Well, this morning, Lord willing, we're going to wrap up this little mini series that we've been doing, talking about growing in Christ, just what it means to know Him, what it means to grow in Him. And we're going to, Lord willing, finish that up this morning as we talk about the last couple of commitments related to what it means to grow in Jesus Christ. And I shared last week, for those of you that were here, for those of you who weren't, that as we conclude this morning, We're going to provide an opportunity for you to publicly affirm that commitment, if that is the desire of your heart, to want to continue growing in your relationship with Christ, if you know Him. If you don't know Him, we certainly hope that through the things that are shared from God's Word this morning, that you might come to a fuller knowledge of who Jesus is and what it means to have faith in Him and to walk with Him. And so that's our goal this morning, to communicate those truths. But I want to remind you that as we conclude this morning, that I'll be providing an opportunity for those of you that would be inclined just to publicly affirm that commitment to grow in Christ. But let's go ahead and open with a word of prayer, ask that the Lord would really be active in our midst this morning. Father, we do ask that you would prepare our hearts, Lord, and prepare our minds. Father, that for all of us, this would be more than just an exercise that we do on Sunday mornings, but God, that you might cause us to be of a heart and of a mind to hear your voice, Lord, that you might speak clearly through your word, Father, that you'd give grace to me as I would seek to communicate it. I pray that you would help me to do that accurately, and Lord, anything that is inconsistent with what you revealed, I pray that you would just make right that. Lord, I pray that you would do in all of our hearts the things that you desire, that we might have a greater awareness of who you are and the wonder of the salvation that you have provided in Christ and the privilege and joy of what it means to belong to you and to grow with you. We ask that you would do all of this in Christ's precious name. Amen. You know, is it a little bit warm in here? There's mixed reports here. If we can just get a little more air circulating somehow for a little bit. What? Okay, all right. It's a mixture. Some are hot. You're cold, right, Jessica? Okay, well, maybe it'll stay warm for a while. We'll do our best. Well, as we've been going through this series, I've shared with you at the very beginning of this series a few weeks ago that I believe the desire that God would want to cultivate in all of our hearts is that there would be such an intense hunger to know Him, such an intense hunger to grow in our relationship with Him, that it would radically impact our lives. It would affect the way that we live on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and even Sunday, that there would be this desire that God would cultivate in our hearts that would be real and genuine and would cause us to want to grow and to want to take hold of all the things that He has made available to us in Jesus Christ and what it means to know Him and walk with Him. So that's really been the focus as we've gone through all of this. We began a number of weeks ago talking about the necessity of growth for a Christian. If a person claims to be a believer, If they claim to have faith in Jesus Christ, there should be a pattern of growth in their lives. And we looked at a couple of different passages in the book of 2 Peter. Probably the clearest is right at the end of 2 Peter chapter 3, when Peter says in verse 18 that we are to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the picture that we've been looking at to help us understand that is just that of physical growth. When a baby's born, the baby's complete, it has everything it needs for its life, and yet there's a very understood sense that that baby is going to grow. And we would anticipate that and we provide for that baby in a physical way and in an emotional way and social way that they might grow. And the same is true for anyone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ. When they're born again, that's the starting point, but God desires to see increasing growth. And we talked about in the midst of that, that the measure of growth, the way that we know whether or not a person is growing in the way that God intends, is the extent to which they reveal what the Bible refers to as the fruit of the Spirit. Those qualities that are reflective of God's character. Paul mentions them in Galatians chapter 5, the qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. If a person is growing as a Christian, those qualities should be seen in an increasing measure. Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 1, identifies a similar list of qualities that reflect the same aspect of God's character. Christ lives inside of a person. The reality of that should continually be being expressed through that person's life. And then we spent some time talking about, well, how do you grow? If we're supposed to grow as Christians, and if that's what God desires, and if it's measurable in the sense of there being specific qualities that we should see in a person's life who's growing, how do you go about doing that? And the answer we found was in 1 Peter 2. And let's go ahead and turn there just to refresh us again. 1 Peter 2, to see the very clear answer of how you go about growing as a Christian. In chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, Peter says, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. Now, the admonition there is very clear, that as believers, as those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, the first thing we need to do is be willing to put aside those things that compromise our growth, those things that are related to what he says in verse 1, malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, all slander. And he says, like newborn babes, we're to long for the pure milk of God's Word, that by it, by God's Word, we grow. And the simple principle is the only way a Christian grows in their life as God is working in their life and God is prompting and directing in their life, the only way they grow is as they feed on God's Word. In a sense, we could equally say as they feed on Jesus Christ, because God's Word is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The only way you and I grow is when we take God's Word into our life, into our minds, into our hearts, and we apply it to our lives. That is how we grow. You don't grow primarily by just reading