We're going to start in 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. And as Peter ends his letter here, He ends the second epistle. He ends it this way, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The command here, the exhortation here is to grow. And so tonight, as we continue on in our series, thinking about biblical counseling and discipleship, we want to think about this in some practical ways. One of the things that we ought to always have in mind for ourselves, but also as we're trying to help others, whether that's just in a A general discipleship kind of way or whether you're dealing with a specific. Problem, here's a reality that is important for God's people to remember. God does not expect us to be perfect. But he does expect us to be growing. OK, let me say that again. God does not expect us to be perfect. We know that. But he does expect us to be growing. Now, you're probably not going to be too surprised that most folks don't have a big problem with the first statement. God does not expect us to be perfect. And usually people are fine with that. You know, praise the Lord. And I'm glad he doesn't expect us to be perfect. But it's typically not in any sort of outward pushback, but it's typically the second one that people get hung up on, that God does whatever season of life you're in, wherever you are, you are not fully sanctified yet, and you're not gonna be until you see God face to face, until Christ comes back or you go home to be with the Lord, and so in the meantime, God does expect you to be growing. Now, here's a few other things before we kind of get to the last key element that we're going to look at. Growth. We think about that growth does not happen while you're talking about truth. Growth happens when you act on truth and you actually apply it to your life. So truth is something that it can be... I mean, we spent a whole message on Sunday talking about this. It's helpful for us to discuss truth, to be able to understand truth, to be able to grasp truth. But truth is something that is supposed to be shaping the way that we think and the way that we live our lives. So growth happens as we actually apply, act upon truth in our lives. So it's not enough If we were thinking about instruction and talking to someone or someone who's been convicted about something, it is not enough to just know that you should stop or start doing something. You actually have to stop or start doing it. And that's a common sense statement. I mean, you know that. There's nothing surprising about that. That can be clarifying sometimes for folks and it's very helpful for us as we think about goals in our own life and then what would it mean to be helpful in somebody else's life. So think about this, if somebody has invited you to speak into their life and to help them to grow, if you listened carefully, and you were able to discern accurately what needed to be addressed, and you had the biblical knowledge to frame it biblically, and you were able to give appropriate hope, and you were able to give appropriate biblical instruction, but you never encouraged the person to actually use that to move forward and grow, you hadn't done anything. You haven't really loved the person the way that God calls you to love the person. Because you haven't pushed them, or I say pushed them, you haven't given them the biblical exhortation that leads them to the end of the world. truth, which is growth, which is training in righteousness or discipline in righteousness. So after you've gone through the things that we've talked about again, you're understanding the person, you're discerning the issue or at least where they need to go. You're establishing a relationship. You're giving hope. You're providing instruction. Then it's time to assign. I mean, you can get practical in all kinds of different ways, but if you're meeting with an individual and you're doing that more than once, then it's time to assign what you can call a growth assignment, a homework assignment. People don't usually like the word homework, something to do. You know this is the case already because you've probably met people like this before. Maybe you've seen this in yourself. It's kind of like I've told you this story about whenever I was at Northeast. It was very common around midterms and finals, usually around finals, somebody would come in and they were in history class, sorry, chemistry class. I'm just using that as an example. And they would say, I just, I need to drop chemistry. I have tried everything. I've tried everything and I cannot pass it. I just, I can't get my grade up. I've tried everything. I had a test last week and I got a D on it or an F on it and I've tried everything. Okay. Before we drop it, let's kind of figure out where we are. What did you do to prepare for the test? I studied. Okay. When did you study? The night before. Okay. Any other studying before that? No, just the night before. I thought you said you did everything. That's not everything. That's one night before the test. Have you talked to the instructor about struggling in the class? Haven't done that. Have you thought about getting a tutor for the class? No, haven't done that. What else have you done besides studying the night before the test? Nothing. Well, I thought you told me you've done everything. OK, now that's humorous. But that's human nature. People will convince you with words and tears that they are just dying to change if they just knew how. And it's convincing. until you give them something to do. And then it just doesn't happen. So again, this isn't to embarrass anybody. It's to help people. Sometimes these growth assignments can help open up a helpful conversation about what are you really wanting to do. I mean, if you really want to grow in this particular area, there's some things that have to happen. and some sacrifices you actually have to make. So growth assignments, homework