The Model Life: Adoration, Part 9

I have had the wonderful privilege of being a pastor now for over 40 years. 31 of those years I've been here at Christ Community Church. And looking at the church around the world, I believe there are three major issues that the church faces every week.

Three issues that need to be dealt with in the church. The first issue is the unconverted among us. Churches across our country are filled with unconverted people.

We know that because the Bible's very replete with all kinds of testimony as to how the evil one sows the tares among the wheat. Satan is a master at disguising that which is false in a way that makes it look like it's true. And so Satan is a master at deception.

He disguises himself as an angel of light. And he does all he can to disrupt the harmony and unity of the church. And Jesus tells us that one of the ways he does that is that he sows the tares, the unconverted, among the converted.

And Jesus says that they look so much like that which is true that you can't distinguish them until the end of the age, and then all will be revealed. There will always be Judas's among the disciples. There will always be Demas's among the church. People who are deceptive. People who are good at masquerading. People who are good at pretending.

And so the Bible warns us about that. That's why the series on Wednesday night is just so incredibly crucial to the church. What really is a true Christian? And am I truly genuine? Am I truly born again?

Throughout the 80s and 90s, a seeker-sensitive movement swept the church. And entertainment replaced enlightenment. The theatrical replaced the theological. And that movement did all it could to bring in the unbeliever to the church.

The church is not designed for unbelievers. It's only designed for believers. But the movement would bring all kinds of unbelievers into the church.

The church became more and more like the world. The music became like that of the world. The preaching became like that of the world.

More stories than the true story of the Christ. More personal illustrations about the pastor instead of the true illustrations about the Lord. And so all these unconverted people felt very comfortable coming to church.

The unconverted should never be comfortable in church. They should be so out of place that they either repent and turn from their sin, or they just leave. But the church is not for the unconverted.

The church consists of those who have been called out by God to worship Him and to honor Him and to glorify His precious name. And yet that is a major issue facing the church, the unconverted among us. The second issue that faces the church that I think is also a major problem, and that is the undisciplined around us.

The unconverted among us and the undisciplined around us. The church has become very flabby, spiritually flabby. Have you ever noticed that? I had a grandmother growing up, like most of you have grandmothers, and she was very, very heavy.

And she had so much excess weight on her arms that as children, grandchildren, we would go up and just flap the flab on the end of her arms. And she would laugh and we would laugh and just have a grand old time. She was a master at cooking all kinds of food and the more she cooked, the bigger she became and the more flabby she was.

And so we would just play with the fat on her arms. She would laugh, we would laugh. And that would be funny.

But it's not funny when it's in the church. It's not funny when we become spiritually flabby. We need to be spiritually strong in the church.

But because we're so undisciplined, and the Bible says we are to discipline ourselves unto godliness, 1 Timothy 4, verses seven and eight, that bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness profits for all things because it profits for not only this life, but the life to come. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse number 7, God has given us a spirit of discipline and yet we are so undisciplined. We are out of control.

We're not in control of our faculties, our minds, our thoughts, our words. The discipline of scripture, the discipline of supplication, the discipline of silence and solitude, the discipline of surrender and self-denial, the discipline of a steadfast heart and submission are alien to most people. And we find ourselves hardly at all exercising our spiritual faculties, that we might somehow be in tune with the God we say we serve.

Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse number 11, said these words, he said, for we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life. Today, I wonder what Paul would say about the church because the church has become more and more undisciplined and that's not a good thing, that's a bad thing. And that needs to be dealt with in each of our own personal lives.

So you have the unconverted among us, you have the undisciplined around us and here is the third major issue facing the church and that is you have the undiscerning amidst us. The undiscerning. People that are unable to discern between that which is true and that which is false.

People that are unable to discern God's way from every other way. That is a major issue in the church. Discernment is a word that describes that which is black and that which is white.

