Sermon Tone Analysis

Worship Service: Announcements John Ivan Byler

Call to Worship, Offering David Burkholder

Singing Shandon Mullet

Reading and Pastoral Prayer James Groff Theme - Intercession

Family of the Week: Micah, April, & family: Pray for love and wisdom in interacting with our neighbors, for boldness in sharing Truth, for each of us to have at least two Followers to mentor, and for locals to promote the technologies our NGO has developed.

Caleb B

Jim L sister

Scripture Reading 2 Peter 3 Robb Mullet

Marks of maturity sermon series:

Hebrews 6:1

διό

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,

Over the next 6 sermons, we will ask ourselves, what visible marks show we are growing in maturity.

What visible realities will be present in our lives if we are growing.

Everything that grows progresses in maturity.

And while spiritual growth does not happen overnight, or sometimes even quickly, but if it is not happening at all, you should question your spiritual health.

We have enough farmers here to understand this illustration.

If you take a newborn calf, and it does not stand in the first couple hours, that calf will probably not make it, and then after standing, if it does not drink milk within the first day, it will probably die.

And after drinking milk, if it does not transition to a bottle, and milk replacer within a week, it will probably die.

And if further down the road it does not begin to eat grain, it will probably die.

And if it does not transition to eating grass or hay, it will at minimum live unhealthily.

And we could look at other plants and animals, and while the marks of maturity will be different, if they are not progressing, the life is in danger.

And so as we go through these, let us consider ourselves.

Am I growing?

The only biblical way to assess our progress is in our growth in spiritual maturity, and visible holiness.

This is not something you decide as the bluegrass song says “Me and Jesus we got a good thing goin”.

This is worked out in the community of believers, and we are each called to be watchful of ourselves, and our brothers to be sure that we are continuing on the path to maturity.

If you are not more holy than you were last year in some measurable way then you had better start searching your heart.

And hopefully, as we progress through this series, we will be helped by scripture to search our conduct, and our hearts.

Message James Groff

“Living the Word” - Defeating Insignificance

Our world is caught in insignificance.....we are caught in chasing things of insignificance

“The mainstream media are making the mistake of appealing to emotions rather than reason.

It’s catchy, sure, but it’s also hollow.

It’s the equivalent of junk food, and it leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied.”

Comment on Quillette

Our world is caught in insignificance.....we are caught in chasing things of insignificance

In so many ways, we see the pursuit of cheap pleasure and the accepting short lived joy dominate our lives and thinking.

We see this in the media: A commenter on a editorial said: “The mainstream media are making the mistake of appealing to emotions rather than reason.

It’s catchy, sure, but it’s also hollow.

It’s the equivalent of junk food, and it leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied.”

Comment on Quillette

“The mainstream media are making the mistake of appealing to emotions rather than reason.

It’s catchy, sure, but it’s also hollow.

It’s the equivalent of junk food, and it leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied.”

Comment on Quillette

This reality extends to the debates our country is having over many issues.

And it is easier to retreat to our well-developed arguments, and just exchange slogans versus the hard work of respecting the disagreeing party, and entering respectful and community building dialogue.

With another school shooting, all we hear know, is it’s easy, “Australia took away guns, and they have no gun violence” easy......or the other side, “Guns don’t kill, people kill”.

But few are willing to listen to the broad range of ideas and solutions being proposed without entering a mud throwing war.

We see this in relationships - the quick and the fleeting dominate our romantic relationships.

Humans of New York post a description of a couple in Indonesia where the man was describing that after 5 months of being together he summoned up the courage to kiss her on the cheek, and he’s not entirely sure if he did that too early.

The commenters on that were dumbfounded that it took that long.

Our culture expects that a couple may sleep together after the first date.

The easy and fleeting pleasure of physical and sexual touch have replaced the long joy of commitment and interaction with the whole of your partner.

No wonder then, that relationships do not last.

They are like a diet plan consisting of eating bacon cheeseburgers and fries every day.

Good for the first week, but deadly after a year.

“The mainstream media are making the mistake of appealing to emotions rather than reason.

It’s catchy, sure, but it’s also hollow.

It’s the equivalent of junk food, and it leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied.”

Comment on Quillette

Main idea: Immaturity seeks quick cheap pleasure, maturity seek lasting and eternal joy.

Our passage begins with a negative statement.

Don’t walk like the rest of the Gentiles walk.

And then he describes the nature of this walk:

They are dark in understanding

This is intentional - they avoid understanding that will curb their behavior - The lottery player does not face the reality of the odds because that would point to the futility of his actions.

They only see the dude in Kentucky, or the lady in Conn that took home $250M....that could be me

The drunk does not face up to his impaired condition as he drives into the solid truth of a power pole speaks to reality.

I can handle this.....I’m not impaired, this is not affecting me.

This darkness is brought about by the absence of the light of Christ - alienated from the life of God

This darkness is intentional - due to the hardness of their hearts

Their ignorance is sourced in their hardness of heart

Given up to cheap pleasure - deceitful desire

Cheap pleasure is a liar, it never delivers the promised reward

Deceitful desire - our desires lead us to justify destructive behaviors

Destructive behaviors are then justified by the development of arguments that defend the behaviors as normative.

With a desire for more and more

Then, we are given the alternative - The former way is not the way of Christ

One task , four steps

Be renewed in the spirit of your minds

1. Seek to understand Christ as the foundation of Truth

Develop passion towards Christ

2. Put off the old self

3. Put on the new self

The circular motion of the hearts desires and the application of the mind

It’s kind of like the chicken and the egg - Which comes first?

We see mature Christians and we wonder how they arrived, and we want the elevator, but they took the steps

- first this way understanding,

then that way growing our hearts desires towards God

Works both ways - towards Christ, or towards self

We make this more difficult than it is.

We of all people have immediate access to the study of the word of God

We have a massive availability of good books and teaching geared to all levels of learning

It is a matter of the heart

We all have things we care about, and if we spend time around each other, the things we care about will be evident.

How will you know?

You will see the passion spark in our eyes.

If you go to Bro.

Harry Lee’s house, and you ask him about antiques, he will generally light up and talk about the various pieces he has, and how he got them.