assignments can be helpful. Let me give you some several examples of how you would do that at the end, but let me give you a few things before we get there. Number one, growth assignments translate discussions into action. Now think about that in light of these passages. Matthew chapter four, verse four, you know this passage already. Jesus says, man shall not live Live. Live, right, that's the word, on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. What Jesus is teaching us here is that the word of God, it is to be grasped, it is to be understood, it is to be discussed, but it's ultimately to be lived on. It's meant to shape what we do. Maybe we could say it this way. There is a response that must be made. And we're going to respond either way. We will either respond by not doing and disobeying, or we will respond in obedience. But either one of those is going to be a response. We're meant to live off of it. Or maybe Deuteronomy 29.29. This is going back obviously, to the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 29.29, where Moses says, "...the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may..." What? What is the word? Do all the words of this law. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. What he's saying is there are some things you just can't know. I don't care how long you think about it. I don't care how long you pray about it. I don't care how long you jabber about it. There are some things you just cannot know. And then there are some things that God has plainly revealed. Now, sometimes you'll be working with or having a conversation with an individual, and this division can be very helpful. Because the individual will inevitably be fixated. On things that fall under the realm of the secrets that belong to the Lord. Things that you cannot possibly know. Things that that it doesn't matter how hard you try. So. For instance. We believe. Romans 8 28. We believe that God is working all things together for our good. All things now that doesn't mean all things are good, but even whenever we blow it. Even our sinful responses. We believe that God is working all things together for our good, that ultimately he will bring good out of it. But you know what we don't know? We don't know how he's going to do it. We don't know when he's going to do it. We don't know where he's going to do it. And oftentimes in situations you'll find people that get fixated on the secret will of God and rather than looking to see what is it that God has actually told me to do here. They spend a lot of time pontificating on what might he be doing that would be impossible for me to know. So it's helpful to be able to make a distinction between there are some things that you can't know, but brother or sister, there are some things that we do know. God has clearly spoken and God expects us to be acting on those things. You think about a passage like Philippians 2, verse 12, where Paul calls the Philippians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. It's God that works in both the will and the do, but the command is to Work this out. These are things you ought to be doing. You ought to be applying and then you are all familiar with James exhortation in James 1, 22 through 25, just in summary where he says, do not be a hearer of the word only, but be a doer of the word. So. As we're. Again, we're we're Instructing, which is something that needs to happen. We need biblical knowledge. We need to know what God has said. But we don't need to stop there. We need to allow that word. We need to act upon that word and and allow it to influence our lives and our actions. So homework translates discussion. Into action. Now number two. why this is helpful and why this is important. It's because the power of Scripture in discipleship or in biblical counseling is really the real work of discipleship and counseling. Here's what I mean by that. The Spirit of God applying the Word of God to the heart of a child of God That's the heavy lifting. I mean, that's where real change happens. It's helpful for us to be able to talk to one another. It's helpful for us to be able to iron, sharpen iron. It's helpful for us to be able to have conversations and do all the other things that we've talked about. But the real work of growth and change occurs between, let's just say it's me, between me and God. I will stand before God one day accountable for what I did and did not do. And as I am coming face to face with Scripture, the conviction or the comfort or whatever else that's being ministered to my heart is being ministered by God's Spirit to me through His Word. Transformation occurs as God's Spirit uses God's Word in the lives of God's people. Now, here's really what that means. And you've heard me say this before. That means God's not banking on you. Aren't you thankful for that? God's not banking on you for somebody else's sanctification. Now he might use you in somebody else's sanctification, and it's a tremendous blessing when he does. But he's not banking on you. God uses his work through the power of his spirit to sanctify his people. So the pressure is off as far as, now you need to be faithful. You don't need to be lazy and you don't need to be neglectful, but the pressure's off as far as you maybe thinking the Lord has put all his eggs on your basket. So we give people practical things to do with Scripture because this is where real change happens. The Word of God we know from Scripture. God uses His Word to do things that we just simply cannot do. Look in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Verse 10, for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. God says, my word is not going to return to me void. It's going to accomplish all that I set out for it to do, all that I please. So again, not only whenever we think about what could be intimidating as it relates to trying to help another individual or encourage or disciple. Our