Act Like Men, Part 9

We have, all summer, looked at one phrase, Act like men, 1 Corinthians 16, 13. We began on Father's Day. So, throughout all the summer, we've been looking at this one phrase. We will end just in time for fall to begin, and for us to fall back into the book of Hebrews. But, this has been a fascinating study, because it hits to the heart of the church. That is, the ability of the church to be able to grow up in their walk with the Lord. When Paul addressed the church of Corinth, he addressed the entire church.

Men, women, boys, and girls. That they needed to act like men, grow up in the faith. They needed to mature, become strong and courageous, confident in the Lord. We've addressed the men of our church, because they are to lead the way in this situation. They are to provide, for their families, the kind of leadership to show them how to act like men. That they might grow up in their walk with the Lord. So, this becomes an issue that hits the heart of every individual in the church, because all of us need to grow up spiritually.

And so, we have been going through a process to show you how that happens. That if I'm to act like a man, I must live purposefully. And the purpose is to glory and honor the King. I have one purpose in life, and that is to magnify the name of Christ. If I have another purpose, I can't act like a man. I can't be the man God wants me to be. So, I live purposefully. And then, I live proactively. Because I live for the honor of God, I want to be actively pursuing the things of God. I want to know my God.

As a result, Daniel 11, 32, I take action. The problem is that most men are not proactive, they're passive. Very passive. In fact, if I was to only talk to the women alone in the room, the biggest complaint they would have is their husband's passivity. Passive in spiritual things. Passive in financial obligations. Passive in their leadership. Passive emotionally. Not involved into where or into the things that you're involved in. And as men, we are to be proactive in the things of God. Leading spiritually, financially, emotionally.

Leading our families in a way that they understand that God is supreme. We are to live purposefully, proactively. We are to live prayerfully. Men of prayer, Luke 18, 1. On our knees, before the throne of grace, praying for our families, praying for our church, praying for those that we come in contact with, praying for those that we work with. We are men of prayer, trusting God, depending upon God. We need to lead the way that way. And then we become those who live powerfully. Because we depend upon the Spirit of God.

And those who are mature live powerful lives. Because it's God working in and through them for the glory of his kingdom. It is a supernatural act of God, not the natural act of man. And God is doing a great work because we're on our knees trusting him. He's doing the work through us. We live powerful lives. Purposefully, proactively, prayerfully, powerfully. And then you live productively. That we bear much fruit, John 15, 8. Not just some fruit, but much fruit. And we bear that fruit for the glory of his kingdom, that he might be lifted up.

And so we live productive lives, all centered on the things of God. We live productively. But we must live purely, holy lives. Lives that live out the truth of God's word. We say we serve a holy God, we must live holy lives. So we live pure and holy lives before the King of kings and Lord of lords. We live purely. And if we live purely, then we must live prophetically. Speaking the truth, telling the truth, teaching the truth, trusting the truth. Making sure people know who God is and what God has done.

We are the prophets of our home. Yes, we are the priests of our home as men because we lead our families closer to God. Yes, we are the prophets in our family because we teach them about God. Because we want them to understand who God is. So we live the life of a prophet. We live prophetically in our homes. To do that, you must live patiently. Live patiently. Because it takes a long time for people to absorb the truth of God sometimes. And so because you are teaching them that truth, you want to lead them into that truth.

And sometimes it takes a long while. So we must bear up with people being long suffering with them. And then we come to the point we are talking about today. Living progressively. Living progressively. That is we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. We don't grow in our knowledge of anything other than Jesus himself. It's not about the Bible facts that you know. It's about the God you serve. So Peter says grow in the grace and in the knowledge of who Jesus is. We live progressively.

So I ask myself, I ask you. Are you growing spiritually? Is, as Paul says to Timothy, your progress evident to all? 1 Timothy 4 verse number 16. Do others see your progress? Do others see your growth? Do others see your maturation? Do they see you moving in the direction that honors and glorifies the name of God? One of the reasons we have a hard time is because of all the distractions in our lives. Many of you have purchased this book. Some of you have received the book because of a gift in women's ministries.

But you need to read the book. 12 ways your phone is changing you. Because it is. The very first thing he says of the 12 is that we are addicted to distractions.

