and healing.
SPEAKER_01: Gets to a place where this kid's coming in and going, I've read the Bible and I feel like the Bible has two answers for our sexuality, and that's either celibacy or heterosexual marriage.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to live into that, even though my preferences tell me otherwise.
SPEAKER_01: And there's sometimes you look at these kids and go, your faith is stronger than mine.
SPEAKER_01: And so love it.
SPEAKER_01: Love this boy, want to affirm him, want to uh partner with him and uh heal some of the places in his broken family as much as we can.
SPEAKER_01: Um, gave him gave him one of my suits for a wedding that he needed to be into, and it couldn't have made me more happy.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get an email from one of the ministers and said, Hey, just so you know, uh he came back from a summer of doing ministry uh to find out his car was repossessed.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and apparently his dad has stopped paying bills altogether.
SPEAKER_01: And he needs his car to go to work to pay his bills to stay in school when it's his senior year, and he's hugely involved uh in the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And so I think as I think I said at night in the first service, it's actually that morning, because I read it at night and Audrey had already been asleep.
SPEAKER_01: We woke up and I said, Hey, did you get the email about so-and-so?
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Yes, let's just stop and pray for him real quick.
SPEAKER_01: And just said, God, we so want to provide for him, but we're not at a place right now where we can do it financially.
SPEAKER_01: And just joking, here's what I said: I said, Lord, if you want to drop$5,000 in our lap, we'll gladly give him it to him so he can buy a car.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so please provide for him.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's me in my bedroom.
SPEAKER_01: Walk out, drive to work, meet my staff in the church parking lot.
SPEAKER_01: We're getting ready to go into downtown Nashville, and one of the kids had just come from uh a prayer breakfast, and he says, Oh, I forgot to give this to you.
SPEAKER_01: Here, somebody gave this to me, wanted you to have it.
SPEAKER_01: Open up an envelope and it's a cashier's check for$5,000.
SPEAKER_01: And I go, like it's a hot potato.
SPEAKER_01: And like, what's wrong?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: And I just think the Lord whispered, that's what happens when I can trust you with my resources.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to confess to you, first thought is I can't believe this happened.
SPEAKER_01: Second thought is, ooh, I could use that$5,000.
SPEAKER_01: We've got um, is this the Lord blessing me?
SPEAKER_01: Or was that but just setting up parameters in your life no matter where you're at?
SPEAKER_01: Audrey and I decided a long time ago that we weren't gonna wait till we got to a certain salary or place to be generous people, we're gonna start doing it right now.
SPEAKER_01: And just the Lord's continue to wean me off of my desire for wealth and convenience and comfort and challenge me.
SPEAKER_01: How can I use you to be a better conduit of my grace?
SPEAKER_01: And so I wonder where where the Lord's goodness is just waiting to descend and drop on you when he finds out that you're a trustworthy person that he can steward his kingdom resources through.
SPEAKER_01: That's not health and wealth gospel, that's not prosperity gospel, that's not God's gonna pay all your bills if you can continue to come to church.
SPEAKER_01: That is, hey, your father in heaven has everything that you need.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes what you have is the answer to someone else's prayer.
SPEAKER_01: How can we get more people to shake their heads and go, My goodness?
SPEAKER_01: I got an email back from him and him just going, I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_01: And you just you used to hear people say this stuff to you, and now you say it to others.
SPEAKER_01: It means more for me to be able to give that to you than it does for you to receive it.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Lord's building my faith just as much as he's building yours in moments like this.
SPEAKER_01: So to your faith, add goodness, and to your goodness add knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Now we got to it, right?
SPEAKER_01: Knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Can I speak out of both sides of my mouth about knowledge?
SPEAKER_01: Um, first of all, uh, here's what's incredibly disconcerting as a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we we tell this story tongue-in-cheek about uh the beginning of the ministry that I'm a part of, Kairos.
SPEAKER_01: Senior pastor starts it, and he does a sermon on the life of Joseph and how he's falsely imprisoned, how he rises, how God reconciles his family, and it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: They get done to service, and a young adult who grew up in their church comes up to him afterwards and goes, Hey, Pastor Mike, great message.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, quick question.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when does Joseph meet Mary?
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that's that's Jesus' father, right?
SPEAKER_01: Some we're in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: That's I I know they have the same name, but that's not nowhere near the same part.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I said, Oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Kid who had grown up in his church.
SPEAKER_01: So uh he marches right down to the youth department and says, Scrap every single event you have.
SPEAKER_01: Let's we're doubling down on discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: But I say that point just that I think there is a pandemic of biblical illiteracy in our church.
SPEAKER_01: That you that somewhere along the line it became this consumeristic transaction that you walk through the doors and you tip in the offering plate or the giving box and you go, hey pastor, you read the Bible for me.
SPEAKER_01: And uh there are men and women uh in our Christian heritage who died to put the Bibles in our hands and we just push it back on the shelf and go, No, that's good.
