Amen. Church. Hey, let's celebrate just how God can use... Simple steps of obedience. And multiply that for huge gospel impact.
Now, our groups are all centered around the word, and that's crazy important. And we're going to talk about that just a little bit. But before that, hey, no matter what campus you are at, we are so glad that you're here at Mercy Hill.
So, welcome. Good morning. Hey, listen, on the way in, you should have gotten a grow card. It should look just like this, and we're excited to talk about that.
Now, my name is Justin, and I am the students' pastor here.
So, celebrating back to school is a big deal for us. And I want you to know the reason why we celebrate that is because these aren't just butts and seats, these aren't just people showing up to church. These are people who've shown up, they've heard the gospel, and we're praying that they buy into it, fall in love with it, choose to put their yes on the table, and that many of the students who've come, kids, middle, high, college students who've come at back to school, we're praying that God does something incredible in them, and that some of them will be some of our future sent ones.
Now, with the grow card, here's the thing. Man, before your pumpkin spice latte cools down, You're going to be. Untangling Christmas lights. Like Christmas is gonna be here before you know it.
So the question that we have is, who do you wanna be when Christmas gets here? Because everybody has a next step in their growth journey, in their walk with Christ. And so, are you going to be content if there's no spiritual growth or change between now and Christmas time? Who do you want to be when that time comes? And we're going to talk about this more later on in the sermon or later on in the service.
But the question for you is: what is your next step? What are you going to write down? What are you going to commit to? Is it baptism? Is it jumping into a group?
Or is it maybe even trying to lead a group or going to the weekend? Or maybe you've been a part of Mercy Hill or you've been attending Mercy Hill for some time now, and it's time to go from just kind of being connected to the crowd to learning how to be committed to the family. And you can do that by prioritizing and coming to the weekender in September. It's going to be a big deal.
Now, we're going to be in 2 Timothy chapter 2 today, so if you want to open up your Bible and follow along, we would love for you to do that. And the big idea for today's sermon is that the word. shapes our hearts. and guards us from ruin.
Now, let me tell you, I understand that that takes a high degree of intentionality and effort, and we're going to talk about that. But before we get there, I just want to tell you, a few years ago, I got really obsessed with hiking and backpacking. Like, I got super pumped about it. Like, I loved the hiking stuff, I loved the backpacking stuff. I bought the boots.
Like the nice boots, I had the pants, I had the shirt, I had the backpack. I even had that dorky thing where like you have the water in your bag and like the straw comes up over your shoulder and when you're walking, it's just sitting there bouncing. And everybody's like, who is this guy? Who does he think he is? That was me.
So my family, we would prepare to go on a hike. And when I say a hike, it was like we're gonna go on a three mile stroll through the woods. And my family would come out, and they're all ready, like they're in their basketball shorts and tennis shoes.
Sometimes my kids would wear their crocs, and you know, they're ready to rock and roll. And I would come out looking like I was ready to wrestle a bear. Like I'm telling you, I had like the knife on my belt. I was ready to go, you know. But the truth is, when it comes to hunting and things like that, the only thing I have hunted in my life is a good local coffee shop and Wi-Fi.
I mean So naturally, During that season of my life, I became obsessed with With the show alone. Anyone ever seen Alone? It's a show if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's a survival reality show not one of those ones where the camera crews follow along But like these guys are trained They have to take all of their camera crew or camera stuff with them as they go They're truly by themselves hence alone and they're survivalists who are dropped into remote wilderness places with extreme conditions and minimal gear and it's like last man standing except you don't know how many other people are there And so the last person to tap out and say like, hey, I quit, or to be medically evacuated wins like $1 million.
So that's a big deal. Like, you could convince me to stay in the woods for a long, long time for a million dollars.
Now, there's this guy named Dave in season three.
Now, he was cruel. Crushing it, like on top of the world, just crushing it. Like he catches, he's out there for 73 days, and the medical team comes in and they have deemed him unfit to continue in the competition. He's crushed. In fact, he was actually like starving and his body was just shutting down on himself and they were concerned for his long term safety and health.