Discerning people don't live in the nebulous area of the gray. But so much in the church today, we live in that realm of grayness. We don't wanna come up on this side or that side, we wanna tolerate all kinds of things in the church, in our own lives.

We don't wanna be too hard to the right. We don't wanna be too soft to the left. So we kind of settle in between and we begin to compromise.

Compromise our purity, compromise our doctrine, compromise our lives simply because we live in the realm of the undiscerning. Discerning people are those who truly make a clear distinction in their minds between what is right and what is wrong. And that's where Paul comes in in verses 19 and 20, or excuse me, verses 20 and 21 of our text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

When he says these words, examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of evil. That that two verses describe what is not happening in the church today.

We need to be discerning people. And so Paul is concerned about this. In fact, he was so concerned about it, listen to what he says to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

In fact, if you got your Bible, you can turn there with me if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This is Paul's attitude toward the church.

Not just the church at Corinth, but every church, which should also be the attitude of every pastor of his church. He says in verse number 2, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

Ever since the fall of man, Satan has been actively involved in deception. And Paul was concerned about those in Corinth that they would be deceived as Eve was deceived. And every false teacher, every false preacher always masters Satan's deception.

For Satan would portray the truth as error and then offer error as truth. And that's what false teachers do. Satan would say back in Genesis chapter 3, these words, you shall not surely die.

Just because God said that if you eat of this one tree, you will die, surely he was mistaken. Surely God led you astray. Surely God really didn't mean what he said: that you would die if you ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so he would take the truth and make you believe it was error. And then he would take error and make you believe it was true.

And he would say these words, for your eyes will surely be open and you will be like God, the master deceiver. He takes that which is true and paints it as error then takes that which is error and convinces you that it's true. Who doesn't want to be like God? I mean, come on, if that's the case, why not eat? And so they did and plunged the human race, the world and the universe into sin.

That's how Satan operates, he's a master at deception. His counsel seems to be perfect, but it was so detrimental to them. So Paul says, I'm afraid that as a serpent deceived Eve, so you too would fall into that same category.

Now he's writing to the church. He's not writing to somebody from the Kiwanis Club, somebody from the YMCA, somebody from your school. He's writing to the church.

Now listen to what he says next, this is very, very important. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. What an indictment on the church.

Someone comes and they present to you another gospel. They present to you another spirit, another Jesus. You know what you do? You embrace it, you accept it as beautiful.

You say, well, this is pretty good, this is okay. And you fall into this deception. You begin to tolerate evil, you tolerate another gospel, you tolerate another Jesus.

And it's okay. That is an undiscerning church. That's a problem.

And that is a problem in the church across America and around the world. It's filled with people who are undiscerning. And they hear something being preached, they say, well, that's okay. I understand that, I can agree with that. And they begin to accept it. For what it is, and all the while, they are being deceived by the evil one.

So Paul says, for I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in every way, we have made this evident to you in all things.

He says, listen, I might not be the most eloquent guy around, I might not be the best communicator around, I might not speak like other people speak, but I do know this, I have the knowledge that gave you a firm foundation of what it is you are to believe, and yet you set that aside, and you've accepted error for truth. And that is a problem. And that's the problem facing every church in America today.

The risk of wandering from the truth is huge. The risk of becoming confused is on the rise in the church. Simply because we don't examine everything carefully.

Everything. And the word that Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 5 is the word dokimazo. It's a word that means to analyze.

It's the word that means to scrutinize. It's the word that means to test and to prove. It's a word of examination.

Prove everything, analyze every word, scrutinize every element, everything. Bring every thought, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, every thought into captivity to Christ, to the obedience to Christ. Every thought that you have, bring it under subjection to the obedience of Christ.

Here he says, examine everything. Analyze, scrutinize, test, prove. Put under the microscope every word, every situation, everything.

And do it carefully. Now remember, we're looking at the model life. And the model life is one of adoration.

