Wednesday Night Bible Study

Well, praise the Lord everybody. >> Man, what a great great spirit of the Lord that is here tonight. A great crowd of believers to study the word of the Lord. I hope you have uh enjoyed this study of First John that we've been on the last several weeks, few months, and we're going to bring it to a conclusion to tonight. And so, we're going to look at the last lesson uh together. But I want to say what a great honor it has been to be able to uh teach the word here on Wednesday night to be able to uh follow in the footsteps. can't fill the shoes of Bishop Mcool but I want to try to follow in his footsteps uh I believe the greatest Bible teacher uh in our generation and I'm sure I'm certainly thankful uh for Bishop Mcool and I want to say uh Wednesday night worship in the word where we make disciples of all men there's ministries taking place all over our campus uh on Wednesday night kids ministry uh middle school high school ministry our addictions ministry that takes place be free so many things that are happening across our campus on Wednesday nights and then obviously in here where we are teaching uh the word of the Lord. But I'm excited to announce that uh February 4th, Adultish will be back and we've got uh brother Ryan and Sister Angel Lambert who've who've been brought back here. Thank the Lord uh to be here. They're going to be overseeing our Adultish ministry and they're going to kick that back off. That's uh ages 18 to 30 February 4th. And so we're excited about that. If you know somebody in that age group, 18 to 30, uh they're going to be meeting with them, kicking that off uh on February 4th. I just I'm just so thankful to be able to uh minister to every generation. Uh scripture says that David served his generation. And that's what we are to do. We are to serve our generation and to be able uh to serve all the age groups and to be able to make disciples of all men. We're going to go to First John, chapter number two tonight, and we're going to look at the lesson on page 35, God's Assurance. So, if you have the book with you, if not, you can go grab one in the the lobby at the media desk. Make sure you grab one of those. We still have plenty of those left for you to take. And uh obviously, I don't hit on everything that's in in the book. And so if I skip over something, I skim over something, you can go and study more in depth with what I have attempted to write in the booklet. We're going to look at 1 John chapter number two. And we're going to begin reading at verse number 12. First John chapter number two beginning at verse number 12. John writes, "I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children because you have known the father. I have written unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one. We're going to look at God's assurance tonight. Let's pray over this lesson. Father, we thank you for your word. word. It's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Lord, I'm so thankful for this opportunity to be able to teach your word. And I pray that you would help me, this jar of clay, to be able to uh accurately divide the word of the Lord and to accurately communicate with clarity and anointing and understanding tonight in Jesus' name we pray. And everyone said, "Amen." >> Amen. God's assurance. Now, we've been looking at this book thematically, and I believe there are several themes, key themes in this letter, and again, to not just to simply repeat what I've said before, but to help kind of reiterate what I've said is that John says certain things repeatedly, not because he's forgetful, um, but like a good teacher, he's going to reinforce force something that he has said, he'll say it in a different way. And so instead of us going through like chapter by chapter and maybe hitting those same thoughts or same key themes over and over again, I wanted to try to break it up so you can kind of see uh the forest for the trees and see how it's all put together and see uh John's thought process. Now, we began several weeks ago back in November, and I said, and I it's the like the subtitle of this study, Christ our assurance. And I believe that that is the the key theme, the major theme of this letter is assurance. John wants his readers to have certainty. He wants them to have certainty. He wants them to have confidence. And the Greek word that he uses throughout this most often is translated as confidence, boldness or assurance. And we can find that in first John chapter 2 verse 28. Let me just kind of paraphrase what he says here is when he quotes this word. So that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his at his coming. Then in chapter 3 21 he said beloved if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before God. He says in chapter 4 verse 17 that we might have confidence or as the King James says boldness for the day of judgment because he is also because he as he is so also are we in this world. And again in chapter 5 verse 13 14. And this is the confidence same word assurance that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And so that's four explicit uses of this Greek word that John uses for assurance or confidence. And so he also kind of brings a little bit more weight uh to this thought by using this phrase repeatedly and that is we know. We know as we know right he includes himself in