And so they sent him home. The problem is, though, is that if you looked into his tent, he had been crushing it in the fishing game. Like he'd been just absolutely destroying it. And he had 33 dried fish in his tent that he was saving for later. Y'all, he was starving and got medically tapped.
And as a church and as believers, we should be feasting on the word. But many of us are starving, truly starving spiritually.
Now, when we starve because of not going into the Word, not feasting on the Word, most of us end up either quitting on the faith or being pulled away into some sort of Christian mediocrity or even heresy. Yo, how can we expect to thrive in Christ if we only attend church half the time? How can we expect to thrive in Christ when we show up for church and we don't prioritize learning from the Word and growing in the Word during the gathering? Like we show up just totally unprepared and we just show up as if it's like, hey, we're going to check the box and go home. Even from there, like, how can we expect to thrive in Christ if we rarely spend time in the Word, both personally or as a family?
The truth is, it's not that we're just like starved for the word. The truth is that there are wolves out there, oftentimes in sheep's clothing, and they're out there trying to capitalize on our starvation in order to distract and destroy our faith. Y'all, we need the Bible. We need the Word of God in our lives. We need it in our homes and especially in our churches.
It's just as crucial to our spiritual health as diet and exercise is to our bodies and minds. That's why in 2 Timothy, Paul begins to talk about the impact and the importance of a church's commitment to the word and the need to deal with false teachers appropriately.
So at the beginning of 2 Timothy, Paul begins to set the table. He steps up and he says, Hey, like Timothy, like he's in his intro, he says, I've loved you like a father, but remember your mom and remember your grandma.
So he grows up in this home where his mother and his grandmother are discipling him very proactively, and they're teaching him how to like know the scriptures and love God accordingly. And so when Paul on some of his missionary journeys comes across Timothy, he's so impressed with who he is as a young man that he takes Timothy under his wing and begins to disciple him personally. And then at some point, he's grown so much in his journey that as a young man, Paul puts him as the pastor over the church in Ephesus. And so in that moment, in this moment where Paul's reminding him of his upbringing, he says, Hey Timothy, follow the wisdom and the discipleship that was passed on to you and guard what you have received from those who have discipled you. But then, as he has this kind of moment where he kind of turns and he's looking at the church as a whole, he says, Hey, now, because of those things, like pass that on.
Raise up faithful men who will help you lead and teach the church.
Now that's where we pick up. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 14. Would you read this with me? Remind him of these things. and charge them a stop.
Right there. Who is them? These are the faithful men that God or that Paul has helped raise, or Timothy, sorry, has helped to raise up in the church of Ephesus as leaders and teachers in the church.
So Paul is saying, Hey, Timothy, remind these leaders and charge them. before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Herminius and Philetus.
who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. But God's firm foundation stands. Bearing this seal. The Lord knows who are his.
And let everyone who names the name of the Lord. Depart. from iniquity. Y'all, Timothy is pastoring in the church of Ephesus, right? And like as a pastor, his worst nightmare has taken place.
Like he has taken the stage and his fly is down. Actually, that's my worst nightmare. That's probably not Timothy's. Total nightmares about that kind of thing. But apparently, though, like Timothy, like in his church, false teachers have infiltrated the church and they're starting to gain a following.
It's a big deal.
Now, what they're teaching about the resurrection isn't exactly clear, and scholars aren't exactly clear on what exactly they're getting at. But the truth is, what we could probably wrap our hands head around is the fact that Timothy and Paul intimately know what's going on. They know the heresies, they know the false teachings that are being taught. And instead, I think what the point that Paul's trying to make is not like this is exactly what they're saying, but rather the point is that these guys, Hymenius and Philotus, they are just two wolves in a long line of wolves. and they are seeking to spread mistruth.
Y'all, and it's having dramatic effects on the church. Y'all, what we need to know is that there is a battle. going on in our culture and in our hearts. about truth. Truth In and of itself, is in the crosshairs in a very big way.
