Growing in Christ through Scripture and Local Church

Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord in the experience of his saving grace? Is there life? Well, secondly, are you personally, faithfully taking in God's word for yourself through a daily practice of reading and reflecting upon it? And then be honest with yourself. How committed are you to active involvement in your local church? If you're a follower of Jesus Christ and you have life within, God's spirit will grow you in the grace and knowledge of our lord Jesus. He will, but he won't do so apart from the means of God's word and Christ's church. [01:24:34] (54 seconds)  #TasteAndDailyWord

They're as critical to us in our Christian growth as sunlight and water are to seeds in good soil. But if there's no life within, the holy spirit isn't at work within you at all. All your exercising of the means of growth, they'll profit you nothing. This is Jesus said in John six sixty three. He said, it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. [00:36:28] (35 seconds)  #SpiritGivesLife

It's referring to his his goodness, his kindness. You have to have tasted the Lord's goodness. Now how do you taste the Lord's goodness? Well, you taste the Lord's goodness if you've been born again, if you've been born from above. That is a taste of the Lord's goodness that then gives you a hunger for more. I would submit to you today that if you have indeed tasted of the Lord's goodness, you're not satisfied with the taste. You want to eat more. [00:40:12] (35 seconds)  #HungerForGodsGoodness

Or if I do, I'm rushed and you see, here's this is very simple practical suggestion. Don't even open the thing. Leave it away. Leave it alone. And and get your cup of coffee, make the first thing your priority to get into God's word. Make it a priority. Second practical suggestion, make the time. Make the time. So I don't have time. We have time. We have time. [00:50:17] (33 seconds)  #PrioritizeBibleTime

I'm telling you, you're not you're not gonna get it on on Facebook, and you're not gonna get it on, you know, scrolling dead doom scrolling through insta Instagram and all that kind of stuff. Where are you gonna get the counsel, the encouragement, the comfort to keep your wits about you with a future focus? Where are you gonna get the the encouragement to love and good works in this hostile world? You get it from your church family. [01:22:29] (34 seconds)  #ChurchFamilySupport

Well, because then he would just want more and more and more of it. I took my finger, stuck it through the vanilla ice cream, put it on his tongue, and he goes, just like, yeah, would expect. And he's like, I want more. I want more. That's that's the picture here. If you have tasted the Lord's goodness, then then it will generate within you a hunger, an appetite, a desire. [00:43:49] (27 seconds)  #TasteLeadsToHunger

But on the other hand, what Peter is saying is, take in the word, take in the word and there will be growth. You will grow. Now we've emphasized this throughout this whole series because you the the theme of the role of the word of God in our Christian growth, it just keeps threading its way through every message. But that's a challenge to us, isn't it? [00:47:15] (31 seconds)  #TakeInTheWord

But I would simply say, it's because in a simple minded, understanding of gardening and so forth. I I would simply say it's because those particular seeds didn't have any life in them. That's why I wanted us to sing that prayer as a chorus that chorus as a prayer today. Because today's message is gonna emphasize a couple of critical means for growth that a Christian needs to employ. [00:35:57] (31 seconds)  #MeansForGrowth