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Sam. Oh, come on. Anybody grateful to be in God's house today? Oh, I can feel it. I can feel it. What a great day it is to be in church together today. And I just. If you're in worship here at Grantsville, I know it's true. At every location, even those joining us online. I just sense the presence of God here today. I know you just clapped, but does anybody love the presence of our God? And grateful that when we do praise him, he inhabits. He inhabits this place. And so I sense his presence here today. And we even spent a little more time in worship today intentionally, just to so we could just enjoy the presence of God. So it's great to be in his presence. And. Come on. It is great to be with his people. Are you happy with the person you're sitting next to? Come on. Tell them you're glad to see him at church today. Now do that other neighbor, your second choice. Tell them you're glad they're in church today. It is just great. We're together in God's presence. We're together with God's people, and we're going to get into God's word together today. And I'm so honored to be here in week five of our Goodness of God series. And I do want to officially welcome all the locations in Alabama and Georgia. What a miracle. Our church is a miracle. Only God could bring all of us together. And so every location, the correctional facilities and then online and on demand. In fact, I met earlier today, I met a family that has always been online. They've been watching online for several years. They were here today for the first time in person. So wherever you are, at any location, any environment. Yeah. Put your hands together. Let's welcome our church family. You're part of the family. And so week five of the Goodness of God series. Get your app out if you want to take notes today. We'd love you to do that, to follow along. There's even a lot of extra content today for this message. But our key verse is Psalm 34. Eight that says, Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is good. Come on. God is good. And all the time. I think we got one more in us. God is good. And all the time he is good. And he invites us catch this church. He invites us to experience Him. Not just to know about him, not just to have, you know, knowledge of who he is or what he's done. Our God is so good that he invites us to taste and see. He wants all of us to have a personal experience in his presence. And he also says that anyone who runs to me will find refuge. And that's really what we're doing in this series. We're praying that all of us would, you know, would see the goodness of God, that we would experience. Experience that. Then we have the opportunity even to share his goodness, to taste and see that the Lord is good. And so week one, I talked about how Jesus reigns, that he went to that cross of Calvary and he was crowned king there. And he now reigns, and he has the power of life and eternity. Week two, Pastor Chris talked about how Jesus forgives anybody. Grateful that our God is a forgiving God, I am grate. I need his grace more than ever before. All of us do. And then week three, we talked about the call of God. Then last week, oh, my goodness. I was actually. Jill and I were in Oxford last week with our Oxford family. But Pastor Dino brought such an amazing message, just experiencing the restoration of our God. And this week is a little different. And it's kind of one of those, like, roll your sleeves up. We're gonna get to work today. Y' all ready? Today we're gonna talk about how Jesus grew. Jesus grew again. If you have your app out, you can take that down as kind of your first note there. We're gonna focus on the fact that our God is a God that is all about growth. He's all about taking us from where we are to the purpose and destiny that he has for our lives. And this is where it's all gonna start today, really. Just three big points today. Number one, bottom line is this. In the Bible, we have a mandate for growth. So I kind of just want to say it strong today. This really isn't optional if you're a follower of Jesus. It means to be in a process of growth. But we gotta be sure we understand that. And so the Bible's idea of growth is maybe even helpful if we can kind of put it in context. In the Greek New Testament, it really is this beautiful word of advancing or progress. God's idea of growth is that it's step by step progress again from where we are to where God wants to take us. And the bottom line is this. Anytime God gets involved in any situation in Scripture, it begins to grow and advance. When God gets involved, growth is possible. So today's a message for anybody. Of course, we think about growth maybe for a young person. And I am, by the way, so grateful for the move of God that is happening in Gen Z and Gen Alpha, y'. All. We are Seeing unprecedented numbers of young people in church. To God be the glory. So I say that to every college student, middle school student, high school student, those who are in Highlands, kids, God has a plan to grow you, to progress you, to advance you. But I'm saying that to all of us today, myself included, that God wants to take us on that journey. And when he gets involved, he brings growth. We see it in creation, from