The model life adores their God. So they are joyful, prayerful, and thankful. And what they don't do is they don't quench the spirit and they do not despise, disregard, or disesteem any prophetic utterance, anything that comes from the revelation of God.

On the other hand, they examine everything that comes from the revelation of God. They examine it carefully. They scrutinize it. They make sure that what is being preached, what is being said, what is being lived, is in accordance with truth. Because truth is that which matters.

So in other words, Paul says this. I want you to live a model life. And in order to live a model life, you must be judging everything. Now I know in today's vernacular, that's a bad word.

Judge? Who are we to judge anything or anyone? In fact, someone will say, and you've got it on your mind right now, the Bible says we are not to judge lest you too be judged. I love it when people say that. Because that tells you that they are undiscerning and not discerning.

That tells you that they are in error and not in truth. How do we know that? We'll turn back to Matthew seven. Because that's where the verse is, right? Jesus talks about it in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7, verse number 1. Do not judge so that you will not be judged. See, I'm not gonna judge somebody.

I'm not gonna judge what was said. I'm not gonna judge what they do, lest I too be judged. That's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus isn't throwing out all biblical judgment. I'll show you that in a moment. Listen to what he says.

For the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite.

First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So in the very last verse, Jesus affirms judgment. In the same way he says, do not judge, but yet he says, you need to judge.

And you're gonna do that, first of all, by taking the log out of your own eye so that you can discern the speck in someone else's eye. So in the same context, he tells you not to judge, he tells you to judge, to examine, to scrutinize, to analyze. Remember, he's talking about the religious establishment, the Pharisees.

Who are judging people by a standard that they themselves did not and would not keep. That's hypocritical judgment. That's hypocritical scrutiny.

That's what he condemns. But he does affirm judgment based on what is said. If, first of all, you are willing to take that which is in your own eye out so you can see clearly to actually help the other person who has a speck in his eye.

Very, very important. Note this, we cannot judge people's attitudes and motives. We cannot examine people's attitudes and motives.

God does that. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, verse number 5, that he will expose one day every man's motives. God sees the heart, he judges the heart.

He does all of that. But listen to what Jesus says in John 7:24. Judge with righteous judgment. You are to judge with righteous judgment. There is a standard. A standard by which everyone is called to live by. And that standard is God's standard. It's a righteous standard. And so you examine everything according to the righteous standard of God.

Not your standard, but God's standard. The word of God that is truthful, the word of God that is unalterable, the word of God that always stands supreme and sufficient. Judge with righteous judgment.

1 Corinthians 10:15, Paul says, like every preacher should say, judge what I say. Judge what I say. Put what I say under the microscope.

Like the Bereans in Acts 17:11. They wanted to test and prove everything to see whether or not what was said was true or not. They examined everything.

And that's the way it should be. Those who truly live a life of integrity are always open to be examined. Those who do not live a life of integrity do not wanna be examined.

They don't wanna be held into account. But those who live a life of honesty and integrity and purity, they wanna be held under the microscope because there's a standard by which they are to live their lives and they wanna be held to that standard. So Paul says, judge what I say.

The Bible also says that you are to judge acts of sin. Did you know that? Paul says this over in 1 Corinthians 5, verse number 12, he says, for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside God judges. So remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

He's talking about a man who had committed sex sins with his mother. He says, we don't judge those on the outside, but we do judge those on the inside. Those who commit acts of sin those who live disobediently to the word of God, those people need to be scrutinized.

They need to be held to the biblical standard of purity and holiness, because we are a holy body. We are a holy church. We serve a holy God.

And if we are to represent a holy God to a unholy world, we can't do it living unholy lives. We must live holy lives. And so if there's someone among you who's living in sin, that needs to be confronted.

That needs to be dealt with. That's what Matthew 18 is all about. Matthew 18, the first instruction given to the church is all about judging sin in the church.

Your brother sins, you go to your brother. He repents, you want him. If he doesn't repent, you take two or three witnesses with you.