And false teaching is simply Inescapable. It's all over the place.
Social media, articles, TV shows, books, wherever you take in information, there's going to be false teaching. Things that are being said about the word that are kind of true or not true at all. They're going to be there, and you're going to encounter those things. It's things like this: who gets to define what love is? How much of the conversation about our own sin are you going to actually allow to take place?
I mean Is truth actually relative? Do you get to define truth? Do I get to define truth? Do you have a truth that's separate from my truth? What is truth?
These things are all over the place. And Paul says that the more we discuss it, the more it kind of infiltrates, the more it will spread like gangrene.
Now, for those of you who don't know what gangrene is, I think it's super, super important that we understand what it is to understand the context of the scripture.
So, I have a bunch of pictures that were going to show up here on the screen. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I can actually hear some of your gag reflexes revving up, and you're like, oh no, no, here we go. Who let the youth pastor preach?
Listen, listen, I'm going to tell you though, if you don't know what gangrene is, it is an infection caused by like trauma or other things that where the tissues in your body like actually die and the skin turns black and it stinks. And sometimes, actually, a third of gangrene patients in America actually lose a limb, like through amputation. But in Paul's time, when he's talking about gangrene, he's talking about something much more serious because they didn't have modern medicine to help them work through these things. In fact, for them, if you got gangrene, you were basically considered dead already. Like you would just let the gangrene go until you got sepsis and died, or it would just take over your whole body.
And you die. Like, it's a big deal.
So, imagine the despair that Timothy must have felt when Paul's like, hey, your church has this infection going on. He's recognizing that some of his beloved church folks are listening to false teaching and being slowly poisoned from believing in or even living out the true gospel. And Paul and Timothy, they get the gravity of people falling away here. For parents in the room, it's like the heartache of watching your children grow up and make incredibly destructive decisions knowing that you taught them well. and knowing that you can't do anything about it.
Y'all, for us, all throughout life. All throughout life, everyone is asking three major questions. Every single human, I believe that it's a part of who we are, a God-given part of who we are. These are the questions we're saying: who am I? Where do I belong?
What difference can I make in this world? It's the core questions of our identity, our belonging, and our purpose. And false teachers have a way of distorting the Scriptures just enough that we are content with the deceptively inadequate answers to these questions, all the while thinking that our destructive choices are somehow going to fulfill us. False teaching. makes us comfortable with the editing or ignoring.
of God's Word. What we have to recognize is that bad teaching is going to come at you from a lot of different directions and in a lot of different ways, but it typically it boils down to one of two kind of ways of coming at you. It's either through compelling mistruth or an emotional appeal. Compelling mistruth is where somebody teaches you something that looks kind of true or is half true, but not totally true. But they do it in such a way that it's very compelling, and you step back going like, hey, I think that might be right.
Or it's the emotional appeal that steps in and appeals to the way that we feel about a piece of subject matter, and appeals to the way that we might think about it, or want to feel, or want to think about it. And in so doing, that appeal has us questioning the very nature of what that truth statement is. No matter what, no matter how that's coming at you, the consistent goal of false teaching is to tear down the biblical frameworks of identity, belonging, and purpose. And in so doing, we are led to believe in false or inadequate versions of the gospel. It's like this.
We can find our identity in our work, sexuality, our achievements, or even our ambitions. The lie in all of that, though, is that the core of who we are will ultimately be most fulfilled in something outside of what God has for us. The lie too about our community is that maybe we can find community, find counsel, and those who don't care about our journeys with Christ or are potentially even working against it. It's like this. We can say, man, we get along so well with our coworkers, our neighbors, or our teammates that we'll actually see them as a healthy, quote, substitute for the community that you can find on a serve team or in a community group.
Or it's the lie that it's actually okay to live a life totally void of gospel impact in exchange for something, quote, more satisfying. Y'all, most of us aren't selfishly denying a missionally focused life in an overt way.