SPEAKER_01: You you you you do that, you tell me what it means.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder sometimes if that's not exchanging our birthright to hear our father's voice and see his face.
SPEAKER_01: It's Thomas Long who says the greatest threat to Christianity is not atheism, it's superficiality.
SPEAKER_01: It's Oz Guinness who says that we have fit bodies, yet fat minds.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder what does it look like for us to be people of God and in the Word of God who understand the ways of God?
SPEAKER_01: People who know how to recognize the promptings of his spirit because we've been practicing voice recognition.
SPEAKER_01: People who, when it comes time to pray for someone, scripture is just overflowing with authority and veracity out of our mouths.
SPEAKER_01: It's every week at trying to get in a psalm and go, Lord, what verse do you have for me this week?
SPEAKER_01: And this week it's just Psalm 116, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I love you because you've heard my voice and my cries for mercy.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord has recognized my voice.
SPEAKER_01: The question is, do I recognize his men and women, especially mothers and fathers, are we at a place, men, are you prepared to be the primary pastor of your family?
SPEAKER_01: And not call in one of the ministers as soon as you need something spiritual or theological.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that we're not here to resource you in that way, but our goal is to equip you to pastor your families.
SPEAKER_01: Stop looking to someone else to step up and fill that vacuum.
SPEAKER_01: It's you.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like for uh Neil and I were riding to church together this morning and he's mid-conversation, he just goes, Oh, I forgot to put my wedding ring on this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I must, I got dressed in the dark, I must have forgot it.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like for you to get to work and it's 9.30, and if you haven't spent time with God, you're like, oh, something's wrong in my soul.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't been in scripture today.
SPEAKER_01: That it's that evident that you're that connected and consistent with your time in the word.
SPEAKER_01: That's not legalism, that's just me trying to say, hey, let's live more into our identity in the daily drip of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: That's uh my time with the word more, it's a keystone habit, and it's uh I can feel myself getting jittery, and it's like almost a nicotine withdrawal if I haven't been in scripture that morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm agitated, I'm easily aggravated.
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
SPEAKER_01: Ah, I haven't been with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So add to your goodness, add to your faith, goodness, and to your goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge self-control.
SPEAKER_01: What's this doing in here?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it self-control?
SPEAKER_01: I don't want this in here.
SPEAKER_01: I want to skip this small group session.
SPEAKER_01: Uh as an ADD kid with impulse control problems, this was the biggest thing that was always on my report card.
SPEAKER_01: This was always my biggest sin in front of the Lord was self-control.
SPEAKER_01: And then far I didn't like the fact that it said self, but the Holy Spirit empowers us to be liberated and celebrate when those chains break off.
SPEAKER_01: And that there are areas of my life, even though I'm admitting I'm powerless over them, I have power over other areas so that I can see freedom and victory in those areas.
SPEAKER_01: That I don't have to stay in sin or shame or hiding.
SPEAKER_01: What's the one area in your life right now that you need the Spirit of the living God to help exercise some self-control?
SPEAKER_01: And of course, there are obvious ones with your desires and passions and your appetites and your ambitions that are amok.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them you tried to baptize or sanctify, some of them you tried to put God's name on them, some you're done fighting because you just go, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'll never be ever rid of this.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes it's just self-control in the sense of how you're parenting your children when they don't act the way you want them to act.
SPEAKER_01: Here's one.
SPEAKER_01: Some of it's self-control over your schedule.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm just too busy.
SPEAKER_01: Can't, can't, can't, can't, can't because of this, this, this, and this.
SPEAKER_01: Do we have any self-control in the ability to say no so that we can truly honor what our yeses are?
SPEAKER_01: Or do we run in a fury and a blur from one event to the next, one activity to the other, all because we're so afraid that we're going to miss out on something?
SPEAKER_01: And we realize at the end of the day, our faith is actually in ourselves and trying to build our kingdom and our future rather than the goodness and glory in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So add to your faith, goodness to your goodness, knowledge to your knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance.
SPEAKER_01: Um perseverance or endurance.
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is this is not popular these days, is it?
SPEAKER_01: Um, had an incredible professor friend.
SPEAKER_01: He's agnostic at the University of Alabama.
SPEAKER_01: We had a great friendship.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for him uh that he will see the glory and goodness of Jesus Christ often.
SPEAKER_01: Um but he was very, very interested in uh perseverance and resiliency.
SPEAKER_01: And so he got funded by the university to do an initiative for students for perseverance, um, especially incoming freshmen, because the university wants to make sure you stay there all four years because that means you pay more money.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so they targeted who they thought would need resiliency the most.
SPEAKER_01: Certain demographic from a certain background that's usually under-resourced, that usually comes from broken families.
SPEAKER_01: You know that demographic.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, hey, let's make sure we help them make sure they have resiliency and we'll graduate and get a four-year degree.
SPEAKER_01: So he went there the first semester and found out, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: They're just fine.
SPEAKER_01: That they may need to know where certain things are on campus, but their resiliency is off the charts.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they've been facing adversity their whole lives.
