Amen. Thank you for tuning in for our Bible studies for life as we continue on in our series. Today, we'll be talking about maturing faith. Faith matures as we humbly obey God. Here, I'm Darrell Bailey, Servants for Christ. As we look at Jesus, how he talks about temptation, forgiveness, faith, and duty in verses 1 through 5 of Luke chapter 17. Take your Bibles over to Luke chapter 17. And I'm glad that as you look at the little three little scraps that are coming up out of the soil, if you want to mature, you need somebody that holds you accountable. When we're in the military, I'm glad that we teamed up with somebody and through boot camp, that was the person that we relied on each other through the entirety of the training. Well, we've always got to have somebody to rely on. And when we look and realize that Paul is one of those people that we need to have in our life, we need to have a Paul that is an older person who's willing to mentor us and to build up our life. Because I'm glad that We need someone who's smarter, somebody that's more gifted than you are, and also somebody who's been down the road. Somebody that's willing to share their strength and their weaknesses with you that they've learned through the wildernesses and the journeys of life. And so somebody whose faith that we want to imitate. And so we need a Paul in our life for maturing faith. Also, we need, when we look, a Barnabas in our life, somebody that's full of the spirit and wisdom. Here, as we have someone like a Paul, we need a Barnabas that is usually a soul brother or sister, somebody that loves you but is not impressed by you, somebody to whom you can be accountable, somebody who's willing to keep you honest, willing to say, hey, listen, you need to straighten up. You're neglecting reading the Bible. You're neglecting your duties as a husband or as a wife. And I'm going to tell you something. Everybody needs three people, at least, that are accountable to us in our lives of maturing faith. That third individual would be a young Timothy, because I'm glad that we need somebody that has a heart of a servant. A younger person whose life that you're building up. A model that here, that each and every one of us, we mentor to them. We give them encouragement, we teach them, we correct them, we direct them, and we pray with them. Now, when you look right here, you'll see a little small chart, and in that chart is based on the scripture of 2 Peter 1, 5, where Peter is telling us, and besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to your virtue knowledge, and he goes on. I'm glad that it talks about love, kindness, godliness, endurance, self-control, knowledge, moral excellence, and faith. Because if you're going to mature in your faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so you need at least three people that are in your life that will help mature you along the journeys and the wildernesses of life that you go down. Here, February the 25th, 2024, the 16th of Adar, 5784 of the Hebrew calendar. We look and we realize that I want to welcome each and every one of you to come and be with us at Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church. We'd love to have you if you're not already involved in a church. We're located 450 Iron Hill Road, Taylorville, Georgia, 30178. Here for Sunday school at 10 a.m., morning worship at 11. And then, of course, here the following coming week. We'll be getting back with our Kids for Christ and Adults Bible Study as well. And so please, on behalf of our Pastor Keith Dempsey, come and join us. We'd love to have you at Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church. Amen. Now, here we pick back up in our series, Owning a Faith That Matters. owning a faith that matters because we measure a lot of things these days and we've got watches, we've got iPhones that that measure our steps, odometers that measure our miles, we've got 401k plans that measure our income for our investments of retirement, but when it comes to faith can we really measure it? You see that's tricky but it's important. Wouldn't you say that Jesus said that we only need the faith the size of a mustard seed? I'm not a mustard farmer, but that's a pretty small seed. But if we have it, he says we can move mountains. We all need a little mountain moving faith in our lives when we think about the growing darkness in our world around us today. And so faith is important to Jesus. We hear his voice throughout the Gospels, challenging his disciples with a strong, determined voice to have faith. And he asked Peter, where is your faith? In Luke 8, 25. And when the disciples lost their courage in the thunderstorm, he called them and he said, you little faith in Matthew chapter eight, verse 25. It wasn't one of their brightest and greatest moments. But Jesus wants us to have faith, but not shallow faith. That's a mile wide and an inch deep. Throughout the gospel of Luke, we've been studying And we discover that Jesus wants us to have a deep faith. We've talked about as we exercise our faith, the Christian life is a journey and we walk with Christ and we regularly are challenged to trust him. We grow in our faith as we continually trust Christ. We talked about life changing faith, a cry for justice, yielded faith, expected faith, praying faith, confident faith. But the last of all of the studies out of Luke, we see here today about a maturing faith out of Luke chapter 17 verses 1 through 10. Now, faith in Jesus is following him one step at a time. I'm