Some of us might actually be, but most of us aren't. But in not understanding or valuing the authority and power of the gospel, we end up sidelining ourselves, replacing what is best for something we think is good. Y'all, in the midst of all of that. I believe that desires for identity, belonging, and purpose are each hardwired within us, given to us by God Himself, and He has the best, most fulfilling, most healthy, most whatever you want to call it answers.
So maybe. Maybe there are false teachers that are actively leading us astray. Or maybe we're simply following the false teacher of apathy. Either way, big trees start with small seeds. Most of the time, it's not the big things that we deny, but the small things that we deny in our lifestyles.
I can understand the theological truth, but don't live it out. It's like this, I may not deny the resurrection of Jesus, but I'm certainly not going to let it shape my behaviors. I may agree with God about what he says about marriage, but I'm still going to sleep with my boyfriend or girlfriend every once in a while. I may not believe in a works-based salvation. But I'm going to live like faith-filled works don't matter.
Like it's like this, the head can have all of the right knowledge and belief, but the heart and hands can be totally misaligned. I may not deny The inerrancy and authority of Scripture. I may even believe in its wisdom and power in my life. But I'm not reading it. I may not reject the Lordship of Jesus, but there are areas of my life He does not get to rule.
Y'all, these denials stem from the belief that some part of us will be more fulfilled in something outside. Of what God has for us. But that is a Why? Every part of our lives. finds its truest fulfillment.
in the gospel. In John 10, 10, Jesus actually supports this claim. He says, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Now that's why, for the Christian, and especially here at Mercy Hill, everything we do revolves around the Bible, the gathering, the groups, all of it that we do. It revolves around the Word of God, both as individual believers and as a church family.
So it's why we fill the gathering with the Word and encourage everyone to attend one and serve one. Why? Because we grow when we attend and sit under faithful teaching. And because we help others to grow when we serve. It's why we want to see the homes of every believer filled with the Word of God, because it's the daily disciplines of meeting with God in His Word that grow us and shape us in ways that begin to grow and shape everyone around us.
Y'all, we want to be strong in our faith, but when we don't prioritize the word in the church gathering and our homes, then it becomes Easy for false teaching to wreak. Havoc. in our lives. Y'all, we're pushing so hard for this because it's in the pages of God's perfect word, where we discover the realities of sin, depravity, and a holy God that looked on us with love and sent his only son to save us and restore us back into his family. It's in the Bible where we encounter the God whose wisdom is timeless, whose love is personal, and whose power breaks the chains of sin and shame.
It is in His word we behold His authority, hear His voice, and experience His grace, faithfulness, and presence that never forsakes us. It's in the Bible where we stand on the unshakable truth of God that endures beyond culture and time. Y'all, it is in the Bible where we remember the victory of God in Christ Jesus, who through his life, death, and resurrection has overcome the grave and made it possible for sinful people like you and me to be restored back into right relationship with God Himself. Y'all That's why in this passage Paul charges church leaders to teach and lead faithfully. But he's very specific on how he wants them to teach in the midst of false teaching.
He does not raise his sword and yell, attack! In fact, most of us would say, in the midst of false teaching, what do we do? We get on our YouTube and we chase down our heresy hunter videos. Paul is not saying to do that. In fact, he says something exact opposite.
He says, don't launch a heresy hunter social media campaign. That's not how you deal with false teaching. What he says is the best defense against false teaching is false. Faithful teaching. Because in a debate, here's what happens.
We begin to make doctrine a matter of opinion. And then we can begin to side with whatever feels the most agreeable or compelling. Then we argue over everything. Guys, we already argue over everything. Why would we want to do that?
Like, you let me make it real for us, right? Um August 26th was the very first day of pumpkin spice lattes. Right. Woo! You hear this already?
Already. Here we go. I'm getting some booze already. But the thing is, though, most of us are like, yes, I'm going to tell you right now, on August 26th, guess what I was? I was at Starbucks getting my pumpkin spice latte.
But let me tell you right now, some of you guys are like, it's too soon. You're wrong. It's not. But the thing is, like, man, we argue over that. We argue about whether or not pineapple is a pizza topping.