books or just going to church or just listening to Christian music or just doing this or just doing that. You grow, and I grow, to the extent that we take God's Word and we eat it. in the sense of allowing it to fill our hearts, our minds, our lives, and we apply it. That is how we grow. And in light of those things, then the necessity of growth, the means of growth being God's word, then we've been talking these last couple of weeks about commitments for growth that are necessary on our part in response to all that God is and in response to all that God has done and is doing and continues to desire to do. How do we go about growing? And we've looked at this as we've started to talk about these commitments in terms of Jesus being the great physician. He mentions in Mark chapter 15. or in Mark chapter nine, I believe it is, in verse 15, that he didn't come to heal those who are well, he came to heal those who are sick. And in that sense, we understand him to be a great physician. And so as we've looked at these commitments, we've looked at them in terms of Jesus being our great physician and our response to the things that he desires to do in our lives to make us whole and to heal us in the deepest sense of the word, spiritually. So those are the things that we have addressed and that leads us up to where we're at this morning. We've talked about seven different commitments. The first commitment there on the front page of your notes is a commitment to wholeheartedly trust the great physician. We have to walk by faith. We have to take him at his word. We have to trust his desire for us, believing that he's worthy and that he's faithful and that he's good and that he's wise and that he's kind and that he's powerful. A second commitment necessary on our parts is a commitment to quit eating junk food. And what I mean by that, as we talked about it, was there are so many things that we feed ourselves on in a spiritual sense that will destroy us if we're not careful. The things that we allow to come into our minds, the things that we expose ourselves to. There's a lot of junk food out there in a spiritual sense. And we talked in detail about that. And we need to be committed to quitting it because it destroys our appetite for God's word. And those things will deceive us and they're deadly. Third thing we talked about then was a commitment to ask continually for the Great Physician's help, recognizing our own weakness and vulnerability, that we pray and we looked at a lot of different Psalms in particular where David and others cry out to the Lord for God to help them as they would trust Him and as they would grow. Then we looked, number four, at a commitment to order life around living with the Great Physician. And there we looked in Matthew chapter 11 as Jesus invites us to come to him and to learn from him and to really, in essence, allow our lives to be ordered around knowing him. It's uncanny the things that we will so quickly order our lives around that we think are going to bring some sense of benefit or pleasure to us. Whether it's food, whether it's television, whether it's some kind of an event or experience or whatever, we're very willing to make a lot of sacrifices in order to participate in those things that we think are going to bring us benefit. And again, if we recognize that Jesus is the great physician, that he is good, he is kind, he's wise, he's awesome, how much more should we be willing to order our life around learning from him and living with him? Then we look, number five, at a commitment to follow in detail everything the great physician prescribes. And we look there in James chapter two, or I'm sorry, James chapter one, as well as in Matthew chapter seven, where the truth comes out that we need to be not only those who hear God's word, but do God's word, lest we deceive ourselves. Again, it's not enough just to hear, but we need to apply what we hear and trust him and put into practice the things that he prescribes for us. And then this morning, we're gonna look at these last two commitments, the commitment number six, to savor all of the great physicians' medicine, and then number seven, a commitment to be involved with other patients in the treatment process. And as we address these things, I think they'll become clear as we work our way through. So, that is where we've been, and that is, Lord willing, where we're going for the rest of the time this morning. So let's look at this sixth commitment then, a commitment to savor all of the great physicians' medicine. Now, you may remember the movie years ago called Mary Poppins. And there's a song in that movie where Mary Poppins sings to these children, just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. And for any of us, taking medicine is not something that we typically like to do, particularly if it is some kind of a liquid cough syrup or something like that. I mean, I don't care how much cherry extract or grape extract or whatever they may put in that stuff, it tastes terrible. And if you've ever had the experience of taking a pill where you accidentally bite the pill or if it's one of those gel caps and it accidentally oozes out, I mean there is a bitter, hideous, gross, terrible taste. And for many of us, the thought of taking medicine, it's not an exciting thought because there's a lot of pain and discomfort that can be associated with that. And yet the nature of God and the character of God and His goodness and the blessing of what He has provided for us in His Word and in Jesus Christ and all that He desires for us is of such goodness and greatness that we should be of a heart and of a mind that we literally savor and delight in God's truth to us when he gives us his medicine through his word. And as he applies that to our lives, it should be something that we savor, not just that we kind of grit our teeth and, OK, I got to take this because it's supposed to be good, you know, but there should be a joy and a delight in God's word. And we see this in many places throughout scripture. Let me have you turn, first of all, to Psalm chapter one. Psalm chapter one. We'll try to establish this point. Because again, part of what this point helps us to consider in our own lives is to think about how do we respond to God's word? What is our appetite for God's word? When we hear his word taught, when we read his word on our own, when we interact with his truth, is it something that we delight in? Is it something that we long for, that we savor? Or is it a different experience for us? If it's not something that brings great delight, great joy, great anticipation, great savoring, then there's something