Thriving: Growing

Well, it's wonderful to, as brother Reaver mentioned, be in the house of the Lord and um some being at youth convention and what what do we call this convention? I I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't maybe I shouldn't have called it out. We're we're the mature convention. There we go. They're the mature maturing convention. That's kind of what we're going to talk about tonight. Of course, as you know, we're in our series, our thriving series, and thriving uh as we have uh defined it here at APC through the help of our district superintendent, brother Park, is to be there's three attributes to be healthy, growing, and full of love. And tonight, the topic is there in red, and it is growing. So, while you're yet standing, I'm going to read Ephesians 4:es 11-6. This is going to be in the New Living Translation. And so I believe that's what's going to be on the screen. You may have a different version in your hand. Uh that's fine. You'll you'll find that it is all saying generally the same thing. Just goes about it maybe a little bit different way. So here from Ephesians 4 11-16, Paul writes to the Ephesian church saying, "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church." And then he lists them. the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love. Growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church, he makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Healthy, growing, and full of love. And that's what we're going to talk about, that middle attribute there, growing. Would you just open your heart and open your mind and just tell the Lord you want him to speak to you? Jesus, we come hungry to your word and we come humbly to your word as well. Lord, what your word says is truth and and everything else is a lie. And so we submit and surrender ourselves. I open my heart to hear from your word tonight to you to implant your word into my heart that it may grow and that it may bear fruit as you have designed it to do. And Lord, I yield my heart and I yield my mind. Jesus, speak to me. I pray even as I speak. Lord, I pray that your voice is the one that is heard tonight in this room. Lord, would you speak to our hearts in Jesus name? Amen. And amen. You can be seated. Two weeks ago, as we began this series, uh pastor taught a wonderful lesson on that first characteristic of being healthy. And he helped us to understand that all the dimensions of an individual um overlap and intersect such as you know mentally, physically, spiritually, all of those they just they're just kind of a jumbled mess, if you will. They just really overlap. They're intertwined and entangled in one another. And God, he he went on to explain God wants that holistic health for us. And so in order to be spiritually healthy, we need health in all of the areas in the arenas of our lives because they are inseparably linked. And so as I began to think about growing, I began to think about it in in a similar in a similar way. I asked myself this question as believers. What do we mean when we discuss growing? What do we mean by we want to be healthy, growing, and full of love? I want to I've heard people say, "I want to grow in the Lord. I want to grow in my faith." What do we mean when we discuss growing? This is a question I started with. And so, I I want to start kind of just take you where I I went. I began to look at synonyms for growing. what what are some other words that could maybe help expand the idea and understand it just a little bit better. So some synonyms that I came across advancing want to grow. So we want to advance. We want to be ever advancing. Transforming is another biblical word. Of course it's used outside the context of the Bible but it's another strong biblical word that we um say when we are talking about growing. transforming, perfecting or maturing is also the same concept, the same idea of growing. When you see the word perfect in particularly the King James version, it does not mean perfect without fault and without error. It means mature. So something that is maturing. So that is a synonym of growth as well. Learning, I could put learning in this category as well. Um, learning more about our faith or learning how to follow the Lord. Learning how to uh be surrendered to him is all part of growing. Developing. Another word for growth or growing is is developing. Increasing is another one that came to mind. To increase to grow in capacity. Notice which with each of these verbs the ing developing, increasing, growing, transforming implying that continuous action, that ongoing activity. Uh it's not just a onceanddone thing. So our text really Ephesians 4 answers the question that I I posed. What do we mean when we discuss growing? And really from Ephesians 4:15, growing in every way more and more like Christ. Another important distinction about spiritual growth is actually presented in John chapter 3 verse 30. And in the King James version, it John speaking says, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Decrease. Amber, that wasn't one of the synonyms of growing. What What do we mean? You're right. It's not a synonym of growing. And And if we thought, well, I thought I was supposed to grow and to develop and to increase and to be transformed. Well, a key component of spiritual growth is to recognize spiritual growth is not about me increasing, but about him increasing in me. Okay. God increasing, Jesus increasing in each and every one of us. Think about your life, your heart as maybe a plot of ground. And is anybody is anybody planting anything just yet? Has anybody planted flowers? You've planted some stuff. Some flowers. Okay. Planted some things at home already. I don't think we have another cold snap coming, but as soon as I say that, it's going