job is to be faithful. We point folks to the Word of God and we recognize and trust in the fact that God will use His Word to accomplish His purposes in His timing in the lives of His people. So, we also think about things like Hebrews 4, verse 12, the Word of God like a two-edged sword. cuts asunder between soul and spirit. And it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Word of God does that. You know what it's like to have been reading Scripture, or maybe you've even heard someone else read or comment on Scripture, and that conviction sets in. The Word of God can do that. A passage of truth grabs you. and I'm not going to go here, but Psalm 19, 7-10 talks about what all God's Word does. It makes the simple wise. It rejoices the heart. It converts the soul and so forth and so on. And so it's the power of Scripture and homework that's the real work of counseling. Now here's what I mean whenever I say that. Counseling and discipleship. You can have somebody who will be willing to converse with you on a weekly basis or regular basis. You could even have somebody who was willing to be open and vulnerable about difficulties that they were facing. You can find just the right passage to minister to them. And y'all could do that week after week after week after week, but if they're not in God's Word on their own throughout the week, you're not going to see any progress. Because the counseling hour or the discipleship hour is not the magic hour. Nothing big is going to happen. Something encouraging might happen. Something helpful might happen. But change happens as we are walking in the word. So we want to point people to that. Make sure they understand that. Number three. Of course, if we're thinking about giving someone practical things to do, applying God's Word, then one thing that is necessary and helpful to understand is that proper application of Scripture, a proper application of Scripture, is dependent on a proper interpretation of Scripture. If you want to accurately be able to give people practical help from Scripture, that is, tell them what the Bible would have them to do, then you actually have to know how to interpret Scripture, read the Bible properly. Now, this is only funny if nobody ever did it, but you'll get the joke. I've heard people talk about You know, folks who just flip the Bible open and put their finger down, and that's where they are. They just read what's there. And so this is a joke. Individual was in hard times. They needed a word from God. And so they flipped the Bible open, put their finger down, wanting the Spirit's guidance, and they got to the passage that said Judas went out and hung himself. And they thought, OK, well, this is not it. So they closed it. They opened the Bible up, put their finger down again and look. And the text said, go down and do likewise. OK, now that's silly, right? But it illustrates the point without both of those are in the Bible. but wildly misunderstood and applied if you took it that way. So, without a proper interpretation, you are not going to make a proper application. So, a lot could be said about this, but it's helpful to know what kind of book are we reading? Is this poetry? Is this a An Old Testament narrative? Is it an epistle? How do we approach this book? Should I take it as a book? Should I understand what this book is about? It's helpful to understand the Bible or the text in chunks or in paragraphs. And all that means is it's helpful to understand it in its context. That's what we really mean when we say take a take a text or take a verse in its context. Just take it in its thoughts, overall thoughts. Obviously, you can look up words that you don't understand. But, you know, as you're trying to understand the Bible in light of some of those things. Really, three questions are helpful. What does the text actually say? OK, that can be discerned fairly easily. What does the text actually mean? That's where you need to look in the context. You need to see what's been what has he been talking about? What is. What does he mean by what he's saying right now? And then how can I apply this to my life? So that's a that's a flyby, but biblical interpretation is important and there could be a lot said about that. But the biggest point is without proper interpretation, you will never arrive at a proper application. So it's not just let's see how creative we can be with coming up with things for people to do and see if we can tag a verse along with it. Before you know how to apply a verse, you must know what the verse actually means. So that's important. All right, and then the last one before we get to some examples is this can be very, very helpful as you're trying to help someone. And at first it might sound like it's not, but just keep listening. the importance of making a distinction and an understanding in your own mind between what's called the indicatives in Scripture and the imperatives. So those are just big words that you'll understand. If you don't understand right now, you'll understand them clearly in just a second. So an indicative in Scripture is simply what God has done for you or given you in Christ. So it's important for us to understand. It's important for anybody struggling with anything to understand what God has given you and done for you in Christ. You know, sometimes people can get in very difficult situations. Sometimes people can get in very heavy situations. And oftentimes, even if they know what God wants them to do, the thought is, I can't do that. It's just too difficult. I can't keep going. I could not possibly do what God is asking me to do. And what that person is deficient in is their understanding of the indicatives of Scripture. That is, what God has done for them in Christ. Paul understood what God had done for him in Christ, and he was able to say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Paul didn't say, I can do all things