wrong in our hearts that we need to consider. Listen to what David affirms in Psalm chapter 1, and I'll start at verse 1. He says, how blessed is the man, in other words, how happy, how fulfilled and blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But verse two, his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night. And then he goes on to describe what this person will be like. Verse three, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. So he's contrasting the man that listens to the counsel of ungodly people and who buys into that and listens and stands with those people and sits with those people and basically has a pattern of life that is following after the teachings and the ways of those who have no interest in God at all. He's contrasting that kind of a person with one who delights in God's truth. who is eager to want to know, well, what does God say? What does God think? What has God revealed and declared about this? And there's a delight. There's a joy. And that person becomes of such a stature, he says, they're like a tree planted by streams of water. It yields its fruit. In other words, it bears fruit. It doesn't worry about or fear when heat comes, when all the external pressure comes. There's no fear. Why? Because they're grounded. They're rooted next to the source, to the living water. And so there's delight and there's joy. We see this also over in Psalm 19. Psalm chapter 19. And in Psalm 19, David is, first of all, affirming the wonder of God's revelation and creation And then he goes on to talk about the wonder of God's revelation through his word. It's a great psalm to read of how God has declared his goodness and his greatness. And after David has identified the wonderful blessing and power and benefit of God's word in verse 7, He says in verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart and the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true all together. They are righteous all together. He's affirming the sufficiency, the power, the greatness, the goodness, the truthfulness, the benefit of God's word. And then listen to what he says in verse 10. He says, they are more desirable, there's that word again, more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold. They are sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. And when you and I grab hold of the sense of the greatness and the goodness of God and His power and His majesty and His truthfulness, in all the wonder of His grace that He revealed in Jesus Christ, when Christ came and took on human flesh and bore the pain and the agony and the rejection of His own Father when He hung on the cross, when He did that for you and for I because He loved us, And we recognize that that's the fullest demonstration and expression of God's love. We can see that all of his truth, all that he has revealed through his word and through the person of work of Jesus Christ, there's nothing that compares to that. And there's nothing that is to be more desirable and more sweeter to us than that. And see, again, we get caught up and we get misled from all of that. Why? Because we give ourselves to things that have the appearance of desirability and of sweetness and of goodness. But in the end, they're just like a bitter pill that leaves a wretched taste in our mouth. when what God has and what God desires is so much better. And so there's to be this sense of savoring and of delighting in God and in His ways and all that He's revealed in His Word. I don't know if you've ever seen a dog chew on one of these rawhide bones, you know, these big rawhide bones that they can get. We used to have a beagle growing up and we would give him one of these bones periodically. And man, when we gave him one of those bones, I mean, you would think it was dog heaven. I mean, it would just go crazy. You know, his tail would be flapping and he'd just be sitting in the corner just. just gnawing on this thing, you know, and attacking it and just going after it. And if you would go to our dog and try to pull this bone away, I mean, it was like you do that at the peril of your own life, you know. I mean, they don't want to have anything to do with it. What are they doing? They're savoring it. They're loving it. They're chewing on it. They're just like they're in dog heaven. And for me, as simple as that is, that's a picture of the sense of savoring and delighting in God's word that, you know, it shouldn't be just a matter of, OK, all right, I got to read my Bible. OK, all right. The Lord bless you. Thank you. Amen. No, there should be a hunger, a delight, a passion because it's life. It's life. God's Word is sufficient. It's powerful. It's able to meet our deepest need and to give answers to the things that we are puzzled over as we seek God and as we learn from Him. Now, I ask the question here in your notes, how do we learn to savor God's Word? How do we cultivate that sense of delighting in God's Word and longing for His Word? And I believe the answer to that is found in the fact that we need to train ourselves to feast on what is good and savor God's word by replacing the lust for other things with the lust for God himself. Did I write that in your notes there? OK. That's what we need to do. You and I hunger. All of us hunger. All of us have cravings. All of us have things that we lust after. The question is, are we lusting after and are we longing for that which is true and that which is ultimately fulfilling and ultimately satisfying? I believe scripture identifies a number of things that are false desires that we easily give ourselves to. And I want to identify a few of those things. Because it's very easy for us to fall into the pursuit of these wrong lusts. And I'm using the word lust in the sense of a strong, compelling, consuming desire. that drives us. That's what a lust is. And it can have any number of things as its object, but a lust is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, there's a very real sense in which we're to lust after God, to long for Him with a strong, consuming, compelling, controlling desire in our lives. Let me identify a few things that I think represent false lusts for us. The first is what I'll call, letter A here, the lust of busyness. The lust of busyness. Now again, I know it's difficult. These things may not apply directly to you, but probably you know other people for whom these things may apply. I'm saying that tongue in cheek. Let's be thinking of ourselves here. Let me have you turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Just an amazing little incident that is communicated for us here by Dr. Luke. He was a physician and an