I think I’m on. I’m on now. Okay. Good afternoon. It’s good to see everyone here. If you will, in your Bible, open to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We’re going to work through the first 12 verses tonight. We will not have words on the overhead, so I’d encourage you to open your Bible. There should be a Bible in front of you and the chair under it, excuse me, the chair in front of you. So we’ll be in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We’ll start in verse 1.

Finally then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. Know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Paul in this passage compares the Christian life to a walk. And if we think of walking in the physical sense, it’s something we do every day. We get out of bed, we walk, we get ready, we start our day, we walk out to our car, we go to our job, we do errands, whatever that may be. We sometimes walk for exercise, whether it be around the block, or on a walking trail. If we think about it, what is common every time we take a walk? Every walk has a starting point, a middle part, which would be the walk itself, and a destination, which is the reason for taking the walk. For the Christian, what is the beginning point of our walk? It is the point where we are born again. As Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. We sometimes use the word saved. We are regenerated. It’s that point when we pass from spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s the starting point of our freedom from the penalty of sin, because we stand before our holy God in Christ, trusting in his finished work along to save us. And it’s that point we begin our walk of faith. When we start a walk, when you start walking, you have a destination in mind. The same is true for the Christian. This walk has a destination, and that is when we go to be with our Savior, whether we go to him in death or he comes to us to take us home. It’s when we’re finally free from the presence of sin, and that faith that we walk in today finally becomes sight. We go to see this place he’s been preparing for us. He told us he’s going to prepare a place for us. So we go get to see that place, and we get to dwell with him forever. As you and I sit here today as believers, we’re in the middle part of that walk. And this is what Paul is addressing for us today in Thessalonians. In verse 1, he says, Finally then, brothers. So when he gets to chapter 4, he begins a transition to more exhortation. He’s told them many things in Thessalonians up to this point. At the end of chapter 3, he’s talked about a good report he has from Timothy about their faith, that they’re walking as they should. So now he wants to tell us, to encourage them to an even greater obedience. Paul says he has an urgent request. He said, So, an earnest request. And he says it’s an earnest request that’s from the Lord. I think Paul is saying, using his apostolic authority, that these are words from Jesus himself. That if he were writing this letter to you today, this is what he would say. And so what I’m saying to you doesn’t come from a human teacher, but it comes from our Lord himself. He says that you’ve received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. Paul is saying you’ve received from us authoritative teaching. And this teaching is from the Lord. We’ve taught you how to walk in a way that’s pleasing to God. And he can say, based on the report, that’s from Timothy at the end of chapter 3, that they’re doing it. So now what is Paul’s urgent request? He says, I’m exhorting you to keep on keeping on, as we might say. Do it more and more. Do it more perfectly. Do it more consistently. Paul reminds me of a coach here. What does a coach do? Whether it be in sports or musical or dance, whatever it might be. A coach tells you how to do it. He tells you how to do it. He tells you how to do it. He tells you how to do it. They show you how to do it. They help you make the corrections you need as you’re trying to do it. And then when you finally get, you’re starting to get it right, they’re like, yes, do it. Do it more and more. Keep doing it. And I think that’s what Paul is saying today. He’s encouraging them to a more consistent walk. And if you think about it, any athlete, who are the ones that excel at it? It’s the one that practice, and they do it, more and more. Often not in the sight of anyone. Often they’re off doing it on their own, in the quietness of their home, whatever it might be. They’re practicing, and they’re doing it more and more. And so just as an athlete’s motive is to please their coach, the life of a Christian should be to please our God. Verse 2, Paul says, for you know the instructions that we gave you through the Lord Jesus. So he tells them, you’ve already received from us the instructions you need. These are not new instructions. And the first part of verse 3, he says, for it is the will of God, your sanctification. When we talk about the will of God, we often talk about it in terms of the big decisions in life. Who am I going to marry? Where am I going to work? Where am I going to live? Is it time to change jobs? Is it time to move to a different home? And we certainly need God’s will. We need to know His will in those big decisions. But I think what Paul has in view here is that daily life. It’s the day-by-day, moment-by-moment decisions in life. Trying to walk in a way that’s pleasing to God, and in that, we’re being sanctified. We’re being conformed to the image of His Son. Romans 8, 29, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Jesus? I thought of this example. You know, drive-through cliff farms over here, lots of construction. I often see concrete trucks out there. They’re pouring a sidewalk, a patio, a driveway. What do they do first? They put a form out there in the shape that they want it to be in. They pour the concrete that takes that shape, and then they come along, and they’re smoothing it out. They’re smoothing it so that the finished product is, you know, perfectly what they want to see. In a similar way, our lives should be fluid as we’re being conformed, as we’re being poured into that perfect mold, our Lord Jesus Christ. We have a perfect mold. The life of a Christian is to be shaped into that perfect image and that smoothing out process. So we have the form, and we’re being smoothed. I think that’s a picture of sanctification. That’s what Paul’s encouraging them to do there. Walk in a way that’s pleasing to God, or walk in the will of God. It’s your sanctification. Notice the word your. He didn’t say God’s will is sanctification. He made it personal. God’s will is your sanctification. It’s personal. Sanctification is the act of becoming more personally dedicated to God. Yes, He’s interested in my sanctification, and Cameron’s sanctification, and Miss Delana’s sanctification, but He’s interested in your sanctification, your life.