this knowledge and it shows up no less than 13 times in this letter. we know, right? Again, that reiterates the point of assurance, confidence, certainty. And he's trying to hammer down this thought of assurance. We know the truth. We know God, and because of that, we know we have eternal life. So, I got some bullet points there on page 36. And we can summarize uh John's emphasis on assurance, and it could look like this, beginning with our first lesson several weeks ago. Confidence and who Jesus is. You need to know who Jesus is, right? Everything uh in your doctrine or your theology comes down to who Jesus is. You must know who Jesus is, right? And not just simply know facts about him, but we must know him. And that gives us confidence. When you know somebody, when you know somebody, when you are in close contact, proximity, relationship with somebody, that yields trust, that yields confidence. I know they're going to show up on time or I know they're going to do this or say that. This is always, you know, you you're sure of the outcome because you know that person, right? And so when you know who Jesus is, everything else finds its place. You find confidence in that. Such as next, if I know who Jesus is, then I can have confidence in what Jesus accomplished. meaning our redemption. And this was the the again I use that that that analogy of the sweater. We've been using wearing a lot of sweaters lately because of the cool weather. It's very cold and so when you want to, you know, bundle up. Well, maybe you pick you pick that wool sweater, right? And then it it doesn't just this doesn't unravel here. It it it scrunches up somewhere else. That's our doctrine of Jesus. If you are wrong about Jesus as these uh false teachers were, we talked about that last week, it is going to unravel somewhere else. So if Jesus is not who he says he is, and if he's not God, if he's not fully man, fully God, then it unravels what he has accomplished in our salvation. He had to be fully man and fully God to complete our redemption. And so if I'm wrong on who he is, then I'm wrong on his uh redemptive work. So if I know who he is, I trust in who he is, then I'm confident in what he has done for me. And I'm confident in the salvation that I've experienced, right? And it's not flimsy. It's not frail. It's not going to drift. It It's not going to fold. Why? because it doesn't rest upon me. It doesn't it's not relying upon me. It's relying upon him who saved me. >> And if if he's God and he saved me, then I can trust that he's going to keep me. Oh, come on, somebody. >> You got to have confidence. You got to have assurance in that. Right? I use a word, it's a biblical word, and that is covenant. Right? we've entered into this covenant and the covenant is faithful. Then if I have confidence in that salvation, then I have confidence in our relationship with Christ through love and obedience. He said, we looked at it a few weeks ago, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Right? The fruit of that salvation, the fruit of this experience is that I've changed. There's a change of affections. There's a change of thinking. There's a change of living. The things that I would, as Paul would say in Romans, the things that I don't want to do, I end up doing, right? Uh we we we want to do good things. We want to live holy. We might come short. We might be we might fail. But when I before I was saved, I didn't want to do those things, right? I didn't want to pray. I didn't want to read my Bible. I didn't want to live holy when I was in the world. Now that I'm in Christ, my affections have changed and I'm confident in him. And I'm not just simply confident in him, but I'm confident in what he's done in me and what he's continuing to do in me. Right? Which leads to the confidence in the eternal life that is ours in him. Do you notice something here? Past, present, future, right? that I'm confident in what he has accomplished. I I'm confident in what he's done in me present and I'm confident that he's going to save me, that we are going to spend eternity with him. And that was John's point, right? He said, "I'm writing these things that you might know that you have eternal life." Not that that not not that you just have a blessed or a good life right now, but you need to have confidence that this is not the world that we're living for. that this I'm not just living for this world. I might be in the world, but I'm not of the world. I'm a pilgrim. I'm a sojourer. I'm I'm I'm I'm traveling through this world. And in in spite of the world, I'm confident that I'm loved, confident that I'm saved, and I'm confident that he is going to save me. He is going to bring me out of this world. And he said this at the beginning, the first lesson we looked at that you might have complete joy. Joy. A joyless Christianity is based upon an unconfident Christianity. A joyless Christianity is uncertain Christianity. If your joy is dependent upon circumstances, you need to check your salvation. Right? I got in here. We went we I think we did that several several months ago. I I taught on that the test of test of salvation or assurance. But joy does not come from circumstance. I'll tell you what will make me happy is if I win a million dollars and then if I lose that million dollars I'm going to be sad. Right? But see that's that's not that's