glad that the first step of faith Jesus called Peter to was letting down his nets and Peter knew that they had worked hard all night and caught nothing. I'm glad that we see here that the Lord was speaking to his disciples. and the disciples had to guard against the grave sin that he was always talking about that was subject to temptation. And that if we yielded, we were going to mislead others and no sin will be condemned any more than the sin of misleading others into sin. And so owning a faith that matters, Amen. Here we see a spiritual maturity. that is neither instant nor automatic. It is gradual, progressive development that will always, that will talk to the rest of us. And that's Rick Warren's saying about spiritual maturity. But I'm glad that every one of us, when we look and realize that a maturing faith, mature faith forgives is what we're going to be talking about in verses one through four. Secondly, mature faith acts in verses 5 and 6 and then thirdly we realize that mature faith does not seek recognition in verses 7 down to verse 10. Now you know what there are four key actions that mature believers take when they fail and so acknowledge their failures, they refuse to hide behind any lame duck excuses. We confess any sin to God when sin is involved or is involved in the failure. We study, we examine what has happened so that we can learn from our failures and we put it behind us and we move ahead. Being assured of God's forgiveness, we're to put our failures behind us, count on the rest in His forgiveness and refuse to use them as any excuse for the future. And so, I'm glad each and every one of us, as we go through life, that maturing faith, one of the first things that we see before we get into the scriptures, as we open up with a word of prayer. Father, I pray over the scriptures and I ask your blessing upon it. Give us the words to say that will be an encouragement to your men and women of God, of the Christian faith. Lord, Many of us are ready to pass on the keys to the next driver coming up in our families. We want to pass on a legacy. We want to pass on, follow the traits of a good Christian by setting a maturing faith, an example, that Lord of moral standards and values. We want to pass on the keys to the next generation. Lord, as mothers and fathers, Lord, as sisters and brothers, Lord, to our children, to our grandchildren, to our husbands, to our wives, we want to pass on the keys. Help us to do so through the reading of the word of God. May you add your blessings unto it. And Lord, we're so thankful for the privilege to be able to read your scripture and to speak on your word. For we know that we're nothing, but we're no sinners saved by grace. Lord, we've been saved to the uttermost. We're no longer the same. We've been changed from the inside out. And now, Father, we've got a different step. We got a pep to our step. We got a praise to the raise of our hands. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus, for saving us by your marvelous grace. We're, Lord, somebody because you made us somebody. Lord, we're just an old nobody. Lord, trying to go from day to day, but I'm praying that every breath that we got, whether it's raspy, whether it's a horse, or whether it sounds off, we're going to give glory to Jesus Christ, to the last breath that we have, to give glory and honor to our Lord and Savior. Now, Lord, I pray that a lost sinner be listening, passing by listening to this video, and God, that it'll touch their hearts. And if it does, it'll be all you and not me. "'cause there ain't a thing on my best day can I ever do, Lord, "'except, Lord, hold your hand and, Lord, be used by you. "'And, Lord, speak through us. "'Let us be a clean vessel that you could use, Father. "'Lord, I'm glad that I am subject "'to all the laws of the land.'" Lord, death comes my way. Accidents happen to me. Lord, storms come across my house. Father, sickness comes through my body. I'm not a Lord exempt from anything, but I'm a child of the King because I'm not living for this world. I'm not living for the material things. I'm not living for what all I can gain and put up in this type of body, but I'm living for the eternal and for the heavens because my name's been recorded in the Lamb's book of life and father I praise you for that and I give glory and honor to you in Jesus Christ we pray amen. Now when we look at a maturing faith we see in Luke 17 Jesus was preparing to hand over the keys to the next group of disciples He was pressing them towards a mature faith. Jesus urged his disciples not to get tripped up, and even more importantly, not to trip up others. He encouraged his disciples to mature in their faith by practicing forgiveness, bold faith, willing servants. And I'm glad, as someone, I thank God around you, when you're happy to go, that, hey, listen, are you maturing in your faith? I'm glad that each and every one of us, when we go through life, God knows exactly what we need, praise God. He said in verse 1 of Luke chapter 17, then said he unto the disciples, is it possible but that offenses will come but woe unto him through whom they come. He says, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he was cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones. He goes on, take heed to yourselves. If our brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Mature faith forgives. And I'm glad that when we look, sin is inevitable. But I'm glad when we look at the words, it's impossible, but that offenses will