1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,039 Speaker: Did you know you probably did, but did you know 2 00:00:02,039 --> 00:00:03,539 you can drink too much water? 3 00:00:04,799 --> 00:00:08,700 Did you know that you can actually have too much oxygen? 4 00:00:09,465 --> 00:00:10,185 Which is crazy. 5 00:00:10,245 --> 00:00:14,685 There's something as that, that if you are drink or drinking, inhaling breathing 6 00:00:14,685 --> 00:00:18,945 in pure oxygen for too long, it can actually damage, uh, your, your system. 7 00:00:18,945 --> 00:00:22,695 Did you know that you can wash your hands too many times? 8 00:00:23,324 --> 00:00:25,335 Do you know you can take too many showers? 9 00:00:25,725 --> 00:00:28,784 Uh, some of you in the room, you don't need to worry about that. 10 00:00:28,784 --> 00:00:29,595 Just keep showering. 11 00:00:29,595 --> 00:00:30,765 We're, we're grateful for that. 12 00:00:31,875 --> 00:00:37,305 Thinking about the, uh, my, my kids in the room, my son, especially in the room, um. 13 00:00:38,265 --> 00:00:39,555 He's catching strays from his dad. 14 00:00:39,555 --> 00:00:40,184 That's not fair. 15 00:00:40,305 --> 00:00:40,905 He's fine. 16 00:00:40,905 --> 00:00:41,805 He takes care of himself. 17 00:00:42,315 --> 00:00:42,525 Yeah. 18 00:00:42,525 --> 00:00:44,144 You can shower too much in, in other words, there can 19 00:00:44,144 --> 00:00:45,315 be too much of a good thing. 20 00:00:45,315 --> 00:00:47,385 Too much of a good thing can sometimes become a, a bad thing. 21 00:00:47,714 --> 00:00:51,945 Uh, when my wife and I were in California, we had moved out there and our twins were. 22 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,749 Uh, like two weeks old at the time. 23 00:00:54,870 --> 00:00:58,409 And, uh, we had them and, and we were getting ready to go to 24 00:00:58,409 --> 00:01:02,100 dinner someplace and we, we put them in their car seats to leave. 25 00:01:02,100 --> 00:01:05,670 What we also had, my son Luke and my son Luke, was 18 months old 26 00:01:05,670 --> 00:01:08,520 at the time, so we had two week old twins and 18 month old Luke. 27 00:01:09,030 --> 00:01:11,100 And we're putting the twins in their, their car seat carriers. 28 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:15,210 And Luke comes totting down the hall with an open pill bottle and crumbs 29 00:01:15,210 --> 00:01:17,160 of, of a white pill on his mouth. 30 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,570 So as mom and dad, we panic immediately and we leave the twins. 31 00:01:21,570 --> 00:01:23,970 And I don't know who was watching the twins at that point other than God. 32 00:01:24,125 --> 00:01:27,300 And, and we run to, to our 18 month old and we're thinking to 33 00:01:27,300 --> 00:01:28,950 ourselves, what, what did he get into? 34 00:01:28,950 --> 00:01:31,200 And worst case scenario is running through your mind. 35 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,539 And so we grab the pill bottle, we look at the pill bottle, and it was 36 00:01:33,539 --> 00:01:36,150 my wife's folic acid that she had been taking while she was pregnant. 37 00:01:36,660 --> 00:01:38,700 So we still called poison control. 38 00:01:38,700 --> 00:01:39,060 By the way. 39 00:01:39,060 --> 00:01:41,009 They make note of who you are when you call them. 40 00:01:41,009 --> 00:01:42,509 So just know that, um. 41 00:01:42,914 --> 00:01:45,375 We may have had to call them multiple times at, at, at this point. 42 00:01:45,795 --> 00:01:47,715 And so we called poison control. 43 00:01:47,715 --> 00:01:49,335 And poison control basically put our heart at ease. 44 00:01:49,335 --> 00:01:49,995 They said it's okay. 45 00:01:50,025 --> 00:01:51,945 They said the body will process the folic acid. 46 00:01:51,945 --> 00:01:54,315 It doesn't, it, it wants, and, and just get rid of 47 00:01:54,315 --> 00:01:55,365 everything that it doesn't need. 48 00:01:55,365 --> 00:01:56,085 So you're fine. 49 00:01:56,595 --> 00:01:58,664 Uh, fast forward maybe another 18 months later. 50 00:01:58,910 --> 00:02:03,020 Uh, we had my, my twins that were now around that age, around Luke's age, 51 00:02:03,380 --> 00:02:06,530 and we were meeting with some people in our home, having a, a community group. 52 00:02:06,530 --> 00:02:09,769 And, and we went upstairs and, and we had a bottle of gummy vitamins that 53 00:02:09,769 --> 00:02:11,000 we would give our kids each night. 54 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,149 We would give them one a night and, and we went up there and we had just 55 00:02:14,149 --> 00:02:17,570 bought a full bottle at Costco and we walk into their bathroom and that full 56 00:02:17,570 --> 00:02:19,310 bottle from Costco was down to about a. 57 00:02:19,519 --> 00:02:20,719 Third left in the bottle. 58 00:02:21,170 --> 00:02:24,799 And we look at Sam and John and we're like, what did, did you guys do this? 59 00:02:24,799 --> 00:02:26,119 And they're like, yeah, it was great. 60 00:02:26,119 --> 00:02:27,290 It tasted fantastic. 61 00:02:27,290 --> 00:02:28,969 We ate all of the gummy vitamins. 62 00:02:29,839 --> 00:02:30,799 Poison control again. 63 00:02:30,799 --> 00:02:32,450 Hey, uh, it's the burners again. 64 00:02:32,510 --> 00:02:32,989 Um. 65 00:02:34,020 --> 00:02:34,800 What do we do? 66 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:36,900 And poison control said You, you're gonna be fine. 67 00:02:36,930 --> 00:02:39,570 Even if they buy themselves ate the whole bottle of gummy 68 00:02:39,570 --> 00:02:40,620 vitamins, they would be fine. 69 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:42,540 Which caused me to, to think two things. 70 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:44,670 Number one, I was super relieved and number two, I was like, why 71 00:02:44,670 --> 00:02:48,960 do we give them then if, if a full bottle doesn't do anything to them? 72 00:02:49,290 --> 00:02:50,880 What are we doing with these? 73 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,670 Who is behind this big Pharma is pedaling gummy vitamins to 74 00:02:53,670 --> 00:02:56,880 our kids, but we get it right. 75 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,300 Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing if we're not careful. 76 00:03:00,930 --> 00:03:01,290 Um. 77 00:03:02,010 --> 00:03:05,490 Some of us though are, are treating God as though that's a possibility. 78 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,480 Some of us are treating God as though maybe we can get too much of God. 79 00:03:10,170 --> 00:03:13,470 Some of us are taking a daily multivitamin of God and, and saying to ourselves, 80 00:03:13,470 --> 00:03:14,910 you know, that's enough God for today. 81 00:03:15,450 --> 00:03:17,640 I don't need any more than my daily dose of God. 82 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:20,820 Some may not even be getting a daily dose of God. 83 00:03:20,820 --> 00:03:23,160 Some may be looking at this and saying, you know what, I, I, 84 00:03:23,250 --> 00:03:26,130 I've got my weekly dose of God, and, and that's enough for me. 85 00:03:27,689 --> 00:03:31,469 Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing unless it's God that we're 86 00:03:31,469 --> 00:03:33,839 talking about in our passage this morning. 87 00:03:33,839 --> 00:03:36,359 What we're gonna find is you can never have too much God in your life. 88 00:03:37,409 --> 00:03:39,420 You can never have too much God in your life. 89 00:03:40,155 --> 00:03:41,685 Second Peter, or first Peter rather. 90 00:03:41,835 --> 00:03:44,505 First Peter, chapter two verses two and three says this. 91 00:03:45,015 --> 00:03:49,425 It says like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that buy it. 92 00:03:49,785 --> 00:03:54,645 You may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 93 00:03:55,215 --> 00:04:00,825 So like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that buy it. 94 00:04:00,825 --> 00:04:01,545 You may grow up. 95 00:04:01,790 --> 00:04:03,049 Into salvation. 96 00:04:03,049 --> 00:04:07,700 The key word in this passage, in this verse is long form it. 97 00:04:07,700 --> 00:04:11,450 It's a, a verb that's in a command form in the original language. 98 00:04:11,630 --> 00:04:14,029 It's a, a word that is an intense craving. 99 00:04:14,029 --> 00:04:19,880 In fact, other translations may say, yearn for this desire, it crave it. 100 00:04:20,209 --> 00:04:24,530 It's a strengthened form of the normal word that just means to desire something. 101 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,039 So this is desire that's ratcheted up to a next level. 102 00:04:28,190 --> 00:04:31,400 This is like when I go to the pantry at night and I go to the pantry. 103 00:04:31,550 --> 00:04:35,540 Longing to see that I've got enough double stuffed Oreos in the package 104 00:04:35,690 --> 00:04:39,650 to satisfy my craving for the greatest cookie ever known to mankind. 105 00:04:40,580 --> 00:04:42,470 I long for these things. 106 00:04:43,485 --> 00:04:46,425 In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word shows 107 00:04:46,425 --> 00:04:47,745 up in a couple of passages. 108 00:04:47,775 --> 00:04:50,595 Yes, faints for the courts of the Lord. 109 00:04:51,284 --> 00:04:53,955 My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. 110 00:04:53,955 --> 00:04:55,995 My soul longs for it. 111 00:04:56,565 --> 00:05:00,195 Or in Psalm 42, 1 King David writes and he says, as the dear. 112 00:05:00,430 --> 00:05:02,860 Pants for flowing streams. 113 00:05:02,860 --> 00:05:07,180 So pants, my soul for you, that word pants is the same Greek 114 00:05:07,180 --> 00:05:08,140 word in the step two agent. 115 00:05:08,140 --> 00:05:11,620 The Greek translation of the Old Testament as the word Peter uses here when he 116 00:05:11,620 --> 00:05:16,810 says that we are to long for the pure spiritual milk, or Paul uses the word 117 00:05:16,810 --> 00:05:18,730 in second Corinthians five, verse two. 118 00:05:18,730 --> 00:05:23,890 He says, in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. 