Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning, church. Happy New Year. I'm sure you've heard that a couple times already at this point, a few days in, but man, Happy New Year. It is a joy to be together, even in the weird way that we are. Hopefully you're at home, you're comfy, you're safe. Right now I'm watching the snow fall out my kitchen window, man. You know, this is not the way we expected to Start Church in 2025. But God is good and thank the Lord for technology like this that lets us still have a connection point, a worship point together today. Amen. We're going to do something a little different and not just the fact that it's this and you're watching this on YouTube. We're actually going to take a quick break from Matthew today. We're going to finish Matthew this year, probably over the summer. Next week we'll jump back in and really for the couple exceptions, we won't really take a break again until we finish it out. But today we're going to be in Colossians 3 and we're going to be in Colossians 3 because we're talking about the idea of goals, right? I mean it's New Year's, right? New Year's resolution, New Year, new you, that whole deal. And listen, I know that it's kind of trendy to just not like New Year's resolutions. And maybe it's cheesy as all get out, but I love them. Like, I actually think it's really helpful to, to, to, to set goals for your life that you want to see actually change. Like obviously it's unlikely that you have the willpower and the discipline to make major huge life changes instantaneously. I think that's why people kind of are just down on the whole idea of New Year's resolutions. But I think they can be a helpful tool for, for self evaluation and for personal growth. Like goal setting, as long as it's done well, can really help us take a sober look at our lives and take practical steps toward good change. Now of course, right. They can't be vague or they won't be helpful. Like my 2024 goal of eat less Cheetos isn't terribly helpful unless I make it more specific, right? Like something like eat no more than one Costco body bag size bag of Cheetos per two month period for a total of no more six body bags of Cheetos in a 12 month year. That's, that's a little more helpful. Like that's a goal that's actually measurable. Not helpful because I didn't do it. But, but, but you get what I'm saying, right?
[00:02:33] There's no real secret sauce to meeting our goals in life. I feel like this time of year there's always like these articles that pop up on social media, like what's the secret? How do you do it? How do you stick with your plan? There are so many self help books written on exactly this idea. But guys, there isn't a secret. It's pretty simple and we've all been taught it since we were little. It's how your education worked. It's what you were taught in your study skills class or your intro to business class. It's what your first boss taught you when you were flipping burgers or grabbing tools. You can set realistic goals that are contextualized to your needs and you can meet them over a period of time throughout small applications of consistent discipline. To do that, your goals need to have things like they need to be specific, they need to be measurable. They are small applications of discipline over a long period of time. Baby steps, right? Like daily application of man. How do I make 1% change today? Like goals that you're actually excited about, things that you want to see change in your life that you, you're actually excited to engage. This is how we see discipline built into habits that change our lives over the course of months and years, guys. That's how we as human beings grow and mature. The reason I say all this to start out, I know I've been harping on this probably too long, is because as this is a discipline, honestly, Kim and I have had several years where we do this thing where we take a date in late December and we have honest discussions about what we're proud of and what we wish we had done differently over the year. And then we set some goals like this. Personal, professional, fun, spiritual. Some of them are really change centric, some of them are continuation centric. I want to keep momentum going here. But we set them and then we actually talk about them over the course of the year. It's a touch point we have. And by no means do we 100% stick to our goals. But it becomes this really helpful measuring stick for each of us throughout the year as we check in on each other and on each other's health and growth. So to bring that back home, right? Like why I'm talking about that this morning is this. I think you should consider your spiritual health when considering your plan for growing this year. You should think about your Spiritual health, your life of faith. You should think about what it means for you to grow in dependence on Christ, to grow in faith, and to grow in holiness. Guys, your faith is worth your attention. If the gospel is what we say it is, if the gospel really is true, it's worth your attention. It's worth you taking some responsibility for growth and maturity in your experience of faith. Guys, that's. That's a worthy investment. And I think the new year gives us this built in cultural moment to do just that. It's really normal to take this time of year and do some self evaluation. So why not include your faith in that self evaluation this season? Because I would love for each of us at Emanuel to set practical goals for how we can grow with Jesus this year. I'm praying this year in our church that each of us