in my own strength. Paul didn't say I can do all things using my own resources. I can do all things through Christ who is strengthening me. Sometimes people need to be reminded of, or maybe taught in the first place, of what all they've been given in Christ. For example, you've heard me say this a bunch of times. Ephesians 1. You've been given, verse three, you've been given all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's an example of what I'm talking about. This is what you've been given. Access to what? All of it. What did God hold back? Nothing. If you have Christ, you have everything. Now we're talking general, so we could make specifics if we were to continue to go, but we, We apply these indicatives to our lives by embracing and believing what God has given us in Christ. And so sometimes that's through meditation, sometimes that's through reminding ourselves, memorizing some things, applying things in that way, an outlook on life. You know, your outlook on life affects everything. It really does. It affects everything. It's the indicatives. It's what God has done for you in Christ that will shape your outlook on life. On how you think you can or cannot move forward. So then the imperatives, that's what God commands you to do in light of what he's given you in Christ. Those are the things you typically think about when you think about application. Do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that. And it's important for us to remember that all of the commands of God flow out of the provisions of God. That is, God has never called you to do anything that he hasn't provided you the strength to do or provided you the resources to do it. Now, if you keep that in mind, the indicatives, what God has done for you, the imperatives, what God has called you to do, and you go and start to pay attention as you read the epistles, they're almost all split up this way. Ephesians is an easy one. I'm sorry, Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. almost all indicatives. I don't think there's a command besides the command to believe something. I don't think there's a command in the first three chapters. This is what God has done for you in Christ. You've been redeemed. You've been chosen. You've been adopted. You've been predestined. You've been brought from life to death. You've been united and made alive with Christ. You've been united with Jews and Gentiles in the Gospel. And then we get into chapter 3, and he kind of reforms some of that. And then you get to chapter 4, and he says, Therefore, walk worthy of the calling wherewith you've been called. So then you get a command to do something, but that command is based on a therefore, right? The indicatives, what you have been given in Christ allows you to walk in Him and obey Him. So it's, again, more could be said about that, but that's an important aspect of it. So before, We assign people things to do. It is important that we make sure they understand what they have. If you think that you have to muster up your own strength to go through a difficult situation, you're never going to make it. But if you realize and you recognize that God is providing for you day by day everything you need in Christ, then you can make it through the day, and you can make it through the next day, and the next day, and the next day. So it's important to make those distinctions. Now let me give you a few examples, because sometimes this can be intimidating or it can be even confusing. What would I actually do? Well, we've got a few minutes left. So anytime we're trying to give homework or a growth assignment, it's something that we We want to make practical something that people are actually doing. They're using the scripture and they're doing something with it. And it's something that you will know if someone did or did not do so. Here's what I mean by that. It needs to be specific enough. So you know, you know, we might say. OK, you know we're working on some discipleship stuff. And. You want to grow in holiness? Alright. Go read Psalm 19. And then we meet the next week and I say, well, did you read it and you say yeah, and I say, well, how did it go and you say good and I say OK and you say what's next? There is no way for me to know whether or not somebody actually did that. There was nothing that was specific enough for me. So it would be something more like this. Read Psalm 19. And then in light of Psalm 19.12, which says this, Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. So here's the prayer. Lord, would you cleanse me of secret sins? Who can understand his errors? I need help to do that. I want to grow in holiness, and this is an area where I want to grow. So, in light of Psalm 19, 12, pray every day that God would show you things about yourself that you are not currently seeing. Who can know his secret errors? I can't. You can't. But God can show them to me. And so since that's the case, let's pray every day that God would show us some things about ourselves that we're not currently seeing. And then after you've prayed, because again, we can come back and I could say, well, did you read it? Yep. Did you pray it? Yep. Anything? No. Okay. After you've prayed. Take about eight to ten minutes each day to reflect on one of the following questions and record your insights and be ready to discuss what the Lord is showing you. Where am I being self-centered? Lord, show me my secret falls. Now, I know y'all don't struggle with self-centeredness, but some people do. Where am I being self-protective? Where do I isolate because I'm being self protective? Where am I refusing to believe God and where am I refusing to obey God? Now, if we took that home. And every day. Prayed that God would bless us to see some things about ourselves that we're not currently seeing and then devoted a 8 to 10 minutes. That's nothing. To reflecting on. One of those questions at a time. I bet in a week we would come back with some stuff. We're assuming that God is going to answer our prayers that he's going to show us some things and then you have something to actually work on. So this is obviously the point of this assignment would be self awareness. But it's specific enough that you would know whether I did it or did not do it. Let me give you another one. By the way, if anybody wants the notes, there's several examples and you can see them on there. I'm not going to get to them all tonight. Here's another one. Matthew 7. 