And as I read through this chapter again this morning, I realized that it's the distractions in our lives that keep us from knowing God. There are so many of them. He says this. He says, as digital distractions intrude into our lives at an unprecedented rate. Behavioral scientists and psychologists offer statistical proof in study after study. The more addicted you become to your phone, the more prone you are to depression and anxiety. And the less able you are to concentrate at work and to sleep at night.

Digital distractions are no game. Because we are all so interconnected, hundreds of people, friends, family members, and strangers can interrupt us at any moment. And when we are bored with the flick of a thumb, we can skim an endless list of amusements and oddities online. So interesting that we can be interrupted at any moment. We were doing a memorial service this past week for the members of our church. And I'm preaching away. And all of a sudden, everybody's phone goes off. I'm like, are you kidding me?

And I had, what we talked about last week, FOMO, fear of missing out. If everybody's getting an update, if everybody's getting a text or some kind of alert, I'm not getting it, I'm missing out. What's everybody, is everybody in the room that important that they're all getting the same announcement, the same alert? Well evidently there was an Amber alert and everybody's phone went off. But you see how easily we are distracted? Happens all the time. We are easily interrupted. And so he tells us why distractions lure us.

And they do. They lure us, number one, because digital distractions keep us away from work. They keep us away from doing the things that we're responsible to do. And then he says, digital distractions keep us away from people. We like that. He says, God has called us to love our neighbors, yet we turn to our phones to withdraw from our neighbors. And to let everyone know we'd rather be somewhere else. In a meeting or a classroom, if my phone is put away, I am more likely to be perceived as engaged.

If my phone is not in use, but is face up on the table, I present myself as engaged for the moment. But possibly disengaged if someone more important outside the room needs me. And if my phone is in my hand and I'm responding to text and scrolling social media, I project open dismissiveness because dividing attention is a typical expression of disdain. We think that when our phones are face up and we're talking to one another, if my phone goes off, my eyes automatically respond to the phone, showing that who's ever on that device is more important than you who are in the room talking to me face to face.

And then he says, point number three, we use digital distractions to keep thoughts of eternity away. In other words, we are not engaged enough in solitude to be with our God that we might learn to know him and grow to be like him. Because solitude is almost like a prison in today's day and age. He quotes 17th century Christian mathematician and proverb making sage Blaise Pascal. He said in the 17th century, when observing distracted souls of his day, he noticed that if you take away their diversions, you will see them dried up with weariness because it is to be ushered into unhappiness.

As soon as we are reduced to thinking of self and have no diversion. In other words, we must have diversions because without them, without distractions, it causes us to sit in silence and to reflect upon the condition of our lives, our souls and eternity. And we don't want that to happen. So the distractions keep us from that which we need to think on the most. He says distractions give us an easy escape from the silence and solitude whereby we become acquainted with our finitude, our inescapable mortality and the distance of God from all our desires, hopes and pleasures.

Driving every diversion is the promise of escaping boredom at home. And Pascal said in his day, remember this is the 17th century. I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact that they cannot sit quietly in their own chamber. They cannot be alone. They refuse to be alone. Because in the silence of their chamber is the reality of who they are, where they are, where they should be going, where they're not going. And they have to face the reality of their sinful state.

They have to come to the reality of the future. Staring at the ceilings of our quiet bedrooms with only our thoughts about ourselves, the reality of God is unbearable. Hence it comes that men so much love noise and stir. Hence it comes that the prison is so horrible a punishment. Hence it comes that the pleasure of solitude is a thing incomprehensible. To be without the constant availability of distraction is solitary confinement, a punishment to be most dreaded. That is why in those moments when we realize we have forgotten our phone, lost our phone, or let the battery run down, we chase the captivity of a prison cell and it's absolutely frightening.

He is spot on. That is the way we think and live. And what has happened in our day is that we have come to a place where we no longer know God because we are so distracted by everything else outside of God. So the writer says, the more distracted we are digitally, the more displaced we become spiritually. That is a great quote. The more distracted we are digitally, the more displaced we become spiritually. And he quotes one pastor who says, why do you think young Christian adults struggle most deeply with God as a personal reality in their lives?