119 00:05:24,955 --> 00:05:26,485 So we're to long, it's a command. 120 00:05:26,485 --> 00:05:27,085 It's an order. 121 00:05:27,085 --> 00:05:29,844 It's, it's not an optional, it's a, you should do this. 122 00:05:29,844 --> 00:05:31,825 In fact, not just should, but you must do this. 123 00:05:31,825 --> 00:05:33,594 And what is it that Peter wants us to do? 124 00:05:33,594 --> 00:05:36,025 What does he commanding us to long for? 125 00:05:36,025 --> 00:05:42,235 He's commanding us to long for the pure spiritual milk, the pure spiritual milk. 126 00:05:42,235 --> 00:05:42,955 If you look back at verse. 127 00:05:43,175 --> 00:05:46,385 One of chapter two, Peter had written this, and Pastor Rod 128 00:05:46,385 --> 00:05:47,405 preached on this last week. 129 00:05:47,405 --> 00:05:51,425 He said, so put away all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy 130 00:05:51,425 --> 00:05:53,315 and envy, and all slander. 131 00:05:53,315 --> 00:05:56,585 And then you'll notice there's a period there in your ESV and in verse two, it 132 00:05:56,585 --> 00:06:00,245 picks up a new sentence like newborn infants long for, well in the Greek, 133 00:06:00,245 --> 00:06:03,815 it's one sentence from chapter two, verse one into chapter two, verse two. 134 00:06:03,905 --> 00:06:04,660 And so what? 135 00:06:05,025 --> 00:06:08,534 Peter was doing here is he's creating a contrast here that helps us 136 00:06:08,534 --> 00:06:10,544 understand the pure spiritual milk. 137 00:06:10,724 --> 00:06:14,505 He's saying at, at one time you lived for these things, for the slander and the 138 00:06:14,505 --> 00:06:16,755 malice and the hypocrisy and the envy. 139 00:06:16,995 --> 00:06:19,364 That was something that characterized your life. 140 00:06:19,575 --> 00:06:22,575 But now in Christ, you need to long for what's new. 141 00:06:22,575 --> 00:06:24,854 You need to long for life in Christ. 142 00:06:24,854 --> 00:06:29,835 You need to long for, as he puts it here, metaphorically, the pure spiritual milk. 143 00:06:30,260 --> 00:06:31,250 Pure spiritual milk. 144 00:06:31,250 --> 00:06:34,849 You may have heard this referred to or always thought of it as the word of God. 145 00:06:34,849 --> 00:06:36,920 In fact, some translations take that approach. 146 00:06:37,430 --> 00:06:40,969 They'll say, this is the, the pure milk of the word. 147 00:06:41,719 --> 00:06:44,240 And, and that is, is part of what Peter means. 148 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,730 But I don't think that's everything that Peter means. 149 00:06:47,659 --> 00:06:52,460 The word, word or logos in Greek for scripture or message or revelation. 150 00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:55,490 It, it's not there in the Greek, in this passage. 151 00:06:56,175 --> 00:06:58,815 What some translations have done is they've taken the word that the ESV 152 00:06:58,815 --> 00:07:03,735 translates as spiritual and they've chosen to translate that as word, the 153 00:07:03,735 --> 00:07:08,295 pure milk of the word instead of as the ESV says, the pure spiritual milk. 154 00:07:08,655 --> 00:07:10,665 The word in the Greek is logon. 155 00:07:10,665 --> 00:07:12,615 And the only reason I bring that up is to hear the, the 156 00:07:12,615 --> 00:07:16,035 similarity between logon and Lagos. 157 00:07:16,625 --> 00:07:18,905 So etymologically, there's a similarity there. 158 00:07:18,905 --> 00:07:21,305 There's something that you could see the connection point there. 159 00:07:21,305 --> 00:07:24,844 And like I said, the Bible is part of what we're to pursue, 160 00:07:24,844 --> 00:07:26,465 part of what to we're to long for. 161 00:07:27,005 --> 00:07:28,294 But it's, it's more than that. 162 00:07:28,805 --> 00:07:32,015 Like we said, this is a, a contrast of verse one. 163 00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:35,490 Peter's contrasting our old way of life to our new way of life. 164 00:07:35,670 --> 00:07:40,290 And so the command for you and I is not just to long for more Bible. 165 00:07:40,290 --> 00:07:43,500 It's, it's that, but it's also to just generally long for 166 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:45,270 the grace that God gives us. 167 00:07:45,270 --> 00:07:49,110 To live lives as believers to long for more of a presence of God in 168 00:07:49,110 --> 00:07:53,250 our life, to long for the sustaining power of his grace that enables our 169 00:07:53,250 --> 00:07:54,780 faith to persevere through trial. 170 00:07:55,310 --> 00:07:58,280 So that the tested genuineness of our faith, more precious than gold, 171 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,789 that perishes by fi those tested by fire, can be found a result in the 172 00:08:01,849 --> 00:08:04,580 praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ, right? 173 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,030 It's, it's wanting more of the life sustaining grace of God. 174 00:08:08,570 --> 00:08:10,969 And yes, that is the Bible, but it's not just the Bible. 175 00:08:11,150 --> 00:08:12,650 In fact, I want you to think about it this way. 176 00:08:12,650 --> 00:08:16,669 If Peter was just thinking about, Hey, read your Bibles more, think 177 00:08:16,669 --> 00:08:17,780 about his original audience. 178 00:08:18,375 --> 00:08:22,965 His original audience, these first century spiritual exiles, literal 179 00:08:22,965 --> 00:08:26,655 exiles, they wouldn't have had the Bible that you're holding in your laps. 180 00:08:26,655 --> 00:08:28,125 They wouldn't have had the Bible on your phone. 181 00:08:28,695 --> 00:08:32,475 They wouldn't have had the Old Testament scrolls, even in their homes. 182 00:08:32,895 --> 00:08:36,225 So for Peter to tell them long for the pure spiritual milk and have that 183 00:08:36,225 --> 00:08:40,695 mean read Bible, read your Bible more and have that be all it means it, 184 00:08:40,755 --> 00:08:42,135 they would've sat there and been like. 185 00:08:42,750 --> 00:08:45,630 How, how we don't have that. 186 00:08:45,660 --> 00:08:46,710 We don't have access to it. 187 00:08:46,710 --> 00:08:48,210 We don't have it in our homes. 188 00:08:48,630 --> 00:08:49,920 And then you think about the New Testament. 189 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:51,660 The New Testament was still under construction. 190 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,900 As Peter's writing this, they, they didn't have the New Testament letters. 191 00:08:54,900 --> 00:08:56,550 The way that we have the New Testament letters, they were 192 00:08:56,550 --> 00:08:58,079 still formulating a lot of them. 193 00:08:58,380 --> 00:09:01,710 Some of them, in fact, a lot of them hadn't even been written at this point. 194 00:09:02,310 --> 00:09:04,830 And so Peter's not just talking about the word of God. 195 00:09:05,070 --> 00:09:06,510 Is he talking about the word of God? 196 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:07,410 Yes. 197 00:09:07,620 --> 00:09:09,180 But he's also talking about more than that. 198 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:12,000 He's talking about the fact that we need to crave, we need to long 199 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,390 for the life sustaining grace of God to be present in our life. 200 00:09:15,390 --> 00:09:18,960 And he calls it the pure spiritual milk of the word, the 201 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:20,310 pure spiritual milk of the word. 202 00:09:20,730 --> 00:09:25,920 Uh, this idea of, of purity here is not simply that he's contrasting 203 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:27,155 it to the, the, the fraudulent. 204 00:09:27,699 --> 00:09:28,930 False teachings out there. 205 00:09:29,229 --> 00:09:32,319 But, but rather as you think about an infant, an infant going to its 206 00:09:32,319 --> 00:09:36,130 mother to nurse knows that what it's going to get from its mother is good. 207 00:09:36,550 --> 00:09:40,689 It's right, it's pure, it's unadulterated, and it's, it's good for that child. 208 00:09:40,810 --> 00:09:44,890 And so likewise, when we come to the Lord for the spiritual milk, 209 00:09:44,890 --> 00:09:47,439 we can know, we can have confidence that it's going to be good for us. 210 00:09:47,709 --> 00:09:50,469 It's the pure spiritual milk that we need. 211 00:09:51,069 --> 00:09:54,370 This life sustaining grace of God is to be, for us the same that 212 00:09:54,370 --> 00:09:55,900 a mother's milk is to a child. 213 00:09:56,490 --> 00:10:01,200 That newborn cry, it still sends shivers down my spine when I hear it, and, and 214 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,050 I think about those times in the middle of the night, waking up to that baby. 215 00:10:04,050 --> 00:10:07,470 That's, that baby is gonna be inconsolable until it gets milk. 216 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:09,120 And that's Christian. 217 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,720 What we need to be for God in our lives, we need to be unsatisfied. 218 00:10:12,750 --> 00:10:17,100 We need to be insatiable until we can be satisfied with more of God. 219 00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:18,210 And that's my prayer for us Church. 220 00:10:18,210 --> 00:10:21,720 I want us to be a church that's desperate for, that's obsessed with, 221 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,970 that's hungry for not just moment by or not just daily encounters, but moment 222 00:10:26,970 --> 00:10:30,330 by moment encounters with the life sustaining grace of our Heavenly Father. 223 00:10:30,330 --> 00:10:32,820 Point number one this morning is crave more God in your life. 224 00:10:34,170 --> 00:10:37,650 Crave more God in your life, long for desire. 225 00:10:39,420 --> 00:10:44,219 Pursue again that that word in the Greek long for is in the imperative 226 00:10:44,219 --> 00:10:45,420 voice, meaning it's a command. 227 00:10:45,420 --> 00:10:46,589 This is not optional. 