come. You see what I'm talking about? When we look and we realize that what he's talking about, he says right here, he says, listen, it is impossible. But he says, but offenses will come. And so, sin enters the world, and sin enters the business, the office, the marketplace. It gets out on the fields of the athletes, amen. It goes to the club, even the home. It gets in the church, and no place is there that we could ever escape sin, for no person is perfect. And wherever a person is, there's sin. No person out there in the world is without sin. Committing sin is a terrible thing, but leading others to sin is even more horrible. And so we see that he tells us about the word that he said to the disciples. It's impossible, but he said offenses, he said right here. He's talking about offenses, Amen, when he does this because here We see those offenses, a man. I'm glad that each and every one of us, there's always a stumbling block. If is anyone who seduces others to seeing others to grumbling and taking sides and being worldly and materialistic and craving more and more and being conceited and prideful and living loose and immoral lives and cursing and talking filthy. And so a stumbling block is anyone who makes a false profession, anyone that claims to be a follower of Christ, but who is not the person that makes a false profession, scandalizes the name of Christ. They're a hypocrite that causes others to stay away and they detest Christ and the church. And so a stumbling block is anyone who discourages a person from following serving Christ by abuse or neglect, persecution or injury, gossip or slander, anger or hostility, leading others to sin is heavily condemned. And so I'm glad that each and every one of us, Paul said, he says, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. And so I'm glad each and every one of us, he goes on and he talks about how that forgiving others is essential. He says, take heed to yourself, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And so I'm glad that it means to charge other words, he tells us. He says to rebuke other words he's talking about right here. And so with that word rebuke that he's telling us, amen, Here he says that we're to believers are to correct those who sin against them and do to them other words and who sin against them and do them wrong in a sense. And so to allow sin to continue is to indulge and to give license to sin. And the last thing that God wants is for sin to be indulged in and given the license to run wild. And so each and every one of us, forgiveness is that discipline that he talks about, rebuke, amen. And so each and every one of us need to do as the Lord is telling us, praise God. The command to forgive is so strong that it's one of the most beautiful pictures of God's unlimited forgiveness, that he continues to forgive and forgive because the true believer does not have a license to sin the bible is very clear about this amen and so the believers not to take advantage of the forgiveness of god are for judgment awaits the person who abuses the grace of god and so i'm glad that it is god's unlimited forgiveness that requires the believer uh to forgive anyone who offends him or her and truly repents, even if the believer has to forgive the offender seven times a day for having wronged them. Amen. And so I'm glad that that's exactly what he's talking about when we do that. And so each and every one of us, as we go through life, mature faith forgives. Here we see maturity, that God intends for you to grow up spiritually and mature in your walk with God. Learn to follow the Holy Spirit over your emotions, desires, and other people. And we are all equally loved by God, but spiritual immaturity brings liberty, privilege, and a greater, greater responsibility. The Christian life is a journey, and it's a lifelong journey that isn't complete until we're at rest in God's kingdom. This journey then is a walk of ever deepening faith and trust in Christ. As our faith in Christ grows, we become less and less to act and more apt at doing what God calls us to do. Our faith becomes increasingly focused on Christ and our humble obedience to him. And so I'm glad that when we look at this, We go on and he tells us in Luke chapter 17 verses 5 and 6 8th man and the Apostle said unto the Lord increase our faith and verse 6 and the Lord said if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you might say unto this Sycamine tree be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you here we see faith mature faith acts and And so I'm glad that each and every one of us, the disciples realized something. Their faith was weak, too weak to ever live like Jesus was talking about. And so he was insisting on a faith so strong that they would be free from ever causing another person to stumble, that they would be so loving and compassionate that they could forgive a person time and again, even seven times in a single day. They knew that they desperately needed greater faith in the power and the love of Christ and that the power and the love of Christ would infill and permeate their whole beings, praise God. And so I'm glad they knew that they had to believe and trust his presence more and more. And so genuine faith is what is needed, not great faith. The stress is not quantity. But not on how much faith a person has. It's not a matter of increasing faith. It is a matter of possessing and having faith, and it is a matter of a genuine faith. I'm glad that boldness is needed, that it takes