would seek to be so full of Jesus that he overflows out of us into our lives around us. I hope that each of our hearts are filled to the brim and beyond with our sweet Jesus. And I think, guys, that's a realistic goal for us as a community. And I think that it will happen when we make the Word of God a specific and intentional part of our personal lives. So the main point I'm trying to get at today is this deep and consistent engagement with the Word of God is the primary method by which we are sanctified, period. Deep and consistent engagement with the Word of God. That is how we as Christians most often are sanctified. And so if you want to take a real next step in your faith, it will almost certainly be connected to your relationship with the Bible. Do you read the Bible? Do you engage the Bible? Not just read it, but engage it. Do you know the story of Scripture? Are you growing in knowledge? But are you also growing in intimacy? Are you growing in. Hear this, guys. Obedience, where you actually do what the Bible says and teaches. We're going to get there today with a discussion from a passage I love in Colossians chapter three. So grab your Bible, turn to Colossians three, pray with me, and then let's look at this scripture chunk by chunk. Jesus, we need you this morning. We ask that you would be our discipler. Holy Spirit. We ask that you would be the one who illuminates the text to us. God, it's. It's just a weird day. We're at home. We haven't had our normal rhythms of church where we see our brothers and sisters, where we celebrate and sing songs. We're just watching a video on YouTube. Lord, and so I pray that you would push through the strangeness of today. You would push through us being out of rhythm and that you would disciple us, encourage us, challenge us, exhort us. Lord, let us finish out this time today, really unified as a church family around what you are calling us to. God, we love you, we trust you, we pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen. Okay, Colossians chapter three is where we're at today. If you missed Jim's sermon last week, I suggest you jump back on the podcast and give it a listen. He gave a great introduction and overview of this book and what's going on. But just to make sure that we're all on the same page before we get our text, let me remind us. Colossians is built on a Christology. It's built on a theology of who Jesus is and what that identity of Christ, the work of Christ means practically for you and for me. Paul wrote this letter to a church in Colossae, but it was a church he had never actually visited. It's believed that the Colossian church was either planted or pastored by a man named Epaphras, who Paul refers to in the first chapter. And he's believed to be a convert from Paul's ministry in Ephesus. He has sought Paul out to help with the heresy he sees growing in his church regarding some kind of what's. What's often called like mystery religion. And this was a common kind of catch all term for cultic beliefs that were really common in the first century that took facets of various religions and put them into this kind of soup, centered around engaging practices to gain secret knowledge. That's why it's called mystery religion. And then spiritual growth out of learning these secrets. It's connected to what eventually would be called Gnosticism. And it seems that the Colossian Church was struggling with some form of a Jewish mystery religion where they were engaging in certain Old Testament practices combined with some of just the common pagan tropes of the Roman world and saw this as kind of a pathway to gain secret knowledge and spiritual, spiritual growth. Paul thoroughly deconstructs this entire idea. This is not how one grows spiritually. There is no secret knowledge or secret ceremony that you can gain or figure out, no amazing discipline you can practice to fix what is broken in your heart. Rather, it is only Paul says, through Jesus, through his work and his heart for you, that we can find real life in the spirit of God. Now this isn't to say that Christians are free to do whatever they Want. Chapter three gives us this amazing truth about the effects of Jesus's work in our lives. Because of Jesus, because of who he is and what he has done, we become different. Paul says that in Christ, we take off our old life like clothes that don't fit. We take off our old sinful way of living. Things like sexual immorality and greed and lust and evil desires and idolatry. These things, Paul says they don't fit you anymore. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language, lies. These are old clothes that don't fit you anymore because Christ himself is reforming you in his own image. And so, according to Colossians, in Christ our very lives change. We become more and more and more like Jesus, like his character, like the way he engages the world and the way he treats people. The differences of this world, things like age and race and wealth and cultural preferences, they just matter less and less and less as you and I both become more and more like Jesus. All of that sets up our text. In the beginning of chapter three, Paul has spoken in these negatives. Because of Christ, we take these certain things off in our life. But now in our text, we're going to see about how Christians put on what are the new clothes, the new way of life, the new actions that we put on as we become more like Jesus. If our sin is old clothes that don't fit, what are the new outfits that we put on in Christ? So let's read with me, starting in verse 12.