228 00:10:47,550 --> 00:10:50,219 It's not optional for us to decide whether or not we want 229 00:10:50,219 --> 00:10:51,359 spiritual nourishment from God. 230 00:10:51,359 --> 00:10:54,930 We have to have it just like a baby has to have its mother's milk. 231 00:10:55,830 --> 00:10:58,980 This is such a tangible illustration that Peter uses here. 232 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,010 It's one that I think all of us can relate to whether you've had kids or not. 233 00:11:02,010 --> 00:11:06,210 You, you know that the baby that that is, is a newborn, that's an infant 234 00:11:06,210 --> 00:11:11,370 needs its mother's milk, and God C commands us to crave him, to desire 235 00:11:11,370 --> 00:11:13,800 more of him in that same fashion. 236 00:11:14,940 --> 00:11:17,280 Church, I don't know where each of you stands in your walk with 237 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:18,300 Christ in this room this morning. 238 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:20,550 I know there are differences here. 239 00:11:20,670 --> 00:11:21,390 There are new believers. 240 00:11:21,390 --> 00:11:23,670 There are seasoned believers no matter where you are. 241 00:11:23,670 --> 00:11:27,510 Though I can say with absolute confidence, you should want more of God in your 242 00:11:27,510 --> 00:11:28,560 life than what you currently have. 243 00:11:29,580 --> 00:11:32,460 You should want more because we should never get to the place where 244 00:11:32,460 --> 00:11:35,850 we say, I have enough God, you can never have too much God in your life. 245 00:11:36,449 --> 00:11:38,910 And so the first thing that we have to understand is we have to say, I 246 00:11:38,939 --> 00:11:40,920 need, I want more of God in my life. 247 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,110 And the good news is it's never bad for you. 248 00:11:43,935 --> 00:11:47,474 I have to stop myself from eating Oreos because eventually they are bad for me. 249 00:11:47,775 --> 00:11:48,675 They're always bad for me. 250 00:11:48,675 --> 00:11:49,185 I get that. 251 00:11:49,185 --> 00:11:49,545 Don't talk. 252 00:11:49,604 --> 00:11:50,685 Talk to me about that afterwards. 253 00:11:51,045 --> 00:11:52,214 I don't care what's in them. 254 00:11:52,305 --> 00:11:55,604 If you're gonna come talk to me about food dyes and MSGs and whatever else, you're 255 00:11:55,604 --> 00:11:58,814 gonna make up those words that I don't understand, tell me how bad the Oreos are. 256 00:11:59,204 --> 00:12:00,074 It's a common grace. 257 00:12:00,074 --> 00:12:01,439 Let me have the common grace of my Oreos. 258 00:12:01,439 --> 00:12:01,964 Okay? 259 00:12:02,535 --> 00:12:04,425 And double stuff is the only option. 260 00:12:04,425 --> 00:12:06,224 Oreo thins are an abomination. 261 00:12:06,255 --> 00:12:07,244 They're an abomination. 262 00:12:08,505 --> 00:12:09,944 They need to go away anyways. 263 00:12:10,155 --> 00:12:13,035 I know though that I need to stop eating Oreos at some point before 264 00:12:13,035 --> 00:12:14,385 I want to stop eating Oreos. 265 00:12:15,074 --> 00:12:17,895 You don't have to stop pursuing God before you want to stop pursuing God. 266 00:12:18,795 --> 00:12:20,564 You can never have too much God in your life. 267 00:12:21,314 --> 00:12:24,885 Prayer, scripture, accountability, worship, meditation, scripture, 268 00:12:24,885 --> 00:12:26,775 memorization, growing in holiness. 269 00:12:26,954 --> 00:12:29,295 You can have as much of those things as you want, and it's 270 00:12:29,295 --> 00:12:30,375 never gonna be bad for you. 271 00:12:30,885 --> 00:12:32,564 In fact, it will always be good for you. 272 00:12:32,954 --> 00:12:35,204 There is no serving size when it comes to Jesus. 273 00:12:36,045 --> 00:12:38,115 You can have as much Jesus as you can. 274 00:12:38,115 --> 00:12:40,814 Take as much Jesus as you can handle. 275 00:12:40,845 --> 00:12:42,870 And the thing about it is we need to crave that. 276 00:12:43,500 --> 00:12:45,330 We need to want that, we need to desire that. 277 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:47,370 And it's not just a general interest. 278 00:12:47,370 --> 00:12:48,960 Like if somebody were to say to you, Hey, do you wanna go out 279 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:50,430 for, for lunch after church? 280 00:12:50,820 --> 00:12:51,540 Uh, yeah, I guess so. 281 00:12:51,810 --> 00:12:52,410 Yeah, sure. 282 00:12:52,410 --> 00:12:52,860 Why not? 283 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:53,970 Let's go now. 284 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,430 It's an obsession and a fixation. 285 00:12:56,430 --> 00:12:59,160 It's a, I'm not gonna be satisfied until I get this. 286 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,060 In fact, the word that Peter uses here for long for it conveys that 287 00:13:03,060 --> 00:13:06,090 if you don't get what you long for, you're gonna suffer loss. 288 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,780 You're gonna say, man, this is to my detriment if I don't get this. 289 00:13:10,575 --> 00:13:13,305 That's how desperately we need to want more of God in our life. 290 00:13:13,305 --> 00:13:17,655 So maybe you're asking the question how, if you're sitting out there going, 291 00:13:17,655 --> 00:13:19,035 I, I don't know that I feel that. 292 00:13:19,035 --> 00:13:20,415 How can I cultivate more of that? 293 00:13:20,415 --> 00:13:21,915 Lemme give you a few suggestions. 294 00:13:22,155 --> 00:13:24,315 Stop me if you've heard me say this before, but fill your life with the 295 00:13:24,315 --> 00:13:25,605 things that make you love Jesus more. 296 00:13:26,385 --> 00:13:27,135 That's step one. 297 00:13:28,785 --> 00:13:29,655 What does that look like? 298 00:13:31,125 --> 00:13:33,765 Well, first, make time for him in your life every day. 299 00:13:34,755 --> 00:13:36,735 Make time for Christ in your life Every day. 300 00:13:36,735 --> 00:13:37,814 Spend time with him. 301 00:13:38,085 --> 00:13:41,385 Put it on your calendar and treat it like you treat any other meeting that you have. 302 00:13:41,385 --> 00:13:44,115 In fact, treat it more importantly than any other meeting that you 303 00:13:44,115 --> 00:13:47,685 have, nothing's gonna interrupt that, nothing's gonna take you away from 304 00:13:47,685 --> 00:13:51,345 that because there's no person more important in your life for you to meet 305 00:13:51,345 --> 00:13:52,450 with every single day than Jesus Christ. 306 00:13:53,970 --> 00:13:56,550 Make time for him every single day. 307 00:13:56,820 --> 00:14:00,810 Carve out a place for you to meet with him every single day where you know, 308 00:14:00,810 --> 00:14:02,490 this is where I meet with the Lord. 309 00:14:02,490 --> 00:14:04,200 Go to the word every single day. 310 00:14:05,550 --> 00:14:08,220 Second, though, don't just spend time with him every single day, 311 00:14:08,220 --> 00:14:10,590 but spend time with people who make you love him more every day. 312 00:14:11,910 --> 00:14:14,130 It doesn't necessarily have to be in person, but through 313 00:14:14,130 --> 00:14:15,030 text, through phone calls. 314 00:14:16,094 --> 00:14:20,685 Use your, your communication sources to encourage other believers with Christ. 315 00:14:20,925 --> 00:14:24,074 Normalize talking about Jesus with people that love Jesus. 316 00:14:24,704 --> 00:14:27,224 Ask them about what, what God's been teaching them lately. 317 00:14:27,525 --> 00:14:30,285 Ask them what their favorite thing about their walk with Christ is. 318 00:14:30,614 --> 00:14:33,344 Ask them how they're growing in the relationship with Jesus. 319 00:14:33,584 --> 00:14:36,104 Ask them, Hey, what stirs your affections for Christ? 320 00:14:37,125 --> 00:14:39,194 Talk with other people who love Jesus too. 321 00:14:39,525 --> 00:14:41,984 That's gonna help you develop more affections for Christ. 322 00:14:42,824 --> 00:14:46,964 Listen to rich worship music that fixes your mind on Jesus. 323 00:14:47,865 --> 00:14:50,895 Y'all, there is so much that we can turn to out there and, and 324 00:14:50,895 --> 00:14:52,935 fill our, our, our dead air with. 325 00:14:53,625 --> 00:14:56,474 Fill your dead air that, that time when you're getting ready in the morning, 326 00:14:56,474 --> 00:14:59,775 taking a shower, fill that time on your commute with things that are gonna cause 327 00:14:59,775 --> 00:15:02,714 you to love Jesus more, that are gonna strengthen you, that are gonna stretch 328 00:15:02,714 --> 00:15:07,545 you to think differently, to think more deeply about scripture and about Christ. 329 00:15:08,234 --> 00:15:11,055 There's a lot of neutral things out there that are fine to listen to. 330 00:15:11,055 --> 00:15:14,234 I've been listening to this podcast about jobs that people have, and there was 331 00:15:14,234 --> 00:15:15,915 one about an executive chef this week. 332 00:15:15,915 --> 00:15:18,374 It's, that's fascinating, but I can't tell you that, that makes 333 00:15:18,374 --> 00:15:20,055 me love Jesus more necessarily. 334 00:15:20,535 --> 00:15:23,175 And, and if that's your primary diet, I'm, I'm saying let's 335 00:15:23,175 --> 00:15:24,885 get a, a better diet in there. 336 00:15:24,885 --> 00:15:27,494 Let's, let's substitute, let's put more things that you can listen to, 337 00:15:27,494 --> 00:15:28,874 worship, music, podcast, preaching. 338 00:15:29,145 --> 00:15:30,765 They're gonna stir your affections for Christ. 339 00:15:30,854 --> 00:15:32,925 And then last, but certainly not least, pray. 340 00:15:33,824 --> 00:15:34,185 Pray. 341 00:15:34,244 --> 00:15:36,254 And I know that one's hard because a lot of us sit out there and say, 342 00:15:36,254 --> 00:15:37,454 I'm, I'm not very good on that one. 343 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,320 Can I encourage you this week to just start small and build? 