You must be this tall

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These are the last words of the apostle Peter.. He speaks to the importance of spiritual growth and vitality..

2 Peter 3:17–18 (ESV)

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Prayer

Story: I remember waiting in line, I think it was a roller coaster.. Tried my best to stand up straight.. It was a long wait, but all the tips and tricks didn’t make me tall enough.. I had some just old fashioned growing up to do!

Transition: Peter ends his last letter to the Christian church with an encouragement to grow!

— He knows the cost of coming up “short” in his spiritual journey..

— You see, even after He had been with Jesus for 3 years of ministry.. He fell short

— For all of us who at times feel like our growth is stunted:

— We know that on the night Jesus was betrayed..

Mark 14:37–38 (ESV)

And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

— We know he denied Jesus 3 times before the rooster crowed.. He failed..

— But we also know that after Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus not only forgave him, but told him

— Luke 22:32

Luke 22:32 (ESV)

but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

And, here Peter is doing exactly what Jesus prayed for, strengthening the church, even us today:

How do you grow? Dinner and a show..

(Have a ladder on the stage, example of restaurant where the waiter would go up the ladder and drop honey in a small bowl down on the table!)

1. Dinner:

A. avoid processed chemically altered ( I sound like RFK right now!) “food”

— I referenced last week about earlier in this book 2 Peter 2 , Peter spoke about the dangers of false teaching..

— False teachers can be identified by pride, by immoral behavior, by greed.. WON’T HELP YOU GROW, IT WILL MAKE YOU SHRINK

— Another way we get the wrong stuff is to be FULL OF OURSELVES

— When Jesus spoke to the level of temptation they were about to face, Peter was like “Everyone else might not be tall enough to reach.. But I can get there.. “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away”

— Sounds like the kid trying to stand on his toes.. But he fell short!

B. Eat the good stuff

— My parents generation were impacted by the psyop that was the cartoon Popeye.. That spinach from a can was the stuff that made muscles..

— We need nutrients to live and to grow.. You want to grow your spiritual muscles so you can do more and more for HIM!

— And Peter says grow in the GRACE and the Knowledge of Jesus Christ..

— We need to understand that knowing Him and receiving from Him is a free gift.. It is a grace..

— Peter was encouraged to pray to avoid temptation.. In other words, he was in need of a GRACE. God’s power not his..

— To step on the ladder towards God’s power, to get some more reach! Reach to heaven’s power!

— Peter is saying to be strong and stable, we need to grow in GRACE and knowledge of Jesus

— So, how do we get more grace and knowledge of Jesus?

— a. understanding the GOSPEL. Jesus has the reach, He was the only one who’s righteousness ascends to heaven.. He is the ONE that hits the “you must tall enough..” in terms of gaining heaven.. He is the ONE that has the power to overcome temptation..

— And He extends His righteousness to us! When we stand on the first rung of the ladder towards heaven, we stand on GRACE. Nothing that we have done. But He made a way to reach heaven by His body. His sacrifice..

— When we understand the basic truth that Jesus’ sacrifice elevates us. Elevates the lowly! We come with our sin, with our weakness, with our inability, and now we stand on the work of the Cross!

— b. just eat

1 Kings 19:6 (ESV)

And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

— I like this story of Elijah, he was depressed running for his life from Jezebel.. And there is grace. Cake! Right next to his head!

— We have the word of God readily available. We get to know HIM by reading His living word. We don’t have to smuggle it in. It’s right on your phone!

— We sometimes view the bible as this task.. Where we should view it as cake right next to our head. God wants to reveal Himself to you!

— in the previous letter

1 Peter 2:2–3 (ESV)

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

— I don’t just want dinner, but I want breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner of taking what He wants to give me in terms of His presence His truth..

— Not only being in the word, but being in the presence of God, our prayer life, our worship life.. Have you wept in His Presence? When have you encountered Him lately?

Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

2. Show:

— As we walk with Him we connect with Him, we begin to grow.

— He causes the growth as we connect by grace to Him!

1 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV)

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

— He grows us from one level to the other..

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

— When you grow in GRACE, when you begin to know Him you can’t help but sing!

— In your heart it’s closer and closer to heaven.. Because He has elevated and grown you..

— That’s what’s happening here. This is called a doxology, a type of hymn or song that the early church sang!

— When we experience His presence and life changing Grace we begin to grow from rung to rung..

— We will find strength above the storms.. We find more and more power over temptation.. We find we are empowered to do things by His Spirit that we could never do..

— He gets the glory, and we bless Him! We praise Him!

Transition to Communion

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