text for you to turn to. You're welcome to use your Bible as we get to some of these texts today. But I do have a topical message, not my normal way of preaching, I guess. We normally do expositional and go verse by verse and phrase by phrase, sometimes word by word as we study the Word of God. But today, I just want to go to some themes that we might see in the Bible and have a look at some four ideas that we're going to look at here. Are you familiar with go to the GP or something especially as a child I remember this in my youth I don't know because I went to maybe Christian school or something I'd have health checks every year or maybe just because I was a sickly child I remember And they'd take you there, and they'd have that check to see how tall you are. You know, they'd have you step back against that cold metal pole, you know, have that thing come down upon your head and figure out exactly where you were in line with the rest of the population of your age group, right? They'd take your age and your height and look at that growth chart and kind of see if you're behind in growth, average in growth, or You probably aren't surprised by this, but I think I was at the lower spectrum of the growth chart as far as my height. But you don't really want to be off the chart or too far behind on the chart, because that chart is a measurement of your health, as it were. If you're not growing, something is probably wrong with you physically. And so you want to be growing. Now, physically, there's was something that we could do, probably we'd all walk around and be giants or something like that. But Jesus said in book 1225, and which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? I promise you, it doesn't work, right? You try to make yourself taller, you can't. But there are things The sleep that we get, things that we put into our body, don't put into our body, and those things that we can control, we ought to seek to do it to the best of our ability and make sure that physically we are growing well. This morning, obviously, we're not going to think about physical growth. growth chart that we be growing spiritually as God intends us to be growing and so you need to be progressing on the spiritual growth chart that verse that we looked at in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18 says but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen all right so there are things that spiritually, we ought to be growing in, or things that we ought to be developing in. There are four things that specifically God put on my heart as I was praying. Several months ago we were praying about the Retreat Center idea, and I'm still open to that idea in the will of God, if God has that for us as a church, but God put on my heart these four things that we're going to look at, okay? And these four things are salvation, surrender, and service. And they are things that we could look at in our life and say, where am I in that chart? Where am I in that spiritual thing that God's word speaks about? Where am I there? Because that really impacts me, that impacts my family, that impacts my church. And so God, help us to grow in grace. Let's pray this morning, then we'll get into the word of God here. Father, we thank you for the grace that you give. Thank you for the opportunity that we have to come and study the Word of God this morning. And Father, it's a topical message, but it's the Word of God. And Father, we can look at the Word of God topically and go through and just consider, what does the Bible say about this? And Father, in these four vital areas as a church, these can be four things that in our ministry that we often focus on, that we're praying about and asking God for. And in our families, a desire that we have salvation, sanctification, surrender, and service. And so I pray, Spirit of God, will you help me as I speak. I pray, would you give us ears to hear, would you give us grace to be free from anything that would take away from our ability to focus upon the Word of God, whether things that we've got planned or things that are happening that, Father, we could really attend upon the Word without distraction this morning. Father, I pray that I would preach biblically, that I would preach practically, and lovingly and powerfully the truth of the word of God. May he bless the kids' class as they meet together just now. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so the four great growth purposes that we can look at as a church and say, I mean, these are things that are vital to us in our ministry. We really want to see God working in all of these areas. And so we're going to personalize it this morning and consider where we're at on these charts. And so the first one is, where are you on the spiritual growth chart of salvation? All right? That's the first thing, right? We need Christ's life in us, that we need that spiritual life. Every single one of us has a physical birthday. Mine is July 2nd, 1976. And on that day, I was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a beautiful area of Wisconsin along the river that is flowing past here, the Mississippi River that is so well I was born 200 years to the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I was almost a bicentennial bouncing baby boy when I was born there some 46 years ago now. But every single one of us has a And from that date, the doctor can take that date of your birth and look at the growth chart and begin to chart it out and say, OK, this is where you're at based upon your age physically. Our spiritual growth chart begins with our spiritual birth. It's not religious affiliation. It's not even a day that you believe that there is a God, but a day that you personally put your faith in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Savior. Jesus spoke about the new birth and the spiritual birth to Nicodemus, a religious leader. A man that had done everything religiously that somebody could do up to that point in his life. Very religious. life. John 3 verse 1 says, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with them. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And so it speaks about water birth, it speaks about spiritual birth, and Jesus is speaking about the new birth, saying, you know, we got physical birth, and then you got spiritual birth. Physical birth is water birth. Having been the father of six, the hospital, there's a point in time where the doctors might say words that are encouraging as far as progress, and that is for water growth, right? That water that's there, that amniotic fluid that's around that baby in the womb, so God's Word is speaking about physical birth, water birth, but then it says, but you got to be born in the Spirit too. There has to be a time where you experience that, that not just physical life that you receive when you're conceived and then born into this world, but you get a spiritual birth and a spiritual birthday. And so Jesus is speaking about that day. Sometimes we call that day, the day of our salvation. Isaiah 45 verse 22 says, look up to me and be saved all the ends of the earth. Well, neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And so you got this term, Jesus said, you gotta be born again, gotta have that new life. But again, we call it salvation. But if somebody is saved, and there's something really bad that's happening, right? They're in great danger. There's something that they have to be rescued from that is taking place in their life. There's a man in my church in New York City that I was an assistant pastor at, and his name was Dave Carnes. When 9-11 happened, I was at the church, and the pastor was away at a pastor's fellowship, and when it happened, the pastor comes back, Dave Carnes stops by the church on his way down to Ground Zero. Dave Carnes was a Marine, he had been a police officer, and he had worked with Steele. He told me those three things really prepared him for what he did. He got down to the Brooklyn Bridge, he walked out, down to Southern Manhattan, got down there to Ground Zero. They're not letting anybody into that area, but he assessed it based on his background with Steele. He looked at it with a mindset of military and police as well, and he wanted to go out there, they let him go. He found people buried in the rubble 20 feet down. He heard voices down there. And there was fires that were burning in the rubble of Ground Zero. It's amazing that there was a pocket that was protected, that these people had actually lived through the collapse of the buildings. He called his sister. He called his wife, said, give them my coordinates here. We need some firefighters. We need some other people to help to rescue these people. And the only people that I know of that were rescued out of ground zero are these two Port Authority policemen that, by the grace of God, Dave Carnes helped save. That's what salvation is. Salvation is somebody that is in great danger, their life is going to end, but somebody gets in there and rescues them. Obviously, when we're speaking about it spiritually, there's something far worse. And that's eternal damnation in a lake of fire and separation from God. And you know, sometimes I was thinking about this recently, maybe some of you that have been ill can kind of relate to this. Sometimes in life, there's tough things. And we can be in our life like, oh, you know, this is so heavy, this is such a burden. But understand this, we are not in a fire. We're not separated from God for all eternity. We're not listening to people cry out in fear and anguish, screaming or hearing gnashing of teeth like the Bible speaks about. There's beauty like you walk out today and no matter if somebody's feeling miserable, they can still look up and it's still sunny outside. But in hell's darkness, And if you really start to think about it, I can't fathom it, because sometimes in life there's things, I look at my life and I say, I want to get out of this, this is horrible, but there's hope, because if it's illness, it's going to pass, if it's a bill, at some point maybe it's going to get paid, if it's another physical trial or injury, I can recover from that. But somebody in hell is in hell for all eternity. And it's not purgatory. I was thinking about this recently as well. The idea of purgatory is you go and you pay for your sin, and after you're done paying for your sin, you get out of hell. But I understand this is just my conjecture, but I don't think anybody in hell is gonna be saying right things. I think what people will hear in hell is the blasphemy and the cursing and the hatred that's gonna come out of those hearts that were so hard against God. It's not gonna be a place of repentance. And so we look at this this morning and think, wow, you know, somebody really needs to get saved. They need the life of Christ. They need Jesus to come and to help them. Revelation 20 verse 13 says, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found, written the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. It doesn't matter if they're nice. It doesn't matter if they're good people. It doesn't matter if they tried to be religious or anything like that. But what does matter is that if they don't have Jesus Christ as their savior, they'll spend eternity in the lake of fire. And Jesus Christ is the Savior that came and died for his people's sins. Matthew 1.21, and she shall bring forth his Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And so salvation is when God effectually rescues us. The price has been paid, the Savior did everything on the cross, but that point in time and His finished work, what He did when He died on the cross for us, that He paid the price for our sin, where we personally put our faith in that and receive God's gift of everlasting life. All we need it. Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You know, tonight we get to look at the cross. As we have the Lord's table, why do we want to have that ceremony? Because God said to do it, but also to recognize that, to keep in our minds what Jesus Christ did when he paid for our sin on the cross. Again, has there been a time in your life where you were born again? I wanna, again, challenge this this morning with spiritual growth, but I can't encourage somebody that doesn't have spiritual life to grow spiritually. Because to get on the growth chart, you gotta have that starting point. I'm not saying today that somebody has to be able to say, well, that's the date that I got saved, but there ought to be an experience that they can remember if they don't know the date, that they can remember the day and remember how God worked in their heart and where they were when they bowed their head before God and said, dear God, I'm a sinner. Your son died for me. I'd like to ask you to come into my heart and to save me. Give me your gift of everlasting life. There ought to be some recognition that that is when spiritual life came into my life. And so where are you on the spiritual growth chart of salvation? Secondly, the second one I wanna look at is where are you on the spiritual growth chart of sanctification? Sanctification. Okay, so you need Christ's life, that's salvation, and then sanctification is Christ likeness. We need to be like Christ, we're made into the image of Christ. Have you ever noticed that people begin to look like those that they're around? It's kind of interesting, and maybe we don't recognize this as much if it's us, but the longer somebody is around their spouse, it's just interesting. They take up their mannerisms. You just see the other person, when that person speaks, you can kind of see that reflection. Sometimes they say, and I've noticed this as well, that you begin to look like your pets, or your pets begin to look like you. You ever see somebody walking along and you just look at the dog, you look at the person, you just think, I'm not gonna say this out loud, but there's something that just looks alike there. So I guess the warning is be careful who you spend time with, right? That might happen. But as a believer, We've got Christ in us. There ought to be, as we spend time with Christ, there ought to be this transformation that's taking place where our life is really beginning to look more and more like Christ. 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, but we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. And so we all with open face beholding as in a glass, okay, how many looked in the mirror today? All right, those that didn't look in a mirror, we kind of probably may recognize that or something, right? But sometimes you look in a mirror and you see your reflection there and you think, right, I don't really want to even look in a mirror maybe. Because there might be something there that I got to really work hard at changing. And I'm just talking about physically, and I've got to take the time to stop and to put this right. And maybe I'm just too busy, I feel like, to really take time to look in that mirror and do what I need to do. It might be harder even as far as exercise or discipline like that, right? It's going to take time, but I'm going to get there and really work on it because I see that physically that something that needs to change. As a believer, again, we're looking into the mirror of the Word of God and we're seeing where we're at spiritually. And I don't know about you, but I am excited about the meetings with Evangelist Mary Webb. I'm excited that God's given us the opportunity. The only uncertainty is where we're going to be meeting, you know, and who's going to come as we invite people to come and things like that. But I'm excited that day after day, our church is going to have the privilege of having the mirror of the Word of God lifted up and reflecting our life and Christ's life and seeing basically kind of where we're at. You know, that's a great thing for somebody that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. They really desire that. You know, that's a great thing, because they can go and say, God just challenged me this week. God, I'm just gonna come with an open heart and open mind, and if the Spirit of God speaks to me about something in my life that by God's grace, I wanna change that for God and for God's glory. Again, I'm using the term sanctification this morning. And sanctification means set apart from our sin and set apart unto God. All right, and that's the two aspects of sanctification is that God took us from being in the world and he put us over by him, right? He identified us as his children. Some other terms in the Bible for sanctification, that idea is godliness or holy or holiness. This idea that we begin to look like Christ. I just wanna share some simple points about sanctification. If it isn't godly, it's not of God. There's a lot in our day that say, oh, you know, a Christian has license to do this or that, or maybe you go to the church and you're like, really? I mean, this is the way a Christian acts or looks, but we can say very clearly, if it's not godly, it's not of God. Titus 1.1 says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. Okay, the truth is after what? Godliness. And so you can very quickly evaluate something and say, is it true or is it not? If it's not godly, it's not what? It's not true. And so we can identify that. And so to look at our life and say, again, I wanna be sanctified. I wanna look like Christ. Well, if it's not godly, it's not of God. God set us apart when we got saved. Jude 1.1, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God, the Father, set apart by God the Father. And we are to keep ourselves set apart for God, Romans 12, one and two. It says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. I'm gonna come back to this verse, but it's saying, when we present ourselves to God, what does God want? Somebody that is holy. Somebody that is set apart from sin. We gotta discipline ourselves in guarding our lives, 1 Peter 4.8. is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." I got into 2023, and I don't know that this is my New Year's resolution, and you can't tell by looking at me, but I started doing some curls. I'm doing some exercises. And the Bible says, well, that's profitable a little bit. But it says, godliness is profitable unto all things. And so if we're gonna put a little effort in and say, okay, I'm gonna physically, I'm gonna do some exercise, and maybe some of you have some exercises that you do, whether walking or other things that you look at your life and say, physically, I need to be disciplined, that God says, that's okay, but the better thing is godliness, because godliness is profitable, not just in this life, but in the next. So godliness has great benefits. 