344 00:15:40,860 --> 00:15:44,790 It's like if, if you wanna say, I wanna run a six minute mile, and you're not 345 00:15:44,790 --> 00:15:48,030 running a six minute mile right now, you're not gonna start by dialing up 346 00:15:48,030 --> 00:15:51,900 the treadmill to a six minute mile and then just praying and hoping that 347 00:15:51,900 --> 00:15:52,920 you're gonna be able to make it work. 348 00:15:53,580 --> 00:15:54,420 It's not gonna go well. 349 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:55,950 You're gonna start wherever you're at. 350 00:15:55,950 --> 00:15:57,390 Let's say you're at a 12 minute mile right now. 351 00:15:57,660 --> 00:15:59,940 You're gonna get on that tread at 12 minutes and you're gonna do a 12 minute 352 00:15:59,940 --> 00:16:02,700 mile, and then the next day you're gonna bump up the speed a little bit and go a 353 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:04,440 little bit faster, but just incrementally. 354 00:16:05,115 --> 00:16:07,695 And, and as you go along, maybe you're never gonna make it to six minute mile. 355 00:16:07,695 --> 00:16:08,505 That's, that's pretty fast. 356 00:16:08,685 --> 00:16:10,455 But, but you are gonna get better and better and better 357 00:16:10,455 --> 00:16:11,415 and better and better as you go. 358 00:16:11,415 --> 00:16:13,185 And you're not gonna realize it because it's incremental. 359 00:16:13,365 --> 00:16:14,745 So here's what I mean with that, with prayer. 360 00:16:14,925 --> 00:16:17,445 Why don't, this week you set a timer and pray for five minutes a day? 361 00:16:18,525 --> 00:16:19,665 If you're already doing that, great. 362 00:16:19,845 --> 00:16:22,035 Wherever you are, start there and, and build from there. 363 00:16:22,035 --> 00:16:24,585 But if, if right now you're saying, my prayer life isn't where I want 364 00:16:24,585 --> 00:16:26,835 it to be, and it's not really there much at all outside of praying for 365 00:16:26,835 --> 00:16:29,955 food, start with five minutes a day, set a timer on your phone and pray. 366 00:16:29,985 --> 00:16:32,655 You say, well, what if I keep, what if the timer goes off and I'm still praying? 367 00:16:32,925 --> 00:16:33,405 Keep praying. 368 00:16:33,405 --> 00:16:34,185 You don't have to stop. 369 00:16:34,710 --> 00:16:38,670 I'm just saying if, if getting to five minutes is difficult for you, set a timer, 370 00:16:38,670 --> 00:16:42,840 discipline yourself, get to five minutes, and then maybe in a couple days, do that 371 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,500 for a few days and then add two minutes to that, change your timer to seven minutes, 372 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,689 and then a few days later, maybe you bump it up to 10 minutes and, and before 373 00:16:51,689 --> 00:16:54,120 you know it, you're gonna get to a place and you're gonna go look back and go, I 374 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,300 remember when it was hard for me to pray for five minutes, and now I'm able to 375 00:16:57,300 --> 00:16:59,010 pray for 15, 20, 30 minutes at a time. 376 00:17:00,555 --> 00:17:04,275 Pray, spend time communicating with God if you wanna desire him. 377 00:17:04,275 --> 00:17:06,015 That communication part is so important. 378 00:17:06,885 --> 00:17:11,925 Look, I, I, I know I've preached on these things so many times, but it, it's 379 00:17:11,925 --> 00:17:16,605 no trouble for me to quote the apostle Paul because this is a safeguard for us. 380 00:17:17,265 --> 00:17:18,825 These things are things that we need, Christian. 381 00:17:18,829 --> 00:17:22,275 This is what it looks like to crave more of God in your life, to pursue these 382 00:17:22,275 --> 00:17:24,645 things to chase after these things. 383 00:17:26,743 --> 00:17:31,395 Matthew Henry said this, he said, joy in God is a duty of great consequence 384 00:17:31,395 --> 00:17:35,145 in the Christian life, and Christians need to be again and again called to it. 385 00:17:35,835 --> 00:17:36,705 Joy of God. 386 00:17:36,764 --> 00:17:41,865 Joy in God is a duty of great consequence in the Christian life, and Christians 387 00:17:41,865 --> 00:17:44,054 need to be again and again called to it. 388 00:17:44,175 --> 00:17:45,794 That's what we're talking about in this first point of 389 00:17:45,794 --> 00:17:48,225 craving more God in your life. 390 00:17:49,605 --> 00:17:52,395 Why do babies need milk though in the first place? 391 00:17:53,145 --> 00:17:54,915 The answer is to grow, right? 392 00:17:55,335 --> 00:17:59,175 A mother's milk has various components to it that help that baby grow. 393 00:17:59,175 --> 00:18:02,774 For example, it has macronutrients, fats, and carbs and proteins. 394 00:18:02,774 --> 00:18:04,155 The baby needs that to grow. 395 00:18:04,574 --> 00:18:08,355 It also has vitamins and minerals like vitamin B six and calcium and potassium 396 00:18:08,355 --> 00:18:11,564 and iron in the mother's milk, and the baby needs that to be able to grow. 397 00:18:12,044 --> 00:18:15,495 It has bioactive elements in it, things that are gonna support the immune system. 398 00:18:15,495 --> 00:18:19,665 It has hormones, it has growth factors, it has enzymes that, that 399 00:18:19,665 --> 00:18:20,895 the baby needs to be able to grow. 400 00:18:21,510 --> 00:18:24,330 It has probiotics that the baby needs to be able to grow, right? 401 00:18:24,660 --> 00:18:26,730 So, so the baby needs a mother's milk to be able to grow. 402 00:18:26,730 --> 00:18:30,120 So Christian, why do we need the milk that the Lord offers us? 403 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:31,290 Why do we need spiritual milk? 404 00:18:31,290 --> 00:18:32,550 And the answer is the same. 405 00:18:33,150 --> 00:18:35,340 We need the spiritual milk the father offers us to be able to grow. 406 00:18:36,345 --> 00:18:38,505 We need to be able to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. 407 00:18:38,505 --> 00:18:40,515 We need to grow in the the grace of the Lord. 408 00:18:40,515 --> 00:18:43,755 We need to grow in conviction about what is right and what is wrong. 409 00:18:43,755 --> 00:18:45,585 We need to grow in hope during trials. 410 00:18:45,585 --> 00:18:47,925 We need to grow in wisdom for life. 411 00:18:47,925 --> 00:18:51,345 And so that's why Peter goes on and he says this like newborn infants along 412 00:18:51,345 --> 00:18:56,115 for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, that 413 00:18:56,115 --> 00:18:58,095 by you may grow up into salvation. 414 00:18:58,095 --> 00:19:00,375 Now he's saying grow up into salvation. 415 00:19:00,375 --> 00:19:02,865 You might be thinking, I, I, I thought I already am saved. 416 00:19:03,465 --> 00:19:05,445 And we've hit on this a couple times already, but just to 417 00:19:05,445 --> 00:19:07,485 remind us, you are saved. 418 00:19:07,485 --> 00:19:10,754 You are being saved, and you will ultimately finally be fully 419 00:19:10,754 --> 00:19:12,735 saved when you're delivered into the presence of the Lord. 420 00:19:13,544 --> 00:19:15,044 It, it's a guaranteed process. 421 00:19:15,044 --> 00:19:18,165 Remember, you're being guarded by God's power through faith for salvation 422 00:19:18,165 --> 00:19:19,754 ready to be revealed in the last time. 423 00:19:20,385 --> 00:19:22,784 So we are to grow up right now. 424 00:19:22,995 --> 00:19:26,415 The process of being safe, we are to grow up right now into salvation. 425 00:19:27,165 --> 00:19:31,365 When, when one of my kids was, uh, entering the solid food stage, uh, they 426 00:19:31,365 --> 00:19:35,085 weren't retaining a, a lot and they, they, they weren't growing the way that 427 00:19:35,085 --> 00:19:36,465 the doctor wanted them to be growing. 428 00:19:36,764 --> 00:19:40,514 So we took the child in for a, a well visit, and the the doc said, Hey, you need 429 00:19:40,514 --> 00:19:42,825 to increase the fat content in the diet. 430 00:19:42,975 --> 00:19:45,645 And so we went from there to the grocery store and we bought the 431 00:19:45,645 --> 00:19:48,315 ice cream, and we bought the cheese and we bought sticks of butter. 432 00:19:48,524 --> 00:19:50,835 We're like, we're gonna, we're gonna fatten this kid up no matter what. 433 00:19:51,195 --> 00:19:53,865 And the, the, you should have seen the cashiers we're going through with our 434 00:19:53,865 --> 00:19:55,095 cart and we're like, it's for the baby. 435 00:19:56,129 --> 00:19:57,389 She's like, okay, sure, sure. 436 00:19:57,389 --> 00:19:57,959 It's for the baby. 437 00:19:59,429 --> 00:20:02,280 At 41 years old, you're not gonna go to the doctor and have the doctor look 438 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:02,969 at you and be like, you know what? 439 00:20:02,969 --> 00:20:04,080 I'm concerned about your growth. 440 00:20:04,679 --> 00:20:09,330 You should load up on ice cream and butter and Oreos and cheese, and all 441 00:20:09,330 --> 00:20:10,949 the fats you should load up on that. 442 00:20:11,580 --> 00:20:12,510 It's not gonna happen. 443 00:20:12,689 --> 00:20:13,110 Why? 444 00:20:13,530 --> 00:20:14,729 Because expectations change, don't they? 445 00:20:15,965 --> 00:20:18,149 The, the doctor's not looking at you measuring you and going, 446 00:20:18,149 --> 00:20:19,770 you're on the, the, the scale. 447 00:20:19,770 --> 00:20:22,680 You're, but you're in the 10th percent for people your age on growth. 448 00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:24,270 No. 449 00:20:24,270 --> 00:20:29,040 That, that changes at some point based on expectations. 450 00:20:29,639 --> 00:20:32,399 You expect the baby to grow, and when the baby's not growing, you're gonna 451 00:20:32,399 --> 00:20:34,080 say, okay, why isn't the baby growing? 452 00:20:34,230 --> 00:20:35,399 We need to adjust some things. 453 00:20:35,399 --> 00:20:37,409 We need to change some things to make sure that baby can grow. 454 00:20:38,129 --> 00:20:42,120 Christian, you and I always need to be growing. 455 00:20:42,990 --> 00:20:46,530 We're never gonna get to that state where it's not expected that we 456 00:20:46,530 --> 00:20:47,850 should be growing as Christians. 