Well, good morning. It is a pleasure to be able to present God's Word to you this morning. When we were meeting as faculty early on, thinking through what topic to start off the year with, we wanted collectively to address keep growing, keep growing in the Lord. And You know, the topic here, the title, seems maybe a little strange. A grave plot or a seed plot underneath seminary. But when I first went to seminary, someone mentioned to me, and he said, it's an old saying, that do you know how seminary is pronounced? Cemetery. And it just kind of took me back. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. Probably others have heard that before. Another saying that I looked and found was, a cemetery is a place for grave plots, dedicated to your physical death. But a seminary is a place for seed plots, dedicated to help you grow spiritually. Now, I like that a whole lot better. And I think if we were to collect just a collective amount of how many seminaries the faculty have been to or taught in, We've had quite a bit of experience with a lot of students. And I think we all would agree that some come to seminary thinking they're a believer in Jesus Christ, but only to find out they are not, and God in his grace and mercy saves them. It is a wonderful thing. I think we all have experienced that. to see someone respond to the gospel that they've been reading in the scriptures or hearing in their classes. By far, the majority who come to seminary, men and women, they grow in their faith. They grow and we see the Lord use them and bless them in their ministries. And it's a joy to be a part of that. We're just passing on to you what's been passed on to us. But then Thirdly, there are those casualties who come to seminary and it becomes a grave plot in their life. And that's sad. We grieve at that, we pray, we want to do everything we can to encourage seminary to be a seed plot, to keep growing in one's faith. A couple that I was very familiar with at one of the schools I was at, He was a theology major, a master's program. He was soon to graduate. He was going into his last semester. And he came in and he sat down and he said, I need to share something. He said, my wife has left me. And I knew them when they first came to seminary, they were just newlyweds. And that's not the first time I've heard something like that and seen something like that. And so I just encouraged him. I said, you need any shared what had happened. And I said, you really need to write that down anonymously and put it in the magazine for the seminary. Other seminary students need to see this. I'm not going to read the whole thing. I just want to read a little bit of it. It's an eye opener. A seminary can become a great plot. He says, nothing will throw off your graduation date like a divorce. Does a husband's subjective call to ministry relativize his objective biblical command to love his wife? Regardless of how I might have answered the question in a theological paper, the true answer of my heart was exposed by my actions. Some said my marriage issues were normal for a seminarian. even appropriate for my quote season of life. My sinful heart exploited this poor counsel to justify my negligence as a husband. If you're better at spotting immature husbands than I am, then you would quickly see that though I would have argued that no ministry opportunity, including the opportunity to attend seminary undermines Ephesians 5.25, My true answer could be seen in how I talked to my wife. You could see it in how I touched her when I did. If you were to come to my home, you might have seen or sensed that my study, neatly adorned with shelves of books, was my pride and joy. But I happily left the upkeep of the rest of the house to my wife. You may have noticed my drive to write creative sermons and talk theology with classmates. but a deflated effort creatively to engage my wife in conversation. My eyes lit up over my syllabi, but I had little response over my wife's new haircut, or her plans for the day, or a new recipe she was eager to try. To my shame, I could spot the subtle ways heretical worldviews crept into the church, but I paid little attention to the subtle ways resentment crept into my wife's heart. I jumped to unpack the mysteries behind Christ's tears as he hung alone on the cross, but I left alone the mystery of my wife's tears as she once again went to bed alone because her husband needed to study. After all, I was in seminary, and shouldn't she support God's calling on my life? She should be stronger, trust God's plan more, and be more understanding of the demands of my calling, right? Wrong. At the end of the day, I gave heart service to my time at seminary, but only lip service to Ephesians 5, and it cost me my marriage. He closes with, it's ironic that I have seen seminary be the place where many have been disqualified from ministry. It is clear in scripture that the Holy Spirit specifically appoints certain men as leaders by gifting them and putting in their hearts to serve joyfully in the context of a local church. It's a noble desire. It can be all consuming desire. But with this desire comes the responsibility to humbly prioritize one's life in such a way that prevents a subtle disregard for God's written word. God has not commanded husbands to love seminary. He has commanded that we love our wives, strive to protect our