to be freezing tomorrow because thank you, St. Louis. But thinking of yourself as that soil, when you plant those flowers, you expect that those flowers will grow. Not that you will grow, but that those flowers will grow. So your life, the soil of your heart, you could really say it this way. I'm growing Jesus in me. The way we might say, "Well, I'm going growing some tomatoes in this planter box, or I'm growing some aelas here in this part, or I'm growing whatever you might put there, liies, dillies, whatever it is. I'm growing this." Well, really, the Christian life, the believer's life is one that says, "I'm growing Jesus here. I've I've planted the seed of his word. I planted his spirit into my heart, and I'm growing Jesus here." He must increase and I must decrease. So part of that healthy growing and full of love is recognizing I'm not growing me, I'm growing him in me. The New Living Translation says uh John 3:30 this way. He must become greater and greater and I must become less and less less and less like me and growing in every way more and more like him. I must become less and less, less and less selfish, less and less greedy, less and less selfreliant. I must decrease in my harshness, in my snappiness. Pastor's not here, but in my road rage, he's always talking about I must become less and less like me and more and more like him. I must decrease so that he can increase. So that he can inhabit more and more of my life, of my time, of my priorities, and of my values. so that he can occupy more and more space in me. Paul would tell the Romans in chapter 8 verse 29 that it is God's intention that we be conformed to the image of his son Jesus. And in Ephesians he says it like this in verse 13. This this teaching and this training that it happens through the gifts that God has given to the church that happens that will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord. Here it is measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. And in verse 15 again reiterating growing in every way more and more like Christ. He must increase and I must decrease. He must grow in my life. Not amber. Not my will and my preferences and my priorities and perspectives but his must grow in me so that I can become every way more and more like Christ. So he talks about it in Romans. He talks about it in Ephesians. And he also talks about it in Galatians. Galatians chapter 4:1 19. He says to the church, "Oh my dear children," he had an affection for these Galatians. I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again. And they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. The New King James says it, "My little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." So, we're talking about growing. We're talking about growing Christ in us, growing his attributes and his characteristics until, as Paul would say, he is fully developed in our lives. until we measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. There was a song many years ago, I believe we have it on our recording, APC Choir, I've got a long way to go to measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. I've got a long way to go until Christ is fully developed in me. So, let's talk about Jesus for a second. According to Paul in Ephesians 4, Romans 8, again in Galatians 4, and other places, I didn't list them all. Christ is the standard by which we measure our lives. Christ is the pattern. He's the goal. He is the objective in each of our lives. And so when we talk about growing, we must measure ourselves against Christ, against Jesus, against his word, the the priorities that he outlines here and the the things that he exampleled to us as he lived on earth. And I have done this. I have measured myself by myself a year ago. And and that's a good indicator of growth. That's a good indicator of progress that I could measure. How was I last year this time? Or I I'm growing. I'm I've grown since a year ago or five months, whatever amount of time you would want to put on it. But in reality, we don't measure ourselves against ourselves. how we were such and such years ago. We're measuring ourselves against him until we come to the full and complete measure of Christ. And so I'm not saying it's it's bad to say, have I grown since last year or have I am I different than I was five years ago, 10 years ago, two weeks ago. That's not bad. that it is an indicator of progress, but that should never be the goal that we're just different than we were a couple of weeks or years ago. And here's why is because Jesus must be the goal. Because he's the only thing that is constant and never changing or fluctuating. And we have several scriptures for this. Hebrews 13:8 was to say Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Malachi 3:6 says, "The Lord speaking, I am the Lord. I change not. I don't fluctuate with the times. I don't fluctuate with the the culture that is around. I am the Lord. I change not." James chapter 1 verse1 17 talking about our our good father who is in heaven. It says there is no variableness nor neither shadow of of turning in a different translation a more modern says there's no changing of his mind. There's no turning of his thoughts or his uh purposes. And so Christ has to be the measure. He has to be the goal because he's the only thing that's not changing because how we were years ago or or how we maybe want to be in a couple of years that's all fluctuating. It's all based in in temporal things. It's based in earthly things. And so we have to be rooted and grounded in who he is so that we know where we're going. It's the only thing that doesn't change. Have you ever tried to hit a moving target? It's not easy. It's not easy to hit a moving target. It's not easy to make a pattern out of something that is constantly