457 00:20:48,629 --> 00:20:51,750 Growth is something that should perpetuate and and should characterize our walk 458 00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:53,970 with Jesus for our entire lives. 459 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,820 And it's not just this passage that says this. 460 00:20:57,330 --> 00:21:01,379 Hebrews chapter six verse one says, therefore, let us leave the elementary 461 00:21:01,379 --> 00:21:03,449 doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. 462 00:21:03,990 --> 00:21:06,600 That's a progressing, that's a growth that he's talking about there. 463 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,950 Or in Ephesians chapter four, verse 15, rather speaking the truth in love. 464 00:21:11,129 --> 00:21:13,680 We are to grow up in every way into him. 465 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:15,990 Who is the head into Christ? 466 00:21:16,020 --> 00:21:17,970 So again, we are to grow up there. 467 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,629 Or you look at two Peter three 18, it says, but grow in the 468 00:21:21,629 --> 00:21:23,155 grace, in knowledge of our Lord. 469 00:21:23,405 --> 00:21:24,395 Savior Jesus Christ. 470 00:21:24,395 --> 00:21:31,235 So there's an expectation that we should, and we will be growing as Christians. 471 00:21:32,075 --> 00:21:34,810 Put it this way, your spiritual metabolism always needs fuel. 472 00:21:35,710 --> 00:21:38,895 In, in that spiritual metabolism that is, that which makes you grow. 473 00:21:39,149 --> 00:21:42,495 And, and that growth is gonna take place as you take in the fuel, which is 474 00:21:42,495 --> 00:21:45,794 the pure spiritual milk that we talked about in point number one, craving 475 00:21:45,794 --> 00:21:49,274 more of God, more of him in your life, pursuing more of that grace, more of that 476 00:21:49,274 --> 00:21:53,290 relationship that is, uh, supposed to be something that we long for and we desire. 477 00:21:54,344 --> 00:21:58,304 When we do that, when we desire that it is going to produce that 478 00:21:58,304 --> 00:22:01,814 growth in our life, a healthy Christian is a growing Christian. 479 00:22:01,965 --> 00:22:05,655 And so as we long for those things, as we long for the pure spiritual milk that 480 00:22:05,655 --> 00:22:10,094 God commanded us to, to long for, it will produce that and it should produce that. 481 00:22:10,094 --> 00:22:13,965 So point number two this morning, along those lines, is this, expect spiritual 482 00:22:13,965 --> 00:22:15,495 growth as a sign of healthy faith. 483 00:22:16,215 --> 00:22:19,514 Expect it, expect spiritual growth as a sign of healthy faith. 484 00:22:20,820 --> 00:22:23,970 Think for a moment of, uh, an area in your life where you might be better 485 00:22:23,970 --> 00:22:25,320 than someone else in that area. 486 00:22:26,070 --> 00:22:28,145 For, for me, growing up I played a lot of golf. 487 00:22:29,159 --> 00:22:31,290 And playing golf was, was always a joy to me. 488 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:34,710 And, and I would go out and I would spend hours on the driving range and I, I would 489 00:22:34,710 --> 00:22:39,000 take lessons and, and I would be working on shot shapes and chipping and, and sand 490 00:22:39,510 --> 00:22:40,830 bunker play and everything else like that. 491 00:22:41,250 --> 00:22:44,294 And it was never a burden for me because I loved the game. 492 00:22:44,945 --> 00:22:46,985 And I loved the idea of getting better at it. 493 00:22:47,524 --> 00:22:50,615 And so when I would go out and I would, would spend hours out there 494 00:22:50,615 --> 00:22:54,245 when my dad and I would go out and play rounds of golf together, it always 495 00:22:54,245 --> 00:22:57,605 was disappointing for me to, to get to the final hole, no matter how well or 496 00:22:57,605 --> 00:22:59,645 bad I played, because I wanted more. 497 00:22:59,885 --> 00:23:02,314 I wanted to keep going, and I wanted to get better. 498 00:23:02,375 --> 00:23:05,524 And so I was willing to put in the, the work to get better. 499 00:23:05,524 --> 00:23:09,574 And what I ultimately found is the work became a joy for me because I knew that 500 00:23:09,574 --> 00:23:11,435 the work was making me a better golfer. 501 00:23:12,095 --> 00:23:12,395 Okay. 502 00:23:13,650 --> 00:23:16,770 We want to be better Christians. 503 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:19,590 We want to be more like Jesus. 504 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,100 And if we're gonna be more like Jesus, we need to see growth in our life. 505 00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:26,460 We need to hit the driving range spiritually speaking so that we 506 00:23:26,460 --> 00:23:28,260 can be better than we were before. 507 00:23:28,260 --> 00:23:32,220 We should desire the pure spiritual milk so that we will see this growth. 508 00:23:32,220 --> 00:23:37,650 If you want to see growth spiritually, you have to be willing 509 00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:39,300 to work it growing spiritually. 510 00:23:40,230 --> 00:23:42,510 Physical growth happens whether you want it to or not. 511 00:23:43,095 --> 00:23:46,004 Physical maturity, spiritual maturity are different that way. 512 00:23:46,725 --> 00:23:50,445 If you are not willing to work at growing spiritually, you're 513 00:23:50,445 --> 00:23:51,735 not gonna grow spiritually. 514 00:23:52,574 --> 00:23:56,475 If you go to bed tonight and you say, Lord, I want to love you more tomorrow, or 515 00:23:56,475 --> 00:24:00,524 I want to be better tomorrow, or, I don't want to have this sin in my life tomorrow. 516 00:24:00,735 --> 00:24:01,335 Amen. 517 00:24:01,365 --> 00:24:04,935 You're gonna wake up tomorrow and if you are passive in your pursuit of godliness, 518 00:24:05,235 --> 00:24:06,915 it's not gonna do any good for you. 519 00:24:08,190 --> 00:24:12,480 There's an active pursuit of Christ's likeness that we're being called to, and 520 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,460 that's this growth up into salvation. 521 00:24:15,090 --> 00:24:18,720 And lest you think that I'm preaching to you a workspace gospel, I'm not. 522 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,480 Your salvation is the work of Jesus and Jesus alone. 523 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,740 Your sanctification is a work of Bo Jesus and us together. 524 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,400 It's why Paul says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing 525 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,130 that it's God who's at work in you both to willing to work for his good pleasure. 526 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,200 Again, it's this synergistic pursuit. 527 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:35,310 We've talked about this before. 528 00:24:35,790 --> 00:24:37,350 But you should be seeing growth. 529 00:24:37,350 --> 00:24:40,080 In fact, Peter says this, if, if you'll flip over in your 530 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:41,370 Bible, just one book over. 531 00:24:41,370 --> 00:24:42,000 Second Peter. 532 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:47,520 Second Peter, chapter one, second Peter chapter one, look at verse five. 533 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,260 I want you to note what Peter says here should be 534 00:24:49,260 --> 00:24:50,700 characteristic of us as believers. 535 00:24:50,790 --> 00:24:54,419 He says, for this very reason, make every effort notice that word, 536 00:24:54,510 --> 00:24:56,879 effort to supplement the word there. 537 00:24:56,879 --> 00:24:58,620 Supplement can also mean nourish. 538 00:24:59,355 --> 00:25:03,225 To supplement or nourish your faith with virtue and virtue 539 00:25:03,225 --> 00:25:04,274 with knowledge and knowledge. 540 00:25:04,274 --> 00:25:05,205 With self-control. 541 00:25:05,205 --> 00:25:05,895 And self-control. 542 00:25:05,895 --> 00:25:07,995 With steadfastness and steadfastness. 543 00:25:07,995 --> 00:25:08,805 With godliness. 544 00:25:08,865 --> 00:25:09,645 And godliness. 545 00:25:09,645 --> 00:25:10,695 With brotherly affection. 546 00:25:10,695 --> 00:25:12,045 Brotherly affection with love. 547 00:25:12,254 --> 00:25:16,365 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing notice, the expectation 548 00:25:16,365 --> 00:25:17,805 is that they would be increasing. 549 00:25:18,375 --> 00:25:21,135 They keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful. 550 00:25:21,135 --> 00:25:23,385 They keep you from stagnating in your walk. 551 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,330 They keep you growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 552 00:25:27,630 --> 00:25:30,660 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he's blind 553 00:25:30,660 --> 00:25:32,880 having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 554 00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:35,700 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent. 555 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:39,270 Notice, the the call to work, the call to effort, the call to growth, to 556 00:25:39,270 --> 00:25:42,960 confirm your calling in election, for if you practice these qualities you 557 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,470 will never fall for in this way, there will be richly provided for you, an 558 00:25:46,470 --> 00:25:49,590 entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, savior Jesus Christ. 559 00:25:49,590 --> 00:25:52,200 In other words, you will grow up into salvation. 560 00:25:53,580 --> 00:25:55,920 And so if we're craving the pure spiritual milk, we should 561 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,840 expect to see growth in our life. 562 00:25:58,500 --> 00:26:00,780 We should expect to see transformation in our life. 563 00:26:01,050 --> 00:26:03,180 One of the biggest hurdles that we're gonna have to overcome in 564 00:26:03,180 --> 00:26:06,510 our pursuit of spiritual growth is the natural inclination that's 565 00:26:06,510 --> 00:26:08,280 true of humankind, that we prefer. 