marriages, even from something as noble as our ministry call. Take it from me. My projected graduation date was, and he gives the date, I was one semester away from earning my MDiv when I decided I needed to take my marriage seriously. And it was too late at that point. And he's referring to husbands here. Love your wives. Love your wives more than seminary. Now, a lot of you are not married. but priorities can get way out of whack when you're in seminary. The Bible can become a textbook rather than the living word of God. Relationships can just be pushed aside for to get an A maybe on a paper. So we have to be very careful here at the beginning of a new school year that this is a seed plot. not a great plot, amen? So to do that, this morning I would like to address the question, how can I grow and keep growing in my faith while in seminary? How can I keep this chapter in my life to be a seed plot rather than a great plot? And I'd like to present six ongoing devotions to encourage you in your spiritual walk and your growth. It's more of a topical message. I'm going to be looking at six different points and different passages. It's simple, which just means you can flush it out. You can add more to it. But it's not simplistic. If it's simplistic, you have to correct it. But this is simple. It's just in the amount of time we have. I'm going to cover these things, and I'll try to move quickly. to be done on time. These are my musings, but I would think that most of the props would be in agreement or close to these. The sixth, ongoing devotions for continued growth in your walking. The word I've chosen, devotion, I think best illustrates spirituality. Devotion, the word where we get Eusebius from, a well-devoted, a student, whether you're female or male, that you're committed and there's a constancy and an adherence to these particular principles and truths. So the New Testament word would be a godliness, well devotedness. And so we're going to look at six of them. So the first, it would depend whether a seed plot or a gray plot, it would depend on ongoing devotion. to and sufficiency in our God. This is an ongoing present tense. In Matthew 22, one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus a question to test him and said, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he, Jesus, said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all. And there is that devotion all all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. The Old Testament, this is where the people of God took their eyes off the Lord. They were looking more on dependency and sufficiency and Egypt or Assyria. And the Lord's appalled at this as he betrothed them, he cared for them, and he calls even heaven in as an audience. And he just says, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And when you forsake the Lord, evil number one, you move to evil number two, which is a substitute. And they've hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. So this is we're dealing with this full out devotion, generally speaking, just full out devotion, ongoing, a pursuit of knowing God, reverencing God, loving God, trusting and obeying him with delight. Some of the examples in the Old Testament, one that even early as a new believer caught my eye was Caleb. It was in Joshua 14. where Caleb said to Joshua about himself, you know, and everyone else led the others astray. He said, but my brothers who went up with me, the spies, they made the heart of the people melt. Yet I, he says, holy followed the Lord, my God. And that's not perfect. That's not perfection. That's just the habitual film strip of his life. He was trusting God, following him fully. A verse later, Moses had said this about Caleb, too, that he would go up and possess the land because because Moses said, you have wholly followed the Lord, your God. So Caleb said it about himself. Moses said it about Caleb. And then in chapter 14, verse 14, God said it about Caleb. God said he's going up blessed because he wholly followed the Lord as God. Or King David. The pattern of his life was where he would say, one thing I've asked of the Lord now seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple or the apostle Paul for me to live as Christ to die as gain or Philippians three, where he says, I've not attained. I'm not arrived yet, but I keep pressing forward. And later on, Paul says, my chief goal, my chief ambition, whether I'm alive or dead, is to be well pleasing to him. That's that full devotion. And I would anticipate that's here with you or you wouldn't be here. That's typically set in motion when you first arrive at seminary. And I'm thinking of new students, but we have of returning students as well. But it's a good reminder to us an ongoing devotion to and finding our sufficiency in our God. Secondly, it depends on ongoing devotion to the one true gospel of Jesus Christ. So I'd like you to turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This is an ongoing devotion to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Before I read that, in 2 Corinthians 11, verse one, the true gospel, Paul says, I preach to you. He tells him, I preach to you the true gospel. Back in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, when he says, for I deliver to you as a first importance, What I also receive that Christ Christ, he lived and then