1 Timothy 6.6 says, but godliness with contempt is great gain. And so if somebody is righteous, doing what's right, sanctified, and that's gonna be for their benefit. That's gonna be a blessing in their life. We have everything we need to be sanctified. God's given it to us. 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4 says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. Now we're saying godliness is like Christ, okay, so God's given us what we need to be able to do that so that we can be partakers of the divine nature, so that Christ could be seen in our lives, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lies. And so, somebody argued today, we can't really live in victory, but God's word absolutely teaches us that by God's grace, his spirit, his word, that God has given us everything that we need to live in godliness. Jesus has a high standard for us to look like him. When Peter 1.16 says, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. And so the standard is the righteousness of God unattainable by the law, but obtainable through the blood of Christ and the spirit of God and the word of God. And so what God has done is awesome. He's made it possible for us to actually live a life that is separate from the world that's ungodly that we're living in. So we need to carefully do that by God's grace. 2 Corinthians 10 5 says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now, if I were to ask you, how careful should we be in our life? How disciplined should we be in this area of sanctification? Well, that verse said that by God's grace, we ought to scrutinize even the thoughts that we have. That every thought would be in obedience to God. And David said, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in eyesight. And again, somebody could say, but there's no way that I can live my life like that. But by the grace of God, there is your Christ. God has made it possible again for us to be sanctified. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. It says, there is no temptation taken to you, but such as is common to men. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make way to escape that you may be able to bear it. And what that's saying is, I can't say to God, God, I can't have victory over my tongue. I can't have victory over my eyes. I can't have victory over my ears. I can't have victory over my spirit, my attitude, my deceitfulness, right? But I can say, by the grace of God, I can have victory because God is not gonna allow me to be tempted above that which I'm able, but he's also gonna make a way to escape that I can veer it. Now, this is vital. The Bible says, awake to righteousness and sin not. For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. So say somebody is saved and they got onto the growth chart, but then we look at the next chart, and the chart is sanctification, a set-apart life that is lived for God's glory. We've got to be able to say, by the grace of God, I'm doing well, I'm growing in my Christ-likeness after we have Christ's life. And then the third thing is where are you on the spiritual growth chart of surrender, okay? So we spoke about salvation, that's the life of Christ. Sanctification is Christ-likeness, my life like Christ. And then the third thing, surrender, is yielded to Christ. Guys, if you don't mind, just for a second, yeah, just maybe wait till after the service, okay? All right. And so, surrender, yielded to Christ. At our Youth Activity on Tuesday night, We had a few teens that were over, or one teen that was over with our teens that were there, and there was a wee competition that was taking place, and we looked at the life of Samuel when we did our Bible study that night. The challenge to the teens was we have a testimony, keep it clean, right? Everybody has that testimony. One Samuel 12 too, Samuel said, now behold, the king walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed, and I've walked before you from my childhood even unto this day. All right, now, think with me. Can you think of anybody in the Bible that served God from infancy? Maybe the Lord Jesus Christ, obviously, but just think of God's servant. It was interesting for me to see that phrase, as Samuel said, I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. And if you know the story Samuel's brought, dedicated to the Lord at the house of God Hannah, but the reason his life had been used for God is that as a child, Samuel's life was surrendered to God. And so 1 Samuel 3.10 says, and the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel, then Samuel answered, speak for thy servant, hear it. You know, surrender is me saying to God, okay, God, whatever you want. Speak, Lord, for thy servant here, I'm your servant, I surrender to you whatever you want. Again, that scripture that we already read, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you what? Present your bodies, a living sacrifice. And again, that's that surrender opportunity just to set ourselves before God to be used by God. The Apostles Paul's salvation and surrender took place at the same time. As you look at it, as he got saved, he immediately surrendered his life to the Lord. Acts 9.6 says, and he trembling and astonished at Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And so Paul immediately said, God, my life is yours. However you want to use my life, use it. And there's some stories that, biographies that you can read where God worked in that way. James Stewart, that was that young footballer that I've spoken about, as he got saved, he said to God, gotta walk away from football at the age of 14, and from what would have been a career in professional