566 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,760 The path of least resistance, we just do. 567 00:26:12,750 --> 00:26:18,300 And to grow spiritually requires us to do the hard work, to fight the flesh. 568 00:26:18,750 --> 00:26:23,910 To choose the pure spiritual milk over the fraudulent, uh, saccharin substitutes 569 00:26:23,910 --> 00:26:28,080 that the world is gonna throw at us, for example, it's easier right to 570 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:29,730 scroll Instagram than to read the Bible. 571 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:31,620 It takes less effort. 572 00:26:32,250 --> 00:26:35,010 It's easier to check fantasy football than it is to pray. 573 00:26:36,150 --> 00:26:38,940 It's easier to send the family off to binge watch on various 574 00:26:38,940 --> 00:26:41,460 screens and devices than to have a time of family devotion together. 575 00:26:42,660 --> 00:26:45,629 It's easier to let your kids make foolish choices than to raise them 576 00:26:45,629 --> 00:26:47,610 in the discipline and destruction of the Lord like we were asking 577 00:26:47,610 --> 00:26:52,560 these families earlier, and yet, the better thing is not the easier thing. 578 00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:58,350 The better thing is to grow in christlikeness as we crave and 579 00:26:58,350 --> 00:26:59,490 desire more of God in our lives. 580 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,540 And yes, that's going to be hard work because we live in a world 581 00:27:03,540 --> 00:27:04,710 that doesn't wanna see us do that. 582 00:27:04,710 --> 00:27:06,420 Remember, we are spiritual exiles. 583 00:27:06,690 --> 00:27:07,740 We're not on vacation. 584 00:27:07,890 --> 00:27:09,060 We are the exiled church. 585 00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:10,860 It's gonna require work from us. 586 00:27:10,860 --> 00:27:13,050 We're gonna have to put that in if we wanna see the growth. 587 00:27:13,140 --> 00:27:16,860 And, and some of us aren't disciplined into other areas of our life, and that 588 00:27:16,860 --> 00:27:18,480 bleeds over into our walk with Christ. 589 00:27:19,375 --> 00:27:22,530 And so some of you may not be making progress spiritually because you're 590 00:27:22,530 --> 00:27:24,090 not making your bed in the morning. 591 00:27:25,170 --> 00:27:27,720 Some of you may not be making progress spiritually because you're 592 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,190 not getting your exercise in. 593 00:27:30,165 --> 00:27:32,865 Some of you may not be making progress spiritually because you're racking 594 00:27:32,865 --> 00:27:35,445 up credit card debt in order to have the things that you want, that 595 00:27:35,445 --> 00:27:37,875 your, your eyes desire and crave. 596 00:27:39,165 --> 00:27:42,105 In other words, lack of discipline in life in general can creep into a lack 597 00:27:42,105 --> 00:27:45,285 of discipline in your life, in your relationship with Jesus, and, and, and you 598 00:27:45,285 --> 00:27:49,155 may not be seeing growth because the lack of discipline is, is more holistic than 599 00:27:49,155 --> 00:27:51,195 in just one compartmentalized area There. 600 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,020 And so the call this morning is to say, Hey, if, if you wanna see 601 00:27:55,020 --> 00:27:58,320 growth as Christians, we have to reject the idea that Christianity 602 00:27:58,320 --> 00:27:59,280 is a set it and forget it. 603 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,960 Religion, it's not, Christianity is a battle. 604 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:05,310 Christianity is exhausting. 605 00:28:05,310 --> 00:28:08,760 Christianity is the apostle Paul saying, I discipline my body and make it my slave. 606 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,730 Lest after preaching Christ to others, I myself should be disqualified. 607 00:28:12,570 --> 00:28:16,440 Christianity is swimming counter culturally upstream against the the world. 608 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,560 Christianity is choosing to be satisfied in Jesus rather than satisfied in 609 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:20,790 the things that the world offers us. 610 00:28:22,290 --> 00:28:26,070 And that's hard, but when you do that, when you crave more God in your 611 00:28:26,070 --> 00:28:28,830 life and you put off the things of the world that the world's trying to 612 00:28:28,830 --> 00:28:31,350 substitute for him, you will see growth. 613 00:28:31,350 --> 00:28:34,200 And so Christian, as a sign of a healthy faith, you should 614 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:35,310 expect growth in your life. 615 00:28:36,975 --> 00:28:41,115 You should expect to be in a different place this year following Jesus than 616 00:28:41,115 --> 00:28:42,765 you were last year at the same time. 617 00:28:43,845 --> 00:28:44,805 Same thing for next year. 618 00:28:44,805 --> 00:28:47,565 You should expect to be in a different place next year than you were right 619 00:28:47,565 --> 00:28:52,725 now in your relationship with Christ as believers craving the pure spiritual milk. 620 00:28:52,725 --> 00:28:55,095 You should expect that milk to do the work that it does, which 621 00:28:55,095 --> 00:28:56,595 is to cause us to grow in Christ. 622 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,920 We should desire him because it will cause this growth. 623 00:29:01,980 --> 00:29:05,700 But then Peter provides this sobering caveat that is lingering and maybe 624 00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:08,820 you're saying, well, what if I, what if I'm not seeing the growth? 625 00:29:09,450 --> 00:29:10,560 What if I don't desire him? 626 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,629 Peter May have the answer in a sobering fashion in verse three where 627 00:29:15,629 --> 00:29:19,649 he says this, if indeed you've tasted that the Lord is good, if indeed 628 00:29:19,649 --> 00:29:22,440 you've tasted that the Lord is good. 629 00:29:23,460 --> 00:29:27,270 This is a quotation from Psalm 34, 8, which says, oh, taste and see that 630 00:29:27,270 --> 00:29:29,880 the Lord is good, which is basically what we just read in verse two. 631 00:29:31,140 --> 00:29:33,930 Long for the pure spiritual milk of the word that buy or 632 00:29:33,930 --> 00:29:35,340 pure spiritual milk that buy it. 633 00:29:35,340 --> 00:29:36,570 You may grow up into salvation. 634 00:29:36,780 --> 00:29:40,680 Psalm 34, 8, taste and see that the Lord is good. 635 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,290 Peter takes it though and makes it a qualifier here. 636 00:29:44,024 --> 00:29:47,895 In other words, he's saying, you are going to long for the pure spiritual milk and 637 00:29:47,895 --> 00:29:49,784 you're going to grow up into salvation. 638 00:29:50,294 --> 00:29:53,834 If notice the, the, the, the caveat, the the condition. 639 00:29:54,405 --> 00:30:01,995 If you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, y'all, we crave 640 00:30:01,995 --> 00:30:03,344 things that we know to be good. 641 00:30:03,915 --> 00:30:06,344 I don't crave oysters because I haven't found 'em to be good. 642 00:30:07,125 --> 00:30:10,245 I don't crave cottage cheese 'cause it looks weird and I, I have not found 643 00:30:10,245 --> 00:30:13,034 it to be palatable enough to try it to find out whether it's good or not. 644 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:16,409 I found out what sweet breads are this week because I was listening to 645 00:30:16,409 --> 00:30:18,060 that podcast about the executive chef. 646 00:30:18,300 --> 00:30:20,459 They're glands from the neck of a cow. 647 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,580 Why did somebody decide, let's make that into food? 648 00:30:23,639 --> 00:30:24,179 I don't know. 649 00:30:24,179 --> 00:30:26,610 I don't crave those because I haven't tasted and found them to be good, 650 00:30:26,610 --> 00:30:27,689 not interested in tasting them. 651 00:30:28,649 --> 00:30:30,030 I do crave Reese's. 652 00:30:30,179 --> 00:30:31,830 I've tasted and found those to be very good. 653 00:30:33,014 --> 00:30:34,814 And we're in Reese's season right now. 654 00:30:34,814 --> 00:30:36,165 This is the season for Reese's. 655 00:30:36,165 --> 00:30:36,615 You know why? 656 00:30:36,854 --> 00:30:39,675 'cause the pumpkins are back, and then we go from pumpkins to Christmas trees. 657 00:30:39,675 --> 00:30:41,895 Then we go from Christmas trees to rabbits at Easter time. 658 00:30:42,044 --> 00:30:47,054 This is the greatest time of the year for for Easter candy or for for Reese's candy, 659 00:30:47,054 --> 00:30:48,705 because we get all of the best kind. 660 00:30:48,705 --> 00:30:49,784 The ratio is just perfect. 661 00:30:51,435 --> 00:30:53,175 I crave that because I've tasted and seen that is good. 662 00:30:53,955 --> 00:30:56,205 I crave a glass of milk and Oreos every night because I've tasted 663 00:30:56,205 --> 00:30:56,955 and seen that they're good. 664 00:30:58,365 --> 00:31:01,215 We develop a love for those things we find to be good. 665 00:31:02,264 --> 00:31:03,915 And we crave that which we found to be good. 666 00:31:05,325 --> 00:31:07,785 And so if we found that God is good, we're gonna crave more of God. 667 00:31:08,295 --> 00:31:10,695 And that's a good thing because you can never have too much God in your life. 668 00:31:12,315 --> 00:31:14,835 But Peter's argument here is this, God is good. 669 00:31:14,895 --> 00:31:17,025 And if you've experienced that, you're gonna long for more. 670 00:31:17,175 --> 00:31:19,004 So the flip side is true as well. 671 00:31:19,455 --> 00:31:20,835 If you haven't experienced that, God is good. 672 00:31:20,835 --> 00:31:22,725 That may be the reason why you don't crave him. 673 00:31:23,805 --> 00:31:25,935 That may be the reason why you're listening to this sermon 674 00:31:25,935 --> 00:31:28,645 going, okay, I don't know that I've ever desired God that way. 675 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,570 You're not gonna crave spiritual milk if you haven't found the Lord to be 676 00:31:33,570 --> 00:31:38,190 good, which means if you don't find that you desire God, something is off. 677 00:31:38,790 --> 00:31:41,040 Our final point this morning, along those lines, is this, beware 678 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:42,870 the dangers of spiritual apathy. 