WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.039 Hi, everybody. I'm so glad you're a part of this 2 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:20.960 small group study of God's plan and God's promises for 3 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:24.199 seven key areas of your life. Now, in the next 4 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:27.039 seven sessions, we're going to be looking at God's promises 5 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:31.879 for your spiritual health, your physical health, your mental health, 6 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.679 your emotional health, your relational health, your financial health, and 7 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.280 your vocational health. I call these the seven key areas 8 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.960 of life. Now. God cares about every area of your life, 9 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:45.240 and he wants to bless you in every air of 10 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.640 your life. He wants you to be healthy in body 11 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.119 and in soul and in spirit. And He has given 12 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:54.079 us the steps and the principles in his Word that 13 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:56.719 we can take to live healthy, fulfilling lives, not just 14 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.840 for our happiness, but ultimately for God's happy happiness and 15 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.960 for his glory. You know, God's Word is filled with 16 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.760 his promises to bless every area of our lives. But 17 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.200 with all of God's promises, there's always a premise. Did 18 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:13.359 you hear that? With every promise, there's a premise. God says, 19 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:16.799 if you do this, that's the premise, then I will 20 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:20.200 do this. That's the promise. For instance, the Bible says 21 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.719 if we confess our sins, that's the premise. He will 22 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:27.359 forgive our sins. That's the promise. The Bible says, in 23 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.400 all your ways acknowledge him, that's the premise. And the 24 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.599 Bible says he will direct your path. That's the promise. 25 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:38.680 Every promise has a premise. Now, over the next seven sessions, 26 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.760 we're gonna look at God's promises for each of these 27 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:43.640 seven key areas of life, and we're going to discuss 28 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:46.760 the premises or the conditions or the steps that we 29 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:50.719 can take in order to live in God's blessing. Now, 30 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:53.959 in this session, we're gonna look at seven habits that 31 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.760 will improve your spiritual health. We're gonna start with your 32 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.840 spiritual health. God has promised that if you practice the 33 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.120 these seven habits and they're all out of scripture, he 34 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:07.359 will bless you with strong spiritual help. So let's just 35 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.680 start with the habit number one. If I want to 36 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:15.560 be spiritually healthy, Number one, I must love Jesus supremely. 37 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.560 I must love Jesus supremely. That's a habit. In Luke 38 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:22.520 chapter fourteen, Jesus says this, if you want to be 39 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.599 my followers, you must love me more than you love 40 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.840 your father and your mother, and your wife, and your children, 41 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:30.199 and your brothers and sisters. Yes, more than your own life. 42 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.400 Now that sounds pretty radical, but he says otherwise than that, 43 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.680 you cannot be my disciple. Now what's he saying here. 44 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:41.039 He's saying that you must love me Jesus, more than 45 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:43.680 anything else. Now I want you to write this down. 46 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.599 Spiritual health is measured by love. Spiritual health is measured 47 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:55.159 by love. Write that down. Spiritual health is measured by 48 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.919 how much you love. It's not measured by how much 49 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.240 you know. It's not measured by your Bible knowledge. It's 50 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:04.080 not measured by your skills. It's not measured by the 51 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:06.879 words that you say, or it's not measured by how 52 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.919 much you attend church. Your spiritual health is measured by 53 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.520 how much you love, how much you love God, and 54 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:16.719 how much you love others. That's what Jesus said. In fact, 55 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:20.280 in Mark twelve, Jesus says this the most important commandment 56 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:23.439 is this. You must love the Lord your God with 57 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:27.919 all your heart that's passionately, and all your soul that's wilfully, 58 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.759 and all your mind that's thoughtfully, and with all your 59 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:36.599 strength That means love him practically live like you love him. Now, 60 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:39.919 there's a word for this in the Bible, loving God. 61 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:44.879 It's called worship. Whatever you love the most in life 62 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.599 is what you worship. If you love your both the most, 63 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:49.960 you worship your boat. If you love your job the most, 64 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.159 you worship your job. If you love your body the most, 65 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:56.639 you worship yourself. If you worship whatever, whatever you give 66 00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:00.639 your best love to is what you worship. God says this, 67 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.199 if you want to be spiritually healthy, you gotta love 68 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:08.439 Me the most, worship me supremely. That's the first habit 69 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.719 for spiritual health. Habit number two. You might write this down. 70 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.960 If I want to be spiritually healthy, I must meet 71 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:19.040 with Him. That's God daily. I must meet with Him daily. 