happiness. That's not joy. Joy says I'm saved whether I'm rich or I'm poor. >> Joy says I'm blessed and highly favored despite my circumstances, not because of my circumstances. And we sing the song, this joy that I have, the world didn't give it to me, and the world can't take it away. It's joy unspeakable and full of glory. That doesn't come from circumstance. That comes from certainty that I am Christ. And too many Christians today wrestle with a lack of assurance. They read hard passages in first John or Hebrews. Hear about the unpardonable sin and their spiritual apple card is turned over. Yes. Yes. John gives us tests of assurance, obedience, love, sound doctrine. But these are not designed. He did not write these things to unsettle the believer. He wrote these things to settle and give confidence to the believer. John's not trying to write these things to to harm your conscience. He's writing these things to strengthen your spirit. That when false doctrine and false teachers and suffering and the things of this world come, I'm certain that I am saved no matter what. that he has got a hold of me that if he saved me and he shed his blood for me and he entered into a covenant with me that no matter what comes my way good or bad I'm his I'm confident in that I've got assurance in that and what happens that gives me joy that's why I can smile that's why I can lift up my hands that's why I can give that's why I can serve because I'm is and I've got certainty. Someone say >> amen. >> We're going to talk about assurance tonight. We're going to look at a progression of assurance. We read John 1 John chapter 2. Let's begin at verse number 12 again. I write unto you little children. Someone say little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I need to highlight these little words I'm going to give you. The phrase little children is used several times throughout John's letter. It's not meant to be an insult, but it's a term of endearment or affection. Now, by this time of this writing, John is an elderly man writing to a multi-generational church and includes second and possibly third generation believers. And so he's also addressing here young men and fathers representing different levels of spiritual maturity. Okay. Now this first one that he uses little little children here in verse 12 and he uses in uh verse one of chapter 2 as well. It carries the tender sense of little children used by Jesus that John recorded uh in his gospel Paul would use in his letters. And it's a Greek word meaning young ones, those who need guidance. And so John sees them. He yes, he's using this term as little ones. That there are little ones among us. There are little ones, but at the same time, there are those who are spiritually small. Not physically small, not small like you're a small person like that. Uh but he's trying to say that you're you're young. You're a child in the faith. And he says this, it's a reminder that your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. So the asure we must have assurance of this that our sins are forgiven. We so many struggle with this thought. Am I really forgiven? Yeah, we feel that way sometimes. You come up and you can pray or you can pray at home and you go, you get to that moment of repentance. Maybe you're praying Psalm 51 going through that and you go, "Am I really forgiven?" You may have asked for forgiveness 20 years ago about something and something inside of you says, "I'm not show so sure you're really you think he forgave you of that? Who do you think you are? He how can he do that?" And these questions, these doubts, this uncertainty can start to fester in your mind and in your am I really forgiven? How do I know? I didn't hear a voice. Now, if you ask somebody to forgive you and they say, "Of course, you're you're forgiven. You you know, you heard them say it." But when you come to Christ and you say, "Lord, forgive me of my sins." There's no voice going, "I forgive you." So, what do you do? How do you get confidence? John says it right here that we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, that he will forgive us if we verse nine of chapter one, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when you ask him for forgiveness, you've got a promise written right here in his word that if you the only sin that's not forgiven is an unrepentant, unconfessed sin. >> That's the only way you can get your sins to not be forgiven is if you don't confess it. >> Right? But if you will confess your sins, we talked about this a few weeks ago. Confession of sin is agreeing with God about what he has said about my sin. >> Right? I am agreeing with him about my sin that it separates me and him and I must have that thing brought down. And John says, "If you will confess, he's not he's this is not written to unbelievers. >> You need to you need a highlight. You need to get the biggest red pen that you can find. And I mean, do all you can to see this one life changing word right here. We You didn't hear me. Who if who if who confesses their sin? Some ranked sinner. If they of of course John is saying, "Brothers and sisters, us, me and you, we who are in the are in the family of God. If we that means >> that you can sin. I'm not saying you have the right to sin. I'm not saying you have the privilege to sin. He is saying guess what? You're going to sin. Remember