679 00:31:43,980 --> 00:31:46,470 Beware the dangers of spiritual apathy. 680 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:52,020 Remember again, from verse two, long for the pure spiritual milk is a command. 681 00:31:53,220 --> 00:31:54,420 It's not optional. 682 00:31:55,710 --> 00:31:58,710 If we're not longing for it, then that means that something by 683 00:31:58,710 --> 00:32:01,470 implication is off in our lives. 684 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,810 The human body naturally sends hunger signals, and if they're 685 00:32:06,810 --> 00:32:08,820 not there, something is wrong. 686 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,320 If you have a baby and that baby doesn't want to drink from its 687 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,050 mother's milk, you're not gonna sit there and say, well, that's okay. 688 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:18,960 Maybe we should just get it something else. 689 00:32:19,710 --> 00:32:21,000 Maybe it needs Diet Coke. 690 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,610 You're gonna take that baby to the doctor and the doctor's gonna look at 691 00:32:26,610 --> 00:32:28,860 the baby and help diagnose what's wrong. 692 00:32:29,940 --> 00:32:30,810 And that's just it. 693 00:32:30,810 --> 00:32:32,040 Y'all, what's wrong? 694 00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:34,140 God is good. 695 00:32:34,620 --> 00:32:36,930 In fact, God is the one that has defined what good is. 696 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,720 God is the first person to say something is good, and 697 00:32:40,950 --> 00:32:42,720 God is the definition of good. 698 00:32:43,455 --> 00:32:47,774 If we don't desire him, if we don't crave more of him, it's perhaps because 699 00:32:47,774 --> 00:32:51,735 you haven't tasted and seen that he is good compared to the saccharine 700 00:32:51,735 --> 00:32:53,295 substitutes that this world offers you 701 00:32:55,425 --> 00:32:58,185 signs that something may be amiss for you may be this. 702 00:32:58,185 --> 00:33:00,315 You don't desire to be in God's word. 703 00:33:01,635 --> 00:33:03,945 You don't crave being around God's people. 704 00:33:04,784 --> 00:33:07,754 You're more entertained by almost anything other than being at church 705 00:33:07,754 --> 00:33:08,955 and listening to another sermon. 706 00:33:10,139 --> 00:33:13,260 You're comfortable with sin and you feel no impetus or desire 707 00:33:13,260 --> 00:33:14,790 to confess and repent from it. 708 00:33:16,050 --> 00:33:19,590 You look at the sins of others and, and you're trivializing them and, and tending 709 00:33:19,590 --> 00:33:21,300 to shrug them off as, as no big deal. 710 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,050 You're not thinking about or looking forward to eternity. 711 00:33:26,730 --> 00:33:29,460 You lack a desire to go deeper in your understanding of God. 712 00:33:30,990 --> 00:33:34,620 If that's where you're at this morning, it, it's not okay to be not okay. 713 00:33:35,945 --> 00:33:37,530 Uh, that's something the world will say. 714 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:38,850 It's, it's okay to be not okay. 715 00:33:38,850 --> 00:33:43,860 It's not okay to be not okay in this way, because again, God's design, God's command 716 00:33:43,860 --> 00:33:47,070 for the Christian is to be growing because God's design, God's command is that 717 00:33:47,070 --> 00:33:50,850 we would be longing for him because we would've tasted and seen that he's good. 718 00:33:51,900 --> 00:33:54,030 Some of the things that can lead to spiritual apathy in our lives, 719 00:33:54,030 --> 00:33:55,620 obviously first would be sin. 720 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,530 When we have unconfessed sin in our life, man, that is gonna 721 00:33:58,530 --> 00:34:00,120 produce less of a desire for God. 722 00:34:01,125 --> 00:34:02,955 Maybe that sin is, is pride, do you think to yourself? 723 00:34:02,955 --> 00:34:04,095 Man, I, I just, I know it. 724 00:34:04,095 --> 00:34:05,115 I, I've heard the sermons. 725 00:34:05,115 --> 00:34:06,465 I've grown up in the church. 726 00:34:06,465 --> 00:34:08,145 I went through Awana and got the Timothy Award. 727 00:34:08,145 --> 00:34:08,685 I'm good. 728 00:34:08,685 --> 00:34:11,114 I don't need more God in my life. 729 00:34:11,955 --> 00:34:12,705 That's pride. 730 00:34:14,145 --> 00:34:15,764 And it couldn't be further from the truth. 731 00:34:16,215 --> 00:34:18,885 Maybe the sin that's holding you up from desire and God is impatience. 732 00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:22,770 You, you live in the world of immediate gratification and you've given yourself 733 00:34:22,770 --> 00:34:26,370 over to the pursuit of immediate gratification so much that when God calls 734 00:34:26,370 --> 00:34:33,270 you to a delayed gratification, sometimes you say, I, I I'm out, gimme the, the, 735 00:34:33,270 --> 00:34:36,090 the spiritual junk food of the world instead of the pure spiritual milk of God. 736 00:34:37,350 --> 00:34:38,969 Or maybe your sin is, is laziness. 737 00:34:40,050 --> 00:34:41,580 You're not willing to mind the scriptures. 738 00:34:41,580 --> 00:34:43,889 You're not willing to get up 30 minutes earlier to spend time 739 00:34:43,889 --> 00:34:45,090 with the God of the universe. 740 00:34:45,705 --> 00:34:48,315 Who loved you so much to give Jesus for you to die on the cross 741 00:34:48,315 --> 00:34:50,355 for your sin so that you can be forgiven and rushed in the dead so 742 00:34:50,355 --> 00:34:51,435 that you can live with them forever. 743 00:34:51,645 --> 00:34:54,344 But to get up 30 minutes earlier, no God, that's too much. 744 00:34:56,355 --> 00:34:58,785 Or maybe your sin is, is just straight up selfishness. 745 00:35:00,285 --> 00:35:02,955 I want what I want and I don't like that God tells me I can't have 746 00:35:02,955 --> 00:35:05,295 what I want, so I don't want God. 747 00:35:07,185 --> 00:35:08,325 Or maybe it's in gratitude. 748 00:35:09,195 --> 00:35:12,675 You think to yourself, look, I am where I am because I got myself here. 749 00:35:13,845 --> 00:35:15,615 I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, 750 00:35:17,625 --> 00:35:19,095 or maybe the sin is unbelief. 751 00:35:20,385 --> 00:35:22,665 You just don't believe that God is really better than the 752 00:35:22,665 --> 00:35:23,745 sin that you keep turning to. 753 00:35:25,965 --> 00:35:29,055 Uh, John Piper said this, he said, having a spiritual taste for the glory 754 00:35:29,055 --> 00:35:31,545 of Christ is not morally neutral. 755 00:35:32,745 --> 00:35:33,795 Not to have it. 756 00:35:33,795 --> 00:35:38,925 Piper says, is evil and deadly not to see and savor Christ as an insult to 757 00:35:38,925 --> 00:35:40,485 the beauty and worth of his character. 758 00:35:40,695 --> 00:35:43,335 Preferring anything above Christ is the very essence of 759 00:35:43,335 --> 00:35:45,915 sin, and it must be fought. 760 00:35:46,695 --> 00:35:50,085 He's right, desiring Christ. 761 00:35:50,085 --> 00:35:51,165 Whether or not you desire God. 762 00:35:51,165 --> 00:35:52,635 This is not a morally neutral thing. 763 00:35:52,635 --> 00:35:54,945 It's not something that you can say, yeah, I can give or take God. 764 00:35:54,945 --> 00:35:56,925 No, you have to crave God. 765 00:35:57,810 --> 00:35:59,760 Because if you've tasted and seen that he's good. 766 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,520 If you've been brought into a relationship with him, if you've encountered the 767 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,930 reality that he sent his son to die on the cross for your sins, and all 768 00:36:06,930 --> 00:36:09,420 you can do is shrug that off and be like, God, I'll give you five minutes 769 00:36:09,420 --> 00:36:11,520 a day in the Word, and I'll show up at church every once in a while. 770 00:36:12,450 --> 00:36:13,200 Seriously, 771 00:36:16,020 --> 00:36:19,500 this is not something that we can kick back and say, well, it's all right. 772 00:36:20,830 --> 00:36:23,985 And, and, and pastor, you're, you're, you're, you're being legalistic. 773 00:36:23,985 --> 00:36:25,275 You're telling me I gotta do too much. 774 00:36:25,275 --> 00:36:27,255 I'm saying, no, I'm just telling you, you gotta love God. 775 00:36:27,255 --> 00:36:28,335 That's all I'm asking you to do. 776 00:36:29,830 --> 00:36:31,305 I'm not asking you to earn anything. 777 00:36:33,195 --> 00:36:35,235 I'm just asking you to respond to what God's done for you. 778 00:36:37,515 --> 00:36:39,015 He's done so much for you. 779 00:36:41,985 --> 00:36:45,195 Other things though, besides just sin that can keep us from. 780 00:36:45,945 --> 00:36:47,355 Desiring 'em the way that we should. 781 00:36:47,865 --> 00:36:49,395 Sometimes it's, it's sickness, right? 782 00:36:49,395 --> 00:36:55,605 Sometimes our, our physical health can impact our ability to get up and, and get 783 00:36:55,605 --> 00:36:57,255 in the word and, and pursue these things. 784 00:36:57,255 --> 00:37:00,765 And I get that There's gonna be seasons where maybe physically you struggle 785 00:37:00,765 --> 00:37:03,435 a little bit more, just 'cause the, the, the health and where you're at. 786 00:37:04,425 --> 00:37:07,665 There's other seasons of discouragement, depression that make it harder to 787 00:37:07,665 --> 00:37:09,135 desire the pure spiritual milk. 788 00:37:11,085 --> 00:37:11,715 That's true. 789 00:37:13,740 --> 00:37:15,750 Perhaps the most dangerous of all though is self-deception. 