[00:13:10] Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a grievance against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also are to forgive. And above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
[00:13:42] Beloved, our entire text today is built on the Gospel. It is because of Jesus. It's because God chose you, because God sought you out. Because God was not content for your sin to win out, but instead he entered into our broken and sinful world. He lived a sinless life. He died a sinner's death and was risen to the reward of the righteous as a first fruits, guaranteeing our own forgiveness of sins and resurrection unto life. Because of that, beloved, live like Jesus. That's what our text says. Because of how amazing this Gospel is. Live like Jesus because of the Gospel. Put on a new life, a new way of living. Now, here's the thing, guys. I think most of us remember doing this, especially if you were older when you met Jesus when you converted to Christ. Yeah. Like, don't you remember the joy with which you embraced the new life brought to you by Jesus? Don't you remember when you made those radical and immediate changes in your life? When you change the way you spoke and what words you said, when you changed what you did with your free time, when you changed how you spent your money, when you changed the way you treated people, when you change what you were seeking out in life. Most of us can remember the joy with which we engage this task of living like Jesus when we first met him. Now, if you were a younger kid, maybe it's harder to put some of those pieces together, but. But even those of us who met Christ at a young age, I mean, I remember the joyful changes I saw myself making in my life after meeting Christ as a little kid. So it really begs the question, beloved, what happened?
[00:15:53] Like what. What happened to us? Why did that change?
[00:15:58] When were you hurt or wronged? And that old anger came right back. When were you anxious and worried and you ran straight back to that old vice? When were you just feeling stressed and tired? And your old patterns of selfishness and gossip, they were just easier than fighting against the temptation, right? I mean, I assume I'm not the only one who proves the proverb, the dog does in fact, return to its vomit, Right?
[00:16:32] So what do we then do with texts like this? I mean, who among us doesn't long to actually be more like Christ? Isn't that what we all want to put on? Compassion and kindness and gentleness and patience and forgiveness and love and unity. Like that Sounds amazing. Yeah.
[00:16:54] And most of us can point to seasons of our life and seasons of our faith where we were actively growing in those things. Lord willing, some of you are there right now. Like spiritual growth in this moment is your norm. Praise God. Yet many of us continually struggle with this change toward the new self. We move from seasons of growth to seasons of apathy and stagnation and even growth the wrong way, like growth in fleshliness, Right?
[00:17:32] How can this be? Why is this? If. If the gospel is true, like the gospel is true, isn't it? And if the gospel is true, isn't it Jesus who changes your heart? Isn't it his accomplished work on the cross on your behalf that changes you from your old self to your new self?
[00:17:55] Well, yes. Yes, that is 100% true. In fact, all of us know that to be true. All of us who are in Christ know that it's his work. We need Jesus. We can't make these Changes on our own. The Bible doesn't work as a works based to do list. Right. Many of us have tried to white knuckle our way to holiness into spiritual living and it does not work. Right. Eventually you run out of willpower and you run right back to old patterns. And even when you can legalistly get yourself to stop certain behaviors and start new ones, when we can go through the motions but do it with a fleshly heart, we know it's all whitewashed tombs. Yeah, like it doesn't work.
[00:18:43] So then what do we actually do? We'll read on with me in verse 15.
[00:18:49] And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in our hearts.