football. But as he got saved, he said, I surrender my life to God. and God used him as a child evangelist in Scotland. Praise God, God has a plan for a surrendered life for Paul. In Acts 9, it was to serve him with the gospel. The Lord said unto Ananias, go thy way, for he, Paul, is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him namesake. You might think, Pastor Ben, I don't want to surrender. You just read about Paul. Paul said, all right, what will thou have me to do, Lord? And God says to Ananias, the guy that's going to go talk to him, tell him he's going to go and he's going to suffer a lot from me. If I were to ask you today, did Paul have a rough ministry or did he have a great ministry? You know what? We know from the scripture that Paul had an exciting ministry as he served God. from Philippians, or I'm sorry, from prison, he wrote the book, Philippians, to the church at Philippi, that letter. And there in that text, the theme of that text is joy. He said in chapter one, verse three, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Verse four, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. Verse 21, to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Chapter four, verse six, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want, he's in prison. For I've learned whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. All right, so I mean, you read the book of Philippians, you're like, this guy is in prison, it's not going well, you know his story, he's been beaten, he's been shipwrecked, he's gone through all those things, but he can speak about, I found in whatever state I am, there went to be content. The peace, that passive understanding that he's speaking about. He had that sweet knowledge of the presence of God in his surrendered life. You know, this past Thursday, my wife and I went to the Western to visit Marielle and keep praying for her. She's ended up back in the hospital. She broke her femur. And since surgery, she's just not done very well in her recovery, but she's getting there, all right? But as we visited with her, her spirit was joyful. She's talking about the goodness of God. She's asking us about what we've got going on. She's praying for our church as we go through this time of waiting on God to allow us to purchase the property. And just look at her life. She's got joy. I mean, she's going through a heartache, tough time, but she just knows the grace of God. And you look at her life and you realize she's surrendered. and she is submitted to God. Mark 8.35 says, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sakes and the gospels, the same shall save it. God may not call you into full-time ministry if you say to God, okay, God, whatever you want me to do with my life, I'll do. That's what surrender is. It's us putting our life on that altar and saying, God, it's not mine anymore. I submit this to you. But if somebody will do that, it may not be full-time ministry, but it's an opportunity to just say to God, okay, God, hands off my life. God, whatever you want. You know, as we look at that growth chart, where are you on that growth chart? Have you said to God, okay, God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do, because that really leads us to the final point I want to look at, and that's service. And so it's salvation, that's the starting point of the growth chart, sanctification, that's Christ's likeness, then it's surrender, yielded to Christ, but then it's serving Christ, what can I do for Christ? There's something in the Bible called a bond slave. A bond slave was an indentured servant that got to the point where they had paid off their debt to the person that they were working for, but they realized, you know what, I don't wanna leave. I love my master, I love the family that he's given to me, I love the way that things have worked out in his household, so I wanna be a bond slave. And they would take that man and they would bore his ear through with an awl on the door to mark him that he had identified in that way that he was not a slave to his master because he had to pay off his debt, but that he was serving him out of love. Now in that position, the master would assign his hours, would tell him what to do, and he would do that, but he would trust in the kindness and the grace of his master. You know, interestingly, as you read through the scriptures and read the New Testament, what you'll see about the great men of God is that they recognized that who they were was just servants to God, and servants to Jesus Christ. Paul, in Romans chapter one, verse one, It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1.10, Paul said, do I now persuade men of God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Epaphras, Colossians 4.12. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ. Okay, that's just a man in the church, but he was a servant of Christ. James, James 1.1, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, 2 Peter 1.1, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Jude, Jude 1.1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. John, in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 1.1. It says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things that which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John. And I just love looking at the scripture and seeing these men. And they said, I am the servant of Jesus Christ. And because they were surrendered, they were also as a servant, what were they doing? They were serving him. There was something that they picked up, and that's what God wanted them to do with their life, and so that's what they were doing, because they were the servant of God. I had a young man in our church in Michigan that got saved. He was in his 20s, and he had read the Left Behind series by, I'm trying to think of the man's name, LaHaye, something LaHaye, right? Tim LaHaye. And so he had read that, got convicted by the stories that what's gonna happen in end times, he knew enough to pray and ask Jesus Christ to save him. And so he did. He ended up at our church two hours away