interesting perspective on things that transpired. But in Luke chapter 10, verses 38 through 42, there's a little event that transpires between Jesus and a woman named Mary and a woman named Martha. And let me read the narrative and then make just a couple of comments here. Verse 38, Luke 10, says, Now as they were traveling along, he entered a certain village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord's word, seated at his feet. You get the idea here of what's going on. Verse 40. Now that's a pretty bold rash statement for her to make to the Lord himself. You know, Lord, tell her to get off of her bunnies and get to work. She's not doing anything here. And so Martha, you can tell, is agitated. And the text says she's distracted with all of her preparations. And she's basically looking over at Mary and saying, this is a lazy woman, Lord, command her to get up and get busy. But look at how Jesus responds. This is so insightful. Verse 41. Says, the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only a few things are necessary, really only one. For Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. I've often wondered what Martha did at that point. The text doesn't say, but I imagine she just stood there dumbfounded because here she is engaged in all of these preparations for having the Lord himself in her house. And so she's busy cooking, cleaning, who knows what she's doing. And here's Mary just sitting and listening to Jesus. I mean, what gall she must have. I mean, doesn't she know all these things that have to be done? So Martha comes and she exclaims this or proclaims this to Jesus and tells Jesus to tell Mary to get up and get busy. And Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you're missing the point. Mary has chosen what is good. You've allowed yourself to become distracted with 101 things, but Mary has chosen what is good and it won't be taken from her. There's so many little things that are transpiring there. Have you ever felt where you've just wanted to, in a sense, sit at Jesus's feet? And there is such a pressure in our culture today to be busy, isn't there? I mean, to have a lot of stuff going on. That seems to be the thing that we often communicate to other people to give some sense of just how significant we are and how active we are. Oh man, I've just been so busy. Man, you just can't believe what's been going on. I read an interesting commentary on this whole dynamic of busyness in our culture and in our day and age that reflected on the fact that, you know, 15, 20 years ago, people used to brag about how much they had, you know, the possessions that they had and what they could do. Nowadays, what we talk about is how busy we are, as if there's some added significance to our lives because, man, I just got so much going on, you know, I'm just, oh, it's just unbelievable. I got this, I got this, I got this. Well, I think Jesus has some very specific things to say with respect to our busyness. Because I think the truth is that oftentimes our busyness is something that shields us from the simplicity of listening to God's voice. And oftentimes our busyness is ultimately motivated by a hunger to find significance in the approval of other people, rather than to simply be in the presence of Jesus, content to listen to Him and to walk with Him. because we're so hungry to be respected, so hungry to be approved, so hungry to be liked, so hungry to be well thought of. We're busy doing all kinds of things because we want to make our house look really good when the people come over. There's nothing wrong with that to one sense, but as you see, it's an issue of what motivates us. And that lust for busyness and that lust for finding significance in the approval of other people needs to be replaced with a lust to hear God's voice. And to not be concerned about what all the other people think, but to be concerned about what God has to say. And that's something that hits deep in our hearts. I know it does for me on a daily basis, that whole issue of am I more concerned about what people think or am I content to trust and to live in the presence of Jesus, content with what He thinks and what He has to say. So the lust of busyness is one danger that needs to be avoided and replaced with a lust to hear God's voice and content to listen to Him. A second lust, letter B, is simply the lust of food. And in this instance, I'm using that word in the physical sense of food. A lust to have our physical appetite for food satisfied. And I think in more ways than we realize, we're consumed with this. Turn over to John chapter 4. I'll just identify where I see this come out real quickly. The lust for food. There's nothing wrong with having the natural desires for appetite that God has given to us, but it can very easily cross over into a preoccupation that takes us away from pleasing God. In John chapter 4, Jesus is on his way to Galilee and he passes through an area called Samaria and there he encounters a woman. And you may be familiar with this story where he interacts with this woman and she ends up coming to faith in him. But I want us to look at not so much that whole incident of Jesus and the woman and all that transpired there, but I want you to see the disciples' response to this event after it has happened. Now, just to help us understand what's going on, if you look in John 4, verse 6, or actually verse 5, it says that, So he, Jesus, came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, was sitting thus by the well, and it was about the sixth hour. Now, the thing I want to emphasize there is the text says very clearly that Jesus was tired. And by implication, there's no question that he was thirsty. He was hungry. He had been traveling for a long time. And traveling in those days was obviously radically different than what we know. And he was tired. And so he sits by this well. And verse 8 goes on to tell us in verse 8 that his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. So you get the picture. These guys have been traveling, they're tired, they're hot, they're thirsty, they're dirty, they're hungry, and they just want to rest, and they just want to be replenished. Well, in the midst of all of that, God has sovereignly ordained this encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well. And so as the disciples are off in town buying food, Jesus interacts with this woman. He loves her. He patiently allows her to see the reality of her own sin. And she comes to faith in Jesus Christ. And it's a wonderful thing that transpires. But now let's move ahead to verse 31. And we see what takes place. After all of this has happened, the