he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. But now in this second letter, there's false teachers, false apostles that show up are teaching heresy. And he says here, he says, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, Your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. There's that key. That's what the Holy Spirit wants in our lives, a sincere and pure devotion to him. And that's what the enemy, Satan, does not want. And so he'll find anything possible, the enemy will, to distract us away from that sincere and pure devotion to Christ. And he says, if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, That would be small J. Then the one we proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. And there's only one true gospel, but there are many counterfeits. And you know, this, they're constant attacks on the one true gospel. You have the law and works based gospel versus grace. You have licensed living, carnality, all under quote, I'm a Christian versus grace-filled living. You have the psychological gospel, it's all about my felt needs, or it's all the prosperity gospel, health and wealth, or even the pleasure-oriented comfort gospel. It's all about, am I going to be happy? rather than the true gospel. So there is one true gospel yet many counterfeits, and there's one true Jesus, but many counterfeits. There are a lot of people, a lot of cults are talking about Jesus, but it's definitely a small J. It's not the true Jesus that's recorded in the scriptures. There's constant attacks on the deity of Christ, on the humanity of Christ. But it seems in our day, everyone has their own Jesus. They talk about Jesus, but it doesn't resemble the Jesus of the Bible. So there's false or counterfeit gospels. There's counterfeit Jesus's out there and there's counterfeit spirits. It's hard to tell in this particular context, whether the spirit here is referring to a demonic spirit. versus the true Holy Spirit associated with the gospel, or if it's a spirit of fear versus the spirit of faith and trust in the Lord. Both would be true. They're both counterfeits to the Holy Spirit and to the spirit of faith and trust. I'm thankful that part of a school, a seminary that holds to the one true gospel, to the one true Christ, the one true spirit. But there are many seminaries that are liberal, that do not hold, they're not orthodox. And yes, it would become a great plot. But here we're all here because we hold to the scriptures. This is an artificial intelligence. It's a divine intelligence. This is God's revelation. This is the truth. We adhere to that. And we are encouraging you to hold true and keep that ongoing devotion. to the one true gospel of Jesus Christ. Number three, it also great plot or seed plot depends on an ongoing devotion to pursuing Christ's humble mindset. While he was on earth, Philippians chapter two, we read one of the greatest passages of the humility of Jesus. If there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind, this attitude among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. He stowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. Also, we see in Mark, chapter 10, about Christ didn't come to be served, but to serve and give us life or ransom for many. A humble mindset is what ought to be a daily prayer for us. Just that we're here not to be served, but to serve. This humble mindset is a grace filled mindset and it takes grace to grow. God gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud. Jonathan Edwards wrote, nothing sets a Christian so much out of the devil's reach than humility. But I'll tell you when pride rears up and it's blinding, hard to see it in yourself. We all have it, all of us, students, faculty alike. It's not, do we have any pride? It's just, where is it and how much? And we're trying to grow more and more in humility of like Christ and less and less proud, but it's blinding. So it takes other people to help us to see it. I kind of tease that a little bit. When I got married to my wife, I thought I was rather spiritual. I got along with myself. I mean, I had the fruit of the spirit, right? I love myself, kind to myself, gentle with myself. But marriage, whoa, she's dragging me down spiritually. No, it wasn't at all. It was exposing my heart. And she would even tell me things. I go, I didn't even see that. We need the help of people. If you're not married, you need close friends that will speak into your life and love you well. But what we want to avoid is thoughts and actions that kind of present yourself as I know it all, or I know more than the instructors, or I'm more important than my peers. You need people to speak in your life if they see that you're being unthankful and contentious. where it's all about you or what can Bob Jones Seminary and others do for me rather than I'm here to serve. This humility, this ongoing pursuit of Christ humble mindset is, I can't stress how important that is. God gives grace to the humble and we need grace to grow, which takes us into the next devotion. It depends, great plot or seed plot, on ongoing devotion to God's means of spiritual growth. We want to grow. Two passages are highlighted here, and both end with 318, so it's kind of easy to remember. One has sort of a passive, God is growing us and we're kind of passive in it, and then the other one is we're active. So it's dependent