So as we get to this point in verse 3, I think Paul has been giving them general exhortation. In the verses that follow, he’s going to provide more specific exhortation in areas that he apparently felt they needed to work on, or they needed to have clarification or more encouragement in. Areas they needed to walk in a way that’s more fully pleasing to God. Back to verse 3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. So I think the first thing Paul’s going to encourage them to do is walk in holiness. And he does that in the context of speaking about sexual immorality. He tells them first, abstain from sexual immorality.

So what is that? I would define that simply as any sexual expression outside of the command of Scripture. God defines the proper expression from the beginning in Genesis. In Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. In Genesis 1, we’re told he creates man and woman, male and female. Two genders.

And then verse 28, he tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. This is a command. This is a command from God. And in Genesis 2.24, he defines marriage. A man leaves his parents and joins his wife, and they become one flesh. So it’s only within the confines of biblical marriage where sexual expression is considered proper. Actually considered holy. All other forms of sexual expression are considered sexual immorality. It’s perversion of God’s design. Amen.

Verse 4, he says that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. So he tells them they need to learn how to control their own body. To live with a controlled body is to live controlled by the teaching of Scripture. Not what is accepted by culture.

That’s important for us all time, always. We conform to the image of Scripture, not what culture says is right around us. Verse 5. Paul says, control his own body in holiness and honor. What might that mean? So commentaries I read said holiness speaks to the proper behavior before a holy God. We are to live holy before our holy God. And honor speaks to the proper behavior before man because it’s an expression that pleases God and is an honorable witness before him, before man. So holiness and honor is to walk properly before God. And, man. So we don’t say we’re doing what God says and then go do something different. We don’t walk in sexual immorality. Paul says that they should not, as it says in verse 5, not in the passion of lust like Gentiles who do not know God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. The culture the Thessalonians lived in, sexual immorality was a common part of daily life. That was just the Greek life. It was also part of pagan worship. So as a result, Christians consider the Gentiles on the whole, you know, as a people group, to be immoral and idolatrous. Notice that Paul is not arguing that the desire itself is wrong because that desire comes from God. He argues that that desire must be sanctified so that it’s not… He argues that that desire must be sanctified so that it’s not expressed as lust. He argues that that desire must be sanctified so that it’s not expressed as lust. Galatians 5.24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. We’ve crucified the fleshly expression of those desires.

And proper expression of passions and desires is to appear to live as one who does not even know God. Paul says if you participate in this, you walk as one who seems to not even know God. Paul says if you participate in this, you walk as one who seems to not even know God.

He goes on in verse 6. That no one transgressed and wronged his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

Paul says sexual immorality includes seeing against a brother or wronging a brother. Why? Because it takes away from the purity of marriage. It defiles a current marriage or potentially a future marriage when it’s done outside the bonds of marriage. It damages relationships. It violates trust. And when trust is lost, it’s often hard to get it back.