[00:19:12] Paul uses this term here, the peace of Christ, as a catch all for what we're talking about.
[00:19:22] How do you live your life in Christ growing in holiness? How do you let the shalom of Jesus rule your heart? Well, look at verse 16.
[00:19:37] Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you. Paul is tapping into a deep truth here. Now don't mishear me. The gospel guys, is an act of God. Jesus is the one who entered into the world. He's the One who sought us out. He's the One who gave his perfect life for our sin and he's the One who forgives our sin. He's the One who regenerates us and resurrects us into his perfect eternity. It's his work. Right. And yet you and I have a part to play in our growth in faith.
[00:20:15] We have a part in this. You have have a heart and a will.
[00:20:22] And you and me, in some mysterious way, we interact with the heart and will of God. You give him your yes, and you seek him not in a way of trying to build up good works that you might save yourself. That doesn't work. We know that doesn't work. You can't do that. But rather you respond to the amazing accomplished work of Jesus by drawing close to Jesus. There's this gratitude, this thankfulness that wells up in us and draws us close to him. This phrase, the Word of Christ, you have to remember that the Word was one of the first titles the church used to describe Jesus in his ministry. Jesus is the Word of God. He makes God known. To look to Jesus, to listen to Jesus is to look and to listen to the Father. To let the Word of Jesus dwell Richly among you is the most simple and significant response you and I can have to the amazing Gospel work of Jesus.
[00:21:32] It means to fall at his feet, to draw near to him, to get your heart and your mind as close by proximity to the heart and mind of Jesus as you can.
[00:21:48] And how you do this in the time and the day when you're and how do we do this then in a time and a day when we're awaiting Jesus's bodily return? Right, like Jesus isn't here physically, so how do we seek him out and fall at his feet and seek proximity when there isn't a physical person that you and I can go to? Well, beloved, it's through the Bible, like this is how we get there. Yes, the Word of God is a title of Jesus himself. But beloved, this book, inspired and preserved by the very Spirit of God, is the way by which we draw near to Jesus here and now. You want the Word of God to drill richly among you. This book is how you get there. Every time we gather, all we do as a church family should be grounded in the absolute bedrock of the Word of God.
[00:22:54] Our songs, our prayers, our sermons, our announcements, even our discussions as we hang out before and after church. All of them should be richly full of the Word of Jesus. When we gather in our Gospel communities and our discipleship groups, full of Jesus when we share our meals and our prayer circles, full of of Jesus. When we have worship time, when we have study, when we have discussion, all of it needs to be grounded in the bedrock of the Word of God, because that is how we draw near to Him. But this isn't just about our corporate gathering. It's not less than our corporate gathering, but our corporate gatherings as much as, yes, they must center around the Word. There is more to your faith than your communal experience. In fact, your communal experience of faith when we gather together that all that we do, the one anothers will be hindered or helped by whether or not you as an individual Christian are allowing the Word of God to dwell richly in your heart throughout the everyday stuff of your life. Look how our text concludes in verse 17.
[00:24:15] Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. If your faith only matters to you the three or four times a month that you attend a Sunday gathering or a Gospel community, beloved, hear me right now, your faith will wither if it only engages. If it only matters in those communal moments where I say, all right, pray and open your Bible or you're Hanging out in your GC living room. And that's the first time you've cracked your Bible since Sunday. If that's the only time your faith matters to you, beloved, your faith will wither. You must choose. Hear me, church. Choose to draw near to Jesus in the everyday stuff of your life. Your very life, your words, your deeds. Those need the word of God to dwell richly in them.
[00:25:18] What do I mean here? Well, let me be as clear and as practical as I can with you today. If you want your faith to matter in your life, if you want to actually be sanctified, if you want to grow in Christlikeness, if you want to be actively involved in your own Faith, in 2025, it will be because you engaged the word of God with depth and with regularity.
[00:25:51] Period.
[00:25:52] And here's the thing, church.
[00:25:55] You already know this.