His reply? Noise and distraction. It's easier to tweet than it is to pray. Prayer takes work. Prayer takes solitude. Prayer takes time. And so what has happened is that because we love distractions that keep us from dwelling and dealing with reality. And reality is all centered on the living God. So why is it we don't live progressive lives, maturing Christ? It's simply because we are so distracted by things that just don't matter. They just don't matter. But we've come to believe that they do matter.

And they've numbed our souls to the great reality of knowing the true and living God. And so we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. And it's always been this way. There are always distractions. If Blaise Pascal is talking about it in the 17th century and we live in the 21st century, the distractions now are more innumerable than they were back then. But it doesn't negate the fact that we are to pursue the true and living God. And so we told you last week that to live progressively, I must be engaged in life's most important pursuit.

What is that? The knowledge of God. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, or the mighty man glory in his might, or the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glory, glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the God who exercises living kindness, and mercy, and justice on the earth. In these things I delight. We should want to delight in the things God delights in. It becomes the life's most important pursuit. So I'm engaged in that. I'm engaged in that. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said.

Charles Spurgeon, January 7th, 1855. He says, I believe that the proper study of God's elect is God. The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his father. That is the great study. That is the great aspiration. And to be engaged in life's most important pursuit, that's what we do.

If I'm to live progressively, that is what must happen. And as I'm engaged in life's most important pursuit, I become enamored with life's most impenetrable pursuit. That is, I can't really fully grasp the God I love and serve, because he's infinite and I am finite. And that's why Romans 11, 33, talks about how the knowledge of God and the ways of God are unfathomable, unsearchable, untraceable, unimaginable, unbelievable. They are so far out there. That's why there is on his robe a name that no one knows.

And the name, of course, in Scripture, represents the character of a person. So there's a character of God, there's an attribute of God that nobody knows. Can you imagine that? There's something about God that nobody knows, not even the angels in heaven know. He is so infinite. He is so beyond anything we can imagine. And yet, I am enamored by the fact that he is so impenetrable. I never really fully comprehend him. It just motivates me. It engages me. It moves me to learn him, to know him, to study him.

And if it doesn't do that for you, something's wrong with your cold soul. Something's wrong. And so as I engage in life's most important pursuit, I am absolutely enamored with life's most impenetrable pursuit. But all the while, that's point number three, I am enriched.

I am enriched by life's most impressionable pursuit. I am enriched by life's most impressionable pursuit. Why? Because I know my God. Everything about my life begins to change. And so, how does that happen? Number one, salvation is received.

Right? Salvation is received. Because knowing God is equated with salvation. The fear of the Lord, the knowledge of the Lord, in the book of Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is equated with salvation. And the knowledge of the Holy One is the fear of the Lord. John 17 3, this is eternal life that you know the one true God. When I come to know God, that means I have received eternal life. And so there is a salvation that has been received. That's why 2 Thessalonians 1 8, that when God returns, He would deal out retribution to those who do not know Him and do not obey the gospel of God because those who know Him obey the gospel of God.

So salvation is received. And then number two, strength. Strength is revealed. We talked about this last week. Strength is revealed. Remember that? Those who know their God display strength. Daniel 11 32. We use that verse for proactivity. We use that verse for this aspect of our point. Because if you know God, you display strength. There's something about your life that demonstrates to others that you are strong in the Lord and the power of His might. That you don't fear what man can do to you because you know of the omnipotence of God, His power, you know of the omnipresence of God, that He is everywhere.

You know that He is almighty, the pentakrator, the all-powerful one. And because He is, you know, that strength is revealed. It's not your strength. It's God's strength. Same strength that Daniel was able to reveal as he continued to do what God said to do in spite of the threat of his life. The apostles did the same thing. Paul did the same thing. These people in scripture would do what God demanded them to do, commended them to do. They had no fear because they didn't fear what man could do to them.

Strength was supremely revealed in their lives. And so, I am enriched by life's most impressionable pursuit. Why? Salvation is received. Strength is revealed. This is where we left off last week. Number three, security is reinforced.