So yes, sexual immorality is seeing against a fellow believer. A fellow person. A human. But ultimately, it’s seeing against God. What did David say in Psalm 51 after he sinned with Bathsheba and had Uriah, her husband, killed? In Psalm 51, that great psalm, he says, I’ve sinned against you. Against you only have I sinned. So yes, sin always matters. Sin affects people. But sin, first and foremost, is against a holy God. And Paul here calls, God the avenger. An avenger is the one who enforces or observes laws and rules. So this punishment might come from government. God has established government. Romans 13, I believe. So government done rightly is ordained by God. But it’s ultimately God alone who has the authority. To punish sin. So let me just say, sin always matters. Paul’s statement about God avenging also applies a judgment even for believers. 2 Corinthians 5.10 says, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

But that’s not a judgment of condemnation. Romans 8.1 tells us clearly, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3.15 says, If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. So, you know, there’s not a loss of salvation, but potentially a loss of rewards. There’s a loss that’s suffered when that immorality is burned up from your life. And Paul says, They’ve been previously told and warned. So you can’t use ignorance as an excuse to justify your sinful behavior. That’s true for us as well, right? We can’t use ignorance. If we’re true believers, we’re in God’s Word, and God’s Word reveals truth to us. If we choose not to follow it, it’s not out of ignorance. It’s out of rebellion. And then in verse 7, Paul summarizes what he’s been saying so far. Succinctly, he says, For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

So when the Thessalonians responded to that effectual call to come to Christ in salvation, that call was not to a life of impurity. It was to a life of holiness. Paul’s been talking about sexual immorality in our passage so far, but he’s been talking about sexual immorality in our passage so far, but he’s been talking about sexual immorality in our passage so far, but I think he would include any types of impurity in this statement. Matthew 15, our Lord tells us what defiles a person. He was confronted by the Pharisees, I believe, and they said, Your disciples are eating with unwashed hands. And the Lord says it’s not what comes, it’s what comes out of a person that defiles a person. He says in Matthew 15, 18, What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. So as believers, God has called us away from all impurity, and he’s called us to walk in holiness. We are called to be sanctified and to be like our Savior. Notice Paul here says us. He didn’t exclude himself. It’s the command of all believers, whether you’re a new believer, a young believer, if you’ve walked with the Lord for many years. The command, is to walk in holiness, and to live and look like Jesus. In verse 8, Paul says, Whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gave his Holy Spirit to you. That word for disregard there is not a casual, flip it, oh yeah, whatever. It’s to spurn. It’s an intense word to reject with contempt.

Paul said they had received the instructions, and those who would not choose to follow it were choosing to reject that teaching. So I don’t think Paul has in view here incidents of, you know, individual acts of disobedience, but rather it’s a settled attitude toward the teaching. It’s a settled attitude that says, I’ve decided not to follow you. I’ve decided to follow my own will. So as our Lord says, that’s really an outflow of the heart. And Paul says, if you reject this teaching, you’re not just rejecting Paul, you’re rejecting God, who gave me this teaching. And lastly, he says there in 8, God has given us His Spirit. And He’s given us His Spirit to empower us to live a holy life. We don’t have to walk in impurity. We can walk in holiness and honor by walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5.16 says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Walking in the Spirit, the verb tense there says, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. So if we walk in the Spirit, we won’t gratify the desires of the flesh. And then Galatians 5.22 and 23 tells us the fruit. Fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Interesting, self-control. What did Paul say back up in verse 5? Learn how to control your body. That’s one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control.