disciples have been gone, now they're coming back. And in verse 31, we see what transpires. Because they've come back, and it says in verse 31, in the meanwhile, the disciples were requesting him, saying, Rabbi, eat. In other words, they know he's hungry. They're concerned for his welfare at this point. And so they're encouraging him. They've come back to say, man, we've got food. There was a sale down at the local market. We've got this great stuff. Oh, man, you need to eat. They didn't really say it, obviously, but they're wanting him to eat. And then it says in verse 32. Now, this is so interesting. Just watch the disciples' misguided response to this. Verse 32, it says that Jesus said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. Now, at this point, the disciples are thinking, verse 33, the disciples, therefore, were saying to one another, no one brought him anything to eat, did he? In other words, they're thinking, wait a second, Jesus, there's no food. Did somebody bring you something to eat? Who? You know, I mean, they're confused because he said, I have food to eat that you do not know about. And listen to what he says in verse 34. This is so insightful. He says, Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Whoa. Disciples, what are you guys thinking about right now? Where's your mind right now? Are you thinking about your own appetite and the desire to have it fulfilled? Or are you thinking about eternity? Are you thinking about the opportunities that God may be bringing across your path even now? Or are you just more concerned about what you're going to have for dinner, what you're going to have for lunch? And Jesus says, my food, what feeds me, what satisfies me is to do the will of Him who sent me. Now, again, there's nothing wrong with eating real food. There's nothing wrong with enjoying that real food. But there should be a hunger in us that is far greater to do the will of God and to be sensitive to every opportunity, every situation that God would bring for us to be used by Him in the lives of other people. And so it's a very clear danger that we need to be aware of, that the lust of food would override our lust to taste God's approval by doing His will and to be sensitive to that. There's a third lust that we need to be aware of, and it really kind of embodies everything. That is letter C, the lust of pleasure, the lust of pleasure. And this goes beyond simply the desire for having our physical appetites fed with food. This relates to every aspect of our earthly physical bodies. It's really a lust for comfort and pleasure, however we may seek to have that fulfilled. And all of us know what we're talking about with respect to that. All of us know what we're talking about. It's the lust to be pleased, to be to feel good, to experience good things, in whatever way, shape or form we may think that that's going to be fulfilled. And Jesus says that that lust is a dangerous lust because it will kill our appetite for God and for His Word. You don't need to turn there, but in Matthew chapter 13, As Jesus is talking about this parable of the sower, where he's sharing with his disciples the significance of what will happen when his word is proclaimed and how different people will respond to his word. In verse 22 of Matthew 13, he says, The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. If you and I give ourselves to the pursuit of pleasure in this world, independent of God, it will choke the power and the work of God's Word in our life. And that's why oftentimes if you and I experience a lack of hunger for God's Word and a lack of delighting in God's Word, a lack of desire for God and His Word, we have to be willing to stand back and say, you know, are there other things that I've been giving myself to that are choking that hunger, that are destroying that hunger, trying to find pleasure in things other than God? In 1 John 2, verses 15 to 17, by the way, we're going to actually begin our study of 1 John next Sunday morning. Lord willing. So just so that you know that that is coming up in 1st John, chapter two, verses 15 through 17. John says so plainly, do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. And folks, you and I are inundated with this, aren't we? But it's important for us to understand the world is not what's out there. The world's what's in here. It's a question of our hearts. The world only influences us to the extent that we let it. Because it's an issue of faith and trust and walking with God and turning away from all those things that we can see and trusting and believing really what we can't see, but what God has revealed in His Word. It's a great passage that helps us battle this lust in Psalm 16. And again, you don't need to turn there. You're welcome to if you'd like. But in Psalm 16, verse 11, The writer affirms as he's talking to God, he says, you will make me know the path of life. He says, in your presence is fullness of joy. And in your right hand, there are pleasures forever. Affirming the fact that you know what? There is no pleasure like the pleasure that God provides when you walk with him. And frankly, there are aspects of that which are physical, which we enjoy in this life, which we can take fully as a gift from God. When you sit down, when your heart's right with God, when you're walking with Him, when you're seeking Him, when you're enjoying Him, you know what? That's when you can only really enjoy the things that He has provided in this life because you see them as from His hand and as a gift of grace and mercy and goodness from Him. Whether it's a beautiful day, or whether it's a wonderful meal that you share, or whether it's a great time with a friend, or whether it's the joy that a husband and a wife can share in marriage, or whatever it may be, you can take those gifts from him and enjoy them. But it's only in his presence where there's fullness of joy. To try to experience all those things apart from him is futile. It does not satisfy, and it does not bring any real lasting joy. So the lust for pleasure is to be replaced with a lust to know God's pleasure, knowing that true and lasting joy is found only in His presence. And with all that God prescribes for us as the great physician, isn't it an awesome thing to know and to believe there's no bad side effects? You know, with any kind of medication that you may take, there could be any number of different side effects that you may have to deal with. I was very amused, if you've watched any of the Olympics, maybe you've seen some of these ads, and I also saw this ad in a magazine for a medication called Paxil. And it is proposed to provide relief