work. It's dependent growth. Second Corinthians 3, 18, in light of the new covenant says, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed passive. We're being transformed into the same image. That's the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another, or this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit. So as we keep our eyes on Christ, he's changing us. He's working in our lives. At the end of second, Peter, the last words recorded words we have of the apostle Peter by the spirit through Peter. This is, but you grow. This is a present act imperative. This is you. You better get going on this. You must be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ to him, be the glory both now and the day of eternity. So this is again, means of grace, often called means of grace, the disciplines, the spiritual disciplines. There's different words for it. I am primarily gonna refer to five of them, taken from a book by Dr. Michael Riccardi on sanctification. And there's an overlap if you look at other books on the spiritual disciplines like Donald Whitney, First is gonna be God's work, God's special revelation. Again, God will not obey for us. He will help us obey, but he will not obey for us. And no one coasts into godliness. If you drift, you drift backwards. It's like walking up a down escalator. You stop, you're going down. So this is both of the Spirit's help to keep making sure these are up and running, ongoing devotions. to study God's word carefully. And when we study his word, we need to keep a distinction between commands and applications. And we get in trouble when we take applications up to the level of a command. So just kind of keeping in your mind, these are commands of God for all of God's people. These are just applications. And there are often hundreds of applications to certain commands. but be careful that we don't raise our personal applications up to the level of a doctrine or command. Often a way becomes the way and ends up being God's way in our minds. And we have a wrong devotion at that point. And so we seek to make God's word, our food, everyday decisions should be made on commands and principles. We should be studying it, meditating on it and seeking to apply it And if we violate God's commands, that's sin, and we should be quick to repent and replace it. We don't break habits, we replace them. The Spirit helps us pursue what's right, not just confess the same sin, but what's the right thing to do, and God's word takes us towards Christ's likeness and holiness and purity. Also in God's word, when it's presented, we read it, We ought always, always, always to be quick to hear it and quick to apply it. And I'm going to, as I was reviewing and putting all of this together, um, I grew a little slack on this one. This is a, um, a common fault when you're in seminary is you're thinking application, maybe in your own personal devotions, but then you can hear a chapel. You go, okay, you know, whether, uh, that was good or not good. And you move on to your next class. Now, when God's words presented, we should always, all of us be thinking, I need to take something from this and apply it. Hearing alone will not transform you. You can hear a hundred messages and not be transformed. Hearing James chapter one, Hearing alone puffs up, 1 Corinthians 8, 1, but it puffs you up. So we, no matter where you're at, if the word of God is presented either on your phone or jot down something to take away, to meditate on and apply it. So we don't want to grow slack on this one. This is anytime we hear it to be quick to apply it. Two men in the back of a church one morning after they heard a sermon, one said to the other after the church service was over, I'm glad the sermon's over, and the other said, no, it's just begun. That's our kind of ongoing devotion to God's word. Again, maybe just jot one thing down that would be really helpful. Prayer, this is the holy breathing of the soul, as the Puritans called it. We breathe in God's word, we breathe out prayer. And there's designated times for prayer. And then there's all day long praying. We pray without ceasing. It's just in constant communion, this ongoing commitment and devotion to these means of grace, the word of God, prayer. Then we have fellowship. There are at least 35, one and others. And when you're growing in your walk with the Lord, you will also be growing in your relationships with others. There is no, I'm growing with Christ, but I'm not around other people. I don't really care to be around other people. That's a pseudo growth. That's not true growth. That's not true spirituality. They're tied together. Loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind and loving your neighbor. When one's going up, the other's going out. You cannot be a loner and grow to be like Christ. You just cannot. If you're a loner, you're that's not growing spiritually. So the two commandments are hinged together and you can't separate them. Then you have. God's providence. Every circumstance from God's hand in your life is intended to make you more like Jesus and to bring him glory. Every circumstance from God's hand in your life. This is the Romans 8, 28 and 29 or the Genesis 50, 20 passage. Every circumstance is intended to take us to Christ. Every one of these means of grace is intended to take us to Christ. The word, the written