we find plainly in our text in verse number 10 the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heaven shall pass away with the great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also in the works that are therein shall be burned up we see the rapture happening prior to that of course and so here's the second coming of Christ tribulation in between all kinds of things we find plainly in our text that one day it's all going to end one day Everything as we know it, this world, this life, this earth, everything as we know it is going to be gone. And we'll be in eternity if you're saved, if you know Christ as your Savior. That's an exciting thing. And we'll be in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. We find in verse number nine, which we did not read, that the Lord wants everyone to be saved. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men call slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. but that all should come to repentance. The Lord wants everyone to be saved. Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl that ever has lived and ever will live, Jesus died for them all, and he wants everyone to be saved. If someone doesn't get saved, it's because they didn't choose to be saved. It's not because God did not choose them. Now, the ultimate question is this. Because the Lord wants us all to be saved, verse number nine, because the world is gonna end someday and everything's gonna be all over, verse number 10, the question is asked, seeing then, verse 11, that all these things should be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be? in all holy conversation and godliness. It continues, the question mark is at the end of verse number 12. But the Bible asks us the question, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? And then it goes on and says, looking for and hasting, working towards, working towards the Lord coming back. Are we witnessing to everyone we can? Are we winning people to Christ as we should? Are we living for the Lord as we ought? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire should be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. So we ought to be holy. Verse 11, we ought to be godly. We ought to be looking for, and hasting unto, and working toward. Verse number 14 says that we ought to be diligent. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Well, that's a pretty big, tall order, isn't it? where to be without spot, where to be without question, where to be without sin or even the hint of sin or the look of sin without spot. You know, I used to have a... I thought when I was in college, and you'd see, you know, first time I learned to iron my clothes, right? I left home and ironed my clothes. And so I never ironed my clothes before. My mom gave me a crafts course when I went to college. And so I ironed the front of my shirt, you know, just the two parts on the front. And I always wondered why the sleeves didn't come out, you know, because they were too wrinkled. They wouldn't come out through the jacket. And then, you know, my girlfriend, who's my wife now, she's over there freezing. And I'm like, well, I'm not taking off my coat, because the back looks like an accordion, right? So after a while, I'm like, well, if I want to keep my girlfriend, I better learn to iron the back of my shirt. So I ironed the back of my shirt, then I could give her my coat. I'm like, look, I learned how to iron. But some people, not me, some people would wear their shirt more than one time, right? You wear your shirt, it's got a good case of ring around the collar, right? Now I get ring around the wrist, you know, your watch and everything. And they'd put it back up on the rack, right? They'd just wear it again, and you know, it used to be white, now it's off-white, and then pretty soon it's yellow, and it's like, hmm. You know, just spray it down with deodorant, right? That's what some of my roommates would do, all right? But the idea was, if you take your shirt off the rack and you're wondering, is it clean? Or isn't it clean? You know, you give it the sniff test, right? And you check the collar to see if it's got ring around the collar. See if it's got like spaghetti from yesterday's dinner on it, right? Here is the adage. If it's doubtful, it's dirty. Okay? If it's doubtful, it's dirty. You know, that'd be a good adage for our life too. Why what's wrong with that? You know what if it's doubtful, it's dirty Okay, just leave it alone throw it in the washing machine and don't wear it. Okay, so so Activities right thoughts things that we participate in people right if it's doubtful, it's dirty. I'm not going there So blameless without spot. That's the idea right without spot No, no spots a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing You know where to see how close we can get to Christ know how far away we can get Now, verse number 17, the Lord wants us to be steadfast. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 17. You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you, also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." What is steadfastness? It is just stick-to-itiveness. It is being steady. It is to keep on going with the right thing. It's being right and staying right. Steadfast. We are to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For your labor is not in vain in the Lord, right? If anything, we are to be growing, that's the next verse. We are to be steadfast, and then God also wants us to grow, verse 18. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. We are to grow in grace. God wants us to grow. As a Christian, we are always to be growing. Okay, I'm not talking about, you know, getting fat, right? Spiritually, we are to be growing. Let's look at several points. Number one, number one, look at Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14. In Exodus chapter 14, The children of Israel have come out of Egypt. As they come out of Egypt, there were still obstacles. They had the Red Sea right in front of them. Pharaoh and his army are chasing them. They get to the point where they're sandwiched in between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army. And look what happens in verse number 8, Exodus chapter 14 and verse number 8. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pe-ha-hi-roth, before Bel-zephon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were so afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, fear you not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today for the Egyptians whom you have seen today you shall see them again no more forever the Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace look at the next verse and the Lord said unto Moses wherefore Christ thou unto me speaking to the children of Israel that they go which way forward Forward. What was forward? The Red Sea. How are you gonna go forward if you can't swim? Three and a half million, maybe? And they come up to the Red Sea, and they look behind, and they're chased by Pharaoh and his army, and they have an obstacle that they can't get through, and God said, okay, I want you to go forward. That doesn't make sense unless you believe in God. So number one, we are to grow in our faith. Faith is what you can't see. Faith is what you can't understand. Faith is what always, it doesn't make sense. I don't know how to figure it out. If I could figure it out, it would be sight. But if I can't see it and God told me to do it, that's faith. How am I gonna make it? Faith in God. God can do this. You know, after you're saved, this can be a surprise to some of you, but your problems don't end. Your problems just don't cease after you trust Christ as your Savior. Matter of fact, sometimes they get more difficult, right? And so we come to this notion of when we get saved, our problems all go away. Can you show me that in the Bible? It's not in the Bible. If anything, they compound because Satan hates you and he wants to keep you from living for God. So he'll frustrate you. He'll cause things to happen in your life, right? Sometimes things just happen because they happen. And we get frustrated and we quit on God. It's not God's fault. God loves you. God wants you to serve him no matter what. Everybody has problems. So the Red Sea was insurmountable. Verse 10, they were afraid. Verse 11, they complained. In verse 11, they had regrets. Why did we leave Egypt? We should have been there. Well, at least we had a burial plot, right? We could have gotten buried over in Egypt. We could have died over there. At least we were slaves and we were making bricks. God answered them in verse 15, go forward. What happened when they went forward? The same for you and me. God did the impossible. Red Sea parted. God did the impossible. They marched across on dry ground. God did the impossible and he drowned Pharaoh's army and they survived on the other side of the Red Sea. God did something that they could not do but they had to believe and they had to grow in their faith and go forward. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse number 20. You know we had this Verse is our theme verse around here for a long time after we bought this building 11 years ago. And it's still true today. Ephesians 3 20. Now unto him that is able to do, exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen. You know, it would have been okay if it just said, none to him that is able to do all that we ask or think. That would have been great, right? That's amazing. None to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly. I mean, that is a superlative in an extreme case on steroids, right? None to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. I don't know about you, but I can ask about a lot of things. I can think of a lot of things. And God says, I am able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. That's the kind of God we serve today. We find that in Exodus chapter number 14, if you're still there, if not, we'll read it. In Exodus chapter 14, Their fear was in verse number 13. And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. If Moses said fear not, guess what they had? They had fear. It's normal to be afraid. Pharaoh's gonna kill you, right? You're gonna drown in the Red Sea. Fear not, okay? When they went forward... Okay, there's my second cough, okay? We got 10 coughs tonight. When they went forward, what happened? Look at verse number 31. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared, not the Egyptians, They feared the Lord. They feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant, Moses. Their fear was replaced with faith. What did they have to do? They had to go forward. When they went forward, their fear was of Moses, or I'm sorry, of Pharaoh. And God said, go forward. And God replaced their fear with the fear of God and a great faith. Now, if you look at the next chapter, we won't. But chapter number 15, they're singing. There's a song in verse number one, right? They're singing. God delivered us, right? The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea, into the depths of the sea. There's even psalms in the Bible at this point in time. Here they were, fearful. God said, if you go forward, I'm gonna give you great faith. If you go forward, I'm gonna put a song in your heart. If you go forward, I'm gonna do the impossible. We've got to grow in our faith. They saw what God could do. How many miracles and victories do we miss out on? Because we do not obey the Lord and go forward. Where does our faith come from? Our faith is fed by God's word. Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The more you read the Bible, the more you meditate on the Bible, the more you memorize the Bible, the greater your faith will be. As we implement God's word, our faith gets stronger. You know what we do? We grow proportionately, everywhere, all at the same time. That's what God wants. You know, when you were a kid growing, right? You had growing pains, right? Sometimes everybody have growing pains, right? Your muscles are pulling your tendons, your ligaments, right? Whatever those things are. Now, you didn't... You didn't grow just one area. Maybe you did. Sometimes you look down at your feet and you're like, wow, I was a size eight, now I'm a size 12, right? In just two weeks, right? I mean, your parents that are buying shoes, right? Kids' feet are just growing. But it's not, hey, this year my head's gonna grow, right? And you get this little twiggy body, right? It's not like that, okay? My arms, and they're dragging on the ground, okay? No, we grow proportionately. We grow a little bit. Our head grows a little bit, right? Our arms grow a little bit longer. Our hands grow a little bit bigger. Our legs grow a little bit... All right, time to quit. Our legs grow a little bit longer. Our feet grow a little bit bigger, right? And so we grow proportionately. You know, as a Christian, we ought to do that. We ought to grow in our faith. I'll give you a few more here before we finish, okay? But our faith ought to grow proportionately. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter 1. The Bible says that we are to add to our faith. If you could kind of picture faith as a train. You've got the engine, and then you have a lot of train cars in between that couple onto the engine, right? 2 Peter 1. Verse five, and beside this, giving all diligence, means you gotta pay attention, right? If you're gonna grow, it comes on purpose, not an accident. Add to your faith. So your faith comes first, you trust in Christ. Add to your faith virtue, goodness, wholesomeness, all the way through from the beginning to the end, purity. virtue, and the virtue knowledge, and the knowledge temperance, and the temperance patience, and the patience godliness, and the godliness brotherly kindness, and the brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the Bible says we are to add to our faith. Our faith is a basic model. Our faith is the train, the engine. And then we are to keep adding to that, add to your faith, virtue, to virtue, knowledge, and all these things here we are to add. Our faith is like a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it gets. If we neglect it, it gets flabby, it gets weak, and it wastes away. Our faith Number two, in our Christian life, we ought to evaluate ourselves. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter eight. 2 Corinthians chapter number eight. We ought to evaluate ourselves. 2 Corinthians eight, verse number 10. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago." As a Christian, we ought to take that as a good example. You know, I had to grow and be forward a year ago. If I could look back and see myself one year ago as a Christian, have I grown? You know we do that with kids, right? When I was a kid, I'm gonna move, can I move? When I was a kid, every time I'd start school in September, my mom would put a book or a ruler on top of my head, and then she'd put a pencil mark on the door frame, right? It was probably lead paint, right? I probably got lead paint contamination, right? We didn't get brain drain damage, right? We were okay. Then the next year, she'd draw another pencil mark, and the next year, another pencil mark. Those pencil marks are probably still there. And you know, she just wanted to see how I was growing. You know, we ought to do that as a Christian. Hey, I've been saved for a year. How have I grown? I've been saved for six months. How have I been growing? What did I do after I got saved? Well, I got baptized, right? What did I do after that? Well, I started living for the Lord Jesus Christ. What did I do after that? I learned how to tell other people how they could be saved. What did I do after that? I don't know. I got involved in a ministry. I started doing something for the Lord. I started, you know, ushering. I started, you know, singing in the choir. I started, you know, sweeping the floor. I started, you know, visiting people, the fatherless and the widows and their affliction. That's pure religion, right? I started teaching a class. I started being a, I don't know, a song director. I started working in a nursery, right? being serving, serving the Lord, serving people, finding people who need help and helping them. That's what we're supposed to do. Forward a year ago. Now look, the longer you've been saved, sometimes that gets hard to do. Because you're like, well, I've done this, and I've done this, I've done this. We