for what is identified as social anxiety disorder. another new disorder that's been identified. And this ad, I don't know if you can see it, there's a picture here. The first picture in the ad has this picture and it says what it is, where there's just a guy sitting around this table, apparently in an interview kind of a situation, you know, looks under control, looks calm and all of that. And these people are just, you know, they're interested, but they're not intimidating or anything like that. So this is what it is. And then the next picture says, this is what it feels like. And it makes all these people look like enemies. And the guy is bound up in ropes. I know this isn't a great picture, But you know, this is social anxiety disorder, where you get in the midst of people and you just... And I'm not discounting the fact that that's a reality. I mean, we all wrestle, I think, I sure do, with being afraid in situations that we're unfamiliar with, or with people that we're unfamiliar with. But I'm here to tell you the issue or the answer to that is not a medication. It's God, right? And his word. And I was intrigued by what is said about this medication, just to kind of give you an example of the fact. It goes on to talk about, you know, all of these things and, you know, how you can know whether you deal with social anxiety disorder. And then after it lists all these things that this medication is supposed to do, then it says, as with many medications, there can be side effects. And it goes on to list some of these. Side effects may include decreased appetite, dry mouth, sweating, nausea, constipation, sexual side effects in men and women, yawn, tremor, or sleepiness. However, you won't be afraid in public anymore. And I just think to myself, I think to myself, you know, there's a risk with any medication you take, you know. I know how this drug works. You get so consumed with all these side effects, you don't have time to be afraid in public. You know, you're just dealing with all of this stuff. It just made me laugh. I don't know. I kind of saw the humor in that. But you know what? With God, with what he prescribes, with what he gives, there are no bad side effects. There is nothing to fear, nothing to worry if you take him at his word and believe what he has said and rely on him and savor his word. Well, that is the sixth commitment then, a commitment to savor all of the great physician's medication. And we do that by replacing the lust for all the things in the world, the lust of busyness, the lust of food, the lust of pleasure, replacing that with a lust for God himself. recognizing that in him is fullness of joy, and in his right hand are pleasures forever. The sixth commitment that is, the seventh commitment then, is this, and that is a commitment to be involved with other patients in the treatment process. A commitment to be involved with other patients in the treatment process. And the simple, clear key here is that God intends you and I to be involved with other believers in the process of growth. It is one of the primary means that God has provided. As His Word is the foundation, He uses other believers to encourage us, to comfort us, to challenge us, to rebuke us, to pray for us. We're to be involved with one another in that process of growth. And there's a number of passages I just want to mention. Proverbs 27 verse 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. There's a sharpening impact that we're to have with one another that is to be good, that's to help us grow, help us to be sharper in our relationship with God and in our service to Him. Ecclesiastes 4 verses 9 and 10 says that two are better than one because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. And you and I need to be willing to be connected with one another as believers to such an extent that we help each other. We encourage each other. We all go through all kinds of ups and downs in our relationship with God, and times of joy, and times of sorrow, and times of confidence, and times of doubting, and times of obedience, and times of sin, and all these things. In all of that, we need to be willing to be bonded together in the way that God has designed us to, as brothers and sisters in Christ. There's a song that was written a number of years ago. We really do need each other. We do. in the fullest sense of the word. And probably the clearest passage of scripture that identifies this is over in Hebrews 10. And let me ask you to turn there, Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, the writer says, verses 24 and 25, and this is a command. This isn't a suggestion, it's a command. He says, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. We're to have such a nature of relationship that we're stimulating one another. We're challenging, we're encouraging one another to love and good deeds. He says in verse 25, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near, referring to the return of Jesus Christ. So there's a very clear command. We're to stimulate one another. We're to not forsake meeting together, he says, as is the habit of some. Now, it's very interesting to me the whole context of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is written to people who are undergoing unbelievable persecution for their faith. They're losing their homes. They're losing their possessions. In some cases, they're losing their life. And the whole reason that the writer is writing this book is to encourage these people to not throw in the towel. And in the midst of all of that, he says to them, don't quit getting together. You need to stimulate one another. You need to encourage one another and help each other. Now think about this with me. When is it that you and I most feel like not being together with other believers? You know, when we most feel like not going to church, when we most feel like not fellowshipping with other believers, usually we are most greatly tempted that way when we're going through some trial, when there's some hardship. Maybe there's even an issue of sin that we're dealing with and that we're wrestling with. And we think, I just can't. No, you know what? It's in the midst of that that we most need that fellowship and that encouragement and sometimes that admonition and that rebuke. We need that. And to separate ourselves from that is to separate ourselves from the very instrument that God has intended to use to help you and I grow. We need one another. We need that sense of fellowship. And it's more than simply coming to church on Sunday morning. I mean, that's a big part of it, without question. To be together with one another, to worship God