boldness to walk up to the tree and tell it to be removed. You remove yourself Sycamore tree. And I'm glad that it's not a matter of how much belief, it's a matter of genuine belief. That if one's belief is genuine, then it's done. And so I'm glad that that's exactly what he's talking about. Here we look and as he goes on, he tells us in verse seven of Luke 17, but which of you have a servant plowing or feeding cattle? We'll say unto him, by and by, when he has come from the field, go and sit down to meet. Verse 8, And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink. And he goes on in verse 9, Doeth he think that servant, because he did the things that were commanded him, I troth not. He goes, So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. And so mature faith does not seek recognition. Pleasing God is the purpose of faith. Living by faith pleases God, but listen, it's what required, it's what he requires from us. Jesus taught his disciples that living by faith isn't optional. He compared obedience to God to a servant doing his duty. Humanity has been away from a right relationship for some time with the Lord. And so when we look and we realize that as we get older and bolder in our faith, amen, we begin to realize that there's a danger that believers will become prideful and puffed up because of the gifts and the power God gives, especially if they begin to live victoriously in faith as described here back in verses five and six. The believer is a servant and a servant is a slave who serves his master. And the believer is to serve and obey the commandments of God until all the work is done to feed the cattle, to plow the fields. And then in the evenings, he's to serve the household by feeding and waiting on the tables. Plowing and feeding are tough work. They require a sound and disciplined body and spirit, and they require others to have gone to bed and get a good night's rest. He goes to bed after all the others have retired, and he arises for the believer. But how few serve the Lord so diligently. How many arise before others in order to spend time alone with the Lord and then spend time of the last minutes of a day with the Lord after all the others have already gone to bed. You know what? The believers to be humble in their service for the Lord, no matter what we do for Christ, it is our duty to do it. And so no man can claim that he's done all that we should, We know this, we all come short no matter how much we do or how great the work is. There's no room for pride or arrogance or boasting because God commands perfection and therefore he expects humility. I'm glad that every one of us as we look and we realize that the Lord knows exactly what we need. Mature faith does not seek recognition. And so as we go forward, We live it out. Faith matures as we humbly obey God. We've got to choose the application and one of them Clean the slate. Have you called someone to stumble? If possible, ask if you could meet to talk and ask to be forgiven. Maybe there's someone you need to forgive. Has someone hurt you, wronged you? Choose to start the process of forgiving that person this coming week. Secondly, not only clean the slate, but pray. Is there anything that God's leading you to do, but you found it difficult to take the leap of faith and just do it? Ask God to increase your faith and take the plunge. And thirdly, Not only clean the slate, not only pray, but dare step outside your comfort zone by serving a friend lavishly and even anonymously see what happens. Because abundant life begins with humble service. We please God when we set aside our personal agenda for His. That's the definition of mature faith. And so I'm glad that when we look and we begin to realize that a maturing faith Each and every one of us as we go through life today, we need to make good on everything that the Lord is doing. The Lord knows exactly what we need before we do it. And so let's give all diligence. In other words, let's give all effort because it's helpful to understand that as we bring this diligence and effort alongside incorporation with what God has already given us, God freely extends his grace, but it obligates us to respond to that maturing faith. Remember, get in touch with somebody like Paul, an older person, an example for others to imitate. Get in touch with somebody like Barnabas, a soul brother or sister that's full of spirit and wisdom. Get in touch with a younger person, three people in your life that has a heart of a servant, that are young, that you're mentoring, that you're teaching, and yet you're showing them because God wants to bless you with a maturing faith as well. And I'm glad that each and every one of us, when we begin to do this, we can make a difference in somebody else's life. Remember, you can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. Don't forget that we need to share the Word of God with the world. Support the belief of the minister, the layman, in understanding and preaching and teach the Word of God. Prepare everything that we can to lead men, women, boys, and girls to give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ and to secure them for eternal life. And then ensure all that we can to minister to the needy of the world, but last but not least, provide Jesus Christ his proper place. And I'm glad that which the Word gives him get off of the throne and let the Lord sit on the throne of your life because maturing faith, faith that matures as we humbly obey God. May God bless you as our prayers.