need to be steadfast, but we also need to keep on growing, growing your knowledge of the Bible. The more you know, the more you should do. So we find that in our Christian life, we ought to evaluate ourselves. Growing is the normal expectation for a Christian. We expect children to grow, right? We got some little children and babies here tonight. Can you imagine if we came over to your house and we said, hey, your child is 10 years old, right? They're 10 years old. How much do they weigh? Well, they weigh eight pounds. We would say, wow, something's wrong, right? I mean, it'd be nice to, sometimes you wish they were a teenager. They weigh 20 pounds. But no, that would not be normal. That'd be a big problem. That'd be impossible, really, right? But sometimes as a Christian, how long have you been saved? I've been saved 10 years, but spiritually we're eight pounds. And most of that's just a loaded diaper sometimes. So we want to be growing. We want to be saying, you know what? I am going to grow as a Christian. I'm going to mature as a Christian. I'm going to grow up. I'm going to evaluate myself. Other people evaluate us all the time. Most of the time, they're just too nice to say something. Hey, you're spiritually retarded. You're behind. Things are not progressing as they should. Every time I took my kids to the doctor, they wanted to put them in this percentile chart, right? And they're like, man, your kids are little, right? Not anymore. You got to feed them, man. You got to get them growing. You got to get them exercising, right? You got to have them running around. And they always had this percentile, like, where are they in the growth chart? How much do they weigh? Are they, you know, with the other people their age? Are they weighing the same as other people their age? You know, we ought to not compare ourselves amongst ourselves. The Bible says that's not wise. But we ought to say, okay, there is an admonition. We just read it. Are you forward a year ago? Have you done something to improve your Christian life since last year? It's a good time to evaluate that. God expects his children to grow. God doesn't expect us to stay the same. He certainly doesn't, you know, there's a Bible word called backsliding. You ever hear that? Am I making that up? Right? Back, anybody ever heard that? There is a Bible word called backsliding. What's that mean? It means that we're not just staying the same, we're even going backwards. We're going the wrong direction. We don't wanna backslide, okay? We wanna be forward a year ago. I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining every day. Still praying as I'm onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. I want to do more for God. Number three. If we are to grow as a Christian, we necessarily have to get rid of some things. Look at 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. Verse number 11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. It's talking about maturing, right? It's talking about growing up. It's talking about being an adult. It's talking about not being a little kid anymore. If we are going to grow, we have to put away some things. When I was a child, I spake as a child, right? What does it say? I understood as a child. What else? I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. You know, we have a very immature adulthood these days. Now, this would be a great time to just pause and preach on the foolishness of adults who waste their time playing video games. Okay? But I won't. Because I don't know who plays video games and who doesn't. But you know what? It's such a waste of time. Oh, look, I got 14 cookies. Oh, good for you. I have a career. And I made $14,000 this month. I mean, that's not the epitome, but you know what I'm saying? That's why people still, never mind. But that'd be a good time, okay? Oh, look, I got 10 diamonds. I got a super badge. Wow, I have connected with people around the world. Oh, it's so immature, isn't it? Children play video games. Adults do not play video games. Sorry. Amen. Amen. We'll just park there for a little. That's not the sermon, okay? Look, if you want to play video games, okay, go play a video game for 10 minutes and then put it away and just go. You know what? Adults go out and put brakes on their car, right? Sorry, that's it. Adults go out and put shingles on their house. I don't have a house. Well, maybe if you stopped playing video games, you'd have a house. Okay, sorry. Adults change their tires, okay? That's just what they do, right? Adults build stuff, right? Adults grow a garden. Okay, all right. Anyway, that's not the video game sermon. More to come, okay? I know, they're not here, okay? Thank you for joining us online. Everybody just went, boop, see you later. All right. We're going to have to get rid of some things, okay? Childish things. Here, how about this? Frivolous things. Things that don't matter. Immature things, time-wasting things, complaining things. Let me just stop a little bit more. You know, if people would shut off their video game and get a second job, they could maybe have something worth having, right? Anyway, back to the thought, okay? Complaining, comparing, and tattling, those are childish things. The Bible says, when I became a man, I put away childish things. Hey, there's a time that the childish things have to go. They're for children. Kids do that. Adults don't do that. Adults don't complain, okay? Real men don't whimper, all right? How about that? Adults don't tattle, okay? Just say, God's gonna take care of it, all right? I put away childish things. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter number 12. If we're gonna grow as a Christian, we necessarily have to get rid of some things that are gonna hinder our growth. Can you imagine coming over to somebody's house? Hey, this is my child, he's 18, and he's still got a binky in his mouth. A binky video game in his mouth. Like, wait a minute, I thought he was 18. He is, but he just really likes binkies. Okay. Hebrews chapter 12. Verse number one. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. If you are going to grow in the Christian life, you're gonna have to put aside sin. Every day we're tempted to sin. Every day we probably sin of some kind or another. But the Bible says we're going to have to lay aside sin and every weight. What is a weight? A weight is not sin. A weight is something that slows us down. A weight is something that hinders us. You know, if I was going to run, I used to run track and field. If I was going to run track and field tonight, and I said, all right, I am gonna go run a race, and I am gonna, I got this big, nice winter coat. I'm gonna put this on, and I'm gonna put on my winter boots, my hat, and my gloves, and I'm gonna grab a snow shovel, and I'm gonna run this race. Guess what? I'm not gonna win. Why? Because, what's wrong with wearing a coat? Nothing, but if you wanna win, you don't wear the coat, right? What's wrong with wearing winter boots and racing a hundred yard dash? Meters, right? Now they have meters. Nothing. But if you want to win, you're going to wear sneakers, right? If you wanna win, you're gonna wear a sweatsuit, right? If you wanna win, you're gonna lighten up as much as you can, and you're gonna be ready for it. And yet, sometimes we expect to win the Christian race, and we're weighted down with the things of this world that might be dirty, and they might be doubtful, and they might not be... The Bible doesn't say, you know, thou shalt not play video games. Thou shalt not, whatever it is, right? Okay? But we do it anyway, and we say, well, show me where it says that in the Bible. That's so immature, right? If it's doubtful, get rid of it. You know, I'd rather get to heaven and God say, you know what, man, you're way too strict down there. I'd rather get to heaven and God say, man, you should have let it all hang out, man, rather than have God say, why did you live like that? All right, I'd rather err on the side of caution. than err on the side of being lazy. So we're going to have to get rid of some things. Childish things. Sin. Every weight. Number four. Next point. Moving along. 2 Corinthians chapter number eight. What are some areas in which we ought to grow? I'm glad you asked. 2 Corinthians chapter number eight. And look at verse number 7 2nd Corinthians 8 verse number 7 Therefore as you abound in everything abound grow right in faith and Utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love for us see that you abound in this grace Also now we got to find out what that means, right Six things are here five are in a list and In everything, it starts out with everything. Okay, we're to grow in everything, every area, right? It's not like I mentioned before. This is the year the head grows. It's like a Far Side cartoon, right? Big giant head on a little tiny body. No, grow in everything. In faith, in utterance. Utterance means speaking to others about the Lord. Uttering, saying something, right? knowledge, our knowledge of God, our knowledge of his word, our knowledge of how to live the Christian life, in diligence, in your love. And then it says, in this grace also, 2nd Corinthians 8 and verse number 7. What does that mean? It goes back to the first three verses. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how then in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their, what's the next word? Joy, and their deep poverty abounded onto the riches of their liberality. Liberality means giving. Right, it means giving and helping and meeting a need, right? So here are the churches in Greece and Macedonia, they were very poor. They were desolate, they didn't have much at all. Deep poverty, we missed that kind of thought, but it's right here in the Bible. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves. Willing of themselves to do what? To give. Here it's talking about giving. So we are to grow in our giving. Yes, our tithes and our offerings. You know, I always get a kick out of it. Somebody gives to the work of God, and maybe they write out a check or something, and it's $86.52. What a blessing. Why don't you just round it up, okay? Is God worth the 48 cents? I mean, he's worth a 40. I don't look at the offerings, so I don't know, right? I always get a kick out of that, right? Just round it up. God's good. Same thing with the tip of the restaurant. You know what I do? I just round it up. I'm like, you know what? They did a good job. They could probably use it. I guess I just round it up, right? Now they don't get taxed on it, I guess, maybe sometime soon, right? But also, in our giving, in our generosity, the church in Macedonia went through deep poverty. They went through a great trial of affliction, verse two. That's not a hyperbole. God wouldn't put something in the Bible if it wasn't true. These people were really suffering. And what did they do? They learned to give. And what did they have because they gave, verse two? They had joy. There's joy when we grow in our giving. They were rich, not monetarily, but they were rich because they gave liberally. We are to grow in our giving. Look for ways to be generous. Look for ways to help people and give to the work of God and give to others. Number next, Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. And verse number 18. Ephesians chapter five, verse 18. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. We are to grow in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Look at Hebrews chapter number one. Hebrews chapter number one explains how this is possible. When we trusted Christ as our Savior, you got all the Holy Spirit that you're ever going to get. And so did everyone else. You don't get the Spirit by installments. You get Him all on the first day when you trust Christ. But what happens is we yield more of ourselves to Him. He doesn't have all of us, because we yield to Him all the time. And the more we yield to the Holy Spirit of God, the more He fills us. So He's in us, we have all of Him, but He doesn't always have all of us. So we are to grow in our yielding to the Spirit and giving Him more room in our life, right? Like if you had a four-bedroom house. And the Holy Spirit came to live and you kept them in the kitchen. And he said, you know, you can only be here in the kitchen. You can only work in the kitchen. I'm not letting you into the other rooms of the house, the bathroom, the bedroom, the den, the living room. You can only stay right here. The Holy Spirit says, well, that's too bad. I'd like to work through all of you. And then as we gradually mature, we say, OK, you know what? You can have this room over here and the kitchen. And then, well, you can have this room and the kitchen. We are to be filled with the Spirit. That's what's said, right? We are to let Him fill every area of our life. How do we do that? I'm glad you asked. Look at Hebrews chapter number 1, verse number 8. It's talking about Jesus Christ. That includes sin, right? That's a fancy word for sin. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, that's the Holy Spirit, above thy fellows. Jesus Christ was the most Spirit-filled man that ever walked on the planet earth and ever will. He's God who came in the flesh. But the Bible says he was Spirit-filled. Why did he do what he did? Why could he do what he did? Because he was filled with the Spirit more than anybody ever would be or could be here on this earth. How did he do that? Two things. Thou hast loved righteousness. How perfectly did Jesus love righteousness? Ultimately. He's perfect. He never sinned. And hated iniquity. He hated sin. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The more we love righteousness, the more we're filled with the Spirit of God. The more we do right, think right, act right, talk right, live right, the more God can fill us with His Spirit. The more we hate sin, the more God can fill us with His Spirit. God will not fill a dirty vessel. God will not fill a vessel that's filled with you. He wants to fill you, but you have to empty yourself of sin and self. So we are to grow in the fullness of the Spirit. Are we forward a year ago? Are we forward a year ago in our faith and our walk with God? Are we forward a year ago in our giving and our generosity, in utterance and knowledge and diligence and love? All these things in the fullness of the Spirit. We are to grow in our prayer life. Look at James chapter five. James chapter number five. We have an account here of Elijah. Elias, Elijah. We are to grow in our prayer life. James five verse 16. Confess your faults one to another, pray for one another, pray for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent, you see the word fever in that word? Feverish. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. What, he woke up on the wrong side of bed sometimes like you and I do, right? He was a human being, he wasn't some, you know, he didn't have the God gene, right? He was just a normal guy. And he prayed earnestly Then it might not rain and it rained out on the earth by the space of three years and six months And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit I find here that Elijah was a man of fervent prayer. How's our prayer life tonight? I'm talking to myself. Okay, Elijah was a man of earnest prayer You know the disciples were to watch and pray and what did they do instead? Oh They slept. I can't say I've never done that. It's easy to do. You spend an hour in prayer, you spend five minutes praying and 55 minutes sleeping, right? Boy, we need to stand up and pray. Walk around, take a list of prayer requests and walk around and just read them. And if you fall asleep, you'll wake up really fast. Okay? Effectual prayer, fervent prayer, or sleeping prayer. The disciples slept. The disciples failed to help a father and his son because they did not fast and pray. You remember that? Why could not we cast them out? Jesus said, this kind cometh forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. Jesus said, I'm ready. I'm prayed up. You guys need to be prayed up. You don't know what's coming around the corner. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You need to be ready. You need to be prepared in your prayer life. We should grow in ministry. In ministry, every saved person ought to be a soul winner. Every saved person ought to be a soul winner. Mark 16, verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That wasn't just written to the disciples, it was written to everyone. Like I said this morning, we get the Bible so small, we just rip out the parts that we don't like or we don't obey, and really we're left with John 3, 16, that's about it. Hey, I got one verse. Good for you. You can take that up with God, because he's going to judge you by the things written in this book. And he's not going to rip it down to one verse just because you're lazy. Sorry. Every person ought to be a soul winner if you're saved. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that wins souls is saved. How long since you led someone to Christ? Are you growing? No, I think maybe we're shrinking. We're spiritually digressing if we're not growing. How long since we told someone about Christ? Where our job is to warn. I can't win them. I can't make somebody get saved, but I can tell them how to be saved. Am I growing in that? We ought to be growing. We ought to be growing in ministry. Every saved person ought to be teaching others. Matthew chapter 28. Very familiar. Matthew chapter 28, verse 19. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Every saved person ought to be teaching others. We read it twice in two verses. Teaching. Let's go from maintaining to growing our ministry. You know what happens in ministry? We maintain what other people built. We maintain what other people built. We just maintain. We just ride it into the ground. Now, I don't know, but I could probably go into most Sunday school classes here in this church, and I can show you some students that I put in your Sunday school class. Have you put students in your Sunday school class? If we don't grow, we're gonna die. But it's not the one person or it's not a pastor's Bible and everybody else's Bible, right? You ought to be growing in ministry. Have a ministry, right? We maintain what other people built. Look at your class and say, could I get some new students? Why not? I was driving around the other day. And you know what? People are lost. People are arrogant. People are rude, right? And I looked around and I said, man, everybody is a potential, right? They're not going to church. 115,000 people just in Manchester. And you get all these towns that abut Manchester, right? You got Londonderry. You got Litchfield. You got Bedford. You got Goffstown. You got Hookset, right? You got Auburn. I mean, all these towns, and all these people, and they're mostly lost without Christ. And they don't go to church, and they don't read their Bible, and they don't really know. It's like the guy who went to Africa. He was a shoe salesman. And he came back, and he brought all of his shoes back, and he said, I quit. They said, why? He said, nobody in Africa wears shoes. Another guy said, well, I'll take those shoes. And he went over to Africa, and he sold them all. And the guy said, what'd you do different? He said, well, look, everybody's a customer. Nobody wears shoes, right? Everybody's a customer. We can say, well, nobody wants to get saved. Well, you know what? Everybody needs to get saved, because nobody is saved. Where else would you want to be? You want to be in, I don't know, Chattanooga, Tennessee? Hey, God bless you, y'all. God be with you. Everybody's a Christian, right? They stab you in the back when you turn around, right? Or right here, where they tell you, right to your face, come all set, get out of here, right? Okay. Look at your class. Could I get some new students? How many bus riders are on the bus or the van because we invited them? Or are we just maintaining and riding the thing into the ground? So they don't want to come to church anymore. We'll get four to replace them. Look go after that one, right? Go after that one, but find four more to replace them that the Bible talks about baptizing for the dead. It's not a Mormon thing It's not What it is, is if we don't keep winning people to Christ, baptizing converts and teaching them, every person who is a dead head and drops off and backslides and doesn't live for God, we have to keep replacing them or the whole thing just falls apart and the church dies. There are churches like that. There's a church right over here. on Sagamore Street, preaching the gospel since 1854. He didn't preach the gospel one time, sorry. And the thing shriveled up and died in a cell in the building. Why? Because they stopped reproducing. They never reproduced ever, probably, but all those people died and they never replaced them. No, let's not be like that. To maintain only is death. To maintain only is to die. Let's read our verse one more time. Ephesians chapter number 2nd Peter chapter number 10 3 you won't find chapter 10 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 18 but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever Amen. Who is the implied subject? The implied subject is you. But you grow in grace. I'm supposed to grow in grace. You know, the more you've been saved, probably the harder it is. Because the easy things, you already did those. Now you have to keep on looking for things to do to grow. When you first get saved, oh, it's real easy. What should I do? Get baptized. What should I do? Read your Bible. What should I do? Learn all about the word of God, right? What should I do? All those simple things, right? Get busy. Do something for God. Serve God. Teach a class, right? Run a bus. Do something. Clean a rug. Do something. Serve in the nursery. Do something. Serve other people. Teach. Help. Find somebody who needs something. Give it to them. Grow.