shifting and changing. So we we have to make him the measure. We have to make him the standard. And so we have to judge ourselves then by him. What a what a disparity and a difference there is between us and him. He is so much greater. He's He's so much love. He's so much grace and peace. And I am I am not there. There there's a a difference there. The beauty of looking at Jesus is the grace that compels us forward to him. He does not condemn us and he does not judge us because we are so different than him. And I would say to us tonight that the difference between us and him is far greater than it is between the horizontal relationships in our lives. And so what I mean by that, what I want that to draw out of us is not only giving grace to self, but giving grace to one another as they grow and to help them in their process of growth in their in the way that they are increasing or transforming or allowing Christ to grow in them. just because we've been in it a little bit longer than perhaps someone who's only been coming for a year or less. There is no there is no shorter distance between us and God than there is between us and others just because we've been living this way a little bit longer maybe there's still a vast a long way to go as the song says. And so that's why we can look around and with that in mind, we should look around to others and say, I can I want to help you grow. We're both in this journey together. I may have been serving him for a longer time, but I'm I'm really no closer to him. In real, I'm no closer to him than you are. Let's travel together and we can grow together because Jesus is the goal. And I I feel like I felt drawn to this as I was studying for this lesson that clarifying the goal helps us focus our efforts a little bit. And so I just want to spend just a few moments looking at Jesus and looking at his in full turning our eyes upon him looking full in his wonderful face. There's nothing greater. There's there's nothing more beautiful to focus on than our savior Jesus Christ. And here are some of his attributes. And remember, we're growing in every way more and more like Christ. He is the standard. He was perfect. He was sinless. He was pleasing to God. This is our pattern. This is what we're measuring up to, what we're growing in our lives. He was selfdenying. He was others focused. He was kind and he was gentle. He was approachable and he was long-suffering. He got upset about the right things in the right ways. He managed conflict well. Jesus served. He did not cling to his personal rights. He did not sherk responsibility. He forgave. He is my pattern. He is my goal. Here are some other values in his life or core qualities. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He demonstrated that in various ways through prayer, through self-denial. He was missional. Loved God with all of his heart. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength in his attendance and his engagement in the synagogue. Similar to what you're doing here tonight, loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength by your attendance and your engagement in a church service. Jesus knew and he remained committed to truth. In Matthew chapter 4, a story is shared with us that when Jesus was tempted by Satan on three different occasions, three different times, he responded to Satan with truths from scripture. So that shows me that he knew it. He had read it. He had studied it. It had become a part. He understood what it meant and how to apply it. He knew it and then he used it and he used it well. So he knew and he remained committed to truth. I'm talking about our pattern and our goal. Th this is who we are striving to grow in our lives. Luke chapter 2 verse 52 says Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. There was growth in Jesus's life. Jesus made and prioritized connection with others throughout his ministry. He talked with people. He ate with them. He spent time with them. even tax collectors and lepers who were not really favorably looked upon and really people that you would separate yourself from in those days by the culture. Jesus lived above the culture of earth and he connected with those that felt disconnected. Jesus preferred others ahead of himself and he wasn't out to please himself. He gave up his rights for the sake of others. There's self-denial at play in this as well. Self-denial is a key attribute of Christ. And he's my pattern. He's my goal. Finally, Jesus kept God's mission central. The mission to seek and to save those who were lost. It infiltrated every aspect of Jesus's life. his body that he gave on the cross, his soul and his spirit. The mission motivated every interaction that Jesus made. And to all of these beautiful and strong attributes, I pray Paul's prayer, let Christ be formed in me. How he pleased God, let Christ be formed in me. How Jesus loved people, let that be formed in me. How self-denying he was, Lord, let that grow in me. How prayerful he was, let Christ be formed in me. He relied on and he was submitted to scripture. Let Christ be formed in me. These and and other attributes so many I could not name all of them. These attributes of Christ as we find them in scripture as we notice them perhaps in others. And as we we notice them in our relationship with him, our prayer can turn to Lord, let that be developed in me. Help me develop that quality. Help me develop that prayerfulness. Help me to develop that reliance upon you. Help me to develop that self-denial. Help me to develop that and grow that in the soil of my life. And as we understand that Jesus is the goal, he's the pattern, what we are working towards, when we understand that, we also at once recognize that we don't yet measure up. So, how do we get there? Well, Ephesians 4:13 answers