72 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.439 It can just be five minutes a day or ten 73 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.959 minutes or fifteen minutes or whatever. But you make a 74 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:27.160 date with God. You get alone with God and you 75 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.879 just sit there and you be quiet, and you say, God, 76 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:32.920 is there anything you want to say to me? And 77 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.480 as you talk to God in prayer about the things 78 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.600 that are on your mind, then you let God talk 79 00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:41.399 to you through his word. That's worship. And that's a 80 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.800 quiet time. Now, the Bible says this in Proverbs eight 81 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:48.319 thirty four, Blessed is the man who listens to me, 82 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.639 watching daily, circle the word daily, watching daily at my doors, 83 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.399 waiting at my doorway. What is God saying there? He's saying, 84 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.959 I want you to have a daily appointment, a day 85 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.240 habit of meeting with me. Now, think about this. Why 86 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:05.920 would God want you to spend time with him every 87 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.519 day if he didn't want to spend time with you 88 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.319 every day? Do you realize that the God of the 89 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:12.920 universe wants to spend time with you. This is important 90 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:17.040 to God. He always shows up for his appointment, do you. 91 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:21.600 If you study church history, you find that every great believer, 92 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.759 everybody who's ever been super blessed, super used of God, 93 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.680 has had this habit of meeting with God on a 94 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.680 daily basis. Again, it doesn't have to be long, but 95 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.199 it does have to be habitual. You need to check 96 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.480 in with God. Now, here's habit number three for spiritual help. 97 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.199 If I want to be spiritually healthy, I must study 98 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:45.040 and do his word. I just can't study it. I've 99 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:48.600 got to study and do his word. Now. There are 100 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:50.639 so many promises in the Bible where God says, if 101 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:53.839 you get this book, the Bible. You get this book 102 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.480 into your heart and into your mind. He says, I 103 00:05:56.519 --> 00:06:00.480 will bless your business, I will bless your family, I 104 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.839 will bless your health, I will bless your finances. If 105 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.720 you get this book into you and in every area 106 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:10.560 of product, wherever you want God to bless, you need 107 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:14.759 to build it on the Bible. Someone says, this blessed 108 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.800 is the man whose delight is in the law of 109 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:19.800 the Lord. By the way, what is the law of 110 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.680 the Lord? It's this, It's the Bible. And on his 111 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:28.240 law he meditates day and night. And the Bible says, 112 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.720 if you do that, that's the problem. That's the premise. 113 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:35.120 Here's the premise. It says he is like a tree 114 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:38.759 planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit 115 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:41.839 in season. In other words, you're going to be more productive. 116 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:43.959 You want to be more productive, you need to meditate 117 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.480 on the word of God. That's a habit whose leaf 118 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.399 does not wither. What does that mean. It means when 119 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.839 the heat's on, when you're under pressure, you don't dry 120 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.040 up because you've got deep roots. And the third part 121 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:02.120 of the promise says this and whatever he does prospers. Wow, 122 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:05.279 that's Psalm chapter one, verses one to three. Did you 123 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:08.000 hear the premise? And did you hear the promises? God 124 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:12.399 wants to prosper you in what you do. But here's 125 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:14.720 the premise. He says, you got to get into my word. 126 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:17.360 You got to study it, you got to meditate on it, 127 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:19.399 you got to think about it, and you got to 128 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:22.040 do it. That's the condition. That's the premise to the promise. 129 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:25.519 It's not enough just to study the Word. You have 130 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.120 to do what it says. Jesus said it like this 131 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:32.040 in John fifteen. You're my friends if you do what 132 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:35.319 I command. The Book of James says the same thing. 