Why? To win your brother. You want him to win into a place of repentance. If that doesn't work, you tell it to the church.

So why? The church can go after him. Plead and beg with him to repent. If they don't repent, you treat him as what? A tax gatherer and a Gentile.

You treat him as if he's an unbeliever, because he hasn't repented. See, that's examining everything carefully. So important.

But the church today doesn't want to do that. We don't want to be involved in those kinds of things. The Bible says you're to judge yourself.

We're gonna partake at the Lord's table here in a minute. First Corinthians 11 says, let a man examine himself before he eats and drinks of the Lord's table, so that he doesn't eat and drink in an unworthy manner. But because we are an undiscerning people, we tend not to look at our lives and examine them under the microscope of the authority of God's holy word.

So we refrain from any kind of examination. In context of First Thessalonians 5, we're not to despise or look down upon prophetic utterances, but we are to examine everything that's said. Everything that's spoken under the guise of God's holy word.

And you hold fast to that which is good. You grip that which is good. You cling to that which is good, but you abstain from every form of evil.

Same word used in First Thessalonians 4, where you are to abstain from sexual immorality. You don't abstain every once in a while, you abstain completely. Same is true here.

You don't abstain every once in a while from that which is wrong, you abstain completely from it, you shun evil. Not just evil behavior, but evil beliefs. Because belief always determines behavior, right? What I believe to be true is how I live my life.

And so when you are examining evil behavior, you're really examining people's evil beliefs. Because it goes contrary to the authority of God's holy word. So Paul comes along and says, look, you wanna live a model life? You wanna live the life that exemplifies Christ? Then you need to make sure you examine everything carefully.

Every word that's spoken, every conversation that you have, every thought that goes across your mind, everything. Doesn't say examine some things every once in a while. Or it's good that when you come to church, you live a life of examination.

He says examine everything carefully. And if it's evil, abstain. If it's wrong, abstain.

If it's good, hold on to it, cling to it, never let it go, embrace it. Because if it's good, it comes from a God who is good. There is so much to say about this, I don't have the time to do it, but just let me give you seven words, okay? Seven words, I like to say seven words in seven minutes, but that's a little far-reaching.

But seven words that will help you in the arena of discernment. Number one is caution. Caution.

We have thrown caution to the wind at church. We just accept everything. I mean, after all, it's church.

Why wouldn't we believe what the preacher says? Why would we think that someone's unconverted? Why would we think that someone among us is undisciplined? We just accept the fact that we're all going to church, we all love Jesus, and everything's good. But there's caution that must always take place. We assume, because our children are good, that whatever they watch on television or watch on their phone is good.

We assume that our children's social media is above board. We just assume, instead of examining our child's social media, instead of examining what our children are doing, we just assume that's gonna be okay. We're very undiscerning.

Most parents are asleep at the wheel. Most parents are not in tune with what's happening with their children. And as they get older, we just assume that they're gonna be walking with Jesus, they're gonna love Jesus, things are gonna be good.

I mean, after all, they're going to church. Yeah, but what church are they going to? See, do you examine that? Do you scrutinize that? Do you analyze that? If you examine everything, you gotta scrutinize the church your kids go to. But you see, as parents, we just tell them, well, at least they're in church.

See, that's just so wrong. At least they're in church? What church? Where are they going? What are they hearing? Are they growing? What's happening? You see, we're just so cautioned to the wind. And therefore, we're not in tune with what's happening, not only in our families, but in our churches as well.

We just live lives so indiscriminately. We let so many things just fly under the radar, and we just let things go. Told you before, as parents, we are not helicopters.

We are fighter jets. And if you're not a fighter jet as a parent, you're just a helicopter hovering around doing absolutely no good to anybody. You need to fight for your children's purity, fight for your children's marriages, fight for your children's personal lifestyle, and help them understand the truth that's God's truth that they need to live by.

In order to be discerning, the first word is caution. You need to live a cautious lifestyle. You need to be aware of what's happening around you, what's happening in your family, what's happening with your children.