It's not. Y'all are crazy. Or we begin to argue about when the appropriate timeline is for putting up Christmas decorations. I know I'm going to get some of y'all going to hate me after this, but I'm going to tell you right now: the only accurate date for putting up your Christmas decorations is November 1st.
Some of y'all are so upset right now. But listen, I'm going to tell you right now: if you're feeling exceptionally festive, you can decorate in October if you want. Y'all are like, this guy is crazy. Yeah, I am.
Okay, all I'm saying, though, is that Thanksgiving is a warm-up meal for the big day. That's all I'm saying. And I'm just thinking, I'm just speculating here, but if more people would actually stop arguing and just go ahead and decorate early, maybe people would be less grumpy around the holidays.
Okay, that's awesome. The thing about pumpkin spice lattes and Christmas decor is that they're all matters of preference and opinion. In the long run, they don't matter. But the gospel does. The gospel matters greatly.
And constant arguing and constant debunking only builds confusion. But healthy biblical understanding builds for us a solid. foundation. Y'all, I would sing this old hymn for you, but I would like for you to stay in the room. But I love the old hymn that says, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
And a steady diet. The reason why I love that is because a steady diet of doubt. Creates instability. You're always questioning, but never actually arriving. Biblical understanding, though, will anchor us, giving us a solid place to stand when the storms of culture and skepticism blow through.
But hear me, guys, when I say this, just because we don't argue doesn't mean that we are not ready to defend truth. Paul calls these teachers, these men, to be faithful in these things, to be well-studied, to be self-controlled, and ready to absolutely crush it when the time comes. And now let me just say this to y'all. I recognize that we are not all called to be theologians. We are not all called to be Bible scholars.
But if you are a believer in the room, especially if you are a Christian parent or grandparent, then you are a teacher, whether you like it or not. And everything you do teaches someone something about what you believe.
So in verse 15, Paul turns and he says, Hey, this is how you do it. You must rightly handle the word of truth.
Now for us, we recognize that the word of truth is the gospel message. But for us, Here today, we discover the gospel message through the studying of God's Word. And we recognize that it is impossible to live a gospel-centered life if we do not grow in the gospel through God's Word.
Now, he goes on to say, he says, you must rightly handle the word of truth. That word rightly handle means to cut straight. It's kind of like driving through the mountains in North Carolina. And whoever their engineer is that they called is a brilliant man because he said, hey, listen, we're not going to go around the mountain. We're just going to cut a hole straight through it and go right through it.
Like, that's how we do it in North Carolina. And so, if you're driving through the mountains and you see, like, man, there's just a hole in the side of the mountain. That's what to cut straight actually means. It's likened to Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. It's a verse that many of us memorized as kids.
It's how God makes our paths straight. Here's what it says: It says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. And it is so with our lives and words that we cut straight paths for others who are using the Bible. It is why the preaching and teaching ministries of the church are so important.
Because the Bible and the gospel teach us how to live in a way that does not avoid difficult or problematic parts of life, but rather how to take them head-on and come out better on the other side of it. That's why as a church We build everything around it. Because false, our faithful teaching, sorry, shows us how to read the Bible for ourselves. Because godly teachers are supposed to show us how to read and apply the Bible in the way that they execute their teaching. Asking questions like, what does the Bible say?
What is it like? What are the illustrations and metaphors? And what does God want me to do with this? In short, it's helping us to open the Bible, read, explain. Illustrate and apply.
A good teacher recognizes that the primary goal of preaching and teaching is to make God's word known in a way that provides confidence and clarity to the church. It's not just about knowing how to say things in a compelling way.
Now, let me tell y'all. Let me ask you all a question. If I were to say, hey, I would like for each of you to put together like your top 10 list of preachers. Like preachers who are just incredible, preachers who have just moved the needle in your life spiritually. They're great communicators, great Bible teachers.
You might fill your list with names like Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, J.D. Greer, maybe even Andrew Hopper. I'm going to tell you, I'm not offended that my name's not on your list. It's okay.