[00:25:57] We know this is true. The Bible is a flashlight on a dark night that helps you live your life in a painful and confusing world. The word of God is living and effective. It's sharper than the double edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Come on. Every word God has preserved for us is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness. So the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And my personal favorite, God speaks of his own word. And he says, this is not my word. Like fire, this is the Lord's declaration. Is my word. Not like a hammer that pulverizes rock. It's Jeremiah 23 if you want to look that one up. It's really cool. The Bible preserves the words and heart of God for us, beloved. It changes us. And here's the thing, actual research bears this out.
[00:27:19] Regular, deep engagement with the Bible changes people's lives for the better. Period.
[00:27:28] Research shows it is in fact a refining fire. It is in fact a hammer that breaks up the crust of sin in our lives. It is in fact a sharp sword that becomes a scalpel cutting the curse out of us. It is in fact sufficient to correct and train us for righteous living.
[00:27:49] The center for Biblical Engagement is the research arm of Daily Bread Ministries. You know those little like, devotionals we have in the back of the sanctuary that reappear every few months? This Daily Bread? The center for Biblical Engagement is their research arm and they Turns out they've been keeping track of this alongside LifeWay Research with the Southern Baptist Convention for years. And the outcomes they see are so obvious if you read your Bible and where you'll grow in your faith. But it's really powerful to look at it. So it turns out from the research, four is the magical number. Self professing Christians who engage their Bible an average of four times a week. And by the way, all that means is this. Christians who engage their Bible more often than they don't, right? Four days a week means there's more days in any given week where you engaged your Bible than there were days that you didn't. Christians who average four or more times a week engage in their Bible see a marked decrease in destructive in sinful behaviors and a marked increase in behaviors associated with spiritual growth. Now I'm going to read some stats to us here and I want to be really clear when I say this, right? All you can measure with this kind of thing is behaviors. And we know that behaviors don't necessarily represent the heart, right? Like we can be whitewashed tombs. We can figure out how to do the right things and not actually see our heart change. But behavior is the fruit by which we can measure the work of the Spirit. And I think the reason it's helpful is this willpower runs out. You can only white knuckle your way through godly behaviors for so long and the stark marked difference in how Bible engagement changes people's lives. I think it moves well beyond the collective willpower of us as Christians to fake our way through this. So let me, let me, let me, let me give you a couple examples of what I mean. This is where it would be helpful to have the screen behind me that I could put it up, but you'll just have to hear me. And I'll actually going to send an email today as a follow up for this and I'll put a link to this article so you can read about this yourself.
[00:30:06] People who engage the Bible four or more times a week are. Hear this guys.
[00:30:12] 40% less likely to consistently feel bitter. This is self reporting, right? 32% less likely to think destructively about themselves or others. 32% less likely to feel the need to hide, hide their thoughts, their feelings, their actions from other people. 31% less likely to struggle with forgiveness. 30% less likely to consistently feel lonely. 20% less likely to struggle with overeating. 15% less likely to consistently feel anxiety or fear. But it turns out they're also more likely to engage in positive spiritual Behaviors. Those who engage their Bible four or more times a week are. Hear this guys, because this is where it gets nuts. Now my, I guess my cat assistant is joining me.