Because if you're not, then you're gonna live an undiscerning life. You won't be able to decipher between that which is good and that which is wrong, that which is truth and that which is error. And you need to know these things.

First word is caution. The second word is compulsion. There's this compelling drive for discernment.

Listen to what Solomon says. He says, if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for a hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Understanding that there is this compelling drive to learn discernment.

Lord, I want to be a discerning person. I wanna know truth from error, right from wrong, good from best. I wanna know those things.

I don't wanna be asleep at the wheel. So you cry out to God for discernment and from God comes wisdom and knowledge. From the word of God comes everything you need to make wise choices.

But there's gotta be this compelling drive, this compulsion to learn it because if not, then you won't. It comes back to the undisciplined life, doesn't it? It's a discipline. Requires work. Requires drive. Requires intensity. Requires tenacity. Requires passion. There's this compulsion that drives me to learn discernment so that I can help my family. I can lead my family. I can tell my children, this is wrong. You gotta be able to tell your children, no, you cannot date the unbeliever. You cannot do that.

Because the Bible says you cannot be unequally yoked together and you gotta be careful that your emotions fall into this thing. Once you start dating the unbeliever and you become, or you fall in love with that unbeliever and you marry that unbeliever, it goes against God's command. You cannot do that.

So you cut it off before it ever begins. That's a discerning parent. That's a fighter jet parent.

A helicopter parent says, well, you know, if that, you know, whatever makes you feel good, it feels good, that's okay. You know, we want you to be happy. No, no, no, no.

You want them to be holy. We're so concerned about their happiness. Oh, but they're getting up in the 33, 34, 35. We don't want them to be single forever. So it's okay.

Better be single forever than marry the wrong one. Because then you'd be miserable forever. That's always a heartache. So there's this caution, there's this compulsion that takes place that drives me to the scriptures to learn discernment.

Number three, and that is, that is, oh, by the way, this was Solomon's cry. Remember? God said, ask me what you wish and I will give it to you. Imagine God coming to you and saying, ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you.

What would you say? Solomon says, I need discernment so I can, I need wisdom so I can discern between that which is right and wrong among the people of God. And God was so pleased that Solomon asked that that he gave him so much more other things. And Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived.

And God used him mightily. James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask. That's that compulsive desire.

Like Solomon had, but here's the caveat to this. Once there's a caution, once there's a compulsion, there must, number three, be a capitulation. That is that you must submit and obey everything that God says.

Because we come to a place where we cry for discernment and God gives wisdom and knowledge and we begin to read and study and understand the word of God and then it comes across something that we just don't necessarily like. Or agree with. And we think that somehow God is wrong.

So there must be a capitulation, a complete undying submission to everything that God says. Why? Because the wisest man who ever lived didn't do that. Listen to what the Bible says in First Kings 3. Solomon cries for discernment. God gives it to him. But in First Kings 11, it says this.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. From the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, you shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon held fast to these in love.

He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away.

After other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, his God, as the heart of David, his father, had been. Solomon did what was evil inside of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David, his father, had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the testable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, which, by the way, is Mount of Olives.

And for Molech, the testable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their idols. Now the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned.

Turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, because you have done this, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commended you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and give it to your servants. What a devastation.

You see, he valued something more than God. He wasn't willing to submit and capitulate to the commandments of God. Because his heart was turned.

He found something more appealing to him, foreign wives. And the more he married, the more he felt good about it. And yet it was an abomination to God, and he had turned his back on God, and didn't fully follow God.

He was wrong. That's because he wanted to be cautious, and so he had this compulsion to be discerning, but would not capitulate to the commandments of God. Happens all the time.

You know why it happens in your family? You know why you can't be discerning with your children? It's because you value their relationship more than you value the truth of God. You want to preserve a relationship that you think you have, but you do not. You think you have a relationship with them, but you can't have a relationship outside of truth.