chaos to order. We see it all throughout the Old Testament, in the people of Israel. He took a family and made them into a nation, took them from slavery into freedom, and from that journey in the desert into the promised land of God. And here's the big idea. For everyone who's a follower of Jesus today, the same is true for our life. He takes us from where we are on a journey, and the moment he gets involved, growth is possible. That's a good place for an amen right there. And I love. You probably have heard this quote, God loves us the way we are, but come on, somebody, he refuses to leave us that way. Our God. That's the goodness of God. Yeah, he's a good God. And so what does all this really mean? Again, this is a precedent, a mandate of the Bible. To be a follower of Jesus is to be in a process of growth. One of the words that's used in the New Testament is to be a disciple, which just means a learner. And I want us to catch this today before we go any further, because I don't want there to be any spirit of condemnation today about where we are, because where we are is where we are. But the promise today is all about where we can go with God. And so it's again, it's about progression. It's not about perfection. It's about being in a progress process of growth, of advancing. And a great way to maybe even think about the way the Bible teaches it is when you watch a baby learn how to walk. And I'm here to testify today for Jill in our house, we are finished with the baby stage. Praise God. Morning, parents out there. I mean, truly, we've enjoyed every season, but, man, the lack of sleep, it's like it's physical contact with kids. It's like you're in it physically with kids now. With teenagers, it's more emotional, which is true. But I'm grateful. The other day we left our house, all four kids there alone, no babysitter. And we came home, and it was not burned down to the God of glory. So it was amazing. But when you. I remember watching our kids Learn how to walk. Do they get it right the first time? In fact, on average, a baby will fall 17 times an hour. If any of us fell once in 17 days, we're going to the hospital, right? Probably 700 times a day. Do they quit? Do they get discouraged? Honestly, they just get right back up and they try again. And they go from step, you know, from a first step to learning how to walk and not wobble, to then learning how to run into all the great athletes in the sound of my voice right now that we are right. It's a process which is just. Again, it just shows us the goodness of God. I want somebody to catch this today in your heart. I'm trying to fan into flame something today. We can grow. We can get better. All of us have an opportunity to go from where we are to where God wants to take us. Again, I'm gonna raise my hand first. Cause I want to get better. Anybody out there want to get better? I want to get better. So I want to get better emotionally. I want to get better physically. I want to get better spiritually. I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better pastor. I want to be a better leader. I've been the lead pastor. Jill and I have been serving here in this new role for 245 days. And we're all still here to God be the glory. All right? But I got a long way to go. I know that. And listen, I know God has called us. We sense the power of God. Here's how we knew. Even on that February 2nd transition day, I can't even describe the love that came into our heart. We thought we loved this church. We love you with all of our heart. So we know we're called. But let me tell you something. Pastor Chris Hodges is like on my Mount Rushmore. And I am reminded every day I'm not him. And he's further down the road. He's grown, and I'll never be him. But y' all know what I'm saying. There are days I wake up very honestly, and I'm intimidated by this role. And I have to remind myself in that moment, it's never about any of us. Come on. In our weakness, God is strong. But also that the grace of God is there, that I can't be who he is today or tomorrow. But if I keep going down the road, I'll become who God has called me to be. Step by step, by step, by step. I want to get better. If you'll hang around a while, I promise I'll get better. I promise. All right, but I'm having fun. But I want us all to have that spirit today. Because if we don't have that spirit, we'll miss it. Because this next part is part of the mandate. And it's so true. And that is that growth is not accidental. It is intentional. And again, this is not optional. I want to be strong here. If we're called by God, he expects and he makes a way, but he expects us to put our here. I am Coach. Put me in. I want to get better in every area of my life. I'll never arrive. I'm going to be on the journey till my last breath. I just want to end up God, where you've called me. I could have given you any of probably 50 verses. What I'm about to share with you is one of my favorite passages. This is a passage that has impacted my life in a huge way. Just to remind myself to never lose the urgency behind getting better. It's Philippians, chapter three. This is the apostle Paul. What a window into who Paul was. How did Paul end up planting all those churches? How did Paul end up doing all that