it. He he says the teaching, training, and equipping that he's talked about will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Galatians 4:19 shares that same fiveletter word when he says, "My dear children, I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again." and they will continue until Christ is fully developed or formed in your life. How do we get there? How do we close the wide gap in the chasm? We get there with a determination of an until attitude. Until. This potentially overlooked word is vitally important because it and it speaks of process. It is implied both time and effort until keep growing until Christ is formed in you. Keep pressing until Christ is formed in. Keep praying until Christ's attitude grows and develops in your Keep developing. Keep worshiping until Keep attending Wednesday night service. Keep attending connect groups. Keep attending Christian education until Christ is formed in you. Keep repenting. Keep forgiving. Keep discipling self and others until Christ is formed in you. That's how we close the gap between where he is and where we are is we just keep at it until until we're a few more steps down the road or until there's a few more buds on the tree of our lives that look and sound and smell like Jesus. And with this until attitude, there's a determination and a spirit of determination that we need in our Christian walk with the Lord. We need some determination in our hearts because we've all left a fiery prayer meeting, pumped up and ready to go, ready to take on hell with a water pistol. As brother Arnold says, we've all had those moments. And then we've had the moments that test those moments. And it's in those testing moments, those rebuffing moments that we have to have that until spirit. You know what? I'm going to keep fasting until I'm going to keep being faithful until I'm going to keep praying until Christ is formed in me. There's no greater objective and there's no greater goal than until I measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Until Christ is fully developed in my life, I keep pressing until then. I keep praying until then and I don't give up. Last week as I was on I was supposed to teach this last week and the Lord just had other plans and that was wonderful and and I'm okay with that. But as I was leaving my house, I had noticed on Tuesday that a neighbor up the street was mowing his lawn. I thought he had finished, but as I was leaving for church on Wednesday night, he is out there mowing again. And I was like, is he still mowing or is he mowing again? I didn't know if he had finished. Maybe he had only gotten halfway. And so I didn't know if he was mowing again or if he was mowing still. But here's what I do know. He was mowing until his yard looked like he wanted it to look. And it spoke to me knowing what I was about to what I thought I was about to deliver last Wednesday night. Along with that until attitude, just get an again and still attitude. Are you praying again? Yes, I am until Christ is formed in me. Are you attending church again? Yes, I am until Christ is formed. Are you reading through the Bible bread program again? Yes, I am until Christ is formed in me. Are you still living that holiness lifestyle? Yes, I am until Christ is formed in me. Are you praying for that lost loved one still? Yes, I am. Until Christ is formed in them, are you reaching out with love and with grace to your neighbors and to your co again? Still, when they have rejected you to this point, when they haven't responded, you're still doing Yes, I am. until Christ is formed in me, in them, in both of us because we both have the call to transformation until So, yes, I am attending a Wednesday night service again. Yes, I'm still faithful in my giving. Yes, I'm still faithful to prayer and fasting. Yes, I'm still filling the blank until Christ is formed in me. until I am healthy and growing and full of love. So, it's possible that when you think about spiritual growth, you fall into one of two ditches. One, you may feel comfortable where you are for whatever reason. Maybe it's weariness, maybe it's longevity in the church. What whatever it is, you may just feel comfortable where you are or on the other side, you may feel condemned for not being further along than you are. So, as we talk about spiritual growth, you may fall into one or the other and you you may have your own and come up. There's not just two, there's more than that, but these are the two the Lord laid on my heart. You may feel comfortable where you are, but you may also just feel condemned for not being further along than you are. And to both ditches, I would point you to the word until. The expectation is not that you should already measure up. The expectation is that you grow until you do. Growing is not a destination. It's a journey. We are growing, growing. The thriving definition does not say healthy, grown, and full of love. Because we are never fully grown. Because again, if I'm looking to myself as the standard, well, I used to do this and now so I I'm I'm grown now. I'm full. I'm fully grown. I can do that if I or others or worldly earthly things are the standard. But if I'm looking at him as the standard, I'm never fully grown. I always have growing to do. So, we're never fully grown because the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is the measure. And so to the condemning voice that may be in your head, I would tell that voice and maybe you can speak to that voice to say growth is not instant. It's incremental. Trees are starting to come back to life. Some of you are suffering with allergies with the pollen and I apologize for this analogy, but in the springtime trees are coming back to life. They're not just all of a sudden fullgrown leaves. There's buds on