133 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.759 It tells us how to do this. It says this, 134 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:42.240 the man who looks intently into the perfect law that 135 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:45.199 gives freedom. What is the perfect law that gives read 136 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.680 it's the Bible, and continues to do this. In other words, 137 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.600 it's a habit. It's habitual. The man who looks in 138 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:54.240 the Word of God and continues to do this, not 139 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:58.399 forgetting what he's heard that's memorizing, but doing it, that's 140 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:02.720 acting on it, he will be blessed in what he does. 141 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.560 Now here's the fourth habit for spiritual health. It involves 142 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:11.879 not your time, it involves your money. Over and over. 143 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:14.160 In scripture, the Bible says this, if I want to 144 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:18.639 be spiritually healthy, I need to tithe my income. Now, 145 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.360 what in the world does that mean? Pithe my income. 146 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.040 It means that just like I give the first part 147 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:26.279 of my day back to God, I give the first 148 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.759 part of my money back to God. Ten percent of 149 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:32.519 what I give goes back to God. In other words, 150 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:35.200 if I make ten dollars, I give a dollar back 151 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:37.000 to God. Why in the world would I do that? 152 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.200 Why would God ask you to do that? Well, God 153 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:43.200 obviously doesn't need my money. Well, he wants what it represents. 154 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:46.960 He wants my heart. And the Bible says, where your 155 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.919 treasure is, your heart is. Now. I'll have more to 156 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:51.799 say about that in our session on financial health. But 157 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:55.679 the Bible says this in Malachi three, verse ten. It's 158 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.679 one of the great promises of the Bible. And if 159 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.919 you're going through financial difficult times right now, if you're 160 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.879 under stress about your money and your finances, if you 161 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:09.639 are barely making ends, meat, you need this promise. It's 162 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:12.360 one of the habits for spiritual health. Malachi three ten 163 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:19.600 says this bring the whole tithe into my storehouse, that 164 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:22.039 there may be food in my house. By the way, 165 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:25.120 what's the storehouse. It's wherever you worship. You don't give 166 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:28.159 your time to some charity, You don't give your tithe 167 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:32.759 to some you know foundation, You bring your tie to 168 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:36.200 the house of worship as an act of worship. He says, 169 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:38.440 Test me in this. I want you to circle that 170 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:41.360 test me. I call this the Pepsi challenge versus the Bible. 171 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.039 He says, here's the premise, and see, here's the promise. 172 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.960 If I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven, 173 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:51.399 he said, I dare you see if I won't open 174 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:54.279 the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing 175 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:59.279 that you will not have enough room for it. God says, 176 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.480 We're gonna play little game. You give to me and 177 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:02.639 I'm going to give to you, and we're going to 178 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.559 see who wins. Now, let me give you a personal 179 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:09.120 example of this. I played this game with God for 180 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:12.840 thirty five years and I've lost every year. When Cay 181 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.159 and I got married, we made a commitment as a couple. 182 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.919 We said, in this marriage, God gets paid first. We 183 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.919 may be in debt to other people, but we're not 184 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:21.480 going to be in debt to God. We're going to 185 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:24.159 put him first in our time and first in our tithe. 186 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.120 I may be laid on payments to somebody else, but 187 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:27.799 I'm not going to be laid on payments to God. 188 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:31.120 God says, you want my blessing and your finances, put 189 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:33.360 me first. So you know what we did thirty five 190 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.559 years ago, actually now it's thirty eight. We started tithing, 191 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.279 and at the end of that first year, we raised 192 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.000 our tithe from ten percent to eleven percent. The next 193 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.440 year we raised our our second year of marriage to 194 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:50.200 twelve percent. The third year of our marriage, we raised 195 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.440 our tithe to thirteen percent. Now we weren't doing this 196 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.679 to show off. In fact, I didn't tell anybody about 197 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.120 it for over thirty years. The Bible doesn't even teach it. 198 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.480 You have to increase it. I just thought, ye, tithing 199 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:02.720 blesses me. I want to be super blessed. So I'm 200 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.480 going to play this game and give more and more 201 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.720 every year. I'm going to see if I can outgive God. 202 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:08.720 I'm going to see if I can be more generous 203 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:12.240 every year of my life. So we kept raising our giving, 204 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:15.320 being more generous every year, every year, raising it more. Now, 205 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.600 I'll be honest with you, sometimes it was really tough. 