he did as a leader? Well, you can see right here what. What was on the inside of him. A grit and a conviction to get better. Not that I've already obtained all of this or have arrived at my goal, but I press on. Come on, let's be a press on, people. I'm pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I'm not going to yet consider myself ever to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, and this is huge for somebody today, we got to let go of what's behind. That's the enemy trying to bring that shame and condemnation. Yes, we fell 17 times. We're gonna get back up and take the next step to God be the glory. From glory to glory. I'm gonna strain towards what is ahead. Even the original language, the picture actually of this scripture, you've probably seen the movie of a chariot rider in a race. There's barely anything to hold onto, so they have to strain with every muscle towards what's ahead, towards the finish line. That's the picture here. I'm gonna strain towards what is ahead. Press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. God has a call on your life. God has a purpose on your life. And our job is just to lean in every single day. And then Paul goes on to say, you know, follow in my example. This is not optional. I'm following Christ. Follow my example again. The mandate is not perfection, but it is progression. You got it? Say got it. All right, let's move on. So that's the goodness of God, that we have a mandate. But I'm really excited to share this next point. I have been so excited for this moment all week long is we don't just have a mandate. We have a model. The Bible gives us a model for growth. And I hear spoiler alert. Y' all want to know the model? Jesus? All right, so obviously we're in church. I learned early on in Sunday school. You know, I got called a few times in Sunday school, not really paying attention, and I realized the teacher was asking me a question. Hey, y', all, 99.9% of the time, just say Jesus, and you'll get it right. All right, so. So the model is Jesus. I could say that today. I could be like, we would all say amen, and I could move on. But I felt the spirit of God say, lean in right here, and I want to dig in for a moment. Part of the passion of this whole series is that we would talk about, of course, every week, Jesus. What a beautiful opportunity just to look through scripture and individual messages that can make a life change in all of us. But collectively, one of the passions for this series is that we would grow in our theology of God, who God is. And that word theology can feel so intimidating. Please don't let it. It doesn't have to be confusing. But the passion behind this is, y'. All. We are living in a really important moment in history. This is not a moment for milk faith. This is not a moment to not know what we believe. Thank God for the word of God. We can take that inside of us, ingest that. It can become who we are. And here's our prayer as a team, that this series will give us more confidence to stand strong for Jesus in this generation and to be a light to the world. Let's put our hands together right now. What an opportunity. Come on. What an opportunity to be a lighthouse. But we need to know, of course, what we believe, but not just what, but why we believe it. So I'm going to lean in just for a moment right here. Why is Jesus our model? And to do that, I want to share out of Luke 2, chapter 2, a collection of verses. I'll kind of go verse by verse through this part, starting in verse 41, and then get to verse 52, which is kind of a famous Verse on growth. But we're gonna build to there with a little bit of context. This is obviously early on in the book of Luke. Luke tells this story uniquely in the Gospels for a reason. And so we're gonna lean in here today. It says every year when Jesus parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And I'm gonna underline this because in Jewish culture, tradition, in their faith, there's three pilgrimage festivals. There's Passover, which we're talking about here, which celebrates or reminded them of the story of the Passover, where, of course, they put the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost and the angel of death passed over. And then they were miraculously set free from Egypt from slavery. So that was one of them. And then they had the festival of Pentecost, and then also the festival of Tabernacles. And this is the key here. In each of these festivals, they would leave their homes. All of Israel would leave their homes and go on a road trip to Jerusalem. And everyone who was 12 and older. So this next part of the verse says, when he, being Jesus, was 12 years old. The reason that's in there is because this would be the first time that Jesus would have likely been a part of this pilgrimage. And it's a really cool story. I mean, we could talk more about this. I think it's just beautiful. On the way to Jerusalem, they would sing out of the Book of Psalms. Literally, the families would sing. What an amazing sound that must. They would sing songs. What a sound that must have been starting in Psalm 120, all the way through Psalm 134. Just the story of God, which is. Even when we worship church, many of our songs are just reminding ourselves