Security is reinforced through the knowledge of God. Listen to what Peter says. In the book of 2 Peter 1, he says, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. May grace and peace be multiplied in you because you've come to know the true and living God. That's why we say that security is reinforced in my life through the knowledge of the Holy One of Israel.

Peter goes on to say this, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. We have received divine power through the knowledge of the Holy One. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Peter says, grace and peace be multiplied unto you.

Listen, those two attributes of God reinforce our security. We all need grace to help in time of need. So we approach the throne of grace. We'll talk about this when we get back into Hebrews and understand what the writer of Hebrews is saying. But you approach the throne of grace to receive grace to help in time of need. But we don't approach the throne of grace. Why? Because of our pride. Our pride. And the Bible says that God opposes the pride.

Rejects the pride. But gives grace to the humble. God gives grace to the humble. Those who bow before Him in humble submission, He bestows grace upon. Grace to sustain them. Grace to strengthen them. Because grace is that which sustains you. Peace is that which stabilizes you. And so Peter says, I pray that the grace and the peace of God be multiplied in you because you've come to know our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. And grace is that which moves us. And then, grace and peace be multiplied. How do you know you know God?

Peace is multiplied in your life. Do you live an anxious free life? Or do you live a worry-filled life? Do you sit at home content, knowing that the providence of God is at work and you can live in peace? You're at peace with God because you've been reconciled to Him. The God of peace has granted you His peace. And because the God of peace has granted you His peace, according to 2 Thessalonians 3, we can now live in the peace of God. What kind of peace is that? The peace that surpasses all understanding.

This is why security is reinforced because I'm at peace not only with God, I'm at peace with my circumstances. I'm at peace with my situation. I'm at peace because of who God is and what God's done. I've come to know my God. Who's the God of peace? Christ was always at peace. He was never fearful. He was never frantic. He was at peace because He's the God of peace. We now have become partakers of the divine nature of God. Can you grasp that? Can you even begin to wrap your arms around that? That we are partakers of the divine nature of God, the God who is the God of grace, the God who is the God of peace.

And Peter now says, because you've come to know Him, may that grace and peace be multiplied, maximized over and over again in your life because you've come to know the true God. And so you know in your own heart and life that you have come to know God progressively. You're moving in that direction because with each passing day and each passing circumstance and situation, you have grown to live at peace, knowing that God is a complete control, knowing that He, as Psalm 8411 says, is a sun and a shield.

He is my refuge. He is my strength. Wow. So, coming to know God enriches me greatly because it's life's most impressionable pursuit. It molds me. It changes me because salvation is received. Strength is revealed. Security is reinforced. And then, number four, satisfaction is realized. Satisfaction is realized. And that's 2 Peter chapter 1. I used that verse for the wrong point, but it's a great verse. Why is satisfaction realized? Because, 1 Peter 2, verse number 6, those who believe in Him are never disappointed.

Never disappointed. There is a supreme satisfaction knowing that God is everywhere. Can you imagine being in the Old Testament and living in those days, wanting to encounter the presence of God, and the only way to do that was to go to the temple? Where His presence dwells. Well, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. And so, we have the opportunity to approach His presence, to live in His presence, every moment of every day. It's not that the Old Testament saints didn't live within the realm of God's presence because He's omnipresent, but when you went to worship in the Holy Temple, in the place of God, you would encounter the presence of the living God.

But we have that opportunity because not only are we partakers of His divine nature, we actually live in Him, and He in us. That's magnificent. I was talking with my daughter this morning because she was doing her homework assignment for her Sunday school class. Talking about the temple, and how the temple was used in the life of Israel to portray God and His beauty. And the last question was, how does Jesus fulfill that? How does Jesus fulfill everything concerning the temple of God in the Old Testament?

So, we talked about the glory of the Lord and the presence of God, and how God now dwells in our bodies because our bodies are the temple of the living God. And trying to explain that to my 11-year-old daughter, and trying to get her to grasp that whole concept. But that's the way it is. That's why satisfaction is realized. God is in me. And because He's in me, the God of peace, the God of grace, the God of power, the God of justice, the God of mercy, the God who is everything, satisfies my soul.