I'm comfortable being the plot twist. But here's the thing. Any preacher that stands up and teaches the word, they have a secret. You know what that secret is? We are all frauds.
We're all frauds. That's what it is. We're not just praying, we're actually, we step up here and we're praying that God does the work because the real power comes from the word of truth, not any preacher that takes the stage. See, we're just praying to God that we handle it right and that he changes lives. But first, we're reading the Bible, studying it, and praying that God changes us.
The thing is, though, is that good teaching isn't enough. Faithful teachers. Must be marked. By faithful lives.
So in verse 15, he says, to present yourself as one approved. Y'all When you step into the home, you step into the church, anywhere, who you are matters just as much as what you know. Why? Because nothing says I should not believe this, like someone who is adamant about the Bible but doesn't live it out. I mean think about it.
How many Christians have walked away because of a fallen leader? How many Christians have walked away? How many sons and daughters have walked away or faded from the faith because their parents didn't actually live out what they claimed to believe? Y'all, I didn't get saved until I was 15, and my parents weren't a part of the church at the time. And prayfully, now, thankfully, now, my whole family is following Christ.
But at 15, I had this radical conversion moment where God just saved me in this crazy way. And I started attending or walking to the church down the road for about the first year. And as I was like attending there, God began to do some crazy things in my life. Like, I mean, I fell in love with the Bible. I was opening it and reading it on my own.
I was listening to sermons, and I was writing down all my questions, all my notes. And I was that annoying kid that would walk up to the leader. Hey, like every Sunday, hey, I have a question for you. Hey, I have a question for you. Hey, I have a question for you.
And every time I would bring them, though, these faithful leaders would answer my questions with joy in their hearts and wisdom in their mouth. And they would begin to speak these things. And I remember so many times that our lead pastor would preach these incredible sermons that would shake my faith and make me love God more and draw closer to Him more. And it was incredible. And then one day after at college, I come back and I'm at the church and he is he gets up there to teach one night and like he instead of teaching after worship, he just takes a letter out of his pocket, unfolds it and begins to read.
In it, he details his confession about how he was having an affair with someone in the church. and then tearfully repenting and offering his resignation. Y'all, in that moment, it was like the pillar that I had been leaning on for stability was beginning to crumble underneath me. And as a church, it was like our compass had been broken. And the shockwaves of confusion, sorrow, disorientation began to ripple through the congregation.
It rocked the church, and it took years to recover. It was that toxicity. Like gangrene, Paul mentioned. Y'all had hurt. It hurt and that was normal.
And for some of you, you feel that, and you feel it in a deep way. Maybe you have a similar story about a church leader in your life. Maybe the constant barrage of moral failure put on display through social media has you simply just exhausted. Or maybe it was a Christian parent or a Christian family member in your life that was living out their life with some degree of glaring hypocrisy. No matter what, some of us today have similar stories, and we are struggling to even be here today or be at church or even read and trust the Bible because we have just simply been waiting for the next hypocrite to fall.
But the Bible speaks consistently. Of the fallen nature of humanity, and yet the power of God to heal and restore, and the unfailing nature of His Word.
So we conclude that if the gospel collapses in our eyes when people fall. Then we have built our faith on people. Not Christ. For some of you in the room, like the skeptics, like I I know what that feels like. Skeptics know that if the Bible is true, it changes everything.
our view of God, humanity, truth, morality, and even worship. But the Bible stands as the most reliable book in human history, written by eyewitnesses, preserved in manuscripts closer to the originals than any other ancient document, and confirmed by archaeology and external sources. And all alleged contradictions and late, quote, other gospels crumble under scrutiny, while the message of the cross continues to prove its power across centuries.
So, the real question is not whether or not Scripture can be trusted. but whether we are willing to trust and obey it. Let's take a look at verse 19 again. Yeah. But God's firm foundation Stands.
Bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are His and Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart. from iniquity. So many of you have your Bibles open and you're looking at the cross references there, and you can see where it shows Numbers chapter 16. And I want to tell you, like, it's a huge connection point here for Paul, and he highlights it very quickly.