[00:30:59] 400% more likely to financially support the church, 200% more likely to financially support other nonprofit ministries. 400% more likely to memorize scripture, 230% more likely to disciple other believers, and 220% more likely to share their faith with non believers. Those are insane numbers. 4 times as likely to financially support the church, over 2 times more likely to disciple and share their faith. That's nuts. And by the way guys, this is not gradual change. This is, I think, the weirdest part about this. Christians who engage their Bibles on average one to three times per week, less than four, show no real measurable, marked change in behavior from non Christians. None. It's essentially identical. But there is something about getting over that hump of engaging your Bible more often than you don't that four times a week mark that show these just zero to 100 dramatic changes in experienced life. And note by the way, what I mean by engagement here. This is referring to this. Taking in the teaching of the scripture, considering it and seeking to apply it in your life in some way. This could mean deep Bible study. This could mean your precepts class, your bsf, your cbs. But this could just as easily mean listening to an audio Bible in the car on the way to work and praying. This could just as easily mean reading the entry in the daily bread. This could mean going through a reading plan and journaling out a prayer. This could be what I'm saying here guys, is this could be an hour or two of engagement or this could be 10 minutes. The secret sauce here is the rhythm. Four times a week means you are choosing to engage your Bible more often than you are choosing to ignore it. And beloved, that is beautiful. It's beautiful. It shows you that there is something amazing about our Jesus when we choose to engage with the heart and mind of Christ regularly.
[00:33:36] When we encounter his truth as a normal part of our day to day life. The Spirit of God is faithful to grow us in our faith. The Spirit is faithful to form us in the likeness of Christ. And so guys, this leaves us with a really, really practical challenge this week. And honestly, this year, will you make your faith an intentional part of your goals for your life? Will you take the step to grow in your faith instead of letting it wither on the vine again?
[00:34:20] So what does that look like? Well guys, it looks like this. Whatever your current relationship with God's, Word is. Let me lovingly challenge you to take another step to take your engagement with the Word of God more deeply than it currently is. This starts with you assessing where you stand right now. What is your relationship with the Word of God today to help that I've actually prepared. I know this is cheesy, but we're going to do it and I'm asking all of you to do it with me. I've prepared a short survey, three questions that I'm asking everyone who considers IFC our home church to take this survey. I've got physical copies that we'll have at church next Sunday, but I'm going to send it out in digital form today with this follow up email. And I want each of us to take this survey right now at the beginning of the year. We're going to take it again this summer and then we'll take it again the same time next year. And my hope is that we can see how God actually works in our midst over the course of this year to actually grow us in our engagement with the Word and to grow us in our faith. Once you have honest eyes on your relationship with the Word, you're going to have to decide what that next step looks like if you don't engage the Word of God outside of church. Hear this guys. That's your step. Like that's it. Start reading the Bible. Begin reading. You may need to download the Bible app so that you can listen to an audio Bible or you can find a an easy engageable devotional reading plan in the app. You may need to grab a physical reading plan so that you can have something concrete to look at and check off boxes and fold up and keep in your Bible. You may need to jump into something deeper. You may need to jump into a class where there's other people. There's accountability like Precepts or cbs. Because I've actually got a Bible reading plan that was developed by a sister church in South Carolina, going to send it out digitally. We'll have physical copies next week and it asks you to read your Bible essentially one chapter a day, five times a week. And if you do that, if you follow this, it will take you through the entire New Testament in 2025. It's really engageable, especially if you've never had a Bible plan that you've engaged and stuck with. This is a really good first step. Grab a few friends from GC and consider this one because it factors in your busyness and assumes that you'll miss out on reading at least twice a week. It's a great starting point that will have you read a massive chunk of your Bible this year. So when you're assessing this aspect of your next step, and I just said this a little bit, it's important to remember that we engage the Bible in multiple ways. You engage it intellectually with your head. You also, though, engage it emotionally with your feelings and your experiences, but you also engage it narratively, like as a story. And all of us probably have a way of engaging scripture that just comes more naturally to us. Maybe you love to geek out on theology and get all your questions answered. Maybe you love knowing the stories and the major themes and seeing how they interact and connect. Maybe you love to get