SPEAKER_01: You know who he targets now?
SPEAKER_01: These kids who have every resource available to them, who have an incredible background in pedigree, who were the top of their classes, who are the most gifted, who have never faced adversity in their life because they've always been the best, or someone solved the problem before they ever even had to learn how to do it themselves.
SPEAKER_01: They're the ones that lack the most resiliency.
SPEAKER_01: What happens when we create churches in this context that just says, huddle up in here?
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn some things about scripture, but let's not run it through an application at all.
SPEAKER_01: And the first time we face a diagnosis that we weren't expecting, we face a sin we can't conquer, we run and hide and withdraw rather than dig our heels in and go, Lord, would you refine in me your character and your intentions?
SPEAKER_01: And I will want to get to a place one day when I can say I count it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when I face trial and temptations of many kind, because I know that that works patience and resilience and perseverance in me.
SPEAKER_01: I just don't want to be good on the 20-yard sprint.
SPEAKER_01: I want to run this marathon and I want to finish well, and I want to hear well done, thou faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear my beloved boy in who I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible run we had.
SPEAKER_01: Fixing my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith.
SPEAKER_01: Add to your faith goodness and to your goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness.
SPEAKER_01: This is uh that's a that's a tough word in the English.
SPEAKER_01: It would have incredible meaning for the people that Peter was writing to.
SPEAKER_01: It just simply means this walking according to God's standards.
SPEAKER_01: If I interviewed some of your people at work or your kids, would they say that you walk according to God's standards?
SPEAKER_01: Is that your reputation?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's that's becoming increasingly an insult in our culture, not a compliment.
SPEAKER_01: He walks to God's standards.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't ask him to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And add to your godliness brotherly kindness.
SPEAKER_01: Um church, is there a deep affection in you for your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says don't ask for the gifts of the Spirit until you're unified.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I think we can be so obsessed with the mission of Christ and dropping down goodness and glory and grace in the midst of strangers, which does need to happen, but not at the expense of sacrificially loving our brothers and sisters in our same household.
SPEAKER_01: Let us not grow weary of doing good, especially to those who are the household of faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's I look at my girls sometimes, two middle girls who fight like cats and dogs, and who just push buttons and who are both strong-willed and determined.
SPEAKER_01: And I go, Can you just love and value and be loyal to one another?
SPEAKER_01: No! Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01: And then uh finally it says, uh, add to your brotherly kindness love.
SPEAKER_01: Church, it begins in faith and ends in love.
SPEAKER_01: That's the application that Peter's given us to grow spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: It begins in faith and ends in love.
SPEAKER_01: So which one of these has your name on it?
SPEAKER_01: Because catch what he says after he gives us incredible application for our faith.
SPEAKER_01: It says, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In the King James, it's a little bit more obvious, but this is hearkening back to God's creation language when he commissions Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_01: In the King James it says, uh, if you do these things in increasing measure, it'll keep you from being barren and unfruitful.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if you some of you walked in this room this morning as a child of God, barren and unfruitful.
SPEAKER_01: And what what is it that the Lord had on your name?
SPEAKER_01: What is it that as you look in God's word, you say that that was for God's people specifically for me?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm asked Clyde to play over us, and I'm just gonna give you a chance to reflect and sink in and own on whatever it was that the Lord had to say to you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So we we like to say it this way answer two questions What do I think God is saying to me?
SPEAKER_01: What had my name on it this morning?
SPEAKER_01: And then what do I need to do about it?
SPEAKER_01: That's the life of discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: That's what every follower of Jesus is always answering two questions.
SPEAKER_01: What is God revealing to me, and then what is my personal responsibility to respond to it?
SPEAKER_01: That's how you have intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Give you great conversations in life groups or in your car ride home.
SPEAKER_01: It'll also help you Monday morning when you wake up and go, Oh, yeah, this is what I need to live in today.
SPEAKER_01: So let's listen to the voice of the Lord together.
SPEAKER_01: So, in just a second, I'll ask you to stand and I'll speak a prayer of blessing and benediction over us.
SPEAKER_01: But just want to say thank you for being here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: On behalf of Neil and the staff, uh, we're honored that you would come and worship the Lord together with us.
SPEAKER_01: Some ministers, including myself, will be down front.
SPEAKER_01: If you need someone to pray with you, you want to talk about a relationship with Jesus, or if there's any way that we can be of service to you, uh, we would love to do that.
SPEAKER_01: So would you stand and if you're comfortable, just put your hands out, palm up.
SPEAKER_01: Not just put your body in a posture of receiving, kind of send signals to your soul, and I'll speak a prayer of benediction over us.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jesus, would you help us this week not just to learn about you, but to live like you.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that you would help us not just to raise our hands in worship, but to outstretch them in service.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, I pray that even as we listen to sermons about you, we will remember that our lives lived will be the most powerful sermon anyone ever hears.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Go on, grace and peace to love and serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You're dismissed.