206 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.759 Sometimes the cupboard seemed pretty bare, and I'd go, Lord, 207 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.440 I can't afford this. But then I thought, I can't 208 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.120 afford not to, because I wanted God's blessing on what 209 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:29.799 was going on in my life, even when I was 210 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:32.879 out of work, and there was times when I didn't 211 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:35.799 have any income. And what do you do when you 212 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:38.399 don't have an income. You don't tithe. You only tithe 213 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.600 on what you make. You don't tithe on what you 214 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:43.679 don't make. But every year, year after year after year, 215 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.360 we kept raising our giving fifteen percent to sixteen percent 216 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:50.159 to eighteen percent. And the years i'd get a bonus, okay, 217 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:52.159 and I would raise our giving two or three percent. 218 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:55.519 The years we were financially typed, maybe we just raised 219 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.480 it a quarter of a percent. But even in those 220 00:11:57.559 --> 00:12:00.200 lean years, I wanted to be more generous each year 221 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.440 than I was the year before. Now we've been married 222 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:08.759 thirty eight years. Last year we raised our giving again 223 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:12.519 one percent, from ninety to ninety one percent of our income, 224 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.240 and so now we're more than reverse tigers. We give 225 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:17.720 away ninety one percent and live on nine percent. And 226 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:21.039 I don't even take a salary at Saddleback Church, and 227 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:23.840 yet I live a very comfortable life. Now, I'm not 228 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:26.320 telling you this to brag about myself. I'm telling you 229 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.000 to brag about God that you cannot outgive God. You know, 230 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.639 I wrote a book called Purpose Driven Life. It became 231 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:37.639 the best selling book in American history, more than any 232 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:40.399 other book except the Bible. Why do you think God 233 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.080 did that? Why do you think God chose me? It's 234 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:45.000 not because I'm a great writer that I know why 235 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:47.559 because God knew what I'd do with the money. He 236 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.159 knew I wouldn't spend it on myself, that we would 237 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:51.840 just give it away. After I wrote that book, I 238 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:55.399 could have bought an island and retired and had people 239 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.240 serve me little glasses of iced tea with an umbrellas 240 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.080 in the the rest of my life. But the Bible says, 241 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:05.120 it's not about you, It's all about God. And I 242 00:13:05.159 --> 00:13:08.000 want to tell you, learning this habit, the habit of generosity, 243 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.879 is as important as learning the habit of daily time 244 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:14.000 with God and learning the habit of a quiet time 245 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.120 with God, learning the habit of studying the word of God. 246 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.639 These are all important because I give God my tithe, 247 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:23.679 my talent, my time. I give him every hour of 248 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.759 my life. Now let's move on. Habit number five for 249 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:30.799 spiritual health is this. It's a big one. If I 250 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.519 want to be spiritually healthy, I must learn to love 251 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.840 other believers. Remember when we started off, we said God 252 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.399 says life's all about love. Well, God doesn't want you 253 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:44.399 to just love him, He wants you to love other believers. 254 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.399 Jesus said it like this. If you're going to be 255 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.279 my disciple, you can't just love me. You have to 256 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.759 love everybody in my family. Here's what he said in 257 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:58.200 John thirteen. If you have love for one another he's 258 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.879 talking about other believers, then and everyone will know that 259 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.799 you are my disciples. He says. The mark of being 260 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:08.120 a disciple is not that you just love God. It's 261 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.879 that you love everybody else. It's not that you just 262 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.480 love me, but that you love each other. This is 263 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:17.919 the hallmark of being a follower of Jesus. It's like 264 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.120 people will know you're a Christian by your bumperstickers. People 265 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.200 will know you're Christian by your little lapel pin. People 266 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.440 will know you're a Christian by a t shirt. No, 267 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.519 God says, the proof that you are my disciple is 268 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.720 that you practice the habit of loving every other believer. 