what he said? I'll never I don't sin. You've just made God a liar because he says you're okay. I want you to have assurance that when you come to Jesus and ask him to forgive you of your sins, he is not going to withhold his grace. He is not going to withhold his mercy. He is going to forgive you because you've got a promise. If I confess my sins, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. And John is saying, little children, here's the thing that you need to know first of all. that your sins are forgiven based upon what? Your goodness, your works, your ability, your status. No, for his name's sake. God is staking his reputation. My God, he is staking his reputation on the salvation of humanity. He is staking his reputation on your salvation. Not yours, not mine. My God have mercy. He is saying if I will spill my blood for you, if I'll shed my blood for you. The greatest privilege is to be able to come to him and say, "I have fallen." Now, I said this a few weeks ago. I'm going to say it again. Y'all okay? Y'all ready? When we sin, there is a disruption in the relationship, but the covenant is still in place. Amen. >> If the covenant was based upon my behavior, it'd be broken all the time. But cons but considering that he enacted the covenant, he paid the price for the covenant, he gave me the means to enter into the covenant. That means that he's going to keep me in. >> Are you saying, brother Nate, that there's one saved always? That's not what I'm saying. John says it throughout here. If you if you continue to sin, you're not going to make a practice of sinning because you're in Christ. You because why? Because I'm in a new relationship. I'm in a new covenant. I don't want to sin. Does not mean that I'm not going to sin. It's a father. Listen. If your child makes a mistake, you don't open the door and say, "I hope you make it through the snow again this weekend. Get your act together. Let me know when you get it together and we'll make this all good again." That's not how God treats us. He's not He is God is not up not up in heaven going, "Come on, make a mistake today. Make a mistake today. Say the wrong word. Look at the wrong thing. Do come on. Just I'm just waiting. Oh, I just can't wait to put the hammer down on you. God, our our father in heaven is not doing that." He is the prodigal father in Luke chapter number 11 who's out there waiting for the prodigal son to come home. He's not trying to He's not waiting to kill you when you make a mistake. He's got the door open waiting for you to come home. I'm telling you, that's the kind of love that you need the assurance to know that your sins are forgiven. Somebody give him praise right now. You got to get that in your spirit. My God, I feel like shouting. >> Little children, because your sins, you need to know your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him. That is from the beginning. So number two, assurance we know him. Assurance we know him. And he repeats this twice for emphasis. He says it in verse 14, I have written unto you fathers because you have known him. That is from the beginning. But here's the idea. Spiritual maturity. No one begins at the father stage. Okay? When somebody comes to faith, repents of their sins, is baptized, receives the spirit, they are not spiritually mature at that moment. They've been born again. They are babes in Christ. They are little children. You've got no one begins in the fourth year at the father stage. You you you mature into that, you grow. And he says you know him. How do you grow in this knowledge of Jesus? By devotion to the word of God, prayer, fellowship, worship, obedience. Some Christians grow old in years without growing up in the faith. You hear me? I know a lot of old fools. Age does not make you spiritually mature. >> You can you can accelerate growth. You can continue to grow as long as you stay in him. In this I think the previous lesson I talked about abiding in him. It's knowing him. It's coming into contact with him. Elders among us. Elders among us. They are the examples. They are the models for us of what spiritual maturity looks like. They they are the ones who are to be the examples. Um we listen. If if if somebody I'm just I want to just do my thing, okay? Somebody can come in here and get the Holy Ghost and then they don't come in here the next Sunday looking like us, dressing like us, and all of a sudden they go, "I didn't get it. I knew it wouldn't stick." Um, how about you just chill >> or better yet, show them what to do? Paul told Titus, he said that the elderly women should teach the young to be an example. Now, Paul also told Timothy, he said, "Don't let don't don't let them forsake you because of your youth. You can show them what it looks like to be mature despite being young." Well, we need to have a little grace for those. >> They got the same Holy Ghost I did. Yes. But they also might not have the same upbringing that you did. Well, they should just get it. Well, how about you just show them? You got to you got to model it for them. Show a little girl. How about you know Bishop taught this to Ashley. Ashley has taught this to me and this is and this is the concept that I never forget what it's like to be a young person. And there's a lot of principles to that that we need to be thankful that that some people had grace with us. >> Now, we