together. I mean, that's certainly a part of it, but it's more than that. It's a heartbeat. It's a mindset that wants to be with other believers, that recognizes that God is going to use other believers in my life. Oftentimes there's blind spots that I don't see that I need somebody to come up and lovingly say, man, you are a real idiot. No, not to say that, but to say, you know what, I see something in your life. It's not right. It's not pleasing. And even though that hurts, you and I need that. We desperately need that. And again, if we're committed to growing, we've got to be committed to being involved with other believers in the process of it. We can't avoid what it is that God has established for us in that. There's no lone range of Christians. You've probably heard that said before. There's an illustration you may be familiar with that C.H. Spurgeon, a famous preacher back in the 1800s, had a man come to him who was wandering from the flock. He was kind of off on his own and he wasn't involved in worship. He wasn't involved in fellowship. And this man came and wanted to receive some counsel from C.H. Spurgeon. And the story is told that as Spurgeon is talking to him, he has a fire going in his fireplace there. in his home and as Spurgeon is talking to him, Spurgeon takes the poker for the fire and just kind of moves one of the coals away from the rest of where the fire is taking place. And as they're talking, things are going along and eventually You know, this man is basically trying to communicate all of his excuses for not being in fellowship. He's saying, you know, I can do it my own. I'm reading my Bible. I'm doing this, doing that. Well, as they're talking, Spurgeon draws his attention over to the fire and he shows them this coal that has been separated. And in the time that they have been talking, of course you know what happens, the coal, what has happened? It's gone out. Why? Because it's been separated from the rest of the fire. And there's an aspect of spontaneous combustion that happens when wood gets together and there's a fire. That's how fires happen. They keep burning and they feed off of one another. And it's a great picture of the need that we have as believers to be connected with others. Because sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down, sometimes we need the encouragement and the challenge that somebody else is going to bring. Sometimes God is going to use us to provide a source of encouragement or challenge for another person. And we need to be committed to that. Given that truth, and I hope you see that that is very clear from Scripture, I want to talk about an opportunity by which we can do that in a little bit more directed way. And men, if I can ask you to go ahead and pass these little brochures out, and we'll talk about this for just a couple minutes, and then we'll kind of wrap things up. This is your handy-dandy, bright green, growing together commitment brochure. And I'll wait for you to get these and then we'll talk about this. And everybody gets one, young and old. Everybody gets one of these. In the text, as these men are passing these out, in Hebrews chapter 10, when the writer says, not forsaking meeting together, The implication of the text there is that if we don't give concentrated effort to cultivating that sense of fellowship and that sense of being together with one another in a way that allows us to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, if we don't consciously try to make that happen, it's not going to happen. Because the pressures of life, the demand of all kinds of things are just going to force us to kind of forsake that and just kind of walk away from that. And so there needs to be on our part a conscious, deliberate, intentional effort to seek out that kind of fellowship with other believers that is going to be fruitful and effective. Now, a way that we can do that, and this is just a way, there's nothing biblical about this particular method in and of itself, it's just a way to encourage us, is what are called commitment to grow groups, or CTG groups for short. And let me just work through this real quickly with you together to help you understand what this is all about. What is a CTG group? Right on the inside here is where I'm reading. What is a CTG group? CTG group is made up of two to three people who all share a common commitment to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Members of each group are of the same gender. I think it's important because of the nature of things that are shared or can be shared in that group. There needs to be a sensitivity to that. And they meet weekly for shared encouragement and accountability in their spiritual growth. It's recommended that each group not grow past three members, but rather multiply into two groups of two once the fourth participant has proven faithful to the process. So that's the essence of what a group is. Now, the next thing here, why should you be in a CTG group? God has designed us to be intimately related to Him and to others who are part of His family through faith in Jesus Christ. God works in a wonderful way through other believers to encourage us, challenge us, correct us, and comfort us as we grow in the faith. And then that passage that we've looked at, Hebrews 10, which affirms that. Then the next question here is, what goes on in a CTG group? Each CTG group meets weekly for about an hour. The group determines the time and place of the meeting. There's no curriculum, workbook, or training, and leadership in the group is shared by all. Each meeting has two primary elements, sharing and prayer. The time of sharing is where participants seek to encourage each other by asking the following questions of one another. These are the questions that just kind of help guide this process. Question one, how has your time in God's Word been this past week, and what specifically has He been teaching you from His Word? And then there's a little note there that group members are encouraged to set goals with each other concerning regular Bible reading and Scripture memory. We've talked about that in the past. There's a couple of Bible reading plans available out there in the lobby, but that really needs to be the foundation of the time. Second question, what areas of temptation have you faced this week? Are there any areas of sin that need to be confessed? Got to be a willingness to be honest. Number three, in what ways have you seen God answer prayer this past week? Number four, what opportunities has God given you to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ with other people, both believers and unbelievers, this