word takes us to the living word. Prayer is going to our sympathetic high priest. Fellowship is to help others to know Christ and become like him. God's providence is to help us to know the Lord, to be more like him. And then obedience. Obedience in John 14, 21. I mean, love produces more obedience. The love of God in our life produces obedience. And when we obey, we love him more. Just keeps going. It's kind of a love produces more, and obedience produces more love. So faith that grows will be faith that obeys. It'll be led in the way of holiness. Number five. Now these are quick at the end here, if you're watching your clock. The fifth devotion is an ongoing devotion to God's people, his church, the body of Christ. a devotion to his people. Some of the professors are also pastors, but all of the props, all of the staff and props are going to be involved in their local churches. They're going to be somehow serving in some way because that's what's primary. We're talking about the corporate gathering of the church. The seminary is not the church. We're called alongside to help the church, assist the church, but we're not the church. So if you're new here at seminary, it's what church to get involved in, not just to attend, but how can I serve there? Most churches have dual membership. If you want to keep it where your home church, your church leadership should get to know you. They watch over your soul. Some, some church leaders don't even know who the people are. So it's just get to know them. You reach out to them, get to know them, pray for them so they can look over your soul with a blessing and a Hebrews 13, 17. And on an individual basis with the people of God, you ought to seek out godly friends for mutual accountability. Accountability is not policing. Accountability is helpers. And in Hebrews, it almost has two different distinctions. One is to stir you up to love and good deeds. In Hebrews chapter 10, they will help you get moving and not get slack or start going towards a great plot. But they'll help you to grow and increase. And then in Hebrews chapter 3, There's almost a preventive aspect to one anothering, and that's to prevent you from the deceitfulness of sin that hardens the heart. And so in friendships, there ought to be a facilitating effect, moving towards loving and serving, and also a preventive kind of effect of if they see you erring or going off the path by the spirit of God, that they would bring it to your attention out of love. The time I'm not going to read all this passage, but first Corinthians 12, it's all about the body of Christ. Every member has a part. Every member is important, but we are the body of Christ. I'm not going to, I'm just going to Ephesians four, where he gave apostles, prophets, the evangelist, shepherd, teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, the building up of the body of Christ. So this needs to be an ongoing devotion to the people of God, the church. I'm going to move to number six, the last, and this is an ongoing devotion and ongoing devotion to his or God's mission. Christ said at the end there in Matthew 28, He said, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and the Holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. This is written by the way, that verse at the top of the rotunda inside and the second floor. You can go up there and you see it. It's all written around there. It ought to be on our mind. This is his mission. It's both evangelism and edification. It's not one or the other. Churches that just go into evangelism get lopsided. Churches that just deal with edification, they get lopsided. It's like a plane with two wings. Which one do you want to fly without? So it's both edification and proclamation. It's reaching and teaching. It's both and, and should be in our lives and in our mindset. Witnessing to the lost and building up and encouraging the saints. So you have evangelism and you have edification. Just in conclusion, these are ongoing devotions. I have six, maybe you would come up with more or less. but ongoing devotions will help be a seed plot for you to grow in your faith this year. You said, well, I'm doing these. Great, excel still more. None of us have arrived. We just excel still more in these devotions. We realize it's all done by the help of the Holy Spirit. We can't muster up the power. We've seen that in chapel as well and heard it there. It's all dependent on the Holy Spirit's enablement, all for the glory of God. But I pray that these devotions will keep us from the great plot and be much more of a seed plot. That you would arrange your schedule, your abilities, your responsibilities in light of these and not neglect them. Let's make this year a seed plot. Amen. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for this time together. It may be that We all just needed to be stirred up to remembrance of the things that we have read and been taught. A good reminder that we can't coast, that we have to be zealous with the help of your spirit. Lord, thank you that there is grace and there is mercy. Even if we sinned, thank you that there is mercy and grace and forgiveness, and we can start every new day Your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Help us and help us to help one another with these ongoing devotions to your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.