That's what a psalmist says, my soul thirsts for Thee. That's why the psalmist wanted to dwell in the presence of God. One thing He desired. One thing I ask, that I may dwell in the presence of the living God, to behold His beauty. The beauty of God is so amazing. Satisfaction is realized through the knowledge of God. See, we live such unsatisfied lives, don't we? We're not content with where we are, and so we're always pursuing the next thing, but we need to be pursuing the living God. He satisfies your emptiness.

He satisfies your turmoil. And yet, we don't take the time, as a psalmist says, to be holy, to cease striving and know that I am God. So I am enriched by life's most impressionable pursuit, because salvation is received, because strength is revealed, because security is reinforced, because satisfaction is realized, because the spirit of wisdom is reflected in all I do. Listen to what Paul says in the book of Colossians, the first chapter.

Ephesians chapter one, I'm sorry. Verse number 15. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you, for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Paul says, I'm praying that the spirit of wisdom and of revelation will be so obvious in and through you because you've come to know Him.

See, He is the God of wisdom. In other words, wisdom is the application of truth to life. I'm able to apply what I hear to life because of the spirit of wisdom. The more I know God, who is the God of wisdom, the more wise I become. And as men who lead their families, we need to act wisely. We need to make decisions that are wise enough for our family to understand exactly what we're doing. We need the spirit of wisdom, that ability to discern between what is right and wrong, what is good and evil.

That spirit of wisdom causes us not to act foolishly, to think biblically before we act emotionally so that we can make the right decisions when we're pressed or when there's an opportunity to make that decision. And Paul prays for the church at Ephesus that the spirit of wisdom would be reflected in their lives because they know Jesus Christ, their God. See, our lives are enriched. How blessed we are. We don't have to be dumb. Isn't that good? We don't have to be foolish. We have the spirit of wisdom.

And that should allow us to be able to make wise choices. Wouldn't it be good if, you know, we always get our children because they make such foolish choices. Well, maybe they make them because the spirit of wisdom is not reflected in our lives and they don't see us making wise choices. So they become impulsive. They become reactionary. They make foolish choices. But because we have the spirit of wisdom, the ability to apply truth to everyday situations, we then show them how to live their lives and make decisions.

How great is that? This is why my life's enriched because salvation is received, strength is revealed, security is reinforced, satisfaction is realized, the spirit of wisdom is reflected, and next, spiritual fruit is reproduced. Spiritual fruit is reproduced. Colossians chapter 1. Paul says, For this reason, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Again, he's talking about spiritual wisdom.

Why? It comes through the knowledge of His will. So you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So we are praying that the knowledge of God so infiltrates your life that you produce fruit, spiritual fruit, that you walk worthy of His calling and that at the same time as you do, you continue to increase in the knowledge of God. This is amazing. Spiritual fruit is reproduced in my life because I know the God I serve.

Wow, that is so amazing. And therefore, when people see that fruit, you ever been to the market and seen fruit that looks so good? You can't wait to grab it, put it in your basket, take it home and bite into it. It looks so delicious. Our lives should be delicious. They should be appetizing to those around us. People should be wanting to take a bite out of our lives because we are so delicious when they see us. And that is spiritual fruit that's being reproduced in our lives. The spirit of love and the spirit of joy, the spirit of long-suffering and patience and kindness and the spirit of good works and the spirit of evangelism and the spirit that allows us to be able to be seen by others and say, I want that in my life.

Well, how does that come? Through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is so good. So, how do I know I'm living progressively? I am growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Number one, I am engaged in life's most important pursuit, the knowledge of God.

There's nothing more important than coming to know the God of the universe. Nothing. So, you must set aside every other pursuit to be engaged in this pursuit so that in all those other activities you're involved in, you can glorify the name of God. You're engaged in life's most important pursuit. All the while, you are enamored by life's most impenetrable pursuit because your God is infinite. You are finite. He's beyond all comprehension. Yet, it doesn't stop you wanting to know Him because you are enriched by life's most impressionable pursuit.

Everything about your life changes because you're saved. You're born again. You live for the glory of God in the spirit of wisdom, spiritual fruit, strength, security, and satisfaction. All are evident in your life. And number four, the reason I grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, the reason I want to progress in my walk with the Lord is simply because if I'm going to live progressively, I must be engulfed in life's most impassioned pursuit. I must be engulfed. I must be enveloped.