So Paul has told the Thessalonians to walk in holiness, which is to say walk in the Spirit. That’s a good word for us today too, right? Paul would say that as well to us. Walk in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is to walk in holiness. Next, he reminds them to walk in harmony. Verse 9. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. We urge you, brothers, do this more and more. Paul says to walk in harmony. That word for harmony there, or brotherly love is actually what’s in ESV. That can be translated as harmony as well. These verses speak to what the relationship of believers should be to each other within the church. Our walk with each other should be characterized by harmony or brotherly love. And that word brotherly love is Philadelphia. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. That’s where that comes from. So brotherly love, in a family sense, refers to the love of God. love between a family, siblings specifically. Applied to the church is the affection of those who are now siblings. We are all joined together because we have a common faith in our one Lord. So a family is blood related. We’re blood related as well, folks. We’re blood related by the sovereign blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord says, love one another. John 13, 34 and 35. A new commandment I give you that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So in Christ we’re all a family, both in the sense of here at Providence Fellowship, as well as the true church, we’re all a family. The elders, we were able to go to the G3 conference this past week in Atlanta and we got to sit with 8,000 brothers and sisters. It was a great sight to sit there with a common love for our Lord. Jesus says, I’ve loved you. You love one another. Just as I have loved you.

Then Paul says, there’s no need for anyone to write to you. So unlike, in verse 9, unlike the verses about holiness, Paul didn’t elaborate here on what he meant. He didn’t go into any specifics. I think this implies the instructions for how to love had been previously given as he said in verse 2. Paul and those working with him had told the church, this is what it looks like to walk in love.

So in essence, I think he’s complimenting them because he’s saying, you’re doing it. And he says, you’re being taught by God to love one another. They’d received the instructions and Paul implies their Christian education was ongoing. And that ongoing education was about the Spirit’s work in them to produce the fruit. One of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is love. It’s the Spirit producing love. The ability to love each other.

John 6.45 says, it’s written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. So we certainly learn from each other and from listening to biblically based teaching and preaching. And that’s very important. But we should not diminish in any way the importance of sitting with God’s Word and prayerfully living in the Spirit. Let the Spirit apply it to our lives. Only He can apply the truth directly to where we need it most. So friends, we need to spend time sitting with God’s Word and letting the Spirit teach us.

Verse 10, Paul commended their love, not only for their local church, but all the brothers or all the churches in Macedonia. And Paul’s encouragement to them is we urge, again, it’s an urgent request, brothers. Do it more and more. Romans 12.10 says, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. I love that word outdo. We try to outdo each other in lots of things, don’t we? Whether it be sports or a game, I want to win this game. So we try to outdo each other all the time. But maybe many times those things are really, really meaningless in the big scheme of things or even potentially sinful. Paul’s urging them to outdo one another in showing love and honor. 1 Peter 1.22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. How should we love each other? Earnestly. That’s a fervent word. And it’s from a pure heart, not that heart that’s defiled by evil that our Lord talked about. Let’s strive to love each other and strive for a pure heart in that. As we think about walking in harmony with each other, we remember we don’t always do this well, do we? Sometimes our harmony is broken. There are situations where we say or do things that are hurtful. Sometimes it can be a simple misunderstanding. Sometimes we do it intentionally. Sometimes we hurt with our words. So even though we are in Christ, we also have the flesh or the old man to deal with in this life. We still carry him around with us because we’re not yet free from the presence of sin. So we need to be a people that look to forgive and forgive often. Colossians 3.13, bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against each other, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. This verse says, the Lord has forgiven us much. Praise God. He’s forgiven us much. And the command from Paul there is, you must also forgive. That’s a command of scripture. That’s a hard command of scripture.

So I think we can summarize that by saying, as much as it depends on you, walk in forgiveness. Be quick to forgive. Be quick to restore that harmony, that fellowship with your brothers and sisters. But again, it’s as much as it depends on us. And so I would say in those situations where you’re willing to forgive the other person’s not, it’s just got to be a matter of prayer because it’s a work of the spirit to change our heart to do what we need to do sometimes. Well, all the time.