got a school. We got a school. We've had I don't know how many hundreds of students come through here. And you will always hear some I remember. Oh my. Oh jeez. You remember what? Ah, but you you don't you before you got here, you wouldn't Yeah. Yeah. Uh, how about we pull up your yearbook, y'all. All right. >> Before you start throwing them over the boat, how about you throw them a life jacket? Show some grace. Show them how to live for the Lord. Look at the next one. Y'all right like move on preacher. He says, uh, I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. He says again in verse 14, I've written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you. young men. In Greek here, this phrase typically referred to men in the prime of their life, ages 20 to 40, often connected with military service. Spiritually, this describes believers who have moved beyond infancy, but are not yet seasoned fathers. This is the infantry stage of the Christian life. You can't remain in the nursery. You're you're ready. You're ready to You're ready to fight. You're ready to get in the battle. You're ready to do something for the Lord. You want your life to count for the kingdom. You want to invade enemy territory with the gospel. Tear down strongholds. Contend earnestly for the faith. You're not content to be a spectator. You want to engage. It's those with youth and energy and vigor. It's the strength of the Lord in you. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. You're abiding in the word and in prayer. and victory is here. So you see the three stages of the infancy, the little babes and and the and the young men and the fathers, there is a progression of the spiritual life. Maturity is never static. You never in in the spiritual life, you never get to this is the level. If I can just get to that level, I'll stay there. There's no there's no you can't gauge that. It's always growing. It's always continuing after him. It's pursuing something. It's never saying I've arrived, right? And so for John, he's saying you're you're either a little child and you're you got to be reminded that your sins are forgiven. You you got to be reminded your sins are forgiven or or or sometimes we got to hold you back a little bit. You want to conquer the world. You want to you want to go out there and and spread the gospel. You're the young among us. You're you've got zeal and energy or you're the you're the fathers. You've known him. You've experienced a few things. You've lived through some trials. And this is what John this is what John is saying is you need to have assurance all throughout your Christian life. Assurance that your sins are forgiven. Assurance that you know him. an assurance that you've got victory. Assurance. Just want to look at a few things here on pages 8 38 and 39. I'm not going to keep you very much longer. Okay. This is John's framework of what he's trying to say about the Christian life. And this is throughout the New Testament. this idea of spiritual maturity, growing in Christ, but it begins with this spiritual childhood. You must be born again. We talked about that a few weeks ago. You must be born again. And Peter says in 1 Peter 2:2 that there's longing for the pure milk of the word. When we brought Eastston home, when she was we just had her and you know the the doctors and the nurses, they they they they put this, you know, living being in your hands and they say, "Go home with it." And Ashley and and I are like, "Can we just stay one more week?" You know, just one more week. Nobody felt that way. Okay, it was just me and her. All right, great. you get home and you're trying to figure out how to do all of this stuff and then you got to bring her to the doctor in a few days to see if there's any see making sure we're progressing here or they're really just making sure that you guys you two aren't idiots, you know, making sure that you you you're no couple numbs here raising this baby. They're like you then another week and they're like, you know, she's not she's not gaining any weight. She's not gaining any weight. gonna have to fatten her up a little bit. Gonna have to feed her a little bit more. I have to do it like every two hours, three hours, something like that. Like, all right, let's do it. Let's do it. So, she So, we every two hours we're feeding her. And so, every two hours, all throughout the night, she'd sleep for two hours and I'd be up and I'd be feeding her and we singing u Christian songs. Yes. Christian songs to her. you know, Brother Daryl and Brother Hall and uh anyway, and I'd sing to her and we know every two hours and you take her back, hey, she's gained a couple ounces. Like, yeah. You know, and then that you go back a few more months like, hey, you know what you can do? You can start giving her like uh you know, uh some whole milk. And we're like, man, let's go get Cruz Farm milk. Whole milk. It was really for me. I I think I gained more weight than that baby did those first six months. I mean, you know, you put, if you have not had Cruz Farm whole milk, like it gets turns into ice cream at the top where the where the lid is. It's the I'm Oh, I feel him right now. Right now. It's so good. And so you'd, you know, she got she got to be real squishy. You know, she got to turn in a little to a little squish. And uh because you you know, you're trying to