You could spend an entire sermon series talking about what's called the rebellion of Korah. But in that moment, to sum it up real quickly, 250 people have risen up and rebelled against God's chosen leaders. God's promises and commands, they don't waver, though, and those in rebellion are totally cut off. But to those who have remained faithful to the Lord and faithful to his commands. He says these exact words: The Lord knows who are his.
And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Why does Paul write? reference that. Why is it such a big deal to him? Paul's not highlighting those who were rebellious.
He's not highlighting those who had rejected. He's highlighting those who were faithful. It's in the midst of false teachers. and broken people. The gospel holds.
Strong. Just like God separated the rebels from the faithful in number 16, he knows who truly belongs to him today. Faithfulness isn't just about claiming the name of the Lord. It's about turning from sin, walking in obedience, and letting God's word. Shape.
Our lives.
So I I have one question for you to wrestle with in our application today. Just one. is the word of truth. The central focus. and priority.
in your life. Here's what that looks like in the home. Are you reading the Bible for yourself? Are you spending time with God in the Word? Most of the time, people don't know where to start if they're struggling.
And I want to tell you that on the way out, you're going to get a bookmark called the Here bookmark. Put that in your Bible and just open up. Start in the Gospel of Mark or just start somewhere, anywhere. and just begin to read. And this will show you and walk you through some easy steps on how to read the Bible and study it for yourself.
Just start.
Somewhere. Are you marked? by faithfulness to the scripture. What areas of your life have fallen out of alignment and you need to realign with what you know the Bible says is true about how we should live our lives? What is that next step you need to write on your grow card in a minute?
Y'all, it is impossible to lead our homes into faithfulness if we are not leading ourselves there first. Parents, grandparents in the room, you are the primary disciple maker in the home. Do your kids know that? Can they tell? If the gospel is assumed in our generation.
It will be abandoned in the next. Students are starved. for the word. It's not because they're not hungry. Trust me, I see it.
They are. Rather, it's because there are not enough men and women stepping up to feed them. Is your home? Marked. by the word of God.
What about church? When you show up to church, are you committed to growth through committing? to learning and growing under the word in both the gathering and the group. Like when you show up to the gathering Are you ready? Are you ready to open the word and study it, highlight, mark, take notes?
Are you ready to actually grow? Are you just trying to check the thing off the to-do list? Like when you come to the gathering, are you showing up expectant, ready for God to speak to you and move in your heart and life? Or are again, you just showing up? Checking off the to-do list for the week.
Are you committed to the growth of others? By serving. the gathering in the group. See, we need to be shaped by the word. But we are all given the mission of helping others be shaved by the word.
So let me ask you again. That simple question. is the word of truth. The central focus. and priority in your life.
What's the next step you need to take? to make it more of a priority. I want to pray for us. We're going to go into a time of response. God, thank you.
Thank you for this church. No matter where we are Across the triad, no matter where we are in our spiritual journeys and our growth in you, whether we've been saved for five minutes or 50 years. Each one of us has a next step to take. And so, God, I pray. I pray that you would make that clear.
I pray that if it's the person that's saying, hey, I haven't consistently read the word in a long time, God, I pray that you would help them have the courage to do everything they need to do to make it a consistent part of their life, to go from one day a week to three. To move from three to five, whatever that looks like. For those in the room that are looking at their homes and saying, our homes are not marked by the word. I pray that you would make it clear what next steps they need to do. For those who've showed up to the gathering today, just ready to check that list off, I pray that you would show them that they were made for more than just showing up and leaving, that you have something for their life and is going to revolve around the growth in the Word of God.
And so, God, I pray today that you would give us the courage to say yes, God. Whatever you're calling me to, God, I will say yes to that. And I pray that you would give them the capability and the know-how and the support. to follow through. Lord, wherever Each individual is today.
I pray that you would help us to take that next step. Lord, we love you so much. Pray that your name. Amen.