24 through 27. Scratch that. Let's go to Matthew 22. That one's maybe better for an example. Matthew 22. And then after this one, I'm going to do one more and then we'll be done. All right, Matthew 22. This is one of those passages, you know it, it's a very, this is very practical. If you were doing discipleship with somebody, this would definitely be a place you would want to go. In Matthew chapter 22. where Jesus answers the question in verses 36-39, the lawyer asks, what is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus says it's to love God and love neighbor. And I'm going to stop there just as far as what he says. What's the highest priority is what he's saying. What's the most important thing? Well, it's to love God and to love neighbor. Okay. We could take that and say, yeah, that's the most important thing. And, you know, I wish I did that more. But I don't. What's next? Or. And this is again, if you were trying to help someone in this area or even help yourself, this would be a profitable exercise. Read Matthew 22. Thirty six to thirty nine. four times this week and take 15 minutes to reflect on and answer the following questions. What do I need to stop doing in order to make loving God my highest priority? You realize we live off priorities. The fact that loving God might not be the highest priority in your life doesn't mean you don't have a highest priority. So what do I need to stop doing to make God my highest priority? What do I need to start doing in order to make loving God my highest priority. So what's my prayer life like? What's my intake of God's Word like? What's my walk with the Lord like? What's my commitment to His church like? What do I need to stop and start doing to make sure that all those priorities are what they need to be? Again, we're not going to be perfect, but we want to be growing. We could do the same thing with, what do I need to stop doing in order to make loving my neighbor my second highest priority besides loving God? What do I need to start doing in order to make loving my neighbor my second highest priority? Well, brothers and sisters, I'm telling you, if you spent 15 minutes a day, four days out of a week reading, praying and meditating on that, you would have a pretty concrete plan as to what you needed to do to grow in that area. And if you were trying to help somebody, you would have a pretty concrete plan as to how you could help somebody. All right, last one. Look in Isaiah 26.3. Isaiah 26.3, you know this verse. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. So the point of this would be finding peace through trusting in God. He says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you because he trusts in you. So what would we do with a passage like that? Well, you obviously need a companion passage, okay? So this is telling you This is giving you a statement of fact, but it's not really giving you details to fix your mind on. So here's one way you could use this. It is a true statement. Obviously, the Lord will keep you in perfect peace if your mind is fixed on him and you're trusting in him. But how would we do that? Well, I mentioned on Sunday if I'm teaching particularly a young. Child something about God, but I would do the same thing with adult. But I like you Psalm 23, so this might be an assignment based on Isaiah 26 three. Read Psalm 23 every day this week. And then starting with verse one. OK, so really it's going to be 6. six individual days as if he goes through it one verse at a time. Starting with verse one, spend 10 to 15 minutes each day on one verse and answer the following questions. So let's just start with the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want question number one. What do you learn about God in this verse? Take some time and write that down. Based on what you learned about God in the verse, what specifically should you be trusting Him to do? It's one thing to know that God is your shepherd. It's another thing to know what that actually means. What am I supposed to do with that? Number three, reflect back on your life and think about or write about a time when God was faithful to be to you what He promises to be in this particular passage. You got any testimonies in your life where God shepherded you through a difficult season? Of course you do. You've probably forgotten 75% of them. I wonder how edifying it would be for you to take 10 or 15 minutes and try to think about those things, recall those things, exactly how He did those things. And then number four, how are these aspects of God's character relevant in your current situation? The Lord is my shepherd. OK, so I'm thinking about what that means, what I should be trusting. I'm thinking about how God has been faithful to do that in the past. And then I'm thinking about how that's relevant to what I'm facing right now. That's going to be helpful. And that's something concrete. that not only I can fix my mind on, but I can discuss with you the next time we get together. So those are some examples of growth assignments of just using scripture practically. And this is something that can be very, very helpful. Again, if you want to see some of the other ones or anything else in these notes, I can email them to you if you ask. So that's it for tonight. Giving growth assignments and helping people do something with scripture. Anybody have anything on your heart before we dismiss?