those, right? We've start we've seen it begin to progress over the last couple of weeks. There growth is not instant. Growth is incremental. Farmers who are planting seed now or in a in a few more days are looking for a harvest not in May, not in July. They're looking for a harvest in September and in October, November, however the farming community works. I don't know. I didn't look it up. But that's usually about the time I see that, you know, the flowers out there. Farmers that are planting seed, they're planting now for a harvest in the fall. Embedded within the law of sewing and reaping is process. It's time. It's incremental growth. That's why Galatians 6:9 says, "Don't grow weary in welloing, for in due season, you shall reap if you faint not." There is a reaping time and there is a sewing time. And the growth in between that is incremental. And so that to that condemning voice that that condemns you to say, "I've struggled with this all my life. I I just can't seem to get over this. I can't seem to overcome this hurdle. I should be further along. I've been in the church years and I should be further along in this. I should be more fully developed. I should have increased better. Hold on a second. Growth is incremental. It's not instant. And so in this case, I would say look back because looking itself is an indicator of progress. And you can look and you may get then discoura that may disc I don't know how your mind and your brain works. I know how Amber's mind and brain works. I can get discouraged by the incremental growth and be like, "Come on, Amber. You can do better. Come on, God. Help her out a little bit. Get her further along." Those are condemning voices and condemning spirits and condemning attitudes that will stop growth. It will cause us just to say, "You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm comfortable where I am, but I'm not yet to the full and complete stature." That's where that until attitude has got to come back and say, "You know what? I'm not what I once was. I'm not where I'm going. But I'm gonna keep moving until I get there. I'm gonna let Christ be for me. I'm going to give myself to him so that he can form himself in me. Growing takes time. Everybody, there was something called the last days newsletter. Leonard Ravenh Hill wrote in that newsletter and he tells about a group of tourists who were visiting a very picturesque village and uh they walked by an old man that was sitting beside a fence in a rather patronizing way. One of the tourists asks the old gentleman, "Were any great men born in this village?" The old man replied, "Nope. only babies. Kind of funny, kind of humorous, a little cheeky. No, great men weren't born here. Babies were born here because growth takes time. We didn't pop out of our mama's womb fully grown. Lord bless her if it had happened that way. The Lord knows. Luke 2:52, I mentioned it a while ago. Jesus increased. He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men. Jesus grows us. He grows in us incrementally as well. And so if you're not yet where you want to be, if you're feeling badly about that, I would just encourage you to take those condemning thoughts to him and say, "Jesus, I want you to grow in me. I know I'm not where I need to be. Help me to do right. Help me to do the things that will that will encourage you growing in my life. That will create a context or an environment where you can better and and more fully grow in me. But I would I would strongly urge you to silence those condemning voices because that is not of God. He has not given condemnation. He sends conviction our way but condemnation is not from him. And so if you feel a condemning voice, that is not the voice of the Lord. That is not a voice prompted by his his nature and his character. And finally, I'll end up here with that comfortable to those that maybe feel comfortable. And I don't mean you've grown complacent. I mean you may be in a season of life where things are uh kind of buffeting you. They're they're coming against you and there's just this um maybe response to suffering, affliction, trouble, things go you just want to hunker down and you just want to stay where you are. Stay where you know you're safe. Stay where you know you're comfortable. That's the kind of idea. Of course, complacency also if you fall into that certainly the spirit of the Lord would speak to that because staying the way we are is not growing. Therefore, we cannot thrive. Romans 12:es 1 and two, familiar verses to many of us. I beseech you, Paul says, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And then he says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. One of those growing words, "By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." The way that I read this is staying the same is not an option. Doing nothing, not giving effort to grow does not mean we stay the same. There's only two options in this verse and it's conforming to the world or being transformed allowing Christ to grow in us. Staying here where I'm comfortable. I just want to hunker down. This is my response to pressure and stress and suffering and affliction. My response is just hunker down and and stay where I am. We we we can't we can't grow in that way. But many times you found this to be true. As we face suffering and affliction and we go through troubles, God uses that to grow himself in us. He uses the negative situations of life to help us grow in him, to help him grow in us. As humans, we like to ma retain the status quo, stick to what we know. This instinctively feels safe. We're all very comfy in our own comfort zones. As a survival mechanism, this approach serves humans very well. But retaining the status quo, planting ourselves in our comfort zone doesn't serve us particularly well