because his brother went to our church, and we went over to that man's house that night, and we were there with the teens, and Earl was sitting in the corner, and he listened to the testimony of his brother and recognized, that's what I've done, I've accepted Christ. I want to be a part of this church. He built a room in his brother's pole barn to live in so that he could attend our church. He was kind of skilled in that way, carpenter. And we began working together on the church property, and on my house I had a project going on, and I got to disciple Earl. He was excited about God, excited about growing in the faith, and so it came to the point of him joining the church, and I was speaking to him about it, and he said this, and I'll never forget it. He said, what do I do when I become a member? Do I mow the grass? And I thought, what an interesting way to look at church membership, why? Because he's thinking, if I'm a part of something, then I want to what? Do something. And it was just natural to him. I want to serve Christ. And there ought to be something in our hearts that looks at it and says, right, okay, God saved me, I'm not going to hell. God sanctified me, I'm not bound in my sin. I surrender to him, God, whatever you want me to do. And when God says, do this, guess what? There ought to be that response to say, I desire to serve God. And so this morning, as we look at that growth chart of service, where are you on that growth chart? Are you starting to pick some things up and say, okay, I want to do this for God. I can do this. I may not be able to get up and preach or something like that, but I can do something for God. I can invest my life for God. I can be able to speak to people about Christ. There's so many things that we could do. I remember as a child, my parents were kind of concerned about my growth. They took me to the doctor. I remember them measuring my hand, doing some x-ray or something. There's a growth plate in there. And I think at that point or something, my dad might have asked me, does it bother you being short? And I thought, not until you said that, I guess I'd look at people like this and think we're eye to eye, or something like that. By the way, if you struggle with your height, it's really not being short, it's being vertically challenged. But you get more food when you get your food. You get bigger seats in an airplane. I'm just saying there's some perks to it, if that's you. There's not much we can do about it, right? But there's a lot of things physically in my life I can do something about. I can grow and be healthy and be on that growth chart where I need to be in other ways. But when we're speaking about spiritual, I just wanna remind us this morning that the things that we've spoken about this morning, we can excel on those growth charts. Salvation gets us onto it. Has there ever been a time in your life where you personally put your faith in Jesus Christ? That's where it begins, you know, where we recognize that God loved me, he died on the cross for my sin and by his shed blood, I can be forgiven of my sin. But then the next thing is sanctification. And I could, God sanctifies me, he sets me apart, but I gotta work with God on that, I can't, you know, a Christian can be a carnal Christian, they can hold on to sin and they can grow really slow. Or they can deal with sin. and let God begin to change their life so that they're Christ-like. When somebody sees them, they're like, there's something different about you because you don't do the things that we do. And then all of us can say to God, God, I take my hands off my life, I surrender. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do. And that brings us to the final point, doesn't it? Like, okay, what am I gonna do? Because saying I'll serve God, you know, surrender my life is just saying it, but serving God, that's doing it. And so those four things, if we pray about a church, you know, we'll get in a property, there's some exciting things happening, but please remember these four things as a church. This is what we're burdened about in our church. We're burdened about salvation, sanctification, surrender, and service, because those will be vital to what we desire God to do in our lives, our family, and in our church. All right, let's pray. Father, I just pray that the Spirit of God would really anchor these four things in our hearts and minds, and it may be that somebody is thinking this morning, they'd have to say, you know, Pastor, I am not saved. Now, I'm religious, maybe, and I think good thoughts about God, and I'll talk to people and tell them, I believe in God. But Father, that's not salvation. Salvation is a point in time, a day where we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. So if somebody recognizes this morning that they're not saved, please give them courage to go ahead and take that step and bow their head and put their faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. The Father of all of us that are saved by grace, I pray that we be sanctified. It might be that somebody's thinking right now about a sin that they've got that maybe nobody else knows about, but they've been unwilling to deal with that sin. They're not living a sanctified life. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God give them grace to turn from their sin and repent of it and find your forgiveness. And that, Father, it's entirely possible that we could be a believer and not surrender, that was spoken about in Romans chapter 12. And Father, I pray God give us grace to step up by faith and say, I'm gonna put myself on that altar. And then I'm not just gonna say it, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna serve and look for opportunities to serve God. Father, we don't have to have great believers in our church, but we ought to be growing. We ought to be people that say, you know what? I'm gonna grow and I'm gonna be better for the Lord and for his work. And so help us to do that. I say in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's stand and sing I Surrender All. It's a great declaration.