I must be encompassed. I must be encircled, whatever word you want to use, in life's most impassioned pursuit. In other words, there is a certain passion in those who pursue the true and living God. Unlike those who don't. Number one, because it requires the totality of my person.

It requires everything. Not just some of me, but all of me. Deuteronomy 4, 29. You will seek the Lord your God. You will find Him if, if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. God never rewards half-hearted seeking. Never does. He never rewards half-hearted obedience. He never rewards anything that's done half-heartedly. He wants you to do it with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. That's why Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

All your might. This is life's most impassioned pursuit. Have you ever noticed that we are passionate about the things that don't matter and passive about the things that do matter? The thing that matters is the knowledge of God. It requires all that I have. It says over in Jeremiah 29, 13, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Again, God says, I want all of you.

Don't just come by, half-heartedly seek me. Don't just come by and put in lip service to me. Don't just come by and just show up so people will think you're serving me. I want everything that you have. I want totality of person. I want everything. I want your mind, your soul, your strength, your heart. I want you to search for me with all that you have. I want you to be impassioned about your pursuit. It requires a totality of person. It also reveals a tenacity of purpose. Listen to what the Lord says in the book of Proverbs.

The book of Proverbs, chapter 2. My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding. For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasure, the fear of the Lord, then you will discover the knowledge of God. As you search for silver, as you seek for hidden treasure, how do you do that? How do you seek for hidden treasure? You go after it.

You dig everywhere. There is a tenacity behind your search. When you search for silver, the same thing is true. You can't just do it without a tenacious spirit. See, the Lord wants to reveal himself to you. He wants you to know him for who he is. But unless you seek him diligently, unless you search for him as a hidden treasure, you will miss out. Because he goes on to say, for the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. In other words, from his word comes the wisdom and knowledge and understanding that you need.

But unless you seek that wisdom as a man searches for silver, unless you search for that wisdom as one searches for hidden treasure, you will miss out. There's a tenacity of purpose. There is a drive behind your heart. It's to know God. It also reflects an authenticity of your passion. Remember what Moses said, Exodus 33, let me know your ways that I may know you.

David, Psalm 42, as a deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants for thee, O God. See the passion there. See the authenticity behind the passion. This is what I want. Paul said in Philippians 3, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings. Philippians 3, I can all things as manure, dung, excrement in view of the surpassing knowledge of my God. Everything in life is like a big pile of manure, except the knowledge of God. Because that's the only thing that matters, to know him.

And that's at the end, what results is real, true spiritual growth and maturity. You've come to know the living God. And all the while you come to know him, you never really fully know him. So the search just continues day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, because you want to know him for who he is. Psalmist in Psalm 73 said these words, Psalm 73 Whom have I in heaven but you? Besides you I desire nothing on earth. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine even saying that?

Can you imagine verbalizing that? I desire nothing but you on this earth. Nothing. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful. I am unfaithful to you. But as for God, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. Wow. The nearness of God is my good. That's how you know you're progressing. Just to be near God.

Just to be in his presence. To hear him speak to you through his word as you open it up. And to be able to understand the beauty of his holiness. My prayer for me is that I would be a progressing man. Not a stagnant man. Not a boring man. A progressive man. Progressing spiritually. Moving closer to the Christ. So that, so that all will know that the number one purpose of my life is all about God.

That's the way it should be for all of us. We need to act like men. We need to man up. We need to grow up. We need to be strong and confident. And those who know their God, they are. They are. Where are you in your progression spiritually? Are you moving day by day closer to the Christ? Or is your walk with him stagnant? It need not be if you understand life's most important pursuit. Life's most impenetrable pursuit. Life's most impressionable pursuit. And of course, life's most impassioned pursuit.

May we be those who pursue God. Let me pray with you. Father, we are grateful for today. It is a great day. It's a great day, Lord, because we're here to worship the King, who is great. Our prayer, Father, is that you would go before every one of us and that truly, Lord, we would live for the glory and honor of our King. Our prayer, Father, is for everyone in the room that every one of us, Lord, would have this insatiable desire to know God and that nothing would distract us, deter us from coming to know our God.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.