a fresh word from the Spirit to encourage or challenge you in some present facet of your life. Whatever area of scriptural engagement you're currently best at will probably show you what your next steps are, because you may need to really lean into that natural, strong area of Scripture. Or if you're finding some real growth and maturity and momentum there, you may need to branch out and consider other aspects of scriptural engagement. And then last little bit, guys, again, I've already kind of touched on this, but just to say it, you need to consider who you're going to invite into your Bible engagement. You can, and you should engage the Bible on your own. It's necessary for you to have real spiritual growth. But it's so important to consider how your faith community will join in Scripture with you. Maybe that commit means committing to doing the same reading plan, right? Like, get your GC together and talk about that this week. Maybe you guys commit to do the same reading plan for a month or a week or the whole year. And then you jump into, throughout that period of time, a group chat or a shared email or a regular meeting over coffee where you share what's convicting you in Scripture. How is God challenging you? Maybe that means going through a real Bible study together. It means grabbing an actual study book and study material and setting aside time outside of your normal rhythms to meet together and engage it. Maybe it just means regularly sharing prayer requests, right? Like showing up to GC ready to share what God's been doing in your heart and ask your brothers and sisters to pray over you and hold you accountable as we step into 2025 and we think about what's next in our lives. Guys, there is a lot of beautiful and exciting and also difficult life. It's going to be lived out this year. When I think about 2025, we are going to see births, we're going to see weddings, we're going to see funerals this year. That's how life is as we await Jesus's return. But when many of us stand in the same place next year, I really want us to think right now about this. When we get to this space the same time next year, in 2026, what will be different?
[00:40:17] Will you look more like Jesus this time next year? Or less like Jesus?
[00:40:23] Will your faith have grown or will it have calcified? Beloved, we all have to start somewhere. So wherever you are, I urge you to consider starting right now.
[00:40:40] Make faith an intentional part of your life. See what God can do in you as you draw near to Him. Beloved, God has been so good to you. And I say that as a blanket statement to every one of us at Emmanuel. I know many of you guys stories. I know many of the heavy, painful things we've been through. And I can still say with complete confidence, God has been good to you.
[00:41:09] Why not start today? Why not begin right now? The Word of God is amazing.
[00:41:17] God's word is effective in its working. God is faithful to you. Beloved. Draw near to Him.
[00:41:26] Let His Word dwell richly among you and man. Let's see what God might do with that kind of willing and obedient heart. Let's see how God writes our stories this year.
[00:41:42] Because that's all I've got for us today. And so I'm going to pray for us. And I would encourage you right now as we land out in your living room, find some space to slow down, quiet your heart and connect with the Lord for a minute. And I'm going to ask you before this ends out, like, just take a minute right now and ask God to speak to your heart. What is it you need to do to take a next step in your faith this year? And how can your church family be a part of it? Like I said, I'm going to send out an email with some of the stuff we talked about, a link to the article with the statistics, as well as a link to the Bible reading plan and the survey I'm asking us all to do. That's a great, practical, concrete way to begin engaging what God is telling you right now. But I'd also encourage you guys, like reach out if your pastors can be a part of your story, if we can help you articulate and figure out what your next steps are. We want to be in this journey with you. We are for you guys. We love you. We pray for you often. So take a minute, find some space, find a posture to connect with Christ and pray with me. And we're going to land out. Jesus, thank you so much for today.
[00:42:53] Thank you for how you love us. Thank you for how you care for us. Thank you for beautiful snowy days and days to sit at home under blankets with hot coffee and hot cocoa. God, I ask for each and every one of us today that you would move in our hearts. Lord, challenge us. Give us clear eyes to see the current level. We engage your gospel in your heart. And Jesus, I just ask that you would push each and every one of us to take a next step in our faith, to consider genuinely what it looks like, to pursue you with our whole hearts, to look at our faith how it is now, and to not be content to rest on our laurels, but to do the work of drawing near to you and seeing your spirit reform us in your image. Lord, I pray that when we stand in this same space next year, we would see a marked difference in how you have sanctified us as a church, how you have grown us and molded us in your likeness, and how you have overflowed out of us into the lostness around us. Jesus, we love you. We trust you. Pray these things in your name. Amen. All right, guys, that's all I've got for you today. I love you guys. Look out for that email today and Lord willing, we'll see you next week.