of our story, of the story of Calvary. And then they would get there and of course, sacrifice the lamb, and they would have the Seder meal just to remind themselves of that sacrifice. That's what's happening here. Just a little bit of context. They went up to the festival again, according to custom, after the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it, thinking that he was in their company. They traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. And when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. I do want to park right here for a moment. Because Jesus parents get a bad rap. They lost the Son of God. And honestly, I mean, you know, listen, I'm a dad, so I think a lot about Joseph Our guy, Joseph, y' all know that there are no recorded words of Joseph in the Bible. He only has about 20 verses. And one of the stories is him losing Jesus. But I don't know about y'. All. Anybody out there lose things? I'm like. I'm a kind of a. I'm. Thank you, Jason. I'm constantly losing things, and so I just wanna. I wanna. I just wanna. I feel the need right here. I feel so seen by this story. I feel so validated by this story. Just to kinda let him off the hook here for a moment and just, you know, a few years back, it's kind of. In my family, I literally joke and tell you I lose everything. Keys, wallet. Like, why does that happen? I think it gets passed on, you know, through the DNA, at least for me. My dad is the same way. And just for fun, I gotta tell this story. A few years back, he and my mom called us. They've been married 54 years. They're amazing. They have amazing marriage. They are dying, laughing on the phone. And so I'm trying to even understand what they're saying because they're laughing so hard. They were in the middle of a trip out west. In fact, even today, my parents are in South Dakota somewhere. They called us, like, two weeks ago. They say we're going out west. They didn't even really tell us where they're going, so. Love you, parents. Anyway, so they call us. They were on another trip, and this is hilarious. They were at a rest stop. My dad's driving. My brother is in the passenger seat. He's asleep. And my dad gets out, and my mom's in the back seat with their dog. We have a German shepherd. My dad gets out to go use the restroom. While he's out, my mom gets out with a dog to go walk the dog. My dad gets back in the car, doesn't look in the back seat, and takes off driving. Fifteen miles later, a guy pulls up next to him. He's like, yelling at him. At first, my dad's, you know, is this road rage? What's going on? They're driving down the interstate. He rolls his window down. The guy's like, hey. My dad's like, what? He goes, I think you left your dog and your wife. He has to turn around 15 miles back and drive back. The drive of shame. So listen, this is what is happening right here. They go back. They had gone for a whole day. And it takes him three more days to find Jesus, okay? So they began looking for him. They went back to Jerusalem says after three days they found Jesus in the temple courts among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And here's the next part I want to really highlight here. And this is so intentional from Luke. Everyone was amazed. They were amazed. His understanding and his answers. And even when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And this idea here in Jewish culture of sitting in the temple, Q and A, all this is called the midrash. This is like the Ivy League of the Jewish faith. The greatest teachers and rabbis, they're sitting there in the temple in this moment, and there is 12 year old Jesus engaging with them. And again, it says they were astonished, they were amazed. It's like they literally were out of their mind when they saw this. No one could understand. He's only 12 years old. He's never sat with a rabbi. This is not a recorded miracle of Jesus, but it kind of fits into that category. Hey, church, this is a big deal. Luke writes this to grab our attention. He wants to make sure whatever comes next in the original kind of audiences, they would have been leaned in so big here, which is why I've kind of built up to this moment. Because he has something to tell us about Jesus. Jesus is not. This is not usual, this is not natural. This is supernatural. Here we go. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me? He asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? Now, many times in the Gospels we get this truth, but this is the first time in the book of Luke, we see that Jesus is fully God. How am I answering these questions? How do I have all this wisdom? I was in my father's house. I was exactly where you should have been looking for me. I am not. This is not a natural situation. This is a supernatural young man. At 12 years old, he is in his father's house, clearly identifying again. We see it other places in the Gospel, clearly identifying that he is fully God. But it doesn't stop there. Any other religion would have stopped right there. But Christianity is unlike any other faith. They did not understand what he was saying to them. Then they went down to Nazareth with them, were obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew. Everybody say Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, favor with God and favor with man. Jesus was fully God, but Jesus also grew. Jesus was fully human, our God, Jesus, one person with two natures. It's called the HYPOSTATIC union. This is unique to our faith. It actually was defined like this early on in Christianity. That Jesus is one person with two natures, Fully God, fully man, united without confusion, change, division or separation. He is fully God, Fully, fully man, and he is fully good. Can I get an amen in church today? This is huge. This revelation changes everything. Again, only our faith claims this. Buddha was an enlightened teacher. Muhammad specifically denied divinity. But our God became fully human so that he could be that model, so that he could make a way. I'll put it to you like this again all throughout the gospels. As God he can save us, but as man he understands us. As God he gives rest to the weary. But as a man he grew tired just like all of us do and needed rest. As God he is the bread of life who satisfies our hunger forever. But as man, he was hungry. As God he raised Lazarus from the dead. As man, he wept at Lazarus tomb. As God he is holy and cannot sin. But come on somebody. As man he was tempted in every way so he can identify with us. As God he will return on the clouds of heaven in power and glory. But as man, he rode into Jerusalem in humility, on a donkey. And here it is. As God he is all knowing, unchanging and divine. But as man he grew. Why is Jesus our model? Because he is fully God and he is also fully man. Jesus is the standard of holiness church, but he is also able to identify with our humanity. It's like Jesus is the gate for us. Now we all have access to living that life, to growing as God would have us. He's like the north star of where we're heading. But he's also the gate the Bible says in the book of John that allows us in it also. You've heard this in scripture, maybe a new context for this. Jesus is the way and he's also the what. So he is the standard. He is truth. He is God, but he's also the hey, come and follow me and you will know how to live that. He is the author of our story. He is God, all knowing and divine. But he is also the perfecter. He teaches us how to live out our story. And here, here's the big idea. Jesus will never ask you to do something he has not done first. He will never. He always goes first and we able to follow in his path. Jesus grew intentionally because he was fully man and he understands any situation you're in, any obstacle in your way, any mountain that feels like it's insurmountable for me in my current season. Anytime I want to disqualify myself or think I can't, I get to look to our God and follow the way he lived and understand that if he grew, Come on, I can grow. And that is good news. Come on. God is good. And all the time we have a mandate, we have a model. And here's kind of the obvious. If you're trying to figure out the next M word, that's that preacher disease. This is obvious, but it's really good. And it's in that last verse. Luke 2:52. We have a method for growth. We have a method, again, it's not just head knowledge. We know what we know why. Now guess what? We get to know. How isn't the Bible good? Everybody, here's how. Okay, now I'm gonna go in front of you and I'm gonna actually give you. And in this case, such a beautiful verse. Luke 2:52 says, Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, favor with God and favor with man. This is the only verse we have of Jesus from 12 to 30. I've asked myself, this is an important verse here at Highlands. We even have a summer internship for young people and college students during the year. That's based on this. I've asked myself for years now, you know, like, why is this the only verse that we get of those years of Jesus life? And I honestly don't know the answer. But here's what it's come to in my own heart, kind of connect with. And that is because that's the only verse that God thinks we need that in this verse we get all the practical ways that all of us, not just between 12 and 30, can grow. Anybody want to get better? The Bible shows us how we can, number one, grow in wisdom. Grow in wisdom. Now, I could spend. We could do a whole series, a whole year on these ideas in Luke 2:52. Obviously, we don't have time for that. I mentioned earlier there's extra app content. This is something you can check out throughout the week. We took in every one of these categories of growth of wisdom and stature and favor. We went into the Bible and just grabbed at least 10 verses in each one of these for you to take this week. Honestly be great Bible study or devotional content for you just to look at all these different ways. But in each of these points today, for our time's sake, I want to highlight one area where we can grow. And so here it is for wisdom. Colossians 1:9. For this reason, since the day that we heard about you. We have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives. I want to build on these three. All three that are highlighted are super important. We'll build to wisdom. Knowledge. Pretty basic here. Knowledge equals information. We need information. We need to learn. And part of learning is getting new information. We need it, but alone, it can be