in a spiritual sense. It prevents us from being able to grow. In other words, we can't thrive. And I was reading a book called the spiritually healthy leader. Matthew Mullins and Eugene Wilson believe authors of that book. And they talked about the comfort zone. And this is my very last point. I promise. And then we're done. The comfort zone where we hunker down and we just want to stay safe. This feels comfortable. It feels safe. I I feel certain. I know what's going on here. Again, as a survival mechanism, A+ for the human race in a spiritual sense. That's that's not safe. That's not healthy. It doesn't allow us to grow. And so, we get in that comfort zone. What this book pointed out that didn't somewhere scripture he said he call himself the comforter his spirit is a comforter. So when growing may take us out of our comfort zone. We then rely on the spirit to be our comfort to be our helper. That word really means to be our helper in those moments where we feel out of sorts, where we feel like, I don't really know what I'm doing out here. I feel a little bit afraid afraid and vulnerable out here, but I'm trying to grow. I'm trying to grow until I come to the full and complete standard of Christ. I'm not in my comfort zone. But those are the moments that we can say, "Comforter, I need your help in this new season of life or in this new area it addressing this situation or problem in my life. Jesus, I need your help. Would you come alongside and comfort me? Be my comfort zone out here on the water." I think about Peter walking out on the water. He that was not his comfort place. That was not where he really wanted to be. But as we walk towards Jesus, he will help stabilize and strengthen us. And the same is true if we will get out of our comfort zone and say, you know what, I can't stay here hunkered down in here resisting others, resisting. I can't stay in this place. I have to move. I have to move forward until Christ is fully developed. And when I come out of that comfort place, Jesus, I need you to be my comforter. I need you to be my helper in these moments. Would you stand with me tonight as we confront ourselves? As we step out and try new things, as as we change some habits in our lives, as we make commitments that may get awkward to maintain. Hello As we do these things with an effort and a focus to let Christ be formed in us, making some family commitments, making some personal commitments. This is uncomfortable. I'm experiencing some growing pains, Lord. I'm confronting my flesh a little bit, and my flesh doesn't like being taken out of its comfort zone. But Lord, would you fill me with your spirit? That spirit that is the comforter that will help me make the right decision so that I can move forward until Christ is formed in me. Would you be honest with the Lord right now? Would you open your heart and would you tell him maybe some things that are making you uncomfortable, some things that maybe you feel like you're messing up? And I want you to allow the spirit to comfort you right now. I want you to allow his spirit to speak into your heart and speak into your life and to help you with those things. Lord, we're making commitments to you. We are trying to advance and to increase in our knowledge of who you are and and how you want to work and move and adjust some things in our lives and that gets uncomfortable from time to time. And we can even be condemning of ourselves and and even of others as as we move along in this life. But I pray right now, Lord, that you would help us by the power of your spirit. Lord, we we're trying to be healthy, growing, and full of love, but we don't do that by our own might, and by our own power, Lord. We do that by your spirit, as Zachchariah says. We we do that with the help of the Holy Ghost. He is our helper. He is our comforter. And so I pray right now in the name of Jesus that every commitment that has been made to you over the last several weeks or years, Lord, as we have committed and endeavored to live a life that is pleasing to you to allow you to be developed, fully developed in our lives, I pray that you would come alongside us tonight and let your spirit give comfort, Lord, to those that may feel condemned. I pray that your spirit would give comfort to those that are maybe feeling uncomfortable in their commitments or in their forward progress. And I pray that you would help us in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. He is the pattern, but he is also the power that helps us to become what the pattern says we should be. He makes it doable. I I don't know exactly how he does it. I can't stand up here and explain to you how he does it and how he looks at each and every one of us and and he receives us and invites us. I I don't know how he does it, but some way and somehow he's been doing it for many, many years now. We're we're no exception to that. He's going to help you live for him. He's going to help you advance and take steps toward him so that we can be healthy, growing, and full of love. It's what he wants for us and he's going to help us get there. Can we thank him for that? Lord, I thank you, Jesus, that you don't leave us to our own devices, our own power, and our own might, but you give us your spirit. You empower us by the Holy Ghost to live the way that you want us to live. I'm so thankful, Lord. I'm so thankful for your grace and for your compassion and for your love. And I rest in it, Lord. I rest in it. And to every condemning voice, I silence it because of your grace, oh Lord, and because of your mercy. Thank you, Jesus, for helping us be a thriving apostolic church that is faithfully connecting, growing, and serving others. Thank you for the empowerment of your spirit that helps us do just that in Jesus name. In Jesus name. Amen.