You can't. And so what do you do? You want to preserve something you think you have, but you don't, in hopes that one day it'll be great. But it won't, because it'll never be based on truth.

You cannot have a relationship based on anything other than the truth of the living God. You'll have a semblance of togetherness. You'll have some fun things that happen, but the trueness of a deep, intimate relationship does not happen outside of truth.

But because we value relationship over the truth, we will always compromise truth for the sake of relationship. And that's always wrong. That's what Solomon did.

God says you've lost it all. You've lost the kingdom. God kept it peaceful until the end.

But once he died, the kingdom divided. It's never been the same since. Why? Because he would not submit and capitulate to the truth of the wisdom and knowledge of God when it was spoken in his word.

I know my time is gone, but I gotta finish because I want to finish. How's that? Next word is connection. Connect yourself to someone who's discerning.

Latch yourself onto somebody who has a discerning spirit and learn from them. That's what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3. He said, follow my pattern, Timothy. Follow my lifestyle, Timothy. Follow my doctrine, Timothy. Connect with me. Follow the pattern of the saints.

Follow someone who truly has a discerning spirit that knows what is right and what is wrong. Hook yourself onto them and just watch, look, and listen. Good advice that Paul gave to Timothy because it's sound advice.

So many times we find ourselves connected to people that are unruly, undisciplined. You ever notice that? Remember what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians? He says this, listen to this. He says, verse 6, chapter 3, 2 Thessalonians.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you have received from us. If there is any brother who does not follow the commands of scripture, do not associate with them. But you know what we do? We associate with them.

We cry for wisdom, we cry for discernment, and yet the Bible's very clear. Do not associate with the unruly, the undisciplined person because they'll turn you away from the Lord. They don't follow the scriptures, the authority of God's word.

You can't associate with them. Even if they're in the church. And he says this, for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.

Connect yourselves to us. Follow us. We weren't undisciplined, but yet you wanna attach yourself to the unruly.

You wanna attach yourself to the undisciplined. You wanna attach yourself to the unconverted. You wanna attach yourself to the undiscerning.

Why? Why do you do that, Paul says? Because we value a relationship over the value of the truth. That's why. He goes on and says this, verse 14.

If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person. Examine everything carefully, carefully. And do not associate with him so that he will be put to shame.

You wanna know why the unrepentant don't repent in the church is because we wanna befriend the unrepentant and act as if nothing's really wrong. It's okay, and they're not put to shame, and they don't repent. We hinder their repentance by befriending them in their sinful state without confronting them in their sinful state.

And Paul says this as he goes on. Yet do not regard him as an enemy because he's not. He's your brother, but you would admonish him as a brother, rebuke him as a brother, confront him as a brother.

That's what you do. Because you see, when you do that, he either or she either repents or they want nothing to do with you. Say, they repent because you admonished them.

Praise the Lord. And you've won your brother. That's the right thing.

So there's this connection that you have with those who truly are discerning. And then there's this mixed word. Word number five is concentration.

Concentrate all your efforts on the truth of God's word. Concentrate all your energies in knowing what God says in his word. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, a great, intense concentration on the truth.

And then the mixed word falls right after that, and that is continuation. That is, you need to continue growing your walk with the Lord, why? Because you never stop growing. There's this continuing aspect where I grow day after day after day.

We continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so therefore, we exercise discipline and discernment. And lastly, last word is contention.

Always contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. We're in a war, my friends. It's a war for the truth.

It's a war that we stand on truth, live truth, honor truth. So we are to protect the gospel, we are to guard the gospel, we are to persevere in the gospel, we are to preach the gospel, we are to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Fight for truth, because truth is what matters.

Let me pray with you. Lord, thank you for today and the opportunity to be together and pray that you'd use your word in our lives, that we might be not undiscerning, but completely discerning of that as all happening around us, to know what is right versus what is wrong, what is true versus that which is false. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.