get her to grow a little bit. But if she just keeps drinking milk, she's not going to get the nutrients that her body needs. And so then they're like, "Hey, you know what you can do now is give her this disgusting mashed up green stuff in a jar. Good luck. Let her try this." We're like, "I wouldn't eat this." like and you know so you put her in this little thing and you start feeding her man and she takes it she like she likes it Mikey she likes it I'm sorry I just showed you my age just then few of you got that see so the green stuff and then the bananas and you get a little get a little more right and what you're trying to do is show some progress if if I have to constantly and pastor and bishop Pastor Anthony, if all if we always have to just pat you on the back, you know, Come on now. Your sins are forgiven. Come on now. Yes, you're forgiven. Come on now. You can do it. Come on now. How about you try a little meat? Whoa, brother Nate. Whoa. You can't preach like that. Holiness, separation. Whoa. I'm not ready for that. Okay, you're fine. But there's some others in here right now who need this, right? There's going to be those at different spiritual levels, but I can't I can't hold them back. >> Come on, somebody. Now, there's I'm going to move on before I hurt somebody's feelings. Like, there's You're gonna have to grow up. >> You're going to have to get over some things. Paul said, "When I became a man, when is your win coming? I put away childish things." When When are you going to finally get over that hurt? When are you going to finally get over that sin that he forgave you 20 years ago? When are you going to get over that breakup? When are you going to Come on, somebody. At some point, you got to move from the milk to the meat. You're going to have to grow up into some solid food and take some, right? Is this okay? You all right? It's it's called discipleship. >> There's got to be some growth here. When you're when all you just eat just milk. I just need milk. I just need milk. Got to my uh told this story I think before. Let me tell it again. My mother had a cousin who passed away a few years ago and um she told me why he passed away. She said he was very unhealthy. And that happens, right? People can be sickly. She said the reason that he was unhealthy was that he only ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. his entire life, every meal. As soon as he as he was able to eat and chew, they gave him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they and he would not eat anything else. And so they just kept giving him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He died in his 50s. Why? He's malnourished. Some of us are spiritually malnourished. We've not learned how to get our appetite in the spirit satisfied because we're just we just want spiritual junk food. You're going to make it. It's going to be okay. You're blessed and highly favored. Somebody comes in and talks about your finances. God's going to bless you. Amen. But you're going to have to give. Whoa. Hold on now. Need to live holy. You need to stop what you're doing. Grow up a little bit. Whoa. How about all that bless and favor stuff, right? Y'all okay? It cannot always be peanut butter and jelly. It can't always be milk and cookies here. We need strong meat. We're going to have to have strong teaching. Why? That's going to help you to grow up. Y'all right. >> I think we're getting it tonight. >> Sounds like spiritual youth, strength, and struggle. This stage is marked by testing and warfare. Young believers facing battles with sin, the world, the devil. Growth means moving from milk to solid food. It can be painful here. I put this in here because I remember this. Anybody remember when you were a teenager getting Charlie horses in the middle of the night? We we we called them Charlie horses up in Indiana. By the way, something happened in Indiana this week. Um I think they got got cold. Well, we called them Charlie horses. And I would I' I'd say I I tell my mom in the morning. I'm like, "Mom, I woke up. I had this pain in my calf." And she goes, "You know why you're growing?" I was like, "Yes. I'm not going to be 5'2 forever." Oh, I I had a I woke up and I had this pain in my leg and my back. Go. That's good. Means you're growing. I'm like, "All right, now I get them. I'm growing the wrong way. It's not called a Charlie horse. It's called not moving enough, right? But you got to move. You got to You're here in the in the in the in the youthful stage of your life. This is where you learn resilience and perseverance, putting away childish things. I am at a bad moment right now as a father where my little girl is starting to stop playing with toys. I'm having trouble with that. I'm having trouble with not seeing the Barbies everywhere. Now it's Can we go to Target? And it's not the toy section. Like, yeah, we'll go to Target. I'm like, where do you want to go? She's like the clothes. I'm like, I have no idea what's in there. I'm not going in. Not I This is I'm It's off limits to this guy that you and your mom can go do that. Nope. Not me. not walking in knowing about about clothes. All right, can we go look at lotions and can we go look at like I have no idea what this means. I'm struggling. And I tell her, can you please stop growing? She goes, I'm trying, Dad. I'm trying. But it's inevitable, right? But