790 00:37:17,665 --> 00:37:20,970 And, and that is this, you may think that you're a believer in Jesus Christ because 791 00:37:20,970 --> 00:37:22,290 maybe you prayed a prayer at some point. 792 00:37:22,290 --> 00:37:25,680 Maybe you went to a rally, you raised your hand with every head bowed and 793 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:29,940 every eye closed, and, and you said, Jesus, I wanna ask you into my heart. 794 00:37:31,260 --> 00:37:33,300 But you never surrendered your life to him. 795 00:37:34,230 --> 00:37:36,240 There's been no transformation, no change. 796 00:37:39,075 --> 00:37:42,165 Even if you got baptized, some people get baptized, they don't really get baptized. 797 00:37:42,165 --> 00:37:42,885 All they get is wet. 798 00:37:45,255 --> 00:37:47,715 'cause they don't have a full surrender to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 799 00:37:47,715 --> 00:37:52,095 They haven't truly given their lives over to Christ and, and these are the ones that 800 00:37:52,095 --> 00:37:53,505 on that day are gonna say, Lord, Lord. 801 00:37:53,955 --> 00:37:55,245 And they're gonna hear from him, depart from me. 802 00:37:55,245 --> 00:37:55,800 I never knew you. 803 00:37:57,390 --> 00:38:00,375 That's the greatest danger of spiritual apathy. 804 00:38:01,035 --> 00:38:03,765 And that's why if you have it in your life, let me encourage you not to 805 00:38:03,765 --> 00:38:04,920 be content until you get rid of it. 806 00:38:07,020 --> 00:38:10,380 Don't be okay with not being okay. 807 00:38:12,030 --> 00:38:13,830 Crave more of God in your life. 808 00:38:14,850 --> 00:38:17,910 If you say, man, I don't even know how to begin, then begin by praying, saying, 809 00:38:17,910 --> 00:38:19,920 God, I want more of you in my life. 810 00:38:20,130 --> 00:38:22,680 Help me have more of you in my life. 811 00:38:23,430 --> 00:38:26,010 And I just wanna wrap things up by, by just addressing that right now. 812 00:38:26,010 --> 00:38:30,840 If, if, if this is you, if this is where you're at today, what needs to change? 813 00:38:31,890 --> 00:38:34,530 First thing I wanna say to you is, is if you feel a desire for 814 00:38:34,530 --> 00:38:35,970 that change, rejoice in that. 815 00:38:36,990 --> 00:38:41,280 That's evidence of the spirit within you, prompting you, convicting you, 816 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:43,620 saying This is not okay, not to be okay. 817 00:38:45,150 --> 00:38:46,020 Rejoice in that. 818 00:38:46,950 --> 00:38:50,730 Second, I would say this, begin with a, a prayer of repentance to the Lord. 819 00:38:52,470 --> 00:38:54,840 Name specifically those things that you have been turning 820 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:55,830 to instead of turning to him. 821 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,670 Name, the, the, the substitutes, the, the junk food of the world that you 822 00:38:59,670 --> 00:39:00,990 have been finding satisfaction in. 823 00:39:00,990 --> 00:39:03,870 Temporary, though it is, instead of finding satisfaction in 824 00:39:03,870 --> 00:39:06,690 Christ, repent from those things. 825 00:39:06,690 --> 00:39:08,220 Put them off, write them down. 826 00:39:08,220 --> 00:39:09,330 Call them out. 827 00:39:09,750 --> 00:39:11,250 Repent of spiritual apathy. 828 00:39:11,250 --> 00:39:12,390 Repent of boredom. 829 00:39:12,780 --> 00:39:14,695 Repent of tolerance of sin. 830 00:39:15,515 --> 00:39:16,415 Repent of sin. 831 00:39:17,565 --> 00:39:19,455 Repent of disinterest in Christ. 832 00:39:19,455 --> 00:39:23,505 Repent of an earth bound infatuation with the things that don't hold eternal value. 833 00:39:23,775 --> 00:39:26,685 Repent of not setting your minds on the things above. 834 00:39:26,685 --> 00:39:28,815 Repent of those things and then following repentance. 835 00:39:29,055 --> 00:39:29,895 Put them off. 836 00:39:31,035 --> 00:39:33,105 Put off the things that cause you to put off God. 837 00:39:34,515 --> 00:39:38,020 Get them out of your life and seek accountability finally, in that process. 838 00:39:39,135 --> 00:39:41,055 Bring a brother or sister into that process. 839 00:39:41,055 --> 00:39:45,465 Bring community into that process to help you say, I, I want to desire Christ more. 840 00:39:45,465 --> 00:39:47,865 Will you help me desire Jesus more? 841 00:39:48,975 --> 00:39:49,605 I need you. 842 00:39:50,235 --> 00:39:51,645 That's the beautiful thing about the church, y'all. 843 00:39:52,095 --> 00:39:53,595 It's a beautiful thing about community groups. 844 00:39:54,345 --> 00:39:57,525 That's what they're designed for so that you have people that you 845 00:39:57,525 --> 00:39:59,205 can pursue christlikeness with. 846 00:39:59,205 --> 00:40:00,975 You can desire more of God with together. 847 00:40:02,505 --> 00:40:04,155 If you haven't tasted and seen that the Lord is good, let's 848 00:40:04,155 --> 00:40:05,205 change that this morning. 849 00:40:06,465 --> 00:40:07,525 If you're out there saying, man, I, I. 850 00:40:08,790 --> 00:40:09,120 You know what? 851 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,100 I, I feel like maybe I am self-deceived. 852 00:40:11,100 --> 00:40:12,960 Don't leave, still self-deceived this morning. 853 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:16,800 Rejoice in the conviction that God might be putting upon your heart. 854 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,590 And let's come and let's, let's do business with God together this morning. 855 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:21,390 I stand back there after prayer every time. 856 00:40:21,390 --> 00:40:22,500 That's, I disappear here. 857 00:40:22,500 --> 00:40:23,490 I I don't teleport. 858 00:40:23,490 --> 00:40:24,450 I just walk back there. 859 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:29,910 But I, I would love nothing more than to have a conversation with you, pastor Rod. 860 00:40:29,940 --> 00:40:32,520 He can have a conversation with you, pastor Mark Lewis. 861 00:40:32,550 --> 00:40:33,810 We would love to talk with you. 862 00:40:35,550 --> 00:40:36,990 'cause this is that significant. 863 00:40:39,195 --> 00:40:41,055 Crave more of God, right? 864 00:40:41,925 --> 00:40:44,415 Crave more of God long for the pure spiritual milk. 865 00:40:45,015 --> 00:40:46,365 Grow more in God. 866 00:40:47,625 --> 00:40:50,175 'cause we long for it, that we may grow up into salvation 867 00:40:53,175 --> 00:40:55,875 because you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. 868 00:40:58,005 --> 00:40:59,775 Too much of a good thing can't become a bad thing. 869 00:41:00,495 --> 00:41:03,855 It's true unless that good thing is God. 870 00:41:04,875 --> 00:41:06,795 'cause you can never have too much God in your life. 871 00:41:07,605 --> 00:41:08,325 Let's pray together. 872 00:41:10,155 --> 00:41:14,295 Lord, we rejoice in that glorious reality that we can never have too much 873 00:41:14,295 --> 00:41:17,805 of you in our life and we rejoice as well, Lord, that that you have given 874 00:41:17,805 --> 00:41:20,745 us a A means through your word and through scriptures and through the 875 00:41:20,745 --> 00:41:24,645 church and through the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to crave more into 876 00:41:24,645 --> 00:41:26,295 experience, more of you in our lives. 877 00:41:27,285 --> 00:41:30,525 Lord I, I pray that we wouldn't be paralyzed and, and not knowing where to 878 00:41:30,525 --> 00:41:33,825 begin, but that we would begin by even just picking up our Bibles and spending 879 00:41:33,825 --> 00:41:35,505 more time with you in your word this week. 880 00:41:35,505 --> 00:41:39,135 That we would begin by setting that timer and praying a little bit longer this 881 00:41:39,135 --> 00:41:42,765 week, that we would begin by spending time with brothers and sisters in Christ 882 00:41:42,765 --> 00:41:46,575 this week, or joining a community group this week, or being engaged and connected 883 00:41:46,575 --> 00:41:50,205 with our community around our houses this week and pursuing the lost around us. 884 00:41:50,205 --> 00:41:52,755 Lord, we want to crave more of you. 885 00:41:52,755 --> 00:41:53,865 We want to be with you. 886 00:41:53,865 --> 00:41:54,675 We want more. 887 00:41:55,050 --> 00:41:56,400 Of God in our lives. 888 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,980 And so help us, I pray towards that end, that we might grow. 889 00:41:58,980 --> 00:42:01,920 Lord, we want to be a more mature body of believers. 890 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,950 We want to look more like Jesus next week than we did this week. 891 00:42:04,950 --> 00:42:08,580 And we want to be a, a body that is continually growing in Christ's likeness. 892 00:42:08,580 --> 00:42:12,000 We want people to walk in here Lord, and encounter men and women 893 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,460 who love Jesus so much that they can't help but walk away saying, 894 00:42:14,460 --> 00:42:15,960 wow, that church just loves Christ. 895 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:17,520 I, I, I desire that. 896 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:18,240 I long for that. 897 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:18,900 For us, God. 898 00:42:19,650 --> 00:42:22,710 I pray in the end that truly our motivation of this would simply be 899 00:42:22,710 --> 00:42:26,700 because we know how good you are and we can't wait till we're in your presence, 900 00:42:26,700 --> 00:42:28,470 and we know that with full reality. 901 00:42:28,860 --> 00:42:31,950 In the meantime, Lord, help us to taste more and more of that goodness, 902 00:42:32,310 --> 00:42:33,690 and we pray that in Jesus' name. 903 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:34,410 Amen.