dangerous. Knowledge can puff up, and we're living kind of in the result of that, in our moment in time. I think we would all agree we live in a knowledge economy. Back in the day, knowledge was very hard to get. People couldn't read. They couldn't access knowledge. Well, now it's everywhere. You can fact check everything I've said today, literally as I'm saying it. I mean, there's just knowledge everywhere. We have unprecedented access to knowledge. But how many of y' all would agree it does not fix the problems of our world. If anything, we have unprecedented issues. All that knowledge puffs up and kind of create its own kind of insanity if it's isolated. And we have, you know, all of our mental health issues and just attacks and anxiety and depression. And those are not isolated just to knowledge, but they're not disconnected from it either, that we have all this access. Well, what do we do with it? The Bible says we also need understanding. And understanding is when we grasp what that information means and we're able to synthesize it, find meaning in it, determine, you know, truth from error. But it doesn't even stop there. We don't just need knowledge. We don't just need understanding. We also need wisdom. And this is beautiful, because wisdom can only come from God. We can get knowledge on Google and now even through AI, a type of understanding can come very quickly. But I got good news for everybody. God holds the corner on wisdom. It is the gold standard. And wisdom is knowing how to apply that knowledge and that understanding. So if knowledge is a map, understanding is how to read the map. Wisdom is how to use the map to get to your destination. And this is what we need. Business leader, you don't just need knowledge. You don't just need understanding. You need wisdom. Parents, come on. We need wisdom. It's our first time through. We can't do this on our own. I can read as many books as possible, but we just saw in that verse, I need the wisdom the Spirit gives. Can I get a better amen? And how do we get it again? There's 10 verses for you to go extracurricular, but I want to lean in on one that we receive wisdom from on high. And one of the greatest delivery mechanisms God has is his Word. And I want to be strong here in 2025 as a follower of Jesus. Optional time in God. There's not a day we do not need to be in God's Word. It is not optional. Every single day, I need to be in the Word of God. Whether it's one verse or five minutes or 15 minutes or an hour. The Word of God has never failed to deliver wisdom into my life. But don't just stop at reading it. I think reading it is beautiful, but that can end up just being knowledge or maybe understanding. But the key here is, more than ever before, how quickly can I apply what I read to my life? And the moment I do that, that's actually when it becomes wisdom. And we've even given you in our. I'll highlight this just again, practically. These are practical points, our field guide for this series. I hope you've enjoyed it. It's beautiful. It's awesome. And there's this, you know, in each week there's this opportunity for what's called soap, scripture observation, application, and prayer. And I learned this back years ago in college as a great Bible tool. And again, you can use whatever tool you want, but the principle of that rhythm is powerful. And if you're missing it right now, and I believe some of us may be, we're like, checking it off the list, but we're not necessarily getting from the Word of God every single day. The wisdom that we need, the broken connection could be that third idea, the A in soap, and that is application. It's just taking a moment every single day before you leave your time with God and saying, how can I apply this to my life? And then keeping yourself accountable to walk out and do that very thing. And I know that's not like a revolutionary thought, but I really felt led to go there. Number one, every single day in the Word of God, I need his wisdom. And number two, I'm not gonna just walk away from it saying, I did it. How can I apply this to my life? Come on. Anybody thankful for the word of God out there today? Anybody out there? Okay, let's not miss the wisdom other ways. Plenty of ways. In Scripture, we pray for wisdom other ways. The Word of God is the one I want to highlight today. Here's number two, and that is we would grow in stature. Jesus grew in stature. And of course, we normally think physically here, and it does include that, but stature is a whole lot more Than just physical growth. Stature is felt. Maybe the best way to understand it. Stature is felt when people encounter us. If we're a person of stature, it means trust, it means consistency, it means integrity. Even I wrote this down. Stature is a life that carries authority and weight. A life of character. And when someone has a person of stature steps into a room, don't you feel it when you're around them, in conversation with them? I was thinking this week of a dear friend of mine who's a mentor of mine. His name's Glenn Siddle. I've known him for years. I don't even need, like, see the door. When Glenn walks in the room, you can feel his presence. And it's all about Jesus. But he is just a man who, over years and years and years, has grown in stature. I want to grow in stature. I want to be that kind of person. I want to be the kind of person again. All glory to God. But that carries weight in my life. And again, the Bible makes this accessible. We're giving you those extra verses plenty of ways to grow in character. But one of the greatest ways we can grow in character is an opportunity. Unfortunately, but also fortunately, we all have, because God redeems it. The book of Romans tells us this in chapter five. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. Because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character. Hope. So how do we grow in wisdom? We get in the Word and we apply it. How do we grow in character? Pain, which we wish we didn't have and God doesn't cause, but he will use, is a beautiful school for growing in character. The Bible says we're going to encounter sufferings in this world. We're going to have trouble. And when we do, we have an opportunity for perseverance. Here's how I want you to think about it. Everybody look at me right here. Because we're in the middle of the valley. Decision. Many of us here today, in some area of our life, are right here in this moment. We're encountering pain. And everything inside of us wants to handle it our way. Shortcut, whatever it looks like, to get out of it as quick as way possible. But that fork in the road, there's also God's way. Come on, somebody. That's a different way. Perseverance is saying no to everything I want probably in my flesh, and yes to God's way. And what does that. Every single time I turn pain into perseverance, what does it produce? Character. It's like bricks, like Legos, step by step by step by step. It's not a wall built in a day, but every single decision builds on itself. And guess what it brings with it? Hope. And that is the goodness of God. I think a lot of us would love some more hope in our lives. Maybe you've never connected hope to character. I want to handle it my own way. And it looks like that would be how I get hope just to handle this situation. And God's actually saying, no, no, no, no, do it my way even when you don't feel it. Especially when you don't feel it. And what it's going to do is produce a character in you. And that character, no matter what's going on around you, will let you live a life of hope. Oh, church. This is good. What does it look like to grow? I'm going to choose God's way. And I just felt impressed. And if some of y' all been around here, this is not something I would do without the conviction of this from the Holy Spirit. And I don't know if they're in this room or through that camera, but there is somebody today, maybe more than one, in the valley of decision right now. In your marriage, I felt it. Husband or wife, with all the things have gone around, it feels like the right decision is to step away from that marriage or step out. There's a temptation there in the name of Jesus, no to that and yes to God's way. It doesn't make sense on paper, but you know, in your heart, this is a moment of decision. Choose God's way. Second thing I felt in my heart in prayer, business leader, someone in any industry right now, there is a shortcut to success by doing it your way. And the Holy Spirit has caught you. There's already a touch in your heart, you know, and maybe even there's pressure around you that that seems like the right way. It will bring destruction. Say yes to God's way, and the Holy Spirit will bring hope into your heart, even when it doesn't make sense. Come on, somebody. And we will grow in stature. Let's put our hands together and thank God for his power. We can grow. We can grow. Here's the last one. I'm gonna put these last two together. We could again spend all month talking about this. Grow in favor. Jesus grew in favor with God and people and this idea of favor. A great way to think about it in this case is the increasing relational goodwill with God and people that Jesus lived a life with his heavenly Father and with the people around him. That was increasingly grow. It was growing. The key here again is he was an authentic relationship with God and with others. He lived a vertical life and a horizontal life. A vertical life and a horizontal life. How do we grow? We need both of those as well. I'm going to grow in relationship with God. I'm going to grow in relationship with people. And the perfect school for growth. Check it out. You're sitting in it. He gave us the bride of Christ. This church, the church as the. We talked about. It's why I talked about it earlier today at the beginning. We get in his presence with his people, and come on, somebody you can't help from grow. If you do one thing, and it's in this verse, Psalm 92. The godly will flourish like palm trees. Anybody want to flourish out there? All right, I do. They will also grow strong. Anybody want to grow strong? Obvious answer is yes. Like the seers of Lebanon. Why? For they are transplanted in the Lord's own house. They will flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age, they will still produce fruit. They will remain vital and green. And they will declare at the end of their life, the Lord is just. He is my rock. There is no evil in him. How do we grow? In favor with God, in favor with man. We