So verse 11, Paul gives us the third walk. And to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we you so that you may walk properly before others, I’m sorry, before outsiders and be dependent on no one. So I’ve titled this one, walk in honesty. That word for walking properly in verse 12 is translated honesty in some translations. So what’s an honest way to live our lives before others? I think this one, unlike the harmony, which was a view inside the church, I think walking in honesty applies not only to those in the church but those outside as well. So what is Paul telling them here? He says to aspire, verse 11, which is to have a lofty goal, inspire to do this, work for this, to live quietly, to live a life free from disruption or commotion. So Paul here is not in any way talking about when it comes to the proclamation gospel. Paul consistently himself encourages believers to boldly proclaim the good news. But the gospel is offensive because it confronts man’s sin. And so we must not shy away from that. But we must always do it in love. Paul says, aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, take care of your own responsibilities, and don’t meddle in others’ affairs. To work with your hands, go out and do an honest day’s work. Again, he says, as we instructed you, Paul didn’t elaborate here. The instructions had already been given.

So why is Paul saying this to the Thessalonians?

Some commentators believe that there were those in the church that were perhaps taking it for granted that they were in the church, but they were in the church. Taking advantage of that brotherly love we just talked about. So maybe there were some wealthy believers and they were charitable. And so they were living a life of ease. Not doing any work. They were being idle and busybodies. Because they didn’t put their hands to honest work. They had time to meddle in others’ affairs. Paul at the end of 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 3, says similar things. There he says in verse 6, Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness. Not walking in honesty. Walking in idleness. And not in accord with the tradition that you receive from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us. We’ve given you the example. Because we were not idle when we were with you. Nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. But with toil and labor we worked night and day. That we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right. But to give you and ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that among you some, again, walk in idleness. Not busy at work, but busybodies. Interested in everybody else’s affairs. Verse 12 says, Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus to do their work quietly. Earn their own living. So the command there is, repent of that. Return to a life of honest hard work. Working quietly.

So doing, walking in a way that’s idle or busy is, people lose respect for you, don’t they? That happens both inside the church and outside the church. When we’re lazy, we can lose the respect of folks.

Verse 12 says, So that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. Paul says, Be dependent on no one. He’s told them to work hard. They should avoid any unnecessary need. Now true, we all have needs. And sometimes the church needs to help with those needs. But we should not live in a constant state of need due to idleness or neglect of our responsibilities. Walking this way before outsiders models proper Christian behavior and potentially helps open the door to a gospel presentation. Think about it. You’ve got a cranky neighbor. He’s loud, doesn’t take care of his stuff. Maybe he’s lazy. Maybe he’s not working. Are you inclined to listen to anything that person would say? Probably maybe avoid that house or tell your kids, don’t go to that house. You probably don’t want to listen to anything they would say to you. But if you have a neighbor that lives the way that Paul outlines here, that aspires to live quietly and mind your own affairs and to work with your hands, that person is more likely to draw people to themselves so that they can hear, maybe give you an opportunity to share Jesus. We should not live our lives in a way that would push others away from us.

So as we get to the end of our passage, Paul says, Paul’s made it clear that sanctification is the will of God for every believer. He said that in verse 3. It’s a lifelong process and it’s difficult. If you’ve walked with the Lord for any amount of time, you know that’s a difficult process. My daughter, she’s done travel nursing. I think many of you know that. So they’ve taken nursing contracts in different parts of the country. These are three-month contracts. And because they love the outdoors, they take these contracts in places where they can go hiking, go to the mountains and see all of God’s beauty in these places. They’ve seen more places in their life than I’ll ever see in mine. One of the places they were working in was in Albuquerque. And Delaine and I had a chance to go up there. And of course, they wanted to take us for a walk, take us for a hike. It’s March and it’s cold and there’s snow on the ground, but we went. So we go to this place. There’s a walking trail. You can’t even see it. Here’s the ice and snow. You start out all bundled up. You’re going walking. Your feet are sliding. You can’t see where you’re stepping. You kind of think this is where the path is. You’re in snow up to your knees. So you’re slipping and sliding all the way up to the top. You get hot along the way. You got too many clothes on. So I was hot. So I was cold. Now I’m hot. I’m slipping. I’m sliding. It’s a long walk in difficult conditions. So why take that walk? Every walk has a destination. Why did we take that walk? Sorry. Because the results are worth it. When we got to the top of that mountain and we could see the city, it was beautiful. We could see all of God’s creation. And so I think that’s a bit like the Christian walk. We can be cold along the way. We can feel hot along the way. Sometimes we slip and we stumble. But why do we do it? Because the results are worth it. We become more like our Savior, which pleases Him. And this allows Him to potentially use us in even greater ways as He builds His kingdom. I think that should be the desire of every believer. Lord, I want You to use me however You can use me to build Your kingdom. I want to be like You. And I want You to use me for Your glory. Why? Paul had told the believers in Thessalonica that they, they had received the instructions they needed to live a life pleasing to God. If that was true for them, that’s even more true or truer for us, right? Because we have the complete revelation of God to man. The Thessalonians didn’t have that. So we have the complete work. We might say, Paul said they have the instructions. You could say we’ve got the complete instruction manual.