269 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.559 You love my family, you love the Church of God, 270 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.879 you love the Family of God, you love the children 271 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:44.799 of God. Have you ever heard anybody say this, Well, 272 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:48.159 you know, I love Jesus, I just don't like the Church. 273 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:52.759 Then they're not a disciple. Why Because with all of 274 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.000 its imperfections and all of its faults and all its 275 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.840 faux paus and all of its failures, Jesus says, the 276 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.600 church matters. It's the family of God. It's the bride 277 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.840 of Christ. Jesus died for the Church. The Church is 278 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:07.600 his family. So if you don't love the Church, let 279 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:11.120 me just say this, you're not gonna like heaven because 280 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:13.519 that's all who's going to be there. So you better 281 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:17.639 figure out how to learn other disciples. Now, the Bible 282 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.360 says this. If somebody says I love God and they 283 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.120 hate a Christian brother or sister, that person's a liar. 284 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:27.799 That's pretty clear. God says, I'm a liar. I'm a 285 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.320 liar if I say I love God and I don't 286 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:34.440 love other Christians. Because if we don't love people, that 287 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.000 we can see. The Bible says, how can we love 288 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:40.320 God whom we have not seen? That's a passage in 289 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:45.720 First John, chapter four, verse twenty. Now, to be a disciple, 290 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:48.799 you must love other people in the family of God. 291 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:52.159 I want you to write this down, okay. Spiritual growth 292 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:57.919 happens in community. Spiritual growth happens in a community, not 293 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.080 by myself, not by my loan me. You cannot be 294 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:06.759 a disciple by yourself. Did you hear that? You cannot 295 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.720 be a disciple in isolation. You cannot be a follower 296 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:13.320 of Christ without being in community, because it's all about love. 297 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:16.039 You'll never go to spiritual maturity without a church family. 298 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:18.799 You can get Bible knowledge, but you can't grow in 299 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:21.440 love if you're not around other people. And in John thirteen, 300 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:23.320 the Bible says, if you have love for one another, 301 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:26.720 then everybody will know you're my disciples. Now circle that 302 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:31.039 phrase one another, Circle that phrase one another. That phrase 303 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:35.000 is used fifty eight times in the Bible. The Bible 304 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:38.519 says we're to love one another. We're to help one another, 305 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:41.200 care for one another, where to serve one another. The 306 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:43.720 Bible says we're to encourage one another. We're to pray 307 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.320 for one another. We're to greet one another where to 308 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:50.200 support one another. The Bible says over and over again 309 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.759 that we are to care for each other. Now, we 310 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:58.440 were put on this planet to learn to love first, 311 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.399 to learn to love God supremely, and they learn to 312 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:05.960 love each other practically. Now, you have to have a 313 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:09.279 church family. You have to be in relationships with God's 314 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:11.839 people in order to learn how to love. You're not 315 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:13.440 going to learn it sitting in a cave up in 316 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:17.480 the mountains. Learning to love God and learning to love 317 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.559 your neighbor as yourself are the two great commandments in 318 00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:23.000 the Bible. This is why being in a small group 319 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:25.720 like you're in right now is absolutely essential to your 320 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:30.119 spiritual health. You cannot grow without it. Why because you 321 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:33.960 can't love a crowd. Let me say that again. You 322 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:36.759 can't love a crowd. Now, you can worship with a crowd, 323 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.279 you know, one hundred people, two hundred people, a thousand 324 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.039 people or more. You can worship in the crowd, but 325 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:46.119 you can't love. You can't fellowship with a crowd. So 326 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:48.000 you need a small group, and you need to be 327 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.920 committed in love to a small group of other believers 328 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:54.279 where you can love and encourage and support, and they 329 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:58.119 can love and encourage and support you. Habit number six 330 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:01.680 for spiritual health. If I want to be spiritually healthy, 331 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.920 I need to learn to serve others unselfishly. Service is 332 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:10.759 an important part of your spiritual health and development because 333 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.559 God says, to grow, it's not all taken in. You've 334 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:16.960 got to be given back. You got to use those 335 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:19.640 muscles that God gives you. You got to develop your strength. 