past week? Number five, what are some specific ways that we can be praying for you? And number six, who are some unbelievers that God has placed in your life that we can be praying will come to salvation? And after a time of sharing, then to have a time of prayer, where you can pray for each other according to things that have been shared, as well as unbelievers that participants have contact with who need salvation. And that's really the focus of the group. And again, that's just a guideline, but that's the idea that there's an intentional effort to encourage one another and stimulate one another towards love and good deeds and to growing and to staying on track with what God has desired. Then the question, how do I get involved in a CTG group? The best way to get involved in a CTG group is to find one or two other believers, again of the same gender, who have a desire and a commitment to grow. And then you, and this is key, don't wait for somebody to come to you. You take the initiative. To initiate with them the idea of getting together on a weekly basis with the above purposes in mind And most likely you'll be able to identify one or two others with whom you are already Developing a friendship if you have the desire to grow but you can't think of anybody else to begin a group with Contact the church office will help you get connected and we will and again there is a built-in mechanism that God has designed for us to grow and it's one another and with like-minded people who are pursuing the same things. And on the back there, I just put a little bullet list of people that should be in a CTG group, and you can read that for yourself. And then I've also put a place where you can just list the names and phone numbers of those people that, Lord willing, you'll get involved in such a group with. Now again, I want to encourage you, I want to challenge you, and we're going to wrap it up here in just a couple minutes, okay? Growth doesn't happen unless we purpose to make it happen. It just doesn't happen. Children don't grow unless they eat. We don't grow spiritually unless we make a concentrated effort to grow. And the seven different commitments that we've gone through help us have maybe a sense of what that effort involves, of trusting Him, of avoiding those things that are junk food, of constantly asking Him for help, of ordering our lives around Him, of doing this with other people and doing what God prescribes. But I want to encourage you. I believe if these kinds of groups will develop and we'll be committed to that, we'll see God do marvelous things. Because we'll encourage one another, we'll know one another better, we'll help one another. And I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider taking the initiative to do this. And we want to have some sense of, you know, which groups are meeting and kind of who's meeting with who, just from a sense of knowing and being able to encourage that. But all of us who would name the name of Jesus Christ, we need to be committed to this. Whether you're old, whether you're young, whether you're a newer believer, whether you've been a believer for a long time, we need to be committed to it and respond to all that God is and all that God has called us to in Jesus Christ. How many of you have ever eaten at In-N-Out? I know I've asked this question before, okay? Good food, right? In-N-Out to me is a classic example of what it means to do the basics excellently. I mean, they have a menu that is so simple, right? Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, milkshakes, soda pop. That's it. You know, you can get some variations of, you know, onions, no onions, pickles, you know, I mean, you can get little variations, but they don't have all these gobs of different, you know, mega death, super killer, double, triple cheese, bacon deluxe, smeared on your face, you know, they don't have all these different things. They just have hamburgers, cheese, but you know what? They do what they do excellently. And I've been told by a friend of mine who visited their processing plant where they process all of their meat that it's like a hospital operating room. It is so clean and intense. To me, it's a principle of, you know what? Stick with the basics and do them well. And in the Christian life, the whole process is really basic. You know, God has saved us. He's given us his truth. He's given us his word. Take it, eat it, chew on it, grow and do it with other believers. and allow God to work in you and through you in a way that bears fruit, that you have an impact on other people. The concept is simple. We have to constantly return to that and do it so. Now, as we close this morning, again, I apologize. I recognize we've gone a couple minutes early. Oh, we've gone a couple minutes early. That'll be the day. We've gone a couple minutes late. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna sing a final song and I'm gonna, when Smokey comes up, and Smokey, you can go ahead and come up. You want to get ready to do that. I'm going to invite us all to stand as we sing this song. And if you in your heart, wherever you may be, if you in your heart would say, I want to be committed to growing. You go ahead and stand now. That's okay. If it's the desire of your heart to be committed to growing. whether you have never seriously committed yourself to that process or whether maybe you are in that process and you know that that's your desire. If it's your desire to grow, what I'm going to invite you to do as we sing is simply to come to the front. Alright, and to put some feet to that commitment. And again, you may never have seriously made that kind of a commitment to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ, or perhaps you have, and perhaps, you know, sure you're not doing it perfectly, but you're moving that direction, you should still come too, because this is just an opportunity for all of us who would share that passion and that commitment to just come together. So what we're going to do is, as we sing, I'm going to invite you to come to the front as we sing, and then when we're done singing, I'll go ahead and dismiss the service, and then those that are here, we'll just have a brief time just to pray together, and just to express our desire for that commitment to the Lord. And if anybody needs to leave prior to that, please feel free to. Nobody's going to think less of you. And again, our desire is simply to just be able to say, you know, I want to grow. I want to be committed to that. So why don't we go ahead and sing and if that's the desire of your heart then make your way to the front and we will go on from there.