So my first encouragement for you would be to be a student of God’s Word. Really dig into it. Preferably meditate upon it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you to produce fruit in you. To change you. Are you willing to be changed? God’s Word confronts our sin. Are we going to change? Are we going to repent of our sin? And follow Him? Or are we going to continue in our life of maybe of impurities that He’s talked about?

Let the Word of God shape your thinking so that you learn to think more biblically. When you come to Christ, you don’t know how to think sometimes. But as we meditate, we study, we feast on God’s Word, we learn to think rightly, which leads to right action and right behavior. I think it’s learning to better hear and follow the voice of our shepherd. In John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. We can think of that in terms of salvation. Yes, we hear His voice and we know Him and we follow Him. I think we can also think of that in terms of sanctification. As we constantly are trying to hear your voice. Where are you leading? That’s where I want to go. That should be our heart’s desire to follow Him wherever He goes. And then secondly, I would say teach your family. Talk about it in your homes. Teach your spouse. Teach your kids what you’re learning. And I would say teach us, your church family. Teach us. God’s given us each other in fellowship to walk this life of sanctification together. So share what you’re learning. And in both cases, with your family, with your church family, do it and do it more and more, as Paul would say. It’s important for your sanctification and the sanctification of the believers around you. I will close with this quote that I saw from Paul Washer. I thought it was really good. We sometimes elevate those that we… We listen to in teaching, thinking, you know, they’ve got it all together. That they’re doing this walk of sanctification more perfectly than we ever could. But Paul Washer said, Believers will not grow at the same pace or to the same degree. Neither will progress always be evident. All believers will slumber, stumble, and stall. However, throughout the believer’s life, there will be discernible growth in Christlike. Christlikeness and fruitfulness. We don’t grow at the same pace or the same degree. We may not even see the evidence of progress in our own lives. We’re all going to stumble. We’re going to slip. We’re going to be walking that path that we can’t see. And we’re taking a step of faith. And that snows up to our knee. But there will be over the course of our life, if we’re truly listening to the voice of our Savior and following Him, there will be discernible growth in Christlikeness and fruitfulness. Paul has instructed us to walk in holiness, harmony, and honesty. And it’s God’s Word that tells us how to do that. So church, practice the proper spiritual disciplines, and then do it more and more, as Paul would say. Let’s pray.

Father, thankful for Your Word.

Thankful for the instruction that it gives us how to live life, how to live a life in a way that’s pleasing to You, to walk in a way that’s pleasing to You. Father, I pray that You would just give us a greater love for Your Word and desire to be studying it and meditating upon it and applying it to our lives. Father, we can’t live the Christian life in a way that’s pleasing to You in our own strength, and You know that. So You know that. You gave us Your Spirit. You gave us Your Spirit that teaches us how to walk and produce those fruits and to walk in Christlikeness.

So Lord,

I’m sure You’ve shown each of us things in our life that we need to change. We need to let Your Word change us. So Lord, I pray that we would be a faithful people who would repent, not just… not just say we’re sorry, but repent and turn from those things in a walk in a way that’s more pleasing to You. A life of holiness and harmony and honesty. May we practice those spiritual disciplines that teach us how to do that and teach the others around us. And then as Paul said, Father, by Your Spirit’s help, help us do that more and more. I pray that in Jesus’ name. Amen.