as a father as well, you want to see the progress of your child growing, >> learning how to make decisions, learning how to to to do things on their own. She was so excited. I know she's I hate to be that that kind of preacher to use their kids as an example all the time. She's not in here. She don't know. So anyway, she walked into my my little she's always been the child in my office since the moment we she could walk. Been in my office. She came in my office so excited the other night because she goes, "Dad, I made my own dinner." So, what did you like? I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, the kitchen's probably a mess." No, I I took a tortilla and I made some cheese. I made a cheese quesadilla and I've got this dip. I got to make it for you and mom this week sometime. And I'm also I'm kind of like, "All right, I don't have to do that. All right." >> You see, because you want them to grow, to progress. That's that's a good And it's the same in our spiritual life. Moms and dads, I'm going to go ahead and pastor a little bit. You do your children no good by always doing everything for them when they become teenagers. >> We can't. We Y'all All right. >> Strong me tonight. Being a helicopter mom and a helicopter dad, all you're going to do is hinder them as they grow up. They're not going to know how you're going to paralyze them for making good decisions. And bad decisions come. They don't know about good decisions until they learn the consequences of bad decisions. You can't You're not going to be >> got to grow. Got to grow. Got to grow. Got to grow. And I got to go. All right. Stand to your feet. One last one. The Lord gave me this few weeks ago. Speaking of maturity, growth, there are some things we just want to go through. I just want to get through this. I just want to just go through this. I feel like the Lord kind of just dropped something in my spirit. You need to learn how to grow through things. Not just simply go through things, but grow through. Some of you, listen to me, go through the same test over and over and over again because you refuse to learn the lesson from it. You get the same arguments, lose the jobs over and over again the same way. Why do I keep going through it? Because you're not growing through it. If you would step out and go, you know what? What could I learn from this right now? What I could learn from this is maybe I shouldn't talk that way. >> Maybe I should learn how to control my temper. Maybe I should maybe I should just learn how to hold my tongue. Don't just try to go through. You need to grow through things. Some things God gives us so we can grow through. He wants us to mature. This is wisdom. This is stability in your life. Doctrinal fads don't deceive you. You've seen it. You've you've been through it. You're not you're not fallen for it. You you you understand. You're stable. You you exhibit stability, love, and wisdom. And now it's no longer about you. You want to invest in others. You want to help, not meddle. Help. Mentor, not meddle. There are some who like to meddal in people's problems, not help them through their problems. Strong me tonight. There it goes. Help people, mature, show them, be an example. Dr. Bill Mootz, who's one of the commentators that helped me during this study last year, says, "The Greek verbs in this section convey ongoing habitual truth, meaning these statements apply now and throughout the Christian journey. Too often we emphasize only what Christ has done or what God will do and overlook what is true right now." Assurance is not merely about yesterday's pardon or tomorrow's promise of eternity. It's about today's reality. It's not just the end goal. It's the journey. It's the process. Knowing that he's working things out in me. If you are the same person today as you were five years ago, you need to change. Mature. You're making the same mistakes, the same. You need to grow up. Need to mature. You need you need to find a way to grow through it. Become a better man. Become a better husband. Become a better father. become a better employee. It's growth. He wants us to grow in him. It's never like we're just going to just reach this pinnacle. It's always going to be going up this mountain of knowing him. And the greatest thing is that he is inviting us to keep coming closer, keep knowing him more. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this study of First John. Lord, I pray that it's been helpful. I hope it's been beneficial to your people. Not because your word isn't sufficient. It is certainly sufficient. It is so amazing and wonderful. but because of the insufficiency of the teacher. And I pray despite my frailties, God, my flaws, I pray that your word would find good ground in the hearts of your people. That we might grow. That we might continue to grow in this Christian life. That we might mature no matter the stage of where we are. That we might know. That we might have assurance and certainty in you. Lord, I pray that you would keep us safe this week. Lord, give us wisdom. Help us to make the right decisions. And Lord, I pray that you would be with us this weekend as we gather again in your name. In Jesus' name we pray. And everyone said, "Amen." >> Amen. Greet your neighbor. Greet your brothers and sisters and fellowship with them. And you're dismissed in the name of the Lord.