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Tuesday, November 12, 2019

2 Peter 3:17-18 11/12/2019*

… you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…”

Are you growing? If you think about last year at this time, are you amazed at how young your faith was and how much you have learned?...Or have you become complacent and switched your faith to auto pilot? 

You can’t stand still in your faith. You either grow closer to God or you drift away.  Peter says that if we aren’t growing in Christ, our life becomes unstable and our wisdom and discernment fade as we become distracted by other things.

Centering on God develops laser focus on things that matter, and this produces righteousness and holiness.  People will say you can’t maintain that in the “real world” …but that is "the big lie". Our walk with God is “the real world” …. “the fake world” is what distracts us with temporary trinkets.

The enemy’s goal is to make you busy - so you will become preoccupied and begin the slow fade…But God not only says you don’t have to fade, but you should improve. This passage forcefully warns us that lack of growth is dangerous.

Think back to when God first opened your eyes….at a camp, a retreat, or alone in your room…wherever it was - the only thing that has changed since then is you.  God is the same…your ability to choose is the same… and God’s desire to provide grace and knowledge is the same.

The difference is that now you are distracted - and you have bought into the lie that you can’t sustain holiness in the “real world”.

Like the father of the prodigal son, God is waiting for you to turn around and “Repent and do the things you did at first” ( Rev 2:5) Get out of the fake world that has disoriented you and pursue the truth again.

Refocus on community… worship… and holiness…. Resist the slow fade and don’t be satisfied to maintain…If you are not closer to God today then you were yesterday…you wasted yesterday.

The question is not are you able to grow… It is, have you decided to? … The choice is yours - but each day you don’t decide – you are deciding.

“Spiritual growth depends on two things: first a willingness to live according to the Word of God; second, a willingness to take whatever consequences emerge as a result. “    
-Sinclair B. Ferguson

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