don't just attend. Come on, somebody. We get planted in the house of God. As for me and my family, we are planted in this house. We will serve God together. And we have a lot of programming around here. Programming gets great, but check it out. That is not the right word. I want to change that. I want to strike that word from the record. Every opportunity we try to present to this church, to all of us, to you, it's not about programming. It's about getting planted. Come on Sunday mornings. I was earlier watching people drive on campus and just thinking, man, and just loving again. The people of Highlands that get in their car every single Sunday and drive to a location. I saw this dad with three kids coming into an earlier service. Praise God for that. Let's more than ever before make a commitment. Yes, we can watch online. And praise God. We have that opportunity. And again, I'm thankful everyone's joining us. But there's nothing like being in the. In the house, in these rows, like looking around the room, experiencing corporate worship together. Well, let's get planted. And here's the truth. I've never gotten in my car after going to church and been like, you know what? That totally wasn't worth it ever. I'm always thankful, always thankful. Not just planted in a Sunday morning, but let's get planted in community more than ever before. We need each other. John 17. Go read it. We've talked about it this year. When people see us living in community, they will see Jesus come on. An opportunity like Growth track can sound like a class. It's way more than that. It's an opportunity to get planted. And I want to lean in here for a moment. Y', all. We have thousands of new people at our church. What God is doing right now, the revival that we have been praying for, we are seeing it. There are so many people right now in the sound of my voice who are here for the first time or they are back at Highlands for the first time in a long time. And I've had you clapping a lot today, but can we make sure they feel welcome today? Put your hands together. Thank God your opportunity for growth is to get planted. And the next opportunity for that in the growth track, guess what, is tonight. That's why we did this message today. And if you know, you know it's time for a church to become your church, for you to say, you know what, we're planted here and God will bless that, be at step one tonight. And of course, then we all get to live on the dream team. And the dream team does happen on Sundays, but, oh, church, it's a whole lot more than that. It is Dream Team every day. We are planted because we are then filled. We are flourishing. We're strong and we go out and we make a difference in the world. God is a good God. We have the mandate, we have the model, we have the method. And this is the moment. I want to pray for us today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Every location. I sense God's presence here today. And God is doing work. So I'm just going to ask you. I'm finished preaching. I'm going to ask you to ask this question to him that is Holy Spirit. How would you have me respond today? I think for a lot of us, we're getting something very practical in our life. A growth area, a step of faith, a step of courage. Maybe you're in a valley of decision right now, and today's an answer to prayer for you. Thank God for his word. Thank God for his presence. There's a no to my way and a yes to God's way happening all across church life today. Just ask the Holy Spirit, what is that area? Don't get overwhelmed. It's just say, what is that next step? What is that one thing I'm going to walk out of here and live differently and do differently. The one decision I'm making today, let God speak that to you. For some of you here today, at all of our locations and online, that next step could be salvation. We never finish a service here at Highlands without praying for people who want to give their life to Jesus. And I want to do that for us at all locations. Campus pastors can join me on the stage, but I want to pray with us all together today as a church family. If you want to make this the day of salvation, begin a real relationship with God, this is your moment. If it's you, you already know it. So don't miss this moment. I'll help you with the words. Just pray it in your heart. Jesus, today I give you my life. I ask you to forgive me of my sins, my mistakes. I repent. I'm turning away from that today. I make you my Lord, and I receive you as my savior. And I ask you to fill me with your holy spirit. God, I thank you for those who just prayed that prayer that the lost are now found, the blind can now see God, they belong to you. We, as a church, pray a blessing over them. What a miracle. And God, finally, I pray for all of us as you've given us our next step in growth. Thank you, God, that it comes with grace and with mercy. I pray even right now, over every single person. We break off condemnation and shame. We are getting back off of the ground and we're taking the next step. And God, thank you that you'll give us the strength to do it, the wisdom to do it, the stature to do it, and the favor to do it in Jesus name. And everybody said, let's put our hands together and thank God for what he's done today.