336 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.200 And God says, if you want to be the most 337 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.160 important person in the room, then you need to take 338 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:28.720 the last place in the room and be the servant 339 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:31.799 of everybody. The way to be great is by service. 340 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.119 You have to give your life away. Jesus said it 341 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:38.759 like this, one of the most important verses in the Bible. 342 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.960 For even I, the son of Man, came here not 343 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.960 to be served, but to serve others, and to give 344 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:49.319 my life as a ransom for many. Now I want 345 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:53.400 you to circle the words serve and give. I came 346 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:57.240 to serve and I came to give. In that verse, 347 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:02.079 Jesus gives us the two primary purposes of life after worship. 348 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.240 He says, I came to serve and to give. That 349 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:07.839 defines the Christian life. The more you learn to serve 350 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:10.200 and the more you learn to give, the more you're 351 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.960 gonna be Like Jesus. And you know what, the happier 352 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:15.799 you're gonna be, the more fulfilled you're gonna be, the 353 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:19.400 healthier you're gonna be, and the more blessed you're gonna be, 354 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:23.039 because when you do that, God says, I'm gonna pour 355 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:28.119 out blessing on you. Now, why is this so important? 356 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:32.160 Why is serving such an important habit in spiritual growth? 357 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.680 Because a lot of people go to church and they 358 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.200 get fed, and they get fed and they get fed, 359 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.119 but they do no service at all. Because serving is 360 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.880 like spiritual exercise. Sees, if all we do is feed, 361 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:44.440 all we do is listen. We come to church, we 362 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:48.359 hear great studies, We listen to preachers on the radio. 363 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:50.440 Turn on the radio, we listen. Then we go to 364 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.480 a Bible study and we study there. We're always taking in, 365 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:57.440 taking in, but we never actually do anything. It's like 366 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.319 eating and eating and eating and eating and eating, never 367 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:03.559 burning any calories. You're just gonna get bigger and bigger 368 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.440 and bigger, and you get spiritually fat. And some people 369 00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:10.200 so spiritually fat you gotta roll them down the aisles 370 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:13.319 at church, and that's where we get the term holy rollers. 371 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:19.160 If you don't get spiritual exercise by serving others, there's 372 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.440 no way you're gonna develop spiritual muscle, and there's no 373 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:24.480 way you're gonna grow, and there's no way you're gonna 374 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.359 get the blessing of God in your life. That's habit 375 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:31.519 number six serving others. Now, finally, let me give you 376 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:35.279 a habit number seven for spiritual health. If I want 377 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:39.480 to be spiritually healthy, I must pass on the good news. 378 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.440 In other words, what I've been given, I've got to 379 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.680 give to other people. I've got to tell others the 380 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:47.680 good news about Jesus. I gotta tell others that there's 381 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:50.400 a purpose for their life, that they can be forgiven, 382 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:52.640 that their past can be forgiven, they can have a 383 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.400 purpose for living, they can have a home in heaven. 384 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.519 You know, when the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, this, 385 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:02.200 take the teacher that you heard from me, that I 386 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.359 proclaimed in the presence of many witnesses, And I want 387 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.400 you to entrust what you heard from me to reliable 388 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:12.519 people who will be able to teach others. Also, now, 389 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.000 I want you to notice there are four generations. In 390 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:18.880 that verse, Paul says, God gave me the good news, 391 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:21.759 and then Timothy, I pass it on to you that 392 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.839 second generation. He said, Now, Timothy, you're to pass it 393 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.839 on to other people. That's third generation who are reliable 394 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:31.519 enough to pass it on to fourth generation. See, the 395 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:35.240 fact is you're going to heaven because somebody told you, 396 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.880 and somebody told somebody who told you, and somebody told 397 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.160 somebody who told somebody who told you. Here's a question, 398 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:47.039 very important question. Is the chain going to break with you? 399 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.440 Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? 400 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.000 Are you going to end the chain? Somebody told, somebody 401 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:58.640